Incidentally has anyone ever gotten close enuf to the PLAAF MKK/SK/UBK on this board or anywhere? If not then its kinda ironic …….

You mean scratching-paint-in-the-nosegear-well close? :p
I didn’t pay too much attention to the fins then, but then again they are high enough on the airframe that even with my reasonable length i wouldn’t have been able to knock on them to see if there were metal or composite, nor to check if any fluid was gulping around inside.

Cool! And a tough one too… this is going to take a while.

#2 — Where is the final assembly of the F/A-22A taking place?

Marietta, Georgia.

#3 — Who was the first woman to break the sound barrier? Pilotesse, date, location, aircraft

That would be Jackie Cochran in a Canadair-built Sabre. It was either a full-standard F-86E (an F-86E-6-CAN) or a real Canadair Sabre Mk.2/4. Date was May 18th 1956, location was Edwards AFB.
First CuperConic Coviet Pilotess was Olga Samshchikova, but i couldn’t find a date to attach to her. She did fly MiG-19s in her testpilot career, so i think she shouldn’t have been too long after ms. Cochran. Unfortunately, the women-in-aviation website is a bit weary of Russian aviation.

#4 — We know about the first British jet landing aboard an aircraft carrier, but about the first carrier landing of an U.S. jet? Name pilot, date, aircraft, vessel

Aircraft: XFD-1 BuNo 48236, the second prototype of the aircraft which entered service as the FH-1 Phantom.
Pilot: Lt. Cmdr. James Davidson
Carrier: USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
Date: July 21st, 1946

#5 — What was the last manned piston-engine twin in service with the U.S. Navy? What was its job? Where was it based and when was it retired?

I think they could still have twin-pistons, or at least they have been retired only a few years ago.
At least one U-8F (Beech 65 Queen Air, two O-480-3s) could well still fly with the former NSWC, BuNo 161627. An out-of-sequence 103102 also has been reported for another NSWC U-8F. Don’t know if this/these have actually been retired or not.
Then there were two C-28s, perhaps better known under their civilian name as Cessna 404s, with two Teledyne Continental GTSIO-520-M flat-six pistons each. Both are now civilianised to the US border patrol, they served with the NSWC in their Navy days.

#6 — What was the last manned piston-engine “quad” in service with the U.S. Navy? aircraft, unit, date of retirement

That should be a bit longer ago. I think it was NC-121K BuNo 141292/GD-12 with VAQ-33 flying from NAS Key West. It made it’s last flight to it’s preservation home at Florence, SC on June 25th 1982. Unfortunately this aircraft was badly damaged in a fire in the late 1990s and has now been scrapped.

#7 — Name at least two supersonic jets with 2wheel tandem main landing gear.

Yak-27, Yak-28, Vautour (supersonic in a dive), Myasishchev M-50 Bounder. Can’t let the latter go without a pic, obviously.

#8 — Name at least one modular cargo plane that actually flew.

Fairchild XC-120 Packplane.

#9 — Name the dates of the closure of the USAF’s North African Bases.

Wheelus AFB, Lybia: June 11, 1970. Now Okba bin Nafi airbase and recently also doubling as Methaga regional airport.
Nouasseur AB, Morocco.
Sidi Slimane AB, Morocco.
Benguerir AB, Morocco, all three vacated by 1963.

#10 — On Thanksgiving eve of 1971 two F-106A of the 318th FIS scrambled from McChord AFB. Why?

Great story! A Boeing 727 had been hijacked by a certain “D.B. Cooper”, and after landing he arranged to free the passengers in exchange for 200.000 US$ and parachutes. Then he let the aircraft take off again, to Mexico – flying low, slow, with 15deg flaps, the gear down and the rear entrance door open. Somewhere during the flight he parachuted out with the money. The F-106es were scrambled to track the 727 and watch if the hijacker jumped, but they flew too far from the airliner to actually see it happen. “Cooper” was never caught, although a bit of the money was found in 1980 in Canada.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/D.%20B.%20Cooper

Can’t help but admire the man!

#11 — No other western fighter jet carried as many different visually distinguishable “noses” during their life as the McDonnell Douglas FH-1/F-4. Name the number of noses and if you’re really good name all the versions. (Hint: Number is between 15 and 20)

Whoa…