Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
You sure they’ve already been thru the Bethpage Ugly Dept?
Jeez, I’ll bet those things make a racket!
SteelJaw’s gotta be all a-twitter about this…
VR,
Comjam
You Fighter/Attack Guys (F/AGs) have no appreciation for real, inner beauty. That aircraft, sir, is a slow flying, ugly on the outside, work of pure beauty. As we used to say while smirking in the back, “Five dudes, four tails, two props, shut up and fly your Dolly.”
SteelJaw’s gotta be all a-twitter about this…
…ahem…
Hawkeyes — we’re the “E” in Airborne Early Warning…
- SJS
P.S. Satch – the new blades actually make it quieter – Skippy will attest that they just don’t sound the same as the Hummer Classic.
Yeah, I was gonna say Lex needs to stay in his fighter/attack box and let SJS and Skippy do the heavy lifting for the AEW world…or at least take a scan over to SJS and see the great things he posts….
make that …ahem…
Damn, that Vapor Cycle keeps getting bigger & bigger. (I thought that for the E2B to E-2C transition as well.)
All those pics just to get to a shot of the Buckeye!
What’s going to happen to the prisoners in slide 40?
– Max
Still no refueling probe!
…yet.
Supposedly is plumbed so one could be fit with some simple mods. Land-based version being shopped has IFR as an option (along with an inflight kitchen, reclining buckets, etc.)
- SJS
They used to tell us that the early E-2C models I flew at KNKX were plumbed for it. Just a simple plumming job and some wiring to make it happen.
That land-based version sounds like an E-3.
OT (hoping Lex is up reading comments and thinks this worthy of mentioning in dispatches): Someone out in the field is not so happy about NATO in the AF…and yes, NC-17 wording is used.
Better than any “legacy” aircraft out there.
Great pics…thanks for giving us a spotlight today, Lex.
Re Slide 40 – the guy on the left – “Scubby” C. – was a RAG classmate (110, ‘89). Good guy doing very well for himself these days.
Those food processor prop blades certainly are quiter than the C was with the old 4-blade prop . Used to laugh at Miramar air shows when we would do a low pass and set off the car alarms in the parking lot.
Re the lack of refueling probe – you won’t find too many moles who are going to complain about that. 5 hours back there is long enough. At least it was in my time with 115 circa ‘91.
Brian
Satch,
The first guys I knew that flew the 8 bladed prop said they were freaked out by all the other noises they could hear in flight that you could never hear with the old “hummer.”
When they fly over my house going into NTU, it sounds like a swarm of angry bumble bees.
Flying a brand new plane is pretty fun. I got to knock the paint off of the tailhook on the Rag’s first Group II way back when. Nice.
Nose: Does a new plane smell great the way a new car does??
I have to say that the photos show the new Hummers to look really great. However: What the heck is that sticking out of the right hand side that looks like an old window mounted air conditioner? Kind of weird that it got hung out there like that, no?
Got to pick up three brand new, consecutive BuNos from the old plant at Bethpage back in VAW-126. Got the full factory tour including seeing the hydraulic presses that first saw action for the F6F and the little old ladies working the wiring looms. And there is nothing like the smell of a brand new, $48M (1985 dollars) airplane either
Of course, karma is alive an well in the Navy as payback came in the next tour when as Maintenance Officer when I had the four oldest E-2’s in the fleet…
- SJS
That thing hanging out the side was called the screamer because of the fan it had that runs on deck. It is the radiator for the liquid cooling system for the high power radar boxes. At least that’s what it was when I flew E-2C Grp 0/1/2 in VAW-110/114/112. It looks bigger now.
Steve, it did smell kinda good. I think it was probably that it just didn’t have that kerosene/sweat/oil/whatever smell that older planes have!
That thing sticking out of the side is the vapor cycle air scoop. It helps keep the innards cool so the “windowlicker’s” toys don’t break.
*sigh* Back to the NATOPS Nose — that’s the RLCS (Radar Liquid Coolant Scoop aka “screamer”) which cools the high power side of the radar also takes in the air for the air cycle turbine (aka a/c – which keeps *everyone* cool). The scoop on the top is the Vapor Cycle scoop for the (now 12 ton?) v/c system to keep the rest of the ‘trons cool.
- SJS
SJS, I think its up to 15 ton now.
“Windowlickers”? Ha. My brother calls ‘em “scope dopes”. Same guys, right?
“Vapor cycle air scoop” = Naval for: ‘window mounted air conditioner” minus the window, I guess. I won’t ask how much is costs after knowing how much toilet seats and coffee makers run in aircraft. Thanks Nose. I have to say that it’s pretty cool that you know what a new plane smells like from my perspective as someone who really likes planes but doesn’t get to spend much time in or around them.
Those nose-on pictures were probably taken from the back of a helicopter.
I don’t care how much that ashtray cost and whether they were all decreed as UA in 113. By unanimous vote of the Ready Room, Motors always got a smoke before shooting an approach.
Long before don’t ask, don’t tell…