Air Show - Part 2B - Harvard (continued)

In 1940, the USAAF changed the designation to AT or advanced trainer, so the American machine became the AT-6. The U.S. Navy version was called the SNJ.

 Even with their huge new 2,000,000 square foot plant, North American couldn't keep up with the wartime demand  so a new factory was built in Dallas, leading, after 1942 to the AT-6 being called the "TEXAN".

Beginning in January, 1940 The HARVARD MkIIB version was built under license by NOORDYN of Montreal, Canada for the Royal Canadian Air Force, the RAF and the USAAF. Ultimately 2,557 Harvards were built here.

After the war the MK IV version was built by CANADIAN CAR AND FOUNDRY.

All in all, some 21,342 aircraft of the NA-16 series were built.

 SPECIFICATIONS (HARVARD MK II)


POWERPLANT: Supercharged PRATT & WHITNEY R-1340-S3H1 radial piston engine, developing 600 hp @ 2250 rpm.

PERFORMANCE: MAXIMUM SPEED: 156 knots; INITIAL CLIMB RATE: 1,359 ft/minute; RANGE: 740 miles; ENDURANCE: 8 hours; SERVICE CEILING: 22,000 ft.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 30 gallons/ hr @ 10,000 ft.

WEIGHT: 3,995 lbs empty, maximum take-off: 5,750 lbs.

LENGTH: 28' 11"  SPAN: 42'  HEIGHT:9' 9"

Information supplied by: http://www.spitcrazy.com/harvardhist.htm

Never argue with a woman

Someone sent me this and I had a good laugh at it so I want to share it with everyone....... LOL!! Thanks for making my day Helmut!! :)

Never Argue with a Woman



One morning, the husband returns the boat to their lakeside cottage after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap


Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out.


She motors out a short distance, anchors, puts her feet up and begins to read her book ...


The peace and solitude are magnificent. Along comes a Fish and Game Warden in his boat


He pulls up alongside the woman and says, 'Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?'


'Reading a book,' she replies, (thinking 'Isn't that obvious?')


'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her


'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading'


'Yes, but I see you have all the equipment


For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up'


'If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault,' says the woman


'But I haven't even touched you,' says the Game Warden


'That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.'


'Have a nice day ma'am,' and he left.


MORAL:


Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.


Send this to four women who are thinkers or men who can take it


If you receive this ~ you know you're intelligent

Tailed Jay

This Tailed Jay had just emerged and was still trying to stretch his wings. Thank goodness for P&S cameras that you can take pictures one-handed.

The Bush - Part 14

I would have thought by now that I have run out of new bugs/beetles to find but there are still thousands of them waiting to be discovered. This looks like a Tobacco Slug (Family Chrysomelidae) but all that I am sure of is the family it belongs too. 

This is also a new one for me, very tiny and was hiding away in some grass. By the under development of its wings, I would say it is also a baby but once again, I would not hazzard a guess as to what it is.

Ah!! At least something I know... A Rhus flea beetle. I have never seen these on there own, there are always two found together.

I think this is a White Parasol (Macrolepiola zeyberi) and then would be edible. But I do not know enough about mushrooms to say this for certain so please do not try to eat one like this if you find it.

Late in the season for caterpillars, but thre are still some around.

It is icy, freezing cold and yet, some butterflies and moths are still seen, especially if one is willing to climb a bit higher to where it is warmer.

Roodeplaat Dam - Part 2

Lets face it, winter is definitely boring!! If nothing else, at least there are always some birds around so a day out is not totally wasted. They pump water out of the dam at this point and there is not space for an ant on it let alone another bird. :)

 White-breasted Cormorants and White-faced Whistleing ducks are found here throughout the year.

"Now this marker it put here just for me isn't it?"

 A Red-knobbed Coot.

 As always, I try once again to get that "in-flight" shot and as usual, I end up with a butt shot. LOL!! Well okay, at least I can see what its feet looks like. :)

 Thank goodness it touches down on the water and I can get a picture of it.... an Egyptian Goose.

 A seagull???? Here??? I guess the fishing must be good so far inland and this one was the only one around so there is no competition for food.

 This is one of our loveliest water birds, the African Jacana. This is not the best shot of it but it does show him lifting a foot out of the water and you can see why they are called "lily trotters".

 The Jacana is a small bird with a body size about the same as a pigeon. Both the male and female have the same coloring.

 They are very distinctive with that blue marking on their heads. They eat small fish and are found at most inland waterways, ponds and dams,

 We have quite a few different types of Plover and in a short space of time, managed to get pictures of three to show you. All Plovers are very noisy and screech when you come near. This is the Crowned Plover.

 A Blacksmith Plover tones in very well with his background. As you can see, they had recently burnt the grass in the area. Many wildlife and nature reserves do controlled burning during the winter.

 A Wattled Plover with its distinctive yellow wattles and legs to match. It also has a white marking on the front of its head.

Botanical Gardens - Part 1

A stroll through the Botanical Gardens is always a pleasure.
The Crane Flower (Bird of Paradise) only starts to get its first flowers after it has been planted for 4-5 years.

They attract a lot of insects especially bees and ants to the sweet nectar.

All kinds of butterflies dance around in the warm sunlight.

The Wild Pear does not bear fruit but hundreds of beautiful blooms.

Many types of cycads are common here and protected by law.

Scented Thorn (Acacia nilotica)

Acacia is part of the Mimosoideae family and are easily recognized by their leaves. This family includes the Albizia and Mimosa species.

They are very tall trees and can reach 10m in height and occurs in types or wodland, frequently forming thickets.

The wood is reddish and is only used for firewood and fence post.

A decoction of the bark is used for coughs and the trees exude a good quality gum which is edible.

The pods are fruity scented and much sought after by game and cattle.

The early settlers to this country are said to have made ink from the black pods.

Air Show - Part 3A Pitts Special

Of all the hundreds of shots I took that day, this one is my all time favorite. I seemed to get the light bouncing off their wings at just the right angle.

Please enlarge them by clicking on the picture.

Now I do not have a lens at all as coming out of the show in the dark, I tripped over a shoelace and broke it (the lens and the shoelace)!! I have left is a 200mm. Darn!! Oh well, these things happen!!

The Pitts Special (company desingations S1 and S2) is a series of light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts biplanes dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft in the lower categories.

 Design and development


Curtis Pitts began the design of a single-seat aerobatic biplane in 1943–1944. The design has been refined continuously since the prototype's first flight in September 1944, however, the current Pitts S2 still remains quite close to the original in concept and in design.

 Several of the aircraft that Curtis Pitts built had a picture of a skunk on them and were called "Stinkers". After she bought it, aerobatic performer Betty Skelton called the second aircraft that Curtis built, "Lil' Stinker". The prototype S-2, which was the first two-seat Pitts, was "Big Stinker", the prototype Model 11 (later called S1-11B) was "Super Stinker", and the prototype Model 12 was the "Macho Stinker".


In 1962 Curtis Pitts set up Pitts Enterprises to sell plans of the S-1C to homebuilders.

 All single-seat (S-1) and two-seat (S-2) Pitts Specials are variations on the basic design from 1944.


The aircraft was popularized by Betty Skelton, Caro Bayley and other air show performers, which led to the offering of plans around 1960.

Pitts produced limited numbers of aircraft during the 1940s and 1950s. It is widely accepted that the Pitts Special is the standard by which all other aerobatic aircraft are judged. After a number of home-built aircraft were produced from rough hand-drawn plans produced by Pitts, more professionally drawn plans went on sale in 1962. While many home-built aircraft were built in the 1960s, earning the S1 a reputation as an excellent aerobatic aircraft, Pitts worked on the design of a two-seat aerobatic trainer version, the S-2, which first flew in 1967 and gained its type certificate in 1971. Factory-built aircraft produced by the Aerotek company at Afton, Wyoming were joined in production by the single-seat S-1S in 1973.

 Operational history


The design's popularity grew significantly following Bob Herendeen's participation on the USA Aerobatic Team in a Pitts Special in the World Aerobatic Competition in Moscow, Russia in 1966.

In 1972, the US National Aerobatic Team won the World Championships flying only Pitts biplanes.

In 1977 Curtis Pitts sold his interests in the Pitts S1 & S2 to Doyle Child. Child later sold the rights in 1981 to Frank Christenson, who continued production at the Afton plant under the guise of Christen Industries. The rights for home-built versions of the Pitts were sold in 1994 to Steen Aero Lab, with the Afton factory and production rights being transferred to Aviat.

 Curtis Pitts died in 2005 at age 89. At the time of his death, he was working with Steen on the prototype of the new Pitts Model 14, a brand-new, two-seat biplane designed for unlimited aerobatics powered by the 400 horsepower Vedeneyev M14P radial engine. The rights to the Pitts name is currently owned by Aviat which also owns the similar model to the Pitts in the Christen Eagle.

 Current versions


Certified versions of the compact Pitts are now produced by Aviat in Afton, Wyoming. It is available as an S1 single-seater with up to 200 hp (150 kW) flat-4 Lycoming engine and a 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m) wingspan, or as an S2 two-seater variant featuring a 260 hp (194 kW) flat-6 Lycoming and a 20 ft (6.1 m) wingspan. Pitts Specials have been equipped with engines of up to 450 hp (338 kW).

The Pitts held sway over the aerobatic world championships until the rise of the monoplane, though it remains very competitive in all levels of competition and remains a favorite of air show performers worldwide. The first monoplane to topple the Pitts from the top of unlimited aerobatic competition was the Russian- built and designed Yak-50.

Today, the single-seat Pitts S1-S plans are available from Aviat Aircraft. The S1-C and derivative S1-SS plans and kits are supplied by Steen Aero Lab in Palm Bay, Florida. The S1 continues to provide extremely high performance at a relatively low cost. Many hundreds of homebuilders have successfully completed and flown the Pitts since plans became available in 1960.

Information supplied by: Wikipedia