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After the noise, the skies fall silent It was a bit of a shock to read, in my old local newspaper, that F-15 fighter/bomber aircraft used by the US Airforce are suffering quite so much from wear and tear. They are currently based at RAF Lakenheath, west Suffolk.
At one stage, East Anglia, the flat bit of the UK, was rather like a gigantic airfield with more than 100 airfields for British and American fighters, bombers, recon aircraft and transportation. Even after WW2, when the Liberators, Flying Fortresses, Mustangs and Thunderbolts no longer buzzed around, the area played host to the jets of the Cold War era. It was a common experience on my parent’s farm to be walking around and suddenly, at about 100ft above the ground, a pair of Jaguar jets or an American A-10 “tankbuster” would come over (the latter was eerily quiet, and had an enormous 30mm cannon mounted in the nose). Now it is almost all gone. In a silly sort of way I rather miss the din of jet aircraft. But then, we won the Cold War. It is never a mistake to remind ourselves of that fact.
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Take heart Johnathon – the Eagles have “been released from their cage” (a quote from the Public Affairs publication at the USAF base where I work).
But the point that they are beginning to show their age is valid – the F-15 has been in service almost 30 years now, for most of the fleet. And while most of the E models there at Lakenheath are relatively low-time airframes, they were inspected due to the design similarities with their siblings.
As the article you reference alludes, and as Gen Corley states, the cause of the grounding (and the mishap that started it), is geriatric in nature (somewhat). Stress fractures in the main load bearing structures of the internal wing box – partially from age, partially from minor deviations from the design specs during production.
With the problem identified, and with an increased inspection regimen, these Eagles should continue to soar for several years to come.
Oh, and if you like watching the Eagles…wait till you get a look at the Raptor in action.
I have the opportunity to observe the “demo team” for the F-22 going through its paces on a fairly regular basis. Some of the moves the aircraft makes, with apparently very little strenuous effort, I’ve actually seen cause a double take reaction from seasoned fighter pilots. Pretty amazing.
Not only are the Es newer but they are structurally rather different. It’s the Cs and As (are they still in service) that are clapped out. Get rid of them and buy more Raptors I say.
Ah Johnathan I too grew up in Suffolk to “Military Jet Noise – the Sound of Freedom” But I predate you by some way. I remember Super Sabres flying from Woodbridge/Bentwaters. Our house was on the circuit for landing and and we would often see pairs of these great noisy beasts rumbling overhead on their way in to land. I’m trying to remember what came after the Super Sabres but memory fails me.
About 20-25 years ago, I was out in a farm field and got buzzed by a brace of A-10s. I never heard them coming, suddenly they are breaking in a hard bank near the corner of the farm with their ‘inside’ wingtips practically trimming branches. On departure, they were extremely loud for a fraction of a second. And then they were gone. The whole thing was over in an instant. I hoped they would come back, but the never did. At that time (ANG) Warthogs were based out of Madison.
Warthogs are one of my favorite birds, and the whole thing of them not being ‘sexy’ enough to retain funding says something bad about our defense capability decision making process. I think the process that ultimately selected the Raptor also could have been improved. Its a great bird, but the YF-23 probably had far more potential for ongoing development. I think the 22 was perfected old tech, the 23 was flawed next tech.
“Some of the moves the aircraft makes, with apparently very little strenuous effort, I’ve actually seen cause a double take reaction from seasoned fighter pilots.”
My brother attended the first public demonstration of the F-22, as well as ‘private’ rehearsals, prior. Let me report two things:
1) He personally observed past-generation combat aviators with tears in their eyes at seeing what this thing could do.
2) The real story is in what we don’t get to see in the pretty airshow demos. Many of those maneuvers are fun to watch, of course, and do highlight enormous airframe/powerplant/flight-control innovations. They are actually of fairly limited value in combat, however. The full combat capability of the F-22 does not scale to the airshow arena, which is rather like trying to race an Indy car around a go-cart track.
Oh Lord it’s the Air Spotters Convention time again!
Scuse me while I pick up a paper plate and vector a few Vol u vents onto it. Grab the glass of wine and prepare to land…
Yes I used to read Air Pictorial too you know…
Really! How facinating…
Good heavens! they’d never get a plane to do that would they?
Carry on Afterburning!
Beats cricket though:-)
I grew up near Weymouth Naval Air Station, in Massachusetts. Lots of racket during the ’70s. All kinds of Naval jets, plus P-3 Orions pretty constantly.
I miss it, too.
One of my friends is a former F-18 pilot. He has a bumper-sticker on his truck that says: “Jet Noise: The Sound of Freedom”. That is how it always sounded to me.
Alisa. I like airplanes.
I’ve been on many different types.
Big trans continental jet ones.
Little Airbus Med ones.
A hot air Balloon
and my father in laws Cessna twin prop.
Now the last one was flying!
Especially him having a heart condition he hadn’t declared!
But the lads are whistling dixie (they know who they are!) if they ever get to fly, or fly in an F15.
Now then, about the strange orange lights I saw on New years eve… 🙂
RAB, I like them too, a lot (this does NOT include transcontinental flights), but not enough to study the subject to any meaningful extent. Most of the names mean nothing, but the shapes, and the speed, and the noise, that I get. So it is the same as cricket, really, but with planes I see the point. I like machines in general, BTW, but these are some awesome machines!
I was stationed at RAF Bentwaters for two years, and I too question the decision to de-fund the A-10 Warthog.
My uncle was an A-10 pilot and captain of the Myrtle Beach, SC airbase for many years. When I was a young teenager he took us out to the air force bombing range in Columbia SC.
We watched A-10s for hours firing the nose mounted cannon and dropping dummy bombs with white powered. I still have some shell casings from the 30mm.
Occasionally he would buzz our beach house and do a couple of rolls before heading out over the Atlantic.
Watching those planes is something one has to see to really appreciate.
Reading this article, I couldn’t help but think of the wonderful movie Twelve O’Clock High.
I grew up around the US Military, and I remember seeing the Blue Angels from the back yard at age six when I was in San Diego.
I still think the coolest thing to see is a couple of jets flying low.