willedoo

I'd agree there, Spin. Always debatable, but I'd probablyy consider it as the most all round capable and successful fighter ( to use a generic term) that the US ever built. Although it's horses for courses, a bit hard to make comparisons at times, but they have made some shockers in their time. A bright future for it though with the Silent Eagle. As a side note, has anyone seen the footage of the Israeli F15 that landed with only the wing root left on one side, somewhere on youtube I think. Cheers, Willie.

yes, there seems to be a bit of interest in them, I was just wondering if there would be enough to have a sticky in maybe the history section. Cheers, Willie.

Hello all, Just thought I'd ask again if anybody would be interested in having a propliners sticky. Cheers, Willie.

Certainly does, it would have to be very vulnerable to sam's. I was wondering if it had some longer term use planned & they're prepared to risk it to have the advantage of testing it in an active combat zone. Maybe a case of do it now while there's still a war on. It's a lot of money to go up in smoke. Cheers, Willie.

Short article with some construction photos of the US M1400 surveillance airship to be deployed to Afghanistan. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/aviation_week/on_space_and_technology/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=a68cb417-3364-4fbf-a9dd-4feda680ec9c&plckPostId=Blog%3aa68cb417-3364-4fbf-a9dd-4feda680ec9cPost%3a1ee2437c-57aa-485e-91e0-2b04301745f3&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

Nice shots, there must be a few people wishing they were in his boots. I read somewhere that the blown wing was originally to facilitate lower airspeed landings on the carriers, but maybe it helped the airforce as well. Cheers, Willie.

Nice photos, a lot sharper colour than other ones of that time. Interesting engine in photo #3, I've got a theory it's a Twin Wasp Junior, R-1535 in a Douglas O-46 observation plane, but I could be wrong. It doesn't look like a Twin Wasp or Twin Cyclone. Cheers, Willie.

It's a bit of a nuisance, it caps the first letter in every word & you can't cap anything else. Hence RAF in the title displays as Raf, WW2 as Ww2 & I don't think you can edit the title after it's posted.

I think you've got to be a bit crazy to fly an An 12 at the best of times. Never get tired of watching that one, thanks Spin. It's supposed to have been filmed in Angola in 1999, I often wonder whether it's one of Viktor's crews. I'll see if I can find part 2, it shows landings on dirt strips, troops emerging from the bush, crashed Antonovs at the end of strips etc. Here's one from the Congo, I like the bent prop at 3.30: Cheers, Willie.

Try before you buy, I guess the salesman must trust him. Good underneath shot there with the air brake deployed. Certainly an interesting design, I was recently reading about the boundary layer control & blown wing & tailplane setup. I guess they'd have a fair amount of titanium around the after fuselage with those exhausts the way they are. Cheers, Willie.

That's good, Coop. I took my dad back to Cowra a couple of years ago & down to the War Memorial & glad I did, as he's not up to that sort of trip anymore. There's certainly a lot of stories stored away in the memories of our WW2 diggers. Cheers, Willie.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if he did fall over. Here's the original armchair pilot, not really flying though, more like floating about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Walters I seem to remember someone attempting it at high altitude in South America & never being seen again. Cheers, Willie.

Thanks Coop, a great post, very interesting. It would have been great for your dad to get up there, it's good to see that he can still travel. Cheers, Willie.

That was highly enjoyable, thanks, Spin. Now I think I've seen everything. Cheers, Willie.

That would have been good to see, Dazza. They say they're very maneuverable, I suppose the canards would help that wing a fair bit. Cheers, Willie.

Yes, a bit confusing with the title of this post. It's odd how the EurofighterTyphoon didn't get the name Typhoon 2 as in the usual custom with namesakes, like the Phantom 2 etc. Sometimes you see it called the Typhoon F2, but not the F2 alone, a bit confusing with the Japanese F2 Mitsubishi. Out of respect for the original British Lightning, I don't think I'll ever get used to calling the F35 a Lightning 2. Maybe once they get it working properly, it'll be worthy of the name. Cheers, Willie.

Cockpit views & pilot narrative at Waddington Airshow, 2006. Cheers, Willie.

Good find, Geoff, it solved that mystery. It sure is an odd looking one compared to all the other mini subs with a more traditional look. Cheers, Willie.

Link to a recent article on the F35 test programme. Mostly predictable, but interesting reading, covering concurrency, design problems & the usual debate about IOC. Canada has mentioned 2020 as a date. Cheers, Willie. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=dti&id=news/dti/2012/02/01/DT_02_01_2012_p41-416284.xml&headline=JSF%20Testing%20Finds%20Additional%20Problems

Thanks for that, Spin, I've never really followed the Buccaneers history apart from their original design brief as a ship killer. I suppose they used them in other roles as well. Had a quick read on them & see they had the same Spey engine as the British Phantom, different designation though, 101 & the Phantom, 202, don't know what the difference is. They certainly seemed to fit in the Buccaneer with a lot less modification than the F4, which involved a lot more of a re-design. Cheers, Willie.

Just as a sidenote, Spin, are the Buccaneers all ex SAAF or are some ex RAF. Cheers, Willie.

Yes, Spin, a truly sad story there. And the Lightning, what an aeroplane, one of the real icons, we can only hope. Cheers, Willie.

For the first time, the Russian Federal Space Agency has opened up applications for cosmonauts pubicly & only received 43 applications, some of them non genuine. Possibly something to do with the salary on offer, perhaps. http://en.rian.ru/science/20120214/171310844.html

Likewise, Geoff, thanks for the reminder & links . It's certainly an odd one. I can see your theory with the low freeboard/ torpedo scallops. There seems to be a small outside wheel & console forward of the cabin. With all that plumbing over what looks like the wheelhouse, I wonder whether it does submerge, if only just under the surface. Another thing is whether it's purpose built or a previous craft modified. It has hydroplanes just above the prop shaft, so it must dive to some extent. Looks a bit like something Z Force would use. Cheers, Willie.