When I arrived, the TBM had already been pulled out of the hanger.
My flight in the Fighter Factory's
TBM Avenger!
by Joe Lupton
This past week, I had a call from my good friend
Ray Scott. Ray is the pilot who took me flying
in the SNJ in the previous series
of photos. During that flight I had the opportunity to take a few
in-flight
formation photos of the Fighter Factory's (FF) TBM Avenger. That was a real thrill
for
me to say the least. Ray's call this time was an invitation to ride in the
TBM! WOW! I had already
made a previous commitment and hated to let those folks
down, but it didn't take me long to realize
that this opportunity might never
come along again, so I made a call and a change of plans.
The flight was to fly to the upper Bay along with
Ray in a P-40 Warhawk and the FF's German
Messersmidt Taifun, a four place
predecessor to the Me-109. Once there, we would meet up with
a Japaneese VAL and
a B-25! This exercise was to have the Val and Messersmidt make mock
attacks on a restored WWII Liberty ship, the John
W. Brown, which was on an excursion cruise
out of Baltimore Harbor. The P-40
would then come in a save the day by driving
off the enemy attackers! What fun!
I should have more photos later of the passes on
the ship, but for now, you'll just have to be
satisfied with some shots of the
P-40 and the TBM!
When I arrived, the TBM had already been pulled out of the
hanger.
This is a large airplane!
It takes a big prop to harness 1900 horsepower!
I'm all strapped in and ready to go! The cockpit has lots of room
once you get in.
However, the trailing edge of the wing is about six feet off of the ground, so first one
has to get
up there. Not as easy as it looks in the movies! But then, if I was twenty two, it might be
easier!
Oh well!.........
Hey, I could get used to this! It's a lot
different than driving an airliner around! The TBM has no
sound
insulation, so the headset is a must. Those 1900 horses up front were loud,
as was the wind
noise!
Ray has joined us in the P-40. What a thrill it is to be able to
relive a piece of real aviation history!
Visibility forward is not too good from the back seat. Obie, my
pilot, has flown a lot of these
warbirds, going back to the Corsair in Korea, the Crusader, and many others!
Ray is closing up on us in the Peter-Four-Oh.
Isn't that a beautiful sight! The centerline
tank holds about 50 gallons of fuel.
This one is not set up to be dropped.
We're flying over the James River and
approaching the idle fleet.
There's lots of history down there also!
I just love that sight! That's the pitot (pronounced pee-tow)
tube sticking up on our
wing tip. It senses the ram air pressure which is converted to indicated airspeed.
This is the WWII Liberty Ship John W. Brown. It
takes people out on day cruises during
the summer to help finance it's upkeep and restoration. See the following link for more
information on what we were a part of this day.
http://www.liberty-ship.com/
Headed home!
I'll have a few more photos later, but they were on film and have to be developed and scanned.
Check back and look for "more photos" under the link to this page in the gallery listings.