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.
Malicious politics. Apparently pretty common in the free world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49 The Canadians did it to their CF-105. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow Northrup's F-20. (Somebody hates Northrup?) We have done less comprehensive damage to our B-1 and F-22 programs. "Too expensive." "Very soon, we're going to have something so much better." Let's kill the A-10. F-35 is all we need. The Littoral Combat Ship is all we need. Is it a traitor's tactic to consume massive budgets and tie up limited resources on dubious projects, to thereby compromise birds-in-the-hand that are already up and running? The Army wants a guided .50 projectile. Let that sink in: a 1/2-inch diameter sniper rifle projectile that can be STEERED to the target. (The scientists and engineers have proven that it can be done, but at what cost? And, will it be cost-effective?) For a long time 20mm was thought to be the lower size limit for an explosive projectile, because it was very difficult to put a safe, reliable, and effective fuse in a smaller package. What does it take to put a guidance system into a supersonic, high-G device the size of your thumb? This is a nice website, reliably offering a visual feast. We live in, and mankind contributes to, a beautiful and fascinating world. Sorry to get so political, but this is an on-going concern of mine.
RE: "Just needed to wait for computerized controls." m9777
Not true. Northrop had perfected flight controls for their flying wing bombers both propeller driven and jet engine variants as had Focke-Wulf managed to link the throttle control with a plane's variable pitch propellor so that at all power settings the pitch of the propellor was ideal. No other company in the world succeeded as did Focke-Wulf in that feat and no other company except Germany's Horton Brothers figured out how to control a flying wing. Democrat politics killed the Northrop planes to give the Air-Force the B-36 turkey and Germany's defeat in WW2 killed the Hortons' flying wing.
There were many issues with the YB-49. It didn't have sufficient range, nor could it carry the atomic bombs of the era. Stability issues were never fully resolved, it was marginally stable in all axis. Test pilot Robert Cardenas refused to sign off on it as suitable for general use by regular pilots. It was too ahead of its time.
Not to discredit Dan's post at all . . . just thought I'd toss out this note, since we recently had a discussion about formation flying. While the FW-190's engine control might have provided an overall benefit, it did have at least one negative consequence. It caused some speed variation, independent of the pilot's input and intent. That made it harder for 190 pilots to fly in close formation.
How many are left and flying?
ReplyDeleteThe US Air Force ordered all of them immediately scrapped. Some big-wig General didn't like them.
ReplyDeleteJust needed to wait for computerized controls. “Military Intelligence” never fails to amaze.
DeleteStill waiting for chips.
DeleteMalicious politics. Apparently pretty common in the free world.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49
The Canadians did it to their CF-105. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow
Northrup's F-20. (Somebody hates Northrup?)
We have done less comprehensive damage to our B-1 and F-22 programs.
"Too expensive." "Very soon, we're going to have something so much better."
Let's kill the A-10.
F-35 is all we need.
The Littoral Combat Ship is all we need.
Is it a traitor's tactic to consume massive budgets and tie up limited resources on dubious projects, to thereby compromise birds-in-the-hand that are already up and running?
The Army wants a guided .50 projectile. Let that sink in: a 1/2-inch diameter sniper rifle projectile that can be STEERED to the target. (The scientists and engineers have proven that it can be done, but at what cost? And, will it be cost-effective?) For a long time 20mm was thought to be the lower size limit for an explosive projectile, because it was very difficult to put a safe, reliable, and effective fuse in a smaller package. What does it take to put a guidance system into a supersonic, high-G device the size of your thumb?
This is a nice website, reliably offering a visual feast. We live in, and mankind contributes to, a beautiful and fascinating world.
Sorry to get so political, but this is an on-going concern of mine.
RE: "Just needed to wait for computerized controls." m9777
ReplyDeleteNot true. Northrop had perfected flight controls for their flying wing bombers both propeller driven and jet engine variants as had Focke-Wulf managed to link the throttle control with a plane's variable pitch propellor so that at all power settings the pitch of the propellor was ideal. No other company in the world succeeded as did Focke-Wulf in that feat and no other company except Germany's Horton Brothers figured out how to control a flying wing. Democrat politics killed the Northrop planes to give the Air-Force the B-36 turkey and Germany's defeat in WW2 killed the Hortons' flying wing.
Dan Kurt
The Ride of My Life—on a Flying Wing
Deleteand
The Death of the Flying Wing : The Real Reasons
Behind the 1949 Cancellation of Northrop
Aircraft's RB-49
There were many issues with the YB-49. It didn't have sufficient range, nor could it carry the atomic bombs of the era. Stability issues were never fully resolved, it was marginally stable in all axis. Test pilot Robert Cardenas refused to sign off on it as suitable for general use by regular pilots. It was too ahead of its time.
Not to discredit Dan's post at all . . . just thought I'd toss out this note, since we recently had a discussion about formation flying.
ReplyDeleteWhile the FW-190's engine control might have provided an overall benefit, it did have at least one negative consequence. It caused some speed variation, independent of the pilot's input and intent. That made it harder for 190 pilots to fly in close formation.
Yup. And they were ALL destroyed.
ReplyDelete