Training at Moffet Field

Usually when I post Moffet stuff its pictures from the Bay Trail that skirts the runway of the base. However, today we were on the tarmac to play around with our backup fixed wing transport. These are pictures from the tarmac and around the base.


Hanger one


one of the 129th's HH-60 Pave Hawk in the background




Flaring



always loved the 104

and the Dragon lady:


Couple of tunnel models




Now these two Im not sure of what they are.

(note the Grumman logo)

Big smiles. Thanks for the great pics

( lucky sun of a.. hah hahh ) 😆

Edit: You really need to get a pass for zaph and samm..
If you do I'll get a pass for yinz for the return of the 911th airshow from the fire dept here🙄

Whats the green tube behind the model helicopter, looks like a Paveway??

I used to work right across the highway (101) from Moffet and lived about 2 miles away.

Very cool place. Came back to visit for "work related" reasons years later and learned a whole lot more about it.

It's a lot cooler place than most people realize..dirigible hangars and all...

Thanks for the reminder.

a reply to: FredT

The Sikorsky bird on the bottom looks like the S-72 RSA. The Grumman bird is the Model 698 V/STOL.

www.flickr.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

The Sikorsky bird on the bottom looks like the S-72 RSA. The Grumman bird is the Model 698 V/STOL.

www.flickr.com...

Yep, it is. (To correct the typo, it is the Rotor Systems Research Aircraft, or RSRA). For the first 5 or 6 years I worked at NASA Ames, my office was on the corner of building N244, about 100 yards from the flight line and the hover pad, so I spent more hours than I should admit to, to watching the XV-15A (tiltrotor prototype) and the RSRA doing hover tests outside my window.

Of all the weird and wonderful birds that flew in and around Moffett, the RSRA was definitely the weirdest and wonderfulest (yes, I know that's not a real word). I always referred to it as the Swiss Army aircraft, because it had one of everything on it--wings, empennage, main rotor, tail rotor, turbofans, and it could fly with different combinations of the above. As far as I know, it did not have an espresso machine in it, so the pilots had to get their coffee in the cafeteria like everyone else.

It even had ejection seats, which was quite a technology development in its own right. Since the rotors it was supposed to be developing were themselves experimental, the designers had to allow for the possibility of an inflight rotor failure. The rotor blades had linear shaped charge separation explosives at the root of each blade. When an ejection was commanded, the computer would keep track of the azimuth position of each blade and set off the charge at just the right instance to toss the blade in a predetermined direction, off to the port or starboard of the flight path of the aircraft. That's so that the blades would not recontact either the pilot and copilot or the aft portion of the aircraft (empennage or tail rotor). Once the blades were separated (less than one rotation, or a fraction of a second) another set of linear shaped charges cut human-shaped holes in the plexiglas canopy above the pilot and copilot and then both ejection seats departed vertically. I remember watching an internal NASA video of the system being tested on a rocket sled at White Sands--much to my surprise, it worked perfectly.

Rube Goldberg would have been proud.

a reply to: 1947boomer

I remember hearing about that system. All I could think when I first heard the words "helicopter" and "ejection seats" was that it was a great way to turn the crew into hamburger.

I always heard RSA not RSRA, but that makes more sense.

originally posted by: Forensick
Whats the green tube behind the model helicopter, looks like a Paveway??

Not sure that area was roped off and quite messy. Looking at the picture it looks more like a Mark 82 with those retarding devices for low level delivery

originally posted by: Riffrafter
I used to work right across the highway (101) from Moffet and lived about 2 miles away.

Very cool place.

I grew up in Palo Alto and still remember the P-3's in constant orbit practicing. Later my dad was station there as a civilian engineer for the Navy. Got to see all kinds of stuff both there, Alameda, Treasure Island, Crows Landing, plus the NASA types were really cool to talk too. Our scout troop used to get tours all the time. Plus when dad was there he would always call and come get me at the gate if there was something interesting coming in or parked in the hanger. The O Club was good at Moffett, but the NCO's/Chiefs club at treasure Island was the best

a reply to: FredT

The O Club was good at Moffett, but the NCO's/Chiefs club at treasure Island was the best

Oh sure, and you forgot to invite me?



Seriously, I really miss the Bay area. I moved there during the big "drought" in the early 90's. I know I should have been concerned, but damn, coming from NY in January the weather was *amazing*! I used to joke that I wanted to be a TV weatherman out there - talk about an easy job. For 10 months of the year every day is the same, temp's in the 70's or low 80's, sunny and no humidity. Hell, I could've mailed in my 5 day forecasts months in advance...lol.

And I loved Treasure Island too. I remember being floored by seeing an exit ramp in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge. How cool is that?!

Did you ever play golf at the course that runs alongside Moffet field? Not a great track, but terrific views and besides, a crap day on the golf course is still better than a good day in most other places.

I went back 2 years ago for business after not having been there in about 10 years. Holy crap - the changes were incredible. Google owns the whole area I used to work in (Landings Drive if you know where that is) along with a ton of other stuff and Facebook owns a *ton* of stuff right near where I lived.

I was thrilled to see Taqueria La Bamba is still there and kicking ass. Best damn carnitas burritos and papusas I have *ever* had in my life. I remember standing in line for lunch there often and it was the most diverse group of people you ever saw. Once I was there and had 2 construction workers behind me with sawdust all over them and Scott McNealey CEO of Sun standing right in front me and chatting with me and others.

Downtown Palo Alto is still really great too and mostly the same. I remember going to Gordon Biersch often after work and seeing a veritable who's who of the tech world pounding a few beers along with the rest of us. Truly an egalitarian society. BTW - it was the first craft brewery I'd ever seen. Now they're everywhere, but back then once again Palo Alto was a trailblazer.

And Moffet is still Moffet. Thank god for small mercies!

Sorry for the OT ramble...but your post just brought a ton of memories flooding back.