Military Aircraft

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
. The C-130 is the longest running production vehicle, beating the VW beetle.


The air cooled VW Beetle was in production from 1938 through 2003. 66 years.

 

[civic09]

Tig, he flew the P-3's in the 80's, and I believe he was in VP-64

adam

 

[Kestas]

26 years ago I worked at the Naval Air Rework Facility in Alameda, CA. My work included (from memory) P3, A6, SA6, and possibly other naval aircraft. I remember my mentors telling me the Navy has a habit of putting expiration dates on everything... including aircraft. And many of the aircraft we worked on were well past their expiration date. We just kept rebuilding them.

Trivia note: The facility and Naval Base at Alameda are now closed. This place is now where Mythbusters do their filming.

 

[civic09]

Thanks Kestas for the trivia, thats interesting news to me.


adam

 

[Kestas]

I suppose they could keep the aircraft flying as long as they wanted to (or more correctly, as long as it made sense to do so). At the facility, they completely stripped the aircraft, inspected it, and dealt with any issues that would arise (i.e., wear, fatigue cracks, other cracks, corrosion). It was akin to doing a frame-off restoration of a classic car, over and over again.

Keep in mind the 747 jumbo jets built in the 1970s are still flying today, some 40 years later.

 

[civic09]

I didnt even know that NASA uses a ex-American Airlines 747 plane to carry the shuttle(least they used to).

 

[rockwell]

They still have NASA SCA 747.It will get some work this year moving Enterprise,Discovery and Endevour to there new homes.

 

[Drew99GT]

I found a webpage that says some of the oldest active duty planes in the military are actually Cessnas used for training! I know the Air Force Academy has some vintage old Cessna's they use for training; they fly them over the stadium before football games on occasion.

http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=11760.0

 

[tom slick]

"Balls 8" was used by NASA as a mothership until 2004. It got its name from being b-52 serial number 008!

 

[rockwell]

yes, but not for Shuttle transport,that is the job of the SCA747

 

[civic09]

Thanks to everyone for their very informative replies, including you Rockwell. Thanks very much gentlemen for the information. Anyone know where VP-64 that my stepfather was based out of? He flew the P-3 for 18 years before he got hired by U.S. AIRWAYS.

adam

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: rockwell
yes, but not for Shuttle transport,that is the job of the SCA747

Nope, used for much more interesting birds.

 

[civic09]

Thanks Slick

adam

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Looks like NAS Willow Brook, PA. Here's the site I found:

http://www.vpnavy.org/vp64_history.html

 

[civic09]

Thank you Jayhawk Roy for that info. Very good reading, so thank you


adam

 

[hattaresguy]

Fighters need to be kept up to date, right now were going from 4th gen to 5th gen fighters.

Anything that's 3rd generation or older is a target, and while 4th gen birds dominate at the moment, ie F16, F15, etc, etc, 5th gen birds are coming to service and are making them obsolete.

Right now the F22 and F35 are really the only 5th gen fighters being put into service. The Chinese and Russians have a few in development but they are a little ways away from being mainline fighters. We are probably about a decade ahead of them in this area.

New fighters to watch for in the next 20 years: Mitsubishi ATD-X, KAI KF-X, Chengdu J-20, Sukhoi Su-30MK, Sukhoi PAK FA (T-50).

 

[ueberooo]

yeah, the su-30 is a beautiful bird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venezuelan_Air_Force_Sukhoi_SU-30MK2_AADPR.jpg

 

[ueberooo]

Here is a J-20 on a test flight. I appears not terribly stealth like, but just somewhat low radar profile, or better depending on the materials they've probably reverse engineered from f-117 wreckage and downed drones. I would think it may decent in a dogfight and have an efficient cruise. It seems to have a V tail and canards, so inspired by russian design as well as being yf-23 like.

http://www.whatsonchengdu.com/photoshow3...ngdu&page=2

 

[L_Sludger]

If you think the Chengdu J-20 is hot stuff, look up what we've got in store for them - we're cooking up a design that's hotter than hot, and it's rumored to set new records worldwide. Check out the "F-105 Thunderchief" - it's our true fighter for the 21st century.

 

[OVERKILL]

Not a fighter, but my favourite plane:

The SR-71 Blackbird was in service from 1964 through to 1998 with the USAF.

Quote:

Operational highlights for the entire Blackbird family (YF-12, A-12, and SR-71) as of about 1990 included:[62]
3,551 Mission Sorties Flown
17,300 Total Sorties Flown
11,008 Mission Flight Hours
53,490 Total Flight Hours
2,752 hours Mach 3 Time (Missions)
11,675 hours Mach 3 Time (Total)


AFAIK, 61-7980 is still in use by NASA to test aircraft designs. They strap a prototype to the SR-71 and take it for a ride at whatever speed they want to test it to.