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The Membership Newsletter for The Military Aviation Museum Winter 2013 1940’s Valentine’s Hangar Dance Join us at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia hangar into the dance fl oor in celebration of Valentine’s Beach for our 5th Annual 1940’s Valentine’s Hangar Day. There will be fabulous prizes for the “Best Dressed Dance. Saturday evening, February 9th will be a night Lady”, “Best Dressed Man” and “Best Dressed Cou- to remember! Come dressed in your favorite 1940’s at- ple.” Terry Chesson’s Orchestra Band will be playing tire, have your sweetheart pull out her favorite red dress all the favorites from your parents’ era to dance the night from the back of the closet, as we transform our Navy away along with members of the Swing Virginia Swing Dance Club. Need lessons before to brush up youry steps, then check out SwingVirginia. comc and use Echoes-of-Time.com to become a dashing pilot for the night. Tickets are limited Military Aviation Museum anda last year we sold out, so ‘em now on the www.MilitaryAviationMuseum.org museumm website. Virginia Beach Airport Saturday, February 9th, www.VBairport.com come hungry and stay late 6-10pm $40 per Fighter Factory person with www.FighterFactory.com discounts for full tables Night Witches fly the Polikarpov Po-2 By Felix Usis One of the additions to the museum is the Polikarpov Although entirely outclassed by more modern air- Inside this Issue: Po-2 “Mule.” This was the second most built aircraft craft, the Po-2 served on the Eastern Front throughout Lights, Camera, Action 2 in the world, with over 40,000 Po-2’s and built as the the Second World War, as a liaison, medevac, and a most produced bi-plane in the world. Designed by general supply aircraft. It was especially useful for Retirement at Museum 2 Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov to replace the U-1 supplying Soviet partisans behind the front line. trainer, a British Avro 504, it was manufactured in Rus- NASA sUAS Operations 3 sia from 1928 until 1956. The prototype, named the Perhaps the “Mule” became best known for its use by the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, composed of all- Bash at the Beach 3 U-2, was fi rst fl own in January 1928, powered by a fi ve cylinder 99 hp air-cooled radial engine. After Polikar- women pilot and ground crew. This unit became noto- Search for Cottbus Writer 4 pov’s death in July 1944, the U-2 was re-designated rious for its daring low-altitude night raids on German Po-2 in honor of his name. rear-area positions. The women pilots observed that the In Memoriam 5 enemy suffered a further degree of demoralization simply because Parades, Parades & More Parades 5 their antagonists were female. As such, the pilots earned the nick- Museum Take a Field Trip 6 name as the “Night Witches.” Lenin and His Aircraft 6 The material effects of these ha- Hangar Happenings 7 rassment missions may be re- garded as insignifi cant, but the Event Calendar 8 psychological effect on German troops was much more visible. The Polikarpov Po-2 landing at the museum The Po-2’s typically attacked in Continued on page 2 PAGE 2 VOLUME 6, ISSUE 1 Polikarpov..Continued from page 1 Lights, Camera, Action the dead of night, denying German troops By “Boom” Powell sleep and keeping them constantly on their December, Bob Coolbaugh and Boom Pow- sun touched the leafl ess trees. Eric had not guard, contributing yet further to the al- ell arrived early in the chilly morning at the planned on a fl ying sequence, but as soon ready exceptionally high stress of combat Military Aviation Museum in their 1911 as the Curtiss lifted off the grass, he had on the Eastern Front. The usual tactics in- fl ying outfi ts ready to act for a professional cameramen running to better locations and volved fl ying in single fi le 3 to 5 minutes fi lm crew. Lockheed–Martin was preparing asked the pilots for multiple passes into and apart, only a few feet above the ground, a documentary on the development of avia- away from the lowering sun. climbing just before the targeted area, cut- tion materials and what better aeroplane to ting off the engine and making a gliding show the early days than the spruce, fabric bomb run. This left the German troops with and bamboo Curtiss Pusher. only the eerie whistling of the wind in the wings’ fl ying-wires as an indication of the The Curtiss was carefully pushed out of the impending attack. World War One hangar onto the still dewy, wet grass, its spot determined by anticipated sun angles and background. Cameras, rails, tripods and light refl ectors were positioned and, at last, the actors called to strut their stuff. “What do you want us to say?” they asked. The Curtiss Pusher in fl ight for the camera crew ”Anything, we just need your mouths to move.” Didn’t take too many takes to real- As professional fi lmmakers, the seven man crew had seen many thrilling aviation ize the star of this fi lm wasn’t the pilots, but The “Mule” outside the hangar rather the aeroplane. The pilots were only events, but all of them agreed none had been there in supporting roles and as props. as exciting as seeing this century-old aero- plane lift into the air. German Wehrmacht troops nicknamed the Under Eric Schulzinger’s direction, short Po-2 “Nähmaschine” (sewing machine) for scenes were set up, and with camera angles Although the fi lm won’t be in theaters or its rattling sound and Finnish troops called and zooms being constantly changed there up for an Oscar, our Curtiss Pusher can it “Hermosaha” (Nerve saw). Luftwaffe were a lot of takes. One of the actors was now claim to be a movie star along with the pilots were given special instructions for heard to say, “If I have to prefl ight the left museum’s Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter. (Flyboys, engaging these aircraft, which they nick- upper wing, wiggle the canard, and climb 2006, if you’ve forgotten.) named Rusfaner or “Russian Plywood.” into the seat one more time...” When asked if the crew was heading back The tactics developed by the “Night Witches” The day was educational. The fi lm guys to company headquarters in Baltimore, were so successful that the Luftwaffe set up learned about Glenn Curtiss, early fl ying the reply was, no, they were on the way to similar Störkampfstaffel “harassment combat machines, the museum’s warbird collec- Lockheed-Martin’s plant in Fort Worth to squadrons.” North Korean forces used the tion. B and B (Bob and get footage of computer- same Po-2 in a similar role in the Korean War. Boom) learned about assisted manufacturing American forces referred to the Po-2’s night- gaffers, “apples”, stand- of jet fi ghter components time appearance “Bed Check Charlie” and marks and not to look at made of carbon fi ber, ep- had the same diffi culties in shooting down the the shiny sun refl ectors. oxy, graphite and tung- wooden Po-2 as did the Luftwaffe. sten. With one day’s A Polikarpov Po-2 is on display in the Finally, it was time to travel, they would leap markings of the Russion Night Witches fl y. The air was still and “Rising“Ri i Stars” S ” Boom B Pow- P forward 100 years in time among the other Polikarpov fi ghters in the the light was great as the ell and Bob Coolbaugh and technology. Army hangar of the museum. Retirement at the Museum By David Hunt It was a great privilege for the museum Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic, and staff to host the retirement cer- NAS Oceana, and VA. emony of Chief Petty Officer, Charles D. Brandt, Jr., on September 28, 2012. Chuck is a part-time member of the staff and The presiding officer was CDR Steven as an aviation electronics technician, a great J. Bellack, Commanding Officer; and, asset to the museum’s facility team. the guest speaker was LT Bradley La- The staff and volunteers at the museum, Fontaine. Chief Brandt was assigned to thank you for your service, Chuck. VOLUME 6, ISSUE 1 PAGE 3 NASA’s Drone Operations at the Museum By Jeffrey S. Hill, NASA LaRC Range Safety Offi cer NASA Langley Research Center recently manned and unmanned aircraft to operate by the Military Aviation Museum. All op- began operating small Unmanned Aerial in the same airspace ubiquitously. Cur- erations associated with NASA’s sUAS are Systems (sUAS) at the Military Aviation rently all unmanned aircraft are segregated scheduled and coordinated via the Muse- Museum in September 2012. This is all part from manned airplanes in accordance with um’s Director, David Hunt. Over these next of a fi ve year project that NASA, DOD, DHS operating rules and policy governed by the two years, NASA will operate their sUAS (Department of Homeland Security) and the FAA in which case, UA can only operate in to develop and test various procedures and FAA are work- certain locations in the airspace by spe- protocols that may be applied to safely oper- ing together in cial approval of the FAA, Certifi cate of ate unmanned aircraft seamlessly among pi- a coordinated Authorization for public loted aircraft in effort to safely use only or in restricted the National Air integrate un- airspace set aside for spe- Space. Keep an manned air- cial use operations for the eye out during craft into the military.