My Dream Hangar

What if you had Howad Hughes money?  Enough money to build a hangar and display anything you wanted inside, what would you choose?  Here is my Dream Hangar.

After listening to this episode email us at bestaerospaceera@gmail.com with subject My Hangar.

Transcript

Paula 0:00

For the Best Aerospace Era this is the mansplaining podcast. Here is your host Anthony L. Sealey

0:10

Welcome aerospace enthusiasts. Being the aerospace enthusiast that I am, I make it a habit to try and visit as many air and space museums as I can. And because I work in the airline industry with flight benefits, I have visited a great number of them. While visiting one museum, a question occurred to me. What if I had Howard Hughes money, with the means to construct my own hangar, and could buy whatever I wanted to have displayed inside? What would you choose to put in there? Hmm. Now, does anyone out there frequently watch car reviewers or watch reviewers on YouTube? Often they'll have episodes where they have like their dream garage and what cars they'll put in there, or dream watch collections that they want. This is gonna be kinda similar to that. A dream hangar, if you will Now, there are many awesome air and space museums all across this country, even some in places you would least expect. I have been to many myself, like the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Or the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum in Virginia. Or the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Or the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. Or maybe even the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, for example I've also been on aircraft carrier museums like the USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina, the USS Intrepid in New York, and the USS Midway in San Diego, California. As I was overwhelmed by the many aircraft and stories behind them on display, at these locations, a question occurred to me: What if I had Howard Hughes money with the means to construct my own hangar and display whatever I wanted inside? Now, here on Mansplaneing, I cover man more than machine. I love the history behind the propeller and under the wings. The stories of who made, designed, and flew these awesome engineering marvels that soared into the sky and in space. Now, there are aerospace enthusiasts that can point out just about anything at an airport, airshow, or museum and name the craft. I know a few. They're like an encyclopedia or ChatGPT when it comes to this stuff. But I myself do not claim to be that kind of guy at all. For me, there are too many aerospace aircraft out there and many more variants of those aircraft to keep up with. Now let's get back to it. Let's say I had Howard Hughes money. For reference, at the time of Hughes' death in nineteen seventy-six, it was estimated that his net worth Was around two point five billion That's worth over fourteen billion today if you are interested in terrible inflation numbers. I seem to bring up inflation numbers here, don't So let's say I spare no expense and construct a hangar big enough for whatever I plan on having on display inside. First, some creature comforts. I'm thinking a bar with a small kitchen, a couch and chair for a place to watch TV and play video games, maybe even a pool table. Also, I like to work out, so maybe a corner for a workout area with some weights, a treadmill, and of course a punching bag. Who wouldn't want to look at some awesome aircraft while they're working out? Also, how about a small enclosed office area that's soundproof to record the Mansplaneing podcast episodes? I've got to have that, don't I? Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get into the main attractions. What to put on display in the hangar. My dream hangar. For the record, I'm not going to pick on historical significance or be clever for rarity's sake or based solely on cool factor. It's just really what I like and I want to look at. Also, they have to come from the best aerospace era. So nothing after the year 1975. For an extra challenge, I'm going to limit myself to ten. I originally planned to select seven because we love the number seven around here at Mansplaneing, but that became too painful for me. I just could not limit myself to just seven, so let's do ten. Let's get into it. In no particular order. Let's start with something from the beginning of the Best Aerospace Era. I like to say during the Best Aerospace Era that we began flying around in flying machines made of wood, wire, and fabric. How about something from those early days of flight? How about something that was made for war, the war to end all wars? During World War I, flying machines advanced rapidly into what most would call an airplane in the midst of the most violent conflict in human history. Many of these early airplanes flew over no man's land and in dog fights. Some of the biggest dog fights ever There was a great variety that included mono, bi, and triplanes. There are many to choose from here, but I'm gonna go with the SPAD XIII. Manufactured by, well, SPAD, a French company This French fighter was one of the first to apply improved aircraft engineering during the war to make a more improved airplane and more importantly, a better weapon. With a wingspan of twenty-six feet, eleven inches and a length of twenty feet, eight inches and powered by a Hispano-Suiza V8 engine, it was not a very big target in the sky I have mentioned the SPAD 13 on a few times here on this podcast Even though this is just an early French biplane fighter, There's something hot rod about it to me, like how the Hispano-Suiza V8 just barely fits into the fuselage. Let me know if you've seen one in person and had this impression. I think it's an awesome looking biplane from the beginning of the best aerospace era that serves as a good example from the beginning of flight. Next, did anyone make model airplanes from those box kits back when they were growing up? Remember how fun and satisfying that was to make those? I made a few, and I want to include one that I made long ago based on the legendary and unique-looking aircraft. It's a flying boat actually, the PBY Catalina. Made by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. With a wingspan of 104 feet and a length of 63 feet and 10 inches, and it was powered by two Pratt Whitney engines. It was used for many purposes during World War II in the Pacific Theater, from radar patrols to hunting submarines to recovering downed pilots. They might as well have been guardian angels to those stranded in the Pacific Ocean. But I'm gonna put historical significance aside here, as much as I love historical significance. I grew up on a small lake, so a flying boat captured my attention Imagine flying above a serene lake or ocean and just take your PBY down for a landing in the water. There are some awesome videos on the internet out there of PBY Catalinas landing in the water. Think about it here. After you land in the water, you could climb out on top of one of the wings and cast out a line with a fishing pole and go fishing. Who wouldn't want to do that? You could even stick a fishing pole out and cast out from one of the gunner blisters further down on the fuselage without even getting out of the plane. And think about this. You or your date could dive off of one of the wings and go for a swim. The wings would be at a perfect height for that. Seriously, how much fun would you have with this plane? Now for something else from this World War II period Now, I was born in the 1900s, the 1980s to be exact. Yes, I am old. So I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. The shape of this next airplane has been ingrained in my mind for more than 30 years because of this old computer game I played on a Macintosh computer back in the '90s. The game is Hellcats Over the Pacific, and the airplane is a F6F Hellcat made by Grumman With a wingspan of 42 feet, 10 inches and a length of 33 feet, 7 inches and powered by one Pratt Whitney engine. This aircraft is basically an advanced version of the F4F Wildcat. The Hellcat entered service at a desperate time for the US effort to challenge the Japanese expansion. It was more of a brawler that could take some hits and keep flying against the fast and agile A6M Japanese Zero. This game, Hellcats Over the Pacific, released all the way back in 1991, captured my imagination. It was a World War II combat simulator. The pixelated F6F Hellcat could take damage, could produce a smoke trail, and you can even run out of ammo or fuel. There was no music in the game, just the sound of the engine and the bullets being shot, just as those fighter pilots heard during World War II Honestly though, I was terrible at this game, as I was too young to be good at a simulator type flying game like this, but that did not stop me from playing it constantly. Has anyone else played or does anyone else remember Hellcats Over the Pacific? Now, if this next plane was unveiled right now today, you would think it was decades beyond any other aircraft in development. However, this aircraft was originally conceived all the way back in the 1950s The SR-71 Blackbird, created by the Skunk Works at Lockheed. With a wingspan of 55 feet, seven inches and a length of 100 feet, five inches and powered by two Pratt Whitney engines, it is arguably the most iconic aircraft from the best aerospace era. It pushed beyond what was thought technically possible at the time, and it was made for speed and recon. You can fire as many missiles as you want at it. The SR-71 would outrun them. How many MiG-25 pilots blew up their engines just trying to reach it? You knew it was gonna be here. It is one of the coolest things ever made. I'm not gonna spend much more time on this. The SR-71 is a favorite of most aerospace enthusiasts for a good reason. Next on the list is the Semyorka or R7 rocket.

Paula 13:15

Wait! What?

13:16

What? You thought I was only gonna have airplanes in my dream hangar? I need my space, and this rocket took a man there first. The Semyorka, meaning little seven in Russian, also known as the R7, stood at a height of more than 100 feet depending on its payload, and its base of 34 feet. This hangar of mine is going to have to be really big. I'll have to lay the Semyorka on its side. If you showed someone a scale model or a black and white picture of the Semyorka and said it was a prop from one of those bad sci-fi movies from the 1950s, they would believe you. It looks like it belongs there, but it's real, and it worked. The first intercontinental ballistic missile and the first space launch vehicle. It was the Soviet's presumed answer to our air superiority. I would have hated the R7 if I was alive back in the 1950s and 60s. But the Semyorka R7 is a marvel of aerospace engineering by the way, this is the only one on my list that I've not actually seen in person, and I'm not sure I ever will. So far I have airplanes, a space rocket. Now I need a spacecraft, but which one? The best aerospace era is when engineers took the term spacecraft out of the books of comics and movies and into reality for the first time. And this one I consider to be the first true spacecraft The Gemini made by Douglas. It's ten feet, ten inches by seven feet, five inches. Might be smaller than you thought. Before Gemini, humans were just along for the ride in orbit in very small Mercury and Vostok capsules. With Gemini, our astronauts could truly maneuver in space in every direction and from one orbit to another. With Gemini, we could rendezvous and dock with another craft. And although still small in size, astronauts could open up the hatch and go for a spacewalk and stretch their legs. Also, it had two seats just like a sports car. How cool is that? You may remember this from my Extra Section at the Gus Grissom Memorial. Gus Grissom pushed hard and worked to make Gemini the awesome spacecraft that it became It's too bad Gemini cannot have lived on in service as a vehicle to service a space station or to repair satellites or as a spy craft as it was once proposed. There was even a proposal for Gemini to go to the moon. There were many proposals for the Gemini. However, it served its purpose, and what we learned from it is how we got to the moon. Now, this next one you may think is a boring pick because you see them at every airport today, but hear me out. The Boeing 737 100 series Made by, well, Boeing. With a wingspan of 93 feet and a length of 94 feet and powered by two Pratt Whitney engines. Pratt Whitney were busy back then, weren't they? Yes, 737s are everywhere, but they are our workhorse of the sky, and they have been for more than fifty-five years How many business trips, road games, vacations, solo trips have people flown on a 737? Millions? Billions? I don't know myself. What I do know is that the Boeing 737 is an underappreciated workhorse of our modern world, just like our airline workers are underappreciated. I have personally worked with the 300, 500, 700, 800, and 800 MAX versions of the 737 Honestly, the 700 series is probably my personal favorite. It's a well-balanced edition, and it looks the best, especially with winglets But I want the original, the 737-100 series in my dream hangar, the one that started it all All the way back in 1968. This jet airliner represents just how far we came during the Best Aerospace Era. From flying around in something exciting and dangerous made of wood, wire, and fabric at the beginning of flight, To fly around in something comfortable and routine like the Boeing 737. Now, as I said before, I was born in the 1980s, which means I'm old. It also means I was born during the Cold War. So of course, I was fascinated by what the Russians were flying. So yes, I'm going to include a MiG in my hangar. Which one? The MiG-21, initially designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau With a wingspan of twenty-three feet, a length of forty feet, and powered by one Tumansky engine. Nickname Fishbed. This was a much improved jet fighter over the MiG-15 and 17. The MiG-21 is considered a modern aircraft even though its first flight took place in the mid-1950s With an awesome enough pilot, it could hold its own against an F4 Phantom or even an F15. It was also cheaper to manufacture than our jet fighters during the Cold War era. This is one major reason why a number of militaries around the world had versions of the MiG 21 in their squadrons I have always loved the look of the MiG-21. From its delta wings and its cylinder-shaped fuselage, it looks like it's just made for speed. I don't have much more to say here, but I love it. It is one of the most numerous aircraft all across the world used by many militaries. Now for something a bit different, something from Japan, the Kyushu J7W1 Shinden. That means magnificent lightning. This aircraft was made by the Kyushu Aircraft Company. They are one of the few places left in Japan that can make an airplane. Most of the aircraft manufacturing infrastructure in Japan was destroyed by our bombing raids in 1945. You may remember this one from one of my first rough episodes from the first ever Mansplaneing series. It's the fighter prototype from the movie Godzilla Minus One. This airplane obviously caught my attention during the movie. It stole the show, if you will. It's a pusher aircraft with canards, with a wingspan of 12 feet and a length of 31 feet With a six-bladed propeller engine Now I do like how the Shinden was shown in action in the movie, but I love the real story behind this airplane even more. This interceptor was desperately being developed during the final months of World War II It's such an unusual design for a combat aircraft. Only two prototypes were ever built. The Shinden was being developed to fight through the P-51 escorts and take out our B-29 bombers that were destroying cities across Japan in 1945. Easier said than done. One of the two was destroyed after the war, and the other was taken apart and brought home to be studied. I have seen the fuselage of the last remaining example at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia There will be some assembly required with this one as the only example is in pieces. The Japanese Empire surrendered like a day or so after the first test flight, so the Shinden was never fully developed, and it never flew with a jet engine that it was proposed to have later on. It's a great story and an awesome looking interceptor and a great piece of history, which I'd like to have around in my hangar. Now, I like to talk about airplanes and rockets here on the Mansplaining Podcast. Why not both in one? How about a rocket plane? The X-15, made by North American Aviation With a wingspan of 22 feet and a length of 50 feet, and powered by the XLR99 rocket engine This was a very specialized aircraft made for speed. So specialized, in fact, that it was not designed to take off from the ground, but designed to ride on the wing of a modified B-52 as a parasite, and then deployed and launched from 45,000 feet in the air The X-15 achieved and still holds many aerospace speed records, and it actually can reach space. Yes, the X-15 reached an altitude above the Kármán line, which means it's a space plane, and its pilots who flew it are astronauts. There is more than one way to get there. Also keep in mind, the X-15 was developed and first flew back in the 1950s I would have the MiG-21, the SR-71, and the X-15 all lined up side by side at a 45-degree angle. This would truly be an arrogant display of supersonic speed here. The MiG-21 can hit Mach 2, the SR-71 can go well beyond Mach 3, and the X-15 I believe once hit Mach 6.7. So yes, that's how those three would be displayed. Maybe I'd have some speed limit road signs on the wall behind them So there you have it, an interesting mix of aerospace engineering from all over the world, representing the US, France, Russia, and Japan, and they all represent many different approaches of how to get off the ground. I recommend you go look up pictures, videos, and listen to the Mansplaneing episodes about these awesome aerospace icons. This is a fun idea Realistically speaking, I could legally acquire and own the SPAD, the Hellcat, the PBY, the Shinden, the 737, and even the MiG 21. I highly doubt the Gemini, the X-15, and the SR-71 could be acquired for many other reasons. Now, the Semyorka is a different story altogether. Even though it was developed and first test launched in the 1950s, it is still an intercontinental ballistic missile and can potentially be used as a weapon of mass destruction, so I don't think the Second Amendment counts here. Now, I am not a pilot, nor do I have the money to buy or maintain these aircraft. If I did, the 737, the PBY, the Hellcat, and maybe the MiG would be the most usable. I would probably use the Hellcat for my solo trips. That would be awesome. There is a famous actor who is known to fly around in his legendary World War II fighter. Do you know who I'm talking about? Honestly though, all these awesome aerospace artifacts from the best aerospace era belong in a museum like the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, so that millions of aerospace enthusiasts like us can marvel at their designs and their history. Well, that's what's in my hangar, my dream hangar, if you will. Now I want to know what you would put in your hangar. Email us at bestaerospaceera@gmail.com with your list of 10 aerospace icons with the subject My Hangar. Remember this stipulation though. They have to be developed or test flown or made it out to a launchpad during the Best Aerospace Era. That's between 1903 to 1975. I'm looking forward to your answers, and I may feature your hangar in a future episode. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, there's always a light at the end of the runway

Paula 27:41

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