From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V4 #50 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Thursday, 28 October 1993 Volume 04 : Number 050 In this issue: Re: Not all the activity is at Beale... Re>Re: Skunk Works Digest V4 #47 Recent Sub info... RE: Recent Sub info... See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mary Shafer Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 13:06:41 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: Not all the activity is at Beale... The "other airport" at White Sands is probably Northrup Field, where the Space Shuttle landed on its third flight. It greatly predates Space Harbor. Regards, Mary Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com ------------------------------ From: Clarence Dent Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 15:57:53 -0800 Subject: Re>Re: Skunk Works Digest V4 #47 Sean Sullivan stated that: >>Once upon a time Mary Shafer shaped the electrons to say... >>>about a month now. Since they're always telling us that these are just >>>regular aircraft with just (highly trained) regular pilots doing regualr >>>maneuvers, I can't understand why they haven't replaced the lead by now. >(stuff deleted) >> >>They may be normal aircraft, and are apart from smoke systems, and they >>are normal, albeit hight experienced, pilots flying normal manuevers. >I know I'm being really picky here but I was under the impression that the >Thunderbirds also used a modified breather element in the oil tank of their >engines (F100-PW-220s) in order to allow for extended inverted flight time. I'm not sure which generation of F-16 aircraft the Thunderbirds are using, but if they are like the Blue Angels, the aircraft are one step from the boneyard. The Blues commonly use aircraft that are no longer flight certified for carrier landings and are therefore not useful for normal military flight ops. The combat-related electronic equipment is pulled for re-use on still operational aircraft as spares and the planes are relegated to training purposes, the Blues, or the boneyard. The Blues of course get first choice on the planes heading for retirement. It seems to me that the engines are also different and the refueling probes are removed for weight savings. The policy a few years back for long distance flights was to carry fuel tanks. That policy was changed in 1990. I don't know if it has since changed back. Since the F/A-18s have such short legs, they had to refuel more often. The wingtip Sidewinderlaunchers used to be old, but still serviceable models that had been given to the Blues. I've heard since then that the launchers are now welded shut, filled with cement for ballast and obviously no longer useable. I visited their training base at Pensacola, Florida in '90. >Did anyone see the recent NATO Science and Society newsletter that suggested >that Lockheed's Skunk Works will serve as the new research paradigm for >US research policy? I deleted my copy by mistake. How can I subscribe to this newsletter? - -Clarence Dent - ------------------------- "I still maintain that nothing is as easy as it should be-cd" ------------------------------ From: Jamie Aycock Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 22:26:55 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Recent Sub info... Just a little question regarding the recent revalations about sub sinkings in the Atlantic.. The navy reported the details of the Scorpions sinking, but there was a little blurb to the extent of saying there was another sub lost approx. the same time in the Atlantic off of New England on "routine maneuvers".. Can someone fill in the blanks for me? How does a sub sink on routine maneuvers? (I know, not quite on topic, but I hope y'all let it fly in here.." :) _/_/_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ Jamie Aycock _/ _/_/_/_/ jaycock@cap.gwu.edu _/ _/ _/ _/ "Yeah, we have colds. Probably like ammonia _/_/_/ _/ _/ or something" - Beavis ------------------------------ From: cimshop!KELLEHER%DISNEY@uunet.UU.NET Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 21:43:43 PDT Subject: RE: Recent Sub info... The only other US nuke to ever have sunk in the open seas was the USS Thresher, another attack boat. The brand new Thresher went down while undergoing sea trials off the New England coast and was lost with all hands. The sinking of the Thresher was much more widely publicized than the Scorpion, and the board of inquiry ended up being held amidst a great deal of press coverage. The wreckage was well photographed by the submersible Trieste. Suppositions about the cause of the sinking have been generally focused on some rather minor mechanical failure. The Thresher had been exercising rapid dives and surface operations, so even a small error could be magnified tremendously. The current theory is that an external pipe fitting may have ruptured permitting seawater to directly enter the submarine under such pressure that the crew was unable to respond in a timely manner to seal the compartment. One of the older theories (and the one I believe) was that a hydraulic fitting for one of the fairwater planes ruptured while the submarine was at high speed deep maneuvers. This caused one of the planes to shift position with a resultant corkscrew effect on the ship. Imagine moving at full speed, approaching maximum operational/test depth, and the boat suddenly starts a 360 degree roll! The result was the movement of the boat to below crush depth with subsequent implosion. The Thresher, however, was not quite at the same time as the Scorpion. It preceded the Scorpion by about a decade. Despite the two tragic losses, the general safety of the US nuclear submarine program has remained exceptionally high. John Kelleher johnk@consilium.com (former Capt., USAF Imagery Intel) ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V4 #50 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". 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