Military Aircraft Pictures & Stories

[FL420]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

This picture is for the non-zoomies here.

A very welcome sight for any zoomies who found themselves "runnin' through the jungle" unexpectedly. I don't think a Jolly Green Giant crew had to ever buy themselves a drink in Vietnam.
Any CCR fans here?

[Jubilee 45]

It was nice to see a couple of rotary wing pics. Aside from 130’s and 141’s, most of my time was in huey’s and ch46’s. Not flying, jumping. Thanks for the thread. Lot’s to remember.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Jubilee 45

It was nice to see a couple of rotary wing pics. Aside from 130’s and 141’s, most of my time was in huey’s and ch46’s. Not flying, jumping. Thanks for the thread. Lot’s to remember.

I was never inclined to jump, just Air Assault. You guys are special, it takes something I don't have to jump.

[EJW]

When I was a student pilot in Schenectady, NY (KSCH) in 2001, I got involved in a group that restored and maintained a C-123. Wow, it was a lot of fun. Flew it to some airshows. MA was the furthest.

A ret. Army Lt. Col. good friend of mine (a dad to me) flew in them in Cambodia and Vietnam while in the 82nd and 101st. His stories really made it come alive.

Here's a young version of me (2002) and it taxing. The NE on the rudder was for Northeast Aviation group. They flew it from Arizona to NY. Guess it's now in NC where the owner (John Curran) lives. Not sure much about it these days.

Those radial engines were loud!

So very honored to be a part of it.

And even got a little yoke time. Sure wasn't like the 152.

[F4Gary]

Originally Posted by FL420

I was hoping you had your "ears on" Gary.
Was your AOA probe the tapered one with 2 rows of parallel slots on the port side (sorry, left side[emoji16]) of the aircraft and did it provide the input for simultaneous extension of the slats on both wings?
Also, no full flaps? How about BLC?

Dang, now you are testing my memory.
I think it was the tapered kind and the slats all came out together.
No full flaps and no BLC ().
There may have been AOA probes on both sides but I don't remember, but the slats all came out together.
We could turn with a T-38 , much to the chagrin of the Aggressor Sqdrn.
*edit...So playing around on Airfighter.com, it looks like we only had the probe on the right side of the nose.

[Jubilee 45]

EJW, thanks for the pic. My first jump was from a 123 over Georgia. I was never more motivated to get out of that rattle trap.

[LandKO]

Lots of Fighter photos, but only one Bomber so far. Here are a couple more.
I wasn't a pilot, but I worked on these from 1966 to 1970

B-52D

And a KC-135 refueling a B-58

Can't believe 50 years have passed since those days.

[FastEagle]

In 1979 & 1980 I was a Carrier Air Wing 8 flight deck maintenance chief. So I worked the Iran helicopter fiasco on the flight deck and hangar decks of the USS Nimitz.

The H-53s were air lifted to Diego Garcia - a tiny little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean - in C-5 aircraft.

The USS Nimitz left its station in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman to get close enough to Diego Garcia for the H-53s to make a night flight out where they could come aboard the Nimitz where we could hide them in the ships hangar bays.

[Jubilee 45]

From the inside...

[FL420]

Originally Posted by FastEagle

In 1979 & 1980 I was a Carrier Air Wing 8 flight deck maintenance chief. So I worked the Iran helicopter fiasco on the flight deck and hangar decks of the USS Nimitz.

The H-53s were air lifted to Diego Garcia - a tiny little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean - in C-5 aircraft.

The USS Nimitz left its station in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman to get close enough to Diego Garcia for the H-53s to make a night flight out where they could come aboard the Nimitz where we could hide them in the ships hangar bays.

Attachment 294199 Attachment 294200

Thanks for the insight into the Navy part of that operation, FastEagle.[emoji106]
[emoji40]

[FL420]

Originally Posted by F4Gary

Dang, now you are testing my memory.

That's what happens when your brain gets full. When I was in my fifties my brain filled up and every new thing I had to learn I had to work hard to push some old info out of my brain to make room. That's my theory anyway.[emoji2962]
After coming from steam gauges and 8 years off from flying I had a helluva time learning the Airbus A320 systems. "Law school" on the fly-by-wire flight control systems was a real bear.[emoji3064]
Thanks for the info, Gary. I'm interested in the many differences among the different models of the F-4. I used to know just about everything a pilot might need to know about the F-4B/J because I taught it for several years. The old saying that you never really know a subject until you teach it is true. I also served as the NATOPS Model Manager for all USN/USMC F-4Bs and F-4Js for awhile. I was basically responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information in the pilots' NATOPS Flight Manuals. I thought I knew the information in the manual pretty well until I became responsible and accountable for the information in both manuals. Turned out I was wrong. Oh, 1500+ hours in both aircraft helped a lot also. Many of those flights were only 0.9 hours long doing ACM training.
Now those were the days.[emoji847]
[emoji40]

[F4Gary]

Yea, we used to say the 757/767 program was like memorizing the NYC phone book.

[JohnRR]

Thank you all for the great pictures and stories.

[FL420]

Originally Posted by LandKO

Lots of Fighter photos, but only one Bomber so far. Here are a couple more.
I wasn't a pilot, but I worked on these from 1966 to 1970

B-52D
Attachment 294196
And a KC-135 refueling a B-58
Attachment 294197
Can't believe 50 years have passed since those days.

That B-58 "Hustler" was quite a machine. I remember as a kid in Oklahoma being fascinated by four aircraft I occasionally saw flying overhead. One was the B-58:
https://www.airspacemag.com/history-...reak-11315229/
Another was the B-36 Peacekeeper:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-36_Peacemaker
The rarest was the Northrop XB/YB -35 piston-powered flying wing bomber:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-35
https://images.app.goo.gl/8E8zKho9od6bVA5v7
The last was the Northrop YB -49 jet-powered flying wing bomber:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49
https://images.app.goo.gl/iG6A4AaXibFyj3fs8