Posted on 11/21/2017 12:25:46 AM PST by ransomnote
I read “Skunkworks” about Ben Rich who took over from Kelly Johnson, and he was the driving force behind the stealth fighter.
In 1975, we had radars that could see a BB from 5 miles away. (I thought it was 20 miles, but I might be getting it mixed up with the fact they could detect a soaring hawk from 20 miles away)
To have an independent authority test the claims made by Lockheed that they reduced the radar signature of a plane by 1000x (Northrop was claiming they fabricated their data to get government contracts) they had a guy from MIT come out to verify their claims.
His equipment was a container with ball bearings ranging from the size of a marble to the size of a BB.
Nothing to see here folks. Just an Angel or Demon with his ophanim.
I honestly thought air traffic control, was one of the worst possible jobs one could have in the USAF. I don’t think commissioned officers liked having enlisted people telling them what to do. I think many deeply resented it. On the absolute first day that I was eligible to put in my retirement papers, I did so. I couldn’t wait to retire and get away from these people. The best revenge I have gotten, is I have been collecting retirement pay for 30 years now, and I don’t do Obamacare. Beyond that, I am not sure I would do it again.
In any case - Thank you!
The new “Lolita Express”.
“Good thing you upgraded, Epsy! We came close to getting busted with that slow old model.”
I’m the opposite. I always thought air traffic control was the best job. In a military environment your status was not based on your rank but your ability to work traffic. If was working approach assist and an Airman First Class was working approach, what he told me to do I did. In the actual performance of the job rank didn’t count that much. Training was a bitch, though.
Learned how to work PARs on F-4’s at Zweibrucken GCA in an old MPN-13. Got pretty damn good at it, too. Lost art nowadays.
According to a friend who was a radar guy for the AF, the proper response is “I think someone needs to check on this radar unit”. Never deny what you saw (because other people may have seen it) but blame the equipment. You always have plausible deniability because you didn’t actually see anything.
He claimed anomalies usually indicated a tube was about to go.
A coworker told me a story about seeing something when he was a pilot. He radioed it in, thinking it was another plane. They were waiting on him when he got back so he told them it looked like a weather balloon. Right answer. They left him alone.
Yeah my fighter pilot Dad had a “ close encounter” over Korea during the war. Pilots know what and is not aeronautically possible in this realm. He never told snyone. Didnt want a mental evaluation by the govt
My buddy who worked in missile silo- very interesting event
Nothing about radars either
Silos attracted attention.
I was the project engineer at the Klamath Falls airport between 2000 and 2002. That airport has both commercial/private aircraft and is also home to an Oregon Air National Guard fighter wing. Additionally I have worked on several airports, both military and commercials and it is not unusual to see non-based transient military aircraft use these facilities for re-fueling or stop overs. However, at the Kfalls airport I did see a couple of aircraft do low fly-bys and to this day have no clue what make or model they were.
My project was right on the end of the runway and these birds were less than 100 feet above me.
LOL!
silverleaf wrote:
“Miitary friends and family told same thing
Do not report or will end career
If questioned refuse to confirm or deny
Experience over missile silos at US base drove at least one to drink
Heavily”
Interesting points.
Did any of y’all see anything like what was seen around the silos, etc?
In my entire 20 year career, I never worked anywhere near missile silos, so I wouldn’t know.
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