thorn726
Member
The only personal weapon my dad ever had was a .22 when he was young, which he carried in case of snakes when hiking.
So ok the gun itself might not be his, but this 20mm cannon was able to be placed in F14s because my dad got it to stop vibrating everything around it to pieces- you can imagine the amount of sensitive elctronics packed into that space, next to this raging cannon, as well as the aerodynamics/design of the cannon opening (not sure how to describe that) and that design/technology went into future aircraft as well.
He was integral enough with the F14 that the first time one crashed on a test, he was flown out to assess damages
Later, he did design/test for bomb racks which are still widely in use.
"if it flys and drops bombs I had something to do with it" he would say
But to keep it gun related, the enclosure for the 20mm was his big contribution to the F14, and it's tech was used later, and still is.
I appreciate the soldiers out there, and i wanted to make note of all these other guys like my dad who did give up quite a bit to try and make our soldiers safer. I am really glad a bunch of engineers were nerd enough to put all this gear together so that our men under fire can call in an airstrike, and when you need a 20mm cannon, a jet fighter is a great way to get it there
So these photos are from something called a "blue two visit".
there is a very poor website about blue two visits, won't bother to link.
what it is - contractors send engineers to play with the stuff they designed at bases
one of the rare times when civilians get to play with military gear-
BEFORE any paranoids wonder about the "permissions" associated with these photos,>>
first off, if he wasn't allowed to take photos, why would they let him have a camera?
better still if i posted the group shots, but they're just not that interesting.
FINALLY yeah, the military doesn't take any chances- these photos had to be cleared, they must've been developed at the site or by some other military facility- they were numbered sequentially, and a few were picked out that had "sensitive equiptment" in them.
frustrated the heck out of Dad as they made prints and he NEVER made prints, only slides, but prints were easier for mil. to examine
I got ahold of the prints after my dad passed away, it's been a year Jan 18. He was supposed to put them online years ago, but he never got around to scanning them so i commandeered his scanner. I would've done this posting sooner, but it isn't easy to think about, but since today i'm not gonna get around thinking about it, might as well make some good of it, i remember him describing this trip after he got home, he really had a good time.
At the time of these photos, the planes were more advanced, but much of Dad's work had simply been modified for the newer planes and weapons.
as contractors these engineers did some testing, and at the end of the day blew off some excess ordinance
since my dad was cameraman, i include the one shot with him in it that is not of a gun, him arming a bomb (from what i can gather that thing is actually a "fuse")
you can see the rest of what i have online so far at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/thorn726/sets/72157603732384056/
i have a stack of these photos, slowly getting the most interesting ones online
a photo not online yet- this 20mm being removed from it's F16.
So ok the gun itself might not be his, but this 20mm cannon was able to be placed in F14s because my dad got it to stop vibrating everything around it to pieces- you can imagine the amount of sensitive elctronics packed into that space, next to this raging cannon, as well as the aerodynamics/design of the cannon opening (not sure how to describe that) and that design/technology went into future aircraft as well.
He was integral enough with the F14 that the first time one crashed on a test, he was flown out to assess damages
Later, he did design/test for bomb racks which are still widely in use.
"if it flys and drops bombs I had something to do with it" he would say
But to keep it gun related, the enclosure for the 20mm was his big contribution to the F14, and it's tech was used later, and still is.
I appreciate the soldiers out there, and i wanted to make note of all these other guys like my dad who did give up quite a bit to try and make our soldiers safer. I am really glad a bunch of engineers were nerd enough to put all this gear together so that our men under fire can call in an airstrike, and when you need a 20mm cannon, a jet fighter is a great way to get it there
So these photos are from something called a "blue two visit".
there is a very poor website about blue two visits, won't bother to link.
what it is - contractors send engineers to play with the stuff they designed at bases
one of the rare times when civilians get to play with military gear-
BEFORE any paranoids wonder about the "permissions" associated with these photos,>>
first off, if he wasn't allowed to take photos, why would they let him have a camera?
better still if i posted the group shots, but they're just not that interesting.
FINALLY yeah, the military doesn't take any chances- these photos had to be cleared, they must've been developed at the site or by some other military facility- they were numbered sequentially, and a few were picked out that had "sensitive equiptment" in them.
frustrated the heck out of Dad as they made prints and he NEVER made prints, only slides, but prints were easier for mil. to examine
I got ahold of the prints after my dad passed away, it's been a year Jan 18. He was supposed to put them online years ago, but he never got around to scanning them so i commandeered his scanner. I would've done this posting sooner, but it isn't easy to think about, but since today i'm not gonna get around thinking about it, might as well make some good of it, i remember him describing this trip after he got home, he really had a good time.
At the time of these photos, the planes were more advanced, but much of Dad's work had simply been modified for the newer planes and weapons.
as contractors these engineers did some testing, and at the end of the day blew off some excess ordinance
since my dad was cameraman, i include the one shot with him in it that is not of a gun, him arming a bomb (from what i can gather that thing is actually a "fuse")
you can see the rest of what i have online so far at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/thorn726/sets/72157603732384056/
i have a stack of these photos, slowly getting the most interesting ones online
a photo not online yet- this 20mm being removed from it's F16.
