July 4th - Independence Day

It is a tradition in the United States to celebrate the anniversary of American Independence every July 4th. It is a Federal, State and Local Holiday and many families attend parades, picnics, fireworks shows and patriotic events.


Although the resolution of independence was effectively adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 2nd, 1776, our founding fathers felt that it was important to draft a document that more fully explained the basis and reasoning for their action.


After debate and revision, the resulting Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, the day we now celebrate every year. Drafted over two hundred years ago, it is a reminder today of the reasons, rights, wrongs and lofty goals for which our country was founded. A reading of this famous document can be played below.



Throughout the Cold War and even today, conflict continues to remain throughout the world. Some might say it is part of human nature. At the Cold War Air Museum, we cannot solve the world's problems or change the nature of man.  But as a museum, we can help preserve and present the lessons of history that might help some future student or leader better understand the world in which we live.

Have a safe and happy 4th!  Tomorrow the MI-24 will be attending the Thunder Over Cedar Creek
airshow.

Cold War Air Museum - Not Just Kidding Around

Education and Exhibition are part of the foundation of the Cold War Air Museum mission. Our ability to combine these elements draws groups like the one below to the museum.  With an environment that supports seeing, touching, hearing and yes, even smelling cold war era aircraft, visitors like this school group will go home with unique memories to link with their history lessons.

Students and Associates alike enjoy their visit.

How many kids can fit inside an Mi24? (not in flight!)

About the same number as fit on a MiG-21 wing

(definitely not in flight)!

Associates and Volunteers at the Museum may not realize that they are already a part of history in these students eyes, but they enjoy having an attentive audience and expect the students will learn from their day's experience.

The Cold War Air Museum is open every Saturday from 10 till 4. Admission is free, however visitor donations are gladly accepted!. Tours and special events can be arranged for other times.

The city, airport and both museums on the field host a number of events at the airport every year. Check our Current Events page from time to time for special events. Driving directions are available on our area map page.

Thanks for visiting, see you soon!

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

On a recent visit to Washington, D.C., one of the Cold War Air Museum correspondents visited several of the war memorials there. A previous post presents pictures from the Korean Veterans Memorial. Today's post features some pictures and background about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The memorial includes several different elements. The "Three Soldiers" statue, added in 1984 complements the "Wall" with a "more conventional" display of soldiers or marines in their battle dress and gear.

The Vietnam Veterans Wall is the best known element of the Memorial. Stretching a distance of 246 feet, nine inches (75M), it includes the names of 58,175 killed or missing in the conflict.

The Wall begins with the names of the first known American casualties in the conflict. The wall rises from 8 inches in height to over ten feet (3 M) and then falls to a height of 8 inches again.

Visitors often bring and leave flowers at the wall. Names on the wall are in chronological order. Volunteer guides assist those who are looking for specific name locations.

Vistors often reach out and touch the names of loved ones or ones they have known.

As visitors pass, their reflections shine back at them.

The exit from the walkway looks east to the Washington Monument.

The grassy area across the walkway often has displays such as this one from a veterans group, displaying a reunion picture in front of the wall.

Korean War Veterans Memorial

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean "War". Our post on the Korean Conflict at this time last year spoke to some of its history and its influence on the changing nature of air warfare.

On a recent visit to Washington D.C., I visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial and took a few pictures to include in our Blog. Even when viewed in the heat of the Summer, the larger than life stainless steel statues of soldiers on patrol evoke an image of the cold and hostile conditions of the war.

The flowers placed at the memorial are a contrast in color. The sign beneath them reads "We remember you forever, the people of the Republic of Korea".

More than twenty countries contributed troops or medical support staff to the U.N. peacekeeping effort, suffering more than 600,000 killed and a million more wounded. The Cold War Air Museum salutes the veterans of this war and their families in this time of remembrance.

Cold War, Timeout

The cold war was not always fought with weapons. In fact, the whole point of the "cold" war was to avoid the use of weapons, specifically, weapons of mass destruction. The message of the opposing super powers was often carried by economic or cultural means, including movies and music.

At this year's George Washington University Commencement (set on the Washington Mall with the capitol building as a backdrop), Dave Brubeck received an Honorary PhD and told a story from his cold war days.

Dr. Brubeck told of being asked to take his Jazz group to eastern Europe in 1958 by then American President, Dwight Eisenhower. While in Poland, he was approached and told "We have something in common". When he asked what, the Pole replied "Our people both love freedom".

Upon awarding him the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy in 2008 (the first individual recipient of this award), the State Department wrote; "as a pianist, composer, cultural emissary and educator, Dave Brubeck's life's work exemplifies the best of America's cultural diplomacy."


Dr. Brubeck first "toured" Europe with General George S. Patton's Third Army, creating and leading the unit's first racially integrated jazz band. Years later, following their return from the 1958 European tour, the Brubeck Quartet released their "Time Out" album, which is still popular today.

Congratulations to our Cold War Air Museum Associate who recently received his Master's degree from the University's Elliott School of International Affairs. The struggle for world peace is no less difficult or any less important today than it was during the "cold war", so we extend our thoughts and prayers to all those throughout the world who are working to make the world a safer and better place, whether through diplomacy, trade, culture, or conflict resolution using live fire.

With thanks and credit to YouTube sources linked.

The Greatest Generations

Tom Brokaw, wrote in The Greatest Generation, about those men and women born roughly between 1901 and 1924 who fought in WWII. He argued that they fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the right thing to do and that when they came back they built America into a world superpower (and set the stage for the cold war).

I'd like to take a moment in this blog to recognize someone from that generation, a relative and a friend and also say something about "Generations" and the mission of the Cold War Air Museum.

Glen D. Emerson was born on May 18th, 1922 and died on March 30, 2010. Glen served when called upon and never lost his passion for flying. A man of many accomplishments, he lived his life without embellishment and will be sorely missed by his family and friends.

My "Greatest Generations" are those who have come before and those who will come after, because they are the ones who have given us our present and will give us our future. Part of the mission of this museum is education, linking our past and present together to benefit our future.

In addition to enjoying the display and demonstration of our aircraft, there is within each of our associates a young man (or woman) like the one pictured above, who stands ready to help the young (and not so young) who visit us learn about our aircraft and those previous generations. The mere physical assets of our museum gain their greatest value from that combination of associates, volunteers and visitors coming together.

Fly away home Uncle Glen, we'll see you soon on that flight line up above.

The LUN Class Ekranoplan

It is fun to be associated with the Cold War Air Museum (although admittedly, some days are more "fun" than others).

One of the fun aspects is to hear from so many people who have stories to tell, or aircraft to sell. The MD-160, (NATO code named "Duck", Russian "Hen Harrier") is a unique "aircraft".

Intended to be the first of a new class of anti-ship weapon platform, only one was completed, serving with Soviet and Russian forces through the 90's. With engines mounted in a canard at the front, six nuclear capable missile tubes above the fuselage and a radar/sensor suite on the tail, the MD-160 was intended to approach its target from below radar coverage at speeds approaching 300 knots. More information about the design and class can be found at these Global Aircraft and Wikipedia links.

Recently, we were contacted by Igor, who has produced an active journal with more pictures and information about this aircraft. With a 240 foot length, 144 foot wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight of 882,000 pounds, this is a truly massive project in the finest Soviet tradition. For those of us that can't read Russian, Google makes a valiant attempt at rendering a translated version of Igor's journal. A sense of humor is helpful when reading automated translations. In this effort, one of my smiles came from Google's choice description of an engine part as a "marching band".

After construction, the craft was launched into the Volga river on 16 July, 1986. Although reported to be capable of limited flight and having the appearance of an airplane, most Western sources show the MD-160 to have been commissioned as a ship in the Soviet Navy.

Like sea birds skimming just above the ocean, an ekranoplan uses ground effect to decrease the energy required for flight. In addition to the MD-160, the Ekranoplan Program developed high speed naval transport designs. A sister ship, the second in the LUN series, was changed on the drawing boards from an attack craft to a mobile hospital or rescue ship, but it was never completed.

Experimental designs using ground effect pre-date WWII and the inherent efficiency of the design continues to see expression in experimental projects such as the Boeing Pelican ULTRA.

We enjoyed Igor's journal and hope others will enjoy it as well and by the way, if you are looking for a very large piece of Cold War History, this one might be available. It's too big for us, at least until our next hangar expansion or until we can construct a Texas sized lake or river nearby.

A UH-1 from the 56th Transportation Company

The UH-1, serial number 62-1890, being restored at the Cold War Air Museum is the subject of ongoing historical research. We know from military records that she was deployed to Vietnam with the 56th Transportation company in 1966.

Military and FAA records further reflect that the aircraft was returned to the U.S and served with various units before being released to the National Guard and thereafter to the Washington National Forestry Service, where she gained her "N" number, 333WN.

We are appreciative of the various web sites and veterans groups who have attempted to preserve their unit and aircraft histories. It may be possible that the picture below is of our ship, or one like ours, "in country". We are hoping to hear from everyone who has a story or pictures to share from 62-1890's past.

Pete, one of our associates, contacted Major Gerald Royals (Ret.), a former commander of the 56th, who shared some recollections of 62-1890. A picture of Maj. Royal "in his younger days" and several photos from unit operations are on the 56th's page at the Fly-Army-Air website. Our thanks to Major Royal for his information and the picture and information found on his web page.

The 56th was a helicopter recovery company, call sign "Good Nature". Recovering damaged helicopters from the field and repairing them accounted for keeping more than 10% of the airborne unit's flying. An early motto used by the unit was "You Crash and Call - We Dash and Haul". Inspection of the pictures on the website shows three generations of nose art. The final insignia adopted by the unit, is seen on the nose of the UH shown beside the Major and matches the unit patch shown below.

"Find'm, Fix'M, Fly'M" certainly fits the history of the Cold War Air Museum as well.

Antihelicopter mines saw their first use during the Vietnam war. Improvised explosive devices were placed in likely landing areas with the intention of destroying arriving aircraft. From what we have learned to date, one such device went off underneath 62-1890 while she was attempting to recover another helicopter downed in a previous landing. Although the belly of the ship was heavily damaged, she was flown back to base where further inspection scheduled her for extensive repair.

Flown to the USNS Corpus Christi Bay, a floating repair depot, she was eventually returned to the U.S. for overhaul.

We hope to hear more about this worthy aircraft and her extensive history. Please contact us with updates that we can share as her restoration continues.

A Cold War Ace, Brig. Gen. Steve Ritchie

Recently, several of the directors of the Cold War Air Museum had the pleasure of attending a meeting with General Steve Ritchie. General Ritchie was one of only two American pilots to become an "Ace" during the Vietnam conflict.

The presentation included stories about his experience.

And his Wikipedia article is linked here.

An F4 Phantom, like this one, was flown by Ritchie when he destroyed five MiG-21's in air to air combat between May and July, 1972.

Director Jon Boede took this opportunity to thank General Ritchie for his service and invite him to the Cold War Air Museum

Although American pilots in conflicts from World War One through Vietnam earned the distinction of "Flying Ace", the changing nature of warfare has decreased the number of Pilot v Pilot conflicts and added weapons operators firing missiles to the combat mix.

Regardless of the nature of the combat, we wish to take this opportunity to thank and salute all of the brave men and women of the armed services who place themselves in harm's way to protect and defend our nation.

A cold war story, 58-0787 - The "Cornfield Bomber"

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) may be all the rage today, but during the early days of the cold war, a plane, especially a jet fighter, that landed itself without a pilot was definitely an unexpected event.

In 1970, during a training flight in an F-106 out of Malmstrom AFB in Montana an aircraft and pilot got themselves into a flat spin. During his unsuccessful attempts to break the spin, the pilot lowered half flaps, rolled in takeoff trim and throttled the engine back to an approach power setting.

Since a flat spin in an F-106, was generally considered to be non-recoverable, the pilot then did the next thing the flight handbook said to do -- get out of it, i.e., eject. After the pilot did just that, aircraft 58-0787 recovered by itself and established a wings level low rate of descent

When the local Sheriff arrived on the scene above, he found an aircraft with no pilot sitting on the ground in a snow covered corn field, with the engine still running.

Despite some damage to the bottom of the fuselage, the aircraft was recovered and returned to active service, albeit with a new but inglorious nickname, the "Corn Field Bomber". In 1986, when the aircraft was retired, it was placed on permanent display at the National Museum of the Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton Ohio.

Hat's off from the Cold War Air Museum to this spirited survivor!

Current ex-Soviet Aircraft in Afghanistan

The Cold War Air Museum is happy to hear from readers who want to share their pictures and stories. Andrew has written us from Afghanistan to share some of his pictures from the "constant airshow" of former Soviet aircraft over there. A KC-135R IP in the Air National Guard, he is currently flying the Air Force's newest recon jet (the RC-700A, Global Express). In addition to being an avid student of Soviet aircraft, Andrew owns and flys a Yak 52! Thank you, Andrew!

Andrew and a Mil Mi-8MTV

Andrew and an Antonov An-32

Andrew and a Kamov 32

Antonov An-124, second largest aircraft in the world after the An-225.

(We're still looking for Andrew in this picture)

Cockpit of the An-124

Mil Mi-26

Antonov An-12

Antonov An-12 wreckage in a minefield

History of the L-39 in Bulgaria

A follow-up to the L-29 history blog is naturally the L-39 history. Several L-39s are at Lancaster and 3 of them are ex-Bulgarian so I thought this might be interesting.


While most L-39s produced were of the L-39C version, Bulgaria ordered 36 of the L-39ZA which began arriving in 1986 at the 3rd UBAP in Kamenetz airbase where it replaced MiG-15UTI and MiG-17 jets. By the end of the year 12 L-39s had been delivered. The first was bord 827 (c/n 633827) which first flew on September 1, 1986. The regiment officially accepted the L-39 in service in 1987 and during that year Bulgaria also received a further 6 L-39ZAs and a TL-39 simulator which was installed at Dolna Mitropoliya airport.



The plane has a greater capability than the L-29. It has the characteristics of a lightweight fighter with a wide range of use for close combat support because of its mountable weapons. The handling is heavier than the L-29 however (especially with the ZA modification’s mounted 23-mm gun) but was warmly welcomed by the Bulgarian pilots because of its excellent aerodynamics, safety, economics and equipment. Even so, while it was normal training procedure for the cadets flying the L-29, it was forbidden to practice entering and exiting a spin in the L-39. It was initially used by cadets who were pending to fly on the strike aircraft Su-22M4, MiG-23BN and Su-25 while the L-29s and some MiG-21PFMSs were used for the cadets meant to fly on MiG-21 and MiG-23 interceptors. After the retirement of the MiG-21PFM at Kamenetz, all cadets began using the L-39 for training and usually flying the L-29 before flying the L-39. As the numbers of airworthy L-29s began decreasing in the 1990s, the L-39 gradually became the main trainer. Another 18 machines were delivered in 1990, 16 of which went to re-equip the 1^st squadron at Shtraklevo airbase.




The additional delivered aircraft led to a plan in the early 90s to use the L-39 alongside the main combat aircraft at the various combat regiments. Initially pilots would go to Kamenetz to perform flights on the L-39 however in 1996 L-39s were distributed throughout various airbases which included Dobrich (MiG-21, Su-22), Ravnetz (MiG-29), Bezmer (Su-25), Cheshnegirovo (MiG-23BN) and Graf Ignatievo (MiG-21). The idea was to use the L-39 so that the new pilots who had recently graduated can fly on it until reaching the required 200 flight hours before being allowed to fly on the main combat aircraft in the given regiment. Additionally combat pilots used it to maintain proficiency which was much cheaper to do in an L-39 than a MiG or Sukhoi aircraft. In 1998 Shtraklevo airbase was closed and any remaining L-39s went to Kamenetz. In 2000-2002 Dobrich, Ravnetz and Cheshnegirovo were also closed. L-39s remained at Graf Ignatievo since the pilots of the newly relocated regiment from Ravnetz needed to maintain proficiency. The lack of enough airworthy MiG-29s was the main reason L-39s remained there. During the years L-39s participated in various exercises the most famous of which are the Cooperative Key series. In 2006-2007 Kamenetz airbase was also closed and all remaining L-39s were transferred to Dolna Mitropoliya airbase.



Only one airframe was lost since the plane entered service. The accident happened with bord 917 on October 2, 1990 during a low level formation flight. After a pilot error, in order not to hit the lead plane the cadet in the chase plane throttled back the engine all the way to position “stop” which naturally resulted in the engine stopping. Despite the instructor’s best efforts to restart the engine, it didn’t work. The low altitude left little hope of a successful ejection and the plane crashed with both pilots perishing. Of the 35 L-39s that survived 12 are still in service with the Bulgarian air force although none are currently flying. At least 7 have been sold to the USA with 3 at Cold War Air Museum. 5 were sold to Ethiopia and the rest are either stored or sold to unknown customers.