Remembering Oshkosh | a 7 Image Story Oshkosh Air Adventure 2020 did not happen, of course, due to the pandemic. It’s hard to grasp remembering Oshkosh in only the past tense. Although these images have been posted in the past, this week’s posts remember some of the iconic airplanes that usually show up at Air Adventure. With most airshows and/or fly-ins cancelled this year, next year’s Air Adventure 2021 will hopefully be the best ever.
B-29 “Doc” During WWII 3,970 B-29 Superfortress bombers were built. Today, only two B-29s, “FIFI” & “Doc“, are airworthy. “Doc” is maintained and operated by Doc’s Friends. In WWII, it was part of an eight plane squadron. Each plane was named for one of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range, supersonic fighter-bomber developed by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 and by the mid 1960s, became a major part of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps air wings. The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds of ordnance on nine external hard points including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs, but originally without an internal cannon. Later models incorporated a M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance, including an absolute speed record, and an absolute altitude record. During the Vietnam War, the F-4 was used extensively as the principal Air Superiority fighter. It served as a first line fighter of more Western air forces than any other jet.
The Blue Angels With their F/A-18 Hornets, the Blue Angels, of course, are the main attraction to any airshow even Air Adventure. They have been performing since 1946 making them the oldest formal flying aerobatics team in the USA. Notice the “F/A” in the F/A-18 Hornet designation since it’s both a fighter and an attack aircraft. Even with these bald skies, the vapor trail provides some contrast. They fly in formation only an amazing 18 inches apart.
Aerobatics @ Oshkosh Air Adventure always has great airshows. It’s amazing what the airshow pilots can make an airplane do. The smoke provides nice contrast against those bald skies.
A-1 Skyraider “Bad News” Landing The A-1 Skyraider entered service in December 1946 as the next generation of WWII dive bombers and torpedo bombers. It saw extensive action in the Korean War by the U.S. Navy and USMC. In the Vietnam War, it again saw action as primary ground support attack aircraft. The Skyraider’s most famous roles was the “Sandy” helicopter escort on search and rescue operations. The Skyraider was retired by the U.S. military in the 1970’s after a total of 3,180 planes were built.
Piper J-3 Cub This Piper J-3 Cub on floats image was captured at Oshkosh Air Adventure’s seaplane base. The iconic Piper J-3 Cub is a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. It’s powered by an air-cooled engine and a fixed pitch propeller. Its fuselage is a welded steel frame covered in fabric with seating for two in tandem. It has a simple, lightweight design giving it good low speed handling properties and short field performance. The Cub’s standard chrome yellow paint known as “Cub Yellow” identifies it as one of the best known aircraft of all time. It’s simplicity, affordability, popularity, and performance make it a prized bush plane whether on wheels or floats.
F-22 Raptor Taxiing How often do you see an F-22 taxiing on grass? Well, it’s not. This image was captured at Oshkosh while laying on my stomach. The 70-300mm zoom lens makes it easy to adjust focal length as the Raptor taxis down the taxiway. Remember, 125mm with the 2.7 crop factor of the Nikon 1 V3 converts to 338mm. The F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation, single seat, twin-engine, all-weather, stealth, top line fighter. It always gives an impressive performance. The F-22’s combination of stealth, aerodynamic performance, and situational awareness gives it unprecedented air combat capabilities.
Martin JRM Mars Dropping Water The Martin JRM Mars flying boats are the world’s largest flying boats ever flown operationally. Although seven were built, only two remain flying, the Hawaii Mars JRM-3 pictured here and the Philippine Mars. They have been refitted as firefighting water bombers carrying 7,200 gallons of water.
This Martin JRM Mars is dropping 7,200 gallons of water on runway 18/36 at AirVenture. You might ask: how do they get the water? Well, the Captain lands on the water normally, but keeps the the aircraft “on the step” at 60-70 knots. The Flight Engineer controls the power to keep the aircraft “on the step” and selects the scoops to the “down” position to inject the water into the tanks at the rate of about a ton per second. The 7200 gallon pickup time averages 25 seconds. When the tanks are full, the scoops are raised, takeoff power is applied by the Flight Engineer and the Captain makes a normal loaded takeoff. Pretty slick!
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Remembering Oshkosh.
Click any image below for a slide show.
