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GRAMPS & YANKS
Gramps Supports the Yanks Air Museum and has added a link to the museum on Gramps web
site.
The Yanks Air Museum, a - 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is focused exclusively on
American aviation history and technology. The collection now numbers more than 120 aircraft
and continues to grow. The scope of the collection covers the entire history of American aviation,
from Jennies to Jets.
Some of the aircraft currently on display are the sole surviving example of its type, while many
others are rare birds in that perhaps only a precious few of that type exist today.
The present location of The Yanks Air Museum is the Chino Airport in Chino, California where
it has enjoyed steady growth over the past two decades.
THE PLANES of FAME MUSEUM
by Fran Pieri, GPS Membership Officer & Volunteer at the Planes of Fame Museum
For those of you who came to the Air Show last weekend, (Sat.21st & Sun.22nd), I hope you
all had a good time. The next scheduled event will be on Saturday, June 4th.featuring antique
and classic aircraft. That's not all. Sunday, June 19th is Fathers Day. Dads are admitted FREE.
Most events begin with a seminar at 10:00 AM with panelist who were directly associated with
the featured topic. Whenever possible, the event will conclude with flight demonstrations by
appropriate aircraft. The Museum is open 7 days a week. (Closed on Thanksgiving and
Christmas). Phone (909) 597 3722 or WWW planseoffame.org. See you there.
NEW PILOTS
MAY GO TO RESERVE UNITS
By Christopher Munsey
Navy Times 4/18/05
Surplus of freshly trained fliers poses manning challenge to Navy
The Navy is churning out too many pilots for its active-duty squadrons, which, at the same time,
aren't losing the normal number of pilots to the Naval Reserve.
The solution: Send some of its newest pilots to fly with Reserve squadrons, where they'll fly full
time for two years, then spend six years as drilling reservists.
The problem came about because just as the Navy's training pipeline for pilots got more
efficient and reduced the attrition rate in the past few years, the number of "seat" available for
pilots in the fleet started to shrink.
That meant that in the near future, there were going to be too many pilots and not enough
airplanes for them to fly. Over this fiscal year and next, the surplus is pegged at between 240 and
260 new pilots, Navy officials said.
But the Reserve faced a challenge getting enough pilots in the door for its Reserve squadrons.
Traditionally, the Reserve looks to the active-duty Navy as its sole source for pilots.
But pilots haven't been leaving active duty, as weak demand in the commercial airline industry
and needs in the war on terrorism have, created high retention among pilots.
Letting new pilots come to the Reserve is a better decision than dumping young officers who've
received two or three years of' intensive training at Navy expense, said Cmdr. Scott Laedlein,
Fleet Replacement Squadron program manager for Commander, Naval Reserve Forces
Command in New Orleans.
"We had an excess and a shortage at the same time," Laedlein said. The reduction in demand for
new pilots has occurred because of the five-year phaseout of ten S-3B Viking squadrons, and the
gradual elimination of the F-14 Tomcat, he said.
So far, the Reserve is slated to receive 48 pilots straight from the training pipeline for squadrons
in the Fleet Logistics Support Wing, and six pilots for three of its helicopter squadrons. Pilots
will gradually report to Reserve squadrons from now into 2006.
The Reserve's logistics squadrons provide all of the Navy's "intratheater" lift and have been
busy moving people and equipment aboard C-9 Skytrain and C-40A Clipper jets, C-130 Hercules
cargo aircraft and Gulf stream jets.
Pilots who sign up for the program will still have an eight-year commitment to the Navy, just
like pilots shipping out to active-duty squadrons, Laedlein said.
But instead of eight years on active duty, they'll spend two years flying full time with their
squadrons, then have a six-year obligation as a drilling reservist, he said.
If they want to continue flying full time at the end of two years, pilots will have a chance to
apply for selection to the Full Time Support community, Laedlein said.
To help reduce the surplus, attrition is still a possibility for some pilots in training, said Capt
Ken Ireland, Naval Reserve operational support officer for Chief of Naval Air Training.
CNTRA might increase minimum scores needed to complete different stages of aviation
training, such that those who couldn't make the new, tougher scores could be dropped from
further flight training, Ireland said.
Ensign Ethan Karp, 31, is one of the pilots selected for the Reserve option.
Before he heard about the option, Karp was training to fly the P-3C Orion maritime patrol
aircraft, and already had qualified on flying multi-engine aircraft. If he had not taken the Reserve
option, he would have reported to VP-30, the fleet replacement squadron for P-3s.
A former Marine, Karp said he's now awaiting orders to report to Fleet Logistics Support
Squadron 53 at Naval Air Facility Washington, D.C. After a training program overseen by the
squadron, he'll fly a C-130 Hercules. Karp said he's excited by the prospect of flying C-130 missions with detachments operating out
of Bahrain, Italy and Japan, and the knowledge he'll gain from working with older, more
experienced Reserve pilots.
"It was just a chance to be operational and fly a lot," Karp said..
CONGRESS ORDERS JFK TO STEAM ON
By Andrew Scutro
NAVY TIMES 5/16/05
Politicians prevailed over the Navy for now, forcing the aged aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy to
remain in the fleet until next year, leaving its future hazy and sailor and crew families in flux.
On May 3, lawmakers on capitol Hill agreed to language in the military supplemental
appropriations bill that postpones the Navy's plan to decommission the Kennedy, despite Navy
and administration opposition.
It's unclear exactly what the conventionally powered Big John can and will be used for in the
interim. It's no longer considered a surge-ready carrier and has recently been relegated to serving
as a training platform for naval aviators.
Later in May it will make port calls in Boston and New York for holiday activities.
For weeks the Kennedy has been a source of controversy on Capitol Hill. Pushed to trim
budgets, the Navy offered to retire Kennedy, saving $1.2 billion.
Several key lawmakers disagreed, arguing that 12 carriers are critical to national security for a
nation at war. In addition, the economic impact of retiring the Mayport, Fla.-based carrier was
also a consideration for several East Coast legislators.
As a result, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner,
R-Va., sponsored a bipartisan amendment to the $82 billion wartime spending bill that requires
the Navy to maintain a fleet of 12 carriers until after the Quadrennial Defense Review wraps up
in early 2006. Navy and Defense Department leaders protested the move.
That measure emerged from conference committee negotiations on May 3 with language
"that would prohibit funds made available in the bill from being used for the purpose of reducing
the number of active Navy aircraft carriers below 12" until next winter.
The House approved the wartime spending bill, 368-58, on May 5. The Senate votes on the bill
the week of May 9, leaving it to the president for final approval.
The bill's language allows the Navy more fiscal flexibility.
Earlier language required the Navy to spend $288 million budgeted for the Kennedy on its
overhaul. The new language, as written, only prevents the Navy from spending money to
decommission the Kennedy but doesn't preclude the overhaul money from being spent on other
ships.
With an anticipated major overhaul on hold, minor repairs on the Kennedy have been
postponed, leaving the ship less than ready for deployment, sources say.
The Navy says it can save more than $1 billion by retiring the Kennedy and wants to use the
$288 million budgeted for its overhaul on maintaining other ships.
Navy officials estimate it will cost $50 million to mothball JFK Once decommissioned, it will
be docked at the inactive fleet facility in Philadelphia.
HIGH-ALTITUDE BOMBING TESTED
LONG-ENDURANCE UAVS
UP A NOTCH
Aviation Week & Space Technology
03/14/2005, page 86
David A. Fulghum
Washington
The operational potential for long-endurance, high-altitude unmanned aircraft is being expanded
by Northrop Grumman researchers who began a new series of tests by dropping a 500-lb. bomb
from a Proteus test aircraft. The first drop, conducted at the Nellis (Nev.) Test Range with the
sponsorship and help of the U.S. Air Force's UAV Battle Laboratory and the 98th Range Wing,
simply tested the Edo-built, pneumatic ejector system on a pylon with a single weapon to assure
there was clean separation of the weapon. The first weapon, a low-drag general purpose Mk.82,
was dropped Feb. 24 at 140 KIAS from a 10,000-ft. altitude. Proteus, developed by Scaled
Composites, is used as a UAV surrogate and as a template for Northrop Grumman's Model 395
UAV which is one of a number of designs (including a reduced-size Global Hawk) that the
company has under consideration for development as precision-strike aircraft. "We see a [UAV]
derivative of Proteus as a very flexible vehicle for a variety of missions [including] carrying
different kinds of weapons," says Doug Fronius, a senior official with Northrop Grumman's UAV
programs. "But Proteus has never dropped anything before. So as an early exercise we thought it
would be good to integrate a modern pylon and [run] a test." The exercise also involved a rapid
prototyping process that allowed researchers to define and conduct the trials in a month. The
bombing tests are a first step in a development spiral that will eventually have the
Proteus--already the template for an unmanned Hunter-Killer precision-bombing UAV--dropping
up to 3,000 lb. of weapons from a pneumatic multiple-ejector weapons rack installed on the
aircraft's centerline. A pneumatic device was chosen to avoid the use of pyrotechnics. To validate
the mission of long-endurance, high-precision bombing, the aircraft will conduct its primary tests
at 40,000-50,000 ft.
Northrop Grumman researchers will drop a variety of weapons, says Steve True, Northrop
Grumman's Model 395 test director. These include the Paveway II laser-guided bomb, the
GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), possibly the 250-lb. small-diameter bomb
and the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD), he says. THE CHOICE OF WCMD--at
the request of the Air Force--is interesting since it can carry a secret warhead that was designed
for an aborted rescue attempt of U.S. hostages in Tehran, Iran, in 1980. The dispenser can be
packed with BLU-114/B submunitions that dispense reels of specially treated carbon-fiber wire.
The wire then floats down on outdoor electrical grids and shorts them out. The weapon was used
in 1991 to shutdown computers that integrated Iraq's air defenses and again to knock out
Sarajevo's power during the Kosovo conflict. The warheads were delivered by Tomahawk cruise
missiles and in dive-bombing attacks by F-117 Nighthawks. There also is a version of the
carbon-fiber product that is dispensed like a clinging powder, but cleanup attempts have proven
futile so it hasn't been used operationally. WCMD has a guidance system that allows the large
WCMD weapon to be guided to a precise spot for delivery of smart or dumb submunitions even
through alternating layers of high crosswinds.
That could add yet another dimension to the Air Force's plan--voiced by Air Combat
Command--that it wants to develop fewer kinetic or explosive weapons in favor of less-lethal
devices. Non-kinetic weapons include high-power microwave warheads to disable electronics
and scramble computer memories and the carbon-fiber devices. The target set includes power
plants, computer centers, headquarters, production facilities for weapons of mass destruction and
integrated communications networks. Having such weapons on long-endurance aircraft allows
time to search for often fleeting electronic signals that give away the location of such sites.
Model 395 can carry up to a 6,500-lb. exterior, centerline payload, but to maintain its 24-hr.
flight time, it needs to be restricted to 3,000 lb., researchers say. This summer, tests will include
more elaborate scenarios such as integrating two types of electro-optical/infrared sensors and,
possibly, a laser target designator. "The next time we fly weapons will be with multiple stores,"
Fronius says. "We're evaluating what that would be. So far, we have [only] baseline data in a
very benign environment." "[Also,] we want to get the sensor integrated and demonstrate a bigger
piece of the kill chain," True says. Plans next year may include a wide-area search sensor such as
a synthetic aperture radar. For sub-meter accuracies with JDAM, company officials are looking at
piping off-board sensor data into the system from other sources--including other aircraft--for very
rapid identification and attack of time-sensitive targets.
USS REAGAN PASSING THE ARIZONA MEMORIAL
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Boy!!! When the Bridge pipes "Man the Rail" there is a lot of rail to man on this monster.
Shoulder to shoulder around 41/2 acres. This doesn't give her displacement but it's about
100,000 tons with full complements.
Capability
Top speed exceeds 30 knots
Powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without
refueling
Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years
Carries over 80 combat aircraft
Three arresting cables can stop a 28-ton aircraft going 150 miles per
hour in less than 400 feet
Size
Towers 20 stories above the waterline
1092 feet long; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall Flight deck covers 4.5 acres
4 bronze propellers, each 21 feet across and weighing 66,200 pounds
2 rudders, each 29 by 22 feet and weighing 50 tons
4 high speed aircraft elevators, each over 4,000 square feet
Dates
Dec 8, 1994 Contract awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding
Feb 12, 1998 Keel laid
Oct 1, 2000 Precommissioning Unit established
March 4, 2001 Christened by Mrs. Nancy Reagan
May 5, 2003 First underway
July 12, 2003 Commissioned
July 23, 2004 Arrived at homeport in San Diego, CA Capacity
Home to about 6,000 Navy personnel
Carries enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days
18,150 meals served daily
Distillation plants provide 400,000 gallons of fresh water from sea
water daily, enough for 2000 homes
Nearly 30,000 light fixtures and 1,325 miles of cable and wiring
1,400 telephones, 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets
Costs the Navy approximately $250,000 per day for pier side operation
Costs the Navy approximately $2.5 million per day for underway
operations (Sailor's salaries included )
MONEY
WELL
SPENT!
From your Membership Officer
Fran Pieri
For those of you who brought a guest to the luncheon this month, I again want to say "Thank
You". Now let me ask you some questions. Did they get an op-plan? Did you do follow up? Did
they say they are interested in joining The Association of Naval Aviation and The Grampaw
Pettibone Squadron? We need those people to join the Gramps Squadron. My partner, Tim
Brown and I can't do it all ourselves. You, our members, must participate in recruiting new
people. We don't want our Gramps Squadron to deteriorate. I want to welcome into our squadron
our latest new members. They are; Mr. Ray Mitchell, Mr. Mark Genera, Mr. Ralph Yore, Mr.
Mattew Cox and Mr. Bill Thompson Jr.. Welcome aboard gents and "Kudo's" to their sponsors:
Bob Cunningham, Mel Locke, Jim Faolkner and Buck Sorenson. The Ray Pett "Let Me Buy You
a Drink" contest is up to $200.00. Tell your friends that they don't have to have had previous
military service. ANA is open to everyone. So, do the follow-up soon and have them send me the
membership application so they can make it to our next luncheon. Keep the blue side up.
GRAMPS HOPES YOU ENJOYED
THE ANA REUNION AT SAN DIEGO |
