Hopefully by now all the fireworks are put away, and everyone is over any New Year's celebration hangovers. The Caster Clan is still getting back up to full speed on a few things, with the kids back in school and tax season now underway.
Also, it's cold outside (Baby). We didn't get much of a White Christmas this year, but Mother Nature sure made up for that a day later.
The front yard, just a couple days after Christmas, and me finally digging the snow blower out of the garage.
So since most aviating and motorcycling has now been reduced to hanger flying and shop talk for the next few months, how about some awesome videos?
For those who don't know, "Star Wars" Canyon is a transition in one of the California MOAs where photographers can get up close and personal with an awesome variety of military aircraft as pilots do their best Luke Skywalker/Wedge Antilles impressions. Watch this one full screen with the sound up!
I have no idea whether the Bell V-280 Valor should beat out the SB>1 Defiant for the U.S. Army's next big helicopter contract. But I do think that tilt-rotors are cool, and I'd love to fly one.
Last but not least, anyone got some spare change or an Oculus Rift they'd like to kick over to me? Because this looks like about the closest I'm ever going to get flying a Tomcat!
This week, the Valley of Speed is once again filled with the sound of thundering V-12s, and massive radial engines. This week, turbo- and super-charged Sport Class racers flirt with 400mph over the desert floor. Jet Class L-29s will mix it up at 500mph, T-6s will thunder wing-tip to wingtip, and airshow performers will wow everyone between races.
Every year I miss being there. Someday I'm going back. But for now, maybe I should dig into the picture vault. Let's see, in 1994 I had a little 110 camera. Not the greatest photos, but they're mine.
The pit area was a more laid back place in the '90s. Lefty Gardner's P-38 White Lightnin is visible in the right side of the photo.
An EA-6B Prowler on static display is always a treat.
The F-4G Wild Weasels weren't entirely retired from the Air Force's inventory in 1994, but its day was definitely coming to a close. There weren't too many years left before four-ship flybys like this were extinct.
It’s a rare memoir that can straddle appeal to both general
and special interest audiences. Tanker
Pilot: Lessons From The Cockpit
by Mark Hasara is one such book. Mark packs lessons from his career as a USAF
KC-135 pilot in a way that is both revealing to any avgeek with an interest in
the inner workings of military aviation, and valuable to anyone seeking new
perspectives on learning, leadership, and life.
Air Force tanker crews have a saying: “No one kicks ass
without tanker gas.” Mr. Hasara’s career, which spanned from the late ‘80s
during the end of the Cold War to the early ‘00s with the War on Terror in
Afghanistan and Iraq, is peppered with specific anecdotes proving the truth of
that statement. I knew air tanking was essential to military operations, I just
didn’t realize how essential until reading this book.
For examples, there’s a story in the book from the 1991 Gulf
War where Mr. Hasara’s flight picks up a group of F-16s returning from strikes
into Iraq. Without in-flight refueling, none of the aircraft would have been
capable of making it back to base. A much later chapter discussing the
logistical planning required to get U.S. Navy F/A-18Cs safely from aircraft
carrier to strike target and back during the Second Iraq War is even more
illuminating. Strike aircraft loaded down with weapons burn a lot of fuel.
Mr. Hasara was also an avid photographer during his career.
The book contains two fantastic picture blocks featuring air-to-air pictures
taken by him and other aviators during some missions. These pictures are a
treat for anyone interested in military aviation, depicting some fantastic
candid aviation moments.
A Kadena based KC-135R refuels an 18th Aggressor Squadron F-16C. The Young Tigers were one of the squadrons that Mr. Hasara was assigned to during his career. Public Domain Wikipedia][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
One of the other neat things about this book is the
inclusion of a life lesson at the end of each chapter. Each anecdote is
selected not just for its own interest and the coherence of a career narrative,
but also to illustrate a lesson that extends far beyond the cockpit. Just because
we may never find ourselves at the controls of a multi-million dollar flying
fuel station doesn’t mean that the lessons learned there can’t translate into
our daily lives.
One particular quote from an early lesson that has stuck
with me: “Disciplining ourselves through creating habits leads to healthier and
happier lives, increased productivity, and greater effectiveness in our work.”
Talk about a lesson that dovetails with what I’m trying to do in my own life
with running, Bullet journaling, and other focused productivity improvements!
I won’t be passing this particular book onto my kids. Mainly
because this is the rare book in my collection where I want my children to each
have their own copies. These are going to be tucked away in a drawer, along with
a few similar items, waiting for the right time to be presented to each child.
Definitely a worthwhile purchase for anyone with an interest
in military aviation, and also well worth the time for anyone looking to
improve themselves.
We’re almost done with the Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China campaign, but there’s still two
aircraft yet to be explored that figure into the campaign missions. The second
I’ll talk about next week, since it doesn’t come into play until the final
mission of the game, but the other I’ll cover today. The Hawker Hurricane,
specifically the Mk IIB Tropical variant, has shown up in a few missions, flown
by the RAF’s 232 Squadron and RNZAF’s 448 Squadron.
Hurricane V7476, which evacuated from Singapore to Australia. Note the large tropical air filter under the chin. (Wikipedia)
Not much to say about this one. We're in the home stretch, just one more mission left in the campaign now. This is an interesting little penultimate mission though. A neat mixture of escort, bombing, and ground attack, all taking place during the battle for Burma.
When we last left our Flying Tigers companion series, we
were discussing the almost totally unknown Vickers Vildebeest. We now come to a
better known aircraft, the Bristol Blenheim.
The Blenheim wore a couple of hats over its career.
Primarily a light attack bomber, it also served as a heavy fighter, an interim night fighter, and
provided the basis for the Beaufort torpedo bomber. In Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China, Blenheim Mk IVs of No. 60
Squadron RAF are represented in several missions, usually placing players in
combination scenarios where they play pilot/bombardier, then man a turret to
fend off attacks from Japanese fighters.
Blenheims of No. 60 Squadron skimming VERY low over the water to attack Japanese shipping. (Wikipedia Public Domain)
Aside from FTSOC,
the Blenheim isn’t especially well represented in flight and flight-action
games. The Mk IV F version appears in World
of Warplanes as a decent Tier IV fighter, and it’s a flyable option in IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Blitz
Edition, but that’s mostly it. In game terms, the Blenheim is largely overlooked
in favor of the Beaufighter and Mosquito.
Late model Blenheim Mk IV with dual gun turret from World of Warplanes.
Surviving Blenheims
can be found in a few places in Europe. The sole flying example is technically
a Bolingbroke Mk IVT (the name for Canadian manufactured Blenheims built by
Fairchild Aircraft and used as coastal reconnaissance/light bombers) rebuilt
with a short nose to appear as a Blenheim Mk I, and operated in Britain by the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
Static display examples exist in the Aviation
Museum of Central Finland (A Finnish Mk IV) and at the Hellenic Air Force Museum (A Mk
IVF downed by friendly fire in 1941 and recovered for restoration in 1996).
Some planes just can’t catch a break. Aviation history is littered with aircraft that beat or matched some other aircraft on paper, but in reality, due to market forces, poor circumstances, or just simply bad luck, one falls into obscurity while the other gets well known.
So it is with the Vickers Vildebeest.
This week, we take on the third and final flyable aircraft
from the first training mission in Flying
Tigers: Shadows Over China, and also the initial star of the fourth mission
in the game. The Brewster F2A Buffalo is something like the Rodney Dangerfield
of World War II aircraft, it gets no respect at all. A frequent inclusion in
various “World’s Worst Aircraft” lists, the poor Buffalo was generally disliked
by American and British pilots, but also loved by the Finns, who compiled a
32-to-1 kill ratio against early Russian aircraft during the Continuation War
of 1941-1944. (Although this last stat could also simply be considered more
proof that Finlanders will happy kill Russians with whatever equipment they
have available. See also Simo Häyhä.)
First flown in December 1937, the F2A-1 Buffalo was the
United States Navy’s first monoplane fighter. While it won the fly-off
competition against Grumman’s F4F Wildcat, Brewster’s production delays and management
issues pushed the Navy into procuring the Wildcat as well. By the time war
broke out in the Pacific, only a handful of Buffalo squadrons were still
operated by the U.S. Navy, while the Finns, the RAF, and the Dutch operated
squadrons of their own.
Dutch Buffalo from IL-2, dirtied up for landing.
Of the three major sub-variants of the Buffalo that were
produced, it is the performance of the final version, the F2A-3, which mostly
earns the poor Buffalo its place of shame on “World’s Worst” lists. That
version, with increased fuel capacity, cockpit armor, and heavier weapons, was
simply more weight than even the upgraded engine could handle. Where early
F2A-1 and -2 models were compared favoriably to the P-40Bs of the time, the -3
was simply inferior in almost every way to not only other U.S. Navy fighters,
but critically inferior to the Japanese Zeros against which it would be flying
in the opening year of World War II in the Pacific.
British Buffalos suffered similarly to the American F2A-3
models. Overloaded and underpowered for the hot, high climates of Malay and
Burma, the export model B-339Es were often run with a minimum of fuel and ammunition
to at least keep up with the older Ki-27s that the IJAAF initially flew in theatre.
With the arrival of the Ki-43, however, the Buffalo’s days were essentially
over.
There are no restored, flying Buffalos. Given its
reputation, there are no flying replicas either. A single restored B-339 of the
Finnish Air Force is displayed in the Aviation
Museum of Central Finland. In addition, a full-scale replica B-339 built by
the Cradle of Aviation Museum is
displayed in Militaire-Luchtvaartmuseum of the Netherlands. A second
replica F2A-2, also built by the Cradle of Aviation Museum and sporting U.S.
Navy markings is displayed at that museum.
Odd, but historically true markings of another British Buffalo from IL-2
Virtual pilots, at least, have an easier time finding the cockpit
of a Buffalo. In addition to its appearance in FTSOC, it shows up as a Tier IV American multirole fighter in World of Warplanes, and in War Thunder as a Tier 3 aircraft. The
more sim-minded can find both the Finnish B-339 and American F2A variants in IL-2, still my old go-to for combat
flight sims.
More battle re-creations! On April 2nd, 1942, Karun "Jumbo" Krishna Majumdar took off on a solo mission to attack the IJAAF airbase at Mae Hong Son. Escorted by two Brewster Buffalos of RAF No. 67 Squadron, Majumdar successfully destroyed the hanger, some aircraft, and damaged the airfield. The next day he led the entire contingent of No. 1 Squadron's Westland Lysanders on another raid. This is where you come in in the game.
I don't know why flight action games insist on jamming turret segments into their games. I don't think I've ever enjoyed one of them. The same is true for this mission, which unfortunately insists on jamming you into the gunner's seat of the Lysander for the start of the battle. Once that static bit is past, though, it's back to actually flying, and getting stuff done. Aside from the turret bit, this is a pretty fun mission. The Lysander is no dogfighter, but with FTSOC's relaxed take on reality, it can manage okay against the Ki-27s of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force.
Continuing the deep dive into aircraft featured in Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China, today we come to the second aircraft featured in the opening mission - The Westland Lysander. As shown in the first mission, FTSOC largely treats the Lysander as a light bomber, which is the primary role it was used for by the Indian Air Force in the China-Burma-India theater. With its landing gear-mounted stub wings loaded with small bombs, the Lysanders of the IAF were adequate light bombers, at least until better aircraft arrived.
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Lysander Mk III in target towing colors. (Wikipedia)
However, artillery scouting and harassment bombings were not the Lysander's claim to fame. Instead it would be the flat midnight black Lysander Mk IIIs of RAF No. 138 and No. 161 squadrons that would become famous for their support of spying and resistance operations behind enemy lines. Equipped with a large belly tank for extra range and a fixed ladder for faster ingress/egress from the rear cockpit, these aircraft slipped into and out of occupied territory, their excellent short field performance and relatively high cruising speeds allowing them to extract and insert over two hundred agents from 1941 to 1944.
The Shuttleworth Collection's Lysander Mk III. Wikipedia
Lysanders also performed a great number of other, less glamorous duties. The RAF and RCAF used them as target tugs, liaison aircraft, and as trainers. The Canadians also used them to patrol Canada's Eastern coastline with anti-submarine and search and rescue duties. For a brief time they were even equipped by two fighter squadrons when no other aircraft were available.
Today the roar of the Lysander's Bristol Mercury engine can still be heard on good days at some airfields in Canada (Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and Vintage Wings of Canada), and in England (Shuttleworth Collection). Non-flying exmaples are displayed in Canadian, English, American, Belgian, and Indian museums.
Visible below the Monnett Moni is the NASM's Lysander. And their P-40. I wish I'd gotten individual pictures of those aircraft. Time to play another trip! (My photo).
Virtual pilots, unfortunately, are pretty limited in our options to simulate this aircraft. Lacking the "sexy" roles of fighter or bomber, I cannot recall any other flight-action games besides FTSOC where the Lysander has been represented. For sim pilots, the best bet is add-on mods for FSX, IL-2, or Combat Flight Sim 3.
IL-2 ingame screenshot of modded in Westland Lysander via the Free IL-2 Modding forums and forum member Gumpy
There are also no flying replica kits offered. A single, non-flying Lysander Mk III movie prop is being offered for sale, however. I wonder what my HOA'S rules would be on that?
Twelve days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the American Volunteer Group got their first taste of combat. Ten unescorted Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" bombers heading towards Kunming were engaged by the 1st and 2nd squadrons. The bombers jettisoned their loads and ran, losing four aircraft along the way. Ultimately nine out of the ten aircraft failed to return to base, according to transmissions intercepted by Chinese intelligence.
The AVG suffered one crash-landed P-40B for their troubles.
In conjunction with my Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China video series, I thought it would be fun to dig a little deeper into the history of some of the aircraft involved in the game. There's a few pretty obscure aircraft in there, but I thought I'd start with the most iconic aircraft in the game, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk!
Developed from Curtiss's earlier P-36 Hawk, the base of the P-40 design was the same airframe as the Hawk, but redesigned from the firewall forward for the super-charged Allison V-1710 V-12 engine. NACA wind-tunnel evaluation of the basic shape ultimately pushed the engine's glycol coolant radiator forward to the chin position, creating the easily recognizable shape of the final aircraft.
The P-40Bs that originally equipped the AVG in China were armed with a pair of .50 caliber machine guns in the nose, firing through the propeller, and four .30 caliber machine-guns in the wings. Not as maneuverable in a turn as the Japanese Nates and Oscars that they tangled with, the AVG's P-40s maintained an advantage in dive speed and overall durability.
Fagen Fighters actually owns two flying P-40s, this P-40K which served in Russia, and a P-40E which flew in North Africa and is of the same type that the AVG flew. (My photo)
The AVG's P-40Bs lacked provision for drop tanks or bombs. In the spring of 1942, they received a handful of P-40Es, an upgraded model which remedied the B's chief vices: bomb racks, drop tanks, and better radios. The E models also traded the wing-mounted .30 caliber guns for a quartet of .50 caliber machine-guns.
Elsewhere, various P-40 models saw extensive service with the RAF in the North African theater against German and Italian aircraft. The USAAF used them in the Mediterranean theater (including use by the Tuskegee Airmen during their first eight months of combat), in Alaska, and in the Pacific, where a pair of P-40Bs were among the few to get off the ground and engage the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
P-40E in AVG colors from IL-2 Sturmovik
The Soviets also received a number of aircraft via Lend-Lease. Not as numerous or popular as the P-39 Airacobra, the P-40 still proved a capable aircraft in the hands of Soviet pilots.
Those wishing to see the real thing are fortunate, as there are still a number of them in existence, both as museum displays and flying. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom and the United States all have museums with one or more flying types in their collections, some of which make appearances at fairly far-flung airshows.
RAF Kittyhawk IIa from IL-2 Sturmovik
For those lacking the funding to purchase and restore one of these classics, there are a few plans or kit replicas that have been made available over the years. Currently Loehle Aircraft Corporation makes a replica kit, and both Jurca Plans and WAR Aircraft Replicas has previously had plans available. Unfortunately none of these companies have functioning websites at the date of this blog post.
Sim pilots will have a much easier time getting behind the controls of a P-40, as it is well represented across both the hardcore and flight-action genres. In addition toits appearance in Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China, P-40s can also be found in World of Warplanes (for both American and Russian fighter trees), Secret Weapons Over Normandy, IL-2, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad, Flight Sim World, and Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII, among others. For the simulation minded, Flight Sim World or the IL-2 series would likely be the best options.
I first encountered the Dornier DO 335 Pfeil (Arrow), like a lot of weird WWII German aircraft, in Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. Back in the days when games came on 3.5" disks, and flight-sim manuals were hundreds of pages thick, serving as history primers and for battles and aircraft. I miss manuals like that. Two pages of legal disclaimers and a website link just isn't the same.
IL-2's DO 335 A-0 in a hard climb (and about to depart into a flat spin).
But I digress. As another of Hitler's "wonder weapons", the DO 335 was only produced in extremely tiny numbers before World War II ended. Powered by a pair of 1,726hp Daimler-Benz DB 603A engines, the A-0 and A-1 Pfeils could reach a top speed of 475mph, enough to run away from any of the common Allied aircraft in the European theater. The aircraft carried a single 30mm cannon firing through the front propeller hub, and two 20mm cannons in the cowling, firing through the propeller arc.
DO 335 cockpit in Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe
DO 335 upper and lower cockpit views in IL-2
The push-pull engine arrangement, while uncommon, has a number of advanages. Much better engine-out performance, P-Factor cancellation, and reduced drag being the major factors. It does suffer from a few common disadvantages as well, particularly in difficulty cooling the rear engine (an issue frequently shared by pusher aircraft), and potential to be hard on pilots who need to depart the aircraft in-flight. The DO 335 was equipped with one of the first ejection seats, coupled with explosive bolts to sever the dorsal fin and rear propeller blades, to solve the latter issue.
DO 335 external view in SWOTL
As with a lot of late-war German and Japanese aircraft, survivors are rare. In this case, there's only one left, one of two A-0s that were shipped to America after the war for testing. I encountered it at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington D.C., where it hangs out with all sorts of other rare aircraft. It's a huge aircraft, sitting high on its stork-like tricycle gear (which caused a number of development issues).
The genuine article at the Udvar-Hazy center, flanked by the only surviving Arado AR 234, and the museum's FW 190 F-8. (My photo).
Gear down in IL-2
In gaming, the best current(ish) representation of the DO 335 comes from IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946. The A-0 makes an appearance, plus an up-gunned version with a pair of additional wing mounted 30mm cannons that the game refers to as the V-13, but other documents reference as the B-2 model.
I really wanted to like Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China (FTSOC). There simply aren't that many good, or even mediocre flight games anymore, and those that do come out tend to (understandably) focus on the European theatre, or maybe the Pacific. For new studio ACE MADDOX to make their first game focus on the China-Burma-India theatre was a bold move, even if they did hedge their bets by putting the focus squarely on one of the most famous "volunteer" fighting groups to ever exist.
The game definitely delivers on the AvGeek side. They even managed to include a couple of aircraft that I'd never heard of before, and I thought I pretty much knew every WWII aircraft at this point. Surprise! Unfortunately, as my full review on Marooner's Rock covers, there were a few other issues that I wish the devs had put as much focus into.
Still, it's a solid game, and a good choice for would be console aviators. I'll have videos coming out in the following weeks as I break down the campaign missions, and the aircraft used.
Over on airlinereporter.com, my most recent AvGeek road trip story is up. The Sioux City Airport has kind of an undeserved reputation, and a really good local museum!
You can check out the full story, with a lot more pretty airplane pictures, over at AirlineReporter.com
I really wanted to like Heliborne, the first game from fledgling developer JetCat Games. Casual survey-sims are rare enough for any subset of aviation these days, helicopter focused sims even more so.
Screenshot via JetCat Games
Unfortunately, what I found was a game that tries very hard to lock all its fun moments behind an aggravating progression system and inexplicable limitations on user choices. There's plenty of enjoyment to be had by players willing to invest time into unlocking the game's best moments, too many flaws to recommend it as a starting place for new fans of the genre.
“Okay, now this is something different.” I’d test flown the
four TIE variants that had comprised the vast majority of the Empire’s forces
during the days of the Galactic Civil War. Of the four, the TIE Fighter (TIE/LN
or “Eyeball”) was as expected, the TIE Bomber (TIE/sa
or “Dupe”) was a slug,
the TIE Interceptor (TIE/in or “Squint”) was a hotrodded deathtrap, and the TIE
Avenger (TIE/ad or “Bright”) was a world beater. But the Empire hadn’t
exclusively fielded TIE series craft.
While rarely seen in line forces, the Imperial procurement
groups had recognized the need for a hyperspace-capable fighter armed with
warhead launchers and ion cannons to serve a role analogous to the Y-Wing.
Assigned primarily to scout squadrons, the craft would be used for advance
scout duties and during rapid capture operations where ion-cannon armed
transports would prove impractically slow. Cygnus Spaceworks, designers of the Lambda-class T-4 shuttle and Sentinel-class landing craft, answered
the procurement call with the Alpha-class
Xg-1 Star Wing.
Utilizing a folding wing system similar to the larger
shuttle designs, the Alpha-class,
commonly known as “Assault Gunboats” was able to have a shipborne footprint
similar to a standard TIE/ln design. Armed with two laser cannons, two ion
cannons, and a large warhead launcher bank, the Assault Gunboat was more than
capable as a heavy scout or long-range escort. The Assault Gunboat also carried
heavy shielding, and was often equipped with a beam system.
It was also designed to operate semi-autonomously, with
landing skids, and a pressurized cockpit that eliminated the need for the TIE
pilot’s bulky environmental suit. Entering the craft was much closer to
entering a Y-Wing cockpit than a typical Imperial fighter design. After verifying
my familiarity with the controls, we closed the canopy and I powered the ship
up.
After experiencing a series of TIE craft, the lack of the
engine howl was jarring. I had to double check that the engines were even
running given that only a quiet hum reverberated through the craft. Unlike the
TIE engines, the hum was the extent of engine sounds during normal operations.
While the Assault Gunboat could rack launch like a TIE craft, the corporation’s
examples were kept in the simpler and more maintainable grounded landing
section. Takeoff was a simple matter of calling for clearance, gliding out of
the hanger bay on repulsors, and transitioning directly into spaceflight as the
wings lowered to flight position and the gear retracted.
Powering into the practice area, the Xg-1’s biggest flaw
became readily apparent. Much like the Y-Wing, it was slow and especially
ponderous in comparison to the fast as thought maneuvering of most of the TIE
series craft. Small wonder that the Gunboat generally fared poorly against
X-Wing and A-Wing starfighters, but was more than a match for the typical
pirate forces.
Engaging targets showed off the design’s strengths. With ion
cannons and lasers mounted above and below the cockpit, respectively, maximum
firepower could be brought on target quickly and accurately. The gunboat’s
multipurpose weapons bays could normally house a load of sixteen concussion
missiles, or twelve proton torpedoes. The cockpit itself had excellent
visibility, which came as a relief after hours in TIE cockpits.
Combat proved my earlier theories correct. Against slower,
less maneuverable legacy fighters, the Gunboat could easily hold its own.
However, faster, more maneuverable foes could easily hit and run, wearing down
the massive shield shell without taking more than a stray hit or two. Only
advanced units equipped with a tractor or decoy beam stood a chance under these
conditions.
The Gunboat was much more like the Rebellion/Republic
fighters that it opposed than like most other single-seat craft in the Imperial
arsenal. That the design largely dead-ended there, save for some rumored
extremely advanced prototypes spoke more about Imperial procurement priorities
than it died about the performance of the Xg-1 itself.
