The new 494th FS F-15E paint scheme that was just unveiled is BADASS. The heritage paint scheme pays tribute to the F-111F Aardvark aircraft that operated from RAF Lakenheath in support of Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986.🫡
#MarineCorps AV-8B Harrier II aircraft with Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing fly near the coast of North Carolina.
The “sundown” of the AV-8B Harrier II, an iconic aircraft that has supported joint and Marine Corps operations for over 40 years, also represents the dawn of a new era; it paves the way for 2nd MAW’s full transition to the F-35B and C Lightning II.
#USMC #SemperFi #MarineAviation
Some people commented about the replacement of the two EA-18G Growlers with two FA-18F Super Hornets from the boneyard or the production line.
First the production line is ending, the last airframe is being assembled. Pulling a standard FA-18F Super Hornet out of the boneyard and trying to modify it into a Growler face several structural roadblocks. The internal rewiring and structural airframe changes are too extensive to do as a retrofit. Boeing has stated this is cost-prohibitive and structurally impractical.
The EA-Growler has over 90% shared design with the FA-18F Super Hornet; however, Boeing made tremendous changes to its structure and aerodynamics during its conversion from the multirole fighter to an electronic warfare aircraft.
For example, Boeing removed the General Dynamics M61A2 Vulcan 20mm cannon from the nose of the airframe to create an internal processing bay. The airframe was also modified in that the wingtip Sidewinder missile rails were replaced with permanently mounted Northrop Grumman AN/ALQ-218 tactical jamming receiver pods.
The addition of heavy electronic warfare pods changed the weight distribution of the airframe, which resulted in a flight characteristic referred to as Limit Cycle Oscillation, which is a severe shaking of the wings or fluttering of the structure.
To counteract this unique aerodynamic load, engineers added wing fences, stall strips and reshaped the fairings to eliminate wing shake. The last phase of the redesign included molding canoe-shaped antenna fairings onto the fuselage and placing a satellite communications dome behind the canopy.
Last but not least, the aircraft were from the Fleet Replacement Squadron, Electronic Attack Squadron 129 VAQ-129 (Vikings). The frontline deployable squadrons did not lose any assets, so I’m guessing the training pipeline at VAQ-129 will probably absorb the internal aircraft loss directly from its large pool of 55 Growlers.
VX-31 Dust Devils color bird resting on the ramp as the sun rises in Colorado.
A line service guy walked up and asked why my camera was on the ground for this…