Aviation Pictures Part Trois

[Kidd]

the fans would be turning so fast that simple inertia kept them moving.. which means that you lost control of the throttle, and they'd keep turning at that speed until fuel ran out

In Soviet Russia, jets fly pilot!

[Feenix74]

This is dedication:

https://youtu.be/XYD4IEd3zP0



And for those who do not have a broadband connection:

It’s one thing to build a model airplane as a kid, but to recreate an entire World War II fighter plane (that flies!) piece by piece? That’s some real DIY magic. When Martin Phillips, an English tool shop owner, received a single rivet from a WWII Spitfire as a 40th birthday gift, it changed his life. His challenge: to rebuild the iconic aircraft from the one piece. Amazingly, he did it. It took him 14 years and a million pounds, but Phillips scoured the world for spare Spitfire parts, machined ones that no longer existed and even found an old wing rusting behind a pub. The Spitfire is the ultimate symbol of Britain’s war effort, and Martin has been keeping the legend alive since his plane’s maiden voyage in 2013.

[Sharpnel]

Kudos to Mr. Phillips

And here's a longer film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUkQ__ukTBM

[Daryk]

The second's one longer, but the first one has the best line: "...I'm a Spitfire pilot" (around 2:10).

[Feenix74]

This is still my favourite Spitfire youtube clip of all time:

https://youtu.be/4iOoiEbtf2w

[glitterboy2098]

[I am Belch II]

Two Thunderbolts flying together so very awesome!

[snewsom2997]

Two Thunderbolts flying together so very awesome!

Really brings the scale home as to how much larger military aircraft have become. There was a picture on one of the aviation threads that had the F-15 and the P-51, you could fit 3 P-51s on a F-15. That to say noting of the SU-27 family.

[glitterboy2098]

Heritage Flights make for great visuals, IMO.

[I am Belch II]

Love legacy flights!

[Feenix74]

What you mean like this?

[Feenix74]

As good a place as any for this. Space X release their Falcon rocket landing blooper reel:

https://youtu.be/bvim4rsNHkQ

"Try to keep your number of landings equal to your take-offs" and

"Any landing you walk away from is a good landing"

[worktroll]

"It's not an explosion!"

(random burning bit spirals off under thrust ...)

[Daryk]

That is an example of why I keep coming here...  ;D

[Ruger]

That is my new desktop wallpaper on my work computer...

Ruger

[Weirdo]

As good a place as any for this. Space X release their Falcon rocket landing blooper reel:

https://youtu.be/bvim4rsNHkQ

"Try to keep your number of landings equal to your take-offs" and

"Any landing you walk away from is a good landing"

You gotta love a launch company with a sense of humor about the success ratios you'll find early in any launch program... ;D

[PsihoKekec]

As good a place as any for this. Space X release their Falcon rocket landing blooper reel:

https://youtu.be/bvim4rsNHkQ

"Try to keep your number of landings equal to your take-offs" and

"Any landing you walk away from is a good landing"

The lack of Michael Palin is inexcusable.

Meanwhile in Syria (Deir ez-Zor):

[I am Belch II]

What you mean like this?

That photo is such a awesome photo!

[chanman]

I've heard of muzzle flash, but this is ridiculous

[JadeHellbringer]

Not just flash, but kick- look at the nose drop from that burst! That's a big, heavy, and absurdly-stable helicopter, and that burst is still enough to drop the nose a good, what, 15 degrees-ish? Woof.

Pilots were mixed at first about losing the turret-mounted gatling from earlier models when the Mi-24E debuted, but it's safe to say that the twin-barrel Gsh 23mm has proven itself to be a big-time upgrade. After all, the Hind can't really hover anyway- so it has to make fighter jet style strafing runs on targets as it is. Why not just strap on a fighter jet's gun (it really is the same one many Mikoyan and Sukhoi designs mount) and start strafing?

[HobbesHurlbut]

Not just flash, but kick- look at the nose drop from that burst! That's a big, heavy, and absurdly-stable helicopter, and that burst is still enough to drop the nose a good, what, 15 degrees-ish? Woof.

Pilots were mixed at first about losing the turret-mounted gatling from earlier models when the Mi-24E debuted, but it's safe to say that the twin-barrel Gsh 23mm has proven itself to be a big-time upgrade. After all, the Hind can't really hover anyway- so it has to make fighter jet style strafing runs on targets as it is. Why not just strap on a fighter jet's gun (it really is the same one many Mikoyan and Sukhoi designs mount) and start strafing?

Well, having a turret allow for an arc of fire field. It may not hover, but it doesn't need to in order to shoot targets to the side.

[ANS Kamas P81]

In fairness the difference between the turret and the fixed twin-gun should also have this fact highlighted: the YAK-B is a .50 caliber machine gun, the one you see there?  That's a 30mm GSh-30K.  There's a reason she's swinging around so much under recoil.

[worktroll]

Is that the same gun that used to make the Mig-23 flame out?  :o

[Deadborder]

It doesn't help that the GSh-30 is pretty absurdly powerful as aircraft cannons go.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Is that the same gun that used to make the Mig-23 flame out?  :o

Nah, that's the six-barrel GSh-6-30 rotary.  Apparently it's got a brutal vibration as well, and as it's a 30x165mm cartridge at up to 6000rpm; I'm seriously Not Surprised^(TM) at that. 

[Shatara]

Is that the same gun that used to make the Mig-23 flame out?  :o

Not exactly, that's the GSh-30-6 Gatling. Fires the same round though.

Went to the Oceania airshow today. Learned that at some point they started putting crazy 8-blade props on the Hawkeyes.

[Feenix74]

I believe the 8 scimitar blades were installed in the early-noughties (aka 2000s).

[glitterboy2098]

the new props were added in 2004, they're more vibration resistant, the individual blades can be removed for repair instead of having to remove the entire prop+hub each time, and the curve makes them more efficient at higher rotational speeds. they're carbon fiber with steel leading edges.
they got refitted to all the E-2C's in service, and were included from the start on the E-2D just now entering service.

[Deadborder]

Nah, that's the six-barrel GSh-6-30 rotary.  Apparently it's got a brutal vibration as well, and as it's a 30x165mm cartridge at up to 6000rpm; I'm seriously Not Surprised^(TM) at that.

The GSh-30-6 turned out to be a rare case of having too much Dakka

[Fat Guy]

So was the abortive attempt to mount a shrunk down GAU-8 Avenger (the GAU-13) in a pod (the GPU-5) and hang it on an F-16 to replace the A-10.

The GAU-13 cannon itself was a shortened pneumatic-powered, four-barreled version of the Warthog's giant seven barreled GAU-8 Avenger cannon. Because of its modular format, overall size and weight limitations, the GPU-5 had a rate of fire of about half that of the GAU-8, or about 2,400 rounds per minute. All ammunition was carried internally in the pod, of which could hold 353 rounds.





Precision fire was almost impossible with the setup as the F-16s software had not been adequately modified for aiming, and the vibration was so bad when the gun was fired that software tweaks probably would have made little difference anyway and it wreaked havoc on the F-16's sensitive electronics and mechanical components. The system was so ill-suited to the aircraft that just firing the gun multiple times would deform the pylon it is attached to and thus it would become skewed far off zero.