15 February 2008

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet!


"One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply. To our surprise, a Navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was. 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,' ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, 'Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.' We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. "

When Gary Powers' U-2 was shot down in 1960, my old man opened my mind to "outside the box" thinking. To the general public, the U-2 was a revelation... we had been flying over the Soviet Union with impunity for years! My mind reeled when Dad asked, "I wonder what else we've got brewing?"
We learned the answer to that question a few years later... the SR-71 "Blackbird".

I love SR-71 stories. I once sat next to a guy in a classroom setting for a couple weeks that had been a back-seater in the airplane. His stories of suiting up like an Astronaut, wearing thick flight gloves to protect against the heat of the canopy fascinated me. A few of his insights surprised me... The airplane made much use of titanium because of the heat it would be exposed to at such high airspeeds. He said that titanium had to be procured through surreptitious channels because it was mined in the U.S.S.R.!
Fuel lines were routed around the cockpit to act as heat absorbers to help keep the pilot and RSO cool.

At missions end, the pilot and RSO were frequently winched from the airplane because the fuselage was too hot to be touched.
Stuff of legend, to be sure.


Knowing I'd enjoy it, a friend brought
this account to my attention. It's a little long and will take a while to read, but I must admit I got a little misty at the end of the telling, so I enthusiastically recommend it to those of you that are also fly-crazy.
Let me know what you think.

5 comments:

cary said...

I remember standing in awe at the perimeter of Kadena in the early eighties, watching a Blackbird take off.

Talk about horsepower - I was trying to figure out how to get a wheeled vehicle with that kind of speed and power, and what I would do with it once I had it.

Simply awesome.

ddf said...

Wow

Anonymous said...

I suppose I'll be gleefully rejected, but oh well, here are my thoughts on a post you made on Maggies blog. You said, "I'm retired Army, and I'm mad as Hell at the way Democrats are treating our troops."
I am a Democrat and I take great offense at that statement. My nephew is currently doing AIT training in VA right now. My son leaves Monday for his weigh in with the National Guard. I have a tremendous amount of respect for our troops and support them (if NOT bush) in all they do.
For you to lump all Democrats into one group of US troop haters would be the same as me saying that I'm mad as Heck at the way the Republicans treat our children. (RE: healthcare, etc.)
Don't get me wrong...I do NOT believe that each and every Republican thinks that only the children of privilege deserve the right to see a doctor. I'm just throwing a comparison out there.
As for being a Democrat...that does NOT mean that I support carty fink(beiner). I think you might get a kick out of my rant on him. I'd like to invite you to visit my AOL Journal... http://journals.aol.com/jillannemarie/HousewifeLife/
Thanks for the opportunity to express my point of view. Now, I have a big race day to get ready for. Have a wonderful Sunday.
Jill Marie

Greybeard said...

Jill...
San Francisco- Democrats
Toledo- Democrats
Berkeley- Democrats
Oakland- Democrats

What am I supposed to think about the way Democrats treat our troops? I realize it's not ALL Democrats, but where is the outrage from folks like you?
Patriotic Democrats... Get your party under control!!!

(Thanks for coming by, and thanks for allowing me to express myself in better detail.)

THIRDWAVEDAVE said...

Thx, GB, you saved me the comment.