Classic British Flight Sim

Tony

Its not just a museum its a whole airfield -- Republic Field in Long Island -- from whence sprang the 7 tonne Milkbottle - and the noisest Prop driven aircraft ever!

Leif

DispatchDragon wrote:... 7 tonne Milkbottle - and the noisest Prop driven aircraft ever!

???

The loudest prop driven aircraft ever is the Tu-95 and its bretheren.

Then again, I can't say I'm familiar with any "7 tonne Milkbottle" either that came out of the Republic Aircraft Corporation.

DispatchDragon wrote:the A12 is one of only two left -- the other is in San Diego

Are you sure Leif? There are nine airframes listed here: http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/a-12/a-12locations.php
One of those is an M-21 two seat conversion for the D-21 drone conversion so that makes eight single-seaters in museums.

The site I linked is an interesting one by the way, it has the Flight Manual for the SR-71 and YF-12 online. Interesting reading.

Hmmm I always thought the A12 was the CIA acft

I counted 8 including the Titanium Goose and the M12

And someone told me the one outside the AS museum in San Diego was one of only two left -- the other being on the Evil I


And Chris -- 7tonne Milkbottle -- Republic P47 Thunderbolt -- so named by the RAF because Republic nicked the name earmarked for what became the Gloster Meteor.
and the noisest propdriven aircraft I have been told by those who heard it was the XF84H "ThunderScreech" far noiser that any Tupolev.


I knew if I goggled long enough I would find the quote
[quote]Noise
The XF-84H was quite possibly the loudest aircraft ever built, earning the nickname "Thunderscreech" as well as the "Mighty Ear Banger"[8][9] On the ground, they were reportedly audible 25 mi (40 km) away.[7] Unlike standard propellers which turn at subsonic speeds, the outer 24–30 inches of the blades on the XF-84H's propeller traveled faster than the speed of sound even at idle thrust, producing a continuous visible sonic boom that radiated laterally from the propellers for hundreds of yards and was reportedly strong enough to knock a man down.[7] Coupled with the already considerable noise from the sub-sonic aspect of the propeller and the dual jet turbines, the aircraft was notorious for inducing severe nausea and headaches among ground crews.[10] In one report, a Republic engineer suffered a seizure after close range exposure to the shock waves emanating from a powered-up XF-84H.[11] The pervasive noise also severely disrupted operations in the Edwards AFB control tower by risking vibration damage to sensitive components and forcing air traffic personnel to communicate with the XF-84H's crew on the flight line by signal lamp. After numerous complaints, the Air Force Flight Test Center directed Republic to tow the aircraft out on Rogers Dry Lake, far from the flight line, before running up its engine./quote]



Leif

First - "7 tonne Milkbottle" explains (partially) where the "Jug" monicker came from.

Second - The F84H was quite loud. I've never seen a peak noise level for it or the Tu-95, so it's probably debatable as the Tu-95 and family also have props that have significant portions of the blade which are supersonic during most power settings - the difference is, the Tu-95 has 8 blades per engine instead of the 4 that the "Thunderscreech" has.

Third - The A-12 was the CIA aircraft. NASA had the YF-12 and SR-71. The A-12 on display at Huntsville is in "fake" NASA paint.

DispatchDragon wrote:Hmmm I always thought the A12 was the CIA acft

You're correct (as Chris already noted). The A-12 was built for the CIA to replace the U-2 as an overflight reconnaissance aircraft. The career of the A-12 was cut short though as after the Francis Gary Powers incident an agreement was signed that precluded manned overflight of each others territory. This led to the SR-71 which was designed for surveillance from the legal side of the Soviet border and since that was a legal mission there was no need for the CIA to continue operating these aircraft.

One offshoot from this program was the YF-12 which was based on the A-12 design but designed as a high speed interceptor/bomber. This program was canceled after five years of testing.

Archer,

The SR-71 and A-12 flew side-by-side for several years. The reason the A-12 program was ended was because the Budget Office decided that they didn't need 2 aircraft that were very similar to be doing the same thing with two different agencies. The CIA had already moved all U-2 operations over to the USAF, so the Budget Office conducted a "fly off" between the A-12 and SR-71 to determine which to keep for the USAF to fly. The SR-71 was determined to be the "better" one on enough points for it to "win" and thus the A-12 program ended.