StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Since no one has shot me down over way too many B-17 pictures, here we go again. These are biplane shots from the first weekend in September.


Shots of my favorite biplane. Not just "I like Stearmans" but "I like this Stearman, in particular". Why? This is the one I've flown. $50 a ride. Who says the old barnstorming spirit is dead? The picture on the left is one guy getting the airplane ready for take off. The gentleman standing on the wing is getting the tourist ready for take off. There are two restraint systems holding you into this thing, and the guys running the show need to make sure both are properly adjusted on the non-pilots. Very bad for business if the customers fall out!


This is another, very similar Stearman, but not the same Stearman. What can I say? One stock Stearman is much like another.

As an illustration of how far aviation has come - a Stearman weighs close to 2000 lbs, has a 240 hp engine, burns 20 gallons of gas an hour and a limit of 400 lbs for pilot/passenger. The Ikarus I flew a couple weeks ago weighs about 600 lbs (1/4 of what the Stearman does), has a 100 hp engine, burns 4 gallons of gas an hour, has a weight limit of almost 500 lbs for the people aboard, goes just as fast, and climbs faster.

Being so impractically single-minded in my interests, I never bothered to inform myself that a Stearman is exactly, exactly in the same weight and horsepower class a WWI two-seater.

It's natural to assume they'd be similar, but for some reason I could never be bothered to make note of that horsepower figure. I honestly thought they had more ponies...groovy.

Here's an awful pic of something of similar vintage; a Ryan PT22 I caught at an airshow at the CAF Arizona Wing mere days after I'd joined SDN back in 2002...

Some Stearmans are in the same weight and power class as a WWI two-seater (although I suspect they were much cleaned up aerodynamically and much less tempermental in handling). Then we have this one:



Over 400 hp, with the forward seat covered for decreased drag and a set of ailerons mounted on the upper wing as well as the lower. Not stock at all, and intended for airshow performances. Less drag, more power, and a faster roll rate.

Pilot is Susan Dacy, and this is her "hobby" - her day job is flying as a captain of what was described as "a major US airline".

Here it is in action:

With the recent debut of Flyboys, there have been some questions about the capabilities of WWI biplanes. Well, lets compare, shall we? Remember, the biplane pictured here has four times the horsepower of the Nieuports featured in Flyboys.

Flyboys featured Nieuports doing vertical climbs at a few points. Here's the "Big Red" biplane performing its maximum climb. As you can see, it's not quite a true vertical.

This is a steeper climb than a Nieuport would be capable of, or a stock Stearman.

Someone also asked about the hammerhead stall that a mortally wounded pilot performed during the now-infamous "zepplin scene" in flyboys. Biplanes can do that, as you see here:

If necessary, you dive first to build up the necessary speed and momentum to get a near-vertical climb prior to the manuver.

And finally, Skip Stewart's custom-built Pitts Special. This little biplane (and it is little, much smaller than the others depicted here) really can climb vertically, hang on it's prop, and basically do things you normally see only on RC model airplane fields.

Alas, my attempts to photograph it in action did not suceed.