Historical Aircraft Heritage Flight Event
I was able to attend the Heritage Flight Training and Certification Course "open day" that was not available to the general public.
Often held in Arizona at this time of year, pilots and crews converge for a few days of training before heading off to make the rounds of this year's Airshows across the country.
Saturday and Sunday were open to employees and media, so I took advantage in order to show you all the aircraft that have been flying around my house these past few days.
Enjoy!
As you enter the parking ramp, you notice that they have separated the historical and modern aircraft to each side. Being somewhat of a fan of history, I had no difficulty choosing to explore the older aircraft first.
P-38 Lightning "Thoughts of Midnite"
This is a P-38 Lighting used to great success by American forces in WW2. Before the P-51D modification, these aircraft were the primary long-range fighters. In that regards, they were more often seen in the Pacific theater as the travel ranges were much higher than in Europe.
Not especially good as a dogfighter due to a low rate of roll, they found better success in a fighter-bomber role.
I found an old picture of this exact aircraft pictured above. The original name was the "Putt-Putt Maru."
P-40 Warhawk
This aircraft is a P-40 Warhawk created by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Due to the nose art, I suspect this one was flown by the Royal Australian Air Force during WW2. P40's were the 3rd most manufactured design of Allied fighters in WW2.
The P-40's were good early war aircraft at low to medium altitudes. However, they had a lack of power at higher altitudes. To guard against this defect, they were sent to theaters where high altitude missions were not commonly encountered, such as the North Africa, Indonesia, and China.
It was blessed with a very strong frame and this allowed it to survive damage that would have crashed lesser aircraft. It is even known that a few pilots chose intentional mid-air ramming to take down enemy aircraft.
P-51 Mustangs
No other aircraft were as common as the P-51 during WW2, with more than 15,000 manufactured. Many different variations were created, ending in the best this design could handle in the P-51D.
The P-51D was armed with 6 .50 caliber Browning machine guns, three on each wing.
This aircraft was so good, it was still in active use by the Dominican Air Force until 1984. Even the American Air Force used these bad boys in the Korean war until they were replaced by the F-86F Sabre jet powered fighter.
F-86F Sabre
Speaking of the F-86F Sabre, here is the "Jolly Roger."
This aircraft was manufactured in 1952 and piloted by Captain Clifford Jolley during the Korean War. It was there that he scored seven air victories.
After it was retired from US service, it was sold to the Argentinian Air Force.
A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog"
This plane was designed around its 30mm gatling gun. Yes. They wanted that gun to fly so they had an aircraft built to carry it. Pretty badass!
The aircraft is designed to be a close air support aircraft, meaning its mission is to rain destruction down on targets - not to fight against other aircraft.
Since it is to fly near to enemy ground positions, it was created with durability and survival in mind. It has 1,200 pounds of titanium armor surrounding the cockpit, as well as multiple redundant systems. It was actually made to be able to fly missing one, engine, half its tail, one elevator, AND half a wing missing!
F-16 Fighting Falcon
Designed after the Vietnam war, it was primarily created to be an air superiority fighter aircraft. Since those times, it has evolved into a fighter jet that can perform multiple roles.
Still in use by the USA today, it can also be found in 25 other nations arsenals.
F-22 Raptor
Development of a replacement for the F-15 and F-16 aircraft started way back in 1981. After many changes and delays, it finally entered service in 2005.
It is a stealth air superiority fighter, and it is said that no other aircraft can match it in the skies.
It is already out of production, with a final number built standing at 187. It was beat out by the more versatile F-35.
F-35 Lightning II
This is the most recent aircraft to enter service in the US Air Force as the first squadron started operations in August of 2016.
It is a stealth multirole fighter, designed to perform air-to-ground or air-to-air missions. It is also the most expensive fighter plane in history with an expected average cost of $85 million per jet.
It looks very similar to the F-22 as both aircraft are from Lockheed-Martin.
A long educating read.
P40 aircrafts were sent to theatres in Africa(north), my continent. So Africa had little need for high altitude aircrafts like F16 fighting falcon?
No, the main Axis Air Forces in North Africa were made up of inferior Italian aircraft. So the P-40's didn't have to go up against too many superior German fighters at altitude.
Ok. I think I am beginning to understand more. Thanks a lot. If I find time I would revisit my history text
Wauhh.... great. I just like the way they were made. America has the best fight jets and strong to resist during hard times. For, a country buying a jet I do agree for security purposes.
As American people, do you really feel that burden of such an expensive infrastructure when paying your taxes?
As American people, do you really feel that burden of such an expensive infrastructure when paying your taxes?
No, the real costs have been piling up for decades, but the country hasn't really experienced any hardship. Eventually though, all the debt will catch up and then we will just be spinning our wheels as all the taxes go only towards debt repayments.
It won't be pretty.
Yeah....I remember some year back when Uganda decided to by a fighting jet. This was first a public issue of discussion and then the parliament approved, latter on we faced a real inflation which worsened the state of the economy.
Ohh that Raptor and Warthog looks like two demolition machines 🔥
And the name on the first one was price-less, "Double Trouble" with a witch logo haha.
Solid content my friend ✌🏼
Don't know your other interests but if you happen to be into travelling, vlogs, fitness, self-development etc feel free to check out my channel, in any case steem on and I'll see you around!
Hey thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, the hog is one aircraft to be feared if you are an enemy on the ground.
Wow!
Amazing photograph.
So all these aircraft are used for wars?
Yes, from WW2 until modern day - these are all fighter aircraft of one type or another.
Wow!
Thank you, this is an eye opener
Voovv. I admire these planes. I especially like the f-16 type war plane. It made me really happy to see this message. Thank you so much. Have a nice day :)
The F-16 has certainly proven itself to be one of the best of all time
Fabulous post. I take it you are a pilot. Have you flown any of these planes?
No on both counts :D
Its cool to see the planes change over the course of decades.
It reminded me of a little video you get when opening the game Civilization VI, in where you start in some ancient time, and end up with a spacecraft. This is the video:
Oh, I love the Civ series. I haven't purchased 6 yet, but you can bet that I will one day.
Never got into planes... but this was quite a read!
And the plane was sturdy enough to not brake apart?
Just take the whole plane out and the pilot will keep flying without anything!
Have you ever seen the Redbull air race in Porto? I know ppl come from everywhere to see it!
You should check out a game called War Thunder! It has most of these planes and you can fly them into war, it also has tanks!
As for mid-air ramming, I guess the planes did well enough that the pilots survived and maybe even took the plane back to base.
I haven't watched the RedBull races, but I have heard of them. It certainly seems like an adrenaline fueled time to do those crazy stunts and courses.
I haven't got into War Thunder, but I play the tank version for many years now - World of Tanks.
World of Tanks is pretty cool too! I only played a few weeks of it, back when i played video gammes i jumped from game to game almost every week... i get bored easily, war thunder also has tanks like world of tanks, has planes too, and it's free to play from steam :)
Yeah, if it's free to play then I play free. I'm not spending money and will let the rest spend loads chasing the latest new vehicle. Not me, my money gets invested.
Hmm, that may make a good post.
Hahah, yeah i know what you mean, all my friends are spending money on new skins for csgo weapons... meanwhile i'm investing
excellent photography.have a good day.