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AV-B Harrier Safety Chase Photos


Old Viper Tester

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These images were taken in 1983 and ’84. McDonnell-Douglas brought AV-8B ship #2 (USN Bu. No. 161397) out to Edwards AFB a few times to accomplish stability and control evaluations.

 

Three different missions are shown here. The January 1983 mission has two Mk 82 500-lb Snakeyes on the centerline station. The June 1983 mission has the Snakeyes on the two outboard wing stations. On the February 1984 mission, all the pylons are empty.

 

From our T-38A on his left wing over Tehachapi foothills.

161397 mcair 19830108 13cr

 

We do a ‘clean ‘n’ dry check”’ before test maneuvers are executed.  No leaks, no loose panels, or anything else out of place.

161397 mcair R-2508 19830108 04cr161397 mcair R-2508 19830108 11cr

 

As I recall, all test maneuvers were accomplished in the lower southwest corner of the  R-2508 complex north of Edwards AFB.

161397 mcair R-2508 19830108 12cr

 

161397 mcair R-2508 19830108 16cr

 

The weapons are inert. I don’t know why they have a gold band around them rather than the usual blue nose bands. Maybe they are instrumented?

161397 mcair R-2508 19830628 25cr

 

161397 mcair R-2508 19830628 29cr

 

Note the soot has been cleaned away from the fuselage star and bar.

161397 mcair R-2508 19830628 33cr

 

Descent  to enter the Edwards pattern. 

161397 mcair R-2508 19830628 30cr

 

Entering base leg of the Edwards pattern for Runway 22. Rogers dry lake below.

161397 mcair R-2508 19830628 36cr

 

Rejoin over one of the dry lakes.

161397 mcair R-2508 19840206 17cr

 

Taking position on our right wing. Over the east "shore" of Rogers Dry Lake.

161397 mcair R-2508 19840206 18cr

 

161397 mcair R-2508 19840206 19cr

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

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Cracking set of shots and thanks for posting - these are very useful and very timely and interesting.

 

Have you got any images you could share where it carries "Radar" on the nose and trialling AIM-120s? I've only seen one image and have no documented evidence that it did them, so maybe it's fake?

 

Alpha Delta 210 - I believe the jet is at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. No longer in this scheme though.

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33 minutes ago, ChocksAway said:

Have you got any images you could share where it carries "Radar" on the nose and trialling AIM-120s?

Sorry, but no.

 

I did all my flight test tours at Edwards and Nellis. Navy/Marine aircraft usually only came to Edwards when they wanted to be close to the dry lake beds in case they needed to make an emergency landing, as in this case. Mostly engine or high angle of attack tests.

 

If what you describe did occur, then it would have been done at NAS Patuxent River or at the Naval Weapons Center at China Lake. As close as China Lake is to both Edwards and Nellis, we rarely played with each other beyond sharing air space. Even then, China Lake has its own dedicated air space in the center of the R-2508 operating area.

 

Sven

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3 hours ago, ChocksAway said:

Cracking set of shots and thanks for posting - these are very useful and very timely and interesting.

 

Have you got any images you could share where it carries "Radar" on the nose and trialling AIM-120s? I've only seen one image and have no documented evidence that it did them, so maybe it's fake?

 

Alpha Delta 210 - I believe the jet is at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. No longer in this scheme though.

 

Strange, I was just thinking about them this morning. I'm wondering if they are just a clever photoshop or if adding an FA18 nose was possible, even just a dummy 

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Excellent photos Sven; thank you for sharing them!

Can you remember who the pilot was on these flights?  I know John Farley flew this Harrier II around May 1982 but I'm not sure if he was out there in 83 too.

 

I hope you don't mind if I share them more widely with members of the IPMS(UK)'s Harrier Special Interest Group?

 

Best wishes

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, NG899 said:

Can you remember who the pilot was on these flights?

Don't remember who the pilot was for these missions.

 

The pilot that came out to fly AV-8B #3 was Bill Lowe. The only reason I remember is that his name was on the aircraft beneath the windscreen. Cleaning the images of #3 now. A teaser...

161398 mcair 3 R-2508 19840608 02cr

 

Sven

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3 hours ago, NG899 said:

That's quite some structure at the back: anti-spin parachute housing, or...?  Are they two cameras ahead of the flap on the wings, facing front and rear?

The two cameras are facing aft, rather strange that. Generally, forward facing cameras are used to visualize departure/spin motion post-flight. Even then, modern HUD cameras are sufficient these days for that purpose. F-16 departure testing was an on-going thing in the '80s and '90s as more store configurations, engine control changes, and flight control upgrades were introduced. For those tests, we used only the HUD camera to visualize the digital data collected.*

 

I'm thinking that maybe the cameras were there for checking operation of the anti-spin parachute - that is the contraption on the tail. If the Navy test safety process is anything like the USAF, the chute operation has to be demonstrated on the ground and in the air before the actual departure testing is begun. This is to prove operation of the deployment mortar and extension of the parachute and shroud lines before it has to be used in anger. F-15 example - note the camera mounted just aft of the speed brake:

71-0287 spin chute static firing test 2 cr71-0287 spin chute in-flighti firing test 3 cr

 

The shroud lines are anchored to the apex of the plumbing beneath the metallic blue parachute canister - those tubes transferring the forces of the deployed parachute to the major structure of the aircraft.

 

I have photos of this jet with the cameras (obviously), with just the camera mounting pads, and with no mounts at all. I think I also have a shot of the recovery chute installation.

 

*There's a video of an F-16 departure (think it was an asymmetric AMRAAM configuration) showing both the view through the HUD and the ground based tracking camera as the aircraft departs, goes into a Limit Cycle Oscillation (LCO, we were always told "The F-16 doesn't spin."), and then the General Dynamics test pilot attempts to recover. The pilot tries the normal F-16 recovery technique: activating the Manual Pitch Override (MPO, allowing full deflection of the horizontal tails) and pitch rocking - trying to force the nose down to break the LCO. That doesn't work as he falls to the mandatory recovery chute activation altitude. Test mission control calls for the chute. He activates the chute and nothing happens - seems someone made an error in preparing the chute. He goes back to pitch rocking and is talking to the jet, 'Come on baby, recover! - This is crazy! Come on...' The aircraft finally recovers just shy of the mandatory out-of-control ejection altitude. Someone on the radio casually asks, "Zoom 76, are you RTB?" Pilot response... 'You're darn right I'm RTB!"

 

With more info than you wanted to know...

Sven

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4 hours ago, NG899 said:

Thanks for the info on the cameras and contraption Sven, or should I be calling you Keith?

 

I trust you were not the F16 pilot involved in the LCO event... nor had any similar experiences.

Nick,

 

Sven was my aircrew nickname. Some refer to it as a call sign, but real call signs are those assigned for radio coms - like the Zoom 76 referred to above. At Edwards, all pilots were assigned a number. The name in the call sign depended on what squadron/test force you were flying with. Pilot flying with the F-16 CTF would be "Zoom" followed by the aircrew number. F-15 CTF used "Eagle", A-10 CTF used "Paco", Test Pilot School used "Cobra", the test support squadron (6512th TS, later 445th FLTS) used "Rick". The most original call sign, IMHO, was the Combat Talon CTF, they used "Opus". This referred to the comic strip character with a very large beak, appropriate for the very large radome associated with the Combat Talon II. The call sign for their mission control "Bloom County", which was the name of comic strip.

 

The F-16 LCO event was flown by John Fergione, the lead General Dynamics test pilot at the F-16 CTF at the time.

 

Alas, I am/was a flight test engineer (FTE). I flew in the back seat - self-loading baggage as one pilot called us. On a test mission I would track test points, manually record test data (in case of recording failure), verify switchology and conditions before executing a test point, and sometimes critique the execution of the test points. On chase missions I would serve as an observer: checking the test aircraft, operate ECM pods, and help clear the airspace.

 

In any case, Sven will do. Before I retired, all of my co-workers and superiors referred to me as Sven for the 25+ years that I worked behind a desk. Many probably didn't know that my given name is Keith.

 

Sven

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