In time, one of the ongoing “lessons RE-learned” has been/continues to be the need for a tough, heavily armed aircraft that is able to perform in close coordination with ground troops, in a high intensity, small-arms fire environment. Whether facing armored assault or insurgency attacks, through the years and myriad of conflicts, some aircraft have…
Initial planning is underway for a reunion of all Steeljaws next year, most likely in the Norfolk area. Open to anyone who was a part of the Figthin’ Bitin’ Steeljaws from 1967-1996 (and I think we’ll even welcome SteelBats as well — and if you have to ask, you weren’t one 😉 ). More info…
This Thursday, 21 October 2010, marks the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the first purpose built AEW aircraft, the E-2 Hawkeye (actually, it was the YW2F-1). Designed around the radar, rather than adapting an existing airframe, the Hawkeye symbolized function over form – from the 24ft “rotodome†prominently perched over the fuselage, to…
1050L 24 Oct 1944. USS St. Lo (CVE-63) is under heavy air attack. After successfully fending off the superior surface force of VADM Takeo Kurita’s Center Force, “Taffy 3†is now defending against a surprise air attack that has lasted some 40 minutes already. One of the features of this attack is the use of…
Project CADILLAC (Part II)     Project Cadillac was more than just a program to develop radar – it would develop an entire AEW system — Radar, IFF, relay equipment, shipboard receivers, and airborne platform. Such an undertaking would be ambitious enough in peacetime, at the height of a critical stage in the…
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…
Project CADILLAC (Part I) Ed note: Everything has a beginning and that beginning is usually quite humble compared to present conditions. Consider, a small spring at the headwaters of the Madison River in Montana is the source of the mighty Missouri River which itself empties into ol’ man river — the Mississippi, all of which…
By any measure, fifty years is remarkable. Birthdays, reunions, wedding anniversaries – in all of these the marker set at fifty years is justifiably prominent and noteworthy. For aircraft — especially those in carrier aviation, it is signatory. This month the E-2 Hawkeye will celebrate 50 years, starting with the first flight of the prototype,…
Perusing the usual pull from a variety of sources, happened across this item: Two Russian Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers have carried out a record-breaking 40-hour patrol over three oceans, an Air Force spokesman said on Thursday, RIA Novosti reported. “The Tu-95MS bombers carried out patrols over the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans and…
