Eau Claire 2008 Airshow

Unfortunately the 2008 Chippewa Valley Airshow was a dismal failure.  The day started out cloudy, so the show was put on hold.  As the day progressed the rain got stronger and after fourhours the event was cancelled, with nothing flying. Very disappointing after driving 150 miles at $4 per gallon of gas.  Not a show I will be attending again.

The show would have consisted of the Blue Angels (F/A-18C), the F-16C Viper East Demo  and the F/A-18F Super Hornet Demo.  Static displays were F-15Cs of the Missouri ANG and a T-38 from Whiteman AFB.

SA-20

Apparently the biggest threat we face is the SA-20 . It seems strange to me that we would retire the F-117 while aware of this threat to 4th generation "conventional" aircraft. I can't help but think that the F-117 was retired because its already been replaced. And not by the F-22, which we simply don't have enough of, or the F-35 which isn't even in sight yet. The F-117 existed in our arsenal for nearly a decade before being revealed to the public. I imagine we have a similar situation now, with a second-generation tactical stealth attack craft available. If its not a F/A type plane, then I would think we at least have a highly capable (deadly) stealth UCAV ready.

As for the SA-20, its fortunate that we have purchased some for evaluation and that they are used in NATO exercises by former Eastern Bloc countries, so we at least have some kind of plan for defeating them.

B-52 begins retirement

The first of 18 B-52H's have been retired for funding reasons. I wonder if the Air Force will have any planes left by the time it gets the F-35.

Duluth 2008 Airshow

Full Photo Album


Ok, so this year didn't go as well as the last show. The Duluth organizers can't seem to get things right. In 2006 they had the wrong start time listed, so I was late - missing the B-2 and The F-16 demonstration. This time traffic at the gate was so congested, I was late again, missing the F-16 takeoff. This show also had less attractions, no B-2, B-52, KC-135 and only one demonstration - the A-10, (vs the F-15 & F-18E last time). This was compounded by bad weather, rain started before the Blue Angels started their performance resulting in a very short demonstration. I was also unable to take a number of photos I wanted to given the rain. Note: the Duluth weathermen are completely incompetent - they predicted clear weather for Saturday afternoon, with rain coming later and continuing through Sunday, but in fact Sunday was clear and they got the Blues' High show. I'm begininng to hate seeing these shows come and go, as the 2003 performers - the F-14 & the F-117- are now lost to history. Fortunately the MN government is working on getting the 148th new F-16s (Block 40) by 2014, so hopefully I'll have many more shows to get up close to their Vipers.

The End Continues

The Air Force retires the F-117

New Aggressor Squadron Activated

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/08/ap_sqaudronchange_070826/

The Beginning of the End

It seems like we're heading towards the end of the glorious fourth generation of fighters quicker and quicker. The first of the F-117s have now been retired. I still don't see how we're going to have enough F-22s to fill the role, since there won't even be enough to replace the F-15.

The Great Train Wreck

Surprise, The US Government finally figured out:


The Air force won't have enough fighters to replace its current force

I still think it would be a good time to buy a few Block 60 Vipers and maybe an upgraded version of the Eagle.

New Aggressors

It seems that we are returning to the combat training era of the 1980s as the Navy and Air Force activate new aggressor squadrons.

First, the Air Force reactivated the 65th AS at Nellis, using F-15s for the first time as an aggressor. Then, they announced a new aggressor squadron would be forming at Eielson AFB in Alaska:


Release No. 030706
July 28,2006

New Aggressor Unit Stands Up in Alaska

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Air Force will activate the 18th Aggressor
Squadron at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

The mission of the 18th Aggressor Squadron is to provide realistic,
combat adversary training in air, space, and information operations.
Aggressor squadrons use enemy tactics, techniques, and procedures to
give a realistic simulation of air combat.

The unit will stand up with 18 F-16 Block 30s and will later expand to
24 fighter aircraft. The squadron will be ready to provide aggressor
training for Red Flag - Alaska exercises in Spring 2007. The squadron
will also support training and exercises throughout the Pacific region
and additional requirements of the 57th Aggressor Tactics Group at
Nellis AFB, Nev.

The designation of the 18th for this Aggressor Squadron continues its
long history in the Pacific.



On October 31st, the Navy created a new unit VFC-111 at Key West NAS, using a previous detachment from VFC-13.

Now, the Air Force is proposing increasing the 64th and 65th AS.

New life for the Raptor

Now that Rumsfeld is finally gone, there may be more hope for the F-22.

Here is an interesting article about the F-117 retirement and the F-22 which suggests exactly what I've been thinking, the F-117 should be upgraded and its service life extended to fill the stealth gap.



Also, the Air Force finally acknowledged the existence of an aggressor program using Soviet fighters:

PRESS RELEASE -- Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Public Affairs

Release No. 071106
November 13,2006

AF Declassifies Elite Aggressor Program

WASHINGTON - After decades of secrecy, the Air Force today acknowledged that it flew Communist-built fighters at the Tonopah Test Range northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

From 1977 through 1988, the program, known as CONSTANT PEG, saw U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine aircrews flying against Soviet-designed MiG fighters as part of a training program where American pilots could better learn how to defeat or evade the Communist bloc's fighters of the day.

Brigadier General Hawk Carlisle, 3rd Wing commander at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, is a former member of the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron who remembers the valuable training the unit provided.

"CONSTANT PEG afforded pilots an opportunity to learn how to fight enemy aircraft in a controlled, safe environment, without having to endure the risks of actual air combat," said Brig. Gen. Carlisle. "Typically a pilot would start with a basic familiarization flight to observe the enemy airplane and study its characteristics, practicing "one-on-one" defensive and offensive maneuvers against it, and finally, experience multi-bogey engagements high over the desert scrubland of the Nellis Air Force Base ranges.

As a result of marginal performance of American fighter forces in the skies over North Vietnam, CONSTANT PEG complemented other revolutionary training programs such as Red Flag, Top Gun and the Air Force and Navy-Marine aggressor squadrons. The program was also intended to eliminate the "buck fever" or nervous excitement many pilots experience on their first few combat missions. Historical experience indicated that pilots who survived their first ten missions were much more likely to survive a complete combat tour, and CONTSTANT PEG was intended to teach them the right "moves" to enable them to come out on top of any engagement.

The end of the CONSTANT PEG nearly coincided with the end of the Cold War, by which time some of its "graduates" had already proven themselves in actual air combat.

Threat aircraft flown by the Red Eagles spanned several decades and technical generations of capability. There was the MiG-17 Fresco, a small, agile single-seat transonic fighter placed in service just after the Korean War and used extensively over Vietnam and the Middle East; the MiG-21 Fishbed, a high supersonic fighter used world-wide in large numbers, and the swing-wing MiG-23 Flogger, likewise in global service, an attempt by the Soviets to match the sophisticated capabilities of the F-4 Phantom.

"Although it came too late to influence Vietnam, CONSTANT PEG training greatly influenced the success of American Airmen in DESERT STORM, who shot down 40 Iraqi fighters, many of which were Fishbeds and Floggers," said Brig Gen. Carlisle.

Note: There will be a press conference at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Nov 16 at 1 p.m. Media interested in covering the press conference should contact the Museum Public Affairs office at 937-255-4704, ext. 332, 333 or 330.

Yet Another F-22 Mission

This article revels yet another use for the F-22, which really does seem to have capabilities far beyond any predecessor. What I find inexplicable however, is that the Air Force expects the F-22 to fill all of its roles. (this is starting to remind me of the Navy and the Superhornet) It if works, great. But The Air Force is only expecting to get 183 airframes, and several of these are allocated to training and tactics development. So, to begin with the F-22 has to replace over 500 F-15Cs in the Air-to-Air role, then it has to support the F-15E and F-16 in the attack role. In addition, the USAF then decided it could take over the role of the F-117 (although, it now appears that the Nightwawk retirement will be pushed back a few years), and now it sees the Raptor assuming the EW role that was left vacant by the EF-111 ten years ago. I fail to see that the Raptor is THAT good, where it will be able to replace over 700 aircraft with these small numbers. My confidence in the DoD to deal with the forthcoming "train wreck" continues to erode.

The 148th Bulldogs

Here's an article I wrote for wikipedia about my "homestate" F-16 unit. After I originally posted it, someone tried to modify it, resulting in complete destruction of the article, but I've now restored it and hope that it stays intact.

Area 51?

Here's an interesting new article by Bill Sweetman about Area 51. Its good to see that Bill's still on the hunt for the elusive Aurora. Its obvious that there has been a fair amount of activity there in the 90s and 2000s, besides Tacit Blue,the Polecat and the Bird of Prey. We still don't know anything about the elusive YF-24 and YF-113G, and there are rumors of a FB-23 prototype, and/or a "Switchblade" fighter. Its interesting that Sweetman thinks that development could be continuing on the A-12, abandonded in 1991 with the $4 Billion prototypes never seen.

Tomcat Sunset

Now that the F-14 is officially and finally retired we move into a new era of aviation, probably the last era of manned fighters. I've been wondering why so many Tomcats were scrapped onsite at Oceana, and why so fast. Beside that apparent fact that many airframes are no longer airworthy, it seems th government is shredding the planes as soon as possible to prevent parts from being smuggled out to Iran. This does not inspire confidence that the F-14 legacy will live on in the form of Flyable airframes that can live on at airshows.

Weapons are not entertainment

This was the sloggan of the protesters at the 2006 Duluth Airshow.