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Who's the best?


Guest lavochkin

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Guest lavochkin

Mrzippy, I take a bow before you, OLD mighty great one.

 

Question, Your pile it on with what? Poop or Ice cream?

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Mrzippy, I take a bow before you, OLD mighty great one.

 

Question, Your pile it on with what? Poop or Ice cream?

 

Wonder why I was the only one that responded besides Larry? More likely poop and beer!;)

Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer!  ✈️

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Eric `Winkle` Brown 1919-2016

 

Flew more than 487 different types of aircraft, the most of ANY pilot. The fact that several of those where as a result of war seizures at the end of WW11 and there were no manuals AND he survived is all the more remarkable. Also the first to land and take off a jet aircraft from a carrier.

 

Eric_Brown (1).jpg

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot)

 

His was a remarkable career...

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If we're going for real, Bob Hoover is my choice, though in reality there's no undisputed criteria for what makes a pilot the "best." So Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield, Robert Buck, Eric Hartmann, Frank Tallman and many, many others are also candidates.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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  • Scott Crossfield was, among other things, one of the X-15 test pilots. For a number of years he was also chief engineering test pilot for North American.
  • Robert N. Buck wsa an airline pilot, but was involved in a lot of specialized weather research flying and wrote, among other things, Weather Flying, a definitive work on how to learn about and incorporate into your flying the various weather forecast, reports, what you see out the window, and much more. It's a book shelf essential for pilots, along with Stick and Rudder, Instrument Flying, Once Upon A Thermal, and many others.
  • Eric Hartmann was the top scoring German ace, in fact he was the top scoring ace of any country in any war. From Wikipedia, "He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions.[2] He was credited with shooting down 352 Allied aircraft"
  • Frank Tallman was a movie stunt pilot who did a large percentage of movie stunt flying until his death in 1978. He and Paul Mantz formed Tallmantz aviation (Paul died in 1965) and together they came up with many ingenuous ways to do movie stunts (including spectacular crashes) and survive. His book Flying the Old Planes is one of the treasures on my bookshelf.

 

I'm going to add another one, since I'm re-reading a book about him (Glacier Pilot). Bob Reeve was an Alaskan pioneer, starting his Alaska career in 1932 and digging out a niche for himself in that cutthroat atmosphere when aviation was new and unregulated in Alaska.

 

These folks and many more (Wikipedia has entries on them) have pioneered a lot of things in aviation over the years.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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Larry, if you like Bob Reeve, and a good book, you should look at Success on the Step. It is the story of Bob Munro and the founding of Kenmore Air. Lots of great stories about doing crazy things like landing float planes on glaciers, etc.

 

https://www.giftshop.kenmoreair.com/store/p17/Success_on_the_Step_%28Hardcover%29.html

 

They also have a soft cover that will save you about $8 I think.

 

Not sure if it is available as an e-book, never looked.

 

peace,

the Bean

 

[added]

Here is a better link...

 

https://www.giftshop.kenmoreair.com/store/c4/Accessories.html

[/added]

Edited by StringBean

WWOD---What Would Opa Do? Farewell, my freind (sp)

 

Never argue with idiots.

They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience

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Thanks, Bean -- I'd not come across that one. Don Sheldon is another pioneer worth reading about in Wager with the Wind. And here is a site listing 33 potentially interesting books on Alaska, including that of Don Sheldon and Bob Reeve.

 

For anyone having trouble finding these (and other) books (many may be out of print), or if you just want to read but not buy, don't forget that physical libraries still exist, and many of the larger (and some smaller) ones will have some of these books for your perusal.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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Nope, though he wasn't a lousy pilot -- his "wrong way" was, of course, intentional -- but I don't really think there was anything outstanding about him, either.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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