| Author | Message | ||
     Ferris_von_bueller |
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-p olitics/wyoming-house-advances-doomsday-bill/artic le_af6e1b2b-0ca4-553f-85e9-92c0f58c00bd.html Note: The task force would look at the feasibility of Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier. | ||
| Kenm123t |
Who says a aircraft carrier has to be a Ship ? | ||
| Aesquire |
http://marvel.wikia.com/S.H.I.E.L.D._Helicarrier http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Airborn eAircraftCarrier This concept goes back to Jules Verne. Robur the Conquerer. It would take balls, the kind of genius that John Northrup was, and a bunchaton of money, but you could build one. Might be easier and cheaper to build an Orion Drive battlecruiser, where the mere threat of actually flying the thing is all you need. | ||
| Buellathebuzzer |
And Wyoming could enter into a treaty with the countries of Idaho and Nevada after the West coast falls off the continent. | ||
| Aesquire |
You mean the East Coast falls into the Atlantic?  I'd think that Montana, or Utah would be better philosophical partners than Nevada. Heck, add Idaho, Colorado and the Texas-Dakotas row and you'd have quite a prosperous nation. Agriculture, industry, and the AF Academy. ( where you'd base the Helicarrier ) | ||
| Ducbsa |
Olathe, KS had a naval air station. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
we used to run the Gulfstreams into KS on border jammins A Elint loaded Gully - set to nix and run the radar picket from NORAD ..... We did indeed , make that run often. Good times. Nothing like putting the AF guys on alert - and still beating them at the game. Rumor has it that is what the kid was doing when he landed his cessna in Red Square - interesting times - I miss the cold war - at least it made sense. | ||
| Aesquire |
Back, before my time.... The US Air Force had a plane, the B-36 "Peacemaker" bomber with 10 engines. 6 were the largest piston engines ever mass produced for an airplane, the P&W 4360. 28 cylinders in 4 rows. 4 were jets added in pods, 2 to a side, to boost speed and altitude performance. See "Strategic Air Command" with Jimmie Stewart. Seriously. Good movie. At the time the brag was the Peacemaker flew so high, and so fast, that even the Air Force jets of the day couldn't take off and climb to it's altitude and catch it, without falling out of the sky or running out of gas. And it could stay up there for days. Well, that brag was true. But... My father was stationed in CA in the '50's and the Navy had 1 air defense squadron on alert there. ( the rest of the alert squadrons were Air Force ) One practice mission had a B-36 cruising down the west coast, as AF base after AF base launched it's latest fighters, struggled up to the 8+ miles that the Peacemaker cruised at, and fell behind the massive bomber. Then they got to the Navy base. The Navy's newest jet took off, climbed above the B-36, then proceeded to actually fly giant barrel rolls around it, then raced ahead until out of sight, climbing. The Air Force was not amused. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Patrick- if you ever want to see a B-36, there's one on display at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, and I believe there's another in Fort Worth, TX. Very impressive aircraft. | ||
| Dwardo |
I will hazard a guess that the aircraft was the F-4 Phantom II. I believe that aircraft went mach 2 on its maiden flight. The F8 Crusader was a snorker too but I can't remember when it went into service. | ||
| Blake |
F-4 Phantom II in the '50s? | ||
| Hootowl |
Can't think of a Navy fighter (or any US fighter) that could maneuver at that altitude in the 50s. Not well enough to be able to turn with a big-winged beast like the B-36. The air is pretty thin at 40K feet, and the fighters of the day had small thin wings. | ||
| 46champ |
The only Navy fighter that was part of the ADC was the F4D Skyray. The one squadron attached to the ADC was based at NAS North Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F4D_Skyray Sometimes wikipedia cannot be trusted 100% but the information here can be verified elsewhere. (Message edited by 46champ on February 28, 2012) | ||
| Hootowl |
Huh. I thought that was an early 60's model. I stand corrected. It could have been that one. | ||
| Stirz007 |
Miramar got the first F-4's in 1960. Back to OP: Don't put anything by them Cowboys - Wyoming was first state to allow women to vote and first state to require Professional Licensing for Engineers.. | ||
| Dwardo |
Yeah it went into service in 1960, first flight in 1958. I thought it had been a little earlier. I believe the B-36 left the service in 1959? | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
The service ceiling of the B-36 is 43,000 feet. The F-86 Sabre, which was introduced in 1949, has a service ceiling of 49,000 feet. | ||
| Aesquire |
Douglas F4D Skyray is correct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F4D Called the 3 minute killer because of the insane climb rate. ...it was notable for being the first carrier-launched aircraft to hold the world's absolute speed record, at 752.943mph, ......The Skyray set a new time to altitude record flying from a standing start to 49,221 ft (15,000 m) in 2 minutes and 36 seconds, all while flying at a 70° pitch angle. From wiki. The F5D was almost twice as fast and capable, but lost out to the F8U Crusader. The few built spent the rest of their careers at NASA where they used them to simulate the Dyna-Soar project flights, since they could go from sea level to the edge of space in a few minutes. The F-86 Sabre was a great plane and possibly the last "pilots" fighter, but by the time you climbed to altitude, the Peacemaker had already flown away. Earlier jets actually fell out of the sky trying to get that high. ( to be fair later Canadair Sabres with more powerful engines could catch the B-36, but the Peacemaker was phased out to concentrate on the ( much faster ) Boeing B-47 Stratojet. ) The Crusader, F8U, did go supersonic on it's first flight, and, using the same engine as the USAF's F-100 Super Sabre, was faster, longer ranged, and became a well known Mig killer. That started the phrase "When you're out of Crusaders, you're out of fighter planes". Even better was the ( mach 3?? ) Crusader III that lost out to the F4 Phantom for the next naval fighter contract. 3 long range missiles vs. the Phantoms 4, and a second crewman & engine made the difference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_XF8U-3_Crusade r_III Not the only uber-cool "didn't make the big time" fighter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-107 ( could break the Mach in a vertical climb ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_XF-103 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YF23 ( a better plane than the Lockheed F-22? But a riskier choice the AF thought. Darth Vader would love one. ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-12 If it didn't take hours to melt the oil, and prep the plane, would have been awesome. The Bomber version, with SRAM's never got any publicity, for good reason. ) | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
There's a B-36 at the SAC Museum between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. They also have a B-52, SR-71, B-47, F-111, etc.... and one of my old satellite operator consoles. (They were just weather satellites) Funny. Wherever you go in the museum hanger...you're always under the B-36 or the BUFF. | ||
| Aesquire |
The SAC museum rocks. The park cabins next door are very nice, and the giant A frame hotel/restraunt well worth a visit. Try the Steak. ( It IS Nebraska, after all ) The B-36 at the SAC Museum used to be at Offut. On open house days, us kids were allowed to go inside. ( Lived at the end of the runway, Dad worked on base.... People wonder why I hate the Soviets who had multiple H-Bombs aimed at ME. ) The coolest part was taking the tunnel that went from the front, over the Bomb bay, back to the rear pressurized compartment. You rode on your back and used a rope to go the length.... Of course, that was on the ground, in flight there is a Pressure door at each end, and a loss in pressurization would send you though the tunnel like a cannon ball.... The poor Air Force guards... A bunch of crazed kids running around, poking into everything, while they kept us from getting too close to the alert B-52's and 47's. I got to do the FOD walk at the end of the open house one year, picking up wrappers and cig butts and everything else on the flight line. Also good is the USS Alabama museum. http://www.ussalabama.com/index.php Last time I was there the USS Drum was floating next to the BB. Moving that onto land must have been a nightmare. Was driving to Mississippi one march, with a lady friend, Who was awesome at picking the next bargain motel by the flyers at each State's border. Alabama had a Saturn rocket at the rest stop. Cool. Arrived at the Motel at the Museum at 3am. Woke up at dawn, and stepped outside to have a cigarette. Lit, inhaled, looked up, and there was a freaking Battleship in front of me. The A-12 in the museum is at ground level and possibly the sleekest thing ever built. |
