Bones Museum/Parade pics/vids

[Trichome]

Edited to get rid of the sim stuff

[Xpendable]

I wish my job was that cool! Great stuff!

[Hammer]

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

[Trichome]

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.

[Bones]

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

[PanzerMeyer]

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

[Bones]

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

[Xpendable]

Haha. Fun!

[Bones]

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

[Bones]

Another

[PanzerMeyer]

Awesome pics bones! Thanks for sharing.

[Xpendable]

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.

[Bones]

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

[Xpendable]

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.

[Bones]

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

[Bones]

more

[Bones]

My wife and i did our first anniversary shoot there

[PanzerMeyer]

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

[Bones]

Thanks, man!

v6,
boNes

[Grifter]

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