Hot Babe of the
Week is up courtesy of Don Logan. Don snapped these pics at Holloman
AFB prior to the F-117 being retired. Thanks Don. Great stuff as
always!
I hope everyone found some time over the weekend to
reflect on how much the world has changed since 9/11/2001. I was
still active duty AF at the time and I remember it vividly. Props to
all the military guys out there that are still serving as they give
their all to protect the way of life that we're accustomed to not
just here but throughout the free world.
Big News this week
so I'll get right into it! We're having a sale to commemorate the
63rd Birthday of the United States Air Force! Sept. 18, 1947 was the
date that the USAF became a separate branch of the military and here
we are 63 years later and we're still going strong. While we don't
have as long a history as the other branches of the military, no one
can discount the effect that airpower has had on the
world.
To commemorate this date, we're discounting all
USAF/ANG/AFRES decal sheets 10% from their regular price. This sale
will last until 18 Sept. Happy Birthday to all of you that have
served and are still serving!
This last week
I was visited here at Twobobs by a fellow flight test engineer by
the name of Tim Cacanindin. Tim is a lead engineer for the JSF
program here at Edwards AFB and he had a coworker that was retiring
from 29 years of federal service. Tim thought a model of the F-15
ASAT would make a great retirement gift. Story below.
An
engineer in the aircraft performance & flying qualities section
I am in, Frank Brown, retired on 10 September 2010 after 29 years of
government service. As his supervisor, I was responsible for a big
part of putting together his retirement luncheon. When his
co-workers and I discussed what we should get him as a parting gift,
we ended up settling on an F-15 model, since Frank worked for a long
time at the F-15 Combined Test Force here at Edwards. In fact, Frank
and I worked together on the F-15I program, the Israel Air Force
version of the Strike Eagle.
Anyway, those of us who have
worked with Frank the most over the past few years figured the best
model to give Frank would be one of the F-15A used in the mid-‘80s
to launch an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile at a satellite in orbit.
This particular test was one Frank was intimately involved in, since
it was Frank who determined that the mathematical models used by the
contractor (McDonnell Douglas at the time) for their F-15 were
inaccurate. This meant that a real F-15 attempting to fly a flight
profile based on those math models would not be able to actually
achieve the altitude and airspeed required to achieve a successful
ASAT launch to impact the satellite. Frank’s mathematical models,
based on analysis he had performed using F-15 flight test data, were
used to develop a different profile. It was the profile Frank
designed that was flown by the “Celestial Eagle” to launch an ASAT
in September 1985 which impacted a deactivated satellite in or bit
345 miles above the earth – on the first try – with a closing speed
between satellite and missile of 15,000 mph.
So, I went
online to find a good model of the ASAT F-15 to give to Frank.
Unfortunately, time was short, and the cost and schedule constraints
of this project were such that we had neither the time nor the money
to send pictures of the airplane to someone and get a model
custom-made. Therefore, I ended up making the command decision to
buy a plastic kit and make it up to look like the ASAT F-15. I did
find online a 1/48th scale kit by Hasegawa that had the ASAT as part
of the kit, but it did not have decals for the Edwards ASAT F-15
markings. I looked further online, and found the Edwards ASAT
decals, made by a company that specializes in modern aircraft.
(Oddly enough, the company is run by a guy out of his house in
Rosamond, CA, 20 minutes north of where we live. He is super helpful
and runs a really neat operation; if you ever need super-realistic
modern aircraft decals, his site is
http://www.twobobs.net/.)
The major stumbling block to this
whole plan was that I hadn’t made a model since college, over 25
years ago, and I was never very good at it. In fact, I was terrible,
no doubt haunted by a bad habit begun in elementary school to use
“too much glue” (Miss Kraft in Grade 1 and Miss Feston in Grade 3
both put that phrase on my report cards). Nevertheless, I had better
equipment now, including an airbrush, and liquid glue dispensers
that released tiny drops right where you needed them. As well, I had
a tool that didn’t exist then: the Internet. I spent a lot of time
looking over websites that showed how to do certain things with
models, and so for the past 4 weeks I was consumed by this project.
Although I had learned a bit about what I should be doing to build
this thing, actually doing it was a bit problematic, and I know I
was not nearly as efficient at doing things as someone who was
experienced.
Still, I did my best to make it close to the
real thing. From some subtle questioning of Frank, I found out the
F-15 used for the ASAT launch had engines without the “turkey
feathers” that on some real aircraft cover the mechanisms of the
nozzles. On F-15s, Frank explained, it was found that the vibrations
from one engine would shake the turkey feathers off the adjacent
engine, so finally in the early 1980s USAF maintainers decided to
just get rid of the turkey feathers altogether on their F-15s.
Single-engine F-16s, some of which use the exact same type of
engine, don’t have this problem. All this meant that I had to use
the more complex option the kit provided for the “non-turkey
feather” nozzles: each nozzle alone has 6 plastic parts, and 30
miniscule photo-etched metal parts that I had to assemble with Krazy
Glue, then try to paint realistically. (Attached are pictures
showing a real F-16 with turkey feathers, and an F-15 without; f or
the model maker, me, the difference is that there was 1 part to
build a nozzle with turkey feathers, 36 parts for a nozzle without
them.) I went to the Edwards History Office to get pictures of the
airplane and ASAT taken during the program, so I could paint the
missile and airplane as realistically as possible. The F-15 topside
paint is actually two shades of gray, very close in color, so it was
interesting for a newbie like me trying to make out which areas had
already been painted vs. those still needing the darker shade. Even
though I am around aircraft all the time, it was definitely brought
home to me how dangerous they are to be around and maintain; I had
to apply literally dozens of “No Step”, caution, warning, and danger
instruction decals. The last week was a flurry of activity, with 3
all-nighters, as I applied the decals, gloss coats (Future acrylic
floor protector is apparently the best boon to modelers since the
invention of tweezers), and a final flat (i.e., non-gloss) finish to
the airplane itself.
The end result is definitely not
perfect, but I guess my thinking was that the flaws might be small
enough to escape intense scrutiny, and even if they didn’t, it might
still mean a lot to Frank knowing that it was assembled by my own
little troll hands. I found the glass case at a Michael’s craft
store; it was originally designed to hold a souvenir football helmet
or football, but the dimensions of the F-15 model – about 16” long,
11” wingspan – made this case perfect. I found a really great stand
online; its clear plastic arms can be positioned any way you want (I
wanted to make sure the ASAT missile was easily seen), and the clear
rubber tips keep it from damaging the model finish. I got a piece of
mirror cut to cover the bottom of the case, to cover the
“football-holder” disc glued to the bottom of the case, and to allow
viewing of the underside of the plane. Certainly, Frank seemed
pleased with the end resul t, and both he my workmates liked the
fact I had put it together myself.
I love hearing stories
like this. There are so many guys behind the scenes that I've had
the privilege of working with during my flight test days that do a
lot of the work behind the scenes but get none of the glory. Doug
Pearson is a great guy and I've had the fortune of speaking with him
both as my commander and as an associate through my day job. Great
guy that appreciates everything guys like Frank Brown have done for
this nation.
