CoolPix - Modern Military: North American F-107 'Man Eater'

(click pic for hi-res)  F-107A aircraft designed and built by North American in the mid 50's 

(2 CoolPix and 1 video)

 If you asked me about the F-107 before yesterday, all I'd really been able to tell you is that it's the one with the air intake oddly positioned right above and behind the cockpit. I've known of the existence of this airplane since I was a kid in the 70's, but I'd never paid any real attention to it. Well, I'm paying attention now, and wow, it was a pretty fascinating piece of work as a tactical fighter-bomber concept. As a quick side note, the first ever AirPigz Air Force Museum 'meet-up' (in Dayton, Ohio) is now tentatively scheduled for the weekend of January 29 and 30, and one of the three F-107's built is on display in the museum's Research & Development/Flight Test Gallery. Send me an email via this link for more info on getting in on this meet-up. It'll be a great way to have some avgeek fun (and education) in the middle of winter... and admission to the museum is free! 

 Back to the F-107. So, I wonder if the eject handle might actually have been labeled 'injest'... ok probably not. But still, having a massive inlet sucking huge amounts of air to feed a Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet right behind your head is not the kind of thing you easily get used to. In the end, due to the F-105 Thunderchief from Republic being selected for the role of fighter-bomber, the F-107 never went past the stage of just three test aircraft, and thus never got an official name. Unofficially it was known as the Super Super Sabre or sometimes the Ultra Sabre, but pilots were more likely to call it the 'Man Eater'. And in case you're wondering, no one ever ejected from an F-107, so we never found out if there really was anything to worry about concerning becoming jet engine food!

 The F-107 began its development as the F-100B, an outgrowth of the F-100 Super Sabre, but it wound up becoming pretty much a whole new airplane, so it eventually got the 107 designation. It was a noticeably larger airplane with much higher max speed, Mach 2+ compared to Mach 1.25 for the F-100. That top-mounted inlet was originally mounted below the cockpit, which itself was a departure from the hole-in-the-nose inlet of the F-100. But the Air Force wanted the airplane to be able to deploy a nuclear weapon that was to be carried partially up inside the bottom of the fuselage. Issues arose with the lower air intake creating a shockwave that caused problems with launching the nuclear weapon, which lead to a retrofit re-positioning. You might already know that the F-105 avoided all of these issues by having its air intake placed at the leading edge of the wing at the root, on both sides of the fuselage.

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Mystery Shadow Identified... Awesome Power Of Bacon Displayed!

 The amazing power of bacon has been displayed in the last 24 hours by several people trading precious brain cells for the chance to win a sizzling bacon sandwich at Oshkosh 2011 by trying to ID the aircraft represented by that little mystery shadow pic I posted yesterday. Congrats to 'Tican' for giving it one last try and getting it right! It is indeed the Cessna UC-78 'Bamboo Bomber', also known as the AT-17 Bobcat, and the T-50.

 The challenge of trying to figure out the airplane from just a partial shadow was even bigger than I really meant to subject you all to, but I'm really glad the answer was found. I'll be putting another bacon sandwich on the line before long with some other twisted and unique avgeek ID challenge... stay tuned : )

First Ever AirPigz / Air Force Museum Meet-Up Coming Soon

(7 pix: Air Force Museum)

Let's meet up at the Air Force Museum in Dayton... details below: 
UPDATE: meet-up is scheduled for Saturday January 29 and Sunday January 30

 When I did a little research before I posted the CoolPix of the sweet Curtiss-Wright AT-9 twin engine trainer from WWII, I learned that the only complete airframe is on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Hmm, I haven't been to the museum there in over 5 years... I should plan a trip there! That's when the idea for an AirPigz 'meet-up' at the Air Force Museum was born.

 So here's you official invite: sometime in late January or early February there will be a fun little AirPigz avgeek meet-up at the museum. Museum admission and parking are FREE(!), and operating hours are 9am to 5pm EST. If you're even slightly interested in knowing more about when this will take place, please send an email to me via this link Email For Meet-Up - the email will already have the subject line filled in, and we can get some dialog going to find the best weekend. (all the details will be finalized by Friday, December 31st) 

 Regardless of which weekend works best for the most people interested, I'm planning to be there for both Saturday and Sunday. That'll give a little more overall flexibility to pick the day that works best for you. Or, if you're really into the museum like me, you might wanna plan for both days. I may also have a connection to a house with room for a few people to stay overnight as well. My advance promo thru twitter on this has already found about 5 people seriously interested in making the trip, one already with plans to fly down from Canada using up some up some frequent flyer miles. The Air Force Museum is simply spectacular... maybe this little meet-up will be a great catalyst for getting you to Dayton to experience it! 

 I'm thinking we should plan to have lunch together for at least an hour in the Valkyrie Cafe as our official 'meet-up' time for visiting together at the museum, otherwise you'd be free to do whatever you want during your time there. We may also be able to do an evening dinner meet-up on Saturday for anyone who would be available. Regardless, send me an email via the link above and let's see if we can stir up some interest in getting together and talking airplanes! And if you don't know much about the Air Force Museum (with its 400 or so aircraft and well over 1 million visitors each year), check out the following pix for a little idea of how awesome it is!

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Video: Eurofighter Typhoon Chases Spitfire At RIAT 2010 - Wow!

 It's a fascinating mix of then and now as the Eurofighter Typhoon playfully chases a WWII Supermarine Spitfire around the sky during RIAT 2010 back in July. And as is pretty much always the case, the quality of the video shot by FlyingMachinesTV is stunning... enjoy!

CoolPix: RAAF (Australian) AEW&C - The Prickly 737!

(click pic for hi-res)

 The familiar Boeing 707 based E-3 AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System) with the huge rotating disc antenna mounted in front of the vertical fin has been the mainstay of eye-in-the-sky air traffic control and detection for military operations since the late 70's. But when the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) was looking to add large scale AWACS capabilities, they wanted a package that was a lot more cost effective. The Boeing 737 based AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control), seen here flying over Sydney Harbour, is the result. It's actually a pretty stunning picture of the airplane nicknamed Wedgetail, with such a beautiful and iconic Australian backdrop... and it gives a really good view of the rather massive number of small prickly antennas and other unique protrusions that give this airplane its cutting edge electronic capabilities. 

 The significantly smaller 737-700 airframe with only two engines to feed and maintain greatly reduce overall operating costs. And while I can't speak for how effective that much smaller external antenna is as compared to the big rotating one on the E-3, it surely seems it must be simpler to maintain since it's fixed. The RAAF has ordered six 737 AEW&C, and while two of them were delivered by Boeing about a year ago, it wasn't until last May that the RAAF officially had them handed over into their full control. Three more aircraft have been scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year, but I haven't been able to confirm if that's still likely to happen. Overall, much like most all large aircraft projects in the last 10 years, the 737 AEW&C program has been somewhat disrupted by long delays. 

 In addition to the six airplanes ordered by the RAAF, Turkey and South Korea have both ordered some of them too. According to Boeing, a total of 14 of the 737 AEW&C aircraft have been purchased. If the deliveries can pick up pace, and if the airplane performs well in its intended role, this could become the new standard for airborne early warning systems.

Video: The Kinda Mysterious X-37B Space UAV Returns To Earth

(video and info via 30th Space Wing Vandengerg youtube channel)

12/3/2010 - VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The U.S. Air Force's first unmanned re-entry spacecraft landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:16 a.m. today.

The X-37B, named Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1), conducted on-orbit experiments for more than 220 days during its maiden voyage. It fired its orbital maneuver engine in low-earth orbit to perform an autonomous reentry before landing.

The X-37B is the newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft. Managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO), the X-37B program performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.

"Today's landing culminates a successful mission based on close teamwork between the 30th Space Wing, Boeing and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office," said Lt Col Troy Giese, X-37B program manager from the AFRCO. "We are very pleased that the program completed all the on-orbit objectives for the first mission."

OTV-1's de-orbit and landing mark the transition from the on-orbit demonstration phase to a refurbishment phase for the program. 

The Air Force is preparing to launch the next X-37B, OTV-2, in Spring 2011 aboard an Atlas V booster.

Videos: Oshkosh Dreamin' As We Head Toward Winter

 The high temp in northern Indiana today was right around the freezing mark, and with the clear knowledge that winter is on the way I found myself aching for some pure summer feelings... and that of course left me thinking about Oshkosh! It's pretty hard to beat a video (or two) from youtuber slickhutto for getting that OSH feeling stirred up, so here ya go! The 2009 Oshkosh video from Slick is above - I figured if you've already seen it, it's probably been a while, so it should feel pretty fresh...

...and this video is the one from 2010. Slick does a great job of capturing the real feel of Oshkosh, while also doing a fab job of editing. If you're a purist and would rather watch some Oshkosh without it bering a music video, check out Slick's youtube page for the more recent uploads that run 10 minutes and feature airplanes with all their natural (beautiful) sounds.

 I hope watching these videos inspires you to push ahead with whatever aviation project you're into. Whether you're building an airplane, learning to fly, upgrading your ratings, or maybe needing to fall in love with flying again (or just soaking up all the aviation knowledge you can find), watching moments from Oshkosh is one of the best ways to be motivated. I know it sure helps keep me going - thanx Slick : )

1960's Coaxial (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) - Gyrodyne QH-50

(click pic to enlarge)    QH-50 drone helicopter at the Carolinas Aviation Museum

 I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina for my step-daughters wedding tomorrow, and I found out this morning that there's a small aviation museum over at the Charlotte/Douglas Int'l Airport, so I stopped by to check it out. It's the Carolinas Aviation Museum, which is home to a beautiful DC-3 in Piedmont colors (more on that in another post) along with several military aircraft as well as a handful of other classic airplanes. But the unique flying machine that really caught my eye was the turbine powered Gyrodyne QH-50C coaxial DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) that was put into service with the U.S. Navy in the early 60's.

 It's really interesting to see that 50 years ago we had an unmanned, remotely piloted vehicle that not only effectively used coaxial rotors, but was even designed to deliver submarine destroying torpedoes. The QH-50 was small, with just a 20' rotor diameter, but it was full of forward-thinking ideas. You can expect a more detailed post in the future on this unique 'old-school' UAV, but til then, check out this really short video below to get an idea of how the QH-50 operated. Very cool stuff.

CoolPix - Vintage Military: Curtiss-Wright AT-9 (Racy Trainer!)

(click pic for hi-res)

 Nearly 800 of these cute little Curtiss-Wright AT-9's (Advanced Trainer) were built between 1941 and 1943 for the purpose of getting new pilots up to speed with the more demanding larger twin engine aircraft such as the Martin B-26 Marauder and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. The goal was to produce a small aircraft that could be challenging enough to make sure the pilots were ready. It seems the AT-9 was plenty challenging all right... so much so that some pilots thought they maybe should have learned in the front line airplanes first! Only two examples of the AT-9 remain today, which kinda points to the military's feeling that it wasn't a good airplane to make available to the public like they did with so many other aircraft.

 To me, the AT-9 'Jeep' is an extremely good looking design. The beautifully shaped nose section with the great looking windshield really sets the tone for the airplane. The smoothly integrated doors with streamlined hinges make really cool details. And, with only two seats and two, 295hp Lycoming R-680 radial engines, it just seems like it would have to be fun (challenging) to fly. With the short nose and the engines set well forward, the prop discs aren't very far apart... I always think that looks awesome. And then it sits nice and proud on that main gear and has plenty of other curves in the right places to simply make a great looking flying machine.

 It's interesting that the prototype had a steel tube and fabric fuselage, but the production airplanes had an all metal, stressed skin fuselage like is seen here. The only fully intact example of the airplane is on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. I'm looking forward to going over there this winter to get loads of pictures and details on the AT-9, and as many of the other airplanes as I can while I'm there. You can expect a lot of great detailed posts to come out of that trip!

 I'm considering putting together an AirPigz avgeek meetup at the Air Force Museum (Dayton, Ohio) for sometime in late January or February. It's a phenomenal facility, and admission is free - you can't beat that! I'll have more details posted later, but if you're interested in finding out more about the chance to meet up, send me an email at mcc@airpigz.com and I'll include you in the discussion that will help us pick a date that works well for as many people as possible.

 I don't know about you, but I can hear that AT-9 calling my name!

Video: Blue Angels F-18 Refueling... In The Clouds!

 This video from 2009 would be cool enough if it was just an F-18 sucking up some gas from a KC-135, but it's more than that. It's a Blue Angels, F-18 sucking up some gas! Oh but wait, it gets even better... they're actually flying thru the tops of the clouds while the Blue Angels F-18 is sucking up some gas!

 And to top it all off (no pun intended), the pilot has added some excellent voice over to explain a little about the refueling process. This is a must see video if there ever was one : )