Soluciones AVTOL.-

Fotos para la historia.-

Photo By USAF.

Lt. Norman Huff of 435th TFS, 479th TFW.

Saber perder.-

¿Quién no ha oído hablar del mayor contrato para la adquisición de aeronaves de combate de los últimos tiempos?, el Programa hindú MMRA, flotador de economías nacionales y lanzadera de nuevas posibilidades para dos de los tres mejores aparatos de combate que los europeos hemos sido capaces de concebir desde el final de la Edad Media hasta nuestros días.

El elegido fue finalmente el avión francés, pero los países del consorcio no se rinden y al grito de "¡Canallas, esto aún no ha terminado...!" comienzan sus alegaciones ante todo tipo de organizaciones institucionales, incluído el Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia, y todo aquel que quiere detenerse a escuchar. Nos llueven así miles, millones de artículos de prensa autorizada parece ser, para que nos salten las venas de la frente. Señores de la "prensa autorizada", paren de sobarnos las ingles con documentación, dígitos y titulares, los Monty Python ya lo explicaban suficientemente claro en su squetch del Caballero Negro, sin tanto boato y tanta zarandaja. Señores de EADS y representantes del Consorcio, a veces hay que saber pasar página y mirar al futuro; esas luces que se ven de frente no son las del final del camino, son las del tren que lleva pasando puntualmente por su puerta desde hace casi cinco años.

Task Force Wolfpack.-

Task Force Wolfpack, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, AH-64 Apaches on the ground, footage of mechanics, ground crews, and a pre-flight briefing at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan.

Produced by Sgt. 1st Class Eric Pahon.

STARLite Small Tactical Radar.-

Weighing just 65 pounds, the AN/ZPY-1 STARLite compact SAR/GMTI/DMTI radar system is ideal for equipping a variety of manned and unmanned aerial system platforms for mission-critical tactical reconnaissance. The system is capable of conducting all-weather, wide area surveillance and detecting stationary, dismounted and moving targets.

STARLite is now under contract to the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command for its MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS program. It has also been installed on the U.S. Army Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS) aerostat, and is scheduled to begin testing in 2011 on the RQ-7 Shadow UAS. STARLite is compatible with a standard ground control station to maximize flexibility and minimize training and logistics requirements.

The radar provides two SAR modes: Strip and Spot. In Strip mode, the radar imagery is either parallel to the aircraft flight vector or along a specified ground path independent of the aircraft flight path. In Spot mode, the radar produces a high resolution image at a specific geographic patch.

In GMTI mode, the radar provides moving target locations overlaid on a digital map. In DMTI mode, the system tracks the movement of individuals.

STARLite builds on Northrop Grumman's experience in creating the proven AN/ZPQ-1 Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR), which was deployed on the U.S. Air Force Predator UAV and the Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Radar (TUAVR).

By providing precise battlefield intelligence in all types of weather and in battlefield obscurants, day and night, STARLite significantly improves battlefield situational awareness and optimizes force maneuver and engagement for mission success.

A320 From Cold and Dark to Ready for Taxiing.-

El bote más poderoso del mundo.-

Mar de Japón, viernes, 23 de mayo de 2008 a las 16:00 horas.
USS Kitty Hawk, 90.000 Tm a la sombra.
El helicóptero que escasamente se vislumbra a proa en el spot nº2, es un SH-60F del HS-14 que acababa de aterrizar recientemente, y que fue amarrado ahí directamente dado el empeoramiento del tiempo que se estaba produciendo.
Si después de esto sigues queriendo alistarte en la Armada, chico, yo ya no se que más decirte.

GUSTAVOHM: fotografía al natural.-

Entre tanta mediocridrad y tanto sinvergüenza que a veces nos rodea en la vida, en la red también, no deja de admirarme esta especial raza aeronáutica que engloba a los Spotter, unos tipos que afortunadamente exponen su talento al disfrute de los demás. Esta profesión nunca se lo agradecerá lo suficiente, así que desde este Club, una vez más, solicitamos a nuestras Fuerzas Armadas en general, y al Ejército del Aire en particular, que de una vez se instauren de forma estandarizada y habitual visitas y "paseos aeronáuticos" para estos "elementos". Nadie, en época de crisis, nos hará mejor publicidad.

 GUSTAVOHM.-     http://www.flickr.com/photos/50625663@N08/

El pequeño gigante.-

Fotos para la historia.-

Photo By NASA.

Jet Research Test Pilot Herbert Henry Hoover, December 1948.

Herbert (Herb) Hoover was born on May 18, 1912, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He spent the next 22 years in Knoxville and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1934 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

After graduation from the University of Tennessee, he was accepted by the Army Air Corps and trained at Randolph and Kelly Fields. He was then assigned to a tactical group at Mitchell Field. Because his position in the Army, as a Lieutenant, was temporary, he took the U.S. Civil Service exam in the spring of 1937, hoping to get a job with the Dept. of Agriculture. However, before anything with the Dept. of Agriculture materialized, he accepted a job with American Airlines and had even gone as far as being measured for his pilot's uniform when General Frank of Mitchell Field pulled some strings that resulted in Herb being offered a piloting job with the Standard Oil Company in South America. When he accepted the job with Standard Oil, he said he didn't want to become what he called a "taxi driver," serving at the beck and call of corporate officials who wished to be flown from place to place. Instead, upon arriving in Venezuela, he was put to work as an aero "truck driver," which involved hauling equipment, personnel, and hospital patients from camp to camp. Although there wasn't much difference between "taxi driver" and "truck driver" he had the opportunity to do more important aerial photography mapping of unexplored territory in the interior of Venezuela.

After three and a half years in South America, Herb yearned to return to the United States, which he did in December 1940 when he accepted a job as an experimental test pilot with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Hampton, Virginia. Because of his experience flying through bad weather, he volunteered to test fly the XC-35 through thunderstorms. He became one of the first pilots to fly through thunderstorms deliberately on bad-weather flying research. He already had the reputation as a cool pilot in tight situations; once, during an instrumentation calibration flight in a NACA SB2C Helldiver, the plane's cockpit canopy hood came loose in flight smashing Hoover across the forehead inflicting a deep cut that bled profusely. Though stunned by the blow and blinded by blood flowing into his eyes, Hoover instinctively retained control of the dive bomber, cleared his eyes, and despite his injuries, brought the plane back to Langley for an emergency landing.

On another occasion, while he was firing a rocket-propelled model from a P-51 Mustang in a Mach 0.7 dive, the model disintegrated, showering the Mustang with wreckage. The wreckage punctured the plane's coolant tank, but again Hoover brought the plane in for a successful forced landing.

Soon, he was put in charge of all flight operations and then became chief test pilot for the NACA at the Langley Memorial Laboratory, in Hampton, Virginia. He flew more than a hundred different types of airplanes.

When the Air Force-NACA transonic flight research program began at the Muroc Flight Test Unit, California, Herb initiated the NACA flight operations of the Bell XS-1 (tail #6063) research airplane under Bell engineer, Robert Frost's careful tutelage in August 1947 and made his first NACA glide-familiarization flight on October 21, 1947, for stall check, (one week after Capt. Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to exceed the speed of sound in the AF XS-1, Tail # 6062). On Hoover's flight, the little rocket plane touched down hard on its nose wheel, and the landing strut collapsed. Repairs and subsequent maintenance work kept the XS-1 grounded until December 16, 1947, when Hoover made the first rocket flight ever performed by a NACA pilot, attaining Mach 0.71. He flew another checkout flight the next day reaching Mach 0.84. In January 1948, NACA pilots (Hoover and Howard Lilly) completed seven subsonic flights in their XS-1 and by the end of the month Hoover had reached Mach 0.925. On March 4, 1948, Hoover attained Mach 0.943 at 40,000 feet. Then, six days later, on March 10, 1948, Hoover dropped from the B-29 on a stability and loads investigation, fired three of the four rocket chambers and began to climb, leveling out at 42,000 feet. The NACA XS-1 rapidly accelerated to Mach 0.93 and Hoover fired the fourth chamber. Under full thrust, the rocket research aircraft shot to Mach l.065, approximately 703 mph. Herbert Hoover had become the first civilian pilot to exceed the speed of sound. After engine burnout, he coasted to the dry lake. Despite emergency efforts, Hoover found he could not extend the nose landing gear. He held off on the nose as long as possible, and even though the plane skidded to a stop on the underside of the nose, the damage was slight. On NACA powered flight 11, Herb became not only the first civilian, but the second person to exceed the speed of sound.

He received the Octave Chanute Award in 1948 for "contributions to the application of flight test procedures to basic research in aerodynamics, and the development of methods for scientific study of transonic flight." In 1949, he was awarded the Air Medal "for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight on March 10, 1948," when he first broke the sound barrier.

Herb flew the XS-1 in its exploratory tests in the transonic and supersonic range and was the flight instructor who trained other NACA pilots (Lilly, Bob Champine, and John Griffith) in the flying qualities of the XS-1 while flying back and forth from Langley to Muroc and maintaining his job as chief of the Langley research pilots.

Hoover lost his life on August 14, 1952, when the B-45 jet bomber he was flying on a mission to test various research instruments tore apart in mid-air and crashed near Barrowsville, Virginia. According to the accident report that was declassified 30-years later, Herb was almost certainly killed instantly when, after ejecting, his body collided in the air with portions of the crumbling plane. The ripcord of his parachute was not pulled. The co-pilot, John A. Harper, escaped with minor injuries.

Airship.-

Fotos para la historia.-

Photo By USAF.

Capt. James F. Carson, Test Pilot, Bendix Trophy Race, Edwards AFB, September 1953.

Júpiter.-

Escort Jammer System.-

MPUAV Cormorant.-

Uno para todos.-

Andar y mascar chicle al mismo tiempo.-

El último de una raza.-

Last Of The Breed

One day you'll see him - sitting at a bar
he's the one drinkin whiskey and smokin a cigar
pull up a chair,
and offer him a drink,
it's a good bet he'll tell you,
exactly what he think,
about this country,
and what it's doing wrong,
and for another drink,
he might sing you a song,

He's a hard hearty bastard,
of a day long gone bye,
mix of emotion,
and laughter in his eye,
worn out junkie,
on adrenaline and speed,
Fighter Pilot,
He's the last of the breed

Yeah he'll tell stories,

on how he fought the war,

usin' words and phrases,

that you've never heard before,

he'll talk of death - as if it were a lie,

then speak of good friends,

and good times as he looks up to the sky,

and tell a joke,

that no man should ever tell,

but it don't bother him,

cuz' he's seen both,

Heaven and Hell

He's a hard hearty bastard,

of a day long gone bye,

mix of emotion,

and laughter in his eye,

worn out junkie,

on adrenaline and speed,

Fighter Pilot,

He's the last of the breed

Fighter Pilot

he's the last of the breed

Yeah, He's a hard hearty bastard,

of a day long gone bye,

mix of emotion,

and laughter in his eye,

worn out junkie,

on adrenaline and speed,

Fighter Pilot,

He's the last of the breed,

Fighter Pilot,

He's the last of the breed

Operando en las antípodas (Parte 1).-

Foto de familia durante el Ejercicio Faru Sumu en el Territorio Norte. Hasta allí se desplazaron 140 miembros de las ADF pertenecientes al 6º SQ de RAAF Amberley con 10 de sus Super Hornets, y personal del Control Combat Team (CCT) del 4º SQ basado en RAAF Williamtown.

Eliminando los restos de electricidad estática después de volar una misión.

Un controlador de combate de uno de los CCT del 4º SQ, realiza el briefing junto a la tripulación de uno de los Super Hornet del 1º SQ que posteriormente realizarán la misión de Offensive Air Support (OAS).

Despegando con la ciudad de Darwin al fondo.

Cocinero del 13º SQ repostando a medianoche al personal para que sigan tirando.

Photos By Kylie Gibson.

Ejection vectors.-

Department of Defense 1969 - PIN 26628.

Suplemental.-

Blackbird.-

“At 85,000 feet and Mach 3, it was almost a religious experience. Nothing had prepared me to fly that fast… My God, even now, I get goose bumps remembering.”

 

- Colonel Jim Wadkins, USAF

 

RAF Advanced Fast Jet Training.-

Save a Fighter Pilots Ass.-

Halleluia Halleluia
throw a nickel on the grass, save a fighter pilot's ass
Halleluia Halleluia
throw a nickel on the grass & you'll be saved.

I was cruising down the Yalu, doin' 6 & 20 per
when a call came from the Major, "oh won't you save me, sir
got 3 flak holes in my wingtips & my tanks ain't got no gas
mayday mayday mayday, I got 6 MIGs on my ass".

I shot my traffic pattern, & to me it looked alright
the air speed read 130, I really racked it tight
then the airframe gave a shutter, the engine gave a wheeze
"mayday mayday mayday, spin instructions please".

It was Split-S on my bomb run, & I got too Goddamned low
but I pressed that bloody button, & I let those babies go
sucked the stick back fast as blazes when I hit a high speed stall
now I won't see my mother, when the works all done next fall.

Then they sent me down to PyongYang, the brief said "no ack ack"
by the time that I arrived there, my wings was mostly flak
then my engine coughed & sputtered, it was too cut up to fly
"mayday mayday mayday, I'm too young to die".

I bailed out from the Saber, & the landing came out fine
with my E & E equipment, I made for our front line
then I opened up my ration, to see what was in it
the Goddamned Quartermaster, why he filled the tin with grit.