Abilene Slim SASS 81783

Pinkard & Bowden: Purple Haze and Green Acres theme. Scroll to the 1:30 mark.

The polling place was packed with a long line. Still, there were lots of volunteers checking ID and registration and lots of voting machines. We were in and out in 15 minutes. We’re blessed our state and county make it so easy. I hope our nation knows the results the following day like the old days, before computers got involved.

“Pardon me boy, is this the Transylvania Station?” ”Ja! Ja! Track 29! Oh, can I give you a shine?”

“Inga, elevate me.” “Y..you mean right here…now?” “Yes, the platform…” “Oh..yes, yes..ze platform!”

“Nice grouping!”

An awesome airplane. Would love to have flown one. A friend flew one as a forward air controller in Vietnam. Said it was amazing.

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It still looks modern, doesn’t it?

Bingo. That’s much discussed in the “Hotshot” documentary I referenced in your thread. It is unfortunately, an old topic that’s never resolved effectively. Our firefighting bureaucracy is also heavily skewed toward saving structures that never should have built in the first place. Not unlike building in flood plains. The more you build, the more you gotta rescue. Adding on, some of the tree-huggers won’t allow the thinning of fuels. One of the fires my son worked took him through a housing development that was 100% destroyed. The Forest Service recommended and offered to thin their development of fuels 2-3 years prior, but the residents said “Nope” because they wanted the area to remain “natural”.

Neigh….

“…Abby, who? Abby Normal!”

That and Blazing Saddles were made back to back and released in less than a year apart. Two of the most hilarious and brilliant movies EVER!

Sage, were any of the data/specs from the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar used in the Shuttle?

F7F for me…

Aren’t F-86s/FJ-4s just plain cool?

So far ahead of its time it was in the first “War of the Worlds” movie!

The Hustler was amazing. Imagine what it could have been if computers had been available to control it. Took a pair of big brass ones to fly it.

The Shuttle was no less an airplane than the X-15 or ME-163 Komet. An amazing airframe!

Too bad it was cancelled. A very cool plane that reminds me of the North American RA-5 Vigilante. It was originally designed to poop out a nuclear bomb from between the engine exhaust.

Old school cool!

Some helitack pics. I love this Chinook pic. The tube hanging from the Skycrane is a siphon for drawing water from a pond/lake, etc.

Here are a few of the arial pics I mentioned. At the time, P-3 Orions and P-2V Neptunes were common as they had bomb bays which are better suited for dropping retardant as opposed to nozzles where the stuff tends to atomize before hitting the ground. This P-3 clipped some trees. Note the Hotshots on the ground in the first pic. The first two pics were an "Oh s**t" moment for the aircrew, the third image was an "Oh s**t" moment for the ground crew!

Rather than totally hijacking SD Joe’s Spitfire thread, I’ll start another. What are some of the coolest looking airplanes on your list? They don’t have to have been successful, just something you think is an interesting design and has good lines. My list could go on and and on, so here are just a few: Lockheed Constellation P-39 Airacobra (may be an odd choice, I just always liked its looks.) Avro Vulcan Hughes XF-11 (shown below)

…and a P-38 or deHaviland Mosquito!

I learn something new every day. 😊