F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A pair of "aggressor" F-16C Fighting Falcons at Nellis Air Force Basetaxying out during Operation Red Flag 07-2.

The Red Flag military exercises are carried out four to six times each year and function as the air force equivalent of the navy's "Top Gun" aerial combat training school.   Aggressors have non-standard color schemes which are supposed to approximate those of Soviet aircraft during the lateCold War.   They operate as the "red forces", either attacking or defending targets against the "blue forces" consisting of American aircraft and their allies.   The exercises involve not just fighters, but all types of aircraft, including bombers, strike aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and airborneearly warning planes.

Although the F-16 isn't the most capable aircraft in the USAF inventory, it operates as an aggressor in order to give the friendly force experience in attacking and evading a variety of aircraft types, each with different operating characteristics.

W3A Sokol Helicopter (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

A W3A Sokol ("falcon") helicopter of the Czech Air Force does a water bombing display at the 2006 Czech International Air Fair.

The Sokol was built by the Polish company PZL (short for "state aviation works"), which also made the very popular PZL-104 Wilga short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft.   The Sokol has received many export orders from countries like Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam and South Korea.  Some are used by civilian operators and there are military versions performing duties such as search and rescue, medical evacuation, flying command and control, and even acting as a gunship with two 23mm cannon and other weapons mounted on pylons.

Sopwith Camel (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The Sopwith Camel was the most effective British fighter of world war one, credited with shooting down almost 1300 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter.

A saying of the time was that the Camel would give you either "A wooden cross, a red cross or a Victoria cross", meaning either a grave marker, a serious injury tended by Red Cross medical staff, or the highest British military decoration.   The saying came about because of the flying characteristics of the Camel, which were treacherous for an inexperienced pilot but advantageous for a skilled pilot.

Like most fighter aircraft of this time, the Camel had a rotary engine, which meant that the engine cylinders were arranged in a circle and then the propeller was fixed directly to the engine.   When the engine was running all of the cylinders and the propeller were spinning around at several hundred RPM.   In contrast, many World War Two aircraft usedradial engines, where the cylinders remain stationary and spin a shaft to which the propeller is fixed.

The torque of a rotary engine makes the fuselage of the aircraft rotate as a reaction to the turning of the engine.  If the pilot tries to turn the aircraft he has to fight against the torque when turning in one direction and he is helped by the torque when turning in the other direction.   So the Camel would turn right very rapidly, but only slowly to the left.   If a pilot wanted to turn 90 degrees to the left it was often quicker to turn 270 degrees to the right!

Almost all of the weight in the Camel was within the first seven feet of the aircraft and this magnified the torque effect, allowing the Camel to turn right about twice as fast as any other fighter, a considerable advantage when dogfighting but a problem when trying to fly normally.   If the pilot stalled the plane then it would immediately spin, and the Camel was known for killing pilots who entered a spin.   The Camel's maneuverability was further enhanced by another design feature which would normally be considered a flaw - it was very tail-heavy and the nose kept trying to push upwards.   It was hard work for the pilot to counteract this, but it meant that the Camel would perform loops very easily, another advantage in combat.

B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The B-2 Spirit is the world's only stealth bomber, with an extraordinary shape driven by its mission, and a price tag which makes it literally worth its weight in gold.

The B-2 might look futuristic, but the basic design isn't new at all, the same manufacturer Northrop did two very similar designs just after World War Two, the propeller-driven XB-35 and the jet-driven YB-49.   With no vertical tail it looks completely other-worldly, but the B-2 actually flies much like any other more conventional aircraft.   This one is called "The Spirit of New York", and is based at Edwards Air Force Base rather than atWhiteman AFB in Missouri, which is the only operational base for them in the United States.   You can see that they've put the Edwards "ED" tail code on the landing gear door, since there's no tail to put it on!   What's less obvious is that the lettering on the undercarriage doors was done incorrectly and so the letters lean the opposite way to all other B-2s.

Each B-2 costs somewhere between $2.2 and $2.4 billion apiece, making it by far the most expensive plane in the world.   This price tag is primarily due to the small number built, only 21 rather than the 132 which were originally requested.   The empty plane weighs 158,000 pounds, and with gold currently at about $1000 an ounce, this makes each plane worth the same weight of gold.

Flying wings like the B-2 are very efficient aerodynamically, with much less drag than ordinary aircraft.   This gives the plane greater range, but it also makes it reluctant to come down, so the crews land the plane with a distinct downward trajectory, much like naval aviators flying onto aircraft carriers.   There's no drag chute, so to reduce the landing run the two rudders on each wing are deflected in opposite directions to act as air brakes.   In this photograph you can see this, and also the covers which open up to allow air to flow into auxiliary inlets for the jet engine, a necessity when the plane is moving slowly during takeoff or landing.

Sukhoi Su-27SMK "Flanker" (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The Sukhoi Su-27 is one Russian response to the F-15 Eagle, which was itself an American response to the MiG-25 "Foxbat".

All Russian military aircraft were assigned a reporting name by the western military alliance NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and fighters were given names starting with the letter "F".   In the case of the Su-27, the reporting name was "Flanker".

Like the F-15, the Flanker has twin tails and two engines, but that's about where the external similarities end.   The Eagle is square and boxy, but the Flanker is curved and as elegant as a greyhound.   It's therefore very appropriate that it's the aircraft used by Russia's premier jet display team, the Russian Knights.

Sukhoi have developed many models of the Su-27, this one is an Su-27SMK which was displaying at the 2005 MAKS airshow at Zhukovsky airfield outside Moscow.

F-15 ACTIVE Test Plane (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The F-15 ACTIVE is a modified version of the first F-15 Eagle fighter which was ever delivered.   It's on loan to NASA from the USAF for use as a testbed for advanced aircraft technologies like canards and vectored thrust.

It was hoped that these features would result in aircraft which could take off in shorter distances and therefore operate from air bases in Europe or elsewhere which had been damaged by enemy action.   The new technologies were certainly successfully, allowing the F-15 ACTIVE and its earlier incarnation the F-15 S/MTD to take off at speeds as low as 42 mph, and to land in only 1650 feet, compared to the 7500 feet of a conventional F-15.   The vectored thrust feature was used on the F-22 Raptor, butAmerican military aircraft designers decided not to use canards, leaving those for European fighter aircraft like the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen.

F-4D Phantom II (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The F-4 Phantom II has a loyal following of "Phantom Phanatics" who consider it the greatest American fighter of the Vietnam war.

This is the Collings Foundation F-4D "Triple Nickel", the only civilian-operated Phantom II in the world.

The F-4 exceled not only as an air-to-air fighter, but also as a ground attack platform and in the reconnaisance role.   It's also one of a tiny number of aircraft which have operated equally effectively with the air force and the navy.   It was so successful that it remained in production from 1958 to 1981 and over 5000 aircraft were built.   It operated with numerous foreign air forces including Australia, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom; Germany, Greece and Turkey are still using them.   The United States flew it in the Wild Weasel role in the first Gulf War and numerous QF-4s still operate in the United States as high-performance target drones.

Grumman J2F Duck (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The Grumman J2F Duck is an American amphibious biplane from World War Two.

The war in the Pacific developed into an island-hopping campaign, with forces moving quickly from one group of islands to the next.   Often there were no airfields available, so amphibious aircraft played an important part in these operations, performing reconnaisance and rescued shipwrecked sailors and downed aviators.   Many of these amphibians wereflying boats like the Catalina, but there were also several float planes like the Duck which performed shorter-range missions.   Since it had a retractable undercarriage, it could land and take off from regular runways, and there was even a tailhook to allow it to operate from aircraft carriers.

Although it only had a single engine, the Duck had a lot of space inside to house its three-man crew of pilot, observer and radio operator.   There was also space within the fuselage for a stretcher patient or two seated passengers.   As well as watching for enemy forces, the observer also operated a single machine gun for defense, and bombs or depth chargescould be carried to allow attacks to be mounted against shipping or submarines.

Fokker Dr.I Triplane (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The Fokker Dr.I triplane is the most famous German fighter of world war one, even though only 320 were ever built.   Its most renowned pilot was "The Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen, the greatest ace of the war, who gained his last 20 victories in this type and then died in one.

The Fokker triplane was a reaction to the appearance of the Sopwith triplane, which was more maneuverable than German fighters flying at the start of 1917.   The Fokker also achieved great maneuverability, but it wasn't a fast aircraft and it was withdrawn from service in the middle of 1918.   Its early demise was hastened by several serious design flaws and production problems which lead to frequent crashes caused by the wings collapsing.   As well as the usual aerodynamic problems caused by rotary engines, it was also later learned that the airflow over the wings was very inefficient, the middle wing producing only 40% of the lift produced by the top wing, another factor leading to wing failures.

Boulton-Paul Defiant (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British fighter from the start of World War Two which had no forward-firing machine guns, instead its armament of four machine guns were all mounted in a turret behind the cockpit.   This turret was manned by a gunner, in the same way that many World War One fighters had a pilot in the front and a gunner in the back.

As the war approached, many British and German bombers were able to fly almost as fast as fighters, so the British thought that the Germans would send unescorted bombers over Great Britain, and turret fighters like the Defiant would be able to attack them from below or the side, where they were unable to defend themselves.   However, this didn't happen and the Defiant found itself in combat against the Bf 109 fighter, which was faster and more maneuverable because it didn't have to carry the weight of a turret and gunner.   The Defiant did have initial successes when it fought at the evacuation of British forces from France at Dunkirk, where German pilots thought they were fighting against Hurricanes and therefore attacked from the rear - a major mistake if your prey was a Defiant!   However the Germans soon learned their lesson, and started to attack from below or head-on, which left the Defiant defenseless.   The British then started to use the Defiant as a night fighter, like the aircraft you see here at the RAF museum at Hendon, and it achieved some success against bombers before being retired in 1942.

When a Defiant was shot down, it was especially bad news for the gunner, because it was very difficult for him to get out of the turret and parachute to safety.

MiG-29M2 "Fulcrum" (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A MiG-29M2 "Fulcrum" showing off its maneuverability at the 2005 MAKS airshow.

The MiG-29M2 has longer range than previous versions of the Fulcrum, thanks largely to the in-flight refuelling equipment on the left hand side of the nose just in front of the cockpit, and also has a "glass cockpit" with LCDs rather than the "steam gauge" dials of earlier versions.   The new fly-by-wire system also makes it considerably more maneuverable, later versions like the MiG-29OVT being even more maneuverable because of their thrust vectoring capabilities.

For some years the Russian aircraft design bureaus have been under financial pressure because Russia drastically cut back its military budget, but because MiG and Sukhoi have been very successful in exporting their aircraft, particularly to large-scale purchasers like India and China, they have been able to survive the cut in spending.   One result has been the development of a wide variety of different versions of the MiG-29 and Su-27, including naval versions able to operate from aircraft carriers.   Since the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov only has a "ski jump" instead of a catapult, the planes must be able to takeoff under their own power, a remarkable feat.   Unfortunately for MiG, the Russian navy chose the Sukhoi, but in 2009 India received the first of their navalized MiG-29Ks to operate from their aircraft carrier.

Delhi, Hyd airports get top rankings of a global body

PTI – Wed, Feb 16, 2011 7:01 PM IST

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) The airports of Delhi and Hyderabad have been ranked among the top airports of the world in the airport services quality (ASQ) by the global body, Airports Council International (ACI).

While Hyderabad''s Rajiv Gandhi Airport retained the number one position for the second year in a row among 49 airports handling 5-15 million passengers per annum (mppa), Indira Gandhi International Airport came fourth in a group of 19 airports in the 25-40 mppa category.

Mumbai''s CST International Airport, run by GVK-led consortium, ranked in the 15-25 mppa category, the ACI said.

While the Indian airports ranked among the top in different categories, the ACI declared Incheon in Seoul, Changi in Singapore, airports in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai Pudong as the overall top ''best airports worldwide''.

The rankings were done on the basis of a global ASQ survey by the ACI of 153 airports, including 6 Indian ones.

The survey, which gets a representative sample of flights, destinations and passenger groups served by the airport, is intended to get feedback from users on a range of service delivery parameters. ACI audits the process to ensure compliance and validates the results.

The awards will be formally presented in April at the ACI''s Asia-Pacific Regional Conference to be held here.

This was announced by P S Nair, who has been promoted as CEO (Corporate Airport Sector) of the GMR Group which leads the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) consortium. Till last month, he was the DIAL CEO.

In DIAL, Nair was replaced by I P Rao while the Hyderabad airport, also run by GMR-led joint venture, now has Vikram Jaisinghani as its CEO.

Nair said the Hyderabad airport has improved on its ASQ rating which now stands at 4.51 and retained the top slot in its category consecutively for the second year.

On the IGI airport, he said the ASQ ratings improved "immensely" after the plush new Terminal-3 became operational last year.

To questions, he said a few areas on which the Delhi airport was lacking included value for money, inadequate shopping facilities and the ease of reaching the airport. "We are looking to improve these areas," Nair said.

ACI Director General Angela Gittens said airports in the Asia Pacific "made clean sweep" in the category of ''best airports worldwide'' as they did last year.

CV-22 Osprey (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The V-22 Osprey is easily the most revolutionary rotorcraft in service today, able to takeoff and land vertically like a helicopter, then transition to forward flight like a regular fixed-wing aircraft.   The CV-22 seen here is the Air Force version of the Osprey, which has aerial refuelling equipment and more radar capability than the Marine Corps' MV-22.

Compared to the Vietnam-era Chinook and Sea Knight helicopters it's intended to replace, the Osprey can fly twice as far with twice the load and at twice the speed.   It's also much quieter than a traditional helicopter, which is a significant advantage in a combat situation.

The Osprey has had a long and chequered development history, with a number of fatal crashes, but its capabilities will almost certainly make it a major asset to the military.   However there are definitely downwash problems when hovering during search and rescue missions and it's also difficult to fit it with defensive guns, making it less able to defend itself against groundfire - though its speed makes this less of an issue, anyway.

P-51D Mustang (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The P-51 Mustang was probably the best overall fighter aircraft of thesecond world war.

North American Aviation proposed the design to the British, who ordered 320 aircraft in March of 1940 before any had even been built.   It featured new technology like a laminar flow wing and a radiator design, visible under the plane's belly, which used the air heated by the engine to produce additional thrust.

This Mustang, "Tempus Fugit" is owned by Tony Raftis, it served as a P-51D with the Royal Swedish Air Force before being sold to the Nicaraguan Air Force.   Its restoration as a TF-51 two-seat trainer was only completed in 2006, and it was painted in this scheme only three months before this photograph was taken during the 2006 "Aviation Nation" airshow at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.

LASER propelled Rockets

Overcoming gravity is not easy. Conventional rockets are 97 percent fuel and tanks. Even NASA's mighty Saturn 5 moon launchers had just 3 to 5 percent available for payloads.

A new technology under study would use ground-based lasers or microwaves to zap a heat exchanger on the rocket, releasing more energy from the fuel. The heat exchanger works like a hot plate, spiking the temperature of the fuel to more than 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit (1,704 degrees Celsius), which significantly increases the rocket's thrust.

"The objective is to reduce the cost of getting into space. The way this rocket works, it has a more energetic propulsive system than one where you have fuel and oxidizer that release energy," Carnegie Mellon University's Kevin Parkin, head of the Microwave Thermal Rocket project at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, told Discovery News.

The biggest stumbling block is not technical, but financial. Startup costs to build the ground facility would be high, but supporters say overall launch costs would be sharply reduced.

"It only makes sense economically if you're going to launch a large number of payloads," said physicist Jordin Kare, who pioneered the technology while working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

"Some alternatives to conventional launchers really are highly desirable. It may be time to at least do some development work to see if this is at least potential," Kare, who is now an independent consultant based in Seattle, told Discovery News.

The technology is most suited to payloads weighing around 100 kilograms (220 pounds), but it would be capable of thousands of launches per year so larger spacecraft could be assembled and refueled in orbit. Think of it like a pipeline instead of a ship, Kare points out.

Thermal beamed systems also would be safer than today's rockets. First, the vehicles are very simple, so there is not much that can fail. Second, they are not explosive.

"The notion of the rocket where engines can be working but avionics fails doesn't exist. It can't go anywhere the laser isn't pointed. And it can't explode in the way that rockets occasionally do. There just isn't the energy onboard," Kare said.

"Also, because it's high rate launch system, you can do far more testing than you can on any other system," he added. "You can launch thousands of times before you launch a person or a high-value payload."

With only hydrogen as exhaust, the system is environmentally friendly, though there may be an issue with birds flying through the lasers or microwave beams as they track the rocket into space.

NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio is conducting a study to assess the viability of beamed energy propulsion for space launches. The study is expected to conclude next month.

Taylor Aerocar (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

Every ten years of so, somewhere in the world an inventor slaps himself on his forehead and says, "Now why didn't I think of that before?".   After drawing up some preliminary sketches he makes his way to some unsuspecting investors and presents his plans to build and market a revolutionary aircraft - a hybrid automobile and commuter plane!   Now Joe Public will be able to drive his car out to the nearest airfield, get it ready for flight and then soar high above the congested freeways below him, filled with imbeciles gazing heavenward in wonder.

The idea that those very same imbeciles will be the ones filling the skies over everyone's heads doesn't faze either the inventor or his investors, whose eyes are filled either with stars or dollar signs.   The money goes on the table, the demonstration models are built and flown and then - nothing.   No hordes of ordinary people rushing out to pony up large quantities of cash for theflying car, no mass production and thankfully no imbeciles weaving dangerously above us.

The Taylor Aerocar was probably the most successful of these flying automobiles, though only six were ever built, and this is the only one which is still flying.   The same engine drives either its propeller or its front wheels.   With its wings folded backwards it can travel at 60 mph along the road, and in the air it can reach 110 mph.

AeroIndia2011

Boeing 747-8

Boeing has unveiled a new 747 passenger jet to rival the Airbus A380.
The new Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, which measures 250 feet in length, will be the world’s longest passenger jet.
The 747-8 has a capacity of 467 passengers, 51 more than the current 747. It was introduced to an audience of 10,000 in a factory in Everett, Washington, yesterday.
The 747-8 also has 16 percent less carbon emissions per passenger, and a noise footprint that is reduced by 30 percent from its predecessor the 747-400, according to Boeing.
"The new 747-8 Intercontinental features the latest in innovative technologies -- applying many of the breakthroughs also found on the 787 Dreamliner," said Jim Albaugh, Boeing Commercial CEO, referring to the carbon-composite plane whose delivery has been delayed by three years.
"We think our customers will value the low operating costs and passengers will enjoy the comfort of the striking new interior," said Albaugh.
The redesigned interior consists of a new curved, upswept architecture that is intended to give passengers a greater sense of space. There's also more room for personal belongings on the new plane.
Reuters reported that the 747-8 is currently listed at US$317.5 million. So far, Boeing has secured 33 orders for the passenger jet, including orders from Lufthansa and Korean Air.
The first delivery will take place in the fourth quarter this year. 
The freighter version of the 747-8 has already taken flight and is set for delivery later this year. Boeing has so far won 74 orders for the 747-8 freight.