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military

An ex-USAF fighter pilot explains why, despite the Starfighter’s many problems, he would love to fly the Zipper

by Till Daisd February 22, 2024

‘For all the bad-mouthing the F-104 has received in the past if I had the money (and my wife would let me… which she definitely would not!) I would buy and fly the Starfighter,’ Roger Daisley, retired USAF F-89 Scorpion fighter pilot

The stubby-winged Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, also referred to as “the missile with a man in it,” was the first US jet fighter in service to reach Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. According to the Smithsonian website, the Zipper (as her aircrews nicknamed the F-104) was built as a high-performance day fighter and had exceptional acceleration and top speed. Equipped with a six-barrel M-61 20mm Vulcan cannon, it served as a tactical fighter and, when equipped with Sidewinder missiles that detect heat, as a day-night interceptor.

An F-104A established a global speed record of 1,404.19 mph on May 18, 1958, while an F-104C set a world altitude record of 103,395 feet on December 14, 1959. The Starfighter was the first aircraft to hold simultaneous official world records for speed, altitude, and time-to-climb.

As he recalls on Quora, retired USAF F-89 Scorpion fighter pilot Roger Daisley loved the F-104 but never had the chance to fly the Starfighter.

‘I have flown a wide variety of Air Force aircraft, including Century Series fighters… but never the F-104.

‘My first assignment, as a second lieutenant, was with the 84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (F-89). at Hamilton Air Force Base, California. (Often referred to as the Garden Spot of the Air Force!)

‘[When I graduated from Flight School, I was #3 in the Class Standings. The first two graduates grabbed the F-86 and F-100 assignments, so my only choice was the F-89… or B-47, C-54, or “other” multi-engine prop aircraft. I chose the F-89 at Hamilton.]

‘There were two squadrons at Hamilton AFB: the 83rd FIS and the 84th FIS. The 84th, my squadron, had the F-89. The 83 FIS had the F-86D. About a year after I arrived at Hamilton. The 83rd FIS transitioned to the F-104A… the first F-104 squadron in the Air Force.

‘As the first F-104 squadron, they went through a few tough times! For example, the Squadron Commander was killed when he ejected on final approach to Hamilton, using the ill-conceived downward ejection seat. There also was a problem with the J79 variable engine fuel nozzles. They had a bad habit, every once in a while, of leaking flaming JP-4 fuel and burning a hole through the side of the aircraft.

‘All the above aside, watching a flight of two F-104s in a formation takeoff was a sight to behold! At the departure end of the runway, they would pull up to what “looked like” 90 degrees straight up (probably more like 45 degrees) and disappeared out of sight. Even more spectacular was a night formation takeoff … two blue-tinged twenty feet flaming afterburners disappearing into the night! To an F-89 pilot, these guys seem like a combination of Superman and Astronauts (Actually Astronauts hadn’t been “invented” yet … Sputnik had just made an appearance!)

‘Yet, for all the bad-mouthing the F-104 has received in the past if I had the money (and my wife would let me … which she definitely would not!) I would buy and fly the F-104. I saw a civilian-owned F-104 at Nellis Air Force Base, several years ago. What a beauty! Either he was single or a very “understanding” wife.’

So if you ask Daisley:

‘As a pilot, what’s a plane you’d love to fly?’

His answer is clear:

‘No question: F-104.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force

February 22, 2024 0 comment

History

The cost of the Raptor today would be comparable to that of the F-15EX Eagle II if the F-22 production line hadn’t been torn apart years ago

by Till Daisd February 21, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘It may very well be the biggest procurement blunder in the history of the Air Force, the Army Air Force, the Army Air Corps, and even the Balloon Division of the Army Signal Corps,’ Gregg Gray, former USAF SNCO

With its supercruise, maneuverability, integrated avionics, stealth, and improved supportability, the F-22 Raptor represents a revolutionary advancement in warfighting capabilities. Due to the Raptor’s ability to conduct air-to-ground and air-to-air missions, operational concepts essential to the Air Force of the twenty-first century can now be fully realized.

An essential part of the Global Strike Task Force, the F-22 is built to project air dominance quickly and over long distances, defeating adversaries trying to prevent the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps from entering the country. There isn’t a fighter aircraft that can compete with the F-22, either current or planned.

But in 2009, even with the Raptor’s unique capabilities, government officials decided to officially stop producing the F-22 because of the aircraft’s exorbitant cost per unit and shifting military needs in response to post-Cold War challenges.

However, was it the right choice to stop F-22 production?

Gregg Gray, former US Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (SNCO) who worked at the White House, explains on Quora;

‘Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in the Bush 43 and Obama Administrations was willing to move both heaven and hell to cut the production of the F-22 off. Unfortunately, President Obama didn’t see the mistake that was being made by doing this and happily allowed Gates and company to convince Congress to move the funding to other areas. Gates believed that the future was in the F-35, and that is where we should be moving towards.

‘It may very well be the biggest procurement blunder in the history of the Air Force, the Army Air Force, the Army Air Corps, and even the Balloon Division of the Army Signal Corps.

‘The cost of R&D is all front-loaded and then it is effectively spread out over the entire production run. The first aircraft in the production run effectively costs the cost of all the R&D plus its own production costs, this price almost halves with the second aircraft, and so on. The original production run was supposed to be 750 aircraft. Instead, it was cut to 187 production aircraft. So, when R&D was figured in each aircraft cost $361,000,000 instead of $90,000,000 or even less as the run moved forward.

‘Another reason that the aircraft cost as much as it did as Congress prohibited foreign sales (which I agree with on an aircraft like this). Foreign sales would have spread the R&D cost out even further.’

Gray concludes;

‘It was shortsighted on the Obama Administration’s part. They were trying to cash in a Peace Dividend as the Russian and Chinese didn’t have a Stealth Aircraft program that was going anywhere, and it was felt that our limited number of F-22s combined with F-35s would be able to handle the air superiority role against anything the other nations might put up. The F-22 was supposed to replace the F-15, but of course, that couldn’t happen with just 187 of them. So, the lifetime of the F-15 was extended while the F-35 was being brought online. Now that program is hugely behind, so guess what?

‘We are buying new 4th generation F-15EX models—the very family of aircraft that the 5th generation F-22 was supposed to replace. They are going to cost $84 million each, about what brand new F-22s would have cost us (If the F-22 production line hadn’t been torn apart years ago).’

Photo by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, U.S. Air Force

February 21, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

SR-71 pilot recalls when his RSO ‘gave the birdie’ to a French Air Force Mirage III pilot

by Till Daisd February 20, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘My RSO had given him “the bird” with his middle finger: I lit the afterburners and left that Mirage standing still. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel,’ Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr., former SR-71 Blackbird pilot

The Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft served as the basis for the development of the SR-71, also referred to as the “Blackbird,” or long-range, advanced strategic reconnaissance aircraft. The 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, received the first SR-71 to begin service in January 1966. The first SR-71 flight occurred on December 22, 1964. On January 26, 1990, the US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71 aircraft.

For almost two decades, the SR-71 held the record for being the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft in the world. It could cover 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour from 80,000 feet.

Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr. has some of the most interesting stories about flying the SR-71. He talks of a mission he flew over Lebanon in 1982; according to SR-71 pilot Stormy Boudreaux, Tom Henichek was Burk’s RSO for that mission

The story appears in both this post’s video and Ben Rich’s book Skunk Works.

That time a French Mirage III unintentionally buzzed (and scared) a U-2 flying at 65,000ft during a mission aimed to monitor France’s nuclear facilities

‘In the fall of ’82, I flew from Mildenhall on a mission over Lebanon in response to the Marine barracks bombing. President Reagan ordered photo coverage of all the terrorist bases in the region. The French refused to allow us to overfly, so our mission profile was to refuel off the south coast of England, a Mach 3 cruise leg down the coast of Portugal and Spain, a left turn through the Straits of Gibraltar, refuel in the Western Mediterranean, a right turn into Lebanon and fly right down Main Street Beirut, exit along the southern Mediterranean with another refueling over Malta, supersonic back out of the straits, and return to England. Because Syria had a Soviet SA-5 missile system just west of Damascus that we would be penetrating (we were unsure of Syria’s intentions in this conflict), we programmed to fly above 80,000 feet and at Mach 3+ to be on the safe side, knowing that this advanced missile had the range and speed to nail us.

‘As we entered Lebanon’s airspace, my Recon Systems Officer in the rear cockpit informed me that our defensive systems display showed we were being tracked by that SA-5. About 15 seconds later, we got a warning of active guidance signals from the SA-5 site. We couldn’t tell whether there was an actual launch or the missile was still on the rails, but they were actively tracking us. We didn’t waste any time wondering, but climbed and pushed that throttle, and said a couple of “Hail Kellys.”

‘We completed our pass over Beirut and turned toward Malta, when I got a warning low-oil-pressure light on my right engine. Even though the engine was running fine, I slowed down, lowered our altitude, and made a direct line for England. We decided to cross France without clearance instead of going the roundabout way.

‘We made it almost across, when I looked out the left window and saw a French Mirage III sitting ten feet off my left wing. He came up on our frequency and asked us for our Diplomatic Clearance Number. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I told him to stand by. I asked my backseater, who said, “Don’t worry about it. I just gave it to him.” What he had given him was “the bird” with his middle finger. I lit the afterburners and left that Mirage standing still. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel.’

Check out Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and French Air Force Via FAST Museum Twitter Account

February 20, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

After the radome came off during an ACM encounter, the pilot managed to land his Tomcat aboard the USS Eisenhower

by Till Daisd February 19, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘We started an ACM engagement and as soon as I got a little G on the airplane, that [radar dome] failed…’ Joe Edwards, VF-142 F-14 Tomcat Pilot

Established on August 24, 1948, US Navy Fighter Squadron 193 (VF-193) Ghostriders flew F4U Corsair. Before transitioning into the jet era in 1953 with the F2H Banshee, it made two deployments to Korea with the Corsair. It went from the F3H Demon in 1958 to the F-4 Phantom II in 1963, when it was redesigned as the VF-142. Following eleven years of flying the Phantom, which included multiple combat tours in Vietnam, the squadron switched to the F-14 Tomcat in 1974. The Ghostriders successfully intercepted a Soviet Tu-95 Bear bomber with an F-14 for the first time in 1976. Before being disestablished in 1995, the squadron flew the F-14 for a total of twenty-one years.

That time a VF-142 F-14 Tomcat with missing radome made an emergency landing aboard USS Eisenhower

The pictures in this post were taken on Nov. 13, 1991, and depict a U.S. Navy Grumman F-14B Tomcat (BuNo 161433) from Fighter Squadron 142 (VF-142) “Ghost Riders” on board the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). At 8,200 meters over the Persian Gulf, the crew—led by LtCdr. Joe F. Edwards and Lt. JG Scott C. Grundmeier—had to perform an emergency landing after the nose cone came off due to a latching mechanism failure.

On Full Disc Aviation, Joe Edwards had an insightful interview regarding this episode. This is what Edwards said to the FDA staff at Full Disc Aviation.

FDA: Do you feel comfortable talking about your F-14 convertible landing? The radome broke off, correct?

Joe: Yeah, there was a locking mechanism at the 6 o’clock position underneath the fuselage on the F-14 where you lock the radome down… radome is radar dome… there’s a flat radar antenna back behind there, and the locking mechanism had corroded, and actually fell out into the ocean. We started the day with an ACM engagement about 25–35 miles from the ship with the CO of my squadron – Dick “Weasel” Gallagher. I ran the Operations and Maintenance departments for him during my department head tour in VF-142. Weasel is a great American and a great friend and we always had a fine time wrestling with each other during close-in dogfighting. Most importantly, I was flying that day with Scott “Grundy” Grundemier, a Naval Academy classmate of mine (and also a former squadron mate, as was Weasel, in VF-143 a few years before this). Grundy was one of the finest RIOs the Navy ever had, and his experience, headwork, and decision-making skills were critical to our ability to safely land the airplane on IKE. It’s too lengthy a story to tell here, but after landing on the ship, I found that my eye’s iris had prolapsed and extended out of my eye through a 3 mm cut in the cornea. I was medevac’d to the International Hospital of Bahrain where surgery was performed on my eye. I was released 10 days later. Anyway, we started an ACM engagement and as soon as I got a little G on the airplane, that [radar dome] failed..the hinge for the radome is at the 12 o’clock position and it was put there so that you could raise that thing up and sit it back on top of the airplane on a crowded carrier deck or hangar deck, so when that thing failed it rotated on its hinge and if you ever go to the [Udvar Hazy] Air and Space Museum here at Dulles, and you look at that radome [on the F-14] and you turn it 180 degrees, you see that the angle of attack probe is right in front of the pilot’s face, so that’s what hit me. It crashed through the canopy, that hit me in the face and took out my right eye, broke my collarbone…

FDA: What speed were you flying when that happened?

Joe: Ground speed we were going about 600 knots at 28,000 feet, so it was a loud boom, explosive decompression, and the airplane was damaged, a lot of glass in the cockpit, a lot of glass in my eyes… so at 28,000 feet, I didn’t have any oxygen and I didn’t realize it at the time. When it hit me in the face I’d probably be severely disfigured today had I not been wearing an oxygen mask; the plastic form of the oxygen mask was intact but I lost the hose, so I didn’t have any oxygen, I was breathing ambient air. So I quickly circled down, pulled the throttles to idle, put the boards out, circled down, didn’t have any canopy around me, couldn’t see out of the front of the airplane because the plexiglass was so cracked with pieces missing…the captain of the ship was a guy named Bill Cross and he became an admiral after that tour, and Admiral Cross…when I came by the ship at flight deck level, I couldn’t talk to anyone of course because I didn’t have any communications fittings going up to my microphone that’s still in the hard shell of my mask…so I dropped the gear, dropped the flaps, lowered the tailhook, came up the side of the ship to tell them I needed to land immediately, and Bill Cross immediately started turning the carrier back into the wind to give me a chance to recover the airplane. Of course I couldn’t talk to anyone, and I didn’t even know the nose of the airplane was missing because you can’t see it from the cockpit; it’s a Navy airplane, gotta be able to see the ship when you’re landing. So I did two practice approaches in the 10 minutes it took the aircraft carrier to turn around and steadied up on a base recovery course 322 degrees and I flew an approach and landed on the ship; trapped…that was my last carrier landing; I knew it was going to be because I was blind in my right eye, and I knew I’d never fly again. But, they medevac’d me out after a few hours and the helicopter landed there at night, I had two IV’s swinging, I was laying wrapped in stokes litter when a Navy nurse from San Diego, California, named Gail Little…met me at the helo, and we were on this ambulance riding through the narrow middle eastern streets like we were in the move “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, I actually told Gail to tell the ambulance driver I’m not going to die on the way to the hospital, but I might die if he wrecks the ambulance, he needs to slow down [laughter] so he slowed down, took me right into surgery…they sewed up a 3mm cut with six stitches and four years later I showed up to Johnson Space Center as an astronaut. We used to say sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Special thanks to Full Disc Aviation Staff

Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Navy via HOME OF M.A.T.S.

February 19, 2024 0 comment

History

Why the Blackbird had engine and afterburner fuel control cable pulleys and its inlets had to be labeled “L” and “R”

by Till Daisd February 18, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The SR-71’s engineering was so advanced that new tools had to be created in order to build the Blackbird

The SR-71 Blackbird collected intelligence in some of the world’s most dangerous environments during its service.

The SR-71 was designed to fly at very high altitudes, very fast speeds, and very high temperatures. In fact, it was the first aircraft built entirely of titanium since the air molecules’ friction against it at Mach 2.6 would have melted a conventional aluminum frame.

There are lots of fascinating details regarding the legendary Blackbird.

Former Blackbird RSO Butch Sheffield would say “Minter,” while pointing to the “L” on the SR-71‘s inlet. Colonel Minter gave the order to identify each SR-71 in the inventory so that it would be obvious which was the left or right.

SR-71-Inlet — SR-71left inlet labeled “L”

An accident occurred on SR-71 #964 early in the Blackbird program; the engines suffered damage from being placed in the incorrect inlet. Floyd Jones, a former crew chief, provides additional details on the narrative;

‘They will fit, but they are canted outboard instead of inboard. It happened on 964; she flew with no problem until checking the inlet’s major damage on the spikes and center body also FOD the engine.

‘Reason it happened was they did something out of the usual. Both spikes were left on one side of the hangar. Usually, when a spike was removed, it was left on that side of hangar.’

SR-71-R-inlet — SR-71 right inlet labeled “R”

Expert on SR-71 engines John Olp said something about the Blackbird’s cutting-edge engineering that you might not know.

‘The right engine throttle linkage was connected to the afterburner fuel control, and the left engine throttle linkage is connected to the main fuel control!

‘The aircraft throttle linkage was connected to the afterburner fuel control on the left engine and the main fuel control on the right engine (inboard side of the engines).

‘It absolutely did matter because of the two different functions.’

Olp adds further details;

SR-71-pulleys — SR-71 Blackbird engine and afterburner fuel control cable pulleys.

‘The two fuel controls were interconnected by a pulley and cable system in order to be fully synchronized. There was a pulley on each fuel control with a steel braided cable running underneath the engine, around more pulleys, so that, whatever position you set one fuel control at, the other one moved with it!

‘Afterburner fuel control on the right, main fuel control on the left. The aircraft throttles were connected to the threaded portion sticking out of the pulley shaft.’

You will now understand a little history behind the markings on an SR-71 when you approach the inlets and search for the “L” or the “R.” And keep in mind! The primary fuel control is located on the left of the Blackbird, while the afterburner fuel control is located on the right.

Check out the Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by William Franklin Cely, Linda Sheffield Miller, John Olp and U.S. Air Force

February 18, 2024 0 comment

History

Luftwaffe Bf 109 pilot Erich Hartmann did not fire until the enemy was as close as 66 feet

by Till Daisd February 17, 2024

written by Till Daisd

Erich Hartmann would only have barely a second to get out of the way before colliding with the enemy

Erich Hartmann, a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in aerial warfare history, was born on April 19, 1922, and died on September 20, 1993. He was known by his German allies as “Bubi” (“The Kid,”) and by his Soviet enemies as “The Black Devil.”

Hartmann flew more than 1,400 flights in the Messerschmitt Bf 109 during his service in the German Luftwaffe during World War II, which allowed him to record an incredible 352 kills (he shot down 345 Soviet and seven American aircraft).

How did Hartmann get so good at dominating the skies?

Rodra Hascaryo, an aviation expert who studied Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering, explains;

‘He has an unmatched record of 352 enemy planes shot down while never being shot down himself. It’s very likely that his record will never be surpassed.

‘The secret to his success was his technique. It’s deceptively simple, yet ridiculously effective, particularly against the Soviets.

‘Airplane guns in World War II were commonly mounted on the wings, and they don’t shoot straight forward. They had to be converged or harmonized so that it is concentrated on a single point at a fixed distance.

‘Convergence can be set by the ground crew according to the pilot’s wishes. Unlike some, Hartmann chose to make his gun converge extremely close, and he would not fire until the enemy is effectively right in front of him; as close as 20 m (65.62 feet). To give an idea how dangerous this is, he would only have barely a second to get out of the way before colliding with the enemy.

‘But by firing at the very last moment, he basically never missed. It is just impossible to miss when the target is that close. Also, the adversary would have no time to react.

‘After attacking, he wouldn’t stick around and dogfight like how pilots in movies do. He would flee the scene and attack again once the enemy lost him or lowered their guard. The Soviet airplanes and pilot training was particularly deficient to counter this.’

Hascaryo concludes;

‘It’s basically aerial hit-and-run, a tactic as old as humanity, and is still nonetheless devastating in the modern era. It also doesn’t require the pilot to be exceptionally good at any one thing (like shooting or flying); an average pilot with above-average understanding of their machine and good planning could pull it off.’

Erich Hartmann is the top-scoring fighter ace of all time with 352 victories. Hartmann would survive the war, a decade of Soviet imprisonment, and 12 years in the postwar West German Luftwaffe before passing away from a heart attack in 1993.

Photo by U.S. Air Force Wikimedia Commons via Military History Now

February 17, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The F-4G had a small likelihood of surviving a DACT engagement with the F-15 Eagle, but had no chance against the F-16 Viper

by Till Daisd February 16, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘The small chance we had against an F-15 Eagle was gone against the F-16 Viper. Not even putting down the landing gear and letting him fly by us worked!!!’ Jim Howard, former F-4G and EF-111A EWO

F-4G, the F-4E fighters that were transformed into Wild Weasels, had their cannon replaced with the AN/APR-47 electronic warfare equipment. Their goal was to take down enemy air defenses, such as radars that detect surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). For this specific reason, 116 F-4Es were converted to F-4Gs.

The F-4G operated in combination with other F-4Gs or as a hunter aircraft, directing fighter-bombers, such as the F-16, against SAM sites while carrying AGM-88A/B/C High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM). The F-4G was operated by a pilot along with an Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) to facilitate communication, navigate, and plan assaults on the SAM installations.

How did the F-4G perform in dissimilar aircraft combat training (DACT) against the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Viper?

‘In ancient times I was the last EWO in the 67th TFS Wild Weasel squadron when it converted from the F-4Cww to the F-15A,’ Jim Howard, former F-4G and EF-111A EWO, explains on Quora.

‘Sadly, the 67th recently shut down without a replacement.

‘All of my pilot friends raved about how much they loved the Eagle, and how easy it was to fly compared to the F-4. An F-15 instructor said he could solo a private pilot in the Eagle after three rides.

‘The Weasel mission moved to the 90TFS in the Philippines, and I wound up flying against the same guys in their Eagles a couple of times. The nice thing about the Eagle was that we, in our F-4Gs, had at least a small chance against them. We could see them a long way away and, and could exchange AIM-7 missiles head-on. Then we had to run away as fast as two J-79 motors could take us. To hang around F-15s in an F-4 was certain death, but we did sometimes succeed in living through the encounter.

‘The F-15 was a big target, we could see them 30 to 40 miles away head on.

‘(You have to remember that the AN/APQ-120 was a manually operated radar. The back seater had adjust tilt, gain, and scan to find a target, and then mentally compute his heading and altitude. This was easy to mess up in the heat of battle. Modern radars think for the operators, but those radars didn’t, not a bit.)

‘Then F-16s showed up in the Pacific. The only nice thing about that was that you died relaxed because YOU COULDN’T SEE THE B******S UNTIL YOUR WARNING GEAR LITE UP. By then they were camped at your six o’clock and an AIM-9 was on the way, worse, a hail of 20mm rounds.’

Howard concludes;

‘The small chance we had against an Eagle was gone against the Viper. Not even putting down the landing gear and letting him fly by us worked!!!

‘(OK, that slow down and let him fly by tactics only worked in the movies. But nothing else would either if the Viper saw your first.)’

Photo by U.S. Air Force

February 16, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

When a US Navy A-4 pilot had to eject after a catastrophic turbine failure that turned his Skyhawk into a fireball

by Till Daisd February 15, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘I had a catastrophic turbine failure that buzz sawed the back end of my plane and turned the plane into a fireball. I was going about 500 knots indicated. I ejected through the fireball,’ Ken VanderHorst, US Navy A-4 Skyhawk pilot

In a military aircraft, an ejection seat is a device meant for rescuing the pilot or other crew of the aircraft in an emergency. The majority of designs involve the canopy coming off and the seat being propelled out of the aircraft by a rocket motor or explosive charge, taking the pilot with it. The ejection seat releases a parachute once it is outside the airplane. To prevent a collision, the seats of two-seat aircraft are ejected at distinct angles.

Pilots had to manually climb out of the aircraft and remove the canopy before ejection seats were invented.

Ejection seats can save lives. But can fighter pilots eject if a catastrophic failure turns their aircraft into a fireball?

‘Yes,’ Ken VanderHorst, former US Navy A-4 Skyhawk pilot, recalls on Quora.

‘Many years ago, I was flying a sand blower mission in an A-4 Skyhawk over the California desert.

‘I had a catastrophic turbine failure that essentially buzz-sawed the back end of my plane and turned the plane into a fireball.

‘There were absolutely no strange noises or other warnings of any kind

‘I was going about 500 knots indicated. I ejected through the fireball. I had some burns and some serious flailing injuries but survived. I later returned to flight duty. So yes, you can eject while on fire. Indeed, that is almost certainly your best option for a serious fire.’

VanderHorst concludes;

‘At 500+ knots your extremities get caught by the air blast, and they “flail” around. I injured my left leg and left arm. I recovered and flew again. But I was warned that when I turned 60, my old injuries would come back to haunt me. I’m 70 this year, and now I understand what the flight surgeon meant. Lots issues.’

U.S. Air Force photo by Jet Fabara

February 15, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

When an F-4 Phantom II radar screen went black because of the high speed of an SR-71

by Till Daisd February 14, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘I watched in amazement as the Vc circle [on the radar display], which told us the relative closing velocity of the target, started rapidly winding up far higher than I had ever seen it before,’ Jerry Hart, US Navy F-4B Phantom II pilot

The SR-71 Blackbird collected intelligence in some of the world’s most dangerous environments during its 24 years of operation. The Blackbird is still the only US Air Force (USAF) aircraft never to lose a crew member, either in the air or on the ground, having successfully avoided all 1,000 missiles fired at it.

The Blackbird was built to fly at high speeds and altitudes; in fact, it could cover 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour from 80,000 feet. As we have already pointed out, it was therefore very difficult to get a radar lock on it, for any hostile fighter as well as for the best American fighters.

A claim confirmed by Jerry Hart, a former US Navy F-4B Phantom II pilot;

‘During the Vietnam War, the Navy kept at least 2 fighters airborne in the northern Gulf of Tonkin 24/7/365, flying a mission called BARCAP (Barrier Combat Air Patrol) as part of the first line of defense for the carrier(s) to the south, operating on Yankee Station and sometimes Dixie Station. The other part of the first line of defense was provided by a heavily armed guided missile cruiser, radio callsign “Red Crown” whose Air Intercept Controllers (AICs) controlled the fighters and any others operating in the northern Gulf.

‘The BARCAP was usually a very boring mission of drilling around in a racetrack pattern east of communist North Vietnam and south of the island of Hainan owned by communist China for several hours until relieved on station by another section (2 aircraft) of fighters.

‘I was leading a section of F-4Bs on BARCAP one bright, severe, clear Chamber of Commerce day when “Red Crown” gave us a heads-up call of a friend who would be coming at us from the north. That could only mean one thing. An SR-71 would be exiting Chinese airspace from over Hainan Island coming right over us.

‘We were cruising around saving gas at about 25,000 feet. I turned us toward the north to see if we could pick him up on radar and possibly see him as he passed overhead. After running the antenna up in elevation as far as it would go my RIO was able to paint a target and quickly locked it up.

‘I watched in amazement as the Vc circle [on the radar display] which told us the relative closing velocity of the target started rapidly winding up far higher than I had ever seen it before. Then the B trace, which indicated the target’s position relative to the nose of our aircraft, began to dither back and forth rapidly before slamming to the side of the scope and the screen went completely black. We never could get it to work again.’

Hart concludes;

‘We thought we could at least see it fly overhead as it passed us. Nope. Too high, even for us to see with the naked eye. I had once seen another aircraft at 56 nautical miles verified by radar so I knew my eyes weren’t the problem.’

Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force

February 14, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The only SAM that had a chance to hit the Blackbird was a Nuclear S-300 fired ahead of the SR-71

by Till Daisd February 13, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘One of the real highlights of flying above Mach 3 and above 80,000 feet is nobody is up there with you,’ David Peters, former SR-71 Blackbird pilot

The SR-71 Blackbird is the only reconnaissance aircraft in history to have operated in more hostile airspace and with such complete impunity. Air-breathing engines powering this aircraft are the fastest in the world. The Blackbird represented the highest point in aviation technology development during the Cold War due to its performance and operational accomplishments.

The SR-71 Blackbird gathered intelligence in some of the world’s most hostile environments during its 24 years of operation. The Blackbird is still the only US Air Force (USAF) aircraft to never lose a crew member, either in the air or on the ground, having successfully avoided all 1,000 missiles fired at it.

The Blackbird was built for flying at high speeds and altitudes; in fact, it could cover 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour from 80,000 feet. It was very hard for any surface-to-air (SAM) missile or fighter jet in use at the time to get a radar lock on it.

Therefore, it is untrue that the SR-71’s flight was discontinued due to fears that it might be intercepted by Soviet MiGs or jet fighters that were then serving with neutral nations in the Baltic. There were many precautions taken to keep the Blackbird safe from being fired, some of which are still classified and hence cannot be described in detail.

This statement is confirmed by David Peters, a former SR-71 pilot;

‘We were allowed 45 degrees of bank for a designated high bank turn. Radius is about 60 miles at 3.2. But your change of heading is pretty rapid you are just covering a lot of ground and air doing it. Most people don’t understand the dynamics. We were not going to outmaneuver much of anything. What matters is the proximity, to start with. The speed and range of the protagonist. One of the real highlights of flying above Mach 3 and above 80,000 feet is nobody is up there with you. They have to see you (radar) first. How far away is significant because we are not just larking along. If you are talking surface-to-air missiles, how long does it take to launch get to 80,000 feet? How long does it take, and how close does it have to get to be able to maneuver if we are not going straight ahead? Very few missiles could go far enough to make up 36 or more miles per minute.

‘All this is not taking any consideration of our ECM capability.’

Peters concludes;

‘The bottom line is the only surface-to-air missile that had any chance at all was the SA-10 [SA-10 Grumble, the NATO reporting name of the S-300 Soviet SAM system] if it was nuclear. That would allow them to fire it out ahead of us with an air burst at altitude, which we could possibly not circumvent. Airborne I.e. interceptors, none had any chance, what so ever.’

Check out the Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by Russian Ministry of Defence and Lockheed Martin

February 13, 2024 0 comment

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