HycoSpeed, on February 24th, 2013
 
A good while back, 38 weeks ago, according to Intense Debate, I did a post on a particular variant of the C-130 that was developed for a mission to try and pull the Iranian hostages out by landing the plane inside the national soccer stadium in an operation called Credible Sport. If you’ll permit me to go off on a bit of a tangent, I’ll tell you how that story is related to what you see here today. Perhaps some of you have noticed the Featured Posts ticker that has recently come to adorn the top portion of the right side bar. This is a way for us to pick out some articles that we thought were cool, and that you might enjoy if you happen to have missed them the first time around (and, if you happen to have a favorite from the way back files that you don’t see over there, mention it in an email to the tips line, and I bet we can get it on the list!). Like any narcissistic self-evaluating writer would do, all of your contributors have taken a gander through their old stuff to pull out the good ones. I have been slow in getting around to this (and I probably made up for it by picking too many out), but yesterday I finally got around to it. In the process, I also went back and read some comments to see what I might have missed. On the post about Credible Sport (which was a subset of a program named Honey Badger, by the way), Plecostomus* happened to answer in the form of a question:
“I think it’s bloody BRILLIANT.
Except I like giant seaplanes.
Is there a flying-boat variant of the C-130, I wonder?”
Continue reading Hercules Goes For a Swim
Fodder, on December 12th, 2012
 Note The Radiator Between the Engines [image National Air Force Museum]
Towards the end of the war several unusual prototypes made their way off the drafting board. This modification was yet another example of an aircraft answering a need that didn’t actually exist.
Continue reading The Boeing XB-38 Watercooled Fortress
engineerd™, on October 9th, 2012
 The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Nevada mountains sold separately. I’ve spent most of the morning emailing back and forth between suppliers trying to coordinate details and approving valve performance tests. Emailing. I have done in 4 hours what would have taken days not that long ago. Yet, I look at aircraft like the SR-71 which, from contract award to first prototype, took just under 2 years and I wonder…have we really advanced?
Now that your brain is working, let’s get the rest of your body working after the jump.
Continue reading Blackbird Pron
Fodder, on September 3rd, 2012
 Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
An answer was needed to counter the Messerschmitt ME-262 jet fighter. The U.S. Air Force gave Kelly Johnson and his team at Lockheed six months to develop a modern jet fighter in 1943.
Continue reading Follow The Shooting Star – The Lockheed P-80
The Professor, on August 17th, 2012
 Just a really cool picture, no idea of who took it.
And now…
Continue reading Vintage Celluloid
engineerd™, on June 12th, 2012
In the 1960s, American Airlines was looking for a jet smaller than a 747 that could still fly long distances and carry 400 passengers. They approached Lockheed, who was reeling from the loss of some military contracts. Lockheed decided to give it a go, and wound up with a tri-jet configuration that would go by the name Lockheed L-1011 “Tristar”. Only 250 were produced, meaning Lockheed took a major loss on each one. Problems with engine supplier Rolls Royce hampered production. Meanwhile, the very similar Douglas DC-10 was stealing the show…and customers.
Continue reading Not Stock: Orbital Sciences L-1011
Fodder, on March 15th, 2012
 Lockheed XF-90
The Lockheed XF-90 was one of the most pure jet fighter designs of the Cold War. Although like most fighters of the era it was underpowered and heavy but as with most things in life you can get away with murder when you look this good.
Continue reading An Arrow To The Heart Of The Enemy: Lockheed XF-90
engineerd™, on March 14th, 2012
In the early days of the Cold War knowing when the commies would come over the North Pole with their bombs and imperial intentions was a very high priority for the military. We built the Distant Early Warning Line of radar installations that would let SAC know to scramble interceptors and let the Secret Service know to get the President down to the bunker. However, that row of radar in northern Canada was limited to watching the sky over land. What if the Soviets came around over the ocean?
Continue reading Lockheed Warning Star: Connie Gets Mean
The Professor, on November 17th, 2011
 A lineup of A-12s, quite possibly at Groom Lake The U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was developed and became operational in the mid 1950s, and while it was successful, CIA officials had predicted that the aircraft’s useful lifetime for flights over the USSR would only be around 18 months. In its first flights over Soviet territory, the U-2 was detected and tracked very successfully by their air defense warning system. Efforts were made to make the U-2 less vulnerable, and new advances in radar-absorbent materials were tried and were successful to a degree, but not enough to solve the problem. A number of different analyses determined that supersonic speed made radar detection less likely, and it was decided that an extremely fast, high flying aircraft that also incorporated the best stealth technology available was the approach to take.
Continue reading Making OXCART
TechieInHell, on November 17th, 2011
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Nevada mountains sold separately. Last week on Necessary Condescension, we explained the difference between an aileron roll, a barrel roll, and a cinnamon roll. To recap, an aileron roll is what you do when Peppy yells at you to do a barrel roll, a barrel roll is a very cool strafing loop in mid-air, and a cinnamon roll for breakfast explains the man-boobs I have to accompany my beer gut. We also said we would later explain what flight has in common with dribble glasses. What we didn’t say was that we don’t have an engineering degree and may not be qualified to write this article, but you made it this far so you may as well keep going.
Continue reading Startup: Necessary Condescension – Spy Plane Edition
|
|
