Poll: Is The Northrop T-38 Talon One Of The Most Beautiful Airplanes Ever Built?

Can't get much better... T-38 in Thunderbirds paint! (photo: unknown)

 There are some creations of mankind that are so far ahead of their time, and so perfect in their design that it's hard to believe they are the work of mere mortals. The Northrop T-38, first flown in 1959, is one of them. 1959? Really? It still looks so awesome that you could totally believe is was something fresh for 2015 from the sharpest designers in the world.

The T-38 has been a valuable asset to NASA... and a fun toy too!   (photo: NASA) 

 So you can tell where I stand on the T-38, it's about as close to avgeek perfect as we get. But I wondered if you agree with me, so I put this poll together to see what your thoughts are. Often I find that about 70% of you agree with my line of thinking, but I'm pretty sure the numbers will be much higher this time around : )

Lean, mean, supersonic machine... the Northrop T-38 Talon  (photo: Air Force)

 So, what do YOU think? Is the Northrop T-38 Talon one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built?

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Video: Hey, The Harrier Jump Jet Don't Need No Stinkin' Nose Gear!

 This recently released video shows the details behind a unique vertical landing conducted earlier in the month by U.S. Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney in an AV-8B Harrier II aboard the USS Bataan. Turns out when your Harrier nose gear won't extend - there's and app for that! They've got a stool designed to catch the aircraft nose, and as is seen in the video it works great. Capt. Mahoney explains that he never saw the stool at any time during the approach which certainly makes it an exciting event not knowing if it's really there and if you've got the aircraft, for certain, in the correct position.

USMC Capt. William Mahoney landing an AV-8B Harrier II without a nose gear

 I'm not sure how much damage would have been incurred even without the cradle since it appears that it would have made contact in pretty much the same spot on the fuselage without it, and with no additional damage to the area behind the engine intake. Regardless tho, the stool seems to have insured no damage, and put the aircraft in a position where work to get the nose gear down could be fairly easily accomplished. Job well done all the way around!

The USS Bataan in 2003 with a full compliment of AV-8B Harrier II jump jets

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Video: Fascinating Historical Account Of The 1965 Reno Air Races (Progress In The Air)

 This recently uploaded gem of a video is an old-school professionally produced film that chronicled the wide variety of aviation related activities taking place during the 1965 Reno Air Races. It's 21 minutes long but very well worth your time if you have any interest in the era that defined so much of what modern aviation is all about today.

A young Bob Hoover talks about how the 23 year old P-51 design still flies beautifully

 National air racing had just returned the year before in 1964 when the first Reno Air Races took place at the Sky Ranch airport just north of Sparks Nevada. Bill Stead was the driving force behind the rebirth of national air racing and it's great to see him in this video.

 Lots of dirt and a short runway were pretty much all they had, but the event included aerobatics, parachuting, hot air ballooning, the US Air Force Thunderbirds in the F-100D Super Sabre, and of course various classes of air racing. Those first two years of the Reno Air Races were an amazing celebration of a love for flight no matter the machine used to accomplish it.

Before the Red Devils, before the Eagles Aerobatic Team... a young Charlie Hillard

 I was fortunate as a young kid to experience Reno from 1967 thru 1970, and much of what is seen at the Sky Ranch in this video reminds me of the early years at Stead Airfield. It's interesting to note several things about the Stead name as it relates to these early Reno years. Bill Stead, a late 1950's world speed boat champion, pulled the first two events together after retiring from boats and moving on to racing airplanes. The location for these first two years was the Sky Ranch, but the airport was barely up to the task of handling the larger aircraft. Tragically, Bill Stead was killed a short time later in 1966 in a Florida crash of his midget racer in preparation for the St Petersburg races. The airplane was the newly acquired Deer Fly racer that had been the winner in the 1965 races at Sky ranch, as seen in the video.

A fascinating look at the early days of the modern hot air balloon movement

 For 1966, the National Air Races moved from Sky Ranch to what had been Stead Air Force base, named in honor of Bill Stead's brother Croston Stead who had been killed in a P-51 training accident at the base in 1951. When the base was deactivated in 1966 and turned over to the city of Reno, it was renamed Stead Airfield. Today it's known as Reno Stead Airport. The excellent facilities of Reno Stead have served the races well for nearly all of the 50 year history of the modern National Championship Air Races, known simply as the Reno Air Races... and the memory of two Reno brothers lives on.

Mira Slovak trying to win again, but Darryl Greenamyer started his win streak instead

This is definitely a must see video if you're interested in sport aviation history!

The Thunderbirds after replacing the short run F-105's with the F-100D Super Sabre

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CoolPix: What A View Looking Up At The 434th ARW KC-135 From The 445th AW C-17!

(click pic for hi-res) My view from the cockpit of the C-17 as we took on 20,000 pounds

 I had a perfect day riding along in a C-17 Globemaster III from the 445th AW out of Wright-Patterson AFB as it was refueled by my Indiana friends in a KC-135 from the 434th ARW based at Grissom ARB. Both aircraft departed WPAFB before noon today and then we met up over Kentucky to pump some petrol. YeeHaw! It was aswesome!

 The KC-135 would normally have been operating out of Grissom in north central Indiana but runway work there has the 434th temporarily flying out of Wright-Patterson in Dayton Ohio. This presented the unique opportunity to have both aircraft carrying about 8 media representatives each. Typically only aircraft at a time would have guests like this onboard. It was an incredible opportunity to see Air Force reserve personnel at work... and just like back in 2010 when I rode in a 434th KC-135, everyone today represented the United States and the Air Force at the highest level of professionalism and performance. I am very impressed! 

 I captured lots of images and quite a bit of video on the 3-hour flight but I only have the energy tonight to share this one great CoolPix image. Each of us on the flight had several opportunities to view the refueling action from inside the C-17 cockpit, which is quite roomy actually, and this pic is from the eyebrow window above the left seat. The boom extends back over the cockpit to the refueling receptacle which puts us very close to the KC-135! That sight looking up is, as you should imagine, totally stunning.

 I hope you enjoy this pic (remember to click it to open it up, and then click the image again to make it even bigger) and then watch in a week or so as I put together a lengthy and detailed post about being right there for the inflight refueling exercise.

 A huge Thank You to everyone involved for allowing us to come along and see such excellent work in progress!

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Wednesday, This Pig's Gonna Ride A Thirsty Globemaster !!! (Check Out This C-17 Video)

 Wednesday morning June 18, 2014 I'm scheduled to be onboard a C-17 departing from Wright-Patterson AFB on a training mission that will include inflight refueling with a KC-135 from the 434th Air Refueling Wing based at Grissom ARB in northern Indiana. This trip is operating out of WPAFB because the 434th has temporarily relocated there while the runway at Grissom is getting some repairs.

Video screenshot: this USAF video shows a C-17 flying over northern California

 I was fortunate to ride in a KC-135 from the 434th on a B-52 refueling mission back in 2010, and once again I've been blessed with the opportunity to watch the Air Force at work from inside one of their fabulous flying machines. I must admit I'm very excited to see what a ride in a C-17 is like! You might wanna check out the 56 pix and info from the 2010 KC-135 ride and then expect to see a similar post on the C-17 ride in a week or so.

Video screenshot: front view of a C-17 over the California coast

 The video above and these screenshots are a USAF video of a Globemaster III operating out of Travis AFB in California. There's no audio but it's full of really great views of this impressive aircraft. The sweeping view from behind that starts at 2:17 is awesome! It's fascinating in that view to see how much spoiler there is on the wing that's used for roll control... and I'm gonna have to ask someone tomorrow if that's really one small spoiler on the right wing deploying when the hard roll left is in progress. Interesting.

Video screenshot: sweeping view from behind is a must see part of the video above!

  I doubt I'll have the chance to get any pix that are as impressive as the nearly directly overhead view of the B-52 from that KC-135 flight, but I do expect to be able to capture the general awesomeness of what it looks like when the crew tucks our C-17 right up under the hiney of the KC-135.

 A big Thank You goes out to the Public Affairs Department at Grissom Air Reserve Base for the invite to watch the 434th ARW in action. YeeHaw!

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Can The C-17 Get A Boost From The Goose? (Boeing SAVE Video)

 Ok, trying to tap into the energy from the wake created by a lead airplane to reduce overall fuel burn (like geese do in the 'V' formation) isn't just for the C-17... but apparently Boeing has been doing some research and software development using the C-17 as a testbed for the idea of reducing fuel burn when you have multiple aircraft headed the same direction. Boeing calls the program SAVE: Surfing Aircraft Vortices for Energy.

Video screenshot: Boeing C-17's are a perfect fit for the SAVE test program

 
Let's stop for a moment: I like talking about the C-17 here because if all goes well I'll be inside one next week as it drinks some kerosene from a KC-135! I've got another fabulous opportunity to ride along on with the 434th Air Refueling Wing. If you haven't seen the 56 pix and story from my KC-135 ride in 2010 then you should go check it out now, it was an awesome experience and I got some great pix of a B-52 from down in the boom pod. And then there's this amazing B-52 CoolPix that I captured. 

 My opportunity this time will be in the receiving aircraft, a C-17, and I must say that I am really looking forward to it. A big thank you in advance goes out to the 434th ARW for the opportunity. (check out the 434th ARW facebook page)

 So, as the video above says, there are some potentially rather large reductions in fuel burn available if we can position a following aircraft in the right spot to take advantage of the lead aircraft wake. And while it's easy to imagine the military taking advantage of this when more than one aircraft is headed the same direction, I don't see why we couldn't make this work with commercial airliners too.

 I guess we'll know about those possibilities when we see additional details about how far away the aircraft can be and what the realistic reduction in fuel burn is. In the end it might simply be an Air Traffic Control and autopilot software project that could lead to reduced fuel burn for the airlines, which of course would lead the airlines to immediately convert that windfall into extra legroom for coach passengers, right?   

Video screenshot: saving fuel by Surfing Aircraft Vortices for Energy

 Regardless of what the airlines might do with increased profit from saving some fuel, it's cool to see that as technology advances, we continue to figure ways to do what the Creator has been doing all along!

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Video: 20 Foot Span RC B-25 With 2 Moki 400's! (First Flight)

 Really big RC models are intriguing because they can look so real in their getting-close-to-life-size dimensions. You also know that they have taken an enormous amount of work and dedication to reach completion. But for me, the biggest payoff comes with how real they look in the air. Small models are just too twitchy to look real.

 This 20 foot wingspan B-25, built in Germany over 5-1/2 years and powered by two Moki 400 5-cylinder radials looks incredibly real in the air. And while the Moki engines don't convince you that they're Wright R-2600's, they have unique radial sound all their own that is truly awesome. The music that two of them make, well, it's just perfect.

 Congratulations to the team in Germany on their amazing piece of work!

Video screenshot of this amazing 30% scale B-25 RC model

Check out the build page for the B-25 build team:
www.legendaryfighters.de/B_25/b25.htm

 
 Engine run of the real Apache Princess from Kermit Weeks' collection of flying aircraft. Check out the Fantasy of Flight page with info on this B-25.

Hat tip to my friend Christian for the link on the B-25 model.

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Part 3: Blue Angels Mega Post (Video+CoolPix+Desktop)

(click pic for hi-res)  Pensacola Beach airshow pic from 2012 #awesome

 The Blue Angels mega-post comes to an end today, but I hope it has served to drive you to their airshow schedule to see when and where you can experience them live and in person. I see several dates that will potentially work for me this summer and look forward to it!

 You might remember that when the Navy released the image above from the 2012 Pensacola Beach airshow, it was flipped over with the world upside-down, which is the way it was captured... and while that was very impressive to view, I had a feeling that it might be more powerful when flipped over with the world right-side-up. So I flipped it over in photoshop and it came alive for me. Then I decided to see if I was just a weirdo or if more of you agreed with me. The poll I put up showed over 70% agreed that it was a more powerful image when flipped over as seen above, so that's how I made it available as a desktop pic. Here it is again in four popular desktop sizes in case you didn't snag it before:

Pensacola Beach 2012 Blue Angels inverted pass:

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 Here's a very nice compilation video from a few years back that shows the Blue Angels in some truly beautiful views. It can be watched in HD and it has a non-offensive soundtrack... go full screen and enjoy!

 This excellent video from the KPIX (San Francisco) Evening Magazine is from back in 1985 and gives some background into the Blue Angels A4 Skyhawk training camp. It's fascinating to hear Blue Angels pilot Mike Gershon say that after his year with the team as narrator he assumed he understood the level of effort required to be one of the guys inside the cockpit... yet he realized when he made that transition to the cockpit that he had no idea of the physical and mental effort required to put a show on. Imagine how unaware you and I are.

 It's important to note that shortly after this program was recorded, Mike Gershon was killed when he and the other solo A4 flown by Andy Caputi collided at the crossover on the top of a loop. Andy Caputi ejected safely but Mike lost his life in the accident. You can learn more in a very respectful follow up video here.

 The risks are real for the Blue Angels, but then life is full of risk at every turn for each and every one of us. The challenge for us all is to seek wisdom and knowledge, making the best decisions we can in every situation. The Blue Angels serve as one of the greatest examples of this way of life.

 If you think about it, the extreme skill displayed by the Blue Angels is meant to represent a willingness and capability in defending the United States of America... and ultimately, the USA is only defended when men and women join the military (any branch) and prepare to fight if needed. So when you see the Blue Angels (or the USAF Thunderbirds) please remember that Americans (you and me) owe a lot to all the people willing to fight for this nation.

 This last video is from the Blue Angels era before the A4 Skyhawk. It's an old Super 8mm film shot in 1970 of the Blues in F-4 Phantom's at Suffolk County AFB in Long Island New York. There's an honest nostalgia in it that makes a guy like me, who lived as a kid thru that time frame, ache with a desire for the good ole days. But even if you weren't alive back then, I'm guessing you'll have no trouble agreeing with me that the F-4's look fantastic in that great paint.

 An alternate way to experience the video above is to first mute the audio (simply click the speaker icon next to the start button)... then click this link which will open a new tab and start an audio-only video... then come back to this tab and hit the play button as soon as you can. It's a beautiful experience.

Thank you Blue Angels... past, present, and future.

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Part 2: Blue Angels Mega Post (Video+CoolPix+Desktop)

 Here's more fabulous Blue Angels content to help you and me both feel a little more like we're at Vero Beach Florida today and tomorrow enjoying a performance from the world's greatest aerobatic team. You're seeing Baltimore back in 2012 behind the blue and gold here in the CoolPix above... the Navy does a great job of making awesome images like this available, but if you don't know where to look it's easy to miss out. I take it all a little farther down the road then too by sizing up some desktop images for you and passing them around for free.

Blue Angels over Baltimore on 6-15-12:

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 This short video gives you a great view of the Blues in a tight diamond formation as they slide in right behind Sean Tucker in his Oracle Challenger over Seattle back in 2010. What a sight to see these very different aircraft looking quite comfortable in formation... too bad there wasn't a GoPro on the tailwheel of the Challenger, that would have made for such a wonderful view of the Blues.

 This 33 minute video will make you feel like you're right there enjoying a full Blue Angels performance, which is exactly what it is. It's a broadcast-quality recording of the 2012 Miramar Air Show... from taxi-out thru til taxi-in, with the full show in between. It's also viewable in 1080p HD, which means this would be a great video to stream into a big flat TV, or at least full screen on your computer. There's no music, no talking, just pure Blue Angels all in high quality!

(click pic for hi-res)  Up close in formation showing how close they are!

 The CoolPix above is from 2011 over Pensacola Florida... imagine yourself inside about 30,000 pounds of jet going 300mph THIS close to another pretty blue 30,000 pound hunk of metal! And then imagine that the tolerance for how far you can be from the exact correct position is about 18 inches... and hold that tolerance for much of a 30 minute performance. The observe-decide-act frequency going on in their heads must be staggering. It's. Just. Awesome.

 Here's hoping you have a very Blue weekend! Watch for part 3 tomorrow.

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Blue Angels 3-Part Mega Post! Fri-Sat-Sun (Video+CoolPix+Desktop) Part 1

(click pic for hi-res) Awesome Blue Angels pic from 2010 (Navy photo by Ron Trevino)

 The AWESOME Blue Angels are in Vero Beach Florida this weekend to wow airshow fans with what hard work, discipline, and pure dedication can produce... the world's greatest aerobatic team! But if you're like me, it doesn't look like Vero Beach out your window. So, I thought I'd do what I can to bring the Blue Angels experience to you in a 3-part Fri-Sat-Sun mega post. The pic above is a CoolPix so you can open it up big, or you can download one of the free desktop sizes I put together for you below.

Blue Angels Jax show 2010:

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 This first video is a short one uploaded to youtube just a few weeks ago and shows a backseat view during a Blue Angels practice. It's simply unimaginable that these guys can fly this close together, at these speeds, AND doing maneuvers! The Navy consistently finds (and trains) these super humans capable of doing what honestly seems impossible. It would be one thing to be able to perform at this level for a few minutes, but to put on a full show week after week requires a focus and disciple that boggles the mind. Bravo Blues!

 The second video is an older one that runs almost 10 minutes and is full of incredible backseat views of the team performing. Even if you see it before it's ALWAYS worth seeing again.

(click pic for hi-res)  The Blue Angels diamond formation at Reno back in 2009

 The CoolPix above is one that I captured at Reno back in 2009. It's another graphic example of just how close together these F/A-18's fly during a Blue's performance. Even better, they flew several days in a row that year... I never ever get tired of seeing and hearing the Blue Angels own the sky!

 This last video for the Blue Angels mega-post part 1 is one of the most impressive Blue Angels videos I've ever seen, and it doesn't even have a single F/A-18 in it. It's all about Fat Albert with a cockpit view of a 2009 performance of the C-130 at an airshow at Barksdale AFB. The cockpit crew communication and cooperation is outstanding! It's a great way to see the kind of discipline that makes the entire Blue Angels experience the best in the world.

 Enjoy, my avgeek friends, and watch for part 2 coming tomorrow!

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