From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #50 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Thursday, 31 March 1994 Volume 05 : Number 050 In this issue: SR-71 Clearance. Multiple Sonic Booms Re: SR-71 Clearance. Re: SR-71 Clearance. Re: SR-71 Clearance Re: SR-71 Clearance. Magazine Alert: new Air and Space Smithy Re: Stealth show USAF Alaskan Buildup Tail fins on the F-117 "The Authentic Spook" 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: tpoole@psi.wilmer.com (Poole, Timothy) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 09:07:35 EST Subject: SR-71 Clearance. True you can stand up underneath the wing and look into the gear bays and chine bays, but isn't that with part of your body sticking into them. I thought I read somewhere that the two vertical stabilizers on the bottom of the Blackbird were folded away during takeoff and landing and then extended for use during flight. All of this because the plane didn't have the clearance to takeoff or land with them extended.. ------------------------------ From: phil@sonosam.wisdom.bubble.org (Phil Verdieck ) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 08:21:42 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Multiple Sonic Booms I may be wrong, but that 1 boom/mach sounds like a pure load. There is at least one instance of multiple sonic booms that I know of, the shuttle. I've been told that due to its design, when reentering it double booms. One boom originating from the nose, and one from the wingtips. Phil V. ------------------------------ From: lhawkins@annie.wellesley.edu Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 11:15:02 -0500 Subject: Re: SR-71 Clearance. In your message dated: Wed, 30 Mar 94 09:07:35 EST you write: > True you can stand up underneath the wing and look into the > gear bays and chine bays, but isn't that with part of your > body sticking into them. I thought I read somewhere that > the two vertical stabilizers on the bottom of the Blackbird > were folded away during takeoff and landing and then > extended for use during flight. All of this because the > plane didn't have the clearance to takeoff or land with them > extended.. I agree. I remember seeing the '71 at the Pima County Air Museum a few years ago, and being amazed at how *little* ground clearance that it had. As I remember it, it seems like it was <4 feet. Guess I need to go home and check the -1 to make sure. Cheers, - --Lee ------------------------------ From: dadams@netcom.com (Dean Adams) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 08:22:11 -0800 Subject: Re: SR-71 Clearance. tpoole@psi.wilmer.com (Poole, Timothy) says... > True you can stand up underneath the wing and look into the > gear bays and chine bays, but isn't that with part of your > body sticking into them. With the bays, yes. The wings are actually fairly high though. They average about 6 feet of clearance underneath, with the outer, thinner edges just over 6.5. > I thought I read somewhere that the two vertical stabilizers > on the bottom of the Blackbird were folded away during takeoff > and landing and then extended for use during flight. All of this > because the plane didn't have the clearance to takeoff or land > with them extended.. Well, close... The SR-71B and YF-12A both have small, *fixed* ventral fins on the bottom of each engine nacelle. What you are referring to is the single folding center ventral fin that was originally installed in aft section of YF-12s. That fin is similar in size to the rudder, and did indeed fold sideways for landing. - -dean BTW, the *real* SR-71 Clearance was of course "Senior Crown"! :-) ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 11:04:27 -0800 Subject: Re: SR-71 Clearance >tpoole@psi.wilmer.com (Poole, Timothy) says... >> True you can stand up underneath the wing and look into th >> gear bays and chine bays, but isn't that with part of your >> body sticking into them. Dean responds: >With the bays, yes. The wings are actually fairly high though. >They average about 6 feet of clearance underneath, with the >outer, thinner edges just over 6.5. I agree. Being 5' 11" tall, when I was removing black paint off of M-21 #940 (an A-12 essentially) one could stand quite comfortably under the wing. In fact I had to reach up a little to be able to touch the underside of the wing between the fuselage and the nacelle. Underneath the centerline bulge, where this missile payload may be carried, there is less room of course. An attraction of SMOF's MD-21 exhibit is the inside of the nose gear door which has been autographed by many Blackbird dignitaries. When I go in there to see who has been thru lately and autographed the door, your head is definitely in the well, so to speak. Larry ------------------------------ From: megazone@wpi.edu (MegaZone) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 15:56:14 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: SR-71 Clearance. Once upon a time Poole, Timothy shaped the electrons to say... > the two vertical stabilizers on the bottom of the Blackbird > were folded away during takeoff and landing and then That was only the LARGE central stabilizer used on the YF-12. The YF-12 had shortened chines, and also fired missiles. They wanted the extra stability. Remember that the fins are aft of the main gear and come closer to the ground when rotating for takeoff. - -- megazone@wpi.wpi.edu megazone@world.std.com megazone@hotblack.schunix.dmc.com "I have one prejudice, and that is against stupidity. Use your mind, think!" Moderator: WPI anime FTP site, 130.215.24.1 /anime, the anime FanFic archive; rec.arts.anime.stories, questions to anime-dojinshi-request@wpi.wpi.edu GTW d-- -p+ c++(++++) l u+ e+ m+(*)@ s++/+ !n h- f+ !g w+ t+@ r+@ y+(*) ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 15:04:39 -0800 Subject: Magazine Alert: new Air and Space Smithy The new Air and Space Smithy has an article on the Skunk Works by Burrows (maybe the DEEP BLACK Burrows). The cover shows the F-117A, and Burrows asks Sherm Mullin if the Skunk Works is working on AURORA. We'll have to talk about Sherm's answer. Also there is a Skunk Works Poster in the issue. Larry ------------------------------ From: brndlfly@MIT.EDU Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 20:18:11 EST Subject: Re: Stealth show The HAVE BLUE aircraft did come camouflaged at one point, but it had inward-canting fins. Some preproduction F-117s had different schemes applied, including desert camo. If the a/c you saw did not have inward-canting fins, it was most likely one of these preproduction Nighthawks. Question: it has been mentioned by several people (including the F-117 chief engineer, can't recall his name) that they tried inward- and outward-canting fins, and went with the latter for several reasons. Does anyone know at what point during the development this decision was made? -T T Velazquez MIT Aero & Astro brndlfly@athena.mit.edu "Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that never has been." -Theodore von Karman ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 18:05:07 -0800 Subject: USAF Alaskan Buildup Alaska becoming centerpiece of Air Force strategy for 21st century. Summary from the 3/18/1994 Aerospace Daily: If there is a growth industry for the Air Force in the cash-strapped 1990s, it's Alaska. While facilities in other parts of the world are being scaled back or closed entirely, the AF is beefing up many of its Alaskan bases and units, and enlarging its air training ranges there so significantly that they will soon be the largest in the world. "If you look at what has happened here in the last few years...there's just been exponential growth," Lt. Gen. Joseph Ralston, commander of 11th Air Force and of all U.S. forces in Alaska, told The DAILY in a recent interview at his Elmendorf AFB office. Alaska is getting the attention because of the old real estate rule: location, location, location. "Our F-15Es are closer to Bosnia than the ones at Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina," Ralston said. "It's nine hours to Germany from here, and it's nine hours to Korea....We're closer to Japan and Korea and Guam than Hawaii." The consolidation of forces and capabilities in Alaska goes by the encompassing nickname POLAR THRUST. The underlying idea is that "It's better to put your forces where they can go east or west," Ralston asserted. "You get the maximum flexibility out of them that way." The USAF's Alaskan assets include the newest F-15C/D air superiority fighters, F-15E attack planes, F-16 multirole fighters, A-10 close air support planes, KC-135 tankers, E-3 AWACS, HH-60 search-and-rescue helicopters, C-130 tactical airlifters, and RC-135 electronic reconnaissance aircraft. Besides training with various types of aircraft, the AF in Alaska is "very joint" with Army units also stationed in the state, Ralston said. He quoted former Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Colin Powell as saying that Alaska offers "the best joint training anywhere." The large annual Pacific air exercise COPE THUNDER, previously based in the Philippines, has moved north to a range just outside of Eielson AFB, near Fairbanks. NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE - -Ed The Air Force is working with local communities on an Environmental Impact Statement to permanently establish an air combat range there that would be even larger than the one the AF uses in Nevada, and "larger than North Korea," Ralston said. NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE - -Ed Alaska now boasts the only live-fire and ACMI ranges in the Pacific. The AF is "building a joint mobility complex here" at Elmendorf, Ralston said, so the service can more rapidly "perform power projection from Alaska." The facility will be a hub for C-141s and C-5s, which will hook up with Army battalions in the area. The Alaskan forces are accustomed to long deployments-"we go down to Arizona routinely," Ralston noted-and some of the exercises mounted from Eielson head south to ranges in the continental U.S. Though the cost of doing business in Alaska is "marginally higher than in the 'lower 48'," particularly in terms of housing costs, "it's far cheaper in terms of training," Ralston said. "We're working with the Army five minutes after takeoff," rather than spending precious flying hours commuting to a joint training range. "You optimize your training time here," he added. The weather isn't even as bad as one might think, Ralston also said. "There are not too many limitations. The climate at Elmendorf is far milder than many places in the lower 48, and we have superb flying weather most of the time." ------------------------------ From: Indiana Joe Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 22:41:21 -0500 (EST) Subject: Tail fins on the F-117 brndlfly@MIT.EDU writes... > Question: it has been mentioned by several people (including the >F-117 chief engineer, can't recall his name) that they tried inward- and >outward-canting fins, and went with the latter for several reasons. Does >anyone know at what point during the development this decision was made? The only prototypes with inward-canted fins were the two HAVE BLUE demonstrators. This was determined after tests showed that the inward-canted fins reflected the infrared emissons from the engines toward the ground. > T Velazquez > MIT Aero & Astro > brndlfly@athena.mit.edu Joe Claffey ------------------------------ From: TRADER@cup.portal.com Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 23:45:14 PST Subject: "The Authentic Spook" THE AUTHENTIC SPOOK ___________________ by Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com, March 1994 As a private researcher in the area of excessive military secrecy, some people say that I must be a spy (or "intelligence analyst" to use a government term). I do my research by poring through obscure military documents. Since people think I'm a spy, here are some things I've learned as a spook. * It's not glamorous and exciting -- it's definitely not James Bond. Instead of drinking champagne with beautiful women saying, "Oh James! I can't find the words", the real life spook will probably be drinking coffee from a vending machine and hearing beautiful women tell him, "You are such a geek!" * It won't be easy to find out anything of value. For example, getting to and climbing the desert hills surrounding Groom Lake is much more difficult than going to Disneyland. Unless you are willing to put the time in (like I do poring over documents), the effort, and possibly the expense (such as travel costs, document costs, etc.), you won't find much. If it was as easy as going to the mall to buy military secrets, more Americans would try to find out what their government does in secret. In other words, I don't think you'll see Waldenbooks selling classified documents any time soon. * The military will put a lot of effort into protecting its secrets. You can expect to see lies and deliberate deception (which the Russians call "maskirovka") from the military. Because of this, you will make mistakes in your search for secrets. For example, I was led to believe that the airstrip at Bicycle Dry Lake, on Ft. Irwin, in California's Mojave desert was used for secret purposes. There were several reasons for this, such as its remote location, the lack of media coverage of the facility, and a former Air Force intelligence officer who told me fanciful stories about the place. I've since done enough research to know the true nature of the facility. Oddly, given my interest in the place and my mentioning it publicly, I may have given someone in the military the idea that it would make a fine test site for future secret programs... * Like any form of serious research, you will use previous bits of knowledge to understand new information. For example, if you know that almost every clandestine U.S. Air Force plane was built under programs whose code-names start with SENIOR, you can be reasonably sure that a new program, such as SENIOR CITIZEN is not a submarine. To understand what is going, you will often need to correlate related pieces of information. * Truth is a slippery thing, when dealing with the U.S. government. You should be prepared to change what you believe, when faced with compelling new evidence that contradicts what you believe. * There's no reason to get paranoid if you are trying to discover secrets. There are too many people who think that they will be visited by large gentlemen in dark suits if they do the slightest thing to find out what their government is hiding. A recent survey on the Internet came up with an interesting result. A survey was taken to see if people believed in the New World Order conspiracy. A full 20% of the people questioned declined to answer out of fear!! You have every right to find out what your government is doing behind your back -- you're paying taxes, so you have a right to find out what your money is spent on. People in urban areas have a much greater chance of becoming a crime victim, than of having a sinister visit from the government. Of course, there are some things that you can do to -increase- the government's interest in you. One way is to act in a secret and furtive manner. This attracts attention to yourself. Of course, people in the government can't understand why outsiders get interested in their actions when they start doing things in secret... If you do your research openly, people in authority will grudgingly accept what you are doing as part of the politics that go with their job. For example, I've written to an Air Force colonel at the Pentagon, who is in charge of some Air Force investigations. I've discussed my politics with him, and while we don't see eye to eye, he knows what I'm up to. Another way to increase the government's interest in you is to make personal attacks. Human nature being what it is, you are more likely to get into trouble if you attack individuals, instead of their institution. * Sometimes, chaos (or fate or Karma or whatever one calls it), will deliver surprises to you in your search for information. You just have to be aware that you can find valuable information on another subject, even though that wasn't what you were looking for. For example, I was reading an Air Force study on low intensity conflict (i.e., like the U.S. involvement in Somalia) and came across detailed technical information on the use of high power microwaves as a "non-lethal" weapon against people. * Since you are looking for classified information, you have to understand the nature of what you are going after. Currently, there are about 4 million Americans who hold security clearances. It is estimated that there are at least 1 trillion pages of classified documents in the government's possession. Read that number again - 1 trillion. That means at least 4,000 pages for every American man, woman, and child. The amount of data generated by 4 million people is staggering. Of course, it also leads to interesting situations that you can exploit. Sometimes, mundane information is classified, while sensitive information is released in an obscure form. For example, in the U.S. defense budget, a classified sum is spent on Program Element 0305898L "Management Headquarters" expenses for the Defense Intelligence Agency. Knowing how these people operate, it is probably safe to say that the person at DIA who knows how much they spend on paper clips, probably isn't allowed to know the budget for ink for rubber stamps. On the other hand, sensitive information is regularly released. A few years ago, a Princeton engineering student designed a workable nuclear weapon from technical information the government sold him. * Be willing to share information with others. It depends on you on how much effort you are willing to put in this area, but you should always be prepared to share your knowledge, if asked. Knowledge that is not applied is not useful. A prime motivation for gaining knowledge about what the government is doing, is to use that information to change what you believe to be bad policies, by lobbying for change. The 1st Amendment to the Constitution gives the people the right "to petition the Government for redress of grievances". Unfortunately, far too many Americans don't even bother to take advantage of this right, believing "that you can't fight City Hall." * Keep things in perspective. Finding out secrets isn't the only thing in life. Love and laughter will probably make for a happier life than feelings of moral superiority because you've tackled the "evil government". ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #50 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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