Forum: F-22A Raptor

Anybody got a pic of the Langley ramp with 40 Raptors on it?

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Not sure how you could do that...at least with all of the jets visible..due to the sunshades.

I'm with check... only time that will happen is if the AF decides to do some promotional shots.

checksixx wrote:

Not sure how you could do that...at least with all of the jets visible..due to the sunshades.

Sunhades? Just how hot does Langley get anyhow? Smile

Methinks they're under there to keep the Google Earth sat from peekin' in on 'em. Wink

swanee wrote:

I'm with check... only time that will happen is if the AF decides to do some promotional shots.

I'd probably agree for the most part although there was a Google Earth shot that was done shortly before the runway was resurfaced and there were either 13 or 18 Raptors visible in the shot (don't recall which, just know it was one of those two numbers).

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

Sunhades? Just how hot does Langley get anyhow? Smile

Methinks they're under there to keep the Google Earth sat from peekin' in on 'em. Wink

It gets pretty hot and humid here in the summer. The shades are not for sats. overhead...Check

Virginia? Pretty hot?? I'm from Richmond born and raised and it doesn't get that hot. Shaw is lot hotter adn humid and there are no shades. I agree with LinkF16SimDude that the shades are there for sats. They did the same for Tyndall's 22s. There no shads for the 15s or any other temp unit. It's for the sats.

Mushmouth wrote:

Virginia? Pretty hot?? I'm from Richmond born and raised and it doesn't get that hot. Shaw is lot hotter adn humid and there are no shades. I agree with LinkF16SimDude that the shades are there for sats. They did the same for Tyndall's 22s. There no shads for the 15s or any other temp unit. It's for the sats.

I am sorry but that is a ridiculous explanation. It's for the "sats" so they don't see what exactly that hasn't already been seen? Is there any aspect of the design that hasn't already been seen throughout the world many times over? And if you say it has anything to do with details, no sat can resolve items so small that they would have to be protected under a shade. Does it have anything to do with hiding their actual number, or how many F-22s there are on base at any one time? In VIRGINIA??? I don't think so.

A far more likely explanation is that the USAF is protecting its investment against any sort of sun or heat related issues. And if you don't think it can get hot in Virginia in the summer, have you ever been to D.C.? I've spent some of the most hellishly hot summers of my life there.

Quote:

I am sorry but that is a ridiculous explanation. It's for the "sats" so they don't see what exactly that hasn't already been seen? Is there any aspect of the design that hasn't already been seen throughout the world many times over? And if you say it has anything to do with details, no sat can resolve items so small that they would have to be protected under a shade. Does it have anything to do with hiding their actual number, or how many F-22s there are on base at any one time? In VIRGINIA??? I don't think so.

A far more likely explanation is that the USAF is protecting its investment against any sort of sun or heat related issues. And if you don't think it can get hot in Virginia in the summer, have you ever been to D.C.? I've spent some of the most hellishly hot summers of my life there.

Dude, it's not a ridiculous explanation. If you can't tell whether or not the jets are there, you can't tell if they are or are not deployed. If an enemy satellite saw that the jets were gone for any sustained period of time (more than a week or so), they'd know something might be up, or that the jets are deployed somewhere near them... enabling them to perpare their tactics accordingly for an upcoming conflict depending on what's going on in the world. His explanation is far from ridiculous , and makes perfect sense.

Last edited by swanee on Feb 07, 2007 - 04:03 AM; edited 1 time in total

Mushmouth wrote:

Virginia? Pretty hot?? I'm from Richmond born and raised and it doesn't get that hot. Shaw is lot hotter adn humid and there are no shades. I agree with LinkF16SimDude that the shades are there for sats. They did the same for Tyndall's 22s. There no shads for the 15s or any other temp unit. It's for the sats.

No shades for the vipers, but they did build their very own hangar on the west end of the runway by the NASA side of things.

I've lived near Langley for about 8 years now. In 2006 we had 12 days of 100+ heat, with more than 80% humidity and heat indexes of 115 and more. ACC has money to burn at Langley so they built sun shades, along with a lot of other stuff.

Remember, Langley is ACC headquarters and home of the Big Bad 1FW. You can take it from there.

Great someone's from Richmond...and Shaw gets hotter? Thanks for explaining that althought I think everyone here could pretty much figure that out. What Shaw doesn't have is Raptors. Tell you what, when you've been at a Raptor base, then you can figure out the answer for yourself.

It gets plenty warm here. The shades are not for sats. as I've posted above. They have to do with the aircraft itself. Swanee I'm not sure what your talking about for the vipers as no new hanger was built on the west end by the NASA side...Check

checksixx wrote:

Great someone's from Richmond...and Shaw gets hotter? Thanks for explaining that althought I think everyone here could pretty much figure that out. What Shaw doesn't have is Raptors. Tell you what, when you've been at a Raptor base, then you can figure out the answer for yourself.

It gets plenty warm here. The shades are not for sats. as I've posted above. They have to do with the aircraft itself. Swanee I'm not sure what your talking about for the vipers as no new hanger was built on the west end by the NASA side...Check

I didn't say it was new...

Being a 117 crew chief I can tell you from experience that extreme heat makes the adhesive on our Radar Absorbent Material soft and easy(er) to remove. I'm not sure if the Raptor uses adhesive RAM or if it's all spraycoat. If there is any adhesive RAM on the aircraft, that might explain the shades on the ramp. You wouldn't want your supersonic aircraft to peel off it's own skin (which has even happened here at Holloman on this sub-sonic aircraft due to high ambient temps).

swanee wrote:

No shades for the vipers, but they did build their very own hangar on the west end of the runway by the NASA side of things.

Sorry, I'll quote you then. Vipers as in F-16's? No they did not build any hanger in that area for vipers. Not in the last 13 years at least. They did renovate the hangers used for the alert jets, but those hangers were there long before any of the vipers came to Langley. The only thing done to that area was built crew qtrs, office's, and I believe they moved the AAAF tank due to the 30ft clear zone, but when I left that was still undecided.

Check

checksixx wrote:

swanee wrote:

No shades for the vipers, but they did build their very own hangar on the west end of the runway by the NASA side of things.

Sorry, I'll quote you then. Vipers as in F-16's? No they did not build any hanger in that area for vipers. Not in the last 13 years at least. They did renovate the hangers used for the alert jets, but those hangers were there long before any of the vipers came to Langley. The only thing done to that area was built crew qtrs, office's, and I believe they moved the AAAF tank due to the 30ft clear zone, but when I left that was still undecided.

Check

ok, fine... renovated and added on to, either way, they spent a lot of money. the hairs are starting to split. I was just pointing out that Langley gets a fairly good amount of money to throw around, and it all has to do with the politics of ACC, the 1FW and the state of Virginia.

I'm sure those shades have to do with protecting the airframes from the sun, as sunlight does things like deteriorate paint and what not. It also has to be nice to work on them in the summertime and have some shade.

If those shades aren't necessary, do you really think the 1FW would settle for anything other than the best? Hell, they paint the darn grass green in the wintertime! (that's a joke, of course)