Happy Birthday United States Air Force!

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  • KellyinAvon

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    On 18 Sep 47 the USAF became a separate branch of the US Military. If memory serves it began as the Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps back in 1907, but didn't get it's hands on an aircraft until 1909.

    72 years old. Good news: the B-52 fleet isn't quite that old! However some KC-135s are close...
     

    Thor

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    :rockwoot:born on Constitution Day!

    The BUFFs have to launch with tankers because they can't get off the ground with a full load of both weapons and fuel. They put on a full weapons load and min fuel then once airborne top off the gas.
     

    Thor

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    Nuclear winter or global communism...can't think which would be worse. We could probably survive the winter...I think I'd rather try that.
     

    Alamo

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    And when it's show time:

    [video=youtube;73j15a_5l3Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73j15a_5l3Q[/video]

    There's some pretty cool video at the end from "inside" the formation. Be sure to watch that.

    (And I think somebody snuck in an RC model clip at one point).
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    And when it's show time:

    [video=youtube;73j15a_5l3Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73j15a_5l3Q[/video]

    There's some pretty cool video at the end from "inside" the formation. Be sure to watch that.

    (And I think somebody snuck in an RC model clip at one point).

    What do they do to turn on/off the contrails? And is that ever used for anything besides air shows?
     

    Thor

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    What do they do to turn on/off the contrails? And is that ever used for anything besides air shows?

    Not Contrails, smoke generators. Contrails (or as the loons would call them Chemtrails) only occur in the right conditions when the heat of the engines causes condensation, or the immediate formation of clouds. The smoke generators are just for show.

    Cons can actually be a bad thing...highlighting exactly where you are. We usually tried to stay out of the con regions when flying. A call of 1 you're conning would usually be followed by a quick change of altitude.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Not Contrails, smoke generators. Contrails (or as the loons would call them Chemtrails) only occur in the right conditions when the heat of the engines causes condensation, or the immediate formation of clouds. The smoke generators are just for show.

    Cons can actually be a bad thing...highlighting exactly where you are. We usually tried to stay out of the con regions when flying. A call of 1 you're conning would usually be followed by a quick change of altitude.
    Thanks! That makes sense. :yesway:
     

    Alamo

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    I've been too busy today to do much INGOing, but finally got a minute before it's too late:

    Happy Birthday UNITED STATES AIR FORCE!

    a-10c-f-35a-f-16-p-51-09-12-2020.png


    [FONT=&amp]Maj. Cody Wilton, A-10 Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team commander and pilot, flies alongside Capt. Kristin Wolfe, F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team pilot, Maj. Garret Schmitz, F-16 Viper Demonstration Team pilot, and a P-51 Mustang as part of a heritage flight formation for the Tri-City Water Follies Drive-In Airshow at Kennewick, Wash., Sept. 4, 2020. The heritage flight was flown as a showcase of past, present and future Air Force aviation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Kip Sumner)[/FONT]
     

    Kirk Freeman

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    Happy Birthday, USAF.

    My favorite USAF(R) veteran, Larry S. Freeman, Aircraft Electronics Tech, 434th Troop Transport Wing, C-119s.

    Photographed at Kessler (Flight Instrument School) in Mississippi, March 1963. (He said he was holding a Coke bottle behind his back. Could not walk and eat or drink in uniform so hiding from his buddy).

    EiNhwJfWkAUXpvA
     
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    Kirk Freeman

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    My favorite USAF sky story is before he joined at GMI (now Ketterling). The pre-ASVAB test that he took was in Mechanics and Electronics. He aced the Mechanics section, one of the few in the country to score perfect 100, but only scored a 75 on the Electronics section.

    Dad was rubbing his hands thinking about that $50 whole dollar bonus to be an engine mechanic (jet engine mechanics got a bonus). USAF sent his tall, skinny backside to radio, advanced radio and then flight instrument school.
     

    Alamo

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    Happy Birthday, USAF.

    My favorite USAF(R) veteran, Larry S. Freeman, Aircraft Electronics Tech, 434th Troop Transport Wing, C-119s.
    ..,

    My Father enlisted immediately after Pearl Harbor, wanting to be a paratrooper. Instead they asked him what he did in civilian life, he said he was a farmer, they asked him if he knew how to work on tractors and he said yes. Bingo, off to aircraft mechanic school at Kelly Field after basic training.

    He stayed associated with aircraft engine Maintenance and quality assurance for the rest of his life, Serving in the air National Guard and the Air Force reserves As well as a DOD civilian employee doing quality assurance at Alison in Indianapolis.


    He retired from the Air Force Reserves in about 1964 or so as a Chief Master Sergeant (he was one of the very first Chief Master Sergeants when the rank was created in the early 60s).

    The unit he retired from was called the 434th Troop Carrier Wing, which had C-119s at Bakalar Air Force Base in Columbus.

    Small world. ;) :patriot:
     

    Kirk Freeman

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    My father ran Plant #3 and then Plant #5 for Allison (Super of Plant Layout, then Staff Engineer of Future Projects team).

    He was a foreman at Plant #1 and 3 when at GMI (part of the work study program, work for 9 weeks, school for 9 weeks).

    Yes, my father was at Bakalar, 1961-69.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    My father ran Plant #3 and then Plant #5 for Allison (Super of Plant Layout, then Staff Engineer of Future Projects team).

    He was a foreman at Plant #1 and 3 when at GMI (part of the work study program, work for 9 weeks, school for 9 weeks).

    Yes, my father was at Bakalar, 1961-69.

    I went to GMI (and worked at Allison) back in '78-79. My first work experience was at plant 3 in Plant Layout. I designed "hooks" (material handling devices).
     

    Alamo

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    My older brother graduated from GMI, about ‘64 to ‘69. He worked for Allison during his 9 week work study stints, carpooling with Dad from Nashville.
     
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