Another Satisfied Customer!

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Warplanes not only produces the best scale replicas of airplanes and helicopters in the market but also brings exceptional military plaques!

We are proud to say that each plaque is entirely created by hand. A block of mahogany wood is carefully chiseled to come up with the base and the plaque’s shape. Craftsmen then carve the distinct design and hand paints the model plaque with thorough attention to detail and color. Each symbolism, sign and letters, up to the minute detail are sculpted and carved to meet a faithful replica of the original plaque.

Creating world-class plaques is no easy job. So every time customers send us feedback about how satisfied they were, we are simply overjoyed.

Recently we received an email from Bill Glick expressing how pleased he was with how Warplanes produced and delivered this Naval Aviation Plaque.

“I wanted to share this photo with you to show you how your SUPERB efforts and excellent product was being utilized.

This is the exact intended use of the CoNA plaques…for photo opportunities such as this.

VERY Good job!!!”

Thank you Bill, rest assured we will continue to give you only the best scale replica there is! On behalf of the Warplanes team, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors whatever they may be!

USAF and US Navy warcraft take on Libyan Vessels

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USS Mount Whitney, At Sea - A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft and guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52), engaged Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller craft March 28.

The vessels were engaged after confirmed reports that Vittoria and accompanying crafts were firing indiscriminately at merchant vessels in the port of Misrata, Libya.

The P-3C fired at Vittoria with AGM-65F Maverick missiles, rendering the 12-meter patrol vessel ineffective and forcing it to be beached after multiple explosions were observed in the vicinity of the port.

Two smaller Libyan craft were fired upon by the A-10 using its 30mm GAU-8/ Avenger cannon, destroying one and forcing the other to be abandoned.

Barry provided situational awareness for the aircraft by managing the airspace and maintaining the maritime picture.

The P-3C, A-10 and Barry are currently supporting operations for Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn.

Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces supporting the international response to the unrest in Libya and enforcement of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973. UNSCR 1973 authorizes all necessary measures to protect civilians in Libya under threat of attack by Qadhafi regime forces.

-asdnews.com

Free Cleaning Brush with your Model Airplane!

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Warplanes is currently having a Helicopter Hunt Sale this month of March, slashing as much as $135 off the original price of their best-selling model helicopters.

On the rack, they give you their best-selling Apache  Model Helicopter, HH-3F Pelican Model Helicopter RAH66 Model Helicopter, the Vietnam UH-1 Huey Collection Models, VH-71 Kestrel Model Helicopter, Super Cobra AH-1W Model Helicopter and the HH-60 Pave Hawk Model Helicopter among others. Now is your chance to grab those model helicopters you have been eyeing for!

Gifted craftsmen ardently worked transforming a block of mahogany wood into a beautiful helicopter model. Carved, painted and artistically created by hand, you get your model helicopter at its finest. Next to the real thing, who doesn’t want to own the scale replica of these amazing aircraft?

But wait, we are done yet!

As collectors, we all know how important it is to care for our model aircraft. That is why regular cleaning is highly recommended. For that, one needs a model cleaning brush to keep a model airplane or model helicopter in good condition. Normal cleaning brushes may damage, stain, rust or worse wear away the markings of your model. You don’t want that.

For that reason, we are giving away the perfect cleaning tool to match your exquisite model helicopter. That’s right! For every order of any item in our Clearance Sale, Warplanes is throwing a FREE model cleaning brush to go with it from today until April 30th!

A world-class scale replica of your favorite aircraft is definitely an investment. Nobody wants to put that expenditure to waste just because one has been negligent by using the wrong type of caring method and the wrong brush!

For some, a model aircraft is a symbol of heroism. To many, it also represents honor. So if you want to pass on the family pride with your model collection, you want the perfect cleaning tool to clean, polish and preserve you aircraft at the same time.

Worry no more. There is an easy way to achieve just that! Order any product under Warplanes’ Helicopter Hunt Sale or Clearance Sale and we are going to give you your model cleaning brush for FREE this April! Order now!

Model Planes available for immediate shipping

B-17 Flying Fortress 1/62 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

B-17G Fortress 1/72 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

B-24 Liberator Ploesti Raid 1/62 $109.95 + model cleaning brush!

B-29 Superfortress 1/72 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

C-47 “Band of Brothers” 1/62 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

SNJ-3 Texan 1/32 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

A-4 Skyhawk Navy 1/28 $119.95 + model cleaning brush!

AV-8B Harrier 1/48 $109.95 + model cleaning brush!

C-5 Galaxy Strategic Airlifter 1/150 $139.95 + model cleaning brush!

F-4 Phantom Thunderbirds 1/42 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

F-15E Strike Eagle 1/48 $84.95 + model cleaning brush!

F/A-18 Hornet 1/38 $139.95 + model cleaning brush!

F/A-18 Super Hornet 1/48 $139.95 + model cleaning brush!

F-35A JSF / CTOL 1/40 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

XB-70 Valkyrie 1/150 $109.95 + model cleaning brush!

RQ-4 Global Hawk 1/78 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

German Albatross DV 1/22 $109.95 + model cleaning brush!

Apache Longbow AH-64 1/32 $84.95 + model cleaning brush!

Comanche RAH-66 1/48 $89.95 + model cleaning brush!

A330 Jetstar 1/100 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

Boeing 314 Dixie Clipper Pan Am 1/100 $119.95 + model cleaning brush!

Boeing 737 Virgin Blue 1/100 $79.95 + model cleaning brush!

Boeing 757 TWA 1/100 $159.95 + model cleaning brush!

Boeing 777 United 1/200 $109.95 + model cleaning brush!

Beechcraft G-17 Staggerwing 1/32 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

LC-DW Super Solution 1/20 $149.95 + model cleaning brush!

M-130 Pan Am China Clipper 1/72 $109.95 + model cleaning brush!

Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis 1/100 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

F-4 Phantom Blue Angels 1/42 $99.95 + model cleaning brush!

Douglas World Cruiser 1/32 $119.95 + model cleaning brush!

Orbiter Spaceplane Model 1/100 $149.95 + model cleaning brush!

Northrop submits NATO AGS proposal

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Last week, Northrop Grumman Corporation’s final proposal was submitted for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) core capability – a trans-Atlantic cooperation that will meet the security challenges of the 21st century.

Pat McMahon, sector vice president of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems’ Battle Management & Engagement Systems Division, said that ”The updated proposal offers an affordable, executable program that will provide an operationally relevant system to the Alliance.”

Based on the Block 40 configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft, the NATO AGS system will provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to ground, maritime and air commanders, anytime and anywhere in the world.

They will be equipped with Northrop Grumman’s Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) ground surveillance radar sensor, which will be capable of detecting and tracking moving objects throughout the observed areas as well as providing radar imagery of target locations and stationary objects. It also includes an air segment consisting of six Block 40 Global Hawks that will be missionized to meet NATO requirements.

“As NATO’s highest acquisition priority and Europe’s highest visibility program, NATO AGS also represents the first international sale of the Block 40 Global Hawk,”said Matt Copija, director of Northrop Grumman’s NATO AGS program.

Flying up to 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours, the combat-proven Global Hawk has flown more than 53,000 hours. The U.S. Air Force Block 30 Global Hawks continue to fly relief support missions over Japan in response to the tragic 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami, and are also supporting the NATO-led coalition effort in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn over Libya.

Source: aviation news.eu, photo from Google images

Rotorsim to Expand With Purchase of AW139 FFS

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Sesto Calende, Italy - Rotorsim, the consortium owned equally by CAE and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, announced on Mar. 29 that it is expanding with the purchase from CAE’s Military business of a CAE 3000 Series full-flight simulator (FFS) replicating the AW139 aircraft.

The new AW139 FFS, to be delivered in 2012, will be jointly developed by CAE and AgustaWestland. The simulator will be qualified to Level D, the highest qualification for flight simulators.

“The AW139 continues to enjoy great success in the global market for applications such as VIP/corporate transport, offshore, emergency medical services, law enforcement and other commercial and government roles,” said John Ponsonby, Senior Vice President – Training, AgustaWestland. “Our customers require cost-effective, high-fidelity training for their AW139 initial and recurrent training, and the addition of another AW139 full-flight simulator will enable us to meet growing demand.”

“CAE is a global leader in helicopter simulation and training, and with the launch of our CAE 3000 Series helicopter mission simulator, we are leveraging our technologies to offer both military and civil helicopter operators the same level of high-fidelity mission training previously found only in the highest-end military applications,” said Martin Gagne, CAE’s Group President, Military Products, Training and Services.

The CAE 3000 Series helicopter mission simulator features unprecedented realism for helicopter-specific mission training, including offshore oil and gas producer (OGP), law enforcement, corporate VIP and other operations. The simulator enables pilots to practice challenging procedures without risk such as low-level flight, confined area operations, autorotation and landing on platforms at sea. The AW139 FFS for Rotorsim will feature AgustaWestland-certified avionics and aircraft software combined with CAE core simulation technologies, including: CAE True six degree-of-freedom (DOF) electric motion system and high-performance vibration platform to replicate vibration cues critical to helicopter pilots; a high-fidelity CAE Tropos-6000 visual system; and a direct projection 210 degree by 80 degree extreme field-of-view dome display system.

Rotorsim was established in 2003 as a joint venture of AgustaWestland and CAE to provide classroom and synthetic training solutions for AgustaWestland AW109 and AW139 helicopter operators around the world. The Rotorsim training centre in Italy is located within the AgustaWestland ‘A. Marchetti’ Training Academy and already houses two CAE-built FFSs. These simulators feature CAE’s revolutionary roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, enabling cockpits representing the AW139 and three variants of the AW109 to be used in the two simulators. Rotorsim also offers training on a CAE-built AW139 simulator located at CAE’s North East Training Centre near New York City. Later this year, Rotorsim will begin offering training in Sesto Calende, Italy, on the NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH).

-asdnews.com

Pilot killed as Yak-52 crashed during airshow

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Yak-52

A single-engine Yak 52 plane from the Red Thunder Air Show team crashed on Saturday afternoon, leaving the pilot dead.

The Pilot, Bill Walker, 58, known as “Wild Bill” in flying circles, was from Cookeville, Tennessee and was part of the Red Thunder Air Show team. The Red Thunder team is made up of six members from South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana. “We all meet in a little place down here in northern Alabama called Courtland.

Matt Barron has been watching the maneuvers said, “The one plane was doing a loop and the other one was going straight down. He just fell out of the sky, straight down.”

“The two planes were doing the same thing, they were doing a maneuver,” said Jay Gardner, the Flagler County property appraiser. “They were trying to pull up, he flew straight into the ground.”

An hour later, firefighters were at the scene containing a brush fire that had erupted as a consequences of the crash.

The organizer of the second annual Wings Over Flagler fly-in, Bill Mills expressed his thoughts moments before he was to speak for the first time since the crash to a gathering of the show’s pilots in a VIP tent. “Obviously a tragedy on an absolutely fabulous day here. One of the premier events for Flagler has unfortunately been tainted by a tragedy, and we’re all extremely sad for our pilot friend, and may God rest his soul.”

The Yakovlev Yak-52 is a Soviet primary trainer aircraft which first flew in 1976. It is still being produced in Romania by Aerostar, which gained manufacturing rights under agreement within the now defunct COMECON socialist trade organisation. The Yak-52 was designed originally as an aerobatic trainer for students in the Soviet DOSAAF training organisation, which trained both civilian sport pilots and military pilots.

Flagler County's Fire Flight helicopter was called to drop buckets of water on the crash scene.

Original article and photo  from flaglerlive.com , aircraft information from wikipedia.org

US Navy Disrupts Pirate Attempt In Arabian Sea

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U.S. Naval forces disrupted a pirate attack on M/V Falcon Trader II, a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel, after it reported it had been attacked by pirates March 24.

All 20 Filipino crew members of the Falcon Trader II are safe and in control of the vessel.

Sailors man a dual-mounted M-60 machine gun aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) as an SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters from Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 11 and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48 embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and Leyte Gulf hover near the Philippine-flagged merchant vessel M/V Falcon Trader II after a distress call reported it had been boarded by pirates. Leyte Gulf and Enterprise continue to support Operation Enduring Freedon and regional maritime security operations as part of their deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility

At approximately 10:30 a.m. (local), aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), conducting operations supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, responded to a distress call from the M/V Falcon Trader II reporting that suspected pirates in a small skiff were attempting to board the vessel.

In a second report from the crew of Falcon Trader II, they stated there were pirates aboard and that all 20 crew members were safe and had locked themselves into a safe room, also known as a ‘citadel’. The citadel is a secure room with food, water, communication and control over the vessel’s steering and propulsion.

An SH-60F helicopter assigned to the “Dragonslayers” of Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron (HS) 11 from the Enterprise and an SH-60B helicopter assigned to the “Vipers” of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48 from the Leyte Gulf were sent to investigate the situation.

Once on scene, the HS-11 helicopter fired warning shots to dissuade the pirates from continuing their attack. Following this, two pirates were witnessed jumping off the bow of the M/V Falcon Trader II and the pirates’
skiff fled the area, pursued by HS-11‘s helicopter.

As the pirate’s skiff was attempting to rendezvous with a larger vessel suspected to be acting as a ‘mother ship’, the pirates shot at the helicopter with small arms. The helicopter and its crew were not harmed and returned to continue conducting reconnaissance of the scene.

“We could definitely see the muzzle flashes from their AK-47s, but we weren’t hit,” said Lt. Joshua A. Overn, a pilot aboard the helicopter. “The anti-piracy training we had received kicked in, and everyone conducted themselves with poise and professionalism.”

With no confirmation that all the pirates had left the vessel, a Leyte Gulf crewmember fluent in the Filipino language, Tagalog, remained in contact with the Falcon Trader’s crew in the citadel and monitored the vessel
overnight. The following morning, after observing no suspicious activity, Leyte Gulf’s visit, board, search and seizure team boarded and secured the vessel. Confirming no pirates remained aboard, they notified the crew that it was safe to come out of the citadel.

“It says a great deal about the inherent flexibility and capability of the Enterprise Strike Group that we were able to conduct counter-piracy operations while simultaneously flying Operation Enduring Freedom missions and coordinating air defense of the region,” said Capt. Eugene Black, commanding officer of Leyte Gulf.

U.S. forces continue to monitor the suspected pirate mother ship. Pirates are known to keep hostages onboard mother ships to prevent counter-piracy forces from acting directly against them.

“This is a great example of the teamwork inherent in a Carrier Strike Group,” said Rear Adm. Terry Kraft, commander of Enterprise Strike Group. “We were lucky to be on scene when the attack occurred, and everyone did their jobs well.”

-asdnews.com

Boeing wants to sell 767s to replace E-3, E-8

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Jim Albaugh

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Jim Albaugh is confident that his company’s recent victory in the KC-X contest will help to sell 767s to the U.S. military as specialized aircraft to replace the E-3 and E-8.

In a celebration of the company‘s tanker contract, Albaugh said “We’re not done. We’re going to build 179 of these, and then we’ll build another 179 for the U.S. Air Force. The celebration was also attended by U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks and Rick Larsen, both D-Wash.

Just as the new tankers will replace Boeing 707-based KC-135 Stratotankers, there are other 707-based military aircraft still in operation, such as the E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS) and E-8 Joint STARS, Albaugh added. “They all need to be re-platformed and I think this is a great airplane to do it on.”

During the celebration, Dicks congratulated Boeing for its “courageous bid.”

But Friday was mostly a celebration of Dicks’ decade of work promoting Boeing for the tanker contract.

“Every time that we had something that had to get done Norm was there,” Albaugh said, noting that Dicks pushed Boeing to protest the Air Force’s 2008 choice of the then competing offering from a Northrop Grumman-EADS team and made sure that the Government Accountability Office “did their work” in reviewing that award and finding flaws that led Defense Secretary Robert Gates to declare a new competition.

“About three weeks later, the Air Force came out with a new set of requirements, and it was a set of requirements written around a big airplane,” Albaugh said. “Norm cried foul and the Air Force withdrew that set of requirements.”

Northrop sat out the new competition because it saw the final requirements as favoring Boeing’s smaller tanker, which generally costs less, requires fewer modifications to hangars and runways and, most notably, burns less fuel.

The 767-based tanker will use $11 billion to $36 billion less fuel over those 40 years, Dicks said.

“How many times are we going to celebrate this,” Larsen asked Friday. “Forever.”

Source: blog.seattlepi.com,boeing.com

Endeavour To Demo Orion Relative Navigation

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Endeavour’s final flight, a 14-day STS-134 mission to the International Space Station, could feature an unusual amount of activity around the orbiting science laboratory, including a re-rendezvous demonstration of the relative navigation sensors developed for the Orion spacecraft.

The mission also could include a “family portrait” of the outpost and docked spacecraft that would be taken by a Soyuz crew. The portrait was proposed for Discovery’s last mission, but the idea was eventually rejected.

Endeavour is tentatively scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT, on the 19-year-old spacecraft’s 25th trip to orbit.

A six-member crew, led by veteran astronaut Mark Kelly, has trained to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion external astronomical observatory, and a spare parts platform.

However, NASA’s next-to-last shuttle mission also will support Storrm (Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation), the first flight demonstration of the relative navigation sensor package developed for the automated rendezvous and docking operations of Orion with secondary spacecraft.

The sensor package, a flash lidar and high-definition camera located close to the orbiter docking system, will shadow the Endeavour crew’s initial approach and docking. As they undock, pilot Greg Johnson will carry out the traditional “fly around” of the station before the astronauts maneuver through a co-elliptical trajectory to a point 29,000 ft. behind and below the station.

There, Kelly’s crew will initiate a second rendezvous, using NASA Mission Control-generated rendezvous solutions and onboard radar while the Storrm sensor package follows and records the approach for post-mission analysis.

The test brings the orbiter to a point 1,000 ft. below and 300 ft. behind the station before Endeavour is released for eventual return to Earth.

“It’s an outstanding way to take advantage of the spaceflight capabilities we have today, with both the shuttle and the space station, to demonstrate new technologies,” says NASA’s Gary Horlacher, STS-134 lead flight director.

“This capability is being developed for Orion, but it’s very applicable to any spacecraft that will be docking — even in lunar orbit or Mars orbit,” Horlacher says. “It’s a very significant advance in technology.”

During Discovery’s STS-133 mission that concluded earlier this month, the Russian space agency vetoed a proposal to undock one of two Soyuz spacecraft at the station, piloted by a crew equipped with cameras to take photos of the docked orbiter surrounded by European, Japanese and Russian cargo craft.

But Russia objected to the hour-long glam shot, proposed two weeks before Discovery’s Feb. 24 liftoff, because it disrupted the initial test flght of the new Soyuz equipped with digital avionics.

However, discussions are under way to re-attempt the portrait during Endeavour’s stay, although Japan’s HTV-2 will be absent.

“They had a lot of work to do in a very shot period of time,” says NASA’s Derek Hassman, the lead station flight director. “We have the benefit of the work they did. My expectation is [we] will have a decision before we launch.”

-aviationweek.com

Bomber squadron heads home from five-month deployment

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After a five month deployment in ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam, approximately 250 Airmen and six B-52 Stratofortress bomber are preparing to pack up and head home.

Airmen from the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Minot Air Force Base, N.D., began arriving in November 2010 in support of Andersen’s continuous bomber presence; the unit will return to their home station in early April, passing the torch to members of the 96th Bomb Squadron from Barksdale AFB, L.A.

Andersen has hosted the CBP since 2003, when Pacific Air Forces began to routinely deploy B-1 Lancer, B-2 and B-52 bomber aircraft to Guam on a rotational basis, demonstrating U.S. commitment to the region by providing a capable and prudent deterrent force.

“Along with an outstanding group of maintainers, operators and support personnel, we brought the most versatile bomber in the world to Andersen in support of the CBP mission,” said Lt. Col. Michael Cardoza, 69th EBS commander. “Our team was ready to execute a wide variety of missions on a moment’s notice, 24/7.”

Capt. Paul Stucki, 69 EBS weapon and tactics flight commander added, “The unique skills and contributions the B-52 brings to the Andersen mission are many, but the biggest contribution would have to be in our global attack and precision engagement capability with stand-off weapons. “

“The B-52 is capable of carrying large amounts of weapons and a lot of fuel. We can strike anywhere, anytime, with any weapon, and do it all with precision.”

In Captain Stucki’s words, the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron as a whole has participated in exercises in Hawaii, South Korea, Japan, Australia and here at Guam during exercise Cope North. They have integrated with Navy SEALS, coalition partners in Japan, Air Force Joint Terminal Attack Controllers from Camp Red Cloud, South Korea, and Hawaii, Range Control Operators in Australia and five separate KC-135 tanker units here at Guam.

“We have dropped over 700 weapons; we have flown over 1000 hours and have taken on over 1.9 million pounds of fuel during aerial refueling operations.”

A milestone for the far-from-home squadron, Colonel Cardoza feels that the last several months have been time well spent.

Source: Air-Attack, Photo via USAF

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