Posted on 01/15/2007 6:09:17 AM PST by AlbertoMG
merica’s brand-new F-35 Lightning II is currently undergoing a series of tests over Fort Worth, Texas. The third flight on Wednesday tested the aircraft at 23,000 feet, the highest altitude the aircraft has ever been. And this week, Lockheed Martin’s chief test pilot Jon Beesley — the only man on the planet to have flown the F-35 — plans to take the jet even higher. The F-35 is not the first fighter ever tested by Beesley, a 56-year-old former Air Force officer and grandfather of six. He also is the second man in the world to fly the Air Force’s latest air supremacy fighter, the F-22 Raptor (designed to replace the F-15 Eagle). And he was one of the first to fly the now aging F-117 Nighthawk (the world’s “first operational stealth aircraft”).
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Ping.
Interesting comments from Beesley in this article regarding flying and thinking, and thinking while flying.
Jon Beesley is also the head of the local Morman Church in Fort Worth.
Was this the JSF project, that was finally designated with an "F" series number???
I bet someone along the way, had to do some serious arm-twisting to get the Navy to sign off on a single engine aircraft again...but if it performs, I can't see an aviator gripe-ing too much about it...
Mr. Beesley has one of the best jobs on the planet. I bet he goes to work every day with a smile on his face.
I can see replacing the the other planes, but why would you want to replace a low cost A-10 ground attack plane with one the costs $45 Mill per copy?
I think the F-111 may have been first. Hope the F-35 does a better job of it.
The keyword "AEROSPACE" has been added to this post.
I wouldn't say that Beesley is the first to fly the F-35, since this is still a pre-production prototype, not a production airframe. It's very close, though. It is the overweight airframe, and has only a fraction of the avionics slated for the F-35.
The first "true" production model will be the F-35B that is currently in producion. It has all of the weight saving measures built into the airframe, and will also have most of the produciton avionics installed.
The Navy has had single engine aircraft in the past. The F-8 Crusader (a name that should be returned to the inventory!) and the A-4 Skyhawk to name two.
It wasn't until the F/A-18 that the Navy said that two engines were better than one. Before that, two engines had more thrust than one, which is why the F-14 was a twin engine aircraft.
A-4 Intruder was also a twin enging design, but it was a non-afterburning aircraft so I can't say that the Navy purposely chose a twin design for safety vs. thrust.
aviation ping, please.
Nope, the F-111 was designed to replace aircraft from two branches, the USAF and USN. The F-111 was never slated for use by the USMC.
The F-111 was a fine tactical strike aircraft, and a lousy dog fighter, which is why the Navy rejected the F-111B. Grumman learned from the F-111's shortcomings and applied lessons learned to the F-14, a very sweet plane indeed.
The A-10 will never be replaced by the F-35. The A-10 might eventually be replaced by a UAV, however.
See #10.
Flight of the Intruder (1991)
Directed by
John Milius
Writing credits (WGA)
Stephen Coonts (novel)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099587/
Lt. Jake Grafton: "Fighter pukes make movies. Bomber pilots make... HISTORY!"
I can't say either, but it sounds reasonable from a survivability point of view, to have a low flying attack bomber with two engines in case one gets hit.
I liked the book much better.
I also had the video game for the Amiga. That was so darn confusing and complicated to play on such a slow (by today's standards) computer.
The movie was good, too, but they had to throw a lot out from the book, as always.
I have to agree. Count the number of engines on the A-10.
Yep...Very familiar with those airframes...
I forget who it was that championed the twin engined specifications for future Navy aircraft (at the time), but I can see where the technology, performance and ease of maintenance crowd has successfully, (and rightfully so), woo'd the brown shoes...
I think those Marines are going to like this thing!!!
I personally don't care that it looks kinda funny...There still is no foreign airforce that can match us anyway...
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