Posted on 02/14/2019 10:05:18 AM PST by Kid Shelleen
Cool. I used to see Pappy Boyington at airshows. He was also very affable. I mostly listened, since I was a shy boy, but I sometimes chatted a bit with him.
FYI
My favorite Right Stuff scene was the altitude record attempt with the JATO F-104A, since my father was a junior engineer on the design team, and was present at the first flight: 28 February test hop, I think, not 04 March maiden flight.
One of the few stories I ever got out of him (from a lifetime of Top Secret work with Lockheed and NASA):
He and his fellow engineer were watching the XF-104 run up its J65; a couple of USAF pilots came alongside, stared at it, turned to my father and one said, “Where’s the rest of the wing?”
My father said, “I’m sorry, that’s all there is.” It then took off.
Given the swept wing with its delayed onset, courtesy of obtained German research, it is plausible, if:
Adequate altitude.
Manageable buffeting.
Controllable surfaces.
As others have noted, the controllability problem gave rise to the all-flying surface.
If the MiG-15 had had that, I suspect it could have gone supersonic rather easily in a steep, high dive, since it had both the swept wing and a T-Tail that should have minimized elevator turbulence.
That’s pretty neat...don’t you feel as if you could SEE history when you see someone like that?
No sound quite like them, eh?
I looked up and saw this pass over:
When we left, just a mile or two up the road, I saw this in a big, grass field, nobody around:
Aviation Wood...:)
LOL, the stairs were down on one, and I so wanted to go in and peek, but...gotta respect property like that!
Yep. Him especially.
And things like a low-altitude, high-speed fly-by by a P-51D snd H at Travis AFB.
The D did a chandelle at the end of the runway. The H went vertical.
My dad flew 86s
I shoulda asked him
He flew 100s and the crazy 104 as well....
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