And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Yes, the single-seat sport model! At least, compared to the SR-71. I never knew there was a difference until I watched a u-tube video of a presentation by an Oxcart driver..
Kelly Johnson was a genius!! What a great American, as were all the folks I am aware of who participated in the aerospace programs as designers, engineers, production crews, ground crews, pilots and anyone else involved in the past, current and future of our military aviation/space programs. It's always amazed me that while you can see the roots of the U-2 in the P-80/F-80/T-33, where the heck did the A-12/SR-71 come from?? Amazing!
as a general rule, design engineers don't like to try an awful lot of new things on any one design. incremental design changes to "improve the breed" is a good plan. but this... probably the only components on the airframe that were tried and true were some of the instruments. turboramjet? who ever heard of a turboramjet? titanium sheet metal and forgeings, using fuel for hydraulic fluid, RCS reducing leading edges, the analog computer to control the inlet aerospike, the wiring and plumbing, the fuel itself, engine starting systems, life support systems, stability augmentation systems, all moving vertical stabilizers, there were so many firsts on the airframe it is still frightening to any test engineer. let alone the mission parameters. I grant you Mr. Johnson had real genius along with the management skill set needed to get a room full of like minded geniuses to work together in a closed shop with little government supervision. Lockheed rued the day they relaxed the rule about zero government interference in the design and build. just what would Kelly think of the F-22 or F-35 programs were he alive now. a pity.
I recall reading an article about the development of the Blackbird. There was a photo of an engine running in a test stand at night. The rear third of the engine glows red hot.
They had a problem with bolt head failures in the engine. They were able to backtrack to which tool box and which wrench was used. Turned out that the wrench was chrome plated, and small bits of the plating would come off on the bolt head. At operating temperatures, the chrome would alloy with bolt head, changing the composition, and the bolt would fail.
I recall the USAF had a rule about pencil only on aircraft forms. no erasures allowed. mechanics found it convenient to mark everything with pencils. had to have a pencil anyway,so they used them everywhere. even of the PRT manifold on the R3350s. interesting what graphite did to hot steel.made for some interesting etched holes in the manifolds. but yes, i read where there was a production issue of using tap water to cool forgeings which failed QC testing. found that the city used fluoride in the water and that contaminated the metal. lots of interesting things in the production quality control reports.
Then there is the A-12 Oxcart
ReplyDeleteYes, the single-seat sport model! At least, compared to the SR-71. I never knew there was a difference until I watched a u-tube video of a presentation by an Oxcart driver..
DeleteBrian Shul--
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajjlNYvO1CU
Great video, had never seen that before. Thanks.
DeleteMy favorite is Brian Shul's "LA SPEED CHECK" story.
ReplyDeleteKelly Johnson was a genius!! What a great American, as were all the folks I am aware of who participated in the aerospace programs as designers, engineers, production crews, ground crews, pilots and anyone else involved in the past, current and future of our military aviation/space programs. It's always amazed me that while you can see the roots of the U-2 in the P-80/F-80/T-33, where the heck did the A-12/SR-71 come from?? Amazing!
ReplyDeleteas a general rule, design engineers don't like to try an awful lot of new things on any one design. incremental design changes to "improve the breed" is a good plan. but this... probably the only components on the airframe that were tried and true were some of the instruments. turboramjet? who ever heard of a turboramjet? titanium sheet metal and forgeings, using fuel for hydraulic fluid, RCS reducing leading edges, the analog computer to control the inlet aerospike, the wiring and plumbing, the fuel itself, engine starting systems, life support systems, stability augmentation systems, all moving vertical stabilizers, there were so many firsts on the airframe it is still frightening to any test engineer. let alone the mission parameters.
DeleteI grant you Mr. Johnson had real genius along with the management skill set needed to get a room full of like minded geniuses to work together in a closed shop with little government supervision. Lockheed rued the day they relaxed the rule about zero government interference in the design and build. just what would Kelly think of the F-22 or F-35 programs were he alive now. a pity.
Even if it was 4 to 6 years from proposal to operational, this time frame is one of the most amazing projects every done.
ReplyDeleteI recall reading an article about the development of the Blackbird. There was a photo of an engine running in a test stand at night. The rear third of the engine glows red hot.
ReplyDeleteThey had a problem with bolt head failures in the engine. They were able to backtrack to which tool box and which wrench was used. Turned out that the wrench was chrome plated, and small bits of the plating would come off on the bolt head. At operating temperatures, the chrome would alloy with bolt head, changing the composition, and the bolt would fail.
I recall the USAF had a rule about pencil only on aircraft forms. no erasures allowed. mechanics found it convenient to mark everything with pencils. had to have a pencil anyway,so they used them everywhere. even of the PRT manifold on the R3350s. interesting what graphite did to hot steel.made for some interesting etched holes in the manifolds. but yes, i read where there was a production issue of using tap water to cool forgeings which failed QC testing. found that the city used fluoride in the water and that contaminated the metal. lots of interesting things in the production quality control reports.
Delete