For the First Time in Over 7 Decades, the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels Have Selected a Woman to Fly One of the Six Jets in the Team’s World-Famous Aerial Demonstrations.
LT Amanda Lee, call sign STALIN, is no stranger to the air show industry either. She is currently assigned to the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-106, training fleet replacement aviators and flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet at air shows with the Navy’s Rhino Demo Team, promoting naval aviation and engaging the public at venues where the Blue Angels are not scheduled to appear.
Usn LT Amanda Lee, call sign ‘STALIN’, has BeCome the first wOman ever selected by the Blue Angels to fly one of team’s six jets in tHeir aerial demos starting in 2023. photo credit: usn
Lee is one of six new officers selected to join the 2023 Blues. Joining her is another Super Hornet pilot, LCDR Thomas Zimmerman, and new “Fat Albert” pilot, Marine Corps CAPT Samuel Petko flying the team’s C-130J Super Hercules. Others include LCDR Brian Vaught as the team’s Events Coordinator, LCDR Greg Jones as Maintenance Officer, and LT Philippe Warren as the new Flight Surgeon.
“We had an overwhelming number of applicants from all over the globe this year,” said CAPT Brian Kesselring, commanding officer and flight leader of the Blue Angels. “We look forward to training our fantastic new team members, passing on the torch, and watching the incredible things this team will accomplish in 2023.”
The blue angeLs Flying the team’s F/A-18 Super Hornets in Their signature 6-ship delta formation. photo credit: mike killian
Hundreds of women have served with the Blue Angels over the years in other roles, responsible for everything from critical aircraft maintenance, to Public Affairs, Flight Surgeon, and even flying Fat Albert. But Lee is the first ever to be selected for the jet demonstration.
And while many women fly in the Navy as it is, and have now for many years, in the bigger picture, only a small percentage of military pilots are women. Less than 10% actually, and half that for women fighter pilots. Those numbers, however, are growing. Over 15% of the students training as naval aviators this year are women, and Lee will no doubt inspire a new generation of women aviators when she starts flying with the Blue Angels next year.
Credit: usn blue angels
The team selects new officers and pilots based on their qualifications, experience, and how well their personalities mix with the rest of the team. It’s all volunteer, there is no extra pay to be a Blue, and selections must be unanimous from the team members making the selections.
The Blue Angels are by far the biggest recruiting tool the Navy has, and the face of Naval and Marine Corps aviation to the general public. They have performed in front of over a half billion spectators since the team was formed back in 1946.
Photo cRedit: mike killian
Lee and the other new officers will report to the team this fall for a two-month turnover period as the Blues wrap up their 2022 season. They’ll conduct a five month training program at the team’s home base at NAS Pensacola, before heading to California for winter training at NAF El Centro, where Lee and Zimmerman will learn to fly the demanding demo maneuvers and close formations that have made the Blue Angels the most famous aviation demonstration team in history.
Their first public air show will take place at NAF El Centro, Calif. on March 11, 2023, followed by NAS Point Mugu, Calif. March 18-19.
It has become a legendary tale that Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, fueled by several alcoholic beverages, mapped out their plans for a new intrastate airline to connect the three largest cities in Texas – Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio – on a cocktail napkin at San Antonio’s St. Anthony Club, located in the St. Anthony Hotel, in late 1966.
The new carrier was to be called Air Southwest, and it was not the first airline venture in the Lone Star State for Mr. King.
A REPRODUCTION OF THE NAPKIN USED BY ROLLIN KING AND HERB KELLEHER TO SKETCH OUT AIR SOUTHWEST’S PLANNED ROUTES. (IMAGE: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES)
Interstate VS Intrastate
During the regulated era of commercial aviation in the United States (1938 – 1978), a company that wished to operate scheduled service across state lines – an interstate operation – needed a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to do so. The CAB’s requirements were stringent but, if a certificate was acquired, it granted the authority to transport passengers, freight, and mail, and it guaranteed protection from excess competition while enabling the ability to interline traffic with other certificated carriers.
The Civil Aeronautics Board also regulated fare structures. All CAB-certificated airlines had to charge the same rate for the same class of service and any special or promotional fares had to be approved by the Board.
But the CAB had not issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to a brand-new airline – one that had not already been operating in some other capacity – since 1950.
BOEING 737-200 N20SW IN SOUTHWEST’S ORIGINAL LIVERY (PHOTO: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES)
The rules were different for an outfit that wanted to limit itself to airports totally within the borders of a single state – an intrastate operation. In that situation, regulatory oversight was conducted by the state’s licensing authority and not by the CAB. Alaska and Hawaii were exceptions; the CAB kept watch over airlines operating totally within those two states.
Individual states were much more lenient in granting permission to airline managers who wanted to operate totally within their jurisdiction. The economic benefit of having a company that moved passengers quickly among the cities in your state was obvious. And intrastate airlines were still subject to the safety oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Thus, it was a win-win: the airline entrepreneur was able to get his airline off the ground with less red tape than he would encounter dealing with the federal agency (the CAB), and the state benefited from having an airline connecting the cities within its borders.
The most successful of the intrastate airlines at the time was PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines), which operated totally within the State of California. Regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, PSA connected three airports in the metro Los Angeles area with three airports in the San Francisco Bay area, plus it served San Diego and Sacramento. The airline was very popular and enjoyed a loyal clientele.
If you wanted to operate a successful intrastate airline, PSA was the model you studied.
ROLLIN KING (PHOTO: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES)
A Man From Ohio Who Buys a Wild Goose
West Texas, particularly the area between San Antonio and the Mexican border, was probably not the best place for an intrastate airline to make a go of it. Trans-Texas Airways (TTA), the CAB-certificated local service carrier most closely associated with air travel in the state, had served Uvalde, Eagle Pass, and Del Rio from San Antonio for several years in the late 1940s and early ‘50s, before the CAB allowed it to drop the route due to a lack of traffic.
Stagecoach Airlines, an intrastate carrier, attempted to serve the same cities in 1961 and 1962, but sustained losses that forced the little company out of business.
Undaunted by those failures, Wild Goose Airlines, an intrastate carrier operating as a division of Wild Goose Flying Service, owned by the H.H. Phillips Corporation, began serving the same West Texas stations—Uvalde, Del Rio, and Eagle Pass—from San Antonio in December 1963.
On July 20, 1964, Wild Goose Airlines officially changed its name to Southwest Airlines, and the company soon had a new owner: Rollin W. King.
King, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, an alumnus of both Case Western Reserve and Harvard universities, and a licensed pilot, had relocated to Texas in his capacity as an investment counselor. But, like so many others, he dreamed of entering the airline business. He purchased Wild Goose Flying Service and its associated Southwest Airlines.
It wasn’t long before he was consulting his attorney about liquidating the struggling company.
Rollin King was dissolving his little Wild Goose/Southwest operation, which had experimented with intrastate service by operating eight-passenger Beech D-18s between San Antonio and those small cities in West Texas. The amount of traffic among those places was not enough to sustain a commercial air transportation company. But he still wanted to be in the airline business, only in a bigger way.
AIR SOUTHWEST’S PROPOSED LIVERY DISPLAYED ON A LOCKHEED L-188 ELECTRA AIRCRAFT MODEL. (PHOTO: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES)
Rollin and Herb: Co-Founders
Rollin King’s lawyer was a gentleman named Herb D. Kelleher. Their collaboration that evening in San Antonio’s St. Anthony Club produced an idea that became a reality. Today, the result of that idea is one of the largest airlines in North America.
Air Southwest was incorporated on March 15, 1967, and filed its application to operate an intrastate airline between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio with the Texas Aeronautics Commission (TAC) on November 27. Instead of reusing the Southwest Airlines name from the business that had just been dissolved, King and Kelleher called their new company Air Southwest. Their choice of aircraft type was Lockheed L-188 Electras, which could be purchased second-hand from American Airlines.
On February 20, 1968, the TAC voted unanimously to grant the new company a certificate to serve the three Texas cities. It seemed that Air Southwest was well on its way to becoming an operating airline.
Making Simulation More Immersive and Training More Valuable
For decades now, training combat pilots to fly, fight and win has been done in ground simulators and in the air actually flying (think of the movie Top Gun). But such flying is very expensive. The truth is, training against 20+ year old jets just doesn’t replicate modern day threats like China’s J-20 or Russia’s Su-57, and USAF leadership knows it – despite the expertise and modernized avionics that private Red Air contractors and pilots fly with.
Cutting Edge Technology
That’s why both the DOD and Lockheed’s Skunk Works are backing a company developing a new technology to better train combat pilots, taking the simulation into the sky on real missions. Until recently, such tech was not possible, but that has now changed.
Red 6 ceo dan robinson flying in one of the company’s berkuts, their platform of choice to develop augmented reality flight training for the usaf. photo courtesy red 6
“For us to train against those threats, we need to be able to simulate them, and we just can’t do it. If we’re not scared of that, we should be,” says RED 6 CEO Daniel Robinson, who co-founded the Florida-based defense tech company in 2018. He knows a thing or three about the subject, being a former RAF Tornado pilot and the first foreign national ever to fly the F-22. He’s also a graduate from both the UK and USAF Fighter Weapons Schools.
“Everyone realizes the limitations to providing Red Air, there’s a chronic under-supply, and even with all the private contractors and the billions of dollars allocated to it, there’s still about a 75% demand gap,” says Robinson. “The USAF alone is 2,000 pilots short, and spending over $1 billion per year for adversary air that can’t simulate modern near peer adversaries.”
Overview of red 6 and flying with the tech (credit mike killian)
Synthetic Peers and Adversaries in AR
RED 6 believes the answer is with Augmented Reality (AR), which is different than VR (Virtual Reality) in that VR is a completely made up environment; you can’t see the real world. But in AR you can see everything in the real world, and can add synthetic objects (such as aircraft) into it.
Previously, the biggest problem with AR was that it didn’t work outdoors. It wasn’t bright enough, and couldn’t track properly. If you added a synthetic object and it’s floating in mid-air, and you move, the object would stay there. In order for a computer to pretend the object is real, it needs to know exactly where your head is and which way it’s turned and which way your eyes are pointing, because as your head and eyes move around it needs to constantly re-draw the object. That’s the key issue RED 6 has solved, developing what they call the Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System, or ATARS.
Lift Aviation’s Next Gen Helmet with Red 6’s AR Technology System Integrated into the Visor. Photo courtesy, red 6
Watch The video above for a more recent experience of atars in action (courtesy red 6)
It Feels Like The Real Thing
With ATARS a pilot can takeoff, look out the canopy and see other aircraft in wide-field of view, in full color and high resolution, which can maneuver against them and them against it. It’s a highly accurate, high-fidelity simulation to enhance training capabilities and allow pilots and ground operators to see synthetic threats in real-time, outdoors, and critically, in high-speed environments, blending AR and artificial intelligence.
For the first time ever, the USAF is currently operating under capacity and is under-prepared for a potential conflict with Russia or China. America cannot assume winning a conflict in the same way it has for decades. The USAF cannot retain their pilots, nor do they have sufficient aircraft, and most importantly, they’re not able to train against what they would actually see in a modern conflict with Russia or China.
An f-22 raptor deploying flares as a counter-measure against Enemy Missiles (photo credit mike killian)
“If we do not innovate, we are going to lose, period,” said Col Randel “Laz” Gordon, Vice Commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB in southern CA. “We were familiar with the dream and the concept (AR in-flight training), but we were always told that was years away. And then we walk in and actually realize, no, it’s today.”
“The beauty of AR is, if we have the intel on the platforms, which we do, then it’s just a simple matter of code, and we can code anything, so you can go up and train against anything,” says Robinson. Any computer-generated images can be flown by either AI or a real pilot on the ground.
Robinson flying one of the company’s berkut 540s to develop atars for use In combat pilot training for the usaf (photo credit mike killian)
RED 6 is developing ATARS with two experimental piston-powered Berkuts. Four different modules are integrated into the planes; one to track the aircraft, one to track the head, one to create the wide-view AR which draws the image for the pilot of whatever scenario is being flown, and one which is the main brain of everything.
The cockpit is extremely modern; there’s not a traditional dial or “steam-powered” flight instrument in it. A simulated tactical display similar to an F-22 or F-35 is mounted below the main instrument panel, providing info on position relative to the bulls-eye, and Robinson can cycle from looking at things in front of him to things around him. When a target appears, he can move a cursor over the target and click on it to see it’s information such as speed, altitude, distance and bearing. Once the target is selected it appears in the visor as a green circle target designation (watch the above videos to see).
“My Fighter Career” is a limited series of articles by Byron Hukee. He’s a humble, bad ass, retired USAF pilot who flew everything from the F-100 to the F-16. You can read his previous posts here:
In early July 1971, following my basic survival training course at Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) and water survival training at Homestead AFB, I headed to Hurlburt Field, Florida for Douglas A-1 Skyraider training. I had also been given a port call date of 13 October for my remote overseas assignment to Nahkon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) with the 1st Special Operations Squadron (SOS).
The Skyraider had already been in service with the USAF since 1964 in Southeast Asia. Since that time, it was also operated by the US Navy from their carriers in the Tonkin Gulf and by the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF). The Vietnamese had seven fighter squadrons at five air bases in South Vietnam. In fact VNAF pilots were also being trained in the Skyraider at Hurlburt Field while I was there.
The Skyraider was a magnificent beast and was powered by the Wright Cyclone R-3350 18-cylinder radial engine. This made the Skyraider the largest single engine operational attack aircraft ever built. (the Martin AM Mauler was larger with its R-4360, but only 131 were built and it served only between 1948-1953).
Our flying training program consisted of 45 sorties and 60 hours of flying time. My logbook shows 41 sorties and 68 hours. 95 hours of academic training were mixed in with flying training. We were kept busy every day of our three-month training program.
image via national archives
Switching Aircraft Isn’t Easy
Converting from one aircraft to another is difficult enough, but converting from a single-engine jet fighter to a single-engine recip attack tail-dragger is quite another thing. New words and terms that were previously unfamiliar to me were like learning a foreign language. Here is a sampling of new terms we were faced with:
Admittedly, most of these terms relate to the engine and not the airframe. It did boggle my mind though for quite a bit. Before we were scheduled for our first flight in the A-1, we had to get cockpit time on aircraft sitting on the ramp to become familiar with the location of all the controls in the cockpit. We then had to pass a “blindfold cockpit” test in order to be cleared to fly. We literally had to put on a blindfold and then touch the control lever or handle that the instructor called out. Eventually I completed this to the satisfaction of the instructors and we went out for my first orientation ride in the right seat of the A-1E.
A-1E Skyriaders. Image: Byron Hukee
I Learned From the Best
As in the F-100 program, the A-1 instructors were all combat veterans of at least one combat tour. My Instructor Pilot (IP) had served a tour at Pleiku in the 6th Air Commando Squadron . He went by the nickname of “Stretch” for obvious reasons. Stench was 6’ 5’ and weighed maybe 185 pounds. Stretch was my idea of a perfect IP, demanding, but not too demanding. He was patient and worked with me to get through what for me was the toughest part of the checkout. the first part was the hardest, consisting mostly of basic aircraft handling and takeoffs and landings. The first thing my IP said when I started to climb in the right cockpit for my “dollar ride” in the was be extremely careful climbing up on to the wing because it is slick as snot because oil from the engine works its way down the engine cowl and coats the right wing root with lots of it. He was right, I nearly busted my ass getting out of the cockpit and down the wing after the mission!
image via author
Flying this Beast was Difficult!
Flying this aircraft with the big 13’ 6” diameter 4-bladed prop powered by a 2,700 horsepower reciprocating radial engine meant that there was lots of torque. That torque continually made the aircraft yaw right on the ground during takeoff, and roll and yaw right in flight with high power settings. This of course had to be countered with left stick and left rudder. It took quite a bit of time before I got the hang of it when doing relatively simple maneuvers such as a chandelle or barrel roll. Unlike a jet powered aircraft, different amounts of control input were required depending on the direction of the turn or roll. The chandelle was the most difficult. It seemed to me that despite my best efforts, in the beginning, I seemed always to guess wrong. Eventually I got the hang of it.
Image via Scott Slocum
Once I Learned How to Fly the Thing, Then the Fun Began
Once basic aircraft operation became less of a concern, we moved on to air-to ground weapons delivery both in a controlled box-pattern environment and later in a tactical less structured environment on the tactical range. Bombing on the scrabble range was a piece of cake compared to what I had just experienced in the F-100. In the A-1, we were going about half as fast in the F-100. We were dropping ordnance from much lower altitudes so I found this relatively easy and scored well.
For example, in the F-100 we had a 2,000 foot foul line for low angle strafe with a minimum (foul) altitude of 1,000. In the A-1, the foul line was 1,200 feet and the minimum (foul) altitude was 100 feet! Since the rate of fire for the 20 mm cannons in the A-1 was about 12 rounds per second (as opposed to 100 rounds per second for the M-61 gatling) it was possible to fire a 2 round sighter burst with both loaded guns armed, one round out of each barrel! The tricky part with ordnance delivery was having the ball centered (yaw) at release or you would probably have left or right error. We would typically “trim” the ball out to the left in the pattern so that as we accelerated to release airspeed, the ball would likely be centered.
Dive bombing was also greatly simplified as compared to the faster F-100. Our pattern airspeed was 150 Knots Indicated Airspeed (KIAS) at an altitude of 5,000 Above Ground Level (AGL). Release altitude for a Mk-82 (500 pound General Purpose [GP] bomb) was 2,300 feet AGL at 270 KIAS in a 40° dive angle. This allowed ample safe separation to escape the frag pattern of the ordnance with a 4 second fuse setting.
image via national archives
Quarterback of the Skies
During our ground attack training, we were also trained on how to control airstrikes from other aircraft. We were directing airstrikes as we later would do in combat as a Sandy during a SAR mission. This training became very important as I would soon find out once I left the states and my family behind for my one year combat tour in the A-1 Skyraider. At our class get-together following completion of our training, Stretch pulled me aside and gave me two pieces of advice. He said, “Don’t ever duel with Anti Aircraft Artillery (AAA) guns, and there is nothing over there worth dying for.” I understood loud and clear the first advice, but was somewhat puzzled about the second. Weren’t we fighting to protect the interests of the US? Much later, I realized he was indirectly commenting on the political nature of the Vietnam War.
After completion of this training, my family and I went back to Minnesota. My wife and young son lived there during my one-year combat tour.
These Airborne HD Videos Will Give You a New Appreciation for the Art and Science of Fireworks Displays
Everybody loves fireworks. Well, animals and some folks maybe not so much, but they do entertain and enthrall us. Invented thousands of years ago in China, fireworks today often highlight events celebrating Independence Day and New Year’s Eve in the United States as well as other national events around the world. The sophisticated chemistry involved in making the different colors and explosive behaviors of fireworks are seldom appreciated by the “ooh aah” crowds attending the displays, but suffice it to say that if you know, you know, and if you don’t, the show will still be impressive. However, fireworks can be even more impressive when viewed from above, or level with, the “bombs bursting in air.” Enjoy these looks at fireworks displays as seen from the Avgeek’s perspective.
210704-A-AD638-0001 imagevia us air force
Fireworks Filmed With a Drone
Perhaps a little bit too close for comfort- think colorful flak or AAA! The video was uploaded to YouTube by AlteredStates.
Like many iconic airlines of the past Braniff is one I really wish was still around. Braniff started its journey in 1928 by a (World War I) aviator named Paul Braniff and his brother Thomas Braniff. Their first route was between Oklahoma City and Tulsa operating a Stinson SB-1 Detroiter, that only carried 5 passengers.
Stinson SB-1 Detroiter – used to fly between tulsa and oklahoma city, ok
The airline continued to grow, re-organize and acquire other airlines until its unfortunate shutdown in November 1989. During its 60 years Braniff flew over 420 planes consisting of 23 different types. Still today there are some ex-Braniff aircraft flying around the globe.
Starting with the oldest currently in service the Douglas DC-3 tops the list. Braniff had a fleet of 54 Douglas DC-3 (C-47) aircraft. During WWII Braniff used the majority of these for transporting troops and cargo. After the war many of these were returned to service with Braniff and became a workhorse of their fleet.
Braniff Douglas DC3 – Chicago Midway Airport (1949) (source Wikipedia Commons)
Sadly, today there appears to be only one airworthy ex-Braniff DC-3 and it was last seen flying in 2019 around Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Douglas DC-3A (1940) currently N61981 (#2216) Braniff = N25685
The Jet Age
Next up is the Douglas DC-8 (quad-jet). Braniff had 21 of these planes and used them mostly for long-haul routes into South America.
Currently the only ex-Braniff DC-8 still flying is owned by NASA and regularly flies out of Palmdale, California.
Douglas DC-8-72 (1969) currently N817NA (#46082) Braniff = N801BN
Braniff flew 19 Boeing 707s but there is only one of these still flying. The one remaining is the infamous 707 that was purchased in 1989 by John Travolta and named Jett Clipper Ella after his children with a nod to Pan Am.
In 2017 this airplane was donated to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society and is currently stored in Georgia (KBQK). There are plans to return this airplane to Australia but COVID and other things have delayed this from happening.
Boeing 707-138B (1964) currently N707JT (#18740) Braniff = N108BN
Braniff also operated the popular Boeing 727 and at its peak had around 130 of these aircraft. They flew both the 100 and 200 series, as well as a combo cargo version.
There are currently two known ex-Braniff 727s that are still flying.
Boeing 727-227 (1973) currently N422BN (#20735)
Boeing 727-227 (1976) currently N794AJ (#21243) Braniff = N442BN
After Braniff closed its doors most of the Braniff 727 were transferred to FedEx for cargo operations. But there were some others that flew for the airlines including with American Airlines and Delta Airlines. Those aircraft have all been retired.
Braniff III: A Couple Jets Soldier On
Braniff III was the final attempt to restart the iconic airline’s name. It was riddled with issues and did not succeed. Before their shutdown in 1989 Braniff took delivery of 5 (brand new) Airbus A320s.
These A320s were all transferred to America West Airlines (AWE) and 2 are currently still in service with Lift Airlines (GBB) in South Africa.
Airbus A320-231 (1989) currently ZS-GAR (#053) Braniff = N901BN
Airbus A320-231 (1989) currently ZS-GAL (#064) Braniff = N905BN
Other Notables
This article would not be complete if it did not mention some of the other cool aircraft that Braniff flew over its year. Some of them have been preserved so you can still see them.
Braniff became part The “Super Sonic” Transport (SST) days with an arrangement they made with Air France and British Airways offering Concorde service from Dallas to Washington DC. For about 1 year, they flew 9 of these aircraft, but were limited to subsonic speeds (below Mach 1) while transiting the United States. Today, there are 8 of these aircraft preserved at various locations around the globe.
Braniff also flew the Boeing 747 (100, 200 and SP series) currently none appear to be flying they are stored and still intact. They include: N747A (#21992) and A4O-SO (#21785)
Although Braniff is sadly not flying anymore there are lots of fans and memorabilia to keep the airline alive. One place to go back in time is the Braniff International website. Also, on Twitter checkout the https://twitter.com/BraniffIntl account for a great collections of photos. Last, but not least there are also lots of cool collectibles to be found on the internet and a dedicated Braniff Boutique to purchase Braniff items!
Byron Hukee shares the story of his career as an Air Force pilot. He flew everything from the F-100 Super Saber to the F-16. The first part of his series is here.
Following a looooong year at Webb AFB for UPT, I was heading to Luke AFB in Phoenix, Arizona for my first “real” Air Force assignment to learn to fly the F-100 Super Sabre. The Hun was the first of the Century Series fighters that entered USAF service in 1954 when I was in the third grade, but in 1971, it was nearing the end of its 17 years of service with the USAF, and I was about to get checked out in it with my meager 231 hours of flying time… 30 hours in the T-41, 89 hours in the T-37 and 112 hours in the T-38!
My Career Begins in the “Real” Air Force
Byron Hukee flew the F-100 Super Sabre. This is his story. Image: Byron Hukee
I arrived at Luke with my wife and son who was born in Big Spring, Texas five days earlier. We got settled in and I reported for duty at my new assignment the following Monday. As I was taught at OTS, I was to report to the commanding officer of my new unit, the 311th Tac Fighter Training Squadron, so I did so as soon as I arrived at the squadron.
After knocking on the door of the squadron commander, I entered and snapped a sharp salute. I noticed the name plate on the desk and said, “Good morning Col F_ck Face (I pronounced it fewk fa-say), Second Lieutenant Byron Hukee reporting for duty”, not realizing it was a prank name plate. With that inauspicious beginning, I got unprocessed into the squadron and tried to get my shit together.
I Learn How to Fly the F-100 Super Sabre
We were being trained not only on how to fly the F-100, but more importantly, how to employ it as a weapons system. Our next station of assignment was expected to be Phan Rang AB in the Republic of South Vietnam. All of the instructors in the 311th TFTS had at least one Vietnam combat tour in the F-100, and some had more. They also were long-timers in the aircraft with tours in Europe and elsewhere. For many, this was their retirement assignment and that resulted in an awesome and loose training environment.
The training course consisted of 240 hours of academic training and 120 training flight hours. We had academic training each day, and flew two or three times a week. My assigned IP wan one of the old heads who stated he was the high time F-100 pilot in the world without ever having to jump out of one. I flew both the F-100F and the F-100D models during training. Though he survived our class with his record intact, I later found out that he and his student had to eject from their F-100F when the engine failed during a training mission,
Byron Hukee flew the F-100 Super Sabre. This is his story. Image: Byron Hukee
Going to the Single Seat Version
The first couple of rides in each phase of training were dual in the F-100F. Once we were proficient, we mostly flew the single seat D model. The first phase of training was simply to learn how to fly the aircraft and get it safely back on the ground. My logbook shows I had one “sandbag” ride in the back seat, followed by five rides in the front seat of the F model before I took to the skies alone on 1/28/1971 in F-100D tail number 55-3752. A quick check shows that this F-100D later became a QF-100D so I guess I wasn’t as important as I felt since it obviously could fly without a pilot!
F-100 Was Easy To Fly, Tough To Master
The F-100 was not difficult to fly, but the workload greatly increased during aggressive maneuvering such as during air-to-air combat missions. The aircraft was definitely a “feet on the rudders’ aircraft. Those of us coming out of T-38s had to learn this quickly. During hard turns there was a tendency for the aircraft to exhibit “adverse yaw” which was a tendency for the jet to roll in the opposite direction that was intended.
This had to be countered with “bottom rudder, that is if in a hard right turn, the right rudder had to be blended in to keep the jet turning to the right. The harder the turn, the more quickly you had to get the rudder involved to keep the Super Sabre under control. If you were late with the rudder, you could expect the Hun to roll hard in the opposite direction resulting in uncontrolled flight.
It was not difficult to recover, but one could expect to lose plenty of altitude in the process. We practiced these maneuvers and the recovery at a safe altitude (around 20,000!) To become familiar with the recovery procedure.
And then there were the dreaded compressor stalls. These were most often caused when at high angles of attack and selecting afterburner. I learned this lesson the hard way when I tried to light the burner doing a defensive turn and reversing direction while lighting the afterburner.
Massive Bang!
I saw the flames shoot forward out of the intake followed immediately thereafter by a loud BANG that I felt through the rudder pedals. Seeing this, I unloaded the aircraft (reduced angle of attack) and pulled the throttle back below military power. The engine ran fine after this, but I was forced to “knock it off” and return to base with my IP leading the way.
During training, we flew air-to-air missions and ground attack missions. Instrument training missions and air refueling missions were at the beginning of the course. The F-100 used the probe and drogue method of refueling where the fighter would fly his refueling probe into a 28 inch diameter drogue, aka basket. Let me say, this was the most intriguing and demanding activity I ever encountered.
Consider both F-100 and KC-135 are flying at about 22,000 feet altitude at an airspeed of about 280 KIAS. It is really not that hard assuming you are in smooth air. But add a little chop and all bets are off. My instructor gave me a tip that I never forgot. He told me to take my feet off the rudders and tap my toes. I thought he was crazy, but I tried it and it helped me to relax and it then became a piece of cake.
My More Memorable F-100 Super Sabre Flights
Byron Hukee flew the F-100 Super Sabre. This is his story. Image: Byron Hukee
Some of my more memorable moments came on ground attack missions to Gila Bend range. I was number 2 in a four ship flight of F-100D models… four seats, four engines, four pilots! The lead was a lieutenant colonel who had about 3,500 hours in the F-100. We left Luke AFB to the south, turned east, cancelled IFR, and dropped to about 1,000 feet as we passed the Sierra Estrella Mountains on our right, headed east… no way you could do this now! I swung the turn to the south and set course for Gila Bend Range, now down to about 500’ AGL.
We spread out into a tactical formation about 500’ apart. On the distant horizon we saw the tell-tale black smoke trails of a flight of F-4 Phantoms out of Davis Montham AFB headed home using the same valley we were in. The instructor said calmly,” OK boys, let’s take it down a little, hold your heading.” We were now down low enough to avoid the oncoming Phantoms and the saguaro cactus that were the highest obstacles in our flight path.
Thunderbirds!
At about two miles from the merge, we saw the F-4s abruptly climb in a pseudo bomb burst. One of my fellow lieutenants keyed the mike and said, “Thunderbirds!”. Quite an event that I will never forget.
During our ground attack training, we carried training ordnance that simulated general purpose bombs that were released from a diving delivery and napalm that was delivered from a level delivery at an altitude of 50 feet above the ground at 400 knots airspeed.
When I asked the instructor how we could estimate 50 feet, he said when you pass the flank tower on your run in to the target, that is 35 feet high. If you are level with that tower, just climb it up a bit. Wow, those passes were exhilarating to say the least.
Big News Day
About three months into our training, we received word through our squadron commander that we were to have an important pilots meeting at the Officer’s Club on that Friday… all pilots were required to attend. We had no idea what would unfold, but it was quite a shock when we heard that F-100 operations in SEA at Phan Rang would cease and only the senior class of the three training classes would proceed to their F-100 assignments and head to Vietnam.
The I was in and the one that had just begun training, would get new assignments, but would be allowed to continue to the end of the F-100 course. This was important as it would get us the F-100 fighter qualification that would later transfer to other USAF fighter aircraft.
When the list was read assigning those of us who would not go to Vietnam in the F-100, I was told I would be going to the A-1 Skyraider with the 1st SOS (special operations squadron) at Nahkon Phanom, Thailand. While at Luke AFB, I was promoted to 1st Lieutenant which at this period of time in the USAF was 18 months after commissioning for me, from OTS. If I kept my nose clean, my promotion to Captain would follow in an additional 18 months.
Graduation and a New Assignment
Our F-100 class graduated in late June 1971. After leaving Luke AFB, I had to complete two survival school courses before reporting to Hurlburt Field, Florida. I first went to Fairchild AFB for Basic Survival School, followed by a TDY (temporary duty) assignment to Homestead AFB, Florida for Water Survival School. I then reported to Hurlburt Field the end of July for my A-1 Skyraider checkout prior to my port call for Southeast Asia in October 1971.
Greyhound Airlines is one of those unique footnotes in North American aviation but it’s an interesting story in Canadian business competition. Back in the mid-1990s, the Canadian aviation market was growing. Upstarts like WestJet and Royal were competing with established brands like Canada 3000, Canadian, Air Canada, and AirTransat for leisure business. New markets that were previously only served by buses and charters began to be connected through new service.
At the time, Greyhound was already a well established bus service in Canada. They saw the market trends and began to feel that their established service was at risk. So they had an idea.
Greyhound said, “What if we started an airline?”
Like most rational businesses, they sought to use their established name and strengths to be a differentiator in the market. In this case, the existing passenger bus network was seen as a potential advantage because they could connect certain cities via both air and ground and speed overall travel for customers. In theory, a passenger could begin their travel at a small town, travel via bus to the nearest city with air service, then travel via air to their final destination. The busses would act as ‘connector’ or ‘express’ service, not unlike American Airlines recently started bus service in the Northeast US.
Greyhound Air began service with a ‘hub’ out of Winnipeg, Canada with service to Vancouver, Hamilton, Edmonton, Ottawa, amongst other cities. Their plan was unique, but their execution was all the more interesting. Greyhound did not have an airline certificate. So they partnered with the cargo airline Kelowna Flightcraft and leased a total of 7 Boeing 727-200s to expedite the start of their service.
Canada has a rule that you can only display the operator’s name on the side of an airliner. In Greyhound’s case, they were not the operator so they couldn’t put “Greyhound Air” titles on the aircraft. The management team came up with a creative solution. They knew that the greyhound logo was already one of the most recognizable logos. So they outfitted the tails of their 727 with a large Greyhound logo and put their 1-800 reservation number on the side of the jet as the title.
Greyhound Air had some creative marketing too
The airline drummed up support with a series of commercials depicting that the new airline was ‘marking its territory.’ The airline featured print and TV ads with a greyhound peeing on the nose gear of a Boeing 727. It definitely generated discussion.
Greyhound service was standard low-frills
Greyhound Air wasn’t a bad airline. Service was standard low-frills for its time with free non-alcoholic drinks and complimentary snacks but no meal service. The cabin was all coach class. No frills, but not quite as tight as what RyanAir and Frontier offer today.
The airline only offered ticket sales via the 1-800 number and through the internet. They eschewed travel agents and other common sales channels of the time. While definitely forward thinking, Greyhound missed out on a significant portion of the population that was still used to booking travel through an intermediary.
Greyhound was sent to the pound
Greyhound Air’s value proposition of connecting air travelers to bus service proved more difficult than anticipated. The combination of traffic on the roads, delays in the air led to cancelled and mismatched itineraries that resulted in a less than stellar operation. Additionally, Greyhound’s parent company was sold to Laidlaw, a large ground transportation company. The new owners didn’t see the long term value of the airline and wasn’t too keen on supporting the airline until it become a profitable venture. Greyhound Air only survived a little over a year.
“My Fighter Career” is a limited series of articles by Byron Hukee. He’s a humble, bad ass, retired USAF pilot who flew everything from the F-100 to the F-16.
Hello, my name is Byron Hukee and I would like to get you to know me better with a bit of my background. I served in the USAF for 24 years and flew a variety of fighters and attack aircraft and finished with 3,100 total hours and 400 combat hours. I attended USAF pilot training at Webb AFB, Texas in the early ‘70s. In order, I flew the F-100D/F, the A-1E/G/H/J, the A-7D, the F-5B/E/F, and lastly, the F-16A/B.
Initial UPT training included perfecting your “Landing” in a Parachute in case you ever had to punch out. Photo: Byron Hukee.
Unlike many of my friends and fellow pilots, I was not someone who “was born to fly.” In fact, I had no intention of serving in the military but fate (and the Vietnam War draft) intervened. I attended college from 1964 to 1968 at a small school in Minneapolis called Augsburg College. I guess all along I thought I would become a teacher so that is what I set out to be. I majored in Biology and got a teaching job in a small southern Minnesota town. During my time at Augsburg, I was given a draft deferment since I was in a student. A man could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress in virtually any field of study. But once I graduated from college, all bets were off.
Drafted
It was over Christmas break of that first (and only) year teaching when I returned to my home town to find a draft notice on the refrigerator door, held in place by a magnet advertising the local dairy company. I looked at with astonishment and asked my mother when it had come. She said it was a while ago and she was right as I was to report for my pre-induction physical just after the new year. I passed the physical and was told that since I had a college degree, I could apply for the delayed entry program and I could also contact any branch of the military to see whether I could qualify for their officer programs.
I visited the Air Force recruiter first and was told that yes, they needed officers, especially those who wanted to be pilots. I had no idea whether this was for me, but decided to give it a shot. It certainly seemed better than crawling though rice paddies with a pack and a rifle over my shoulder. I took a test called the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) that would determine whether or not I was fit to be an officer. I passed and my next hurdle was to pass a flight physical to determine whether I had any physical deficiencies that would disqualify me from flying.. There were none, so seemingly I was good to do. I was allowed to finish the teaching year at my school and it was there that I met and married my current wife so we have made this whole trip together, going on 54 years of marriage. Looks like it will work out.
I departed for Lackland AFB, Texas and AF OTS (officer training school) in August 1969. It was a 90 day program with the first six weeks as a know nothing knuckle head and the next six weeks being part of the harassment team for the new knuckle heads. I rode to Kelly AFB near San Antonio in a KC-97 aircraft from the Minnesota ANG. Quite a noisy ride and horrible vibration the whole way. OTS was a bit intimidating but there was comfort in knowing we all in my class in this together, so cooperate and graduate was the rule of the day.
Near the end of OTS, we were given our base of assignment and I was sent to Webb in Big Spring, Texas. UPT was very demanding, but once I figured out flying was fun and I was good at it, I could relax more and have fun.
First flight in the T-41, a military version of a Cessna 172. Photo: Hukee
First up was the T-41, the military version of the Cessna 172. I went in to my flight training very apprehensive, but confident I could get it done. What I didn’t know was that even though I might have the skills and coordination to fly, I had no idea whether I could keep from getting air sick. We had many in our class get eliminated because they could not fly without getting air sick at some point in their flights. I found that it was never a problem for me, not ever. I completed the T-41 training easily and was among the first in my class to solo. On that flight we took off and did some air work, then came back to the traffic pattern for stop and go landings. After the third landing, the instructor told me to taxi to the side, he opened hid door and got out, saying have a nice flight. Wow! I took off, did two more stop and goes, then a full stop. What a relief!
Pilot Training Begins
The T-37 “Tweet” was next and my biggest worry was air sickness since I knew we would be doing spins and spin recoveries. That can get a bit wild. But there were no problems and the formation flying was fun and I was good at it. I was anxious to get on to the T-38 and that was next.
Flying the T-38. Hero shot of Byron Hukee. Image: Hukee
Everything about the T-38 was amazing. The White Rocket was a real treat after flying the Tweet and once again I adjusted nicely to the added speeds in all phases of flight. Airwork, instrument training, formation flying and landings… I did it all and had no problems with any of it.
Maybe I Was Born to Fly. I Was Doing It.
Wings are the goal. Here’s Byron receiving his wings. Photo: Byron Hukee
I was not the top of my class, but high enough to get a fighter assignment. During that time, some of the top guys wanted to go fly C-141 or other multi-engine aircraft so they could jump to the airlines the first chance they got. Good for them! I’ll go fly fighters! My assignment upon completion of UPT was to the F-100 at Luke AFB. Upon completion, I was told we would be headed to Vietnam to fly the F-100 in combat.
Back in 2016, Alaska Airlines announced that it was purchasing Virgin America. It was a merger that at the time was touted as bringing together two great employee groups to “build on the successes they have achieved as standalone companies to make us an even stronger competitor nationally.” It led to a substantially larger airline but didn’t really set any new standard in airline service or hospitality.
Alaska worked to merge the two airlines together by 2018 with a fast rebrand to avoid paying any additional royalties on the Virgin name that was used by license. Subsequently, Alaska tore down Virgin’s New York focus routes and cut many west coast routes as part of the merger, and downsized their Dallas Love Field focus city significantly. Alaska is also now in the process of divesting of Virgin’s Airbus fleet as part of simplifying their fleet structure back to an all Boeing 737 airline. While our focus of this story is on what we miss, it is pretty clear that the benefits of Alaska’s purchase didn’t all pan out as promised.
#1 – Swanky Check-in experience
The Virgin America Checkin Experience. Image:: Atomic Taco (cc 2.0)
Virgin America was arguably the swankiest airline in the US since the days of Braniff. You knew it was different as soon as you stepped into the terminal. Fresh flowers, purple mood lighting, and swanky music was their signature. Instead of computer terminals and lines, they had a desk with modern (for the early 2010s) monitors to check in and red carpet for first class and frequent flyers with status.
It was different than almost every other airline out there. Alaska adopted few to none aspects of Virgin’s check-in experience. Alaska looks like every other airline and that’s too bad.
#2 The Virgin America Cabin
The Virgin America Cabin. Source: Virgin America
The Virgin America cabin was arguably the most forward thinking cabin of this century. As soon as you boarded, you knew it was going to be a unique experience. The crew had modern uniforms, music played over the speakers, and the clear purple partition was markedly different than any other airline. In first class, it featured white leather seats that were more common on widebody aircraft at the time. The seats reclined to near flat and had plenty of legroom along with footrests and large TV screens. The purple mood lighting set the scene. Coach seating wasn’t anything too special but the all black leather seats were a classy touch.
Alaska incorporated a few of the cabin changes. They have black leather seats and blue mood lighting but that’s about it.
#3 RED Entertainment System
Another reason why we miss Virgin America is their onboard entertainment options. Virgin America had seat back entertainment systems called RED with Live TV, movies, games, music and even the option to chat or play games with other seat mates. It was rumored that quite a few couples met on Virgin America as part of the feature. There were also a few times where a passenger messaged other passengers who did not want or appreciate the communication.
In 2022, this list of entertainment features isn’t revolutionary any more. However, it was fairly rare for narrow body A320s to have this option back in 2007 when it was introduced. Continental was the only major airline that had in-seat entertainment back then. Delta, United, and American–which later took theirs out– added the option on their narrow body fleet in the early 2010s.
One other amazing features included the option of ordering food via the menu at any time via the screen instead of row-by-row service from flight attendants. Virgin America featured local, bay area snacks, wines, and beverages that were pretty gucci at the time.
Alaska adopted only a few of Virgin’s cabin offerings. Alaska said that they improved the onboard experience by offering a bring your own device option. However, they removed the monitors as part of standardizing the now-departing Airbus fleet with the rest of Alaska’s interior refresh. They stated it was to save weight. As part of the merger, Alaska did upgrade their cabins and offer local snacks and treats, primarily now from the Seattle region.
#4 The Catchy Safety Song
I’ll admit that I hated it at the time. However, years have passed and I’m quite nostalgic for Virgin America’s catchy safety video. At Alaska today it’s the industry-standard safety presentation. We kind of miss that ‘up in the sky’ music and goofy video. So we found it on YouTube and are sharing it for old time’s sake.
Nothing is wrong with Alaska, we just miss Virgin
Four Things We Still Miss About Virgin America 38
Bottom line is that there is nothing wrong with Alaska Airlines today. They are making money and provide a solid product. It’s just not as fun or swanky as Virgin America was. The merger took away one of the most unique US travel options out of the sky and replaced it with more of the same. That’s why we miss Virgin America. It was different. What do you still miss about Virgin America?
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released its Preliminary CY 2021 All Cargo, Rank Order report from ACAIS. ACAIS is the FAA’s Air Carrier Activity database, which is used to determine subsidy apportionment under the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP). The overall trend continued to show that air cargo is a large growth area for the industry.
The numbers reveal some interesting trends over the past year. Not surprisingly, Anchorage grew as Asian cargo traffic rebounded. Anchorage is strategically located between the US and most common cargo destinations in Asia. These numbers don’t reflect the additional growth expected for Anchorage in 2022 as additional cargo operators now stop in Anchorage due to the restriction of Russian airspace after the war in Ukraine.
In the top three, it was surprising though to see that Memphis, Fedex’s largest hub, actually saw a slight decrease in cargo from 2020. UPS, one of FedEx’s main competitors based at Louisville, did see a 4.47% increase in traffic.
The Preliminary All Cargo report ranks 140 US Airports according to landed cargo weight in US pounds. The top 3 airports in 2021 were:
ANC – Ted Stevens Anchorage showed an 8.69% increase in landed weight, from 22,882,827,499 pounds in 2020 to 24,870,445,702 pounds in 2021. ANC is a major cargo hub midway between Hong Kong and the continental US, used particularly for fuel stops and flight crew changes.
MEM – Memphis International revealed a 1.15% decline, from 25,156,876,655 pounds in 2020 down to 24,867,472,042 pounds in 2021. MEM is home to the Federal Express Superhub.
SDF – Louisville Muhammad Ali increased 4.47%, from 16,756,934,214 pounds in 2020 to 17,506,400,843 pounds in 2021. SDF is home to United Parcel Service’s Worldport.
A couple of surprises
The list put numbers behind a few known trends. The largest trend is that any airport with an Amazon ‘hub’ (as part of a large regional distribution center) saw extensive growth in 2021 as more and more people utilized delivery for common goods. On this list, Toledo (TOL – Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express) is the airport that reported the largest percentage increase, a whopping 483.22%! The airport’s growth put them in the top 100 cargo airports for the first time since BAX Global maintained a hub there back in the 1990s.
Fort Worth Alliance (AFW) also saw a large 45.75% growth, placing it in the top 20 cargo airports for the first time. Lakeland International in central Florida also rose into the top 50 at number 42. They grew cargo service by 263% in 2021 as Amazon ramped up operations at the airport.
The passion for aviation can be enjoyed in many different ways. Some people work on flight crews, ground operations or in other aviation industries. Some people have various aviation hobbies, such as: flying, photography, visiting museums, attending airshows, learning aviation history, and more. But one hobby that includes many aspects of aviation is plane spotting. Plane Spotting can be as simple as going to the airport to watch planes on the weekend to the other extreme of traveling around the world to see, photograph, and log aircraft.
No matter where you are on the plane spotting spectrum, modern software can help you be more informed and aware of where aircraft are located. Below is a listing of 4 applications that can be used to help you find, track, and discover airplanes.
This site and app is incredibly useful and allows you to quickly track aircraft from around the world from over 20,000 ground-based receivers. FlightRadar24 uses various methods to track aircraft including ADS-B, Multilateration (MLAT), radar and satellite to show aircraft position data (see https://www.flightradar24.com/how-it-works). The program also includes additional information such as: photographs, airline information, speed, squawk codes, altitude and more. FlightRadar24 has a free tier as well as two additional paid tiers (see https://www.flightradar24.com/premium for more information on pricing). The Silver plan is great for most plane spotting needs and removes advertisements that are shown on the free plan.
Pros: works on iOS, Android and web-browsers, very nice interface, powerful aircraft alerts Cons: does not show blocked aircraft, requires subscription for advanced features, filtering can be difficult
Next up, is FlightAware, this service has been around for a long time and has the largest reported number (33,000+) of ground stations (see https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats). In addition to showing public information, this company provides data to FBOs and other aviation companies around the world. This service might be one of the more business focused and less AVGeek focused services. But, there is lots of data on this site including photographs and detailed flight information.
Pros: works on iOS, Android and web-browsers, powerful API (requires subscription), community forums Cons: expensive for advanced features, does not show blocked aircraft, application design is a little dated
SAM 28000, “Air Force One” when the President is on board, is one of the two VC-25s (747-200s) presidential aircraft. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Daniel J. McLain)
Similar-yet-different than FightRadar24 and FlightAware, ADS-B Exchange is an open service that allows you to view aircraft around the world from over 8,500 ground-based receivers. Since the program allows tracking aircraft without blocking, I tend to use ADSB Exchange more often than I do FlightRadar24 or FlightAware. The map lets you select an area and view aircraft anywhere in the world. There are some powerful filtering features that help you choose the information to see and options to customize the map and aircraft display. Although this is not a dedicated app many developers have integrated into the ADS-B Exchange data feed, including my favorite Android App (ADSB Flight Tracker).
This is a great mobile application to have on your iOS or Android device. JetTip provides the ability to get notified of unique, diverted, or notable aircraft at selected airports in the United States and Canada. This service costs $5 per month but is worth every penny. There are numerous options to configure that will allow you the ability to fine-tune what notifications you receive.
Pros: helps you not miss an exciting livery or aircraft coming into a nearby airport Cons: limited to the United States, the app filtering can be a little confusing
Bottom line: Just have fun and use the right tools
Summary: Plane spotting is fun and with the help of these applications you can start to recognize types, airlines, or liveries no matter where you are. The 4 applications mentioned above can be used by beginner or experienced plane spotters. All of these services are free or offer a free trial to get started. Each of the above services has something to offer that will help you become a better spotter. I recommend trying all 4 of these services to see which ones make the most sense for your use. Happy Spotting!
