Some Interesting Items

This is from an email the Flying Heritage Museum sent me (not because I'm special, but because I signed up for their emails) and I am sharing it with you because I am fairly certain I am one of the few nerds that does that and also that you probably don't.

The rare Ilyushin Il-2M “Shturmovik” attack plane recently completed in Russia is headed to the Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) in Everett, Wash.  Expect it sometime next year. The aircraft is the only flying example of its type left in the world.

You may know that the Il-2 Shturmovik was a ground attack aircraft that the Germans feared in WWII.  It had particularly thick skin.  It carried particularly heavy weaponry intended for ground attack, the targets mainly being tanks.  Think of the German Junker Ju-87 with a few more things on it to make it survive.  All in all, it's a cool aircraft.  You can learn more about it here.

This image from Wikipedia

The second interesting item is that the US has dismantled it's most powerful bomb.  The B-53 was 12 feet long and a little more than 4 feet in diameter and could detonate with a power of 9 megatons of TNT!  Now these behemoths are gone.  You can read more about them here.  If you want to read about the dismantlement of them you can read about it here and here.

Sad Events

Sad events occurred over the weekend.  A heavily modified P-51 was lost and a T-28 was also lost.  Both in air shows.

The P-51 was a heavily modified racer with clipped wings and modified canopy.  He was in Reno and seems to have managed to avoid a greater number of people than the now confirmed nine people.

The T-28 was lost in West Virginia.

Ewa Field, Hawaii

photo from here

On December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States was attacked by forces of the Empire of Japan.  This action resulted in the sinking or disabling of much of the United States Navy's major fleet units.  This action also caused the United States to be catapulted into World War II.  This is a significant event.

I always have found it more interesting to learn about things that I could see, touch, or experience.  As I have mentioned in the past, I have been to the B-Reactor site and stood where Enrico Fermi stood when they brought that reactor on-line in September of 1944.  The ability to stand in the footprints of those who came before allows you to visualize better what those who came before went through and experienced.

The US Navy has allowed many of its ships to be preserved and used as memorials to those who have fought and fallen for this great nation of ours.  However, I do not know of many land installations that have been preserved for the same purpose.  It has come to my attention, thanks to the efforts of John Bond at http://www.december7.com/ , that the small airfield of Ewa near Honolulu, Hawaii, is in danger of being erased.  This field figured prominently in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Should a photo-voltaic power station be constructed on the field, thus cutting it off from the public, or off the field?  I am in agreement with those at http://www.december7.com/ in that it should be located OFF the field.

You can help preserve the field for later generations.  Write a letter, of use this one

COMMANDER, NAVY REGION HAWAII
ATTN: CNRH PAO
850 Ticonderoga Street, Suite #110
JBPHH, HI 96860-5101

Dear Sirs,

I believe the best option for preservation of the December 7, 1941 Ewa Field
Battlefield Site, in a report which has been researched and distributed by
Navy Region Hawaii, is for the proposed Photo-Voltaic Solar Panel farm to be
placed OFF the historic battlefield runway and in an area below it. This
would allow both historic preservation and renewable energy generation and
be a win-win solution for all concerned.

The Photo-Voltaic Solar Panel farm developer, Hunt Corp of Texas, has
already drawn up an alternate location proposal which would meet the same
needs for solar power generation, and which also meets the National Park
Service recommendation as well as the public opinion of many in the local
community of Ewa which would like to see the battlefield site preserved for
a future National Park and National Landmark.
Sincerely,

Your Name
and Organization
Address

FASTEST WAY- EMAIL your text, Doc or PDF TO:  cnrh.pao@navy.mil

I hope you will do this immediately!

A Sad Day

Today, June 13, 2011, one of the few flight-worthy B-17s left in the world made an emergency landing in a field.  The engine was on fire and the fire spread leading to the total destruction of the air frame.  You can read more about the loss of the Liberty Belle here.


This image was taken from the Beacon News site, please see their article in the link above for more information and photos.

You can watch the FOX News video here.

USS Triton, SSN-586

In 1959, the new submarine Triton was commissioned into the Navy.  This ship would become world famous quickly.  She was of a unique design and pushed the boundaries of submarine performance.

Designed as a radar picket, she was intended to range ahead of the fleet watching for air attacks.  For this she needed high surface-speed and was given a knife-like bow.  She also had two reactors...the only US submarine so fitted.  She was so long that her bow blocked the shipyard railway and her stern section was built in a second slipway and attached prior to launch.  Her conning tower was 74 feet long and 21feet longer than the US Navy's first submarine, USS Holland SS-1.  Her maximum surface speed was found to be over thirty knots on trials, faster than carrier task forces generally operated.   By 1961 she had been re-designated an Attack (SSN) sub.  Though she retained the radar that had been installed for her radar picket role and she was able to complement any force she was assigned to with this additional air-search radar.

As with other submarine designs in the mid to late fifties she was put to other uses than intended.  Her first mission was to circumnavigate the world under water (Yes, her maiden voyage was to steam around the world submerged, no tall orders or anything).  This record breaking statement of US submarine capabilities was an impressive first, it also told the Soviets what the US was capable of.

She was captained by the famous submarine author and WWII veteran Captain Edward L. Beach.  Her world tour under water, took 84 days to complete.

She was the last sub fitted with an aft torpedo room and the last sub to have a conning tower (with a separate pressure-hull within it). She was also the last sub with two propellers. 

She was decommissioned in 1969, and sat in the Bremerton retired sub fleet for years.  Finally, in 2007 she was dry-docked for the last time.  A little over two years later the job was done and she had been "recycled."  all that remains are memories, stories and the conning tower.

Where is her conning tower, you ask?  Well, it resides now, on a concrete plinth, overlooking the Columbia River.  She is there to memorialize submariners and in recognition of the numerous reactor cores from other retired submarines that have been offloaded from the Port of Benton Barge Slip and which are stored permanently on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

If you are interested in seeing the sail of this awesome sub with such an impressive history and you live in Washington State, or are visiting the Richland-Pasco-Kennewick area, it's not hard to find!  Any way you cut it, you'll probably approach the area from the South.

Take 240 North from the Tri-Cities until you have the choice of taking Stevens Drive or following 240.  Go straight on Stevens Drive.  Keep going until you come to a tree-lined boulevard, this is Battelle Boulevard, turn right onto it.  Follow this road until you come to a stop light.  This is George Washington Way.  Take a left on George Washington Way.  Go north until you get to 11th Street and take a right.  USS Triton's conning tower is about a block down on the left!  Alternatively you could take George Washington Way all the way from Richland, but that is a much slower way.

Here are some things you might like to know about the sub:

Laid Down on May 29, 1956
Launched August 19, 1958
Commissioned November 10, 1959
Decommissioned May 3, 1969


Length 447 feet
Beam 37 feet

Maximum speed:
30+ knots surfaced
27+ knots submerged

Displacement:
7,773 tons submerged
5,963 tons surfaced

Armament:
6X 21" torpedo tubes (2 aft, 4 forward)

Propulsion:
2X S4G nuclear reactors
2X 5 bladed props


She was awarded the Navy Unit Citation and the Presidential Unit Citation.

Links and sources:
Navsource
http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08586.htm

USS Triton site
http://garrygray.tripod.com/triton_home_page.htm

Navy's Triton site
http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn586.htm

747-800 Visit

Generally, I am the one visiting the aircraft, but just every once in awhile the aircraft visit me.  This is Boeing's newest iteration of the venerable 747.  This particular one is the freighter version that has been testing at Moses Lake.  Boeing has a significant presence at Grant County International Airport.  If you are interested in seeing more going's on at Boeing you can visit Matt Cawby's blog covering what goes on at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.  Boeing's Paine Field facility is busy and sometimes hosts the 747-800.

The company boasts that this 747 uses 787 engine technology and is therefore quieter than previous 747 models.  It may be quieter than previous models, but it sure got my attention when it flew over yesterday.  It is 250 feet in length and almost the same in wingspan.  That is no small airframe to be carting around the skies.  It's going to make some noise no matter what.

Also, last Friday an EA-18G visited...he didn't stick around long.

No, this doesn't quite qualify as history, but it is of local and aviation interest.

Osama Bin Laden Dead

This may not be closely related to Washington State, but it is related to hundreds and thousands of men and women in the service and even civilians.  Osama Bin Laden is dead.  I want to lift a glass to all the American and Allied men and women who have died in the past ten years attempting to track down Osama Bin Laden.  In addition I want to lift a glass to those who have perished in terrorist attacks in the past.  Finally, I want to lift a glass to those of you who are responsible for hunting down and disposing of that particular vermin.  Thank you!