Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/08/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I desperately wish I could have seen a B-58 in the air. After I was old enough to drive I'd go down to the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson. At that time, before the new museum was built, the aircraft sat outside. B-70, B-58, a great hulking B-36, B-47 and all the WWII birds. I was always a lover of the big delta-winged fighters. The Century-Series fighters were the shapes of my youth. The brakes for the B-70 were designed/built at B F Goodrich about a mile from my home. My senior year "career day" was spent there and I got to see films of the "test to destruction" of one brake. Amazing to see. The brakes were liquid-cooled but the stored KE of a huge wheel with a vast electric motor was enough to melt that puppy down. I can still see the shower of sparks! The most impressive siting is a tie: an SR-71 shooting touch and goes at Mather AFB and a B-52 flying about 500 feet (or lower) across South Dakota. We were driving back from Minnesota in the late 80s when we spotted a shape clear the hills to the west. I knew what it was immediately. We stopped and my whole family watched as this BUFF came plowing over head at, what, 300 knots or better, trailing thin black trails. One seriously hurtlin' piece of machinery! Great sound - but NOTHING, abosultely NOTHING compared to that SR-71 as it powered up to re-enter the pattern for another touch and go. OMG what a sound. I was in a convertible, top down, a gorgeous late summer morning, vivid blue sky, achingly black airplane, the red lines painted on the underside of her wings stood out vividly. I pulled off US-50 about Zinfendel and just watched. Adam On 8/8/07, ISILVERMN@aol.com <ISILVERMN@aol.com> wrote: > On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 10:35:59 +1000 "G Hopkinson" _hoppyman@bigpond.net.au_ > (mailto:hoppyman@bigpond.net.au) wrote: > "Now that B58, I thought was a beast to be respected." > > Hi Hoppy, > > Many thanks again for looking. > > To my eyes, the B-58 Hustler was one drop-dead gorgeous airplane. And one > of the most appropriately named. After all, what is a hustler, if not > Born > Beautiful, Lived Fast, and Died Young! > > I've got some scanning to do from the archives this weekend. > > Best Regards, > > Ira > > > > ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL > at > http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >