Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Thanks for the great pics, David. I was looking at the file names and noticed that I have different BuNos for atleast 2 birds, and according to DoD site (where I got one hi-res pic of 160152), you got them wrong ..

The middle one, "702", 160132, should be 160152 and the "704" 159745 should be 160149. Please, can you check your files or original bigger pics and correct me if I am wrong ? I would like to have my pages 99,999999 % correct :thumbsup:

Thanks in advance

Jakub, that crazy Gulf war freak ...

Jakub,

You are right about 160152 must have been a typo. However, my handwritten notes from 2 May 1991 indicate 704 is/was 159745.

Cheers,

Dave

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi David,

thanks for the info. However, I checked my site and I found this: BuNo. 159745 was part of Gulf war, had a "704" MODEX, BUT was with VS-32, not 22 !! So maybe you swapped those two squadrons ? I will dig more tomorrow, will check my books.

Best regards

Jakub

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 8 months later...

Hey by chance to you have anymore shots of the ES-3's in the boneyard?

I remember seeing these birds when they were active and even have the squadron patch's.

Thanks for any help you can provide me with.

Tricose :deadhorse1:

Some parked sparky vikings

ES-3A 159404

ES-3.jpg

ES-3A-159404-AMARC-5-19-04.jpg

ES-3A 159405

ES-3A-159405-AMARC-5-19-04.jpg

ES-3A 159420

ES-3A-159420-AMARC-5-19-04.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites
Hey by chance to you have anymore shots of the ES-3's in the boneyard?

I remember seeing these birds when they were active and even have the squadron patch's.

Thanks for any help you can provide me with.

Tricose :D

Sorry, never saw a "live" Shadow. You already have seen the best of what I did shoot.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The S-3 is a great aircraft and could have many nonmilitary roles in life. NASA of course and also fire bomber (the S-2s were never that great a choice, and certainly need replacing now) have been mentioned. Heck, with a couple more mods I think they'd make great dedicated air ambulances. But I think their military mission is just about done. That's not to say that I don't think the Navy will ever want another ASW aircraft in the S-3's class, but that that's the kind of mission that will be a prime candidate for getting filled by a UAV eventually. The next step for the Navy will be for a UAV to go through carrier qualifications - even if it's just a proof of concept.

We are well on our way to the time when the majority of USAF/USN aviators will be NCOs who sit in front of LCD screens in some building in Nevada all day. Forty years from now, if you want to actually fly an aircraft - from inside it - in the military, your best shot might be in the Army...

Edited by ReiRei0
Link to post
Share on other sites
We are well on our way to the time when the majority of USAF/USN aviators will be NCOs who sit in front of LCD screens in some building in Nevada all day. Forty years from now, if you want to actually fly an aircraft - from inside it - in the military, your best shot might be in the Army...

I believe James Bond put it best, "Never Say Never" . . .

Ves :thumbsup:

Edited by Vesper
Link to post
Share on other sites
Frankly, the P-3s are new enough and in good enough shape that if I had my druthers we'd cancel the P-8 and wait until a UAV is available for the same mission, It really wouldn't be all that long.

"New Enough"???

Which P-3's are you talking about?

Atis

Link to post
Share on other sites
160139.jpg

Hesrs one I shot sitting on the ramp at Thumrait in Oman.

My question is, does any Hoover fans know the significance of the badge on the refuelling pod? I have always wondered about it.

Jomo is a Japanese gas station. Back in the '95-'99 timeframe we started putting that patch on our (VS-21) green flight jackets replacing the normal Texaco, Chevron or Shell gas station patch since we were the airwing tanker kings.

You will see Texaco, Chevron or Shell "tank art" on CONUS stationed birds, Jomo on S-3B's or ES-3A's based in Japan/CVW-5.

Cheers

Atis

Edited by Collin
Link to post
Share on other sites

Collin;

There are some aircraft which were in production for so long that some can be falling apart from age and others can be young airframes in great shape. If I'm not mistaken, the P-3 remained in low--level production into the early 1990s (as did the Tu-95/142). So some of them are actually quite new.

People on this board love to argue about militaria, but one thing you won't find much disagreement about is the fact that our military procurement system, as it is now, is an unmitigated disaster. The problem with the P-8 is that it's looking pretty likely that by the time it gets up to strength in squadron service, it'll have been rendered more or less obsolete - not by any defect in the airframe, but by the progress of UAV technology. Long, boring missions in relatively low-threat areas involving a lot of time monitoring sensors are perfect for UAVs. But as I've said before, thirty years from now the question will not be one of which missions UAVs are technologically capable of, but which missions we, for policy reasons, don't consider it wise to give to them.

Again, I think the most important technological turning point in naval aviation in the next century will likely be the first successful carrier qualification of a UAV. I have seen the future, and it has no pilot.

Edited by ReiRei0
Link to post
Share on other sites
Collin;

There are some aircraft which were in production for so long that some can be falling apart from age and others can be young airframes in great shape. If I'm not mistaken, the P-3 remained in low--level production into the early 1990s (as did the Tu-95/142). So some of them are actually quite new.

People on this board love to argue about militaria, but one thing you won't find much disagreement about is the fact that our military procurement system, as it is now, is an unmitigated disaster. The problem with the P-8 is that it's looking pretty likely that by the time it gets up to strength in squadron service, it'll have been rendered more or less obsolete - not by any defect in the airframe, but by the progress of UAV technology. Long, boring missions in relatively low-threat areas involving a lot of time monitoring sensors are perfect for UAVs. But as I've said before, thirty years from now the question will not be one of which missions UAVs are technologically capable of, but which missions we, for policy reasons, don't consider it wise to give to them.

Again, I think the most important technological turning point in naval aviation in the next century will likely be the first successful carrier qualification of a UAV. I have seen the future, and it has no pilot.

My civilian job is in Naval Aviation Acquistion and my Naval Reserve job is being a Naval Flight Officer, so I will refrain from major comments but disagree with your assessment to a point. Procurement has always been a moving target with many moving parts, it's not easy. From the outside it may look like a "disaster", but I invite you to take the time to learn the process and you will see the process in work (I'm still learning everyday). Trust me, I am no cheerleader of the current process/system, but those "other/disaster" discussions are saved for DC folks that can do something about it.

UAV Vs. manned aircraft is constantly being discussed at very high levels with folks that have much bigger brains than me. Remember, P-8A is being coupled with the BAMs UAV program. P-8's won't be doing all the work.

The Navy P-3 fleet is old, period. They have taken the younger Reserve birds and mixed them in with the active duty birds , now all the USN P-3's out there are getting past worn out (how do I know....I flew them). Half the fleet has been red lined and sent to the desert, restrictions put on the rest to make them last. Later Lockheed production aircraft off the line were mainly FMS birds. Forgien P-3's are in much better material condition than ours (Korean, Japanese, others). The USN keeps it's P-3's busy, and is burning through them, hence the need for the P-8 to get out there.

Enough, on to the S-3's....my old horse is headed to pasture next month. Loved flying her, maybe will get the chance again with NASA. These are from my VS-21 and VX-1 days.

Cheers

Atis

S-3BCollin.jpg

s39.jpg

collinrockeye.jpg

Edited by Collin
Link to post
Share on other sites

Now if we could just get some decals of this bird I would be a happy boy. I know that CE did a sheet for this one, but there was no way I was going to pay $30.00 for a decal sheet with one AC on it.

Dave Fassett

s-3b_160604_03_of_50.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Trying to keep the Hoover thread form being buried, I found some slides I had bought at an IPMS Nats back in the 1980s, I believe the Indianapolis Nats. If it is not proper to post these, since I did not take them, I will remove them. The slides are from 1977-78 and are marked Flightleader. I assume they are from Ray Leader, the photographer who contributed to a lot of the Detail and Scale books. I did a search for both Ray and Flightleader and came up empty. Again, if I am violating copyright rules, I will remove them. I don't want to step on any toes, just sharing the pics. I had searched for these for a long time and recently came across them by accident. I believe these are S-3As. Don M.

S-3AVikingSlidescan3.jpg

S-3AVikingSlidescan2.jpg

S-3AVikingSlidescan1.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...