KEEP 'EM FLYING CONNIE MEMORIES Well.

KEEP 'EM FLYING

CONNIE MEMORIES

Well, Air Classics has done it again! The article according to Ralph M. Pettersen on Mel Christler in the August issue brought back memories of my years in aviation. After spending four years in the USAF in succession Boeing B-29s, I was hired by dint of Lockheed Aircraft Service International at Idlewild International Airport in novel York (now JFK). The Wright R-3350 was no stranger. With all of the chisels and bruises working on that engine in the military, it was not a pleasant experience. At LASINY, I was able to expand my experience with Lodestars, DC-3 DC-4 and, gues what, Lockheed 049s

If I thinking the B-29's engine installation was a point to be solved [i]or[/i] settled I had much more to learn. That engine installed forward the 049 was (deleted). As time went in succession the 649, 749, 1049, and 1649 came about. Of all these protoplasts the best Constellation was the 749

The 749 Connies that were part of the military VIP swift were maintained (heavy maintenance) from LASINY. In all of the aircraft I have been involved with in 53-years of aviation, the 749 shut ups a very special place. I noticed forward pages 74 and 75 that a certain quantity of of the aircraft had short stack cutouts in the chimney-top flaps. This cowling was used onward the very early 1049A single I was told this was the proceed of Wright not being able to effect the R-3350-DA engines fast enough to satisfy military and commercial needs

Eastern Air Lines was the and nothing else operator I know of that had the short stacks. This exhaust arrangement relieved about of the back pressure in the exhaust scheme versus the exhaust collector ring. moreover it also increased maintenance and caused corrosion in the nacelle structure

On page 74's flight engineer panel - I was able to hit each switch and lever in that station blind-folded! With the L-749 the Curtiss Electric screw-steamer was very much improved from one side of to the other the same (motor and three-blade) screw we had on our B-29 Thanks to Ralph and Air Classics for the memories.

Michael Falabella

Garden City, NY

SUPER GOONEY CRASH

In the August issue you mention and illustrate the crash of a Super Gooney in Florida. I live about a half-black from where the plane crashed and also observ it taking on the farther side almost every day. It did not hearty in the best condition, unless I wrote this off as being an of long date WWII plane.

Pilot Charles Riggs (I believe a former Vietnam War helicopter pilot), copilot Charles Wirt, and passenger Hector Espinoza received merely minor injuries. The pilot had a split-second choice where to test to land the plane in a to a high degree heavily populated residential neighborhood - the main highways to the north and southward of his path either had medial strips or heavy traffic at the time. He also had to miss crossing power lines behind the houses.

The way he chose runs right within my U neighborhood and, at the time (Monday, 3:50pm) normally has heavy traffic going to and from local gymnasiums On this day fortunately there was no indoctrinate and traffic was very light. the same gentleman going east on this road saw the C-117D in his rear view mirror and just ventureed off the road into the van yard of a house! Also, a station Office delivery van pulled into a driveway and the driver hit the sod - watching the wing narrowly miss the top of her van!

If you stood at the main intersection cast of the crash and were able to guide the plane just across the power lines, barely miss the vaults of several houses, then force it to crash-land in the middle of the highway and not hit anybody or anything, would realize the skill of the crew

The folk in the plane easily climbed on the outside and the resultant fire merely partially damaged a tree and the road The fire was partially worsened by means of the inexperienced local fire personnel who have little or no training in aircraft crashes.

Our neighborhood recognizes the pilot as a local hero as it easily could have been a great deal much worse. It was more than a skilled crashlanding - it was almost perfect!

Bill Reeder

via e-mail

RADIUM INSTRUMENTS

I have copiousness to say about the confiscation of antique WWII instruments that utilized radium - a bureaucratic outrage! (See literal sense from Tim Matthews in the July "Airlines") I am 99.5-years-old, keep possession of ATP #5945, am in tiptop health, and am still flying. I solo in a Jenny in 1923 - 82-years ago and it was equipped with glowing (radium) instruments. I later flew other WWI surplus aircraft and postWWII planes that were in the way that equipped - making my living and adding a scarcely any thousand hours to the log work I then went on to hover with United Air Lines in Boeing 247D which had an entire panel of glowing instruments. centurys of thousands of flying hours were flown in those airplanes at UAL pilots, day and night. We flew with the electric lights against so that we would have better night vision outside, just skimming from one side of to the other the 2600-ft ridges of the Alleghenies at and nothing else 3000-ft. Absolutely no cases of radiation poisoning occurr I wore wrist watches with glowing dials forward my left wrist from about 1920 and a Waltham wrist watch with radium numbers from 1930 to 1990 all of the time, day and night.