The Longest Bombing Mission Ever

[FBM]

I think the title of the thread should have been "The Longest Bumbling Mission Ever."

[Clinton Huxley]

Ironically, despite the gutting of the armed forces since 1982, the task of putting that runway out of action would be relatively straightforward - cruise missile from a sub.

[Sean Hayden]

Cool - will watch that.
Anyone that is plane buff.
Here is link to the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum pics at 4500x3000 so suitable for desktop etc.
A place anyone loving anything to do with flight should see. Ran the damn camera out of battery .

http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m269 ... Aerospace/

here's one



There is a cool story about the SR71 stopping the 6 day war....a marathon flight to Israel all in secret.

That's a great picture. I was just thinking about the SR71 the other day. I swear it looks like it has a flat plate airfoil. I guess that's a good thing when you want to fly faster than Mach 3.

[macdoc]

Can you imagine designing that with a slide rule. Fuck 1962 - - Kelly Johnson was a time traveller or what. and the P38 is also a stunning plane. Guy was brilliant. Every flight it has to be refueled just after take off as it leaks so much fuel until the skin gets up to temperature.

Ironically, the plane was dripping, much like the misshapen model had assembled in my youth. Fuel was seeping through the joints, raining down on the hangar floor. At Mach 3, the plane would expand several inches because of the severe temperature, which could heat the leading edge of the wing to 1,100 degrees. To prevent cracking, expansion joints had been built into the plane. Sealant resembling rubber glue covered the seams, but when the plane was subsonic, fuel would leak through the joints.

Origins
The SR-71 was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designer who created the P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2. After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers' U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft that would fly three miles higher and five times faster than the spy plane-and still be capable of photographing your license plate. However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes. Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids that would function at 85,000 feet and higher also had to be developed.

some more info

http://gizmodo.com/5511236/the-thrill-o ... -blackbird

[Calilasseia]

In addition, workers on the SR-71 had to use special toolkits, made from special, highly refined cadmium-free alloys. Ordinary tools are made from alloys that contain tiny amounts of cadmium as an impurity, and when the tools are used upon other metal parts, the inevitable process of wear means that tiny amounts of those cadmium impurities are transferred to the metal surfaces of nuts, bolts and other components with which the tools are in contact. When working with aerospace grade titanium, this is hazardous, because those tiny amounts of cadmium, over time, build up to the point where they affect the tensile strength and Young's Modulus of the material negatively. The last thing you want in an aircraft doing 2,000 miles per hour, is for critical structural members to fail because the metal has been weakened by contamination.

[macdoc]

Good info - I'm just fascinated by the plane and they still don't release the actual top speed. Actually bought a model at the museum for my desk
I can't stress how worthwhile getting to the two aerospace museums is and there a number of others all in a small area....take a few days tho

Interesting that was a Brit or Scot made all that Smithsonian stuff possible - and he never saw it. Just shipped thousands of gold sovereigns over,
All were melted down except for two which are.......yup....at the Smithsonian coin collection

[Cormac]

Can you imagine designing that with a slide rule. Fuck 1962 - - Kelly Johnson was a time traveller or what. and the P38 is also a stunning plane. Guy was brilliant. Every flight it has to be refueled just after take off as it leaks so much fuel until the skin gets up to temperature.

Ironically, the plane was dripping, much like the misshapen model had assembled in my youth. Fuel was seeping through the joints, raining down on the hangar floor. At Mach 3, the plane would expand several inches because of the severe temperature, which could heat the leading edge of the wing to 1,100 degrees. To prevent cracking, expansion joints had been built into the plane. Sealant resembling rubber glue covered the seams, but when the plane was subsonic, fuel would leak through the joints.

Origins
The SR-71 was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designer who created the P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2. After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers' U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft that would fly three miles higher and five times faster than the spy plane-and still be capable of photographing your license plate. However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes. Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids that would function at 85,000 feet and higher also had to be developed.

some more info

http://gizmodo.com/5511236/the-thrill-o ... -blackbird

Didn't they call the P-38 the "flying coffin"?

I always loved the way that plane looked.

And as for the SR-71 - it is the most beautiful plane ever made. (Followed closely by the Spitfire and the Concorde).

[Cormac]

In addition, workers on the SR-71 had to use special toolkits, made from special, highly refined cadmium-free alloys. Ordinary tools are made from alloys that contain tiny amounts of cadmium as an impurity, and when the tools are used upon other metal parts, the inevitable process of wear means that tiny amounts of those cadmium impurities are transferred to the metal surfaces of nuts, bolts and other components with which the tools are in contact. When working with aerospace grade titanium, this is hazardous, because those tiny amounts of cadmium, over time, build up to the point where they affect the tensile strength and Young's Modulus of the material negatively. The last thing you want in an aircraft doing 2,000 miles per hour, is for critical structural members to fail because the metal has been weakened by contamination.

That is amazing Cali. Thanks.

[klr]

...

Didn't they call the P-38 the "flying coffin"?

I always loved the way that plane looked.

And as for the SR-71 - it is the most beautiful plane ever made. (Followed closely by the Spitfire and the Concorde).

Not that I know of. The B-26 Marauder (in its early days) and the F-104 Starfighter were both famously called that. But so were other aircraft at times - it's probably a long list. But not the P-38 AFAIK.

The German Heinkel 177 was known as the Flaming Coffin by its crews, and by other equally uncomplimentary nicknames to boot.

Oh, and we have a "beautiful aircraft appreciation" thread from a while back:

http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1408

The internet being what it is, some of images no longer load now.

[Sean Hayden]

Yes, definitely some great additional information.

I don't think I could name a most attractive plane. I like so many of them, even -especially- some of the ones that probably aren't considered very graceful. I agree that the Spitfire with its elliptical wing is a good looking plane.

[JimC]

Australia bombing Ireland would break the record, I reckon...

Now to think of a reason...

Just drop off a few crates of tim-tams and Bundaberg please.

I'll just dash off a quick email to the chap with the big handlebar moustaches at RAAF HQ! I think his name is Biggles...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Never heard the P-38 called that. The A-20, on the other hand. (One of them attack bombers anyway, -20, -22, -26.)

[klr]

Never heard the P-38 called that. The A-20, on the other hand. (One of them attack bombers anyway, -20, -22, -26.)

The B-26 - see my post above.

From wiki:

B-26 crews gave the aircraft the nickname "Widowmaker".[7] Other colorful nicknames included "Martin Murderer", "Flying Coffin", "B-Dash-Crash", "Flying Prostitute" (so-named because it was so fast and had "no visible means of support,"
referring to its small wings) and "Baltimore Whore" (a reference to the city where Martin was based).[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-2 ... #Accidents

Re "Flying Prostitute": A lightweight version of the P-40 - the l - was called the "Gypsy Rose Lee" because it too had "no visible means of support".

[macdoc]

This is my fav plane primarily cuz I've flow it. and was quite pleased to see it honoured as an iconic plane.






can you imagine having that sharkmouth diving at you with cannons blazing....

[Cormac]

...

Didn't they call the P-38 the "flying coffin"?

I always loved the way that plane looked.

And as for the SR-71 - it is the most beautiful plane ever made. (Followed closely by the Spitfire and the Concorde).

Not that I know of. The B-26 Marauder (in its early days) and the F-104 Starfighter were both famously called that. But so were other aircraft at times - it's probably a long list. But not the P-38 AFAIK.

The German Heinkel 177 was known as the Flaming Coffin by its crews, and by other equally uncomplimentary nicknames to boot.

Oh, and we have a "beautiful aircraft appreciation" thread from a while back:

http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1408

The internet being what it is, some of images no longer load now.

IIRC it was because when a pilot bailed out, he'd get creased by the stuff at the back...