As do a few (!) others, I sometimes get wrapped up in following thoughts brought on by blog friends' postings. Such was the case today when I found that Stu Savory had added my new blog into his Blog Roll, accompanied by an announcement/welcome back posting. Thank you, Stu, I appreciate your efforts and welcome.
Of course, I had to scroll back through some of Stu's postings - specifically from last December when he posted Sneak attack practice. He was a bit perturbed about having fighter jets flown at 500 knots (575 mph) at 80 feet above ground level, without warning, across an airfield used by gliders and tow planes. I joined Stu in wringing my hands and he replied to my comment, "Terrain following radar I assume."
As the aircraft in the photo he posted had a passing resemblance to F-16s (but are NOT) and since I have some knowledge of the F-16 flight control system (but it was still classified the last I knew), I went further afield (online) checking into what the Luftwaffe flies, these days - getting to practice my negligible German in the process. Somehow, I came upon a photo from a year ago, having nothing to do with German aviation and everything to do with USAF aviation, and stopped. Below is the photo. It shows a fly-by, on Memorial Day 2025, of three bomber models with four fighter models. Photo and text are excerpted from Task & Purpose.
"The 2025 Hyundai Air & Sea Show on Saturday marked the first time that a B-52H, B-1B, B-2, F-22. F-15C, F-16C, and A-10 have flown in a formation, Hoffman said."
What caught my attention was that I have worked on/with each of the seven aircraft excepting the F-22. It looks like old home week.
I missed posting that photo for Memorial Day 2025 which is just as well. It would have gone away with my old TypePad blog.
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That is really cool that you worked on so many aircraft. My neighbor is a retired Colonel and he primarily worked with the B-52 and B-1 and then on the development of the B-2. He doesn't talk about it much, but I have heard a few stories from his career.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been by for a bit, but I enjoyed reading all your posts over the last month. I figured it is too late to add a photo to the grumpy cat post so I haven't looked for it yet.
Good to see you here, Ingineer. You are "allowed" to live other parts of your life instead of spending all of your attention here - lol. Was your neighboring colonel on the paperwork side of the bombers or in the flight business? I'm sure that he has interesting tales, either way (or both ways?) It crosses my mind that I may have met/known him at some point. I had little to do on the B-1 but spent a lot of time on the other two. If you think of it, see if HAVE BOUNCE means anything to him. ☺
ReplyDeleteP.S. For clarity: In the early 1980s, I used HAVE BOUNCE data on a lot of aircraft including, B-1, but not the B-2 (and I don't think B-52 was included, but I don't honestly recall). In addition to B-1, I do recall working with certain versions of F-4, F-15, F-16, F-111, A-10, Boeing 747, DC-10, C-130, C-141, and C-5. HAVE BOUNCE was managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB OH. That was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteIf I saw that on the interwebz today I would assume it was AI slop. But, being as you got it from a respected site, it is cool to see so many types in formation.
ReplyDeleteIt is my belief that the photo has been manipulated in some manner. It was difficult for me, at least, to suss out which fighter plane was which model. In case you also are having troubles distinguishing, my conclusion is that (L to R) the models are F-16, A-10, B-52, B-2, B-1, and F-22. F-15 - although it would be stretching it to pretend that I could pin down the block models (appended A, B, C etc) using that photo.
ReplyDeleteThe article inadvertently (one guesses) illustrated something that I stressed in teaching people to write reports: list items in the order in which they appear in photos, drawings, or other illustrations. Don't confuse people unnecessarily.
Keep It Simple Stupid is a great philosophy for writing reports.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor was on the maintenance side for much of his career, but also worked on development of bombers. I don't know much more than that. Other than he had some flight line adventures with armed SAC bombers.
Aha! I almost added maintenance in the mix but obviously did not include it. Mea culpa. I'll bet some of his/those tales get hairy. I was never involved/exposed to such except as an avid reader/listener.
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