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Edited to get rid of the sim stuff

I wish my job was that cool! Great stuff!

i would be interested in your feedback on how the WW2 stuff behaves, etc. Especially if you can compare to IL2 BoX series.

Same here Xpen... Im only volunteering.
I may need to pick your brain at a later date re the VR handling when it comes to full fidelity modules where you actual need to use the MFDs...

Hammer - Will do if I get a chance. I dont have much experience with ILS but they may want to get into that depending on user feedback.

I volunteer at the Illinois Aviation Museum and we restored a T-2 Buckeye, T-33 Shooting Star, and most recently, an A-4 Skyhawk.

Here is the video of the rollout ceremony for the A-4 (that's me on the wing at 11:52):



I tried to bring an F-14 in to the IL Aviation Museum but due to US Navy regs and the FAA, the runway was too short to bring her in. So she flew into a neighboring airport instead, but I was there to meet her there and help bring her in so that she can be added to the Prairie Aviation Museum at that airport.

v6,
boNes

Awesome story bones. I had no idea you were a local celebrity in the Chicago area. :-)

I'm not famous, I'm INfamous.

We also do a parade at least 2 times a year with a T-33 that we made into a float. Not the same one that's on static display, but a modified one where we chopped the wings off so that it can be towed in the street (by a vintage US Army Jeep that saw service in France in WWII, complete with .50 cal gun).

Scroll to 43:33, that's me on the wing:



We usually win the float award each year we do it. Here is one of those years (scroll to 54:15). I'm on the wing with my 9/11 Flight 93 memorial flag



Here's at a different parade. We have fire extinguishers set up under the fuselage for some "smoke" effect (scroll to 25:00):



v6,
boNes

Haha. Fun!

Found some more pix from last year's Memorial Day parade

Another

Awesome pics bones! Thanks for sharing.

Cool stuff. Is all the gear yours or does the museum own it? I have been trying to acquire the MA-2 flight harness with the metal Koch fittings for a year now. Very hard to come by. Almost had one on Ebay but got sniped at the last second.

Xpen,

All of the gear is mine. I have the 1986 "Top Gun" era gear:

HGU-33/P helmet
MBU-12/P oxygen mask with REDAR hose and boot (also CRU-60 valve, but don't use it much)
CVW-27/P flight suit
CSU-13B g suit with functioning bladders
MA-2 torso harness with Koch fittings and D-Ring (they work, I attached myself to the T-2 ejection seat with it!)
SV-2B survival vest with survival knife, flares, smoke, fire starters, signal mirror, whistle, "Fireflu" SDU-5 rescue strobe, hook blade shroud cutter, and PRC-90 survival radio that works but I need a new battery.
LPU-2 floation device with charged cannisters
Flight boots
Nomex flight gloves.

And the gear of the time of Iraqi and Enduring freedom which is the same as today less the MBU-20 mask which I never liked anyway and the JHMCS.
Same as above but replace the HGU-33/P with the HGU-55/P and the LPU-2 with the LPU-33/P life preserver and the SV-2B with the CMU-33 survival vest. I also have the new version of the flight gloves, with the index/middle/thumb tips removed so that you can use the Super Hornet UFC touch screen, both in sage green and in desert tan.

I have (2) HGU-33/Ps: One VF-84 Jolly Rogers early 80s design and one custom design for myself that I jokingly call the helmet for VF-666 Revolting Cocks. I had an HGU-33 for VF-111 Sundowners and a generic HGU-33 but I sold them off. My HGU-55/P is a VF-103 Jolly Rogers helmet.

I also have (1) MBU-12/P oxygen mask, (1) MBU-14/P Navy oxygen mask in OD, and (1) MBU-12/P grey oxygen mask, all with working avionics microphones.

All of the HGUs except for the VF-84 one I taped and rebuilt myself, based on the actual USN method. All of my HGUs and the oxygen masks have working avionics in them, and I have them specially wired to be used with the radios in both military and civilian aircraft. I often fly with the helmets in the civilian aircraft--I took @Creeper up once with me in a Cessna 172 and he had on the VF-84 helmet and I had the VF-103 helmet). The VF-103 helmet graphics are the graphics used by VF-103 between 1998 and 2003, complete down to the font used for the callsign (with my own callsign of course). I also have the graphics for between 2003 and 2004 when the Jolly Rogers last flew Tomcats but I'm saving those for another helmet someday.

For flight suits I have (2) of the traditional Nomex ones, (1) Nomex one that had a different experimental pocket configuration that VF-103 used for a bit (I'm split as to which one I like better), and (1) desert tan traditional Nomex one. Of course patches and a few custom callsign patches.

I also have a CWU-36/P Nomex flight jacket which you've seen me wear, and a USN G-1 leather flight jacket. The former is Jolly Rogers, the latter I made a nod to all kinds of Tomcat and Top Gun subject matter.

It was a hobby I was heavily into back in the day that with the way prices have gone up since I no longer have the time or resources for. RIght now I need replacement avionics on some devices that with age have burnt out.

Oh, I got my MA-2 from an outfit on the West Coast, way before eBay started. He would have to mail me glossy 4x3 photos of what he had and I would order what he had that I needed. Other parts I got from eBay later in the day, others I picked up along the way, and some designs I got under advisement of VF-103. My VF-103 patches had actually been flown in an F-14B at supersonic speeds. Other parts I got from FlightHelmet.com, especially those that were used for experimental designs that I did for them which I think I told you about. Some other parts I got from Flightsuits.com, who were the actual suppliers for the "Top Gun" movie and the Navy. They were a big help for my avionics.

You'll have to drop by sometime and I'll show you everything I's got! I also have some 60th anniversary Jolly Rogers pint glasses we can have some beer out of. I have a bottle of the Jolly Rogers "Fighting 103" hot sauce but it's more a relic now, I wouldn't recommend it for consumption as I got it about 20 years ago, haha!

v6,
boNes

That is quite a collection! I hope to eventually acquire a large MA-2, the g pants, the survival vest, helmet, and oxygen mask to complete my Harrier setup. It will be awhile! I tried for several months to get an MA-2 with Koch fittings without success so temporarily pausing that search. They have a metal cutting CNC at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library Makerplace building and I am toying with making my own Koch fitting knock offs. But that seems like a lot of effort. There are 3D printable models as well, and those can be finished to look real, but obviously would not have any strength. Eventually I want to be able to have real shoulder tensioners on my seat so the uppers would need to be strong enough for that.

At any rate, I have a lot of cockpit to build in the meantime. I am just starting on some of the electrical engineering needed for a PCB (circuit board) that I need to have made to run the 5 ODU displays in the Harrier. These are 4 digit 16-segment Lcd displays almost identical to the 5 that the F-18C has on the F-18 UFC. I found a guy in Australia that has custom manufactured displays intended for F18 simpit builders, and I have ordered a set. But I have to do all of the electrical engineering to make them work.

I currently fly out of the same airport that the museum is at. I took a flight yesterday so i took some more pix while i was there

more

My wife and i did our first anniversary shoot there

I already knew this but bones, your wife is absolutely awesome and a keeper!

Thanks, man!

v6,
boNes

Very cool way to celebrate your anniversary! What is the aircraft?