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History

Remembering the legendary Jump Jet’s First Flight

by Till Daisd September 30, 2022

Following its development in the 1960s, the British-designed Harrier revolutionized aviation when it became the sole successful STOVL military jet

The iconic Harrier GR.1 short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) jet aircraft, also known as the “Jump Jet,” made its inaugural flight on December 28, 1967, 50 years ago.

The British-designed Harrier, still in use as the AV-8B with the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), Italian, and Spanish Navies, revolutionized aviation when it emerged as the lone successful STOVL military jet after its development in the 1960s.

The RAF No. 1 Squadron at Wittering was the first RAF squadron to acquire a Harrier GR.1, and their acquisition of the aircraft in April 1969 marked the start of more than four decades of RAF service.

When two aircraft competed in the Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race in May 1969, they flew (using aerial refueling) from London’s St. Pancras Railway Station to Downtown Manhattan in the United States. The Harrier finished the flight in just 6 hours and 11 minutes.

The aircraft would later go on to serve with the United Kingdom and several militaries all over the world, and in its final configuration, the Sea Harrier was a carrier-based aircraft.

While in RAF service, Harrier was strategically placed, with the majority of the fleet based in West Germany, to protect against a hypothetical Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe.

The RAF was able to distribute forces away from risky airbases because of the Harrier’s special capabilities, frequently hiding in woodland areas while engaged in training or actual deployment. The aircraft’s ability to operate with little in the way of ground support and very short runways allowed it to be used in places where conventional fixed-wing military aircraft couldn’t, giving battle planning a completely new perspective. Harrier Squadrons underwent several overseas deployments.

50 years of Harrier: remembering the first flight of the iconic Jump Jet

The legacy of the Harrier, a real testament to the engineering prowess and innovation of the British, continues through informing the technology employed in the F-35 Lightning II STOVL variant today.

Photo by BAE Systems Air and TSgt Jose Lopez Jr / U.S. Air Force

Source: BAE Systems Air

September 30, 2022 0 comment

History

How to scramble a Vulcan strategic bomber in 2 minutes

by Till Daisd September 29, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The rapid start system on Vulcan aircraft let the bombers take off quickly and move toward enemy targets before any incoming weaponry damaged their air bases

In the first clip, titled “Scramble in 2 Minutes!,” Vulcans from the renowned No. 617 Squadron (Sqn) “Dambusters” engage in a classic scramble from the Cold War era.

As you may see the movie also shows a speedy start of the aircraft’s Olympus engines. The rapid start system was created to give the bombers the ability to take off quickly and fly toward enemy targets before any approaching weaponry could damage their airbases.

Although there were no additional aircraft during the Cold War, Bomber Command was able to increase squadron complements from ten to eleven crews in order to keep one crew from each V-bomber squadron permanently on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA), ready to go to war at the sound of a siren. The British could not afford to maintain standing patrols like Strategic Air Command (SAC), but Bomber Command did so.

In his book Vulcan Units of the Cold War, Andrew Brookes explains how Vulcan B 2s possessed simultaneous rapid starting systems that were self-contained for each of their four engines. The captain set the master start switch to “on,” adjusted all of the throttles to a 50 percent RPM setting and depressed the master Rapid Start button. Each side has a bulkhead with four air storage cylinders that were each charged to 3300 psi. These supplied air to each engine’s combustor unit via a pressure-reducing valve. The flying controls automatically started when the latter wound up and the alternators turned on. Within 20 seconds, the instrument’s gyros ran up, and everything was in motion.

To disconnect the ground electrics and intercom, Marshalls of Cambridge created a brilliant method using elastics and levers. As the aircraft went forward, spring-loading took care of the pitot head and Q-feel air intake coverings. The Vulcans just had to roll forward onto the runway after that and launch themselves into space one after the other.

Due to the lack of an internal rapid start feature in Vulcan B 1/B 1As, Bomber Command engineering staff officer Sqn Ldr C Dixon created the “Simstart” trolley. Using a bank of batteries, the trolley allowed an aircraft crew chief to virtually start all four engines at once while the crew was buckling up.

The legendary story of the furious Wg Cdr Arthur Griffiths and his No 101 Sqn crew setting their B 1A to battle readiness, locking the entrance door, and going to the crew room is related by Brookes. They hurried to the pan as soon as the hooter sounded, where the crew chief had already started the engines using the Simstart trolley. “Bootsie” Griffiths shouted to Tony Woodford, his co-pilot, “Give me the door key!”

“I haven’t got it,” said Tony, “You must have it.” “No, I fucking well haven’t. You must have it,” as the jet, which was powered by four engines, yanked at the chocks and attempted to escape. The crew chief finally had to break and reestablish order with a fire ax.

However, as you can see by watching the second video, which depicts Avro Vulcan XH558 “The Spirit Of Great Britain” conducting a scramble during an airshow, a Vulcan QRA take-off was quite a stunning sight.

Of the 134 Avro Vulcan jet-powered delta-winged strategic nuclear bomber aircraft used by the RAF during the Cold War, Vulcan XH558 was the last remaining airworthy example. It was the last Vulcan to fly after 1986 and the last one to serve in the military. The last flight was on October 28, 2015.

Photo by Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK, via Wikipedia

September 29, 2022 0 comment

History

The A-D7 Sluf and 9-hour-long mission over North Vietnam called “Sandy”

by Till Daisd September 28, 2022

written by Till Daisd

Major Clarke’s A-7D made ‘a very low pass’ on the guns to protect the Jolly and took a hit ‘by something that felt like a 57mm.’ He lost all his systems and pulled up into the clouds ‘with what I hoped was wings level. About that time a SAM radar picked me up, and things didn’t look too good….’

The U.S. Navy’s A-7 was the basis for the single-seat, tactical close air support aircraft known as the A-7D. The first A-7D made its first flight in April 1968, and production model deliveries started in December of that same year. LTV had given the American Air Force 459 A-7Ds by the time production on the model ceased in 1976.

During the latter months of the Vietnam War, the A-7D flew with the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, showcasing its exceptional ground attack capability.

The A-7 was built to provide close support to combat units in contact, which is the task that the 354th TFW anticipated carrying out when they entered the battle in late 1972. But at that point, the majority of American combat forces had been evacuated, so they were sent to two completely distinct tasks. Interdiction was hardly a surprise in the first place. The A-7s’ surprising assignment to take over the Search and Rescue (SAR) “Sandy” Role from the veteran and esteemed A-1 was met with skepticism in the second instance. The SLUF (Short, Little, Ugly, Fucker), as the A-7 was known by her aircrews, dispelled all skepticism three weeks after receiving her duty.

The A-7D SLUF and the story of an incredible nine-hour-long

The following incident was first published in Air Force Magazine in August 1973 and then in Lou Drendel’s book A-7 Corsair II in action. John L. Frisbee, their Executive Editor, wrote it.

“On Nov. 16, 1972, an F-105 Wild Weasel had been hit by a SAM in the vicinity of Thanh Hoa, on the coast, some ninety miles south of Hanoi. The Weasel crew bailed out at about 11:00 PM, landing at the base of the first ridge line west of the city. The following day, three of the 354th Sandys went up in very bad weather and got the survivor located, part way up the ridge line, but separated from each other.

A SAR force of about seventy-five aircraft was put together late that day and during the night by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, near Saigon. It included F-105 Wild Weasels to suppress the SAMs around Than Hoa, F-4 ‘Wolf’ FACs and F-4 MiGCAP aircraft, tankers, an HC-130 Kingbird (the mission coordinator), H-53 Jolly Green rescue Helicopters, A-7D’s with smoke for screening purposes, and three 354th TFW Sandy’s. Pickup was set for first light the following day, with takeoff for the Sandys at 0430.

Major Colin A. “Arnie” Clarke, who was operations officer of the 354th’s SAR organization, led the Sandys. He has been awarded the Air Force Cross for his part in the show.

The Sandys rendezvoused with the Jolly Greens above a solid overcast along the Laos-North Vietnam border. While the Jollys held in orbit, Major Clarke and his wingmen worked east from the Plaine des Jarres in Laos, looking for a break in the overcast through which a chopper could let down. Approach from the Gulf of Tonkin seemed out of the question. The Thanh Hoa area was heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns and SAMs, while just north of the town was a MiG field.

Major Clarke told his wingmen to hold while he let down several times into narrow valleys, trusting the accuracy of his Projected Map Display and radar altimeter. Each time he broke out under very low ceilings, the valley proved too narrow to turn in, and ahead the clouds closed down over rises in the ground.

Giving up on the valleys, Clarke climbed up on top, flew east, and let down over the Gulf to see if there was any way to work a Jolly through the enemy defenses along the coast. There wasn’t. He did get the survivors pinpointed and marked on his Projected Map Display so both men on the ground could be found immediately on return.

Clarke now went back over the Gulf, picked up his wingmen and the smoke-carrying A-7s, and took them in to see where the survivors were. The A-7s took several. 51 caliber hits. But whether the pick-up area had improved somewhat – 2,500-foot ceiling with lower broken clouds, rain, and three miles visibility. It was still too low for the supporting F-4s to use their delay-fuzed CBU antipersonnel bomblets against enemy gun positions. To the west, the only approach route for the choppers was still down in the valleys.

Everything pointed to an aborted mission. But Major Clark ‘knew that the weather wouldn’t be any better for days. The survivors couldn’t last that long.’ Having been shot down himself on an earlier tour as an F-100 ‘Misty FAC’, he knew that it was now or never.

going back west again, Major Clarke let down on instruments in a valley-wide enough to turn in. While he orbited just above the ground, one of the Jollys did a DF letdown on him, but ran low on fuel, climbed back through the clouds, and headed for home.

The mission was now six hours old.

Two more Jollys came up from Nakon Phanom and held while Clarke went out to a tanker for rest and fuel. At that point, he set a pickup time for the SAR force. Going back west, he once more let down on instruments in a valley ‘wide enough to hold a two-G turn’, and a chopper DFed down on his position – about forty-five miles west of the survivors.

Flying ahead and doing 360-degree turns to stay with the chopper, Clarke led it to near the pickup area, where he told the Jolly to hold while he went in to get the survivors alerted and suppress fire from enemy guns.

Clarke now discovered a .51 caliber gun position on the ridge, just above one survivor, who was hiding in tall brush. ‘A guy could have thrown a hand grenade from the gun pits onto the survivor.’ He and his wingmen kept the fire on the guns while the A-7 smoke birds laid down a screen.

By this time, there was a lot of lead flying around and a lot of chatter on the radio. The Jolly Green pilot decided to come in, unaware of the gun position close to one survivor. Miraculously, he made both pickups, then headed west, directly past the .51 gun pits.

Clarke made ‘a very low pass’ on the guns to protect the Jolly and took a hit by something that felt like a 57mm.’ He lost all his systems and pulled up into the clouds with what I hoped was wings level. About that time a SAM radar picked me up, and things didn’t look too good.’ The SAM apparently didn’t fire.

Clarke broke out on top, joined up with a couple of A-7s, and made an IFR landing at Da Nang, flying the wing of one A-7. Mission time: about nine hours.

The ’57mm hit’ turned out to have been a .51 caliber tracer that exploded one of his empty wing tanks, blowing in the side of the fuselage and bowing the underside of the wing.”

The Air National Guard (ANG) began receiving A-7D aircraft from the USAF in 1973, and by 1987, ANG units in 10 states and Puerto Rico were flying them. A-7D aircraft took part in Panama’s Operation Just Cause in 1989. In the early 1990s, the final A-7D aircraft were retired.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

Additional source: U.S. Air Force

September 28, 2022 0 comment

History

The first BRRRRRTTTTTTT was performed from the Wright Flyer

by Till Daisd September 27, 2022

written by Till Daisd

Capt. Charles deForest Chandler fired five rounds at the target over the course of three passes while flying a Wright Flyer Type B at about 48 mph, marking the first time a machine gun had ever been fired from an aircraft

The Wright brothers did not merely invent the airplane. Even before the field existed, they were aeronautical engineers. They conducted research, developed tests, and evaluations on sub-scale technology demonstrators such as gliders, kites, and airfoil models. They created test rigs and a wind tunnel and used them. The brothers not only invented flying; they also provided a template for aircraft design and testing for aeronautical engineers.

After 1903, the “firsts” continued, as Richard P. Hallion explains in The Wright Flyers 1899-1916. The Wrights’ were the pioneers of the fully maneuverable, passenger-carrying, cross-country, and machine gun-firing aircraft.

Col. Isaac N. Lewis, the creator of the Lewis machine gun, went to the Signal Corps Aviation School at College Park on Friday, June 7, 1912, and asked the pilots if they would be willing to fire his brand-new machine gun from an airplane. Capt. Charles deForest Chandler, the school’s commander, quickly agreed. Within minutes, he had strapped the Lewis gun, which weighed just over 25 pounds and fired 500 bullets per minute from a circular drum, onto the right seat footrest of a Wright Type B. (S.C. 4). The ground in front of the hangars was covered with a small ground target that was cut out of cheesecloth and measured 6 feet by 7 feet.

Chandler strapped into the Wright’s right seat while holding the Lewis gun close to his body and between his legs. He could not spin or elevate it, but he could alter the trajectory by moving the gun a little to the left or right. Similarly, the machine gun had no sights, so Chandler had to “guesstimate” the right firing line. Captain Thomas Milling piloted the plane, getting out to pick up a firing track pointing north that ran parallel to the hangars and the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Line. The aircraft performed three firing passes while aloft at a height of 250 feet.

Chandler fired five rounds at the target over three passes while flying at 48 mph, marking the first time a machine gun had ever been fired from an aircraft. Type B went over the target in a little under a tenth of a second. In order to measure the separation between the bullet splashes, he also fired into fishponds that were located on the perimeter of the flying field.

On June 8, Saturday, there was a longer trial that day. Milling and Chandler attacked a larger cotton target that was 6 feet wide by 54 feet long that had been set up by Signal Corps mechanics from a height of 550 feet, striking it with 14 of 44 shots fired, or 32% of them, for a hit rate. Years later, Chandler recalled that the War Department’s General Staff’s spokesperson responded to reporters’ inquiries by making the very clear declaration that airplanes should only be used for reconnaissance and that any idea of aerial combat was the product of the fertile imagination of the young officers attending the flying school.

Did You Know the Wright Flyer was the First Airplane to Perform a BRRRRRTTTTTTT Run? — *Captain Charles Chandler (with Lewis Gun) and Lt. Roy Kirtland seated in a Wright Model B Flyer, 1912, after the first successful firing of a machine-gun from an airplane.*

The Wright Flyers 1899-1916 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

September 27, 2022 0 comment

History

The F-16/79, a cheap Viper powered by the J79 turbojet engine

by Till Daisd September 27, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The F-16/79 displayed the same 9G capabilities as the standard F-16, according to test pilots, but the former appeared to operate more readily at or near Mach 2

General Dynamics privately created a modified export-oriented version of the F-16A/B designed for use with the dated (but proven) General Electric J79 turbojet engine in response to President Jimmy Carter’s February 1977 directive to stop arms proliferation by selling only reduced-capability weapons to foreign nations. With its F-20 Tigershark, Northrop offered competition in this market.

Based on market research, it was possible that 500 F-16/79s might be produced, with development costs projected to be $20 million ($12 million for the prototype airframe and $8 million for three engines). These aircraft would replace the outdated F-5s that numerous countries were still using. The J79 engine version that was proposed for use, according to Lou Drendel’s book F-16 Fighting Falcon in action, was the -17X. It was estimated to share at least 90% of its components with the dash 17 and 19 engines used in a large number of export Phantoms and Starfighters. This provided yet another marketing advantage since many potential customers for the F-16/79 would be familiar with the J79 engine and may even still have some spares for it.

It was necessary to alter the F-16’s inlet, install steel heat shielding, a transfer gearbox (to connect the engine to the current F-16 gearbox), and extend the aft fuselage by 18 inches (46 cm) in order to accommodate the J79.

According to General Dynamics, the F-16/79 would have a per-unit flyaway cost that was $1.2 million cheaper than the F-16A. In the meanwhile, 20 different air forces were identified as potential buyers, and the General Dynamics foreign marketing team revised the potential market of 500 aircraft upward to over 1,000.

On October 29, 1980, James A. McKinney, a corporate test pilot, made the maiden flight. Test pilots stated that the F-16/79 showed the same 9G capability as the standard F-16 as the test program went on. The /79 needed up to 30% more runway under similar conditions, indicating a significant difference in acceleration performance. It did best than the F-100 engine when it came to top-speed acceleration. Actually, the turbojet appeared to operate smoothly at or close to Mach 2.

These fighters were offered to South Korea, Pakistan, and other countries, but they declined them, leading to a number of exceptions being made to sell standard F-16s; neither the F-16/79 nor the F-20 were ultimately sold due to the policy’s later relaxation under President Carter in 1980 or its cancellation under President Ronald Reagan.

Remembering the F-16/79, the low-cost Viper powered by the J79 turbojet engine

Photo by Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

September 27, 2022 0 comment

History

The F-20: An aircraft ahead of its time

by Till Daisd September 25, 2022

written by Till Daisd

In 1980, an order was placed for seven preproduction F-20s with options for another 83 production models.

The F-20 was a truly amazing aircraft that a lot of people outside the aviation industry don’t know about. The F-20 was ahead of its time, and it was a great fighter plane. It was also an excellent plane that people don’t know about.

The F-20’s most notable feature is the use of all composite materials in its construction, which makes it very light and agile. This allowed for better maneuverability at high speeds than any other fighter plane on the market at that time or since then.

It was a twin-engine, single-seat aircraft that weighed roughly 15,000 pounds. It had a maximum speed of Mach 2.6 with a service ceiling of 60,000 feet.

The F-20 Tigershark is an American fighter bomber with the following specifications:

Twin-engine, single-seat, supersonic, all-weather, variable-sweep wing aircraft.
The F-20 was a variable sweep aircraft.
It was designed in response to the United States Air Force’s TFX program which sought to develop a next-generation air superiority fighter that would succeed the F-15 Eagle.
Northrop Aircraft had also been working on its N-156 design since 1965 with its own version of a lightweight fighter.

In 1971, General Dynamics submitted its proposal for what was then known as “F-16XL” or “LARV”, which would become the F-20 Tigershark. General Dynamics designed the aircraft with both maneuverability and low cost as major factors. They proposed an aircraft with 1g maneuverability using simple leading edge slats, speed brakes, and spoilers rather than thrust vectoring like many contemporary designs; this is similar to how Russian aircraft such as MiG-29 use aerodynamic surfaces rather than thrust vectoring for high agility without sacrificing speed. The design also featured a dual flywheel system intended to improve sustained turn rate at high angles of attack, two large 5’4″ x 8’43/4″ main wheels mounted directly below and behind each engine (to minimize drag) so that if one failed during take-off or landing then a single tire failure wouldn’t cause catastrophic damage, unlike other designs where main landing gear are located further aft near fuselage spine where both tires could be destroyed by hitting runway surface hard enough while taxiing back into the hangar after touching down on the runway.

Northrop Aircraft had also been working on its N-156 design since 1965 with its own version of a lightweight fighter. The project was canceled in 1968, but the company continued to develop the concept of the YF-17 Cobra, which competed in the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition and eventually became the F/A-18 Hornet.

The F-20 was developed by Northrop Corporation as a lightweight fighter aircraft competing against McDonnell Douglas’s XF-18. The company used the YF-17 as a starting point, adopting the twin vertical tail stabilizers, double delta wing, and forward canard design. The F-20 features stealth technology, fly-by-wire controls, and an advanced avionics package.

The first flight took place on 13 July 1994 at Edwards Air Force Base with test pilot Chuck Sewell at the controls. During this flight, it was determined that one engine failed to spool up properly after takeoff due to a compressor stall caused by low engine acceleration from a high angle of attack during ground operations (the aircraft’s nosewheel was raised for taxiing). This was traced back to faulty wiring but did not affect further flights. The second prototype (N405NA) flew in late 1994 fitted with new engines offering greater thrust than those used on N404NA which were replaced with higher speed versions later on.

Other major changes included the nose and tail being extended, and the engine intakes being moved to under the wings.

The F-20 prototypes were delivered in 1976 and 1977, for testing. Northrop won contracts for two prototypes in late 1972 which were delivered for testing in 1976 and 1977 respectively.

The YF-17 Cobra was the competition that would win the contract over the F-20. The YF-17 had lower life-cycle costs than any other aircraft then flying.

The F-20 was designed to be a high-altitude fighter, but not to the extent of being incapable at low altitudes. The N-156 was designed to excel at low altitude as well as high altitude and was still inferior in both categories compared to the F-20. The aircraft performed extremely well in high-altitude tests against its earlier design from 1965 (N-156), outperforming it at high altitudes, but not low altitudes.

The F-20 Tigershark was a truly amazing aircraft that a lot of people outside the aviation industry don’t know about. It is a shame that it never entered production, as it could have been one of the best fighters ever developed if given the chance.

September 25, 2022 0 comment

History

The T-28: an aircraft with a long and distinguished history

by Till Daisd September 23, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The T-28 was a trainer aircraft produced for the US Air Force by North American Aviation. The T-28 served as the primary jet trainer for the United States from 1949 to 1972, with over 2,000 aircraft produced. It was also used in other countries and served as a combat aircraft in several air forces during the 1950s and 1960s.

The T-28 was used as a training aircraft from 1949 until 1984 when the last T-28 retired from USAF service. In addition to its use in the U.S., it was used extensively in South Vietnam during the early 1960s and then again by anti-communist forces in Laos during the 1970s and 80s.

The first T-28A entered service on July 1, 1950. The aircraft was the first to carry out bombing missions during the Vietnam War and was also used for reconnaissance and ground attack purposes. The T-28A was an important asset for the US in its fight against communism during this period.

This aircraft was used extensively in South Vietnam during the early 1960s. It was used for ground attacks, close air support, and interdiction missions. The T-28 was also used by the South Vietnamese Air Force from 1961 to 1973. In total, over 200 T-28 variants were produced before production ended in 1953.

The Philippine Air Force purchased 30 units and used them extensively, including in the Moro conflict in Mindanao. T-28s were used to support ground troops, bomb targets, and deliver supplies to ground troops.

The T-28 was also used as a combat aircraft by the anti-communist forces in Laos. They were flown by the Air Force of the Royal Laotian Government, and later by the United States Navy’s Top Gun school at Naval Air Station Miramar.

While they were no longer used as front-line fighters, they were still very useful in supporting ground troops with close air support missions and interdiction attacks against enemy positions.

In 1972, a dozen T-28D Trojans were donated to the South Vietnamese Air Force by the United States Navy. They were used as trainers for pilots who were transitioning from training aircraft to combat aircraft. The Philippine Air Force purchased 30 units and used them extensively.

After being retired from active service with the US military, many surplus T-28s continued to serve with other nations’ air forces well into the 1990s. The type continued to be used by the South Vietnamese Air Force until 1975 when it was replaced by the F-5 Freedom Fighter for close air support roles. Many of these aircraft were captured by North Vietnamese forces and sent to Soviet pilots for evaluation and study purposes.

The Philippine Air Force also operated a small number of T-28s until the 1980s, replacing them with OV-10 Broncos in 1974. The Royal Laotian Air Force also utilized T-28s as trainers until 1975 when they were replaced by North American T-6 Texans and Rockwell Sabre jets as part of a deal between Thailand (which had previously withdrawn its military aid) and Laos allowing Thai trainers to remain on Laotian soil after their withdrawal from Vietnam ended that year’s conflict there between communist forces supported by Hanoi against those still loyal to Saigon’s puppet regime based at Hue City prior till 1975 when all fighting ceased due both sides agreed ceasefire could take place without any further bloodshed since neither side wanted anything else than peace talks without guns being shot anymore so they figured let’s just find a compromise so we can get some rest finally!

The T-28 Trojan has had a long and distinguished history, serving in the U.S. Air Force for more than 40 years.

The first T-28A entered service on July 1, 1950, followed by additional models later that year. In all, over 4500 of these aircraft were produced by North American Aviation from 1948 to 1958 (the company merged with Rockwell International in 1967).

The United States used them extensively during the Korean War and they were also deployed during the early 1960s in South Vietnam. From 1961 onwards they were used as combat aircraft by the anti-communist forces in Laos until 1969 when they were replaced with F8 Crusaders which were then themselves replaced with A-37 Dragonflys having longer range and better survivability against ground fire (they also had air refueling capability).

September 23, 2022 0 comment

History

15 interesting facts about aviation

by Till Daisd September 22, 2022

written by Till Daisd

Here are some interesting facts about aviation listed by a user on Quora:

During WWII, Russian fighter pilot T. Kuznetsov flew himself home after being shot down by stealing a Nazi fighter plane. The German pilot landed near his crash site to scrounge around the wreck to look for souvenirs.

During WWII, during parachuting from a damaged bomber, an American aviator downed a Japanese fighter plane by shooting the pilot in the head with his sidearm.
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft was so fast that the designers didn’t even consider evasive maneuvers. The pilot was instructed to accelerate and out-fly any threat, including missiles.

In 1970 Russian MiG-25 Fighter had the majority of its avionic implemented in vacuum tubes to resist nuclear electromagnetic pulse.

Every last F-14 Tomcat America has in flyable storage is being shredded to prevent spares from reaching Iran, who are still flying the one sold to them by the U.S. in the 70s.

In 1983, an Israeli pilot successfully landed an F-15 with only one wing. He didn’t realize the extent of the damage until after landing and stated he would have ejected had he known.

A McDonnell Douglas F-15 once shot down a satellite.

1920px-F-15_71st_Fighter_Squadron_in_flight

Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound received his feat on October 14th, 2012 in an F-15 Eagle, to celebrate the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier. He was 89 years old.
The F-22 and Eurofighter Typhoon have been pitted against each other in mock dogfights in the past. The Typhoons proved to be surprisingly effective against American Aircraft and after such an encounter the USAF declared “they didn’t want to play anymore” as a result.

During WWII, a single American P-51 fighter plane held off 30 German fighters from attacking a squadron of B-17 bombers for over half an hour.

375th Fighter Squadron North American P 51D 5 NA Mustang 44 13926 cropped scaled — 375th Fighter Squadron North American P 51D

In June 1974, while President Nixon was on his way to a scheduled stop in Siria, Syrian fighter jets intercepted Air Force One to act as escorts. However, the Air Force One crew was not informed in advance, and as a result, took evasive action including a dive.
The test pilot for America’s first jet fighter dressed in a disguise, so that if trainees at a nearby base saw this new “propeller-less” plane, they would be more likely to think they were hallucinating if it was being flown by a gorilla wearing a derby and smoking a cigar.
In 1956 due to high speed, an F-11 fighter shot itself because it was faster than its own bullet.

The effective cost of the F-35 Program alone is nearly 7 times the total cost of the International Space Station.
During WWII, Royal Air Force fighter pilots started a rumor that excessive carrot consumption gave gunners night vision. They did this so as not to alert Germans of RAF’s new radar technology after they shot down a German aircraft on night raids and the German believed it. German fighters then started eating large quantities of carrots.

September 22, 2022 0 comment

History

Could a Spitfire keep up with a V1?

by Till Daisd September 21, 2022

written by Till Daisd

As explained by a military expert user on Quora, German technology produced the V1, essentially the first “cruise missiles,” after the conflict. (The V2 was the first ICBM ever built.)

It was designed by Werner von Braun and Robert Lussier, who later worked on projects for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. However, he used his technical ability in jet technology during World War II to develop weapons to combat the Allied Forces, in this case, a rocket weapon to scare England but it failed.

As a result, the “tactic” has now given rise to urban legends, with social media commentators debating whether the technique actually was used by pilots to bring down the feared bombs, also known as “buzz bombs” or “doodlebugs,” which were the early precursors to modern drones or cruise missiles, or whether it was just a myth.
It was true, but, according to Wing Commander Nick Robson of the current RAF Air Command High Wycombe, “This was NOT a routine action.” The bumping was a last-ditch effort. The goal was to get the plane’s wing as close as possible to the missile.

The internal gyroscope of the V1 bombs allowed these “cruise missiles” to travel from German-occupied territory to London with a rudimentary level of accuracy, which RAF pilots occasionally took advantage of.
Pilots of Spitfires (or of Tempests or Meteors) would move to intercept when a V1 Flying Bomb was spotted. There was an “X” factor with the V1s: you never knew when they were going to go; better to shoot and blow them up from a distance. The book “V1 Flying Bomb Aces” confirms that specific ranges were used in the 1940s for shooting bombs so they exploded in the air without causing harm, which was much preferred against tipping.

“…the proper range to engage the V1 with guns was 200-250 yards. Further out and the attacker would only damage the control surfaces, causing the V1 to crash and possibly cause civilian casualties upon impact. Any closer and the explosion from hitting the V1’s warhead could damage or destroy the attacking aircraft.”

As V1s were loaded with 1,000 kg of Amatol-39, a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate, pilots frequently had to fly in close to them to take a shot, especially given that the pulse-jet-propelled doodlebugs flew at speeds of up to 400 mph, the tactic is also believed to have reduced some of the risks associated with shooting down a highly explosive flying object.

The Nazis’ badly designed equipment apparently featured a gyro stabilizer for only two dimensions, which left flight control without roll movement and was easily exploitable as the reason tilting operated at all.

Technically and scientifically tipping was a risky move because physics would cause the weapon to detonate on an unknown target.

The competence of the Second World War pilots, according to Wing Commander Robson, meant that the Spitfire’s wing did not really need to “strike” a V1 wing; instead, it used an inventive technique to exploit airflow to divert the flying bomb.

“The V1 is what you and I would call today a ‘drone’ – a pilotless missile – that came off the rails, it was pointed towards London, probably from northern France, and it was just fired.”

“It was literally fire and forget.”

“The problem we found in that time was that shooting it down from the ground was very difficult – they are very fast, and also it’s very difficult to see, so we had to find a way around it.”

He pondered, however, as to what a Spitfire pilot might actually have done. He said: “There is a difference in air pressure above and below the wing – as it gets closer is it actually touching the wing?”

“Some pilots would have touched the wing – the different air pressure at the tip of the aircraft would be enough to cause a disturbance in the aerodynamics around the wing which is then enough to knock it off course, disrupt the gyroscopes, and then get the aircraft crash into the ground.”

“That’s all it needed to do to disrupt the flightpath, just slightly, and either by physically hitting the wing, or actually it takes more skill, to put the wing so close that the vortexes at the wingtip disturb the air around the V1 wing itself, causing it to go off course.”

He said that the Spitfire might have sustained some damage from a mid-air collision. But for that to happen, pilots would have needed to strike a V1’s wing very hard.

Instead, he suggests a different scenario might have been taking place, saying: “We’re not looking at ‘ramming it off the road’ in the sense of the police programs you see now, this is just very sensitive disruption of the airflow around the wing.”

However, they wouldn’t waste ammunition since they would employ a different tactic. Simply moving near the V1 caused the Spitfire to tap its wings and throw off its gyroscope. Simply moving near the V1 caused the Spitfire to tap its wings and throw off its gyroscope.

Ken Collier of 91 Squadron physically dropped the first V1 bomb while flying a Spitfire Mk IVX. He had seven V1 victories and eventually died in combat.

September 21, 2022 0 comment

History

Amazing aircraft on display at the one and only public air show in XB-70 Valkyrie history

by Till Daisd September 20, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The XB-70 Valkyrie AV/2 would only leave and land at Carswell AFB before being destroyed on June 8, 1966, as a result of an unintentional mid-air collision

The interesting photo in this post was taken at Carswell Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, in 1966 during the Combination Open House, which has the distinction of being the sole public airshow in XB-70 Valkyrie history.

Although the legendary XB-70 was displayed at several events at Edwards AFB, only the military had access to the Mach 3 bomber there, in accordance with XB-70 documentation in the National Archive.

As this incredible photo demonstrates, the airshow that was staged in connection with the Air Force Association (AFA) 20th-anniversary convention on March 24-26, 1966 featured some of the most spectacular aircraft that have ever been constructed. But aircraft ID captions require some improvement. – An F-106, not an F-102, is on the flight line above the hangar. It is the aircraft with no tag between the F-4 and the F-102. The aircraft in the lower right is a B-26K, not an A-37, the X-15 is a full-scale mockup, and the uncaptioned rocket is a Thor Able. Lower left: that is a YF-12A, not an SR-71.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie air vehicle 2 (AV/2), which made its first public appearance as well as its first landing outside of Edwards AFB, Calif., was the star performer at the largest airshow the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has put on in recent years. Al White of North American and USAF Lt. Col. Fitzhugh Fulton piloted the 275-ton giant during its 55-minute flight from Edwards to Carswell AFB. During a three-day static display, the 275-ton giant was viewed by more than 350,00 people.

Before being destroyed on June 8, 1966, as a result of an unintentional mid-air collision, Carswell AFB would be the sole airfield the AV/2 would fly to and return from. The Valkyrie, piloted by North American’s Al White and USAF Lt. Col. Fitzhugh Fulton, reached 6,000 feet over Carswell AFB just 59 minutes after takeoff after spending just 13 minutes at Mach 2.6! Before landing, AV/2 rumbled across Texas’ sky for the following 30 minutes. Two days later, Cotton and White flew back to Edwards at subsonic speeds, taking just over three hours to complete the trip. This was the only flight throughout the whole program when performance data was not recorded.

The Only Public Air Show in XB-70 Valkyrie History Featured some of the Coolest Aircraft Ever Built

Photo by U.S. Air Force

September 20, 2022 0 comment

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