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Re: From our First Line of Defense .... 

By: monkeytrots in POPE IV | Recommend this post (2)
Wed, 30 Aug 17 5:25 AM | 73 view(s)
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Msg. 32550 of 47202
(This msg. is a reply to 32548 by lkorrow)

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'The Heath' - is LakenHeath AFB, England - right outside of London, I think

INS - Inertial Navigation System - usedta be at least three tri-axial spinning gyros. That type of system is subject to 'shocks'/sudden moves messing them up. Would have to be reset/renormalized with a known point of reference or other navigational info to get 'em back on track. That's my 'recall' on 'em anywhooz.

Remember- this was back in '82 - pooters have come a long ways since then. GPS systems - started deploying in '78*NAVSTAR* - but not fully operational until '93.

grew up with that kind of lingo - so can understand others getting a little discombobulated by it. *S*

I got a hoot out of his call sign ... Furtenberger. Now, that's funny !


From: http://www.airvectors.net/avf111.html

The primary navigation system was an AN/AJQ-20A inertial navigation system (INS), complemented by a TACAN radio navigation beacon receiver.

BEGIN QUOTE:

The TFR could be coupled to the autopilot for hands-off, high-speed, low-altitude flight in at night or in bad weather. I actually had to do some of this, and it scared me silly. On autopilot, the aircraft would follow terrain contours at 200 feet and, with the wings swept back, at airspeeds above 500 knots. This was bad enough in weather, which will usually give you a peek at the ground. But black, dark night or, worse, night weather would keep you on the edge of your seat -- which is where you better be, given the then-current state of avionics. Once or twice while auto-TFR-ing at night, I -- no kidding -- saw reflections bounce off dirt on either side, the terrain lit up by the strobing of the aircraft's rotating beacon.

END QUOTE




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The above is a reply to the following message:
Re: From our First Line of Defense ....
By: lkorrow
in POPE IV
Wed, 30 Aug 17 4:48 AM
Msg. 32548 of 47202

I didn't get a lot of it, but a fascinating story, thanks for posting it.

"the Vark had an incredible range and was a cadillac when cruising along at .95 Mach a few hundred feet above the countryside."

It had terrain-following radar to hug the ground without running into something, too.

I'd say that's when we knew how to build planes, but this -- "our INS dumped and every heading system on my side spun to a wrong heading ... the INS dumped all the time but usually the heading system was rock solid" -- is disturbing. What is INS and why did it fail so much? Darn computers!

What kills me is they retired the F-14 because they were getting long in the tooth and required long maintenance intervals. Now, the brand-new F-35s require 50 hours of maintenance for every flight hour, exceeding that of the old f-14s. Absolutely outrageous and way too expensive if you have to actually fight a war and use them. Never should have moved all our manufacturers out west, imo. Or let pork get in the way of our safety.


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