Just Passing Through: The Golden Pride

[Old Viper Tester]

Two F-15As of the 59th Tac Fighter Squadron on the Edwards AFB transient ramp, April 1984.

 

76-0009

 

76-0018

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

[Mike]

1984 - I was still in school!

[Nocoolname]

1984 - I'd barely 'started' school 🤩

[Old Viper Tester]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

I was still in school!

That's why I'm an "Old" Viper Tester.

[Mr T]

1984, the year I qualified as a registered nurse as a 'mature student' (30). 

Edited October 30, 2018 by Mr T

[Mike]

2 hours ago, Old Viper Tester said:

That's why I'm an "Old" Viper Tester.

True, I guess?  Nice pics - what's the story behind the pics & the visit, for those of us without a clue at this stage? (on most subjects if I'm honest )

[Old Viper Tester]

46 minutes ago, Mike said:

what's the story behind the pics & the visit

For this particular visit, one of the 59th pilots had been recently selected for the USAF Test Pilot School (TPS). He came to Edwards to get a flight evaluation - all pilots that were picked by the TPS selection board had to come to Edwards to get a screening flight with a TPS instructor before final admission to the school. In this case he combined the trip with a cross-country training flight with a wingman.

 

Engineers like me didn't get a screening flight until we actually arrived for class and processed in, which seemed a little silly since you had already packed up and moved to the Mojave Desert for the eleven-month class - so if you couldn't hack a back seat ride in a T-38, I don't know what they would have done with you🤔. I graduated from TPS in 1982 and had a follow-on assignment at Edwards with the F-16XL test program. By 1984, I had finished my time with the F-16XL and was taking on A-10 testing. I would usually trawl the flight line during lunch time and after work to make a pest of myself with my camera. In addition to prospective TPS students, visiting aircraft might be there for test program meetings or cross-country navigation exercises. Training flights weren't usually on the ground too long, maybe just to catch lunch and then be off again. Not like Nellis where crews might hit a casino for an hour or so and then come back to resume their navigation flight😉.

[Mike]

20 minutes ago, Old Viper Tester said:

at Edwards with the F-16XL test program. By 1984, I had finished my time with the F-16XL

I was reading a little about this last night.  Looks like an interesting time to be there.   Thanks for taking the time to fill us in

 

I think a lot of folks would be interested to hear more about the F-16XL if you ever feel like sharing, especially seeing as Kinetic are working on the 2-seater at the moment

[Britman]

Nice shots again Sven,thank you. Imagine the cameras we have today being around years ago! I have a good few pics from my aviation days but really wish I had been able to use my digital. While I am on here , why wasn't Viper taken up as the official F16 name instead of that god awful Fighting Falcon?  I seem to remember at the time they had a bit of a run in with Dassault over the Falcon name, but even so , Fighting Falcon?  It doesn't trip off the tongue does it. 

 

Keith. 

[Red Dot]

I love the old stories Sven. Keep them coming

 

andy

[Old Viper Tester]

On 10/31/2018 at 4:22 AM, Britman said:

why wasn't Viper taken up as the official F16 name instead of that god awful Fighting Falcon?

It's a pretty good bet that no one liked the name Fighting Falcon. What I heard while at Nellis was that there were concerns about rights to the name Viper, even though that's what all the crews were calling the F-16. I don't know if any one ever bothered to check with whoever the producers were of the original Battlestar Galactica series, but the scuttle was that Viper might have been a copyright issue.

 

Having said that, the official version of the story is that in 1976, the the Air Force held a "Name-the-Plane Contest" for the F-16 at MacDill AFB in Florida. I assume they polled MacDill because if was one of the first F-16 conversion training units. The winning entry was submitted by TSgt. Joseph A. Kurdel. Apparently, the good TSgt was previously assigned to a base near the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs and was a fan of the Academy football team, the Falcons. I suppose he added the "Fighting" part just as my university sometimes, jokingly, added "Fighting" to the name of our football team, the Engineers - now doesn't the name Fighting Engineers strike terror in your heart? ("Look out, he has a slide rule!") Anyway, TSgt Kurdel won the contest and we've been stuck with the official name ever since...

 

 

F-16A, 79-0290, 4th Tac Fighter Squadron, 388th Tac Fighter Wing, visiting Nellis AFB, August 1980.

 

Sven