What is the "AV-3" ??

Hey, this is my first post ever. been lurking this board for years now. finally registered to ask this question...

"AV-3"... Would anyone here happen to have any info on it? i was in line at the theater last monday and a guy walked by wearing an embroidered shirt that had a gray delta/wedge shape aircraft on it and the letters "AV-3". i didnt get a good look at it and i wasnt in a position to ask him. anyone have any ideas?

AV stands for air vehicle,3 could be the stages of the models it goes through.Sounds like a experimental plane.

thanks, ya i figured it was experimental, i'm just really surprised that i hadnt heard of it before. i'm lucky enough to be aware of most of the current programs running.

Check out this link.

LINK

Look a little over half way down, I think there is a pic. Don't know for sure because my computer is a LOT sluggish tonight.

reply to post by DayCo15


Here you go...

The US Air Force dispatched more than 600 fighters, bombers, tankers, airlifters, and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft to Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the pack was one loner: the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle.

Fourteen companies submitted proposals. In May 1995, Ryan’s Global Hawk was announced as the winner of Tier II+. Airframe designer Alfredo Ramirez had already sketched out the distinctive “swoopy curves” and long wingspan of Global Hawk. Now, engineers drew on proven technologies to build Global Hawk, shooting for effectiveness, affordability, and ease of maintenance.

Less than three years later, on Feb. 28, 1998, air vehicle-1 (or AV-1) made its first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif. Program management shifted from DARPA to the Air Force in October 1998, and, a month later, AV-2 made its maiden flight. During a March 1999 test flight of AV-2, controllers mistakenly sent a signal to terminate flight, causing the UAV to crash. It was a total loss. In May, after a short safety review, AV-1 resumed flight testing, and, by June, Global Hawk participated in Roving Sands, its first joint exercise. AV-3 began flying in September 1999, with a fourth Global Hawk waiting in the wings at Edwards and a fifth nearly complete. In December 1999, a software problem sent AV-3 careening across the Edwards runway at 178 mph instead of its normal taxi speed of about seven mph. It ran off the runway, seriously damaging its fuselage and nose gear.

Source

The idea was first tinkered with in the late 80s. Global Hawk, now owned by Northrup Grumman, won the contract in mid 90s and AV3 was the basically the 3rd prototype. Met an unfortunate and kind of awkward end.

Alien,Scram, and MBF, thanks very much...
but thats not the shape i saw on his shirt. i saw a wedge shape, gray, almost looked the the "A-12 Avenger", that's what originally caught my eye. and i'm sure it wasnt the "Global Chicken" even though the designators in that article match up "AV-1", "AV-2", ect... i see those every day. i guess i'm stuck at this point. if i happen to see that shirt again, i'll make sure to ask what the heck it is.

many thanks again.

I'm betting it was a B-2. The third airframe, known as AV-3, is a test aircraft at Edwards AFB. I have seen shirts for AV-3 worn by people who work on the airplane.

Never seen the shirts in question (not a surprising living in Canada ).

Thanks for the answer though Shadowhawk as it seems to make the most sense.

And yes AV-3 can refer to the 3 third B-2 off the line as well as any other aircraft off another line.

AV-3
Test 82-1068
Spirit of New York
Active, Flight Test


[edit on 30-5-2008 by Canada_EH]

well, Canada beat me to it! ahaha! i know "Spirit of NY" is the EAFB test bird, i wonder if that is indeed air vehicle 3 off the prod line??

reply to post by DayCo15


Indeed AV-3 was the third to be delivered on 18th of Jun 91 and was actually delivered to Whiteman AFB on the 10th of Oct 97.

well, as this is my first posting to this site, i just want to say thanks to everyone that read my post and put forth some information. i work at EAFB, if i can answer anything that comes up down the line, please feel free to let me know.

thanks again.

reply to post by DayCo15


For sure! Thanks for posting!

Its great to have more people posting and especially those who have a bit of knowledge under their belts too haha. Hope you enjoy your time on the forums but if you more of an aviation nut I would forewarn you when vneturing out of the nie community we have in this forum

You shouldn't LURK...cops look for "lurkers"...lol...j/k But I tought the "Spirit of" name was reserved for B-2's?

I agree that in the "AV-3" thread it is most likely a B-2. However, the info given about Global Hawk AV-3 was incomplete. After the taxi accident, the aircraft was repaired and rejoined the test program, flying regularly. For the last few years, it was used at Beale AFB as the maintenance trainer for the program. Finally, a few weeks ago, Global Hawk AV-3 was hoisted into a place of honor at the AF Museum in Dayton, where she will remain.

Im not saying hes a aircraft expert...but i would think he would know if that was a stealth bomber when he saw the logo.

I think this thread is kind of splitting in two directions. Discussion of Global Hawk should be moved to a different thread.

Obviously, the terminology (AV-1, AV-2, AV-3, etc.) has been applied to every kind of air vehicle from UAVs and cruise missiles to fighters and bombers. This is apparent is program documentation and memorabilia (such as T-shirts) and the designations are often stamped or written on various components of the vehicles themselves.

The shirt mentioned in the original post is almost ceratinly a B-2 shirt, based on the description, the context in which it was seen, and the relative abundance of B-2 shirts for various air vehicles owned by people in the local area. I saw a guy wearing an AV-4 shirt at a market in Palmdale a few months ago and I have an AV-5 shirt in my closet somewhere.

Originally posted by alienstar
Im not saying hes a aircraft expert...but i would think he would know if that was a stealth bomber when he saw the logo.

To put your mind at ease you could easily say that shadowhawk has pioneered in a sense or at least built on the profession/hobby of Aerospace Archeology. Its safe to say that if he says he saw a B-2 shirt with any of the AV=#s for the B-2 he saw it.

Yeah sorry bout that guys.I got a bad habit of jumping ahead of posts before really reading them into depth.

Sweet, I want an AV-3 shirt that also says "Spirit of New York" on it as I'm from New York!

But pretty cool, I had always thought it was common sight to see team members displaying their pride with shirts/patches from their respective programs.

Shattered OUT...

The B-2 test aircraft had other nicknames before the official Sprit names were conferred upon them. AV-1 was originally called "Fatal Beauty. AV-3 was known as "Shady Lady" and "The Ghost" before it became "Spirit of New York" and that is what I have seen on the T-shirts. AV-4 was usually called "Christine" with artwork that recalled the demon-posessed automobile of Stephen King's eponymous novel and subsequent motion picture. AV-5 was called "Fire and Ice" because it was used for climatic testing. AV-6 was known as "The Black Widow."