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Cotton grown at the center is part of the varietyy trial.
The soils and topography of southeast Missouri offer researchers a unique opportunity to study cotton and rice production and irrigation. Researchers also are evaluating better soybean cropping systems, and weed, insect and disease-control systems. Three locations make up Fisher Delta Research Center’s 1,078 acres in a 12-county area that forms the Missouri Bootheel. Scientists at the center have gained recognition for developing improved soybean varieties, especially those with soybean cyst nematode resistance and maintain a regional soil and plant-testing laboratory.
Photo by Kyle Spradley | © MU College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
E-3 SENTRY (AWACS)
E-3 Sentry celebrates 30 years in Air Force's fleet
Mission
The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center. AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.
Features
The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 commercial airframe with a rotating radar dome. The dome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, six feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth's surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles (375.5 kilometers). The radar combined with an identification friend or foe, or IFF, subsystem can look down to detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft by eliminating ground clutter returns that confuse other radar systems.
Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools (IFF/SIF). The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions.
The radar and computer subsystems on the E-3 Sentry can gather and present broad and detailed battlefield information. This includes position and tracking information on enemy aircraft and ships, and location and status of friendly aircraft and naval vessels. The information can be sent to major command and control centers in rear areas or aboard ships. In time of crisis, this data can also be forwarded to the president and secretary of defense.
In support of air-to-ground operations, the Sentry can provide direct information needed for interdiction, reconnaissance, airlift and close-air support for friendly ground forces. It can also provide information for commanders of air operations to gain and maintain control of the air battle.
As an air defense system, E-3s can detect, identify and track airborne enemy forces far from the boundaries of the United States or NATO countries. It can direct fighter-interceptor aircraft to these enemy targets. Experience has proven that the E-3 Sentry can respond quickly and effectively to a crisis and support worldwide military deployment operations.
AWACS may be employed alone or horizontally integrated in combination with other C2BM and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance elements of the Theater Air Control System. It supports decentralized execution of the air tasking order/air combat order. The system provides the ability to find, fix, track and target airborne or maritime threats and to detect, locate and ID emitters. It has the ability to detect threats and control assets below and beyond the coverage of ground-based command and control or C2, and can exchange data with other C2 systems and shooters via datalinks.
With its mobility as an airborne warning and control system, the Sentry has a greater chance of surviving in warfare than a fixed, ground-based radar system. Among other things, the Sentry's flight path can quickly be changed according to mission and survival requirements. The E-3 can fly a mission profile approximately 8 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station time can be increased through in-flight refueling and the use of an on-board crew rest area.
Background
Engineering, test and evaluation began on the first E-3 Sentry in October 1975. In March 1977 the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing (now 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.), received the first E-3s.
There are 32 aircraft in the U.S. inventory. Air Combat Command has 27 E-3s at Tinker. Pacific Air Forces has four E-3 Sentries at Kadena AB, Japan and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. There is also one test aircraft at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.
NATO has 17 E-3A's and support equipment. The first E-3 was delivered to NATO in January 1982. The United Kingdom has seven E-3s, France has four, and Saudi Arabia has five. Japan has four AWACS built on the Boeing 767 airframe.
As proven in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector the E-3 Sentry is the world's premier C2BM aircraft. AWACS aircraft and crews were instrumental to the successful completion of operations Northern and Southern Watch, and are still engaged in operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. They provide radar surveillance and control in addition to providing senior leadership with time-critical information on the actions of enemy forces. The E-3 has also deployed to support humanitarian relief operations in the U.S. following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, coordinating rescue efforts between military and civilian authorities.
The data collection capability of the E-3 radar and computer subsystems allowed an entire air war to be recorded for the first time in the history of aerial warfare.
In March 1996, the Air Force activated the 513th Air Control Group, an AWACS Reserve Associate Program unit which performs duties on active-duty aircraft.
During the spring of 1999, the first AWACS aircraft went through the Radar System Improvement Program. RSIP is a joint U.S./NATO development program that involved a major hardware and software intensive modification to the existing radar system. Installation of RSIP enhanced the operational capability of the E-3 radar electronic counter-measures and has improved the system's reliability, maintainability and availability.
The AWACS modernization program, Block 40/45, is currently underway. Bock 40/45 represents a revolutionary change for AWACS and worldwide Joint Command and Control, Battle Management, and Wide Area Surveillance. It is the most significant counter-air battle management improvement in Combat Air Forces tactical Command and Control history. The Block 40/45 Mission Computer and Display upgrade replaces current 1970 vintage mission computing and displays with a true open system and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, giving AWACS crews the modern computing tools needed to perform, and vastly improve mission capability. Estimated fleet upgrades completion in ~2020.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Airborne battle management, command and control
Contractor: Boeing Aerospace Co.
Power Plant: Four Pratt and Whitney TF33-PW-100A turbofan engines
Thrust: 20,500 pounds each engine at sea level
Rotodome: 30 feet in diameter (9.1 meters), 6 feet thick (1.8 meters), mounted 11 feet (3.33 meters) above fuselage
Wingspan: 145 feet, 9 inches (44.4 meters)
Length: 152 feet, 11 inches (46.6 meters)
Height: 41 feet, 9 inches (13 meters)
Weight: 205,000 pounds (zero fuel) (92,986 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 325,000 pounds (147,418 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 21,000 gallons (79,494 liters)
Speed: optimum cruise 360 mph (Mach 0.48)
Range: more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,250 kilometers)
Ceiling: Above 29,000 feet (8,788 meters)
Crew: Flight crew of four plus mission crew of 13-19 specialists (mission crew size varies according to mission)
Unit Cost: $270 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 1978
Inventory: Active force, 32 (1 test); Reserve, 0; Guard, 0
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 130 Andrews St., Suite 202; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007; e-mail: accpa.operations@langley.af.mil
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
In this photo, 304 is on the Lytham Road and about to enter the tramway for the very first time in several years in revenue-earning service on Heritage special services. I myself have waited for 18 years to see this tram in action in Blackpool and to travel on it through its home system.
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
In this photo, 304 is at the Pleasure Beach loop, back on the tramway for the very first time in several years in revenue-earning service on Heritage special services, and awaiting time before running the closing service of the daytime heritage service for 2014: the final afternoon tour to Fleetwood and back.
U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
E-3 SENTRY (AWACS)
E-3 Sentry celebrates 30 years in Air Force's fleet
Mission
The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center. AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.
Features
The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 commercial airframe with a rotating radar dome. The dome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, six feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth's surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles (375.5 kilometers). The radar combined with an identification friend or foe, or IFF, subsystem can look down to detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft by eliminating ground clutter returns that confuse other radar systems.
Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools (IFF/SIF). The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions.
The radar and computer subsystems on the E-3 Sentry can gather and present broad and detailed battlefield information. This includes position and tracking information on enemy aircraft and ships, and location and status of friendly aircraft and naval vessels. The information can be sent to major command and control centers in rear areas or aboard ships. In time of crisis, this data can also be forwarded to the president and secretary of defense.
In support of air-to-ground operations, the Sentry can provide direct information needed for interdiction, reconnaissance, airlift and close-air support for friendly ground forces. It can also provide information for commanders of air operations to gain and maintain control of the air battle.
As an air defense system, E-3s can detect, identify and track airborne enemy forces far from the boundaries of the United States or NATO countries. It can direct fighter-interceptor aircraft to these enemy targets. Experience has proven that the E-3 Sentry can respond quickly and effectively to a crisis and support worldwide military deployment operations.
AWACS may be employed alone or horizontally integrated in combination with other C2BM and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance elements of the Theater Air Control System. It supports decentralized execution of the air tasking order/air combat order. The system provides the ability to find, fix, track and target airborne or maritime threats and to detect, locate and ID emitters. It has the ability to detect threats and control assets below and beyond the coverage of ground-based command and control or C2, and can exchange data with other C2 systems and shooters via datalinks.
With its mobility as an airborne warning and control system, the Sentry has a greater chance of surviving in warfare than a fixed, ground-based radar system. Among other things, the Sentry's flight path can quickly be changed according to mission and survival requirements. The E-3 can fly a mission profile approximately 8 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station time can be increased through in-flight refueling and the use of an on-board crew rest area.
Background
Engineering, test and evaluation began on the first E-3 Sentry in October 1975. In March 1977 the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing (now 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.), received the first E-3s.
There are 32 aircraft in the U.S. inventory. Air Combat Command has 27 E-3s at Tinker. Pacific Air Forces has four E-3 Sentries at Kadena AB, Japan and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. There is also one test aircraft at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.
NATO has 17 E-3A's and support equipment. The first E-3 was delivered to NATO in January 1982. The United Kingdom has seven E-3s, France has four, and Saudi Arabia has five. Japan has four AWACS built on the Boeing 767 airframe.
As proven in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector the E-3 Sentry is the world's premier C2BM aircraft. AWACS aircraft and crews were instrumental to the successful completion of operations Northern and Southern Watch, and are still engaged in operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. They provide radar surveillance and control in addition to providing senior leadership with time-critical information on the actions of enemy forces. The E-3 has also deployed to support humanitarian relief operations in the U.S. following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, coordinating rescue efforts between military and civilian authorities.
The data collection capability of the E-3 radar and computer subsystems allowed an entire air war to be recorded for the first time in the history of aerial warfare.
In March 1996, the Air Force activated the 513th Air Control Group, an AWACS Reserve Associate Program unit which performs duties on active-duty aircraft.
During the spring of 1999, the first AWACS aircraft went through the Radar System Improvement Program. RSIP is a joint U.S./NATO development program that involved a major hardware and software intensive modification to the existing radar system. Installation of RSIP enhanced the operational capability of the E-3 radar electronic counter-measures and has improved the system's reliability, maintainability and availability.
The AWACS modernization program, Block 40/45, is currently underway. Bock 40/45 represents a revolutionary change for AWACS and worldwide Joint Command and Control, Battle Management, and Wide Area Surveillance. It is the most significant counter-air battle management improvement in Combat Air Forces tactical Command and Control history. The Block 40/45 Mission Computer and Display upgrade replaces current 1970 vintage mission computing and displays with a true open system and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, giving AWACS crews the modern computing tools needed to perform, and vastly improve mission capability. Estimated fleet upgrades completion in ~2020.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Airborne battle management, command and control
Contractor: Boeing Aerospace Co.
Power Plant: Four Pratt and Whitney TF33-PW-100A turbofan engines
Thrust: 20,500 pounds each engine at sea level
Rotodome: 30 feet in diameter (9.1 meters), 6 feet thick (1.8 meters), mounted 11 feet (3.33 meters) above fuselage
Wingspan: 145 feet, 9 inches (44.4 meters)
Length: 152 feet, 11 inches (46.6 meters)
Height: 41 feet, 9 inches (13 meters)
Weight: 205,000 pounds (zero fuel) (92,986 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 325,000 pounds (147,418 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 21,000 gallons (79,494 liters)
Speed: optimum cruise 360 mph (Mach 0.48)
Range: more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,250 kilometers)
Ceiling: Above 29,000 feet (8,788 meters)
Crew: Flight crew of four plus mission crew of 13-19 specialists (mission crew size varies according to mission)
Unit Cost: $270 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 1978
Inventory: Active force, 32 (1 test); Reserve, 0; Guard, 0
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 130 Andrews St., Suite 202; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007; e-mail: accpa.operations@langley.af.mil
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
In this photo, 304 is at the Pleasure Beach loop, back on the tramway for the very first time in several years in revenue-earning service on Heritage special services; alongside is English Electric Balloon 701 in its 1991 Routemaster livery that it aquired following refurbishment at the time. Originally designed to replace the Balloons, now Coronation and Balloon stand side by side in what I call 'active preservation'.
A NATO E-3A Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft sits on the tarmac in Konya, Turkey. Since October 2016, NATO aircraft have flown over 1,000 mission hours in support of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. These AWACS aircraft fly from a base in Konya, Turkey, and help manage the busy airspace in Iraq and Syria. Allies decided to provide AWACS support to the Global Coalition in July 2016.
U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
E-3 SENTRY (AWACS)
E-3 Sentry celebrates 30 years in Air Force's fleet
Mission
The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center. AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.
Features
The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 commercial airframe with a rotating radar dome. The dome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, six feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth's surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles (375.5 kilometers). The radar combined with an identification friend or foe, or IFF, subsystem can look down to detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft by eliminating ground clutter returns that confuse other radar systems.
Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools (IFF/SIF). The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions.
The radar and computer subsystems on the E-3 Sentry can gather and present broad and detailed battlefield information. This includes position and tracking information on enemy aircraft and ships, and location and status of friendly aircraft and naval vessels. The information can be sent to major command and control centers in rear areas or aboard ships. In time of crisis, this data can also be forwarded to the president and secretary of defense.
In support of air-to-ground operations, the Sentry can provide direct information needed for interdiction, reconnaissance, airlift and close-air support for friendly ground forces. It can also provide information for commanders of air operations to gain and maintain control of the air battle.
As an air defense system, E-3s can detect, identify and track airborne enemy forces far from the boundaries of the United States or NATO countries. It can direct fighter-interceptor aircraft to these enemy targets. Experience has proven that the E-3 Sentry can respond quickly and effectively to a crisis and support worldwide military deployment operations.
AWACS may be employed alone or horizontally integrated in combination with other C2BM and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance elements of the Theater Air Control System. It supports decentralized execution of the air tasking order/air combat order. The system provides the ability to find, fix, track and target airborne or maritime threats and to detect, locate and ID emitters. It has the ability to detect threats and control assets below and beyond the coverage of ground-based command and control or C2, and can exchange data with other C2 systems and shooters via datalinks.
With its mobility as an airborne warning and control system, the Sentry has a greater chance of surviving in warfare than a fixed, ground-based radar system. Among other things, the Sentry's flight path can quickly be changed according to mission and survival requirements. The E-3 can fly a mission profile approximately 8 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station time can be increased through in-flight refueling and the use of an on-board crew rest area.
Background
Engineering, test and evaluation began on the first E-3 Sentry in October 1975. In March 1977 the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing (now 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.), received the first E-3s.
There are 32 aircraft in the U.S. inventory. Air Combat Command has 27 E-3s at Tinker. Pacific Air Forces has four E-3 Sentries at Kadena AB, Japan and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. There is also one test aircraft at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.
NATO has 17 E-3A's and support equipment. The first E-3 was delivered to NATO in January 1982. The United Kingdom has seven E-3s, France has four, and Saudi Arabia has five. Japan has four AWACS built on the Boeing 767 airframe.
As proven in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector the E-3 Sentry is the world's premier C2BM aircraft. AWACS aircraft and crews were instrumental to the successful completion of operations Northern and Southern Watch, and are still engaged in operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. They provide radar surveillance and control in addition to providing senior leadership with time-critical information on the actions of enemy forces. The E-3 has also deployed to support humanitarian relief operations in the U.S. following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, coordinating rescue efforts between military and civilian authorities.
The data collection capability of the E-3 radar and computer subsystems allowed an entire air war to be recorded for the first time in the history of aerial warfare.
In March 1996, the Air Force activated the 513th Air Control Group, an AWACS Reserve Associate Program unit which performs duties on active-duty aircraft.
During the spring of 1999, the first AWACS aircraft went through the Radar System Improvement Program. RSIP is a joint U.S./NATO development program that involved a major hardware and software intensive modification to the existing radar system. Installation of RSIP enhanced the operational capability of the E-3 radar electronic counter-measures and has improved the system's reliability, maintainability and availability.
The AWACS modernization program, Block 40/45, is currently underway. Bock 40/45 represents a revolutionary change for AWACS and worldwide Joint Command and Control, Battle Management, and Wide Area Surveillance. It is the most significant counter-air battle management improvement in Combat Air Forces tactical Command and Control history. The Block 40/45 Mission Computer and Display upgrade replaces current 1970 vintage mission computing and displays with a true open system and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, giving AWACS crews the modern computing tools needed to perform, and vastly improve mission capability. Estimated fleet upgrades completion in ~2020.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Airborne battle management, command and control
Contractor: Boeing Aerospace Co.
Power Plant: Four Pratt and Whitney TF33-PW-100A turbofan engines
Thrust: 20,500 pounds each engine at sea level
Rotodome: 30 feet in diameter (9.1 meters), 6 feet thick (1.8 meters), mounted 11 feet (3.33 meters) above fuselage
Wingspan: 145 feet, 9 inches (44.4 meters)
Length: 152 feet, 11 inches (46.6 meters)
Height: 41 feet, 9 inches (13 meters)
Weight: 205,000 pounds (zero fuel) (92,986 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 325,000 pounds (147,418 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 21,000 gallons (79,494 liters)
Speed: optimum cruise 360 mph (Mach 0.48)
Range: more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,250 kilometers)
Ceiling: Above 29,000 feet (8,788 meters)
Crew: Flight crew of four plus mission crew of 13-19 specialists (mission crew size varies according to mission)
Unit Cost: $270 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 1978
Inventory: Active force, 32 (1 test); Reserve, 0; Guard, 0
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 130 Andrews St., Suite 202; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007; e-mail: accpa.operations@langley.af.mil
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
In this photo, 304 is at North Pier, back on the tramway for the very first time in several years in revenue-earning service on Heritage special services and is waiting to head to Pleasure Beach. I myself have waited for 18 years to see this tram in action in Blackpool and to travel on it through its home system.
U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
E-3 SENTRY (AWACS)
E-3 Sentry celebrates 30 years in Air Force's fleet
Mission
The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center. AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.
Features
The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 commercial airframe with a rotating radar dome. The dome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, six feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth's surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles (375.5 kilometers). The radar combined with an identification friend or foe, or IFF, subsystem can look down to detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft by eliminating ground clutter returns that confuse other radar systems.
Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools (IFF/SIF). The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions.
The radar and computer subsystems on the E-3 Sentry can gather and present broad and detailed battlefield information. This includes position and tracking information on enemy aircraft and ships, and location and status of friendly aircraft and naval vessels. The information can be sent to major command and control centers in rear areas or aboard ships. In time of crisis, this data can also be forwarded to the president and secretary of defense.
In support of air-to-ground operations, the Sentry can provide direct information needed for interdiction, reconnaissance, airlift and close-air support for friendly ground forces. It can also provide information for commanders of air operations to gain and maintain control of the air battle.
As an air defense system, E-3s can detect, identify and track airborne enemy forces far from the boundaries of the United States or NATO countries. It can direct fighter-interceptor aircraft to these enemy targets. Experience has proven that the E-3 Sentry can respond quickly and effectively to a crisis and support worldwide military deployment operations.
AWACS may be employed alone or horizontally integrated in combination with other C2BM and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance elements of the Theater Air Control System. It supports decentralized execution of the air tasking order/air combat order. The system provides the ability to find, fix, track and target airborne or maritime threats and to detect, locate and ID emitters. It has the ability to detect threats and control assets below and beyond the coverage of ground-based command and control or C2, and can exchange data with other C2 systems and shooters via datalinks.
With its mobility as an airborne warning and control system, the Sentry has a greater chance of surviving in warfare than a fixed, ground-based radar system. Among other things, the Sentry's flight path can quickly be changed according to mission and survival requirements. The E-3 can fly a mission profile approximately 8 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station time can be increased through in-flight refueling and the use of an on-board crew rest area.
Background
Engineering, test and evaluation began on the first E-3 Sentry in October 1975. In March 1977 the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing (now 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.), received the first E-3s.
There are 32 aircraft in the U.S. inventory. Air Combat Command has 27 E-3s at Tinker. Pacific Air Forces has four E-3 Sentries at Kadena AB, Japan and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. There is also one test aircraft at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.
NATO has 17 E-3A's and support equipment. The first E-3 was delivered to NATO in January 1982. The United Kingdom has seven E-3s, France has four, and Saudi Arabia has five. Japan has four AWACS built on the Boeing 767 airframe.
As proven in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector the E-3 Sentry is the world's premier C2BM aircraft. AWACS aircraft and crews were instrumental to the successful completion of operations Northern and Southern Watch, and are still engaged in operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. They provide radar surveillance and control in addition to providing senior leadership with time-critical information on the actions of enemy forces. The E-3 has also deployed to support humanitarian relief operations in the U.S. following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, coordinating rescue efforts between military and civilian authorities.
The data collection capability of the E-3 radar and computer subsystems allowed an entire air war to be recorded for the first time in the history of aerial warfare.
In March 1996, the Air Force activated the 513th Air Control Group, an AWACS Reserve Associate Program unit which performs duties on active-duty aircraft.
During the spring of 1999, the first AWACS aircraft went through the Radar System Improvement Program. RSIP is a joint U.S./NATO development program that involved a major hardware and software intensive modification to the existing radar system. Installation of RSIP enhanced the operational capability of the E-3 radar electronic counter-measures and has improved the system's reliability, maintainability and availability.
The AWACS modernization program, Block 40/45, is currently underway. Bock 40/45 represents a revolutionary change for AWACS and worldwide Joint Command and Control, Battle Management, and Wide Area Surveillance. It is the most significant counter-air battle management improvement in Combat Air Forces tactical Command and Control history. The Block 40/45 Mission Computer and Display upgrade replaces current 1970 vintage mission computing and displays with a true open system and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, giving AWACS crews the modern computing tools needed to perform, and vastly improve mission capability. Estimated fleet upgrades completion in ~2020.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Airborne battle management, command and control
Contractor: Boeing Aerospace Co.
Power Plant: Four Pratt and Whitney TF33-PW-100A turbofan engines
Thrust: 20,500 pounds each engine at sea level
Rotodome: 30 feet in diameter (9.1 meters), 6 feet thick (1.8 meters), mounted 11 feet (3.33 meters) above fuselage
Wingspan: 145 feet, 9 inches (44.4 meters)
Length: 152 feet, 11 inches (46.6 meters)
Height: 41 feet, 9 inches (13 meters)
Weight: 205,000 pounds (zero fuel) (92,986 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 325,000 pounds (147,418 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 21,000 gallons (79,494 liters)
Speed: optimum cruise 360 mph (Mach 0.48)
Range: more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,250 kilometers)
Ceiling: Above 29,000 feet (8,788 meters)
Crew: Flight crew of four plus mission crew of 13-19 specialists (mission crew size varies according to mission)
Unit Cost: $270 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 1978
Inventory: Active force, 32 (1 test); Reserve, 0; Guard, 0
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 130 Andrews St., Suite 202; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007; e-mail: accpa.operations@langley.af.mil
The US Navy had begun planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to join the TFX program. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. It was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman had anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. Despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. The Tomcat was also fitted with the TARPS camera pod beginning in 1981, allowing the RA-5C Vigilante and RF-8G Crusader dedicated recon aircraft to be retired. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 and first saw action covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, though it was not involved in combat. The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 (fully 84 Tomcats would be lost to this problem over the course of its career) led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant during the war. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated all wartime refits and most importantly, General Electric F110 turbofans. Among the refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by Tomcats.. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service (including 37 new-builds), due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally used, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
F-14A Bureau Number 161615 joined the Navy in 1983, first serving with the Pacific Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) VF-124 ("Gunfighters") at NAS Miramar, California. From there, it would serve with four other squadrons: VF-21 ("Freelancers") aboard USS Constellation (CV-64); VF-111 ("Sundowners") aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70); VF-211 ("Checkmates") aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68); and finally VF-41 ("Black Aces") aboard USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). While with VF-211, it may have flown combat TARPS missions during the First Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm).
With fleet F-14 squadrons beginning to reequip with F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, 161615 moved to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) at NAS Fallon, Nevada--whereas Tomcats would always be associated with the movie "Top Gun," 161615 would actually belong to the program. It would be flown either as a spare for students or even occasionally as an aggressor aircraft. It was retired in 2003 and donated to the Combat Air Museum in Topeka, Kansas.
While not the best angle to get a F-14's picture (because of the very crowded conditions in the CAM's restoration hangar), this nose view shows 161615's modification to F-14A+ standard with the undernose TCS. The aircraft lacks engines (which were destroyed to ensure no parts end up on the black market for Iran to obtain), and, when on public display, the gun is display with the inspection panel open. While in the hangar, the gun panel is covered in aluminum foil.
It's a bit strange to see a F-14 in landlocked Kansas, but this is actually one of two that can be seen in Kansas--the other is a roadside attraction at WaKeeney.
A full complement of digital panels represnting a complete nuclear plant control room supports modernization of instrumentation and control systems. It provides an operating model to enhance nuclear safety, worker productivity and overall plant performance while enabling research and experimentation that cannot be done elsewhere.
A U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft from the 964th Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron takes off from an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia on Nov. 23, 2010. The E-3 is an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Eric Harris)
Supplied by Thomas Hardie Commercials on Deeside, 21 new Volvo FL appliances are scheduled to enter service in North Wales in the coming months.
The specification includes a range of new equipment such as a power-assisted ladder gantry and drop down steps. There is also a new electronic control system for the Godiva Prima pump.
At only 2320 mm wide over the rear axles, the Volvos are designed for ease of access for both narrow streets and rural areas. The GRP bodywork was built and fitted out by Emergency One of Cumnock, Ayrshire. Storage under the ladder gantry has been maximised and there is more generous locker space available than on previous appliances.
The FLs, which are plated at 13,500kgs GVW and have been fully tilt-tested for stability, are equipped with rear air suspension. They have also been specified with a 6-speed Allison automatic transmission and integral retarder to reduce reliance on the foundation brakes.
In an initiative that saves fuel and reduces engine emissions, road speed is limited to 50 mph. However, the speed limiter is only active in eco-mode, when the blue lights are off.
Credit should be given to the Fleet manager & the workshop manager for design of this appliance.
The US Navy began planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to use the USAF’s F-111A Aardvark tactical bomber as a basis for the new fighter. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion, except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. The F-111B was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. The aircraft was also given the ability to carry bombs, but this would not be developed for another 20 years; despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. The Tomcat was also fitted with the TARPS camera pod beginning in 1981, which allowed the RA-5C Vigilante and RF-8G Crusader dedicated recon aircraft to be retired. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 and first saw action covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, though it was not involved in combat. The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated all previous refits and most importantly, General Electric F110 turbofans. Among the refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by US Navy Tomcats; this was due mostly to Iraqi fighter pilots, who were experienced in fighting Tomcats, and refused to be drawn into a BVR engagement with the aircraft. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the definitive F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service (including 37 new-builds), due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally developed, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown and, in the final cruise of the Tomcat, F-14Ds were also used in the FAC role. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
This particular F-14A in the Malmstrom Museum belonged to VF-111, the famous "Sundowners," whose markings were considered remarkable even by US Navy standards. Even in subdued markings, VF-111's F-14s retained the squadron's setting sun tail motif (a reference to the unit's record against Imperial Japan in World War II) and their sharkmouths. This aircraft is configured for a standard air-to-air mission, with two AIM-9L Sidewinders, two AIM-7M Sparrows, and two AIM-54 Phoenixes. VF-111 was deactivated in the gradual drawdown of Tomcat units in the late 1990s; it is now VFC-111, flying F-5s in the aggressor role. At the time this model was built, VF-111 was assigned to the USS Carl Vinson.
This image has been digitised from Queensland State Archives, Series ID S2149: Railway Glass Plate Negatives - Queensland Rail Heritage Collection. It is one of the images depicting the many stations, bridges and tracks that people and goods travelled from, on and through all over the Queensland Rail network.
Roma Street Railway Station occupies a 0.55ha site within the extensive Roma Street Station transit complex, located on the western side of the Brisbane central business district. The substantial masonry station building (1875) is set back from and faces Roma Street (although partially obscured by later development), and has a prominent centred entrance to the front (south) and a platform along the rear (north). A later platform and awning to the south is associated with the former Country Station development (1939/40).
Features of Roma Street Railway Station of state-level cultural heritage significance are:
Station building (1875)
Platform (1875)
Country Station platform and awning (1939)
Views
The state-level periods of significance of the place are layered and relate to its origins and use as a passenger station (1875-1940) and railway design, traffic and management offices (1875-1974), and the establishment of the former Country Station (1939/40).
A large iron-roofed shelter (c1980) to the east of the station, small buildings to the west, and a lift, stairs and escalators accessing the modern subway below, are not of state-level cultural heritage significance.
The Roma Street Railway Station was opened in 1875 as the first Brisbane Terminal Station for use on the Brisbane end of the Southern and Western Railway Line from Ipswich. The two-storey station building was designed by Francis Drummond Greville (FDG) Stanley, the Colonial Architect and Superintendent of Public Buildings, in 1873 and built over the next two years by Brisbane builder, John Petrie. The station operated as the Brisbane terminal station until 1889, as a major passenger and administration station until 1940, and Brisbane’s primary railway goods facility until 1991. It served as offices for the Queensland Railway Department (later Queensland Railways, later Queensland Rail) staff for over 100 years, and is the one of the oldest surviving railway buildings in Queensland.
In the Australian colonies, governments fostered the development of railways as a means of developing the country and encouraging settlement. It was argued that rail would reduce freight costs and save travel time for passengers.[1] Queensland’s first railway survey was undertaken by the New South Wales Government in 1856, and following separation, Queensland Parliament passed the Railway Act in 1863, enabling railways to be constructed in the colony. The railway network developed along decentralised lines extending from ports to pastoral and mining centres. The first line, between Ipswich and Bigge's Camp, 34km west of Ipswich (later Grandchester, QHR600729), was opened in 1865. This was the first stage of the four-stage Southern and Western Railway project which linked Ipswich to Toowoomba in 1867, Warwick in 1871, and Dalby in 1878. New railways opened west from Rockhampton in 1867 (the Northern Line, later renamed the Central Railway), west from Townsville in 1880 (the Great Northern Line), Cairns in 1887, and south from Normanton in 1891.
The Southern and Western Railway served the pastoralists and industrialists of Ipswich and the Darling Downs, and was primarily for goods, rather than passengers. With the railhead at Ipswich, a railway to Brisbane was not initially considered essential, as goods could be shipped from Ipswich to Brisbane’s port for export. However, the Bremer and upper Brisbane rivers could not cope with large shipping, and lobbying began for an extension to Brisbane. A preliminary survey of possible lines was completed in 1865,[4] but concerns over the extension’s financial viability put work on hold. A Royal Commission on Railway Construction was called in the 1870s, and recommended the extension: the business generated by it was likely to be profitable, and the colony’s economy, which had collapsed in the mid-1860s, had been bolstered by the Gympie gold rush and was better able to afford new infrastructure.
The extension between Ipswich and Oxley was approved in August 1872,[6] and, the first sod on the extension was turned at Goodna in January 1873. From Oxley, two lines had been surveyed, terminating either at North or South Brisbane. After extensive debate, the route to North Brisbane, via a bridge at Oxley Point (Indooroopilly), was chosen as more cost-effective. The terminus of this route, selected by Railway Department Chief Engineer HC Stanley, was located within the Grammar School reserve at the base of the ‘Green Hills’ (Petrie Terrace). The site was unused by the school and was large enough for a major passenger station and goods yard.
The section between Oxley and Brisbane was approved in October 1873,[9] and the Government called for tenders for the construction of the railway terminus station in Brisbane. FDG Stanley, the recently-appointed Colonial Architect and Superintendent of Buildings within the Public Works Department, was the designer of the building. Stanley had commenced with the Public Works Department in 1863, serving as Superintendent of Buildings after Charles Tiffin vacated the Colonial Architect’s position. He was the official Colonial Architect from 1873-1883, when the colony, recovering from the economic collapse of the 1860s, began to invest in public buildings. Stanley’s designs, balancing classical styles and stylistic features with climate-appropriate adaptations and economic restraint, helped define public architecture in Queensland. Extant examples of major works, designed while he was Colonial Architect, include the original State Library (1876-9, QHR600177); Toowoomba Court House (1876-8, QHR600848); Townsville Magistrates Court (1876-7, QHR600929); Townsville Gaol (now part of Townsville Central State School, 1877, QHR601162); Brisbane’s Port Office (1880, QHR600088); Toowoomba Hospital (surviving kitchen wing 1880, QHR601296); post offices at Gympie (1878-80, QHR600534), South Brisbane (1881, QHR600302) and Toowoomba (1880, QHR600847); as well as the Brisbane Supreme Court (no longer extant). As Superintendent of Buildings he designed the Toowoomba Railway Station (1874, QHR600872), Government Printing Office (1873, QHR600114) and Lady Elliott Island Lighthouse (1872-3).
The Brisbane Courier provided a detailed description of the proposed Terminus Passenger Station in October 1873:
The general style of the building will be that known as the Italian Gothic order of architecture. The material used...will be pressed brick with cut stone facings, this being chosen on account of its durability and as also affording the greatest consonant with economy. The station will consist of a main building, two storeys high, flanked at each end by a single storey wing.
The building was designed to house both a passenger station and railway administrative offices. Passengers would access the station from Roma Street via a carriageway, disembarking at the station’s central carriage porch. The porch fronted a 10ft (3m) wide arcade running the length of the main building. From the arcade, passengers would enter either the first-class booking office on the east or the second-class booking office on the west, both served by a semi-circular ticket office on the rear (northern) wall. Female passengers travelling on second-class tickets could wait in a small room located along a western passage, while separate waiting rooms for first-class male and female passengers were east of the first-class booking office. Doorways in the rear wall of the booking offices and waiting rooms led directly onto the 190-foot (58m) long departure platform. Arriving passengers exited the station via a second platform across the rail line. Luggage was loaded onto trains via the luggage passage, on the eastern end of the building. The guards and porters room, staff facilities, a lamp room and stairs to the upper floor were situated in the eastern wing. The western side of the building held public services, including the telegraph office, station master’s office, and parcel and book office, accessible via a public lobby at the end of the arcade. A private staircase to the traffic managers’ office, a staircase to the traffic department, and toilet facilities were located in the western wing. An office or book stall space, in the northwestern side of the building, was accessible from the platform.
Upstairs, the offices of the traffic department, clerks, accountant, draughtsmen, Railways Engineer, Resident Engineer and contractors were accessed from a central passageway which ran almost the length of the building; with a small S-bend in the western end. An arch in the centre of the corridor marked the separation of the traffic department from the Chief Engineer’s office. Both wings hosted staircases.
The building included adaptations for the climate. The arcade sheltered the ground floor rooms from the sun, while skylights in the ceiling and a ventilated lantern provided light and ventilation to the upper floor. All public rooms and most of the offices were fitted with fireplaces. A platform shade, installed on the northern wall of the building over the platform, sheltered passengers from the weather, and was composed of material from an iron station building imported from England for use at Toowoomba. It was supported by brick buttresses at both ends of the building (extant) and on the arrivals platform (no longer extant).
Commensurate with Stanley’s design approach, materials used for the station reflected elegance but economy. Apart from the recycled iron roof trusses and columns, the building was constructed of machine-pressed bricks made from locally-sourced clay, more affordable than stone, and praised as ‘cleaner, sharper [and] finer’ than Brisbane bricks used in earlier buildings. Freestone for the building dressings and columns was sourced from Murphy’s Creek.
Construction work took place over two years, after contractor John Petrie’s tender of £11,845 was accepted in December 1873. Progress was slow, with the stonework foundations underway in June 1874, and the building only ten foot above the ground by September. The line from Ipswich to Brisbane was opened without ceremony on 14 June 1875. The platform at Brisbane Terminus Passenger Station was half-paved, the rooms and corridors incomplete, the roofing over the platform in progress and there was no permanent lighting. Nonetheless, an interested crowd gathered to watch the first outbound services leave the station. The building was sufficiently complete by August 1875 for the Brisbane Courier to describe it as ‘in all respects convenient, handsome, and well-designed’. The station’s arcade was later highlighted as one of Brisbane’s valued architectural features.
The Brisbane to Ipswich route quickly became the busiest section of line in Queensland. Merchandise and imported goods from the ports were despatched along the line, while produce from the Darling Downs and surrounds – including coal, flour, wool, hay, maize, livestock, vegetable and dairy produce – was brought to Brisbane. A central goods handling facility was opened at the Terminal Station, including a large (64m long) goods shed and two sidings, erected in 1875-6 (no longer extant), while railway produce markets opened outside the station, along George and Roma streets. A maintenance yard also operated at Roma Street, including locomotive and carriage sheds. By 1882 the Terminal Station platforms had been extended to cope with the traffic and trade. Traffic reduced slightly after some export goods were diverted to South Brisbane in 1884,[32] but expanded again.[33] Cattle yards, produce sheds, carriage sheds, gas works, goods sheds, coal stages, cold stores, additional locomotive sheds and siding extensions were all added to Roma Street’s goods yard. None of these structures survive in 2020.
Passengers also used the line. Residential occupation of Toowong and Indooroopilly boomed as middle-class city workers took advantage of the four daily train services. In 1882 rail lines were opened from the Terminal Station to Sandgate and the Racecourse, taking day-trippers to the seaside and races, and bringing northern suburbs passengers into Brisbane. In January 1888, the first through-service to Sydney departed from the Terminal Station. However, travellers criticised the lack of direct access from the Terminal Station to the central business district, and in 1889, the Brisbane Central Railway Station was opened. Central Railway Station (QHR 600073) – located closer to the General Post Office and city office buildings – became Brisbane’s main passenger station, and the original Terminal Station was renamed Roma Street Railway Station.
Despite its diminished status, Roma Street remained a major centre for passengers and travellers. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries, guards of honour lined Roma Street to greet and farewell significant visitors and figures, including premiers Morehead and Griffith, governors Norman and Lamington; Governor-General Munro-Ferguson; the late politician JM Macrossan, who had died in Sydney; singer Nellie Melba; Lord Kitchener; and Salvation Army General Booth. Roma Street continued to operate as the Sydney Mail terminus until 1931, when the service shifted to South Brisbane. Crowds thronged to Roma Street Station as soldiers departed for the South African War and World War I. Travelling circuses performed in the Roma Street yards, and an historic parade in 1936 included a ‘Puffing Billy’ locomotive, which was displayed at the yards until 1959. Roma Street also continued as the city’s primary goods terminus.
The station building played an important role as office accommodation for Queensland railway staff. Internal rearrangements were made to the building to accommodate growing staff numbers, and improve their working conditions. It was one of the first buildings in Queensland to feature electric light, installed in 1884.[50] The Chief Engineer vacated the building in 1901 and was replaced by the general traffic manager’s department, with a telephonic system of communication installed the same year. Bunker, lumber and message rooms were added to the wings by 1907; a traffic collector’s office and new strongroom were installed in 1911; and parcels, printing offices and machine rooms replaced the first-class waiting rooms, guards’ room and lamp room by 1920. In 1915, an additional storey was constructed atop the central carriage porch, providing more accommodation for the Traffic Branch on the first floor. A traffic control system, coordinating trains between Brisbane and Gympie, was installed and operated from the additional storey in 1927.
Queensland’s railway network extended dramatically in the 20th century. The North Coast line connected Brisbane to Gladstone in 1898, Rockhampton in 1904, and Cairns in 1924, providing a direct rail link between Brisbane and Mackay, Townsville, Winton, Forsayth, Cloncurry and Blackall. Southern and western trains reached Dirranbandi, Surat, Cunnamulla and Quilpie. Central Station initially hosted ‘country’ services, but it lacked room for expansion, and Roma Street’s larger site was earmarked for a new country station. Roma Street’s locomotive, carriage and marshalling yard facilities were transferred to the Mayne Rail Yards between 1911 and 1927, and work began on the new station. A 350ft (106m) reinforced concrete, tiled passenger subway was constructed from Roma Street to the platforms in 1936-7, replacing an overhead walkway. A new steel awning was installed above the southern platform (Platform 3 in 2020), in approximately 1939. It was used in conjunction with two platforms at the new country station (no longer extant) for country and other passenger services.
On 30 November 1940 the Country Station was opened at Roma Street Station. This low-lying face brick building and its additional platform sat directly between the 1873-5 building and Roma Street. The new passenger station relieved congestion at Brisbane Central Station and made Roma Street the chief station for long distance travel north. The original station was refurbished, its roof re-clad with corrugated fibrous sheeting; and its brick walls painted red and lined in cream to match the new station building. The southwest pediment was removed and replaced by a new storey on the western end of the building. A covered area was added east of the building where the subway stairs emerged. The original station building was turned over to the General Manager, with offices for clerks, traffic-, livestock-, coach- and wagon staff, maintenance and locomotive staff, telephone and telegraph exchanges, and the train control section.
Further plans to upgrade and alter the building were postponed by World War II, during which time troop trains departed from Roma Street, and the pedestrian subway served as an air-raid shelter.[66] In 1945, plans were drawn to alter doors, windows and stairs in the wings, and partitions on the first floor. A second storey was added over the west wing in 1953 (later removed), and the General Manager’s staircase was repositioned in 1961. Externally, the iron carriage shed platform shade over the northern platform was removed in 1959.
Extensive change was undertaken at Roma Street around the original station building in the late 20th century. The southern and northern Brisbane railway systems were directly connected in the 1970s, with the opening of the Merivale Bridge in 1978. In 1985, the country railway station (1940 building) was demolished and replaced by a multi-storey centre incorporating new railway and bus facilities, a hotel, offices and function centre. The original station building was left intact, and two new interstate platforms with standard gauge rails were built on its southern side. The pedestrian subway was refurbished in 1986, with a broom finish concrete and expansion joints, and grated drains were laid on the floor, and a ceramic tile finish on the wall faces to match the subway tiles at Central Station. Roma Street’s rail freight facility was moved to Acacia Ridge in 1991. During the mid-1990s the platforms north and south of the early station building were re-arranged and extended. A bricked waiting area and new roof were added east of the station. Underground, a new concourse was constructed to replace the pedestrian subway, and a 19m section of the original subway converted to a storage room.
The station building remained the General Manager’s Office until 1974. The station master, staff workers and archive storage occupied the building in the 1990s. By 1993, Roma Street was acknowledged as the oldest surviving railway station building in an Australian capital city, and one of the oldest surviving railway buildings in Queensland. A new office fitout was installed on the ground floor for Queensland Rail and the Queensland Police Rail Squad in 1999. Stabilisation, waterproofing and reconstruction works commenced in 2012, including restoration of the brick, plaster, lead flashings, window joinery and stone works. Replacement bricks were custom made in England; Welsh slate was imported from the UK; replacement stone came from Helidon; and rolled lead from England was installed. In 2015, a new steel beams and suspension system was installed between the two storeys, to lift a 65mm bow in the timber floor beams fit amongst the existing timber structures. The second storey of the west wing was removed and the roofline reconstructed to its original configuration. The restoration received an Australian Institute of Architects Queensland award in 2015.
In 2020 the building is vacant, pending further repairs.
Serving as the successor onto the Challenge Stradale, the 430 Scuderia was unveiled by Michael Schumacher at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. Aimed to compete with cars like the Porsche RS-models and the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, meaning super light weight, it is lighter (by 100 kg/220 lb) and more powerful (515 PS (508 hp/379 kW) at 8500 rpm) than the standard F430. Increased power comes from a revised intake, exhaust, and an ion-sensing knock-detection system that allows for a higher compression ratio. Thus the weight-to-power ratio is reduced from 2.96 kg/hp to 2.5 kg/hp. In addition to the weight saving measures, the Scuderia semi-automatic transmission gains improved "Superfast", known as "Superfast2", software for faster 60 millisecond shift-times. A new traction control system combines the F1-Trac traction and stability control with the E-Diff electronic differential. The Ferrari 430 Scuderia does 0–60 miles per hour (97 km/h) in 3.1 s and 0–100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 3.6 seconds, with a top speed of 198 miles per hour (319 km/h).
The cosmetic differences between the 430 Scuderia and the F430 upon which it is based include a re-styled front fascia, modified side-skirts, twin exhaust tips, a revised rear diffuser design, 19" wheels designed specifically for the 430 Scuderia, carbon-fibre wing mirrors, carbon-fibre challenge grille, two racing stripes along the middle and the 430 Scuderia badge.
14.septembrī Starptautiskajā lidostā “Rīga” nosēdās NATO agrīnās brīdināšanas un kontroles sistēmas (Airborne Warning & Control System) lidmašīna, kas ieradusies no Gaisa spēku bāzes Geilenkirhenē, Vācijā.
Latvijā ieradās Sabiedroto spēku augstākās virspavēlniecības Eiropā komandiera vietnieks ģenerālis sers Džeimss Everards (James Everard) un NATO agrīnās brīdināšanas un kontroles spēku komandiere ģenerālmajore Davna Danlopa (Dawn M. Dunlop), pirms tam veicot novērošanas un gaisa telpas kontroles lidojumu no Gaisa spēku bāzes Gailenkirhenē līdz Rīgai.
AWACS ir vienīgie NATO īpašumā esošie gaisakuģi. NATO neizmanto kopējo finansējumu, lai pirktu militāro spēju platformas, proti, kuģus un tankus, jo tā ir katras dalībvalsts individuāla izvēle un atbildība.
Geilenkirhene ir galvenā bāzes vieta Eiropā AWACS lidojumiem, jo no 19 lidmašīnām, kas Eiropā veic lidojumus, 16 bāzējas tieši Geilenkirhenē, vēl trīs atrodas Vašingtonā Lielbritānijā.
Kopš Krimas aneksijas 2014. gadā tiek novērota arī Latvijas gaisa telpa. Reaģējot uz situāciju Ukrainā, NATO Ziemeļatlantijas padome 2014. gada 10. martā ieviesa atbalsta pasākumu plānu, tādējādi demonstrējot alianses vienotību un apņēmību aizsargāt sabiedrotos. Trīs dienas vēlāk, 13. martā, NATO atbalsta pasākumu programmas ietvaros notika pirmais NATO agrīnās brīdināšanas un kontroles sistēmas lidojums no NATO bāzes Geilenkirhenē, Vācijā.
Latvijā AWACS lidmašīna viesojusies divas reizes — 2004. gadā, pirms Latvijas iestāšanās NATO. Savukārt 2016. gada 11. oktobrī, pirmo reizi kopš iestāšanās NATO, Starptautiskajā lidostā “Rīga” piezemējās AWACS lidmašīna, tādējādi demonstrējot pasaulei NATO klātbūtni un lojalitāti Latvijai, Lietuvai, Igaunijai, Polijai un Rumānijai.
AWACS lidmašīnas kopš 2014. gada pavasara ir veikušas vairāk nekā 1000 novērošanas un gaisa telpas kontroles lidojumus.
Par AWACS
“E-3A Sentry” uzbūvēta uz «Boeing 707» bāzes. Lidmašīnas astes galā atrodas radars (tā diametrs 9 m), kas apgādā apkalpi ar datiem, ko analizē datori un citas elektroniskās iekārtas lidmašīnā.
Parasti lidmašīnas lido astoņas stundas aptuveni 10 km augstumā, nosedzot vairāk nekā 400 km novērojamās platības.
Maksimālais ātrums — 853 km/h. Degvielas ietilpība — 89 610 litri. Spēja lidot bez papildu uzpildes — 11 h. Šī modeļa lidmašīnām iespējama uzpilde gaisā, ko veic ar gaisa tankkuģa KC-135 palīdzību. Arī šī lidmašīna izvietota Geilenkirhenē, nodrošinot ilgstošu AWACS uzdevumu izpildi.
Ekipāža — 2 piloti, 1 lidojuma inženieris, 1 navigators, 12 apkalpes locekļi, no kuriem vairāki atrodas taktiskajā operāciju centrā. Modernizētajā AWACS versijā pilotu kabīnē paredzētas 3 vietas, jo tehnoloģiskās inovācijas aizstāj navigatoru.
Gaisakuģa garums — 46,61 m, augstums — 12,73 m, tukšas lidmašīnas masa — 78 000 kg, ekipētas — 147 420 kg.
AWACS nodrošina plaša spektra uzdevumu izpildi, piemēram, gaisa kontroli, pretterorisma akciju atbalstu, evakuācijas, agrās brīdi¬nāšanas un krīzes reaģēšanas operācijas.
AWACS bija svarīga loma NATO operācijās ASV pēc 2001. gada 11. septembra terorakta, pēc viesuļvētras “Katrina” 2005. gadā. Arī 2010. gada zemestrīces Haiti un plūdu seku novēršanā Pakistānā 2010. gadā. AWACS sniedz gaisa atbalstu, lai padarītu drošākus NATO samitus un svarīgus starptautiskus pasākumus, piemēram, ASV prezidenta vizīti 2016. gadā Vācijā, arī Eiropas futbola čempionātu 2016. gadā Francijā.
Foto: Armīns Janiks (Jaunsardzes in informācijas centrs)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The HAL Ajeet II (Sanskrit: अजित, for Invincible or Unconquerable) was a development of the British Folland Gnat fighter that was built under license in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) operated the Folland Gnat light jet fighter from 1958, with over 200 aircraft being license built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft proved successful in combat in both the 1965 and the 1971 War with Pakistan, both in the low-level air superiority role and for short range ground attack missions, while being cheap to build and operate. It had unreliable systems, though, particularly the control system, and was difficult to maintain.
The Indian Air Force therefore issued a requirement for an improved Gnat in 1972. Although the original requirement called for an interceptor, it was later modified to include a secondary ground-attack role.
The aircraft was given the name "Ajeet" and the changes from the original Gnat were considerable.
They included:
- Improvements to the hydraulics and control systems (these had been a source of difficulties in the Gnat).
- Fitting of improved Martin-Baker GF4 ejection seats.
- Upgraded avionics.
- The addition of slab tail control surfaces.
- Improvements to the landing gear.
- Additional internal fuel capacity with "wet wings" to free the original pair of underwing pylons for weapons.
- Installation of two more underwing hardpoints.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited modified the final two Gnats on the production line as prototypes for the Ajeet, with the first one flying on 6 March 1975, with the second following on 5 November. Testing proved successful of the Ajeet, and it became the first production aircraft flew on 30 September 1976. Visually, the Ajeet appeared similar to the Gnat, with the presence of two extra hardpoints being the only obvious distinguishing features from the older aircraft.
The Ajeet entered service with the IAF in 1977, but this was not the end of the Gnat/Ajeet's development potential. A HAL project for a trainer based on the Ajeet was begun, leading to the initial flight of a prototype in 1982. Unfortunately this aircraft was lost in a crash later that year. A second prototype flew the following year, followed by a third. But a lack of government interest and the imminent phase-out of the aircraft meant no more examples were produced.
Another, more radical Gnat derivate was more successful, the supersonic Ajeet II. The development of this aircraft started in 1978, and while the Ajeet II outwardly looked very much like its 1st generation kin, it was an almost completely different aircraft.
Basic idea had been to get the Ajeet up to the performance of the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - with major focus on speed and overall better performance. It was soon clear that the original, the single HAL/Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 701-01 turbojet with 20.0 kN (4,500 lbf) of thrust would not suffice. Consequently, HAL engineers worked on the internal structure of the Gnat/Ajeet to cramp two smaller Rolls Royce Viper engines with indigenous afterburners into the fuselage.
At full power the small aircraft was now powered with almost twice as much power, but modifications were considerable, including new air intakes with shock cones and new ducts, which necessitated a lower location of the Aden cannons under the intakes instead of their flanks.
The rear fuselage had to be widened and lengthened accordingly, and the wings were also completely new, with a thinner profile, less depth and a higher sweep at quarter chord. The wing area was ~30% bigger than before and also offered an increased internal space for fuel.
The elongated forward fuselage was used for an additional fuel tank as well as more sophisticated avionics - including a RP-21 radar that was also installed in the license-built Indian MiG-21. The new systems allowed the use of R-3S 'Atoll') AAMs (of Soviet or Chinese origin) or French Matra Magic AAMs, four of which could be carried under the wings.
The development of the engines was protracted, though, especially the afterburner went through a lot of teething troubles, so that development aircraft had to get by without th extra performance punch. The first Ajeet II prototype flew in 1984 and the type was ready for service in 1986 and adopted by two fighter squadrons which started to retire the 1st generation Gnats and also some Hunters. Anyway, upon commissioning it was already clear that the Ajeet II would not have a bright future, as the classic gun fighter had become more and more obsolete.
Nevertheless, the Ajeet II was built in 36 specimen (plus two prototypes and two static airframes) and proved to be a formidable air combat opponent at low to medium altitude. It could easily outmaneuver more powerful aircraft like the MiG-21, and the afterburner improved acceleration as well as rate of climb considerably. Its guided missile armament also meant that it could engage at longer ranges and did not have to rely on its cannons alone. The Ajeet II's ground attack capabilities were improved through a higher ordnance payload (3.000 lb vs. 2.000 lb of the Ajeet I)
But the light fighter concept was soon outdated. The Ajeet I was retired in 1991 and, unlike the IAF Gnats, never saw combat. The Ajeet II was kept in service only a little longer, and its retirement started in 1994. The remaining machines were concentrated in one single squadron, but this, too, was disbanded soon and switched to the MiG-29. The last Ajeet II flew in late 1997.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 10,54 m (34 ft 6 2/3 in)
Wingspan: 8,57 m (28 ft 1 in)
Height: 2.80 m (9 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 16.4 m² (177 ft²)
Aspect ratio: 3.56
Empty weight: 3,100 kg (6,830 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,440 kg (11,990 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Viper 601-22 turbojets, rated at 3,750 lbf (16.7 kN) dry
and 4,500 lbf (20.0 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,152 km/h (622 knots, 716 mph) at sea level
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,720 m)
Wing loading: 331 kg/m² (67.8 lb/ft²)
Rate of clim: 12,150 ft/min (61.7 m/s)
Armament:
2× 30 mm ADEN cannons with 90 rounds each
Up to 3.000 lb (1.360 kg) of external stores on four underwing hardpoints
The kit and its assembly:
Well, this whiffy Gnat/Ajeet was actually born through an incomplete Matchbox kit that I bought in a lot a while ago. It lacked decals, but also the canopy... Vacu replacements are available, but I rather put the kit on the conversion list, potentially into a single seater.
Since I'd have to improvise and modify the fuselage anyway, I decided to take the idea further ans create a "supersonic Gnat". Folland actually had such designs on the drawing board, but I do not think that the company considered a twin jet layout? That idea struck me when I held a PM Model F-5A in my hands and looked at the small J85 engine nozzles. Could that...?
From there things evolved, a bit like what Fiat did with the G.91 that was turned into the G.91Y. I wanted the Gnat to become bigger, also in order to justify the two engines and the wider tail. Therefore I cut the fuselage in front of the air intakes and behind the wings and inserted plugs, each ~6mm. Not much, but it helps. I also found new wings and stabilizers in the scrap box: from a Revell Fiat G.91. More slender, more sweep, and a slightly bigger span so that the overall proportions were kept. A good addition to the sleek Gnat/Ajeet. The fin was left OOB.
Another personal addition is the radar nose - I found the Gnat trainer's nose to be rather pointed and long, and the radome (IIRC from an F-4E!) was more Ajeet-style, even though of different shape and suggesting a radar dish underneath.
The new canopy is a donation from a Mastercraft (ex KP/Kopro) LWS Iskra trainer. Even though the Ajeet II is a single seater I used the Iskra’s two-seater option in order to fill the gap above the Gnat's second seat. I just cut the Iskra canopy in two parts and used the rear half as a fuselage/spine plug – fit was pretty good.
The fuselage extension and the new tail section necessitated massive putty work, but the result is surprisingly organic and retains the Ajeet's profile - the whif factor is rather subtle. ^^
The landing gear was taken OOB, the cockpit interior was improvised after the fuselage was more or less finished with parts from the original kit, plus an extra dashboard.
Painting and markings:
Surely this was to become an Indian Air Force aircraft, and for the paint scheme I took inspiration from the manifold IAF MiG-21s and the garish combat training markings of Indian aircraft.
The scheme is inspired by MiG-21MF "C2776" of IAF 26 Sqn "Warriors“ and “C2283” of 3 Sqn “Cobras”: a basically all-grey aircraft, with added camouflage on the upper side, plus bright fin colors.
The camouflage consists of Humbrol 127 (FS 36375) for the lower surfaces and in some areas where it would show through the added paint: a basic coat of Humbrol 108 (a murky, dark olive drab) with large mottles in a mix of Humbrol 62 and a bit of 80 (Sand and Grass Green). Rather odd, but when you look at the pics (esp. in flight) this seems to be very effective!
The fin decoration actually comes from an ESCI Harrier GR.3 (RAF 4 Sqn flash), roundels and other markings were puzzled together, among others, from the Iskra donation kit.
The cockpit interior was kept in a very dark grey while the landing gear and the air intakes are Aluminum.
A small project, literally, and a subtle one. While this aircraft looks a lot like a simple IAF Ajeet, there's actually hardly anything left from the original aircraft! And the paint scheme is spectacular - India has a lot to offer! :)
Linda DeFrancesco, mother of Senior Airman Lawrence DeFrancesco, places her hands on a plaque with her son’s name on it during a quiet moment before a ceremony at the YUKLA 27 Memorial. American, and Canadian Airmen assigned to the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron, distinguished guests, and surviving family members of the crew of the E-3B Sentry, Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, call sign "YUKLA 27" gathered for 20th anniversary memorial ceremonies on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. On Elmendorf Air Force Base, Sept. 22, 1995, the "YUKLA 27" aircraft from the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron encountered a flock of geese and crashed shortly after takeoff on a routine surveillance training sortie, killing all 24 U.S. and Canadian Airmen aboard. (U.S. Air Force photo/Justin Connaher)
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
This photo shows the controls in the driving cab - the driver sits on top of the VAMBAC controller (seen bottom centre, lever to the left); top left are new additions of the transponder system required for the tram to progress north beyond Cabin and operate the traffic lights, whilst the VAMBAC backup battery is far left; top centre is an air brake (don't know if its original or not) and lit up to the right are the air pressure gauges.
The US Navy had begun planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to join the TFX program. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. It was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman had anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. Despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. The Tomcat was also fitted with the TARPS camera pod beginning in 1981, allowing the RA-5C Vigilante and RF-8G Crusader dedicated recon aircraft to be retired. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 and first saw action covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, though it was not involved in combat. The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 (fully 84 Tomcats would be lost to this problem over the course of its career) led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant during the war. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated all wartime refits and most importantly, General Electric F110 turbofans. Among the refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by Tomcats.. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the definitive F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service (including 37 new-builds), due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally used, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
This F-14A wears the unmistakable colors of possibly the most famous Tomcat squadron of all: VF-84, the "Jolly Rogers." The skull and crossbones tail logo were among the most recognizable F-14 squadron color schemes, and was so associated with the Tomcat that, when VF-84 was disbanded in 1995, its colors were transferred to VF-103. It was the direct inspiration for the "Skull Squadron" of Veritechs in the anime "Superdimensional Fortress Macross," or as it is better known in the US, "Robotech."
160382 did serve with VF-84 aboard the USS Nimitz, most notably during the filming of the sci-fi movie "The Final Countdown," in which 160382 is involved in a dogfight with Japanese A6M Zeroes (actually rebuilt T-6 Texans). Later serving with the Top Gun program, it was donated to the Museum of Flight in 2002 and repainted in VF-84 colors.
U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
E-3 SENTRY (AWACS)
E-3 Sentry celebrates 30 years in Air Force's fleet
Mission
The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center. AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.
Features
The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 commercial airframe with a rotating radar dome. The dome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, six feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth's surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles (375.5 kilometers). The radar combined with an identification friend or foe, or IFF, subsystem can look down to detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft by eliminating ground clutter returns that confuse other radar systems.
Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools (IFF/SIF). The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions.
The radar and computer subsystems on the E-3 Sentry can gather and present broad and detailed battlefield information. This includes position and tracking information on enemy aircraft and ships, and location and status of friendly aircraft and naval vessels. The information can be sent to major command and control centers in rear areas or aboard ships. In time of crisis, this data can also be forwarded to the president and secretary of defense.
In support of air-to-ground operations, the Sentry can provide direct information needed for interdiction, reconnaissance, airlift and close-air support for friendly ground forces. It can also provide information for commanders of air operations to gain and maintain control of the air battle.
As an air defense system, E-3s can detect, identify and track airborne enemy forces far from the boundaries of the United States or NATO countries. It can direct fighter-interceptor aircraft to these enemy targets. Experience has proven that the E-3 Sentry can respond quickly and effectively to a crisis and support worldwide military deployment operations.
AWACS may be employed alone or horizontally integrated in combination with other C2BM and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance elements of the Theater Air Control System. It supports decentralized execution of the air tasking order/air combat order. The system provides the ability to find, fix, track and target airborne or maritime threats and to detect, locate and ID emitters. It has the ability to detect threats and control assets below and beyond the coverage of ground-based command and control or C2, and can exchange data with other C2 systems and shooters via datalinks.
With its mobility as an airborne warning and control system, the Sentry has a greater chance of surviving in warfare than a fixed, ground-based radar system. Among other things, the Sentry's flight path can quickly be changed according to mission and survival requirements. The E-3 can fly a mission profile approximately 8 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station time can be increased through in-flight refueling and the use of an on-board crew rest area.
Background
Engineering, test and evaluation began on the first E-3 Sentry in October 1975. In March 1977 the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing (now 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.), received the first E-3s.
There are 32 aircraft in the U.S. inventory. Air Combat Command has 27 E-3s at Tinker. Pacific Air Forces has four E-3 Sentries at Kadena AB, Japan and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. There is also one test aircraft at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.
NATO has 17 E-3A's and support equipment. The first E-3 was delivered to NATO in January 1982. The United Kingdom has seven E-3s, France has four, and Saudi Arabia has five. Japan has four AWACS built on the Boeing 767 airframe.
As proven in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector the E-3 Sentry is the world's premier C2BM aircraft. AWACS aircraft and crews were instrumental to the successful completion of operations Northern and Southern Watch, and are still engaged in operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. They provide radar surveillance and control in addition to providing senior leadership with time-critical information on the actions of enemy forces. The E-3 has also deployed to support humanitarian relief operations in the U.S. following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, coordinating rescue efforts between military and civilian authorities.
The data collection capability of the E-3 radar and computer subsystems allowed an entire air war to be recorded for the first time in the history of aerial warfare.
In March 1996, the Air Force activated the 513th Air Control Group, an AWACS Reserve Associate Program unit which performs duties on active-duty aircraft.
During the spring of 1999, the first AWACS aircraft went through the Radar System Improvement Program. RSIP is a joint U.S./NATO development program that involved a major hardware and software intensive modification to the existing radar system. Installation of RSIP enhanced the operational capability of the E-3 radar electronic counter-measures and has improved the system's reliability, maintainability and availability.
The AWACS modernization program, Block 40/45, is currently underway. Bock 40/45 represents a revolutionary change for AWACS and worldwide Joint Command and Control, Battle Management, and Wide Area Surveillance. It is the most significant counter-air battle management improvement in Combat Air Forces tactical Command and Control history. The Block 40/45 Mission Computer and Display upgrade replaces current 1970 vintage mission computing and displays with a true open system and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, giving AWACS crews the modern computing tools needed to perform, and vastly improve mission capability. Estimated fleet upgrades completion in ~2020.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Airborne battle management, command and control
Contractor: Boeing Aerospace Co.
Power Plant: Four Pratt and Whitney TF33-PW-100A turbofan engines
Thrust: 20,500 pounds each engine at sea level
Rotodome: 30 feet in diameter (9.1 meters), 6 feet thick (1.8 meters), mounted 11 feet (3.33 meters) above fuselage
Wingspan: 145 feet, 9 inches (44.4 meters)
Length: 152 feet, 11 inches (46.6 meters)
Height: 41 feet, 9 inches (13 meters)
Weight: 205,000 pounds (zero fuel) (92,986 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 325,000 pounds (147,418 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 21,000 gallons (79,494 liters)
Speed: optimum cruise 360 mph (Mach 0.48)
Range: more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,250 kilometers)
Ceiling: Above 29,000 feet (8,788 meters)
Crew: Flight crew of four plus mission crew of 13-19 specialists (mission crew size varies according to mission)
Unit Cost: $270 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 1978
Inventory: Active force, 32 (1 test); Reserve, 0; Guard, 0
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 130 Andrews St., Suite 202; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007; e-mail: accpa.operations@langley.af.mil
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
In this photo, 304 is at the Pleasure Beach loop, back on the tramway for the very first time in several years in revenue-earning service on Heritage special services; alongside is English Electric Balloon 701 in its 1991 Routemaster livery that it aquired following refurbishment at the time. Originally designed to replace the Balloons, now Coronation and Balloon stand side by side in what I call 'active preservation'.
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
This photo shows its first northbound journey in revenue-earning service from the Pleasure Beach in several years, but every journey this tram made on the day carried full and standing loads like this, such is its popularity. Note the glazing in this tram, the lower level windows used handles to wind down for opening to provide air to seated passengers, whilst standing passengers could open the smaller sliding windows on the next level up between the main windows and the curved quarterlights... looking at the panels, it leads me to believe these trams also used to have upward-facing skylights too. If this is the case, then should these skylights ever be returned then this will make a fantastic tram for tours of the Illuminations during the season of the lights.
a video clip from the Army Days.... This is what happens when the main battle tank fires. It's awesome!
T - 69 tanks firing at Hathajari firing range. for best viewing experience don't forget to turn up your volume....:)
The Chinese Type 69 battle tanks were developments of Soviet T-54A and T 64 tanks. Major improvements included a new engine, ballistic computers, and laser rangefinders and 105 mm rifled gun.
While Bangladesh has customized it further with -
• 120 mm smooth bore main gun (Fires wide range of ammunition)
• Capability to fire ATGM from main gun
• Gun stabilisers (vertical, horizontal)
• Modern fire control system
• Extensive ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) protection
• NBC suite
• 1,200 hp diesel engine
• Thermal sights
• Laser warning receiver
• Laser range finder
• Fire fighting equipment
• Communications equipment
• Navigation equipment + GPS
- Flickr explored
Original Caption: Exhibit of Pollution Control Systems at Four Corners Power Plant.
U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-10541
Photographer: Eiler, Lyntha Scott, 1946-
Subjects:
Shiprock (Yavapai county, Arizona, United States) peak
Environmental Protection Agency
Project DOCUMERICA
Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=553026
Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.
For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html
Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Use Restrictions: Unrestricted
The US Navy had begun planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to join the TFX program. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. It was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman had anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. Despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. The Tomcat was also fitted with the TARPS camera pod beginning in 1981, allowing the RA-5C Vigilante and RF-8G Crusader dedicated recon aircraft to be retired. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 and first saw action covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, though it was not involved in combat. The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 (fully 84 Tomcats would be lost to this problem over the course of its career) led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant during the war. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated all wartime refits and most importantly, General Electric F110 turbofans. Among the refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by Tomcats.. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service (including 37 new-builds), due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally used, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
160909 served with at least four F-14 squadrons--it was one of the first F-14s to equip VF-74 ("Be-Devilers"), then served with VF-14 ("Tophatters") aboard the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) during Operation Desert Storm. It was then transferred to VF-101 ("Grim Reapers"), the Navy's F-14 Atlantic Fleet F-14 replenishment squadron, and finally with the Naval Reserve's VF-201 ("Hunters") at NAS Dallas, Texas. While with VF-201, 160909 also flew as an aggressor aircraft. It was retired in 1999 when VF-201 reequipped with F/A-18 Hornets, and went on display at then-NAS Atlanta. When NAS Atlanta closed, it was moved to its present location at the Marietta Museum of History's Aviation Wing, on the northwest side of Dobbins ARB.
It was a bit of a surprise to find a F-14 at the Marietta airpark, but 160909 looks to be in pretty good shape. VF-201's markings are carried on the tail. I got this picture on a wet and humid Georgia day in June 2019.
The highlight of the late summer bank holiday weekend was that of 1952 Roberts-built Coronation tramcar 304 making a much-anticipated return to the Blackpool Promenade, the result of a years' work by Brian Lyndop to jump through all the necessary hoops such as electricial safety, engineering assesments and training due to the different control system inside this tram, as well as type training for the drivers (of which several drivers gave up their own free time to train up to drive this tram). 304 starred on TV in Channel 4's 'Salvage Squad' program where it underwent a full restoration back to original condition, and was originally one of 25 from this class of graceful tram built by Charles Roberts & Co between 1952-1954 (this being built in 1952) for use along the promenade. What makes this tram special is that it still retains its original VAMBAC control system (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) which was a British development of an American design which had been used in trams such as, I believe, the PCC cars in San Francisco - and worthy of note is that the equipment from 304 went on show for the Festival of Britain in 1951... whilst I am not sure how the system actually works, the concept was to provide smoother acceleration and braking all through just a single control lever. The problem though was that the system required lots of ventilation, and open vents to electrical systems beside a west-facing seafront isn't a particularly good combination - sand and water would enter the mechanism and would short circuit on the acceleration side, whilst at other times there were issues with the brakes not working (though this might have been caused more by something else, read on...). The Coronation trams (or 'Spivs' as the platform staff called them) had four motors instead of the usual two seen on other trams - these were not just to haul around the exceptionally heavy tramcar around (each tram weighed in at a staggering 20 Tons - being 50ft long and 8ft wide so larger than a normal one-car tram too), but also to provide enough power for good acceleration and a good top speed - the problem though was that this could never really be utilised because the trams got caught behind the previous service (the original idea had been to replace Balloons with these on a higher frequency service - sounds familiar to modern day bus route planning)... the other problem with the four motors was how thirsy they were on the electricity; many time they would draw so much current they would trip the breakers in the substations, rendering a whole section of the tramway (and therefore any trams on it) dead and immobile. The heavy body led to several axles fracturing in addition to wheelsets breaking (these being rubber-sandwiched sets and so needed specialist attention and more frequent maintenance), whilst the roofs were prone to leaking - 304 was the very first Coronation delivered, and it was even said at the time that the roof was leaking even whilst it was being taken off the low-loader on delivery.
To cut down on their weight, the steel panels of the trams (which, it should be noted, were built by a company more familiar with railway wagons) were replaced by aluminium ones, and I believe there may have been upward-facing skylights which were panelled over too, whilst the heavyweight batteries providing backup power to the VAMBAC system were removed entirely to save further weight... the problem with this idea was that the batteries kept the system ticking over when the tram was on a neutral section of unpowered track (a neutral section being the divide between the overhead power coming from different substations), and by removing them the VAMBAC system reset everytime the tram went through a neutral section; what this meant was that if the tram went through the section whilst braking, the system reset and the brakes came off regardless of the position of the control lever - to get the brakes to work again, the control lever had to put back to position 0 and then put back ninto the braking positions: in some cases there simply wasn't enough time to do this, and on other occasions the driver was unaware of this and so the tram was reported as having a full brake failure. All of these problems led to most trams losing their VAMBAC controls in about 1963-65 in favour of more traditional Z-type controllers salvaged from English Electric Railcoaches, the converted Coronations being referred to as "Z Cars". In 1968 the class were renumbered, and 304 became 641 (the series was 641-664) but by this time were already being withdrawn and some of them scrapped; by 1971 only 660, 641 and 663 remained (the latter two having gone off to museums whilst 660 had been preserved by Blackpool Transport). 313 had been the first to be scrapped, in 1965 and so never saw itself renumbered. The last Coronation ran in normal service in 1975.
The Coronations were by far the most luxurious trams on the Blackpool system, but were also by far the most expensive. due to problems with the control system and specialised equipment, repair bills went through the roof; meanwhile the debt to buy these trams in the first place was still not even paid off when the entire class had been withdrawn from service! And all the problems associated with these trams brought the system to its knees and almost saw it off. However, the class had still remained popular with passengers and so forward-thinking preservation groups managed to save representatives from the group so future generations could enjoy their good looks and smooth ride.
304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington. No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group.
It was moved to the St.Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and a complete rewiring, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Work stalled following access restrictions at the St. Helens site but in 2002 the tram was selected as a project to feature in Channel 4's "Salvage Squad" series.
No. 304 returned to Blackpool Transport's depot in June 2002 for an intensive period of restoration work that culminated in the tram returning to the Promenade rails on 6th January 2003 for the finale of the Salvage Squad filming. The programme was broadcast on 17th February 2003 and was watched by over 2.5 million viewers.
This photo shows its first northbound journey in revenue-earning service from the Pleasure Beach in several years, posed on the centre line at the Bispham terminus. Special permission had been granted for enthusiasts to alight the tram on the centre line with care and get photos of the tram here - possibly the first time such permission has been granted.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Knight Concert Hall
1300 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Florida
Remarks by the President at a DNC Event
Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, Florida
7:50 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Miami! (Applause.) It's good to see you. (Applause.) It is good to be back in Miami. (Applause.) Thank you, thank you, everybody. Thank you. Everybody have a seat. Have a seat.
What do you guys think of our new DNC chair? (Applause.) Debbie Wasserman Schultz. We are so thrilled to have her. You want Debbie on your side. (Applause.) She's a mom, she's got that cute smile and all that, but she is tough. Don't mess with Debbie. (Laughter.) We are so glad of her leadership.
I know that a lot of folks have already been acknowledged. I want to make sure to mention resident commissioner Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico. Where is he? Pedro, are you still here? There he is right there. (Applause.)
Adrienne Arsht, thank you so much for everything that you've done for the civic life in Miami. (Applause.) Our Florida finance chair, Kirk Wager, is here. (Applause.) Founding co-chair of Gen44, Andrew Korge, is here. (Applause.) Alonzo Mourning is in the house. (Applause.) And, look, he's not from Miami, but he's got 11 championships, so I've got to mention Bill Russell is in the house. (Applause.) Bill Russell -- greatest champion of all time in team sports in North America right here. (Applause.)
It is wonderful to be back. Many of you I've known for a very long time, some of you I'm getting a chance to see for the first time. And it got me thinking back to election night two and a half years ago, in Grant Park. It was a beautiful night in Chicago, and everybody was feeling pretty good who had supported me. And it was an incredibly hopeful time. And you will recall -- maybe you won't but I'm going to remind you -- (laughter) -- I said, this is not the end, this is the beginning. This is the beginning.
Because what I said to the American people that night was that for almost a decade too many Americans had felt as if the American Dream was slipping away. We had seen economic growth and corporate profits and a stock market that had gone up, but there were too many folks who were struggling each and every day, working as hard as they could, being responsible for their families, being responsible to their communities, but somehow they just couldn’t keep up. Wages and incomes had flat-lined, even though the cost of everything from health care to college tuitions to gas had all skyrocketed.
Around the world, the impression of America as a preeminent force for good had lost sway. We were in the midst of two wars. We didn’t seem to be able to tackle challenges that had confronted us for decades -- didn’t have an energy plan that was worthy of the greatness of America; didn’t have an immigration system that would allow us to be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants; had a school system in which we had no longer -- we were no longer at the top and weren’t preparing our young people to meet the challenges and demands of the 21st century global interdependent economy.
And so when I started the race for President, what I said to all of you was, if you’re looking for easy answers, you’re looking in the wrong place. If you’re looking for just a bunch of partisan rhetoric, I’m probably not your guy. But if you want to join me on this journey,, to make sure that America is living up to its ideals, if you wanted to reclaim the that sense that in America anything is possible if we’re willing to work for it, and if you wanted to see if we could get beyond some of the politics of the past and point towards the future, then I wanted you to be a part of this process. And so all that culminated in Grant Park that night.
But then I said, you know what, this just gives us the opportunity to do what’s possible. This is not the end state. I didn't run for President just to be President. (Applause.) I ran for President to do things -- to do big things, to do hard things.
What we didn't know at the time -- I said this is going to be a steep climb to get to where we want to go, to achieve that summit. We didn't know how steep that climb was going to be because what we now know was we were already in the midst of what would turn out to be the worst recession since the Great Depression -- came this close to a financial meltdown that would have spun the global financial system out of control.
We lost 4 million jobs in the six months before I was sworn in, and we’d lose another 4 [million] before any of our economic initiatives had a chance to take effect. And all the challenges that ordinary families, working families, middle-class families had been feeling for years were suddenly compounded. Folks were losing their jobs, losing their homes, didn't know what the future held.
And so we’ve spent the last two and a half years trying to heal this country, trying to mend what was broken. And with the help of people like Debbie and Pedro, we’ve made enormous strides. With the help of you, we have made enormous strides. I mean, think about it. An economy that was contracting is now growing. An economy that was shedding millions of jobs, we’ve seen over 2 million jobs created in the last 15 months, in the private sector. (Applause.) The financial system stabilized. And some of the decisions that we made were not popular. Everybody acts now like, well, yeah, that was easy. (Laughter.) Think about it.
Just think for a moment about the U.S. auto industry. We were on the verge of the liquidation of two of the three big automakers in the United States -- Chrysler and GM. Now, there’s been some revisionist history that’s been offered lately about, well, they might have survived without our help -- except nobody at GM or Chrysler believes that. They were going to break that up and sell off the spare parts. And as a consequence, you would have seen a million people -- suppliers, dealerships -- all gone, in the midst of this incredible hardship that people were already experiencing. (Applause.) And we made tough decisions and we made the right decisions. And now we’ve got the big three automakers -- (applause) -- all profitable, all increasing market share, hiring back workers.
And we didn’t forget the promises that we had made during the campaign. We said we wanted to make sure that once again America would have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. And so in pursuit of that goal, we said let’s stop subsidizing big banks as middlemen on the student loan program. (Applause.) Let’s take back billions of dollars and give it directly to young people so that millions of children -- a million of our kids are going to be able to go to college without $100,000 or $200,000 worth of debt.
We said we’re going to start building a genuine clean energy industry in this country, and made the largest investment in clean energy in our history. And we did that. We said that we’d begin the process of rebuilding our infrastructure in this country, and made the largest investment rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our ports since Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, putting hundreds of thousands of people to work all across America, doing the work that needs to be done.
We said we had to finally, after generations, deal with the travesty of the richest nation on Earth having people who went bankrupt because they went sick and couldn’t afford to provide health care to their families -- (applause) -- and we passed a historic health care law that is going to make sure that everybody in this country can get health care and is going to help drive prices down on health care in the bargain. (Applause.) We promised we’d do that, and we did it.
Oh, and along the way, we did a few other things, like pass equal pay for equal work legislation. (Applause.) And make sure that never again will you be barred from serving your country in uniform just because of the person that you love. (Applause.) And we appointed two women to the Supreme Court, one of them the first Latina in our history. (Applause.) And we expanded national service so that our young people would know what it means to give back to this country. (Applause.)
And we passed financial regulatory reform so that not only would we not see a reprise of the financial shenanigans that had gone on before, but we’d actually have a consumer bureau that would be able to look after folks when they take out credit cards and they take out mortgages, so that they wouldn’t be cheated. (Applause.)
And on the international front, we said we would end the war in Iraq -- and we have ended combat operations in Iraq and will be bringing our troops home this year. (Applause.) And we said that we would start refocusing our efforts in Afghanistan, and especially go after al Qaeda -- and we went after al Qaeda and we’re going after al Qaeda -- (applause) -- and beginning the transition process so that Afghans can take responsibility for their security.
And in the meantime, we dealt with a few other things -- like pirates. (Laughter.) And pandemic and oil spills. So there were a few other things that kept us occupied.
And I describe all this not for us to be complacent, but for all of us to remember that as hard as these battles have been, as much resistance as we’ve gotten, as much as the political debate has been distorted at times, that our basic premise -- the idea that when we put our minds to it, there’s nothing America can’t do -- that's been proven. (Applause.) That's been borne out. We have the evidence. We’ve brought about amazing change over the last two and a half years.
And we couldn’t have done it without you. We couldn’t -- we could not --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Keep your promise, stop AIDS now!
THE PRESIDENT: That's all right. That's all right. We’re good. We’re good.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Hold up. Hold up.
So -- now, here’s the thing. The reason we’re here today is because our work is not done. (Applause.) For all the progress we’ve made, our work is not complete. We’re not at the summit. We just -- we’re just partway up the mountain. There’s more to do. There is more to do.
We still don't have the kind of energy policy that America needs -- and all of you experience that at the pump each and every day. Our economy is still vulnerable to the spot oil market and us having to import billions of dollars, when we could be not only producing more energy right here at home, but we could be producing energy that's clean and renewable and what would ensure that we could pass on the kind of planet to the next generation that all of us long for. (Applause.)
We know that we’re not done when it comes to issues like immigration reform. I was down here at Miami Dade -- (applause) -- an amazing institution that embodies what America is all about. Young people who can trace their heritage to 181 different countries were represented. (Applause.) And some of you who may not be familiar with the ceremony, what they do is they bring out the flags of each country where somebody can trace their roots. And everybody cheers. The Cuban flag comes up and everybody goes crazy. (Applause.) The Jamaican flag comes up and everybody is hooting and hollering. (Applause.) See, sort of just like this.
But then there’s one flag that comes up, and that is the American flag, and everybody explodes -- (applause) -- because that’s the essence of who we are. Out of many, one. But we don’t have a system that reflects those values. It is still an issue that’s exploited, that’s used to divide instead of bringing people together. We’ve got more work to do.
We’ve got more work to do when it comes to rebuilding the infrastructure of this country. We’ve got a couple of trillion dollars worth of work that needs to be done. We were at a Jobs Council meeting up in North Carolina and the chairman of Southwest, the CEO of Southwest, he explained how because our air traffic control system is so archaic, we probably waste about 15 percent of fuel because planes are having to go this way and that. The whole system was designed back in the 1930s before you even had things like GPS. But think about -- what’s true for the airlines industry is true for our roads, it’s true for our ports, it’s true for our airports, it’s true for our power system. We’ve got more work to do.
We’ve made incredible progress on education, helping students to finance their college educations, but we still don’t have enough engineers. We still don’t have enough scientists. We still lag behind other countries when it comes to training our young people for the jobs, the high-skilled jobs that are going to provide high wages and allow them to support a family.
But we’ve made incredible progress K through 12 with something we call Race to the Top, which basically says -- (applause) -- to school districts and to states, you reform the system and we will show you the money, and so providing incentives. And 40 states across the country have made critical reforms as a consequence to this program. But we still have schools where half the kids drop out. We still consign too many of our young people to lives of desperation and despair. We’ve got more work to do.
And we’ve got so much work to do on our economy. We’ve got so much more work to do on our economy. Every night I get letters. We get about 40,000 pieces of mail at the White House every day, and I ask my team to select 10 letters for me to read that are representative of what people are feeling out there. And I will tell you these really are representative, because about half of them call me an idiot. (Laughter.) And -- but most of the stories are just some ordinary folks who have done the right thing, have worked hard all their lives. Some of them are small business owners who have poured their savings into a venture, and then when the recession hit they lost everything, and now they’re trying to get back on their feet.
You get letters from moms who are trying to figure out how to pay their bills at the end of the month, and they’re going back to school while they’re working to see if they can retrain for a better job. Sometimes you get folks who have sent out 100 resumes and haven’t gotten a response, and are trying to describe what it’s like to tell your child than nobody wants to hire you. Sometimes you get a letter from a kid who says, my parents are about to lose my home -- Mr. President, is there something you can do to help?
And in all those stories, what you see is incredible resilience and incredible stick-to-itiveness, and a sense on the part of people that no matter how down they are, they’re not out. And they don’t expect government to solve all their problems. All they’re looking for is that somebody cares and that we’re doing everything we can, trying every idea to make sure that this economy is moving. And they don’t understand how it is that good ideas get caught up in partisan politics, and why is it that people seem to be arguing all the time instead of trying to do the people’s business.
So we’ve got more work to do -- investing in our education system and making sure that -- (applause) -- making sure that our infrastructure is built and we’re putting people back to work, and helping the housing market recover, and dealing with our budget in a way that allows us to once again live within our means but doing so in a way that is consistent with our values.
You know, this budget debate that we’re having in Washington right now, it’s not just about numbers. It’s about values. It’s about what we believe and who we are as a people. The easiest thing to do to balance a budget is you just slash and burn and you cut and you don’t worry about the consequences. But that’s not who we are. We’re better than that. (Applause.)
I don’t want to live in a country where we’re no longer helping young people go to college, and so your fate is basically determined by where you were born and your circumstances. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be standing here today. I don't want to live in a country where we no longer believe that we can build the best airports or the best rail systems. I don't want to live in a country where we’re no longer investing in basic research and science so that we’re at the cutting edge of technology. I don't want to live in a country where we are abandoning our commitment to the most vulnerable among us -- the disabled, our seniors -- making sure that they’ve got a basic safety net so that they can live with dignity and respect in their golden years. (Applause.)
And so here’s the -- the good news is that we can bring down our deficit and we can work down our debt, and we can do so the same way families all across America do, by prioritizing and deciding what’s important to us. So we’re going to have to scrub the federal budget and get rid of every program that doesn't work, and get rid of every regulation that is outdated. And we’ve got to make sure that we build on all the tax cuts that we’ve provided to small businesses and to individuals over the last couple years so that they’re getting back on their feet.
But we’ve also got to make sure that whatever sacrifices we make, whatever burdens are borne are spread among all of us; that we’re not just doing it on the backs of the poor; that we’re not just doing it on the backs of our seniors; that we’re not just doing it on the backs of the most vulnerable. (Applause.)
And the other side say, well, you know what, we can just cut and cut and cut and cut -- and by the way, you, Mr. President, since you’ve been so lucky, we’re going to give you a $200,000 tax break. I’d love to have a tax break. I don’t like paying taxes -- I’m the President. (Laughter.) This notion somehow that I enjoy paying taxes or administering taxes, that makes no sense. Nothing is better for a politician than saying, you know what, forget about it, you will have everything you need and everything this country needs and you don’t have to pay for a thing.
But, you know what, I don’t want a $200,000 tax break if it means that 33 seniors are each going to have to pay $6,000 more a year for their Medicare. (Applause.) I don’t want that. I don’t want a tax break if it means hundreds of kids won’t be able to go to Head Start. (Applause.) That’s not a tradeoff I’m willing to make. That’s not a tradeoff most of Americans are willing to make. That’s not who we are. That’s not what we believe in.
And the reason I’m not willing to make a tradeoff, it’s not out of charity. It’s because my life is better when I know, as I’m driving by a school, you know what, those kids in there, they’ve got the best teachers, they’ve got the best equipment -- I know that they’re going to succeed. That makes me feel better about my life and about my country. (Applause.)
And if I’m seeing an elderly couple stroll by holding hands -- and I’m saying to myself, you know, that’s going to be Michelle and me in a few years -- and I know that whatever their circumstances, I know they’ve got Social Security and they’ve got Medicare that they can count on, that makes my life better. That makes my life richer. (Applause.)
So that's what this campaign is going to be about. It’s going to be about values. It’s the same thing that the 2008 campaign was about: What's important to you? Who are we? What is it about America that makes us so proud?
When I think about why our campaign drew so much excitement, it was because it tapped into those essential things that bind us together. I look out at this auditorium, and I see people from every walk of life, every age, every demographic -- but there’s something that binds us together, that says this is what makes our country so special.
And that's what’s at stake. That's the journey that we’re on. And the only way that we stay on track, the only way that we continue that journey is if all of you are involved. Because what also made the campaign special was it wasn’t about me -- it was never about me -- it was about us. It was about you. (Applause.) It was about you being willing to be involved, and you being willing to be engaged. Because that's also what makes America special -- ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Now, two and a half years have passed since that night in Grant Park, and I’ve got a lot more gray hair. (Laughter.) And what seemed so fresh and new, now -- we’ve seen Obama so many times on TV, and we know all his quirks and all his tics and he’s been poked apart. And there’s some of you who probably have felt at times during the last two and a half years, gosh, why isn’t this happening faster? Why isn’t this easier? Why are we struggling? And why didn’t health care get done quicker? And why didn’t we get the public option? (Laughter and applause.) And what -- I know the conversation you guys are having. (Laughter.) "I’m not feeling as hopeful as I was." And I understand that. There have been frustrations, and I’ve got some dings to show for it over the last two and half years.
But I never said this was going to be easy. This is a democracy. It’s a big country and a diverse country. And our political process is messy. Yes, you don’t always get 100 percent of what you want, and you make compromises. That’s how the system was designed. But what I hope all of you still feel is that for all the frustrations, for all the setbacks, for all the occasional stumbles, that what motivates us, what we most deeply cherish, that that’s still within reach. That it’s still possible to bring about extraordinary change. That it’s still possible to make sure that the America we pass down to our kids and our grandkids is a better America than the one we inherited. (Applause.) I’m confident about that. I believe in that, because I believe in you.
And so I’m glad you guys came to the rally. But just like in 2008, if we want to bring about the change we believe in, we’re going to have to get to work. You’re going to have to make phone calls. (Applause.) You’re going to have to knock on doors. You’re going to have to talk to all your friends and all your neighbors, and you’re going to have to talk to the naysayers. And you’re going to have to go out there and say: We’ve got more work to do. And if they tell you, I don’t know, I’m not sure, I’m not convinced -- you just remind them of those three words that captured this campaign, captured the last campaign and will capture the 2012 campaign: Yes, we can.
Thank you, Miami. God bless you. (Applause.) God bless the United States of America.
END
8:20 P.M. EDT
The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1977 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit, perform in-space operations, then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider, returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth.
Six orbiters were built for flight: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. All were built in Palmdale, California, by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Rockwell International company. The first orbiter, Enterprise, made its maiden flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. Enterprise was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of the Space Shuttle stack.
Columbia was the first space-worthy orbiter; it made its inaugural flight in 1981. Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis followed in 1983, 1984, and 1985 respectively. In 1986, Challenger was destroyed in an accident shortly after its 10th launch. Endeavour was built as Challenger's successor, and was first launched in 1992. In 2003, Columbia was destroyed during re-entry, leaving just three remaining orbiters. Discovery completed its final flight on March 9, 2011, and Endeavour completed its final flight on June 1, 2011. Atlantis completed the final Shuttle flight, STS-135, on July 21, 2011.
In addition to their crews and payloads, the reusable orbiter carried most of the Space Shuttle System's liquid-propellant rocket system, but both the liquid hydrogen fuel and the liquid oxygen oxidizer for its three main rocket engines were fed from an external cryogenic propellant tank. Additionally, two reusable solid rocket boosters (SRBs) provided additional thrust for approximately the first two minutes of launch. The orbiters themselves did carry hypergolic propellants for their Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters and Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines.
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_orbiter" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_orbiter</a>
The US Navy began planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to use the USAF’s F-111A Aardvark tactical bomber as a basis. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. The F-111B was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman had anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. The aircraft was also given the ability to carry bombs, but this would not be developed for another 20 years; despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, mainly to end Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat overflights.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant during the 1980s. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated General Electric F110 turbofans. Among other refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by US Navy Tomcats; this was due mostly to Iraqi fighter pilots, experienced in fighting Tomcats, avoiding the aircraft. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the definitive F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service, due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally developed, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown and, in the final cruise of the Tomcat, F-14Ds were also used in the FAC role. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
Dad built this 1/72 Hasegawa F-14 back in the late 1970s; it was his first Tomcat, but not his last! At the time, the F-14 was just beginning its career, so this aircraft still wears the very flamboyant colors of the Navy during the Vietnam years and immediately afterwards, before the Navy began toning down colors. This colorful scheme belonged to VF-2 ("Bounty Hunters"), which were the first squadron to operationally deploy with the Tomcat; they would fly the first combat sorties in the aircraft, covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. They were aboard the USS Enterprise at the time.
Besides the then-standard Navy camouflage of light gray over white, this F-14 also carries a nonstandard loadout of four AIM-54 Phoenixes and two AIM-9J Sidewinders. While four Phoenixes was not uncommon for the F-14, they were almost always carried beneath the fuselage rather than on the wing stations.
The quality of the picture is not the best, but Dad was still learning how to use his Minolta. I still have this kit, but it ended up in Dad's "scrap" pile for the better part of 20 years, and it's not in great shape. He planned on repainting it as the fictional Israeli F-14s from Nelson DeMille's novel "By the Rivers of Babylon," but never got around to it.
Seen recently in the skies over RAF Brize Norton was this NATO Boeing E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, registration LX-N90442. The aircraft is based at the NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, located in the Federal Republic of Germany.
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© Crown Copyright 2014
Photographer: Steve Lympany - RAF Brize Norton Photographic Section
Image: BZN-UNCLASS-20140203-092-001.jpg
From: www.raf.mod.uk/rafbrizenorton/
Note: This file is available for reuse under the OGL (Open Government Licence), a link to which is published in the 'MOD copyright licensing information' document on the Ministry of Defence copyright licensing information page.
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Sea Cat was a British short-range surface to air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system and was designed so that the Bofors guns could be replaced with minimum modification to the recipient vessel and (originally) using existing fire-control systems. A mobile land-based version of the system was known as Tigercat.
Sea Cat was designed by Short Brothers of Belfast for use against fast jet aircraft that were proving to be too difficult for the WWII-era Bofors guns to successfully intercept. The missile was based on the Shorts Green Light prototype, itself a development of the SX-A5, a research missile based on the Australian Malkara anti-tank missile to test radio manual guidance of a short range surface to air missile. It replaced the Orange Nell development programme for a lighter weapon than the enormous Sea Slug missile. The first public reference to the name Seacat was April 1958, when Shorts was awarded a contract to develop a close in short range air to air missile. The missile was shown for the first time to the general public at the 1959 Farnborough Air Show. The first acceptance trials of the Seacat on a warship was in 1961 aboard HMS Decoy. The Seacat became the first operational guided missile to be fired by a warship of the Royal Navy. Later it was adopted by the Swedish Navy, making it the first British guided missile to be fired by a foreign navy.
Sea Cat is a small, subsonic missile powered by a two-stage solid fuel rocket motor. It is steered in flight by four cruciformly arranged swept wings and is stabilised by four small tail fins. It is guided by command line-of-sight (CLOS) via a radio-link; i.e., flight commands are transmitted to it from a remote operator with both the missile and target in sight.
All Sea Cat variants used a common 4-rail, manually loaded, trainable launcher that incorporated the antennae for the radio command link. All that was required to fit the system to a ship was the installation of a launcher, the provision of a missile handling room and a suitable guidance system. Sea Cat was widely used in NATO and Commonwealth navies that purchased British equipment and has been used with a wide array of guidance systems. The four systems used by the Royal Navy are described below.
GWS-20
This was the initial system, which was intended to replace the twin 40 mm Bofors Mark V gun and its associated fire-control systems. The original director was based on the STD (Simple Tachymetric Director) and was entirely visual in operation. The target was acquired visually with the missile being guided, via a radio link, by the operator inputting commands on a joystick. Flares on the missile's tail fins aided identifying the missile. The more advanced CRBF (Close Range Blind Fire) director equipped with spin-scanning radar Type 262 for automatic target tracking could also be used.
GWS-20 was trialled on board HMS Decoy, a Daring class destroyer, in 1961; it was subsequently removed. It was carried in active service by, amongst others, the Fearless class landing ships and the Type 81 Tribal, updated Type 12 Whitby, Type 12I Rothesay and (originally) County class escorts. It was originally intended that all C class destroyers should receive it and the class were prepared accordingly. In the event only HMS Cavalier and HMS Caprice received it, in 1966 refits.
GWS-20 saw active service in the Falklands war on board the Fearless class and the Rothesay frigates HMS Plymouth and HMS Yarmouth, who retained the GWS-20 director when upgraded to GWS-22.
GWS-21
GWS-21 was the Sea Cat system associated with a modified Close Range Blind Fire analogue fire control director (CRBFD) with Type 262 radar. This offered manual radar-assisted (Dark Fire) tracking and guidance modes as well as 'eyeball' visual modes. It was carried as the design anti-aircraft weapon of the Type 81 Tribal class frigate and on the first four County class destroyers.
GWS-22
GWS-22 was the Sea Cat system associated with the full MRS-3 fire control director with Type 903 radar and was the first ACLOS-capable (Automatic, Command Line-Of-Sight) Sea Cat. It was fitted to most of the Leander, Rothesay and County class escorts as they were refitted and modified in the 1970s, as well as the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. It could operate in automatic radar-guided (Blindfire), manual radar-guided, manual CCTV-guided or, in an emergency, 'eyeball' guided modes. It saw active service in the Falklands onboard all these classes.
GWS-24
The final Royal Navy Sea Cat variant, this used the Italian Alenia Orion RTN-10X fire control system with Type 912 radar and was fitted only to the Type 21 frigate. This variant saw active service in the Falklands.
(Text Wikipedia)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The HAL Ajeet II (Sanskrit: अजित, for Invincible or Unconquerable) was a development of the British Folland Gnat fighter that was built under license in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) operated the Folland Gnat light jet fighter from 1958, with over 200 aircraft being license built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft proved successful in combat in both the 1965 and the 1971 War with Pakistan, both in the low-level air superiority role and for short range ground attack missions, while being cheap to build and operate. It had unreliable systems, though, particularly the control system, and was difficult to maintain.
The Indian Air Force therefore issued a requirement for an improved Gnat in 1972. Although the original requirement called for an interceptor, it was later modified to include a secondary ground-attack role.
The aircraft was given the name "Ajeet" and the changes from the original Gnat were considerable.
They included:
- Improvements to the hydraulics and control systems (these had been a source of difficulties in the Gnat).
- Fitting of improved Martin-Baker GF4 ejection seats.
- Upgraded avionics.
- The addition of slab tail control surfaces.
- Improvements to the landing gear.
- Additional internal fuel capacity with "wet wings" to free the original pair of underwing pylons for weapons.
- Installation of two more underwing hardpoints.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited modified the final two Gnats on the production line as prototypes for the Ajeet, with the first one flying on 6 March 1975, with the second following on 5 November. Testing proved successful of the Ajeet, and it became the first production aircraft flew on 30 September 1976. Visually, the Ajeet appeared similar to the Gnat, with the presence of two extra hardpoints being the only obvious distinguishing features from the older aircraft.
The Ajeet entered service with the IAF in 1977, but this was not the end of the Gnat/Ajeet's development potential. A HAL project for a trainer based on the Ajeet was begun, leading to the initial flight of a prototype in 1982. Unfortunately this aircraft was lost in a crash later that year. A second prototype flew the following year, followed by a third. But a lack of government interest and the imminent phase-out of the aircraft meant no more examples were produced.
Another, more radical Gnat derivate was more successful, the supersonic Ajeet II. The development of this aircraft started in 1978, and while the Ajeet II outwardly looked very much like its 1st generation kin, it was an almost completely different aircraft.
Basic idea had been to get the Ajeet up to the performance of the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - with major focus on speed and overall better performance. It was soon clear that the original, the single HAL/Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 701-01 turbojet with 20.0 kN (4,500 lbf) of thrust would not suffice. Consequently, HAL engineers worked on the internal structure of the Gnat/Ajeet to cramp two smaller Rolls Royce Viper engines with indigenous afterburners into the fuselage.
At full power the small aircraft was now powered with almost twice as much power, but modifications were considerable, including new air intakes with shock cones and new ducts, which necessitated a lower location of the Aden cannons under the intakes instead of their flanks.
The rear fuselage had to be widened and lengthened accordingly, and the wings were also completely new, with a thinner profile, less depth and a higher sweep at quarter chord. The wing area was ~30% bigger than before and also offered an increased internal space for fuel.
The elongated forward fuselage was used for an additional fuel tank as well as more sophisticated avionics - including a RP-21 radar that was also installed in the license-built Indian MiG-21. The new systems allowed the use of R-3S 'Atoll') AAMs (of Soviet or Chinese origin) or French Matra Magic AAMs, four of which could be carried under the wings.
The development of the engines was protracted, though, especially the afterburner went through a lot of teething troubles, so that development aircraft had to get by without th extra performance punch. The first Ajeet II prototype flew in 1984 and the type was ready for service in 1986 and adopted by two fighter squadrons which started to retire the 1st generation Gnats and also some Hunters. Anyway, upon commissioning it was already clear that the Ajeet II would not have a bright future, as the classic gun fighter had become more and more obsolete.
Nevertheless, the Ajeet II was built in 36 specimen (plus two prototypes and two static airframes) and proved to be a formidable air combat opponent at low to medium altitude. It could easily outmaneuver more powerful aircraft like the MiG-21, and the afterburner improved acceleration as well as rate of climb considerably. Its guided missile armament also meant that it could engage at longer ranges and did not have to rely on its cannons alone. The Ajeet II's ground attack capabilities were improved through a higher ordnance payload (3.000 lb vs. 2.000 lb of the Ajeet I)
But the light fighter concept was soon outdated. The Ajeet I was retired in 1991 and, unlike the IAF Gnats, never saw combat. The Ajeet II was kept in service only a little longer, and its retirement started in 1994. The remaining machines were concentrated in one single squadron, but this, too, was disbanded soon and switched to the MiG-29. The last Ajeet II flew in late 1997.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 10,54 m (34 ft 6 2/3 in)
Wingspan: 8,57 m (28 ft 1 in)
Height: 2.80 m (9 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 16.4 m² (177 ft²)
Aspect ratio: 3.56
Empty weight: 3,100 kg (6,830 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,440 kg (11,990 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Viper 601-22 turbojets, rated at 3,750 lbf (16.7 kN) dry
and 4,500 lbf (20.0 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,152 km/h (622 knots, 716 mph) at sea level
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,720 m)
Wing loading: 331 kg/m² (67.8 lb/ft²)
Rate of clim: 12,150 ft/min (61.7 m/s)
Armament:
2× 30 mm ADEN cannons with 90 rounds each
Up to 3.000 lb (1.360 kg) of external stores on four underwing hardpoints
The kit and its assembly:
Well, this whiffy Gnat/Ajeet was actually born through an incomplete Matchbox kit that I bought in a lot a while ago. It lacked decals, but also the canopy... Vacu replacements are available, but I rather put the kit on the conversion list, potentially into a single seater.
Since I'd have to improvise and modify the fuselage anyway, I decided to take the idea further ans create a "supersonic Gnat". Folland actually had such designs on the drawing board, but I do not think that the company considered a twin jet layout? That idea struck me when I held a PM Model F-5A in my hands and looked at the small J85 engine nozzles. Could that...?
From there things evolved, a bit like what Fiat did with the G.91 that was turned into the G.91Y. I wanted the Gnat to become bigger, also in order to justify the two engines and the wider tail. Therefore I cut the fuselage in front of the air intakes and behind the wings and inserted plugs, each ~6mm. Not much, but it helps. I also found new wings and stabilizers in the scrap box: from a Revell Fiat G.91. More slender, more sweep, and a slightly bigger span so that the overall proportions were kept. A good addition to the sleek Gnat/Ajeet. The fin was left OOB.
Another personal addition is the radar nose - I found the Gnat trainer's nose to be rather pointed and long, and the radome (IIRC from an F-4E!) was more Ajeet-style, even though of different shape and suggesting a radar dish underneath.
The new canopy is a donation from a Mastercraft (ex KP/Kopro) LWS Iskra trainer. Even though the Ajeet II is a single seater I used the Iskra’s two-seater option in order to fill the gap above the Gnat's second seat. I just cut the Iskra canopy in two parts and used the rear half as a fuselage/spine plug – fit was pretty good.
The fuselage extension and the new tail section necessitated massive putty work, but the result is surprisingly organic and retains the Ajeet's profile - the whif factor is rather subtle. ^^
The landing gear was taken OOB, the cockpit interior was improvised after the fuselage was more or less finished with parts from the original kit, plus an extra dashboard.
Painting and markings:
Surely this was to become an Indian Air Force aircraft, and for the paint scheme I took inspiration from the manifold IAF MiG-21s and the garish combat training markings of Indian aircraft.
The scheme is inspired by MiG-21MF "C2776" of IAF 26 Sqn "Warriors“ and “C2283” of 3 Sqn “Cobras”: a basically all-grey aircraft, with added camouflage on the upper side, plus bright fin colors.
The camouflage consists of Humbrol 127 (FS 36375) for the lower surfaces and in some areas where it would show through the added paint: a basic coat of Humbrol 108 (a murky, dark olive drab) with large mottles in a mix of Humbrol 62 and a bit of 80 (Sand and Grass Green). Rather odd, but when you look at the pics (esp. in flight) this seems to be very effective!
The fin decoration actually comes from an ESCI Harrier GR.3 (RAF 4 Sqn flash), roundels and other markings were puzzled together, among others, from the Iskra donation kit.
The cockpit interior was kept in a very dark grey while the landing gear and the air intakes are Aluminum.
A small project, literally, and a subtle one. While this aircraft looks a lot like a simple IAF Ajeet, there's actually hardly anything left from the original aircraft! And the paint scheme is spectacular - India has a lot to offer! :)
Other aircraft involved in the exercise include Royal Navy Sea King helicopters, RAF Puma helicopters based at a Territorial Army centre in Ilford, east London, and Army and Royal Navy Lynx helicopters on HMS Ocean in the Thames.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The HAL Ajeet II (Sanskrit: अजित, for Invincible or Unconquerable) was a development of the British Folland Gnat fighter that was built under license in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) operated the Folland Gnat light jet fighter from 1958, with over 200 aircraft being license built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft proved successful in combat in both the 1965 and the 1971 War with Pakistan, both in the low-level air superiority role and for short range ground attack missions, while being cheap to build and operate. It had unreliable systems, though, particularly the control system, and was difficult to maintain.
The Indian Air Force therefore issued a requirement for an improved Gnat in 1972. Although the original requirement called for an interceptor, it was later modified to include a secondary ground-attack role.
The aircraft was given the name "Ajeet" and the changes from the original Gnat were considerable.
They included:
- Improvements to the hydraulics and control systems (these had been a source of difficulties in the Gnat).
- Fitting of improved Martin-Baker GF4 ejection seats.
- Upgraded avionics.
- The addition of slab tail control surfaces.
- Improvements to the landing gear.
- Additional internal fuel capacity with "wet wings" to free the original pair of underwing pylons for weapons.
- Installation of two more underwing hardpoints.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited modified the final two Gnats on the production line as prototypes for the Ajeet, with the first one flying on 6 March 1975, with the second following on 5 November. Testing proved successful of the Ajeet, and it became the first production aircraft flew on 30 September 1976. Visually, the Ajeet appeared similar to the Gnat, with the presence of two extra hardpoints being the only obvious distinguishing features from the older aircraft.
The Ajeet entered service with the IAF in 1977, but this was not the end of the Gnat/Ajeet's development potential. A HAL project for a trainer based on the Ajeet was begun, leading to the initial flight of a prototype in 1982. Unfortunately this aircraft was lost in a crash later that year. A second prototype flew the following year, followed by a third. But a lack of government interest and the imminent phase-out of the aircraft meant no more examples were produced.
Another, more radical Gnat derivate was more successful, the supersonic Ajeet II. The development of this aircraft started in 1978, and while the Ajeet II outwardly looked very much like its 1st generation kin, it was an almost completely different aircraft.
Basic idea had been to get the Ajeet up to the performance of the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - with major focus on speed and overall better performance. It was soon clear that the original, the single HAL/Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 701-01 turbojet with 20.0 kN (4,500 lbf) of thrust would not suffice. Consequently, HAL engineers worked on the internal structure of the Gnat/Ajeet to cramp two smaller Rolls Royce Viper engines with indigenous afterburners into the fuselage.
At full power the small aircraft was now powered with almost twice as much power, but modifications were considerable, including new air intakes with shock cones and new ducts, which necessitated a lower location of the Aden cannons under the intakes instead of their flanks.
The rear fuselage had to be widened and lengthened accordingly, and the wings were also completely new, with a thinner profile, less depth and a higher sweep at quarter chord. The wing area was ~30% bigger than before and also offered an increased internal space for fuel.
The elongated forward fuselage was used for an additional fuel tank as well as more sophisticated avionics - including a RP-21 radar that was also installed in the license-built Indian MiG-21. The new systems allowed the use of R-3S 'Atoll') AAMs (of Soviet or Chinese origin) or French Matra Magic AAMs, four of which could be carried under the wings.
The development of the engines was protracted, though, especially the afterburner went through a lot of teething troubles, so that development aircraft had to get by without th extra performance punch. The first Ajeet II prototype flew in 1984 and the type was ready for service in 1986 and adopted by two fighter squadrons which started to retire the 1st generation Gnats and also some Hunters. Anyway, upon commissioning it was already clear that the Ajeet II would not have a bright future, as the classic gun fighter had become more and more obsolete.
Nevertheless, the Ajeet II was built in 36 specimen (plus two prototypes and two static airframes) and proved to be a formidable air combat opponent at low to medium altitude. It could easily outmaneuver more powerful aircraft like the MiG-21, and the afterburner improved acceleration as well as rate of climb considerably. Its guided missile armament also meant that it could engage at longer ranges and did not have to rely on its cannons alone. The Ajeet II's ground attack capabilities were improved through a higher ordnance payload (3.000 lb vs. 2.000 lb of the Ajeet I)
But the light fighter concept was soon outdated. The Ajeet I was retired in 1991 and, unlike the IAF Gnats, never saw combat. The Ajeet II was kept in service only a little longer, and its retirement started in 1994. The remaining machines were concentrated in one single squadron, but this, too, was disbanded soon and switched to the MiG-29. The last Ajeet II flew in late 1997.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 10,54 m (34 ft 6 2/3 in)
Wingspan: 8,57 m (28 ft 1 in)
Height: 2.80 m (9 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 16.4 m² (177 ft²)
Aspect ratio: 3.56
Empty weight: 3,100 kg (6,830 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,440 kg (11,990 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Viper 601-22 turbojets, rated at 3,750 lbf (16.7 kN) dry
and 4,500 lbf (20.0 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,152 km/h (622 knots, 716 mph) at sea level
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,720 m)
Wing loading: 331 kg/m² (67.8 lb/ft²)
Rate of clim: 12,150 ft/min (61.7 m/s)
Armament:
2× 30 mm ADEN cannons with 90 rounds each
Up to 3.000 lb (1.360 kg) of external stores on four underwing hardpoints
The kit and its assembly:
Well, this whiffy Gnat/Ajeet was actually born through an incomplete Matchbox kit that I bought in a lot a while ago. It lacked decals, but also the canopy... Vacu replacements are available, but I rather put the kit on the conversion list, potentially into a single seater.
Since I'd have to improvise and modify the fuselage anyway, I decided to take the idea further ans create a "supersonic Gnat". Folland actually had such designs on the drawing board, but I do not think that the company considered a twin jet layout? That idea struck me when I held a PM Model F-5A in my hands and looked at the small J85 engine nozzles. Could that...?
From there things evolved, a bit like what Fiat did with the G.91 that was turned into the G.91Y. I wanted the Gnat to become bigger, also in order to justify the two engines and the wider tail. Therefore I cut the fuselage in front of the air intakes and behind the wings and inserted plugs, each ~6mm. Not much, but it helps. I also found new wings and stabilizers in the scrap box: from a Revell Fiat G.91. More slender, more sweep, and a slightly bigger span so that the overall proportions were kept. A good addition to the sleek Gnat/Ajeet. The fin was left OOB.
Another personal addition is the radar nose - I found the Gnat trainer's nose to be rather pointed and long, and the radome (IIRC from an F-4E!) was more Ajeet-style, even though of different shape and suggesting a radar dish underneath.
The new canopy is a donation from a Mastercraft (ex KP/Kopro) LWS Iskra trainer. Even though the Ajeet II is a single seater I used the Iskra’s two-seater option in order to fill the gap above the Gnat's second seat. I just cut the Iskra canopy in two parts and used the rear half as a fuselage/spine plug – fit was pretty good.
The fuselage extension and the new tail section necessitated massive putty work, but the result is surprisingly organic and retains the Ajeet's profile - the whif factor is rather subtle. ^^
The landing gear was taken OOB, the cockpit interior was improvised after the fuselage was more or less finished with parts from the original kit, plus an extra dashboard.
Painting and markings:
Surely this was to become an Indian Air Force aircraft, and for the paint scheme I took inspiration from the manifold IAF MiG-21s and the garish combat training markings of Indian aircraft.
The scheme is inspired by MiG-21MF "C2776" of IAF 26 Sqn "Warriors“ and “C2283” of 3 Sqn “Cobras”: a basically all-grey aircraft, with added camouflage on the upper side, plus bright fin colors.
The camouflage consists of Humbrol 127 (FS 36375) for the lower surfaces and in some areas where it would show through the added paint: a basic coat of Humbrol 108 (a murky, dark olive drab) with large mottles in a mix of Humbrol 62 and a bit of 80 (Sand and Grass Green). Rather odd, but when you look at the pics (esp. in flight) this seems to be very effective!
The fin decoration actually comes from an ESCI Harrier GR.3 (RAF 4 Sqn flash), roundels and other markings were puzzled together, among others, from the Iskra donation kit.
The cockpit interior was kept in a very dark grey while the landing gear and the air intakes are Aluminum.
A small project, literally, and a subtle one. While this aircraft looks a lot like a simple IAF Ajeet, there's actually hardly anything left from the original aircraft! And the paint scheme is spectacular - India has a lot to offer! :)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The HAL Ajeet II (Sanskrit: अजित, for Invincible or Unconquerable) was a development of the British Folland Gnat fighter that was built under license in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) operated the Folland Gnat light jet fighter from 1958, with over 200 aircraft being license built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft proved successful in combat in both the 1965 and the 1971 War with Pakistan, both in the low-level air superiority role and for short range ground attack missions, while being cheap to build and operate. It had unreliable systems, though, particularly the control system, and was difficult to maintain.
The Indian Air Force therefore issued a requirement for an improved Gnat in 1972. Although the original requirement called for an interceptor, it was later modified to include a secondary ground-attack role.
The aircraft was given the name "Ajeet" and the changes from the original Gnat were considerable.
They included:
- Improvements to the hydraulics and control systems (these had been a source of difficulties in the Gnat).
- Fitting of improved Martin-Baker GF4 ejection seats.
- Upgraded avionics.
- The addition of slab tail control surfaces.
- Improvements to the landing gear.
- Additional internal fuel capacity with "wet wings" to free the original pair of underwing pylons for weapons.
- Installation of two more underwing hardpoints.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited modified the final two Gnats on the production line as prototypes for the Ajeet, with the first one flying on 6 March 1975, with the second following on 5 November. Testing proved successful of the Ajeet, and it became the first production aircraft flew on 30 September 1976. Visually, the Ajeet appeared similar to the Gnat, with the presence of two extra hardpoints being the only obvious distinguishing features from the older aircraft.
The Ajeet entered service with the IAF in 1977, but this was not the end of the Gnat/Ajeet's development potential. A HAL project for a trainer based on the Ajeet was begun, leading to the initial flight of a prototype in 1982. Unfortunately this aircraft was lost in a crash later that year. A second prototype flew the following year, followed by a third. But a lack of government interest and the imminent phase-out of the aircraft meant no more examples were produced.
Another, more radical Gnat derivate was more successful, the supersonic Ajeet II. The development of this aircraft started in 1978, and while the Ajeet II outwardly looked very much like its 1st generation kin, it was an almost completely different aircraft.
Basic idea had been to get the Ajeet up to the performance of the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - with major focus on speed and overall better performance. It was soon clear that the original, the single HAL/Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 701-01 turbojet with 20.0 kN (4,500 lbf) of thrust would not suffice. Consequently, HAL engineers worked on the internal structure of the Gnat/Ajeet to cramp two smaller Rolls Royce Viper engines with indigenous afterburners into the fuselage.
At full power the small aircraft was now powered with almost twice as much power, but modifications were considerable, including new air intakes with shock cones and new ducts, which necessitated a lower location of the Aden cannons under the intakes instead of their flanks.
The rear fuselage had to be widened and lengthened accordingly, and the wings were also completely new, with a thinner profile, less depth and a higher sweep at quarter chord. The wing area was ~30% bigger than before and also offered an increased internal space for fuel.
The elongated forward fuselage was used for an additional fuel tank as well as more sophisticated avionics - including a RP-21 radar that was also installed in the license-built Indian MiG-21. The new systems allowed the use of R-3S 'Atoll') AAMs (of Soviet or Chinese origin) or French Matra Magic AAMs, four of which could be carried under the wings.
The development of the engines was protracted, though, especially the afterburner went through a lot of teething troubles, so that development aircraft had to get by without th extra performance punch. The first Ajeet II prototype flew in 1984 and the type was ready for service in 1986 and adopted by two fighter squadrons which started to retire the 1st generation Gnats and also some Hunters. Anyway, upon commissioning it was already clear that the Ajeet II would not have a bright future, as the classic gun fighter had become more and more obsolete.
Nevertheless, the Ajeet II was built in 36 specimen (plus two prototypes and two static airframes) and proved to be a formidable air combat opponent at low to medium altitude. It could easily outmaneuver more powerful aircraft like the MiG-21, and the afterburner improved acceleration as well as rate of climb considerably. Its guided missile armament also meant that it could engage at longer ranges and did not have to rely on its cannons alone. The Ajeet II's ground attack capabilities were improved through a higher ordnance payload (3.000 lb vs. 2.000 lb of the Ajeet I)
But the light fighter concept was soon outdated. The Ajeet I was retired in 1991 and, unlike the IAF Gnats, never saw combat. The Ajeet II was kept in service only a little longer, and its retirement started in 1994. The remaining machines were concentrated in one single squadron, but this, too, was disbanded soon and switched to the MiG-29. The last Ajeet II flew in late 1997.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 10,54 m (34 ft 6 2/3 in)
Wingspan: 8,57 m (28 ft 1 in)
Height: 2.80 m (9 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 16.4 m² (177 ft²)
Aspect ratio: 3.56
Empty weight: 3,100 kg (6,830 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,440 kg (11,990 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Viper 601-22 turbojets, rated at 3,750 lbf (16.7 kN) dry
and 4,500 lbf (20.0 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,152 km/h (622 knots, 716 mph) at sea level
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,720 m)
Wing loading: 331 kg/m² (67.8 lb/ft²)
Rate of clim: 12,150 ft/min (61.7 m/s)
Armament:
2× 30 mm ADEN cannons with 90 rounds each
Up to 3.000 lb (1.360 kg) of external stores on four underwing hardpoints
The kit and its assembly:
Well, this whiffy Gnat/Ajeet was actually born through an incomplete Matchbox kit that I bought in a lot a while ago. It lacked decals, but also the canopy... Vacu replacements are available, but I rather put the kit on the conversion list, potentially into a single seater.
Since I'd have to improvise and modify the fuselage anyway, I decided to take the idea further ans create a "supersonic Gnat". Folland actually had such designs on the drawing board, but I do not think that the company considered a twin jet layout? That idea struck me when I held a PM Model F-5A in my hands and looked at the small J85 engine nozzles. Could that...?
From there things evolved, a bit like what Fiat did with the G.91 that was turned into the G.91Y. I wanted the Gnat to become bigger, also in order to justify the two engines and the wider tail. Therefore I cut the fuselage in front of the air intakes and behind the wings and inserted plugs, each ~6mm. Not much, but it helps. I also found new wings and stabilizers in the scrap box: from a Revell Fiat G.91. More slender, more sweep, and a slightly bigger span so that the overall proportions were kept. A good addition to the sleek Gnat/Ajeet. The fin was left OOB.
Another personal addition is the radar nose - I found the Gnat trainer's nose to be rather pointed and long, and the radome (IIRC from an F-4E!) was more Ajeet-style, even though of different shape and suggesting a radar dish underneath.
The new canopy is a donation from a Mastercraft (ex KP/Kopro) LWS Iskra trainer. Even though the Ajeet II is a single seater I used the Iskra’s two-seater option in order to fill the gap above the Gnat's second seat. I just cut the Iskra canopy in two parts and used the rear half as a fuselage/spine plug – fit was pretty good.
The fuselage extension and the new tail section necessitated massive putty work, but the result is surprisingly organic and retains the Ajeet's profile - the whif factor is rather subtle. ^^
The landing gear was taken OOB, the cockpit interior was improvised after the fuselage was more or less finished with parts from the original kit, plus an extra dashboard.
Painting and markings:
Surely this was to become an Indian Air Force aircraft, and for the paint scheme I took inspiration from the manifold IAF MiG-21s and the garish combat training markings of Indian aircraft.
The scheme is inspired by MiG-21MF "C2776" of IAF 26 Sqn "Warriors“ and “C2283” of 3 Sqn “Cobras”: a basically all-grey aircraft, with added camouflage on the upper side, plus bright fin colors.
The camouflage consists of Humbrol 127 (FS 36375) for the lower surfaces and in some areas where it would show through the added paint: a basic coat of Humbrol 108 (a murky, dark olive drab) with large mottles in a mix of Humbrol 62 and a bit of 80 (Sand and Grass Green). Rather odd, but when you look at the pics (esp. in flight) this seems to be very effective!
The fin decoration actually comes from an ESCI Harrier GR.3 (RAF 4 Sqn flash), roundels and other markings were puzzled together, among others, from the Iskra donation kit.
The cockpit interior was kept in a very dark grey while the landing gear and the air intakes are Aluminum.
A small project, literally, and a subtle one. While this aircraft looks a lot like a simple IAF Ajeet, there's actually hardly anything left from the original aircraft! And the paint scheme is spectacular - India has a lot to offer! :)
The US Navy had begun planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to join the TFX program. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. It was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman had anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. Despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. The Tomcat was also fitted with the TARPS camera pod beginning in 1981, allowing the RA-5C Vigilante and RF-8G Crusader dedicated recon aircraft to be retired. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 and first saw action covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, though it was not involved in combat. The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 (fully 84 Tomcats would be lost to this problem over the course of its career) led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant during the war. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated all wartime refits and most importantly, General Electric F110 turbofans. Among the refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by Tomcats.. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the definitive F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service (including 37 new-builds), due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally used, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
In my ever-growing collection of Hasegawa Eggplanes, I had to do a F-14 egg. This one was fun to do, and rather easy, all things considered. I built it out of the box in (of course) VF-84 "Jolly Rogers" colors, one of the most recognizable F-14 schemes out there. It even comes with two stubby AIM-7 Sparrows.
The US Navy had begun planning a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II in the fleet air defense role almost as soon as the latter entered service, but found itself ordered by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to join the TFX program. The subsequent F-111B was a failure in every fashion except for its AWG-9 fire control system, paired with the AIM-54 Phoenix very-long range missile. It was subsequently cancelled and the competition reopened for a new fighter, but Grumman had anticipated the cancellation and responded with a new design.
The subsequent F-14A Tomcat, last of the famous Grumman “Cat” series of US Navy fighters, first flew in December 1970 and was placed in production. It used the same variable-sweep wing concept of the F-111B and its AWG-9 system, but the Tomcat was much sleeker and lighter. The F-14 was provided with a plethora of weapons, including the Phoenix, long-range AIM-7 Sparrow, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder, and an internal M61A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon. This was due to the Vietnam experience, in which Navy F-4s found themselves badly in need of internal armament. Despite its large size, it also proved itself an excellent dogfighter.
The only real drawback to the Tomcat proved to be its powerplant, which it also shared with the F-111B: the Pratt and Whitney TF30. The TF30 was found to be prone to compressor stalls and explosions; more F-14s would be lost to engine problems than any other cause during its career, including combat. The Tomcat was also fitted with the TARPS camera pod beginning in 1981, allowing the RA-5C Vigilante and RF-8G Crusader dedicated recon aircraft to be retired. In addition to the aircraft produced for the US Navy, 79 of an order of 100 aircraft were delivered to Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Tomcat entered service in September 1974 and first saw action covering the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, though it was not involved in combat. The Tomcat’s first combat is conjectural: it is known that Iranian F-14s saw extensive service in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and that Iranian Tomcats achieved a number of kills; the only F-14 ace was Iranian. The first American combat with the F-14 came in September 1981, when two F-14As shot down a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat would add another two kills to its record in 1987, two Libyan MiG-23s once more over the Gulf of Sidra.
The high losses due to problems with the TF30 (fully 84 Tomcats would be lost to this problem over the course of its career) led to the Navy ordering the F-14A+ variant during the war. The A+, redesignated F-14B in 1991, incorporated all wartime refits and most importantly, General Electric F110 turbofans. Among the refits was the replacement of the early A’s simple undernose IR sensor with a TISEO long-range camera system, allowing the F-14’s pilot to identify targets visually beyond the range of unaided human eyesight.
The majority of F-14As were upgraded to B standard, along with 67 new-build aircraft. A mix of F-14As and Bs would see action during the First Gulf War, though only a single kill was scored by Tomcats.. Subsequent to this conflict, the Navy ordered the F-14D variant, with completely updated avionics and electronics, a combination IRST/TISEO sensor, replacement of the AWG-9 with the APG-71 radar, and a “glass” cockpit. Though the Navy had intended to upgrade the entire fleet to D standard, less than 50 F-14Ds ever entered service (including 37 new-builds), due to the increasing age of the design.
Ironically, the US Navy’s Tomcat swan song came not as a fighter, but a bomber. To cover the retirement of the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II from the fleet, the F-14’s latent bomb capability was finally used, allowing the “Bombcat” to carry precision guided weapons, and, after 2001, the GPS-guided JDAM series. By the time of the Afghanistan and Second Gulf Wars, the F-14 was already slated for replacement by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Tomcat would be used mainly in the strike role, though TARPS reconnaissance sorties were also flown. The much-loved F-14 Tomcat was finally retired from US Navy service in September 2006, ending 36 years of operations. The aircraft remains in service with the Iranian Revolutionary Air Force.
This Tomcat, 164343, was a F-14D variant (note the "double" TISEO on the nose and different exhaust) and one of the last Tomcats produced. It entered the fleet with VF-101 ("Grim Reapers") in 1991 and finished its career with VF-31 ("Tomcatters") aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) in 2010. It was one of the last F-14s in US Navy service, and participated in combat as a "Bombcat" during the Second Gulf War over Iraq. It was retired to the Evergreen Aviation Museum and sits in superb condition outside the museum's front entrance. As standard for current Navy aircraft, it is painted in overall light gray with subdued markings. The nose marking (which reads "Tomcats and Targets") is unofficial and was applied to the aircraft on retirement. Also unofficial is the drop tank marking, which shows VF-31's Felix the Cat mascot laughing at a silhouette of a F/A-18 Hornet--showing Tomcat crews' opinion of the squadron converting to Super Hornets.
The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk") was a Canadian jet interceptor/fighter serving during the Cold War both in NATO bases in Europe and as part of NORAD. The CF-100 was the only Canadian-designed fighter to enter mass production, serving primarily with the RCAF/CAF and in small numbers in Belgium. For its day, the CF-100 featured a short takeoff run and high climb rate, making it well suited to its role as an interceptor.
Design and development:
In the early 1950s, Canada needed an all-weather interceptor (fighter) able to patrol the vast areas of Canada's north and operate in all weather conditions. The two-seat fighter crewed by a pilot and navigator was designed with two powerful engines and an advanced radar and fire control system housed in its nose that enabled it to fly in all-weather or night conditions.
Design of the XC-100 to meet a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) specification for an all-weather fighter was initiated at Avro Canada in October 1946. Chief Engineer Edgar Atkin's work on the CF-100 was subsequently passed to John Frost (formerly of de Havilland) who, along with Avro's Chief Aerodynamacist Jim Chamberlin, reworked the original fuselage design. The CF-100 Mark 1 prototype, "18101," emerged from the factory, painted gloss black overall with white lightning bolts running down the fuselage and engines. The CF-100 prototype flew its maiden flight on 19 January 1950 with Gloster Aircraft Company Chief Test Pilot Squadron Leader Bill Waterton (on loan from Gloster, then also part of the Hawker Siddeley group) at the controls. The Mark 1 was powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon RA 3 turbojets with 28.9 kN (2,950 kgp / 6,500 lbf) thrust each.
The second prototype, serial number 18102, was also powered by Rolls-Royce Avons, although subsequent pre-production and production series aircraft used the Avro Orenda turbojet. Five pre-production Mk 2 test aircraft (serial numbers 18103-18107) were produced, all fitted with Orenda 2 engines; one was fitted with dual controls and designated a Mk 2T trainer. The first production version, designated Mk 3, incorporated the APG-33 radar and was armed with eight .50 in (13 mm) Browning M3 machine guns. The Mk 3CT and Mk 3DT were again dual control versions supplied to operational training units.
A CF-100 arrived at Eglin AFB, Florida, in mid-January 1955 for cold-weather tests in the climatic hangar. A seven-man RCAF team, headed by Flight Lieutenant B. D. Darling, which had previously conducted tests at Namao Air Base, Alberta, were part of the climatic detachment of Central Experimental and Proving Establishment. Tests were to begin in February.
In March 1956, four CF-100 Canucks were sent to Eglin AFB for comparative armament trials, and flown by USAF crews. The operational suitability tests, dubbed Project Banana Belt, were carried out by the 3241st Test Group (Interceptor) of the APGC's Air Force Operational Test Center, in conjunction with a project team from the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Production:
In September 1950, the RCAF ordered 124 Mk 3s, the first entering service in 1953. These were armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns. The definitive rocket-armed Mk 4A was based on the prototype Mk 4 (a modified Mk 3), which first flew on 11 October 1952. The nose housed the much larger APG-40 radar with wingtip pods, each containing up to 29 Mk 4/Mk 40 "Mighty Mouse" Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket in addition to the guns. As the last 54 of an order for the Mk 3 were changed into the Mk 4 in 1954, total orders for the Mk.4 rose to 510. The Mk 4B version had more powerful Orenda 11s.
Five versions, or marks, were produced, ending, from 1955 onwards, with the high-altitude Mk 5 that featured a 1.06 m (3 ft 6 in)-longer wingtip and enlarged tailplane, along with removal of the machine guns. The proposed Mk 6 was to have mounted Sparrow II missiles and been powered by afterburning Orenda 11IR engines in an effort to provide an "interim" fighter prior to the introduction of the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow. A projected transonic swept-wing CF-103 was built in mock-up form in 1951, but was considered obsolescent even before the CF-100's demonstrated ability to exceed the speed of sound in a dive. On 18 December 1952, Squadron Leader Janusz Żurakowski, the Avro company chief development test pilot, took the CF-100 Mk 4 prototype to Mach 1.0 in a dive from 30,000 ft (9,100 m), the first straight-winged jet aircraft to achieve controlled supersonic flight.
Operational history:
The Canuck was affectionately known in the RCAF as the "Clunk" because of the noise the front landing gear made as it retracted into its well after takeoff. Its less-attractive nickname was the "Lead Sled", a reference to its heavy controls and general lack of maneuverability, a nickname it shared with a number of other 1950s aircraft. Others included CF-Zero, the Zilch, the Beast, all references to an aircraft many pilots considered less glamourous than RCAF day fighters like the Canadair Sabre.
The aircraft operated under the US/Canadian North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) to protect North American airspace from Soviet intruders such as nuclear-armed bombers. Additionally, as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), four Canuck squadrons were based in Europe with 1 Air Division from 1956–1962, and were for some time the only NATO fighters capable of operating in zero visibility and poor weather conditions.
When the Korean War started, the USAF was in urgent need of a jet-propelled, all-weather, interdiction/surveillance aircraft. The urgency was so great that the USAF was willing to consider two foreign designs: the CF-100 and the English Electric Canberra. The CF-100 was rejected because of insufficient range and payload. The English Electric design was selected and developed into the Martin B-57 Canberra.
The CF-100 served with nine RCAF squadrons at its peak in the mid-1950s. Four of these squadrons were deployed to Europe from late 1956–1962 under the NIMBLE BAT ferry program, replacing some NATO RCAF squadrons equipped with Canadair Sabre day fighters to provide all-weather defense against Soviet intruders. Canucks flying at home retained natural metal finish, but those flying overseas were given a British-style disruptive camouflage scheme: dark sea gray and green on top, light sea gray on the bottom.
During his Avro Canada years, the Chief Development Pilot, S/L Żurakowski, continued to fly as an aerobatic display pilot, with spectacular results, especially at the 1955 Farnborough Airshow where he displayed the CF-100 in a "falling-leaf." He was acclaimed again as the "Great Żura" by many aviation and industry observers who could not believe a large, all-weather fighter could be put through its paces so spectacularly. His performance led to Belgium purchasing the CF-100.
In its lifetime, 692 CF-100s of different variants were produced, including 53 aircraft delivered to the Belgian Air Force. Although originally designed for only 2,000 hours, it was found that the Canuck's airframe could serve for over 20,000 hours before retirement. Consequently, though it was replaced in its front line role by the CF-101 Voodoo, the Canuck served with 414 Squadron of the Canadian Forces at CFB North Bay, Ontario, until 1981, in reconnaissance, training and electronic warfare roles. After the CF-100 was retired, a number of aircraft still remain across Canada (and elsewhere) as static displays.
Its planned successor, the CF-105 Arrow along with the sophisticated Orenda Iroquois engine, both Canadian-designed, were cancelled in 1959 in a controversial decision by the Canadian government. (wiki)
L'Aérospatiale AS 350 Écureuil (scoiattolo), poi Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil e ora Airbus Helicopters H125 è un elicottero leggero utility monomotore, progettato dalla società francese Aérospatiale divenuta parte del gruppo Eurocopter dal gennaio 1992. Ne esiste una versione per il mercato USA, motorizzata con una turbina Lycoming e commercializzata con il nome AStar. È stata anche sviluppata una versione bi-turbina rinominata AS355 Ecureuil 2 (Twin Squirrel nel Regno Unito, Twin Star negli USA) e una militare che prende il nome di Fennec. Dall'AS 350 è stata sviluppata una versione dotata di rotore di coda di tipo fenestron denominata Eurocopter EC 130.Le versioni mono e bi-turbina dell'Écureuil sono state anche costruite su licenza in Brasile dalla Helibras con il nome Helibras HB.350 Esquilo e hanno fornito il modello al Changhe Z-11 cinese.Lo sviluppo dell'Écureuil iniziò nei primi anni settanta con lo scopo di rimpiazzare l'Alouette II. Il sostituto dell'Alouette sul mercato militare fu l'Aérospatiale SA 341 Gazelle, ma gli uffici tecnici pensarono ad un successore diverso per il mercato civile, ponendo l'accento su tre punti: diminuzione del costo di esercizio, rumore e vibrazioni. In base a questi concetti, il nuovo elicottero fu progettato per affrontare la concorrenza rappresentata dal Bell 206. Il risultato fu un prodotto molto semplice, ma molto affidabile, realizzato con largo uso di materiali compositi come per la testa del rotore in Starflex, il rotore di coda in fibra di vetro ed elementi della fusoliera e della trave di coda.Considerato come appartenente alla quarta generazione di elicotteri costruiti in Francia, dopo l'Alouette II, l'SA 330 Puma e l'SA 365 Dauphin, la produzione fa ricorso a tecniche di produzione di grande serie derivate da quelle dell'industria automobilistica.L'architettura è di tipo classico, con cabina di pilotaggio dimensionata per ospitare due piloti su seggiolini individuali e 3 o 4 passeggeri su di un sedile posteriore, sebbene sono possibili numerosi diversi altri allestimenti.Il primo volo ebbe luogo il 27 giugno 1974 con il prototipo AS.350-001 [F-WVKH] con ai comandi i collaudatori Daniel Bauchart e Bernard Certain. Il prototipo era equipaggiato con una turbina Avco-Lycoming LTS 101 da 592 shp ed utilizzava per la prima volta il rotore di nuova progettazione Starflex. Seguì il 14 febbraio 1975 il volo dell' AS.350-002 [F-WVKI] con motore Turboméca Arriel 1B da 641 shp, sviluppato appositamente per gli elicotteri leggeri. La versione con l'Arriel fu certificata il 27 ottobre 1977.Il 28 novembre 2005, la Eurocopter ha consegnato alla polizia sudafricana il 3000° Écureuil monomotore costruito, un AS.350B3. Nell'occasione l'azienda ha annunciato di aver venduto 3 719 Écureuil tra le varie versioni, che hanno totalizzato 15 milioni di ore di volo venendo utilizzati da 1531 operatori in 91 paesi. Il progetto si è ulteriormente evoluto in una nuova versione dal nome Eurocopter EC130, ma malgrado l'introduzione del nuovo modello, viene ancora prodotta in gran numero la versione Eurocopter AS350. Il modello realizzato completamente a mano in Italia dalla ditta Piazzai Models di Arona, Novara, è in plastica con pattini di atterraggio in ottone e in scala 1:32
The Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (Squirrel) is a single-engine light helicopter originally designed and manufactured in France by Aérospatiale then Airbus Helicopters and now Airbus Helicopters H125. In North America, the AS350 is marketed as the AStar. The AS355 Ecureuil 2 is a twin-engine variant, marketed in North America as the TwinStar. The Eurocopter EC130 is a derivative of the AS350 airframe and is considered by the manufacturer to be part of the Écureuil single-engine family. In the early 1970s, Aérospatiale decided to initiate a new development program to produce a suitable replacement for the aging Aérospatiale Alouette II. While the Aérospatiale Gazelle, which had been developed in the 1960s and 1970s, had been met with numerous orders by military customers, commercial sales of the type had been less than anticipated, thus the need for a new civil-orientated development was identified.The development of the new rotorcraft, which was headed by Chief Engineer René Mouille, was focused on the production of an economic and cost-effective aerial vehicle, thus both Aérospatiale's Production and Procurement departments were heavily involved in the design process. One such measure was the use of a rolled sheet structure, a manufacturing technique adapted from the automotive industry; another innovation was the newly developed Starflex main rotor. It was also decided that both civil and military variants of the emergent helicopter would be developed to conform with established military requirements. On 27 June 1974, the first prototype, an AS350 C powered by a Lycoming LTS101 turboshaft engine, conducted its maiden flight at Marignane, France; the second prototype, powered by a Turbomeca Arriel 1A, following on 14 February 1975. The Arriel-powered version, the AS350B, intended for sale throughout the world except for North America, was certified in France on 27 October 1977, while the Lycoming powered AS350C (or AStar) was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration on 21 December 1977. In March 1978, deliveries to customers began for the AS350B, deliveries of the AS350C began in April 1978. Over time, the AS350 Écureuil/AStar has received further development; while the aircraft's design remains broadly similar, various aspects and systems such as the rotor system, powerplants, and avionics have been progressively improved. On 6 February 1987, a prototype AS350 B2 flew with a fenestron tail-rotor in the place of its normal conventional counterpart. On 1 March 1997, the first AS350 B3, equipped with an Arriel 2B engine, performed its first flight.[3] Various conversion programs and addons for AS350s have been produced and are offered by multiple third-party 'aftermarket' aerospace firms in addition to those available directly from the type's prime manufacturer. New variants of the Arriel-powered AS350B, the AS350 B1, AS350 B2, and AS350 B3, were progressively introduced; the later B3 differing from preceding models by the increasing use of digital systems, such as the Garmin-built G500H avionics suite and FADEC engine control system. Prior to 2013, the type had been manufactured principally at Eurocopter's Marignane facility, near Marseille, France; Eurocopter opted to, as part of a move to disperse its helicopter production activities, begin AS350 production and final assembly activities at its factory in Columbus, Mississippi for deliveries to U.S. commercial helicopter market. The Astar has been Eurocopter's biggest-selling product in the US commercial market, at one point selling roughly one AS350 every business day. In March 2015, the first Columbus-assembled AS350 B3e received its FAA certification. In December 2015, Airbus Helicopters reported their intention to double the rate of AS350 production at Columbus in 2016 over the previous year, and that the facility is capable of producing up to 65 AS350s per year. The AS350 is a single engine helicopter, powered either by a Lycoming LTS101 or Turbomeca Arriel powerplant (for twin-engined variants, see Eurocopter AS355), that drives a three-blade main rotor, which is furnished with a Starflex rotor head. The type is well known for its high-altitude performance and has seen frequent use by operators in such environments. Both the main and tail rotors make use of composite material and are deliberately designed to minimize corrosion and maintenance requirements. The AS350 was also developed to comply with the stringent noise requirements in place in locations such as national parks; the in-cabin noise levels are such that passengers may also readily converse during flight. The aircraft can also be quickly started up and shut down, which is often useful during emergency medical services roles. It is equipped with hydraulically-assisted flight controls; these controls remain operational, albeit operated with greater physical difficulty, in the event of a hydraulic failure. Much of the AS350's avionics are provided by Garmin, such as the GI 106A course-deviation indicator, GNS 430 VHF/VOR/localizer/glideslope indicator/Global Positioning System receiver, GTX 327 Mode A and C transponder, and GMA 340H intercom. The Vehicle and Engine Multifunction Display (VEMD) and the First Limit Indicator (FLI) both serve to increase the aircraft's safety during flight, reducing the number of gauges that need to be monitored by the pilot and thereby reducing their workload. For increased smoothness in flight, which positively affects passenger comfort as well as safety, stability augmentation systems can be installed. Later-production aircraft feature new avionics and systems such as the integration of an Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) and autopilot, a glass cockpit featuring three liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) and digital avionics, such as the synthetic-vision terrain mapping system and Airbus's Multibloc center console upon which various radios may be mounted.
The AS350 has proven popular in a wide range of roles; as such, multiple cabin configurations can be used, between four and six passengers in a typical seating configuration, and large sliding doors can be fitted to either side of the cabin. In some operators' fleets, the furnishings of the cabin has been designed to enable the internal space and/or equipment fit-out to be rapidly reconfigured to enable aircraft to be switched between diverse operational roles. Public service operators, such as those in law enforcement, often have forward looking infrared (FLIR) cameras and other mission systems installed on their aircraft. Other optional equipment on offer to operates had included real-time data links, rescue hoists, underslung cargo hooks, electrical external mirrors, search lights, tactical consoles, night vision goggle-compatibility, moving-map system, internal cabin tie-downs, second battery kit, sand filters, wire strike protection system, 4-channel radio, tail rotor arch, cabin floor windows, and removable seats. The model made entirely by hand in Italy by the company Piazzai Models of Arona, Novara, is made of plastic with landing skids of brass and 1:32 scale
S66-22686 (March 1966) --- Mock-up of the adapter equipment section to be used on the Gemini-9 spaceflight. This section provides volume and attach points for several system modules, including Orbit Attitude Maneuver System, Environmental Control System primary oxygen supply, batteries, coolant, and electrical and electric components. This section will also hold the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU) backpack (center). Photo credit: NASA
A look at the forward section of Space Shuttle Discovery. Missing is the forward reaction control system (FRCS) which was being decommissioned at the time, it has since been re-installed.
A five man version of Hallvard Industries Longhouse Bunker.
This version is equipped with an LRM 5 Turret with Artemis IV Fire Control System
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (Oct. 17, 2022) - A NATO E3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) assigned to NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany, lands after training during RED FLAG-Alaska 23-1 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Oct. 17, 2022. RF-A 23-1 provides tactical training for the full spectrum of conflict, emphasizing air superiority, precision engagement, close air support, command and control, intelligence coordination, and personnel recovery. (U.S. Air Force photo by Maria Galvez) 221017-F-OE152-1008
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