USS Midway (CV-41) was the last US Navy aircraft carrier to operate the McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II. On March 25th 1986 the Midway sent the Phantoms to the beach for good. She went back to sea in 1987 with McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet strike fighters instead. The two squadrons assigned to Carrier Air Wing FIVE (CVW-5) for that final Phantom cruise were Fighter Squadron ONE FIVE ONE (VF-151) Vigilantes and VF-161 Chargers. This entertaining video of these two squadrons in action was uploaded to YouTube by iproducevideo. Enjoy!
The Vigilantes and Chargers flew their F-4S model Phantoms first to CVW-5’s home away from CONUS- Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi near Yokosuka in Japan. After their stop in Japan, VF-151 and VF-161 flew their jets across the Pacific to NAS North Island before being relocated to NAS Lemoore in California for transition to the F/A-18A. And so the carrier operations era for the Phantom II came to a close. VF-161 was also the last Navy squadron to operate the McDonnell F3 Demon, retiring them in September of 1964 and transitioning to the F-4B Phantom II.
VF-151 F-4S via US Navy
One Final Cruise
During that Phinal Phantom cruise, in addition to VF-151 and VF-161, CVW-5 included VA-93 Ravens and VA-56 Champions flying the Vought A-7E Corsair II, VA-115 Eagles flying the Grumman A-6E and KA-6D Intruder, VAW-115 Liberty Bells flying the Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, VAQ-136 Gauntlets flying the Grumman EA-6B Prowler, and HS-12 Golden Falcons flying the Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King. Today CVW-5 is still operating primarily in the WestPac, now based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni in southern Honshu, Japan and deploying aboard the Nimitz-class carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-78). The Midway made ten more deployments with CVW-5 before being decommissioned…and eventually made into one of the best museums on the planet.
Today we’re taking a look at just some of the awesome sights and sounds at EAA AirVenture 2018 at Oskkosh. In our first clip, US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon Demonstration Team pilot Major John “Rain” Waters flies a short solo demonstration before forming up with a Douglas AD-1 Skyraider and a North American P-51D Mustang for a Heritage Flight formation. These videos were all uploaded to YouTube by our good friends at AirshowStuffVideos. Enjoy!
Next up, one of the most pleasant surprises at Oshkosh so far was the “unscheduled” visit by the US Navy flight demonstration team the Blue Angels at the conclusion of the national anthem on Wednesday 7/25. The Blues didn’t perform a full show as they’re in transit to their next scheduled performance at the Fargo Airshow up in North Dakota, but it’s always great to see them. Surprise!
EAA AirVenture has expanded the airshow schedule in recent years to include dusk and even night performances. This clip is a performance of sorts. A US Air Force Rockwell B-1B Lancer or Bone departs Oshkosh for points west. The departure occurs while a thunderstorm is visible on the northern horizon. Then it sounds like thunder as the Bone is in burner through several maneuvers before disappearing into the clouds. Impressive!
The sleeper pick of clips is a relatively benign but still impressive United Parcel Service (UPS) McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter departing runway 18 in a hurry. That jet might be empty but it’s still a huge aircraft. To see it take off like that is really something. Enjoy!
When Marine Corps Fighter Squadron ONE TWO TWO (VMF-122) became the first Marine Corps squadron to fly and carrier qualify the North American FJ-2 Fury the squadron was known as the Candystripers. But in 1958 the squadron relocated from Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point northeast of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to MCAS Beaufort southwest of Charleston in South Carolina. VMF-122 was then redesignated VMF(AW)-122 because the squadron soon became the first in the Marine Corps to fly the new Vought F8U-1 Crusader. Leading VMF(AW)-122 through this transition was Lieutenant Colonel William H. Rankin.
VMF-122 FJ-2 via US Navy
The Pilot Had Some Experience…
LTCOL Rankin had been around. During World War II he had served as a garrison Marine on the island of Funafuti but wanted to get into action somehow. Rankin tried fleet gunnery school but was turned down. He then applied for flight training and was accepted. Though the war ended before he received his wings, receive them he did, in September of 1946. Rankin then became a Marine Corps Vought F4U-4 Corsair pilot. When the Korean War broke out, Rankin was flying a desk until July of 1951, when now-Major Rankin arrived at K-3 in Korea with the rest of VMF-212 Devil Cats. Rankin flew more than 50 close air support (CAS) missions and was lucky until September 5th, when he was forced to bail out of his Corsair.
VMF-212 F4U via US Navy
Small-Decks and SPADs
VMF-212 embarked aboard the escort carrier USS Rendova (CVE-114) about a month after Rankin was rescued and returned to the squadron. He was wounded in his legs during a strike against the infamous bridge/rail complex at Toko-Ri but made it back to the Rendova safely, though his Corsair was ventilated with more than 130 holes. Sidelined from Korea while recovering from his wounds, Rankin completed his recovery and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. After attending jet transition training he took command of VMA-121 Wolf Raiders in 1955. His first command tour went well, with Douglas AD-1 and AD-2 Skyraider-equipped VMA-121 earning awards and with Rankin next being ordered to take command of VMF-122 Candystripers.
VMF-122 F8U via US Navy
Cross-Country in a Crusader
After VMF(AW)-122 transitioned from their Furies to Crusaders under the leadership of LTCOL Rankin during 1958 (and they changed that cringeworthy nickname), Rankin’s ability to develop and implement the policies, procedures, and practices needed to transition to the F-8 earned him a tour as the standardization / evaluation inspector for Marine Air Group 32. For LTCOL Rankin, that meant he was tasked with doing things like cross-country high-altitude navigation check rides. Like most desk-bound pilots, Rankin relished any and every chance to strap on an F-8 and get into the blue. And so Rankin found himself scheduled for a two-ship check ride to NAS South Weymouth not too far from Boston in Massachusetts- about 1,000 miles each way. The outbound leg on July 25th went well with great weather. The return leg the next day…not so much.
Marine Corps F8U via US Navy
Shoulda Coulda Woulda
Things started with a radio malfunction, which caused LTCOL Rankin and his check-ee, Navy Lieutenant Herbert Nolan, to remain overnight at South Weymouth. The next day the two aviators did their pre-flight, which included a weather brief stating the two could expect thunderstorms and cumulonimbus clouds between 30,000 and 40,000 feet in tops in southern Virginia. Rankin figured he could get over the tops and asked about frontal conditions, receiving a negative reply; only local thunderstorms were expected. Rankin and Nolan filed VFR flight plans for an altitude of 44,000 feet and an airspeed of 540 mph- which would have put them back in Beaufort after about 70 minutes. I can hear old Grampaw Pettibone now!
USMC F8U via US Navy
Trouble Way Up Top
LTCOL Rankin was flying F8U-1 Crusader Bureau Number (BuNo) 143696 that day. Though Rankin was assigned to Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 32 (H&MS-32), Rankin liked using his old Tiger One callsign. The two aviators sighted what Rankin called “dark, massive rolling clouds of a thunderstorm” looming on the horizon not far from Norfolk in Virginia. Still figuring to go up and over the storms, the two jets leveled off at 48,000 feet. Rankin’s jet indicated some minor power fluctuations and he lost a bit of altitude. Rankin initiated a climb back to FL 480. At 1758 local time the J57-P-12 turbojet engine in Rankin’s jet seized when he was flying at Mach 0.82. Rankin called Nolan in Tiger Two to notify him of the situation.
Marine Corps F-8s via US Navy
Time to Pull and Pray
Rankin began following emergency procedures. First was to deploy the ram air turbine (RAT) to get auxiliary power back. When Rankin pulled the release lever it broke off in his hand. This meant Rankin had no power, radio, instruments, or control over the jet. As his momentary zoom climb slowed down at its apex, Rankin figured he had to get out of the doomed Crusader quickly before too much speed built up during its dive back down from FL480. Rankin also knew that he could be pinned inside the aircraft by a spin during a free-fall from high altitude. After quickly weighing his options, Rankin pulled his upper ejection seat handles and punched out of 143696 at 1800 local time.
Thunderstorm via public domain
In His Own Words…
Rankin was immediately racked by decompression effects and he lost his left glove. Rankin was certainly not prepared for the decompression effects, saying, “I had a terrible feeling like my abdomen was bloated twice its size. My nose seemed to explode. For 30 seconds – I thought the decompression had me. It was a shocking cold all over. My ankles and wrists began to burn as though somebody had put Dry Ice on my skin. My left hand went numb. My eyes felt as though they were being ripped from their sockets, my head as if it were splitting into several parts, my ears bursting inside.” The combined effects of frostbite at high altitude and decompression were taking their toll on Rankin. And then he tumbled into the tops of the thunderstorm!
Thunderhead detail via public domain
Absolutely Out of Control
Rankin was conscious but in severe pain. He reseated him oxygen mask but did not deploy his parachute in the belief that he would freeze or die of hypoxia while he floated down through 40,000-plus feet. The parachute deployed itself for him, meaning Rankin was at the mercy of the updrafts and downdrafts always present inside thunderstorms. As Rankin described it later, he “was in an angry ocean of boiling clouds, blacks and grays and whites, spilling over each other, into each other, digesting each other. I became a veritable molecule trapped in the thermal pattern of nature’s heat engine. I was buffeted in all directions—up, down, sideways, clockwise, counterclockwise, over and over; I tumbled, spun, and zoomed straight up, straight down, and I was rattled violently, as though a monstrous cat had caught me by the neck… Before long, I found out the storm had allies with whom I had to do battle, physically and mentally: thunder, lightning, hail, and rain. I was afraid I wouldn’t make it. It seemed like an eternity.”
Thunderhead via NASA
Like a Cork Floating on a Storm-Swept Sea
“I’d see lightning. Boy, do I remember that lightning. I never exactly heard the thunder; I felt it. I remember falling through hail, and that worried me; I was afraid the hail would tear the chute. Sometimes I was falling through heavy water—I’d take a breath and breathe in a mouthful of water. Sometimes I had the sensation I was looping the chute. I was blown up and down as much as 6,000 feet at a time. It went on for a long time, like being on a very fast elevator, with strong blasts of compressed air hitting you. At one point I got seasick and heaved. I went up and joined the chute. It draped over me like a sheet, and I was afraid that when I blossomed again, I’d be tangled in the shrouds and risers. But I wasn’t, thank God.”
Marine Corps F-8 via US Navy
How Long Does It Take to Descend 8 Miles in Thunderstorms?
The storm finally kicked Rankin free and he was able to descend normally. He finally landed in a stand of trees near North Carolina State Highway 305 at 1840 local time- forty minutes after he punched out of his stricken Crusader. When taken to a hospital, Rankin was treated for internal bleeding, broken bones, and frostbite. F8U-1 BuNo 143696 ended up about 20 miles south of where Rankin landed. The jet cratered (literally) in a pea field near Coleman’s sawmill on State Highway 258, about a half-mile from the town of Scotland Neck, not long after 1800 local time. When the wreckage of the jet was inspected it was confirmed that the engine had indeed seized. Given his options, Rankin made the correct, if harrowing, call. He recovered fully from his ordeal and remains the only pilot to ever survive such a harrowing ordeal. Rankin went on to write a book about the experience. Rankin retired from the Marine Corps in 1964 and passed away in 2009.
EAA AirVenture 2018 is going full blast right now in little Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Bet you didn’t see this one coming Avgeekery Nation! Most aerobatics aficionados are familiar with the Yakolev Yak-55. The airplane has been around since the early 1980s. Plenty of aerobatic pilots fly them these days. But what happens if you take two Yak-55s and glue them together? Well you get the Yak-110. That’s not new math…just some very creative thinking. First, a couple of EAA members named Dell Coller and Jeff Boerboon found a pair of Yak-55s and took them to their chamber (or is that hangar?) of horrors in Idaho. Then the fun really got started…
Image via AirshowStuff YouTube channel
They removed a wing from each of the Yaks and fabricated a center section with the same foil parameters. Then they joined the two fuselages to the center section at the normal wing attachment points and joined the two horizontal stabilizers together too. They left full controls (for the entire aircraft) in each cockpit but put the smoke controls and starters for both engines in the port side only. Cool, right? Unique certainly. Did somebody say more power? All indicators point to yes because they soon decided to bolt a General Electric CJ610-6 turbojet engine to the center wing section with a long exhaust port led to the tail. Two props AND a jet? No way! This video was uploaded to YouTube by AirshowStuffVideos. Listen to how that thing sounds! Now get your jaw up off your desk.
Also happening in Oshkosh, and pretty much anywhere there are British airplanes flying this year, are Royal Air Force (RAF) 100 tributes. The RAF turned 100 years old back on April 1st, but that’s not keeping anybody from firing up the odd Spit, Lancaster, or any other RAF classic and flying around the local airpatch in tribute to the RAF- and that’s good and cool thing! At Oshkosh they’re just doing it on a bigger scale. Here’s a look at a classic Supermarine Spitfire doing the honors, also uploaded to YouTube by AirshowStuffVideos. Turn those speakers up (and ignore that pesky PA guy!). More to come as EAA AirVenture 2018 rolls on.
C-130A Pilots Formed a Unique Flight Demonstration Team Just Because They Could
The Lockheed-Martin C-130 Hercules airlifter has done some incredible things. The Blue Angels and Fat Albert are prime examples. C-130s adapted for aerial firefighting have saved lives and property. The memorable demonstration of the LM-100J at RIAT 2018. But a long time ago, back when the venerable Herc was practically brand new, the Four Horsemen were the world’s only four-ship flight demonstration team to fly four engine aircraft. And they flew the C-130A Hercules. These guys might have been the first to coin the phrase “go big or go home.” This is their story.
C-130A via US Air Force
Green Weasels Hatch a BIG Idea
Formed by four pilots with the 774th Troop Carrier Squadron (TCS) Green Weasels, based at first at Ardmore Air Force Base (AFB) in Oklahoma and later Sewart AFB near Smyrna in Tennessee, the Four Horsemen flew 23 minute long performances in their Lockheed C-130A Hercules airlifters highlighted by the Horsemen Burst– a bomb burst maneuver similar to the sort of stunt for which the Air Force’s more prominent flight display team, the Thunderbirds, were justifiably famous. This video was uploaded to YouTube by jaglavaksoldier. Enjoy!
The film was produced in 1960. The story actually begins in September of 1956, when the 774th became the first squadron to be equipped with the new Lockheed C-130A Hercules. In early 1957 pilots Captain Gene Chaney, Captain Jim Aiken, Captain David Moore, and Captain Bill Hatfield figured they’d try some close formation flying after their paratrooper drop mission with the 101st Airborne out of Fort Campbell in Kentucky was cancelled due to high winds. The team dubbed themselves the Thunder Weasels as a conglomeration of Green Weasels and Thunderbirds, at first, but came up with the moniker Four Horsemen later.
Four Horsemen via US Air Force
Unique Tweaks
With prior approval from Tactical Air Command (TAC), the Four Horsemen first performed in front of the 314th Troop Carrier Wing at Sewart AFB in 1957. The 314th got an eyeful of what their own new C-130As could do, courtesy of the Four Horsemen, who were in fact delivering their first Hercules airlifters to them at the time. It didn’t take long for TAC to grant the team official status. The team didn’t have C-130As assigned to them, but they did their best to keep their crews, consisting of pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and observer, together. The team began their performances with a diamond formation short takeoff demonstration. Propeller propulsion necessitated that the slot aircraft fly above, rather than below, the lead aircraft. Their maneuvers were often flown with separations of ten feet or less. Landings were also performed in the diamond formation.
Four Horsemen via US Air Force
When is Overpowered Ever a Bad Thing?
Flying the Hercules the way the Four Horsemen did could provide for interesting challenges. It was said that the Hercules was overpowered when unburdened by cargo- so much so that the lead Four Horsemen C-130A once lost an engine at the beginning of a performance. After shutting down their #4 Allison T-56 engine, lead and the team flew the entire performance as they normally would. The Four Horsemen crews were squadron guys too, meaning they deployed with their squadrons wherever and whenever they went- wearing only a distinctive horse head with a superimposed IV patch on their standard flight suits.
Four Horsemen via US Air Force
A Short But Entertaining Chapter in Hercules History
By early 1960 the original Four Horsemen aircraft commanders, who had been some of the first in the Air Force to fly the C-130A and indeed had picked the first couple of them up from the Lockheed factory, were the most experienced guys in type- meaning it was time for the fun to end. When the new C-130B variant began replacing the C-130As and the C-130As were being transferred to squadrons overseas, David Moore retired back to his home state of Texas but the remaining three high-timer C-130A aircraft commanders went with them. By spring the Four Horsemen were but a memory. But an entirely unique and highly compelling memory.
Much of the footage used in the film “Torpedo Squadron 8” was shot aboard the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) between the Japanese attack in Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 and the Battle of Midway beginning on June 4th 1942. John Ford made the film as a tribute to the near total loss of the squadron during the Battle of Midway. He also produced a film using footage shot primarily on Midway atoll itself. Pilots and crews are featured heavily in Torpedo Squadron 8. The film was uploaded to YouTube by US National Archives.
VT-8 lost every single one of their 15 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers and five of their six Grumman TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers at Midway. The squadron had sent a detachment to Norfolk to take delivery of the fleet’s first operational TBFs before leaving a still chaotic Pearl Harbor for “Point Luck.” The VT-8 TBF-1s operated from Midway’s Eastern Island. While the Douglas SBD Dauntless gets most of the credit for the victory at Midway, TBDs were part of the team that got it done. Only three VT-8 personnel were still alive after the battle: Ensign George “Tex” Gay (TBD pilot), Ensign Albert “Bert” Earnest (TBF pilot), and Radioman 2nd Class Henry Ferrier (TBF crew). In the film, the medal prominently shown before the individual personnel footage is the Navy Cross.
The only surviving VT-8 TBF at Midway via US Navy
After the Battle of Midway, VT-8 was reconstituted and embarked aboard USS Saratoga (CV-3). The squadron’s luck didn’t get much better because when Sara Maru took a Japanese torpedo in her starboard side on August 26th 1942, VT-8 was sent to work out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The squadron remained on the Canal until November of 1942 when the original VT-8 was disestablished. Another VT-8 was established later in 1943 and embarked on the Essex-class carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) throughout the remainder of the war.
USS Hornet May 1942 via US Navy
At the Battle of Midway only six of the 41 TBDs launched from the carriers Yorktown (CV-5), USS Enterprise (CV-6), and USS Hornet (CV-8) to attack the Japanese carrier force returned to their carriers- two from VT-3 to the Yorktown, four from VT-6 to the Enterprise, and none from VT-8 to the Hornet. After the battle the Navy, with TBFs becoming available quickly, withdrew the remaining TBDs in service and used them for a short time as trainers and submarine spotters on the Atlantic coast. By 1944 there were no operational TBDs in Naval service.
The film “A-6E Intruder…Any Weather AnyTime” was made not long after the Vietnam debacle had ended and the Navy and Marine Corps were taking a close look at their force structures and figuring out what they could do without. Grumman’s A-6 Intruder attack bomber had entered service right about the same time Vietnam really became a war and had proven its capabilities in Southeast Asia over and over again. By the time the A-6E variant trapped aboard a carrier for its first deployment in 1971, the Navy and Marine Corps knew they had the finest attack aircraft ever taken to sea. Featuring VA-34 Blue Blasters with a host of other Intruder squadrons supporting, this film was uploaded to YouTube by PeriscopeFilm. Enjoy!
Grumman built a total of 445 A-6Es. More than half of them were previously manufactured variants that were reworked to bring them to A-6E specification. At first it was difficult for a casual observer to discern the differences between the variants of the Intruder. Later (after the film was produced- beginning in the early 1980’s) the A-6E received the Target Recognition and Attack Multisensor (TRAM) turret installed under the radome and just ahead of the forward landing gear. In addition to TRAM, the A-6E radar was upgraded to the new Norden AN/APQ-156 radar. By that point there were few other Intruder variants left in service.
A-6E via US Navy
Continuously upgraded throughout their service lives, Grumman A-6E Intruders were retired and replaced by the end of 1997. The Navy decommissioned most of their 24 Intruder-equipped squadrons during the 1990s, but today VA-34 Blue Blasters and VA-115 Eagles fly variants of the McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet. Originally the Intruders largely replaced the Navy’s Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft and were themselves eventually replaced, at least for a time, by Grumman F-14 Bombcats. The Marines traded their Intruders for F/A-18D Hornets. Five of the original six Marine Corps Intruder squadrons are still flying.
Authors’ Note: Soon after originally publishing a previous piece about the Mohawk vs MiG engagement I was able to get in touch with Army Mohawk pilot Ken Lee. I worked with him to bring the details of his Vietnam experiences to light. This expanded version of the original story includes Ken’s perspective. It has been reviewed and approved by Ken Lee.
Captain Lee Shares His Account of One of the Most Famous Mohawk Missions Ever
OV-1 73rd Aviation Company via US Army
The Grumman Light Attack Fighter?
The Grumman OV-1 Mohawk was developed for use as a battlefield surveillance, reconnaissance, and light strike aircraft beginning in 1956. The aircraft was first flown in 1959 and entered service with the US Army in 1960. Tangling with North Vietnamese MiGs was probably the last thing the designers ever thought the Mohawk would be required to do, but tangle with a MiG one did, and this is the story.
OV-1B via US Army
Nobody Was More Surprised Than the Pilot…
The US Army flew all kinds of aircraft in Vietnam. From light observation aircraft to transports and of course thousands of helicopters, the Army flew just about everywhere the Air Force, Navy, and Marines did and lots of places they couldn’t. Despite the aerial victories scored by the other armed services, the Army just didn’t get many opportunities to mix it up with MiGs. But an OV-1 Mohawk somehow achieved the only U.S. Army air-to-air victory during the Vietnam War.
OV-1 via US Army
Backstory Alert
Some background: Ken Lee began flying Mohawks with the Army in early 1964 and completed type transition training during September of that year. Ken’s first tour in Vietnam began during November of 1964. During that tour he flew with the 23rd Special Warfare Aviation Detachment (SWAD) and with the 73rd Surveillance Aviation Company (SAC) callsign Uptight. Ken returned home to CONUS at the end of his first tour during November of 1965.
OV-1 via US Army
Not His First Go-Round
27 year old Ken Lee began his second tour flying Mohawks in August of 1967. He was assigned to the 131st Aviation Company Nighthawks callsign Spud out of Phu Bai Air Base. Ken (whose personal callsign was Martini) and his fellow pilots flew a mix of OV-1A (visual and photo recon), OV-1B (side looking airborne radar [SLAR]), and OV-1C (Infrared [IR]) Mohawk variants. Their missions during this tour were focused on target acquisition in Laos and southern North Vietnam.
OV-1 via US Army
Out of Commission Then Back in the Saddle
Ken had been wounded before his encounter with the MiG. As he tells it, “I was wounded the first of October 1967 at the border between South Vietnam and Laos. A .51 caliber round came through the side skin of the aircraft and went through my flak jacket, damaged my .45 caliber side arm, through my survival radio and survival kit. I was next in the bullet’s path. I was not able to fly again for three weeks and the MiG incident came on about the second mission I flew after I began flying again.”
OV-1s via US Army
That Dreaded Valley Again
Ken and another Mohawk pilot were transiting to Laos above South Vietnam’s A Shau valley, located just south of the DMZ and close to the Laotian border. Air Force Major Bernie Fisher flew a heroic rescue mission in that valley, landing under heavy fire to pick up a downed pilot. A Shau was still and would remain a hotbed of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong activity. It was up to the two Mohawks, using their infrared (IR) and other sensors, to try and get the gouge on enemy activity west of the area.
73rd Aviation Company OV-1 via US Army
Instinct Takes Over
Flying just a couple of thousand feet above the valley floor with low ceiling and heavy clouds overhead, Captain Ken Lee’s Mohawk was suddenly “bounced” by a North Vietnamese MiG-17 Fresco jet fighter. The MiG scored hits on Lee’s empennage and rear fuselage but overshot the relatively slow Mohawks. As the MiG pilot turned to engage the Mohawks again he got in front of the two 19 shot M159 rocket pods with 2.75 inch unguided rockets and two XM14 .50 caliber gun pods mounted on Lee’s underwing racks. Lee realized his best chance to stay alive was to fire everything at the MiG while it was in front of him, and fire (almost) everything he did.
OV-1B via US Army
For the rest of Ken Lee’s incredible story bang NEXT PAGE below. You’ve gotta see this!
Loud to the Point of Being Toxic-That Was the Mighty Ear Banger
One would think the “fastest propeller driven aircraft ever built” would be some kind of phenomenon – widely recognized by those interested in aviation. It might be a warbird mated to a specially prepared engine or a super-sleek late-war design that never went into production, right? Nope. According to Republic Aviation, who firmly believed the claim (at the time), the fastest propeller driven aircraft ever built was going to be the Republic XF-84H Thunderscreech. Why did Republic build such a beast? Air Force research at first, but the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) wanted a fighter capable of operating from carrier decks without the need to be catapulted from it, so they requested a prototype.
XF-84H via US Air Force
Borrowing From the Thunderflash
Republic came up with the XF-84H by taking the wings from an RF-84F Thunderflash and modifying the fuselage to park a 5,850 horsepower Allison XT40-A-1 turboprop engine where the turbojet engine would normally be. The T40 engine, housed behind the cockpit and driving a three-bladed 12 foot diameter Aeroproducts propeller via extension shafts, produced thrust from its exhaust as well. An afterburner was installed but was never used in flight. The propeller was turned at a constant (high) speed and thrust was controlled via blade pitch. Those blades were turning so fast that the tips were reaching Mach 1.18. That’s 905.4 miles per hour to you and me.
XF-84H via US Air Force
Designed Around That Supersonic Propeller
As one might expect, the propeller created massive amounts of torque. The empennage was changed to a T tail configuration to keep the horizontal stabilizers and elevators out of the roiled air created by the propeller. A dorsal yaw vane was also added. Other attempts to control torque included mounting the port side leading edge engine air intake a foot further forward than the starboard intake and selectable asymmetrical wing flap operation. The XF-84H was the first aircraft equipped with a retractable/extendable ram air turbine (RAT). Which came in handy given all the engine problems these aircraft experienced.
XF-84H via US Air Force
Again With the Engine Issues?
Ah, the engines. Other T40 powered aircraft, most notably the North American XA2J Super Savage carrier based attack bomber and the Douglas XA2D Skyshark– itself a development of the venerable Douglas AD Skyraider, experienced crippling engine problems. The XT-40 was tremendously complicated powerplant. Essentially a pair of T38 engines driving a linked gearbox, the engine made sense for a contra-rotating propeller but for a single propeller design? Not so much. Then there was the propeller. Blade materials and compositions wore out entire cases of slide rules. But the proof was in the flight testing. The Navy decided to back out when they realized a flight deck bolter situation would be disastrous with the XF-84H, so only two prototypes were built.
XF-84H via US Air Force
A Record for Least Flight Test Time?
After they were built at the Republic plant in Farmingdale, Long Island the two XF-84H prototypes were disassembled and shipped via rail to Edwards AFB for flight testing. First flown (and heard) on July 22nd 1955, the two aircraft only flew a total of 12 test flights totaling a little more than six hours of Republic pilot-only flight time over the high California desert. Out of those 12 flights, ten ended in forced landings. The aircraft’s propeller drive system gearing required 30 minutes of warm up before it could be flown. Propeller pitch gearing failures and vibration from the drive shafts and the propeller itself plagued the test flights. The XF-84H just wasn’t a practical aircraft- in large part because of its sound. Or noise. It sure looked cool though.
XF-84H via US Air Force
Come On Feel the Noise
Oh, the noise! The XF-84H was probably the loudest aircraft ever built. Dubbed Thunderscreech or the Mighty Ear Banger by those who heard it, ground engine run ups could be heard 25 miles away. The outer foot to foot and a half of the XF-84H prop blades were moving at supersonic speed even with the engine throttled back to idle. That in turn created a continuous visible sonic boom that radiated laterally from the propellers for hundreds of yards. It was said that the shock wave was actually powerful enough to knock a man down.
One anecdote says a C-47 crew chief who was inside his Skytrain while an XF-84H ground engine run was done nearby was severely incapacitated by just the sound of the Thunderscreech. Another story says that a Republic engineer suffered a seizure after close range exposure to the shock waves emanating from an XF-84H turning up on the ground. Coupled with the already considerable noise from the subsonic portion of the propeller and the T40’s dual turbine sections, the aircraft was notorious for inducing severe nausea and headaches among ground crews. You can’t make this stuff up! But wait…there’s more!
XF-84H via US Air Force
Go Outside and Play…WAY Outside!
The noise got so bad that the glass in the Edwards tower was being damaged by vibration from the constant high energy sound coming from the XF-84H. Finally the Air Force Flight Test Center made Republic tow the aircraft out to Rogers Dry Lake for engine run ups. The XF-84H test program went nowhere after the Republic Phase I proving flights. No USAF or Navy test pilots ever flew the XF-84H. For a time the Air Force used the XF-84H prototypes at the US Air Force Propeller Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) to test supersonic propellers and to explore propeller responsiveness at jet speeds. The test program was cancelled for good in September of 1956.. the prototypes never flew faster than 450 miles per hour. One prototype, 51-17059, resides at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
On July 21st 2018 at 0918 local time, Douglas C-47B-20-DK Dakota Army Air Force serial number 43-49942 (CN 27203), now registered as N47HL and named Bluebonnet Belle, crashed while attempting take off from runway 19 at Burnet Municipal Airport-Kate Craddock Field (KBMQ) near Burnet in central Texas. All of the 13 souls on board survived the accident, one of whom was airlifted to San Antonio Military Medical Center for treatment of severe burns. Seven others were transported to a Seton Highland Lakes Hospital in Burnet with what were termed minor injuries.
Bluebonnet Belle via Commemorative Air Force
We reported another accident that occurred just yesterday. Today at Burnet the C-47B was seen to accelerate down the runway. The tail of the aircraft became unstuck briefly before dropping back down to the runway. The aircraft began yawing to the left and then yawed right back across the runway. The left side of the aircraft became airborne at that point, but the plane rolled left and the left wingtip struck the runway. From there the aircraft yawed to the left and came back down on the runway roughly perpendicular to the runway heading. The right hand main gear appeared to collapse, after which the aircraft came to a stop on a grassy median and caught fire. An NTSB investigation is underway.
Bluebonnet Belle via Commemorative Air Force
The C-47B belonged to the D-Day Wing of the Commemorative Air Force and was based at KMBQ. Belle was departing KMBQ bound for EAA AirVenture at Wittman Field (KOSH) in Oshkosh. During late August and early September last year, the Bluebonnet Belle and her crew joined Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, delivering food, water, and supplies to areas of Southeast Texas devastated by the storm. Belle was to participate in Daks Over Normandy along with 30 or more other C-47s celebrating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion next year.
C-47B and C-17 Heritage Flight via US Air Force
Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company at the Oklahoma City factory, the C-47B variant of the venerable Dakota/Skytrain was one of 3,364 built. They were powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90 engines equipped with two-speed superchargers for better altitude performance in places like the China-Burma-India (CBI) theatre. 43-49942 went into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1943 as Dakota Mk IV KN-270. KN-270 flew nearly 100 missions with the RAF.
Bluebonnet Belle via Commemorative Air Force
The aircraft was transferred to 435 Squadron. Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as CC-129 serial number 12909 in 1946. After flying with the RCAF the aircraft was declared surplus in 1974 and flew as C-GEKE for a number of Canadian airline and charter companies until 1995. In 1998 the aircraft was issued US registration N595AM. N47HL has been her registration since later in 1998. The Highland Lakes Squadron of the Commemorative Air Force began flying the aircraft in 2003.
BILOXI — The thrust of high performance military jets and the aerobatics of top warbirds will perform above the Mississippi Gulf Coast this weekend as the Navy’s Blues Angels headline the Blues Over Biloxi air show.
The Air Force F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team, and more will perform on Saturday and Sunday (July 21/22) over an aerobatic box centered above Deer Island. Local U.S. Coast Guard aircraft will also demonstrate special maneuvers over Biloxi Bay.
“We are very excited about Blues Over Biloxi and we are so proud of the city from bringing this here for the citizens,” Air show spokesperson Jerry Taranto said on Wednesday. “People who come out will not be disappointed.”
The Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron known as the Blue Angels will perform today and Sunday beginning at 2:30 p.m. Lead by Boss CDR Eric “Popeye” Doyle, their six blue and gold F/A-18 Hornet jets will perform slow passes, high speed aerobatics, and close out with their popular delta formation.
The pilots of the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron depart for their jets this week. (US Navy)
An Air Force KC-135 and an Army UH-60 Huey will also perform several fly-bys across northern Biloxi Bay. The World War II AT-6 Texans of the AeroShell Aerobatic Team will demonstrate their maneuvers on Saturday only.
The beach front air show begins at 1 p.m. and is free to the public each day. Visitors can also purchase tickets on-site to watch from a special hospitality chalet at the show center. Over 20 top food trucks and vendors will be on site on the Great Lawn and across the beach region.
The prime public viewing locations are along Beach Blvd just north of Deer Island. Biloxi Mayor Andrew Clitch expects over 100,000 visitors to arrive from across the region to watch the first air show on Mississippi’s coastline.
“The traffic plan is starting on Saturday around 7 a.m. all the traffic signal from Porter Ave. to just south of the Biloxi Bay Bridge will be in the flashing mode,” City of Biloxi spokesperson Cecilia Dobbs Walton said on Wednesday. “Police officers will be at each intersection to allow pedestrians to cross at those intersections.”
City officials are expecting traffic arriving on both days to be heavy and encourage the public to leave early and plan ahead. “Park in public parking areas — do not park on sidewalks, do not park on medians,” Walton added. “Get there early and expect to leave late.”
(Charles A Atkeison reports on aerospace and technology. Follow his updates via social media @Military_Flight.)
UPDATE: The de Havilland DH-112 Venom FB54 jet that crashed in Sheboygan Falls on July 20th 2018 was last registered as N747J. The jet’s serial number was J1747 (CN 917) and it was built in 1957. Previous registrations were G-BLIB and N5174V. Records indicate the aircraft was owned by the World Heritage Air Museum in Michigan. Their website indicates the aircraft served with the Swiss Air Force until 1983 before being brought to the United States in the 1990s. The pilot killed during the crash was 50 year old Marty Tibbits, who was the museum’s co-founder and executive director. He was taking off for a formation training flight when the crash occurred.
ORIGINAL STORY: On July 20th 2018 at approximately 1600 local time a de Havilland DH112 Venom jet aircraft crashed just after takeoff from runway 13 at Sheboygan County Memorial Airport (KSBM) in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. The aircraft came to rest on a dairy farm located on County Road O just west of Meadowlark Road less than a half mile from the airport. The pilot of the Venom was reportedly killed on impact. Two farm workers at the site were also injured, one of whom was airlifted to a Sheboygan hospital. Authorities also said that between 40 and 50 calves on the farm were injured and had to be put down. These news stories were uploaded to YouTube by Today’s TMJ4
Fourteen fire departments were called out to the scene, including the Ada, Cascade, Cedar Grove, Greenbush, Haven, Howards Grove, Johnsonville, Kohler, Oostburg, Plymouth, City of Sheboygan Falls, Town of Sheboygan Falls, Waldo and Wilson fire departments. The Sheboygan Falls and Kohler police departments, Wisconsin State Patrol, and Wisconsin DNR also responded. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is expected to release more information after 1000 local time on Saturday July 21st. An investigation into the cause of the crash is expected to begin as soon as the NTSB arrives.
DH-112 via public domain
At this time Sheboygan County Memorial is hosting the annual Great Air Clinic. The Clinic takes place the week before the start of EAA Airventure at Wittman Field (KOSH) in Oshkosh- about 50 miles from Sheboygan. The Great Air Clinic puts on an airshow each day and trains pilots to fly in a large formation flight of North American T-28 Trojan warbirds at EAA AirVenture, which begins on Sunday July 22nd. The Trojan formation flight is one of the highlights of the Fly-In each year. This time of year the entire state experiences several times the aircraft movements normally seen any other time of the year- or anywhere else for that matter.
DH-112 via public domain
As more information is made available we will update this story as appropriate. For now we pass along our prayers for the pilot, heartfelt condolences to family and friends, and speedy and full recoveries for the injured.
