All those airliners reminds me that I think I would have liked to have been in the jumpseat of the prototype of the 707/KC-135, I think it was the Dash 80, when test pilot Tex Johnson did a barrell roll in it. It was a big surpise to a lot of people. Part of the story goes that he did it on the first flight, and no one new he was going to do it. Can you see them doing that in a 787? You can find video's of the flight on YouTube.
If you could fly or go for a ride in any air craft what would you chose?
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All those airliners reminds me that I think I would have liked to have been in the jumpseat of the prototype of the 707/KC-135, I think it was the Dash 80, when test pilot Tex Johnson did a barrell roll in it. It was a big surpise to a lot of people. Part of the story goes that he did it on the first flight, and no one new he was going to do it. Can you see them doing that in a 787? You can find video's of the flight on YouTube.
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You experience how it felt by going to Google.com and entering "do a barrel roll" in the search box.
-- Roger
Does it count that I once did the 1982 U.S. National Aerobatics routine in a an open cockpit Great Lakes biplane? There were some barrel rolls, 4 point, 8 point rolls in that routine along with hammerhead stalls, knife edge flight, etc. It was definitely cool, also. But in a 707?
sylvie369
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Nice. And a nice ad for a Model Missiles "Rock-a-Chute" right in the middle of the story.
It wasn't the first flight of the 720 (707), but it was a demonstration for a major convention. Here's Johnson talking about it, with video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_khhzuFlE
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I forgot. Another aircraft I would like to fly in would be the AVRO Vulcan.
In a YouTube Video, one does a fly-by and sets off a lot of car alarms.
This is the title: "How To Set Off Car Alarms In a Car Park " Avro Vulcan XH558 Style for the You Tube video. I could not capture the URL.
In a YouTube Video, one does a fly-by and sets off a lot of car alarms.
This is the title: "How To Set Off Car Alarms In a Car Park " Avro Vulcan XH558 Style for the You Tube video. I could not capture the URL.
FastCargo
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That's another large plane that did a barrel roll at an exhibition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPuTgcrA2Zs
-- Roger
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I had an experience like that.
I was just outside my townhouse when I used to live near Eglin AFB when I noticed the trash dumpster starting to shake. Then the ground began to vibrate. Suddenly a B-1 roared overhead, very low - setting off some car alarms in the parking lot.
Actually, I had another experience like that while staying at a hotel near O'Hare in Chicago. Every time a plane took off from the runway near the hotel, which they do very frequently, a car's alarm went off in the parking lot. Fortunately, it stopped before it was time to sleep. I think the car's battery ran down.
-- Roger
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I do not know if you are a show off or damn lucky, but either way, I must admit that I am quite envious.
One group of planes we have not talked about would be the Unlimiteds flown each September at the Reno Air Races, just a few weeks before BALLS. I might be a serious trip flying in one of those birds. Heck, I start to have an adrenalin rush just thinking about going around the pylons in one of those birds.
I forgot or do not know, what did you fly? The C-17s, or C-5s, or the good ole Herky Bird, maybe. I think flying in a C-130 (what is it) the "J" model with the new Rolls-Royce engines and the Hamilton Standard scimitar bladed propellers might be pretty neat, and I have seen Fat Albert do his thing with the Blues more than a few times.
Excuse me, I have to take a phone call, or I would dream on for a while.
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My Dad was nav/bombardier in the B-58 program. By far his favorite aircraft. Has some pretty good stories.
FastCargo
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I'm an old Bone driver (among other things) from back in the day. We were always setting off car alarms on takeoff...those four F-101s were just plain LOUD. In fact, the noise was so bad, we were actually wearing out the tails prematurely.
One of the stupider things I did was go out to end of the runway at Nellis to watch my squadron do a min interval takeoff using both runways during a Flag(I wasn't flying that day). So imagine 8 F-101 engines in full grunt and standing right between them. The only time ever that jet noise actually made me physically ill.
I'd think that biplane ride would have been pretty cool...out in the windstream, making the world look not right...
.FC
Fast Cargo, were you 34th or the 9th Expeditionary? Sounds cool, what you wrote. The Wings of the Rockies Air Museum has the third A model on permanent display. I have seen it a number of times when I take my grand kids to the museum. I like the rotary launchers. I think they have retro-fitted the rotary mechanism to the BUFF also, so you can select what you are going to drop, and with guidance, you only need to drop or launch one at a time. By the way, thank you for serving our nation. I tried to join up, but they would not have someone of my ilk.
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Get him to come here and tell some of 'em. That's a beautiful, fascinating plane.
My father-in-law was an engineer for Convair in Fort Worth on the fuselage and the hydraulics of the Hustler. He won't talk about it. I think he stressed out about it from his days back then. I have never heard him tell any stories. He helped design the fuel grain on the Trident and Polaris. He will not talk about that either. And he is not interested in my rockets are anything like that. Too bad. He is missing out on some really neat stuff that he could add to, rather than not participate.
Of course he may have had a rough life and does not remember things as being good times. He had five children, two with really bad asthma and allergies, so they moved a lot for the climate to help the children and then the way the industry was, the ebb and flow of that tide, you were laid off and then looking for a new job or always looking. I have heard from my wife of stories in Buffalo, Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Fort Worth, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angelas, etc.
Of course he may have had a rough life and does not remember things as being good times. He had five children, two with really bad asthma and allergies, so they moved a lot for the climate to help the children and then the way the industry was, the ebb and flow of that tide, you were laid off and then looking for a new job or always looking. I have heard from my wife of stories in Buffalo, Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Fort Worth, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angelas, etc.
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the B-1 is another beautiful airplane!! Fastcargo did you enjoy flying the B-1?
I'm an old Bone driver (among other things) from back in the day. We were always setting off car alarms on takeoff...those four F-101s were just plain LOUD. In fact, the noise was so bad, we were actually wearing out the tails prematurely.
One of the stupider things I did was go out to end of the runway at Nellis to watch my squadron do a min interval takeoff using both runways during a Flag(I wasn't flying that day). So imagine 8 F-101 engines in full grunt and standing right between them. The only time ever that jet noise actually made me physically ill.
I'd think that biplane ride would have been pretty cool...out in the windstream, making the world look not right...
FC
FastCargo
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I could start a whole thread on this question alone....
But, I'll keep it to one story.
In short, flying the B-1B was exhilarating. Imagine taking a machine weighing 300,000+ pounds, 146 feet long (Hey baby, did you know my Bone is over 145 feet? wink, wink), and hurl it through the air at 1.2+ Mach....at 300 feet?
People talk a lot about the SR-71, about how fast it goes. But here's the thing...at 70k+ feet, the view is spectacular. But, there is no sense of speed. There are no clouds at your altitude (or even close), and there definitely is no terrain. Though you can see the curvature of the Earth, the black of space, the terrain itself looks fairly flat. Your speed ends up as numbers on a dial...the terrain looking like something you'd see out your airliner window.
At 300 feet (or lower), everything changes. Something you see on the horizon is in your face right the #&$# NOW! You're close enough to the ground to see individual people, but only as colored blurs. You're covering a mile every 5.5 seconds. One time I was doing this at Flag, and looked over to see my wingman. You could actually SEE the air bending the light where the shockwave had formed (this was a 'clear and a million' day) on his aircraft. Which meant I was doing the same thing. I talk about how loud 2 Bones were on takeoff...imagine 2 Bones passing over your head, at the distance of a football field, each with a shockwave thick enough to SEE...and roaring with the sound of 8 F-16 engines behind them at full power...each Bone consuming 9 gallons PER SECOND of fuel.
And she was slick as snot...having been designed with area rule, she accelerated quite easily, especially with the wings back. Her speed limit was due to airflow through the engines, and had nothing to do with her aerodynamics. You could easily hit the 'Reduce Speed' bar if you didn't pay attention.
Although she's large, she was a pilot's airplane. With the computer augmentations (spoilered wing, all rolling tail, auto rudder), she handled like a slightly heavy F-4 Phantom (as a former fighter guy put it). Also, unlike a lot of large aircraft at the time, she had a stick and throttles...no yokes. Hands on throttle and stick...like God intended man to fly.
Rolling came easily...in fact, early hill crossings down low were done by rolling up past about 120 degrees of bank to 'pull' the nose down instead of 'pushing' over to negative Gs.Did I mention we also did this (except for the over banking part) at night with zero visibility (before the era of NVGs)?
FC
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that is AWESOME! I have always loved the lines of the B-1....I realize that she is a bomber, but the damn thing looks like a sports car...like its going 1000 mph sitting on the ground. I saw one parked at an airshow once and just stared at it. It is a beautiful plane and I always wondered if the the pilots enjoyed flying her. I cannot imagine rolling up and pulling the nose down at 120 degrees of bank...at night....at speed...in the hills....
I could start a whole thread on this question alone....
But, I'll keep it to one story.
In short, flying the B-1B was exhilarating. Imagine taking a machine weighing 300,000+ pounds, 146 feet long (Hey baby, did you know my Bone is over 145 feet? wink, wink), and hurl it through the air at 1.2+ Mach....at 300 feet?
People talk a lot about the SR-71, about how fast it goes. But here's the thing...at 70k+ feet, the view is spectacular. But, there is no sense of speed. There are no clouds at your altitude (or even close), and there definitely is no terrain. Though you can see the curvature of the Earth, the black of space, the terrain itself looks fairly flat. Your speed ends up as numbers on a dial...the terrain looking like something you'd see out your airliner window.
At 300 feet (or lower), everything changes. Something you see on the horizon is in your face right the #&$# NOW! You're close enough to the ground to see individual people, but only as colored blurs. You're covering a mile every 5.5 seconds. One time I was doing this at Flag, and looked over to see my wingman. You could actually SEE the air bending the light where the shockwave had formed (this was a 'clear and a million' day) on his aircraft. Which meant I was doing the same thing. I talk about how loud 2 Bones were on takeoff...imagine 2 Bones passing over your head, at the distance of a football field, each with a shockwave thick enough to SEE...and roaring with the sound of 8 F-16 engines behind them at full power...each Bone consuming 9 gallons PER SECOND of fuel.
And she was slick as snot...having been designed with area rule, she accelerated quite easily, especially with the wings back. Her speed limit was due to airflow through the engines, and had nothing to do with her aerodynamics. You could easily hit the 'Reduce Speed' bar if you didn't pay attention.
Although she's large, she was a pilot's airplane. With the computer augmentations (spoilered wing, all rolling tail, auto rudder), she handled like a slightly heavy F-4 Phantom (as a former fighter guy put it). Also, unlike a lot of large aircraft at the time, she had a stick and throttles...no yokes. Hands on throttle and stick...like God intended man to fly.
Did I mention we also did this (except for the over banking part) at night with zero visibility (before the era of NVGs)?
FC
FastCargo
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An example of the 'rollin Bone'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWl5VCrjODQ
(Won't let me embed the video here for some reason)
FC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWl5VCrjODQ
(Won't let me embed the video here for some reason)
FC
I remember when I was growing up in W. PA. and a B-58 came screaming over at tree top height. I was hooked instantly.
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My platoon was in contact and a B-1 did a fly over low and slow. It stayed on station for about 20 minutes. On that particular day, its presence made a big difference. Once it appeared the bad guys ran away. It was awesome seeing the B-1 overhead!
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Would give my right arm to have had a flight in one of these...
60k' over the North Atlantic at Mach 2.02 whilst sipping Champagne... Sounds good to me!
60k' over the North Atlantic at Mach 2.02 whilst sipping Champagne... Sounds good to me!
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FastCargo
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That must have been an awesome sight! the B-58 is a classic....I know the service life was short because flying Mach 2 at altitude wasn't going to have a high life expectancy with SAMs that are flying at Mach 4...but still, its a beautiful plane!! pretty neat ejection seats too....kinda like ejection capsules if I remember correctly! I love the ol delta wings...always thought the F-102 was a neat plane too!
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Add the A-10 Thunderbolt II to my list.
Not too long after they were put into service my brother and I were out dove hunting when we heard a low hissing, moaning sound. We looked up just in time to see a pair of A-10's appear overth treetops and pass by. If they were a single foot over 500 feet I'd be surprised. I'd always liked how they looked in photos but after seeing them in pesonthat way I was hooked.
Not too long after they were put into service my brother and I were out dove hunting when we heard a low hissing, moaning sound. We looked up just in time to see a pair of A-10's appear overth treetops and pass by. If they were a single foot over 500 feet I'd be surprised. I'd always liked how they looked in photos but after seeing them in pesonthat way I was hooked.
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