L O C K H E E D M A R T I N A E R O N A U T I C S C O M P A N Y V O L . 2 6 N O . 3 2 0 1 1

ROKAF BlAcK EAglEsF-35 Flight tEst UpdAtEhc/Mc-130J schOOlhOUsEcElEBRAting 100 YEARs OF nAvAl AviAtiOn

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BACKGROUND BY CAleB KimBROUGh

EDITOR

Eric Hehs

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Jeff Rhodes

ART DIRECTOR

Stan Baggett

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS

Joseph LaMarca, Jr.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATIONPRESIDENT, AERONAUTICS COMPANY

Ralph D. Heath

PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS

Send name, address, and $20 for a one-year subscription (four issues) to PO Box 5189, Brentwood, TN 37024-5189.Foreign subscriptions are $30 (US).Some back issues are available.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Send correspondence to Code One Magazine,Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company,PO Box 748, Mail Zone 1503, Fort Worth, TX 76101Editorial office phone number: 817-777-5542Email: eric.hehs@lmco.comWeb address: www.codeonemagazine.comFax: 817-777-8655Distribution information: 888-883-3780

This publication is intended for information only. Its contents neither replace nor revise any material in official manuals or publications. Copyright © 2011 Lockheed Martin Corporation. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint articles or photographs must be requested in writing from the editor. Code One is a registered trademark of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Code One is published quarterly by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. ISSN 1071-3816A11-35460

ABOUT THE COVER

Front: The aerial demonstration team of the Republic of Korea Air Force, the Black Eagles, upgraded to new T-50B supersonic trainers for the 2011 show season. Flying group, synchronized, and solo maneuvers with eight aircraft, the Black Eagles have performed more than twenty shows since the first formal full demonstration with the T-50B on 1 April 2011. Photo by Katsuhiko Tokunaga

Back: US Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk prepares to make a vertical landing onboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) during F-35B sea trials in October 2011. During the eighteen-day test, pilots in two F-35B test aircraft made seventy-two vertical landings and short takeoffs under various conditions. This was the first of three scheduled sea-based developmental tests. Photo by Michael Jackson

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2 F-35 FLIGHT TEST UPDATE Lightning II Testing Highlights Through October

6 ROKAF Black Eagles Fly T-50B A New Mount, New Show For Korean Aerial Demonstration Team

12 T-50 PROGRAM IN FULL SWING The Golden Eagle Has Radically Improved Korean Fighter Pilot Training

16 Night Classes HC-130J and MC-130J Crew Training Begins At Kirtland

18 Convair Kingfish A Look Back At Convair’s Competitor To The Lockheed A-11

22 OrionS On Station US Customs And Border Protection Puts Upgraded P-3s In Service

26 Solo Turk New F-16 Demo Team Marks Turkish Air Force Centennial

28 On Golden Wings: 100 Years Of Naval Aviation A History Of Lockheed Martin Aircraft Flown By The US Sea Services

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PHOTO BY LAYNE LAUGHTER

The F-35 Flight Test update in the Volume 26, Number 2 issue closed with carrier variant test aircraft CF-2 being flown to Joint Base

McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, for jet blast deflector ground testing on 25 June 2011. These tests concluded 13 August 2011 shortly after the aircraft achieved another critical first— the program’s first catapult launch 27 July 2011, also at Lakehurst.

At the same time, all requirements for the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant to begin ship suitability testing were completed. These requirements included qualifying four pilots, completing electro-magnetic testing, and field carrier landing practice. With all the prerequisites complete, Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk made history with the first vertical landing at sea in F-35B BF-2 aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) on 3 October 2011.

BF-2’s flight to the ship brought the 2011 flight total to more than 700, flight hours to more than 1,100, and the vertical landing count beyond 180. By the end of September, F-35B pilots had flown more than 300 short takeoffs in 2011 alone. In the F-35C, pilots had accomplished nearly twenty-five catapult launch tests at Lakehurst. At Edwards AFB, California, the required conventional takeoff and landing maturity flights were completed by the end of August. A total of twenty-seven pilots have flown the F-35. Twenty-one pilots are still flying the aircraft.

F-35 FLIGHT TEST

UPDATEBY SYDNEY CARROLL

3Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

27 June 2011 First Eglin Training Pilot FliesAir Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith, director of operations for the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin AFB, Florida, completed his first flight in F-35A test aircraft AF-4 from Edwards AFB, California. Smith is the first Air Force Air Education and Training Command F-35 instructor pilot and the twenty-fifth pilot overall to fly the F-35. His 1.5-hour pilot familiarization mission was Flight 41 for AF-4.

6 July 2011 1,000th SDD FlightAir Force Lt. Col. Leonard Kearl flew the 1,000th F-35 System Development and Demonstration, or SDD, flight test in F-35A AF-2 from Edwards AFB, California. The one-hour flight was the 132nd in AF-2.

Edwards Adds A PilotThe twenty-sixth pilot to fly the F-35, Air Force Lt. Col. Dwayne Opella, flew his first F-35 mission in F-35A AF-4. The 1.8-hour flight from Edwards AFB, California, was Flight 44 for AF-4. Photo by David Henry

7 July 2011 First F-35 Maturity FlightAir Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith flew the F-35 program’s first maturity flight in F-35A AF-7 at Edwards AFB, California, accomplishing all test goals without control room assistance. Maturity flights tested Block 1A software that will be used for initial pilot training at Eglin AFB, Florida. The flight, which lasted 1.7 hours, was Flight 23 for AF-7. Photo by Darin Russell

9 July 2011 CF-2 To PaxF-35C CF-2 returned to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, following successful completion of single aircraft jet blast deflector ground testing. Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin was at the controls for the 0.6-hour mission, Flight 22 for CF-2.

13 July 2011 First Maturity Formation FlightsF-35As AF-6 and AF-7 were flown in the first formation flight of F-35 maturity testing out of Edwards AFB, California. Air Force Lt. Col. Dwayne Opella and Lockheed Martin test pilot David Nelson flew the two-hour formation flight, Flight 18 for AF-6 and Flight 27 for AF-7.

16 July 2011 BF-5 To PaxLockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew the fifth F-35B, BF-5, to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas, on a 3.5-hour ferry flight, being refueled by a KC-130 tanker crew. BF-5 was the final flight test aircraft delivery in 2011. The ferry mission was Flight 11 for BF-5. Photo by Liz Kaszynski

19 July 2011 First Wet Runway LandingF-35A AF-2 became the first F-35 to land on a wet runway at Edwards AFB, California, with Lockheed Martin test pilot Jeff Knowles at the controls. The 0.9-hour mission was Flight 135 for AF-2. Photo by Tom Reynolds

21 July 2011 500th Flight In 2011On the 500th F-35 flight of 2011, F-35A AF-3 was flown for 2.5 hours out of Edwards AFB, California, Flight 43 for AF-3. Lockheed Martin test pilot Jeff Knowles flew the test mission. Photo by Darin Russell

25 July 2011 100th Vertical Landing For BF-1F-35B BF-1 landed vertically for the 100th time with Marine Corps Lt. Col. Matt Kelly at the controls. The 0.7-hour flight out of NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, was Flight 142 for BF-1.

26 July 2011 CF-3 To LakehurstF-35C CF-3 departed NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, and arrived at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, for carrier variant catapult launch testing. Navy test pilot Lt. Chris Tabert flew the 1.0-hour ferry flight, Flight 7 for CF-3.Photo by Phaedra Loftis

27 July 2011 First F-35 Catapult LaunchF-35C launched from a catapult for the first time with Navy test pilot Lt. Chris Tabert at the controls. F-35C CF-3 launched from a steam catapult and flew a 0.2-hour flight before returning to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The historic mission was Flight 8 for CF-3. Photo by Andy Wolfe

30 July 2011 Most Flights In One MonthThe F-35 System Development and Demonstration program recorded 100 flights in July, the most flights achieved in one month to date for the F-35 fleet. F-35A AF-7 was flown on nineteen of those flights, the most achieved for an individual F-35 test aircraft in a single month.

2 August 2011 CF-1 To LakehurstF-35C CF-1 was flown to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, for jet blast deflector tests with two aircraft. Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin flew the 0.7-hour ferry mission, Flight 79 for CF-1. Photo by Phaedra Loftis

13 August 2011 Jet Blast Deflector Testing CompleteWith a final side-by-side, two-ship test, F-35C CF-1 completed jet blast deflector testing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. These tests provided data for the Navy to ensure the F-35C is aircraft carrier compatible. Photo by Andy Wolfe

24 August 2011 CF-1 Returns To Pax F-35C CF-1 returned to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, to avoid Hurricane Irene. CF-1 was at Lakehurst for jet blast deflector testing. The 0.7-hour ferry flight, piloted by Navy Lt. Cdr. Eric Buus, was Flight 80 for CF-1. Photo by Phaedra Loftis

25 August 2011 CF-3 Returns To PaxF-35C CF-3 was flown to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, to avoid Hurricane Irene. The flight occurred after several weeks of catapult launch testing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Matt Taylor flew the 0.8-hour ferry flight, Flight 12 for CF-3.

28 August 2011 Hurricane Irene Hits PaxAll personnel and aircraft were safe after Hurricane Irene hit NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. Operations halted 26 August as the F-35 Integrated Test Force secured the jets and support equipment in hangars on base. Flights resumed at Pax on 29 August 2011.

29 August 2011 CV Static Testing CompleteF-35C ground article CG-1 completed static testing at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas. With this achievement, the F-35 program accomplished its static structural testing milestone for 2011. Photo by Fred Clingerman

30 August 2011 Edwards Adds A PilotAir Force Lt. Col. Peter Vitt became the twenty-seventh pilot to fly the F-35 with his 1.7-hour flight in F-35A AF-2 from Edwards AFB, California. The pilot familiarization mission was Flight 146 for AF-2. Photo by Tom Reynolds

31 August 2011 150th Vertical LandingF-35B BF-1 completed the program’s 150th vertical landing during its second sortie of the day at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. BAE test pilot Peter Wilson was at the controls for the 1.2-hour flight, which was Flight 152 for BF-1. Photo by Michael Jackson

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31 August 2011 F-35A Maturity Flights CompleteF-35A AF-7 Flight 49 involved a 1.8-hour maturity flight mission. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph Bachmann was at the controls for this last conventional takeoff and landing maturity flight test of Block 1A software.

9 September 2011 CF-3 To LakehurstF-35C CF-3 was ferried from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, to resume catapult launch testing. Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin flew the 0.6-hour ferry, Flight 14 for CF-3.Photo by Phaedra Loftis

12 September 2011 100th Carrier Variant Flight In 2011Navy Lt. Cdr. Eric Buus was at the controls of F-35C CF-3 for the F-35C carrier variant’s 100th flight in 2011. The 0.4-hour flight at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, included three sorties for catapult launch tests. The mission was Flight 17 for CF-3.

19 September 2011 Ten Flights In One DayThe F-35 Integrated Test Force flew ten test flights in one day, matching the program’s highest one-day total, set in May 2011. The record day included five F-35A CTOL flights, three F-35B STOVL flights—including six vertical landings—and two F-35C CV flights. Photo by Michael Jackson

21 September 2011 NERF Testing CompleteF-35B BF-2 completed Naval Electromagnetic Radiation Facility, or NERF, ground testing at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, achieving another step toward landing and takeoff trials aboard an amphibious assault ship. This testing simulated the electromagnetic environment on the ship to ensure the aircraft could operate successfully in a ship environment. The other F-35B ship suitability test aircraft, BF-4, completed the same testing in July.

24 September 2011 Three STOs And Three VLs On One Fuel LoadThree short takeoff/vertical landing circuits on one fuel load were accomplished for the first time. BAE test pilot Peter Wilson flew the 0.4-hour mission in BF-3 for field carrier landing practice, or FCLP, with USS Wasp (LHD-1) personnel at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, to prepare for ship suitability testing. It was Flight 141 in BF-3. Photo by Michael Jackson

26 September 2011 First Steam Ingestion Catapult LaunchMarine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Matt Taylor flew the first F-35C steam ingestion catapult launch at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, in test aircraft CF-3. The mission was Flight 22 for CF-3. Photo by Layne Laughter

30 September 2011 700th SDD Flight Of 2011Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin flew the 700th System Development and Demonstration flight of 2011 in F-35B BF-5 at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The 1.2-hour flight, Flight 16 for BF-5, was the jet’s first with Block 1 software.Photo by Liz Kaszynski

3 October 2011 First F-35 Landing At SeaMarine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk made Naval Aviation history when he touched down on the deck of USS Wasp (LHD-1) at 3:12 pm in F-35B BF-2. The landing is the program’s first vertical landing at sea. Lt. Col. Schenk flew the 0.9-hour ferry flight from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, to the Wasp near Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission was Flight 119 and the twenty-third vertical landing for BF-2. Photo by Michael Jackson

Sydney Carroll is a communications representative for the F-35 program at Lockheed Martin and is webmaster of F35.com.

The aerial demonstration team of the Republic of Korea Air Force,

the Black Eagles, traded its standard-issue orange and white

T-50 trainers for glossy black, white, and yellow T-50Bs for its

2011 show season. By Eric Hehs Photos By Katsuhiko Tokunaga

rokaf black eagles fly t-50b

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he last of a total of ten T-50Bs built for the team arrived in January 2011. The Black Eagles flew their first public all T-50B f light the following March—a f lyover for an

officer commissioning ceremony at the Korean Armed Forces headquarters in Gyeryong. The team flew its first formal full demonstration with the new aircraft on 1 April at Wonju AB, home base for the Black Eagles, which is about ninety miles east of Seoul.

“The crowd for our first official show at Wonju was rela-tively small but very significant,” recounted Lt. Col. Daeseo Park, commander of the Black Eagles. “VIPs from the Air Force and Korea Aerospace Industries, the builder of our jets, attended. About forty former members of the Black Eagles also came to see the newest aircraft perform. All were very pleased with what they saw.”

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That demonstration was the first of more than twenty displays already f lown or planned to f ly for the 2011 season. The pinnacle performances for the Black Eagles came in mid October when the team f lew in front of large and interna-tional crowds at the 2011 Seoul Aerospace & Defense Exhibition, or ADEX.

“The Black Eagle team looks forward to represent ing Korea a nd ROK A F at ADEX,” Park said. The purpose of the demonstration team is to show the publ ic t he st reng t h of ROK AF a nd the expertise of its military pilots. The demonstration also highlights the air-craft—its maneuverability and speed. “The T-50 represents a huge technical achievement of our aerospace industry. Overall, we operate some beautiful jets and f ly an impressive routine.”

The routine has been modified since the Black Eagles began performing with

the T-50 in 2009 (and since the routine was first described in Code One in 2010).

The team changed the routine for sev-eral reasons. “The new routine takes advan-tage of the longer duration of the T-50B’s smoke system,” explained Park, the team’s first leader after it adopted the T-50. The routine added some maneuvers that high-light the low-speed maneuverability of the aircraft. “We also made the show more dynamic because of our increased familiarity and comfort level with the aircraft,” he continued. “We do more dramatic maneuvers with the large for-mation, and we highlight the maximum thrust abilities of the aircraft.”

The team performs two basic rou-tines—a high show and a low show—depending on weather conditions. The low show, designed for weather-restricted days, has most of the same maneuvers as the high show, with some of the lower

altitude maneuvers substituted for higher maneuvers. The team a lso performs weather and celebration shows, which are sca led-back versions for poorer weather conditions and for special event f lyovers (usually from their home base at Wonju).

The high show begins with a series of takeoffs: two three-ship T-50s taking off in arrow formation followed by a two-ship in side-by-side formation. The entire team rejoins and f lies a loop in an eight-ship T-formation.

“The most impressive formation to me is the T-formation,” explained Capt. Kwang-Hwi Cho, one of the two newest recruits to the Black Eagles. Cho is training to be the next No. 2 pilot. The formation involves five aircraft f lying line abreast and three trailing the team lead, who f lies in the middle of the line abreast. Keeping such a formation tight

The purpose of the demonstration team is to show the public the strength of ROKAF and

the expertise of its military pilots.

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also one of the more difficult maneuvers for the team to perfect. So I have an insider’s appreciation of it as well.”

After the rainfall, the team breaks up into three parts: a four-ship main forma-tion consisting of No. 1, No. 2 Left Wing position, No. 3 Right Wing position, and No. 4 Slot position; a two-ship Synchro team consisting of Synchro 1 (No. 5 posi-tion) and Synchro 2 (No. 6 position); and a Solo team consisting of Solo 1 (No. 7 position) and Solo 2 (No. 8 position). The pilots refer to themselves in these terms as well, for example, as No. 7 Solo 1.

T he r a i n f a l l maneuver is fol-lowed by a scissor p a s s , a d o u b l e cross turn, and a goose maneuver. The Solo and Syn-chro groups use

in a loop demands some real f lying skills. And these f lying skills are not something a pilot can learn in a simulator. “We learn them by first performing them in wide formations and then by f lying closer and closer as we gain proficiency.”

The loop in a T-formation is followed by a formation roll and a diamond pass. The team maintains its eight-ship forma-tion in a change turn—a large f lat circle in which the formation changes from a diamond, to a wedge, to an eagle. The next pass involves an eight-ship rol l in a stinger formation, which is followed by a bon ton roll and then a clover loop.

The formation goes high and then straight down, separating individually at equal angles for the rainfall maneuver. Rainfall is the favorite maneuver of Maj. Wook-Cheon Jeon, team leader, who flies in the No. 1 position. “I think it is the most impressive maneuver when I watch videos of our routine and gauge audience reactions,” he explained. “But this was Lt. Col. Daeseo Park

9Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

their smoke generators to create a heart shape pierced with a cupid’s arrow. A single T-50 then comes by show center for a slow f light, demonstrating the low-speed handling charac-teristics of the T-50. “In slow f light, the aircraft’s nose blocks the forward view from the cockpit because the aircraft is f lying at a twenty-five degree angle,” noted Maj. Soon-Hong Hong, who f lies the maneuver as the No. 8 opposing solo. “The air-speed is just 115 knots.”

After the slow f light, a six-ship formation returns for a roll back and afterburner loop maneuver. “The afterburner loop is the most difficult maneuver we f ly,” explained Jeon, who, as No. 1, leads the formation. The maneuver starts at low speed and low thrust. All team members then push the throt-tles to maximum power at the same time. “Because the engines can spool up at slightly different rates, maintaining formation takes great skill and practice.”

The Solo group then returns to create a Taeguk, the ying-yang symbol featured in the middle of the Korean f lag. “The Taeguk is very popular with crowds because it represents our national f lag,” said Cho. “The maneuver coincidentally high-lights the high- and low-speed maneuverability of the T-50. To complete the inside and outside of the image together, the aircraft making the outer circle must turn hard at a very high speed while the aircraft making the inside circle must turn hard at a very low speed.”

The high show continues with the other six aircraft returning for a downward bomb burst. This maneuver is followed by the Synchro aircraft splitting up to f ly an eight-point roll and a continuous roll. The Solo group then returns for a screw roll in which No. 8 f lies aileron rolls around No. 7, who f lies straight and level. “The screw rol l is the most dynamic maneuver performed by the Solo aircraft,” noted Hong, who gets to f ly the four 360-degree rolls around No. 7. “It is much harder than it looks. It takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to get it right.”

The Synchro group returns for the Calypso pass. The main formation, this time as a four-ship, comes in for a snake roll and then a dizzying break and a rolling combat pitch.

The show continues—a single T-50 performs a max turn and loop. The team rejoins as an eight-ship wedge formation to perform the grand finale—a victory break. The T-50s rejoin and f ly parallel to the runway for individual pitch-up land-ings. Each aircraft lands individually and taxis in front of the audience.

“The best part of the job comes just after we land,” said Hong, who taxis in last. “We park the jets, turn off the engines, walk on stage, and experience the audience reaction. Once a woman in the audience grabbed my hand and told me that our dem-onstration made her proud to be a Korean. That was extremely gratifying for me, and something I will never forget.”

Eric Hehs is the editor of Code One.

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THE T-50 GOLDEN EAGLE PROGRAM HAS MUCH TO CELEBRATE. TEN

YEARS AFTER THE FIRST T-50 ROLLED OUT OF THE KOREAN AEROSPACE

INDUSTRIES FACTORY IN SACHEON, SOUTH KOREA, THE PROGRAM

HAS RADICALLY IMPROVED THE WAY FIGHTER PILOTS ARE TRAINED

IN KOREA. TWO TRAINING SQUADRONS AT GWANGJU AB OPERATE

FIFTY AIRCRAFT AND GRADUATE ABOUT 140 STUDENTS PER YEAR.

T-50 PROGRAM IN FULL SWINGBY ERIC HEHSPHOTOS BY KATSUHIKO TOKUNAGA

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T he Black Eagles, the demonstration team of the Republic of Korea Air Force, are impressing crowds in shiny T-50Bs. And at Yecheon AB, where the f irst TA-50 lead-in fighter training course will start in 2012, air-

craft are starting to populate the ramp. Furthermore, devel-opment of the FA-50 fighter/attack variant has transitioned to production. The f irst FA-50 is planned for delivery to ROKAF in 2013.

On top of these successes, the program celebrated its first international sa le in May 2011 when Indonesia placed a $400 million order for sixteen T-50 trainers.

In the first feature article on the T-50 in Code One in 2005, appearing shortly after the first production version rolled off the line in Sacheon, Enes Park, now senior executive vice pres-ident of KAI, said, “The rollout of the first production aircraft was just a start for us. We celebrated. Now we get to work.”

That work continues today as the latest versions of the T-50 roll off the line to head to training squadrons in Korea and to training squadrons of new and future customers.

T-50 Training aT gwangjuROKAF received its last T-50 trainer from KAI in May 2010.

The delivery marked the successful completion of the intro-duction of the initial version of the T-50 into the ROKAF training organization. The trainer, which has a wide range of capabilities, entered full service less than five years from ini-tial delivery, which allowed ROKAF to retire its aging T-38 advanced f light trainer f leet and to discontinue operating its BAE Hawk and Northrop Grumman F-5E aircraft for lead-in fighter pilot training.

As of September 2011, the ROKAF T-50 advanced f light training course at Gwangju AB has produced more than 350 fighter pilots and logged more than 40,000 flight hours. The aircraft have established an aircraft availability rate exceed-ing eighty-five percent. The T-50 Total Training System has reduced training time by twenty percent and training costs by thirty percent, while increasing skill levels of graduates by

forty percent, compared to the legacy training system. The program has been a

huge success.As commander of one of the

two training squadrons that operate T-50s at Gwangju, Lt. Col. Yung-Chae Kim is familiar

with the performance of the T-50. “The aircraft and its asso-ciated training systems are exceeding our expectations,” he said. “We have eliminated ten training sorties from the pre-vious training syllabus while graduating pilots with much improved skill levels.”

Kim has been commanding the 189th Squadron at Gwangju since 2008. The 189th and the other T-50 squadron at Gwangju, the 203rd, fall under the 1st Fighter Wing. The squadrons together operate fifty T-50s and train about 140 students per year in three classes. About two-thirds of the graduates go

Lt. Col. Yung-Chae Kim, 189th Squadron Commander

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on to f ly KF-16s in combat squadrons. The remaining graduates head to F-5E units.

T h e a d v a n c e d f l i g h t training coursework for new pilots at Gwangju introduces students to jet-powered f light. “Before student pi lots can become combat pilots, they must learn basic f light skills, basic controlling, formation f ly ing, instrument f ly ing, and basic tact ica l f ly ing,” explained Kim. “The T-50 and its associated ground-based training systems allow us to teach the primary stages of the course much faster. We apply the time we save to teaching more advanced topics and to introducing tactical f lying.”

The approach produces pilots who are much better prepared for the next phase, which is combat readiness training, or CRT.

The ground port ions of the T-50 training at Gwangju are conducted in a silver, two-stor y i nteg rated t ra i n i ng center. Lecture halls in the center are wired for computer-aided instruction. Student pilots as well as student main-tenance personnel work at

their own pace on individual-ized lessons on computer-based training systems. These same systems also track the t r a i n i n g p e r for m a nc e of the students using an inte-grated, Web-based system.

Student pilots fly the T-50 in two types of simulators at Gwa ng ju—a n operat iona l flight trainer and a full mission trainer. The operational flight trainer, used primarily as a procedures trainer, is a full cockpit and a large five-panel d i splay. T he f u l l m iss ion trainer, used for training an entire f light, is a full-dome simulator. Student perfor-mance is monitored on both simulators from a control room that features a desktop version of the cockpit. Without ever having to leave the ground, student pilots learn to operate the T-50 from engine startup to engine shutdown.

New students at Gwangju spend their first seven weeks in a ground training squadron. They then move to a f light edu-cation squadron. The computer-based ground training and the simulator training continue into the f l ight training syllabus. Even after students begin f lying the T-50, they spend time in the f light simulator—about one hour in a simulator for every hour they spend in the air f lying.

“The ground education has been the most challenging aspect of the course,” said 1st Lt. Yong-Deok Cho, a student in the 189th Squadron. The T-50 is highly advanced and complicated compared to the T-103 and KT-1—aircraft that students f ly for pilot screening and basic training. “The T-50 engine, elec-trical system, subsystems, and emergency systems, which are all completely different from the T-103 and KT-1, take some time to understand,” he explained. The trainees also have to study about a dozen additional subjects, such as normal f lying procedures, aviation dynamics, and meteorology. “The course-work would be much more di f f icu lt to absorb without

EVEN AFTER STUDENTS BEGIN FLYING THE T-50, THEY SPEND TIME IN THE FLIGHT SIMULATOR—ABOUT ONE HOUR IN A SIMULATOR FOR EVERY HOUR THEY SPEND IN THE AIR FLYING.

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computer-based training, the simu lators , a nd t he ot her modern training systems we have here.”

The similarities between the T-50 and the F-16 pay d i v id e nd s i n s u b s e qu e nt training phases. “The simi-larities allow pilots to adapt faster and easier,” said Capt. In Geol Hwang, an instructor pilot at the 189th. The final classes of the advanced f light t r a i n i ng cou rse foc u s on tact ica l f ly ing. Unlike our prev ious t ra ining system, students are now exposed to basic f ighter maneuvers, or BFM, before moving on to CRT. “Those who finish this course have commented that they found the BFM instruc-tion here extremely helpful in the CRT course.”

“ T h e T- 3 8 w a s a f i n e training aircraft,” added Kim. But ROKAF could use the T-38 only to train analog f lying, which is basic f lying. “With the T-50, student pilots can learn digital avionics and the high-tech systems used on modern fighters, such as the head-up and multifunction displays. When they transfer to aircraf t that use digita l equipment, they adapt much more easily because of their experience in the T-50.”

T-50 EvolvEs: T-50B and Ta-50

The T-50 family continues to expand as new variations of the aircraft roll out the KAI factory. In 2011, the company completed del iver y of ten T-50B aircraf t to ROKAF’s demonstration squadron, the Black Eagles. This version of the T-50 carries equipment unique to the team, including smoke system, internal and external cameras, and high-visibi l ity spot l ights in the dummy Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips.

The TA-50 is the latest ver-sion of the T-50 to roll out the

factory. This more advanced version will be used for lead-in fighter training at Yecheon AB, about 150 miles southeast of Seoul. As of September 2011, KAI had delivered eight of a p l a n ne d t went y-t wo TA-50s to ROKAF.

A r m a m e nt s a nd r a d a r account for the primary dif-ference between a T-50 and a TA-50. The TA-50 is equipped with an internally mounted 20 mm gun and with external hardpoints for carr y ing a variety of weapons. A stores management system combined with a MIL-STD-1553 databus allows these weapons to be integrated on the aircraf t . While the T-50 has no radar, the TA-50 features the Elta EL/M-2032 multimode radar.

“The T-50 is used in the adv a nc e d f l ig ht t r a i n i ng course at Gwangju to teach students basic f lying abilities i n j e t - p o w e r e d f l i g h t , ” explained Col. Sun Tae Yung, who is in charge of f l ight t ra i n i ng pol ic y a nd pi lot training for ROKAF. “Later in 2011, the TA-50 will begin operations for lead-in fighter training, or what we call LIFT. The course teaches students how to operate a fighter tacti-ca l ly. The armaments and radar on the TA-50 are essen-tial to LIFT.

“The T-50 and TA-50 have the same shape and f l ight characteristics,” Yung added. “So students coming from the adv a nc e d f l ig ht t r a i n i ng course at Gwangju will have no problem transitioning to the TA-50 at Yecheon.”

TA-50 in the LIFT role will s i g n i f i c a nt l y r e du c e t h e training loads on operational aircraft. For example, combat readiness training now con-duc te d at de d ic ate d F-16 training units will be moved to the TA-50 training squad-rons at Yecheon. The F-16 units can then function as pure combat units. Besides

freeing up combat aircraft for combat roles, the lower oper-ating cost of the TA-50—compared to legacy trainer air-craft—will reduce the overall training cost for new pilots. The TA-50 will further simplify training and reduce costs by replacing F-5s currently used for LIFT.

The TA-50s will operate from the 115th Squadron of the 16th Fighter Wing at Yecheon. The wing, founded in 1976, currently hosts a fighter squadron and a training squadron for advanced f light. The F-5E/F CRT course there has been in operation since 2006. The TA-50 LIFT course will begin operation in mid-2012.

“We have already selected the first twenty instructor pilots who are now training in the newly delivered TA-50s at Yecheon,” said Yung. “Eventually, these instructor pilots will train about eighty pilots per year in three classes.”

Fa-50Once TA-50 production completes

in 2012, KAI will begin producing a light combat version of the T-50, called the FA-50, to replace the ROKAF F-5E/F aircraf t . The FA-50 wi l l be a fu l ly combat-capable version of the T-50. On top of the TA-50 capabilities, the FA-50 will have self- protection systems

including a radar warning receiver and a countermeasures system to dispense chaff and flares.

The FA-50 can be armed with more sophisticated weapons that include the Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser, or WCMD, and Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs. It will also have Link-16 datalink for net-centric warfare and night vision imaging system for all-weather day/night operations. Enhancements planned for the cockpit include larger multi-function displays and other digital instruments.

The FA-50’s primary mission will be close air support and suppression of enemy ar t i l ler y using precision-guided munitions, such as JDAM. The FA-50’s capabilit ies free aircraft with longer ranges for other missions. The ROKAF has committed to purchasing at least sixty FA-50s.

Eric Hehs is the editor of Code One.

Col. Sun Tae Yung

The US Air Force’s newest training squadron, known as the Nightstalkers, took delivery of its first MC-130J Combat Shadow II on 9 October. The lights are on at this graduate school for personnel recovery and special operations aircraft crews, and classes will begin soon.

“We’re diving in headfirst,” said SSgt. Jeremy Addie, a member of the initial cadre of forty maintainers supporting the new aircraft. “Much of the avionics and systems on the J-models are new to us. We’re looking forward to getting inside them and start working with these aircraft.” As additional aircraft are deliv-ered, the number of maintenance section personnel will rapidly double.

After maintenance releases the new aircraft for operations, the initial aircrew cadre wil l get their turn. “We have a pretty aggressive schedule,” noted Lt. Col. Mike McClure, the operations officer for the 415th SOS. “Instructor training flights begin in November, and we’ll have a l l our inst ructor crews t ra ined by March 2012. The first group of students

arrives later that month to begin aca-demics. Student training f lights begin next June. Our job is to get students fully trained as quickly as possible.”

Unlike combat delivery C-130s, in which crew position can be filled with any qualified pilot, navigator, f light engi-neer, or loadmaster, Airmen on legacy HC- and MC-130s f ly as a hard crew while deployed. The f light deck famil-iarity that comes from f lying with the same people all the time will continue on the new HC- and MC-130Js. “Our t ra in ing i s desig ned to keep crews together as much as possible,” said TSgt. Michael Mueller, the lead loadmaster and course syl labus manager for the 415th SOS. “A student crew wi l l go through simulator tra ining and on- aircraft f lights together.”

Air Combat Command’s legacy HC-130P/N aircraft operate with a crew of seven—pilot; copilot; f light engineer; navigator; Airborne Mission System Spe-cialist, or AMSS; and two loadmasters—on rescue missions to refuel helicopters

and airdrop pararescue jumpers and equipment. Air Force Special Operations Command’s legacy MC-130Ps carry a crew of eight—the two pilots, f light engi-neer, two navigators, one AMSS, and two loadmasters—on clandestine low-level missions to refuel special operations forces helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft and to airdrop or resupply small com-mando teams in denied areas.

With the advanced electronic, electro-optical, navigation, and defensive systems on the HC- and MC-130Js, the crew complement for both aircraft wil l be reduced to five—two pilots, two load-masters, and one Combat Systems Oper-ator, or CSO. “The HC- and MC-130J CSO has a lot more responsibilities,” noted Capt. Jim Tuthill, a 415th instructor CSO. “We’re carrying out the traditional navigator job, and, in addition, we operate the refueling system, take on part of the engine and aircraft systems monitoring tasks, and operate all the different radios needed for these missions.”

The curriculum at the new joint- service navigator training school at NAS Pensacola, Florida, does not address the additional responsibilities CSOs will have on the HC/MC-130J special mission air-craft. “The CSOs require more training,” noted Mueller.

The countdown calendar on the operat ions desk at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, finally hit zero. After two years of intense preparations, the 415th Special Operations Squadron received its first aircraft, an HC-130J Combat King II, in ceremonies on 29 September 2011.

NIGHT LASSESP H O T O S BY J O H N R O S S I N OBY J E F F RHODES

Code One16

17Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

“The CSOs will start thirty-to-forty training days before the pilots and loadmasters show up,” said Mueller.

Academics and simulator t ime account for eighty percent of crew training. “The capability of the simu-

lator is so close to the actual aircraft that we can get crews to ninety percent proficiency in there,” said McClure.” The sim is available all the time, it’s very reliable, and it offers us better efficiency and cost management.”

Both the HC-130J and MC-130J are equipped with unique features such as a universal aerial refueling receptacle to receive fuel from boom-equipped tankers, an AN/AAS-52 electro-optical/infrared sensor system, and satellite commu-nications gear. As delivered, the two aircraft are essentially the same, just with different mission requirements, so the simulator can be used to train crews for both platforms.

The Nightstalkers were officially established as a squadron only a week before the first aircraft arrived. But like many things with this new squadron, life’s moving pretty fast. The full-up weapon system simulator for the 415th is now in oper-ation at the vendor’s facility in Florida—and cadre members have trained on it. However, in the coming months, the system will be packed up, shipped to the base in Albuquerque, and installed in a newly completed simulator facility a block away from the 415th SOS offices and briefing rooms.

“We have set up a proficiency-based syllabus versus an event-driven syllabus,” noted McClure. “The f lightline only makes up about twenty percent of our crew training.” Crews at Kirtland will only f ly six or seven sorties before gradua-tion. Only one of those f lights will come in daylight. The rest will be at night while f lying on NVGs.

HC-130J training crews will concentrate on low-level, single-ship missions and refueling rescue helicopters. For MC-130J crews, sortie emphasis will be on multiship employ-ment and low level operations, as well as refueling helicopters and special operations tiltrotor aircraft. Both the 512th Rescue

Squadron, the HH-60 Pave Hawk training squadron, as well as the 71s t S O S , t he C V-2 2 O s pr e y schoolhouse, are at Kirtland. “Part of our job is to be their tankers,” noted McClure.

The Air Force’s long-planned recapitalization of its personnel recovery and special operations f leets has now begun in earnest. The first operational HC-130J unit, the 79th Rescue Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, received its first Combat King II on 24 Sep-tember 2011. The first operational MC-130J unit , t he 522nd SOS at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, received its first Combat Shadow literally a half hour before the first HC-130J was delivered to Kirtland. The 415th SOS wil l eventual ly operate a total of seven aircraft—

three HC-130Js and four MC-130Js. A series of upgrades to both the HC-130J and the MC-130J

are already planned. The upgrades include a variety of items ranging from additional chaff and f lare dispensers to a high-speed, low-level cargo delivery system for both aircraft. Dual special mission processors will eventually be added to the Combat Shadow IIs. But those improvements will come later. The Nightstalkers have a job to do now.

“Two years ago, we were a detachment with four people. We now have thirty-five and are a full-up f lying squadron. We’ll have aircrew from legacy operational squadrons inbound here for the next six months. There will be fifty people assigned to the 415th, and we’ll fill up squadron by mid 2012,” said McClure. “Then, we’ll have the last six months of fiscal year 2012 to get nine crews trained. It’s going to be hard work, but it’s going to rewarding hard work.”

Jeff Rhodes is the associate editor of Code One.

Lt. Col. Mike McClure

Super

Hustler,

FISH,

Kingfish,

And

Beyond

By Eric Hehs

The need for more and better intelligence on Soviet military activities increased for the United States as Cold War tensions in the late 1950s heightened around the world. The resulting sense of urgency forced the CIA to take a more conventional and more practical approach for the design of a U-2 replacement. The agency, therefore, favored developed turbojet engine technology over undeveloped and riskier ramjet engines. Conventional takeoffs were favored over what was considered riskier and less reliable parasitic launching from a carrier aircraft.

Part 3: Kingfish A more detailed version of this article appears on www.codeonemagazine.com.

PAINTING BY DAVE SCHWEITZER

Code One18

ina l require-ments issued t o C o n v a i r

a nd L ock heed , t he only two contractors c omp e t i ng for t he highly secret contract, had three design stip-ulations: the aircraft had to be powered by turbojet engines only; it had to have a gross weight of approx-imately 100,000 pounds; and it had to be capable of taking off without a carrier aircraft. The requirements were defined, in large part, by the cancellation of the Convair B-58B and radar cross section deficiencies in the Lockheed A-11 design.

Two of t he f i na l requirements ru led out the Convair FISH because t he design r e l i e d o n r a m j e t engines to achieve its Mach 4 cruising speed and a carrier aircraft ba s e d on t he B -58 Hust ler bomber to attain the speed nec-essary to ignite the ramjets. As a result, Convair had to start from scratch to create an entirely new design in the few months allotted for submit-ting a final configuration.

All three requirements matched the Lockheed A-11 design, which was powered by two Pratt & Whitney J58 turbojet engines, had a gross weight of approximately 92,000 pounds, and was capable of taking off on its own power. Lockheed could spend the limited time refining its design.

The evaluation of the competing designs was broken into four parts: Analysis and Design, Models and Components, Materials Research, and Subsystems. Analysis and Design addressed the feasibility of the configuration to meet the requirements for electronic effects and performance (in other words, radar cross sect ion); cruising speed; range; and other measures fundamental to a high-speed, high-altitude reconnaissance platform.

Models and Components evaluated small-scale electronic models for studying the Rodgers Effect, a concept of com-bining speed, altitude, and stealth to avoid radar detection. Materials Research studied the material requirements speci-fied in each design. Subsystems was tasked to look at sub-system requirements, such as electrical, fuel, and hydraulics.

The companies were given slightly more than two months to submit final proposals.

KingFish EvoluTionConvair engineers borrowed heavily from the FISH design

to create the initial configuration for Kingfish, though the borrowed features were difficult to discern in the illustrations submitted in their proposal. The starting design, designated Kingfish Lower, used the basic FISH planform and lower inlet. Configuration changes from this point were based primarily

on radar cross section effects. The effects were measured on a test range with 1/8th-scale models.

As with Kingfish Lower, the other three starting configu-rations were categorized according to inlet placements. Smelt placed the inlets above the wing facing slightly upward and canting back. Herring placed the inlets above the wing facing slightly sideways and canting back. Kingfish Upper placed the FISH inlet on top of the fuselage. Each one of the four inlet approaches had its own issues in terms of radar cross section, design, and aerodynamics. However, Smelt and Her-ring showed the most promise. The final inlet configuration on the Kingfish design was a Smelt-Herring combination.

A detailed 7/10th scale model of the final configuration was built for final radar cross section testing. The scale was chosen because it was almost identical in size to an existing full-scale model of FISH. Reworking the existing structure could be done faster and more affordably than building a full-scale model from scratch. The model was tested on a radar range near Indian Springs, Nevada.

Final dEsignThe final Kingfish configuration was a single-seat, full

delta wing with slightly curved and highly swept leading edges. Two vertical tails were mounted on top of the wings and f lush with the trailing edge. The aircraft weighed 103,200 pounds (gross weight) and carried 62,750 pounds of fuel, giving it a dry weight of 40,450 pounds. The aircraft measured

Lockheed A-11

Convair FISH

A detailed 7/10th scale model of the final configuration was built for final radar cross section testing. The scale was chosen because it was almost identical in size to an existing full-scale model of FISH.

19Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

seventy-three feet seven inches long and eighteen feet four inches high. The wingspan measured sixty feet. The wing area mea-sured 1,815 square feet.

W i n g t r a i l i n g a n d leading edges were con-structed of notched steel panels with graphite-loaded pyroceram inserts to lower the radar ref lection. Mate-rials were much the same as used on the B-58. Steel h o n e y c o m b s a n d w i c h panels formed the fuselage structure, which was sup-ported by bulkheads and longerons . T he lead ing edges were approached similarly to those used for FISH since they would be exposed to temperatures up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. The wing edges consisted of triangular panels of pyroceram held in place with steel ribs, with the f lat edges of the pyroceram inserts forming the leading edge.

Kingfish was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT11 after-burning turbojets located in the sides of the fuselage. A B-58 style escape capsule eliminated the need for the pilot to wear a pressure suit. In-f light refueling was provided by means of a receptacle on the upper surface of the nose. The landing gear was a conventional tricycle arrangement.

PErFormancE and sTandard mission ProFilE

Design cruising speed and cruise altitude for Kingfish was Mach 3.2 at 85,000 feet. Maximum altitude was 98,300 feet. The mission profile was broken into three parts: an initial leg, a tactical leg, and a final leg. The aircraft was to be aerial refueled by a KC-135 tanker before and after the tactical leg.

The initial leg began with a launch from bases in the con-tinental United States. Takeoff speed was 138 knots. Kingfish required approximately 200 nautical miles to climb and accelerate to a speed of Mach 3.2. The Mach 3.2 speed was held constant to an altitude of 74,000 feet to optimize range. At 320 nautical miles from the f irst rendezvous point for the first refueling, the pilot would set the air-cra f t eng ines to id le and allow the aircraft to descend to 35,000 feet and decelerate to Mach 0.8. The mission prof i le a l lot ted forty-f ive minutes of loiter time for the first aerial refueling.

Customer requirements designated an initial altitude of 85,000 feet and a max-imum a lt itude consistent

with a 4,000 nautical mile range for the tactical leg of the mission prof i le. The Kingfish pilot would reach t he i n it ia l a lt it ude a nd cruise there for 820 nautical miles and then initiate a cruise climb to the opera-tional tactical altitude of 8 7, 7 0 0 f e e t w h e r e t h e pilot would perform two ninety-degree turns to col-lect intelligence informa-t ion and t hen head to a second rendezvous point for aerial refueling.

At 320 naut ica l mi les from the second rendezvous point, the pilot would once

again set the engines to idle and allow the aircraft to descend to 35,000 feet and decelerate to Mach 0.8 for the second aerial refueling before continuing on the final leg.

The pilot would accelerate to a speed of Mach 3.2 and climb to an altitude of 74,000 feet to complete the final leg. The aircraft would cruise at altitudes for best range to a point 375 nautical miles from the landing base. In preparation for landing, the aircraft would descend to 35,000 feet and decel-erate to Mach 0.8. Loiter time at 35,000 feet on the return leg was set at thirty minutes. Landing speed was ninety-seven knots with fuel reserve equating to fifteen minutes of f lying time at sea level.

A single engine failure was addressed as an emergency condition in the Convair report. In this condition, the thrust of the operating engine was increased to 108 percent of max-imum power. Cruise range after an engine failure was 1,360 nautical miles, calculated at the halfway point of the tactical leg of the mission.

A lt itude and f uel reser ve ef fects were a lso studied. Increasing the maximum alt itude to 96,800 feet on the tact ica l leg would reduce range by 290 naut ica l mi les. A l t e r n a t e l y, r e d u c i n g t h e a l t i t u d e t o 8 7, 10 0 f e e t would increase the range by 190 nautical miles (for a total

mission range of 4,190 nau-t ica l mi les). Operat ing at maximum altitude (98,300 feet) decreased the overall range of Kingf ish to 3,300 nautical miles.

locKhEEd TaKEs a-11 To a-12

While Convair engineers worked hurriedly to design Kingf ish, Lock heed engi-n e e r s c o n c e n t r a t e d o n ref i n i ng t hei r A rcha ngel design, taking A-11 to A-12. Their primary focus was to reduce t he design’s radar

A-12 KEY FEATURES

The wing edges consisted of triangular panels of pyroceram held in place with steel ribs, with the flat edges of the pyroceram inserts forming the leading edge.

Code One20

cross section, which would come at the expense of maximum cruise altitude.

Lockheed replaced the single vertical tail with twin tails, each located above an engine. The tails were canted inward fifteen degrees to reduce radar ref lections from the side angle. For the same reason, sloping surfaces called chines were added to the sides of the fuselage, and serrated edges incorporating radar treatment were added to the wings and to the chines. The engines were moved from under the wing to the middle of the wing.

The empty weight increased twenty-two percent to 43,645 pounds. The A-12 could carry 64,600 pounds of fuel. Takeoff gross weight was 110,000 pounds. The engines were fed b y a x i s y m m e t r i c i n l e t s i n s t e a d o f r e c t a n g u l a r o r two-dimensional inlets as used on the A-11 design. The axisymmetric inlets reduced radar cross section (namely ref lections created by corners), which could be blended in with the wing more easily. The inlet spikes that were used to control airf low also blocked the engine face from radar ref lections. To reduce weight, the A-12 was constructed mostly of titanium alloy.

locKhEEd winsConvair and Lockheed

submitted their proposals on 20 August 1959. While Kingfish offered better per-formance and a lower radar cross section, the A-12 was lower cost and lower risk and offered a greater oper-at iona l range. Lock heed won the compet it ion on 29 August with one stipu-lation—it had to prove its c o n c e p t f o r r e d u c i n g the A-12’s radar cross sec-tion, which Lockheed did b y m i d - J a n u a r y 1 9 6 0 . A c o n t r a c t f o r t w e l v e A-12 aircraf t was signed o n 11 F e b r u a r y 1 9 6 0 . The f irst unofficial f light of the first A-12 occurred o n 2 5 A p r i l 19 62 w i t h Lock heed test pi lot Lou S c h a l k a t t he c ont ro l s . Schalk also piloted the first official f light five days later.

Fish rETurnsConvair ended its efforts

on the program in February 1960 after completing some a d d i t ion a l s t u d ie s a nd tests on two-dimensional exhaust nozzles. The com-pany submit ted its f ina l r e p o r t o n K i n g f i s h i n

October 1960. Three years later, Convair used FISH as a starting point for proposed designs of an A-12 replacement. These design studies, which dealt with a wide range of par-asitic and self-launching aircraft with operational speeds up to Mach 9, lasted through 1965. They are subjects of the next and final article in this series.

Eric Hehs is the editor of Code One.

Credits: Most information for this article was derived from the Convair final report for the Kingfish program that was released and made public in the late 1980s to support the National Aerospace Plane project. Details on the Lockheed Archangel designs came from a public presentation on the history of the Archangel program by John R. Whittenbury, who contributed several illustrations. Code One sends a special thanks to Paul Suhler, author of From Rainbow to Gusto: Stealth and the Design of the Lockheed Blackbird, for reviewing the article and for background information on the competition between Lockheed and Convair. Mr. Suhler’s book was published by AIAA in 2009 and is available on Amazon.com and AIAA.org. Code One also thanks Kevin Renshaw and Jay Miller for their technical reviews of this article.

The first unofficial flight of the first A-12 occurred on 25 April 1962 with Lockheed test pilot Lou Schalk at the controls.

21Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

O R I O N Son sTaTion

From October 2010 to September 2011, P-3 Orion crews from US Cus-toms and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine, or CBP OAM, stopped more than 150,000 pounds of drugs with a value equal to more

than $1.8 billion—and with a weight equal to seventy-five Volkswagen Beetles—from entering the United States.

In May 2011, CBP P-3 crews assisted in a record-setting disruption of more than $30 million worth of cocaine in one day. The P-3 crews observed approx-imately forty bales of cocaine on board a vessel northeast of Nicaragua. The crews alerted a nearby US Coast Guard cutter and Honduran law enforcement to the inf latable boat and its contraband cargo. CBP P-3 crews observed the vessel dump six bales of cocaine before it was intercepted by a Honduran vessel. In the end, thirty-six bales containing 2,420 pounds of cocaine were appre-hended on that one day.

Nicaragua and drug traf f ick ing may seem l ike distant situat ions for many, but these seizures have a larger translation that applies directly to everyday life.

If these drugs hadn’t been stopped off the coast of Central America, the cargo would have been systematically smuggled into the US. From there, the drugs would have been broken down in quantity and sold. These are the same drugs that led to the arrest of 1.6 million people in 2010 as reported by the FBI. These are the same drugs that prompted the US gov-ernment to spend more than $15 billion in 2010 on the war on drugs—or roughly $500 per second—according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Drugs are a very real and expensive problem in the United States. And they are a problem that isn’t going away.

Whi le the drug war isn’t an easy one to f ight, the CBP’s P-3 crews are doing what they can to break this pro-cess at the source—literally. The crews rely on what is ca l led a defense and depth strategy that interdicts large-scale drug loads at their countries of or ig i n, wh ich a re la rgely i n Sout h America. Once a drug load success-fully leaves its point of origin, a drug runner delivers it to Central America and Mexico, where it is broken down into smal ler loads that are easier to smuggle into the US.

“We start hitt ing the drugs at the source zone and keep hitting them in the transit zone. Hopefully, by the time t hey reach t he a r r iva l z one , we ’ve picked up a good percentage of them,” said Lothar Eckardt, director of the CBP OAM P-3 Operations Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“In many ways, drug trafficking is still a rudimentary operation with some smug-glers opting to transport the contraband on such basic vessels as inf latable boats. Other smugglers are extremely progres-sive—investing large sums of money into covert, sophisticated semi-submersibles,

WHAT DO DRUGS AND VOLKSWAGEN BEETLES HAVE TO DO WITH THE P-3 ORION? TONS, LITERALLY SPEAKING.

B Y S T E P H A N I E S T I N NP H O T O S B Y J O H N R O S S I N O

Code One22

natural conditions. A controlled and predictable situation is rare. Missions are difficult and time consuming. For CBP, the P-3 offers f lexibility and the ability to stay on station for long periods of time.

“The great thing about the P-3 is that some of those f lights take us out into very remote parts of the ocean where there’s nobody around. We want Old Reliable to take us out there to do our mission and bring us back home again,” Eckardt said. “Time and time again, the P-3 has proven to be that Old Reliable.”

KEEPing old rEliaBlE, rEliaBlE

Eckardt has f lown CBP P-3s for the past decade. Prior to that, he logged seventeen years as a US Navy P-3 pilot and almost nine years as a P-3 acoustic operator prior to f light school.

Together, Eckardt and the P-3 have done pret t y much ever y t hing f rom chasing Russian attack subs, to inter-dicting drug smugglers, to providing reconnaissance for US security.

“I’ve wanted to f ly since I was a little kid. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Eckardt said. “This job allows me to do that. And this plane allows me to do that.” When he retired from the Navy, Eckardt said it was a logical step to stay in P-3s in CBP. He is, after all, a self-described “P-3 guy.”

CBP operates sixteen P-3 Orions at two locations, Corpus Christi, Texas, and

Jacksonville, Florida, giving t he f leets coverage a nd access to distinct geographic regions for ideal mission operability. The first P-3 was acquired in 1984, a former US Navy P-3A.

The CBP operates two types of P-3s: eight P-3 Air-borne Early Warning, or AEW, and eight P-3 Long Range Tracker, or LRT, air-craft. The AEWs provide w i d e a r e a s e a r c h a n d increased command, con-trol, and communications capabilities. These P-3s are designed to intercept and track airborne smuggling

and even moving toward submarines to traffic drugs,” Eckardt noted.

Transportation methods may vary, but there is one constant in the equation: the CBP P-3 Orion crews remain the biggest obstacles in a drug smug-gler’s path. “They know we are there. They see us,” Eckardt added. “We have footage of them pointing at us and dumping their load, trying to get away.”

When a CBP P-3 crew deploys on a drug interdic-tion mission—or on any of its missions, actually—it is usually of long duration. Typical missions range any-where from eight to ten hours, with some lasting as long as sixteen hours. Crews are f lying at varying levels, tracking numerous vessels a nd combat i ng va r ious

“WE WANT OLD RELIABLE TO TAKE US OUT THERE TO DO OUR MISSION AND

BRING US BACK HOME AGAIN. TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THE P-3 HAS PROVEN TO

BE THAT OLD RELIABLE.” – LOTHAR ECKARDT

23Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

threats. They are differentiated from the LRTs by their distinctive radomes. Called Domes, the AEW crews detect and track air and sea surface targets. When a target is located, the AEW aircraft serves as the command and control platform. The LRT aircraft, often referred to as Slicks, are used to intercept, identify, and track sus-pect targets. When both an AEW and LRT are f lown together, it is known as a Double Eagle.

A majority of CBP missions are f lown in support of the Joint Interagency Task Force-South, or JIATF-South, a multiservice, multiagency task force based at NAS Key West, Florida, that focuses on anti-drug, anti-terrorism, and trafficking efforts.

While drug interdictions account for a large portion of the f leet’s missions, these Orions support an array of other operations. The CBP P-3 crews have cleared domestic airspace for the president or vice president during travel; monitored airspace during such events as the Olympics and the Super Bowl to track any possible terrorist threats; acted as communications hubs during such pivotal events as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster; guarded nuclear power stations; hunted pirates; and intercepted illegal immigration traf-ficking activities.

The P-3 crew utilizes a full motion video feed called BigPipe to relay informa-tion in real time to other federal, state, and local agencies, providing decision makers the capability to make damage assessments and fiscally sound decisions during disaster relief efforts.

The mission f lexibility of the P-3 Orion is a hallmark. Built by the then-Lockheed California Company in Burbank, California, the Orion first entered US Navy service beginning in 1962. A total of 755 Orions were produced, which includes 107 examples built in Japan by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Today, 435 P-3s are f lown by twenty-one operators in seventeen nations.

The P-3 earned its stripes supporting such historical milestones as the Cuban Missi le Crisis in 1962 and submarine hunt ing throughout the Cold War. As customer needs shifted, Orion operators began to utilize the aircraft for other missions, such as peacekeeping and surveillance roles—in large part the result of continuously updated electronic surveillance suites.

While the Orion has adapted well to its current role, it isn’t immune to the impacts of time. The CBP P-3 f leet is more than forty years old. It has logged more than 200,000 f light hours, all without a mishap. And the CBP P-3 f leet was starting to show signs of age.

samE P-3, only BETTEr

Rather than replace its aircraft, CBP decided to keep its P-3 f leet f ly ing through the P-3 Mid-Life Upgrade, or MLU, program. Lockheed Martin began this program in 2008 with the Royal Nor wegian Air Force as the launch customer. CBP is the second customer and is current ly on contract to have twelve of its P-3s go through the MLU program. MLU provides replacement structural parts that will keep the air-craft f lying for up to another twenty-five years of service.

The P-3 MLU program consists of a life extension kit replacing the aircraft outer wings, center wing lower section, a nd hor izonta l stabi l i zer w it h new product ion components . T he MLU removes all current P-3 airframe f light

Code One24

restrictions and provides 15,000 additional f light hours, enhancing capability through cost-effectiveness.

The design replaces all fatigue life-limiting structures on t he a i rc r a f t w it h en ha nc e d de s ig n c omp onent s a nd new, improved corrosion-resistant materials that greatly reduce the cost of ownership over the aircraft’s extended service life.

P-3 wings are assembled at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, and installed on CBP aircraft at the company’s facility in Greenville, South Carolina. In addition to Norway and CBP, Lockheed Martin is on contract to pro-vide thirty-one MLU kits to the US Navy, ten for Canada’s CP-140 Aurora f leet, and twelve to Taiwan.

To date, MLU kits have been installed on three CBP P-3s. The third aircraft is having its electronic systems repopulated

and going through scheduled phased maintenance prior to returning to the f leet by late 2011. Typically, P-3s undergoing the MLU process are out of the CBP f leet for twelve months.

When the aircraft are returned, CBP crews put them right to work. “The whole idea of the MLU is to keep it f lying like a P-3. What you first notice is that it f lies like a new airplane. Let’s face it; some of these airplanes are forty years old with thousands of hours on them. Now, with new wings on them, they f ly like a new airplane, straight and level,” Eckardt said.

“ T he P-3 i s a n a i r pla ne w it h a new l i fe ,” E ck a rdt added. “CBP is very happy to be f lying it and to be a part of this renovation.”

Stephanie Stinn is a program communicator for Lockheed Martin.

A MAJORITY OF CBP MISSIONS ARE FLOWN IN SUPPORT OF THE JOINT

INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE-SOUTH, OR JIATF-SOUTH, A MULTISERVICE ,

MULT IAGENCY TASK FORCE BASED AT NAS KEY WEST, FLORIDA , THAT

FOCUSES ON ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-TERRORISM, AND TRAFFICKING EFFORTS.

25Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY KATSUHIKO TOKUNAGA

Code One26

27Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

he Türk Hava Kuvvetleri Turkish Air Force, or TurAF, celebrated the centennial of its air force this year with the creation of an F-16 demonstration team

called Solo Turk. The single-ship team with three demo pilots f lies an F-16C Block 40 from 141 Filo, or Squadron (also known as the Anatolian Wolves), which is based at 4th Main Jet Base at Akinci near Ankara. In its centennia l news release, TurAF officials said that, “The aim of our 100th year recognition is not just to celebrate our age, but to generate trust and interest in the Turkish Air Force from our citizens, especially from the youth of our country.”

The specially painted black, gold, and silver F-16 f lown by the demo team was unveiled on 15 April at Akinci, where the first public demonstration f light was performed in front of Abdullah Gül, the president of Turkey; military officials; and a large contingent of invited guests.

Af ter the performance, Gül com-mented, “The Turkish Air Force shines like a star in our skies. It is a foundational element to the deterrent capability of our defense power. With its equipment, training, discipline, and operational capability, our air force is without doubt among the most powerful elements of our armed forces. It fills our citizens with pr ide. Many of our yout h desire to become f ighter pilots. Solo Turk will kindle their excitement.”

The demonstration program consists of eighteen breathtaking maneuvers, including a series of nine-g turns and a negative three-g push-up. The three team

Kingdom on 17 July 2011. The RIAT demonstration so impressed the crowds at Fairford that the team received the K i ng Hussei n Memor ia l Sword for the Best Overall Flying Demonstration. The team rounded out the 2011 show season with two additional demonstra-tion f lights in Turkey as well as with appearances at airshows in Belgium and the Netherlands in mid-September.

In addit ion to the creat ion of the demonstration team, the centennial also consisted of international conferences, exhibit ions, training, exercises, and artistic and cultural projects.

The TurAF is the second largest air force in NATO with more than 1,000 aircraft in its inventory, including 240 F-16 Fighting Falcons, the most of any non-US operator. The TurAF, one of the oldest military aviation organizations in the world, traces is history to 1 June 1911 when its military formed an aircraf t committee to establish a f lying force. On 28 June of the same year, two volunteers were sent to France for pilot training.

Katsuhiko Tokunaga, a frequent contributor to Code One, is a freelance aviation photographer and writer based in Japan.

pi lot s a re Maj . Mu rat Keleş , Capt . Yalın Ahbab, and Capt. Fatih Batmaz. The pilots and aircraft are supported with a handpicked maintenance team of twelve.

Solo Turk made one additional appear-ance in Samsun, Turkey, on 19 May 2011 after its debut. The team f lew demon-strat ions in France in early Ju ly. It appeared at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in the United

The Solo Turk F-16 demonstration team received the King Hussein Memorial Sword for the Best Overall Flying Demonstration at Royal International Air Tattoo.

28 Code One

ON GOLDEN WINGS:100 Years Of

Naval Aviation

The many companies that have come to be Lockheed Mart in today have been a major part of

those historic 100 years. The first legacy Lockheed Martin aircraft to be purchased by the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics was the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company Model TT trainer. The Navy bought four of these dual-control aircraft in 1914 and fol-lowed that purchase with an order for three Model R reconnaissance floatplanes and a pair of Model S scout floatplane trainers. The lead designer for both the Model R and Model S was a young engineer named Donald Douglas, who went on to start his own company that built aircraft for the Navy.

Navy officials evaluated the Loughead (pronounced Lockheed) F-1 in early 1918, but decided not to purchase that sea- plane. The Navy was, however, sufficiently impressed with Allan and Malcolm Loug-head’s team—which included designers Jack Northrop and Gerard Vultee, who both later started their own aircraft companies—to award the Loughhead Aircraft Manufac-turing Company a contract to build two Curtiss-designed HS-2L seaplanes near the end of World War I.

I n 1917, fou r teen exa mples of the S-4B/C, the standard Army tra iner at the time, were diverted to the Navy for

operations. Those aircraft were built by Thomas-Morse, one of several companies that were brought under one roof when Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was establ ished in 1923. The f i rst a ircraf t developed for the Navy under the Con-solidated name was the NY-1 Husky trainer in 1924. Vultee Aircraft bought out Con-solidated in 1943—although the common perception was that the purchase was the other way around. The company was later known as Convair. The lone Vultee design to see Navy service was the SNV Valiant basic trainer flown during World War II.

Over the years, these four companies have designed and built more than sixty-five aircraft types totaling thousands of aircraft for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The Lockheed Martin Navy legacy extends from trainers; to shipborne scouts; to transports and tankers; to such util itarian aircraft as the carrier-based S-3 Viking, which was used to do a little bit of everything; to today’s carrier- and amphibious assau lt sh ip-based F-35 Lightning II multirole, multivariant fighter.

Spanning the entire Lockheed Martin history with the US Navy, though, has been the company’s maritime patrol air-craft. Crews f lying these aircraft have hunted submarines and ships belonging

to the German Kriegsmarine, the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the Soviet Red Banner Fleet. Although the Navy’s P-3 Orions today are used for mult iple missions, including overland and l ittoral surveil-lance, antisubmarine warfare is stil l an important mission.

But one Lockheed Martin aircraft has served longer than any other aircraft by any other manufacturer in the history of the sea services. The Coast Guard received its first R8V-1G transport in late 1959. The US Marine Corps received its first GV-1 aerial tanker in March 1960. The US Navy received its first UV-1L ski-equipped trans-port in July that same year. Redesignated in 1962—and much better known as the HC-130, KC-130, and the LC-130—the Her-cules is now in its sixth decade of opera-tion, surpassing such other legendary aircraft as the Gooney Bird, Hellcat, Corsair, Skyhawk, Phantom II, Intruder, and Tomcat.

Aircraft designations were simplified midway through Naval Aviation’s history. In 1962, the US Navy adopted the Depart-ment of Defense standard designation system used today (C for Cargo, F for Fighter, P for Patrol, etc.). But for the forty years prior, the Bureau of Aeronautics used a designation system that included a status or class prefix; the aircraft type (the basics, plus specific iterations, including Patrol Bomber, General Utility, Scout Observa-tion, etc.); the type sequence number (the second and subsequent aircraft designs from the same manufacturer); the manu-facturer’s letter code; followed by a con-figuration sequence number.

What follows are images of many of the legacy Lockheed Martin aircraft—with all their detai led designations—f lown by Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard Aviators over the past ninety-seven years. A more complete history can be found at www.codeonemagazine.com.

From Eugene Ely’s first tentative landing on a makeshift wooden deck on the fantail of the heavy cruiser USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser #4) in a Curtiss pusher biplane on 18 January 1911 to the first vertical landing of the F-35B Lightning II on the asphalt deck of the USS Wasp by Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk on 3 October 2011, Naval Aviation has made astounding technological leaps over its first century. BY JEFF RHODES

29Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

Model TT In February 1914, the US Army Signal Corps asks Martin to configure one of its Model T trainers with dual controls, which is then cal led the Model TT. It is Martin’s f irst US government sale. Of the twenty-five Model TTs built, the Navy accepted four of them for evaluation and basic pilot training.

Model S Martin built seventeen Model S two-place reconnaissance/training aircraft from 1915 to 1917 that could be equipped with either floats or wheels. Two of these aircraft fitted with f loats were f lown by the Navy.

Model R Martin built twenty-seven Model R recon-naissance/general utility aircraft of which three were delivered to the Navy. The Model R had a wingspan of fifty-one feet, almost exactly the length of the current F-35. After the delivery of the last Model R in 1917, Martin closed its Los Angeles, California, facility and, at the invitation of local industrialists, moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

S-4 Scout Ten examples of the Thomas-Morse S-4B, the standard Army trainer at the time, were

diverted to the Navy in 1917 for what would be called lead-in fighter pilot training today. The Navy later received four S-4Cs, which used a more rel iable motor. Both aircraft could be equipped with floats or wheels. Thomas-Morse was one of several com-panies that were brought under one roof when Consolidated Aircraft Corporation came into being in 1923.

F-1 Allan and Malcolm Loughead, along with engi-neer Carl Christofferson and a newspaper reporter, fly the ten-seat F-1 flying boat the 211 miles between the company’s factory in Santa Barbara, California, to NAS North Island in San Diego in three hours and one minute for a Navy evaluation in mid 1918. Even though the Navy’s evaluation was generally favorable, it opted not to purchase the aircraft. The F-1 was the second aircraft designed by the Loughead brothers. It ended its career as a motion picture camera platform.

HS-2L After opting not to purchase the F-1 flying boat, the Navy gives Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing a $90,000 contract to build two Curtiss-designed HS-2L scout seaplanes under license as a manufacturing

capabilities test in 1918. It was the first government contract for what would become Lockheed.

MBT/MT The Navy purchased ten Martin-built, land-based, long-range bombers in 1920. The Navy operated the two MT aircraft, which were identical to the Army’s MB-1, while the Marine Corps f lew the eight MBT aircraft, which were similar to the Army’s MB-2. The large wooden frame aircraft, which featured an interna l bomb bay, came to prominence in 1920 when Air Corps Gen. Bi l ly Mitchell proved the concept of strategic bombing by s i n k i ng t he c apt u re d G er m a n bat t le sh ip Ostfriesland off the Virginia Capes.

MO-1 Designed as a catapult-launched, gun- spotting observation monoplane, thirty-six Martin MO-1 floatplanes were delivered to the Navy between 1923 and 1924. The combination of early-generation catapults on cruisers and battleships and insuffi-cient lift and power relegated the aircraft to con-ventional operations from shore stations for much of its twelve-year career. The three-place aircraft were one of the first all-metal aircraft—airframe and external skin—to serve in the Navy.

Model TT Model S Model R

S-4 Scout

F-1 HS-2L

MBT/MT

MO-1

30 Code One

NY Husky The Navy eventual ly bought more than 300 NY biplane primary trainers, a sl ightly modif ied version of the Army’s PT-1 Trusty (as shown here). First delivered in 1924, a few examples of these very reliable, fabric-covered metal-framed aircraft, known as Husky in Navy service, were stil l in Navy service as late as 1939. The Trusty/Husky family is the first aircraft procured by the US in quantity after World War I. The NY-1 was also the first design Consolidated Aircraft built for the Navy. On 24 September 1929, whi le seated under a hooded front cockpit, Army Air Corps Lt. James H. Doolittle first demonstrated blind flying—using instruments only—with Lt. Ben Kelsey as safety pilot. The Navy’s NY-2 was selected for the test because of its stable handling qualities.

T3M/T4M The Martin T3M and T4M were the result of a major redesign of a Curtiss torpedo-bomber-scout aircraft. Operated both from battle-sh ips us ing f loats and f rom land bases us ing wheels, the 124 T3Ms and 103 T4Ms were delivered between 1924 and 1930 and became the Navy’s frontline torpedo aircraft. By mid 1927, a squadron of T3M-2s were operational on the carriers Langley (CV-1) and Lexington (CV-2). The T3M/T4M f leet saw service well into the 1930s.

PM/P3M The Navy put out a contract for additional Naval Aircraft Factory PN-type patrol bomber sea-planes in May 1929. Four firms received contracts, including Martin for thirty PM-1s. Later that same year, Martin underbid Consolidated to build that company’s PY design, which then became the P3M.

A total of nine P3Ms were built. Two of those air-craft were used in a training role at NAS Pensacola, Florida, as late as 1939.

XRO-1 The lone XRO-1, a wood and metal version of the Lockheed Altair, was completed in 1931. It was the first Navy aircraft to have fully retractable landing gear. The XRO-1 was f lown out of NAS Anacostia, Washington, DC, for two years as a trans-port for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and flag officers before being placed in storage and eventu-ally scrapped.

BM The f i rst Mart in BM-1, the f i rst Navy dive bomber capable of attacking with a heavy (1,000-pound) bomb or torpedo and also the f irst to be procured in enough numbers to equip a squadron, was delivered to Scout Torpedo Squadron 1 (VT-1S) aboard the USS Lexington (CV-2) in 1932. It served on carr iers unti l 1937. The last BM-2, a sl ightly different version, was scrapped in 1940. A total of thirty-seven aircraft were built, including prototypes.

N2Y The Navy ordered six Fleet 2 tandem seat trainers from Consolidated in 1929 to be used as “sky hook” trainers. On 3 May 1932, hook-on training operations began with the Navy’s newest rigid airship, the USS Akron (ZRS-4). Flying N2Y-1 trainers equipped with top wing-mounted hook apparatus, Aviators would catch the airship’s trapeze gear in f light and were then brought into the airship’s hangar bay.

P2Y Ranger The P2Y Ranger, developed from the Consolidated Model 16 Commodore commercial

f lying boat, was f lown on several record-setting long distance missions in the early 1930s. The first of twenty-three P2Y-1s entered service in mid 1933 and were redesignated P2Y-2 when they were re-eng ined. The f i rst P2Y-3s, which had more powerful engines, entered service with VP-7F in 1935. The aircraft were withdrawn from service in 1941. Several countries, including Japan, also f lew P2Ys.

N4Y The last of the successively improved versions of the P T-1 T r usty t ra iner was the compa ny- developed Consolidated PT-11. The Coast Guard received one example from the Army in 1932 and used it for pi lot tra ining at Bi loxi, Mississippi, and later at Cape May, New Jersey. The Navy later bought three aircraft powered by a different engine. All the aircraft were then designated N4Y.

PBY Catalina Designed to replace the P2Y, the Consolidated PBY Catalina was the most successful f lying boat operated by US forces and numerous al l ies in World War I I. It was the most produced military seaplane of all time. More than 3,281 Cata-linas were built and subsequently served in every combat theater a round the world. L is t ings of Catalina operations have filled several books. One operational highlight came on 3 June 1942 when Ens. Jewell (Jack) Reid with his crew decides, on a hunch, to extend the day’s patrol by thirty miles and finds the Imperial Japanese f leet. The battle for Midway begins the next day. After 14.3 hours aloft, Reid’s PBY-5A amphibian runs out of fuel in Midway’s lagoon just minutes after landing.

NY Husky T3M/T4M

PM/P3M

XRO-1

N2Y

BM

P2Y Ranger

N4Y

PBY Catalina

31Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

XR2O-1/XR3O-1 A pair of Lockheed Electra transports was delivered to the Navy and the Coast Guard in 1936. The Navy XR2O-1 was a Model 10-A with Pratt & Whitney R-985-48 engines. It was used as a personal transport for the Secretary of the Navy. The XR3O-1 was a Model 10-B with Wright R-975E-3 engines that served as the personal transport for the Secretary of the Treasury.

PH In one of the first cases where the Coast Guard got new aircraft rather than hand-me-downs from the Navy, the service placed an order for seven Hall Aluminum Company (a legacy Consolidated Aircraft firm) PH-2s for air-sea rescue duties in 1936. The new aircraft extended the service’s regular patrol radius out to 750 miles. Some of the seven Coast Guard PH-3s, which featured longer chord wings, were used for antisubmarine patrols after Pearl Harbor. The Navy f lew nine of the earl ier open-cockpit PH-1s. The PH was the last biplane patrol aircraft f lown by the sea services.

JO-1/JO-2/XJO-3 The Navy ordered the lone seven-seat JO-1, the military version of the Lock-heed Model 12-A Electra Junior transport, in August 1937 for use by the US Naval attaché to Brazil. Later that year, the Navy ordered five JO-2s, which could seat six passengers, for Navy and Marine Corps staff use. The lone XJO-3 had nonretractable landing gear and was used to test carrier deck performance

of a twin-engined aircraft with tricycle gear aboard the USS Lexington (CV-2) in 1939.

XR4O-1 The lone XR4O-1, the mil itary version of the Lockheed Model 14 Super E lect ra, was del ivered to the Navy in October 1938 as a staff transport. It was stricken from the Naval register in 1944.

XP4Y Corregidor The Model 31 prototype sea-plane, begun as a Consolidated company-funded effort in 1938, was the first aircraft to use the Davis wing, a high aspect ratio airfoil designed to maxi-mize lift and minimize induced drag. This design was later used on the B-24 Liberator bomber, the most produced US military aircraft of all time. The Navy acquired the prototype in 1942 and designated it XP4Y-1. A contract for 200 production aircraft was authorized but was cancelled because of the unavail-ability of Wright R-3350 engines which were needed for B-29 Superfortress bomber production.

PB2Y Coronado Within three months of the first f light of the PBY, the Navy started development of a much larger f lying boat with better performance than the Catal ina. The f irst of 207 Consol idated PB2Y Coronado f lying boats was delivered to the Navy at the end of 1940. The Coronado only saw limited combat over its career, but on 30 January 1944, Navy crews flying PB2Y-2s made a 2,000-mile

roundtrip from Midway to Wake Island to carry out a night bombing raid against Japanese airfields. Most PB2Ys were used for executive transport or carrying cargo. The Coronado was also f lown in limited numbers by the Coast Guard and the Royal Air Force.

PBM Mariner A competitor to the PBY, the Martin PBM Mariner long-range patrol bomber, with its crew of up to thirteen and weapons enclosed in underwing bays behind the engines, offered better performance than the Catalina but served in smaller quantities in World War II. The PBM entered Navy service in late 1940. In mid 1941, VP-55 and VP-56 combined to form VP-74 and began flying antisub-marine patrols from Iceland. A total of 1,366 Mari-ners were built, and the type served with the Coast Guard into the early 1950s.

SNV Valiant The Vultee Valiant was the most produced basic, or intermediate, US trainer of World War I I. Almost every pilot candidate in both the Army Air Corps and the Navy spent time f lying some of the 11,538 Valiants built. Between aircraft transferred from the Army Air Corps (850) and direct purchases, the Navy eventual ly operated 2,000 SNV-1 and SNV-2 aircraft at four air stations in Florida and Texas. The main differences between the two SNV-1 and SNV-2 were their engines and electrical systems.

XR2O-1/XR3O-1 PH

XJO-3

XR4O-1

XP4Y Corregidor

PB2Y Coronado

PBM Mariner

SNV Valiant

32 Code One

PB4Y-1 Liberator

PBO-1 Hudson The Navy received twenty Hudson patrol bombers diverted from Royal Air Force con-tracts in 1941. Redesignated PBO-1 and retaining their RAF camouf lage, these aircraft were f lown from Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada, and from NA S Quon set Poi nt , R hode I s l a nd, by Pat ro l Squadron 82 (VP-82). On 1 March 1942, a VP-82 crew sank a German U-boat in the North Atlantic, the first submarine claimed by US aircraft during World War II.

OY Sentinel One of the most widely used Allied utility aircraft, 306 Consolidated L-5 Sentinel aircraft were transferred to the Marine Corps and designated OY-1. A later batch of 153 L-5s was transferred to the Navy. On 3 April 1945, Marine aviators, f lying OY-1s, land at Yontan airfield on Okinawa—the first American aircraft to land on the island since its recapture. The aircraft are immediately put to use serving as spotting platforms for artillery and naval gunfire. The Marines later mounted a bazooka on the wing struts of some of the aircraft. The Coast Guard used a number of OY-1s to spot illicit liquor stills from the air after World War II.

R5O Nearly 100 of the R5O, the military variant of the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar t ranspor t , reached the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard between 1940 and 1943. Many of those aircraft were impressed into Navy service during construc-tion. A few examples were still in operation as late as 1953. The first twenty aircraft delivered were used for V IP transport, whi le the rest featured twelve or fourteen passenger seats or bench seating for eighteen paratroops.

M-130 Clipper Two of the three Martin M-130 Clippers—passenger-carrying luxury f lying boats built for Pan American Airlines—were impressed into Navy service in 1942 to help meet a require-ment for overseas air transport. The Clippers were given Bureau of Aeronautics serial numbers (48230 and 48231), but not designations. Philippine Clipper managed to survive the Japanese attack on Wake Island, but was destroyed when it crashed into a mountain in 1943. China Clipper survived the war and was returned to Pan Am, but was destroyed in a landing accident in 1945 after having been flown for more than three million miles.

PB4Y-1 Liberator While flying boats had some advantages, there were also l imitations. Early in World War II, the Navy began pressing the Army for a force of B-24 land-based, long-range bombers to fly patrols against ships and submarines. The Navy received the first of 977 Consolidated PB4Y-1 Lib-erator patrol bombers, which were essentially B-24Ds, in August 1942, and an Iceland-based crew sank a German U-Boat that November. The Coast Guard flew five PB4Y-1s until 1951 for search and rescue. The RY-1 and RY-2 were the Navy variants of the C-87 Liberator Express cargo transport.

PB4Y-2 Privateer Development of a B-24 bomber variant better-suited to Navy requirements began in 1943. The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer retained the B-24’s wing and landing gear, but featured a length-ened fuselage and a single tail. On 23 April 1945, PB4Y-2 crews from VPB-109 launched a Bat self-guided weapon against Japanese ships off the coast of Borneo. This was the first combat use of the only radar-guided

homing glide bomb to be used in World War II. The Coast Guard also f lew a small number of PB4Y-2s until 1952. Thirty-four RY-3 aircraft, the transport version of the Privateer, were built.

TBY SeaWolf Vought Aircraft was awarded a Navy contract in 1940 for its XTBU-1 design to supplement the Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber. However, with Vought tied up with Corsair fighter production, the new torpedo bomber design was sent to Consolidated for production. A slow production ramp rate prevented the TBY-2 from becoming operational. Most of the 180 aircraft built were used as crew trainers.

PV-1 Ventura As the vulnerability of large, slow flying boats to Japanese fighters became apparent, the Navy began purchasing land-based patrol bombers. The Lockheed PV-1 Ventura, first delivered in December 1942, was the follow-on design to the Hudson. Nearly 2,500 PV-1s were built. On 2 August 1945, a PV-1 crew found the survivors of the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), which had been sunk after delivering components for the first atomic bomb to Tinian Island in the Pacific. The men had been floating in the water for four days.

JM-1/-2 Marauder The Navy operated 282 Martin Marauder medium bombers during World War I I primarily as brightly painted target tugs. A total of 225 of these aircraft were designated JM-1 and were ex-Army Air Forces B-26Cs that had been converted into trainers. The fifty-seven JM-2s were similar to the Army’s TB-26G trainers. The Navy later used a few JM-1Ps for reconnaissance missions.

PBO-1 Hudson

OY Sentinel

R5O

PB4Y-2 Privateer

TBY SeaWolf

PV-1 Ventura

JM-1/-2 MarauderM-130 Clipper

33Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

JRM Mars The Navy’s largest flying boat was the Martin JRM Mars. The five JRM-1 (later upgraded to JRM-3) and lone JRM-2 cargo seaplanes entered service late in World War II and were operated by VR-2 at NAS Alameda, California. In 1948, the Mar-shall Mars—all of these aircraft were named for Pacific islands—was f lown from Alameda to San Diego, California, with 301 people on board, breaking the record for passengers carried on a single flight. After a number of record flights, the Navy retired the last Mars in 1956. In 2011, Hawaii Mars and Philip-pine Mars are still flown as water bombers in Canada.

PV-2 Harpoon The Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon patrol bomber was an improved version of the Ventura that did not see combat action until late 1945. More than 500 PV-2s were built, and the type saw serv ice with eleven Nava l Reserve wings until 1948. Portugal used Harpoons as bombers in contingencies in Africa as late as the 1960s.

AM-1 Mauler The Martin AM-1 carrier-based ground attack aircraft entered Navy service in 1948 after some teething problems during development. The Mauler had four 20 mm cannons and fifteen underwing and fuselage hardpoints for weapons. In 1950, the 151 aircraft built were reassigned to Naval Reserve squadrons, as the Navy had chosen the AD Skyra ider as its pr imary car r ier attack aircraft. Fifteen Maulers designated AM-1Q were

later modified for electronic warfare. The Mauler was retired in 1953.

PO-1W Constellation The Lockheed PO-1W Constel lation was designed to meet the Navy’s requirement for airborne early warning aircraft, or AEW aircraft, that could carry a large heavy radar and function as an airborne controller. Based on the Model 749 Constellation airliner, the PO-1W carried a crew of ten plus a relief crew. First f lown in 1949, the two PO-1Ws were redesignated WV-1 in 1951. They were f lown in NATO maneuvers in 1951-52, but ended up serving as the prototype for the WV-2 Super Constellation.

TO-1 Shooting Star The Navy obtained three Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star fighters from the Air Force, fitted them with arrester hooks, and carried out carrier suitability trials in 1948. Fifty additional aircraft (similar to the one shown here) were used as operational fighter trainers by Navy and Marine Aviators. The aircraft was redesignated TV-1 in 1952 when the Navy changed the manufacturer letter identifier for Lockheed from O to V.

P2V Neptune The Lockheed P2V Neptune, which began as a company-funded effort to develop a maritime patrol aircraft with good performance, long endurance, and a large armament load, was produced for nearly twenty years. More than 1,050 aircraft

were built, and the Neptune was flown by ten nations around the world well into the 1980s. During Oper-ation Turtle in 1946, a Navy crew—with a kangaroo as a passenger—flew a P2V-1, nicknamed Truculent Turtle, direct from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, setting a nonstop, unrefueled distance record. The fifty-five hour and sixteen minute trip covered 11,236 statute miles.

P4M Mercator The Navy ordered the Lockheed P2V Neptune and the Martin P4M Mercator at the same time to fill a requirement for a new land-based, long-range maritime patrol aircraft. The P4M was one-third larger than the Neptune and was 100 mph faster when both its radial engines and jet engines were in operation. In 1951, all but one of the twenty-one Mercators built were modified for electronic reconnaissance. They were redesignated P4M-1Q and were flown on clandestine missions to monitor radio and radar signals off the Russian and Chinese coasts. The P4M was retired in 1960.

XR6O Constitution The Lockheed XR6O-1 Constitution was a post-World War II effort to pro-duce a large cargo and passenger transport. With a wingspan of nearly 190 feet and length of 156 feet, the Constitution could carry up to 204 passengers on its two decks. Delivered to VR-44 at NAS Alameda, California, in 1949, the two Constitutions served until 1953. Both were eventually scrapped.

JRM Mars

PV-2 Harpoon

AM-1 MaulerPO-1W Constellation

TO-1 Shooting Star

P2V Neptune

P4M Mercator

XR6O Constitution

34 Code One

TO-2 Shooting Star The Navy adopted the Air Force’s Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star jet trainer in 1949. A total of 699 aircraft were built and served as advanced and instrument trainers. The aircraft were redesignated as TV-2 in 1952 when the Navy changed the manufacturer letter identifier for Lockheed from O to V. The Shooting Star was used to train Navy and Marine Corps Aviators into the late 1960s.

R3Y Tradewind The Convair R3Y Tradewind was the only turboprop-powered flying boat to enter Navy service. The five R3Y-1s were f lown by VR-2 at NAS Alameda, Cal i fornia, to f ly cargo in the Pacific. They replaced the squadron’s JRM Mars transports. The six R3Y-2s incorporated a nose-loading cargo door to unload vehicles directly onto a beach. These aircraft were later modified for lim-ited use as aerial tankers. The aircraft were grounded in 1958 and later scrapped.

P5M Marlin The larger Martin P5M-1, developed from the World War II PBM Mariner patrol seaplane, entered Navy service in late 1952, just missing ser-vice in the Korean War. The P5M-2, which featured upgraded antisubmarine warfare equipment and a new T-tail, entered service in 1954. Eventually, ten Navy squadrons f lew the Marlin. All aircraft were redesignated as P-5 in 1962. In July 1968, the very last Navy flying boat, a Marlin, was officially retired. A total of 287 aircraft were built, including four for the Coast Guard.

R7V-1 Super Constellation Fifty Lockheed R7 V-1 Super Constel lat ions were bu i lt for the Navy as cargo/personnel transports. The first air-craf t was del ivered in 1952, and many of these aircraft were later transferred to the US Air Force. One R7V served as the support a i rcraf t for the

Navy Air Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, before being replaced by the C-130. All remaining R7Vs were redesignated C-121 in 1962.

RM-1 The Coast Guard received two Martin 4-0-4 airliners for VIP transport in 1952. Designated RM-1G (later redesignated RM-1Z and then finally VC-3A in 1962), the aircraft were stationed with the Coast Guard detachment at National Airport outside of Washington, DC, and f lown on support missions for Coast Guard headquarters and the Treasury Department. The aircraft, along with two VC-3As assigned to the Navy, were retired in 1969.

XF2Y/YF2Y SeaDart The idea of a mobi le force with sea-based fighters that could be oper-ated from sheltered waters attracted the Navy’s attention in the late 1940s. Development of what would become the supersonic Convair XF2Y-1 SeaDart began in 1948. P i lots f ly ing th is most unusual Navy f ighter prototype landed and took off on retractable water skis. From 1953 to 1956, nearly 300 f l ights were made in the world’s only superson ic seapla ne. T wo X F Y-1 protot y pes were built—with one attrition—along with three YF2Y-1 development test aircraft, although two of the XF2Ys were never f lown. Four SeaDarts that survived are now in museums.

R4Y Samaritan The Navy acquired thirty-six Convair R4Y transports, essentially the same as the Air Force’s C-131D Samaritan, starting in 1955. All but one aircraft were used for staff transport duties. One aircraft was modified for use as an electronic countermeasures training aircraft at the Pacif ic Missile Test Center at Point Mugu, California. The Navy Samaritans were redesignated C-131Fs in 1962. The Coast Guard used HC-131As transferred from

the Air Force as an interim aircraft between the retirement of the HU-16 Albatross and the delivery of the HU-25 in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

P6M SeaMaster The Martin P6M SeaMaster was a jet-powered seaplane patrol bomber designed primarily for nuclear attack. The SeaMaster was first f lown in 1955. The aircraft program was cancelled in 1959 after the emergence of the supercarrier and sea-launched ballistic missiles. Including prototypes, a total of sixteen P6M aircraft were built. The Sea-Master project is also notable as the last Martin production aircraft—the experimental X-24 was the very last Martin aircraft—as the company shifted its focus to electronics and missiles in 1960.

WV-2 Warning Star A total of 142 Lockheed W V-2 Warning Star a i rborne early warning, or AEW, aircraft were delivered to the Navy begin-ning in 1955. Warning Stars equipped four squad-rons, two on each coast of the US, unti l August 1965 when the AEW mission was transferred to land-based radars. The Warning Star f leet was cont inua l ly upg raded over its ser v ice ca reer. The aircraft were redesignated EC-121 in 1962. One s pec ia l ly mod i f ied a i rc ra f t rema i ned i n Navy service until 1982.

T2V SeaStar The Lockheed T2V-1, begun as a company-funded design effort to improve the T-33/TO-2 jet trainer, featured a raised instructor cockpit and a boundary layer control system to help reduce takeoff and landing speeds. Intended as jet-powered carr ier deck tra iner, the SeaStar entered Navy service at NAS Pensacola, F lor ida, in late 1957, and had only a very short operational service career. The aircraft was redesignated T-1A in 1962. A total of 150 SeaStars were built.

TO-2 Shooting Star R3Y Tradewind

P5M Marlin

R7V-1 Super Constellation

RM-1

XF2Y/YF2Y SeaDart

R4Y Samaritan

P6M SeaMaster

WV-2 Warning Star

T2V SeaStar

35Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

XFV-1/XFY-1 ‘Pogo’ Lockheed and Convair were chosen to build competing prototypes for a Navy vertical takeoff and landing fighter in 1947. Although both aircraft made vertical takeoffs and landings, only the Convair XFY-1 was able to make a full transition from vertical takeoff to horizontal f light to vertical landing. As the result of the later company mergers, both entrants in this Navy com-petition are now Lockheed Martin legacy products.

F-104 Starfighter Around 1960, a single example of the Lockheed F-104, the world’s first operational Mach 2 fighter, was evaluated by the Navy at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, Cali-fornia, for jet aircraft performance and handling and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile test firings.

Landplanes On Deck The Navy has conducted several carrier operation tests with landplanes over the years. In 1949, a Lockheed P2V-3 Neptune was launched from the deck of the USS Midway (CV-41) using Jet-Assisted Takeoff, or JATO, bottles. The test was designed to show that a Navy land-based patrol aircraft could be launched from a carrier and used as a poss ible nuclea r weapons del iver y platform. In 1963, a Navy test crew flying a Marine Corps KC-130F tanker made twenty-one full-stop la nd ings a nd ta keof fs f rom the US S Forrestal (CVA-59) as a test of the Hercules as a carr ier onboard del ivery aircraft. In three separate sets of tests (1963, 1969, and 1972–73), a Lockheed U-2 was flown to and from a carrier. This photo shows a U-2R being readied for launch onboard the USS America (CV-66) in 1969.

P-3 Orion/EP-3 Aries The P-3 Orion, developed f rom the Lock heed L-188 E lect ra a i r l iner and or ig inal ly designated P3V-1, has served as the Navy’s frontline maritime patrol aircraft for nearly f i f ty years. F rom its in it ia l combat operat ions during the Cuban Missile Crisis tracking Russian freighters to overland targeting and reconnaissance in Afghanistan, the Orion has been used for a large number of missions, but primarily antisubmarine warfare during the Cold War. A number of P-3s were modified for a variety of electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare missions. The first EP-3B entered service in 1969. A total of 550 P-3s were built for the Navy, and today there are twenty-one P-3 operators in sixteen countries.

S-3 Viking/ES-3A Shadow The Lockheed S-3 Viking was described as the Swiss Army Knife of Naval Aviation for good reason. From first f light in 1972 to frontline f leet retirement in 2009, the S-3 took on many roles with the Navy ranging from ca r r ier-based a nt isubma r ine a nd a nt isu r face warfare; to carrier onboard delivery; to tanking; to electronic warfare; and, finally, to an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance asset. The S-3 was only the second Lockheed a ircraf t designed to operate from a carrier. A major modification in the early 1990s led to the ES-3A Shadow, a carrier-based signals, communications, electronic surveillance, and electronic warfare platform. A total of 187 air-craft were built.

F-16 Fighting Falcon The Navy f lew twenty-six special ly configured F-16N fighters from 1987

through 1995 as adversary aircraft to train fighter pi lots in dissimilar aer ia l combat at several a ir stat ions. In 2002, the Navy began f ly ing four- teen low f l ight hour Block 15 F-16As taken from desert storage in the same combat role at NAS Fal lon, Nevada.

F-35 Lightning II The multiservice, multivariant, multirole F-35 Lightning II is a supersonic fighter designed to replace a variety of aging fighter and attack aircraft. It represents the first aircraft incor-porating stealth technology to operate from the decks of the Navy’s carriers and amphibious assault ships. Current plans call for the Marine Corps to operate 340 F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variants and eighty of the carrier-based F-35Cs, while the Navy will operate 260 F-35Cs.

C-130 Hercules Over the course of its five decades of operation from Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Naval Air Stations, the C-130 Hercules has been used for a wide variety of missions ranging from basic airl i f t to communicating with submerged submarines, to launching drones, to serving as the support aircraft for the Blue Angels, the US Navy’s F l ight Demonstrat ion Squadron. But the roles the Hercules—and now the HC-130J and KC-130J Super Hercules—are probably best known for with the sea services are serving as a rescue platform with the Coast Guard, as a tanker for the Marine Corps, and for Antarctic resupply from the 1960s through the late 1990s with the Navy.

Jeff Rhodes is the associate editor of Code One.

XFY-1 ‘Pogo’XFV-1

F-104 Starfighter

Landplanes On Deck: P2V-3 Landplanes On Deck: KC-130F

Landplanes On Deck: U-2R

P-3 Orion

EP-3 ARIES S-3 Viking

ES-3A Shadow

F-16 Fighting Falcon

F-35 Lightning II

F-35 Lightning II

KC-130 Hercules and KC-130J Super Hercules

LC-130 Ski-Herk

HC-130 Hercules and HC-130J Super Hercules

PHOTO BY MCS2 MEAGAN E. KLEIN

PHOTO BY ROBERT O’DELL

PHOTO BY LCPL. KRISTOFER ATKINSON

PHOTO BY DAVE SILVAPHOTO BY ANDY WOLFE

PHOTO BY ANDY WOLFE

PHOTO BY TED CARLSON

36 Code One

Bayonet ResolveThe 37th Airlif t Squadron at

Ramstein AB, Germany, launched ten C-130J Super Hercules trans-ports at one time during Exercise Bayonet Resolve on 5 October 2011. The C-130J crews took off from Ramstein after midnight and flew to Vicenza Army Base, Italy, to pick up nearly 800 Army Soldiers, thirty Polish Air Force jumpers, and a US Air Force Joint Terminal Air Control team. The C-130J crews then flew the 372 miles to the drop zone at Hohenfels AAF, Germany, in formation. Bayonet Resolve com-bined forces from several units at Ramstein with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team from Vicenza Army Base, Italy, to exercise the interoperability, war readiness, and combat delivery capability of the US Air Force and the US Army.

Rewinged Norwegian P-3 Flown

The first rewinged P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft for the Royal Norwegian Air Force was flown for the first time at the Halifax International Airport, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 1 August 2011. A Norwegian flight crew carried out the 3.7-hour flight and accom-plished nearly all planned test objec-tives. The aircraft was returned to 333 Squadron at Andøya AS, Andenes, Norway, after two additional test flights. This particular aircraft, a P-3N, is sched-uled to deploy to Djibouti for Operation Atalanta, the European Union antipiracy mission in Somalia, by the end of 2011. Plans call for the four Norwegian P-3Cs and two P-3Ns to receive the Mid-Life Upgrade kits, which are installed by IMP Aerospace in Halifax.

Super Galaxy 3.5Testing of the first upgraded C-5M

Super Galaxy transport began at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California, in mid October. The aircraf t (Air Force ser ial number 85-0002) features the new Block 3.5 software, which introduces an en-hanced Identification Friend or Foe Mode S enhanced surveillance capa-bility and thrust reverser modifica-

tions. The upgrade also introduces hardware changes. The C-5M already had Mode S elementary surveillance capability, but needed an upgrade to continue to operate in the crowded European theater. The upgrade increases the number of downlink airborne parameters available to air traffic control facilities. The C-5M, assigned to Dover AFB, Delaware, will be at Edwards for approximately two months. The test program will include approximately 100 flying hours.

PHOTO BY SRA STEPHEN J. OTERO

PHOTO BY KENJI THULOWELL

PHOTO BY THOR STROMSNES

37Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

C-5M No. 3 DeliveredThe third production C-5M Super Galaxy was delivered to the US Air force on 24 August 2011 at the

Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia. This aircraft (Air Force serial number 85-0005) was flown to Stewart ANGB, New York, for internal paint restoration before being returned to its assigned base at Dover AFB, Delaware. This is the sixth C-5 to have undergone the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program, or RERP, modifications. The first three aircraft were flown in the C-5M flight test program before entering the Air Force’s operational fleet. An additional three aircraft are currently on the RERP modification line. Current plans call for a total of fifty-two fully modernized C-5Ms by 2016.

Dyess Departures . . .

The 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Texas, started the unit’s first over-seas operational deployment with its C-130J Super Hercules transports on 6 September 2011. More than 150 Airmen also deployed to support the aircraft during operations in Southwest Asia. In theater, the C-130Js are being used for combat airlift, which includes high-altitude, low-opening Army parachute drops, equipment drops, and transportation of troops throughout the region. Airmen from the 317th AG have now been continu-ously deployed for nearly 2,900 days.

. . . And Dyess ArrivalsThe sixth C-130J Super Hercules was delivered to Dyess AFB, Texas, on

8 September. Lt. Gen. Robert Allardice, 18th Air Force commander, flew the aircraft (Air Force serial number 08-3175) to its new home. The 317th Airlift Group at Dyess continues to transition to the C-130J with nine air-craft delivered as of mid October. By 2013, when Dyess is scheduled to receive its twenty-eighth C-130J, the base near Abilene will have the largest Super Hercules fleet in the Air Force. Officials at Dyess accepted the base’s first C-130A and C-130D models in 1961. The unit currently flies both C-130H and C-130J models.

Four Of A Kind

Four C-130J Super Hercules airlifters were formally delivered to the State of Qatar in ceremonies at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, on 28 September 2011. The new aircraft, the longer fuselage variant of the C-130J, will be used for both military and humanitarian relief missions. The airlift fleet are scheduled to be ferried to Qatar, the first Middle East country to operate the C-130J, in October. The Qatar Emiri Air Force will also receive aircrew and maintenance training, spares, ground support and test equipment, and technical support specialists.

Moroccan DeliveryThe first four of twenty-four F-16 Block 52 fighters produced for the

Royal Moroccan Air Force were unveiled in ceremonies at Ben Guerrir AB, near Marrakech, Morocco, on 4 August 2011. Senior representatives from the governments of Morocco and the United States and from both air forces were present. The aircraft were flown from the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas, on 1 August. The Kingdom of Morocco pur-chased the aircraft in 2009. The sale includes the aircraft, mission equipment, support equipment, alternate mission equipment, and a spares and technical support package. Morocco is the twenty-fifth nation to operate the F-16.

PHOTO BY DAVID KEY

PHOTO BY MSGT. JEFFREY ALLEN

PHOTO BY THINH D. NGUYEN

PHOTO BY DAVID DRAIS

PHOTO BY TODD R. MCQUEEN

38 Code One

ROKAF RefuelFive US F-16 Fighting Falcon instructor pilots, including three from the

US 35th Fighter Squadron at Kunsan AB, Korea, trained eight KF-16 pilots from the Republic of Korea Air Force, or ROKAF, in aerial refueling in September 2011. Over a two week period, the US instructor pilots flew thirty-eight sorties supported by KC-135 tanker crews from Kadena AB, Japan. Many ROKAF pilots have never flown any appreciable distance from the peninsula because South Korea does not operate any mission-extending aerial tankers. By training ROKAF pilots in aerial refueling, Korea gains the ability to deploy as well as remain on station for a longer period of time using allied tankers. The ROKAF instructors trained in this bilateral operation will train future KF-16 pilots.

Misawa Air FestTwo Japan Air Self-Defense Force, or JASDF, F-2 pilots take off during

the thirty-second annual air fest at Misawa AB, Japan, on 4 September 2011. Approximately 100,000 attendees at the two-day show saw eight aerial demonstrations along with nineteen static displays of JASDF, US Air Force, US Navy, and privately owned aircraft.

First Georgia-Built Center Wing

The f ir s t F-35 center wing assembled at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, was shipped to the Lightning II final assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, on 15 September 2011. The com-ponent is destined for the twenty-fifth production aircraft, an F-35B for the US Marine Corps. The center wing, which weighs more than a ton, is approximately thirteen feet long and nineteen feet wide at its widest point. Center wing pro-duction occupies approximately 280,000 square feet of the Mari-etta facility’s 3.8 million square foot assembly building. When the currently planned peak production rate is reached in late 2015, the Marietta facility will employ more than 600 people and is scheduled to complete one center wing assembly per working day.

Final Student Flight

A US Air Force C-130E Hercules passes under a water cannon arch after the crew completed the final student flight in the aircraft at the C-130 schoolhouse at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, on 13 September 2011. The aircraft (Air Force serial number 62-1855) is the last C-130E in the 314th Airlift Wing inventory. The nearly fifty-year-old aircraft was retired to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, on 20 September after its final flight.

PHOTO BY TSGT. MARIE BROWN

PHOTO BY SRA CALEB PIERCE

39Vol. 26 No. 3 2011

HARM Will Come To YouIn this image taken from high-speed recorders, an F-16 Fighting Falcon

pilot launches an AGM-88 HARM at a ground target during a weapons system evaluation program, or WSEP, mission at Hill AFB, Utah, on 22 August 2011. The WSEP air-to-ground missions, called Combat Hammer, and air-to-air sorties, called Combat Archer, were part of an annual month-long weapons evaluation exercise held at Hill by the deployed 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, which is based at Eglin AFB, Florida.

Water TreatmentRoyal New Zealand Air Force

C-130H Hercules crews delivered a desalinization plant to the tiny Pacif ic island of Tuvalu on 10 October 2010 to help alleviate a severe fresh water shor tage. A Royal Australian Air Force C-17 crew in New Zealand for training flew the water treatment equip-ment f rom Auckland to Apia, Samoa, where the equipment was broken down into smaller pieces. The RNZAF C-130 crews then flew the sections to the short runway at the Tuvalu capital of Funafuti. The New Zealand Army set up the desalinization units and began testing the cleanliness of the island’s water sources.

Flag-Ship

The flagship for the 149th Fighter Wing, the Texas Air National Guard unit at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, was unveiled with a special livery on 1 October 2011. Known as the Lone Star Gunfighters, the 149th FW’s specialty scheme graphically shows the unit’s connection to the state of Texas and is part of a year-long celebration leading to the unit’s sixty-fifth anniversary in October 2012. Members of the 149th Aircraft Maintenance Group painted the aircraft at Homestead ARB, Florida, which is a regional aircraft painting facility. This F-16, called the Heritage Jet, will continue to be employed for pilot training. It will also become the aircraft of choice when the unit is requested to participate in airshows and flyovers.

PHOTO BY SSGT. PHIL FOUNTAIN

PHOTO BY AC MARIA OOSTERBAAN

Raptor RolloutThe last production Lot 9 F-22 Raptor was rolled off the production line

at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, on 15 September 2011. This aircraft (Air Force serial number 09-4191) is scheduled for delivery to the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, Virginia. Two active duty squadrons, the 27th and 94th Fighter Squadrons, along with an Air National Guard associate unit, the 194th FS, fly the Raptors at Langley. The final F-22—Raptor 195—is scheduled to come off the production line in late 2011.

PHOTO BY JOHN ROSSINO

40 Code One

Air Mobility Rodeo 2011

The 314th Airlift Wing, the C-130 unit at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, claimed top prize at Air Mobility Rodeo 2011, the worldwide airlift compe-tition held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, on 25–29 July 2011. The Knucklebuster Award, which recognizes the maintenance team with the highest standards of professionalism, dedication, and mutual respect for competitors, went to the 439th Airlift Wing, the C-5 unit at Westover ARB, Massachusetts. The team from Dover AFB, Delaware, claimed eight awards, including Best C-5 Wing and Best Airland Wing. The Little Rock C-130 team (shown here) took top honors in six categories, including Best Overall Wing, Best Airdrop Wing, and Best C-130 Wing. The C-130 team from Belgium won the Best International Team award.

Lug A Bug

A C-5B Galaxy crew from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, California, loaded a damaged US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on 18 August 2011 to fly the fighter to the Fleet Readiness Center Southwest at NAS North Island, San Diego, California. While supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in March, the Super Hornet experienced malfunctions that caused the pilot to divert to Kandahar Airfield. The aircraft experienced hot brakes on landing and subsequently caught fire. The fire was extinguished, but the fighter’s right fuselage was severely damaged. Navy officials noted that having the F/A-18 trans-ported back to the United States and repaired will cost considerably less than replacing the aircraft.

Operation Slipper MilestoneThe Royal Australian Air Force’s AP-3C Orion detachment at

Al Minhad AB in the United Arab Emirates reached 20,000 operational hours in support of operations in the Middle East on 15 August 2011 during an overland mission in search of insurgents in southern Afghan-istan. The AP-3C aircraft are deployed from RAAF Edinburgh, near Adelaide, South Australia. Approximately 2,800 RAAF personnel have deployed in support of AP-3C operations in the Middle East since 2003. In addition to Operation Slipper, Australian Defence Force operations in Afghanistan, the deployed P-3 crews are also supporting the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, mission to the Indian Ocean off East Africa in support of maritime security and counterpiracy operations.

CBP No. 3 DeliveredThe third US Customs and Border Protection P-3 Orion to go through

the Mid-Life Upgrade, or MLU, program was delivered on 23 August 2011 from the Lockheed Martin facility in Greenville, South Carolina. The MLU kit, which includes new wings, replaces all fatigue-life-limiting structures with new components and incorporates a new corrosion-resistant metal alloy. The MLU kit removes current aircraft flight restric-tions and extends the structural service life of the P-3 up to 15,000 hours, adding more than twenty years of operational service. Currently, fourteen of the sixteen Customs P-3s are scheduled to receive the MLU kit. Deliveries will run through 2015. To date, six operators from four nations have ordered seventy-one MLU kits.

PHOTO BY LT. COL. MICHAEL HARRIS

PHOTO BY TSGT. CHAD CHISHOLM PHOTO BY SRA DAVID CARBAJAL

Lightning And Lightning II

With a backdrop of both a P-38 Lightning and an F-35A Lightning II, four World War II pilots spoke about their flying experiences before a crowd gathered at the F-35 test force hangar at Edwards AFB, California, on 3 October 2011. Bill Behrns, Frank Hurlbut, Bert Torrey, and Sandy Will-ford, all P-38 pilots during World War II, shared their stories and feelings about the first Lockheed Lightning. Willford noted that a 1939 newsreel of a P-38 convinced him to become an aviation cadet and fly that particular aircraft type. Lt. Col. George Griffiths, the commander of 461st Flight Test Squadron, welcomed the veterans and spoke about the significance of this event.

Historic Hercules RetiredA C-130E Hercules that saw one of the greatest feats of airmanship

during the Vietnam War was retired at the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on 18 August 2011. During an ammunition delivery mission to An Loc, South Vietnam, on 15 April 1972, the aircraft (Air Force serial number 62-1787) was severely damaged by ground fire. The loadmaster, SSgt. Charlie Shaub, jettisoned the burning cargo and extinguished the fire. The pilot, Capt. William Caldwell, flew the aircraft and landed on two engines. Both crewmembers were awarded the Air Force Cross for their actions. The C-130 was last assigned to the 189th Airlift Wing, the Arkansas Air National Guard unit at Little Rock AFB.

Historic Herk To RobinsA US Air Force C-130E Hercules

that was flown during Operation Red Dragon, the rescue of civilian hostages in Stanleyville, Republic of Congo, in 1964, was retired to the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, Georgia, on 6 September 2011. On 23 November 1964, seven months after this aircraft (Air Force serial number 63-7868) was delivered, it and several other C-130s were used to drop more than 300 UN paratroopers who then over-powered Simba rebels at the Victoria Hotel in Stanleyville and freed the hostages. In later flights, more than 2,000 civilians were flown to safe haven in Leopoldville. The aircraft, which took small arms fire during its first rescue flight out of Stanleyville, went on display in October.

In Memoriam – Dave FergusonLockheed test pilot Dave Ferguson passed away on 10 August 2011

after a long battle with cancer. He was seventy-two. Ferguson flew the first flight and carried out initial airworthiness tests on the YF-22, the F-22 Raptor prototype, in 1990. Previously, he flew as test pilot on the F-117 program and was the second company pilot to fly the Nighthawk. After flying combat missions in Vietnam and an eight-year stint as an Air Force test pilot, Ferguson joined the company in 1979. He retired as director of flight test in 1999. He was a two-time recipient of the Iven C. Kincheloe Award, the highest honor given by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, for his work with the F-117 and YF-22.

PhOtO BY miChelle GiGANte

PhOtO BY PAUl WeAtheRmAN

PhOtO BY DeNNY lOmBARD