CoolPix - Misc: Scaled Composites Proteus 2Fer

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 The Rutan designed and Scaled Composites built Proteus is hard to categorize in the world of CoolPix, so it’s the first airplane to be put into the ‘Misc’ slot.  And, this is a special posting with 2 hi-res pix, plus one extra detail pic… all for the same low price : )

 It would be easy to think those two top pix are almost identical, and they pretty much are from a perspective standpoint, but the airplane is showing some significant operational differences here.  First let me say, before today, I really didn’t know much more about Proteus than: it’s very unusual looking and I’ve always liked the way it looks.  I really didn’t know that it was designed to operate at such high altitudes, as in 60,000+.  That’s a lot more relevant to me now that I’ve watched the awesome James May video of his U-2 ride, and the podcast interview I did recently with U-2 pilot Col. Lars Hoffman.

 Proteus first flew in 1998, and had been originally designed to be a high altitude platform for carrying a large telecommunications antennae.  In addition to the high altitude capabilities, Proteus is able to remain operational for 14 to 18 hours at a time.  This would have made it very well suited to the airborne antennae idea, however, that venture was cancelled at some point after initial tests had been conducted.  This freed the airplane up to be used in all kinds of interesting ways.

 The top pic shows the airplane in 2002 with a pod mounted on the center pylon that was used in the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program.  The program used Proteus and other aircraft to study the clouds from high altitudes, and also explored the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for this work.  Proteus also has the ability to be flown in an unmanned configuration (I sure didn’t know that!), tho it’s unclear to me if it was used that way on this particular program.

 The second pic shows the airplane in 2003 with nothing mounted on the pylon, but attached to the nose is a special radar that was used to test the ability of UAVs to be operated in congested airspace by using an active, detect/see/avoid system.  The airplane was remotely flown (tho a crew was on board to handle takeoff and landing) and other aircraft, without identifying transponders, were flown toward the airplane to test the system’s ability to provide the data needed to avoid a collision.

 The pic below shows the radar installation up close which gives a good look at a humorous side of the project… part of the radar system looks like a tongue, so it’s painted red!  Even better, there’s a closed eye with lashes on the left side, and as this Proteus pic from LIFE.com shows, an open eye is painted on the right side.  I'm does like!

Did you know that sometimes Proteus sticks out its tongue?!

CoolPix - Modern Military: B-58 Altitude Record of 85,360 Feet... In 1962!

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 You might be thinking this is just some old black and white photo of a guy wearing an odd looking helmet and flashing a cheesy 'ok' sign.  If that's what you're thinking, you are way wrong!  This is a very cool CoolPix indeed, and another in the recent string of B-58 hi-res photos during this special 'B-58 Week' here at AirPigz.com.

 I highly recommend you click the pic to get to the big version of it, and then take some time to soak up lots of small details as you look at Fitzhugh 'Fitz' Fulton sitting in the somewhat unusual cockpit of a Convair B-58 Hustler.  I find it fascinating that there are so many fabulous hi-res photos readily available from the U.S. Military and NASA during the 50's, 60's and 70's.  These photos do a great job of pulling us in a lot closer to see the people and the machines that were exploring the extreme world of flight and space exploration.

 This is one very special image for several reasons.

 For one, it's Fitz Fulton sitting in the cockpit.  Fitz spent 23 years in the USAF as a test pilot, and then worked from 1966 until 1986 as a NASA research pilot, followed by work as a test pilot at Scaled Composites until 1999!  During all those years, Fitz flew airplanes like the B-29 used to drop the X-1, the B-52 that dropped the X-15, the XB-70 at speeds up to Mach 3, the YF-12A as a project pilot, the 747 that dropped the Space Shuttle in the early glide tests, and as he is shown here, he was a project pilot on the B-58.  On September 8, 1962, Fitz set an altitude record with a 5,000kg payload (11,023 pounds) by flying a B-58 up to 85,360 feet!  And it appears that this record still stands today!  Fitz is an amazing man with an unbelievable amount of aviation experience, and this pic shows him sitting in an astounding aircraft.

 Given the video and podcast I posted recently that look at the U-2 flying at 70,000 feet, it pretty much boggles the mind to think that a B-58 carried such a heavy payload to over 85,000 feet way back in 1962.  The Hustler was expensive and somewhat difficult to fly, but you can't argue with the extreme capabilities that it exhibited so far back in time.

 I hope you take a few minutes to look closely at this picture and begin to feel just how big of an accomplishment the airplane was, and what a stunning time it was in the aerospace industry in the late 50' and 60's.

CoolPix - Modern Military: The Grissom Air Museum B-58 Hustler

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Here’s a second CoolPix already this week featuring Convair's awesome Mach 2 bomber!

 There are only 8 B-58 Hustlers still in existence today, and the oldest one happens to be sitting outside just an hour down the road from me.  It’s at the Grissom Air Museum which is on the old Grissom Air Force Base in Peru, Indiana.  The facility used to be called Bunker Hill AFB but was renamed Grissom in 1968 after Indiana native Virgil (Gus) Grissom perished in the Apollo 1 launchpad fire.  Today the base is known as the Grissom Air Reserve Base in conjunction with the Grissom Aeroplex. 

 The museum has a small building with several interesting artifacts, but the bulk of the displays are the airplanes sitting outside.  It’s quite a collection actually, including a B-47, B-17, B-25, KC-97, C-119, F-102, F-14 along with many others… and of course the B-58 shown in this picture that I took last Saturday.  As it sits, this is a TB-58A, the modified trainer version.  As the 4th airplane to come off the production line in Fort Worth, Texas, #55-663 was originally designated as a YB/RB-58A, one of the 11 pre-production aircraft.  116 Hustlers were built with the first one going into active service in 1960.  Interestingly, by early 1970, the B-58 was already being retired.  A lot of factors contributed to the relatively short service life of the airplane… I’ll get into that in another post.

 Only the 43rd Bombardment Wing (operating out of Carswell AFB in Texas and then Little Rock AFB in Arkansas) and the 305th Bombardment Wing at Bunker Hill flew the B-58.  That makes the stuff that went on just down the road from me a pretty huge part of U.S. Air Force history!  However, I was born in California in 1961 at the early part of the B-58 era, so I was a long way away from the Bunker Hill operations.  It wasn’t until I graduated high school that I would up in Indiana almost 10 years after the airplanes had stopped flying.  But I do remember being mesmerized by this awesome airplane as early as age 7, and I’m still very much stunned by her yet today!

 More 'B-58 Week’ coming soon : )

CoolPix - Modern Military: The NB-58A, Hustler With A 5th Engine!

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 It’s been a very B-58 weekend for me.  It’s pretty common for me to do a little googlin’ of the Convair B-58 Hustler on a regular basis, but this weekend I lit the afterburners.  As a result, this week’s gonna be ‘B-58 Week’ at AirPigz.com.  In addition to at least 1 regular post a day, you can expect 1 Hustler post a day as well.

 I’m kicking it off here on Sunday night with this CoolPix in the Modern Military category.  At first glance it looks like your run-of-the-mill B-58 (ha, like a B-58 could ever be called rotm!), but it’s far from it.  That’s not the traditional fuel tank/weapon pod hanging under the airplane, it’s a 5th and even more powerful turbojet engine!  The GE J93 to be exact.  That’s the engine that was specifically designed for use on the Mach 3 XB-70.  The engine was ready to fly before the XB-70, so it was decided that some inflight testing would be a good idea.  Thus the NB-58A was born.  BTW, I've removed a lot of the scratches and other blemishes from this old original pic so it's sure to look good when you check out out super sized.

 The standard GE J79 turbojet engines on the B-58 developed around 15,000 pounds of thrust with afterburner, but this extra J-93 engine was rated around 28,000 pounds with afterburner!  Just imagine an airplane like the B-58, which was already capable of flying at 60,000+ feet, able to go Mach 2, and had a gross-weight rate of climb of over 17,000 feet per minute... just imagine what a 28,000 pound kick in the butt would do.  Well, interestingly enuf, imagine may be exactly what we have to do here.  My research indicates that the funding for this research project was cancelled the day before the first flight.  (you gotta be kidding!)  Ground runs had been made, but it appears that the NB-58A never actually flew with the J-93 engine installed.

 The airplane pictured is #55-662, the 3rd B-58 to be built.  First flight was on May 6, 1957.  Can you even believe that?  Here’s an airplane that looks like it coulda been designed and built just yesterday, yet it was in the air when Chevy was building the iconic 57 Bel Air!  No matter how you look at it, the B-58 is a stunning accomplishment of design and engineering.

 Tho #55-662 never flew with that J-93 engine, it was later one of the 8 aircraft converted to the TB-58A, the trainer version that added an instructor seat behind the pilot, and it then spent some time as a chase plane for the XB-70.  This airplane set a record of 256 sorties flown without a missed or late takeoff… pretty impressive  It’s also special to me in that it was one B-58’s from the 305th Bomb Wing that operated out of Peru, Indiana at Bunker Hill AFB (later Grissom AFB), which just happens to be an hour down the road from me.  That made it pretty easy for me just yesterday to go get a load of pix of the 4th B-58 to be built, aircraft #55-663, which is on outdoor display at the Grissom Air Museum.  It’s one of only 8 B-58’s that still exist.  You'll see some of those pix later in ‘B-58 Week’ : )

CoolPix - Early Aviation: Byrd’s Fokker Trimotor At The Henry Ford Museum

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 A new CoolPix category starting up, this time it’s ‘Early Aviation’.  This is a pic I took of the Fokker Trimotor that was used by Admiral Richard E. Byrd to fly over the North Pole on May 9, 1926.  The claim was that this was the first ever flight over the North Pole, but seems there's some question about whether Byrd and his pilot Floyd Bennett actually made it far enough to pass over the pole.  They encountered an oil leak on one engine and returned back at the airport sooner than expected.  There seems to be a bit of ongoing controversy about the matter, however, Byrd’s accomplishments before and after this trip are quite extensive regardless.

 There’s a lot more about this specific airplane that’s pretty interesting as well.  It’s displayed as shown at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.  There’s a lot of great aviation pieces at the museum, like the Anzani 6-cylinder radial powered Laird biplane that Katherine Stinson flew in 1916.  I always say this: you gotta get to The Henry Ford - it's awesome!  So anyway, it’s a very cool display for this unique aircraft.

 This particular Fokker Trimotor is pretty special in that it’s serial #1.  It’s also interesting to note that 'Fokker' is painted prominently pretty much all over the airplane.  The Byrd expedition to the North Pole was funded by Edsel Ford, and the airplane was named the ‘Josephine Ford’ for Edsel’s young daughter.  Seems Tony Fokker didn’t want there to be any chance of people confusing his Trimotor with the one soon to be flying from Ford!  A pretty interesting detail in the history of this airplane.

 Lastly, the airplane was not fitted with a heater, so it’s likely that the cabin temp was as cold as -50° F while flying over (or near!) the North Pole.  Cool stuff indeed : )

CoolPix - Modern Military: 4 F-117 Nighthawks In Formation

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 The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk 'Stealth Fighter' was officially retired from the United States Air Force on April 22, 2008.  With initial design work done in the 70's, the F-117 went operational in 1983 as the first ever stealth aircraft, with a nearly invisible radar signature.  It was also very successful in that it was designed, built and put into service in total secrecy.  The airplane was eventually acknowledged to the public in 1988.

 It's interesting to note that while it carries the 'F' designation, it's really an 'attack' aircraft.  Designed with radar scattering flat surfaces, the airplane wound up having a look that makes it one of the most unusual military aircraft ever... especially for one actually put into service.  The F-117 proved extremely successful in Operation Desert Storm, having flown only 2% of the missions yet was responsible for 40% of the strategic target attacks.

 The F-117 is a fascinating part of the Lockheed Skunk Works legacy, and this pic of 4 of them in formation helps to remind us of what an amazing accomplishment the airplane is.  Be sure to click the pic to see it big with lots of detail!

CoolPix - Modern Military: Holy Smoke! B-47 Stratojet JATO Takeoff

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 This amazing entry in the CoolPix collection helps to set the line between ‘Vintage Military’ and ‘Modern Military’.  I’ve decided we’ll make the break at the end of WWII.  This also fits pretty well since that’s basically the time period where we entered the jet age as well.

 This pic is from 1954 of a Boeing B-47 making a Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO).  The rather massive JATO package was a great help in getting the aircraft off the ground a lot quicker than with just the 6 wing mounted jet engines.  Tho the airplane was fast, with a cruising speed of about 550mph, the jet engine technology of the time didn’t make good thrust at slow speeds.  JATO was a good solution to this issue at the time.  It’s really interesting to see this huge amount of smoke pouring out of the rockets, as well as a lot coming the 6 jets too.  Early jet engines were also well known for making a lot of smoke!

 It’s also very cool to see 3(!) B-36’s in the background.  This is truly a fascinating picture.  The original picture on the internet has several cracks in the photo paper and other blemishes.  I’ve photoshopped those out and made a near perfect pic here for you to enjoy : )    

 Seems like the Boeing B-47 Stratojet is often forgotten in history, at least compared to how much of a quantum leap the airplane was.  First flight took place in December 1947, a little over 2 years after the end of World War 2.  The distance in design philosophy from an airplane like the B-29 to the B-47 is pretty staggering.  The key elements being the swept wing and the jet engines.  The other aircraft in the running for the US Military contract for a long range jet bomber were all configured with a straight wing.  The B-47 concept also began with a straight wing, but as development continued, Boeing engineers turned to German information gained after the war on swept wing technology.  Boeing committed to the swept wing (35 degrees on the B-47), and at that point, one of the most important elements to usher in a successful jet age, both military and civilian, was defined.

 Here are a few other interesting pieces of info on the B-47:

 It was thought that the wing would have to be thin to achieve high speeds, thus the fuel was carried in the fuselage, or in underwing external tanks.  Fuel location had to be managed carefully to keep the center of gravity in the proper position.

 The design was so aerodynamically clean, and early jet engines were so slow to spool up, that a drogue chute was utilized in flight during the landing phase to create drag.  This allowed the engines to carry some power in the event of a missed approach while also allowing a steeper approach angle without excessive speed.

 The airplane had a high wing loading which resulted in a pretty high approach and touchdown speed.  A second, larger parachute was installed to deploy after touchdown to help slow the airplane.  Thrust reversers hadn’t been invented yet.

CoolPix - Advertising: 1966 Cessna 150 - Includes A Back Seat!

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I didn’t even know a CoolPix category titled ‘advertising’ existed til last night!  That’s when I stumbled upon this awesome 2 page Cessna ad that ran in April 1966 for the ‘new and improved’ 150.  I photographed it and then cleaned it up in photoshop a bit, but I promise that none of the content or intent of it has been changed.  You gotta read this ad text!

 It’s hard to believe this ad is now 44 years old, and if I may say, it’s even harder to believe that having a back seat in a 150 for anything more than a pet hamster makes much sense!  However, I did a little research and have decided that the useful load for a 1966 150F with a backseat installed would likely be a tiny tad north of 500 pounds.  If you figure a 1966 dad at 180 pounds (dressed) and a mom at 130 (she’s dressed too), plus 40 for those suitcases, and then a cumulative total of 75 for the two rug rats… that’s gonna realistically leave about 12 gallons of go juice for some jolly but some cramped aviatin’... "are we there yet?!"  I guess that all works out to ’doable’, but I’m thinking that with a big load of bugs on the leading edges, a hot and humid day with the #2 cylinder a little softer than you really want, you’re most likely just gonna put the slug in sluggish : )  Flash forward to American sized people in 2010: fuhgettaboutit!

 Even tho I’ve got a chunk of hours in a 150/152, I must admit that I never knew they offered up a backseat option.  Hmm, maybe it didn’t really prove all that useful in the long run?  Either way, it’s extremely cool to see this retro ad with it so clearly on display.  It's also neat to realize that 1966 was a big year for the 150.  The ’racier’, ’Flight/Sweep’ tail (that’s a quote from the ad) was brand new, and they also introduced, as an option, the ’needle point’ spinner!  The doors were enlarged 23%, and according to the text, the interiors were more ’luxurious’.  Hmm.  The ’Para-Lift’ flaps were also now electrically operated.

 They also indicate that the ’Land-O-Matic’ wide tracking landing gear has been retained, but I don’t see any mention that the airplane is also apparently available without wing struts.  Look at the cabin pic, notice the fab 4 eagerly approaching their aviatory device, observe that the door is swung very wide open… and the wing strut is just nowhere to be found.  ‘Truth in advertising’ hadn’t been invented yet!  Campbell's with their ‘soup and marbles’ were yet to come (1968).

 I make fun, but I really love all this.  The ad with its 60’s graphic style, full of hyperbole and weird names for design features.  And the Cessna 150, it really is a big part of aviation history.  You might say that the $6,995 selling price is part of history too.  I’d like to know how that computes against today’s wages.  Sure sounds like a heck of a deal.  It did go over well, as that was actually a price cut of over 10% from the previous year.  In 1966, Cessna made more 150’s than any other year: 3,087.

 I actually have a lot more to say about the Cessna 150, but I’m saving that for another post coming up soon.  Until then, I hope you get as big a kick out of this ad from the past as I did!

CoolPix - Airliners: A380 Preparing To Depart Oshkosh 2009

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 Yeah, I know it’s the second CoolPix entry for the A380 at Oshkosh 2009, but c’mon, having the mega-super-big-bus sitting on the ramp all week making lots of shade should definitely earn it several CoolPix awards.  Plus, I took this pic while the airplane was waiting to do its departure flight demo, so this is the A380 getting ready to say goodbye to Oshkosh 2009.  It’s a special moment.

 As always, remember to click the pic for the hi-res version.  The whole point of the  CoolPix experience is to be pulled into the image, to experience it in a way that a 530px wide image just can’t do.

 I like this pic for several reasons.

 The airplane is facing east on the taxiway that leads from AeroShell Square (where it sat all week) out to the runway… it didn’t spend very much time sitting here, so it’s not all that common of a picture.

 I like it cuz it’s such a cool contrast of the world’s largest airliner floating on a sea of what makes Oshkosh so great: people and airplanes.

 You should also notice that while that big honkin’ airplane is not far from all these people, they are definitely looking at something else.  The something else is the WhiteKnightTwo just about to start takeoff roll for its flight demo.  WK2 was such an awesome machine to have up there in 2009, and here we have almost every eye glued to it.

 Lastly, it’s just neat to be able to look around at people who are enjoying Oshkosh.  You can even see the captain sitting in the front office of the A380.  I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking it’s a pretty cool CoolPix : )

CoolPix - X Planes: Neil Armstrong And The X-15 In 1960

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 This is definitely a great image for the CoolPix - X Planes category… Neil Armstrong in January 1960 standing in front of X-15 ship #1 after having landed on the dry lakebed at the Dryden Flight Research Center.  It’s just awesome to see him here about 9 years before he was the first man to walk on the moon.  Some interesting things to note are the skid tracks from the main gear legs, the apparent bottle jack under the nose gear, and Neil’s right hand placed just above the ball nose, also called the ‘Q ball’.

 Here’s some great NASA info that tells more about Neil and the X-15:

 Armstrong was actively engaged in both piloting and engineering aspects of the X-15 program from its inception. He completed the first flight in the aircraft equipped with a new flow-direction sensor (ball nose) and the initial flight in an X-15 equipped with a self-adaptive flight control system. He worked closely with designers and engineers in development of the adaptive system, and made seven flights in the rocket plane from December 1960 until July 1962. During those fights he reached a peak altitude of 207,500 feet in the X-15-3, and a speed of 3,989 mph (Mach 5.74) in the X-15-1.

 Read more about Neil Armstrong and the X-15.