Cold War Aviation Porn
- Thread starter JuanTwoThree
- Start date
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
I've never seen a U-2, infact I don't know what one is, but the ones I didn't see in Cyprus - which I've never been to - used disposable 'wheels on sticks' under the wings for take off which just fell away as the aircraft didn't take off, and when the aircraft didn't land it didn't land on tandem landing gear under the fuselage with the wingtip just 'flopping' down onto the tarmac as the aircraft came to a stop.
It might have seemed a bit heath-robinson to me, had I seen it...
It might have seemed a bit heath-robinson to me, had I seen it...
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
That sounds just mad enough to be real. Is it?
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Cheap and effective I think, plus fairly quickly deployed. The U2 was largely based on a proven/costed design, the F104 Starfighter - IIRC Lockheed was forced to restart production of the U2 some years after the original contract had been wound-up, simply because the USAF was buckling under the cost of its replacement - the SR-71 program.
And they also carry high res cameras - in fact, there is a very unusual U2, a dedicated camera bird, operated by NASA as a civilian aircraft and modified to fly with two modern and more economic turbofan engines, which gives it much greater range and dwell time for some major earth imaging project- except that it now seems to spend much of its time at a US base in the Horn of Africa.
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T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Yes, come to think of it, if the U.S. doesn’t have a satellite already in orbit over a certain area, changing the orbit of an existing satellite elsewhere to fly over it it’s probably far more risky and expensive...
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
I think most state actors also can generate a fairly good picture of where satellites are at any given time and use the gaps. Aircraft can pop up at anytime.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Prohibitive cost, yes and a much larger operation to deploy. Politics, as UAV’s were becoming viable alternatives and had strong advocates in the US military, plus, despite its undoubted performance and more stealthy design, the SR-71 was actually less capable than the U2 - the U2s produced in the restarted production of the 1980s (which I think account for all flying today) were capable of handling larger, modular payloads and were equipped with then brand new data link tech, which put them streets ahead.
The SR-71 also got retired twice. Six were kept in flyable storage (plus two to civvy use at NASA) but were reactivated for some years when the Middle East became an active hotspot (Kuwait?) and even though they last few around 2000, the last NASA aircraft remain maintained for potential return to use.
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DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
1. UAS/drones are very expensive as they use a lot of satellite time and need a lot of crew. It's also hard to retain crews as people will not sit in a reeking portakabin for years on end eating crisps and looking a videos of Hellfires going off. Contrast with other aircrew who will happily do 10+ years of flying assignments.
2. Certain treaty commitments require wet film imagery rather than digital which means U2.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Re: point 2 there. Is that just a leftover of the days when those treaties were signed, or is there some vital difference that wet film imagery makes?
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
That's what it says in the treaty. I suppose nobody wants to renegotiate the whole lot.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Figures, I guess. I've had to read about the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea recently (for reasons too boring to explain) and it seems to have involved galaxy-sized negotiations that stretched out over years.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Mummy plane and her chicks, learning to fly...
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
I had to write a short chapter in a book about UNCLOS once. Even quite reliable generalist textbooks got it wrong. Inshore waters being the bit that caused problems. I wrote a shit poem about it, but fortunately I can’t remember it... cool story I know.
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David Clapson
Well-Known Member
Mt first girlfriend's uncle was a Lightning pilot. We went to stay with him when he'd moved on to Phantoms. He missed the Lightning terribly, especially going vertical after take-off. I was sick with jealousy. I'd been wanting to fly fast jets since I'd been 13 but had failed the medical. My dream was to fly a Jaguar at low level over West Germany. I went to Coltishall as a cadet when there were three Jaguar squadrons there, and had a day of bliss at dispersal, 'helping' the ground crew. I did solo an RAF glider but I put it through the fence at RAF Kenley when I was 16, still drunk from my first sampling of spirits the night before. So maybe it's a good thing I didn't get in. I'm sure I'd have got no further than the Bulldog before being weeded out as psychologically unsuitable.
When I was Flt Sgt in charge of the cadets, one of the corporals was a chap called Greg Bagwell. We never spoke so I had no idea he was interested in joining the RAF, but years later I read about him in the paper - he was an Air Vice Marshal running No 1 Group, in charge of all the RAF bombing. He was a Tornado pilot, so presumably he'd have bombed rather a lot of Iraqis in the first Gulf war, and perhaps the second. I'd have been shocked to be told to go and kill people and have missiles shot at me. When I tried to join I saw the RAF as the ultimate flying club, with free jets and fuel and food, and permission to fly the jets at 50 feet. I had complete faith in deterrence and MAD. The Russians also had a flying club and we'd meet up to test ourselves and each other, but they weren't insane, so they had no more desire to fight than I did. Wars with other nations seemed inconceivable. If I'd been told to fly a Tornado into Iraq, or a Harrier over the Falklands, I might have just bottled it and refused to go. Buf if I win the lottery I might just buy this Phantom.
When I was Flt Sgt in charge of the cadets, one of the corporals was a chap called Greg Bagwell. We never spoke so I had no idea he was interested in joining the RAF, but years later I read about him in the paper - he was an Air Vice Marshal running No 1 Group, in charge of all the RAF bombing. He was a Tornado pilot, so presumably he'd have bombed rather a lot of Iraqis in the first Gulf war, and perhaps the second. I'd have been shocked to be told to go and kill people and have missiles shot at me. When I tried to join I saw the RAF as the ultimate flying club, with free jets and fuel and food, and permission to fly the jets at 50 feet. I had complete faith in deterrence and MAD. The Russians also had a flying club and we'd meet up to test ourselves and each other, but they weren't insane, so they had no more desire to fight than I did. Wars with other nations seemed inconceivable. If I'd been told to fly a Tornado into Iraq, or a Harrier over the Falklands, I might have just bottled it and refused to go. Buf if I win the lottery I might just buy this Phantom.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
Those aren't trucks. They are "dead loads" built to the same weight as the aircraft.
