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planes

When a Tomcat went inverted a few feet above the ground after takeoff and both flaps and slats failed

by Till Daisd October 26, 2024

‘Out of control, I reached for the “D” ejection handle between my legs. I grasped it but did not pull it, as I realized that being inverted, the ejection would slam me into the dirt and I would die,’ John Chesire, former F-14 Tomcat pilot

‘Right after takeoff in an F-14 and upon raising the flaps and slats, on one wing they came up and the other side they did not,’ remembers John Chesire, former US Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot, on Quora.

‘With now fully asymmetric flaps and slats, I could not control the aircraft and rolled inverted, only a few hundred feet above the dirt.

‘Out of control, I reached for the “D” ejection handle between my legs. I grasped it but did not pull it, as I realized that being inverted, the ejection would slam me into the dirt and I would die.

‘Pushing negative G stopped me from crashing. Also, as my airspeed increased, I started to gain control of my wings and eventually made it roll “right side up.”’

Chesire continues;

‘I did not immediately know what caused this. However, I thought raising the flaps/slats might help. Unfortunately, when I moved the flap handle back up, nothing happened. They were still locked in position.

‘I thought I would have to still eject when I got over the water a couple of miles ahead, but I did not have to do so. Climbing to 15,000 feet, I became an ersatz test pilot, trying to see at what speed I could still maintain control. It was around 230 knots or so. Therefore I maintained 240 knots until I touched down on our 12,000-foot runway.

‘After revisiting this incident so many years later, I am now wondering if I should have let the aircraft roll all the way around, 360°.

‘Of course, my natural instinct was to fight it. I had a full opposite stick, a full left rudder, and full asymmetrical thrust (‘burner in one engine and much less in the other) before I reached for the ejection handle. But by then I was inverted.’

Chesire concludes;

‘Putting in all those extreme and opposite controls stopped the roll as intended, but they stopped the roll upside down and did nothing to roll back upright… until I gained more airspeed.’

Photo by U.S. Navy

October 26, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

This aircraft faster than the SR-71 is not the Blackbird

by Till Daisd October 25, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The A-12 Oxcart was a super-secret, single-seater spy plane and was more secret and much rarer than the SR-71. The SR-71 was actually developed from the A-12.

It is well known that the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane holds the official record for the fastest jet-powered, piloted aircraft ever.

This Aircraft was Faster than the SR-71 (Look Closely it's not a Blackbird) — *A-12s*

Nonetheless, the A-12 Oxcart, a jet-powered, piloted aircraft, was faster than the SR-71.

‘The A-12 Oxcart was a super-secret, single-seater spy plane and was more secret and much rarer than the SR-71,’ says Christian Nelson, an aviation expert, on Quora. ‘In fact, the SR-71 was actually developed from the A-12.’

‘Despite bearing the marks of the USAF, it was developed for and only ever flown by the CIA. It was meant to be the replacement for the U-2 spy plane, though both it and the SR-71 were decommissioned before the U-2. I mean, the U-2 still flies to this day, more than half a century after its first flight. So, failing marks on that account for the Ox-Bird sisters.

‘Anyway, according to Lockheed (who designed and built them), the A-12 Oxcart was officially able to fly at 95,000ft and 2,221 mph or Mach 3.35. Compare that to 85,000ft and 2,112 mph, or Mach 3.2, of the SR-71. However, there are anecdotal stories of both aircraft surpassing the official records for speed and altitude.

‘The CIA operated the A-12 slightly under its capacity it seems because their documented numbers are slightly lower than Lockheed’s; about 3mph slower and 5000ft lower.

‘Here’s a spec sheet from the CIA’s official website.’

Nelson concludes:

‘Both planes can be viewed side-by-side in Blackbird Park situated within Air Force Plant 42 next to Palmdale Regional Airport in Palmdale, California. So, like, go see it or something.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force and CIA

October 25, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The F-4 Phantom II that outran an F/A-18 Hornet and zoomed at 82,125 feet per minute

by Till Daisd October 24, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘The Phantom was one of those planes where it seemed the faster it went, the faster it wanted to go, and the Hornet was not,’ said Travis Brannon, a former F-4 driver with the U.S. Navy

Shortly after the fleet was introduced in the mid-1980s, the F/A-18 Hornet, a multi-mission aircraft designated to replace the F-4 Phantom II and A-7 Corsair II, emerged as the front-line naval strike fighter. Similarly, the aircraft is highly maneuverable and instrumented to optimize single-pilot control of several weapons systems in air-to-air or air-to-ground missions.

U.S. Navy strike-fighter squadrons VFA-25 and VFA-113 (assigned to CVW-14) deployed aboard the USS Constellation from February to August 1985, marking the first deployment for the F/A-18. The initial fleet reports were complimentary, indicating that the Hornet was extraordinarily reliable, a major change from its predecessor, the F-4.

According to Travis Brannon, a former F-4 driver with the U.S. Navy, the famous Phantom was still faster than the new Hornet despite having top speeds over twice the speed of sound.

‘When the F/A-18 was being developed at Pax River, Maryland, every flight had a plane with them whose mission was “safety chase,” there in case there was an issue with the Hornet and support and/or SAR was needed.

‘I was assigned safety chase in an F-4 because the mission was to verify that the Hornet could go from Mach 0.9 to its max speed of Mach 1.8 in the amount of time McDonnell Douglas had promised.

‘We started at 50, 000 feet at Mach 0.9 and on signal, both of us went to full afterburner. The Hornet was able to initially out-accelerate me and pull ahead about a quarter of a mile. However, the Phantom was one of those planes where it seemed the faster it went, the faster it wanted to go, and the Hornet was not.

‘When the Hornet maxed out at Mach 1.6n(didn’t make its max), I was approaching Mach 2 and closing rapidly. Just as I was about even with him, the Hornet pilot, who was responsible for navigating, started a hard left turn without warning.

‘A fighter pilot, when faced with an overshoot, instinctively pulls his nose up to trade airspeed for altitude and decrease the amount of overshoot, so I did that as I started my turn to the left with him. At about 45 degrees nose-high, I realized that since I was nearly going Mach 2, my vertical speed was Mach 1.4- I looked at my altimeter, and the big needle was actually spinning—I was climbing at 82,125 feet per minute!

‘I rolled inverted to stop my climb at 62,500 feet, but not before I noticed I could now see two horizons, both remarkably curved. One was the normal one we all see at the beach, blue-green ocean and robin-egg blue, but the second one was robin-egg blue below and the most spectacular, dark, iridescent blue of space. So lucky to have seen it!’

Brannon concludes:

‘I would have had to shut the engines down at 75,000 feet to prevent them from overheating. That would have caused me to lose my cockpit pressure and since I was not in a pressure suit, I have blown up like a toad, instant pulmonary edema, and probably death.’

Photo by U.S. Navy

October 24, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The CIA injected the first pilot who bailed from the A-12 program with sodium pentothal after the crash for interrogation

by Till Daisd October 22, 2024

written by Till Daisd

Ken Collins appeared to be very drunk as the sodium pentothal was still in his system. His wife Jane was a very understanding woman, her husband couldn’t offer any explanation for his condition. The A-12 Oxcart was so secret he couldn’t talk about it.

The A-11 was a long-range, high-altitude aircraft that Lockheed started designing in 1959. It was a project from the Cold War. Vice President for Advanced Development Projects at Lockheed, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, led the project team. Johnson had previously been in charge of the U-2 spy plane’s development. On February 29, 1964, five years after the A-11’s construction started, President Lyndon Johnson informed reporters that the aircraft, which was by then modified to the A-12 Oxcart production version with a smaller radar cross-section, had achieved over 2,000 mph and over 70,000 feet of altitude in tests conducted at Area 51.

During the first three years of pre-operational testing, three A-12s experienced notable crashes: one due to ground crew mistakes and two due to mechanical issues. Every pilot made a safe ejection. A-12 number 926, piloted by Ken Collins during a test flight with a subsonic engine, crashed on May 24, 1963, fourteen miles south of Wendover, Utah.

‘Colonel Ken Collins was the very first person to bail out of a Blackbird. The A-12,’ says Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) on her Facebook Page Habubrats.

The A-12 program was so secret that CIA injected with sodium pentothal the first pilot that bailed out of an Oxcart to interrogate him after the crash — Ken Collins

‘Later, after the A-12 program was canceled in 1968, he was my neighbor at Beale AFB, California. Ken had re-joined the Air Force and was an SR-71 pilot. Another interesting thing is that he was checked out in the SR-71 with my father, Richard “ Butch” Sheffield. They flew four flights together. My dad writes in his unpublished book that he was fully aware that Ken Collins was from the A-12 program because he had been briefed on Oxcart in 1965 at the Skunk Works. Only the first four men selected to fly the SR-71 were briefed on A-12. The rest of the men in the SR-71 program did not know about it. The interesting thing about this is that Dad cannot discuss it with Ken. That’s how secret the A-12 program was!

‘The A-12 program was so secret that Ken could not tell his wife Jane, what his occupation was. The cover story was that he worked at Hughes aircraft.’

Sheffield Miller continues;

‘In 1963 he bailed out over Utah, he was unharmed, and to his amazement, a man pulled him up in a pick-up truck with his A-12 canopy in the back of the truck and asked him if he needed a ride back to his airplane. Ken was totally unflappable, calmly said no, that the F-105 that had just crashed… It had a nuclear weapon on it! He asked for a ride to the nearest highway patrol office and climbed in the back of the pick-up truck.

‘Took a dime out of his survival kit called the secret number that he had memorized and told them where he was and where the A-12 had crashed. The crash was the result of a pitch up of the nose and it went into an uncontrollable, flat, inverted spin.

‘The CIA asked if they could inject him with sodium pentothal. Collins said yes. After the interrogation, Ken was dropped off at his home in Southern California where his wife Jane and their four children lived. He appeared to be very drunk as the sodium pentothal was still in his system. His wife Jane was a very understanding woman, her husband couldn’t offer any explanation for his condition. Ken Collins couldn’t talk about it.’

Sheffield Miller concludes;

‘These are the kind of men America needs to be proud of the ones that did their job, risked their life, not for the glory… but for love of country, thank you Ken.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Ken Collins

October 22, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The SR-71 Blackbird, which broke the speed record during a trip from New York to London

by Till Daisd October 21, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The SR-71 Blackbird made the trans-Atlantic flight to be featured in the Farnborough Air Show as a static display. This marked the first time the Mach 3+ spy plane was put on public display outside the US.

The SR-71 Blackbird was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was developed in secrecy by Lockheed’s Skunk Works division in Palmdale, California. It operated at Beale Air Force Base (AFB) from January 1966 to January 1990.

Many of the aircraft’s innovative concepts were the brainchild of the renowned aerospace engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson.

On September 1, 1974, Linda Sheffield Miller (daughter of Col. Richard (Butch) Sheffield, an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) posted on her Facebook page Habubrats that Maj. James V. Sullivan and Maj. Noel Widdifield had broken the global speed record from New York to London.

From New York to London in less than two hours: the story of the SR-71 Blackbird that set a new speed record with New York to London flight — Maj. James V. Sullivan (Left) and Maj. Noel Widdifield set a new world speed record on Sept. 1, 1974, flying the SR-71 from New York to London in less than two hours.

‘It took less than two hours. This might’ve been the ‘gateway plan’ to have SR-71 stationed in England. The United States was fortunate to be able to house two SR-71s at RAF Mildenhall, years later. This was a huge help to have SR-71 in Europe [SR-71 Reconnaissance Operations at RAF Mildenhall was from April 1976 to 1990. Prior to Det 4 being established, UK permission was required for each sortie flown. According to the SR-71 Blackbirds website, the SR’s stay was to be no longer than 20 days for each visit. On Apr. 5, 1982, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced that Det 4 would be a permanent SR-71 Detachment with two aircraft assigned. The UK remained in control of the more sensitive missions. The two aircraft Detachments ceased operations on Nov. 22, 1989. The last aircraft departed the UK on Jan. 18, 1990. The US Government has given the United Kingdom an SR-71 #962 for public display at Duxford Imperial War Museum for its contribution to ending the Cold War.]. Blackbirds based at Mildenhall could fly around the Baltic Sea and take pictures of potential targets in the Soviet Union by means of their side-looking cameras [i.e. without crossing the Soviet border].

‘On September 1, 1974, Major James V. Sullivan, 37 (pilot) and Noel F. Widdifield, 33 (reconnaissance systems officer) flashed across the starting line (radar gates in New York) at approximately 80,000 feet and speed in excess of 2,000 miles per hour. Exactly 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds later, they had set a new world speed record from New York to London England. The average speed was 1,807 statute mph over the 3,461 statute mile course, slowing to refuel one time from a specially modified KC-135 refueling tanker. The aircraft was placed on static display at Farnborough Air Show for 1 week. It marked the first time the secret plane had been on public display outside of the United States. ”Kelly” Johnson, the aircraft designer, was on hand for the event. He remarked, “It (the SR-71) has exceeded all my expectations.”

‘Another historic speed record was set on the return trip to the United States. Captain Harold B. Adams, 31 (pilot), and Major William Machorek, 32 (reconnaissance systems operator), set a speed record from London to Los Angeles. They returned the Blackbird 5,447 statute miles in 3 hours 47 minutes and 39 seconds for an average speed of 1,435 miles per hour. The difference in the two-speed records was due to refueling requirements and having to slow over major US cities.’

Sheffield Miller concludes;

‘Even so, a large number of people in Los Angeles reported broken windows due to the sonic boom.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force

October 21, 2024 0 comment

In-1975-USS-Belknap-Guided-Missile-Cruiser-and-USS-John-F.-Kennedy-aircraft-carrier-collided-in-the

Cold War

In 1975, USS Belknap and USS John F. Kennedy collided in the Mediterranean Sea

by Till Daisd October 20, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The nickname for the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier became “The Can Opener” and for good reason.

The USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) aircraft carrier (on the evening of November 22, 1975, the twelfth anniversary of the assassination of its namesake) and the USS Belknap (CG 26) guided missile cruiser collided in heavy seas off the coast of Sicily, in the Mediterranean Sea. Shraderlaw claims that the incident caused fires on Belknap, which quickly spread. Due to the water conditions, several nearby ships found it difficult to help the damaged ship.

The aluminum superstructure of Belknap quickly melted and collapsed due to its inability to withstand the fire’s intensity. It was not until the following day that the fires were contained, and by that time Belknap was not seaworthy. Along with one John F. Kennedy, seven sailors perished on the Belknap, and 47 other crew members were hurt.

‘The nickname for the JFK became “The Can Opener” and for good reason,’ says Paul Montgomery, Boiler/Eng Controls USS JFK CV67 (79-81), on Quora.

‘The JFK was doing night flight ops and would have been traveling at nearly 30 knots because of this. US Carriers have to have at least 25 knots to launch and recover planes.

‘The ship it smashed into, the USS Belknap was alongside at around 1500 yards when there was some confusion as to an order the captain gave. He intended to slow and make a left (port) turn behind the JFK. A junior officer took the order to mean “hard left turn” which cut right in front of the JFK. Luckily it was not a broadside. Here the story is vague even after just two years and me asking crew that was on the JFK at the time. What I have concluded is that the Belknap had time to turn her course about 120 degrees and nearly pass in front of the JFK before contact. Here is the resulting damage to the Belknap.

The night USS Belknap Guided Missile Cruiser and USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier collided in the Mediterranean Sea — An overhead amidships view of the damaged superstructure of the guided missile cruiser USS *BELKNAP* (CG-26) the day after it collided with the aircraft carrier USS *JOHN F. KENNEDY* (CV-67) during night operations.

‘This is what she looked like before.’

Montgomery continues;

‘The JFK did not hit the ship with the bow. Had it done this, the Belknap would have most likely sunk in two parts. The Belknap is a guided missile cruiser and not a small ship. They dwarf Destroyers, Frigates and Escorts. All the damage was done by the superstructure on the underside of the Kennedy. Here is what she looked like.

‘A refueling line carrying Jet Fuel was ruptured on the JFK during the collision and sprayed fuel over and into the Belknap which caused a raging fire, a boiler to explode and munitions to cook off.

‘You should not get the idea that aircraft carriers are tougher than other warships; they are not. Had the JFK plowed into the Belknap broadside, the ship’s bow would have been punctured near the water line, and she would have taken on water. How much would depend on the ship’s condition state? During general quarters, all watertight doors are kept closed and flooding would have been minimal. Still, the ship would have been severely crippled in the speed it could make.

‘Seven sailors lost their lives that night, six on the Belknap and one on the Kennedy.’

The ship’s superstructure was completely destroyed after the fire, but the hull was basically intact. After being towed back to the United States, Belknap was decommissioned and brought into the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The ship was rebuilt from the weather deck up throughout the following four years.

After rebuilding was complete, Belknap was re-commissioned and returned to service in 1980. The ship played a role in several major deployments over the remainder of its active career, including the American intervention in Lebanon in 1983 and as the flagship of the Sixth Fleet in 1985 and 1986. In 1989, Belknap served as an accommodation vessel for the President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, during his meeting in Malta with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Belknap remained with the Atlantic Fleet until 1995 when it was decommissioned. During a training exercise in 1998, naval gunfire sank the ship. After the disastrous fire in 1975, it was decided that all cruisers in the future would have steel superstructures. This decision was further supported when the British ship HMS Sheffield, which had an aluminum superstructure, was struck by an Exocet missile during the Falklands War and was largely destroyed by fire.

Photo by U.S. Navy

October 20, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The epic story of the KC-135 crew that crossed Vietnam’s DMZ and went into a dive to refuel a flamed out F-105

by Till Daisd October 19, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The boomer told the KC-135 pilot to push over into a dive – probably 10 to 20 degrees nose low and then talked him into position in front of the flamed-out F-105.

The KC-135A Stratotanker and the commercial 707 passenger plane were both based on the Boeing Company’s model 367-80. The first 29 of the Air Force’s future 732-plane force were acquired in 1954. The first aircraft flew in August 1956, and in June 1957, Castle Air Force Base in California received the first Stratotanker in production. In 1965, the Air Force received the last KC-135.

During the Vietnam War, the KC-135 was extremely crucial because the Stratotanker not only made it possible for heavy fighter-bombers to reach and return to North Vietnamese targets, but it also towed them back to their bases when enemy action severely damaged them.

One Stratotanker even crossed Vietnam’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to save two F-105s that were low on fuel.

‘In the book Thud Ridge – Wing Commander Jack Broughton was leading a 2 ship of F-105s that was attempting the rescue of a downed Lt who had been down for a week,’ says Richard Crandall, former USAF F-111 and F-15E Pilot at US Air Force (1980-1998), on Quora.

‘They had helicopters inbound but one had problems and both left – in accordance with “doctrine”. He commented that it was within the rules but in previous rescues, one helicopter had been willing to continue alone. As an A-1 was leaving it was hit and caught fire – it called a Mayday. Broughton and his wingman with no fuel to do so returned to CAP him in case he too ejected. The A-1 went into a vertical high-speed dive – gutsy move Maverick – as the high speed could have caused the wing root where the fire was to fail from the weakened hot metal. The fire however went out.

‘Broughton and his wingman, Ken Bell, now had no fuel to make it home. They called for help – eventually, a Strategic Air Command KC-135 answered. I think the call was “do you have any gas for us?” and the reply was along the lines of “not really, but what little we have sounds like you need more than us”. The tanker broke the rules from SAC and headed North of the DMZ to meet them. The tanker was a Strategic Asset – needed for Air to Air refuelings for B-52s in case nuclear war with Russia occurred.’

Crandall continues;

‘Normally fighters will turn onto the tanker. The fighters and the tanker fly towards each other in the opposite direction. When a certain distance away the fighter does a 180-degree turn and rolls out behind the tanker. Col Broughton was told by Bell “Boss, I’m hurting” as he was so low on fuel. Wingman never ever ever say that – the calls are “2, Joker, Bingo, Mayday and I’ve got the ugly one (at the bar)”. Colonel Broughton knew they had minutes only.

‘The tanker did a fighter turn onto the fighters instead – a descending turn to roll out in front of the 2 F-105s. As the tanker rolled out Bell’s jet flamed out. The boomer told the pilot to push over into a dive – probably 10 to 20 degrees nose low and then talked him into position in front of the flamed-out 105. Bell had likely extended its Ram Air Turbine to have electrical and hydraulic power without the engine running. Remember that the pilot in the tanker cannot see the 105 – it is behind and below him – has to solely go by the directions of the boomer. The boomer stabs the boom into Bell’s 105 and pumps the gas. On the boom Bell does an airstart. Meanwhile, Col Broughton’s jet is chugging – just like in a car about to run out of gas. He jumps onto the boom before his engine quits and gets gas. All 3 aircraft returned to Col Broughton’s base in Thailand – the 135 had to go there as no gas to return home.

‘I am sure that the entire tanker crew was hospitalized due to massive alcohol poisoning from the drinks they were given at the bar that night. Every fighter pilot who hears of this story has tremendous respect for all involved in this incident. Truly awesome aviation on everybody’s parts. On Col Broughton and his wingman for not abandoning an aircraft in distress and for the tanker that saved both of them.’

Crandall concludes;

‘This is the picture of this that I have signed by Colonel Broughton:

The epic story of the KC-135 crew that crossed Vietnam's DMZ and went into a dive to refuel a flamed out F-105 — The artwork “Flameout” by Aviation Artist Mike Machat captures the scene described in this story. CLICK HERE for more info on Mike Machat’s artwork.

Photo by Mike Machat

October 19, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

Why Israel picked the Skyhawk over the Jaguar

by Till Daisd October 18, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The Skyhawk

For more than ten years, France was Israel’s primary supplier of weapons. However, by the middle of the 1960s, it was determined to acquire advanced and powerful US weapons, so it purchased the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, which had been proven in combat, to carry out light strike operations. In 1966, the Israeli Air Force ordered about 48 A-4Hs, which quickly became the backbone of its attack arm.

As explained by Shlomo Aloni in his book Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat, the first group of would-be A-4 engineers left Israel for America in December 1966, with the second following three months later. Pilots were scheduled to join the technical staff undergoing the Skyhawk conversion on the US front in May 1967 again in two groups. The lead group included the two future A-4 squadron commanders, while the follow-up group included the two senior deputy squadron commanders. All four pilots in these senior positions were vastly experienced.

The Ramat David-based unit (No. 109 Sqn) was to be led by Ohad Shadmi, who had graduated with Flying School Class 17 in May 1955 and gone on to fly the Mystere during the 1956 Suez War. CO of No. 109 Sqn since April 1964, he was to oversee the unit’s transition from Mysterès to Skyhawks. Shadmi’s counterpart at Hatzor was Yossi Sarig, who had graduated with Flying School Class 19 in January 1956 and flown Meteors during the Suez War. He later commanded Vautour-equipped No 110 Sqn for a year from July 1964, before becoming head of the Operations Branch Attack Planning Section in late 1965.

Israel picks the A-4 over the Jaguar

Sarig recalls;

‘IDF/AF Commander Ezer Weizman invited me to join him during the 1965 Paris Airshow. There, we went to the Dassault chalet for a presentation on the Jaguar. Our operational requirement was for an attack aircraft that would be capable of flying a low-low mission profile from Ramat David to the Suez Canal Zone with a certain number of bombs. While examining the presented graphs, I came to the conclusion that the Jaguar was unable to fly this baseline mission profile. I reported my finding to Ezer. He asked me if I was sure, and I immediately replied in the affirmative. He stood up, abruptly ended the presentation, and ordered me to follow him out.

‘We exited the Dassault chalet in a big fuss and went to the Douglas chalet. Ezer presented himself and asked for the company’s Skyhawk presentation. The Douglas response was “We are not ready now, but we will organize a presentation for you this evening at the Hotel George V”. That evening three of us — Ezer, Arie Hillel (the Head of Material Department) and I – attended the briefing. I delved into the graphs and quickly realized that this aircraft was absolutely right for us.

`A year later the Skyhawk became a reality for the IDF/AF.’

Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by Oren Rozen Own Work via Wikipedia, Israeli Air Force and U.S. Air Force

October 18, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

USMC F-8 pilot survived a massive storm after parachuting from 47,000 feet

by Till Daisd October 17, 2024

written by Till Daisd

Lieutenant Colonel William H. Rankin fell from 47,000 feet into “one of the most violent storms ever recorded on the East Coast,” parachuted over 65 miles in 40 minutes, and came to a stop by colliding with a tree.

A Cold War accident launched Lieutenant Colonel William H. Rankin (Oct. 6, 1920–July 6, 2009), a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and a veteran of both World War II and Korea, to fame. The fire warning light on his instrument panel flashed on July 27, 1959, when the engine of his F-8 Crusader, the renowned carrier-based jet fighter dubbed “the last of the gunfighters,” abruptly stalled.

When Rankin triggered his ejection seat, he was launched through the cockpit canopy of his aircraft. Without a pressure suit, he was flying over 47,000 feet, and he got out of the aircraft at the top of a massive thunderstorm cloud mass. There are very few similarities to his harrowing experience riding the thunder down; it would be difficult to accept it as fiction.

“I was convinced I would not survive; no human could,” Rankin recalls in his book ‘The Man Who Rode the Thunder’. He fell from 47,000 feet into “one of the most violent storms ever recorded on the East Coast,” parachuted over 65 miles in 40 minutes, and came to a stop by colliding with a tree.

He remembered: “I was terrified, but not petrified. It’s a brave distinction of terms.”

According to Huckberry, Rankin suffered frostbite, decompression, vomiting, extreme abdominal swelling (“as though I were in well-advanced pregnancy,” he pointed out), a severed finger, and bruises. Once grounded, he walked to a dirt road and hitchhiked to the hospital. “I was not panicky,” he understated.

A fire warning appeared on the instrument panel of Rankin’s F-8 Crusader as he flew over Norfolk, Virginia. He ejected, nine miles above the earth, out of fear of an explosion. It was hell for the next forty minutes. Rankin released his chute in the middle of a thunderstorm after free-falling in the -50°F air.

Hail the size of baseballs beat him to near unconsciousness. “I thought I had died.” And Rankin nearly did.

An untimely gust of wind forced his chute to entangle his body, and he reentered a free-fall. He recalled, “I had the distinct feeling that I was being sliced in two, as fate rallied against him.”

Then, suddenly, the winds shifted. His chute reopened. Soon, he found himself gliding out of the storm toward a forest. After entangling in a tree, he cut away and arrived on the ground, “lying on my left side. I simply could not believe that I was on the Earth—that I had survived.”

Rankin’s bout with the thunderstorm brought him national attention, especially when he returned, a few weeks later, to active duty. He enjoyed fifty more years of life, dying at 89.

Now, his legend lives on—he’s the only guy to fight and beat a thunderstorm, and he’s earned the right to say (without irony): “I didn’t hear the thunder, I felt it.”

Here’s an excerpt from Rankin’s book here, or buy it on Amazon.

A recap of Rankin’s flight can be found in the video below.

Photo by U.S. Navy

October 17, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

How SR-71’s J58 Turbo-Ramjet engine works

by Till Daisd October 16, 2024

written by Till Daisd

Above Mach 2.2, some of the airflows are bled from the fourth stage of the compressor and dumped into the augmentor inlet through six bleed-bypass tubes, circumventing the core of the J58 engine and transitioning the propulsive cycle from a pure turbojet to a turbo-ramjet.

The intriguing video in this post, titled The Mighty J58—The SR-71’s Secret Powerhouse, describes how the famous Blackbird’s engine works.

The J58, often known as “black magic,” pushed the SR-71, the A-12, and the YF-12 from zero to Mach 3.2.

In his NASA Technical Memorandum Predicted Performance of a Thrust-Enhanced SR-71 Aircraft with an External Payload, Timothy R. Conners outlined the three main parts of the SR-71 aircraft’s propulsion system. These include Pratt & Whitney J58 turbojet engines, airframe-mounted convergent-divergent blow-in door ejector nozzles, and axisymmetric mixed compression inlets.

The inlet spike translates longitudinally, depending on the Mach number, and controls the throat area: the spike provides an efficient and stable inlet shock structure throughout the Mach range. At the design cruise speed, most of the net propulsive force derives from flow compression pressure on the forward-facing surfaces of the spike. Besides the spike, other inlet controls include the forward and aft bypass doors, used to maintain terminal shock position and to remove excess air from the inlet; and cowl and spike bleed used to control boundary layer growth.

The SR-71 aircraft is propelled by two 34,000 lbf (151,240 N) thrust-class J58 afterburning turbojet engines, just as its predecessors, the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A prototype interceptor.

The J58 engine was developed in the late 1950s by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division of United Aircraft Corp. to meet a U.S. Navy requirement. It was designed to operate at speeds of Mach 3+ and at altitudes of more than 80,000 feet. The J58 was the first engine designed to operate for extended periods using its afterburner, and it was the first engine to be flight-qualified at Mach 3 for the U.S. Air Force.

An SR-71 set a global speed record of 2,193 mph and a world altitude record of 85,069 feet in July 1976 thanks to J58 engines.

Each engine contains a nine-stage compressor driven by a two-stage turbine. The main burner uses an eight-can combustor. The afterburner is fully modulating. The primary nozzle area is variable. Above Mach 2.2, some of the airflows are bled from the fourth stage of the compressor and dumped into the augmentor inlet through six bleed-bypass tubes, circumventing the core of the engine and transitioning the propulsive cycle from a pure turbojet to a turbo-ramjet. The engine is hydromechanically controlled and burns a special low-volatility jet fuel mixture known as JP7.

The inlet bleed and aft bypass flow mix with the engine exhaust flow just forward of the airframe-mounted ejector nozzle. Blow-in doors on the ejector nozzle remain open at low speeds and entrain additional mass flows into the exhaust stream. At high speeds, the doors close, and the airframe nozzle ejector flaps reposition to form a convergent-divergent geometry. The blow-in doors and ejector flaps are positioned by aerodynamic forces.

The engine spikes and forward bypass doors are positioned by commands from the digital automatic flight and inlet control system (DAFICS). The DAFICS provides precise control of the terminal shock position. The DAFICS has significantly improved vehicle performance and range and has virtually eliminated inlet unstart, compared to the older analog control system.

October 16, 2024 0 comment

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