Video: Virgin Galactic And SpaceShipTwo Supersonic On First Powered Flight Test!

(click pic for hi-res) SpaceShipTwo first powered flight on 4.29.13 (photo: Virgin Galactic)

 Great success was achieved yesterday (April 29, 2013) in Mojave California as Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic flew SpaceShipTwo Enterprise on their first powered flight ever. After release from the mothership at 47,000 feet, the SS2 crew fired the rocket motor for 16 seconds propelling them up to 55,000 feet and Mach 1.2 - supersonic!

 The test flight appears to have been completely successful. Congratulations to all involved in achieving this major milestone!

read the full Virgin Galactic report here 

(click pic for hi-res)  Enterprise during first rocket burn test flight (photo: Virgin Galactic)  

Caption Contest #82 - Ends Wednesday 5.1.13 At 9PM EDT

 I'm down to the last couple days having to commute 45 minutes each way to the rather massive and upscale tile shower and bathroom project that has consumed my last 8+ weeks... I've been very happy to have the work but it'll sure be nice to have the extra 2 hours a day that my usual schedule allows me. Between the tile work, AirPigz posting, and research and development for my packaged food entrepreneur project (with aviation-related branding), I'm one worn out dude! So I'm tossing up another Caption Contest to give me an easy way to keep you avgeeks entertained today : )

You know the gig here, follow the rules below and if you come out on top at the end of the game, you'll snag a bacon sandwich at Oshkosh 2013 : )

 So... you've got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EDT to submit your clever/funny/cool captions. Then, I’ll pick the best 5 and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on for all day Thursday and Friday so we can find the winner. 

 The Rules: 

1) Max of 3 submissions per person

2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area 

3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EDT 

4) Keep it clean!

 Then, anyone can cast their vote starting Thursday morning and running thru til 9pm EDT Friday. The winner will be posted Saturday morning 5-4-13. Stand tall my avgeek friends... oh wait!

Did You See This Awesome SpaceShipTwo 'Cold Flow' Glide Test Pic? Wow!

(click pic to enlarge)  SpaceShipTwo leaving an oxidizer trail during 4.12.13 glide test

 It's old news now since this Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo glide test took place on April 12, 2013, but this amazing pic showing the first glide test to include letting the nitrous oxidizer flow thru the nozzle is sure worth seeing... whether you've seen it already or not! Just to be clear, this is NOT a powered flight, the trail exiting the nozzle isn't providing thrust. However, the first actual powered flight could be happening ANY day now - some info out there suggests it will be this Monday the 29th.

 I suggest you keep your avgeek (spacegeek?) eyes and ears open for this historic event... it is truly a brave new world!

check out the Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo test summary page

Desert Sun & Fun - The Mojave Experimental Fly-In (12 Pix)

Stars and stripes! Close-up of Dick Rutan's beautiful Berkut  (photo:Craig Spirko)

(click any pic to enlarge)
 

 The Mojave Experimental Fly-In last Saturday drew a diverse collection of aircraft under a typical sunny desert sky. It's pretty cool to see these aircraft gathered in front of the hangars of some of the most cutting-edge experimental aerospace companies in the world!

 I wasn't able to attend the event as I had hoped, but AirPigz follower Craig Spirko did and shared some pix of the event for y'all to see. I've included a couple images from the official Mojave Fly-In website as well... there's a nice post there too you might wanna check out.

(click any pic to enlarge)

Wide view of the Berkut and its awesome paint  (photo: MojaveFlyIn)

I think this one is self-explanatory!  Scaled.com/careers  (photo: Craig Spirko)

Lots of windmills, and a little Christen Eagle  (photo: Craig Spirko)

Click to read more ...

Video (And Upcoming Book 'Happy End'): Crashed Airframes Rest In Peace...

 Here's a fascinating project from German photographer Dietmar Eckell that presents 15 different aircraft that crashed in remote locations and were left abandoned. The 'Happy End' comes from the fact that in each case everyone survived the crash and was ultimately rescued. His work gives us a look at these abandoned airframes as they rest in peace.

 This video here is well worth your time to watch, but even better is your opportunity to support his efforts by donating to his Happy End indiegogo campaign (like kickstarter) to help him produce a coffee table book of the photographs. His financial goal has already been reached with 42 days remaining, which shows you how well his unique project is connecting with people like you and me! There are various levels of support, but at just $39 you can get a copy of the 96 page book. Various enhanced packages all the way up to a $799 are also offered. It all looks like a great opportunity to me.

 This, like the amazing Bugatti 100P project, is another fabulous crowdfunding opportunity for the adventurous avgeek!

Crashed C-47 from the upcoming coffee table book Happy End (photo: Dietmar Eckell)

Mojave Fly-In April 20th (Tomorrow) - Experimental Oasis In The Desert!

Chip Yates will have his electric Long-EZ at the Mojave Experimental Fly-In April 20th

 As if having the world's most fascinating collection of aerospace companies gathered together on one California desert airport wasn't enough, the Mojave Air & Spaceport will also be attracting a very sweet collection of experimental aircraft tomorrow April 20th for the Mojave Experimental Fly-In. Chip Yates and his fast (over 200 mph) electric-powered Long-EZ will be there along with many other unique and impressive homebuilt and race aircraft from the past, present, and future. Race aircraft like the biplane speedster Phantom and the amazing over 400 mph Nemsis NXT will be there, along with Burt Rutan's Catbird, and a wide range of other great aircraft... you can get a better idea of what's expected to attend by checking out mojaveflyin.com.

 In addition to the extremely cool aircraft to look over (and their pilots and owners to talk to), Scaled Composites will have reps at the event as well as Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. 

 I had planned to make the trip to Mojave to soak up all this fabulous experimental avgeekery and bring back a boatload of pix to share with you, but my regular work schedule got in the way again and I won't be able to get there. Hopefully I'll still be able to fetch up some great images from some sources out there for a sweet follow-up post.

 If you're deeply interested in cutting-edge aerospace design and manufacturing on the fringe of the future, Mojave is definitely the place to be!

It's Time For YOU To Catch Bugatti (100P) Fever! Support The Kickstarter Campaign Today

 You might remember my post from August 2010 titled Coming Down With A Bad Case Of Bugatti (100P) Fever - With Video where I expressed my adoration for what the Bugatti 100P represented back in 1930's, and for the massive effort to build a flying replica of the airplane. As I mentioned in that post, a mega-sized project like this is hard to hit specific timeline goals... and while the airplane still isn't quite finished, it's getting very close! But as is usually the case, money stands in the way of reaching the lofty goal of putting the incredible design of the Bugatti 100P in the air for the first time in history. You may already know, but the original aircraft, on display at the EAA Museum, never actually flew.

 Scotty Wilson has put up a kickstarter.com campaign to raise the funds to complete this beautiful airplane and get it in the air. Watch the kiskstarter video above to learn more about the airplane and the campaign. This is YOUR chance to turn some Bugatti fever into the kind of support that will really make a difference! With 18 days to go, they are just under half way to their $50,000 goal, so if you can, make a pledge today to get the 100P in the air.

 You can be sure that I'm gonna be making a pledge to be part of this fascinating and historic aviation project! #bugattifever

The Bugatti 100P replica is getting close to completion but your support is needed!

https://www.facebook.com/TheBugatti100pProject

CoolPix: Convair Ad Circa 1953 With B-36 (Orange Paint!)

(click pic for hi-res)  Awesome aerospace-diversity Convair ad circa 1953

 Fear not, AirPigz HAS NOT gone 'orange paint' for every post already... I just knew that today I'd be posting this sweet Convair ad from back in the day, and I figured preceding it yesterday with some extra Convair-related orange paint was gonna be a great lead-in. Be sure to open this CoolPix artwork up big and take it all in, and take note of the line drawing of the P5Y in the blue area at the top. That's an amazing airplane that I will tell you I knew nothing about. Never even heard of it before seeing this ad - I have sooo much to learn! I'll have a detailed post on the P5Y (aka R3Y Tradewind) before long with some amazing images.

 This fabulous ad from around 1953 definitely put Convair's extremely robust aerospace diversity on display! Wow, those post WWII years were pretty incredible! But it's not just the swanky retro graphics of amazing flying machines that make this image so retro to me, it's also the fact that the photoshop restoration of this image was done by a guy that I actually went to private school with in California back in the late 60's for 1st thru 3rd grades. It was my work on AirPigz that got us back in contact after not seeing each other since I left that school in the 3rd grade!

 Chris Bryan and I not only went to the same school, but we both had dad's who flew for United and we were both pretty hardcore avgeeks at a very young age. Chris runs the really cool website BoxArtDen that has an incredible collection of box art from old-school plastic models that have been digitally restored. So much of that old art is off-the-scale cool to look at... and Chris loves to focus on the avgeek aspect of it. Be sure to take some time and go check it all out.

 I also found out a few years back when Chris and I got back in contact that he has a younger brother Hal, who I had never met when we were kids. Turns out that Hal and I had been emailing each other right at that time concerning issues related to AirPigz and the EAA... Hal is the online community manager at the EAA! (wow, it really is a small world! But, as a comedian once said, "I'd hate to have to paint it!" : )

 Thanx Chris for sharing this sweet old Convair ad that includes some orange paint! 

Start Your Week With A Hot B-58 Hustler (Orange Paint!)

(click pic to enlarge)  1950's era B-58 Hustler.. one of the hottest aircraft ever built!

 I figured this pic was a great way to get your week going... a B-58 Hustler from way back in the day shortly after takeoff with a positive rate of climb (probably VERY positive!) and with some swanky orange paint too. In fact, this is the first in a new sub-series of posts with the tag 'orange paint'.

 Maybe it doesn't affect you the way that it does me, but those military paint schemes from the 50's and 60's that included orange accents just drive me wild - i love it! So I thought I'd find some great pix from the past over the next couple months and occasionally post 'em up. 

 And if you're in the mood for some additional Hustler info, be sure to check out the rather extensive collection of posts I've put up in the AirPigz B-58 category which includes and extensive set of posts from 2010 when I did a 'B-58 Week'. Lastly, if you haven't voted in the supersonic bomber poll, you might wanna go do that now. Over 500 votes are in and the B-58 has proven very popular!

 So I hope you week (and mine) will be just like that B-58 taking off... fast, beautiful, a little scary and very goal-oriented : )  #mach2withyourhaironfire

Video: F-35B Attempts To Burn A Hole In The Earth At Night!

 It's old news now but the F-35B (the Marine variant that includes Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing [STOVL] capabilities) made its first nighttime vertical landing back on April 2, 2013. But, like me, you might have missed seeing the video... so here it is for you to enjoy.

 Wow that looks hot! And I don't mean 'hot' like trying to burn a hole in the runway (or landing pad), but hot as in awesome! So rock-solid steady and stable. It's just crazy, cool, and amazing. I guess it's pretty obvious, I'm impressed : )

 Old-school Harrier vertical landings are amazing as well, but they always had just a hint of this-could-go-bad-at-any-moment in them. The F-35 with so much computer intervention and raw power looks more like CGI animation than real-life. Simply astonishing.

 If you'd like to see more of what the short takeoff and vertical landing look like, then check out the daytime video below from just a few weeks earlier on March 21, 2013 when the first 'operational' F-35B made its initial vertical landing. I specifically enjoyed watching that short takeoff where the lift fan is providing lift from right behind the cockpit and the exhaust is turned partially downward as well. The most interesting part to me (since I haven't done any detailed reading on F-35 STOVL operations) is that as the nose rotates you'll notice that significant 'down' elevator is applied. I'm looking forward to understanding more of how all this amazing system works!