Author Topic: Aircraft we like..  (Read 243715 times)

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #340 on: August 04, 2014, 08:53:08 AM »
Neither did I.  Looking forward to your report.
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Offline Rhino

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #341 on: August 04, 2014, 10:35:32 AM »
Excellent summary of operation Aphrodite here: http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/08/operation-aphrodite/

Incidentally one of the missions of this operation was the one that Joseph Kennedy was killed.

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #342 on: August 04, 2014, 11:19:07 AM »
 :thumbs:
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #343 on: August 05, 2014, 05:34:11 AM »
 On this day in Air Force history --
 
1937:        The XC-35, first aircraft with a pressurized cabin, makes its first performance flight at Wright Field.
 
1944:        63rd Bomb Sq launches first attack against Philippines with a B-24 Snooper, an ineffective attack on the Sasa airdrome.
 
1950:        Maj Louis J. Sebille receives Medal of Honor posthumously. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3186/sebille-louis-j.php
 
1950:     1st SA-16 rescue of Korean War, CPT Charles Shroder leads save of Navy pilot who had crashed into the sea off the Korean coast.
 
1964:        The National Academy of Sciences sets up 10-man committee to study sonic boom effects in the development of supersonic transports.
 
1968:        A 1,095-foot long STOLPORT (short takeoff and landing strip) opened at LaGuardia Airport, N.Y.
 
 
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Offline Rhino

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #344 on: August 05, 2014, 07:17:23 AM »
On this day in Air Force history --
 
1937:        The XC-35, first aircraft with a pressurized cabin, makes its first performance flight at Wright Field.
 
1944:        63rd Bomb Sq launches first attack against Philippines with a B-24 Snooper, an ineffective attack on the Sasa airdrome.
 
1950:        Maj Louis J. Sebille receives Medal of Honor posthumously. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3186/sebille-louis-j.php
 
1950:     1st SA-16 rescue of Korean War, CPT Charles Shroder leads save of Navy pilot who had crashed into the sea off the Korean coast.
 
1964:        The National Academy of Sciences sets up 10-man committee to study sonic boom effects in the development of supersonic transports.
 
1968:        A 1,095-foot long STOLPORT (short takeoff and landing strip) opened at LaGuardia Airport, N.Y.

Didn't know that. But according to Wikipedia a flight with a pressurized cabin occurred in 1921.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airco_DH.9A

Also Boing started work on a pressurized bomber in 1938 culminating in the mighty B-29.

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #345 on: August 05, 2014, 07:52:04 AM »
Ironic that both flights were in Dayton...but it did say AF history, although saying it was the first aircraft with a pressurized cabin is clearly incorrect.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #346 on: August 08, 2014, 03:58:27 PM »
 On this day in Air Force history --
 
1903:        Langley plane successfully launches but flight is short/uncontrollable; Wrights receive credit for 1st sustained/controllable flight.
 
1933:        The Navy accepts the variable-pitch propeller.
 
1946:        The Convair XB-36 Peacemaker first flies at Fort Worth.  (My personal favorite bomber)

 
1955:        X-1A rocket research plane explodes on its B-29 carrier and is jettisoned to destruction. NACA pilot Joe Walker escapes safely.
 
1990:        Operation DESERT SHIELD. The first USAF transport, a C-141, arrives in Dhahran. The aircraft has an AFRES aircrew.
 
2007:        #USAF signs a production contract with Lockheed Martin to add 60 F-22 Raptors to the Air Force inventory by Dec 2011.
 
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Offline Cholla

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #347 on: August 10, 2014, 11:46:17 AM »
IIRC the first production B36 was a gate guard at Great Southwestern airport in Ft. Worth, now on the DFW airport property and razed, which is another story.
The plane was later moved to the factory entrance where it was built. I won't finish the story, don't want to ruin it.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #348 on: August 10, 2014, 12:49:18 PM »
The first production B-36A was 44-92004 and was tested to destruction at WP in Dayton.

XB-36 42-13570 wound up as a fire trainer at Carswell.
YB-36 42-13571 got converted to an RB-36E and was scrapped at the USAF Museum in 1971  Wound up in pieces at Walter Soplata's back yard.

The only B36 that I was aware of in Fort Worth (outside of an AF installation) was the last one produced and was a J model 52-2827.  It was moved several years ago to the PIMA museum in AZ where it was fully restored, not without considerable controversy I might add.  This is the one that you are talking about, Cholla.

The last three 36s are at the AF Museum in Dayton, the SAC museum outside of Omaha, and the only RB left in existence is at Castle.  This one holds a special place in my heart as it came from my dad's unit, 28th Bomb Wing (Heavy), Ellsworth AFB, 718th.  It went from Ellsworth to Chanute to Castle.  Both the AF and SAC museums have their 36's under cover.  The one at Castle looks like  :censored: as it's kept outside.  It's also missing it's ECM gear.
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Offline Cholla

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #349 on: August 10, 2014, 01:12:20 PM »
Thank you-dyslexia...yeah that was the problem...
It was the last. Convair became General Dynamics and they had the plane for a while.
The engines were left in place while a gate guard at Great Southwest airport but had been vandalized quite a bit. When DFW airport was built the plane had to be moved so it was proposed it be flown out. After sitting in the hot sun for many years the engines weere readied and started witout being rebuilt. When the plane was ready the FAA wouldn't allow it to be flown.
And the story goes from there.
Look up Great Southwestern (IIRC) airport. It has a story to tell, too. Plus, the story of how DFW came about.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #350 on: August 10, 2014, 02:03:01 PM »
Yes it was and still is an interesting story, but it was the AF that was paranoid about it, not the FAA.  They were worried about someone getting it into the air and using it for something sinister, although the amount of fuel required and the crazy maintenance needed to keep it aloft or just having the engines run up precluded it from going anywhere.  And speaking of engines, the same PR R-4360 Wasp Majors were used on the KC-97s and C-124s just to name a very few..

Here's the story of it...

http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/last_one.htm

I have an extensive 'library' on all things '36 as it's my favorite bomber, albeit much maligned by people unknowing of the value it provided to the country during the early days of the Cold War.  It gave us time to get the '52s on line and operational (1956) for one.  The Russians were supposedly scared to death of them but I really think that they were scared to death of General LeMay more than the aircraft.
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Offline Cholla

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #351 on: August 10, 2014, 03:51:21 PM »
The AF wouldn't let it go and the FAA wouldn't let it fly (probably in cahoots).
I suggest folks read the stories behind the plane and the airport. A once grand aerodrome done away by politics.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #352 on: August 10, 2014, 06:54:57 PM »
That may be, but I've seen nothing about the FAA having anything to do with any decisions based on that aircraft.  I'd like to see that information if so.  The folks at Fort Worth were thinking about flying it 3 miles to get to it's next resting place but the AF did not want that to happen.....and it didn't.  Possibly if the AF had acquiesced to that, then the FAA might have had some involvement but you have to remember it was still considered part of the USAF inventory on load from USAF museum.  It wasn't Fort Worth's decision to make that choice.  It was the Air Force's decision and it was denied.  As far as politics goes, I'm sure that there was some of that going on in the background.  Always is.  There's politics in any organization which is one of the reasons I don't belong to any organizations any more.
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Offline Cholla

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #353 on: August 10, 2014, 09:19:28 PM »
The politics I referred to was concerning the demise of Grest Southwestern airport. It was silently done away with yet when AA employees are in training at the facility which remains on site they aren't officillay at DFW but at the three letter designator for the old airport.
There is a website wich I can't remember that has the story of the aerodrome and the plane-with pics.
My memory is a little foggy so forgive me if I don't remember some stuff correctly.
I used to have a photographic memory but now it's pornographic.
Beware the Black Widows...Feared throughout the land!

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #354 on: August 11, 2014, 04:07:48 AM »
 :rotflmao:
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #355 on: August 13, 2014, 08:10:45 AM »
 On this day in Air Force history --
 
1917:        The 1st Aero Squadron sails for Europe under command of Maj Ralph Royce; first squadron to report for flying duty in the AEF.
 
1944:        Two GB-4 Glide Bombs, with television and radio controls, are launched against E-boat pens at Le Havre, France.
 
1953:        XC-99, world’s largest plane to date, makes its 1st transatlantic flight from Kelly AFB to Frankfurt with 60,000 pounds of cargo. (correction:  Spruce Goose was the largest)
 
1998:        A 437 AW C-17 from Charleston AFB returns 10 of 12 victims of Nairobi Embassy terrorist bombing to Andrews AFB.


The XC-99 is resting in parts at Wright Patterson in Dayton..  They only made one of these but even with the Xperimental designation they used the hell out of it.  It was grounded in June of 1957 and had logged 7,430 hours and had carried 60 million pounds of cargo while it was operational.  It's load capacity was 100,000 pounds and with that load had an estimated range of  1720 miles.  It held many unofficial records such as speed over a closed course while carrying a payload, 22 payload/distance records, and 7 altitude records.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4-YgrksFbs

 
« Last Edit: August 14, 2014, 08:55:25 AM by VirginiaJim »
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Offline Rhino

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #356 on: August 13, 2014, 08:34:38 AM »
I learn something new everyday. I had no idea that they had made a cargo version of the B-36. What an airplane that must have been.


Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #357 on: August 13, 2014, 11:03:56 AM »
Anything you need to know on the '36 and it's variants...I'm here.  There are at least several You Tube videos on the XC-99..  In fact, if you use Google Earth and go to the AF Museum and then over to that portion of Wright Pat that abuts it, one can see pieces and parts of the XC-99.  They say that they are going to restore it eventually.

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Offline Rhino

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #358 on: August 13, 2014, 04:03:49 PM »
Can't believe I've been on this earth for almost 59 years, been to 49 of the 50 states (including Ohio) and 19 countries but still haven't been to the AF museum. I have got to fix that.

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Aircraft we like..
« Reply #359 on: August 13, 2014, 04:12:43 PM »
8th wonder of the world as far as I'm concerned.  I'm a Foundation member and have been supporting them for years.  I'm going there in September.  It can take at least 2 days to see it all properly or even three depending on how slow you read.  They have an IMAX theater and offer tours to the Experimental/Presidential aircraft and if you play your cards right (have to reserve way ahead of time) you can take a tour of the restoration facility.  My dad has a memorial plate on the wall as well.  I plan on giving them some money after I kick the bucket, that's how much I think of them.  They offer virtual tours of some of the interiors of the aircraft...B-36 is one of them.
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