Just an Earth-Bound Misfit: The Rantings of an Aging, Armed, Pinko Chick

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

SR-71:

7 comments:

w3ski said...: I got to see one of these grand old birds up close. It was being driven on a flat bed up the central Ca valley to Washington State for a museum display. They parked it at a truck stop overnight and set it up as kind of a display. The thing is huge and those big engines were amazing to stand next to. Such a tiny glass window for such a large plane.
w3ski; 7/28/2013 11:13 AM
bearsense said...: When I was stationed in England, used to routinely see this bird takeoff. The "plane-spotter" lot was always crowded with Brits (not to mention the occasional Russian and/or East German). The "Blackbird" never had to hold for anyone.; 7/28/2013 12:07 PM
Deadstick said...: I got to hear the cry of the Blackbird back in the Eighties, at the Reno races. The program had said that one was scheduled to arrive back from an unspecified mission sometime during the day.

Between a couple of heats, some Navy jock was showing off his cool jet when he arched into a loop and the crowd erupted with "Blackbird! Blackbird!" I doubt anyone remembers the rest of that guy's routine; every eye was on the little black stick and triangle as it came around and got bigger.

Down the showline, low and slow, everything hung out...and then it stood on two orange flames and climbed straight up out of sight with the sound still washing over the airport.

It left nothing behind but its grin.; 7/28/2013 1:24 PM
The Management said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/30/2013 12:39 AM
The Management said...: Not really on-topic to the Blackbird, but aviation-related and thought you'd appreciate it.

Badass WWII Russian lady combat aviator - used to make night raids and cut off her engines on final approach dive-bombing the Nazis so they wouldn't hear her.

They called her unit the "Night Witches"...

Nadezhda Popova, celebrated Soviet ‘Night Witch’ aviator of World War II, dies at 91

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nadezhda-popova-celebrated-soviet-night-witch-aviator-of-world-war-ii-dies-at-91/2013/07/13/5561fb1a-ea3c-11e2-a301-ea5a8116d211_story.html

Sorry about the raw URL; tried to get it to take as a clickable link but it wouldn't take. Deleted the previous comment to include the url.; 7/30/2013 12:43 AM
Stewart Dean said...: One of my AW&ST keeper issues is the one with the flight reviews of BOTH the SR71 AND the U-2...with both in the cover picture...the U-2 prolly in a dive and the SR-71 at the edge of stall. The reason the SR-71s waited for no one was that a) the wing was hot at speed (the leading edge glowing) and there could be not fuel tank bladder in the wing. There was considerable expansion....so on the ground the wing leaked fuel (a special mix, not JP4) and they had to get it into the air ASAP where the wing would heat up and seal; 7/31/2013 10:32 AM
xformed said...: Saw my first one at sunset at Kadena in summer of 75. Was awaiting a flight to Cubi to come home from 1/c Cruise. I said what was that? The AF guy said "You didn't see anything." 'Nuff said that day.; 8/01/2013 10:43 PM