Airframes

A B-1B Lancer takes off from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, to conduct combat operations April 8, 2015. Al Udeid AB is a strategic coalition base that supports over 90 combat and support aircraft and houses more than 5,000 military personnel. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman James Richardson)

See a B-1 do an aileron roll

By Phillip Swarts on March 28, 2016 Air Force, Airframes

Maneuverability may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the B-1 Lancer. But the plane showed it can really move when it performed a double aileron roll at an airshow. As first posted by The Aviationist, video captured the aircraft performing the maneuver at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. No word yet on whether the Thunderbirds plan to start piloting the craft

A B-52H Stratofortress takes off during Exercise Combat Hammer at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Feb. 9, 2016. (Airman 1st Class J.T. Armstrong/Air Force)

B-52s drop bombs in Florida for exercise Combat Hammer

By Oriana Pawlyk on February 11, 2016 Air Force, Airframes, Global Strike Command, Photos

At a time when B-52 heavy bombers are frequent flyers over the Korean peninsula (see: North Korea shenanigans) it’s nice to know that they’re keeping ready. Six B-52 Stratofortresses from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, took part in Exercise Combat Hammer, an annual air-to-ground combat training exercise which tests bombing capability, according to a release from Minot. “We exercise to ensure we are able to hit a target that the Air Force tells us to hit, with weapons they tell us to use, at a time they want it to be hit,” Maj. Ryan Cox, 5th Operations Support Squadron chief of wing…

Maj. Gen. James Post and the A-10 Warthog. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Travis Edwards)

Maj. Gen. Post, fired for ‘treason’ comments, comes face-to-face with A-10

By Stephen Losey on November 18, 2015 Airframes

This may be the most ironic official Air Force photograph of all time: Maj. Gen. James Post — who was fired from his old job earlier this year for telling officers they would be “committing treason” if they advocated to lawmakers for keeping the A-10 Thunderbolt in service — face-to-face with a Warthog. Pacific Air Forces recently posted the photograph of Post, taken during his Nov. 12 visit to Osan Air Base in South Korea, late Tuesday night. It did not go unnoticed by military observers — especially Warthog fans who raked Post over the coals for his treason comments earlier this…

B-52 crews drop PACAF’s last Vietnam-era bomb

By Jeff Schogol on June 26, 2015 Air Force, Airframes

For years, the Air Force’s M117 750-pound bomb was synonymous with “death from above.” During Vietnam, B-52 crews flying from Thailand and Japan dropped the ordnance as part of Arc Light missions and Operation Linebacker II, and nearly 20 years later, M117s rained down on Saddam Hussein’s army. On Friday, Pacific Air Forces said goodbye to its inventory of the Vietnam Era ordnance when B-52s dropped the last M117s from PACAF’s stockpile on an uninhabited island off Guam. Airmen from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, of Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, and the 36th Munitions Squadron, of Anderson Air Force…

A burned F-35A sits on the flightline at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, on June 23, 2014.

Air Force releases images of burned F-35A

By Brian Everstine on June 8, 2015 Air Education and Training Command, Air Force, Airframes

Air Education and Training Command today released a full investigation into last year’s F-35 mishap that caused one of the jets, tail number 10-5015, to be almost completely destroyed by fire during takeoff at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The investigation board found that part of an engine rotor broke free during takeoff, cutting through the fan’s case, engine bay, internal fuel tank and hydraulic fluid lines. The fuel and hydraulic fluid ignited, causing a fire that burned the rear two-thirds of the aircraft. The pilot was able to abort the language and exit the aircraft, and emergency responders extinguished the…

An F-35 flies over Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, on the 1,000th sortie for the base. (Senior Airman Devante Williams/Air Force)

Luke F-35 squadron hits 1,000 sorties

By Brian Everstine on April 1, 2015 Air Education and Training Command, Air Force, Airframes

The first operational training base for the F-35A this week hit a new milestone: 1,000 flights. Maj. Joshua Arki, 61st Fighter Squadron instructor pilot, on Tuesday flew the 1,000th sortie at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It is now the fastest wing to reach 1,000 sorties in the F-35, according to the Air Force. The flight occurred about one month before the first official class of student pilots is set to get started at the training center on base. The milestone was the second in a week at the base. Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, commander of the 56th Fighter Wing, flew…

Maintainers begin post-flight checks on the first Lot 1 production model QF-16 after it arrived at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., March 11. (Air Force photo)

First production QF-16 targeting drone arrives at Tyndall

By Brian Everstine on March 26, 2015 Air Combat Command, Air Force, Airframes

The first production drone version of the F-16 has touched down at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and will get ready for its demise. On March 11, the first production version of the QF-16 aerial targeting drone landed at the base. The aircraft has been in testing to eventually replace the legacy QF-4 Phantom aerial target. “Today culminates five years of hard work and dedication beginning with a development program, completing a rigorous test and evaluation phase that has ultimately led to the first operational delivery of the QF-16,” said Michele Hafers, director, test and training division at Eglin Air…

New tool checks F-35 paint for damages in minutes

By militaryonline on March 10, 2015 Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory, Airframes, Technology

A new handheld tool being developed will allow F-35 maintainers to check the aircraft’s paint for any damage in a fraction of the time it now takes. The handheld imaging tool consists of a 7-pound scanner and an 11-pound backpack; whereas the current piece of equipment weighs 1,200 pounds, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Recent advances in materials and electronics have allowed the Air Force to miniaturize imaging systems, said Juan G. Calzada, of the laboratory .Because the tool is so portable, it eliminates much of the time needed to set up…

The Millennium Falcon takes on TIE fighters in the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. (Courtesy of Disney/Lucasfilm)

Jalopnik compares Star Wars, US military tech–then and now

By Stephen Losey on December 1, 2014 Airframes

If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet this weekend, you’ve probably seen the first trailer for the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Fans applauded the return of the legendary Millennium Falcon and the debut of an updated X-wing starfighter, and how their appearance hews closer to the utilitarian, beat-to-hell look of the original movies and not the shiny, spiffy look of the much-derided prequels. Jalopnik’s military-focused blog, Foxtrot Alpha, took things one step further this weekend by outlining how the advancement — or lack thereof — of weapons platforms in the Star Wars universe mirrors our own. Said Foxtrot Alpha: Like…

Storm flips F-16 in Davis-Monthan boneyard

By Brian Everstine on July 16, 2014 Air Force, Airframes, Photos

Severe winds Sunday caused a retired F-16 to briefly take to the air again at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, boneyard this week. Winds recorded at about 65 mph miles per hour hit the boneyard, where retired aircraft sit in storage, and flipped lightweight F-16 flipped onto another Falcon. The steel cable tie-downs that were used to secure the aircraft snapped due to the high winds. The jet had recently had its engine removed, which made it light enough to go airborne, according to a base news release. The base lost power at about 7 p.m. Sunday night. Civil…

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