Scudrunners

On the short list of anybody's list of great engineers
of the 20th century, would have to be Kelly Johnson.

An engineer at Lockheed starting in 1933, you might
know him from these aircraft:

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Model_10_Electra]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Model_10_Electra[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constellation]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constellation[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_ ... oting_Star]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_ ... oting_Star[/url] / [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_T-33]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_T-33[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_ ... tarfighter]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_ ... tarfighter[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird[/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk[/url]

Those are some of the most extraordinary aircraft of
the 20th century, brought to you by the brain of Kelly
Johnson.

Compare today's F-35 fuckup to any project Kelly ran.

My kind of guy:

[quote]While attending grade school in Michigan, he was ridiculed for his name, Clarence. Some boys started calling him "Clara". One morning while waiting in line to get into a classroom, one boy started with the normal routine of calling him "Clara". Johnson tripped him so hard the boy broke a leg.[/quote]

A decidely [b]BAD PERSON[/b]  ;D

Interesting, Bolivian just retired their T-33s July this year. 44 years of service. They have been my favorite "I'd like to try one of those." plane a couple of times.

I had a buddy who was a load master on C-130s, he missed out on a ride in a T-33 while Canada was still operating a few. As he would tell in the story, "My ham bone was too long." The had some kind of jig they would use to measure you while you sat in a ejection seat to see if you would fit through the opening during an ejection.

I never sat down to compare legs  but I probably wouldn't fit either.

T-33 last flight in military service was in 2017,
first flight was 1948.

That's [b]69 years[/b]!  Incredible that an airplane
can remain in service that long, especially
given how little it's design changed.

Last I heard, the NRC in Ottawa still had theirs.
I wonder if they'll have a 70th birthday party
for it next year?

My father flew just under 2,000 hours in the T-33
if memory serves.  He hated the ejection seat which
was painfully upright, and the straight wings resulted
in a slow cruise speed.  But he drove them all over
Europe, North Africa and North America like pickup
trucks.  Only had an ADF for navigation - seriously.
Imagine filing IFR in a jet today, with only an ADF.
The panic on Facebook might take down the internet.

Only de-icing equipment T-33 had was a heated pitot,
but Dad said that if you kept the speed up over 300
knots in the descent, icing wasn't a problem.

Fern Villeneuve has a ridiculous amount of time in
T-33's - something like 4,000 or 5,000 hours.  He
must be the highest-time T-33 pilot in Canada.

Oddly but unsurprisingly, TC refused to issue Fern
a type rating in the T-33.  I guess they didn't want
him passing on his knowledge and skill to the current
civilian operators, who planted one at Hamilton 800
feet short of an 8,000 foot runway a few years back.
It would appear that TC was successful in that regard.

Yeah, I typed out a long thing about me and things leading to my love of the T-33 but I got signed out. Also I can't spell Okotoks.

T-33 would be an eccentric choice for a personal aircraft
but several celebrities have done it.

Like dating a super-model, I'm not sure the maintenance
would be worth it.

Funny how maintenance never entered into all my, "I want to buy this airplane." fantasies.
Not to brag but I guess I am kind of naive.

I stand by my, "Money's no object, what planes would you own." threads.

[quote] Only had an ADF for navigation - seriously. Imagine filing IFR in a jet today, with only an ADF.[/quote]


For years all we had for navigation in the DC3 was an ADF and a Astro compass and we flew thousands of hours IFR in them in the Arctic.


The only real disadvantage is the limits are higher but actually using them is not brain surgery.


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While I am here why in the fuck does everything I post not work and someone has to fix it?


It is driving me crazy and soon I will be posting like the Colonel.  :) :)

[quote]soon I will be posting like the Colonel[/quote]

Jesus, Chuck - set the bar higher than that!  :D

Keep in mind that although the RCAF pilots only had
an ADF on board, they also had GCA on the ground,
which I doubt you got to use very much!

I am sure that soon all the GCA's will be gone.  For
the youngsters:

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-co ... h#Overview]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-co ... h#Overview[/url]

PS  A forgotten giant of the 20th century:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

Radar.  GCA.  Geo-synchronous communications satellites.

Again, that word "genius".

GCA was available at several airports in Canada and I used it quite often.


As I recall the last time I used GCA was when I was flying the DC3 for Mobil oil in Calgary in 1971 I think it was.


It worked like a charm for zero zero landings.

Back when I was teaching IFR, you could still get a GCA at Trenton
Ontario.  It was a wonderful experience for the student - preferably
in cloud - to watch a real pro fly the ILS which you also had dialled
in.

Unlike the continual sawing and overcontrolling, a GCA was a
masterful demonstration of minimalism.

I'm sure all that is long gone and forgotten.  Progress, ya know.