Republic A-10

Republic A-10 flies low, during the 2007 air show at Nellis AFB.
Photo by Scott Schwartz

My photographs...

Prints made from my photos (except for certain images) are for sale-I will sign them, too!  Send me an e-message if you're interested- sandnsky8@gmail.com

New York Mountains..Images from my

Old water tank, a remnant of the OX Cattle Ranch, which began operations in 1929.
Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Carruthers Canyon- New York Mountains.
Photo By Scott Schwartz

The SandNSky Jeep Cherokee- Carruthers Canyon.

The SandNSky Jeep heading into the heart of the New York Mountains.

This is the Mojave Desert?  Photo By Scott Schwartz.

Ancient visitors from Easter Island left their mark on the Mojave Desert.
Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Photo By Scott Schwartz.

Can anyone identify this plant?  Photo by Scott Schwartz

Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Impassable Pass- The Old Spanish Trail...

The SandNSky Jeep at the bottom of a section of The Old Spanish Trail.  Note the wagon ruts that are still faintly visible.  Photo by Scott Schwartz
For more information, see the author's article at www.desertusa.com

If you like some of my photographs....

A few of my landscape photographs are for sale on E-Bay- check it out!!

My beloved El Paso Mountains...

Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Boeing KC-97

Double Bubble

By

SandNSky

     Although the Boeing B-29 Superfortress had been phased out of USAF service by 1956, one of its descendants served well into the late 20^th century.      

      It was an attempt to incorporate the B-29’s speed and range into a large transport that led to the construction of the XC-97 Stratofreighter (Boeing Model 367).  First flown in 1944, the XC-97 utilized the wings, empennage, and Wright R-3350 engines of the B-29.  The lower fuselage was structurally similar to that of the B-29.  However, a cargo deck was added which was wider than the lower fuselage.  This gave the airplane its “double-bubble” look, when viewed head-on.   Three XC-97’s and ten YC-97’s were built.

     The airplane clearly had potential.  In 1945, one of the XC-97’s set a speed record for transports, when it flew from Seattle to Washington D.C.  During the flight, the aircraft hit 383mph while carrying 20,000 pounds of cargo.  The XC-97 also served as the prototype of the Model 377 Stratocruiser airliner. 

     While this flight testing was going on, Boeing was developing its B-50 Superfortress, which was powered by four huge Pratt & Whitney R-4360 28 cylinder engines.  Each of these engines produced more than three thousand horsepower.  The B-50, itself a B-29 derivative, had stronger wings and a slightly taller vertical stabilizer.  It stood to reason that the new C-97 transport would benefit from these improvements.  Accordingly, the first production C-97, the C-97A, used the B-50’s wings, tail, and engines, as did all subsequent C-97 variants. 

Deliveries of the C-97A began in 1949, and by 1951, the C-97C was in service with the USAF.  The C-97, with its 41,000 pound payload, rear loading ramp, and internal cargo hoist was used during the Korean War to carry supplies and to evacuate wounded soldiers.  A few served as airborne command posts for the Strategic Air Command. 

The C-97 served admirably as a transport aircraft.  However, the USAF was in dire need of aerial refueling tankers for its fleet of thirsty jet bombers and fighters.  Of the 888 C-97’s that were produced between 1951 and 1956, 814 of them were converted to KC-97 tankers.  Fitted with the “flying boom” refueling equipment designed by Boeing, the KC-97 greatly extended the operating range of strategic aircraft, such as the B-47.  With the advent of the KC-97, the art of air to air refueling was nearly perfected. 

Despite finding its niche as a tanker, the KC-97 retained much of its cargo-carrying capacity.  The upper and lower decks were pressurized, and the refueling boom could be removed by ground personnel, thus allowing use of the airplane’s rear loading doors. 

     The KC-97 had an “official” top speed of 375mph.  But when laden with nearly 10,000 pounds of jet fuel, the airplane’s cruising speed was barely higher than the stall speed of its jet “customers”.  Thus, a technique known as “tobogganing” was used.  “Tobogganing” meant that the KC-97 and the airplane receiving fuel descended while the refueling operation was taking place.  This enabled the KC-97 to fly fast enough for the jet aircraft being refueled.  In the early 1960’s, some KC-97’s were fitted with two General Electric J-47 jet engines.  One jet engine was mounted under each wing.  These modified KC-97’s were designated KC-97L’s, and the addition of the jet engines eliminated the need to “toboggan”. 

     The last KC-97 emerged from Boeing’s Renton plant on July 18, 1956.  Ironically, this was also the day that the first jet powered tanker, the KC-135 left the plant.  This did not mark the end of the KC-97’s career, though. Gradually replaced by the KC-135, the Air Force used the KC-97 until 1973.  After that, the airplane continued to serve in Air Force Reserve and National Guard units until 1977. 

     Besides its extremely long career with the U.S. Air Force, the KC-97 is notable in several other respects.  For one thing, it was the last piston engine airplane produced by Boeing.  The KC-97 was also the last active military aircraft in the U.S. inventory that had any direct connection to the B-29 Superfortress.  In addition, the final retirement of the KC-97 marked the end of the U.S. Air Force’s use of large piston engine aircraft, and the end of that service’s use of aircraft equipped with turbo-superchargers.

    Several KC-97’s survive to this day.  One of them is flyable.  This airplane is named The Angel Of Deliverance and is flown by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation.  A few others are on display at various museums around the country.  

     

    

This is the KC-97's flight deck.  Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Boom operator's position- KC-97.  Photo by Scott Schwartz.

    

    

Douglas Skyraider-The Flying Dump Truck.

By SandNSky

Two privately-owned Skyraiders fly in formation at the Nellis AFB air show in 2007. 

     A single engine airplane that could carry a higher payload than the B-17, the Douglas Skyraider was yet another 1940’s vintage airplane that found new life during the war in Viet Nam.

     Known by more nick names than a mob enforcer and produced in thirteen variants, the Douglas AD-4 Skyraider was designed by the famous Ed Heinemann in response to the Navy’s requirement for a Curtiss Helldiver replacement.  The requirements were simple:

The new airplane had to be able to carry a lot of ordinance (including torpedoes), perform well while carrying its payload, be able to fly far and fast, require a single pilot, and of course, be able to operate from aircraft carriers.

     The result was the XBT2D-1 (known initially as the Dauntless II), which made its first flight on March 18, 1945.  Powered by a Wright R-3350 eighteen cylinder radial engine, the first Skyraiders were delivered to the Navy in 1946 and were re-designated AD-1’s. 

     Although it became operational too late to see combat during World War Two, the AD-1 – ultimately renamed “Skyraider” –  was produced in an anti-submarine version equipped with a large radome under the fuselage, which working in conjunction with the basic attack versions patrolled the oceans in what were known as “hunter-killer” missions.

     But it was during the Korean War that the Skyraider proved its mettle as an attack airplane.  Carrying weapons loads weighing more than 10,000 pounds, as well as four 20 mm cannons, the Skyraider was a devastating close air support plane and even managed to shoot down at least one enemy aircraft.  Alright, it was a Soviet-built biplane, but the Skyraider wasn’t designed as a fighter anyway.  Besides, jets couldn’t fly slow enough to hit such a target. 

     The keys to the Skyraider’s success were its multiple under-wing weapons hard points, and its ability to loiter over the combat zone for long periods.  Jet aircraft just did not have range or the load carrying capability, and these were deficiencies that would plague jets through the early 1970’s. 

     Perhaps the Skyraider’s most famous role was that of escort to the HH-53 Jolly Green Giant helicopters that were sent out to rescue downed aircrew during the Viet Nam War.  Now being used by the USAF as A-1’s, Sandy’s (the Skyraider’s radio call sign during these operations) would pin down enemy troops so that the helicopters could affect their rescues.  Otherwise, Skyraiders were used as general ground attack aircraft and two North Vietnamese MiG 17’s were actually shot down by two Navy Skyraiders during two separate engagements in 1966. 

     Production of the Skyraider ended in 1957, and 3,180 of them were built.  By 1972, age and lack of spare parts started to catch up with the airplane, and the balance of the A-1’s remaining in Viet Nam were transferred to the South Vietnamese Air Force. 

     Some of the monikers attached to the Skyraider included Destroyer, Able Dog, Hobo, Flying Dump Truck and Spad – the latter being a type of World War I biplane.  Go figure. 

     The Skyraider was produced in too many versions to describe here, but variants included, in addition to those already mentioned, a stretched cockpit version which could carry eight passengers, and a turboprop aircraft known as the A2D Skyshark. The Skyshark was powered by a huge Allison T-40 turbo shaft engine, which consisted of two smaller engines geared to counter-rotating propellers through a complex gearbox assembly.  The whole arrangement was troublesome, and during the flight of one of these strange airplanes, the gearbox assembly failed.  Both propellers tore themselves off the airplane, leaving its jet engines screaming uselessly all the way to the emergency landing site.  The A2D was not one of the more successful Skyraider derivatives.

     Nearly 20 Skyraiders are still airworthy, and the roar of the R-3350’s two stage supercharger is loud enough that it sounds like an auxiliary jet engine. 

     The airplanes size, sound, and appearance make it a truly impressive sight, both on the ground and in the air.

Douglas Skyraider specifications AD-6 version:

Power: Wright R-3350 18 cylinder engine producing 2700 horsepower.

Armament: Four 20 mm cannon mounted in the wings. 7 bomb racks mounted under each wing outer panel, 1 on each wing inner panel, and 1 rack under the fuselage center line.

Maximum Speed:  365mph. 

Cruising Speed: 190 mph.

Maximum Loaded Weight: 25,000 pounds.

Empty Weight: 10,550 pounds.

Wingspan:   50 ft. 9 inches.

In Search of Fire- Part Four...

Now that we'd found what we'd been looking for, I found it difficult to contain myself.  The trail was sandy, and even with my Jeep in four wheel drive, I had to keep us moving.  After snaking around patches of creosote, the trail brought us right next to the rocky overhang that we'd so desperately sought.

Rock-hound Ron surveys the opal deposit.  The temperature was nearly 100 degrees at this point.  I carry six gallons of drinkable water at all times when traveling in the desert.

I felt as though we'd followed the modern equivalent of a treasure map-and that we'd succeeded.  However, my elation was short-lived.

Within a few minutes of examining the rocks with his practiced eye, Ron determined that the opal here was not pure, and that it had none of the reddish colors that are normally associated with opal.  That might explain why there were no fresh tire tracks in the area, except for ours.

Days on which I don't find exactly what I'm looking for in the desert are still enjoyable to me.  The heat, the preternatural quiet, and the fact that I can say that I now know what lies on this spot that is off the "beaten path".

Not the best opal he's ever seen.

In Search of Fire - Part Three..

Back in my Cherokee, Ron and I consulted the Google Maps satellite photograph again.  After much discussion, we picked out the dirt road that seemed most likely to take us to the Opal deposit, and I started the engine.

The road we we wanted was roughly twelve miles South of Barstow.  Engaging my four-wheel drive, I drove us along approximately  five miles of alternately sandy and rocky trail- which was mostly level.  Incredibly, the scenery did start to resemble that shown in the satellite images (fortunately, I still had cellular telephone coverage out there), and the rock formations began to look, well....familiar.  "That's it!" exclaimed Ron, as he pointed to our left.

I snapped my head around, and to my amazement, the rock formation looked exactly like the one in the photograph!

To be continued...

In Search of Fire- Part Two...

So, let's see.  With no GPS coordinates, we'd have to rely on whatever information I could glean from my "smart" phone and my DeLorme Atlas.  This shouldn't have posed much of a problem.  After all, there was a time during which I managed to find things without a GPS receiver.

Using the Google Maps function on my phone seemed to be the logical first step.  And so it was, that I was able to find the turn-off on the "Maps" satellite view.  The problem was that we still somehow missed it, and we wound up in down-town Barstow.  It appeared to be a case of the dirt roads that we passed, not looking quite like the depiction in Google Maps.

Conveniently, our mistake took is right past the Mojave National Preserve information office, which is located on Route 247 on the outskirts of Barstow.  Upon seeing this, Ron and I decided that actually asking directions might yield results.

The young woman in the park ranger uniform was very sweet, but not especially knowledgeable about trails that are not traveled by the tourist crowd.  She referred us to the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") field office, which, to our surprise,was right next door.

Never having set foot inside a BLM office before, I was expecting it to resemble the Mojave National Preserve information office.  You know, helpful staff members, who could suggest the "right" maps to purchase for our trip, an exhibit or two on desert flora and fauna. etc.

Instead, we found ourselves inside an office, plain and simple.  There, we were "greeted" by the receptionist, who eyed us with curiosity that bordered on open hostility.  She asked us how she could help us, but the sub-text really was "what do you two want?"

At this point, I didn't think that we'd get any help here, and my suspicions were confirmed when the woman curtly referred us to the large map that was hanging on the wall in the waiting area.

Unable to located the trail turn-off on the BLM's hanging map, we thanked the receptionist - who seemed to warm up at this- and walked out to my Jeep.

To be continued.....

In Search of Fire- A Short Trip In Search of Opal..

At eight o'clock in the morning on August 1, 2012, the sun was already beginning to bake Southern California's "Inland Empire".  I'd just arrived at my friend Ron's house.  During the ten-minute drive to his house, I marveled at how little I know about the geology of the desert I love so much.  Ron, on the other hand, is a "rock-hound".  He'd found what appeared to be a promising opal deposit, after reading a description of it that was posted by someone on Google Maps.  Ron had jotted the GPS coordinates down in a little notebook that he keeps for just such purposes, and our plan was simple.  I would enter the coordinates into my portable GPS unit, and once we were in the general vicinity of the trail, we would let Mr. Garmin lead the way.

Well, it was after we had been tooling North bound on Highway 247 in my Cherokee, that we discovered that we'd left the little notebook containing the GPS coordinates back at Ron's house.

We DID remember to bring the photograph of the opal deposit, that Ron had printed out.  My suggestion that Ron hold the photograph up to the Jeep's window until we came across a rock formation was met with a  laugh.  Even now, I don't think that Ron knows that I was half-serious.

More to follow...