NZAF 75th Anniversary Warbirds WW2 Vintage

RNZAF 75th Anneversary: Ohakea Air Base

31 March 2012

WW II and Post-war Era Warbirds

(Click on image to enlarge)

F-35 Stealth Fighter Evaluation Set to go

Senior Pentagon officials are expected on Friday to sign off on a comprehensive plan for testing and evaluating Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, an important next step for the new stealth warplane, according to two sources familiar with the programme.

The test evaluation master plan, already approved by US Navy and Air Force officials, maps out a schedule for testing that must be completed before the military can start using the new radar-evading fighter for military operations, said the sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly.

Senior defense officials, who served on the Defense Acquisition Board, are expected to approve the document at a meeting scheduled for Friday, they said.

The meeting is not intended to address any other significant programme milestones.

Lockheed is developing and building three variants of the F-35 for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as eight international partners who are helping to fund the plane’s development, plus Israel and Japan.

When the programme began in 2001, the US military planned to begin using the new fighter this year, but it has been delayed by several years to address technical issues and reduce the overlap between development and early production.

Company and military officials said developmental testing now underway is going well, but the plane must undergo significant operational testing and evaluation before it can be certified for use by the US military.

In a separate development, the Air Force is planning to start a 65-day evaluation at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on Monday that will pave the way for the start of pilot training for the new jets, the sources said.

No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon’s F-35 programme office.

Reuters

JU 52 SAA

South African Airways Junkers Ju52

a true Gand Lady of the Air

All-time favourites

One of my all-time favourite aircraft, the Avro Shackleton, 

as operated by the SAAF as a long-range maritime patrol aircraft

Aircraft Nut

This blog is about my love for things with wings...

Planes and Birds, but mostly planes

The love affair started as a small boy, when my father took us to the then
Jan Smuts International Airport in Johannesburg.
The observation deck was open in those days.Yes, open.

You could smell the Av-gas and hear the engines running. I marveled at the logos on the tails of the international aircraft...

The Flying Springbok, the Rising Sun, The Lufthansa Adler, Air India,
KLM, ELAL., Portuguese Airlines, Varig, Swiss Air ...

Now defunct airlines like BOAC, Pan Am, Sabena, Luxair, Air Rodesia, they were all there !
Once we'd had our fill of watching from the observation deck, we drove down to the end of the runway to watch the planes take off. A great Sunday afternoon outing!