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Wednesday 23 February 2011
Agusta AZ8-L
The nice (Viscount) looking AZ8-L was designed by Filippo Zappata as a 22 passenger light transport. Powered by 4 x Alvis Leonides. It first flew on the 9th of June 1958. At the time Agusta was heavily involved in building Bell Helicopters under licence, so the commercial promotion of the plane was at least underestimate. Agusta ceased any developments of the aircraft and sold the one aircraft built to the Italian Air Force for liaison and transport duties. It was grounded due to a lack of spare parts after its last flight on the 11th of September 1963 and it was finally scrapped two years later.
Saturday 12 February 2011
Dassault Mercure
The 150 passenger P & W JT8D powered Mercure was the French answer to the 737. It was a bit like the Trident taking on the 727 it had no chance! It first flew in 1971 only 12 were built and the last one was retired in 1995. In the end it was a very reliable and safe aircraft. The Mercure in a way was a failed early attempt of the now very successful A320?
Monday 7 February 2011
DH 103 Hornet a rare British beauty
The Hornet was the fastest wooden aircraft ever built with a top speed of 472mph. Powered by RR Merlin engines it first flew on the 28th July 1944 and entered service with the RAF in 1946. The folding winged Sea Hornet was also produced for carrier operations. The Hornet was used by the RAF until 1955 & RNAF until 1951. Sadly no complete airframes of the 389 aircraft survive today.
Some good links about the Hornet http://dhhornet50.net/
& http://users.skynet.be/BAMRS/dh103/dh103.htm
Friday 4 February 2011
Dirt Strip & Grass Runways
Some nice clips:
A PROPer aircraft! DC-6 Flypast & Landing North of Pretoria . Dec 4 2010
...and a 727 in Africa
In October 1989 an IL-62 that was donated to the village of Stolln in Germany by Interflug in commemoration of Otto Lilienthal who was a early German pioneer of aviation
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