PRB
December 20th, 2009, 15:56
So I was watching a YouTube video which featured the McDonnell F3H Demon fighter (among others) landing and taking off from aircraft carriers during what appears to be flight testing. At some point in the video the Demon lights off its huge after burner, and it got me to thinking about these devices.
The only airplanes I've worked closely around that had after burners (re-heaters for our friends across the pond?) are F-14s and FA-18s. Now, both of these planes had this fancy multi-stage AB system whereby the full force of the AB is not applied instantly, but in “stages” as you advance the throttles forward. I'm told this type of system is not nearly as dramatic as, say, the RF-8 Crusader, which, like most planes of the era (like the F3 Demon...) had only one “stage” of AB. It was either off, or it was on, and if it was on it was “OFF” (On Full Force) Hehe. I'm told the “audio/visual” effect of this, if you were nearby, was somewhat “attention getting”. When the AB “lit off” there came an almighty and earth shaking “BOOM!” from the offending airplane. This, of course, is what we call “cool”.
Being such a youngster, the RF-8 Crusaders were gone from the fleet by the time I sailed on my first aircraft carrier in 1982. But (but...(as Lionheart would say)) when in 1990 our FA-18 squadron went on a visit to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, I witnessed an engine test of what I think was a QF-100. That's a radio controlled target drone version of the famous North American F-100 Super Sabre fighter. The F-100 had one of the old style (1-stage) AB systems. The engine test was going on quite a distance away, and I would never have even noticed it had it not been for the fact that they tested the AB at some point... What I heard (and felt) was a deep base-component heavy “thud” through the ground, and through the air. It wasn't loud, because the plane was far away. But the power that was delivered through the air and through the ground was amazing. As I watched, they shut off and lit off the AB several more times over ten or so minutes. Amazing! Stuff we just can't get from FSX!
hXyrnvkxrPw
The only airplanes I've worked closely around that had after burners (re-heaters for our friends across the pond?) are F-14s and FA-18s. Now, both of these planes had this fancy multi-stage AB system whereby the full force of the AB is not applied instantly, but in “stages” as you advance the throttles forward. I'm told this type of system is not nearly as dramatic as, say, the RF-8 Crusader, which, like most planes of the era (like the F3 Demon...) had only one “stage” of AB. It was either off, or it was on, and if it was on it was “OFF” (On Full Force) Hehe. I'm told the “audio/visual” effect of this, if you were nearby, was somewhat “attention getting”. When the AB “lit off” there came an almighty and earth shaking “BOOM!” from the offending airplane. This, of course, is what we call “cool”.
Being such a youngster, the RF-8 Crusaders were gone from the fleet by the time I sailed on my first aircraft carrier in 1982. But (but...(as Lionheart would say)) when in 1990 our FA-18 squadron went on a visit to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, I witnessed an engine test of what I think was a QF-100. That's a radio controlled target drone version of the famous North American F-100 Super Sabre fighter. The F-100 had one of the old style (1-stage) AB systems. The engine test was going on quite a distance away, and I would never have even noticed it had it not been for the fact that they tested the AB at some point... What I heard (and felt) was a deep base-component heavy “thud” through the ground, and through the air. It wasn't loud, because the plane was far away. But the power that was delivered through the air and through the ground was amazing. As I watched, they shut off and lit off the AB several more times over ten or so minutes. Amazing! Stuff we just can't get from FSX!
hXyrnvkxrPw