The Merlin Goes to Oshkosh

It was decided that the YF-75 Merlin should join in the parade of Air Force aircraft performing flybys at this years EAA AirVenture air show at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. So in preparation we prestaged the Merlin at Grissom RAFB near Peru, Indiana. One of the old hangers would be its home for a few days while the Merlin made its scheduled appearances.

The folks at EAA thought it was to be a solo performance by an F-22 Raptor, which had become a regular at the show. Not many people were familiar with the Merlin, there was only the one prototype and it was usually not parked within easy view of the general public. It was one of the holy grail aircraft for airplane spotters.

My ground crew were just finishing up their preflight checks and servicing readying the Merlin for her flight. I had planned on an hour flight long flight to Oshkosh, though it wouldn’t take that long. I wanted to be on station nearby so I could start my performance as soon as the Air Show Boss called me in.

I did my walk around accompanied by the aircraft’s crew chief SSgt Victor Strauss. There were no squawks on the dash one, so there were no concerns with the Merlin. She was in pristine flying shape, which was expected because SSgt Strauss and his crew worked very hard to keep her that way. After peeking and poking around the various compartments and openings, checking the engine inlets and exhaust, landing gear and control surfaces I told SSgt Strauss she looked good to go.

I climbed up the maintenance stairs to reach the cockpit. The canopy was open and my gear had been stowed by the two Airman assigned the task by SSgt Strauss. I climbed in and did a quick cockpit check. The two airmen waited for me to finish my preprogramming of the radios and nav system. It wasn’t hard I plugged in a small computer style jump drive which contained all of the preplanning information. Switched on the computer and downloaded the information into it. When I was done, they helped me strap in and hook up to the various connections that connected me to the Merlin.

Once I was set, they pulled the steps away and started the tug which was already hooked up to pull me and the Merlin outside onto the ramp in front of the hanger. Once the Merlin cleared the hanger door, I notice that a small crowd had gathered to see her, most snapping pictures with their cameras. She was bigger than either the F-15E or the F-22, but she could out dance either. The tug lined up the Merlin on the centerline of the taxiway between the rows of hangers, her nose pointed away from the crowd.

Ssgt Strauss and the ground crew were linked into the Merlin via a Bluetooth wireless connection. Technology eliminated the need for the old fashion wire cable. Everyone was listening to him as he gave directions to prepare the Merlin for engine start.

“Let’s do an internal power only engine start.” I said.

Ssgt Strauss motioned to his crew to leave the ground power cart where it was parked. Instead a couple of them teamed up to wheel the large fire extinguisher into place in front of the aircraft. One of the crew placed the wheel chalks around the nose wheel and another did a quick run around the aircraft removing the various sensor covers and landing gear pins. Once he had completed his circuit another crewman did a count and the one who pulled the covers and pins called out “Seven” and the other said “Seven confirmed.”

Ssgt Strauss said to them, “Stow them away.” With that the two opened a small storage bin inside the nose gear well. Then they trotted to their designated posts around the aircraft’s perimeter.

“Cleared to start APU.” SSgt Strauss called.

I reached for the APU controls and flipped the start switches. The APU began spooling up with an growl as the electric motor that spun the little turbine to start it. In forty seconds the APU was up and running delivering electricity and bleed air needed to start the engines. “Ready to start three.” I called out on the intercom.

“Cleared to start three.” Ssgt Strauss acknowledged.

One of the nice features of the Merlin was the engine management system. It was all digital, with redundant manual controls. A simple push of a button on the console forward of the throttle quadrant initiated the engine start sequence. The APU’s bleed air was ducted into the engine and the engine began to spin up to RPM. Then the throttle lever moved and the igniters started their clacking, fuel was starting to lightly spray into the engine. I watched as the EGT came up and the engine’s RPM begin to stabilize. The engine was in the green at idle and I made similar calls and actions to start the other three engines.

In just a few minutes the Merlin was alive. Before I secured the APU, I transferred the main power buss to Main Generators. Then I started powering up the rest of the systems, avionics, hydraulics, and life support.

Every eye of the ground crew was fixed on the Merlin. I started the pre taxi checklist, reading aloud and I went. The crew returned verifications of their observations. Everything was good.

A quick call on the radio to ground control and I was given permission to taxi to runway 5. A quick hand signal from me and one of the airmen was under the nose pulling the chalks away. He jogged directly out forward of the aircraft along the taxiways centerline. When he was far enough and in my visual sight he held up the chalks. I confirmed with a wave of my hand.

To impress the spectators, SSgt Strauss had his men line up in formation off to one side of the aircraft. Starting with the man at the opposite end, they saluted one by one until it was SSgt Strauss’s turn. He stepped forward and saluted directly to me and followed my return salute with thumbs up. The crowd loved it!

I eased the throttles slightly forward and the Merlin began to creep forward. The Merlin had an overabundance of power; she didn’t need too much to get her moving even on this slight upward incline of the ramp.

As I progressed along the taxiing route to the runway, I called the ground controller and asked if my departure clearance was ready. The controller read my clearance and I noted the changes to my filed plan on a digital note pad on the right side console. This was nice, but I always had a pencil and a grease pencil handy. Most times it was easier to jot the information on the inside of the canopy. If the system was operating normal which it usually did, I could press a button and print out what I had jotted on the pad, giving me a hard copy backup.

My planned route was due north from Grissom to a point out over Lake Michigan, where I would turn west and go feet dry at Sheboygan, WI navigating to the VOR there. The Merlin had a state of the art navigation system. I could navigate within three feet of a destination point without any outside input, relying totally on the internal navigation system. But having other resources was nice too.

I reached the hold short line of runway 5. I ran my pretakeoff checklist and sat back for a minute taking a few deep breaths. While I was taxiing, the crowd of spectators moved to a better vantage point to watch my departure takeoff.

Merlin was fully fueled, showing all systems green so I made the call.

“Merlin 375 ready for departure runway 5” I radioed the tower.

“Merlin 375, cleared for takeoff, altimeter now 29.96, you’re cleared for immediate climb to planned altitude, have a safe flight, frequency change approved.” The controller said.

What the controller said in essence was they worked it so I could display the Merlin’s power and speed, having cleared me to my cruise altitude of 40,000 feet. What the hell I thought.

“Merlin 375 cleared for takeoff, frequency change approved, see you in a few hours.” I said as I push the throttles slightly forward.

I centered up the Merlin on the runway and hit the selector to change to the departure control frequency. I slowly added power and the Merlin started rolling, then I slipped the throttles through the gates and immediately into FULL burner. She leapt forward, airspeed winding up fast. As soon as I had 180 knots indicated I applied a little back pressure on the stick and the canards bit into the air lifting the nose up. In a couple of seconds the mains were free of the runway and I flipped the gear lever to the up position. The gear doors closed and I pulled back further on the stick and was rotating to a near vertical pitch. I rolled her 180 degrees and she started an arch back towards level.

I quickly called departure control. “Merlin 375 with you at 21,000 for 40,000 still over the field.”

“Merlin 375 cleared on course, contact Chicago Center 121.8. WOW!” the controller said.

I eased the power back and coasted through the rest of the climb to altitude. I had more than enough speed; the indicator was showing .96 when I leveled off at 40,000 feet. I established contact with Chicago Center and they updated me as to traffic in my area and altimeter setting. The only traffic around were a couple of commercial flights heading north below me that had left Dallas and were on their way to London and Rome. Otherwise no one was up this high.

I set the autopilot to do the flying while I placed a phone call. Merlin was like most high end vehicles she had all of the amenities, well most anyway. I placed a call using the satellite phone to the folks on the ground at EAA. I asked for the Air Show Boss or his deputy. The Air Show Boss picked up the phone and asked type aircraft and ETA.

I replied that the type was a surprise and my ETA could be just about whenever he needed me. But I was still fine with the preplanned arrival and flyby timeframe. Again he asked type aircraft. I said jet, bigger and faster than a Raptor. He wasn’t happy not knowing but he said he’d be ready for me when I arrived and I should call on the show prebriefed frequency when I was 10 minutes out. I ended the call.

Switching the radar from weather to track I gave the area a quick sweep. The airspace was still pretty clear but now I was painting commercial traffic ahead crossing the lake on east and west bound courses. I decided it might be a good time to start my let down to a lower altitude and coast towards the Sheboygan VOR, I was just east of the Troy VOR near Milwaukee.

Chicago Center gave me a new heading and I switched off the autopilot and turned the Merlin on the assigned heading as I retarded power to nearly idle and started my descent from 40,000 feet down to 22,000 feet. I ended up doing a spacing turn for some guy flying IFR who wasn’t answering Chicago Center. I painted him on my radar and from my sensors he wasn’t emitting any RF signals except that from his transponder. Normally I would have offered to investigate, but the controllers had it under control giving him a clear path to his destination at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin.

Once I reached 22,000 feet I asked that my IFR flight plan be closed and requested permission to precede VFR. I was passing just south of Sheboygan and was now feet dry, cruising along at 400 knots indicated. Chicago Center said no, knowing that I was enroute to Oshkosh. They were watching all arrivals closely.

“Merlin 375, be advised Oshkosh now closed to all inbound traffic. Restricted to air show performers only. Advise alternate destination plans.” The Center controller said.

“Merlin 375 is schedule as a performer; we’re the first act today sir. Talked with Oshkosh Air Show Boss, I’m to call ten minutes out…which is now.” I replied.

The controller at Chicago Center had a direct line to the folks at Oshkosh, the confirmed the arrival of an unknown USAF fighter jet with the call sign something 375. That was good enough for the controller.

“Merlin 375, descend to 10,000 feet, we’ll keep you with us until your ready to turn inbound for the field. Which direction are you planning your pass from?” He asked.

“I guess from the south, let me give Air Boss a quick call.” I replied.

A quick call to Oshkosh’s Air Boss advised that the flag ceremony was just about done. He said three more minutes and the airfield and airspace around the field would be mine for no more than 15 minutes. Approach from the south was authorized…keep your airspeed under .97 mach.

A quick advisory to the controller at Chicago Center and I turned toward the west side of Lake Winnebago just a few miles south of the Oshkosh airport. I set the max speed bug on the flight management system at .97 mach. The computers would not allow the airspeed to exceed that limit. It would automatically control power and deploy speed brakes to avoid exceeding it as well scream verbal warnings through my earphones.

AirVenture

I made my turn north, the GPS showing I was on a centerline course for runway 36 at 2800 feet clipping along at .90 mach. The ground below was a blur. I had to focus on the terrain ahead of me. As I crossed the end of the runway I let the Merlin settle down a few feel lower then as I reached the air show center line I pulled back and rolled her slightly to the right reversing my course.

No one heard me coming. The announcers weren’t even forewarned. Air Show Boss let it be a total surprise.

My airspeed bled down and I eased the throttles further back. I dropped down and held my altitude to 1300 feet. In a very short time I was once again heading back toward the north straight for the end of runway 36. On this approach I called left break out the runway 27 corridor. As I passed the ultra light area at the south end of the field I rolled a little left bank for a photo pass and pushed the throttles into minimum burner. I pulled and turned to the west flying around the Warbird parking area and then swung right in a climbing turn over the highway circling around for a pass from the north.

Somewhere out over the north of the City of Oshkosh, near the prison I slowed the Merlin down. Once slow enough I dropped the landing gear and lined up for a slow dirty pass. It was a hot day and the thermals over the city were making for a bumpy ride. I passed the crowd flying down the full length of the runway at 160 knots, nose high, vortexes rolling off the canards and tips of the tails.

Gear up; power up; get a little altitude for the turn around. I radioed Air Show Boss saying this would be my departure pass. He acknowledged it and asked direction of departure. I responded. “Straight UP!” As I was rounding my turn I called Chicago Center, they cleared me for anything above 30,000 that I wanted. A quick glance at the fuel gauges and I replied. “I’ll take Flight Level 50. Five Zero Thousand”

Lining up for the last pass I was now at 500 feet AGL whipping along at 200 knots indicated. As I crossed the runway 36 threshold I went full burner and let her build speed until the runway 18 numbers were under her nose, then I pulled to the vertical and started a slow rolling climb. Passing through 30,000 feet I ease back to minimum burner until I reached 40,000, then retarded them further and pulled her over onto her back. Once she level I rolled upright and headed east out towards Lake Michigan.

The entire crowd was watching as the Merlin took to the vertical. The four big engines were screaming, their afterburners emitting a perfect flame as the Merlin thundered higher and higher, accelerating to her set speed limit of .97 Mach. It was awe inspiring to see.

After a quick systems check, I turned south and called Chicago Center. Center cleared me all the way home at this altitude. I then called my crew at Grissom advising them of my ETA. The ride home was quick. I contacted Grissom Approach and asked for a spiral descend over the field. They approved.

The End.