The AN/ASQ-151 Electro-Optical Viewing System (EVS) includes a Hughes AN/AAQ-6 FLIR (Forward-Looking InfraRed) sensor, and a Westinghouse AN/AVQ-22 LLLTV (Low-Light-Level TeleVision) sensor.
Jun 1, 2023 • 23 tweets • 12 min read
"“Black Crow” sensor on Thor, an AC-130A. This sensor detected and tracked vehicles by the electrical impulses of their spark plugs. Thor was shot down by antiaircraft fire in December 1972, […] (U.S. Air Force photo)"
📷📖nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/Photo… 👁🗨 @AFmuseum
This was the AN/ASD-5 "Black Crow" Direction Finder (Truck Ignition Sensor)
It was designed to detect the electronic "noise" generated by the ignition system of a spark-ignition gasoline engine.
Under Project Pave Gat one B-57G Tropic Moon III was turned into a gunship. The main change was replacing its revolving bomb bay door with a pallet equipped with an Emerson TAT-161 (or TAT-157) turret armed with a M61 Vulcan 20mm Guttling gun.
📷reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/c…
The AN/AQX-5 weapon delivery system of this B-57G Tropic Moon III was modified by Westinghouse to aim the gun.
Emerson Aero X17A Roll-Traverse Nose Turret tested on F9F-3 Panther, BuNo 122562.
Initial contract to Emerson in 1949, ground tested in 1950, flight tested starting 1951, terminated in 1954.
📷flickr.com/photos/2008701…
The X17A turret had four .50-inch heavy machine guns and could rotate along the centerline a full 360 degrees clockwise/conterclockwise at speeds of up to 100 degrees per second.
"Lt(JG) Hugh N. Batten lands his damaged Grumman F9F-2 Panther after it was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Photo dated 12 July 1953. This plane's nose covering has been entirely torn away.…"
The F-104 was the first production aircraft to be quipped with a BLCS (Boundary Layer Control System) of blown flaps to improve effectiveness of its stubby, highly-loaded wings during approach and landing.
👁🗨 Burkhard Domke ( ) b-domke.de/AviationImages… b-domke.de
High-pressure air is bled from the engine, fed into a plenum tube running along the wing, and blown through slits ahead of the upper surface of the flaps to energize airflow over them and generate additional lift at low speeds.
📷moderndesign.org/2012/04/tribut…
"During the development of Concorde, one of Aerospatiale's fears was that given the aircraft's high approach speeds, if ever its brakes failed, it would end up in the background at the end of the runway : »
📷alamy.com/stock-photo-ge…
Supposedly, it is a depiction of a German airplane captured in 1916 and having the unusual feature of the gunner/observer being able to depress the machine gun and fire it *through* the fuselage (tunnel is visible in drawing).
US Navy Sikorski HO3S-1 Helicopter onboard icebreaker USS Edisto (AG-89) in November 1947, during Operation Windmill (1947-1948).
❗️ The first 4/5ths of the film are irrelevant and probably NSFW—consider yourselves warned!
🎞️catalog.archives.gov/id/76656 👁🗨 @USNatArchives
Icebreaker USS Edisto (AG-89) during Operation Windmill. This was the US Navy's Second Antarctica Developments Project (follow-up to Operation Highjump) and its goals were to train personnel, test equipment, and explore Antarctica.
Curtiss B-2 bomber. Gunner's position at the rear of right engine nacelle
📷vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/m… 👁🗨 @vanderbiltcup
"General William E. Gilmore, head of the Air Corp’s Material Division at Wright Field, demonstrates the latest wonder to take to the sky: two-way communications. He’s perched in the nose of a B-2 Condor of the 96th Bomb Squadron. Photo dated 4-11-30."
📷📖thejivebombers.com/2018/03/16/223…
Apr 12, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
This is the cute Boeing YL-15 Scout.
In fact it is the only example of a rare (2 XL-15s & 10 YL-15s built) airplane in flying condition.
It is owned by Keith Brunquist. Do watch the linked video just for hearing his love for it in his voice.
"At a mock crash scene the fire medics enter a jet fuel inferno through a corridor cut by lightwater spray from their Huey. The chopper touches down as they emerge from the flames with a dummy casualty." 1971
Antoinette Trainer rudimentary flight simulator: a half-barrel mounted on a universal joint, w. flight controls, pulleys, & "stub-wings" to allow the pilot to maintain balance while instructors applied external forces
📷gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt… from @GallicaBnF collections
Paulhan-Tatin Aéro-Torpille No.1 French experimental aircraft during the 3émé Exposition Internationales de Locomotion Aérienne, Grand Palais, Paris (16 Decembre 1911 au 2 Janvier 1912)
"Using a cutting torch, the Army’s 1896th Engineer Aviation Battalion dismantles Japanese atomic research equipment at Nishina Laboratory in Tokyo, December 4, 1945"