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Boeing 747 SuperTanker fights California fire for 1st time and the video is amazing

9/3/2017

Global SuperTanker Service's Boeing 747-400 has been activated to fight a California wildfire, marking its first use in the United States.
The company says the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection exercised a call-when-needed contract Wednesday to fight a fire in Butte County about 10 miles east of Lake Oroville. At the time, the SuperTanker was at McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento.

tags: global supertanker , 747 fire fighting , boeing 747 , breed of speed , nathan finneman , 747 super tanker

Skydiver nearly gets taken out by a private jet

8/29/2017

This guy needs to by a lotto ticket, because he's one lucky mofo.. We dont know much details on this one, except we do know he was obviously in the flight path of a private jet..

tags: skydiver plane , sky diver almost gets hit , nathan finneman , breed of speed, private jet hits

Passenger Of F-14 Gets Confused, Grabs wrong Handle While Inverted.

8/26/2017

True Stories As Told By The Pilots Who Were There.Here at World War Wings we strive to show and tell you about any aspect of aviation, be it vintage or modern. Recently we wrote a story that you all really like so we’re going to continue writing them for you. We found an incredible website which has a forum and military pilots exchange their stories there. Some of them you wouldn’t believe.
This one is the story of Lt. Geoff Vickers and a task he was given that didn’t go so well.
During a practice exercise at NAS Fallon, Nevada, Lt. Geoff Vickers was instructed to take battle-air-warfare commander in his F-14D Tomcat. The point was to show the commander how they train and what they do on a daily basis as well the capabilities of the planes he was overseeing.
The commander had previously hitched rides on E-2Cs and EA-6B, so he was no stranger to flying, but flying a tactical jet was a bit different. He received a brief from the pilot and wingmen and strapped into the Tomcat. In retrospect, Lt. Geoff Vickers said he noticed the commander was a bit nervous, but didn’t pay any mind to it at the time.

After takeoff, the Vickers did an awareness maneuver and instructed the commander in the back seat that he was going to do a “quick inverted check.” Never before in the back seat of a fighter, the commander made a quick, anxious comment before he was flipped upside down.
Looking back, seasoned pilot Vickers realized that being in the cockpit for as long as he had, he didn’t realize that flying in the back is a bit different. His hands for example, are on the throttle and the stick 99% of the time. When you’re in the back however, your hands are free, especially if you’re just a spectator. When inverted and just looking through some plexiglass at whatever is below you, your instincts tell you to just grab hold of something. That’s exactly what the commander did. Except…he grabbed the ejection handle.
Going at 300 knots, Vickers asked if he was ready for an inverted check. The last thing he heard from the commander was “all set” as rolled the plane. Then, Vickers heard a loud pop and his cabin depressurized.
Once the smoke cleared from the cabin, Vickers rolled the plane upright and looked at his instruments. Everything looked normal except for the fact that he was “now flying a convertible” as he put it. The control tower chimed in asking what happened.

Vickers returned back to base while braving winds of about 320 knots. After confirming his checklist for such an incident with his wingman, he landed successfully. With such an event, he was greeted on the ground by everyone on the ground, the skipper even stepped out to give him a hug.
The commander was recovered almost immediately after he landed by an SH-60. He was taken to the hospital and left soon after with two minor cuts to his face.
Later that night at O’Club, the commander told Vickers that when they did the roll and he experienced the -.5 Gs, his instinctively grabbed the closest thing. Having had his hands in fists on his inner thighs, the ejection handle was that thing. The rest is history.

tags: breed of speed , f14 tomcat , nathan finneman , ejection , tomcat

Think Eclipse Traffic Sucks? Check Out The Plane Lineup At Madras Airport In Oregon!

8/22/2017

Those who thought they would beat the eclipse viewing traffic by soaring over it are getting a nasty reality check at little Madras Airport in central Oregon. The video below, shot by Portland NBC affiliate KGW's helicopter, shows an almost comically huge line of aircraft waiting to take the airport's main runway for departure. The planes in line for departure range from home-built kit planes to small corporate jets.
The town of Madras, which has a population of roughly 7,000 people on a normal day, saw hoards of people flood into the area to watch the once in a lifetime celestial event. The city sits perfectly on the "line of totality" and the area's weather this time of year is predictably ideal for viewing.

Making things more precarious, Madras has no air traffic control tower. So deconfliction and coordination of takeoffs and departures is done via open frequency, aircraft-to-aircraft communications. It is unclear if a temporary tower was setup for the eclipse rush or not. But regardless, with one 5,089 foot runway and one 2,701 foot runway available, and many dissimilar aircraft trying to use those runways, things can go wrong real fast. One airplane already crashed on Saturday while approaching the airport, with the pilot dying in the crash.
Hopefully everyone's trip home is safe and predictable

tags: madras airport , madras traffic jam , eclipse traffic , breed of speed , nathan finneman , amazing traffic

Whoa, We Did Not Realize Helicopters Could Do This

8/14/2017

Flying vertically, dipping the tail rotor into the dirt — none of this seems safe, but it is really cool

The Giro Boat is the stuff you dream't of as a kid.

8/11/2017

Designed and sold in the early 1960's. It was towed behind a boat, at a speed of 20mph+ for the Giro Boat to achieve lift. This looks both awesome and very sketchy at the same time. That's why we like it. There were no pansays in the 1960's. Just shear design guru's coming out with contraptions such as this that define awesome.

tags: gyro boat , flying boat, breed of speed , nathan finneman , 1960's , flying gyro , gyrocopter

Pilot lands Harrier fighter jet with no landing gear

8/8/2017

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 263 (Reinforced) 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), AV-8B Harrier aircraft pilot, talks about his experience during a controlled landing after his front landing gear malfunctioned on his aircraft aboard the USS Bataan at sea, June 7, 2014.

Elements of the 22nd MEU, embarked aboard Bataan, are operating in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations to augment U.S. Crisis Response forces in the region.

After the nose gear on this AV-8B Harrier malfunctioned, Capt. William Mahoney had to execute a Vertical Landing on the deck of the USS Bataan using a padded stool. Credit to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.

tags: breed of speed , harrier landing no gear , nathan finneman , marine amazing landing , fighter pilot , amazing landing ,

THIS VIDEO OF THE AT-6C LIGHT ATTACK AIRCRAFT WILL GIVE YOU GOOSEBUMPS

7/24/2017

It’s rare to see a promotional video of fighter and attack planes. While Lockheed Martin put together a pretty slick campaign last decade for their F-22 and F-35 platforms, the promotional videos have really dried up over the past 5 years. That’s what makes this video for the AT-6C turboprop attack aircraft video a special find. It’s a light attack aircraft based on the T-6 Texan II that is used for Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) in the United States along with some other allied nations. Shot in and around Yuma, Arizona, this video captures the beauty of flight and the sexiness of attaching some weapons to the T-6 Texan II.

tags: breed of speed , at-6 attack , air force upt , air force plane, nathan finneman , t6 texan , aviation , aircraft

Beechcraft T-6C/AT-6 (Long Version) from 3DF on Vimeo.

Seen this before?? In 1992 B-25s Take Off From A Carrier Once More To Remember The Doolittle Raid

7/3/2017

I used a WWII Eyemo 35mm motion picture camera to capture the Warbirds launching off of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) off of Oahu, Hawaii in August of 1995.

This was an event sponsored by the Navy to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. Three B-25's, two Corsairs, a Wildcat, a Grumman Albatross and other Warbirds were launched from the deck.

What an honor to have been a part of this incredible event.

tags: breed of speed , b25 take off carrier , nathan finneman , b25 doolittle raid , carrier take off amazing

US F/A-18E Shoots Down Syrian Su-22 in Air-to-Air Kill

6/20/2017

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Su-22 on Sunday after the Soviet-era fighter-bomber dropped munitions near U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, U.S. Central Command officials confirmed.
The strike was believed to be the U.S. military's first air-to-air kill involving manned aircraft in nearly two decades. The last known such instance was when a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon shot down a Serbian MiG-29 in 1999 during the Kosovo campaign.
"A Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet," the command said in a release.
The attack comes after pro-Syrian forces attacked SDF fighters in Ja'Din, wounding a number of SDF fighters, officials said. The town is south of Tabqah and a known area where U.S. works with Russia to deconflict the airspace.
"Coalition aircraft conducted a show of force and stopped the initial pro-regime advance toward the SDF-controlled town," the release said.

Following the advance on the SDF, the coalition alerted Russian counterparts to de-escalate the situation. However the forces -- backed by President Bashar al-Assad -- did not appear to back down, with the Su-22 entering the area, CentCom said.
"The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat," the command said.
While Central Command said its mission is to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, the strike against the pro-Syrian regime forces marks the fourth strike in recent weeks by the coalition.
Drone ShootdownMost recently, a U.S. F-15E on June 8 shot down an unidentified drone deemed hostile toward coalition forces in At Tanf.
The drone, similar in size to a U.S. MQ-1 Predator, was suspected to be "pro-regime" and was struck down after it was observed dropping a munition near coalition personnel training partner forces in the fight against the Islamic State, according to Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon.
The drone strike marked the first time that forces supporting the Syrian government have attacked inside a so-called "deconfliction" zone near At Tanf, close to the Jordanian border, Dillon said.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said the pro-Syrian forces are backed by Iran, and have been knowingly operating "inside an established and agreed-upon deconfliction zone." They are believed to be a threat to coalition forces in the region, he has said.
The deconfliction zone is an area in which U.S. and Russian forces have agreed not to operate. The zone previously applied to airspace but now includes ground territory, a defense official told Military.com last month.
First Kill
The last air-to-air kill for the F/A-18 was during the Gulf War when two F/A-18s shot down two Iraqi MiG-21s during a brief dogfight. The kill over Syria, however, is believed to be the first air-to-air kill for the E model.
The F/A-18s are flying the most combat missions in Operation Inherent Resolve, the Pentagon's name for operations against the Islamic State, according to recent statistics provided to Military.com.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Su-22 -- a variant of the Sukhoi 17 and Su-20 and heavily used throughout the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the 1982 Lebanon War -- have been involved in the Assad's Syrian war since roughly mid-2012.
The Su-22s were believed to be the aircraft behind the nerve agent attack in April against the town of Khan Sheikhoun in northwestern Syria's Idlib governorate.
Days later, President Donald Trump ordered two Navy destroyers to launch more than 50 Tomahawk missiles on Al Shayrat base north of Damascus, where the SU-22s launched from.
tags: f18 shoots down syrian plane , f18 kill , nathan finneman , navy jet , air to air kill , breed of speed ,

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