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Cojawfee posted:Send a fuckin mustang after one. They top out at 41k ft. That’s very impressive for a single engine piston but still.
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Feb 12, 2023 03:13
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The second object was at 40k feet, so I feel like a mustang could have gone up and shot some rudimentary rockets at it.
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Feb 12, 2023 03:18
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madeintaipei posted:Bring back the
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Feb 12, 2023 03:24
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Cojawfee posted:The second object was at 40k feet, so I feel like a mustang could have gone up and shot some rudimentary rockets at it. That didn’t go well when it was F-89 scorpions I guarantee that incident and the brush fires it started came up when Biden ordered the balloon shot down
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Feb 12, 2023 03:25
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https://www.tiktok.com/embed/7195440214234369323
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Feb 12, 2023 04:59
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It honestly wouldn't shock me if this poo poo doesn't revive the idea of formalized SAM sites and/or the establishment of AEGIS Ashore in CONUS. It'd be cheaper in the long run.
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Feb 12, 2023 05:09
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hobbesmaster posted:That didn’t go well when it was F-89 scorpions Thought you were going to mention this one; https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/ufo-government4.htm
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Feb 12, 2023 05:14
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T Zero posted:Always funny to remember that there's one Iranian pilot who has more F-14 kills than every US Tomcat pilot combined. All the more reason to frankenstein together a tomcat from all available parts and get one for the gipper.
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Feb 12, 2023 06:01
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Warbird posted:All the more reason to frankenstein together a tomcat from all available parts and get one for the gipper. It is always amusing to watch Growling Sidewinder fight newer planes in the Tomcat, and usually the "one trick that all opponents hate" involves jamming the flaps and effectively mission-killing the plane.
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Feb 12, 2023 06:28
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BIG HEADLINE posted:It honestly wouldn't shock me if this poo poo doesn't revive the idea of formalized SAM sites and/or the establishment of AEGIS Ashore in CONUS. It'd be cheaper in the long run. It's not like these shootdowns cost the US taxpayers a single extra cent, every dollar that was gonna be spent is gonna get spent either on this stuff or training missions.
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Feb 12, 2023 14:21
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Serjeant Buzfuz posted:It's not like these shootdowns cost the US taxpayers a single extra cent, every dollar that was gonna be spent is gonna get spent either on this stuff or training missions. I highly doubt that. Everyone of these is further justification on more spending, more platforms, more missiles, and all the corrupt contractor infrastructure to support it.
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Feb 12, 2023 19:52
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Serjeant Buzfuz posted:It's not like these shootdowns cost the US taxpayers a single extra cent, every dollar that was gonna be spent is gonna get spent either on this stuff or training missions. You're grossly underestimating the grift games of Senators from the states of Montana and Wyoming to attract more money and military spending to their states. We can't allow a missile gap. 
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Feb 12, 2023 19:55
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Oh sure on a political level I could see that I just mean at the operational level this isn't impacting military budgets at all.
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Feb 12, 2023 20:06
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OK this is getting stupid https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-shoots-down-flying-object-over-lake-huron-near-canadian-border-1.6270790 quote:WASHINGTON - Is this a ploy by Raytheon to sell more AMRAAMS? 
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Feb 13, 2023 00:52
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They’re not using AMRAAMs for these targets. With the balloon there was some speculating that the optical “ring” triggered detonator on the AIM-9 had some advantage over a radar triggered detonator. I am somewhat skeptical with the original balloon because those solar panels must be good radar reflectors but I guess I can understand the logic a bit? The balloon envelopes are very thin polyethylene - basically giant plastic bags.
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Feb 13, 2023 01:00
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slidebite posted:OK this is getting stupid There are dozens of high altitude weather balloons launched every day just in the US. Hundreds around the world. Many of which probably go astray. Which makes that a great vector to hide in. Now that they are looking for odd objects loitering around where they shouldn’t it’s not that surprising they are finding them. My guess is this burst of activity will die off soon and they’ll start picking these up outside US airspace and after a while they’ll stop trying. Murgos fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Feb 13, 2023 |
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Feb 13, 2023 03:21
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slidebite posted:OK this is getting stupid I happened to be flying in that area today. The Fired up grill at the Wiarton airport is perfectly accessible for an airport restaurant. From the timing of things I cleared the area something like 4 minutes before it become active. I feel bad for all the people that would have gotten stuck up there just for flying to a remote airport on a sunny day. At least one person at my home field was bombing around in that area with no idea that it was closed airspace. 
helno fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Feb 13, 2023 |
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Feb 13, 2023 03:25
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hobbesmaster posted:They’re not using AMRAAMs for these targets. With the balloon there was some speculating that the optical “ring” triggered detonator on the AIM-9 had some advantage over a radar triggered detonator. I've heard that the AIM-9X that shot it down had no warhead at all - just kinetics. Also doesn't the F-22 allow aiming via the pilot's helmet? It's a tempest in a teapot, though. Like, the balloon reflected enough infrared for a sidewinder if you wanted to do it that way. Murgos posted:There are dozens of high altitude weather balloons launched every day just in the US. Hundreds around the world. Many of which probably go astray. Which makes that a great vector to hide in. It's one reason why weather balloons ascend until they burst.
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Feb 13, 2023 03:42
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Hmm, I can't find the consent switch on my RAAF model F-111.
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Feb 13, 2023 04:13
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hobbesmaster posted:I am somewhat skeptical with the original balloon because those solar panels must be good radar reflectors but I guess I can understand the logic a bit? The balloon envelopes are very thin polyethylene - basically giant plastic bags. You don't want to hit the bit with the solar panels, that's where all the interesting stuff is. They kinda did anyway, but it hit a little above the payload.
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Feb 13, 2023 05:29
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~Coxy posted:Hmm, I can't find the consent switch on my RAAF model F-111. Are you sure you’re not in a RCAF model?
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Feb 13, 2023 06:41
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Sure glad we're at the airspace incursion stage of "Cold War II: Waste Money on Stupid Military poo poo Instead of Feeding or Sheltering People.... Harder" we better at least get some cool planes out of it. How fast and high would you have to fly to outrun modern SAMs? Got to go to the weirdest air museum I've ever been to today, the Tilamook air museum! Which I'm sure has appeared in this thread before. One of the last surviving US Navy blimp hangars, this massive beast is made almost entirely of wood! 3,000,000 board feet of heavy timber! It's not in good shape and it leaks pretty bad, needs some sealant and a coat of paint. Not my pictures:   It's easily visible from the highway, and the massive scale of it intrigued and impressed my girlfriend, who is not a plane OR blimp OR airship nerd by any measure. There was one teenage employee (volunteer?) And like three other guests during our visit. I was, of course, thinking of Nebakenezzer the whole time I was here. This place housed US Navy patrol blimps during WWII, there were originally two hangars, one has been demolished except for the massive concrete pylons used to support the vast hangar doors. Look how vast this place is:  Half the museum just has RVs and poo poo stored in it, covered in filth from the rotting structure.  This blimp is a little small for its hangar.  Probably the coolest thing they had, two MiGs for some reason! A 17, and I think a 15.  Weird rear end helicopter!  Pusher prop planes!  Blimp size comparison!  Hangar doors and a mini guppie that you can just walk around in!  Here's a train, all the helium used for the blimps arrived via train, where it was pumped to a 140' diameter Horton sphere, then dried and purified by some big compressors I didn't get pictures of because we needed to get back on the road. E: almost forgot this bizarre display, at the end of the war, when the US was consolidating the various NASs, this Curtis SBC Helldiver was being flown to Corpus Cristi, for unknown reasons it crashed in the mountains surrounding the Tilamook Valley killing its pilot, 50 years later the crash was rediscovered, and the pieces relocated here, and made into one of the more grisly museum displays I've ever seen. 
Elviscat fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Feb 13, 2023 |
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Feb 13, 2023 07:20
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Elviscat posted:
I don’t think Burt Rutan’s autograph on the wheel pants is standard equipment on a Long-EZ.
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Feb 13, 2023 07:35
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Please tell me that you know about and have seen the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville. 
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Feb 13, 2023 07:36
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Nebakenezzer posted:I've heard that the AIM-9X that shot it down had no warhead at all - just kinetics. This was debunked by the NORAD commander: https://denvergazette.com/news/was-...cd65ada2b9.html (down a few questions in the article).
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Feb 13, 2023 08:53
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Elviscat posted:Here's a train, all the helium used for the blimps arrived via train, where it was pumped to a 140' diameter Horton sphere, then dried and purified by some big compressors I didn't get pictures of because we needed to get back on the road. I think you are missing the train picture.
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Feb 13, 2023 08:58
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Ardeem posted:I don’t think Burt Rutan’s autograph on the wheel pants is standard equipment on a Long-EZ. Uh, is wheel pants the actual name for the landing gear fairings? I shoulda spent more time in the tent, but my GF wanted to dip at that point. BIG HEADLINE posted:Please tell me that you know about and have seen the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville. Know of, have not been, a visit has been firmly planned for our next trip to the Portland area (we visit GF's parents down there regularly). Saukkis posted:I think you are missing the train picture. Damnit! It's just the locomotive, but it's a cool old steam locomotive with an open crankshaft.  Unrelated: Air & Space museums have been kinda a hobby of mine in the last few years, I have one Saturn V and one Space Shittle left to go, I might have to just fly to LA and Houston for a day each to knock them out, since I don't want to visit either city (again) for any other reason, and waiting for coincidence to take me there isn't working. I think after that's done I'll try for every SR-71 and A-12, got a good chunk knocked out already. My life getting a lot more aero/astronautical and a lot less regularnautical in the last year has really made me want to visit more A&S museums too. Speaking of coincidence, and cool things to go look at, here's a Saturn V and a blackbird parked in bumfuck Alabama.   
Elviscat fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Feb 13, 2023 |
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Feb 13, 2023 09:21
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Elviscat posted:Uh, is wheel pants the actual name for the landing gear fairings? The actual name is landing gear fairings, but "wheel pants" is common enough slang. You can also call them wheel skirts if you prefer.
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Feb 13, 2023 09:47
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Nope, "wheel pants" has me giggling uncontrollably, and I will be using it exclusively from now on. The new Vulcan rocket has a skirt that encapsulates its two main engines, which I will now call "rocket pants" moving forward, though "rocket pantaloons" might be more apt. 
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Feb 13, 2023 10:15
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Sagebrush posted:The actual name is landing gear fairings, but "wheel pants" is common enough slang. AKA ‘wheel spats’ or even ‘wheel trousers’ if one is sufficiently British https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/december/flight-training-magazine/what-am-i-wheel-pants  The Supermarine 224 features a particularly luxurious pair of trousers and an inverted gull wing!
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Feb 13, 2023 10:49
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Elviscat posted:Uh, is wheel pants the actual name for the landing gear fairings? I shoulda spent more time in the tent, but my GF wanted to dip at that point. That is an extremely insane drive system, incidentally. e: fixed quote block
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Feb 13, 2023 12:13
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Elviscat posted:Half the museum just has RVs and poo poo stored in it, covered in filth from the rotting structure. Is the tent set up inside the hangar specifically to protect the museum pieces from falling debris? That’s kind of funny.
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Feb 13, 2023 13:52
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lordofthefishes posted:That is an extremely insane drive system, incidentally. It's a Shay! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shay_locomotive
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Feb 13, 2023 13:57
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If you want to see some working ones visit the Cass Scenic Railroad in West Virginia, they run up the mountain every day.
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Feb 13, 2023 14:24
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Midjack posted:If you want to see some working ones visit the Cass Scenic Railroad in West Virginia, they run up the mountain every day. I still remember going to this joint as a kid!
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Feb 13, 2023 14:25
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Elviscat posted:Sure glad we're at the airspace incursion stage of "Cold War II: Waste Money on Stupid Military poo poo Instead of Feeding or Sheltering People.... Harder" we better at least get some cool planes out of it. More F35 variants
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Feb 13, 2023 15:18
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Arishtat posted:
Boy that's a pretty plane
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Feb 13, 2023 15:34
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Sagebrush posted:Boy that's a pretty plane I was obsessed with that design when I was a kid. Think I even had a model/toy of it at some point. It just feels so...modern?
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Feb 13, 2023 15:36
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The biggest issue about going for every A-12/SR-71 is that one of them is on the CIA campus and there's no way to access it as a civvie. They also won't "make an exception."
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Feb 13, 2023 16:27
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Elviscat posted:Tillamook hotness[/timg] Yeah its huge and dark and a little depressing, you are going to poo poo your pants when you spend a day at Evergreen museum. Something I have wondered is how does one go about obtaining aircraft for a museum, and how do they come up with a price? Is it more on the current owner interested in finding a home to display their cool 1 of 1 historically significant planes and driving the price down? Or is it more on museums filling out their collections and competing to obtain more stuff? How do they come up with valuation for an old MiG-15 decaying behind a hangar, or that MiG-29 outside Evergreen where you think hell yeah lets get this thing in the air but then you look at all the plumbing in one wheel well and say oh here's a thought, actually gently caress this? Sure there's some museums built around centerpieces like Udvar-Hazy with the Discovery or again Evergreen with the Spruce Goose, but what about the bottom of the barrel crusty old F-14A at Tillamook, did they get a steal just because they have somewhere to store it? Can I drive the price down low enough that I can have an F-5 on a stick in my front lawn?
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Feb 13, 2023 16:30
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