Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
"View looking outside of the SR 71 at about 85,000 feet. My old neighbor, Ken Collins who flew the A-12 and the SR 71 told me he got his A-12 up to 94,000 feet. What a beautiful world we live in.
~ Linda Sheffield Miller"
Hawker Fury evolves into Hawker Hurricane:
What a beautiful evolution of lovely butterflies with a bite.
Rod B
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The "work horse" of the Battle of Britain.
Absolutely, I’ve gotten a ride in a few, Tiger Moth, Stampe and a Rapide and they were outstanding but the holy grail would have been the Hawker Fury. Oh my, what a beautiful machine…
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The Bristol Bulldog was not the prettiest of that generation.
This is an example. The guy on the right is Douglas Bader. You'll note he has his "factory issued" legs at this point. A few weeks later, while doing forbidden low-level aerobatics at Woodley Airfield, he rolled Bulldog K1676 into a ball. He just barely survived, but lost both legs. You know the rest of that story. If you don't, do yourself a favour and buy a copy of Reach For The Sky by Paul Brickhill.
The Bulldog wasn't nearly as graceful as the other interwar British fighters, and had nasty handling issues at slow speeds, but it worked well enough.
This is an example. The guy on the right is Douglas Bader. You'll note he has his "factory issued" legs at this point. A few weeks later, while doing forbidden low-level aerobatics at Woodley Airfield, he rolled Bulldog K1676 into a ball. He just barely survived, but lost both legs. You know the rest of that story. If you don't, do yourself a favour and buy a copy of Reach For The Sky by Paul Brickhill.
The Bulldog wasn't nearly as graceful as the other interwar British fighters, and had nasty handling issues at slow speeds, but it worked well enough.
Last edited:
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Just fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole...
Speaking of legless wartime aviators, ever hear of Aleksey Maresyev? Me neither.
This from Wikipedia:
Three FW190's in one scrap seems questionable, but when you're a legless pilot flying for the Soviet Air Force, I guess the praise flows pretty freely sometimes.
Speaking of legless wartime aviators, ever hear of Aleksey Maresyev? Me neither.
This from Wikipedia:
Three FW190's in one scrap seems questionable, but when you're a legless pilot flying for the Soviet Air Force, I guess the praise flows pretty freely sometimes.
Somewhere between February and June 1968, all of the A-12s were put into storage at Palmdale. They stayed in their climate-controlled environment until around 1984.
They when they were put outside.
This is where these amazing pictures came from. New homes were found for all of the A-12’s unfortunately, most of them are sitting outside in the elements.
The MD 21 found an amazing home at the Museum of flight in Seattle inside.The reason why the airplanes were put outside was to make room for a super secret airplane, but nobody knew about it until the Gulf war. The F117.
Thank you Kevin Westling for numbering the airplanes and Jim Goodall for taking the pictures.
Linda Sheffield Miller
https://www.facebook.com/LindaSheffieldMiller
And in keeping with the "need for speed" theme.
SR 71B getting a thorough look over by maintenance as she’s getting ready to be shipped to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The SR-71B came to the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum on March 28th, 2003
Tony Landis picture
Post
Linda Sheffield Miller
The SR-71B came to the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum on March 28th, 2003
Tony Landis picture
Post
Linda Sheffield Miller
YF-12 Interceptor at Groom Lake, Area 51.
Only one YF- 12 remains, and it is at the Air Force Museum near Wright -Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
There was a time when General Curtis LeMay and Kelly Johnson were talking about having 100 YF- 12s made. The thought was that these interceptors that could fly three times the speed of sound could stop the Soviet Unions Bomber airplanes in the event of World War III. LeMay also wanted 100 SR 71’s. The SR 71s were to survey the damage of the nuclear bombs around the world and then report back to Area 51. Fortunately, This did not happen.
For a few weeks Kelly Johnson was Extremely happy as he was figuring out a way to make hundreds of NEW Blackbirds! Fortunately we never had a World War III. And hopefully we never will!
Linda Sheffield Miller
Only one YF- 12 remains, and it is at the Air Force Museum near Wright -Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
There was a time when General Curtis LeMay and Kelly Johnson were talking about having 100 YF- 12s made. The thought was that these interceptors that could fly three times the speed of sound could stop the Soviet Unions Bomber airplanes in the event of World War III. LeMay also wanted 100 SR 71’s. The SR 71s were to survey the damage of the nuclear bombs around the world and then report back to Area 51. Fortunately, This did not happen.
For a few weeks Kelly Johnson was Extremely happy as he was figuring out a way to make hundreds of NEW Blackbirds! Fortunately we never had a World War III. And hopefully we never will!
Linda Sheffield Miller
Last edited:
This is an incredible photo of the XB 70 and the TB -58. All of the early SR-71 RSOs and pilots were picked from the B 58 program because of the similarities to the SR 71. The B-58’s purpose was to fly to the heart of Russia or any other enemy, bomb them, and get out of there before they could be attacked.
SR-71 Test flight officers could not receive any time in a simulator before test flights because it was not ready yet. My father was is a navigator bombardier on the B 58 and told me it was an easy transition to go from the B 58 to the SR 71.
Air Power recently wrote this about the picture. XB-70 Valkyrie with its TB-58 Hustler chase plane. The TB-58 had a dash speed of Mach 2, which allowed it to stay close to the XB-70 during most high-speed research maneuvers. When the XB-70 was flying at or near Mach 3, the slower TB-58 could often keep up by flying lower and cutting inside the turns in the XB-70's flight path. It was a really fast and furious duo!
Externally, the TB-58A differed from the B-58A in having additional windows in the second cockpit area and a large window in the second overhead hatch to give the instructor pilot sitting in the second crew station a better view. The instructor's compartment was completely sealed off from the students in the front cockpit, although a split transparency permitted a forward view. During the flight, the occupants of the second and third stations could change places via the crawlspace. All of the tactical equipment was removed - there was no autopilot, no primary navigation system, no bombing system, no defensive electronic countermeasures system, and no active defense system.
Both aircraft can be seen at the Museum of the Air Force Wright Patterson, Ohio.~ Linda Sheffield Miller
SR-71 Test flight officers could not receive any time in a simulator before test flights because it was not ready yet. My father was is a navigator bombardier on the B 58 and told me it was an easy transition to go from the B 58 to the SR 71.
Air Power recently wrote this about the picture. XB-70 Valkyrie with its TB-58 Hustler chase plane. The TB-58 had a dash speed of Mach 2, which allowed it to stay close to the XB-70 during most high-speed research maneuvers. When the XB-70 was flying at or near Mach 3, the slower TB-58 could often keep up by flying lower and cutting inside the turns in the XB-70's flight path. It was a really fast and furious duo!
Externally, the TB-58A differed from the B-58A in having additional windows in the second cockpit area and a large window in the second overhead hatch to give the instructor pilot sitting in the second crew station a better view. The instructor's compartment was completely sealed off from the students in the front cockpit, although a split transparency permitted a forward view. During the flight, the occupants of the second and third stations could change places via the crawlspace. All of the tactical equipment was removed - there was no autopilot, no primary navigation system, no bombing system, no defensive electronic countermeasures system, and no active defense system.
Both aircraft can be seen at the Museum of the Air Force Wright Patterson, Ohio.~ Linda Sheffield Miller
I found this explanation of what an UNstart is while researching. I wanted to share it because understanding everything about the engine and how it all works together is complicated. I am still working on understanding it. I did not write all of this .~ Linda Sheffield Miller
An “Unstart “ condition is not a shut down of the engine. The engine actually continues to run, but the UN-start phenomenon is a condition at the inlet. The supersonic air entering the inlet is kept just inside the lip of the inlet in order to balance pressures and keep the inlet “started”.
At Mach 3 speed, the SR 71 is basically being sucked through the air by the differences in pressure.Ahead and behind the inlets. The actual turbo jet (not ramjet as it is Sometimes believed) .
Actually doesn’t produce much appreciable thrust at those speeds. The majority of thrust comes from the J 58 engines afterburners and the inlet itself.
When the inlet and starts that supersonic shockwave gets expelled from the inlet lip, causing immerse drag on causing the SR 71 to yaw severely in that direction.
It can unbalance everything so both inlets will procedure automatically although in the early days this was done manually. This was done by moving both inlet spikes full forward. Below 2.3 Mach only one side inlet will go through the restart cycle. Also the spikes do not go full forward, they go forward up to 15 inches depending on the current position. Also the forward door goes full open then returns to the scheduled position.
Both sides if above 2.3 Mach another shot of TEB to restart the shockwave then slowly retract his spikes back to where the shockwave was properly positioned.
All the while, the turbojet engine is running. What was needed was to get the plum light again and balance both inlets. Sixteen shots of TEB were provided for the flight.
Essentially correct. A few notes. The only time TEB would be used is if the afterburner blew out or the engine quit. It really has nothing to do with the inlet. The SR71 had both automatic and manual restart switches. There were individual switches on the instrument panel with the inlet controls that were for each inlet individually and a switch on the right throttle in the same position as many fighter type aircraft have a speed brake switch that would put both inlets in restart at the same time. The sympathetic system came in to being as a result of Bill Weavers accident. this is a note from SR 71 pilot David Peters.
I am so incredibly fortunate that David reads my post and helps me with corrections. Linda Sheffield Miller
An “Unstart “ condition is not a shut down of the engine. The engine actually continues to run, but the UN-start phenomenon is a condition at the inlet. The supersonic air entering the inlet is kept just inside the lip of the inlet in order to balance pressures and keep the inlet “started”.
At Mach 3 speed, the SR 71 is basically being sucked through the air by the differences in pressure.Ahead and behind the inlets. The actual turbo jet (not ramjet as it is Sometimes believed) .
Actually doesn’t produce much appreciable thrust at those speeds. The majority of thrust comes from the J 58 engines afterburners and the inlet itself.
When the inlet and starts that supersonic shockwave gets expelled from the inlet lip, causing immerse drag on causing the SR 71 to yaw severely in that direction.
It can unbalance everything so both inlets will procedure automatically although in the early days this was done manually. This was done by moving both inlet spikes full forward. Below 2.3 Mach only one side inlet will go through the restart cycle. Also the spikes do not go full forward, they go forward up to 15 inches depending on the current position. Also the forward door goes full open then returns to the scheduled position.
Both sides if above 2.3 Mach another shot of TEB to restart the shockwave then slowly retract his spikes back to where the shockwave was properly positioned.
All the while, the turbojet engine is running. What was needed was to get the plum light again and balance both inlets. Sixteen shots of TEB were provided for the flight.
Essentially correct. A few notes. The only time TEB would be used is if the afterburner blew out or the engine quit. It really has nothing to do with the inlet. The SR71 had both automatic and manual restart switches. There were individual switches on the instrument panel with the inlet controls that were for each inlet individually and a switch on the right throttle in the same position as many fighter type aircraft have a speed brake switch that would put both inlets in restart at the same time. The sympathetic system came in to being as a result of Bill Weavers accident. this is a note from SR 71 pilot David Peters.
I am so incredibly fortunate that David reads my post and helps me with corrections. Linda Sheffield Miller
Last edited:
898 / 5,000
Translation results
In 1939, Sweden wanted to replace its old Gloster Gladiator and wanted a modern, domestically built fighter. SAAB engineers set to work and the result was the L-12 (later designated J 19), a metal-built monoplane that looked generally like the Japanese Zero. Its wing included 4 heavy machine guns of 13.2 mm and 2 machine guns of 8 mm. The choice of engine fell on the Bristol Taurus II of 1065 CV but with the war, it became obvious that the choice of this engine was going to know problems of delivery.
Sweden then turned to the United States to obtain Pratt and Withney Double Wasp engines but, after their entry into the war, the Americans could not deliver these engines which were priority for their own planes.
Finally, without an engine, the SAAB J 19 project was abandoned in the early 1940s.
November 2nd 1942, Bell Island, Newfoundland.
Damage to the Scotia Pier caused by the second torpedo fired by the German Type IXC submarine U-518 under command of Kapitänleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Wissmann.
In the early hours, 2 ships loaded were anchored off Lance Cove at the loading piers on Bell Island:
- Canadian Navy merchant ship SS Rose Castle with an iron ore cargo.
- French vessel SS P.L.M. 27 carrying coal to feed the railway’s locomotives. She was seized by the British government when France surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940.
U-517 was sunk on April 22nd 1945, North-West of the Azores by depth charges from Cannon-class destroyers escorts USS Carter (DE-112) and USS Neal A. Scott (DE-769).
56 dead (all hands lost).
Map of the attack on Bell Island off Lance Cove
At 334, Canadian Merchant ship SS Rose Castle was hit by the first torpedo.
Her crew were sailors mostly from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, with a few from Britain and most of them were asleep in their bunks.
A third torpedo slammed into Rose Castle, sending her to the bottom. 24 men died when the ship was sunk including 6 from Newfoundland, 19 survived.
Second torpedo who missed her target, the Anna T. anchored just off the Scotia pier, throwing wharf timbers into the air and shattering windows in nearby buildings.
A single torpedo exploded in the stern of P.L.M. 27 a minute after Rose Castle second hit. She sank in just 60 seconds.
Given some warning by the prior explosions, 38 crew managed to escape and most swam the short distance to shore, 12 sailors were killed.
Damage to the Scotia Pier caused by the second torpedo fired by the German Type IXC submarine U-518 under command of Kapitänleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Wissmann.
In the early hours, 2 ships loaded were anchored off Lance Cove at the loading piers on Bell Island:
- Canadian Navy merchant ship SS Rose Castle with an iron ore cargo.
- French vessel SS P.L.M. 27 carrying coal to feed the railway’s locomotives. She was seized by the British government when France surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940.
U-517 was sunk on April 22nd 1945, North-West of the Azores by depth charges from Cannon-class destroyers escorts USS Carter (DE-112) and USS Neal A. Scott (DE-769).
56 dead (all hands lost).
Map of the attack on Bell Island off Lance Cove
At 334, Canadian Merchant ship SS Rose Castle was hit by the first torpedo.
Her crew were sailors mostly from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, with a few from Britain and most of them were asleep in their bunks.
A third torpedo slammed into Rose Castle, sending her to the bottom. 24 men died when the ship was sunk including 6 from Newfoundland, 19 survived.
Second torpedo who missed her target, the Anna T. anchored just off the Scotia pier, throwing wharf timbers into the air and shattering windows in nearby buildings.
A single torpedo exploded in the stern of P.L.M. 27 a minute after Rose Castle second hit. She sank in just 60 seconds.
Given some warning by the prior explosions, 38 crew managed to escape and most swam the short distance to shore, 12 sailors were killed.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
A little piece of WW2 history that few folks know. Thanks for that, Diopter.
You have a DC-3. You like it, but it's slow.
Your neighbour has a Basler contersion. Two turboprops, longer fuselage, very modern, very nice, but he's a #### and you want to one-up him. What are your options?
Well, there's the Conroy Tri-Turbo-Three (not a jazz band):
One built. It was apparently leased to the USN for use in Alaska doing sh!t that is none of our business. At one point, chimps working on it started a fire in the cockpit. It was rebuilt with a different fuselage section.
Last seen parked at the Basler facility in Oshkosh:
You have a DC-3. You like it, but it's slow.
Your neighbour has a Basler contersion. Two turboprops, longer fuselage, very modern, very nice, but he's a #### and you want to one-up him. What are your options?
Well, there's the Conroy Tri-Turbo-Three (not a jazz band):
One built. It was apparently leased to the USN for use in Alaska doing sh!t that is none of our business. At one point, chimps working on it started a fire in the cockpit. It was rebuilt with a different fuselage section.
Last seen parked at the Basler facility in Oshkosh:
A Barr & Stroud FT24 Triplex 15ft rangefinder pictured on the Director Control Tower of Lead Ship, Dreadnought Battleship Courbet c1916...She was completed at Arsenal de Lorient shortly before the start of World War I in August 1914. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, where she helped to sink an Austro-Hungarian Cruiser, covered the Otranto Barrage that blockaded the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea, and often served as a flagship. Although upgraded several times before World War II, she was not considered to be a first-line Battleship by the 1930s and spent much of that decade as a gunnery Training Ship.
A few weeks after the German invasion of France on May 10th 1940, Courbet was hastily reactivated. She supported Allied troops in the defence of Cherbourg in mid-June, taking refuge in England shortly afterwards. As part of Operation Catapult, the ship was seized in Portsmouth by British forces on July 3rd and was turned over to the Free French a week later. She was used as a stationary AA battery and as an Accommodation Ship there. Courbet was disarmed in early 1941 and was used as a Target Ship during 1943. Her engines and boilers were removed in 1944 to prepare her for use as a breakwater during the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune) in June 1944. She was scrapped in situ after the war.
Last edited:
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Poor old girl. She deserved better than that.
