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I love the reversible-wing design and the fact that they can take off from a carrier makes for interesting deployment possibilities in the future. The more unmanned birds available, the better, IMO, but I probably shouldn't say that to a pilot! :p

The X-47B, produced by Northrop-Grumman, is an evolution of the X-47A, which, as part of the J-UCAS, was terminated in 2006. As a result, the Air Force and the Navy proceeded with their own programs, with the Navy choosing the X-47B.

Lessons learned from the X-47A were applied to the X-47B. With its structural integrity and design validation proven by dynamic tests, the X-47B is supposed to demonstrate carrier launch and recovery sometime in 2011, with possible introduction of a Navy UCAS in the 2020 time frame. Clearly, with a range of 1'500 miles and a payload of 4'500 pounds, the advantage procured for a carrier group is evident.

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- This is Ghost Rider requesting a fly-by. - Negative Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.

@Montexn: Awesome! I see 130's from Little Rock on a daily basis. They do quite a bit of touch and goes at KFSM, and training over at Fort Chaffee.

The A-10's fly sorties 2 times per day here, usually at 0900, and then again at 1500. Every once in awhile they will fly night ops, but it's mainly in summer months. I love the A-10. Those big GE turbofans have a distinctive sound! I've been fortunate to see a live fire demo from the 188th over at Fort Chaffee....to hear the Avenger fired in person is freaking amazing. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that weapon.

The F-100 was a bad bird. There used to be an old F-100 on static display at the Air Guard base, but it was damaged during a storm a few years ago. There's still an old F-4 and F-16 out in front of the main entrance. I enjoy seeing the various military aircraft that make stops here.

~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

Wow, I bet that Avenger was something to witness in person and I agree, I sure wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it. I went to San Antonio to attend my son's graduation from basic training and they had a massive display of static aircraft that kept me occupied for hours. They had everything from fighters to experimental aircraft displayed, it was one of the highlights of the trip for me to get to see all those aircraft.

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@ Montexn and @ Flynbyu I really envy you guys. Nothing so spectacular or eye-catching over here in continental Europe. There may be some interesting stuff over to England though.

Ever since the famous Frecce Tricolori deadly crash at Ramstein AFB in 1988 (which I narrowly escaped), all air shows that took place at the various US bases here and opened to the general public were terminated. So, very little American equipment to be seen at the shows, except maybe for an F-15 or F-16 here or there.

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- This is Ghost Rider requesting a fly-by. - Negative Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.

This makes me wanna get out and see some of these things. I remember when I was young I saw an SR-71 in Lancaster (most awesome jet ever?) . One of these days ill have to make a trek south to March AFB or back over to Edwards. Maybe ill get lucky and see something.

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-RJ

@Tomcat...this sounds like a story in the making....narrowly escaped? By that, would I be correct in assuming you were there when that happened?



@RJ....they had one on static display there in San Antonio....it was a thing of beauty and awesome to behold to say the least.

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I've really enjoyed reading this thread, even though I've never come anywhere near most of that hardware. When I was a cadet I had to do endless hours of drill on the tarmac at an air base while FA-18s practised afterburner takeoffs very nearby (man they were loud), that's about it.

RJ, I wish I'd seen an SR-71. Cool.

I think ive found a new way to kill time. Google mapping AFBs and checking out the planes! I think ive spotted a squadron of F-22 Raptors at Langley

B-52 @ Whiteman
B-1 @ Edwards

lol.. I could do this all day.

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-RJ

RE UAVs

You know what they say "The last fighter pilot has already been born"

The item that limits the airframes these days is the wetware in the cockpit

Absolutely. The sound this weapon makes is something you won't forget. It's deafening in person.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd0GmBIDdfc

Before my dad retired, I also had the opportunity to see an AH-1/AH-64 demo out at Fort Chaffee, just south of Arrowhead Assault strip (AZU) back in the late 80's. It was incredible. No Hellfires were fired, just Hydra rockets and 30mm cannon rounds at old drones. At one time, there were nearly 100 helicopters based at Arrowhead....HU-1's, AH-64's, UH-60's, UH-1's, and CH-47's. Now, it's a wasting away.

~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

Ramstein AFB in 1988? OMG. The video footage of that is one of the scariest I've ever laid eyes on. Very tragic.

It's almost like an airshow everyday at our home, with the exception of aircraft flying below pattern altitude. When they do have airshows here, the local Air Guard puts a "Fire and Fury" demo on.....It's awesome to watch at the airport, and even wilder sitting at the house. It's crazy having aircraft flying over your house 500ft AGL at 450 kts. The B-2 even flies down from Whiteman AFB for a few passes. It's amazing to see in person.


~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

In 1988, I had my parents drive three hours just to the AeroSpace America airshow in Oklahoma City to see the SR-71 do a few passes. Two words describe the experience. Effin' Awesome.

As for those afterburner takeoffs from the F-18, those are just spectacular. Seeing a Rhino do a short field takeoff into a dirty roll is just bad ass.

~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

Check out the B-52's at Barksdale AFB just outside of Bossier City, Louisiana and the B-1's at Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas.

WOW.

~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

Yes, I was there. And I will never forget.

A typical AFB open day like I love them...and miss them.

We were lucky enough to have a gorgeous and warm day, like you seldom have at northern Germany in late August. Having left Switzerland around 4 am, we managed (my friend and I, plus 2 girls who had come along out of curiosity of the event) to be by the entrance gates (The Pearly Gates for me, if you know what I mean) at 9 am greeted by smiling MPs. We were directed in a very orderly fashion to our parking place. By experience, my friend and I knew that we had to put in good use the hour/hour and a half we had before the show started around 10/10:30 and before the arrival of the bulk of visitors (over 350'000 that day) to take pictures of the aircraft at static without being bothered.

Having done that, we proceeded along the runway in order to find a good spot to follow the air show and continue to take pictures (unfortunately I cannot post them here since no digital cameras were available at the time). The place was becoming crowded with entire families having taken place literally feet from the taxiway and about a 100 feet from the main runway. Remember, that was before 9/11, so no terrorists or anything similar was in the organizers' mind. Food, drink and memorabilia stands were everywhere. I still remember the juicy hamburgers on the grills or the ice cold Dr. Peppers in the fridges (actually, it was during one of those Air shows that I first tasted a soft drink that was to become my favorite: Dr. Pepper).

Then the show started. Phantom, Starfighter, Eagle, Falcon, Warthog, Hercules, Harrier, Bronco, Galaxy, Chinook, Lynx, Super Stallion, etc were some of the aircraft that performed in the morning. Then, there was a pause to give spectators the chance to visit the various stands. In the evening, it was the turn of the aerobatic teams. Some of the best were present: Red Arrows, Patrouille de France and Frecce Tricolori among some.

Then, the fatal moment came. The Frecce Tricolori with Aermacchis MB339B, the most crazy and most audacious aerobatic team in the world and the one that uses the highest number of aircraft (10) of any other team, was about to finish their show. They were performing a figure called "The Arrow in the Heart". This figure consists of two groups, one with 4 and the other with 5 aircraft that each performs half of a heart. The solo (and 10th aircraft) performs a heart-piercing figure and has to cross the other 9. You can easily understand that timing is crucial for this figure. It was performed hundreds of times in practice and at shows around the world. With no incident. Until that fatal day of August 28, 2008. It must have been around 3:30 pm and it was the last aerobatic team to perform before the Red Arrows who always close the show. As the solo was entering the "heart" he was too low and too fast. He hit the leading aircraft of the left formation of the heart on the tail, which in turn spiraled out of control and hitting his lower left teammate. All three pilots were killed, the first one ejected but his parachute did not open, the second crashed in a Medevac Black Hawk and the third died instantly as his plane crashed in a fireball just in front of the spectators. It had just followed its trajectory into the crowd.

70 people died that day and more than 500 injured as Jet-A fuel and shrapnel from the downed Aermacchi scattered into the capacity crowd. Fire fighters were almost instantly on the spot. Ambulances followed them shortly afterwords. Over half of the dead was killed instantly, while the rest of the fatalities occurred in the following days, mostly of burns.

My party and I were standing maybe 150 feet from impact of the downed aircraft. It is amazing how the human brain reacts in situations like these. For some milliseconds, no one moved, then slowly, we realized what had happened. We praised the Lord we (my friend and I) had insisted of walking a bit towards the end of the runway, to avoid the very crowded center portions of the airfield. If it were for the girls, we would certainly be among the victims. They had reluctantly agreed to walk a bit further down. I cannot say that there was a major panic generated by the crash, maybe because emergency units arrived at the crash site almost instantly, like they were trained to do, only this time it was not an exercise.

Everybody was heading towards the exit now but that generated a huge bottle neck. Normally, when people leave, it is done by waves, not everyone leaves at the same time. Emergency calls on the loudspeakers were asking for car pharmacies because the base was not prepared for so many wounded to be taken care of. And by the time I was nearing the exit, they were looking for volunteers to give blood. Which I gave. Medics were glad to hear that I belonged to the O+ group.

Needless to say that I was home largely after midnight. So, I spent the nite at my friend's because I had more than a 2-hour drive for my place. There were no cells of course at that time.
Normally, nobody talks about Air Shows on the news. But the death toll was so high, that it was the first thing that every news bulletin talked about. Even in Greece, where my parents watched, too. They knew of course that I was at Ramstein. I never called them because I never thought that they had heard. They spent the nite awake, not knowing if I was dead or alive. I let you imagine the scene when I called them the following morning to tell them I was not home but at my friend's. Having arrived around 1 am, I did not call them because I did not want to wake them up.

After that accident, all Air Shows in Germany were postponed for at least two years. But they never really recovered. I think that now Air Shoes are reserved only to the families of the men and women that serve on the base.

Here's a video of the crash:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH5uvog4rS4&feature=related

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- This is Ghost Rider requesting a fly-by. - Negative Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.