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The Great, Constantly Changing Picture Gallery
- Thread starter HeyJoe
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Even Toob Slugs gotta love forms. What I'd give to fly the river run in parade.
So is that like the 2nd time in history P-3s have flown in a division Parade?
Hey, it keeps all the submarines in the St. Johns scared!
So is that like the 2nd time in history P-3s have flown in a division Parade?
That's as cool as seeing a light division of VESPA Scooters!!
-ea6bflyr
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
Even Toob Slugs gotta love forms. What I'd give to fly the river run in parade.
Do you have any pics of P-3s actually in parade?
All I see here are three dudes in a very loose cruise/fighter wing.
#1-- A4s had the initial right answer as to how I knew ... I've taken all the "Old R.O. Pictures of the Day"
#2 -- see the F-4 Wingtip Recognition 101 primer below.
First... The F-4S wingtip and what's different from other Navy F-4s (F4H-1, F-4A, F-4B, F-4J, F-4N [and the NAVY F-4G... but that's another story])
Now the plain vanilla F-4J wintip:
Old R.O. Picture of the Day for 11 June 2008
USS Ranger 1973. A-7s are from VA-113 Stingers and VA-25 Fist of the Fleet.
VF-154 F-4J crewed by LTJG Jim "Ox" Van Hoften, one of VF-154's LSOs and later picked up for the astronaut program and flew on STS-41 in 1984 and STS-51 in 1985.
The helmet he's wearing is a first-generation Visual Target Acquisition System (VTAS) helmet, with the "granny glass." This was an eyepiece that flipped down in front of the pilot's right eye and provided a reticle and lights around it to tell him of the radar's and/or Sidewinder's status (locked or not... and whether he's looking in the same piece of sky as the radar). The later versions of the helmet junked the granny glass and used a parabolic visor. Think of it as JHMCS Version 0.5.
The VTAS system was nice when it worked, but the VTAS sensors added additional mass to the helmet (not so good in ACM) and required the radars to be tweaked to a high degree. Also, the helmet had fragile sensors mounted on it, and usually lost the battle between helmet and passageway sides. Some pilots used it and liked it, others tried it and then never used it again.
USS Ranger 1973. A-7s are from VA-113 Stingers and VA-25 Fist of the Fleet.
VF-154 F-4J crewed by LTJG Jim "Ox" Van Hoften, one of VF-154's LSOs and later picked up for the astronaut program and flew on STS-41 in 1984 and STS-51 in 1985.
The helmet he's wearing is a first-generation Visual Target Acquisition System (VTAS) helmet, with the "granny glass." This was an eyepiece that flipped down in front of the pilot's right eye and provided a reticle and lights around it to tell him of the radar's and/or Sidewinder's status (locked or not... and whether he's looking in the same piece of sky as the radar). The later versions of the helmet junked the granny glass and used a parabolic visor. Think of it as JHMCS Version 0.5.
The VTAS system was nice when it worked, but the VTAS sensors added additional mass to the helmet (not so good in ACM) and required the radars to be tweaked to a high degree. Also, the helmet had fragile sensors mounted on it, and usually lost the battle between helmet and passageway sides. Some pilots used it and liked it, others tried it and then never used it again.
Okay. I will take anything you have to say. I have NO idea how to post a picture correctly, so by all means open up because I deserve it after that ridiculously huge picture I just put in there. Sorry!
^Sweet pic, we VAQ 132 deployed with them back on The Forrestal 86 thru 89. Wow, brings back memories! 
Old R.O. Picture(s) of the Day for late 11 June 2008
For those of you who have operated out of MCAS/NAS Miramar (NKX), you're probably familiar with the SEAWOLF departure to Warning area W-291 over the Pacific Ocean. The departure is used when runway 24 is in effect, usually about 98 percent of the year. When the Santa Ana winds come up, they came up with the VITKO departure where you take off from RWY 6 and do an almost unlimited climb and then turn left and pick up the SEAWOLF path somewhere west/southwest of Miramar.
In the olden days, the RWY 6 SEAWOLF consisted of a VFR left turn and a low flyover of the then-new Scripps Ranch and picking up the regular SEAWOLF just west of the field.
With that setup, here are two pictures. The first is one of those VFR takeoffs of a VF-21 F-4J in mid-1973. Note the lack of houses north of Miramar. And the four-lane US 395 where 10-12 lanes of I-15 are now.
Now... a look at what Google Earth sees in a 2008 view of the same area.
Note the buildings in the areas that were dirt 35 years ago...
For those of you who have operated out of MCAS/NAS Miramar (NKX), you're probably familiar with the SEAWOLF departure to Warning area W-291 over the Pacific Ocean. The departure is used when runway 24 is in effect, usually about 98 percent of the year. When the Santa Ana winds come up, they came up with the VITKO departure where you take off from RWY 6 and do an almost unlimited climb and then turn left and pick up the SEAWOLF path somewhere west/southwest of Miramar.
In the olden days, the RWY 6 SEAWOLF consisted of a VFR left turn and a low flyover of the then-new Scripps Ranch and picking up the regular SEAWOLF just west of the field.
With that setup, here are two pictures. The first is one of those VFR takeoffs of a VF-21 F-4J in mid-1973. Note the lack of houses north of Miramar. And the four-lane US 395 where 10-12 lanes of I-15 are now.
Now... a look at what Google Earth sees in a 2008 view of the same area.
Note the buildings in the areas that were dirt 35 years ago...
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