European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday june 25, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 3 fighter pilots Limber up for gun smoke 87 by Dave Diehl . Bureau Raf Ben Waters England while the Rac Quet wizards Are lobbing Tennis balls for the Wimble Don tides the fighting Falcon f-16 pilots a few coun ties away will be lobbing bombs to gel a Safe Slot Tor the worldwide tighter meet called gun smoke. Capt. Doug French i Pilot with some 400 hours in the f-16, is teaming up with the Cream of Hahn a s 50th tac fighter Wing crop this week to vie with the Best pilots of inc 401 is tac fighter Wing from Torre Jon a Spain. French and three others picked from about 10 dozen other Hahn pilots for their flying skill will be factoring Speed Liming and Altitude to put bombs and Bullet on targets. Gun smoke 87 is the end to which these Means arc aimed. The winning team goes on to the Nevada desert to lest their Mcville against the Best fighter Crews in the world at the Premier fighter Pilot meet. Active duty units reserves and National guardsmen will meet in october at the tactical fighter weapons Center at Nellit fab. The biennial Competition pits the Best . Air Force a-10, f-4, f-16 and a-7 air to ground delivery teams from All Over the world against each other. The Hahn and Torrejon teams want to represent the Safe f-16 contingent there with the Ben Walers a 10 squad from the 81st tac fighter Wing. They be come to England Neutral ground to face Alt for the Chance. Hahn two years ago the Only on line f-16 Wing in Safe tool second at Nell is in 1985. They won it in 1983. Torr Jon is taking its first shots this year. The winners get More than the Safe tide. Victory Means More practice which Means More flying a Bonus for any Pilot. Cape. Bill Schauffert the Only Hahn Pilot to return from the Wing s 1985 team saw the 12 flights they la make Here Are like the playoffs before the world series Torr Jon team Leader maj. Greg Bombinski knows his team is facing a Tough opponent. They Hahn have a lot of corporate knowledge he said. I think the difference Between the two teams if that Hahn is the favorite. They be had five years experience he said. We started 3yi months  Bui Bombinski sees the Torr Jon advantages too we have nothing to lose. And the pressure is on Hahn to  the Torrejon pilots Are flying the older a Model of the f-16. Bombinski says they have an advantage in that. He says the a s hit the targets better than the newer c Model used by the Hahn pilots. The a Model bombs better than the c Model he said. At least i m hoping it  maj. Mike Palmer a Pilot with the Solh s 313lh tac fighter so said that despite the Complex computers and flight controls on the f-16, it lakes flying skill to put the bombs and bullets on the targets. You be got to be an excellent Pilot 10 put the plane where you want it said Palmer who s penned some 1,400 f-16 hours in his Pilot log. Doing about 500 Mph at anywhere Between 200 s4s Phau by djo do f-16 Pilot capt. Ralph lets and his Crew chief stilts go Scott Addis get their plane ready for Competition. And 3,000 feet the teams will be dropping 25-Pound Dummy bombs and firing 20mm bullets at 20-foot Square targets on the Cowden Range hugging England s East coast. The Hahn team Leader it. Col. Kenny Hall said his pilots Are on average putting their bombs which Simu late full sized 500-Pound bombs within 15 feet of the Marks. Using the 6,000-round-pcr-Minulc gun about 77 out of every 100 rounds Are going on the targets. In real terms a bomb hat hits within 15 feet of an enemy tank will Register a kill Hall said. Hall said the 50th has been gearing up for the gun smoke meet since april. We do everything Possi ble to win this thing he said. Hall an alternate for the team won l compete unless one of the four primary members drops out. Hall stated his team s objectives simply we like winning said. It s always belter to be on top. We re tighter pilots very competitive  the Competition Means More than just glory for the victors. The Benefit to the air Force is in showing How Good a Pilot and plane can be Hall said. The air Force May Call on the experience of the winning teams with an aim to improve the training of its pilots. Hall said by optimizing the number of practice missions the air Force will be Able to find out How to belter train its pilots. A Guy s Only going to get so Good Hall said. He thinks his team has found the right number. If we want to win i be got to give these Guys 80 to 90 sorties in 60 Days before the gun smoke meeting Hall said any improvement beyond that will be negligible. There s a Benefit to Young pilots such As 28-year-old Cape. Ralph vices. Being picked for the team Means Viets a 4%th tac fighter so Pilot will this year Fly 300 hours instead of 150. More flying makes a difference he says. You learn a helluva lot Viets said it makes you better in All parts of  ill get to Fly about two limes As much As i would at Hahn French said. Ill be head and shoulders above everybody  this week s Falcoff started monday and like Wimbledon has been hampered by rain. Over the four Day contest each learn Pilot will Fly three sorties which will include Low level bombing strafing and tac tical bombing. Hall said. All flights will be scored Pri Marily on the Pilot s accuracy Al the targets. Hall said the winning team will go on for More prac Tice Al in Ciurlik a Turkey and Luke fab  travelling to inc gun smoke 87 meet Al Nellis. Capitol dome Sears Tower among shifters . Is a nation on the move project shows by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington hey you yes you the service member swigging cof fee at the local snack bar. Did you know that while you be been serving your country overseas your country has up and moved before you choke on your Java you should know that there s no cause for alarm. The country has t gone very far. For example the statue on the . Capitol dome has tiptoed 94.8 feet Northeast ditto far the Washington Monument. The Empire state bunding has slipped completely unnoticed 120.5 feet Northwest. And Chicago s Sears Tower has resettled 19.1 feel Northeast of its old location. As part of a 13-year measuring project called the National geodetic Survey mathematicians have used inc Navy s Nav Star global positioning satellites to recalculate about 250,000 reference Points in terms of their location on the imaginary mapping Grid known As Lati tude and Longitude. That network of precisely measured Points is used by surveyors engineers regional planners and the military to set Boundary lines pinpoint locations of space and defense installations Orient weapons systems track missiles and satellites route Public utilities and study the movements of the Continental plates according to the National oceanic and atmospheric administration which led the Survey. The project entails renumbering Longi tude and latitude lines on All navigational charts and topographical maps said Marilyn Vorhauer with the National geodetic Survey. Anyone using National markers such As state Highway depart ments the Marine Industry and the Mili tary will see the changes As they re applied to the new charts. But most people won l notice the change in their daily lives Vorhauer said. Property lines for example arc calculated using local markers that won t  before the Era of Earth orbiting satellites Noaa used time consuming traditional methods of measuring the United Stales Vorhauer said. They d Send out Crews of surveyors who moved mile by mile Over the land surveying angles and measuring Dis Tances with hand held equipment build ing towers to see Over obstacles and spending a lot of time just Selling up instruments she said. The last National recomputation of All major reference Points was done in 1927, and geodesic its have discovered some significant errors in thai project Over the years Vorhauer said. Thai s understandable considering that the surveyors in the 1927 project were working with about 90 percent less data than we have now she said. Be fore the Advent of orbiting satellites this kind of work was like building a Patch work quilt. The pieces did t always fit  satellites now arc used to Send a continuous Stream of signals to portable receivers on Earth she said. The signals give the precise location of the receiver on the latitude and Longitude Grid. The information is 10 to 100 limes More accurate than the 1927 Survey Vorhauer said giving a potential error of less than one Inch in six Miles. Some other regional markers that have shifted include the . Weather service observation Point in Fairbanks Alaska 407.8 feel Southwest the Delaware stale College water tank in Dover 107.2 feet Northeast the lightning Rod in front of the state office building in Albany n.y., 120 feel Northeast the Oklahoma City University Tower 97,4 feet West. The largest shift is in Hawaii. The Flag pole in front of the Honolulu judiciary building Well 1,480.8 feet Southeast. The smallest shift is in Michigan where the Lansing state Capitol dome moved 13.9 feet Northeast