Blackbird Questions, Anyone?

Still in long recovery from heart surgery. Had/have Afib and they
burned the inside of upper chamber out with RF energy vs cutting with
a knife. May never recover ( Have fallen 5-6 times in past month-six
weeks just trying to walking around the house.

Geez, take it easy! As you know, falling down has a way of reducing your
odds of getting back up. They say your balance is the last thing to come
back after major surgery...

Sounds like maybe you need to get up in a Decathlon for some "unusual
attitude recovery" practice... I'll bet we could rustle up a few volunteers
here to take you up?!

;-)

First Cold, Cold, Cold snap of year and freeze last night. Nothing
like IA of course where I grew up and you know about.

Yep -- got down to 6 above zero here yesterday, with stiff winds making if
feel much colder. Today started off cold, but a fresh wind out of the south
has it warmed all the way up to 30 degrees. Man, it feels like summer,
after yesterday! (We flew over to Dubuque for breakfast -- did 180 knots
up, and 102 knots back...)

And a very Merry Xmas to you and yours.

And to you, Big John. All of us here really appreciate your wisdom, good
humor, and wonderful stories.

Blue skies, my friend!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Sroll over it like you're going to "copy" it. It changes to a white
background with blue lettering.

mike regish

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote

You can read more about it he
http://www.aleinn.com/black_projects/a12_40years.html
--
Jay Honeck

Why does anyone use a black background like that page? It is totally
unreadable on my crappy monitor.
--
Jim in NC

On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 03:44:10 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

The P-80 program. In 1944 they sent 5 P-80s, built virtually by hand,
from scratch at the Skunkworks (their first plane was the P-38 Lightning,
BTW), to Italy. Because the engines only lasted about 5 hours before
destroying themselves, the pilots were instructed to go "fly the planes near
the enemy, but don't engage them." After each mission, the tail numbers
were changed, so that the Germans would believe that we had dozens of jet
fighters in theater!

Jay, I've been wondering about this since I first read it three days
ago.

What did they mean "fly the planes near the enemy"? Does this mean
the enemy on the ground? I'd guess so because by that time in the
war, there were precious few German fighter aircraft flying in Italy.

So if that's what the instructions meant, how were the German ground
troops supposed to see the tail numbers? The P-80 pilots weren't
stupid enough to be stooging around low and slow in front of the
fierce AAA the Germans were always extremely willing to put up, were
they? I'd assume they would be flying combat patrols, which would be
conducted above 10,000 feet. That's a little high to be reading tail
numbers.

If the instructions were intended for German aircraft encountered in
the air, then I really don't see how this would work. The P-80 pilots
would literally have to fly formation with the Germans in order for
them to see and read the tail numbers. Actually the P-80's would have
to be slightly ahead. Doesn't sound like a healthy place to be.

So I guess I'm saying this whole scenario sounds like a tall tale.

Corky Scott

The numbers I have seen is that the SR-71 had a max. weight
of 78,000Kg (in flight) but a max. take off weight of only
56,000Kg. And even at that weight they were rotating at
235 knots.

Regarding leaks, the SR-71's tanks leaked like a sieve on
the ground, but sealed up tight as soon as they got up to
speed and the wings heated up.

Lockheed never came up with a sealant for the tanks that
would tolerate the heat loading AND the 8" expansion of
the airframe in flight.

Big John wrote:
Jay B

Story I always heard was that they took off with a light load of fuel
due to either W & B or structural limits and tanked shortly after
take off for the initial phase of mission where they might be required
to tank several times.

Leaks yes.

Big John
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 22:43:23 -0700, "Jay Beckman"
wrote:


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:ektvd.189728$V41.138784@attbi_s52...

Hehehe...cool.

Thanks!

Other cool tidbits from Bill:


Security. At Lockheed's Burbank, CA facility, they were testing the
SR-71's fuel tank and the explosive nature of the special fuel the
Blackbird used. They drained a tank, leaving fumes in it, and heated it
to hundreds of degrees, to simulate in-flight conditions. It, of course,
exploded, blowing the building to bits and starting a raging fire.


Hey Jay,

Double check something else with Bill if you still have him available...

JP-12:

So, they fill the SR-71 on the ground and it would leak like a sieve until
it got up to altitude and expansion of the airframe "sealed" the leaks
(necessitating an immediate tanker join once airborne...)

So here's the kicker, I recall reading that you could make a torch out of a
T-Shirt on a stick, light it, dunk it in a bucket of JP-12 and the JP-12
would do nothing but extinguish your torch...JP-12 was anything BUT
explosive and it required immense pressures to get it to ignite (fumes, of
course, are a different kettle of fish.)

Jay B

"mike regish" wrote in message
news:%YAwd.276074$R05.155922@attbi_s53...

Sroll over it like you're going to "copy" it. It changes to a white
background with blue lettering.

mike regish

Well, I did not "scoll over it, so I tried "scrolling" over it, g and the
change was fantastic.

All kidding aside, thanks. I learned my one new thing for today.
--
Jim in NC

So I guess I'm saying this whole scenario sounds like a tall tale.

Personally, I think so, too.

But I told it exactly the way Bill relayed it to me. (He wasn't in Italy
himself, so I suppose there is the slight chance that this story has taken
on mythic, some might say heroic proportions in the re-telling over the
decades? :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

But I told it exactly the way Bill relayed it to me. (He wasn't in Italy
himself, so I suppose there is the slight chance that this story has taken
on mythic, some might say heroic proportions in the re-telling over the
decades? :-)

You might say that; I would say there's an absolute certainty of it.

By November of 1944, only two XP-80 prototypes had left the ground, and the
second one crashed in late October, killing the test pilot. Lockheed produced
and delivered 45 P-80s before the war ended. Only two of these made it to Europe
before war's end. Both flew test runs in Italy. They were deliberately kept far
away from any chance of encounters with enemy aircraft.

Information taken from the Wikipedia.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.