The Yankee Air Museum announced it is dispatching its flagship, the Boeing B-17G “Yankee Lady,” to Port Clinton on Saturday, Aug. 8. The Museum’s award-winning World War II heavy bomber is visiting Liberty Aviation Museum at 3515 E. State Rd., Port Clinton, adjacent to the Erie-Ottawa International Airport.

The plane will arrive at approximately 10 a.m. from its base at historic Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Mich., and begin offering self-guided tours and Air Adventure rides.

“Our B-17 Yankee Lady and crew are honored to be guests, and indeed friends of Liberty Aviation Museum,” said Kevin Walsh, Executive Director of Yankee Air Museum. “This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the End of World War Two, and bringing our Salute to Victory tour to Liberty Aviation Museum, an institution rich in World War Two history, means a lot to us.”

Walsh said the B-17 is the type of four-engine heavy bomber that initiated daylight strategic bombing in World War II. Its purpose was to fly high and deep into enemy territory, striking high value targets such as munitions factories, oil refineries and military installations.

According to Walsh, 12,731 of these stout aircraft were built between 1936 and 1945. With a crew of 10 and defensive armaments of up to 13 fifty-caliber machine guns, the B-17 became known as the Flying Fortress. More than 5,000 were shot down over Europe during the historic air war. “Today, there may be only 10 airworthy Boeing B-17s left in existence, so it’s important that we share this flying museum and honor our Greatest Generation,” said Walsh.

Walsh is encouraging everyone to come out and see this award-winning, historic aircraft. “Touring the plane or even better, flying on it, will give you a deep appreciation of what our World War Two airmen did for us. It is an unforgettable experience,” he said.

The B-17 Yankee Lady will stay through the day, offering tours and Air Adventure rides from about 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. Self-guided ground tours cost $8 for adults aged 15 and above; $3 for kids aged 6 to 15 and all others are free. Air Adventure rides on the B-17 are available at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

An Air Adventure ride is a 30-minute experience and costs $475. To order a B-17 Air Adventure visit www.yankeeairmuseum.org and click on “Fly With Us.”

“It is impossible to keep planes like the Yankee Lady B-17 operating without community support at home and everywhere we fly,” said Walsh. “We appreciate the support of the Erie-Ottawa International Airport and Liberty Aviation Museum for helping make this mission possible.”

Here’s the history of the Blue Angels, the world’s most famous aerobatic team that was originally meant to boost morale after WW2.

Blue Angel flying low
Not long after the Wright brothers made their historic flight, ingenious men began using airplanes in a variety of ways that have since become common place in the modern world. As a fast and safe mode of transportation, an efficient way to haul goods to the delivery of healthcare and medicines, the airplane is has proven itself as an indispensable machine.

In a similar vein, while most men saw the airplane as a tool to help in jobs and work, other more imaginative, adventurous men saw the airplane as a means to explore, a means to entertain and a way to perform feats of bravery and aerial acrobatics.

In this article, we look at one of the best teams that perform amazing feats of aerobatics, a select group of men and machines that have thrilled audiences since the days of WW2 where their skill and courage at piloting aircraft entertained their both their brothers in arms and their nation caught up in the ravages of war. Today we check out these amazing facts about the Blue Angels.

The brainchild of famed WW2 admiral Chester Nimitz, the Blue Angels were created in 1946 to provide morale to the troops and garner public support and interest in military aviation. Initially led by WW2 ace Rey Voris, he selected three other skilled pilot/instructors that formed the first team of naval aviation aerial acrobats.

While the Blue Angels’ almost seventy-five year history is indeed a long time together as a team, the honor of being the very first aerial stunt/performance team goes to Patrouille de France whose origins date back to 1931, a good fifteen years head start.

As the Blue Angels officially formed in April 1946 and was scheduled to perform in August, the team of Commander Voris had four months to train. In response, they spent much time in practice and perfected its initial maneuvers in secret over the Florida Everglades. A decision humorously described by Voris, “if anything happened, just the alligators would know”.

As WW2 only recently ended, the navy’s old workhorse, the Hellcat, found itself as the ride of the newly formed Blue Angels team for its first ever exhibition in July 1946. Less than a month later, the team transitioned to the newer Bearcat and used it until 1949.

When they started, the Blue Angels used battle hardened WW2 era planes, but this changed in 1949, when the new F9F-2 Panther was adopted by the team. This marked a significant change as the power and handling of their aircraft allowed them to perform faster and more complex flying.

The main qualifications to become a Blue Angel pilot require the applicant to be either Navy and Marine Corps aviators with a minimum of 1,250 tactical jet hours and must be carrier-qualified. For selection, current team members hold a secret vote with no accountability to higher Navy authority and finally, all votes must be unanimous.

The signature move of the Blue Angels is the “Diamond Formation” in which 4 of the planes form a tight cluster with the other 2 making their own. From this “diamond” the planes then transition to the other maneuvers and stunts and finish the performance by having the plane move to the Delta formation.

Despite performing some of the most difficult aerial maneuvers, the Blue Angels pilots don’t use protective G-suits as the inflation/deflation air bladder function could interfere with the pilots’ ability for precision control. To compensate, the pilots have trained in breathing and muscle control to prevent blacking out while doing High G movements.

Humorously named “Fat Albert” the C-130 Hercules is the largest aircraft used by the Blue Angels. Used primarily to transport equipment, tools and supplies, this behemoth used to perform its own exhibition as well, (jet assisted take-offs) until supplies of the rockets became scarce and the stunt was no longer included in their performances.

From 1946 to 1986, the Blue Angels have flown a total of ten different types of aircraft. From the WW2 prop planes to today’s fourth generation fighter jets, the team have used the current aircraft in use by the navy as their precision instruments for their exhibitions.

“The Cradle of Naval Aviation”, Pensacola naval air station is the home of the Blue Angels. Located in Florida, the base serves as a technical school and training facility for navy, marine and coast guard personnel.

Born as a machine made for war, the F/A 18 Multi role fighter used by the Blue Angels is maintained in top shape all year round to ensure the safety of the pilots during their training and performances, and as both the plane and pilots are active duty members of the naval aviation squad, the jets are capable of being combat, and carrier ready in less than seventy-two hours.

While watching the Blue Angels perform their aerial mastery on the ground is a visual treat, the real thrill goes to the pilot and certain audience members or VIP’s that are granted a seat in the actual plane during some of their performances.

Initially called “Navy Flight Exhibition Team”, the name Blue Angels came from the New Yorker, a magazine that featured a club called “The Blue Angels” which a pilot saw and suggested as the new name. As a naval organization, the team adopted the blue and gold colors to reflect their origins, marking all their planes in this paint scheme.

After thirty-five years the Blue Angels will be using a different plane. By 2021, delivery of the more powerful F/A 18 Super Hornets to the team will commence, replacing their older 1986 issued Hornets. With this upgrade to a faster, more maneuverable jet, its quite likely that the Blue Angels will be able to level up their already impressive routines.

By: Robert GarrisonPosted at 9:36 AM, Apr 18, 2020 and last updated 7:31 AM, Apr 19, 2020

DENVER — The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performed a flyover Saturday, crisscrossing the Front Range to honor and salute Colorado’s frontline workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The team, from Nellis Air Force Base In Las Vegas, flew over several hospitals in a dramatic demonstration to show their support for health care workers.

The flyover began around 1:30 p.m. in Northern Colorado after a small delay. The flight path took them over Fort Collins and Loveland. About 10 minutes later, the jets flew over Boulder and then into the Denver metro area, leaving south to Colorado Springs.

Later, the team flew over the U.S. Air Force Academy, where Vice President Mike Pence was delivering the commencement address to the Academy’s 2020 graduating class.

The flight path included a flyover in Pueblo before turning west back to Las Vegas.

By Frank Wolfe | April 3, 2020
Send Feedback

FAA, noise standards, notice of proposed rulemaking, Supersonic

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is moving forward on standards for future supersonic aircraft in announcing a notice of proposed rulemaking last week for noise levels for those aircraft. The proposed rulemaking follows a 2019 FAA proposed rule to update the requirements to apply for a special flight authorization for flying above Mach 1 in the United States.

“This action proposes to add new supersonic airplanes to the applicability of noise certification regulations, and proposes landing and takeoff noise standards for a certain class of new supersonic airplanes,” according to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on March 30. “There is renewed interest in the development of supersonic aircraft, and the proposed regulations would facilitate the continued development of airplanes by specifying the noise limits for the designs, providing the means to certificate the airplanes for subsonic operation in the United States.”

The design of avionics systems will have to factor in the cockpit effects of such supersonic flight by including such things as heat dissipation systems. Boom Supersonic is developing its $200 million supersonic airliner, the Overture, and has said that the company’s XB-1 supersonic demonstrator has controls and displays for the environmental control system that keep the cockpit pressurized and cooled and cool other vital aircraft systems in separate bays outside of the cockpit. The outside of XB-1, which is to perform flight tests at Mach 2.2, could reach temperatures above 300-degrees Fahrenheit, Boom said.

In addition to Boom, Aerion and Boeing are teamed on development of the 1.4 Mach $120 million AS2 supersonic business jet, which is to begin flight tests in 2024. In February, Aerion said that it had begun concept development for a family of high altitude supercruise aircraft for DoD by using the company’s AS2 experience.

FAA regulations prohibit civil aircraft from operating at speeds exceeding Mach 1 over land in the United States, and the new FAA proposal would not remove that prohibition, but instead establish procedures and noise levels for subsonic operation of those supersonic aircraft during landing and takeoff.

Supersonic commercial air transportation was introduced in the 1970s, and the proposed rulemaking “reflects the many technical advancements in aviation that have occurred since that time,” according to the FAA. “These developments include new noise-reduction technologies such as improved engine designs and materials available for airframe manufacturing.”

The only supersonic aircraft that has FAA noise regulations on the books is the European Concorde, which had its last flight in 2003, but the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-254), says that the agency administrator “shall exercise leadership in the creation of federal and international policies, regulations, and standards relating to the certification and safe and efficient operation of civil supersonic aircraft.” The act also sets a date of Dec. 31 this year, and every subsequent two years, for the FAA administrator to review available aircraft noise and performance data to help determine whether to amend FAA regulations “to permit supersonic flight of civil aircraft over land in the United States.”

The FAA wants to amend noise certification regulations in 14 CFR, parts 21 and 36, to allow new supersonic airplanes, and to add subsonic landing and takeoff (LTO) cycle standards for supersonic airplanes that have a maximum takeoff weight no greater than 150,000 pounds and a maximum operating cruise speed up to Mach 1.8.

The agency said that its proposal is based in part on the Supersonic Transport Concept Airplane (STCA) studies performed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), information provided to the FAA by U.S. industry, and ongoing work by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee on
Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP).

American spy plane pilots use China’s satellite navigation system as a backup to GPS on their missions, according to a US Air Force general.

The second generation of the Chinese system, known as Beidou, began providing global services at the end of 2018 and a third phase, featuring more satellites, is expected to be fully functional later this year.

While the Global Positioning System (GPS) is the first choice for pilots of U-2 “Dragon Lady” reconnaissance aircraft, Beidou, along with Russia’s Glonass and Europe’s Galileo, serves as an alternative in the event of GPS being unavailable.

“My U-2 guys fly with a watch now that ties into GPS, but also Beidou and the Russian system and the European system,” US Air Combat Command Chief Gen. James Holmes said at a conference in Washington on Wednesday.

“So if somebody jams GPS, they still get the others.”

Zhou Chenming, a military analyst in Beijing, said that as Beidou was an open system, it would be easy to integrate a receiver chip into a watch and be able to access it.

“Beidou has positioned itself as a commercial global positioning service provider,” he said.

Also, unlike GPS, which was operated by the US Air Force and sometimes restricted services to commercial users, technically the Beidou system did not control the signals from its satellites, Zhou said.

China developed the satellite navigation system primarily for use by its military, the People’s Liberation Army, which had previously relied on GPS.

However, it has since been expanded for commercial use around the world, and once fully functional – with the launch of the new satellites – is expected to have an accuracy of 10cm (four inches) compared to the GPS’s 30cm.

Another feature that distinguishes the Chinese system from GPS is that Beidou incorporates a short messaging service, enabling mass communication between individuals and groups of users.

Within China, the central government has ordered the operators of all passenger buses, heavy trucks and fishing vessels to install Beidou so that their movements can be monitored and tracked in real time.

According to the latest figures available, as of 2017, 22 million vehicles and 50,000 boats had been fitted with Beidou terminals.

However, Zhou said that it was unlikely that Beijing would be able to identify or track the Beidou chips in the U-2 pilots’ watches.

“For real-time tracking, special transponders have to be installed like those used in the AIS [automatic identification system] on ships. A simple chip does not have that,” he said.