Another B-36 Peacemaker pic...this really puts its size into perspective. 
-
Enjoy XS650.com? Consider making a donation to help support the site.
XS650.com receives a small share of sales from some links on this page, but direct donations have a much greater impact on keeping this site going.
Just out of curiosity - Airplane Guys
- Thread starter Downeaster
- Start date
Gyro? 100s of thousands of civilian, commercial and military flights relied on that gizmo to get where they needed to be before we had the luxury of GPS. Curiously (or lucky?) I didn't start navigating racing yachts until GPS was universally available.
I know that banging into the ground is usually attended with regret, so it's serious...but also very funny...
“We must reinforce how to revert back to knowing where you are and where your aircraft is with respect to the ground,” said Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen...... “We are working very hard on effective power management across a host of flight altitudes, higher temperatures and wind conditions.”, he went on.
How does one reinforce reversion? Is that like when you relapse after re-hab
Maybe they, or the Walter, do have a problem with "wind". Evidently they've been having a run of regrets. When, on rare occasions, I lose spatial awareness and power management it's due to falling asleep, or stayin too long at Stumpy's Place...but in these young fellas? Too much flying or too little or maybe some rise in odd medical events...maintenance,,,woke non merit policies... is mystery to my distanced eye...but ah betcha the fellas have a good idea what's wrong.
Ah do have ma suspicions...and wish the flyer fellas good luck!
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-crashes-training-spatial-awareness/
“We must reinforce how to revert back to knowing where you are and where your aircraft is with respect to the ground,” said Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen...... “We are working very hard on effective power management across a host of flight altitudes, higher temperatures and wind conditions.”, he went on.
How does one reinforce reversion? Is that like when you relapse after re-hab
Maybe they, or the Walter, do have a problem with "wind". Evidently they've been having a run of regrets. When, on rare occasions, I lose spatial awareness and power management it's due to falling asleep, or stayin too long at Stumpy's Place...but in these young fellas? Too much flying or too little or maybe some rise in odd medical events...maintenance,,,woke non merit policies... is mystery to my distanced eye...but ah betcha the fellas have a good idea what's wrong.Ah do have ma suspicions...and wish the flyer fellas good luck!
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-crashes-training-spatial-awareness/
Don't believe the article says.... but this is probably the only air to air victory the venerable Piper Cub can claim. Yeah, you read that right... two guys in a Piper Cub shot down a German aircraft during WWII.
"11 April 1945: 1st Lieutenant Merritt Duane Francies, Field Artillery, USA, and forward observer Lieutenant William S. Martin, 71st Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 5th Armored Division, were flying a Piper L-4H Grasshopper on a reconnaissance mission near Dannenberg, Germany. This was Francies’ 142nd combat mission.
The Grasshopper (Piper Model J3C-65D) was named Miss Me!? Its U.S. Army serial number was 43-29905, and it was marked 54 ☆ J.
The two airmen saw an enemy Fieseler Fi 156 Storch flying beneath them. The Storch was similar to the Grasshopper. Both were single engine, high-wing monoplanes with fixed landing gear. The Storch was larger and faster, but both airplanes had similar missions during the War.
Francies put his L-4H into a dive and overtook the Luftwaffe airplane.
Both American officers carried M1911 .45-caliber semi-automatic pistols, with which they fired on the Fieseler. Both officers emptied the 7-round magazines, then reloaded. The enemy airplane began to circle.
Lieutenant Francies approached again, coming to within an estimated 30 feet (9 meters) of the German airplane. Both opened fire again, striking the Storch in the windshield and in a fuel tank. It went into a spin, then crashed. Francies landed his airplane nearby.
The two German crewmen got out of the wrecked Fi 156 and tried to run, but the observer had been wounded in the foot. Lieutenant Martin fired a warning shot and the German pilot stopped, then surrendered.
The captured airmen were turned over to an American tank crew. Francies later said, “I never found out their names. They could have been important, for all I know. We turned them over to our tankers about 15 minutes later after the injured man thanked me many times for bandaging his foot. I think they thought we would shoot them.”
"11 April 1945: 1st Lieutenant Merritt Duane Francies, Field Artillery, USA, and forward observer Lieutenant William S. Martin, 71st Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 5th Armored Division, were flying a Piper L-4H Grasshopper on a reconnaissance mission near Dannenberg, Germany. This was Francies’ 142nd combat mission.
The Grasshopper (Piper Model J3C-65D) was named Miss Me!? Its U.S. Army serial number was 43-29905, and it was marked 54 ☆ J.
The two airmen saw an enemy Fieseler Fi 156 Storch flying beneath them. The Storch was similar to the Grasshopper. Both were single engine, high-wing monoplanes with fixed landing gear. The Storch was larger and faster, but both airplanes had similar missions during the War.
Francies put his L-4H into a dive and overtook the Luftwaffe airplane.
Both American officers carried M1911 .45-caliber semi-automatic pistols, with which they fired on the Fieseler. Both officers emptied the 7-round magazines, then reloaded. The enemy airplane began to circle.
Lieutenant Francies approached again, coming to within an estimated 30 feet (9 meters) of the German airplane. Both opened fire again, striking the Storch in the windshield and in a fuel tank. It went into a spin, then crashed. Francies landed his airplane nearby.
The two German crewmen got out of the wrecked Fi 156 and tried to run, but the observer had been wounded in the foot. Lieutenant Martin fired a warning shot and the German pilot stopped, then surrendered.
The captured airmen were turned over to an American tank crew. Francies later said, “I never found out their names. They could have been important, for all I know. We turned them over to our tankers about 15 minutes later after the injured man thanked me many times for bandaging his foot. I think they thought we would shoot them.”
Ball turret trainer/simulator at Harlingen Air Force Base, Texas. January 11, 1945. It looks as though the rails on the floor may have carried "targets" for the gunners to track, mimicking the movements of enemy fighters.
That’s really interesting!
I may be off here but is it not surprising that so large engines are running and no Smoke exhaust fumes at all.
Would not have any sophisticated ignition or fueling control still appears to run cleanly
Thanks to expert mechanics.
From 1930...and her face is a study in personalities ...On May 15, 1930, Boeing Air Transport hired eight registered nurses for a three-month trial period to be part of their new Stewardess Service. One of those “Original Eight” was Los Molinos native Jessie Carter
"They were paid $100 to $125 a month for a minimum of 100 hours. As nurses, they assisted nervous, airsick passengers. They kept the plane clean, bolted down loose seats, made sure passengers stayed in their seats (this was before seat belts), served food, took tickets, loaded luggage, acted as tour guides, escorted passengers to the bathroom (which was next to the unlocked door that opened to the outside), fueled the airplane, and helped push the airplane into the hangar.
Their debut flight was in a Boeing Trimotor 80A from San Francisco to Chicago. The flight took 20 hours with 13 stops along the way (from Oakland to Sacramento, Reno, Elko, Salt Lake City, Rock Springs, Cheyenne, North Platte, Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Chicago). One stewardess would tend to passengers from San Francisco to Cheyenne and another stewardess would take over for the flight from Cheyenne to Chicago."
"...She quit after three months. “It wasn’t that exciting a job,” she said “You were in the air, and you were tired all the time, and your ears bothered you...."
Well, longtimeago, but I remember that as a general rule nurses are hot ...
Trimotor was boring?
"They were paid $100 to $125 a month for a minimum of 100 hours. As nurses, they assisted nervous, airsick passengers. They kept the plane clean, bolted down loose seats, made sure passengers stayed in their seats (this was before seat belts), served food, took tickets, loaded luggage, acted as tour guides, escorted passengers to the bathroom (which was next to the unlocked door that opened to the outside), fueled the airplane, and helped push the airplane into the hangar.
Their debut flight was in a Boeing Trimotor 80A from San Francisco to Chicago. The flight took 20 hours with 13 stops along the way (from Oakland to Sacramento, Reno, Elko, Salt Lake City, Rock Springs, Cheyenne, North Platte, Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Chicago). One stewardess would tend to passengers from San Francisco to Cheyenne and another stewardess would take over for the flight from Cheyenne to Chicago."
"...She quit after three months. “It wasn’t that exciting a job,” she said “You were in the air, and you were tired all the time, and your ears bothered you...."
Trimotor was boring?
The "Box formation" left the bomber's defensive guns in the best position to defend the flight. However, if a lower bomber got out of position the formation that bomber was in the fall path of the ordinance...
One of my closest engineering buddies, Dr. HIH (Herb) Saravanamuttoo wrote the computer program that set the scheduling of the air intake and exhaust nozzles (those two things are absolutely crucial to supersonic flight). Without correct intake and exhaust nozzle schedules, the Concorde could never have flown commercially and would have had a fuel range of less than an hour at supersonic speeds - versus more than four hours the aircraft achieved on a daily basis.Didn't give aabout the commentary; I just marvelled at the engineering
Herb told me that most British Airways and Air France Concorde pilots had more supersonic time than any fighter pilot and more than any other military pilot with the possible exception of the few who flew the Lockheed SR71. These commercial pilots regularly got 4-7 hours of M2.0 time per day on regular scheduled service where most military pilots only get a few minutes at a time and not on every flight - due to the huge fuel burn of M1.0+ flight.
Herb had been born in Glasgow Scotland in 1934 to a Ceylonese father and an English mother (imagine the raised eyebrows at those nuptuals in 1930s Britain) and attended the Univ. of Glasgow in Mechanical Engineering. He came to Canada in the mid-1950s and worked at Orenda engines in Toronto on the Orenda engine which powered the CF100 Canuck interceptor and the Canadair versions of the Sabre.
One of his later projects at Canadair was the Orenda Iroquois turbojet for the CF105 Avro Arrow M2.0+ interceptor.
While the five prototype Arrows (aircraft RL201-205) were powered by the very able P&W J75 and got up to M1.98, the Iroquois was appreciably more powerful and would have given the airplane M2+ performance (projections suggested that M2.5 was acheivable) as it had the highest thrust-to-weight ratio of any afterburning turbojet engine in the world at the time. Sadly, the only time the Iroquois ever flew was on the tail (ala DC9) of a loaned USAF B47 Stratojet which apparently, could fly just fine and actually climb pretty well on just the power of the Iroquois engine).
The whole project was stupidly canned by the Canadian government just a short time before aircraft RL206 which would have been the first powered by the Iroquois was set to fly.....@sshole politicians. Anyhow, after the Arrow was canceled on Feb. 20, 1959 (a day still known as Black Friday in Canadian engineering circles), Herb returned to the UK to work on the Rolls-Royce Olympus engine which powered the remarkable BAC TSR-2 and the Avro Vulcan V-bomber. After that, he worked on the refined Olympus 593 for the Concorde and did the programing mentioned above.
Following a PhD at the Univ. of Bristol, he returned to Canada to Carleton Univ. in Ottawa and taught there for more than 40 years. He was the author of the top textbook in turbine engine design - Gas Turbine Theory - which is used around the world by aircraft engine designers. In fact, as each new edition was published, Rolls-Royce would buy a copy for each of their design engineers.
One of the top design-build firms for large gas turbine engine test-cells is called MDS Aerospace which is based in Ottawa. MDS was founded and is staffed almost entirely by Herb's former students who, along with some others, banded together to nominate him for an Order of Canada (similar to an MBE or the US Medal of Freedom), but sadly, he died just before it could be bestowed on him. One of the tribute documents is attached as a .pdf file.
He truly was an amazing guy and a wonderful person and we were so sad to lose him at age 88 in Oct. 2021. Here he is with his family, including his three grown sons in about May-June 2021. His wife Helen of more than 60 years pre-deceased him as a result of COVID in 2020. I was honoured to be the MC at his Celebration of Life.
We go through life and, if we are fortunate, we get to meet so many talented and interesting people, like many of the members of this forum. Herb was certainly one of those folks in my life.
Pete
Last edited:
I always suspected the hand of Moscow played at least a peripheral part in the cancellation of the TSR-2. Who kows, maybe even the Arrow, too.
Without a doubt the useful idiots and agents in place played a part in bringing down large sections of manufacturing industry in the cold war.
Without a doubt the useful idiots and agents in place played a part in bringing down large sections of manufacturing industry in the cold war.
Immediately thought of @Jim when I saw this on facebook today.
Some info posts in the thread: "It had airbags that cushioned the landing in land and allowed it to float on water. Yes, the control yokes were connected to manual bilge pumps. Here is an obscure little tidbit: The capsule includes a portion of the strakes that make up the leading edges of the wings. Not much, but enough to stabilize the capsule before the main chute opened. Since the crew sit side-by-side, it was important that the crew members have similar weights. Otherwise, the capsule will start to roll to the heavy side before being stabilized. I can’t recall how close their weights had to be (20 lbs?) but it was critical to consider when making crew assignments.".
"I worked Phase Inspection of F-111Es at RAF Upper Heyford and all F-111 models at Cannon, twice! The capsule is one thing, but all of the the ejection mechanisms were unbelievable. Sensors to determine ejection mode, the guillotines that cut flight control cables, antenna coax bundles and electrical cables, the instrument cannon plug disconnect blocks, and the spring-loaded flaps on the aft underside of the capsule. The Impact Attenuation Bag was changed out every ten years and the chutes had to be repacked, too. I remember when the rocket motor was pulled out and the upper nozzle was changed due to a previous failure. A CLSS team came to Heyford to do the work in the Phase hangar; no easy feat!".
Some info posts in the thread: "It had airbags that cushioned the landing in land and allowed it to float on water. Yes, the control yokes were connected to manual bilge pumps. Here is an obscure little tidbit: The capsule includes a portion of the strakes that make up the leading edges of the wings. Not much, but enough to stabilize the capsule before the main chute opened. Since the crew sit side-by-side, it was important that the crew members have similar weights. Otherwise, the capsule will start to roll to the heavy side before being stabilized. I can’t recall how close their weights had to be (20 lbs?) but it was critical to consider when making crew assignments.".
"I worked Phase Inspection of F-111Es at RAF Upper Heyford and all F-111 models at Cannon, twice! The capsule is one thing, but all of the the ejection mechanisms were unbelievable. Sensors to determine ejection mode, the guillotines that cut flight control cables, antenna coax bundles and electrical cables, the instrument cannon plug disconnect blocks, and the spring-loaded flaps on the aft underside of the capsule. The Impact Attenuation Bag was changed out every ten years and the chutes had to be repacked, too. I remember when the rocket motor was pulled out and the upper nozzle was changed due to a previous failure. A CLSS team came to Heyford to do the work in the Phase hangar; no easy feat!".
