Chucks Footnotes

PHANTOM: hauntingly similar to CONDOR

AeroSpace, All Posts, UVS; Unmanned Vehicle Systems No Responses »

Aug 312010

Boeing just revealed its most recent HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) PHANTOM UAV. To read the Phantom’s performance goals of several days endurance at over 65,000ft is déjà vu all over again at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Suspended from the ceiling, the 1980s CONDOR spreads its magnificent 200ft wing span across the top of the entire museum’s displays.

Here; listen and read for yourself. The voice may be familiar, even if the facts are new.

Condor Final wav

http://hiller.org/condor.shtml

http://www.boeing.com/Features/2010/07/bds_feat_phantom_eye_07_12_10.html

From RUSSIA With LOVE

All Posts 1 Response »

Aug 282010

Some mornings are worth getting up for more than others. This morning, the 395ft Russian yacht, “A”, anchored in Monterey Bay is a case in point.

My home overlooks the bay, though it is usually obstructed by a morning fog, both physical and mental. So you can imagine my vigorous eye rubbing as my brain time-warped into “the 20,000 Leagues Nautilus”, the HMS Dreadnought terribly off course from the Battle of Jutland, or a phony cardboard cutout from a James Bond movie. I even considered an extreme low tide, exposing remnants from Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet visit here in 1908.

No, it was actually an even bigger fantasy. Here was a communist Russian turned fabulously wealthy capitalist, Andrey Melnichenko, dropping anchor from his $300-million yacht, practically in my front yard. Now vodka can make me feel good, borscht is tolerable, and I do not begrudge a man his wealth, but youth! That I cannot abide. Mr. Melnichenko is 38 years old, married to a former model, and has a bomb-proof glass secret “nookie room”.

And here I thought we had won the cold war.

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052702303695604575181911796253780.html

These additional photos show what brought the dreadnoughts to mind.

****************This is the HMS DREADNOUGHT, a design championed by First Sea Lord Adm. Fisher, in 1906. It was a real game changer, setting off a global arms race culminating in WWI. Interestingly, Adm. Fisher had predicted the war with Germany would begin in October, 1914. That was the scheduled completion date for the Kiel Canal which would facilitate the movement of the German fleet between the Baltic and the Atlantic. His prediction was only off by two months.

Incidentally, Adm. Fisher insisted on a ramming bow for Dreadnought. She never fired a shot in anger but did sink a German U-boat. She rammed her.

The earliest dreadnoughts were intended to take part in a pitched battle against other battleships at ranges of up to 10,000 yd (9,100 m). In such an encounter, shells would fly on a relatively flat trajectory, and a shell would have to hit at or just about the waterline to damage the vitals of the ship. For this reason, the early dreadnoughts’ armor was concentrated in a thick belt around the waterline; this was 11 inches (280 mm) thick in Dreadnought. She also had bulges below the waterline to give extra protection from torpedoes. Originally coal-fired steam turbine but soon converted to oil burning, as was most of the fleet before WWI.

Presumable the Russian “A” is adequately stocked with Vodka to ensure smooth sailing

“FEAR GOD AND DREADNOUGHT”

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-d/drednt9.htm

YES; BUT WILL IT FLY?

All Posts No Responses »

Aug 182010

“Now I dun’ seen, ‘bout everything, when I see…” an Israeli Air Force (IAF) F-16I Sufa fly. And you thought the crows were incredulous when they saw Dumbo flying, what about this tiny plane with the big bulges?

Those big shoulders on this highly modified Lockheed Martin produced F-16 are conformal fuel tanks manufactured by IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries. Yes, the same folks who make those sophisticated UAVs). They increase the range and loiter time by about 50%. Typical of IAF fighters, a second crew member is aboard to deal with the high work load from all the threat and target acquisition input capabilities, of which much of the electronics are inside the enlarged dorsal spine behind the cockpit.

Synthetic Aperture Radar enable the tracking of ground targets day or night. Many different kinds of rockets, bombs, and specialized pods can be attached. The RecceLite pod is a self-contained self-cooling multi-sensor tactical reconnaissance system. It can collect Infra-Red and visual digital images. The tactical information thus acquired is simultaneously transmitted to command stations for appropriate action decisions.

Though at first glance, it appears to be a little plane, it’s typical combat takeoff weight is 12.8 tons, powered by an F100-PW-229, 29,1000 lbs thrust engine. maximum takeoff weight is 23.8 tons (by comparison, a B-17 had a combat take off weight of 27 tons).

Included is a photo to prove (to me, at least) that indeed, an F-16I Sufa (Storm) really can fly!

The only question now is: to where, and when?

http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/aircraft/f-16i/F-16I.html

IAF; Israel Air Force 360deg Combat Simulator

"TechnoPology", AeroSpace, All Posts No Responses »

Aug 092010

The flight simulator dome in this picture is some 30 feet in diameter with a 360 degree projection. Soon, Israeli pilots will be able to train for specific tactical attack missions, including dealing with advanced air defenses and night vision, all while “flying” in relation to four other aircraft.

Israel, with its limited air space for training, is now taking flight simulation far beyond developing flying skills. With this new simulator, now under development in Belgium, pilots will be able to greatly increase their skill and confidence for a specific assignment.

The illustration shown is not specifically from this new simulator, but one can get an idea of how it might appear to the trainee. Note also these F-16s, which Israel uses quite extensively, are scooting along close to the ground. Look for a future post regarding new terrain-avoidance technologies. Also look for a post about the highly modified F-16I.

http://www.zinio.com/pages /AviationWeekSpaceTechnology/Aug-02-10/416134239/pg-68

****And then there is that 30 feet diameter dome pictured above. It reminded me of a popular program of the late 60′s. Can you guess which one? Here, I’ll help you. The following are signs that were visible at various times during the program. They are the VILLAGE MAXIMS ( The first one is a personal favorite):

“Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

“Humour (the British spelling is another clue) is the essential ingredient of a democratic society.”

“A still tongue makes a happy life.” and

“Of the people, By the people, For the people.”

And of course there was “Rover”, here seen about to met out some very unpleasant punishment on our erstwhile hero.

OK, in honor of the Concourse Auto Show being in town, here is another clue. You of course will recognize a Lotus 7, another personal favorite. Who is the Character and the actor?

That was fun. Well, as they say in The Village, “Be seeing you.”

THE PRISONER episodes are available on this AMCTV link. Very high quality. A word of warning, though. After you have watched a few episodes, the theme music will stick in your head just like that old “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh what a relief it is” jingle used to do.

Oh, I’m sorry, did I get that spinning in your head again, too?

http://www.amctv.com/videos/the-prisoner-1960s-video/?bcpid=2517767001&bclid=6012619001&bctid=6069547001

AIP: AIR-INDEPENDENT PROPULSION

"SouthChinaLake" footnotes, "TechnoPology", All Posts, Military; Past & Present 2 Responses »

Jul 292010

AIP Technology Creates a New Undersea Threat

Inhanced performance of small, defensive submarines, a serious new underwater threat is developing in littoral waters. Increasingly, smaller nations unwilling or unable to accept the high cost of nuclear power to achieve greater underwater endurance and longer range are turning to lower-priced and less ambitious alternatives that still offer significant operational advantages over conventional diesel-electric submarines.

The Russian KILO, can remain submerged on battery at slow speed for periods on the order of three to five days. But now, several AIP schemes in development or already in operation can increase slow-speed range considerably. As interest mounts in “Air-Independent Propulsion” (AIP) for enhancing the low-speed endurance to as much as three weeks or a month. While still dwarfed by the potential of nuclear power, AIP offers diesel submarines a remarkable increase in capability

The Russian submarine manufacturing company, Rubin, is developing an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system [which will be available as a retrofit to the conventional diesel-powered KILO class submarines].

http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/kilo/

Closed-cycle Diesel Engines
Typically, a closed-cycle diesel (CCD) instal ation incorporates a standard diesel engine that can be operated in its conventional mode on the surface or while snorkeling. Underwater, however, it runs on an artificial atmosphere synthesized from stored oxygen, an inert gas (generally argon), and recycled exhaust products. The engine exhaust – largely carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor – is cooled, scrubbed, and separated into its constituents, with the argon recycled back to the intake manifold. The remaining exhaust gas is mixed with seawater and discharged overboard. Generally, the required oxygen is stored in liquid form – LOX – in cryogenic tanks.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_13/propulsion.htm

China has two Type 636 submarines, the second of which joined the Chinese fleet in January 1999.

In September 2007, it was announced that Indonesia had placed an order for two Kilo Type 636 submarines, plus options to purchase up to eight more.

In November 2007, Venezuela signed a memorandum of understanding for three Type 636 submarines to be delivered from 2012 to 2013.

Type 636 is designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface-ship warfare (ASuW) and also for general reconnaissance and patrol missions. The Type 636 submarine is considered to be to be one of the quietest diesel submarines in the world. It is said to be capable of detecting an enemy submarine at a range three to four times greater than it can be detected itself.

The submarine has a launcher for eight Strela-3 or Igla surface-to-air missiles. These missiles are manufactured by the Fakel Design Bureau, Kaliningrad. Strela-3 (NATO Designation SA-N-8 Gremlin) has a cooled infrared seeker and 2kg warhead. Maximum range is 6km.

The vessels can be fitted with the Novator Club-S (SS-N-27) cruise missile system which fires the 3M-54E1 anti-ship missile. Range is 220km with 450kg high-explosive warhead.

Torpedoes

The submarine is equipped with six 533mm forward torpedo tubes situated in the nose of the submarine and carries 18 torpedoes with six in the torpedo tubes and 12 stored on the racks. Alternatively the torpedo tubes can deploy 24 mines.

Two torpedo tubes are designed for firing remote-controlled torpedoes with a very high accuracy. The computer-controlled torpedo system is provided with a quick-loading device. The first salvo is fired within two minutes and the second within five minutes.

As near as I can tell, at this point most of the above listed submarines are conventional diesel. Not that that is much of a handicap, since these subs are used primarily for littoral defense, not long range blue-water offense.

Since the USS Nautilus, nuclear subs have always held the public’s attention. However, it was two Russian Foxtrot class diesel subs which came frighteningly close to setting off nuclear devices during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The first link below is about the Cuban incident. The second link has details about the Foxtrot class and, incredibly the third link invites you to visit a Foxtrot as a tourist attraction in the U.S.!

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB75/

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/641.htm

http://www.russiansublongbeach.com/

Frenchman Crosses the Atlantic in a Homebuilt Helicopter

"TechnoPology", AeroSpace, All Posts No Responses »

Jul 222010

Oh my, I had just mentioned to my wife I am just starting to get the flying bug again. She broke out laughing. Seems she was at that very moment looking at our online bank balance. Or perhaps her laughter revealed she feels that at my age, it is safe to let me fantasize performing any act I please.

“A full week before AirVenture opening day, a lone Kompress CH-7 helicopter was parked in the Ultralights area. It arrived Monday afternoon from France.

A week ago Monday pilot Mattheiu de Quillaco was in his garden in Southern France. His journey to Oshkosh brought him through the UK, the Fareo Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, and finally to Wittman Regional Airport. “I planned for it to take two weeks,” he said, “but I forgot that over Iceland and Greenland, it doesn’t get dark so I can fly during the night.”

“Matt” as he is known by the volunteers he is working with said that he saw a book about Oshkosh when he was young and has wanted to come ever since. “I still cannot believe I am here. It’s magical,” he said.

Matt built his Kompress 10 years ago. It’s normally a two-place tandem, but he modified the back seat into a long-range fuel tank giving him a 58-gallon fuel capacity. The turbocharged Rotax engine only burns 4.5 gallons an hour, so with a cruise speed of 100 mph, Matt has a range of more than 900 miles between fill ups. The engine can also burn unleaded auto fuel, something that can come in handy in the more remote areas of Greenland and Canada where aviation fuel is not readily available.

During his weeklong journey, Matt slept in a sleeping bag under the helicopter in a small tent, but when he arrived at Oshkosh, AirVenture volunteers found a place for him to stay on Monday night. On Tuesday he was wearing a bright orange AirVenture volunteer shirt and was pitching in with the final preparations for AirVenture 2010.

When AirVenture is over, Matt intends to circle the globe by going back up through Canada and heading west through Russia, but he’s still waiting on approval from the Russian aviation authority to do so.

Matt is quick to emphasize he’s just a normal person who decided to do something he wanted to do since he was young. “I hope that my trip will help other people realize that they can fulfill their dreams,” he said.”

http://www.airventure.org/news/2010/100721_french.html

I Googled the Kompress kit. I stopped when I saw this warning: some assembly required!

How’s that, Dear? No, I’m fine, just a little asthmatic attack. You keep on balancing that online checking account. I’m just Drooling,

I mean, Googling.”

HILLER AVIATION MUSEUM

"TechnoPology", AeroSpace, All Posts 1 Response »

Jul 202010

A bunch of you have indicated you would like to go up to the Hiller with me for another tour. Great. Anytime. Let’s set the date. Being associated with the museum and the terrific staff and bunch of volunteers there is one of the best experiences of my life. Each visit I learn additional things from the exhibits, the staff, the experiences of the retired docents, and often from our very knowledgeable visitors.

The photo above gives you a full sweep of 100 years of mechanized flight. From the earliest open stick and wire biplanes on the right, through slick composite skinned jets and Boeing’s SST, and into the future of aerospace represented by the blue seats to the left. There, each year, hundreds of young people have the opportunity to go through an entire ground school, air traffic control, and virtual flight learning experience.

Another trip up to the Hiller? You bet! Just name the day.

http://hiller.everyscape.com/#p=1355736&y=167.5&pi=-9.8

http://www.hiller.org/

USS Hawes, FFG 53,

All Posts No Responses »

Jul 172010

Well look what I woke up to this morning. As of Saturday, July 17th, she is sitting in Monterey Bay just off of Fisherman’s Wharf. She is the USS Hawes, FFG 53, the 47th frigate of the Oliver Hazard Perry class and named after Rear Admiral Richard E. Hawes. Interestingly, she is technically a jet boat. That is, she has two general Electric LM 2500 gas turbines, feeding two electric drives to one, count them, one propeller to a speed of over 28knots. See link below

http://www.navysite.de/ffg/FFG53.HTM

from that same above link:

On December 10, 1941 the PIGEON was docked at the Cavite Navy Yard on Manila Bay for repairs to her steering gear when Japanese warplanes attacked. Since Pearl Harbor three days before, Hawes had main steam pressure up and the full crew aboard, ready to get underway at an instant. Lashed to the minesweeper QUAIL (AM-15), which provided steering for both, PIGEON cleared the docks and headed for the relative safety of the bay to dodge the enemy bombs. By this time Cavite had become a hellish inferno. After separating from QUAIL Hawes could see that the submarine SEADRAGON (SS-194) was about to be engulfed by bombs and fire in her berth. Through heavy bombing and strafing, Lieutenant Hawes maneuvered the 187 foot PIGEON back to the flaming dock to haul the helpless submarine stern first from her berth. Another submarine and a minesweeper had just been sunk there by direct hits. The heat and flames were so intense that they blistered the ship’s paint, singed off body hair, and melted the brim of Hawes’ cap. But PIGEON’s crew managed to rig a line on the SEADRAGON and tow her to safety.

“THEY MARRIED ADVENTURE”; Martin and Osa Johnson

AeroSpace, All Posts, Seven League Boots No Responses »

Jul 162010

“On a cool November morning in 1917, a young Kansas couple sailed into the South Pacific dawn…” Now how’s that for a great start to a biography? “As the sun rose higher above the horizon, the great banks of mist that had clothed the mountains began to disappear, revealing the high green valleys of the Big Nambas.”

Having come ashore, as Martin and Osa climbed up a heavily forested hill, they were suddenly surrounded by several natives and their leader Nihapat, “…the most frightful, yet finest type of savage I have ever seen. A magnificent sight—six feet tall, with bushy hair, a full beard, and a stick through the cartilage of his nose…” Perhaps the Martins may have actually been the first to say, “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” This was only the first of many close calls over the next twenty years of pioneering the production of real-life natural history films in the South Pacific, Borneo and Africa.

Why are Martin and Osa Johnson not very well know these days? Perhaps their successful commercialism and public notoriety was looked down upon by “serious” explorers. Heaven knows they actively sought and exploited publicity; show business was their business. Producing dramatic footage of charging animals and threatening savages certainly added excitement and fulfilled the public’s stereotypes of “Darkest Africa”.

The Johnsons were on the lecture circuit, presenting and narrating their films to live audiences. Just picture the scene in a contemporary movie of the times, “King Kong”. The great white hunter pulls back the curtain to reveal the giant ape to an astonished crowd. No more astonishing really than how two kids from the dusty Plaines of Kansas could have created a lifetime of filming adventure and introducing an astonished public to the wonders of the broader world hitherto beyond imagining.

For the sharp-eyed of my readers, that single engined Sikorsky in the top photo is an S-39. The Johnsons had both models. As an aside, the modern reproduction of the twin-engined S-38 was named “Osa’s Ark” even though originally it was the single engined plane so named.

The quotes in the first paragraph at the beginning of this blog are from the book, “They Married Adventure”:

http://www.flipkart.com/they-married-adventure-pascal-james-book-0813526957

There exists in Kansas a town of about 10,000 souls named Chanute, which calls itself the hub of southeast Kansas. It is here, in 1894 that Osa was born. It is now home to the Martin and Osa Johnson Museum, called the Safari Museum:

http://www.safarimuseum.com/

The town itself was named after Octave Chaunute, an aviation pioneer in his own right, was by 1901 exchanging many technical letters with the Wright Brothers:

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Prehistory/chanute/PH7.htm

Photos of glider-shaped kites flown by the Wright brothers, including one photo by Chaunute on a visit to Kitty Hawk:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wrighthtml/wrightphot.html

The aircraft photos are from a large and interesting collection:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.airminded.net/sikorsky1/G1894.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.airminded.net/sikorsky1/spirit.html&usg=__GY67RrLqbpWCgTWkgW7RxY-ivG8=&h=702&w=1195&sz=76&hl=en&start=3&sig2=YdKTrWayIzEB38L7A-2S7w&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=1x6NDTDyzjGl0M:&tbnh=88&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dphotos%2Bmartin%2Band%2Bosa%2Bjohnson%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=0ARBTM7kC474swOQt-yLDA

“Osa’s Ark”; Sikorsky S-38, Oshkosh July 26-Aug 1

AeroSpace, All Posts, Seven League Boots 1 Response »

Jul 162010

“Dubbed Osa’s Ark for its definitive zebra paint scheme based on the S-38 filmmakers/authors Osa and Martin Johnson flew over Africa in the 1930s.

Igor Sikorsky’s first flying boat design, the S-38′s maiden flight was in 1928. It was called “The Explorer’s Air Yacht” and “The Flying Yacht,” and a total of 110 were produced and used by adventure seekers and fledging airline companies. Schrade’s S-38 reproduction was built with original Sikorsky plans by the late Buzz Kaplan’s “Born Again Restorations,” of Owatonna, Minnesota.

Beginning August 20, he will make a charity flight from Minnesota to Berlin, Germany, in cooperation with The Wings of Hope, which provides support for other humanitarian organizations worldwide through the coordination of air transport for rescue workers, supplies, and patients. From Minnesota, the S-38 will cross Labrador, South Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, Faeroe Islands, London, Brussels, and Frankfurt, before arriving in Berlin.”

http://www.airventure.org/news/2010/100712_sikorsky.html

In the early 1950s, this writer recalls watching the B&W TV program “I Married Adventure”. Osa Johnson hosted the showing of films that she and her photographer husband, Martin Johnson had made in a lifetime of exploration in Africa and Borneo. Martin was killed in the crash of a commercial DC-3 in Newhall, CA on approach to Burbank Airport.

There is now a display in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo commemorating the couple’s many expiditions there. Interestingly, in WWII that north Borneo town and its neighboring Sandakan were attacked by the B-25 Strafers of the 345th Bomb Group “Air Apaches”. Another episode of interest to this writer.

The home museum of the Martin and Osa Johnson Foundation is in Osa’s home town of Chanute, Kansas. More on the Johnson.s remarkable life in a later blog. It would be fun to do a whole PowerPoint presentation on this fascinating couple.

http://www.airminded.net/sikorsky1/osasark.html

Older Entries