Webmaster for FirstAeroSquadronFoundation's (FASF) website. Also the CEO of the 501C(c)(3) aviation history-oriented FASF non-profit, which is dedicated to the Birth Place of American Airpower and Rebirth Place of American Civil Aviation in 1916 & 1917 in Columbus, NM.
Four years ago, August 10, 2014, we reported on the dilemma facing the 1st AIR FORCE ONE, our Presidential Transport aircraft. Back then, in 2014, this historic airplane had been almost accidentally discovered, actively in the process of rotting away in the blistering heat of a Marana, AZ aircraft Boneyard, about 30 minute’s drive Northwest of Tucson, AZ.
Well, we are happy to report that that news story, appearing on the aviation news circuit, and the happenstance rediscovery of it at Marana by Scott Glover, apparently did the trick, as the below 40:50 length video reveals. Remember to keep your audio turned up!
The New Airbus Double-Decker Plane – Let’s Take a Tour . . .
If you have to fly half-way around the world then you might want to do it in a Double-Decker Airbus A380. This particular plane is owned by the Portuguese Airline, “Hi Fly” and features three classes of servic: Economy, Business, and First Class.
Of course, there’s a significant cost difference between the classes, but wouldn’t it be nice to fly in Business – – – or First Class? If travelling in First Class just isn’t good enough for you then you might want to see the second video below, and “buy American” for your luxury air travel aboard a privately owned Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The video tour of the Airbus A380 was taken at the great international British Farnborough Airshow just a few weeks ago. The 1st video is 3:17 in length, and the second, 7:16 long.
Remember: Don’t hesitate to enjoy your full-screen view, and make sure your sound is turned up for both these videos!
And, not to be outdone by the large commercial airline manufacturers, we next experience a visit inside a ultimate smaller business jet, one made by America’s Grumman: its reknown Gulfstream G500. This ship is Qatar Airways’ $45 million version of the aircraft. This video is 3:16 long.
Daedalian Flight 24 Captain, Roger Nichols, and Vice Captain, Ric Lambart, both long time active FASF members, once again had the privilege of presenting Leadership Awards to graduates of the Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon programs at Halloman Air Force Base (HAFB) near Alamagordo, NM, earlier this month.
Other Daedalian Flight members, all from El Paso, Texas, also attended the gala event, at which the principle guest speaker, Four Star General James M. Holmes, himself once a USAF Fighter Pilot, gave an inspiring address to the graduates, their instructors, parents and friends.
Other Daedalians at the event also included Colonel Mario Campos and his wife, Judy,Colonel Bob Pitt and wife, Julie, Virg Hemphill and wife, Jenine, Charlie Overstreetand wife, Mayre Sue, and Jerry Dixon. Virtually all the Daeedalian Society members from the El Paso Flight are also long time FASF members.
For the first time, HAFB combined two fighter squadrons into one graduation ceremony, which was held in one of the Base’s large aircraft hangars. Approximately 400 graduates and guests attended the ceremony, which included the 311th and 314 Fighter Squadrons.
Here are the photos taken during the event – see any photo in hi-resolution by clicking on it:
Captain Coke Nolan, at left, one of the two MC’s for the event talking with Daedalian Flight Captain, Roger Nichols . .
L to R above: Jenine and Virg Hemphill,Mayre Sue and Charlie Overstreet.
L to R: Jerry Dixon, MJ Tucker of HAFB, who handled the graduation details, greeting Colonel Mario Campos, while Colonel Bob Pitt looks on.
L to R: FASF Aviation News Scouts and Daedalians, Virg Hemphill and Retired USMC Aviator, Jerry Dixon.
View of the stage and the two MC’s busily running through their smooth routine before the audience.
L to R: Judy Campos, Julie Pitt, Roger Nichols, Bob Pitt, Ric Lambart, Charlie Overstreet and Mario Campos.
Again, View of the stage and the two squadron MC’s animatedly running through their amusing routines before the audience.
One of the two Daedalian Tables with, L to R: Ret. USAF Fighter Pilot, Col. Miles “Cowboy” Crowell, Roger Nichols, Marioand Judy Campos, Charlie and Mayre Sue Overstreet.
The other Daedalian Table, with ((Clockwise from front Left: Jerry Dixon, Jenine and Virg Hemphill, Julie and Bob Pitt, newly retired fighter Pilot and his still active duty USAF Flight Nurse wife, and another Flight Nurse.
Graduates and guests begining to fill their plates for dinner.
L to R: Colonel Jeff “Tank” Patton congratuting the 311th Squadron’s winner of the “River Rat” award, and co-presenter, retired USAF Col. Cowboy Crowell.
L to R: Roger Nichols presents Daedalian Leadership Award to Capt. Foley Elliot, F-16 graduate from the 311th FS.
L to R: Ric Lambart congratulates the 314th Fighter Squadron’s Lt. “Banjo” Rutledge on his Leadership Award.
Daedalians all, Lto R: Bob Pitt, Jerry Dixon, Roger Nichols, Capt. Foley Elliot and Lt. Banjo Rutledge, Daedalian Awardees, with Ric Lambart, Charlie Overstreet, Mario Campos, and Virg Hemphill.
Daedalian, Colonel “Cowboy” Crowell describes the hiostory of the “River Rat” award, which has its roots back during the Vietnam conflilct.
Ms. Villezcasjoined the Las Cruces CAP Squadron 24 a year ago with the intention of learning to fly with the CAP, which is a full-fledged Auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF) – (see Air Force photo above with the two USAF Aircraft: A CAP Cessna and F-16 Jet Fighter), which supplies all of the facilities and equipment, including costly modern aircraft, to each Squadron throughout the U.S. For this reason the CAP uniforms are based upon the USAF’s.
Mission Pilot, Dave Bjorness (L), and Scanner Trainee, Alma Villezcas (R) in the process of conducting their Preflight Inspection of the CAP Cessna Skylane prior to the Mission . . .All photos in this story may be seen in full resolution by simply clicking on them.
The origins of Civil Air Patrol date to 1936, when Gill Robb Wilson, World War I aviator and New Jersey director of aeronautics, returned from Germany convinced of impending war. Wilsonenvisioned mobilizing America’s civilian aviators for national defense, an idea also shared by other aviation activists.
In Ohio, Milton Knight, a pilot and businessman, organized and incorporated the Civilian Air Reserve (CAR) in 1938. Other military-styled civilian aviation units emerged nationwide and helped train pilots for defense of the homeland.
In 1941, Wilson launched his perfected program: the Civil Air Defense Services (CADS). That summer, tasked by Fiorello H. LaGuardia (New York mayor and director of the federal Office of Civilian Defense and also a World War I aviator), Wilson, publisher Thomas H. Beck and newspaperman Guy P. Gannettproposed Wilson’sCADS program as a model for organizing the nation’s civilian aviation resources.
Their proposal for a Civil Air Patrol was approved by the Commerce, Navy, and War departments in November, and CAP National Headquarters opened its doors on Dec. 1, 1941, under the direction of national commander Maj. Gen. John F. Curry. Existing CADS, CAR and other flying units soon merged under the CAP banner. Public announcement of CAP and national recruiting commenced on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor..
CAP Personnel in military formation in front of one of their Stinson Patrol Aircraft in 1942.
L to R above: Mission PILOT, Dave Bjorness, Mission Commander and Flight OBSERVER, William Benzinger, and Alma Villezcas, Mission SCANNER Trainee,briefing about their tasks and esponsibilities before their Mission.
Above, Ground Team Personnel, Mike Legendre, (L) briefing Communications Officer, Joe Parea, at right. Each mission, whether a practice exercise operation, or a genuine emergency mission, requires numerous ground based personnel working closely with, and in constant radio communication with the CAP aircraft “eyes in the sky.”
Above, Alma readies for the Mission, which will entail scanning for a downed aircraft and taking hi-resolution color photographs of it and the surrounding terrain for ground rescue agencies’ guidance.
Above, Alma checks out her Intercom equipment, as flight crew readies for engine startup. She has already opened the side window’s Camera Port. The High Resolution Professional Digital Camera must shoot all photos through this open window so that no window reflections nor glare interfere with the photo’s high quality.
The aircraft has started its engine and begins to taxi out for take off. The CAP Squadron’s main hangar is in the background above.
Alma and her crew returned safely from their successful 2 hour long SAR Mission Exercise, having finally located the simulated downed aircraft and also it’s ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) radio signal.
The following 7 minute video gives a moving glimpse into what Almaexperienced during her very first CAP Training flight.
To enable you to appreciate the hard, exciting – and extremely dangerous (particularly in inclement weather and at night) work of today’s U.S. Navy Carrier pilots, we’ll start out with some fair weather operations, all using the Boeing F/A-18F “Super Hornet” strike fighters of the current Navy inventory, and then move on to some videos taken during bad weather operations. This first video shows you what the experience is like during fair weather, this clip is only 2:06 long.
The below Naval Aviator’s helmet says “No PRO” but after you watch him land his F/A-18F on an aircraft carrier, we think you’ll agree that he is a true professional. When you think about it, unlike Air Force and land based Marine pilots, Naval Aviators on shipboard always have an audience when they land on board a carrier, so they are at least more strongly motivated to perform at a higher level. But, regardless, audience or not, this type of landing a high-speed jet fighter is vastly more dangerous than landing the same type of fighter on land – – – at an airfield.
Next, below, we’re going to show you what’s involved during bad weather and night operations, using the same FA-18Hornet Aircraft. Here, then, are two Continue reading →
This story is thanks to FASF Aviation News Scout, Virg Hemphill(L)
One of the last few living British female World War II Ferry Service pilots, the legendary Mary Ellis, died peacefully at he home, at 101, on the Isle of Wight this past Tuesday evening, the 24th of July 2018.
Mrs. Ellis was a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and delivered Spitfiresand bombers to the front lines during the conflict.
She said she had flown “about 1,000 aeroplanes” during the war, before moving to the Isle of Wightin 1950 to take charge of Sandown Airport.
ATA secretary John Webster described Mrs. Ellis as an “amazing” person.
While she was commonly known as the last-surviving female pilot from the war, in fact there are three others.
This story was located by FASF Aviation News Scout Virg Hemphill (L) and written by Ric Peterson
Video: Air France:Credits : Airborne Films for Air France and the French Air Force and the Patrouille de France. Keep you sound turned up to hear the video’s scoring. The Video length is 3:30.
This impressive video was shot on January 27th, two years ago, when a dozen jewels of French aviation met over the Camargue region of France. Eleven Alphajets from the Patrouille de France (the Patrouille is the French equivalent to our Thunderbirds and Blue Angels Military Exhibition Teams – but is the world’s oldest such team) and the last Air France 747 flew in formation as a salute to the Boeing Icon’s last days with the airline.
On 14 January 2016, Air France offered customers a tribute flight over the country’s landmarks. The flight number as AF747. More than 45 years after the first flight from Paris to New York on 3 June 1970 the Company saluted the Jumbo Jet’s last flight in style with a business class lunch along with champagne for all.
Since the early seventies, the Boeing 747 has been a showcase of modern innovations and has revolutionized air transport. Air travel became more widespread and we entered an era of mass tourism. For cargo, the Boeing 747 had pressurized holds, which were ventilated and protected against fire. Four times larger than the previous generation of Boeing, the 707, they could carry 122 tons of cargo! On both of my trips from Montreal to the Paris Airshow I flew on the Air France Combi 747.
Air France was one of the first airlines to operate this aircraft, making it the flagship of its long-haul fleet: New York, Montreal, the French West Indies, Reunion, Asia … most of the Company’s destinations have been served by the Jumbo.
Air France says, “We started innovating from the early seventies. The role of chief purser was created to coordinate the service and attention paid to customers in this aircraft which could carry up to 500 passengers. Inflight cuisine was of great importance, with menus designed by great French chefs: Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenôtreand Pierre Troisgros. Finally, the cabin interior was designed by Pierre Gautier-Delaye, who paid particular attention to the comfort of the seat cushions and seatbacks.”
While we’ve all heard of the new DRONE rage, have we ever before seen anything even approaching this sort of orchestration? Hardly. This TIME Magazine special cover event seems to be a first for such an extravagant enterprise – – – 1,000 individual Drones flying in perfect synchronization in order to achieve the desired result. Just imagine creating the software to bring this plan to a successful reality.
Without further ado, here is the short (4:28 long) video of not only the final effect of the project, but of a fascinating insight into the behind-the-scenes efforts that made it all possible.
Some of our FASF Drone enthusiasts, such as Bob Wright, John Read, and Warren Talbot have already created some footage for our site, so if any of you out there have some interesting airborne videos from your Drone flights, please let us know and we might be able to share those videos with our viewers right here, too.
Remember, the U.S. Military is already deeply involved in the use and development of their own DRONE technology. All branches of our Military establishment, however, prefer their own nomenclature for their DRONE ops, preferring to call them UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) rather than Drones. The Army and Marines are using UAV craft as small as an insect, to as large as the GLOBAL HAWK and even full-sized multi-engined aircraft.
The earliest genuinely successful DRONE or UAV technology was likely first experienced during WWII with the use of DRONES (as they were then called) for target towing missions, but this soon evolved into actual combat applications (see videos below). When one considers that modern computer technology was not available in that era, what was done with simple radio remote controls is impressive.
Interestingly, the small private aircraft called the MOONEY MITE, a single place ship, is and example of what was done after WWII, when wartime Drone work and design helped lead to concepts such as the small primarily wooden constructed MOONEY MITE plane, a small ship designed to fulfill an expected new market made up of returning WWII fighter pilots. It’s designer, Al Mooney, had worked earlier for the CULVER AIRCRAFT COMPANY just prior to and during WWII, where he was the principle designer of the CULVER CADET an airplane which is discussed in the short (3:45) video immediately below:
Here, again below, are some short videos to show how DRONES were used, long before either computers or even TV were known to the general public. This first video is 1:24 in length.
As early as WWI, aviation designers and engineers could see the advantages of UAV’s, so had begun work on the concept. In the post WWI era, and especially in the 1930’s, a great deal of effort, some of it even successful, was undertaken in Great Britain, by the Royal Navy. In 1933, a modified floatplane called Fairey Queen was tested as the first flightless drone aircraft. It crashed on two out of three trials, but by 1934, Queen Bee, a modified Tiger Moth aircraft, followed with greater success.
Training gunners on these rudimentary models wasn’t a very realistic simulation, but a solution was soon to come from the United States in the form of British-born actor Reginald Denny, and his Radioplane Company. After years of trying desperately to interest the US Navy in the Radioplane-1, Denny finally succeeded in 1939, and over the course of the war some 15,374 models of Radioplane were built.
As an interesting aside, did you know that film star Marilyn Monroeonce worked assembling these radio controlled UAV’s? At that time, her later movie name wasn’t yet part of our culture, so, at Radioplane, she was known as simply Norma Jeane Dougherty, the 18 year old wife of a U.S. Merchant Marine Seaman.
Fast, agile and durable, Radioplanes were fitted with responsive radio controls and were better able to mimic the speed and agility of enemy fighters. Even during the D-Day summer of 1944, the Allies turned to high-stakes DRONE warfare. Under the code name Operation Aphrodite, radio-controlled bombers were packed with explosives and guided into the air by Allied pilots instructed to eject before their planes reached high-value targets in territory controlled by Nazi Germany. (Killed on one of these treacherous missions was the Navy aviator Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., older brother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy).
Below is a USN video (8:10 long) that depicts the Navy test of a TDR-1 combat Drone in the Pacific:
As for the advent of and actual deployment of the new variety of “insect sized” UAV’s, that will have to wait for a later post, but here is some descriptive material about that avenue of research right here.
May 31, 2018 – Hot off the newswire from theEAA: The EAAFounder’s Innovation Prize has added another highly regarded aviation expert to the lineup for the Tuesday night competition during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018. Retired Lt. Col. Olga Custodio, the first female Hispanic fighter pilot in the United States will be the emcee, presenting the five finalists in the live showdown. The Founder’s Innovation Prize, presented by Airbus, is in its third year and challenges EAA members to share their best solutions for lowering the rate of in-flight loss-of-control accidents, the leading cause of fatal accidents in the general aviation community.
Custodio retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve with 24 years of service. Among her countless achievements, she was the first Hispanic female to graduate from U.S. Air Force undergraduate pilot training, became the first female T-38 UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) flight instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base, and then became the first female T-38 pilot instructor training flight instructor at Randolph AFB. She was awarded the Air Force Air Education and Training Command’s Aviation Safety Award for superior airmanship during a bird strike and engine failure emergency and for executing a safe heavyweight landing in weather minimums.
After resigning her U.S. Air Force commission, Custodio entered the Reserve as an officer training school instructor and began her 20-year career flying for American Airlines. She has logged more than 11,000 hours of flight time.
See Custodio and the five Founder’s Innovation Prize finalists at An Evening with Innovators on Tuesday night July 24 at Theater in the Woods.
Those who still wish to submit their idea for the competition must do so before 11:59 pm CT on Friday, June 1, for a chance to win one of three cash prizes. Visit www.EAA.org/prize to learn more.
Below is a 7 minute long video is of an interview by FOX NEWS TV of Retired USAF and American Airlines Pilot, Olga Custodio.
Long overdue on its scheduled delivery, and clearly well over its earliest budget estimates, the F-35 has hardly been without its share of public scrutiny and even legitimate criticism.
But here are a few videos to help you understand that this machine’s status – and reputation – are in a constant state of flux, but do appear to be moving in the right direction, in terms of the Stealth Jet’s ability to not only overcome its early deficits, but to actually pleasantly surprise even some of its harshest critics as to its true lethal combat capabilities.
Below, by way of The joint Forces Channel, is this 2:28 long video that poses this post’s basic question re the current combat readiness of the Air Force’s latest 5th Generation fighter, in particular, how it stood up in the skies above Edwards Air Force Base to combat capabilities against the Air Force’s middle aged 4th Generation (now more accurately, 4.5 generation), but thoroughly and actual combat proven, F-16 Viper (or, if you prefer the official General Dynamic’s Name – the Fighting Falcon:
Below, thanks again to The Joint Forces Channel, is a 2:12 long video entitled:
Reaction of a highly experienced combat F-16 Pilot After Flying the new F-35
Below, 7:24 long, courtesy of “New Update Defence” is a video entitled:
Here’s why the F-35 once lost to F-16s, and how it made a stunning comeback.
And here is a short commentary video (1:56 long) by USMC Colonel Steve Gillette, entitled “Why the F-35: It can go where other aircraft can’t.”
