The Thompson family arrived in Florida Tuesday for the CNN/YouTube debate.
Somewhere over South Carolina (CNN) — I am in a coach middle seat, flying from Washington, D.C. to Tampa, Florida on US Airways Flight 1491, destined for the CNN-YouTube GOP debate in St. Petersburg.
The child cooing two aisles in front of me is [...] |
Author: Ray W
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 11:00 pm (GMT 2)
Topic Replies: 4
GL wrote: So why's the pic say Piper PA 48 Enforcer?
Damn forgot to crop the photo
Piper PA-48 Enforcer
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PA-48 Enforcer
Type Counter-insurgency
Manufacturer
Piper Aircraft
Maiden flight
1971
Retired 1984
Status Experimental
Number built 4
Developed from P-51 Mustang
Cavalier Mustang
The Piper PA-48 "Enforcer" is a turboprop powered light close air support/ground-attack aircraft built by Piper Aircraft Corp. Lakeland, Florida. It was the ultimate development of the original World War II North American P-51 Mustang. The Enforcer concept was originally created & flown by David Lindsay owner of Cavalier Aircraft in response to the US Air Force PAVE COIN program, but Cavalier did not have the political clout or manufacturing abilities to mass-produce the Enforcer, so the program was sold to Piper by Lindsay in 1970.
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Design and development
In 1971 Piper built two Enforcers by heavily modifying two existing P-51 Mustang aircraft and fitting them with Lycoming YT55-L9A turboprop engines (along with numerous other significant modifications). One airframe was single seat (called the PE-1 and FAA registered N201PE) and the other was a dual-control aircraft (called the PE-2, registered N202PE). Prior to the Pave COIN evaluation, N202PE was lost in a crash off the Florida Coast due to flutter caused by a Piper modified elevator trim tab. Although the Enforcer performed well in Pave COIN flown by USAF pilots, Piper failed to secure a United States Air Force contract.
Flight testing and evaluation
For another eight years Piper and Lindsay, lobbied Congress to force the USAF to officially re-evaluate the Enforcer. Eventually in the 1979 defense bill $11.9 million was allocated for Piper to build two new prototypes and for the USAF to perform another flight evaluation. Since the Enforcer was never in the Air Force inventory, it was not given an official military designation and did not receive an Air Force serial number. Instead, it carried the Piper designation PA-48 and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration numbers N481PE and N482PE.
By the time the PA-48s were completed, they shared less than 10 percent of their structure with the P-51, and were longer and larger. The two PA-48s were tested during 1983 and 1984 at Eglin AFB, Florida and Edwards AFB, California. As in the Pave COIN tests of 1971, the PA-48s were found to perform well in their intended role, but the USAF again decided not to purchase any.
Survivors
Of the prototype aircraft produced, two of the four still exist. One of the PA-48s, N482PE, awaits restoration at Edwards Air Force Base. N481PE (pictured above) has been fully restored and resides in the "Prototype Hangar" at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.
Specifications (PA-4
General characteristics
? Crew: One
? Length: 34 ft 2 in (10.40 m)
? Wingspan: 41 ft 4 in (12.60 m)
? Height: 13 ft 1 in (4.00 m)
? Wing area: 408 ft² (37.9 m²)
? Empty weight: lb (kg)
? Loaded weight: 14,000 lb (6,350 kg)
? Powerplant: 1× Lycoming YT55-L-9 turboprop, 2,455 shp (1,831 kW)
Performance
? Maximum speed: 405 mph (650 km/h)
? Range: 920 miles (1,480 km)
? Service ceiling: 37,600 ft (11,465 m)
? Rate of climb: 5000ft/min (m/s)
? Wing loading: 34 lb/ft² (167 kg/m²)
? Power/mass: 0.18 hp/lb (0.29 kW/kg)
Armament
? Ten underwing hardpoints for a variety of stores optional six cal .50 M2/3 machineguns
_________________The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
--Albert Einstein |
Eleven golfers have moved on to the 19th annual Southwest Florida / TPA Match Play Championship finals this coming Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-3) from two days of tournament action at Bonita Bay. In the Championship Flight, Mike Lawver, Scott Wilbrett, Rollier Walcott, Brandon Lee, Bill Rummel and Charlie Walters all move on. |
Stephen Plumlee started feeling dizzy and nauseated shortly after his flight from Sarasota, Florida, landed in Atlanta, Georgia. He was wheeled off the plane by paramedics, but instead of being taken to a hospital emergency room downtown, he was treated in the atrium of the busiest airport in the world. |