How many of you heard the extremely loud sonic boom from the space shuttle Endeavor's re-entry today (around 1pm Pacific)? Our entire block ran out of their houses, wondering what had happened. Touchdown was at Edwards AFB, 1:35pm.
At first, we thought it was an explosion. Then, we thought it was a weird earthquake. I finally learned that the space shuttle was landing in our backyard today -- and got very upset that I didn't hear about it sooner (otherwise I'd have hopped in the car and driven to see it land!).
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Sonic boom rattles SoCal!
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Sonic boom rattles SoCal!
That brings up a question: whatever happened to sonic booms?? We used to have them all the time when I was a kid but somewhere along the way they stopped, even before a number of local military bases closed down. Did they get legislated out of existence, or what?
Yes. In several countries, laws were passed banning supersonic flight over land. I blame J.J. Fad.
One of the greatest things I saw as a kid was when I was at a remote Nike (the missile, not the shoe!) base in the mountains of Northern Idaho, probably around 1958, and they had a flyover by my favorite plane of the time, the F-102 Delta Dagger. Three of them, in tight formation, probably no more than 500ft of altitude and they went sonic on us; thought I'd died and gone to heaven.
Maybe not quite the same thing, but for the last couple of years the B-2 Stealth Bomber has signaled the start of the Rose Parade. The sound those engines make is quite bone-shattering, even at "cruise" speed! It was later accompanied by two F117s, but last year was not around (maybe they were all overseas...).
Here's a shot I took a few years ago: 
Most Mach+ jets are also capable of very high altitudes, so now they merely climb to altitude before going super-sonic. Then it just sounds like distant thunder.
When the shuttle landed regularly at Edwards we here on the California central coast area got pretty used to window rattling booms on every return. The loudest I ever heard, though, was when the SR-71 set the record for a coast to coast flight not long before the Blackbird was official retired from service... have they brought them back into use post-9/11 or not?
I have been thinking about this on and off all evening, and I've concluded that there has never been a time in my life when I had a favorite plane. I've had a favorite baseball team, a favorite beer, a favorite tenor, and even a favorite dog, but never a favorite plane. I guess I've missed something. 
I stopped as soon as the SR-71 was revealed.
NASA is diligently working on a "blended wing/body" designed to eliminate loud sonic booms.
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/ ... 092-03.jpg The best aircraft around these days are by far the F-22 Raptor, vectored thrust, steathy and one mean mofo. Having said that, watching the big birds like the C-5 Galaxy are the best. They are so huge they appear graceful when banking and maneuvering.
I watched this show on sunday! Top ten fighters. http://military.discovery.com/technolog ... hters.html
They weren't kind to the F-22 in the show (you can also catch top rifles, top pistols, top submarines, etc., etc; all pretty well done), pointing out its utterly ludicrous cost and nobody to fight. A notable boondoggle.
As an airforce brat I was brought up on this stuff. My favorite plane was always the P51 Mustang. There's an excellent WW 2 Air Museum here and I've watched one on flight demo's a few times. Standing next to the runway when it does a low level pass at speed is a fantastic thing to see.
I know nothing about planes but the KELLET K-2/K-3 AUTOGIRO on display at the USAF National Museum was my favorite they had on display...
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=355
My father worked for Grumman Aircraft his whole career, and I used to have a large framed photo ( about 4' x 5' ) of the Grumman Panther. It hung on the wall of my various college rooms for 4 years.
Another vote for the P-51 Mustang.. my late brother-in-law, who flew a variety of planes in combat in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam, often said he could hit more flying by the seat of his pants with a strategically placed piece of chewing gum on the windshield of a P-51 than with the new-fangled jets he flew in Korea.
He was pretty good either way. He was an ace in both WWII and Korea, received multiple DFC w/cluster, relegated to choppers in Viet Nam, where he finally picked up a Purple Heart, about the only decoration he did not have short of the CMH. Ironically, he never advanced beyond Lt Col because he did not have a college degree. He learned ot fly as a teenager pre-WWII and left college to enlist in the AAF on Dec 8, 1941. He returned to college, in 1946, was called back for Berlin airlift, got out, called back for Korea, said the hell with it and just stayed in. Both his sons attended the Air Force Academy and became pilots and General officers but never matched the old man's record.
here are the urls
http://www.tom-phillips.info/images/coo ... litary.htm http://www.tom-phillips.info/images/coo ... tary.2.htm http://www.tom-phillips.info/images/coo ... tary.3.htm do they work for you?
Double the yep.
If you like cool airplanes and have some time to kill, you can sure waste a lot of it browsing the NASA Dryden Research Aircraft Photo Collection.
Speaking of the F-22 boondoggle, this was in my paper this morning:
<<....Gates also dared challenge the military-industrial complex over egregious military spending on projects such as the $65 billion F-22 stealth fighter plane that was designed to penetrate Soviet air defenses that were never built and has yet to fly a combat sortie in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars....>> Sure looks pretty though, eh?
Hmm. How long can I continue to bite my tongue?
Until all people who may wish to do us harm have beaten their swords into ploughshares. It's better to build a weapon and never have to use it, than to need a weapon and not have it ready to use. The reality of war is like Murphy's Law, when you're least prepared is when it will come. I'm the most dovish ex-mil you'll ever meet, but even I know the value of constant vigilance and preparedness. Think of all the billions of dollars of nukes (and nuke R&D) that were made in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s that are now obsolete and unusable. MAD works though.
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