Author Archives: RIC

About RIC

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.

The B-1, B-2, B-52 – – – What Will Be the Next U.S. Bomber?

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The above video in only 1:38 long. The above video is thanks to the Northrup-Grumman Corporation.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James recently announced that the B-21 bomber will be called the B-21 Raider. The name represents the historically important role the new long-range stealth bomber will lead for the next 50 years.

The name is a tribute to the sheer bravery and grit displayed by Jimmy Doolittle and the Doolittle Raiders during World War II; and the legacy will now be carried on by future Airmen. Assisting Secretary James on stage to announce the name was one of the original Doolittle Raiders, the last living Doolittle Raider, and Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot, 101-year-old Air Force Lt. Col. (Retired) Richard Cole.

The above video is 9:10 in length and is courtesy of Warthog Defense.

If one accepts the premise that the B-21 will be powered by twin unaugmented F135 engines, one can then assume that the new bomber will be larger than a Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle or General Dynamics F-111 “Aardvark,” but smaller than the B-1 Lancer or B-2 Spirit.

Given the types of threats from low frequency radars that are projected to be out there in the future and the limitations of current low observables materials, B-21’s subsonic flying wing design will be large enough to counter low frequency radars.

A tactical fighter-sized stealth aircraft must be optimized to defeat higher-frequency bands such the C, X and Ku bands as a simple matter of physics, but a strategic bomber like the B-2 or LRS-B can be larger to counter lower frequency radars. There is a “step change” in a stealth aircraft’s signature once the frequency wavelength exceeds a certain threshold and causes a resonant effect. Typically, that resonance occurs when a feature on an aircraft—such as a tail-fin—is less than eight times the size of a particular frequency wavelength. That means a bomber like the B-21 has to have allowances for two feet or more of radar absorbent material coatings on every surface or the designers are forced to make trades as to which frequency bands they optimize the aircraft to operate in. As such, to defeat low frequency radars operating in the L, UHF and potentially the VHF bands (this is easier said than done—and could in fact be impossible), a flying wing design is in effect, mandatory.

The above video is 10:57 long.  The new aircraft will be designed to have global reach, in part by incorporating a large arsenal of long-range weapons. The B-21 is being engineered to carry existing weapons as well as nuclear bombs and emerging and future weapons, Air Force officials explained. It if’s arsenal is anything like the B-2, it will like have an ability to drop a range of nuclear weapons, GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions and possibly even the new Air Force nuclear-armed cruise missile now in development called the LRSO – (Long Range Stand Off) weapon. It is also conceivable, although at this point it is speculation, that one day the B-21 will probably be armed with yet-to-be seen weapons technology. This information is courtesy of “US Military Technology.”

 

NEW MEMBER FROM MINNESOTA VISITS FAS 1916 AIRFIELD

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Colonel Don Patton, US Army Retired, who is one of the founders of the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch WWII History Round Table in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, dropped by to visit the First Aero Squadron 1916 Airfield here in Columbus, yesterday.  After touring the FASF Headquarter’s Office, and the Airfield, Colonel Patton and Ric Lambart picked up another FASF long time member, John Read, Manager of the Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, and went to Palomas, Mexico to have lunch at the world renown Pink Store.  The picture below, of Col. Patton, John Read and Ric Lambart was taken by another long time FASF member, Yvonne Romero (scroll down to the Pink Store), the creator – and owner/manager – of the  Pink store.  Any of the below photos can be seen in full-size by simply clicking on them.

L to R: Col. Don Patton, John Read, and Ric Lambart – Photo by Yvonne Romero

Col Patton standing by the wind-sock pole at the 1916 Airfield with Columbus in the background.

After his visit to Columbus and Palomas, Mexico, Colonel Patton departed for Holloman Air Force Base, to join his son, Colonel Jeff “Tank” Patton, USAF, who commands the Base’s 49th Operations Group at the Air Base.  After touring the Pancho Villa State Park with John Read, the Colonel visited the home of Richard and Betty Dean.

Dean is considered to be the foremost local historian on matters related to the infamous raid on Columbus in 1916 by Pancho Villa and Richard is also the President of the FASF’s sister organization, the Columbus Historical Society, which operates the well known “Depot Museum” in town.  Mr. Dean’s great-grandfather was one of the victims of Villa’s marauders on March 9, 1916.  Dean has appeared on both PBS specials about the Raid and also on other national TV networks regarding the same infamous historical event.

Col. Patton standing on the E-W Airfield Runway.  The view is to the East towards El Paso, Texas.

Colonel Patton fills our his FASF Membership Application.

Colonel Patton poses in front of the Pancho Villa State Park’s historic Curtiss JN-4 Jenny Airplane.

L to R: John Read explaining some of the historical facts about the infamous raid of March 9th, 1916 by Pancho Villa, Col. Patton.

L to R: Col. Patton listens to more about the 1916 Raid from John Read.

L to R: Col. Patton listens to John Read explain how this 1914 photo of U.S. General Black Jack Pershing, with Pancho Villa has most often misidentified his Aide de Camp as Lt. Patton (later General George Patton of WWII fame – who was involved with Pershing in the 1916 Punitive Expedition, but was not in that particular photo.  The man so often misidentified as young Patton, was actually the General’s Aide de Camp, Lt. James Lawton Collins, who sometime after WWII also became a Major General himself.).  Our new member is not related to General George S. Patton. 

Colonel Patton had recently booked one of our long time Advisors, Dr. Roger Miller, former Deputy Historian for the United States Air Force, to speak to his WWII Round Table in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Dr. Miller made presentations about both the First Aero Squadron’s involvement in the 1916-17 Punitive Expedition, and also the Berlin Airlift.  Both topics are specialties of Dr. Miller’s.  The former USAF Historian has also authored some well known books on both those episodes of U.S. History.

How the Spectacular Filming of SpaceX Launches is Done

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Have you witnessed the amazing videography and photography covering the spectacular SpaceX launches?  If you have, you’ll enjoy the following short (5:14 minutes) video of this process.  If not, then you’ll see some of these launches and learn how they are successfully put back into motion.  Our thanks to “Fighter Sweep” for this video and the story.

Do You Know the Real Reason Amelia Earhart is so Famous?

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It would surely be surprising if any of you FASF website viewers didn’t already know a great deal about the American Aviatrix, Amelia Earhart, but here’s an interesting video, 7:04 minutes long, that gives you some background about what it is that really made her such a world-wide female and aviation celebrity.

As a matter of coincidence, the video also reveals some of the events and phenomena relating to the instigating of the American public’s romance with aviation itself, and the actual activities within the post WWI aviation civilian community that opened the doors to both U.S. civil aviation’s rebirth, as well as how this came about.  If you make note as the video plays, at about the 3:45 minute mark into the film, you’ll get a brief explanation of how America’s romance with flying opened up the new era of commercial aviation’s first-ever profitability – – – and business viability.

And, of course, as did no other airplane at that point in history, if was the First Aero Squadron’s now military surplussed Jenny’s that opened up that great new era – – – and began America’s new romantic involvement with, and enthusiasm for aviation in general.

This SST Plane Could Fly Across the Atlantic in Only 3.5 Hours

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The below video tells the tragic story of why we no longer are able to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in only 3.5 hours, as we once did. The video is 10:22 in length, and we thought you might find it historically interesting to experience.  The Video was produced by Vox. What is “SST”?  It stands for Super Sonic Transport.  Enjoy.

The Warhawk, Tomahawk & Kittyhawk – – – The Fabled P-40

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The above WWII Army Air Corps’ Pilot Training Film is courtesy of Zero’s Drive in Videos, and it is 35:41 in length.  Remember to click on the full-screen view button of the video in the lower right hand corner of the film’s start up screen, if you’d enjoy seeing the larger screen version displayed.

The Flying Tiger’s shark mouthed P-40 is one of the most iconic aircraft of WWII. Here, above, you can watch the film used to actually train P-40 pilots. It was produced by P-40 manufacturer Curtiss-Wright (remember Curtiss? They produced the First Aero’s Jenny in 1916 & 17), and it is in rare WWII color. One of our long-standing active members, Roger Nichols’s (the current Flight Captain of the Order of Daedalians Flight 24, of El Paso, Texas) own father, Major General Frank Nichols, was stationed at Pearl Harbor on the day it was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Air Forces on December 7, 1941. The then young Lieutenant took off to fight the overwhelming enemy forces in his P-40 Warhawk, which he continued to fly on other missions in the South Pacific War Theater, before transferring to other types of aircraft, such as the P-38 Lightening. Claire Chenault’s Flying Tiger’s (see above photo of Flying Tiger version with its unique paint job) deadly weapon in China was the P-40.  It was the Army Air Corp’s main front-line fighter at the outbreak of the War. Not as agile as a Japanese Zero, the P-40 nevertheless made up for that with speed, especially in a dive – – – and firepower. This rugged Curtiss-Wright built plane served the Allies around the world, from the deserts of North Africa to the jungles of SE Asia.

The aircraft featured in the above manufacturer’s film is a P-40F or L, both models of which were powered by Packard built British Rolls Royce Merlins for better high altitude performance. Other P-40 versions were powered by American Allison engines.  P-40s supplied to Commonwealth countries were known as “Kittyhawks.”The other variant of the Curtiss Fighter was known as the Tomahawk.

The above WWII training film was reproduced by Zeno, Zeno’s Warbird Video Drive-In.

Check out their P-40 DVD with two more videos & the iconic airplane’s actual pilot’s manual. You can visit their aviation DVD storet for one of the World’s broadest selections of World War II &  other vintage jet aircraft aviation videos, too.

Collings War Bird Tour Coming to Our FASF Area April 2018

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The above short (only 30 seconds long) video gives you an idea of what’s in store for those lucky enough visitors to our long-time business member’s War Eagles Air Museum (WEAM) this coming April. For only two days, from the 4th through the 6th of that month, the acclaimed Collings Wings of Freedom collection of WWII Warbirds will be giving rides and conducting walk-through tours of the historic aircraft from their famous flying collection.  Below is their advertisement for this upcoming nearby event.Below, you will see a short (4:11) video by the Collings Foundation about the “Last Liberator” (B-24 Bomber of WWII).  This heavy WWII bomber is the only one still flying, which is remarkable considering the fact that more of these bombers (over 18,000) were produced by the United States than any other military aircraft in our nation’s history.  And, almost half of these Liberator’s were produced under contract to Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, the warship’s designer, by the Ford Motor Company.  The mother aircraft corporation later became known as CONVAIR (From Consolidated Vultee Aircraft), and was headquartered in San Diego, CA.  It became famous for its manufacture of some of the most famous seaplanes of all time, and later entered both the jet airliner field and our NASA Space program, producing the famed Atlas rockets.

By visiting this post’s links to the Collings Foundation’s website, you will be able to actually see short videos of what a ride is like in each of their touring WWII Warbirds.

The “Wings of Freedom Tour” has two goals: to honor the sacrifices made by our veterans that allow us to enjoy our present freedom; and to help educate the visitors, especially younger Americans, about our national history and heritage. All comparable goals to those of the First Aero Squadron Foundation’s own mission.  The Collings Foundation encourages people to tour the planes, talk to the veterans who come to visit the aircraft, and participate in a “flight experience”. Celebrating 26 years, the tour has made more than 3,000 visits to airports across the contiguous United States and to Alaska. While the exact number of visitors is difficult to gauge, it is estimated that over 3.5 million people see these fully restored historic aircraft annually.

Watch The Test Launch of the SpaceX FALCON HEAVY Rocket

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Thanks to our Aviation News Scout Jerry Dixon and SpaceX for this latest news release.

Following its first test launch, Falcon Heavy is now the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)—a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel–Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.

Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.

The above launch video is 34:18 in length, so if you don’t have the time to watch the entire film, simply fast forward to about 21:00 minutes so see the actual lift off itself.  Notice the innovative way that the rockets are saved for further deployments by returning them safely back to earth on their own landing pads right at Cape Canaveral.  We are clearly now beginning to bear witness to the great cost savings to the taxpayers achieved by permitting private industry to compete – and run – these heretofore exclusively government run operations.

FASF Members Learn of El Paso’s Veterans Court Program

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Yesterday, at their regular monthly meeting in the El Paso Club in downtown El Paso, Texas, the local Daedalian Flight learned about the city’s unique pioneering District Court Veteran’s Treatment Court Program, led by Judge Angie Juarez Barill and Silvia Serna, the program’s Director.  All the Daedalians present, yesterday, are long time members of the FASF.

The mission of the El Paso Veterans Court Program is to divert justice-involved veterans and active service members from the traditional criminal justice system by providing them treatment and judicial monitoring to afford them the tools needed to lead a productive and law-abiding life.

The program was initiated because of some seemingly incorrigible veterans, many suffering from PTSD or an inability to ease effectively back into civilian society after experiencing the traumatic effects of wartime combat.  It was discovered that, with proper counseling and special handling, these troubled veterans could usually recover well enough to fit back into their civilian lives in a productive way.  Judge Barill’s program is one of the few pioneering courts in the nation to take this rehabilitative approach to Veterans who have unfortunately come into contact with the Judicial System.

L to R: Col. Bob Pitt, Patrick Barill, Judge Angie Juarez Barill, and Daedalian Flight Captain, Roger Nichols, chatting before the luncheon meeting began. Both Col. Pitt and Captain Nichols are long time FASF members.

  • The Veterans Court Team meets for each docket on Wednesday prior to each court hearing. The meeting is held at the 346th District Court offices located at 500 E. San Antonio, Suite 701, El Paso, TX 79901.  To contact the program, call: 915-546-2119 
  • Veterans Court Team Staffing provides an open forum in which everyone involved in a case can gather to share information, discuss issues, and reach consensus on actions for participants to successfully complete the program. The goal of maintaining a therapeutic court is forefront in all decisions.
  • The Goals of the Veterans Court Program are as follows:
  • – Provide early identification of eligible program participants.
  • –  Introduce participants to an on going process of recovery designed to help them become stable, employed and substance abuse-free while continuing mental health care through community/peer counseling groups or the VA
  • – Engage in community education and partnership efforts to develop shared understanding and foster a spirit of commitment and collaboration with the Veterans Administration, Treatment Providers, Volunteer Mentors, the Criminal Justice System and other organizations.
  • – Reduce participant contacts with the criminal justice system; and
  • – Reduce costs associated with criminal case processing and re arrest.

“Leave no Veteran Behind and Honor their Service”

Captain Nichols, at the podium, introducing the Veteran’s Court Program’s leader, Judge Barill.

Seal of the EP Veterans’ Court

This program is supported by a grant from the Texas Veterans Commission Fund for Veterans’ Assistance. The Fund for Veterans’ Assistance provides grants to organizations serving veterans and their families.

Ms. Serna operated and extensively informative Power Point summary of the entire Veteran’s Program, explaining how it began and how it operates today.

Judge Barill explaining her program to the assembled Daedalians.  The Daedalian Seal on the podium, translated from Latin means: “We Flew – We Fly” – – – the slogan of the Society, which was formed by former WWI military pilots soon after the war ended.

L to R above: Silvia Serna, Veteran’s Program Director, and Judge Barill.  All members of the Daedalians are former U.S. Military aviators – – – and also veterans, themselves, so they were extremely interested in how the Judge’s unique Court Program functions.

After the meeting:  L to R above: Captain Roger Nichols, Silvia Serna, Judge Barill and Colonel Bob Pitt.

Judge Barill received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas-El Paso and her J.D. from Texas Southern University.  She has worked as an assistant city prosecutor with the municipal court and a sole practitioner dealing with civil, criminal, juvenile and family cases. She then served as a municipal court judge. In addition, Barill founded the Veterans Court in El Paso County.  She has been a District Court Judge since 2004.

Two Motorcycle Racing Fanatics Go Ballistic in an F-16 Viper

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Josh Hayes and Melissa Paris Go Ballistic in the F-16 Viper.

This motorcycling husband and wife take a wild ride far above the race track, cavorting about the sky in a pair of F-16 Vipers belonging to the Ohio Air National Guard.

Repeated American National Superbike Champion (2010, 2011, 2012) racer, Josh Hayes, lived out a childhood dream. He and his wife, Yamaha R6 Daytona Sportbike racer Melissa Paris, each got a back seat ride in an F-16. They even did a little dog fighting; no marriage counseling required. This chic flick is brought to you by OnTheThrottle (OTT). They announce that they don’t have F-16 parts – – – but they do have sport bike parts!

The below 8:00 minute long video allows you to follow them into the sky.

The above opening video still photo shows Josh Hayes (L) and his wife, Melissa Paris (R) in front row during pre – flight briefing.  Sitting behind them is Ohio Air National Guard Lt. Colonel Zane E. Brown (Call Sign “Insane Zane” or “ZEB”).  Colonel Brown has since been promoted to full Colonel.  He is one of the pilots who flew the couple (Melissa) in the F-16s.