Mmmmm - me like fast.

[Staiduk]

'Lo all!

I got the opportunity to take up this luvverly aircraft: a magnificent vintage 1936 Gee Bee R6H racer. This was the last model of the Gee Bees built; with two seats and excellent long range.

Well anyway; I saw this baby sitting outside the club's hangar; so went inside to find the owner.
We chatted for a bit; and to my shock he allowed me to take her for a flight!

He warned me about the plane's massive torque on takeoff; then after a few tips I started up, taxiied out and took off.
Takeoff was interesting; but keeping the throttle at 70% kept her friendly. Once the skid came up; she handled well. Off the ground; I pushed the throttle to its stop and Whaaahooo!!!!
The controls are twitchy; she's definitely a handful to fly - massive fun!

I flew out over Toronto - here are some shots.


The GeeBee's famous outline.



Powerful, tough and beautiful!






Rocketing over Toronto at 300mph.



Terrorizing the day-sailors in Toronto Harbour

Cheers!

[Omag 2.0]

This is coool! Looks like a vintage coup

[jordonj]

Now where can that be found?

[Staiduk]

Now where can that be found?

Not sure where I found it - just did a search for 'Gee Bee fs2004' on the internet.
I'll see if I can find the appropriate site.


EDIT:

Whoops - found it again.
It's at FS Planet - here's the page:
http://www.fsplanet.com/27102003.htm

[ATI_7500]

Powerful - yeah.
Tough - maybe.
But beautiful? Noooooo....

[JW49]

Nice shots, and real fine plane!  jordonj's gonna have more aircraft, pretty soon, than O'Hare on a holiday!

[Staiduk]

Powerful - yeah.
Tough - maybe.
But beautiful? Noooooo....

Oh, ye of little taste!



Anyhoo; to all who try her; the above descriptions of the plane's control was fiction; this model is extremely stable to fly. Which is nice; but the Gee Bee was a legendary pilot killer - I wanted to feel that.
So...you guessed it; I did a little tweaking in the .cfg - in Flight Tuning reduced the 3 axial stabilities to 0.5; and increased the elevator and aileron response to 1.5.
I also imported the new Corsair's massive torque settings.

(OK; I'll wait while everyone rolls their eyes. Staiduk just can't leave well enough alone. )
Results: takeoff is now most definitely a challenge.

Surprisingly; landing is quite easy; considering that you have to look over three-quarters of the aircraft's length. Just land 'er flat and let the tail settle - 3-point landings while ideal are gonna be a challenge.

Cheers!

[jordonj]

[quote]Nice shots, and real fine plane!

[Staiduk]

Well, it's either this or drinking...this is a lot more healthy, don't you think?

Also tastes better (I have yet to find an alcoholic drink I like )

Ohhhhh, come visit me sometime.... I'm sure there's some concoction I could whip up you'l like!  ;)

[coolamon]

how come my water dose not look like that?

[Gixer]

Great shots there. I love the squished shape of the Gee Bee racer, it just looks carzy hehehe