Aircraft nuts, take notice. The F-35B, also known as the Marine Corps variant of the Join Strike Fighter, has completed it’s first shipboard vertical landing aboard the USS Wasp. This is a vastly important step in the long road to being certified as fleet ready and would literally make or break the F-35B for the Marine Corps. Before we get to the aircraft pron, take a few minutes to read about some of the historyof the F-35 and the variants. It’s a long read, but very much worth it. Also required reading before you get the good stuff is a very good article over on Blackfive: So How Much Dos an F-35 Actually Cost. Aircraft nuts know that there have been massive errors from many fronts on the cost of this program.
Pictures and video after the break.
LtCol Fred Schenk was the lucky pilot to conduct the test yesterday. I can only imagine sitting in the cockpit of that bird getting ready for the landing. Butterflies wouldn’t be in my stomach, they’d be in my throat, mouth, and stomach. At this point, an abort would devastate the program. Detractors of the aircraft would have a field day. LtCol Schenk is a professional, I’m certain his nerves were made of steel and he didn’t even break a sweat for this landing.
“It was exactly like we predicted,” said Schenk. “But that’s because of all the hard work and extensive preparation done by the Wasp and JSF team.” The men and women of this program put in more hours than any of us can comprehend to get ready for this landing. Bravo Zulu, ladies and gentlemen.
How does the F-35B achieve vertical take off?
Wikipedia: The Lift System is composed of a lift fan, drive shaft, two roll posts and a “Three Bearing Swivel Module” (3BSM).[97] The 3BSM is a thrust vectoring nozzle which allows the main engine exhaust to be deflected downward at the tail of the aircraft. The lift fan is near the front of the aircraft and provides a counter-balancing thrust using two counter-rotating blisks.[98] It is powered by the engine’s low-pressure (LP) turbine via a drive shaft and gearbox. Roll control during slow flight is achieved by diverting unheated engine bypass air through wing mounted thrust nozzles called Roll Posts.[99][100] Like lift engines, the added lift fan machinery increases payload capacity during vertical flight, but is dead weight during horizontal flight. The cool exhaust of the fan also reduces the amount of hot, high-velocity air that is projected downward during vertical take off, which can damage runways and aircraft carrier decks.
This is much like the vertical liftoff capabilities of the Harrier which is also flown by the Marines.
Pictures are great and there will be more at the end of the post, but video is what really made me excited about this (well, except for the crappy music).
Congratulations to everyone involved with the F-35B program and the sailors of the USS Wasp. As promised, here is the entire gallery of photos. Click to embiggin.
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