The Airplane Thread

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Llarry

Tomcat Thursday!

The Tomcat photo that I posted last Thursday belonged to Fighter Squadron 111, known as the Sundowners.

The Sundowners were established in August of 1942 when the war against Japan was still pretty iffy. The insignia adopted by the new squadron, then VF-11, was a red sun (representing Japan) being shot down by two (U.S. Navy) fighters. VF-11's insignia is attached.

As the years went by, the aircraft markings became a more politically correct rising-sun derivative, worn by VF-111 for some years. See the attached photo of a couple of Sundowners F-4B Phantoms of the Vietnam era.

VF-111 was disestablished in 1995 and the Sundowners ceased to exist, but in 2006 a new Naval Reserve adversary squadron was established, and they chose to honor the Sundowners' heritage by adopting a variation of the designation, VFC-111, and the name.

[3.0L]

.m

[Llarry]

In wartime, aerial reconnaissance is a critical requirement. The Vietnam War was no exception. The terrain and heavy vegetation of Southeast Asia made photographic missions very demanding. For survivability of the photo plane, high altitude is generally best, but for good photos, low altitude is often a must.

U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps photographic reconnaissance aircraft were in use throughout the war and suffered heavy losses; many aircraft were shot down and the crews either killed or taken captive.

To supplement manned photo recon flights, The USAF used remotely piloted vehicles throughout the entire war. The Ryan Model 147 Firebee target drone was the vehicle of choice and there were many variants. (See attached chart.) Most were low-altitude versions used in high-threat areas where manned photo recon planes dared not to go.

The method used was to carry model 147s -- The Air Force dubbed them Buffalo Hunter -- aloft under the wings of DC-130 Hercules. Once at optimum altitude and location, the small jet engine of the UAV would be started and it would be dropped off the wing of the -130 and fly its preprogrammed mission. After it had flown its photo mission, the UAV would fly out to sea and deploy a parachute. A CH-3C helicopter would pick the UAV up and carry it back to base for refurbishment and reuse. Of course, there were plenty of opportunities for mission failure along the line at launch or recovery and many of the UAVs were shot down. But the cost was relatively low and no American crewman was killed or captured if the mission failed.

There was an offshoot of the Vietnam drones as well. After North Korea shot down a U.S. Navy EC-121 SIGINT aircraft in international waters in the Sea of Japan in 1969, the U.S. was determined to continue intelligence collection on North Korea. The Ryan model 147 was adapted to the task with long wings and underwing fuel tanks; the (AQM-34R or -34Q Combat Dawn) RPV could fly at high altitude and listen in on North Korean signals. That program lasted for several years until replaced by the Lockheed U-2 that still flies in Korea today.

[Llarry]

An update on the F-15EX Eagle now finally being delivered to fighter units:

The first 14 F-15EXs will be delivered to the 142nd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard. They have their first and are expecting the second to arrive imminently. They should have 14 by next year.

After that, the next 36 F-15EX aircraft will go to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. The 18th Wing there lost its old F-15Cs and is making do with temporary deployments from other units until the new aircraft show up.

After Kadena is up and running, the remaining four F-15EXs will fill out the 142nd in Oregon.

Somewhere along this timeline, some jets will go to the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour-Johnson AFB to establish the training unit there.

After Oregon and Okinawa have their full complement of aircraft, two more Air National Guard units will be issued the F-15EXs. New Orleans and Fresno will see the new aircraft in future years as they are produced.

There is even the possibility of an enlarged buy of F-15EXs to replace the F-15E Strike Eagles, which are also getting old. This is probably a long shot.

The question of mission is still somewhat up in the air. The old F-15Cs were pretty much exclusively used for air superiority and as such did not carry bombs or other air-to-ground weapons. The F-15EX is much more versatile and over the long term may broaden its mission. They key there is whether the Air Force will buy conformal fuel tanks, which include bomb racks, for the EXs. That decision is up in the air.

There is definitely a learning curve for both aircrews and maintainers. The F-15EX has a more powerful GE F110 engine instead of the Pratt & Whitney F100, uses a fly-by-wire system and has upgraded radar and electronic warfare systems.

[Llarry]

Tomcat Thursday!

Something a big different: While the F-14 Tomcat was retired by the U.S. Navy almost twenty years ago, Iran continues to fly a small number of F-14s. It is impressive how they have continued to do so despite an embargo on spare parts and technical assistance from the USA.

[Llarry]

The U.S. Navy has deployed a new air-to-air missile just last month. The AIM-174B Standard missile is an adaptation of the ship-launched RIM-174A SM-6 that is used for defense against ballistic missiles.

The new missile is much larger and heavier than the AIM-120 AMRAAM (on the left in the photo) normally carried by Navy strike fighters.

It is pure speculation on my part, but it occurs to me that this type of missile could be used to destroy distant enemy airborne early warning aircraft.

[Llarry]

In the 1950s, the introduction of gas turbine power promised to revolutionize helicopters; suddenly they were no longer primitive machines with limited payload capacity. The Army bought the HU-1 (later designated UH-1) "Huey" in great numbers and the Huey became the symbol of the Vietnam War in the 1960s-70s.

The Navy had two missions in mind for the early turbine-powered helos: Antisubmarine warfare (ASW) from the decks of aircraft carriers and utility/search and rescue (SAR) duties also from carriers. The turbine-powered aircraft first flew in 1969 and by the early 1960s had replaced older helicopters with reciprocating engines.

The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King was the Navy's choice for ASW. It had twin engines and a decent payload capacity. It was equipped with dipping sonar that could be lowered beneath ocean layers to detect submarines near naval forces and could carry lightweight homing torpedoes to drop on detected targets. The SH-3 was initially deployed in large squadrons aboard specialized ASW carriers converted from older WWII-built carriers. When those ships' lives ended, the SH-3 was integrated in smaller squadrons aboard newer attack carriers. During the Vietnam War, a few SH-3s were gutted of ASW equipment, armored and armed and used for combat search and rescue along the Vietnamese coast.

The SH-3 first flew in 1959 and entered service with helicopter ASW squadrons in 1961. 938 were built. The last Navy SH-3s were finally retired in 2006, though a small number of VH-3Ds still serve in the Marine Corps to provide VIP transport to the American president.

At the same time, the Navy was looking for a smaller utility/SAR helicopter and chose the Kaman UH-2 Seasprite, which had a single turboshaft. The initial UH-2A soon gave way to the UH-2C with double the power from two engines. The Navy bought 184 H-2s.

When the larger SH-3s were moved to carrier decks, they assumed the utility/SAR role from the smaller UH-2. As it happened, this was right when the Navy became increasingly concerned about the Soviet submarine threat and the UH-2 was repurposed as the SH-2 light ASW helo. The SH-2 served aboard surface combatants for several decades before being replaced by the larger Sikorsky SH-60B.

Meanwhile the Marine Corps had of course embraced turbine power for their helicopters as well and fielded several models: The Sikorsky CH-53 was the Corps' heavy lifter, the Boeing Vertol CH-46 Seaknight was the most numerous medium transport helicopter and the Marines also bought versions of the Army's UH-1 Huey light utility and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. (None of these are pictured.) The Navy piggybacked on the Marine CH-46 and adopted the Seaknight as the UH-46 logisitics helo to fulfill the new vertical replenishment role, rapidly transferring pallets of cargo from replenishment ships to the decks of aircraft carriers and smaller warships.

These first-generation turbine helicopters gave excellent service for several decades and proved the mettle of the helicopter in the fleet. The second generation of turbine-powered naval helicopters is represented by the Sikorsky Model S-70, designated H-60 in military service. The story is sufficiently complex that I will continue in another post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_SH-3_Sea_King

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_SH-2_Seasprite

[Llarry]

U.S. Navy shipboard turbine helicopters now center on the Sikorsky MH-60 Seahawk/Knighthawk. Something like 550 of these helicopters are in service as the MH-60R and MH-60S.

The history of the Navy's H-60s goes back in the 1970s, when the U.S. Army chose Sikorsky's Model S-70 to replace the UH-1 Huey as the Army's primary tactical transport helicopter. The Navy was in need of a new-generation improved shipboard helicopter to replace the SH-2 Seasprite and judged that the H-60 was the optimum size for fleet use.

The Navy SH-60B Seahawk first flew in 1979 and became operational in the fleet on cruisers, destroyers and frigates beginning in 1984. The Navy bought 181 SH-60Bs. These helos were much improved over the older SH-2D Seasprite and incorporated sophisticated avionics, including periscope detection radar, electronic support measures equipment to detect radar emissions, and sonobuoys for sound detection. They dramatically increased the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) capability of the Navy's warships.

A few years later, the Navy decided to replace the aging SH-3Hs on aircraft carriers with a new antisubmarine helo and bought 76 SH-60Fs with dipping sonar like the predecessor SH-3s. Shortly thereafter they supplemented this buy with 42 SAR-oriented HH-60Hs (not pictured) which also supported special warfare tasks. Both these types entered service around 1990.

The use of helicopters continued to increase in the fleet and in 1999 a new ASW-oriented MH-60R first flew. The M for multi-mission instead of S for ASW designation reflected the other missions that the R was tasked with, including anti-surface warfare with light air-to-surface missiles, etc.

Just a year later, a logistics-oriented -- but also multi-mission -- version first flew. The MH-60S would replace the UH-46 in the vertical replenishment role and was also tasked with support to special warfare, mine countermeasures and anti-surface warfare.

Production of the MH-60R and MH-60S was completed a couple of years ago and they are now among the most numerous of aircraft in the fleet. Reflecting that fact, as well as the dual-pilot aircrews in helicopters, rotary-wing pilots are now the most numerous in naval aviation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_SH-60_Seahawk

It will be interesting to see what the future brings for these helos. The cutting edge of vertical lift increasingly appears to be tilt-rotor technology and the Army appears to desire replace the ubiquitous UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with a tilt-rotor. The problem for the Navy is that available and projected tilt-rotors are too large for the hangars and flight decks of the fleets surface combatants -- and probably take up too much space on aircraft carrier decks as well. That could push the Navy to make incremental improvements to the MH-60s or perhaps develop small unmanned tilt-rotors for naval use.

[Llarry]

A brief introduction to the aircraft that started it all: The U.S. Army's Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Fifty years and over 5,000 helicopters later, the H-60 (Sikorsky designation S-70) is still collecting orders from around the world and in use by armies, air forces, navies and civil users. It was even purchased in small numbers by China and has been used as the basis for an improved Chinese version that is entering service.

The UH-60 started as a replacement for the UH-1 Huey of the Vietnam era. The Army was looking for more utility and more performance. The prototype first flew in 1974 and large orders soon followed. As is typical in aircraft, the UH-60 has been progressively improved with more powerful engines, improved performance and better equipment.

The current standard in use by the U.S. Army and Army National Guard is the UH-60M, which is used as a utility transport helicopter and for medical evacuation. The Black Hawk is also in use by the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, both as a SpecOps utility/transport helicopter and as a gunship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_UH-60_Black_Hawk

[Llarry]

The last of the Hoovers...

The Lockheed S-3 Viking was nicknamed the Hoover in the fleet based on the noise made by the type's twin TF34 turbofan engines.

The S-3 was retired from first-line service in carrier air wings in 2009. A few S-3Bs survived in test units until 2016 (S-3B of VX-30 "Bloodhounds" pictured).

A single S-3B was transferred to NASA, where it served until 2021. I believe that was the final S-3 activity.

[Llarry]

The U.S. Air Force is also an important user of long standing of the Sikorsky H-60.

As recounted in the Wikipedia article, the Air Force first used early production ex-Army UH-60As with modifications for the combat search and rescue role. They then bought well over 100 HH-60G Pave Hawks and used some in the special operations role as the MH-60G. Most recently, the Air Force has begun buying new-generation HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters to replace the older Gs. The current active force of HH-60s is 96 aircraft, of which a third are the newest Ws. Clearly the H-60 has a long career ahead of it in the USAF.

Note that for the combat search and rescue mission, the Air Force HH-60s have added systems for night/poor weather conditions and can be armed for self-protection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_HH-60_Pave Hawk

[Llarry]

Tomcat Thursday

This insignia -- cartoon cat Felix carrying a bomb -- dates back to the early days of naval aviation.

[Llarry]

The Douglas C-133 was the U.S. Air Force's heavy lifter from 1956 to 1971. 50 C-133As and Bs were delivered.

[Llarry]

The Lockheed T-33 was a trainer version of the U.S. first practical jet fighter, the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star. Over 6,500 T-33s were delivered to U.S. and foreign services.

In the late 1970s, the Skyfox Corporation extensively updated the T-33 airframe, replacing the single J33 jet engine with twin TFE731 turbofans, in an attempt to market remanufactured T-33s as the Skyfox. Boeing saw the potential and acquired Skyfox. Despite the significantly lower cost of the Skyfox over current production trainers, only a single prototype was built

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The Douglas C-133 was the U.S. Air Force's heavy lifter from 1956 to 1971. 50 C-133As and Bs were delivered.

And they crashed 10 of them..... hence the nickname "Widowmaker".

Taking out 20% of your aircraft and at least 55 crew members did NOT make for a happy squadron.

R.

[vreihen16]

I couldn't find pictures online from a quick search, but the B-52 gate guardian at the former Griffis AFB in Rome, NY was ripped from its mounts by a thunderstorm/tornado the other day.....

[Lady Jane]

In the news today:

https://www.ckom.com/2024/07/18/lanc...-in-saskatoon/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...ipeg-1.7264944

[asianF22]

today’s visitors…

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by asianF22

today’s visitors at work…

VMA-231

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMA-231

[Llarry]

The North American Sabreliner was one of the earliest business jets and first flew in 1958. Over 800 were sold, with the U.S. Air Force and Navy buying over 200 as the T-39 trainer.

Over the years, some T-39s were repurposed as VIP transports or transports for high-priority cargo or passengers.

The USAF's T-39s are long-retired, but the Navy continues to use 19 later model T-39Gs and T-39Ns to train non-pilot Naval Flight Officers.

The Navy's transport Sabreliners were designated VT-39E and then CT-39E and were retired years ago, leaving just the trainers active.

Two photos: A CT-39E of VRC-50 in the Western Pacific 1981 and a more recent photo of a T-39N trainer.

[Llarry]

Russian company Kamov makes a couple of interesting related helicopters with Kamov's coaxial rotor system.

The initial model was the Ka-50 Black Shark (NATO Hokum A) single-seat attack helicopter. The Ka-50's claim to fame was that it featured an ejection seat for the pilot -- in the event of an ejection, the rotor blades were explosively removed before the seat fired.

After a relatively small number of Ka-50s were produced, the design was modified to allow for a crew of two sitting side-by-side as the Ka-52 (NATO Hokum B).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The North American Sabreliner was one of the earliest business jets and first flew in 1958. Over 800 were sold, with the U.S. Air Force and Navy buying over 200 as the T-39 trainer.

Over the years, some T-39s were repurposed as VIP transports or transports for high-priority cargo or passengers.

The USAF's T-39s are long-retired, but the Navy continues to use 19 later model T-39Gs and T-39Ns to train non-pilot Naval Flight Officers.

The Navy's transport Sabreliners were designated VT-39E and then CT-39E and were retired years ago, leaving just the trainers active.

Two photos: A CT-39E of VRC-50 in the Western Pacific 1981 and a more recent photo of a T-39N trainer.

My father flew the CT-39 Saberliner in Japan in the mid 1970's.

He was working the Command Post at Yokota, but had to fly for proficiency. The solution was a few T-39's that were kept for that purpose. The AF would basically hand him and a buddy the keys and tell them to go fly around somewhere for a few days. He was able to fly all over Asia— which was a pretty good deal for a young captain. That does NOT happen in today's Air Force

The Saberliner was a descendant of the F-86 Sabre design-wise. Both the wing and tail were derivative from that jet- and the Saberliner handled accordingly. Dad said it was a hoot and a half to fly, since it flew a *lot* like a big fighter. And yes, it would "theoretically" do acro (although nobody *ever* admitted to that one).

For it's time, it had pretty good range (~>1700NM), speed (0.77M) and altitude capability (high 30's, low 40's, depending on weight)— although the early-generation jets were a) thirsty and b) the engines took a looong time to spool when they were at idle (sort of like the T-37).

North American's solution was to give it an actual speed brake that served several purposes— you could deploy it to aid in descent, you could extend it and keep the engines spooled up, or you could extend it and then bail out of the emergency escape hatch immediately behind it. I don't know of any pilot who actually used the hatch, but the procedure in the Dash-1 was to deploy the speed brake as an air buffer, pull the floor panel manually, and then blow the escape hatch using bleed air. Good luck on that one!

R.