Forum: General

It's ok if you stay after work but what I meant was the guys that only worked their own jet and never helped on anybody else's. I always felt it was better to work as a team and get all the work done rather so everyone could work less than a 12 hour shift. As a supervisor I wouldn't let anybody stay past 12hours ,if something happened it would have been my a$$. I'd rather have a flight of dirty a$$ busters than one with spit and polish, only do something if there is something in it for me, wood hunters!

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The engine 713437 actually came out of my jet 90-0728 (original engine to the aircraft) just weeks after I left for the Tbirds. The feathers took me two weeks of polishing by hand using mesh kits which made the metal real strong versus what the Tbirds use, MetAll and a vibrating sander. Yes, It's against the rules but that is what we do to make our birds, showbirds.

Active Member Joined: Apr 08, 2004 - 10:40 PM Posts: 201

Racer181 wrote:

Does it look like the exhaust nozzle was polished up in this picture? Did the engine maybe come from a Thunderbirds aircraft? If so, do the thunderbirds get they're engines like the rest of us or do they have a set?

USAF F-16C block 42 #90-0708 of the 57th FW seen on the flightline at London, Ontario in June of 1994.

Theres no way that came from the Thunderbirds, its just a case a crew chief taking a little pride in his jet.

When I worked on the Aggressor SQ at Nellis, It was not uncommon to get one or two polished T-feathers on a spare motor. Also even with a few polished ones out there, I never saw a crew chief polishing one. Perhaps the individual ones we got were rejects, or done wrong or just the only spare available. Anyway it did happen and was not a big deal to anyone.

Also the photo above really does not look like a polished set. It just looks like someone took the time to clean them. The stock ones do give the appearence of "bling" when clean. Normaly there is a good amout of filth back there.

Nellis was notorious for “Bling-Bling”, though I do recall Aircrews that were not found of it.

It makes the jet "Non-Tactical" as one pilot put it. Polished exhaust, JFS doors, intake lights, and when Crew Chiefs gets carried away, the Hydro and EPU sight gauge doors; light up light a Christmas tree when they are maneuvering up there.

I never wasted my time, plus there is a cladding that can get removed from meshing the turkey feathers, at least on GEs. When I was at Osan (and a similar incident at Misawa), a Crew Chief nearly got an article 15 for doing just that.

Mike V

Forum: General

Nellis jet with polished exhaust