707 Anniversary | Page 3 | FerrariChat

707 Anniversary

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by Tcar, Jul 15, 2017.

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  1. Ak Jim

    Ak Jim F1 Veteran
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    Dec 23, 2007
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    North Pole AK
    I got to fly the KC-135 for 20 years! Got to fly the A, D, E, and R models. What a great jet and great mission.
     
  2. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    Rob- You would think that with a best (worst?) year of 177 Delta legs, I would remember that, but it is all one big jumble in my mind.
     
  3. Bob Parks

    Bob Parks F1 Veteran
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    Nov 29, 2003
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    #53 Bob Parks, Jul 20, 2017
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2017
    All this stuff about the KC-135 got me to thinking about the planes on which I worked and the B-52 came to mind when I saw one at very high altitude flying over Seattle probably around 1953. A Northrop Scorpion, I think from McCord, was climbing up behind it and obviously struggling to reach the B-52. The F-89 was nothing but a silver dot but I could recognize it. It got somewhere below and behind the B-52 but appeared to stall and fall away. Never got close. Those were the days when the B-52 was untouchable by fighters, I think. Tex had a very funny story about a test flight that inadvertently took them over the border and well into Canada. They turned for the flight home and were picked up by the US radar when they crossed the border back into our airspace. Fighters were scrambled and the B-52 crew got wind of it from Boeing or Air Defense and realized their mistake. As Tex Johnston told it, " We turned up the wick and just ran away from them." Again, they were at high altitude and moving right along. The B-52 will always be one of my favorites having been my first job at Boeing and seeing it become airborne for the first time.
    They're listening to me, the Dreamlifter just flew over and rattled the windows. Life is good.
     
  4. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

    May 31, 2003
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    Rob Guess
    Talk like that makes me think that we need to put you into a retirement home :D

    The last few times I flew on Delta SLC-LAS they were always running late and it always happened that they would announce the delay after I got through security. Turns out I could have made the drive to Vegas and got there before the flight did. My daughter is going to fly into ABQ next month to lighten grandmas wallet. Looks like she will be flying Delta out of Idaho Falls on her first ever Boeing A 717 after connecting in SLC.
     
  5. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Rob- A few years left before the home, but a couple of 177 leg years now would probably do it. Did I tell you about the B-36Js I used to watch fly over from Kelly AFB when I lived in San Antonio? Made the ground shake.
     
  6. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    #56 Tcar, Jul 21, 2017
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2017
    I grew up right under the N end of the N-S (17/35) runway at Kirtland AFB in ABQ (just W of Sandia Base)...

    When a B-36 flew over, very low, pictures fell off the wall, cabinet doors flew open, the dog hid under the car...

    There was a wooden fence (all others were metal) at the end of the runway, on Gibson and the B-36's took out the fence several times when landing.

    There were tower controlled stoplights on Gibson when a plane was landing.

    The ABQ airport used the same runways... DC-3's, Connies, Viscounts...
     
  7. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    Jim Pernikoff
    And I would bet that, if car alarms existed back then, the B-36 would have set them off! (Heck, I've had mine set off by Hueys and C-130s!)
     
  8. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    #58 Tcar, Jul 21, 2017
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2017
    Yes they would.

    They were probably only about 100-200' AGL over our roof when they landed and were still that loud.


    They eventually closed 17/35. At one point, a fighter had a flameout on takeoff going N, the pilot ejected, but the plane hit a car, killing a family. The car's frame was still sitting next to the road, but the car's body was 50 feet farther.
     
  9. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    Four burning and six turning, those were the days. Used to go through the XC-99 they had at Kelly for years. Think the National Museum of the USAF might have that now.

    Bob- Sorry, one of those Consolidated Vultee/Convair designs.
     
  10. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

    May 31, 2003
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    When the N-S runway was still in use I remember playing golf at Puerto Del Sol GC on the first tee there was a sign about not teeing off when planes were about to land. Only played there a few times as I preferred UNM Championship Course west of the airport.
     
  11. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    Funny... No golf course there when I was a kid... open field, sand and tumbleweeds then.
     
  12. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    They still use the N-S runway when the winds are bad enough. They really try to limit the approaches from the north, though. Sometimes you just cannot avoid it with Albuquerque winds being what they are.
     
  13. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

    May 31, 2003
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    I have to agree about the winds in ABQ. Last summer I was on top of Sandia Peak with my daughter waiting for the tram to take us down. You could see a thunder storm rolling in from the SW. A Southwest 737 flew overhead making a dive bomber straight in approach to 21. About 5 mins later you could not even see the airport due to the storm.

    I bet that was a hell of a ride for the passengers on that flight.
     
  14. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    May 27, 2004
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    Sean
    The 707 prototype is at the Hazy Udvar(smithsonian) at Dulles. Any body know how it got there. Was it sitting in Seattle and refurbished for the flight?
     
  15. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    It had been refurbished to flying condition several years earlier and just waited in Seattle until Udvar-Hazy was finished. On one occasion, it flew past the office building in Renton where we were designing the 777!

    It was on static display at one of the annual Boeing Field airshows, and sitting in front of it was Tex Johnston, who I had the pleasure of chatting with. Good conversation!
     
  16. Bob Parks

    Bob Parks F1 Veteran
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    Nov 29, 2003
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    The -80 was brought back from the Arizona storage site and made ready for the flight to Washington, D.C. It was not in the best shape or its original configuration. The spars had some significant corrosion and had to be beef up.The wing is in the configuration of the XC-14 test of the blown surface high lift and it is loaded with heavy titanium flaps and skins. The airplane had to be balanced by putting 2200 pounds of blast in the nose. The wing is also configured with the experimental glove from the 720 tests so it looks nothing like the original wing. I think that I recall that it was flown to Dulles with the landing gear down. Too bad that the original wing configuration couldn't be put back.
     

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