"QDurham" wrote in message
...
We had it easy though!!! Those guys in the prop fighters during the war
had
to be a mixture of Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, and Wild Bill Hickock!!

Yeah, BUT! Once I tried being a little smug with a WWII relative who flew
Stearmans. How easy he had it. How much greater I was! Ta Dah!!!! He
then
asked me if I ever had flown an "Inverted Falling Leaf."

"A what?"

Quent

I know what you mean. The first time I flew a Stearman, it had a 650 Pratt
and Whitney in it. Breezy SOB!! On take off, everything sucked up off the
belly right into my eyes. (Also happens in the T6 to the guy in front if you
leave the canopy cracked in the back on takeoff :-))))
I damn near lost the Stearman that day!!!!! :-))
The one thing that sticks out in my memory about that airplane was how damn
wide I had to spread my legs on the rudder pedals. After the Mustang, that
cockpit was WIDE!!! Only airplane I can remember with a wider pit was the
Jug (P47N)
That Stearman was really fun to fly. It gave me the same feeling I always
had in the Pitts......VERY strong!! The roll rate was a bit slower than the
Pitts :-)))
but a lot of fun anyway!!
Dudley