Boeing Modernizes B-52 Bomber Weapons Bay Launcher.

Boeing and U.S. Air Force personnel successfully installed the first prototype of a new B-52 bomber weapons bay launcher. The change improves the aircraft’s weapons capacity and mission flexibility. 

The upgrade modifies an existing common strategic rotary launcher into a conventional rotary launcher, enabling the B-52 to carry GPS-guided or “smart” weapons in the weapons bay. The bomber has been able to carry smart weapons on its wing pylons for years but adding this capability in the bay increases the quantity and variety of B-52 smart weapons carriage. 

The change is important because, by creating the option to fly the aircraft with no visible weapons on its wings, it offers crew members greater mission flexibility to adapt to changing conditions on the ground.

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/boeing-modernizes-b-52-bomber-weapons-bay-launcher.html

Italian Typhoons intercept a Russian Air Force Il-78 tanker over the Baltic Sea.

The Italian Eurofighter Typhoon interceptors have had their first close encounter with a Russian jet since taking over the lead nation role within NATO Baltic Air Patrol.

On January 30, two Italian Air Force Typhoons deployed to Šiauliai, Lithuania, to provide Air Policing in the Baltics region, were scrambled to identify and escort a Russian Air Force Il-78 Midas flying close to NATO Baltic States airspace, Latvia’s Military said on its official Twitter account.

Although no further details about the mission have been disclosed, it looks like the Russian Il-78 shadowed by the Italians was not one of the tankers that supported the Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers on their 19-hour mission to the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week, but it was probably only flying a training sortie over the Baltic Sea.

Still, the air policing mission marks the first intercept mission by the Italian F-2000s (as the Typhoons are designated within the Aeronautica Militare) on Russian planes since the Italian Air Force took over the lead role of BAP on January 1.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/30/italian-typhoons-intercept-midas/

Russian Tu-95 bombers escorted by Mig-31 interceptors skirt UK.

On Jan. 29, two Russian Air Force Tu-95 strategic bombers from Engels airbase successfully completed a 19-hour long range mission over neutral waters near the Barents and Norwegian Seas, the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bears, accompanied by Mig-31 Foxhound long-range interceptors, were refueled twice by Il-78 Midas aerial refuelers and were intercepted and escorted by RAF Typhoons, Norwegian F-16s and French Mirage 2000s at various stages of their trip.

The Russian Tu-95s flew within 25 miles of the UK without filing a Flight Plan (FPL), without radio contact with the British ATC agencies and, obviously, without transponder switched on, and were shadowed by Typhoon jets scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby supported by a Voyager tanker.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/29/tu-95-uk-disruption/

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth jet suffers landing accident at Hawaii.

An Alaskan Raptor suffered a landing accident at Hawaii.

A U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor, belonging to the 3rd Wing from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, deployed to the Hawaii to take part in the Sentry Aloha exercise, had an incident landing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, in Honolulu on Jan. 14.

According to the few information available at the moment, the left main brake overheated and caught on fire after the Raptor landed on runway 08L.

HNL Rare Birds website published the image of the F-22 in fire suppressive foam: the runway remained closed for most of the day as maintenance personnel worked on the stealth jet.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/28/raptor-incident-hickam/

Aussie Corsair Restoration Update.

WarbirdsNews published a restoration update on the F4U-1 Corsair under restoration at the Classic Jets Fighter Museum just over a week ago, but a lot of visible progress has occurred in the short time since that article. Ron Johnson very kindly sent us a few photographs to bring us up to date, and we thought that you would be as eager to see them as we were.

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/aussie-corsair-restoration-update-pt-2.html

Hobby Master releases for April 2015.

April sees HM introduce a new tooling in the form of the F-35B STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) that will available in both normal flight mode and VTOL mode.

Coming as a surprise is a 1/72 scale F6F-5 Hellcat off the USS Lexington, 2 RB-26C Invaders in US and French liveries from 1955 and 1957 respectively. There is also an F-35A and "Double MiG Killer" F-15C.

In 1/48 scale there is a Heinz Bar Fw190A-7 from JG1 and P-51D "Missouri Armada" flown by Capt. J.B. England. 

1/144 Scale sees a lone Project Magnet NC-121K Super Constellation.

Coast Guard C-130 films small plane saved by parachute before ditching.

On Jan. 26, a Cirrus SR-22 plane on delivery flight across the Pacific from San Francisco Bay area to a customer in Australia, was forced to perform a (successful) ditching off Hawaii, after running out of fuel.

The aircraft was supposed to perform a stopover at the Hawaii, but it failed to reach the destination because of a broken valve, which made the extra fuel tanks carried by the SR-22 to extend its endurance from 5 to 14 hours, unavailable.

The pilot tried to get as close as possible to a ferry, 253 miles north east of Maui, then deploy the safety parachute and come down to the surface of the sea.

A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 supporting the rescue operation filmed the Cirrus as it deployed the chute and came to a somehow gentle impact with the water. The pilot was recovered about 20 minutes later.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/26/uscg-cirrus-ditching/

Greek fighter jet crashes in Spain killing 10 people.

Ten people have died in a fighter jet crash at a military base in Spain, the Defence Ministry says.

Military officials said that the Greek F-16 jet crashed into other planes and exploded at the Los Llanos airbase in Albacete in central Spain.

One of the pilots performed a wrong manoeuvre during take-off, according to local media. Both pilots were killed.

Another 13 people have been injured, six of them seriously, according to officials. The crash sent flames and a plume of black smoke billowing into the air.

Nine of the injured are Italian, according to the country's defence ministry, but the nationalities of the rest are unclear.

Reports suggest the dead come from different Nato nations, with personnel from the US, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Britain said to be stationed at the base.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30991950

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/26/us-spain-crash-nato-idUSKBN0KZ21320150126

Russian Su-27 Flanker intercepts P-3 Orion over Baltic Sea Nov. 2014

The following footage is quite unique: it shows a single Russian Air Force Su-27 Flanker jet as it intercepts and shadows a P-3 Orion, reportedly flying over the Baltics.

According to the source who sent the link to us, the (unclassified) video was filmed in November 2014 by “one of the sensors carried by a Portuguese Air Force P-3 Orion MPA – Maritime Patrol Aircraft – during a mission over the Baltic Sea.”

The clip clearly shows the fully armed Su-27 approach the surveillance plane from the starboard side (at safe distance…), use the air brake to slow down speed and then break away.

According to our source, it’s pretty standard for the Russian Air Force to launch a single fighter jet to identify and escort NATO surveillance planes.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/23/su-27-intercept-poaf-p3/

Shuttle's Report - Duxford 23 January 2015.

Duxford update - a new Heinkel arrives...!!

---

I was up at Duxford today and headed over to see the great paint job on the DAS One Eleven - it looks very nice. The Eagle is now in the 'paint shop' (the Mustang is in Hanger 5 waiting to go into the AAM) and I was going to add a picture of the of the RAF 'BoB' Op's room to recognise the 75th anniversary but later on, whilst down near AirSpace, I spotted a very familiar shape being unloaded at the 'Area 51' workshops.......

It is an Heinkel (or Casa) and the second one on the site (the IWM version was still parked up in hanger 5). So hopefully, fingers crossed, it is going to enter the hangers and undergo the same sort of treatment the Blenheim recently received. What a surprise....!! 

Oxford DH80A Puss Moth G-ABXY "The Hearts Content" pre-pro.

A scoop line - not yet announced, and I'm guessing the Ref number - please don't quote, it may be wrong.

72PM005 D.H.80A Puss Moth G-ABXY - "The Hearts Content"

Most famous of the record breaking Puss Moths was Jim Mollison's G-ABXY, "The Heart's Content" which completed the first solo east-west Atlantic crossing in August 1932 from Portmarnock Strand near Dublin to New Brunswick, Canada and the first east-west crossing of the South Atlantic from Lympne Aerodrome to Natal, Brazil in February 1933.

Oxford Avro Anson Mk.1 No. 9 Flying Training Sqn. 1939 pre-pro.

1/72 72AA003 Avro Anson Mk1 No.9 Flying Training Sqn. 1939.

The yellow stripe demarcation line between the fuselage and wing will be changed on production as it is wrong - I'm not sure how much or how little.

Oxford DH Sea Hornet pre-pro.

72HOR004 1/72 de Havilland Sea Hornet F20 VZ-708 801 Sqn. HMS Implacable. Nothing to add - just pics.

Oxford Diecast Pre Pro's at the Toy Fair London Jan 2015.

regtheveg posted these photos of the latest Oxford pre-production models on DHP. First off, the de Havilland DH88 Comet.

These are pre-pro's, and the finished product may be changed, where information has been given, I have added a note.

72COM002 1/72 de Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSS Grosvenor House

The scarlet G-ACSS was the property of Mr A.O.Edwards and was named Grosvenor House after the hotel which he managed. The crew were C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black. When the Mollisons ran into problems at Karachi, Scott and Campbell Black took over the lead and were first into Allahabad. Despite a severe storm over the Bay of Bengal they reached Singapore safely, eight hours ahead of the DC-2.

They took off for Darwin, but over the Timor Sea lost power in the port engine when the oil pressure dropped to zero. Repairs at Darwin got them going again, although continuing oil warnings caused them to fly the last two legs with one engine throttled back. Their lead was unassailable despite this, and after the final mandatory stop and more engine work at Charleville they flew on to cross the finish line at Flemington Racecourse at 3.33 p.m. (local time) on 23 October. Their official time was 71 hours 18 seconds.

Records set by G-ACSS 'Grosvenor House'

20-23 October 1934          C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black went from Mildenhall, England to Melbourne, Australia (11000 miles) in 70 hrs 55 min. Still held in 2010.

14-16 November 1937      A.E. Clouston and Mrs Kirby-Green went from London to Cape Town (7091 miles) in 45 hrs 6 min.

18-20 November 1937     The return trip was completed in 57 hrs 23 min.

15-20 March 1938             A.E. Clouston and V. Ricketts went from London to New Zealand (13179 miles) in 104 hrs 20 min.

20-26 March 1938             The return trip was completed in 140 hrs 12 min. Here the times to and from Sydney, Australia en route to New Zealand were also confirmed as records.

Kenyan Air Force F-5 Jet very low fly past.

The video in this post was filmed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Mombasa (Moi International Airport), one of the airbases in Kenya.

It shows two F-5E Tiger II of the Kenyan Air Force perform an ultra-low level pass on a one-story building at Mombasa, whose effect is also to remove branches from trees surrounding it.

The KAF is equipped with about 20 F-5E and F-5F (two-seat version) Tigers, some of those formerly operating with the Royal Jordanian Air Force and upgraded to F-5EM standard before delivery to Kenya.

The Kenyan Air Force uses the F-5 fighter jets even in the air-to-surface role, carrying rockets and unguided bombs used to carry out attacks on Somali extremists.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/22/kenyan-f-5-low-pass/

Skis and Floats, anything but wheels.

Fellow blogger Bayou Renaissance Man brought my attention to an article by Vintage Wings of Canada that I found particularly interesting in that many combat aircraft we're familiar with were equipped with both skis and floats.

While the US and the UK tested the concept Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union used these aircraft in combat. The article contains numerous pictures with dates and details and is well worth the read. To wet your appetite I'll post some pics from the article. If you need to know what you're looking at, follow the link below.

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/494/Anything-But-Wheels.aspx

Photo of the new Corgi Do 17 on Facebook.

Up on the Jumblies Facebook page is another Corgi upcoming release in the form of the 1/72 Dornier Do 17.

First photo of the upcoming 1/72 Corgi Sunderland.

A photo of the upcoming Corgi 1/72 Short Sunderland flying boat has made its appearance on the Jumblies Facebook page.

HH-60 Helicopter refuels from HC-130.

The image in this post was taken during a training Helicopter Air-to-Air Refueling (HAAR) mission over Alaska.

It was taken from a 210th Rescue Squadron HH-60 Pave Hawk as it refuels from a 211th Rescue Squadron HC-130N.

Both aircraft belong to the 176th Wing (176 WG), a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), Anchorage, Alaska, and they are tasked with combat search-and-rescue missions.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/19/hh-60-helicopter-refuels-from-hc-130-in-one-of-the-most-awesome-aerial-refueling-photos-ever/

U.S. Air Force C-17 caught fire at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

On January 7, a C-17 Globemaster III with the 445th Airlift Wing caught fire upon engine start at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

The air crew shut down the engine and the fire was quickly extinguished by the base Fire Emergency Services. A base service member took the image which shows the plane’s right wing engulfed by flames.

The extent of the damage is unclear: according to the 445 AW spokesperson, the damage is estimated at 300,000 USD whereas a memo of the firefighters at WPAFB obtained by 2 NEWS says damage at the airlifter is estimated at 1.5M USD.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/21/c-17-caught-fire/