U.S. Air Force Captain John S. Lappo had the heart of a jet pilot--skillful, bold and committed. However, the personality traits that served him so well on bombing missions during the Korean War and covert spy-in-the-sky missions over the Soviet Union also “grounded” him after a playful-but dangerous-stunt that involved the Mackinac Bridge.

On April 24, 1959, Lappo, a Muskegon, Michigan, native and his five-man crew were returning from a routine simulated bomb run to the Lockbourne Air Force base near Columbus, Ohio. As Lappo later confessed, “I always wanted to fly under a big bridge. I thought it would be the Golden Gate.” Suddenly, the Mackinac Bridge came into view. Lappo polled the crew about his scheme to fly under the bridge. After the crew responded affirmatively with a 4 to 1 vote, Lappo declared, “I’m taking her under!” At a speed of 425 miles per hour, the RB-47 Stratojet raced through the 150-foot clearance between the roadbed framework and the Straits. In Lappo’s words, “It was exhilarating to say the least!”

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An article about another Mackinac fly-under.

Mackinac Bridge lear.pdf (75.98 kb)

Spectacular F-35 assembly photos

The latest issue of Air & Space magazine is out and it has some great articles.

I especially liked the articles on Mars rovers, the upcoming disposition of the remaining space shuttles, MiG vs F-18 war games, and the great Kelly Johnson. 

Check it out online

The attached video was filmed by some Air Force Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTAC) in Tal Afar, west of Mosul, in Iraq

A marine unit got pinned down in the street. They set their video camera on the bumper of their armored HUM-V, which they were using for cover. Keep an eye on the opposing van parked just down the street.

You can hear them shooting back and forth. The rounds you can hear are from the Marines, and the ones you hear pinging  against the side of the vehicle with no accompanying pop are from the bad guys.

When the Marine says they just fired the "rifle," it means an F-16 aircraft just launched a Maverick missile. You can hear it come in and
see it strike the vehicle the bad guys were using for cover.

k6Air_Force.wmv (1.56 mb)

Wow, you can't make this up.

"Don't worry, it wasn't with a nuclear bomb! Last week, researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory accidentally blew up part of a building with "a gun which acts like a Civil War Cannon". Even crazier, in a way.

According to an "Occurrence Report" obtained by the non-profit Project on Government Oversight (POGO), researchers blew up their building with a powerful cannon used to study the types of forces produced by a nuclear explosion"

Full Ariticle on Gawker

The secret is out. The U.S. Air Force has confirmed the existence of the “Beast of Kandahar” UAV that was seen flying out of Afghanistan in late 2007. The jet aircraft – a tailless flying wing with sensor pods faired into the upper surface of each wing – is the RQ-170 Sentinel, developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. An Air Force official revealed to Aviation Week Friday afternoon that the service is “developing a stealthy unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces.”

Full Article, Aviation Week U.S. Air Force Reveals Operational Stealth UAV

Gizmodo has the scoop on a new aircraft deployed in Afghanistan possibly a variant of the Lockheed P175 Polecat.

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The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Conway, told a Navy Energy Forum this week that transporting fuel miles into Afghanistan and Iraq along risky and dangerous routes can raise the cost of a $1.04 gallon up to $400, according to Aviation Week which covered the forum. 

Wow, and you think you have price shock the pump!

And moving fuel by convoy or even airlift is expensive, according to the Army news release from July 16, which quoted Geiss. In some places, Geiss said, analysts have estimated the fully burdened cost of fuel might even be as high as $1,000 per gallon.

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The Pentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete.

Call it Plan B for dealing with Iran, which recently revealed a long-suspected nuclear site deep inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom.

The 15-ton behemoth — called the "massive ordnance penetrator," or MOP — will be the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal and will carry 5,300 pounds of explosives. The bomb is about 10 times more powerful than the weapon it is designed to replace.

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But the V-22 is not without its flaws. Besides killing 23 Marines in two crashes, a decade ago, the V-22 has proved to be something of a lightweight, in terms of lifting capability. “No tilt-rotor can carry what an equivalent helicopter can carry, period,” Nick Lappos, a Bell exec, wrote in a Web forum in 2003, before he was hired by Bell. “For the same empty weight and installed power, a tilt-rotor carries half the payload, and goes the same range as a helicopter.”

Part of the problem is that a tilt-rotor’s wings are dead weight, when the bird is hovering. Plus, wings have what’s called a “download” effect, in a hover — meaning they essentially block some of the aircraft’s lift.

Boeing wants to remedy that, somewhat, with a brand-new tilt-rotor design, to follow the V-22...

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