Way beyond cool:

And a short demo: https://www.tiktok.com/@jaysrcgarage/video/7551058375853853983​

 

 

One of our old work spaces while on a ship.

 

PA


Exciter frequency tuning linkage.

 

From brain to CAD to machine. Mesmerizing CNC can be watched all day long.

 

Rare 2,000-year-old treasure unearthed by metal detectorists in Wales: "We were astonished"

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The ingots, also known as lead "pigs," were used to produce tools and weapons, according to CBS News partner BBC News. They date back to AD 87, based on lettering written on them, the museum said. During that time, Rome was ruled by Emperor Domitian, who was known for empire building, the BBC reported.

 

Rare 2,000-year-old treasure unearthed by metal detectorists in Wales: "We were astonished"​

From what I have read, one of the main reasons for conquering Britain was for the metal , tin mines etc.

 

 

 

Oh, that was TAME compared to what they used to do!

Back when I was working on them they would do an true unlimited takeoff when doing a Functional Check Flight after major maintenance. In and FCF, they would start at the end of the runway with the brakes set, run up to full military power (full power without afterburners), release the breaks and advance to full afterburner. As soon as they had flight speed they would pop few feed off the ground, retract the gear, and then settle back down just a few feet above the ground and accelerate in ground effect until they were somewhere around 350 kts (don't know the exact breakout speed) at which point they would reef it into about a 6 G pull into the vertical and accelerate straight up to their assigned altitude, which what typically somewhere around 30,000 ft to 50,00 ft. It was MOST impressive!

At first, I thought that they were just takeoffs that the pilots requested or that were part of a mission profile. It wasn't until I was returning to work one morning after spending all night helping Fuels remove and replace the entire fuel system on A/C 74113. we finished about four or so in the morning, which just gave me enough time to shower, change clothes, get some breakfast, and be back to my own shop for my normal shift. As I got near my shop, which was right at midfield, I heard the distinctive pop of an F-15's afterburners lighting off and so I knew someone was doing an unlimited takeoff (the F-15 has so much power that they seldom use afterburners on takeoff since they are real fuel hogs). As the aircraft came level with me and reefed back I saw the "113" on the tail and was taken aback because this aircraft had just been through a massive maintenance effort that had finished only a couple hours earlier. So, later, I asked a pilot about that and that's when I learned that the unlimited takeoff was part of an FCF. I had assumed that, after major maintenance, they would want to take it easy at first and get progressively more aggressive as they tested out the systems. Nope. The pilot just looked at me and said (close paraphrasing), "You signed off that aircraft and told us that it was 100% mission capable. As a show of faith that we take you at your word, we intentionally stress the aircraft right from the start and right in front of you."

A few years after I was out, they limited the unlimited takeoff to no more than 70° of pitch and I heard that they later required that they get to a much higher altitude before leveling off and acceleration (something like 50' instead of less 5'). Part of that is changing attitudes in a post-Cold War era, and part of it is reflecting that the F-15 is an aging airframe. The original design was for something like 4,000 hours of service life and they are actually serving four and five times that long.

 

You spent too much time working at the donut shop.

That second one was dancing in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

"Rumor has it that Pete secretly has all of the 10mm wrenches that were lost over the years......"

 

Went to school (70's when we still had lots of tactical weapons) here for EAM and sealed authenticator training. We didn't have nuclear weapons on the ship(s), we had nuclear components that could be made into 'something'.

At the school we simulated the entire launch/arming process starting with EAM message processing.