X-Plane Fan

This F-16 (82-0976) was transferred from Langley to Dryden on 23 Jan 1995. It was repainted white in Aug. 1996 by the Edwards AFB paint shop. It was never used by Dryden and had been placed on display in front of the center until it was loaned to Lockheed Palmdale in Sept. 2006 where it is currently on display. Tony

F-15 at Kadena in '83: And a couple at Holloman in '84:

Here's one landing at Langley: NASA's lightning strike bird: F-106B on display at Andrews:

Bad day for a Vark

The kit is made by Mini Hobby Models, a subdivision of Trumpeter. It's a pretty bad kit overall. Shape-wise it isn't real bad, but the canopies are molded together as one piece and are pretty poor. The J58 engines that come with the kit are very poor representations of a J58. Overall length is about right, but the engine face come's in at around 1/80th scale and the exhaust is around 1/40th scale. You would be better off just scratchbuilding engines than try to fix these. Save your money and buy the Hasegawa kit or even Mongram, you'll be very disappointed if you spend more than $5 for this ki

I just made up a CD of detail photos of the NF-15B, also known as the SMTD, STOL, ACTIVE and IFCS F-15. With over 100 high res (3000 pixels wide or more) images, the CD contains detail pics of the entire aircraft which includes cockpit, landing gear, canards and the square 2D nozzles and round nozzles as well. I've even included a pdf file of the all AF command shields and most of tail art which can be used to make the decals. The cover art for the CD can be found here: http://www.edwardsflighttest.com/pics/F_15_CD.jpg It's $7 plus shipping for the CD. For ordering info just drop me a no

With the recent release of the Special Hobby 1/32 scale X-15 kit, I was asked to put together a photo reference CD on the X-15. The CD contains just over 400 med-res jpegs (1500 pixels wide) of all three X-15’s plus line art and details. The images are not a generic walk-around and there are no internet downloads, they are all scans from original negs or prints from various archives and personal collections. If anyone is interested, the CD runs $7 plus shipping. You can check out the CD cover here: http://www.edwardsflighttest.com/pics/CDCover.jpg Proof sheet sample pages are here: http:/

Anyone have an opinion on this kit or know of a review anywhere? I'm not really interested in it for the SR model as there are better kits out there, just interested in the J58 engine that comes with the kit. Anyone know if it even resembles an actual J58? Thanks, Tony

Not at all. Actually Buzz comes across as just being glad to have been a part of the whole thing and is very complimentary towards Neil A. quote name='Chappie' date='Aug 6 2007, 09:26 AM' post='1129708'] Tony, I've read that Buzz is still a bit bitter about not being first. Does that come across in his interviews? Chappie

The production company for the movie had an advance showing of this documentary to all NASA employee's on July 20. I have to say it is probably the best documentary I have ever seen. Very well done with archive footage that has never been seen before and the interviews they did with the pilots are a great mix of drama and humor. Mike Collins comes across the best, with his serious, yet light-hearted approach to the moon landing. It is a must see when it comes out. Just my two-cents worth though. Tony

Surprised nobody has posted this yet. Special Hobby will be releasing their 1/32 scale X-15A-2 and 1/72 scale X-1E at the Nats next month. Info was found here: http://www.hyperscale.com/reviews/kits/mpmpreviewbg_41.htm Tony

For the first time in seven years, F-16XL #849 moved under its own power. Using a spare F-15 engine, it was taxied down to the tower and back as a final systems check. There are customers who would like to use it for testing in the near future so the ground crews have been working on it in their spare time. It will now have to wait for more funding in order to make it flight ready again, but it sure was cool to watch. July 3 will mark the 25th anniversary of the first F-16XL flight, so pretty good timing on this.

Here's some reference pics and a pdf file can be found at (http://www.edwardsflighttest.com/pics/NASA_Swooshes.pdf) with the NASA Swoosh logos. All you need now is to find some generous soul with an Alps printer to size them up, change the 'orbit' portion from black to white print these out and you're all set. Tony

Try here: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/airports/3_view.html Line art straight from the source, Boeing.

Nothing spectacular, but here they are. Taken at Osan in March 1983. Tony

Well, that's only partially true. Any Blackbird that was actually flown to a museum was left intact. Those that had to be ground transported needed to have their wings cut in order to transport. NASA has 17980/NASA 844 on display in front of the center although it is officially listed as 'flyable storage'. NASA also still maintains two warehouses full of spare parts for the Blackbird though the USAF should be taking charge of disposal of those soon. Tony

I have a couple shots of that in my files somewhere. Got em when I was TDY at Osan many years ago. I'll see if I can dig those up. Tony

The USS Alabama's A-12 took a good beating in the hurricane, but with the assistance of the USAF Museum and NASA, they were able to get many of the replacement parts needed to do the repairs. There were some panels that were specific to the A-12 that will need to be repaired as there were no available spares, but it should be back in good shape in the near future.

The MNANG Museum's A-12 was probably the best example of the type in any museum, but that wasn't the reasoning behind that particular airframe being transferred to the CIA for display. All of the A-12's were looked at by the USAF Museum and this one was chosen because the MNANG Museum had not come through with the new museum it had promised 15 years earlier, they had no affiliation with the USAF Museum and they had the fewest visitors per year (less than 1,000). Unfortunately prior to the A-12 being transferred it was vandalized by one of the museum's volunteers who took it upon himself to vir

My Favorite by Hank Caruso:

I only have 2 shots of that bird. Here's the other Tried to find a direct side view, but never came across one. Tony

Stall Testing. March 1970. Note spin chute installation on tail. F-4 #12200 Jan 1964. Before CCV mod. F-4E #254 Advanced Wild Weasel. Later known as F-4G. December 1975