THE GENERAL AVIATION SOCIAL NETWORK

Oldest Aircraft You Have Flown

We want to know: what is the oldest aircraft you have flown?

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Comment by George K. Sharp on December 25, 2013 at 11:07am: I guess the oldest plane I have flown would be a T-50 Cessna "Bamboo Bomber".

I also have over 5,000 hours flying in Stearmans.

Skyking

Comment by Michael Friedman on December 12, 2013 at 6:37am: I used to own a 1962 Cherokee 160, which was the first year they built Cherokees. (I owned it in the 1990s!) It was laid out more like a TriPacer than what most Cherokee pilots would expect. I loved that plane and regretted selling it. I do have some stick time in a Great Lakes Bi-plane, but I don't actually know when it was built. (It had a Lycoming engine, so it was probably newer than the Cherokee.) I also had a few fun moments in a Cessna Bird Dog, which would have been built sometime in the 1950s.

Comment by Bob Mishler on July 10, 2013 at 1:04pm: Ford Tri-Motor 5ATB when I worked for Dolph Overton at Wings and Wheels museum, Santee, SC in 1967. I believe it was manufactured in 1928 but I am not certain of this. It had P&W R985's and was quite the airplane as long as all three engines were operating at gross. Loud and slow, but impressive. Heavy on the controls and with a Johnson bar for brakes it made for an interesting airplane in the ground.

Comment by Giancarlo Riolfo on July 4, 2013 at 5:18am: The oldest I flew (stick & rudder job) was a 1943 ex RAF AT-6 Harvard.

The oldest aircraft I've been in flight as a passenger was a 1929 built Ford Trimotor.

It was two years ago, so at that time they were 68 and 82 years old. Now they are 70 and 84 and they're still flying.

Comment by Shawn A Roberts on July 3, 2013 at 9:51pm: 1938 Luscumbe and was the most enjoyable and fun airplane I ever flew. Very responsive and could spin and recover easily. True stick that fit right in your lap. It had no electric power, hand propped, and small squeeze pucks for brakes. The brakes were similar to bicycle brakes with simple wire on pulley's, and little pedals you pushed with your heels. Great little fun plane.........

Comment by Joseph H. Spence on June 20, 2013 at 6:55am: The oldest aircraft that I had the opportunity to fly was a 1929 Bird with a Continental 220 hp engine

Comment by George Knierim on June 20, 2013 at 1:06am: 1928 Brunner-Winkle Bird powered by a Tank modified Curtiss OX5 engine.

Comment by Tom Cleaver on June 19, 2013 at 10:29pm: Oldest I ever flew was a 1917 Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny," restored by Jim Nissen, back in 1978. A Jenny flies like no modern airplane - you lead with the over-sensitive rudder, and if you put it into more than a standard-rate turn with those non-sensitive barn door ailerons, the adverse aileron yaw would put it into a "high speed" (50mph!) stall, followed by a spin. Takes 3,500' to get out of a spin - the birth of the "coffin corner."

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