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Re: [OM] OT Blackbirds were boring (probably)

Subject: Re: [OM] OT Blackbirds were boring (probably)
From: Chris Barker <cmib@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 07:01:20 +0200
Photos from the heights that these aircraft flew at would have been
amazing, I expect.  However, I don't think that the pilot would have been
allowed to take a camera with him.

>I expect the SR-71 kept pilots relatively busy, although not as much
>as fighter jocks. I think it carried only a couple hours of fuel, so
>at least a couple times during a mission you had to lower gear, drop
>down to 30,000 feet or so, and try not to overrun a tanker!

You're right Jan, I wasn't considering the length of the sortie with those
massive engines burning fuel.  But it is still recce...

>
>The King of boring was the U-2. It carried plenty of fuel to keep it
>up for eight hours or more. The ones I worked on were little more
>than flying radio antennas -- all the listening was
>performed/controlled on the ground. The pilots referred to their
>missions as "orbits." Although they weren't supposed to do anything
>but fly^H^H^Hwatch their autopilot, I regularly saw pilots get in
>with paperback novels in their pockets.

Your "Control H" didn't come out.

>It was hard keeping U-2 pilots, because the airlines recruited them
>heavily, unlike fighter jocks, who the airlines didn't appreciate for
>some reason. (Excess testosterone, adrenaline, and 747's don't mix!
>:-)

Look, I'll be calm and well-mannered, just give me a job.. ;-)


>Although satellites have largely done away with manned spy aircraft,
>the U-2 is enjoying a new life (and a new name, the TR-1) as an
>environmental sampling station. NASA has a bunch of them, painted

I think that there are still some painted in camo colours Jan

_______________________________________
Chris Barker <><        mailto:cmib@xxxxxxxxxxx
Box 2, Officers' Mess,
RAF Brueggen, BFPO25, UK.



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