Sunday 20 October 2024

Virginia Beach Military Aviation Museum visit with Kermit Weeks - Avenger, Wildcat, PBY Catalina



A 'Kermie-Cam' tour around the MAM in Virginia Beach with facility director Keegan. A single click to view here..

" ..when you're in a hangar picking up a cool airplane, a lot of times there's some other interesting stuff in there.."







Messerschmitt 'bubble' car



TBM Avenger - "..a pussy-cat to fly but I forgot how heavy the ailerons were... [..].. what's amazing about it is how big it looks and how the small the engine is..(1600 hp)




"..this is our favorite as it was stationed here during the war..although there wasn't a town in Virginia Beach at that time.."  FM-2 Wildcat  (built by General Motors).

MAM PBY has been flying consistently for some 80 years...





Wednesday 16 October 2024

Indian Air Force MiG 25 by Swiss photographer Peter Steinemann - Part 1 " On the ground "

 


Some really fine images of IAF MiG 25s. Koku Fan and Air Forces Monthly published some of these pictures in 1991. Reproduced here with the kind permission of Swiss photographer Peter Steinemann. Here we have some of Peter's recent scans of his old slides. Having scanned a few negative strips myself (see my Luftwaffe blog) I know what a time-consuming process this can be, so thank you Peter! Peter writes;


".. The MiG-25s in Indian Air Force service were a little camera shy during their active service. Six MiG-25R reconnaissance aircraft (serial KP351 to 356) together with two MiG-25U conversion trainers (serials DS361 and 362) arrived in India in mid-1981 and formed No.102 "Trisonics" Squadron after they were re-assembled with Soviet assistance. As the Squadron name suggests, the arrival of these aircraft propelled the IAF into the trisonic era. Two additional MiG-25R arrived most likely some years later of which KP3106 was one. They were based at Air Force Station Bareilly until their retirement in May 2006, but became the A flights from No, 35 Squadron "Rapiers" in 2003. Six air frames still exist today and are on display at various locations in India, but most (if not all) are unfortunately no longer in the original paint schemes..."

Great images, beautifully shot, and such an absolutely awesome subject - the photos certainly capture the 'brutish' nature of the Foxbat. Probably my favourite Soviet Cold War jet.






Friday 13 September 2024

Lt. Cdr John Eyton-Jones Sea Vixen 'incident' on HMS Eagle, 25 Jan, 1971

 



"..A Sea Vixen that landed at Valley one day did it's best to disprove something called laminar flow was useful for flight....the right wing being opened up to give a credible impression of a sardine can.....somebody will doubtless know the full story, but apparently caused by a brief, but passionate, contact with something solid on "Eagle"...."

Posted by John Eacott on PRunE;

" ..25th January 1971, I was stealing a jolly in the left seat of the planeguard Wessex (XS888) when Vixen 123 lined up a bit too far to starboard while landing and hit 3 parked cabs on deck. Managed a bolter and was diverted to Valley. The finding was the low level sortie had allowed too much salt buildup on the pilot's windscreen affecting his visibility, compounded by the ship's heading into a setting sun (midwinter about 16:00 local)...."

Posted by QWIN on PRunE;

" E-J and I had launched off Eagle mid afternoon to do low level radar intercepts against another Sea Vixen in the Irish Sea. Because the Vixen radar could not see targets well looking down against the sea, the recognised technique was for the fighter to fly low to pick up the target. It was a fairly rough January day over the Irish Sea and during the course of the sortie we accumulated a fair amount of salt spray on the windscreen. The Sea Vixen dispersed rain from the windscreen with a hot air blowing system...no wipers, no washers. This did nothing to remove the salt layer, but that was OK E-J could see well enough to get us home to “mother” with no problem. All was well until we turned finals for the deck and came back to landing speed, this raised the nose and this combined with the fact that the ship was steaming straight into the setting sun turned the slightly opaque windscreen into a white sheet through which E-J could see absolutely nothing. He called for a voice talkdown, this was a practised procedure whereby the landing sight officer (LSO) gave instructions over the radio to allow you to land on the deck when you could not see the “landing sight”.

We missed the wires on the first 2 attempts to land and before the final approach E-J and I discussed the fact that if we missed the next time we needed to divert to RAF Valley. On the 3rd approach we were about 400 yards from the back of the deck when the LSO's radio failed....Flyco (the ultimate authority over deck operations) decided that we were too close to safely be instructed to “wave off” or go around. Instead he took over the talkdown but without the accurate references available to the LSO. The net result was that we came over the back end further right than we should have been, only about 22ft but it shows the accuracy required. I was aware that we were further right than I had ever seen before through my back seater's small window by my right knee. We both felt a thump but the aircraft was still moving at 130 knots or so, everyone had stopped talking on the radio, I started to eject but then thought better of it as I managed to see aspects of the deck which were familiar. I called our speed and a heading to RAF Valley as we left the front of the carrier. We had concluded that we were flying and E-J was in control of the aircraft, having shared a few expletives and the fact that we had both nearly ejected. About now Flyco called “Don't eject, don't eject...check your hydraulics you have lost half your starboard wing.”

" We set off for Valley and decided we didn't have enough fuel to get there unless we raised the undercarriage to reduce our fuel consumption. So E-J selected undercarriage up at which point the aircraft turned itself violently upside down, he regained control by putting the undercarriage down again and we proceeded to land at RAF Valley very short of fuel, having found a rain shower on the way to wash the windscreen. The fact that we got this wreck safely on the ground at RAF Valley was entirely thanks to your Dad's innate skills in an aircraft, his reactions in a truly life threatening situation were instinctive and intuitive and right. He wasn't even perspiring when we landed off this one. Some after the event issues; A Sea Vixen pilot cannot see the end of the wings from the cockpit, so it was only after we landed at Valley that we saw what we had done. 8ft of the starboard wing was missing and the aileron was hanging vertically down behind the starboard undercarriage leg...hence turning upside down when we tried to raise the gear. We got a bol****ing from OC Flying at Valley for not declaring an emergency...we thought the ship had told them. Everyone at Valley seemed to have given up smoking and we couldn't scrounge a fag from anyone. Eagle sent a helicopter to take us back on board and upon alighting on the flight deck we were instructed to report to the Captain on the bridge.

His words will live with me forever; “Not your fault E-J, bit of a c**k up in here.” Turning to me he said “So you're a crab are you, that will show you what the Navy's all about. Pair of you go and see the Doc.” We had hit a Buccaneer, a fork lift truck, 2 Sea Vixens and another Buccaneer during our brief excursion along the deck of Eagle. The Doc was a famous FAA doctor whose name I will not mention. He took our pulses and blood pressures and determined that we were a bit excited, opened his desk drawer, removed a bottle of brandy and said “Drink half of that between you and I'll declare you fit to fly in the morning.” He did, and we did.

Eyton-Jones sadly lost his life during the Falklands War on a dark night in May 82. RIP

Thursday 2 May 2024

Yeager's Voodoo, RAF Bentwaters 1958 - ebay photo find #122



First Transatlantic flight for the Voodoo on May 19, 1958 as this 18th Tactical Recce RF-101 took off from Shaw AFB to land in France before flying on to RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk

 



 

Monday 29 April 2024

more Sea Vixens WG 240 - ebay photo find #121

 



on offer here

dated November 1956 De Havilland company photos. Not sure where these were taken (Farnborough?), but that's the Short Sperrin in the gloomy background..first views of the FAW. 2  WG 240




on offer here

Friday 9 February 2024

E-6 Mercury airborne command post by Michael Ganoe

 


Recent photo taken by Michael Ganoe and posted on social media shows an E-6 Mercury photographed at Chambers, the airfield behind Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. 


Adam Dowdell on FB; "..when I was stationed there the E-6’s with VQ 4 were considered vital to national defense and deadly force was authorized. They carried crypto gear for communications with our nuclear arsenal on subs. I know the E6A’s were updated in the late 90’s to the E6B and absorbed the looking glass missions. Not sure of their roll now. That aircraft has no tail numbers so. We used to confiscate people’s cameras at Pax for taking pictures of the E-6’s that were on alert. If you got close enough to read the number on the tail you were more likely about to have a very bad day. But in the end there is just something special about a 707 airframe capable of supersonic and inverted flight.."

Stu Ben; "..They fly every single day. I have seen at most 5 up at one time. . They come out of various locations with Pax on the East coast. They have a reel with a wire they trail out of the back with a drogue chute to pull it out and then they are able to talk on VLF (Very low frequency) thru the water to the submarines. Another nick name is TACAMO ('Take charge and move out').."

The first E-6 to deploy to Europe arrived at RAF mildenhall in June 2022. Note the two oval-shaped antennae coverings located on the forward and rear fuselage, respectively. These are also a fairly recent addition and comprise downlink antennae to connect with ground stations. Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (VQ-4)‘Shadows’, is stationed at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma, and on June 28, 2022 flew a seven-hour mission from Mildenhall, flying at 26,000ft above the eastern Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ireland. The altitude permitted the vertical trailing wire to be almost fully extended to its maximum length of almost five miles.

Wednesday 17 January 2024

Russian A-50 AWACS downed over the Sea of Azov, January 14

 








" ..a couple of days ago Russia lost an A-50 and suffered damage to an Il-22 as widely reported on all news outlets (during the evening of January 14). Both of these aircraft are very valuable for the Russian Aerospace forces (the VKS) and there is some debate as to what exactly happened. ( Both Ukrainians and Russians claim to have downed the aircraft, although social media seems to be giving preference to the Russian story that this was a case of 'friendly fire'!) There are apparently some intercepted radio coms that allegedly originate from the Il-22 that specify that it is asking for assistance and that is is coming in for an emergency landing with photographs showing considerable shrapnel damage to the tail fin and tail plane. These aircraft are exceptionally valuable to a force and that's why usually there's only a few of those available and that's the case here as well with the A-50. Around 40 were built but Russia operates less than 10..While there is little hard evidence it would appear that these machines were targeted by Ukrainian Patriot missiles..."  Military Aviation History channel on youtube


Sunday 5 November 2023

Ltn Roth Jasta 12 photo album - Paul von Osterroht, Manfred von Richthofen, ebay photo find #121

 


This very interesting album currently on offer for 10,000 euros from the estate of the former Feld. Fliegerabteilung 52 and Jasta 12 pilot Ltn Roth. The approx. 290 photos in the two albums include views of a number of well-known airmen and their machines including Osterroht, Tutschek, MvR etc. The Richthofen images are labelled " April 1917, Epinoy ". Here he is seen with Paul von Osterroht, MvR's first pilot. Von Osterroht was shot down and killed in this month in 1917. Also included are a range of captured British aviators and machines. Includes many views of Albatros fighters (without Bestellnr visible) Of interest are the views of D.II, D.III and D.V so close together, timewise.

 

















Paul von Osterroht was serving in FFA 18 when World War I began. He was one of the first German airmen to be awarded the Iron Cross First Class, received on 7 October 1914. After FFA 18, he served with Brieftauben-Abteilung Ostende in 1914 and 1915; one of his aerial observers was Manfred von Richthofen. Together they downed a French airplane so far behind French lines the victory could not be verified.

On 30 January 1915, Osterroht was promoted to Oberleutnant. In May 1916, he transferred to Kampfstaffel (Tactical Bomber Squadron) 1 of Kampfgeschwader (Tactical Bomber Wing) 1. He was soon given command of the squadron. His service with them ended when he was appointed to command one of Germany's original fighter squadrons, Jagdstaffel 12, as it was being founded.The unit was founded with over-age Fokker D.Is; however, by March 1917, they had been re-equipped with newer Albatros D.III fighters. 

Osterroht claimed serial number 1958/16 for his own, and had it marked with a four square checkerboard in black and white. On 24 March, the Jasta received a telegram from their higher command congratulating the unit on its performance in downing 14 enemy aircraft.
Osterroht scored his first aerial victory on 19 March 1917; at noon of 23 April he scored his seventh. Later on the 23rd, he flew an evening patrol to Cambrai. There he engaged Sopwith Pups of 3 Naval Squadron, and fell to his death at about 1800 hours.

Saturday 9 September 2023

Harrier T4 N 899 Sqd



ZB 605 (721) Harrier T4 N 899 Sqd FAA Yeovilton @ Biggin Hill Jun 1988.