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Originally posted by YooperSigs:
One of the early Skunk Works aircraft was the F-104. When I was stationed at K.I, the Canucks used to fly them down and do touch and go.
Essentially a missile with two stubby wings.

Those were wings? I thought it was the stand for the ground crew to use when strapping the pilot into the seat.

used to watch them fly out of CFB Cold Lake when I was there - awesome to watch

very loud and very fast

got a chance to sit in a few of them - not a lot of extra room

quote:

Originally posted by msfzoe:
Kelly Johnson is an American hero.

I was surprised that he kinda believed in flying saucers as noted in one of the excerpts from his notebook. Never mentioning where the saucers originated from he just had his beliefs about them despite the joking that he received from his associates. They did mention he witnessed a UFO from his ranch..I wonder what made him more convinced than ever at the end of his excerpt.

Back in 1960 I went to a school in Chicago for Electronics and one of the students one day was talking to some of us telling us he had a uncle who told him he has flown a plane so high over Russia that Russian planes and missiles can't reach him. We didn't believe him at the time.

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Originally posted by satch:
Back in 1960 I went to a school in Chicago for Electronics and one of the students one day was talking to some of us telling us he had a uncle who told him he has flown a plane so high over Russia that Russian planes and missiles can't reach him. We didn't believe him at the time.

I was in a networking group with Francis Gary Powers Jr. He likes to talk about his dad. I only ever thought he should have eaten the pill, so I would never respond other than, "that's interesting."

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Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by satch:
Back in 1960 I went to a school in Chicago for Electronics and one of the students one day was talking to some of us telling us he had a uncle who told him he has flown a plane so high over Russia that Russian planes and missiles can't reach him. We didn't believe him at the time.

I was in a networking group with Francis Gary Powers Jr. He likes to talk about his dad. I only ever thought he should have eaten the pill, so I would never respond other than, "that's interesting."

My father-in-law flew U2s out of Laughlin AFB in the late '50s though '61 or '62. (My wife was born there.) All the U2 pilots thought Powers failed in his duties to prevent the plane and himself from falling into enemy hands. They had no good words to say about Powers.

My FIL never talked about much of the flying he did in his career, which started in 1941 and went through the early '60s, but he would never say a word about the U2, other than that he flew them.



We still have the shell of his helmet, which is silver with those pointed triangles going back in a garish orange/red. He had his pressure suit for years, but it is now gone.

Cool.

About Powers - hard to judge a man's actions from a thousand miles away. I have his book, Overflight, signed by him. Good read. He did the best he could under the circumstances.

They did a piece on the Gotha 229, the father of the B2. Skunkworks built a model of the plane which they showed how they did it. The 229 is unclassified. Amazing the skills and capability of the craftsmen at Skunkworks, watching them bring the 229 back to life as a model.

They even did a real radar signature eval on it at China Lake which they also showed. Not bad radar signature for stealth in its time.

On the day they showed the 229 at Skunkworks they allowed the family members of the works to visit, so they could see what they fathers could do. Pretty cool.

Give them the plans to build anything and I believe Skunkworks will build it. Amazing.

bought the book and watched the show this evening

very good program

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Originally posted by icom706:
Cool.

About Powers - hard to judge a man's actions from a thousand miles away.

It isn't really hard. The U2 pilots were not to allow the plane or themselves to be captured. This included killing oneself, if needed. That was the bargain they accepted. He bailed out, which was not easy in that plane and was captured. Wreckage from the plane, including the engine (which was very advanced), was captured. He failed to do what he was supposed to do.

I understand that is a lot to expect, but if he wasn't willing, then he shouldn't have accepted the mission.

I love all this stuff, besotted with aircraft since a pup. Just purchased this program on Amazon for $3.

From what I remember, some in congress asked that the U2 go back on the same track it did a few days prior. Normally that would never be done, but when politicians get involved bad things happen.

So he did what he was told, and got shot down. If they had followed protocol and overflew a different area, most likely it would have been just another U2 flight.

Regarding the timing of Powers’ flight, my recollection is that the Eisenhower-Khrushchev summit was coming up, and intelligence indicated something was happening in the USSR that warranted taking the risk. Oops!

I have a friend at church whose Dad worked for Lockheed, I think the Skunk Works; she grew up in Palmdale. She has mementoes of her Dad which she has offered to let me look at but so far that hasn’t happened. Thanks for reminding me to encourage her to loan them.

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...and intelligence indicated something was happening in the USSR that warranted taking the risk. Oops!

Uh, yeah, they were developing/deploying the S-75/SA-2, the same missile battery that shot Powers U2 down. They wanted another look at it, and they damn sure got it...

Thank you for the name of show Toro. I know what I will be doing tonight.