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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0111.PDF
DEFENCE Smooth rider tested WRIGHT-PATTERSON The US Air Force is extending development and testing of its Air Cushion Equipment Transporter (Acet), a plat form which "floats" aircraft over battle-damaged areas to repair depots or runways. Bell designed and construc ted Acet as part of a joint US/ Canadian programme. The platform, which is pulled by a tow vehicle, operates by ducting air through two ASP- 10 engines, derived from the Pratt & Whitney PT6. Air is injected into three rubber skirts beneath the platform. Initial tests were conducted by Bell in Ontario. The trans porter carried a 60,0001b load, a decommissioned F-101 Voodoo, over uneven terrain in crosswinds up to 22 m.p.h. (25kt). The USAF's Aeronautical Systems Division at Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio, is now conducting further develop ment and testing on a heave- control system for the transporter. This will regulate the air pressure in the skirt to maintain an even ride. Using the F-101 again, tests will be conducted over concrete and grass surfaces with bumps and depressions of plus or minus 12in. The laboratory also in tends to make the transporter self-mobile, eliminating the need for a tow vehicle. An F-101 tests the Air Cushion Equipment Transporter Seaguard demonstrated SAN LORENZO The Contraves Seaguard anti missile weapon system has been successfully demon strated at Nato's San Lorenzo firing range in Sardinia. The shipborne system com prises acquisition and track ing radars, a Sea Zenith quadruple 25mm automatic cannon, related command and control equipment, a power supply system, and a com puter analysis centre. For the demonstration a small high speed target towed by anF-104 Starfighter was used to simu late a sea skimming missile. Below Seaguard equipment undergoes tests. Bottom A photograph of one of the hits on the target at 600m The acquisition radar picked up the approaching target and handed it over to the tracking radar. As the target came into range the weapon fired one short burst and destroyed it. Seaguard was developed as a private venture by Con traves, a member of the Oerlikon-Buhrle Group, and is now being fitted in four frigates under construction in West Germany for the Turk ish Navy. 500th Tornado delivered MUNICH ~ The 500th Panavia Tornado of a total order for 809 by Great Britain, Italy, and West Germany, has been delivered. The aircraft was the 200th West German IDS Tornado of the 324 ordered by the Luftwaffe and Marineflieger. Tornado deliveries to the three countries began in 1979, and have continued on sched ule and within budget. CASUALTIES • A Beech B-65 instrument- flying trainer of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force crashed into the sea of Miyazake, Kyushn Island, on October 23. The aircraft hit cables while low flying. All three crew were killed. • A Bell 212 of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency crashed after a wirestrike at Okyama on October 30. All five on board were seriously injured. #A United States Navy Grumman A-6E Intruder of VA-176 at NAS Oceana, Virginia, crashed during a night bombing run on Novem ber 12. The two crew were killed. • A US Army Sikorsky UH- 60 Black Hawk crashed 30 n.m. south of Seoul, South Korea, on December 9. The UH-60 was from the 201st Combat Aviation company at Camp Humphreys, Chongju, and was assisting a force- landed CH-47 Chinook of the 213th CAC when it hit power lines. One South Korean soldier was killed, and the three crew were injured. • Two Taiwanese Air Force pilots were killed and a third critically injured in a Decem ber 18 mid-air collision between an AT-CH-1 trainer (turboprop-powered T-28 Trojan) and a Northrop F-5E Tiger 11. The student and instructor in the trainer died in the accident over Tainan. The F-5 pilot ejected but was seriously injured. TRACER Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has been subcontracted by McDonnell Douglas to pro duce new conformal fuel tanks for the F-15 Eagle. IAI has already made ten pairs of tanks for F-15s in the Israeli Air Force, and is under contract to produce 68 more pairs. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 11 January 1986
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