Rusty Pistons Bloviates

I feel a little verbose today so I thought I’d do a bit of verbosing.

We visited the Erikson Air Museum yesterday and it lived up to its reputation.

It is in a brand new, huge hanger and the planes are there to wander among with just small reminders to please not touch or fly them, which is a real consideration as all but one are operational and flown regularly. I will include just a few photos here from the 20 or so I took.

Although I love the Mustang, and the Lightning, I have a special place in my heart for the P-40 Airacobra which is generally described as the worst airplane of the Second World War.  (I personally think the Brewster Buffalo was worse, but that’s just my opinion.)   It’s very much like the ’62 Dodge Dart 440 they have on display.  It too is described as an ugly duckling and is probably the ugliest car Dodge ever made, but I had one and I loved it.

The problem with the P-40 is that it lacked power so it couldn’t fight fighters, it couldn’t operate worth a darn above 17,000 feet so it couldn’t reach the bombers, and it had no range so it wasn’t any good as a bomber itself.  The US Army Air Force hated it, and the British Air Force hated it, so we gave it to the Russians by the thousands and they LOVED it!!  You see, the aircraft was designed around a huge cannon that fired thru the center of the propeller and it turned out to be a great tank killer!  And the German army’s Panzer Corps supplied lots of tanks to be killed.

By the way, the P-40’s design concept of a plane wrapped around a big gun was sound.  The current Air Force A-10 “Warthog” is also designed around a huge cannon and is also a great tank killer.  The P-40 was just way ahead of its time and needed more engine.

Tonight we are docked in Vale, Oregon at the Vale RV & Starship Park after doing what was a long day for us of 262 parsecs in 7 hours.  That’s from 8 AM to 3 PM, with stops for gas and scenic meals cooked by yours truly.  Figuring 6 hours of driving that’s about warp .43, which ain’t bad on Oregon’s RT 26 a two-lane, rural absolutely stunningly beautiful road that took us from flat farm/ranch lands up to 5200 feet in mountain passes that made us remember driving thru the Grand Tetons.  All in all, another great and beautiful day!

Photos follow.

Ride Safe!

Rusty Pistons
First Officer
Starship Arrowstar, NCC1702