Category Archives: Technology

Airborne Hurricane Hunters, when did it all start?

The first hurricane (typhoon) hunter was a pilot flying a Second World War T-6 Texan through the eye of a hurricane, on a dare!  Realizing that flying through a hurricane was doable, the U.S. Air Force set upon a long journey of modifying aircraft to collect weather data about hurricanes.

The first data collected, in 1944 by B-25 bombers (WB-25 Army Hurricane Reconnaissance Unit), is credited with saving hundreds of lives.  Prior to the development of airborne hurricane hunters, thousands of people in the United States died as a result of hurricanes, but after the use of flying weather trackers the average death toll dropped significantly.

Painting by Thomas Wojahn of a WB-50 of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Falcon Alpha Mission-1957.

Perhaps the name The Hurricane Hunters came from the the title of a book first published in 1955 about the U.S. military’s obsession with tracking hurricanes. Download your free copy here.

Silent U.S. Navy film, from 1961, showing the use of the EC-121 Warning Star (WV-2) ‘AWACS’ as a hurricane hunter:

Hunter AFB, WB-47E City of Savannah Hurricane Hunter I, September 1963.

Even the B-47 strategic bomber (WB-47) was used as a Hurricane Hunter.

WC-130 Hercules f the 815th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, 920th Weather Reconnaissance Group, being prepared for a mission to monitor Hurricane Allen, August 1980.

Official USAF video history report, including the T-6, B-25, B-29 (WB-50) and C-130:

A USAF WC-130 Hercules from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, ‘Hurricane Hunters’, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. USAF photo dated 1995.

But it not just lives that are saved with the creation of airborne hurricane hunters, in this 2018 video report about the purpose of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi) it’s revealed that mass evacuations of the public cost one-million USD per mile of coastline!  Taxpayer costs can be reduced by providing accurate weather data to allow for more timely evacuation orders:

HurricaneHunters.com

WC-130J & WP-3D: HUNTING DORIAN

T-6 SNJ TEXAN POKEY AIRPORT, 2012 & 2014

Dorian more powerful than U.S. military aircraft?

02SEP2019, U.S. Coast Guard deploys C-130s in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian.

Evacuation of E-8C J-STARS from Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 02SEP2019:

On 01SEP2019, U.S. Customs & Border Protection transferred one of their UH-60 Black Hawks from Puerto Rico to Homestead, Florida, to be used in hurricane rescue operations:

U.S. CBP also deployed P-3 Orions to Homestead, Florida, 31AUG2019.

Florida National Guard helicopters staged in the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, 01SEP2019.

MH-60R Sea Hawks assigned to USN’s Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 48, in Florida, were sent to Maxwell Air Force Base, in Alabama, to escape the wrath of Dorian, 01SEP2019.

Video of preparations to exodus Naval Air Station Jacksonville:

Video of arrival at Maxwell AFB:

On 30AUG2019, Florida National Guard F-15C/D Eagles evacuated to Ohio.  Video of arrival of Florida Eagles at Wright-Patterson AFB:

A USN Patrol Squadron 26 P-8 Poseidon arrives at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 30AUG2019.

30AUG2019, USN’s Patrol Squadron 10 evacuates P-8 Poseidon from NAS Jacksonville:

On 30AUG2019, Little Rock Air Force Base, Alabama, began accepting military aircraft from locations within the projected path of Hurricane Dorian:

HC-130 Combat King from Georgia.

A-10C Thunderbolt-2s from Georgia.

At Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, A-29 Super Tacanos were locked down in the hangers: 

29AUG2019, KC-135Rs evacuate MacDill Air Force Base, Florida:

WC-130J & WP-3D: HUNTING DORIAN

SLOW DISASTER RELIEF: FLORIDA MILITIA DISCOVERS A MAJOR CAUSE, NEW PREPS FOR HURRICANES!

ALABAMA MILITIA PREPS FOR HURRICANE USING WORLD’S LARGEST MAP OF ALABAMA!

WC-130J & WP-3D: Hunting Dorian

The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, U.S. Air Force Reserve out of Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, went hunting for a hurricane named Dorian.  Video, WC-130J take-off preps, 31AUG2019:

The crew of the WC-130J Super Hercules gathered data for the National Hurricane Center.  Video, onboard the WC-130J, 31AUG2019:

Personnel from the U.S. Naval Academy observes data from the Navy Airborne Expendable Bathythermographs deployed from the WC-130J Super Hercules. USAF photo by Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo.

Preparing to drop a Navy Airborne Expendable Bathythermograph into the hurricane. USAF photo by Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo.

WC-130J returns from Hunting Dorian, 05SEP2019. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Christopher Carranza.

USAF photo by Randy Bynon, 13NOV2019.

Video from NOAA (National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration) WP-3D Orion (aka N42RF Kermit the Frog-Sky Hopper), flying the Eye of Dorian, 01SEP2019:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration WP-3D Orion, Keesler AFB. USAF photo by Randy Bynon, 13NOV2019.

2017: WC-130J SUPER HERCULES TRACKS HURRICANE HARVEY

HARVEY: WHAT’S A DROPSONDE?

Vehicle I-D: F-8 DFBW, or another reason why today’s techie generation owes the military industrial complex!

Anybody who thinks digital is a technology that only recently emerged needs to take a trip in the Way-back Machine.

10JAN1973

Between 1972 and 1985 a modified F-8C Crusader proved the concept of digital fly-by-wire technology, now taken for granted on today’s military and commercial aircraft.

The ‘Apollo’ computer system was jammed into every available space on the fighter aircraft, including it’s gun bays.  The testing took place at the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, (now the Dryden Flight Research Center) and Langley Research Center.

Phase-1 pilot’s control box originally was used on the Apollo Moon mission’s Lunar Modules.  Phase-2 used three IBM AP-101 computers for the flight control system.

NASA video of intentionally induced oscillations upon landing:

211 DFBW flights were made.

Build one yourself:

Apparently they have DFBW conversion kits in 1:144 and 1:48, as well.

HISTORY OF MILITARY COMPUTERS SINCE WW2, BIRTH OF THE INTERNET!

VEHICLE I-D: MIG-31 SPACE BOUND DOGFIGHTER?

 ‘NEW’ F-16 VISTA

 QF-16 DRONE

Vehicle I-D: Cold War Zombie tank T-55, they’re everywhere!

I calls it a zombie tank because it’s six decades old and refuses to die.

People’s Republic of China, 2021:

CHINA’S TYPE 59D, UPDATED COLD WAR T-54/55, TO LIVE-ON AS A ROBOT TANK?

CHINA STILL USES THE NATO GUNNED TYPE 88 WARSAW PACT BASED T-54/55 TANK

Lost your hull?  No problem, mount your turret on a truck trailer:

Syria 2012 to present:

Date and location unknown, possibly inside Syria, a T-55 somehow ended up on its turret!

Government T-55s.

Insurgent T-55.

With a mine-roller.

Iraq 2020: They still like those Chinese Type 69s. See more in Iraqi Armor after the Invasion.

Romanian T-55s taking part in NATOs Saber Guardian, June 2019:

U.S. Navy photo by Lieutenant Alex Cornell du Houx, 13JUN2019.

Video August 2018, Afghan government T-55 Boom Stick in action in Sangin District, while U.S. Marines watch:

Kurdish Peshmerga T-55, Iraq, May 2016: 

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Sergio Rangel, 29MAY2016.

Click here to watch extremist insurgents execute captured Syrian soldier with a T-55 tank!

Romanian T-55s, April 2016:

African Union T-55AMV, 2015:

African Union female T-55 crew:

Bamyan, Afghanistan, 2012:

An old T-54.

See more in Steel Skeletons of Soviet Afghanistan.

Daymirdad, Afghanistan, 2011: 

T-55, U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Sean Casey, 09JAN2011.

Iraq 2010:  U.S. BRINGS DEAD IRAQI T-55 BACK TO LIFE!

Iraqi T-54/55 ARV, Salman Pak, November 2008:

U.S. Army photo by Specialist Chase Kincaid, 15NOV2008. 

U.S. Army photo by Specialist Chase Kincaid, 15NOV2008.

T-55 Salman Pak, Iraq, November 2008:

U.S. Army photo by Specialist Chase Kincaid, 15NOV2008.

Al Ja’ara village, Iraq, January 2008:

U.S. Defense Department photo, 14JAN2008.

Iraq 2003:

Chinese Type 69 (‘upgraded’ T-55). USN/USMC photo.

See more in Iraq 2003 Battle Damage.

Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, 2002:

Ventilator on turret top and small hole for bow machine gun on front slope indicates this was a T-54. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate First Class Arlo K. Abrahamson, 29MAY2002.

Cambodia: 

Iraqi Chinese made T-55 assaults Iranian infantry line during Iran-Iraq War:

Vietnam, T-54:

Supposedly upgraded Nicaraguan T-55:

Bosnia & Herzegovina 1996-98:

Croat (HVO) T-55 crew fires-off their 12.7mm gun, on the Barbara Range in Glamoc, Bosnia and Herzegovina. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sergeant Kim Price, October 1998.

A U.S. Army First Lieutenant tries to keep flames from spreading. This Serbian T-55 was deliberately blown-up with C-4 plastic explosive by the U.S. Army, on Camp Dobol, Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Angel Clemons, 15MAR1997.

T-55 ‘upgraded’ with vulcanized rubber armor, Broko area of Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sergeant Jon E. Long, January 1996.

Iraq 1991:

What’s left of an Iraqi Type 69, a Chinese ‘upgrade’ of the T-55. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sergeant Robert Reeve, March 1991.

Smoldering Iraqi T-55 on the border with Kuwait. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Joel Torres, 28FEB1991.

CzechoSlovakia 1989:

Just a few years before the end of the unofficial Cold War, Czechoslovakia upgraded their T-55s with ‘Western-NATO’ targeting systems.

CzechoSlovak T-54, date and photographer unknown.

Egypt 1985:

Notice the ‘Western’ style square search light. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Captain Mark Beberwyck, August 1985.

U.S.A. 1987:

Captured T-54/55, Foreign Materiel Intelligence Group Training Detachment, Fort Irwin, California. U.S. Army photo by Donna Fulghum, 10MAR1987.

Peru 1983:

Factory fresh/parade ready T-54 (indicated by the bow machine gun hole in the front slope), 1983(?).

U.S.A. 1984:

Photo taken by ‘yours truly’, while on a California Army National Guard drill weekend on Fort Irwin, National Training Center, California.  You can see the hole in the front slope of the hull for the bow machine gun, which is typical of the T-54.  Early T-54s also had a ventilator on the turret top.

T-54 (it has a ventilator on top of the turret) captured by Israel then turned over to the United States, notice the U.S. military antenna mast mounted on top of the turret. Photo dated November 1984.

Israel 1974:

Photo dated May 1974, location unknown, however it appears to be captured T-55s put to use by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Being cannibalized for parts.

Egypt 1974:

Egyptian T-55 destroyed by Israel, 1974. Notice somebody marked the penetration hole in the turret.

Iraq, November 1963:

Iraqi T-54 during coup led by pro-Egyptian (Nasserists) against the Ba’ath Party, November 1963.

Germany 1961:

U.S. Embassy photo. The then brand new T-54/55 is deployed in response to the U.S. deploying its then brand new M48A1, which were deployed in response to older T-34-85s being deployed in what became the Berlin Crisis which led to the creation of the Berlin Wall.

See (photos & film), and read, more in BERLIN KRISE, ‘GAME OF CHICKEN’ M48A1 VS. T-54/55!

This is a terrible Cold War era U.S. Army vehicle I-D image of a T-54.

Soviet Union:

Cold War film, late 1950s or early 1960s, Soviet T-55s getting decontaminated in NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical) exercise:

A variety of variants:

So many model kits, so little time!

 

T-55 data @ ArmyRecognition.com

VEHICLE I-D: IRAN BUILDS ITS OWN MRAP

IRAN BUILDS ITS OWN ‘JEEP’

HOW TO BUILD A 1/1 SCALE TIGER-1 TANK

Vehicle I-D: MiG-31 space bound dogfighter?

“In accordance with the combat training plan, the crews of MiG-31BM high-altitude fighters of the Pacific Fleet’s naval aviation based in Kamchatka held a training exercise to intercept a simulated intruder of Russia’s airspace in the stratosphere. For the first time ever, new upgraded MiG-31BM high-altitude interceptor-fighters took part in a dogfight at their service ceiling. The fighters flew at a speed of 2,500 km/h and an altitude of more than 20 km.”-Russian Pacific Fleet Naval Air Force, 19AUG2019

Worn looking MiG-31.

The simulated intruder was another MiG-31BM.  The exercise involved scrambling a MiG-31BM to intercept, without using ground based radar to locate the intruder.  It was meant to test the electronic upgrades completed in February 2019.  The MiG-31BMs supposedly made six flights into the stratosphere during the mock dogfights.

Back in January 2018, the Russian Aerospace Force aviation center, in Nizhny Novgorod, made a similar high altitude dogfight claim.

In May 2019, it was announced the MiG-31K could launch hypersonic missiles, known as Kinzhal.  It’s claimed the Kinzhal (dagger) can hit speeds up to Mach 10, with a range of more than 2000km (1242.7 miles).

SOVIET GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR ‘BAT’ TO BE RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD!

VEHICLE I-D: FURY VS MIG

Vehicle I-D: Russia’s ‘new’ T-72B3, “Hello, anybody in there?”

Russia’s T-72B3 has been around for a while, but this new version is missing something; the crew!

According to TASS, tank maker Uralvagonzavod has been busy building hundreds of robot tanks based on the T-72B3.  Some robot tanks will carry traditional boom-sticks, while others will be armed IFVs.

No further details reported.

ICONIC RUSSIAN ARMOR MAKER NOW BANKRUPT?

VEHICLE I-D: VIDEO OF NEW RUSSIAN T14 ARMATA PANZER, T15 ICV AND T16 RECOVERY VEHICLE! DETAILED LOOK AT T-72/T-90 FACTORY PRODUCING T-14!

 

Vehicle I-D: New airborne BMD-2M

“The KBP [Instrument Design Bureau] is upgrading BMD-2 combat vehicles. During their overhaul, they are being equipped with the Bereg combat module unofficially dubbed ‘mini-Berezhok.’….  …The module features a gunner’s sight combined with a stabilized field of view, an automatic target tracker and two stabilizer computers.”-unnamed source to TASS

The BMD-2M module features a one-seat turret, removing the commander’s seat and sight.  The fire control system is standardized with the similar systems of the Bakhcha and Berezhok combat modules.

The upgrades are part of a wider airborne vehicle modernization program announced in December 2018.

RUSSIA POUNDS U.S. BACKED INSURGENTS IN SYRIA!

“NEAR PEER THREATS”, CODE FOR RUSSIA & CHINA AND THE COMING 3RD WORLD WAR?

RUSSIAN ANDROID TEACHES SELF TO SHOOT GUNS!

ICE PLANET HOTH INVADES RUSSIA WITH GIANT ATVS?

U.S. ARMOR SHOOTS UP BORDER NEAR RUSSIA! PERSONNEL WOUNDED BY GAS ATTACK?

ICONIC RUSSIAN ARMOR MAKER NOW BANKRUPT?

VEHICLE I-D: VIDEO OF NEW RUSSIAN T14 ARMATA PANZER, T15 ICV AND T16 RECOVERY VEHICLE! DETAILED LOOK AT T-72/T-90 FACTORY PRODUCING T-14!