Tag Archives: military

More FCLP at Coupeville

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My buddy Mark let me know that some more FCLP training was scheduled for Coupeville on a day with a good weather forecast.  Sadly, the wind suggested they would be operating in the opposite direction to that of my last visit (as discussed here and here) but there was the possibility of some morning flying which might mean the sun was on the right side for a while, even if a bit on the tail of the jets.  Unfortunately, the unit didn’t get the memo and they showed up in the middle of the day for the first round of flying so, while the conditions were okay, they were working against us.

Still, there are a lot worse things to do than watch Growlers bouncing through FCLP training.  You can move along the fence line at Coupeville to try and vary the angle, so Mark and I were zipping to and fro in order to try and find something different.  There are some bushes on the field that can be a touch inconvenient when looking to capture the moment of touchdown but a little experimentation and you could get a good result.

The jets appear to come through a tunnel in the trees as they are on final approach and the trees provide a nice backdrop for touchdown.  As they power up and away again, the light angles are most favorable so you can get a few good shots.  However, they end up pretty samey pretty quickly.

We expected a second batch of jets in the early afternoon so headed to the other side.  Here you are a lot further from the runway so the jets on the ground are rather distant and heat haze is a bit of a problem.  We got a few movements and then headed back to a nearby park where the jets tend to turn over the top of you as they enter the downwind.  The light is a bit better here but, again, the shots are pretty repetitive.  The only change is when the jet is done and it climbs straight out cleaning up as it goes.

With a decent amount of shots made, we decided it was time to try our luck elsewhere.  The Growlers would get back to Ault Field pretty quickly but we were going by car so it was a little longer for us.  However, there was much to justify the trip and that will be apparent in some upcoming posts.

One of the Early F-16s

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The early versions of jets are often repurposed throughout their life.  They serve a role for testing but they are not configured like production jets and to make them so is too expensive to be worthwhile.  Besides, they are instrumented to some extent so they can be useful for carrying out alternate tests.  As a result, they often get used for trials, research tasks or development of alternate concepts.  The early F-16s did a lot of this sort of work and ended up in some odd programs like the AFTI effort.  Sitting outside at the Frontiers of Flight museum is one of these test aircraft.  It spent its life with General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) at Fort Worth and, once it was done with, it found a new home at the museum.  Compared to the average F-16, this jet will have had a lot of interesting experiences!

Titan II Installation

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The Titan IV at Evergreen isn’t the only Titan there.  They also have a Titan II ICBM.  This is installed upright in a recreation of the launch facility that would originally have been buried deep under a remote part of the US countryside.  You can walk down and check out the control facilities (probably a touch closer to the silo than would originally have been the case) as well as get down to the base of the silo where the twin nozzles of the missile are.  Looking up at the missile from down there is quite an impressive sight.

The Titans were liquid fueled rockets.  The process of getting them ready for launch was a lot more complex than for the solid fueled rockets like the Minuteman that replaced them so they were a lot less responsive.  However, they fulfilled their role for a long time.  They also had a secondary career as manned launchers.  The Titan II was the launch vehicle for the Gemini missions so it is a lot more familiar to most people than would be the case for the average ICBM!

Flying Pancake

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A long time ago, I was part of an ISAP symposium held in Dallas.  During the field trip day, we went to a number of locations, all of which were very interesting.  One of them was the restoration facility at what was then the Vought factory, now Triumph I think.  This was run by volunteers that had retired from the plant and was working on a number of projects including painting an F4U while we were there.  Another project that was a work in progress was the Flying Pancake.  At the time is was skinless and in a rotating frame to allow everyone to work on it more conveniently.

Roll forward to now and I was at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field.  The museum is the home of the finished restoration.  The aircraft looks fantastic.  The restoration team did a great job.  To see it completed including the huge propellers is something special.  Fortunately, there is a mezzanine level above the plane so it is possible to see it from a number of angles.  Great job everyone involved.

Skyray – Or Is It?!

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The A-4 Skyhawk had a long and illustrious career in many air forces around the world.  It has a close cousin that didn’t fair so well.  The Skyray shared a few design cues with the Skyhawk but it was designed as a fighter rather than an attack aircraft (although the Skyhawk spent a lot of time as an adversary fighter over the years).  I find the Skyray a more attractive aircraft than the Skyhawk (not that I have anything against the Skyhawk) but that might be more about the rarity value.

I thought I had come across one parked in the parking lot of the Evergreen Aerospace Museum in McMinnville Oregon.  I was surprised to find it there at all and more so to see it sitting outside.  I am not sure what the future is for the jet – obviously some parts are removed for the time being – but I hope it will make it in to restoration.  It certainly is worthy of a good home.  That is even more true because it is not a Skyray.  It is actually a Skylancer.  This was a development of the Skyray that got so modified that it became a new type.  It never got to production and this example was used by NASA before retirement.  In this location, it is possible to get up on the earth bank behind it to get an angle that might be trickier if it ends up inside the museum.

Nozzle Details on Titan IV

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The missile display at Evergreen Aerospace Museum is impressive.  They have sourced a lot of different types and they have a Titan IV section lying on its side.  You can get up close to the nozzle of the rocket motor and it is a cool thing to see in detail.  Looking from a distance, they look very simple but, once you are close up, the complexity of the structure and the cooling structure to stop the plume from burning right through the nozzle are really impressive.  The shaping of the nozzle itself, in contrast, is very simple.  The expansion ratios are calculated carefully and the profile is a smooth transition to minimize the losses.  Quite the contrast.

Lyon Air Museum

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A weekend in Southern California for work was not my idea of fun but I did have a few hours free on the Sunday morning so I headed down to Santa Anna to the Lyon Air Museum.  It is located on the opposite side of John Wayne Airport from the main terminal building and is not terribly obvious unless you look hard.  Even the entrance road is a bit obscure and could be easily missed.  However, once there, it was definitely worth the time.

The museum is in a modern structure and has an impressive collection.  Supposedly the planes are all airworthy and they have some interesting ones there.  Some of the collection will get their own posts.  For now, here is an overlook of the museum and a few of the side exhibits that don’t get their own story.

Frontiers of Flight Museum

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A work trip to Dallas wrapped up a few hours prior to my flight home.  I was flying out of Love Field so figured a quick detour to the Frontiers of Flight Museum just across the field from the terminal was in order.  What I hadn’t appreciated was that tons of school parties had the same idea.  The place was heaving with kids and being kids, they were doing everything at high speed and high volume.  The inside of the 737 exhibit was not a great place to be!

Southwest has a big influence on the museum including a whole 737 and the front fuselage from another.  They don’t dominate things though and there are plenty of other airframes both inside and out.  I shall pick on a few favorites in due course but here is a sample of what was there.  It was a brief visit but a fun one.

Bounce It Down and Do It Again

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Since the Growler crews were training as if they were on the deck at sea, they don’t flare their landings at all.  They hit the runway hard and the tire smoke that results is substantial.  Normal landing procedure on a carrier is to go to full throttle as soon as they hit the deck.  There isn’t time to react if you miss the wire so hit the gas and, if the wire doesn’t stop you, you fly right off the other end of the deck and climb away.  Since there is no wire at Coupeville, that means every touchdown is followed by a rapid rotation and climb away.  The climb is pretty steep initially which keeps the speed under control until the power is backed off.

Growler Overhead

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The approach to the runway at Coupeville brings the jets right over one of the local roads.  This meant I had the opportunity to go for some head on type shots of the jets.  As they came right over the top of me, I got a nice view of the underside of the jets.  I also experienced the noise level of a Growler.  I hadn’t thought to bring hearing protection and, if I go back, which I am pretty sure I shall do at some point, I will remember to take some.  You are really quite close and the sound levels are high!