Growler Tour
- Thread starter Tom-D
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Geico266
Touchdown! Greaser!
Where was that?
Details Tom! Details.
Details Tom! Details.
poadeleted20
Deleted
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NAS Whidbey Island WA.
Tom-D
Taxi to Parking
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Tom-D
Our airport support group arranged a tour of the Station and we got to see the radar control room for Whidbey approach and the tower, along with a visit to VAQ 129 ( the training Squadron) hangar, I should have taken more pics but got a little distracted.
I live 2 miles from the base but have never been in the radar room or the tower before.
That's the Hornet not the Super Hornet right?
Teller1900
En-Route
The Growlers are all modified Super Hornets (the pictures are all definitely Rhinos).
I can remember laughing out loud when we were shown the concept artwork during a St. Louis factory visit around '95 or '96. "I mean, what's next, refueling pods?" 
Skylane81E
Final Approach
Square inlets, supers.
kontiki
Cleared for Takeoff
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Kontiki
Yeah, and no humungous vortex generator on the strakes too.
I worked on the E/F test program for about a year. One of the longtime McBoeing employees told me a story about the vortex generator, which is why I remember it to look for it every time.
According to him they were doing some flight tests with cameras installed and one came loose and swung out of position. When they reviewed the film, they saw a mini tornado walking down the leading edge of the A/B model strakes and twisting the hell of of the vertical stabalators.
So now on the CDs you see three huge cleats at the base of the stabalator and the vortex generator to disrupt the traveling vortex.
It was all just plain dumb luck.
35 AoA
Pattern Altitude
The real story behind the strakes/vortex generators on the legacy Hornet, was that upon reaching some of their early phase inspections, the jets were showing heavy fatigue in the vertical stabs that wasn't expected. They figured out (probably through said camera footage) during the EI that the LEX's were sending really strong vortices right into the stabs. The initial fix to get the jets flying again was the addition of some cleats at the bottom of the stabs. Still around on every Legacy jet I've flown, but it ended up only transferring the location of the fatigue. They finally got smart and added the strakes and the problem was minimized.
Anyway, cool pics, the Growler is a neat jet!
Anyway, cool pics, the Growler is a neat jet!