#fwaas15

[sentinelchicken]

Although the MiG-17 was long out of frontline service with the Soviet Union by the time of the Vietnam War, the agile little fighter proved to be a fearsome adversary to American pilots in the skies over Vietnam. With quick acceleration, a tight turning radius and a hard-hitting set of guns (two 23mm cannon and a 37mm cannon), many American fighter pilots who flew much more advanced jets thought the MiG-17 was a more fearsome opponent in a dogfight than the more capable and supersonic MiG-21. In fact, this obsolete fighter spurred on the development post-Vietnam of two American fighters of unparalleled dogfighting ability in their day- the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. In fact, one of the design criteria for the F-16 was the ability to match or exceed the agility of the MiG-17 in a dogfight. At slow to moderate speeds (300-350 knots), the MiG-17 was a ferocious adversary that could easily pull a 7G turn on a dime to get its 37mm and twin 23mm cannons pointed at you. But as speeds increased, the increased airflow over the elevators increased control loads to the point that over 450 knots, it was impossible to overcome the control loads and the agile MiG became a missile bait lead sled. Hydraulically boosted controls would have solved this issue but the MiG-17 lacked them. The control stick was taller than most aircraft and this was to give the MiG driver more leverage at higher speeds. In the secret US flight tests of the MiG-17, pilots dogfighting the 17 were told to keep the speed up over 400 knots because if you slow down below 350 knots, the 17 *will* kill you. Flight trials showed it was possible for the old MiG-17 to prevail against the F-16 in a low speed dogfight. @kjdphoto1971’s May Aviation Photo Challenge | #0516planes | Day 25 | Top Side Pass | #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Mikoyan #MiG17 #Fresco #RandyBall (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[carriecap76]

Blue Angels #usnavy #fortworthcamera2900 #goprotexas #fwaas15 #blueangels #caposellophotography #canon7dmarkii #canon #texas #instagood #instatexas #lonestarstate #aviation #jets #respect #america #allianceairshow2015

[sentinelchicken]

The original USAF plans were for a force of 750 F-22 Raptors, but even before the first production F-22A made its first flight in  September 1997, force reductions were already cutting deep into the Raptor program. The first of many restructurings came in January 1993 that resulted in the reduction of flight test aircraft from 11 to 9. Three years later in 1996, the two-seat F-22B variant was cut from the program and another 4 aircraft were cut from the flight test program. I had read somewhere that the loss of the F-22B variant wasn’t too much of an issue as the sim phase of the Raptor training course is so extensive and realistic, but the time a new Raptor pilot steps into the cockpit for their first flight, they have “virtually” flown the F-22 many times. However, in some circles, a two seat F-22B variant would open the door for more specialized versions of the F-22 like electronic warfare (similar to the Navy’s EA-18G Growler) or strike (a stealthy replacement for the F-15E Strike Eagle). @kjdphoto1971’s May Aviation Photo Challenge | #0516planes | Day 4 | My Country’s Air Force | #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Lockheed #F22 #Raptor #USAF #mil_aviation_originals (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

A derivative of the Grumman S-2 Tracker (S2F prior to 1962), the C-1 Trader COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) took the Tracker’s empennage, wings and cockpit and mated it to a deeper fuselage to provide more space under the wing spar for up to 3500 lbs of cargo or nine passengers. Prior to the 1962 tri-service rationalization of aircraft designations, the C-1 Trader was designated TF-1. The more spacious fuselage of the Trader formed the bases for the E-1 Tracer AEW aircraft. In service the C-1 proved to be very reliable and robust. In fact, the C-1 Trader was finally retired from fleet service in 1988, well after its successor, the C-2 Greyhound, had been in service. It was the last piston radial aircraft to be operated not just by the US Navy but by any operational US military unit. Interestingly this isn’t the end of the Trader story. In 2010, the Brazilian Navy laid out plans to purchase eight C-1s from storage at Davis-Monthan AFB to be modernized by Marsh Aviation with turboprop engines and air refueling packages for the Skyhawk squadron embarked on their aircraft carrier São Paulo, whose catapults and arresting gear aren't strong enough to handle the C-2 Greyhound. The program got delayed when Marsh Aviation got into some legal troubles for violating the Arms Export Control Act when it violated the Venezuelan arms embargo to supply engines for the FAV’s OV-10 Broncos. Now that Marsh has made amends and cleared things up, the KC-2 Turbo Trader program restarted in 2014 with the first conversion slated to fly next year. @kjdphoto1971’s February Aviation Photo Challenge | #0216planes | Day 1 | 1 for C-1 Trader | #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Grumman #C1 #Trader #COD (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

The Blue Angels solos in the opposing pass. This is always one of the more challenging photos for me to try to get at air shows where there’s an opposing pass. The winds that day were quite calm, so the smoke from the previous maneuver didn’t quite clear out so when the solos made their opposing pass, their shadow was visible through the lingering smoke, making for a cool effect I didn’t notice until I was going through my photos later on! #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #McDonnellDouglas #FA18 #Hornet #BlueAngels (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

The Raptor opens up its weapons bays on an air show pass- the two center bays can accommodate either six AIM-120C AMRAAMs (staged in three in each center bay), two AIM-120Cs and two 1000 lb GBU-31 JDAM GPS-guided munitions (one JDAM and one AMRAAM in each center bay) or two AIM-120Cs and eight 250-lb GBU-39 SDBs (Small Diameter Bomb; four GBU-39s and one AIM-120 in each bay). The side bays each accommodate a single AIM-9M Sidewinder. The Raptor only this past May finally fired its first AIM-9X which is a damn embarrassment that our most advanced fighter is only now getting our most advanced dogfighting missile. Theoretically the side bay could carry two AIM-9Xs, but it doesn’t appear that sort of funding to modify the bays is in the books for the Raptor.  | Day 14 | @kjdphoto1971’s November challenge | Current Frontline Jet | #1115planes | #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Lockheed #F22 #Raptor (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

A member of the All-Veteran Parachute Group flies the “22 A Day” flag at the opening of the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show back in September. The “22 A Day” subject is an uncomfortable subject on this Veterans’ Day, but it reflects that 22 American veterans a day commit suicide. The psychological burden of combat cannot be underestimated, and as a physician and someone who has a veteran family member who is grappling with PTSD, this is a subject that hits close to home for me both on a professional level and a personal level. And it goes beyond the 22 suicides a day here in the United States. The transition back to live at is often difficult and it can come with significant disruption of the veteran’s life and that of his/her family. About 12% of the homeless in American are combat veterans. 1.4 million American veterans are at high risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support, and poor housing. Each night, there are over 50,000 veterans homeless on the streets of America. 1 in 6 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan alone have post-traumatic stress disorder which I can assure you as a physician is one of the greatest mental and emotional burdens any human being can shoulder. Our veterans require a comprehensive, well-funded set of social programs that have bipartisan political commitment. It’s not just improving the VA system, they need aid and assistance if we’re going make any headway on improving any of those statistics. We thank our veterans not with ribbons and ceremonies. That’s window dressing. We thank them with an unflinching social, economic and political commitment. And sadly, in my career thus far, I have not seen that to be the case, even with my own patients who are veterans. #Avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15  #instagramaviation #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge | Day 11 | @kjdphoto1971’s November challenge | Lest We Forget | #1115planes | (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

While the best kill ratio in the Second World War amongst American aircraft belongs to the Grumman F6F Hellcat at 19:1, second place belongs to a tie between the North American P-51 Mustang and the Vought F4U Corsair at 11:1. The Corsair, however, was in production longer than either the Hellcat or Mustang with examples still rolling off the product line to support the war effort in Korea. The last Corsairs to be produced were in 1952 and were the F4U-7 variant for the French Aeronavale. Many smaller nations still used the Corsair well into the 1960s (like El Salvador and Honduras, for example), making the Corsair the longest-serving propeller-driven fighter built in the United States as well as the longest-produced American prop fighter. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Vought #F4U #Corsair (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

Only 12 days had elapsed from the attack on Pearl Harbor when the 1st American Volunteer Group “Flying Tigers” went into action over China against Japan. While 1941 was a dark year for the Allies especially in the Pacific, the exploits of the Flying Tigers against a numerically superior Japanese force boosted American morale. The leader of the 1st AVG, General Claire Chennault, rigorously trained his men to capitalize on the strengths of the P-40 Warhawk against the more maneuverable Japanese fighters. The Flying Tigers avoided a turning fight and used the Warhawk’s speed and sturdiness in slashing attacks at high speed. Flown in the right way, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk could effectively battle the vaunted Mitsubishi A6M Zero. The Flying Tigers in China astutely realized the P-40 had a climb and speed advantage and used their P-40s in slashing attacks, avoiding the turning fight with the more nimble Zero. Later in the Pacific campaign, USAAF pilots would use a low yo-yo, trading altitude for an increased rate of turn which dropped the nose into a turn and done right, the P-40 could cut inside a Zero’s turn. The bigger ailerons of the Zero that gave it outstanding roll maneuverability were also a liability as Warhawk pilots would keep their speed up during dogfights- the higher speeds put higher dynamic loads on the Zero’s ailerons, making the aircraft sluggish and less maneuverable. Similar tactics were used in Vietnam against the nimble MiGs- lacking boosted controls, at the higher speeds the MiG-17 lost its maneuverability advantage and American pilots used the speed advantage of their bigger jets against the MiGs. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Curtiss #P40 #Warhawk (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

Jacques Bothelin, the Breitling Jet Team leader in Breitling 1, leads the team out for their aerial performance. At 61 years of age, Bothelin first started flying aerobatics in a two-ship team in 1980 called the Apache Team (named for his dog at the time, Apache) with Mudry CAP aircraft. Now with over 12,000 flight hours, Bothelin was approached by Breitling in 2003 about forming a four-ship jet demonstration team that over time has grown to its current seven jets. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #Aero #L39 #Albatros #BreitlingJetTeam #Breitling (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

David Martin takes his CAP 232 mount over the top in a loop. Based out at Possum Kingdom Lake west of Fort Worth, David Martin comes from a Texas aviation family and few F-4s and F-16s of the Texas Air National Guard. He has competed in aerobatic competitions both at the national and world level. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #DavidMartin #Mudry #CAP232 #Breitling #avgeekschoolofknowledge (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

The cockpit canopy of the F-22 Raptor is the largest single piece of polycarbonate ever serially produced. Made of a special polycarbonate called Sierracine, it combines stealthy features in its manufacture combined with remarkable optical quality throughout and not just straight ahead through the HUD. Compared with most combat aircraft canopies that are made of laminate sheets (this gives them better bird strike protection at the cost of optical quality and weight), the Raptor’s 3/4-inch thick canopy starts out as 2 3/8-inch polycarbonate sheets that are melded together through heating and fusion bonding to create a single piece that’s essentially like a giant eyeglass lens. To minimize the chance of the pilot colliding the canopy in an ejection, the canopy frame is weighted on one side so that when it’s blown off, it immediately rolls off to the right to clear the ejection seat trajectory. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Lockheed #F22 #Raptor #USAF (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

As Sean D. Tucker nears to top of his corkscrew loop, an outbound American MD-80 passes high overhead….. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #SeanDTucker #OracleChallenger #American #McDonnellDouglas #MD80 (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

Corsair photo pass! Note the 20mm cannons in the wings instead of the usual six 50-caliber machine guns. There were only 200 cannon-armed Corsairs built during the Second World War as the F4U-1C variant which was optimized for ground attack. The machine guns were replaced with four M2 cannons which were license built versions of the British Hispano Suiza Mk.II cannon. Each gun had 261 rounds. The Navy had wanted to go to all-cannon armament through the war, but the M2 and other cannon types proved unreliable. For most of the Pacific War, the much more reliable six 50-caliber machine guns were more than enough against the lightly armored Japanese fighters. But on the Corsair in the ground attack role, they were hard hitting and the F4U-1C made its combat debut during Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa in April 1945. The cannon-armed Corsairs were nicknamed the “Sweethearts of Okinawa” by the ground troops appreciative of their heavy hitting guns. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Vought #F4U #Corsair (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

While the P-51 was the first aircraft to be designed with a laminar flow wing, in reality the wing never demonstrated laminar flow despite what’s often said in aviation literature. Yes, laboratory and wind tunnel studies did demonstrate laminar flow- but small manufacturing imperfections, camouflage paint, dirt, and dings from operational use pretty much prevented laminar flow from taking place. But a laminar flow airfoil has other benefits and this is where the Mustang got its advantage. Because the thickest part of the airfoil is further back from the leading edge, compressibility and shockwave formation is delayed- this feature is beneficial even at lower speeds as it reduces drag and while laminar flow would have been great, the drag reduction in practice was still significant enough to give the Mustang outstanding performance. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #NorthAmerican #P51 #Mustang (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)

[sentinelchicken]

Here’s a USAF Special Operations Command (AFSOC) Bell/Boeing CV-22B Osprey at sunrise. In December 2013 on a mission in South Sudan, three CV-22Bs were raked with gunfire, injuring four Navy SEALs who were in the lead Osprey. In only 179 days, a removable protective armor kit was developed and field that consists of 66 armor plates that fit inside the cabin to protect the occupants in high risk combat environments. They can be installed/removed in only a few hours and cost the Osprey an 800 lb penalty. Called the Advanced Ballistic Stopping System, the kits cost $270,000 and right now are used exclusively by the AFSOC Ospreys though I have read the Marines have shown interest in the kits for use in their MV-22 fleet. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KAFW #AFW #FortWorth #AllianceAirShow #AllianceTurns25 #airport #Texas #FWAAS2015 #FWAAS15 #avgeekery #avgeekschoolofknowledge #Bell #Boeing #CV22 #Osprey #USAF (at Fort Worth Alliance Airport)