USNSPARKS said: “After seeing some SR-71 posts I figured 2 true tales would be okay.

In his book, Sled Driver, SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:
“I’ll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as
Walt (my back-seater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13
miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other
aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn’t really
control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope.
I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed.”90 knots” Center
replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. “120 knots,”
Center answered. We weren’t the only ones proud of our ground speed that
day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, “Ah, Center, Dusty
52 requests ground speed readout.” There was a slight pause, then the
response, “525 knots on the ground, Dusty.” Another silent pause.
As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a
familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back-seater. It
was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew,
for we were both thinking in unison. “Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground
speed readout for us?” There was a longer than normal pause…. “Aspen,
I show 1,742 knots” (That’s about 2004.658 mph who don’t know)
No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.
————————————————–
In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a
request for clearance to FL 600 (60,000ft). The incredulous controller,
with some disdain in his voice, asked, “How do you plan to get up to
60,000 feet?
The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded, “We don’t plan to go up
to it; we plan to go down to it.” He was cleared.
————————————-
BTW, I have a small text file filled with numerous hilarious aviation stories.
If you’d like a copy post your EMail address here or Email me. Just add
“@COMCAST.NET” to my ID above. Please put “aviation humor” in subj line so I
don’t trash it as spam.
Best Regards.”

I would enjoy the aviation stories. Tks, Les

Richard Solensky said: “The Post-WWII era was a great one if you were an aircraft designer. Anything seemed possible, and there was plenty of money available to try!

The U.S. Navy was worried about supersonic fighters taking off and landing on aircraft carriers – so they commissioned the Convair F2Y Sea Dart – a supersonic sea plane! Also from the free-wheeling minds at Convair was the XFY-1 “Pogo”, a VTOL craft. “So?” you say? This one took off standing on its tail, pointing straight up! To land the thing, you needed a rear-view mirror! Then there was the McDonnell F-85/X-85 “Goblin”, a jet fighter that was to be carried aboard a bomber and dropped from a “trapeeze” as needed, and then snagged out of mid-air when the fighting was over.
All of these worked in test flights…”

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The WW2 German aircraft designers and builders had VTOLs designed using jet propulsion. One named Lippich was far ahead of the rest with his delta wing designs and went to work for Convair after the war.
The Goblin was the jet powered version of a portable fighter escort that was developed in the ’30’s for blimps. The Goblin was the most hideous aircraft ever designed.

Brabazon 2 was designed for turboprops, with economy and trouble-free operation in mind. I wonder how it would have gone if it had been built and configured for say 250 passengers in all-economy.

I do not know – But my early life was spent next to the Runway in Filton, Bristol – where the Brabazon was built. My parents told me that the runway had to be lengthened at Filton to accommodate the Brabazon (ne 1947)

[quote]jjwoods said: “I wander where it is now.”[/quote]

None of the Brabazons were saved – they were broken up and scrapped. The Undercarriage assy may be inspected in Filton, Nr Bristol England.

I do not know – But my early life was spent next to the Runway in Filton, Bristol – where the Brabazon was built. My parents told me that the runway had to be lengthened at Filton to accommodate the Brabazon (ne 1947)

1. Love the website. All the articles I’ve read so far are indeed Damn Interesting! Keep up the fine work!

2. I live in the UK, on a housing estate that is near the former site of a RAF base. All the street names have some sort of aeronautical name, for example Barnes Wallis Close, Sunderland Close etc. At the back of the estate, there is a road that leads nowhere (I think there may have been a time when expansion of the estate was on the cards, never happened) and the road is called Brabazon Way. Useless information I know, but I thought it was at least semi-interesting…