slightly OT - NASA ER-2

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in
:


"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:j%C0g.7170$Qz.1048@fed1read11...
interesting to know which plane the last 3 pictures are of?
definitely not the same as the first that could be the U-2
much different wing profile
BT

The later pictures are of a B-57, and I'm pretty sure it is a B-57F. The
B-57D looks similar, but I *think* all of them have been retired.

All of the images on my page are of the same aircraft taken
the same day. Some of them were taken with the plane at a
distance so the perspective is much different than looking
straight up at its belly.

Take a look at this NASA webpage, which has a picture of an
ER-2. It matches what I observed.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/r...R-2/index.html

The Canberra's wings are much more triangular.

Plus, my photogrammatic analysis puts the plane at around 70,000
feet.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

hmmm.... maybe so.. thanx
BT

"Skywise" wrote in message
...
"Kyle Boatright" wrote in
:


"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:j%C0g.7170$Qz.1048@fed1read11...
interesting to know which plane the last 3 pictures are of?
definitely not the same as the first that could be the U-2
much different wing profile
BT

The later pictures are of a B-57, and I'm pretty sure it is a B-57F. The
B-57D looks similar, but I *think* all of them have been retired.

All of the images on my page are of the same aircraft taken
the same day. Some of them were taken with the plane at a
distance so the perspective is much different than looking
straight up at its belly.

Take a look at this NASA webpage, which has a picture of an
ER-2. It matches what I observed.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/r...R-2/index.html

The Canberra's wings are much more triangular.

Plus, my photogrammatic analysis puts the plane at around 70,000
feet.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"BTIZ" wrote in news:FZV0g.7331$Qz.3272
@fed1read11:

hmmm.... maybe so.. thanx
BT

Just so you know, BT, I have determined that the plane is in fact
a WB-57. My original doubt was due not knowing of the planes existence,
and that the images and drawings on the Wikipedia source that I
checked do not show the longer wingspan version.

But, upon seeing images of the plane on NASA's webpage about the
WB-57 program, I had to change my mind. BTW, I have placed an image
from the NASA website at the end of my page for comparison.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Skywise wrote in news:1245n0dkkfsst01
@corp.supernews.com:

I had made passing mention recently about spotting a U2 aircraft
cruising around southern California. Well, this past week I
managed to get some good photographs of it and have put up a
webpage about it. Turned out to be a NASA ER-2.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/ER2/ER2.html

Brian

On further consideration, this may indeed be a WB-57.

I had looked up the B-57 on wikipedia, but all the pictures
showed stubby clipped triangular wings.

But someone else in another group provided this link,

http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/wb57/

This shows the NASA WB-57's, and they do look alot like what
I photographed, and nothing like the pics on Wikipedia. Going
back to that article, I found mention that the USAF had ordered
several of these planes but with modified 33 and later 37 meter
wings. Much larger than the original 20 meter wings.

Now, knowing that the plane has two engines would explain the
split vapor trail seen in the first images. I had assumed this
was just some sort of vortex effect causing the single exhaust
of the ER-2 to split.

Furthermore, looking at the enhanced image, the tail does bear
a striking resemblence to the WB-57. The vertical fin starts
ahead of the elevators like the WB-57 does, whereas the ER-2
has them both starting at about the same place.

Wow. Learned something new. I was not even aware of the WB-57's.

Now I have to redo my webpage.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote in message ...
I had made passing mention recently about spotting a U2 aircraft
cruising around southern California. Well, this past week I
managed to get some good photographs of it and have put up a
webpage about it. Turned out to be a NASA ER-2.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/ER2/ER2.html

Brian
--


So...how do you hook up your camera to the telescope?

".Blueskies." wrote in news:SdU0g.70349
:


"Skywise" wrote in message news:1245n0dkkfsst01
@corp.supernews.com...
I had made passing mention recently about spotting a U2 aircraft
cruising around southern California. Well, this past week I
managed to get some good photographs of it and have put up a
webpage about it. Turned out to be a NASA ER-2.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/ER2/ER2.html

Brian
--


So...how do you hook up your camera to the telescope?

Here's a link to a commercial device. I made my own.

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/pr....jsp?itemID=65
&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=05228

In case you don't want to unwrap it....

http://tinyurl.com/pkhv5

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

As an update to my WB-57 story, I just discovered the flight
track on FlightAware.com. Turns out it was tail number NASA926,
and have added the flight track image to my webpage. Also, the
page name has changed, although the previous one has a link
to the correct one.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/WB57/WB57.html

So, why didn't anyone suggest this to me earlier? Why didn't
*I* think of it? BTW, I see they flew today around the Las Vegas
area. They're currently flying out of Miramar.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote

As an update to my WB-57 story, I just discovered the flight
track on FlightAware.com. Turns out it was tail number NASA926,
and have added the flight track image to my webpage. Also, the
page name has changed, although the previous one has a link
to the correct one.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/WB57/WB57.html

After looking at the track, it looks like they sure did nail the saight line
portion of the flight plan. All of the tracks are superimposed on top of
each other, so accurately, that they look like one line. Interesting. I
wonder what they are testing.

I took some pictures of that plane, while it was at OSH a few years back.
It is not apparent in your photos how huge the wing span is, or who big of
an aspect ratio it has. It really does look like a sailplane, when you see
it, in person.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in
:


"Skywise" wrote

As an update to my WB-57 story, I just discovered the flight
track on FlightAware.com. Turns out it was tail number NASA926,
and have added the flight track image to my webpage. Also, the
page name has changed, although the previous one has a link
to the correct one.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/WB57/WB57.html

After looking at the track, it looks like they sure did nail the saight
line portion of the flight plan. All of the tracks are superimposed on
top of each other, so accurately, that they look like one line.
Interesting. I wonder what they are testing.

I took some pictures of that plane, while it was at OSH a few years
back. It is not apparent in your photos how huge the wing span is, or
who big of an aspect ratio it has. It really does look like a
sailplane, when you see it, in person.

Speaking of which, you asked if I was interested in them to which
I said yes. But I hadn't heard from you.

But yes, the wings don't look all that long in my images. That's
due to the angle at which I was looking at them.

BTW, I added a red dot to the image to show my approximate location.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote

Speaking of which, you asked if I was interested in them to which
I said yes. But I hadn't heard from you.

But yes, the wings don't look all that long in my images. That's
due to the angle at which I was looking at them.

Humm, I wonder if your spam catcher got them. I did send them.

I'll tell you what. Send me an E-mail to and I'll
reply with the pictures attached. Do the usual; get the junk out - all
capital letters removed will get you the same thing.
--
Jim in NC