TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I see that the Air Force E8-C JSTARS aircraft has flown it its last mission. This legendary battlefield surveillance/management aircraft was built by Northrop Grumman - Melbourne, and we (Ciprico) designed the original data storage using the (then) world’s fastest FibreChannel disk array in the early 90s. It was a Boeing 707 airframe that was completely stripped and refitted to accommodate its sophisticated radar and communications gear. At the time, at the end of a mission, all the drives from the array would be removed, packed into a Halliburton case and carried in after landing for analysis. Later version used a cable to download the data after landing. One of the big issues at the time was how to protect a disk drive from destruction in a depressurization (the heads ride on a few molecules of air above the platter and crash without it), solved by a pressurized case.

You know you’re getting old when a favorite aircraft ages out of service.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

They have pulled one of the JSTARS off the Robins AFB flightline, down the highway, and into the museum adjacent to the base. It takes a while to prep the display. It is mostly, or possibly all, volunteer work to prep/maintain the displays.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Interesting. I might have to go see it next time I’m in GA - been about 30 years since I saw one up close and personL. Are you or were you stationed at WR AFB?

kmpankopf Loc: Mid-Michigan; SW Pennsylvania

Thanks for the story. Does the WR museum have any C-5 info? (Not to hijack the thread...)

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Not while I was in the Air Force... but after retirement my civilian company moved me here... lived here since 1989

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Not sure about that but there is a phone # and email contact on their web site

https://museumofaviation.org/

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

The C5 is one BIG aircraft. I was driving next to Marshall Space Fight Center in Huntsville one night in a car with an open sunroof, and a C5 glided over me at very low altitude (landing?), and I honestly thought for a minute a UFO was hovering over me (seriously)