Raptor Smurfs again!!!

[John Cook]

Hi All

I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg


Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
spill for the intakes, So what is it?.

This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg



I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-

quote -"it shows two interesting
additions to the F-22...
Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
stabalisation'
The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
color.
I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
anyone confirm.
'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
are deployed'"- end quote

So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.

I knew I should have patented the design!!

Cheers

John Cook

Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.

Email Address :-
Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk

[Thomas J. Paladino Jr.]

"John Cook" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All
>
> I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
> picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
> have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
> Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
>
>
> Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
> spill for the intakes, So what is it?.
>
> This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
> as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg
>
>
>
> I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-
>
> quote -"it shows two interesting
> additions to the F-22...
> Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
> 'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
> move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
> creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
> interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
> stabalisation'
> The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
> color.
> I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
> anyone confirm.
> 'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
> are deployed'"- end quote


You mean that was a joke? I remember reading that and thinking it was real.
DOH!



>
> So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.
>
> I knew I should have patented the design!!
>
> Cheers
>
> John Cook
>
> Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
> opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.
>
> Email Address :-
> Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
> Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk

[Mark]

I think you were pretty close back in April....

Believe they are indeed 'supplementary' flight control surfaces. The
aircraft appears to be at a relatively high AOA based on the leading edge
devices. Coupled with the rather significant deflection of the 'rudders'
and 'ailerons' it seems that we're seeing a picture of the aircraft in a
fairly high performance posture (roll to the right?). This is the first
picture I have seen of aircraft in a slow speed, maneuvering situation and
also first picture of the 'smurfs' deployed. Just coincidence??

Just a guess....

Mark



"John Cook" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All
>
> I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
> picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
> have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
> Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
>
>
> Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
> spill for the intakes, So what is it?.
>
> This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
> as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg
>
>
>
> I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-
>
> quote -"it shows two interesting
> additions to the F-22...
> Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
> 'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
> move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
> creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
> interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
> stabalisation'
> The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
> color.
> I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
> anyone confirm.
> 'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
> are deployed'"- end quote
>
> So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.
>
> I knew I should have patented the design!!
>
> Cheers
>
> John Cook
>
> Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
> opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.
>
> Email Address :-
> Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
> Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk

[Brett]

"John Cook" > wrote:
> Hi All
>
> I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
> picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
> have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
> Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
>
>
> Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
> spill for the intakes, So what is it?.

Well the cutaway on page 71 of World Airpower Journal Volume 38, Autumn/Fall
1999 identified the part you highlighted as cutaway item number 28 Bleed air
door/spoiler panel and item number 29 was identified as a Bleed door
hydraulic actuator. Pictures of the YF-22 contained in the same issue appear
to have a similar feature located above the intake.

> This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
> as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg
>
>
>
> I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-
>
> quote -"it shows two interesting
> additions to the F-22...
> Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
> 'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
> move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
> creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
> interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
> stabalisation'
> The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
> color.
> I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
> anyone confirm.
> 'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
> are deployed'"- end quote
>
> So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.

No.

> I knew I should have patented the design!!

No.

[Scott Ferrin]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 18:59:45 +1000, John Cook >
wrote:

>Hi All
>
>I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
>picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
>have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
>Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...




:-)

Those have been there since the days of the YF-22 but on the prototype
they were rotated 90 degrees so they were forward swept so-to-speak.
They aren't the infamous strakes :-)




>
>http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
>http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
>
>
>Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
>spill for the intakes, So what is it?.
>
>This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
>as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...
>
>http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
>http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg
>
>
>
>I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-
>
>quote -"it shows two interesting
>additions to the F-22...
>Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
>'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
>move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
>creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
>interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
>stabalisation'
>The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
>color.
>I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
>anyone confirm.
>'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
>are deployed'"- end quote
>
>So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.
>
>I knew I should have patented the design!!
>
>Cheers
>
>John Cook
>
>Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
>opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.
>
>Email Address :-
>Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
>Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk

[Scott Ferrin]

>I think you were pretty close back in April....
>
>Believe they are indeed 'supplementary' flight control surfaces. The
>aircraft appears to be at a relatively high AOA based on the leading edge
>devices. Coupled with the rather significant deflection of the 'rudders'
>and 'ailerons' it seems that we're seeing a picture of the aircraft in a
>fairly high performance posture (roll to the right?). This is the first
>picture I have seen of aircraft in a slow speed, maneuvering situation and
>also first picture of the 'smurfs' deployed. Just coincidence??
>
>Just a guess....
>
>Mark


Not coincidence but not flight control surfaces either.

[John Keeney]

"John Cook" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All
>
> I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
> picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
> have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
> Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
>
>
> Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
> spill for the intakes, So what is it?.

Fence? I though an aero fence was aligned with the desired air flow.
Can't say I *know* what those things sticking up are but
they look more like air bleed doors than aerodynamic devices.

> This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
> as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...
>
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg
>
>
>
> I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-
>
> quote -"it shows two interesting
> additions to the F-22...
> Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
> 'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
> move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
> creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
> interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
> stabalisation'
> The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
> color.
> I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
> anyone confirm.
> 'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
> are deployed'"- end quote
>
> So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.

On what subject and grounds?

[Typhoon502]

"John Keeney" > wrote in message >...
> "John Cook" > wrote in message
> ...

> > http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
> > http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
> >
> >
> > Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
> > spill for the intakes, So what is it?.
>
> Fence? I though an aero fence was aligned with the desired air flow.
> Can't say I *know* what those things sticking up are but
> they look more like air bleed doors than aerodynamic devices.

Hey, maybe they're speed brakes. Or phaser ports!

You know, I was about 10 feet from that section of a Raptor at Andrews
AFB earlier this year. THERE ARE NO SMURFS. Nothing that even
remotely indicated either a retractable or provision for fixed
overwing fences.

[Kevin Brooks]

"John Keeney" > wrote in message
...
>
> "John Cook" > wrote in message

<snip>

> >
> > So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.
>
> On what subject and grounds?

Having had the Tarvernaut killfiled for quite some time now (oh, joyful
solitude!), I can't help but notice that it has been quite a while since I
saw any of his rants secondhand--did his ISP finally pull the plug on him
after too many abuse complaints?

Brooks

>
>

[John Cook]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 15:48:42 GMT, "Mark"
> wrote:

>I think you were pretty close back in April....
>
>Believe they are indeed 'supplementary' flight control surfaces. The
>aircraft appears to be at a relatively high AOA based on the leading edge
>devices. Coupled with the rather significant deflection of the 'rudders'
>and 'ailerons' it seems that we're seeing a picture of the aircraft in a
>fairly high performance posture (roll to the right?).

This was the exact reason I posted it!!, I would assume it cocks the
low RCS right up when the fence/air spill panel is open. that said, it
is ontop of the airframe so its exposure to a _single_ enemy would be
minor.

Whats the usual reasons for having such a panel?, is it to stop
umwanted airflow on the air spill port at High AoA, it seems (to my
untrained eye) to be a bit of a hack on a stealth aircraft!

Cheers


> This is the first
>picture I have seen of aircraft in a slow speed, maneuvering situation and
>also first picture of the 'smurfs' deployed. Just coincidence??
>
>Just a guess....
>
>Mark
>
>
>
>"John Cook" > wrote in message
...
>> Hi All
>>
>> I was reading the excellent magazine Air Forces Monthly, and saw a
>> picture of a Raptor F-22 Flying over Edwards AFB, and it appears to
>> have what I previously played a joke about on April 1st - its got
>> Smurfs -No really!!, take a look here...
>>
>> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf.jpg
>> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/rap_smurf2.jpg
>>
>>
>> Above the intake there seems to be a fence it doesn't seem to be a
>> spill for the intakes, So what is it?.
>>
>> This time I haven't doctored the Pictures!!!
>> as I did in this aprils fools joke here ...
>>
>> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22_aoa.jpg
>> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jwcook/f-22close.jpg
>>
>>
>>
>> I wrote as a joke back in april the following:-
>>
>> quote -"it shows two interesting
>> additions to the F-22...
>> Major Ian Gottcher is quoted the text :-.
>> 'The airfoils are made from a fibrous blue kevlar type material which
>> move up into the airflow when certain flight conditions are met, this
>> creates a pair of vortexs across the back of the Aircraft which
>> interacts with the vertical tail planes to aid in control and
>> stabalisation'
>> The maintainence crews apparently call the fins 'Smurfs' due to their
>> color.
>> I'm sure they have nicked this name from the british Hawk jet, can
>> anyone confirm.
>> 'Angles of Attack are increased by several percent when the fins
>> are deployed'"- end quote
>>
>> So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.
>>
>> I knew I should have patented the design!!
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> John Cook
>>
>> Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
>> opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.
>>
>> Email Address :-
>> Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
>> Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk
>

John Cook

Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.

Email Address :-
Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk

[Scott Ferrin]

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 07:37:02 +1000, John Cook >
wrote:

>On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 15:48:42 GMT, "Mark"
> wrote:
>
>>I think you were pretty close back in April....
>>
>>Believe they are indeed 'supplementary' flight control surfaces. The
>>aircraft appears to be at a relatively high AOA based on the leading edge
>>devices. Coupled with the rather significant deflection of the 'rudders'
>>and 'ailerons' it seems that we're seeing a picture of the aircraft in a
>>fairly high performance posture (roll to the right?).
>
>This was the exact reason I posted it!!, I would assume it cocks the
>low RCS right up when the fence/air spill panel is open. that said, it
>is ontop of the airframe so its exposure to a _single_ enemy would be
>minor.
>
>Whats the usual reasons for having such a panel?, is it to stop
>umwanted airflow on the air spill port at High AoA, it seems (to my
>untrained eye) to be a bit of a hack on a stealth aircraft!

They were even there on the prototypes so I'm inclined to think it's
not so much a hack as it is a solution to an unusual problem. The
fact that they're rotated 90s from those on the prototypes suggests
that the area got a lot of attention during developement and it
apparently still seemed the best way to go. The dogtooth on the
Eagle's horizontal stab and the fences on the Hornet's strakes are
hacks. The spoilers on the F-22 seem to have been there from the very
beginning.

[Guinnog65]

"Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
...
>
> "John Keeney" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "John Cook" > wrote in message
>
> <snip>
>
>> >
>> > So there we are! could RAM owe an apology to Mr Tarver???.
>>
>> On what subject and grounds?
>
> Having had the Tarvernaut killfiled for quite some time now (oh, joyful
> solitude!), I can't help but notice that it has been quite a while since I
> saw any of his rants secondhand--did his ISP finally pull the plug on him
> after too many abuse complaints?

He hasn't posted on Usenet in quite a while, as I notice you yourself
observed as recently as the 6th September in another thread on this NG.

Last post I can find from him is 28th April.

Hope he is ok; for all his silliness, he was instant entertainment. And a
damn sight more interesting than all the Bush/Kerry/Vietnam/Purple Heart bs
we seem to get these days...