Questions about some American aircraft

[JohnH]

A friend from England sent these questions...and I don't have the answers.....over to you guys.

John



I went to Duxford last week with a retired surgeon (who is my car Advanced Motoring Observer) and two of his friends and we spent a very pleasant day, being the last to be chucked out at closing time.

However, there were three questions which we could not answer as follows:

1. Which was the US military jet aircraft (I think that it also had some form of rocket assisted take off) which killed quite a few of its pilots, particularly the German ones?

2. How does the crewe (or, indeed, anyone else) get into and out of the B-52 Stratofortress?

3. How did the crewe escape from the SR-71A Blackbird when shot down at 70,000 feet and Mach 2.5 (not sure of those figures)?

I, of course, volunteered that I had a friend who knows the answer to everything, so, over to you, please!

[Swiss Mustangs]

John


1: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

2: there was a ladder under the nose in front of the nosewheels - see here:
http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org/jwren71.jpg

3: see here: http://www.ejectionsite.com/sr1seat.htm

Martin

[John Ceglarek]

However, no SR-71 was ever shot down in combat. There were operational losses, but not due to enemy activity.

John