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F-35B STOVL ship suitability testing (video)

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to fly a cockpit demonstrator for the new F-35 Lightning II aircraft, a multi-mission fighter designed to serve the needs of the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, replacing the aging fleet of A-10, F-16, F-18, and AV-8B jets. Development has had numerous...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 22, 2011 5:20 PM

A virtual ride on the F-35

On Thursday, I drove down to Oklahoma City, to Pro-Fab, Inc., for a briefing and a short flight in a cockpit demonstrator for the new F-35 Lightning II, the Joint Strike Fighter built by Lockheed Martin Aerospace in Fort Worth, in partnership with Northrup Grumman, BAE, Pratt & Whitney, and...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 10, 2011 3:31 PM

Should the US Air Force buy American or Brazilian?

The US Air Force is looking for a supplier for Light Air Support aircraft, to be used by the Afghan Air Force and by the USAF to train other partner air forces. Award is expected this summer, and the question is whether the Air Force will pick a variant of...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 19, 2011 8:52 PM

San Antonio Roses

It was the song that took Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys "from hamburgers to steaks." In 1938, they took a fiddle tune called "Spanish Two Step" and ran the melody backwards; the result was a popular instrumental. ("Jazz violinist Joe Venuti, for example, told Wills and members of the...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 11, 2011 10:21 PM

Airman museum looking for memories, money

During one of my recent trips to San Antonio's Lackland AFB, on a lunch break, I visited the US Air Force Airman Heritage Museum. It's a modest facility with a monumental plans to preserve and display the history of the Air Force's enlisted men and women and the basic military...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 9, 2011 7:08 PM