[Fly320s]

Looks like an improved BD-5J.

[Lady Jane]

F-16 over Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

[Dang3r]

A320, open cockpit into base layover

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Dang3r

A320, open cockpit into base layover

Maintenance trouble ticket: "Pressurization not working properly"

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

F-16 over Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

Unless I am mistaken, the Eielson F-16s are being replaced with F-35As. As might be expected with an aircraft with almost 40,000 lbs (!) of augmented thrust, I imagine noise complaints will increase a bit.

P.S. Great photo!

[Llarry]

The more I looked into the S2F/S-2/CP-121 Tracker, the more I was impressed by the widespread use by many nations of the Tracker. American taxpayers really got their money's worth on the Grumman Model 89. Trackers were and are found all over the world. I think many nations used them as a poor man's patrol plane; unable to afford the upkeep on something like a P-2 Neptune, let alone a P-3 Orion, these nations wanted some maritime recon/ASW capability and got it with surplus U.S. Navy S-2 Trackers.

I have investigated the users but am not confident that I have the full picture. In particular, it seems that use of the S-2 was quite common in Latin America.

The Tracker's usefulness was not restricted to military use. After retirement from the U.S. Navy, the California Division of Forestry procured Trackers for firefighting duties. In 1986, Marsh Aviation started converting Trackers to turboprop power.

IPM of Canada also converted S-2s to turboprops; in this case for the Brazilian Navy.

Finally the Republic of China Air Force on Taiwan has converted their Trackers to turboprops. Note that these have four-blade props unlike the other turboprop conversions, which have five blades.

Photos:
-- Argentina
-- Brazil (turboprop conversion)
-- Japan
-- S. Korean AF (Note: Some of these were painted gloss black on the undersides; we know what that means don't we? Up to something sneaky near North Korea!)
-- S. Korean Navy
-- Taiwan (turboprop conversion)
-- Uruguay
-- Turkey
-- Italy
-- Cal Fire firebomber

[Llarry]

D'oh! Forgot our friends the Netherlands! If I remember correctly, the Dutch Navy operated S-2s in the Caribbean for years.

This photo also has a good view of the sonobuoy dispensing tubes in the aft end of the engine nacelles.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by Llarry

P.S. Great photo!

Thank you! I was in a hot-air balloon snapping pics and that's the last thing I remember...

[garyfried]

Originally Posted by Llarry

Unless I am mistaken, the Eielson F-16s are being replaced with F-35As. As might be expected with an aircraft with almost 40,000 lbs (!) of augmented thrust, I imagine noise complaints will increase a bit.

P.S. Great photo!

I used to have a house near Luke AFB in Surprise AZ and I can verify that the F-35 is louder than the F-16. At one time Luke had the greatest number of F-16s in the country. They trained pilots from all over the world. It was always interesting watching the planes fly over. Every other year they had a great air show with lots of displays and chances to see some very neat planes up close.

[Llarry]

An amazing photo of the central flight display of a Lockheed U-2S at altitude...
Altitude: 70,060 feet
Indicated airspeed: 102.5 knots
Mach number: Mach 0.7

At altitude the U-2 is cruising in the "coffin corner" -- a 15-knot range -- any slower and you stall; any faster and you run into transonic buffeting; either eventuality is catastrophic. The U-2's margin of speed is about 15 knots between the two catastrophes.

[3.0L]

It case it hasn't been posted, the B-47 bomber, a mainstay to SAC in the early days.

I've nearly finished reading "Keep your airspeed up" by General Harold Brown. Brown was a Tuskegee airman, POW and career Air Force pilot. He flew many aircraft types, including the B-47.

[Lady Jane]

She definitely got around.

[Lady Jane]

Westland Whirlwind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westla...lwind_(fighter)

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

She definitely got around.


Attachment 3105586

So many come back lines...

[Lady Jane]

De Havilland Mosquito: The plywood wonder.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

De Havilland Mosquito: The plywood wonder.

The other wonder about the Mosquito is that there are a number of them still flying. I guess you need to keep your Mosquito in a cool, dry place...

[Dang3r]

[Llarry]

As an intelligence specialist, I was always interested in the Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady" but my aeronautical geekery was turned up to 11 when I lived on Osan Air Base, South Korea, from 1988 to 1990. Osan is the largest overseas squadron (I think) of the U-2; several of them spend countless hours watching North Korea, flying daily missions paralleling the Korean Demilitarized Zone at high altitude, looking into N. Korea. When a mission takes off, you have to look fast: The U-2 is up and away very quickly. But once in while a pilot will do a short local flight to practice landings; the U-2 has always been one of the most difficult aircraft to land, given the enormous lift of those big wings and the awkward landing gear arrangement. That was when I could get a good look at the airplane.

The original U-2A first flew in 1954 and, as is well-known, conducted a number of overflights of the Soviet Union until May 1, 1960, when Frank Powers' U-2 was shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile. That ended overflights of the USSR, although overflights of other sensitive areas (mainly China) continued.

By the 1960s, the original fleet of U-2s had dwindled due to accidents and shootdowns (the Chinese Nationalists were loaned U-2s to overfly China and lost a number of aircraft.) The CIA approached Lockheed, seeking to reopen the production line to replace losses. Lockheed countered with a proposal for an improved airplane: Stretched fuselage, bigger wings, etc. 12 of these improved U-2Rs were built in 1967-68: 6 for the CIA and 6 for the USAF. Not long after, the CIA got out of the U-2 business altogether and the Air Force operated all U-2s, including both the remaining original early U-2s and the improved U-2Rs.

The early U-2s were getting long in the tooth and the production line for the later models was reopened in 1981. This time most of the aircraft were meant to be stationed in the UK and watch the Warsaw Pact forces in Europe -- they were designated TR-1A (TR for Tactical Reconnassiance.) Quietly mixed in with these new aircraft were some additional U-2Rs (for strategic missions) and even two NASA high-altitude research aircraft designed ER-2. The final delivery of a new-production U-2 was in 1989; the total number built was 49 airplanes, of which 3 were two-seat trainers. Pre-R smaller U-2s were retired.

With the end of the Cold War, the TR-1A mission in Europe went away; all aircraft were redesignated U-2R. The large number of aircraft based in the UK for that mission was reduced.

The U-2R was periodically upgraded over the years. The J75 engine inherited from the early U-2s, long-since out of production, was replaced by the General Electric F118, a version of the B-2 bomber's powerplant and the aircraft was redesigned U-2S. The cockpits were upgraded with multifunction displays instead of round instruments. Sensors were continuously upgraded, although the capability for a high-resolution wet-film camera continues to this day.

The U-2R and now the U-2S have been scheduled for retirement many times but somehow soldier on as a key national intelligence collection asset. There continue to be losses due to accidents and the current fleet consists of about 30 aircraft, including 5 two-seat trainers. The main operating locations are the UK, the Middle East and Korea, but a later modification called Senior Span places a satellite antenna on the dorsal area of the U-2S and allows data to be transmitted from basically anywhere in the world.

Some of the photos show an elongated nose; this houses an advanced synthetic aperture radar system for standoff imagery. Most photos show a number of SIGINT antennas on the belly for communications or ELINT collection. A U-2S can be configured to do one or all of these functions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2

[Lady Jane]

Dornier Seastar with a side of humor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Seastar

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The other wonder about the Mosquito is that there are a number of them still flying. I guess you need to keep your Mosquito in a cool, dry place...

Or train the termites to hold hands.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Dornier Seastar with a side of humor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Seastar


Attachment 3106203

Interesting registration on the side of the fuselage.

[ezaircon4jc]

For you pilots...

I was dredging up old memories from some of the things I tried to pass on to my trainees to get things moving and I thought about best angle of climb vs. best rate of climb. IIRC, I was taught best angle is best altitude over distance and best rate is best altitude over time. Is this correct?