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An F/A-18F "Super Hornet" from VFA-122 flies over head Sunday during the 2010 Cleveland Air Show. As the West Coast Super Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron, VFA-122's, mission is to train Navy F/A-18E/F replacement pilot and Weapon Systems Officers (WSO) to support fleet commitments. Every 6 weeks a class of 8-12 newly-winged Naval aviators begin the 9 month training course in which they learn the basics of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, leading to day/night carrier qualification and subsquent assignment to fleet Hornet squadrons. VFA-122 is stationed at NAS Lemoore.

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The first McDonnell Douglas's (Boeing from 1997) Hornet upgrade concepts to reach fruition is the F/A-18E Super Hornet made its maiden flight in November 1995 and the first aircraft was formally accepted into service with the US Navy's VFA-122 in January 1999.

The F/A-18E's enlarged airframe incorporates measures to reduce radar cross-section and includeds a fuselage lengthened by 2ft 10in, an enlarged wing characterized by a thicker section and two more hardpoints, enlarged LERXes, and horizontal and vertical tail surfaces. The Super Hornet also has a structure extensively redesigned to reduce weight and cost without sacrifice of strength. The Super Hornet also features a new quadruplex digital 'fly-by-wire' control system without the Hornet's mechanical back-up systems. The F/A-18F Super Hornet is the two-seat development of the F/A-18E, with the rear cockpit equipped with the same displays as the front cockpit and otheriwse configured for alternative combat or training roles. The US Navy had orginially planned to procure 1000 Super Hornets, but in '97 the total was reduced to 548. Any delay in service debut of the F-35 to a time later than 2008-2010, however, will see the number of Super Hornets rise to 748.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Modern Aircraft: From Civilian Airliners to Military Superfighters

The B-17G, nicknamed 'Yankee Lady', takes to the skies Sunday during the 2010 Cleveland Air Show. 'Yankee Lady' is owned and operated by the Yankee Air Museum located at Willion Run Airport, Michigan. The aircraft bears the markings of the 381st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force.

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The Flying Fortress was designed for a USAAC (United States Army Air Corps) competition, announced in 1934, to find a modern replacement for the assorted Keystone biplane bombers, then in service. Since funding was lacking at the time, only thirty Flying Fortresses were fully operational when Hilter's forces invaded Poland in September 1939. The US was not involved in the fighting in Europe at the time, so it did not seem to be a matter of urgency. However, as it became clearer that US involvement was inevitable, after the Munich Crisis, orders for B-17s were increased.

The Pearl Harbor attack of 7 December 1941 finally brought the United States into the war and production of the B-17 rapidly increased. By July 1942, the US began forming the Eighth Air Force in Britian, equipped with B-17Es. The "E" represented an important improvement over the earlier B-17s, in that it had a tail turret, eliminating a previous defensive blind spot. Production of the B-17F was undertaken by Douglas and Vega, a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Corp, but modifications were taking their toll in airspeed. There were more than four hundred modifications on the B-17F.

The B-17F lacked adequate defense against a head-on attack. By September 1943, Flying Fortress showed its final shape during firepower tests on the XB-40, a modified B-17F with the advantage of a "chin" turret. The success of the chin turret, led to the delivery of the B-17G (the major production version), which was the first production variant to have a chin turret installed, under the nose. The Bendix turret held two .50-cal guns, which increased the armament to thirteen guns. In all, there were 8,680 B-17Gs built by Boeing, Vega, and Douglas to make this the largest production variation. Produced in greater numbers than any other single model, more B-17Gs were lost, than any other model.

B-17G-110-VE, N3193G, was delivered to the U. S. Army Air Corps as 44-85829, then transferred to the U. S. Coast Guard as PB-1G, BuNo 77255 in September 1946. It served at NAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina until May 1959. Ace Smelting Incorporated of Phoenix, Arizona bought it on May 11, 1959, gave it its current registration, then sold it to Fairchild Aerial Surveys of Los Angeles, California the same month. Aero Services Corporation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania acquired it on August 2, 1965 and sold it to Beigert Brothers of Shickley, Nebraska on October 1, 1965. Aircraft Specialties Incorporated of Mesa, Arizona bought it on March 19, 1966 and flew it as tanker c34 and later tanker #34. It was flown to Hawaii in January 1969 to appear in the movie Tora Tora Tora. Globe Air Incorporated of Mesa, Arizona acquired it along with B-17G-85-DL, N9563Z on February 18, 1981. It is now named "Yankee Lady" and flies for the Yankee Air Museum at Yspilanti, Michigan.

A Chance/Vought F4U-5NL from the Collings Foundation takes to the skies Sunday during the 2010 Cleveland Air Show. After coming off the production line newly-built BuNo 124692 was transferred to VC-3, based aboard the carrier Essex from November 1951 through February 1952. During that time this aircraft flew seventy-seven combat hours over Korea in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Intense cold, frequent storms, and the dangers of combat made this tour extremely difficult. As a -5NL, 124692 saw most of its service as a night fighter, patrolling the black skies, in search of enemy aircraft. After this tour, 124692 served aboard the USS Leyte as well as the USS Tarawa and USS Boxer. After subsequent assignments with the Marines and Reserve Units, the plane was placed in storage and stricken from naval inventory in 1956.

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The prototype XF4U-1 flew for the first time on 29 May 1940 and on 2 April 1941 Vought received a contract for 584 aircraft, the type to named Corsair in US Navy service. Because of many essential modifications, however, the first production aircraft did not fly until 25 July 1942. The Brewster and Goodyear companies were designated associated constructors; the former subsequently built 735 aircraft under the designation F3A-1 (its contract was canceled in 1944 because of shoddy working practices) and the latter 3,808, designated FG-1. The first Vought-built F4U-1 was delivered to the USN on 31 July 1944. Carrier trails began in September 1942 and the first Corsair unit, Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-214, was declared combat-ready in December, deploying to Guadualcanal in February 1943. After trails with VF-12, the Corsair became operational with Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17 in April 1943, deploying to a land base in New Georgia in September.

Of the 12,681 Corsairs built during World War II, 2,012 were supplied to the Royal Navy, equipping 19 squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm; some of these aircraft were diverted to equip three squadrons of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, operating in the Solomons. The first RN squadron to arm with the Corsair I (F4U-1) was No. 1830, on 1 June 1943. Rn Corsair Squadrons provided cover for Fleet Air Arm attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz in 1944, and subsquently deployed to the Pacific with a British carrier task force in 1945, taking part in the final offensive against Japan. Corsair variants used by the RN were the Corsair II (F4U-1A), Corsair II (F3A-1), and Corsair IV (FG-1).

Source: The Encyclopedia of Modern Aircraft

Commander Greg McWherter (Blue Angel #1), Right Wing pilot Lt. Jim Tomaszeki (Blue Angel #2), Lt. Robert Kurrle Jr (Blue Angel #3), and slot pilot Major Christoper Collins (Blue Angel #4) complete a pass with their gear down Saturday during the 2010 Dayton Air Show.

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The origin of the Blue Angels was in 1946, when Chester W. Nimitz, Chief of Naval Operations, ordered the formation of a flight demonstration team to keep the public interested in naval aviation. The Blue Angels preformed their first flight demonstration less than a year later in June of 1946, at the naval air station in Jacksonville, FL flying the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The name "Blue Angels" originated later in the year when a team member came across the name of the city's famous Blue Angel nightclub in the New Yorker magazine.

Today there are 120 Blue Angels including the six pilots who fly the F/A-18s. The Blue Angels team is stationed at Forrest Sherman Field at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla during the air show season. The team squadron spends its winter months practicing and training at the Naval facility in El Centro, California. Each year an estimated 15 million spectators view the squadron during the air shows each year. Additionally, the team visits more than 50,000 people a show season at school and hospital visits.

Source: 2010 Vectren Dayton Air Show program

Check it out on Black

Captain Kyro (Kyle Franklin) crosses swords with his bride the Scandalous Scarlett (Amanda Younkin-Franklin) on board the Waco Mystery Ship Saturday during the 2010 Dayton Air Show.

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Kyle and Amanda Franklin and Matt Younkin are third generation pilots who from rather well known families in the aviation community. Kyle is the son of legendary airshow pilot Jimmy Franklin. Matt is the son of legendary airshow pilot Bobby Younkin, and Amanda being Matt's sister and Kyle's wife, obviously ties the two families together.

Kyle grew up living in a hangar-house in Ruidoso, NM. The hangar soon became his favorite playground as well as a place where he and his father shared quality time servicing Waco's, Super Cubs, and the Aerostar. Kyle's first airplane ride was four weeks after his birth. Father Jimmy taught him how to fly when he was eight years old and later taught him aerobatics. As a toddler, Kyle seized every opportunity to wing-walk in Dad's Waco Mystery Ship as it taxied on about on the ground at air shows. Kyle took his first airborne wing-walk at age 14, and just three years later he was wing-walking professionally at age 17. At this point,Kyle became the world's youngest wing-walker as well as half of the only father/son wing-walking team in history. After the transition to the Jet Waco, Kyle became the world's first and only jet wing-walker. Kyle, who has retired to the cockpit, is now dazzling airshow spectators across the country with his tremendous ability to pilot airplanes that he formerly walked on and hung beneath.

Amanda also grew up around airplanes and air shows. As a small girl, she was always with her father Bobby as he was signing autographs and interacting with the crowd. Although Amanda and Bobby were very close, he never tried to influence her to become a pilot or even to like airplanes as a young girl. At age 14, she started working part time for Bobby around the office. She assisted Bobby’s secretary Catana with all manner of things from filing receipts and preparing taxes to organizing airshow paperwork. Amanda quickly learned quite a few airshow ins and outs as well as tricks of the marketing trade that would greatly benefit her in the future. Another little known skills is Amanda’s ability to fly several different types of airplanes. She learned her basic flying skills from Chuck Irvin. After soloing at age 16, she started training with Bobby in the Super Decathlon. She would eventually take her private pilot’s check ride in this same airplane. Amanda is now an accomplished tail wheel and multi-engine pilot having flown 12 different types of aircraft to date. She is also the glue that holds the organization together. Amanda announces for Matt, wing walks for Kyle, and books airshows and acquires sponsors for both of them.

Source: Franklin's Flying Circus & Airshow