The Airplane Thread

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I flew to Vietnam on a C-141A Starlifter on April 1, 1969. We had 3 trucks and our ground surveillance radar on board. Not much room left. Or range. We had to stop in Alaska and Japan to refuel before landing at Ben Hoa AFB. Quite an airplane. Got sit in the flight deck a bit during the trip. That was the smoking section.

Heh. Otherwise known as the "Life-Sucking Tube of Pain".

My dad has a whole bunch of hours in both the -A and -B models.

Once they stretched them into the -B, they were painted green camo and its nickname became "The Starlizard".

Trivia: The original 141-A could outclimb an F-4 through 10,000'.

Think about that for a second.

When they stretched it in the early '80's by adding a 13' plug in front of the wing and a 10' plug aft of the wing, they didn't have to re-rate the motors at all-- the -A was *that* overpowered.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was a four-ship of 141-A's in diamond formation doing a high-speed low-level flyby during an airshow in the late '70's when I was a kid. That was pretty damn epic!

R.

[Dino GT]

WW2 American classics

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by 2008M36MT

Pretty sure this is the largest plane in the world, the Antonov 225 Mriya. 3 nacelles is pretty cool but it's not particularly attractive.

It was until it was destroyed by the *&^%en Russian in the early days of the invasion.

They are now talking about rebuilding it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya

[2008M36MT]

Originally Posted by JJ 911SC

It was until it was destroyed by the *&^%en Russian in the early days of the invasion.

They are now talking about rebuilding it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya

Not that it matters, but it was designed by a Russian, though manufactured in Ukraine.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by 2008M36MT

Not that it matters, but it was designed by a Russian, though manufactured in Ukraine.

Right it doesn't, with their inherent incompetency, the Russian would have not being able to build it.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Heh. Otherwise known as the "Life-Sucking Tube of Pain".

My dad has a whole bunch of hours in both the -A and -B models.

Once they stretched them into the -B, they were painted green camo and its nickname became "The Starlizard".

Trivia: The original 141-A could outclimb an F-4 through 10,000'.

Think about that for a second.

When they stretched it in the early '80's by adding a 13' plug in front of the wing and a 10' plug aft of the wing, they didn't have to re-rate the motors at all-- the -A was *that* overpowered.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was a four-ship of 141-A's in diamond formation doing a high-speed low-level flyby during an airshow in the late '70's when I was a kid. That was pretty damn epic!

R.

Yeah, that was quite a trip. I made a point of sitting in each of our vehicles during the flight, just to claim I did it. That included a Jeep, a 3/4 ton and a Deuce-and-a-half. We played poker on the hood of the deuce. Then we went upstairs to smoke. The flight deck was pretty large. Later, I enjoyed looking out of a porthole, behind the wing. Cool looking engines. Stars. Millions of stars. Then I realized I was standing a door. I went back to my seat. Heh!

[2008M36MT]

Originally Posted by JJ 911SC

Right it doesn't, with their inherent incompetency, the Russian would have not being able to build it.

Is your animus towards a whole country of people come from all those defeats in your country's national sport or is it something else? I can point to many contributions Russians made to science, arts.

Anyway back on topic.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Heh. Otherwise known as the "Life-Sucking Tube of Pain".

My dad has a whole bunch of hours in both the -A and -B models.

Once they stretched them into the -B, they were painted green camo and its nickname became "The Starlizard".

Trivia: The original 141-A could outclimb an F-4 through 10,000'.

Think about that for a second.

When they stretched it in the early '80's by adding a 13' plug in front of the wing and a 10' plug aft of the wing, they didn't have to re-rate the motors at all-- the -A was *that* overpowered.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was a four-ship of 141-A's in diamond formation doing a high-speed low-level flyby during an airshow in the late '70's when I was a kid. That was pretty damn epic!

R.

Did your dad fly any legs between Tinker AFB and Vietnam, with stops at Elmendorf AK, Japan, Bien Hoa and/or Tan Son Nhut?

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Heh. Otherwise known as the "Life-Sucking Tube of Pain".

My dad has a whole bunch of hours in both the -A and -B models.

Once they stretched them into the -B, they were painted green camo and its nickname became "The Starlizard".

Trivia: The original 141-A could outclimb an F-4 through 10,000'.

Think about that for a second.

When they stretched it in the early '80's by adding a 13' plug in front of the wing and a 10' plug aft of the wing, they didn't have to re-rate the motors at all-- the -A was *that* overpowered.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was a four-ship of 141-A's in diamond formation doing a high-speed low-level flyby during an airshow in the late '70's when I was a kid. That was pretty damn epic!

R.

When I was stationed in Korea, we took a trip to Cheju-do (Cheju Island) off the southern coast of Korea for some rappelling. We got bussed from our base up near the DMZ down to Seoul and then got on a C-141. I remember being freaked out when I thought they were lowering the tail in mid-flight. We weren't airborne troops, so why lower the tail. Then I looked out and saw we were on the ground and apparently had been for quite a few minutes. Softest damn landing ever. Of course not being able to see outside helps with that illusion, I guess.

[2008M36MT]

How about the future?
Boom's supersonic Overture.
The Lilium eVTOL jet/taxi.
CR929 is a product from the JV between China and Russia, not sure if it'll come to fruition due to geopolitical climate but would be a potential challenger to Boeing and Airbus. I think highly likely China will finish this one alone (exit the JV) make its own.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

Did your dad fly any legs between Tinker AFB and Vietnam, with stops at Elmendorf AK, Japan, Bien Hoa and/or Tan Son Nhut?

I'm sure he did. He flew the -A out of Norton AFB in SoCal in the early '70's, and the -B out of McChord in Washington State in the '80's.

Elmendorf was (and is) a refueling stop coming in from Asia. He flew C-7A Caribou's in Viet Nam, and then the -141 after that. I know he had a LOT of time going back and forth to Viet Nam and various points in Asia.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Heh. Otherwise known as the "Life-Sucking Tube of Pain".

My dad has a whole bunch of hours in both the -A and -B models.

Once they stretched them into the -B, they were painted green camo and its nickname became "The Starlizard".

Trivia: The original 141-A could outclimb an F-4 through 10,000'.

Think about that for a second.

When they stretched it in the early '80's by adding a 13' plug in front of the wing and a 10' plug aft of the wing, they didn't have to re-rate the motors at all-- the -A was *that* overpowered.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was a four-ship of 141-A's in diamond formation doing a high-speed low-level flyby during an airshow in the late '70's when I was a kid. That was pretty damn epic!

R.

The out-climb an F-4 thing is pretty amazing.

I've got quite a few hours doing TransPacs in the -141 and concur with the "tube of pain" designation. At least it was faster than a C-118 or C-130, both of which I did Hawaii to California or vice versa.

[ezaircon4jc]

Worked a few 2-ships of 141's out of SLC. They would always go MITO/MARSA. Seems the back guy would get airborne in the wake turbulence of the preceding 141. It was fun watching those dip side to side! My favorite was the time there was a wall of snow about a mile off the departure end that was the beginning of the storm. I asked them if they really wanted to go MARSA into the weather. The lead pilot asked the trailer what he thought. The second pilot said "why not?" They flew into the snow wall less than a half mile apart. I never found out how it worked out.

[Llarry]

Speaking of four-ship -141 formations, I seem to remember that one or more -141 units had a Special Operations connection. Not hard-core dedicated mission like the -130s, but something...

[Lady Jane]

Agusta Westland CH-149 Cormorant of 442 SAR Sqn.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Agusta Westland CH-149 Cormorant of 442 SAR Sqn.

Great helicopter. I don't know if anyone remembers, but the U.S. bought 23 of these helicopters to be "Marine One" presidential VVIP transports. The program went waaay over budget and got cancelled. I have no idea what happened to the billion dollars' worth of now-useless helicopters.

And speaking of presidential travel, there are two Boeing 747-800s undergoing transformation to new "Air Force Ones" -- there's another billion or two of taxpayer money buying god/platinum/diamond-plated stuff to carry the U.S. president around.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Llarry

Speaking of four-ship -141 formations, I seem to remember that one or more -141 units had a Special Operations connection. Not hard-core dedicated mission like the -130s, but something...

SOLL-II (Special Operations, Low-Level) out of Charleston AFB in SC. They did NVG, formation, blacked out landings, low-level, airdrop and combat loading/offloading while working with the Special Operations crowd.

You could tell the "SOLL birds" because they had a pair of forward-facing chin pods with IR sensors as well as chaff/flare dispensers before it became common to put them on heavy transports.

IIRC, there's one on display at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson-- at least I sort of remember seeing it there a few years ago.

R.

[Lady Jane]

The Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone replaced the venerable Sea King for ASW duties. At the time of its retirement, the Sea King was much older than its pilots.

[Romo]

Talking about the future, or is it already here?


SR72

[billnchristy]

No pic because it happened too fast but I was unlocking the door to the house after coming home from work a couple weeks ago and heard a racket in the sky. I looked up and it was a B-17 flying over the house. Pretty damn cool.

Many years ago when we flew home from my Grandma's funeral there was a B-17 on the tarmac at Pensacola airport. Funny how small they are compared to modern airliners.

[UncleWede]

My uncle was in the AF, and was part of the SAC out of northern Ca somewhere. I remember a s a yout, visiting him, and he took us to see one of the bombers, let me walk inside the bay. It still blows my mind to think of that space full of nuke-u-ler weapons.

[Dino GT]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

My uncle was in the AF, and was part of the SAC out of northern Ca somewhere. I remember a s a yout, visiting him, and he took us to see one of the bombers, let me walk inside the bay. It still blows my mind to think of that space full of nuke-u-ler weapons.

What is a yout?