Edwards - Plant 42 - Mojave - and Victorville et al May 2019

So I did get to spend some time at both Plant 42, Edwards, Mojave, and with Saturday being a return day and slow I headed over to Victorville to see the 737MAX's

Just off of the I-5 and Hwy 138 junction I spotted this weird chopper:

It was clearly a movie prop but which one? I was thinking Escape From LA but its from the Arnold film 'The Sixth Day"

I parked on 20 Mule Team Road as the Boron Rest Stop was closed and was treated to a KC-46 and the F-35A AF-1 on final to Edwards AFB which had a bomb load of either GBU-12's or 16's external mounted and on the left side. It may have been doing a tanking exercise with dissimilar bomb load and the Pegasus

At BJ's Corner it was a bit slow but caught a USMC C-130J with what apeared to be the Harvest Hawk modification. Note the sensor ball on the inboard left pod and the absence of the outboard left pod. He did about 10 touch and goes etc.

Also got a touch and go by a Raptor and its F-16 chase

Supper guppy

Thanks to some timely Intel by Zaphod I was in position to catch SOFIA take off

Victorville was quiet but say a few things including and Omega Tanker etc

Mojave:

Galactic Girl with a payload on the left inner pylon

Caught a Viper at Luke last week landing with GBU-12s still hanging. He broke just after takeoff and landed after burning fuel.

Good timing with the Guppy. He's back in El Paso now.

a reply to: FredT

Another awesome set of snaps!

That helicopter is crazy looking. What is it?

I don’t know much about the USAF, what is the sensor pod you mentioned?

a reply to: Macenroe82

It's actually Marine. Harvest HAWK turns Marine KC-130s into a poor man's gunship. It allows them to drop SDBs, as well as firing Griffin and Hellfire missiles. The sensor ball is part of the targeting system.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: FredT

Another awesome set of snaps!

That helicopter is crazy looking. What is it?

I don’t know much about the USAF, what is the sensor pod you mentioned?

The Chopper is a prop from the movie 'The Sixth Day" www.imdb.com...

HARVEST HAWK (Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit) is a program that modifies the USMC's 130's into a a mini AC-130 with hellfires, AGM-176 Griffins, guided bombs, and eventually a 30mm cannon. www.thedrive.com...

a reply to: FredT

Damn your postings have been super sweet the last couple of days. Really enjoying them. Keep up the spectacular work!.

Btw. This
We have 5 here that's my pic.

Is that aircraft...

Damn great work sir!

Omega refueler and the Virgin launcher.. Victorville and FedEx MD's .. I'm loving these photos.

You got the superguppie tooooooo😀😀😀😀😀
IS THAT SOPHIA???? Omg this is great!!!!

a reply to: FredT

it must be in Arnies rider to have a chopper in his films.


and that omega is a clean look

a reply to: Bigburgh

Thats really cool. That thing was in rough shape but looks stellar now!!!! Thanks for the props have a few more to come

a reply to: FredT

It's a Fouga Magister.

a reply to: FredT

Thanks for sharing!
Father Crowley is a bucket list for me. As well as the Mojave area. Gosh dang thanks for posting

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thank you! They're sitting at Beaver collecting dust.... never flying. Just... out on the tar.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

It's a Fouga Magister.

I know very few V tails running the canyon. How does he get the okay?

a reply to: FredT

All of the civilian aircraft types are on loan to NTPS.

Very nice pics!

One day I'll do an expose on some of the testing around Harvest Hawk and the AF AC-130 efforts over the last ten'ish years. Quite a bit of overlap. The Marines have the superior concept, imo. But the AF has done a lot of work testing a slew of different things in Florida. And there's the Syria issues and ever changing threat environments...

I have seen the SuperGuppy around Denver a few times. It blew my mind when I saw it flying overhead and even more so when I saw it on the runway by DIA. I always wondered what it could have been hauling.