Air to Air with the rare P-2

Photos of warbirds, classic jets and museum visits
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Patrik S.
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Joined: Tue 11 Aug 2020, 5:34 pm
Location: Switzerland
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Air to Air with the rare P-2

Post by Patrik S. »

I recently had the opportunity to take some air to air pictures with the rare P-2 from Pilatus.
The Pilatus P-2 is a trainer aircraft designed by Swiss manufacturer Pilatus in 1942 and first flown on April 27, 1945. It was used by the Swiss Air Force from 1946 until 1981. The P-2 is a low-wing monoplane of mixed construction (metal, wood and fabric) with a fully retractable tailwheel undercarriage and dual control tandem seating. To save cost, several parts came from older Swiss Air Force machines, for example landing gear parts from their Messerschmitt Bf 109s.
There were two series of production machines, one unarmed and the second equipped as weapons trainers, with a machine gun above the engine and wing racks for light bombs and rockets. In 2008 approximately 23 appeared on the national registers of Switzerland, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. They proved to be a popular civil flyer's aeroplane and have often appeared in Luftwaffe garb in films and airshows as an unidentified "enemy" aircraft. Its most famous appearance was in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the last crusade in 1989.
Unbelievable this year (2020) the aircraft has been flying for 75 years.

Patrik
Image1DIV6194 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
Image1DIV5827 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
Image1DIV5978 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
Image1DIV6090 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr

Some more pictures you can find:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/189678236@N05/

Ant.H
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed 15 Jan 2020, 2:21 am

Re: Air to Air with the rare P-2

Post by Ant.H »

Lovely shots, not many of these flying now.
Last edited by Ant.H on Sun 01 Nov 2020, 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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aviationanoraks
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Re: Air to Air with the rare P-2

Post by aviationanoraks »

Lovely photos of a type I have a soft spot for.
👍

Mike
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Joined: Sun 31 Aug 2008, 5:08 pm

Re: Air to Air with the rare P-2

Post by Mike »

Ant.H wrote:
Sun 01 Nov 2020, 5:36 pm
Lovely shots, not many of these flying now. As I've heard it, the engine is more valuable than the airframe (in demand for use in Storch and Bf108 projects), so any kind of serious engine trouble and the aircraft is grounded. It doesn't help that the engine has to be very carefully handled and that engine failures have therefore been quite common.
I’m not sure where you got that from. The engine in the Bf 108 and Storch is a V8, the P-2 has a V-12 Argus. Different bores and strokes too, so even the cylinders are not compatible.

Ant.H
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed 15 Jan 2020, 2:21 am

Re: Air to Air with the rare P-2

Post by Ant.H »

Thanks Mike, only going on what I was told. Thanks for the correction!

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