Thin Ice

Thin Ice 1973_816_820

There is no substitute for being there as the sun rises.  I seldom make it but on this day I did.

We were fortunate to have clouds modifying the sun's light that morning.  I like the patterns formed when water begins to freeze.  The previous night was cold enough yielding this image with the "almost star" highlighted by the sun's rays.  Some of the areas were still unfrozen. 

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Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor

F-22A Raptor

I was surprised to see the F-22 at the NMUSAF.  How could we afford to have a $150 million aircraft used for display?  I mentioned this to one the volunteers who told me this was a test model.  It flew in tests until the airframe was no longer capable of combat maneuvering.  It was worn out.  It flew to Dayton from Edwards Air Force Base in California just not at combat speeds.

This is the front line fighter of the USAF.  It is stealthy.  It is the most advanced fighter in the world.  It is designated a generation 5 fighter.  No other country has a generation 5 fighter.  It is highly maneuverable and flies supersonic without the after burners, called Super Cruise.  Some of the high maneuverability is obtained by thrust vectoring which helps it turn quickly.  

I read on Wikipedia that the last one was produced in December, 2011.  The Air Force bought 187 of them.  The reasons were cost, and lack of threat.  

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The Naked Truth About the F-86

RF-86F Haymaker Sabre

I thought of the title for the blog when I saw this plane.  I just could not help myself.  I had to use it.

In the beginning of military aviation the reconnaissance and spotting roles were the first.  Probably reconnaissance came first.  The RF-86F was a reconnaissance variant flown in Korea.  They had to remove the guns in order to mount cameras where they had been.  They painted on the gun ports so as not to make the aircraft look vulnerable to the enemy.  I am sorry that the light does not shine on the part of the fuselage where the cameras were mounted.  

GE J73 Turbojet Engine

The intake end of the engine serves as an air compressor.  The compressed air is emptied into the combuston chamber where fuel is introduced.  It ignites and forces its way past the turbines and out the exhaust end.  I recently had an ah-ha moment about the compressor end.  I now understand how the air is compressed.  

I wish they would have turned it around so that it is alined the way it would have been mounted in the aircraft.

In case you have forgotten how the "clothed F-86" looked here it is.

F-86A Sabre

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Flying Wing

Northrop B-2 Spirit

Jack Northrop who started Northrop Corporation did a lot of work on the flying wing.  Early on it was discovered that the idea would fly, so to speak.  But when it was put into practice there were some stability problems which put an undue workload on the pilot.  The YB-35 was an example.  During the testing of that aircraft it was noted that it had low visibility on radar but the fact was just filed away overshadowed by the stability problems.

Fly By Wire, aka computer controlled flight, when applied to the flying wing concept yielded the B-2.  It is naturally stealthy even before the radar absorbent coating is applied.  

Northrop B-2 Spirit

  The bomber is virtually invisible to radar and is a USAF front line weapon.  

The one on display at the NMUSAF is a "mockup"  Before actually building a plane they build a full scale model as part of development.  It has never flown. 

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The F-111 Aardvark

F-111F Aardvark

This is a swing wing fighter/bomber.  I think we have found there to be a difference between interceptor and fighter and bomber.  Planes that go fast can't turn quickly.  Dog fights seem to equal the playing field.  They occur at high to mid subsonic speeds.  An interceptor can fire missiles at long range maybe even while supersonic but needs to slow down if it engages in a dogfight.  The f-111 had the swing wings to help it in a dogfight.  I understand that it was not a good dogfighter.

I am having trouble deciding about this shot.  I got the spot light out of the frame in the top right but did not see the light rays from it until I processed the HDR image.  Those rays even show up near the concrete on the left.  I like the perspective of the shot and the plane is sharp.  I wish I had another go at it.  I might try to move to my right and try to eliminate those rays.

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Supersonic Flight

We have previously considered the need for an all moving horizontal stabilizer on supersonic aircraft.  Without it, the aircraft became uncontrollable in the trans-sonic region of flight.  There was a lot of research going on in the 40's and 50's.  I remember hearing in the news about Chuck Yeager, flying the X-1.  They discovered that need for the all moving horizontal tail through that research.

North American F-86 Sabre

 The F-86 would sometimes go supersonic in a dive.  It would become uncontrollable.  They eventually added an all moving horizontal tail surface to correct this.  I wish that I could find one with this horizontal stabilizer. 

Soon, planes came along that had the power to travel supersonic in level flight.  The F-102 Delta Dagger was one.

F-102 Delta Dagger

At the beginning of its development, It could not seem to get past the sound barrier even though it had been designed to do so.  More research revealed the need for the Whitcomb Area Rule.  If we draw an imaginary line down the central axis of the aircraft front to back and calculate the area of the vertical slices, the area needs to stay roughly equal in the central portions.  This calculation includes where the wings are attached.  The fuselage must get smaller where the wings attach to reduce the overall area.

F-102 Delta Dagger

They applied that rule to the f-102 and it would then travel supersonic.  You can see how the fuselage reduces in cross section where the wings attach.

B-1 Lancer

Knowing about this, we can notice it in other supersonic aircraft.

Convair B-58A Hustler

 Today, we take such things for granted in our aircraft.  Thanks to those who worked so hard to make these discoveries.  

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