Category:

21 Photos of Northeast Ohio’s Deserted Plane Sanctuary

3/28/2016

In the late 1940's a man named Walter Soplata began collecting warplanes on some land in Newbury, Ohio, just east of Cleveland. Today, about 30 engines and 50 aircrafts currently lie in the "plane sanctuary." In the 60's and 70's Soplata hosted anywhere from 20-30 visitors every Sunday for a tour of his collection. The collection has been kept relatively secret since Soplata's passing in 2010.

Soplata was a son of Czech immigrants who supported his penchant for collecting by working in a junkyard in Cleveland and, after that, as a carpenter. He managed to amass an impressive collection of rare aircrafts: a prototype North American XP-82 Twin Mustang, an F-82E Twin Mustang with Allison engines, an early Jet Age Chance-Vought F7U Cutlass, and a prototype of the Douglas AD Skyraider series, to name a few.

Soplata never paid more than a few hundred dollars for a plane. One of Soplata's most prized warbirds was a B-25 bomber that he recovered from Lunken Airport in Cincinnati called "WILD CARGO." A man from Louisiana had been using the bomber to fly exotic animals from city to city, and was forced to make a belly-landing in the airport when the landing gear became inoperative.

Check out these eerie photos of the old planes courtesy of Jayson Shenk,

Air Tahiti Nui releases what could be the best airline video ever

3/28/2016

Air Tahiti Nui released the jawdropping behind-the-scenes footage of its operations to celebrate its 15th anniversary. It was created by Matthieu Courtois, a 32-year-old technical engineer from Tahiti who has been working for the airline since 2007, with the help of pilot Ludovic Allain.

Using a go-pro, Courtois spent a month filming and editing the video, which follows the airline's A340 planes as they fly from Aukland to Paris via Papeete (French Polynesia) and Los Angeles.

The result? Viewers are taken on the ride of their lives on the runway, underneath the plane, into the turbines, inside the cockpit and over some spectacular sights.

There are some heavenly views of aircraft skimming through the fluffy clouds, before the clouds break and the incredible view of Tahiti's islands becomes visible.

One thing's for sure, the video captures the high life as you've never seen it before.

It’s True! A toilet was used as an aerial bomb during the Vietnam War

3/25/2016

As American involvement in the Vietnam War began, the A-1 Skyraider was still the medium attack aircraft in many carrier air wings, although it was planned to be replaced by the A-6A Intruder as part of the general switch to jet aircraft. Skyraiders from Constellation andTiconderoga participated in the first U.S. Navy strikes against North Vietnam on 5 August 1964 as part of Operation Pierce Arrow in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, striking against fuel depots at Vinh, with one Skyraider from Ticonderoga damaged by anti-aircraft fire, and a second from Constellation shot down, killing its pilot.

In contrast to the Korean War, fought a decade earlier, the U.S. Air Force used the naval A-1 Skyraider for the first time in Vietnam. As the Vietnam War progressed, USAF A-1s were painted in camouflage, while USN A-1 Skyraiders were gray/white in color; again, in contrast to the Korean War, when A-1s were painted dark blue. In October 1965, to highlight the dropping of the six millionth pound of ordnance, Commander Clarence J. Stoddard of Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25), flying an A-1H, dropped a special, one-time-only object in addition to his other munitions – a toilet.

Once again history is stranger then fiction, and a lot funnier: USS Midway VA-25’s Toilet Bomb

In October 1965, CDR Clarence J. Stoddard, Executive Officer of VA-25 “Fist of the Fleet”, flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 “Paper Tiger II” from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped.

The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965.

The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965

“I was a pilot in VA-25 on the 1965 Vietnam cruise. 572 was flown by CDR C. W. “Bill” Stoddard. His wingman in 577 (which was my assigned airplane) was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera (the only one remaining in the fleet from WWII).

The flight was a Dixie Station strike (South Vietnam) going to the Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was reading the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with “and one code name Sani-flush”. The FAC couldn’t believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop.

When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane. It made a great ready room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be thrown overboard. One of our plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a rack, tailfins and nose fuse for it. Our checkers maintained a position to block the view of the air boss and the Captain while the aircraft was taxiing forward.

Just as it was being shot off we got a 1MC message from the bridge, “What the hell was on 572’s right wing?” There were a lot of jokes with air intelligence about germ warfare. I wish that we had saved the movie film.

“Even though we will lose CAS capacity, we are retiring the A-10 anyway” U.S. Air Force says

3/24/2016

The U.S. Air Force has revealed that the A-10 retirement will begin in fiscal year 2018.Taken on Feb. 26, the picture in this post shows an A-10 Warthog in action during a joint air attack team exercise at Yakima Training Center, Washington, where the “Hogs” trained alongside the AH-64 Apache helicopters deployed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., providing Close Air Support (CAS) to Soldiers with 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Still, this kind of training will come to an end in the near future. In fact, in spite of its unmatched capabilities in the CAS role, the U.S. Air Force will soon retire its A-10 fleet.

As reported by DefenseNews.com, the service has recently revealed the number of A-10s that will be retired each year before the type is completely withdrawn from service in 2022.

The plan call for the retirement of 49 planes or 2 squadrons in fiscal year (FY) 2018. This will be followed by 49 aircraft in FY2019, 64 in FY2020, and 96 in FY2021.

During a hearing held at the House Armed Services Committee on Mar. 16 Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said that accelerating the retirement of the A-10 will help to better support the stand up of F-35 squadrons. “If we keep the A-10, by FY21 — the scheduled FOC (Final Operational Capability) date for the F-35 — we will be about 50 percent short of the maintenance manpower we need to field the F-35. So it’s a manpower problem.”

However, even though the F-35 can perform the CAS mission, it would be too expensive using the Lightning II in the A-10 role, thus leaving the problem of the Hog replacement unsolved. As explained by Welsh himself: “The F-35 is intended to the high-threat CAS platform, (with the retirement of the A-10) we are losing CAS capacity.”

“Yogi” was ejected at 35,000 feet, 870 mph from a USAF B-58 to test the Hustler’s escape capsule 54 years ago today

3/22/2016

“Yogi” was ejected at 35,000 feet, 870 mph.On Mar. 21, a 2-year old black bear named “Yogi” was ejected from a U.S. Air Force B-58 during tests of the Hustler’s escape capsule.

The bear was ejected at 35,000 feet from the USAF bomber flying at supersonic speed (870 mph): “Yogi” survived the test and landed unharmed 7 minutes, 49 seconds later.

Although the Air Force celebrates the test conducted 54 years ago today as the first ejection of a living creature from a supersonic aircraft, the first live creature to eject from a supersonic jet was George F. Smith, a test pilot of North American Aviation.

Smith ejected at Mach 1.05 from an F-100 Super Sabre off Laguna Beach, California, on Feb. 26, 1955 after experiencing a flight control failure. He spent 5 days in coma and eventually recovered in spite of various injuries.

This MiG-29 Display Will Give You Goosebumps!

3/19/2016

This MiG-29 from the Polish Air Force at RIAT 2015 showed the true capabilities of what NATO called the Fulcrum. The takeoff alone is something to you will not see every day! Throughout the display the pilot shows it’s incredible skill and pushes the aircraft to the limit!

The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the world’s largest military air show, held annually over the third weekend in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England. The show typically attracts a total of 150,000 to 160,000 spectators over the weekend and they loved every minute of this stunning display.

Originally built in the Soviet Union to counter the F-15 and F-16, Poland received the first MiG-29s in 1989-1990 and has flown them ever since. It is the biggest NATO MiG-29 user and has plans to continue to use them far into the 2020s. So with a bit of luck, we will continue to see them appear at airshows in Europe.

BREAKING NEWS: Boeing 737 passenger jet crashes killing all 62 passengers and crew in a fireball at a Russian airport

3/19/2016

A FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 has crashed in a fireball while it attempted to land at a Russian airport killing everyone aboard.

Flight FZ981 was carrying 55 passengers and seven crew members from Dubai when it crashed at Rostov-on-Don airport, according to a statement released by FlyDubai. Earlier reports said that 61 people were aboard the flight.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said in a statement: 'The plane made a second round coming in to land because of bad weather conditions.

'At landing the tail touched the runway, began to break down and burst into flames. At present, no combustion.'

Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov told media during a press conference that it was scheduled to land at 6.20pm ET, which is 1.20am Moscow time, but crashed at 8.50pm ET, which is 3.50am Moscow time.

The Day Apaches Plowed Through Downtown Houston

3/16/2016

Have You Ever Seen Anything Cooler Than That?We always love to show you epic flybys. If they’re low, loud, fast or a combination of those three, we find them share them with you. What we’re about to show you however is beyond awesome though.

We might be about nine years too late on this one as it happened during Veteran’s Day in 2007, but this incident is till impressive after all these years. During the parade in Houston, not one but three Apache helicopters cruised through a busy downtown street.

Boeing AH-64 Apaches are attack helicopters that were introduced into service in 1986.

They flew right between buildings and from the looks of it, they were some 30-40 ft. above the street. Now, we’ve seen some great airshows in our day, but how was this even allowed to happen? Trust us, we have nothing against this whatsoever, but with FAA regulations restricting everything that looks remotely fun, it’s surprising that it was allowed.

As for the footage itself, it was captured by someone at the parade. It’s really shaky and choppy, but the person recording explained that he was trying to take pictures with his other hand at the same time. We can’t blame him for that, and even though the video isn’t perfect , it still captures one of the neatest flybys we’ve ever seen.

Blackbird SR-71: Malfunction at Mach 3.18 Caused the Plane to Literally Tear Apart – the Pilot Survived!!

3/16/2016

Among professional aviators, there’s a well-worn saying: Flying is simply hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror. And yet, I don’t recall too many periods of boredom during my 30-year career with Lockheed, most of which was spent as a test pilot.

Built as a strategic reconnaissance aircraft able to fly at 88,000 feet and Mach 3, the iconic Lockheed SR-71 required aircrews to wear a special silver pressure suit to ensure their safety. This proved to be much useful during the time, as the aircraft experienced several accidents at very high speeds and altitudes during its test flights.

The protection provided by these suits was put to test on Jan. 25, 1966 when Blackbird tail number 952 disintegrated mid-air during a systems evaluation flight. The mission was intended to investigate procedures designed to reduce trim drag and improve high Mach cruise performance while the center of gravity (CG) was located further aft than normal, reducing the Blackbird’s longitudinal stability.

The SR-71 was driven by Bill Weaver with a Lockheed flight test specialist, Jim Zwayer in the back seat and it took off from Edwards AFB at 11:20 am . They refueled from a KC-135, accelerated to Mach 3.2 and climbed to 78,000 feet, which was their initial cruise altitude.

During a programmed thirty-five-degree bank right turn they experienced an “inlet unstart” that caused the immediate unstart on the right J-58 engine, forcing the aircraft to roll further right and start to pitch up. An inlet unstart happened when a shock wave was rapidly ejected back outside the inlet. When an inlet unstart occurred a device called the cross-tie system was enabled to minimize the extreme rolling and yaw of the aircraft and to prevent the good inlet from unstarting. At the same time the cross-tie system also restarted the good engine. As Weaver himself told to former Blackbird pilot Col. Richard H. Graham in his book, “SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest, Fastest Plane”: “I jammed the control stick as far left and forward as it would go. No response. I instantly knew we were in for a wild ride.”

Since the chances to survive an ejection at Mach 3.18 and 78,000 feet weren’t very good, Weaver and Zwayer decided to stay with the aircraft to restore control until they reached a lower speed and altitude, but the cumulative effects of system malfunctions exceeded flight control authority. Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion, even if the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only two to three seconds.

Weaver recalls that he was “still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces. Then the SR-71 literally disintegrated around us.”

Weaver struggled to realize what was really happening. “I could not have survived what had just happened. I must be dead. As full awareness took hold, I realized I was not dead. But somehow I had separated from the airplane. I had no idea how this could have happened; I hadn’t initiated an ejection. The sound of rushing air and what sounded like straps flapping in the wind confirmed I was falling, but I couldn’t see anything. My pressure suit’s face plate had frozen over and I was staring at a layer of ice.”

It was at that point that the pressure suit proved to be very effective protection for Weaver. In fact, once it was inflated, an emergency oxygen cylinder in the seat kit attached to the parachute harness was functioning. It not only supplied breathing oxygen, but also pressurized the suit, preventing Weaver’s blood from boiling at the extremely high altitude. In this way the suit’s pressurization had also provided physical protection from intense buffeting and g-forces. That inflated suit had become like a tiny escape capsule.

Another system conceived to safeguard the Blackbird aircrew during the bailout procedure was the SR-71’s parachute system. To prevent body tumbling motions and physical injury due to the centrifugal forces it was designed to automatically deploy a small-diameter stabilizing parachute shortly after ejection and seat separation.

Since Weaver had not intentionally activated the ejection sequence, he thought that stabilizing chute might not have deployed. But he quickly determined he was falling vertically and not tumbling, meaning that the little parachute had deployed and was doing its job. The next concern was for the main parachute, which was designed to open automatically at 15,000 feet, but again he had no assurance the automatic-opening function would work. So Weaver decided to open the faceplate, to estimate his height above the ground but as he reached for the faceplate, he felt the reassuring sudden deceleration of main parachute deployment.

After landing, Weaver was rescued by Albert Mitchell Sr., owner of a ranch in northeastern New Mexico, who helped him with the chute, then reached Zwayer who had landed not far away, with his own Hughes helicopter. Mitchell returned few minutes later reporting that Zwayer was dead: in fact he had suffered a broken neck during the aircraft’s disintegration and was killed almost instantly. Moreover Mitchell said that his ranch foreman would watch over Zwayer’s body until the arrival of the authorities and he flew Weaver to the Tucumcari hospital.

Investigation of the incident determined that the nose section of the Blackbird had broken off aft of the rear cockpit and crashed ten miles from the main wreckage. The resultant very high g-forces had literally ripped Weaver and Zwayer from the airplane. After this crash, testing with the CG aft of normal limits was discontinued, and trim-drag issues were resolved via aerodynamic means. Moreover the inlet control system was improved and the inlet unstarts almost stopped with the development of the Digital Automatic Flight and Inlet Control System.

Two weeks after the accident Weaver was back in a Blackbird. As he recalls: “It was my first flight since the accident, so a flight test engineer in the back seat was probably a little apprehensive about my state of mind and confidence. As we roared down the runway and lifted off, I heard an anxious voice over the intercom. “Bill! Bill! Are you there?” “Yeah George. What’s the matter?” “Thank God! I thought you might have left.” The rear cockpit of the SR-71 has no forward visibility – only a small window on each side – and George couldn’t see me. A big red light on the master-warning panel in the rear seat had illuminated just as we rotated, stating: “Pilot Ejected”. Fortunately, the cause was a misadjusted micro switch, not my departure.”

Teenager wins $250,000 in biggest drone race yet

3/16/2016

A British teenager has won $250,000 after placing first in the inaugural World Drone Prix in Dubai. 15-year-old Luke Bannister piloted his drone to victory along an outdoor track, using a camera mounted on its front to steer the craft through a series of illuminated hoops from a first-person viewpoint, and beating out competition from 150 other teams in the process.

Drone racing has rocketed in popularity over the last year, but Dubai's World Drone Prix is one of the biggest events yet, with a prize pool of $1 million. More than 2,000 people turned up to see the teams compete for a share of that pot, but it was Luke Bannister's team, Tornado X-Blades Banni-UK, that beat homegrown crew Dubai Dronetek into second place.

The sport has already attracted investment from the likes of NFL team owners, but it still has some way to go before it breaks into the mainstream. Particularly difficult is the question of how to actually observe the races. Drone pilots fly their racing craft in first-person, using special headsets to see as the drone sees, but for observers the footage can feel — and sound — like being strapped to the front of a particularly excitable wasp. A second camera following the action might help human brains contextualize the movements in space, but some of the nascent racing leagues set their courses inside buildings, making a chase camera's operation difficult. Still, though, the speed of the craft and the deftness of his control make watching Luke's victory from Dubai an exhilarating — if slightly nauseating — experience.

<<Previous

Forward>>

21 Photos of Northeast Ohio’s Deserted Plane Sanctuary

Air Tahiti Nui releases what could be the best airline video ever

It’s True! A toilet was used as an aerial bomb during the Vietnam War

“Even though we will lose CAS capacity, we are retiring the A-10 anyway” U.S. Air Force says

“Yogi” was ejected at 35,000 feet, 870 mph from a USAF B-58 to test the Hustler’s escape capsule 54 years ago today

This MiG-29 Display Will Give You Goosebumps!

BREAKING NEWS: Boeing 737 passenger jet crashes killing all 62 passengers and crew in a fireball at a Russian airport

The Day Apaches Plowed Through Downtown Houston

Blackbird SR-71: Malfunction at Mach 3.18 Caused the Plane to Literally Tear Apart – the Pilot Survived!!

Teenager wins $250,000 in biggest drone race yet

///

Categories

Archives