Excellent backstory on 23! The wing CO at Zweibrucken AB in mid 80’s was squadron CO (as memory serves) of that squadron at Tonopah. He missed general officer due to one of the MIGs lost during his watch. Of course he had zero to do with it but those are the rules. He wrote an excellent book about it, search under Col G. Peck on Amazon.
America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Project CONSTANT PEG (General Military)
If I’m not mistaken our good friend Vlad flew MIG23’s as well, help us out Vlad..
Sorry for the late response, Dad life and Oshkosh had me wrapped up for the past few months! When I started to learn more about the history of the 4477th from my partner Rob I became obsessed with finding every bit of information I could get my hands on to learn more ha! I have read both Peck's book and Steve Davies. They are both an excellent read and I would recommend them to anyone. Rob has some pretty gnarly stories from flying in the squadron, especially with the 23. In his own words, a clean 23 would pretty much outrun anything out there, he thinks the jet would literally fly right through its own VNE in level flight until disintegration. Wild stuff.
Onto the RV, I have been flying it a ton lately for fun and for work travel, and the more I fly it the more I love it. I don't think I have ever owned an airplane that gave me so much back for such a small investment, it's almost as if I feel lucky that we crossed paths. IMO I think the 3 might be as good as it gets when you look at all-around GA value in a single-seat platform. This past Tuesday I took a trip down to Ft. Lauderdale for work and traveled 638 miles combined in 3:37 with an average speed of 178KTS while 8.8GPH. Keep in mind this is with a pretty basic wood prop. I think the airplane has a ton left in it at altitude and I have a Catto on order that I believe will push it up into the 190KT class at 10K, fingers are crossed. The airplane has made XC flight in Florida much more enjoyable because I can work around WX with a wide margin with speed and endurance. I made a few initial mods along the way that have improved comfort a ton. Down low the NACA vent was not giving me enough fresh air so I ordered a side vent that my buddy Doug helped install that has done a ton for overall comfort. It's a little loud down low with them open but overall it's been a great compromise and once I get to altitude I close them up with no air coming through at all. After building an Aircam with Lockwood it was a welcome surprise to order the kit from vans that included 2 vents for around $40. Lockwood would charge probably $300 for something like this... In addition to that, I also added some slap on sun visors from Spruce aircraft that cut down on the UV exposure and give me a little shade. I like to install these slap-on shades with a water/soap solution along with a vinyl squeegee brush to give it a more finished look with no bubbles. I believe I can order these in a bigger sheet which I will look into down the road for both airplanes but for now combining the sheets is not a bad option. To do the Aircam canopy for the Oshkosh trip it took me 15 of them to cover the canopy! Im coming up on Annual later this month and I have multiple items to address that I welcome input on.
-I have a slow leak in the caliper on the right wheel so I will probably rebuild the entire system after dealing with brake fade for the past month. I would love to swap the lines over to a braided line if possible and would love input on this if anyone has done it. I have owned airplanes in the past that use this plastic line and over time you get expansion in the lines that will lead to failure and I would love to address it now.
- The cowl is in pretty bad shape and I am wondering if I should start from scratch and just replace the entire thing? The oil door is a mess and the rear of the cowl hinges are starting to fail. Again, would love input on this.
- I am getting ALOT of shimmy in the legs at 10-20 MPH if I run anything over low tire pressure. Going to try and balance the wheels as best I can but I am wondering if running a low PSI is a bad thing long term?
Lastly, I was not very happy with the performance of my Clarity Aloft headset that I ordered so I tried this ANR headset from this company and I am blown away at the performance. Its not Bose quiet but its close and much more suitable for the airplane. I pretty much quit using my A20's at this point because I love these things. And you cant beat the price point! You guys need to check them out.
http://www.uflyquiet.com/ANR-L2-Hi-Lite-in-ear-aviation-headset-p152.html