RIGHTEOUS!

A place for ACers to come and hang out after a hard day of escape-and-evade or survival training.

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Post by Sandrat »

Just finished a half hour ride along with the Red Baron aerobatic team that are performing for our local Aviation Festival this weekend. While no stick in the front cockpit, my pilot Jayson (Left Wing) took me along for a righteous, G-inducing thrill ride.

I'll say this, open-cockpit are the thing. Granted, I liked the T-34s we used to fly in at Sky Warriors during the summers of 1996 and 1997, but this was a new experience. Lots and lots of fun.
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Post by Space Nerd »

Sounds like an awesome experience! :lol:
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Post by Sandrat »

There is absolutely NOTHING like pulling 5+ Gs. :D
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Post by Spanky »

Pulling 7+ is better.... 8) 8) 8)
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Post by Sandrat »

True, however I didn't want the Stearman's wings to fall off, you know?
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Post by Spanky »

Well I've seen a T-34 in 7+G pull out....of course it's wings did fall of right after that......that might be why the are only g-rated to 5.5Gs.
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Post by Sandrat »

I am glad I never saw that footage. The end of the Sky Warriors program as we knew it. I wonder what happened to Uncle Ed and the boys, you know?
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Post by Spanky »

Actually one of the pilots was killed a few years later in another T-34 related crash (irony would have it in one of the Sky Warriors T-34). I have no idea what happen to the rest of the crew....some of those guys were working for Afterburners for awhile.
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Post by Sandrat »

So how many of the original Sky Warriors birds are left? One?
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Post by Spanky »

Yep just one...the silver bird...the two in smurf camo were destroyed in crashes.
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Post by Sandrat »

Dude, that's just wrong. I flew in one of the Smurf camos....
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Post by SpaceCanada »

Hahaha.... Smurfs!

The Smurf/Leprechaun war...

I wanted to do the Sky Warriors programme back in the day but it was too pricey for me. Too bad they cancelled it, but it's probably for the best hearing this information!
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Post by Sandrat »

Actually, the really light blue, gray and white aggressor colors are called Smurf camo (Spanky can tell you how it came about).

Those guys were great with Trainees and Counselors. The deal with AC was contingent upon safety. Any accident, anywhere, for any reason and the plug was pulled. When the first crash happened (two contracted employee pilots over-geeing the airframe), the contract was immediately pulled and that was that.

No trainees were ever harmed, or put in danger. Most of the pilots we knew were extremely competent and professional.
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Post by SpaceCanada »

Ah, back in 1998 we had a Smurf/Leprechaun 'war' of sorts. The Smurfs being the ASA kids and the Leprechauns being the M3 kids. I don't know all the specifics, but I think it had something to do with counsellors competing to see whose team was better.

Any-who... Smurf camo sounds interesting. I've never seen that before - was it custom for the Sky Warriors planes or is it a military standard somewhere?
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Post by Sandrat »

I remember the War of sorts you mentioned - one of many that seemed to take place concurrently over the years.

Like I said, we'll get Spanky on here and he can tell you everything there is to know about Smurf camo schemes.
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Post by Hawke »

Ah, Sky Warriors. Talk about a heck of a ride!!! I was fortunate enough to participate in the SW program three of the four times that I attended AC. Memories I will never forget. The guys that ran SW were pure gold. They knew how to have fun and how to motivate all the AC kids. I've got all three sessions on VHS still. I aught to capture some of it and upload it on YouTube. I'll link it if I get around to it.

It really is sad what happened to the SW program. I myself flew in both of those smurf camo planes.
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Post by MAYTAG »

you see the smurf camo patterns a lot with other countries but not too often with the US, the russians are one that seem to use it a lot



check this out it will give you an idea what it looks like:

http://www.suchoj.com/andere/MiG-29/ris ... 12)_14.jpg

or

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/G ... gal815.htm[/img]
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Post by Sandrat »

Very true - it is a Russian favorite. Some of the aggressor squadrons (both USAF and USN) have smurf painted aircraft. There is a cool looking F-16N Aggressor parked on the ramp at Pensacola NAS.
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Post by Spanky »

OK...the Smurf Camo was not meant to revive the SC/AC rivalry.

I was pointing out that in the fighter community we refered to the two tone camo used on the AT-38s as "Smurf Camo".

It was used on the AT-38s at Holloman AFB, ENJPT - European-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training, and a few other units...like the 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadrons.

Sky Warriors adopted this paint scheme on 2 of their birds.
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Post by Sandrat »

Spanky wrote:OK...the Smurf Camo was not meant to revive the SC/AC rivalry.
Revive it? It's been going on since AC's inception. There are just times when the relationship has been a little better than others. I should right up an Iron Gump about the ill-fated AC/SC football game of 1996. That was the relationship at its lowest point!
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