Hammer Head Manuver

Hammer Head, as flown in the Yak-52.  The Hammer head is a good way to rope an opponent that misjudges your energy.

The Horsemen P-51 Mustang Flying Legends Duxford 2009 from Yannick Barthe on Vimeo.

The amazing P-51 The Horsemen performance during the Flying Legends Airshow in Duxford. The Horsemen Aerobatic Team are the world’s only P-51 Mustang aerobatic team, comprising three warbird pilots who have a passion for showcasing the P-51 Mustang. The mission of The Horseman is to bring greater interest to the world of historic aviation and to remind future generations of how these powerful machines helped the Allies change the outcome of WWII. Jim Beasley serves as the Horsemen Flight Lead. In addition to the Mustang, he flies the T-6 Texan and Spitfire XVIII. Jim is also a civilian pilot for the USAF Heritage Flight program. Dan Friedkin also flies the T-6 Texan, Spitfire, Wildcat and various helicopters. The USAF recently selected Dan as a Heritage Flight civilian pilot. Ed Shipley is the founder of the group and is a long-time air show performer with more than 18 years of experience flying the T-6 Texan, P-51 Mustang, the F8F Bearcat and the F-86 Sabre. He was also one of the civilian founders of the USAF Heritage program and serves on the International Council of Air Shows’ Board of Directors. The Horsemen fly their formation aerobatic routine in 3 original P-51 Mustangs which previously served in WWII. These authentic Mustangs are owned by two of the pilots. Nearly 15,000 Mustangs were built in WWII at a cost of $50,000 each. Today, approximately 150 Mustangs remain flying at an average cost of around $2,000,000 Thank you Jim, Dan and Ed for your beautiful display, for your sympathy and your autograph on our golden pass ! A beautiful memory of Duxford ! Much of their footage can be found on ASB.tv Shot with a Sony HVR-Z1 in HDV. Music by Rob Dougan. Edited on FCP. Not graded. Filmed and edited by Yannick Barthe, yannickbarthe.ch

this description was taken from the video page.

Yak-50, mayday, leads to 337

The landing of a Yak-50 in a field after an engine incident.  You can see how much the pilot had to do, and in such a short time.  These are the situations where you really need to know your aircraft, and capabilities.  Not a lot of time to do calculations, or consult a chart.  Imagine how hard it would have been had he not had the GPS, and such good support from control.

But as they say, any landing that you walk away from is a good one.

P-38

I don't want to rewrite the Wikipedia article on the P-38, just sharing some pictures.   I think it is a beautiful aircraft, and have some new found interest in flying it on Aces High II.  It seems to fit in to so many roles and has far more upside's than down.   It is a plane, at least in the simulation, that requires patience -- the Porsche of WWII aircraft, "...it does not suffer fools gladly."  The power and the firepower more than make up for the short comings in maneuverability and speed.  Even in the late war arena it can more than hold it's own.

Pictures:

Videos:

Wildcat Engine

F4F-4 engine cross section, Pratt and Whitney R-1830

F4F-4 Wildcat cockpit viewed from above.

USS Missouri Picture

USS Missouri firing at night during Desert Storm, 6 Feb 1991.

New NASA Craft

Most of the squad members are fans of flight in general way;  and if you grew up wanting to fly then you no doubt spent some time imagining what it would be like to complete flight's most challenging achievement -- landing the Space Shuttle.  

This is probably a great subject to talk to TA about, he is probably the most knowledgeable about the subject for various reasons.

At this point I am just happy to see the shuttle program at any stage.  This video is the concept and some of the testing for the newest shuttle design.

Description: Eren Ozmen, President of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), is pleased to announce that the company's Dream Chaser Space System has been awarded $212.5 million as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Program. The 21 month contract will begin in August of 2012.

You should really take the time to watch this in HD even if you half to let it load for a while, or borrow a computer, so worth it.