Some military aircraft pictures from my travels...

scoutpilot

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Ran into a few of our multi-service brethren at various locales on my flight out west. These first two were in Amarillo, TX.

F-18F Super Hornet. Unsure if it's a Squid or Jarhead version, as it wasn't marked and the crew was off being good aviators (eating lunch). My guess would be the latter, though.

Behind is a USMC CV-22 Osprey. Loudest thing on the planet. Incidentally, the Bell Textron final assembly and test plant is at Amarillo, so there are always CV-22s in the pattern. This particular one was a fleet model, and the crew was waiting because it was broken.

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AH-1W Cobra. Bell also builds the Cobra and Huey line at Amarillo, so it's not rare for them to show up. Two old snakes rolled in while we were pre-flighting. You can see the tail of an Air Force T-38 Talon.
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This is in Fayetteville, AR. There was a military air show going on and Coast Guard HC-144 stopped in to do a static display. A rare sight indeed. It was the first time I've ever seen a USCG aircraft besides a Dauphin. There was plenty of other hardware there, both old and new.

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Keep your eyes open at regional airports. Military aircraft frequently stop in to refeul.
 
Cool pics!
You might want to double check but I don't think that Marines fly the Super Hornet.
 
I live next to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and those Ospreys and hornets are always flying overhead. It's really sick!
 
You got some great shots....Thanks for sharing. I love the Cobra shot.

I am also pretty sure that JAM is right. The Corps never got the super hornet.

I thought it was odd that it was unmarked. I did notice one Marine strolling around with a test pilot patch. Perhaps something is afoot.

The Cobra is a sexy old dog. That old underslung rotor turns so slowly. I took more pics, but can't post them.
 
Ok, what does it mean to be "underslung?"

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The rotorhead employs a teeter-totter type design. However, the gimbal hinge is located above the centerline of the long-axis of the blade. Thus, the blade rides below its point of attachment on the rotating main mast and is therefore said to be "underslung" relative to that point.

If you know anything about rotary wing aerodynamics, you're likely aware that the blades must flap and feather as they rotate as a result of dissymmetry of lift throughout the rotor disc and the resultant change in induced flow. This flapping action requires that the blades lead and lag (speed up and flex forward or slow down and flex aft) relative to their mounting point to preserve their angular momentum. Flexing up and down moves the center-of-mass of the blade closer to the axis of rotation, and if you've ever seen a figure skater spin faster as she pulls her arms into her body, you know what happens when the blade center-of-mass moves inward.

The underslung rotorhead elminates the need for lead-lag hinges and drag dampers by maintaining a constant distance between the COM of the blade and the mast.

A picture is worth a thousand words...
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It's a simple design, but there's a lot of slop in it. It can't maneuver like an articulated or soft-in-plane rotor. Hence, the Z-model Cobra will not use the old design.
 
When a "granddaddy" Is in the air nearby I always look up. Unmistakable sound from the "good old days".:wink:
 
Scout-
Thanks for the great explanation. I too had no idea what exactly was meant by that even though I had heard it countless times.

Of course I look at that top picture you posted and see all those mechanical connections and think "holy crap....that is what is used to keep that thing in the air..."

Thanks. Every now and then I'm good for something.

That top picture is actually a very simple rotorhead off the AH-1W. There's a reason the main nut that holds the yoke assembly to the mast is called the "Jesus Nut."
 
I wish I had this knowledge before I went to the Air show this weekend on Fort Carson’s Butts Field! I would have been staring at the blades wondering if that what Scout was talking about.
 
If you wondered and thought about how it worked and stayed in the air you wouldn't board it. If it got you from point A to B it worked. They weren't contraptions but then again you had other things to think about while you were in the slings. They were a workhorse with a good airworthy history. Some Sikorsky Guys were having lunch today down the street from our local airfield. As there were only three I think it was a Blackhawk. One Green flight suit and two Brown suits?
 
If you wondered and thought about how it worked and stayed in the air you wouldn't board it. If it got you from point A to B it worked. They weren't contraptions but then again you had other things to think about while you were in the slings. They were a workhorse with a good airworthy history. Some Sikorsky Guys were having lunch today down the street from our local airfield. As there were only three I think it was a Blackhawk. One Green flight suit and two Brown suits?

Hard to say for sure, but the most common Sikorsky hardware DoD uses is the dash60 series, so it's likely.
 
But the "Huey" does have a distictive sound. If you hear it overhead it sounds like it is comming into a landing area or an LZ and you will never forget that sound. Hear them overhead and it does perk up your ears
 
But the "Huey" does have a distictive sound. If you hear it overhead it sounds like it is comming into a landing area or an LZ and you will never forget that sound. Hear them overhead and it does perk up your ears

Indeed. Long blades with a wide chord give that sound, which is common to early models of Hueys and Cobras.
 
Can never forget that sound of a Huey comming in or overhead.:thumb:
 
Can never forget that sound of a Huey comming in or overhead.:thumb:

My first IP in flight school still had his Huey initial pitch-pull muscle memory for autorotations. He couldn't shake it, so we'd sail down the runway forever before we bled off the rotor.
 
On the PAD: Huey Command Pilot asks if anyone has never ridden in a helicopter before. Second LT says "never" (before we could shut him up). Buckle up. The most amazing low level lift off and down the road through the jungle you have ever experienced.

Didn't know the Huey could autorotate but I guess all can unless severely damaged. Used to watch the PEDRO's HH-43 do autorotate as practice. Then saw them do the real thing with full motor to blow the fire out as crash rescue saved the pilot.
 
On the PAD: Huey Command Pilot asks if anyone has never ridden in a helicopter before. Second LT says "never" (before we could shut him up). Buckle up. The most amazing low level lift off and down the road through the jungle you have ever experienced.

Didn't know the Huey could autorotate but I guess all can unless severely damaged. Used to watch the PEDRO's HH-43 do autorotate as practice. Then saw them do the real thing with full motor to blow the fire out as crash rescue saved the pilot.

I might have to tell helo pilots every time I haven't flown in one before from now on. :)

I've been on a helo twice: once around the great barrier reef, once on a UH-1 to tour Tokyo a la Yokota AFB. :)
 
If you have to go only twice those sound like some great flights.:thumb:
 
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