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Flightdeck Friday: Of Oxcarts and Old School Ways
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Flightdeck Friday: Of Oxcarts and Old School Ways

BySteeljawscribe

Sometime in April 1958, Lockheed first undertook the study of a replacement for the U-2.  Unlike the U-2, this would be an aircraft able to cruise at Mach 3, with a range of over 4,000 nm at altitudes exceeding 90,000 ft.  It would also have an RCS (radar cross section) smaller than the U-2 and…

Fifth Generation Fighters – The Competition Casts Its Ballot (UPDATED)

BySteeljawscribe

UPDATE: Lots of comparisons to the F-22 based on the front end shots and planform, but I’m also thinking that Sukhoi took some cues from this bad boy: based on a comparison from the tailfeather POV: for comparison, here is an in-flight of the YF-22 and YF-23: Things that make you go hmmm…. In this…

Initiative and Decisiveness: Here’s one from the “Able Dogs”

BySteeljawscribe

Recent discussion over in Lex’s ready room on resurrection of the COIN mission and supporting aircraft types sent your humble scribe over to the Able Dog’s site for some refresher training. In so doing, stumbled across this story that is timeless in its telling and lesson. Reproduced in part here in the hope that you,…

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The Solomons Campaign: Battle of Santa Cruz (II)

BySteeljawscribe

Overnight: 25-26 October During the night, crews on the Hornet positioned aircraft on the flightdeck if the prospects of a night strike by moonlight made themselves present.  In the meantime, PBY Catalina’s, using the first crude airborne radar sets, continued to try to locate the Japanese fleet in the darkness.  Shortly after midnight, one PBY…

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Flightdeck Friday — The Ties That Bind (II): Remembering Ned Geiger

BySteeljawscribe

Another Flightdeck Friday and sadly, another memorial – this time for another pillar of the E-2C Community, CAPT Edward C. Geiger, USN, ret. (“Ned”).   Ned passed away suddenly earlier this week just as he was beginning to enjoy a well deserved retirement having wrapped up his post-Navy career.   Services are tentatively slated for…

Steeljaws Airborne Again?
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Steeljaws Airborne Again?

BySteeljawscribe

Arriving in the mail today — the E-2D IOT&E patch.  IOT&E (Initial Operational Test & Evaluation) is a critical milestone event for the E-2D program.  Conducted by VX-1, operating out of Pax River, IOT&E provides an opportunity to test the aircraft and weapons system in a more dynamic environment than what was present for developmental…