Daily Archives: July 27, 2018

9 posts

President’s Corner for July/August 2018

Hey Guys! I hope your July was as much fun as mine! If it weren’t for back to back heat waves it would have Perfect!

Our Independence Day at the field was almost a total success. I say almost, as the raffle was supposed to be a fund raiser that if it followed the tradition of the last few years – would have funded half of  our end of year holiday banquet this coming Jan. Sadly – we did not meet our fund raising goals, and actually lost a couple of dollars to boot… A couple of folks made banquet donations that have us even (Thanks Hoang Nguyen and Mark Davis!) But we are a long way from our target of $2500.00 to get us on the right track. On that note, you should have all received a blast from the club on Tuesday telling you how to buy club shirts and support the banquet at the same time. If you missed it, the link is here: https://tinyurl.com/y8f2r9rr it has been a few years since there have been club shirts available and I am glad to purchase some! Thanks Jim for setting this up for us.  Following up on the Independence Day at the field, the lunch catered by Leilani’s Food Truck was a smashing success and there was not one complaint from the crowd. If there is enough interest, we will ask them back!  The fireworks were better than the last 2 years as the prevailing wind blew the smoke east instead of directly at us so we had “in your face” visuals of most of the show. Thanks to everyone that came down and enjoyed the day – and a bigger thanks for taking your trash with you instead of leaving it on-site.

It sounds like the end of July will carry on the heat wave, so I would like to remind everyone to bring sun screen, and plenty of fluids when they come.  Also- please keep the extinguishers handy. The outlying field is very dry and would be difficult to save if a fire gets out of control. We will be renting the water truck and the roller in August to soak and compress the field. Tony is also looking at filling in the Grand Canyon that is forming at our entrance gate. We will announce the specific date as it arrives and close the field for 24 hours to let everything set.

For the folks at the rotor plex – There is NO flying north of the fence that parallels the main runway. This is NOT a shared area as it puts helicopters and multi-rotors right into the landing path for airplanes. We are having signs made to this effect and ask the person(s) that keep dragging carpet to this area to STOP. As seen from the rotor pit area, you can take off and land directly in front of you at the opening between the two fences – or on the opposite side of the right hand fence. No flight from the left hand fence.

We lost our scale day event at the end of June due to some stiff cross winds, and were unable to make it up. I did see some folks bring neat looking planes though. If you would like to share weathering techniques, write a short description of your efforts and send along with a few pictures to Steve Belknap at editor@sefsd.org . He likes new content!!

This month’s event is our summer Bomb Drop. Randy and Jim are changing it up a bit to appreciate those that have created their own drop mechanisms – should be fun! The event starts at 10:00 AM and runs until approximately noon – followed by the monthly meeting and lunch.

Have a great month!!

Brad

Bombs Away!

 

Mini Mamba

Bomb Drop

Reminder!

Saturday, July 28th 10:00am

The club favorite returns,

it’s time for the annual 

 

BOMB DROP!

At 10:00am,  the field is closed from general flying to allow the folks with home made, or commercially purchased bomb dropping devices to drop their own ordinance for a T-Shirt 

(sizes limited so drop early for best chance for your size)

 

At 11:00am, the bombs start dropping for score.
As usual, $150 in certificates for DHW are up for grabs.

Bomb drop devices, and bombs are provided.

ANY FIXED WING CAN PARTICIPATE!

Stay for the meeting afterwards and enjoy lunch from
Remember, don’t watch your
Watch your

Holiday Banquet T-Shirt FUNDRAISER!

The T-Shirt Fundraiser is off to a great start, 

but we need more to make the minimum and get the shirts printed.

 

NOTE!!

You can donate without buying a shirt using the button on the

fundraising page. 100% of donation’s go to the club with no fees!

So,  if you don’t want a shirt,  you can still support your club!

 

Holiday Banquet T-Shirt

FUNDRAISER!

 

Limited Edition

only available until Sept 7, 2018

Here is your chance to get a new 

SEFSD T-shirt 

(multiple styles available)

with a portion of your purchase coming back to the club to be used for the holiday banquet.

 

Click Here!

 https://tinyurl.com/y8f2r9rr

Electroglide Report for July 2018

By Jeff Struthers,

The Electroglide this month happened in clear but windy conditions. There were high thin clouds painted on blue skies over Mission Bay. At 10:00 a.m., Lindbergh Field was reporting westerly winds of 12 mph and visibility of 10 miles.

Several pilots flew their gliders before the contest start time, checking on the lift conditions. Some lift could be found high up, just south of the boat launch area. There were seven pilots ready to brave the winds at the 10:00 a.m. start time. Six Radians and one open class glider.

First launch had most of us heading WNW to the expected lift area. Only Scott Vance and Bob Stinson found good lift. Scott came back at 6:01, also getting a 20-point landing. Bob came in at 5:51 and I came in at 4:13, also placing a 20-point landing. Fred Daugherty picked up a 20-point landing and Carlos Mercado picked up a 10-point landing.

Second launch seemed to be in a bit stronger wind. This must have disrupted the thermal patterns because flight times dropped. Scott again had the longest flight at 4:01, also adding a 10-point landing to his flight score. Carlos had the next longest flight at 4:00 but greatly added to that with a 30-point landing. Bob was third in that launch, coming back at 3:46 with a 10-point landing. Bonus landing points were also earned by Fred, Stephen Treger and myself at 20-points; George Sullivan earned a 10-point landing.

On the third launch I succeeded in lousing my airplane, recovering only when Jim Bonnardel alerted us that a Radian was flying near the FPV area and all of us pilots were looking towards Sea World. It was mine I’m sorry to say. I must quit flying someone else’s airplane and pay attention to my own. I had just enough altitude left to make it to the runway and score the Lucky Dog award, a whopping 12-points for me on that round.

Most everyone had a flight of five minutes or less, but Bob Stinson and George Sullivan managed to stay in the air by working the lift over the Palm trees near the boat launch area. Bob had a flight time of 9:30 and George had a time of 9:26. Nice work of flying and reading their aircraft.

Landing in the increasing wind was difficult as all aircraft were coming back without motor power. With the wind from the rear, this made the rudder and elevator response sluggish. The final turn into wind and landing took up a lot of airspace. Bob and George did make the runway but landed east of the target circles. Carlos had the third longest time of 5:06. Scott and Stephen were the only ones to get bonus landing points, 20 and 10-points respectively.

The fourth and final launch found the wind disrupting any thermals. Scott had the longest flight, coming back at 5:49. Next was Fred at 4:41 with a 10-point landing. George was third at 3:26. Fred being the only pilot to score a bonus landing credit for that final round. Two pilots couldn’t get back to the field because of the wind and thus scored no points.

Total point winner for the day was Scott Vance with 177-points. Second place was Fred Daugherty at 133-points and third place was Bob Stinson at 126-points.

Flying a glider in strong winds with only 20 seconds of motor run time is a hard thing to do. Congratulations to all the pilots that picked up bonus landing points, that was hard as well.     Challenges like this make us all better pilots.

Next Electroglide is scheduled for August 18th. 10:00 a.m. is first launch.

See you there,

Jeff

 

Fascinating Facts About WW II Aviation History

Lockheed P-38 Lightning                              10,037  Made

On average, 6600 American servicemen died per MONTH, during WWII (about 220 a day).

People who were not around during WW2 have no understanding of the magnitude.  This gives some insight. 

276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US .

43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat. 

14,000 lost in the continental U.S.

The staggering cost per aircraft in 1945 dollars

B-17       $204,370.     P-40       $44,892.

B-24       $215,516.     P-47       $85,578.

B-25       $142,194.     P-51       $51,572.

B-26       $192,426.     C-47       $88,574.

B-29       $605,360.     PT-17     $15,052.

P-38         $97,147.     AT-6       $22,952.

From Germany ‘s invasion of Poland Sept. 1, 1939  until Japan ‘s surrender on Sept. 2, 1945 = 2,433 days.  

America lost an average of 170 planes per day.

A  B-17 carried 2,500 gallons of high octane fuel and carried a crew of 10 airmen.

9.7 billion gallons of gasoline consumed.

108 million hours flown.

460 thousand million / 460,000,000,000 (460 Billion) rounds of aircraft ammo fired overseas.

7.9 million bombs dropped  overseas.

2.3 million combat flights.

299,230 aircraft used.

808,471 aircraft engines used.

799,972 propellers.

 

WWII MOST-PRODUCED COMBAT AIRCRAFT

 

Yakolev Yak-1,-3,-7, -9                               31,000

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Fascinating Facts About WW II Aviation History

Lockheed P-38 Lightning                              10,037  Made

On average, 6600 American servicemen died per MONTH, during WWII (about 220 a day).

People who were not around during WW2 have no understanding of the magnitude.  This gives some insight. 

276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US .

43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat. 

14,000 lost in the continental U.S.

The staggering cost per aircraft in 1945 dollars

B-17       $204,370.     P-40       $44,892.

B-24       $215,516.     P-47       $85,578.

B-25       $142,194.     P-51       $51,572.

B-26       $192,426.     C-47       $88,574.

B-29       $605,360.     PT-17     $15,052.

P-38         $97,147.     AT-6       $22,952.

From Germany ‘s invasion of Poland Sept. 1, 1939  until Japan ‘s surrender on Sept. 2, 1945 = 2,433 days.  

America lost an average of 170 planes per day.

A  B-17 carried 2,500 gallons of high octane fuel and carried a crew of 10 airmen.

9.7 billion gallons of gasoline consumed.

108 million hours flown.

460 thousand million / 460,000,000,000 (460 Billion) rounds of aircraft ammo fired overseas.

7.9 million bombs dropped  overseas.

2.3 million combat flights.

299,230 aircraft used.

808,471 aircraft engines used.

799,972 propellers.

 

WWII MOST-PRODUCED COMBAT AIRCRAFT

 

Yakolev Yak-1,-3,-7, -9                               31,000

 

Messerschmitt Bf-109                                  30,480

 

Focke-Wulf Fw-190                                      29,001

 

Supermarine Spitfire                                     20,351

 

Convair B-24/PB4Y Liberator/Privateer       18,482

 

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt                          15,686

 

North American P-51 Mustang                     15,875

 

Junkers Ju-88                                              15,000

 

Hawker Hurricane                                        14,533

 

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk                                 13,738

 

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress                         12,731

 

Vought F4U Corsair                                      12,571

 

Grumman F6F Hellcat                                  12,275

 

Petlyakov Pe-2                                             11,400

 

Lockheed P-38 Lightning                              10,037

 

Mitsubishi A6M Zero                                    10,449

 

North American B-25 Mitchell                        9,984

 

Lavochkin LaGG-5                                         9,920

 

Grumman TBM Avenger                                9,837

 

Bell P-39 Airacobra                                        9,584

 

Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar                                    5,919

 

DeHavilland Mosquito                                   7,780

 

Avro Lancaster                                              7,377

 

Heinkel He-111                                              6,508

 

Handley-Page Halifax                                     6,176

 

Messerschmitt Bf-110                                    6,150

 

Lavochkin LaGG-7                                         5,753

 

Boeing B-29 Superfortress                            3,970

 

Short  Stirling                                                   2,383

 

 

The US lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and support personnel plus 13,873 airplanes — inside the continental United States .  There were 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months.

Average 1,170 aircraft accidents per month—- nearly 40 a day.

It gets worse…..

Almost 1,000  planes disappeared en route from the US to foreign climes.  But  43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948 on combat missions (18,418 in Europe ) and 20,633 due to non-combat causes overseas.

In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943,  60 B-17s were shot down. That was a 16 percent loss rate and meant

600 empty bunks in England . In 1942-43, it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete the intended 25-mission tour in Europe .

Pacific theatre losses were far less (4,530 in combat) owing to smaller forces committed.  The B-29 mission against Tokyo on May 25, 1945, cost 26 Superfortresses, 5.6 percent of the 464 dispatched from the Marianas .

On  average, 6,600 American servicemen died per month during WWII, about 220 a day.  Over 40,000 airmen were killed in combat and another 18,000 wounded.  Some 12,000 missing men were declared dead, including those “liberated” by the Soviets but never returned.  More than 41,000 were captured.   Half of the 5,400 held by the Japanese died in captivity,  compared with one-tenth in German hands.   Total combat casualties were  121,867.

The US forces peak strength was in 1944 with 2,372,000 personnel, nearly twice the previous year’s figure.

Losses were huge—but so were production totals.   From 1941 through 1945, American industry delivered more than 276,000 military aircraft.  That was not only for US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but also for allies as diverse as Britain , Australia , China and Russia .  

Our enemies took massive losses.  Through much of 1944, the Luftwaffe sustained hemorrhaging of  25% of aircrews and 40 planes a month.

Experience Level:

Uncle Sam sent many men to war with minimum training.  Some fighter pilots entered combat in 1942 with less than 1 hour in their assigned aircraft..

The 357th Fighter Group (The Yoxford Boys) went to England in late 1943 having trained on P-39s, then flew Mustangs.   They never saw a Mustang until the first combat mission. 

With the arrival of new aircraft, many units transitioned in combat.  The attitude was, “They all have a stick and a throttle.  Go fly `em.”   When the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in Feb 44, there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition.   The Group commander, Col. Donald Blakeslee, said,

“You can learn to fly 51s on the way to the target”. 

 

A future P-47 ace said, “I was sent to England to die.”  Many bomber crews were still learning their trade.  Of Jimmy Doolittle’s 15 pilots on the April 1942  Tokyo raid, only five had won their wings before 1941.   All but one of the 16 co-pilots were less than a year out of flight school.

In WW2,  safety took a back seat to combat.  The AAF’s worst accident rate was recorded by the A-36 Invader version of the P-51: a staggering 274 accidents per 100,000 flying hours.   Next worst were the P-39 at 245, the P-40 at 188, and the P-38 at 139.  All were Allison powered.

Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive.  The B-17 and B-24 averaged 30 and 35 accidents per 100,000

flight hours respectively– a horrific figure considering that from 1980 to 2000 the Air Force’s major mishap rate

was less than 2.

The B-29 was even worse at 40 per 100,000 hours; the world’s most sophisticated, most capable and most expensive bomber was too urgently needed to be able to stand down for mere safety reasons.

(Compare:  when a $2.1 billion B-2 crashed in 2008, the Air Force declared a two-month “safety pause”).

The B-29 was no better for maintenance. Although the R3350 was known as a complicated, troublesome power-plant, only half the mechanics had previous experience with it.  

Navigators:

Perhaps the greatest success story concerned Navigators.  The Army graduated some 50,000 during WW2.

Many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving “Uncle Sugar” for a war zone.  Yet they found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or running out of fuel – a tribute to the AAF’s training.

At its height in mid-1944, the USAAF had 2.6 million people and nearly 80,000 aircraft of all types. 

Today the US Air Force employs 327,000 active personnel (plus 170,000 civilians) with 5,500+ manned and perhaps 200 unmanned aircraft.  That’s about 12% of the manpower and 7% of the airplanes of the WW2 peak.

SUMMATION:

Another war like that of 1939-45 is doubtful, as fighters and bombers have given way to helicopters and remotely-controlled drones, eg. over Afghanistan and Iraq .  But within our living memory, men left the earth in 1,000-plane formations and fought major battles five miles high, leaving a legacy that remains timeless.

  

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