Jet Aircraft

[bdk]

If you could be either at the first flight or in the Cockpit of either an early Jet Bomber or Fighter what one would it be.

NORTHROP YB-49

Ever since I saw "War of the Worlds" on TV as a child...

Last edited by bdk on Fri Jun 11, 2004 3:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[agent86]

The Northrup B-49 is the ultimate COOL jet of all time.What a shame that it wasnt allowed to be developed into a production plane.The beauty and grace is undeniable.Mr.Northrup and company got it right and got screwed for their efforts.It's almost criminalthatnot a single airframe was set aside for preservation but I guess that's part of the screwing that Northrup received....I also remember the first time I saw war of the worlds on T.V.,however the flying wing was the last thing I remember about the movie, because I was too busy cowering behind the couch hoping that mom and dad would hurry home and rescue me from the martians!I still bear mental scars from that movie.It scared the sh-t out of me..............Thanks, Tim......

[TimAPNY]

The B-47. I’d want to be in it. It seems that that could perform like a fighter. Also the canopy would give great all around visibility and had to enhance the fighter feel.

[Don Martin]

Definitly a B-36! Although a LABS bomb run in a B-47 must have been quite an experience!

[bdk]

The B-47. I’d want to be in it. It seems that that could perform like a fighter. Also the canopy would give great all around visibility and had to enhance the fighter feel.

"Sounds Strange

Back in the '50s, SAC used special versions of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet for electronic reconnaissance. They were fast and efficient, and crowded. The Specialist Signals Operators — officially called "Ravens," but more popularly known as "Crows" — were crammed into a compartment only four feet high where they sat facing aft, strapped into ejection seats in the midst of banks of scopes, receivers, and recorders.

Despite awkward conditions, they did a good job recording myriads of exotic Sovjet radar pulses for later analysis. Often, however, flights were long and boring, with no sign of activity. One former Crow recalls:

Those sorties gave us time to dream up pranks. Since a Crow's greatest ambition was to pick up a new or an unusual signal, we sometimes made up our own. We brought kazoos, noise makers, whistles, signal generators, and other devices to stump the analysts. Once we brought a cricket along and recorded its chirping, which we mixed with the navigational radar pulse and electrical noise from a fuel boost pump. We recorded and photographed the result and called it a new signal, speculating that it was most likely from an advanced fighter radar. Two weeks later, the analyst's report came back. They had properly identified the nav radar, the boost pump, and the cricket. As a crowning touch, they had even determined the cabin temperature at the time of the recording and the sex of the cricket." (— Robert Jackson: High Cold War)"

[TimAPNY]

What the Grass isn't greener over on the B-47 side?
When I was in the Navy our pilots told us that patrols over Iraq (Southern Watch) got really boring. I would think that any patrol type flights would be boring and seem twice as long as they were.

[O.P.]

B-58, Cool looking and fast.