From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #232 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 5 April 1995 Volume 05 : Number 232 In this issue: Anti-gravity Spelling SR71 - any news? What's in a name? Re: April Fool's anti-gravity and Northrop Electroaerodynamics Research Re: SR-71 Re: SR71 - any news? Re: SR-71 Re: SR-71 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: alun@corte-madera.geoquest.slb.com (Alun Whittaker) Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 09:51:04 PDT Subject: Anti-gravity Spelling > Thank you. NorthrUp sells seeds, not aircraft. - --------------------------------------------------- Yes, but does anyone know why Northrup Street in Sacramento becomes Northrop Street after it crosses Howe Avenue? There are no discernible differences in flora or gravitation on either side of the crosswalk. Inquiring minds want to know? ALUN W... ------------------------------ From: Adrian Thurlow Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 19:37:58 +0100 Subject: SR71 - any news? Hi skunkers, When I first became aware of this lists existance and that its main purpose was discussion of Skunkwork products I was delighted. What happened to that discussion? Lets get things rolling and then perhaps there will be less of this other stuff. Seriously though, it has gone a bit quiet on the Blackbird front recently. Any news on how things are progressing? Mary, has the B model been used by the USAF yet? Any decision been made on where operations will be based? Anymore political manoeuvaring? Anything? Also, who succeeded Ben Rich and who heads up Lockheed(-Martin?) APD now? Regards Adrian Thurlow Technology Integration / Det.4 9th SRW \ B48 Room 5 / \ BT Labs / _ \ Martlesham Heath ____(( ))_________/_/_\_\_________(( ))____ Ipswich \ \_/ / Suffolk U.K. Now only distant thunder Tel. +44 1473 644880 Fax. +44 1473 646534 e-mail. adrian.thurlow@bt-sys.bt.co.uk The views expressed above are not necessarily those of BT. ------------------------------ From: Adrian Thurlow Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 19:51:09 +0100 Subject: What's in a name? Hi skunkers, I was wondering where the designation SR (or RS) 71 came from. Do we just accept it? There has been much said and written about a bomber version of the airframe. Kelly Johnson, it is reported, was persuaded to leave that role alone so allowing the B70 an unchallanged future. Perhaps he did, but could not resist giving his bird the -71 designation, one on from the B70. I cannot ever remember anything written about the origin of the -71 tag or the possible link. Anybody have any comments on this? Regards Adrian Thurlow Technology Integration / Det.4 9th SRW \ B48 Room 5 / \ BT Labs / _ \ Martlesham Heath ____(( ))_________/_/_\_\_________(( ))____ Ipswich \ \_/ / Suffolk U.K. Now only distant thunder Tel. +44 1473 644880 Fax. +44 1473 646534 e-mail. adrian.thurlow@bt-sys.bt.co.uk The views expressed above are not necessarily those of BT. ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 14:24:59 -0700 Subject: Re: April Fool's anti-gravity and Northrop Electroaerodynamics Research Terry Colvin writes: > > The U.S. Antigravity Squadron > > by Paul A. LaViolette, Ph.D. > > Abstract > ... >Rumors circulating among people close to the project allege that the >B-2 does utilize antigravity technology. So, our conjecture, that >the B-2 incorporates an electrogravitic drive, appears to be >substantially correct. > ... As Rick posted, assuming the above is an April Fools post, enough said. George responded: >Can't speak for any of the rest of it, but the reference to the 1968 Northrop >work on drag reduction using electromagnetism is legit. Larry Smith has posted >articles about this on a couple of occasions. Yes, for the first time anywhere, here's a bib.: "Northrop Studying Sonic Boom Remedy"; AW&ST, 1/22/68, pg 21. "Experiments Indicate Electric Charge Could Quiet Sonic Boom"; Product Engineering magazine 3/11/68, pgs 35-36. "Electroaerodynamics in Supersonic Flow"; Cahn, Andrew; AIAA 68-24 "Recent Experiments In Supersonic Regime With Electrostatic Charges"; Cahn, Andrew, Anderson; AIAA 70-759 The Product Engineering and AW&ST magazine stories prove that the research was publicized at the time. The 1968 AIAA paper above, introduced the ideas and talked about work in fluid tunnels with fluids of different dielectric strengths. The results were quite promising. There is a nice picture of what the electric field does to the bow shock off the model, in the Product Engineering piece. When they went to a supersonic wind tunnel, they found that arcing occurred between the model and the walls of the tunnel, due to the high voltages they were applying to the model. So they had to electrically isolate the walls of the tunnel from the model. That is where the 1968 paper ends. The 1970 AIAA paper, reports the results of the supersonic wind tunnel tests once they were able to electrically isolate the model from the tunnel wall. I will quote from the 1970 AIAA paper: "Tests were conducted in Mach 1.5 and Mach 3.0 wind tunnels with 1.5 by 3 inch test sections. Two-dimensional full span models were used. Up to 100,000 volts at 10 milliamperes were applied to the model to produce the required gaseous discharge in the airstream. A Schlieren system provided still and motion picture data of the bow shock wave ahead of the models. Differential pressure measurements were taken across the shock waves. At Mach 1.4, the shock wave moved upstream when 40 kilovolts and 70 watts are applied to the model. Other test configurations caused the shock wave to move both upstream and downstream. In one experiment, at Mach 1.4, the shock wave COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED FROM VIEW (emphasis added by me)". So there you have it, complete disappearance of a shock in a supersonic flow! Quite interesting! However, before you all go out and go crazy, these AIAA papers weren't classified, or even held as proprietary by Northrop. Which indicates to me that research is as far as it went, at the time. Also from the halls of the WIERD (but very interesting). There is another field, called Magnetoaerodynamics, that was oriented around the same application. That field did studies of aerospace vehicles that had even wierder effects, for example, shock waves that went FORWARD, from the tail TO the nose of the aircraft!! These studies required a vehicle, immersed in a plasma, where the vehicle could emit a powerful and orientable magnetic field. The unusual effect mentioned above was caused by certain magnetic field orientations in the vehicle when the Alfven Wave speed was greater than the speed of sound, in the plasma medium. Again, the sources in this field are completely unclassified. However, many of the interesting papers were written by famous aerodynamicist John Sears, of Northrop Flying Wing fame, after he left Northrop for Cornell University, after the YB-49 was steamrolled. Larry ------------------------------ From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 20:09:02 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SR-71 Adrian Thurlow wondered about the Skunk Works in general and the SR-71 designation in particular. The designation SR-71 is a non-standard designation, created by then President Lyndon B. Johnson when he (most likely accidental) reversed the proposed designation RS-71, which was an official USAF designation (and Lockheed or Kelly Johnson would have had no influence on the designation given by the USAF). The RS-71 designation is based on the numerical sequence of Bomber designations, first introduced in 1925 with the Keystone B-1 and reaching finally Douglas B-87 (or GAM-87 Skybolt), including several missiles, the SR-71, and a few gaps. RS stood for Reconnaissance Strike, where the Strike mission is (in NATO nomenclature) a nuclear armed (penetration) bomber -- and most bomber, like the B-29, B-47, B-50, B-52, B-57, etc. had also reconnaissance versions. The only other aircraft with an RS- designation, was the RS-70, which was later redesignated XB-70A. The SR-71 designation would have meant Strike Reconnaissance, but because there were no other RS or SR designated aircraft and the RS-71s Strike mission (based on the Lockheed models B-12, RB-12 and RS-12) never materialized, the "official" meaning of SR-71 became Strategic Reconnaissance. As said before, this is a non-standard designation. The YF-12A designation also is not a 'real' standard designation! It is based on the Lockheed model designation AF-12, and was just used because it was fitting perfectly in the new, 1962 adopted, Joint Military Designation System. That explains, why the older YF-12 was designated under the new system, while the later developed SR-71 still uses the pre-1962 designation system. An overview of the Lockheed model designations explains what I mean: A-12 - 12th model of the CIA high altitude/speed reconnaissance plane of which 12 were built; the A came from the Lockheed intern code/nick name 'Archangle', which was based on the U-2s code/nick-name 'Angle'; a dedicated two-seat trainer version was built and sometimes referred to by its nick name 'Titanium Goose', but was not given a different model designation; AF-12 - fighter version of A-12 with AIM-47s in chines; developed into the YF-12A with cut out nose-chine, the production version F-12B was canceled, and the YF-12C designation was used for an SR-71A, on loan to NASA; B-12 - bomber version, also known as RB-12 (equivalent); FB-12 - Fighter/Bomber version based on A-12 and SR-71; not proceeded with; RB-12 - reconnaissance and bomber version for the USAF based on CIA's A-12, but heavier, longer and slower, two-seater, with either bombs, missiles or cameras, developed into RS-12; RS-12 - Reconnaissance - Strike version, adaptable as R-12 or B-12, not proceeded with, and a later SR-71 based 'B-71' concept was also not well perceived by the USAF; R-12 - reconnaissance version for the USAF based on CIA's A-12 and also influenced by the B-12/RB-12 concepts; heavier, longer and slower than the A-12; two-seater, with cameras and SIGINT gear in chines; developed into RS-71/SR-71; the SR-71A (29) were the standard reconnaissance planes, the SR-71B (2) were dedicated trainer with a raised second cockpit, and the SR-71C (1) looked like the SR-71B, but was built from a crashed YF-12A and a static SR-71 mock-up; Q-12 - small unmaned drone version, redesignated D-21, the Q is based on the USAF designation system, meaning RPV/UAV; D-21 - small unmanned drone version (38), the number 12 was reversed to 21, launched from M-21, the D stands for 'Daughter' (or maybe Drone); the designations D-21B and GTD-21B are also non-standard designation, where the B denotes the second version (launched from B-52H, with rocket boosters) and the later adopted prefix letters G for Grounded and T for Training are based on USAF designation systems; M-21 - launch aircraft for D-21 based on A-12s (2), two-seater, the M stands for 'Mother'; note that the number was also reversed to 21; - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 or gehrs-pahl@buick.flint.umich.edu Tel: (810) 238-8469 or gpahl@cyberspace.org - --- --- ------------------------------ From: Mary Shafer Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 21:25:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SR71 - any news? Lots of maneuvering, no Air Force crews in the B yet. Actually, no Air Force crews in the simulator, even. There's a lot of talk about the Air Force operating out of Dryden, except, of course, when they deploy. We're going to fly three more sonic boom flights and one flying qualities flight and then the A goes to Plant 42 to start the aerospike mods. Regards, Mary Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com URL http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html Some days it don't come easy/And some days it don't come hard Some days it don't come at all/And these are the days that never end.... On Tue, 4 Apr 1995, Adrian Thurlow wrote: > Hi skunkers, > > When I first became aware of this lists existance and that its main purpose > was discussion of Skunkwork products I was delighted. What happened to that > discussion? Lets get things rolling and then perhaps there will be less of > this other stuff. > > Seriously though, it has gone a bit quiet on the Blackbird front recently. > Any news on how things are progressing? Mary, has the B model been used by > the USAF yet? Any decision been made on where operations will be based? > Anymore political manoeuvaring? > > Anything? > > Also, who succeeded Ben Rich and who heads up Lockheed(-Martin?) APD now? > > Regards > > Adrian Thurlow > Technology Integration / Det.4 9th SRW \ > B48 Room 5 / \ > BT Labs / _ \ > Martlesham Heath ____(( ))_________/_/_\_\_________(( ))____ > Ipswich \ \_/ / > Suffolk > U.K. Now only distant thunder > > Tel. +44 1473 644880 > Fax. +44 1473 646534 > > e-mail. adrian.thurlow@bt-sys.bt.co.uk > > The views expressed above are not necessarily those of BT. ------------------------------ From: Ralph the Wonder Llama Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 20:43:31 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: SR-71 <> >B-12 - bomber version, also known as RB-12 (equivalent); > >FB-12 - Fighter/Bomber version based on A-12 and SR-71; not proceeded with; > >RB-12 - reconnaissance and bomber version for the USAF based on CIA's A-12, > but heavier, longer and slower, two-seater, with either bombs, > missiles or cameras, developed into RS-12; I've heard of these versions before, and they've always piqued my interest. Does anyone know if there are any artist's renderings, drawings, etc. of these variants? I'd love to have seen a Fighter/Bomber version.... WOW..... - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Guslick / ^ \ IRC: HaveBlue NAR #53962 TIP #112 ---(.)==<-.->==(.)--- Klein bottle for sale - michaelg@alpha2.csd.uwm.edu SR-71 Blackbird Inquire within. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 22:54:39 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SR-71 Ralph the Wonder Llama [ :) ] asked for drawings or pictures of any of the Blackbird bomber versions. In Jay Miller's "Lockheed's Skunk Works - The First Fifty Years" is an artists concept (sideview by Charles Fleming) of an RB-12 and detail drawings of the weapons bay of the B-12 model. Also a photograph of a mock-up of th original AF-12 design (forward fuselage). In Paul F. Crickmore's "Lockheed SR-71 - The Secret Missions Exposed" is on the inside of the back cover a drawing of either an RB-12, B-12 or RS-12 model, showing 4 modified SRAM inside of the chines. It seems to be an original ADP drawing, but no caption is included. The inside of the front cover has a similar drawing of the R-12 (SR-71) with a Lockheed ADP drawing head, but also without caption. I have quite a few Blackbird books, but this are the only drawings/photos I know of. - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 or gehrs-pahl@buick.flint.umich.edu Tel: (810) 238-8469 or gpahl@cyberspace.org - --- --- ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #232 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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