Page 8 - Airforce Magazine_September2015 issue
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Letters
letters@afa.org
Back to the Future
It looks like we’re going backwards. Recent articles pertaining to the Air Force’s plan to acquire a new advanced jet trainer have thus far identified potential candidates that appear to be aerodynami- cally inferior to the T-38s that they are supposed to replace [“Teeing Up the T-X,” June, p. 48].
In these challenging budgetary times, it appears obvious to me that a brand- new T-38 airframe, with futuristic new avionics, might be superior to any can- didate thus far proposed and likely far less expensive (because the airframe is already proven). Higher quality at less cost. Worth consideration.
Col. David R. Haulman, USAF (Ret.) Ridgeland, Miss.
Night Flight Alright
Great story! I know there have been thousands of supersonic flights at Ed- wards [AFB, Calif.]. Not sure how many were night supersonic [“Edwards Renais- sance,” July, p. 38].
In 1972 while at Eglin AFB, Fla., I was the operational test and evaluation proj- ect manager of a replacement passive infrared sensor for the RF-4C. Part of the OT&E was to test the sensor resolution flying supersonic in fly-off between the new Honeywell AAD-5 and Texas Instru- ments revised AAS-18. Edwards was the only location we could fly supersonic at night and had the sensor array targets. Base officials even published a notice of the event, alerting all in the area of our week of night supersonic flights.
Maj. Gayle P. Johnson, USAF (Ret.) Watertown, Wis.
This is a minor comment about the “moving blades of metal” that play havoc with radars at Edwards Air Force Base. If you dig a little deeper into wind turbine technology, you will find blades are made of fiberglass composite with carbon composite in areas of high stress. In spite of fiberglass being an electrical nonconductor, the radar return may be only a few decibels down from metal. (Perhaps down several dB.) The few dB can still play havoc. Also blades typically have an ice sensor at the tip
with a wire running to the hub; this wire contributes to the radar return. Each blade has lightning protection, which is a conductor and enhances radar cross section. Older and smaller wind turbines likely have metal blades. The solution to the radar interference is not obvious.
Allen E. Fuhs Wright-Patterson AFB Dayton, Ohio
Counting Down
I have seen AC-47s fire in Vietnam and have always been amazed by the firing rate of miniguns: up to 6,000 rounds a minute. However, the claims that three of them could hit every square foot of a football field in a three-second burst don’t seem to add up [“Gunships on the Trail,” June, p. 64]. My math (admit- tedly, not one of my strengths) tells me that there are 48,000 square feet in an NFL football field (160 x 300 = 48,000). A firing rate of 18,000 rpm (rounds per minute) works out to 300 rps (rounds per second). At that rate, it seems to me that it would take about two minutes and 40 seconds to cover a football field. Or did I miss something?
MSgt. Stephen Childers, USAF (Ret.) Woodside, Del.
Finest
I would like to commend John Correll for his excellent article, “Their Finest Hour,” in the July issue [p. 30]. His sum- mary and characterization of the Battle of Britain was well-done and moving. I would like to add some background to the subsequent treatment of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. I call it, “The Rest of the Story.”
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AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2015
