Forum: General F-35 Forum

100 Flights For F-35B BF-4 22 March 2012

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/news_ite ... tem_id=640

"Photo by Andy Wolfe | RAF Sqdn. Ldr. Jim Schofiield was the pilot of F-35B BF-4 for Flight 100, which involved open weapon bay door environmental testing with an AIM-120 on 22 March 2012."

BIG PIC + zoom: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/images/n ... 4_1327.jpg

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archeman wrote:

Quote:

True.. there actually has been such a self-kill on record.

If I am not mistaken, the self-kill pilot actually shot himself down but didn't kill himself. Twice. The first time was an F-86 self kill (not in combat but on training). The second time was an F-4 Sparrow that failed to 'spring' from its recessed position on launch (again, not combat but trainging/testing). The Sparrow motor began to burn like crazy and before long so was the launching aircraft (the bottom of most F-4s was a notorious place for old hydralic fluid to collect).

Lucky for the F-35 the unlucky recipients of the firing stream will likely not be in the flight path of the aircraft ( towards the ground ) and the muzzle velocity of the pod greatly exceeds the old browning .50 cal of the F-86.

The two incidents I'm aware of were one gun, one missile.

The first was a Grumman F-11 Tiger, which fired its cannon while in a climb. Immediately after firing it broke away and accelerated in a descent. Sadly, he didn't also change heading. The unfortunate result was that the faster bullets traveled through their larger arc and in their descent arrived at the same space at the same time as the aircraft that fired them.

Ironically, the second case involved Grumman's next fighter, the F-14. Being a far more advanced fighter, it naturally had to use much more sophisticated technology to accomplish this feat. It launched an AIM-7 which ignited early, pitched up and proceeded to tear through the Tomcat that had just launched it!

Here is the video of the flight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz6uF7Jk ... ploademail

Beware! This is Our Sky Translation of Latin 'Caveant coelum nostrum'
_______________

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Heral ... spx?u=7046

"461st Flight Test Squadron Emblem
Description
On a disc Sable fimbriated Azure, four condensation trails issuant from sinister chief arcing to dexter side then to sinister side Argent, charged with a theatre mask Or in dexter side; in sinister chief a demi-sun of the third, all within a narrow border Yellow.

Attached above the disc, a Black scroll edged with a narrow Yellow border and inscribed “CAVEANT COELUM NOSTRUM” in Yellow letters.

Attached below the disc, a Black scroll edged with a narrow Yellow border and inscribed “461ST FLIGHT TEST SQ” in Yellow letters.

Symbolism
Ultramarine blue and Air Force yellow are the Air Force colors. Blue alludes to the sky, the primary theater of Air Force operations. Yellow refers to the sun and the excellence required of Air Force personnel. The deadly jester mask, which predominates, denotes the high spirit of a fighter pilot masked behind a deadly capability. The four bands represent condensation trails and terminate in the basic element of a fighter squadron, the flight of four each providing mutual protection to the other, and symbolize the warfighter who is the focus of the flight test mission. The outer edge band is representative of the unity of effort. The unit’s Latin motto, “CAVEANT COELUM NOSTRUM,” in English means “Beware! This is Our Sky.”

Meteor wrote:

Anybody have any idea why the outboard missile rails are not on the wingtip, like stations 1&9 on the F-16, or the F-18, or Rafale or Typhoon or Gripen?

Early F-35 versions featured wing tip rails. However according to Lockheed, as the design matured the wing chord at the tips was reduced enough to make wingtip rails impractical. In addition, the inboard movement improved flutter performance to allow carriage and employment of air-to-air missiles over the full flight envelope.

B. Bolsøy
Oslo

Forum: General F-35 Forum

F-35B completes first flighttest w/ external stores / pylons