way cool

The airplane at the bottom of the shown sequence is an RB57-F. I maintained Nav., Inertial Nav. and other electronic systems in these in Germany back in the late 60's. NASA is still using one that is the last one flying. We called them longwings as you can see.

They did a flyby with the RB57-F at the 100 year celibration of flight at Kitty Hawk. I wa very surprised to see it in the air as I didn't know there were any left flying. From what I remember the plane had some spar problems in the beginning because of the extended wing. I think it was time limited at first, then they made the wing even longer. Cool plane though and glad to say I saw one fly.

LAST EDITED ON May-07-04 AT 07:32 PM (CDT)
 
My T-37 instructor (Maj Marty Keller) had just returned from Vietnam where he flew B-57s (Canberras?) out of Da Nang. Lots of interesting stories! I used to see RB-57s when I flew into Yakota. In addition to stretching the wings, I think that they also had new engines. If I remember correctly, they were bare aluminum with international orange markings.

Other memories include watching SR-71s taking off at Kadena. I remember being held number one for takeoff while a Habu taxied over from the SAC side of the base and took off to God knows where. Very impressive. The SR-71 pilots kept to themselves at the Officers' Club, but I was impressed by the "Mach 3+" patches on their flight suits.

Now you've done it...I'll never manage to get off the internet now (way cool doesn't begin to express it). Thanks.
--Ray

This one is fun, too!

http://bemil.chosun.com/movie link/SU-35.wmv

See Ya