Skyviper

Does anyone remember a show that used to be featured on either Discovery or History channel that talked about the crazy inventions that were developed during WW2? What was the Soviet plane that could be submerged underwater? They never went with full production because the plane could be picked off by submarines easily. I just remember it had that ability to sneak past defenses and then pop up somewhere and take off.

Give me fuel give me fire give me that which I desire .... sorry.

The KC-135's history and the history of aerial refueling is an impressive one. From maneuvers considered to be stunts to the advances in technology, this video will do it's best to tell you the history of aerial refueling and the KC-135 in our season finale. We want to thank everyone for their continued interest in QAF. As we work hard to bring you another batch of videos we'll also feature videos centered on a variety of subjects that we hope you'll enjoy. You comments helped us improve and motivate to make the next "season" of QAF even better. Thank you all for your time.

When researching this I was surprised to learn that a SAC legend played a key role in the development for aerial refueling.

The C-17 Globemaster lll

Ah, the C-17 Globemaster lll, a massive aircraft that was developed to replace the C-141 Starlifter. Wait, hold up, this story sounds familiar. *checks notes*. While it's story is similar to the C-5 Galaxy's History you may be pleased to know there is a happy ending to an aircraft that has certainly made it's mark on aviation history. This video will quickly highlight the history of this massive aircraft. As always if you're interested in discussing more about what this aircraft is capable of, or other aircraft, please feel free to join us in the pub or simply comment below. Thank you for your time and please, enjoy the video. 

E-3 Sentry Quick Aircraft Facts

In the dawn of aviation, aircraft were used by the military for reconnaissance, and artillery spotting (helping batteries to stay on target). Then they were eventually modified to become attack aircraft. As technology improved the Boeing 707 was produced. This humble aircraft helped usher in the "Jet Age" and it was used by a number of airlines that ferried people all over the world. The military turned that humble airliner into a valuable tool called the E-3 Sentry and in this Quick Aircraft Facts video, we'll do our best to present it's history, purpose, and future in 3 minutes or less.

1 hour ago, JosefK said:

b) Also hope TopGun: Maverick doesn't have four missiles off of one pylon but the same rocking music and timeless quotes!

Actually watched a documentary about that. Apparently the department of defense only allowed 1 missile to be fired for filming. So that was the only shot they had that they could use.

The F-15

The F-15 is one of the deadliest aircraft in modern aviation history with well over 100 air to air kills this aircraft. This Quick Aircraft Video will try it's best to feature the story of this iconic aircraft in 3 minutes or less.

As always, if you're hankering for some aircraft mods we have a few recommendations for you :)

E/A-18g Growler Quick Aircraft Facts Video

In last week's video we discussed the F/A-18 hornet and its path to becoming the reliable fighter aircraft used by the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and by allied nations as well. In this video we're going to quickly highlight the history behind E/A-18g Growler. The Electronic Warfare aircraft that has replaced the E/A-6B Prowler. Growler, Prowler all sounds the same doesn't it? I'm sorry to say that I forgot to include an overlay that mentions the fact that the Growler's call sign was changed to "Grizzly" to avoid confusion. All video in this presentation is from the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who kindly uploaded their works to Dvidshub.net a great place for military aviation footage. Their footage is released under public domain.

If you would like to discuss this video you're invited to do so here in this thread or in the pub if you wish.

Of course if you're not interested chatting and just want to get some SF2 action in with some Hornets created by our talented Mod Developers. We understand that too :)

So we have a new QAF video discussing the E/A-18 Growler. The mission for these videos is to feature an aircraft's history and purpose in 3 minutes or less. While fun and challenging to make these videos I do have to admit it would be nice to really dive into an aircraft's history more. This leads to the QAF series other mission, which is to get interested ones in looking up and talking more about an aircraft with experts such as you that frequent forums such as CombatACE.

When researching the Growler I came across things about how some of the pods weren't working as advertised and that problems are being looked into. The other that I did find interesting which is briefly discussed in the video was the workload placed on the Growler's (Grizzly's) crew of 2 vs the Prowler's crew of 4.

So I'm wondering; what are your thoughts and concerns not only about the Growler but other advances made in aviation in recent years?

Agreed.

I just came across this neat video and wanted to share it here with you.

The F/A-18 Hornet

The F/A-18 Hornet is a versatile aircraft capable of taking on a number of tasks, for air to air missions to assault missions you can count on the F/A-18 to get the job done. While this aircraft is vital to carrier operations, it had a lot to prove back in the day when the F-14 Tomcat reigned supreme. As is the story with most aircraft, it was a mixture of politics and finances that ushered in the era for Hornet, Super Hornet, and Growler, which we'll talk about next week. If you recall our F-16 video you may remember the LWF program which helped create the F-16 Viper. Since the Navy needed to save time and money they decided to use portions from the USAF's LWF program and thus the YF-17 become the F-18. The second engine added another level of protection along with other upgrades needed to help the aircraft to become worthy for carrier operations.

McDonald Douglass was the primary contractor for the F-18. Northrop Grumman is the secondary contractor and their job is make the components needed to help the F-18 withstand the rigorous carrier operations. However, in the late 90s, Boeing merged with McDonald Douglass and became the primary contractor for this aircraft's production. Northrop Grumman is still doing their part. I wanted to have that written because I don't think it was 100% clear in this video. Speaking of the video I hope you all enjoy it and, as always, I look forward to knowing your thoughts about the aircraft.

As you know, CombatACE, strives to spread the joy of aviation and we have a lot of talented mod authors here that have gone through great lengths to create the outstanding aircraft models that are free for interested ones to download and use with their copies of Strike Fighters.

More F-18s here: https://combatace.com/files/category/667-f-18/

16 hours ago, GKABS said:

They are humongous. If they don't control them they will devastate the environment

I just saw a video where 30 of 'em killed 30,000 honey bees. I say killed more like massacre.

What caliber weapon is needed to kill these things?

I'm thinking a 20 gauge with bird shot. I have a funny feeling that a can of Hot Shot would just piss these Japanese Hornets smooth off. (which by the way these puppies are now in the U.S.)

This is why I want to get my news from people that know what is going on. This is why I stopped reading the headlines on websites like Yahoo and other places because people are just dressing up a story for clicks or whatever. CombatACE is another place to come too from time to time and that's another reason I like being here because a lot of you have been there and done that. I remember at one time CombatACE was actually ahead of the news on a couple of major events.

And this guys books are pretty good reads.

The B-2 Bomber

This aircraft needs no introduction. It's sleek, deadly, and stealthy. The history of B-2 Stealth Bomber goes back further than you might think and we'll do our best to feature this amazing aircraft's story in 3 minutes or less.

I hope I did this aircraft some justice within the time limit and honestly I have to give thanks again to all of the men and women in the United States Air Force that provided the amazing B-Roll of this aircraft in action.

As always if you're interested in talking about this aircraft we look forward to reading your comments. Or if you're wanting to add the B-2 Spirit to your Virtual Air Force I invite you to check out this file by @FastCargo don't forget to show him some love. Thank you for watching!

17 minutes ago, daddyairplanes said:

seen em at airshows, and watched one take off in a hurry one fine day in Iraq. found out later the tower told them to abort take off due to the ongoing mortar attack, and the pilot decided he wasnt sitting in the biggest target on the runway!!

too bad the old dying whale imitaing a vacuum cleaner noise is gone with the new engines

I remember you telling us that story! I couldn't remember who it is was on this site that said it before but I remember you saying the pilot replied "F*k you! We're out of here!" I often wonder what happened to the pilot. I mean to me it makes sense the big fella needs to move. But I had nooooooo idea how so political and bureaucratic the military really is. You think doing the obvious would be acceptable but I'm betting there's some officer somewhere going "That pilot ignored protocols. We can't have that going on in this modern military service."

Never served by the way I'm just saying, until recently, I never knew how bureaucratic the military can be at times. 

The C-5 Galaxy

Show of hands; whose seen this massive aircraft up close and personal? I remember being at an airshow and they let you get your picture taken in the cockpit of this massive thing. The fact that it can even fly is impressive to me. She may not be sleek and fast like a fighter jet but this aircraft and other cargo planes certainly help keep things on move. The C-5 Galaxy's is tasked with Strategic Airlift meaning that it's supposed to take needed items from anywhere in the world into a theater or operations  ... in other words its job is to bring supplies and equipment to the war zone. The amount of effort that went into producing this gigantic aircraft was equally impressive  and employed a lot of companies all over the united states. Some of the companies were even small companies that were able to contribute to the project. Tools, maintenance, and other support equipment had to be custom made as well by various sub contractors. It was a large scale operation that unfortunately came with some massive drama ... straight up scandalous drama that we'll briefly talk about in this Quick Aircraft Facts presentation.

While we strive to do a good job compressing information about an aircraft's history into 3 minutes or less. There are times I'd like to dive more into an aircraft's history; however, there are some documentries out there I think some of you may enjoy if you have the time. I'd like to point you to a Vintage C-5 Documentary released by the USAF. (In case the link doesn't take you to the right time you might want to skip ahead by a minute or so.)

Oh heads up, a new QAF will be released on Tuesdays. Thank you so much or your support, patience, and time.

I took the liberty of skipping to the part where talks about the story. Good for him that he has a sponsor and all but dang I wanted to jump to the good stuff.

The B-1 Lancer a.k.a Bone

I don't want to give away too much about this video but I think you'll certainly enjoy this presentation as you learn about how this incredible aircraft came to be. She's sleek, fast, deadly, and stealthy. She was designed to deliver nuclear weapons but as the cold war died down she was adapted to execute a more conventional role. Quick Aircraft Facts will do it's best to tell you some interesting things in 3 minutes or less about the Bone.

CombatACE is a great community to discuss aircraft and, if you have a copy of SF2, it's a great place to get mods so you can fly your favorite aircraft too.

58 minutes ago, russouk2004 said:

Did you know UK Test Pilot and some aerospace personnel worked at groom on Have Blue...and were part in designing its shape...test pilot I cant recall his name ,was one of the first to fly the 117 cool eh..

That is pretty cool. I remember hearing a story about how someone asked why the SEA cammo paint job? It's supposed to fly at night right?

F-117 Nighthawk QAF Presentation

Show of hands, how many of you got to see this amazing aircraft up close and personal? I've loved the look of this plane for a long time and when researching it for this video it was really interesting to understand how it's weird design came to be. I'm going to hit you wonderful people this week with 3 video starting with the F-117 Nighthawk and I must thank the kind and awesome people at Lockheed Martin for providing all of the glamorous footage you're about to see. Tomorrow we'll feature the B-1 Lancer or Bone, then we'll feature the C-5 Galaxy on Wednesday before moving on with scheduled releases on Tuesday. I know most of you hear probably know much, much, more than I about these aircraft, so I'm looking forward to hearing from you how good we did compressing information into 3 minutes or less.

Also if your appetite for the F-117 has been whet it would be a shame for me to not mention that you can add this aircraft to your virtual air force.

A wonderful model released by Dels can be found here:

In case you're wondering what the DS was asking him about

I'm researching for my QAF video of season 2 and came across this photo. I just had to share this here.

Oh, dude! That's awesome!