From: owner-skunk-works-digest@eagle.netwrx1.com (skunk-works-digest) To: skunk-works-digest@eagle.netwrx1.com Subject: skunk-works-digest V6 #57 Reply-To: skunk-works@netwrx1.com Sender: owner-skunk-works-digest@eagle.netwrx1.com Errors-To: owner-skunk-works-digest@eagle.netwrx1.com Precedence: bulk skunk-works-digest Wednesday, June 4 1997 Volume 06 : Number 057 In this issue: F-22 EMD Serial Number re: my article Re: skunk-works-digest V6 #56 Re: skunk-works-digest V6 #56 Re: skunk-works-digest V6 #56 First X-38 Atmospheric Vehicle to Begin Flight Tests in July NASA Studies High Altitude Radiation with Upgraded ER-2 Re: Mach Re: First X-38 Atmospheric Vehicle to Begin Flight Tests in RoCAF U-2 site and BAR article 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 03 Jun 1997 17:01:07 -0500 (EST) From: ROTRAMELJE%AM4@mr.nawcad.navy.mil Subject: F-22 EMD Serial Number According to my sources, it is 95-4001. Jim Rotramel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jun 97 02:34:37 GMT From: betnal@ns.net Subject: re: my article Hi All, Generally, I won't be discussing many aspects of the article at work for two reasons. First, it clearly deals with current DoD policy. Second, since there is a money-making aspect to it, it's not appropriate to use Government resources. That's also why I didn't give any advance announcement of the article, I didn't want it to look like I was using the group to plug something of mine. Dan, Greg and others: Thanks for your kind words. Regarding the long (never finalized) version and the article becoming electronically accessible, right now, I do not own the copyright to that article, Sentry Books, publisher of Airpower, does. When they bought it, it became "theirs". To read it, you'll have to get a copy of the magazine (hobby shops and Borders get it earlier than regular newsstands, it should be widely available soon). It's also available from the publisher. I'm not saying this to increase my income (I'll actually lose money on the article, money is not why I did it), the pay is a flat rate regardless if one copy sells or a million. Higher sales will show various publishers that there is an interest out there in this aircraft and might stimulate further articles from different people in various pubs. You know, to many, the return of the SR isn't newsworthy anymore, or they think everything is just hunky dory and people really aren't interested. Because the article is copyrighted, publishing it, or any version of it, on the web -at this time- is illegal, even for me. The copyright May return to me in the future (not in the next couple of months, though). This would probably happen when the editors feel that republication elsewhere would not affect sales. All magazines do this. The possibility of a finished longer version appearing on the web is being considered when and if the copyright reverts. Captions and Editor's note: Didn't write them, only provided graphics with explanations. I'll see them when the magazine sends me my copies of the magazine and/or it hits general circulation next week. Regarding some of Andreas' points (keep in mind I haven't seen them). "NASA Rocket Ride": I'm not sure why a caption for the LASRE fit check would refer to the Rocket Ride. One of the sources I supplied for other illustrations also showed a profile for a particular Rocket Ride that is flown occasionally by NASA. It involves a full fuel takeoff, which can be done when the temperature permits. This is very rarely done because it is usually unnecessary, is stressful on the aircraft and does put a lot of wear on the gear and tires, especially if the takeoff is rejected. There shouldn't have been any reference to this particular profile in the article. Rocket Rides in general are not uncommon, both by NASA and USAF and may be utilized even more with tactical operations of the SR-71. For example, the day I shot some of the photos (I hope they got into the article), 971 flew a Rocket Ride. They do not, though, have as their main reason for existence to get to altitude quickly. Number of SR-71s: Those numbers are right, although the "single canopy As" throws me. Editor's note: Having not seen the whole note yet, I do not know in what context the Editor was using the word "policy makers". If he was referring to USAF leadership at the time and some opponents in Congress, I would say he is correct. If he was referring to Congress in general or all of DoD I would take issue with that. Depends on what else was said. Come to think of it, it's probably not too kosher for me to discuss the parts I didn't write, especially when I haven't yet seen them. Besides, I haven't been paid (or more importantly, gotten my materials back) yet! Art "Thank God for Spell Check" Hanley ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 22:40:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Xelex@aol.com Subject: Re: skunk-works-digest V6 #56 In 1986, my friend Brian Nicklas told me his law of aircraft recognition: "If it's ugly, it's British. If it's real ugly, it's Russian." I suggested that "If it's ugly and weird, it must be French." Now, obviously, we were not talking about the Vulcan, Su-27, or Mirage III. For ugly UK designs, see the Avro Type 707, Fairey F.D.1, and BAC H.126. And you must admit, the Russians took a fine looking cargo plane (An-124) and turned it into a monstrosity (An-225). For truly bizarre French designs: Fouga C.M.88-R, Leduc 0.21, and the SNECMA C.450-01 Coleoptere. The Coleoptere looks like an upright keg on shopping cart wheels, with four small triangular fins on the bottom and a cockpit on top. Granted, the U.S. is catching up in the ugly department (TACIT BLUE), and the Russians have some real beauties now (Su-27, MiG-29). In defense of "Nicklas' Law," it still holds true in a generalized, "broad stroke," non-politically-correct sort of way. Incidentally, I like the way the F-117 looks. Peter W. Merlin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jun 1997 14:42:21 +1200 From: Brett Davidson Subject: Re: skunk-works-digest V6 #56 At 10:40 PM 3/06/97 -0400, you wrote: >In 1986, my friend Brian Nicklas told me his law of aircraft recognition: > >"If it's ugly, it's British. If it's real ugly, it's Russian." > >I suggested that "If it's ugly and weird, it must be French." ...deletia.... >Granted, the U.S. is catching up in the ugly department (TACIT BLUE), and the >Russians have some real beauties now (Su-27, MiG-29). In defense of >"Nicklas' Law," it still holds true in a generalized, "broad stroke," >non-politically-correct sort of way. Incidentally, I like the way the F-117 >looks. > >Peter W. Merlin I remember ugly/beautiful threads regularly cropping up on aerospace newsgroups... Just a couple of exceptions/whatever that I would like to add: Concorde, which is anglo-french IMHO is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built; I would call the SR-71 sublime, and I think that many would agree that the Boeing JSF entry is ugly and weird - in a bulldog sort of way, though. I could consider the Lockheed Lightning to be beautiful, despite being rather odd. I think that in considering aircraft in purely aesthetic terms, it would be reasonable to consider the appropriateness of their beauty, or lack of it: we would want an airliner to be elegant, and a strike aircraft to be chunky etc. I find the battleship-like heaviness and angularity of the MiG-25 & 31 likewise appropriate to their roles. - --Brett "desperately spending his day avoiding real work" Davidson > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 01:51:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Wei-Jen Su Subject: Re: skunk-works-digest V6 #56 On Wed, 4 Jun 1997, Brett Davidson wrote: > > I remember ugly/beautiful threads regularly cropping up on aerospace > newsgroups... > > I think that in considering aircraft in purely aesthetic terms, it would be > reasonable to consider the appropriateness of their beauty, or lack of it: > we would want an airliner to be elegant, and a strike aircraft to be chunky > etc. I find the battleship-like heaviness and angularity of the MiG-25 & 31 > likewise appropriate to their roles. > > --Brett "desperately spending his day avoiding real work" Davidson From the book "The Untouchables" by Brian Shul and Walter Watson Jr. pag. 139: "Interview of Kelly Johnson, who rarely gave interviews: Kelly: This is not going to be a long interview, is it? Reporter: No, just a few short questions. Kelly: Make them very short. Reporter: What makes a good airplane design? Kelly: There is no short answer to that. Reporter: How important is an airplane's appearance? Kelly: It is important to me. My wife tells me that if it doesn't look good, it won't fly good. That's good enough for me." - --------------------------------------------------------------------- For those aerospace eng., we know that Kelly and Kelly's wife are 100% correct. Aerospace designer looks at the ratio of "succesful" airplanes components since all was rule out by the Mother Nature. Maybe, we got used to see those succesfull airplanes and consider as pretty ones... The stealth airplanes may looks really pretty for the world of electromagetic... but not for the world of aerodynamics... Maybe the real designer of Skunk Works' aircrafts is Kelly's wife :P May the Force be with you Su Wei-Jen E-mails: wsu02@utopia.poly.edu wjs@webspan.net Nicklas' Law of Aircraft Identification: "If it's ugly, it's British; if it's weird, it's French; and if it's ugly and weird, it's Russian." Brian Nicklas ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 14:30:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Subject: First X-38 Atmospheric Vehicle to Begin Flight Tests in July This is the second NASA press release, and even though it is not directly Skunk Works connected, it is somehow related. I do wonder why they say that the X-38s are mostly built at the Johnson Space Center -- I was under the impression that Scaled Composites built the first vehicle, and will deliver the others too. - -- Andreas ********************* Michael Braukus Headquarters, Washington, DC June 4, 1997 (Phone: 202/358-1979) James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) RELEASE: 97-121 FIRST X-38 ATMOSPHERIC VEHICLE TO BEGIN FLIGHT TESTS IN JULY The first X-38 atmospheric test vehicle, which carries applications for future space vehicles, was shipped today from the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, to the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, to begin unpiloted flight tests in July. The X-38 represents an innovative new spacecraft design as a technology testbed, with possible use as an International Space Station emergency crew return "lifeboat." Once operational, the successors to the X-38 may become the first new piloted spacecraft to travel to and from orbit in more than 20 years, and the X-38 is being developed at a fraction of the cost of past human space vehicles. The primary application of the new spacecraft would be as an International Space Station "lifeboat," which would be delivered to the station by the Space Shuttle. The project also aims to develop a design that could be modified easily for other uses, such as a possible joint U.S. and European human spacecraft that could be launched on the French Ariane 5 booster. "Beginning full-scale flight tests is a big milestone for us that our team has been looking forward to with a lot of excitement," said X-38 project manager John Muratore. "No one has ever done anything like this before -- deploying a parafoil from a lifting body and flying a lifting body with an all-electric flight control system -- and there are unknowns. We expect surprises. But we have done a lot of work to minimize the unknowns, and we are confident this vehicle can perform well." The atmospheric test vehicle, designated vehicle 131, is the first of three sub-scale vehicles largely built at Johnson planned for such testing. The unpiloted flight testing will begin at Dryden with "captive carry" flights, during which the vehicle remains attached to the NASA B-52 aircraft, in July and early August. The first free-flight drop test of the vehicle, in which it will be released at an altitude of 25,000 feet, is planned for late August. Similar free-flight drop testing will continue at Dryden periodically through late 1999. An unpiloted space flight test is scheduled for launch aboard a Space Shuttle in the spring of 2000. The X-38 space flight test vehicle also will be built largely at Johnson. The X-38 is being developed with an unprecedented eye toward efficiency, taking advantage of available equipment and already- developed technology for as much as 80 percent of the spacecraft's design. The design uses a lifting body concept originally developed by the Air Force's X-24A project in the mid-1970s. Following the jettison of a deorbit engine module, the X-38 would glide from orbit unpowered like the Space Shuttle and then use a steerable parafoil parachute for its final descent to landing. In the early years of the International Space Station, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be attached to the station as a crew return vehicle. As the size of the station crew increases, however, a return vehicle like the X-38 that can accommodate up to six passengers will be needed. - end - - --- --- 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 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 14:23:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Subject: NASA Studies High Altitude Radiation with Upgraded ER-2 The following is one of two recent NASA press releases with some relevance to the Skunk Works. Even though most of you might get them directly from NASA anyway, I think they should be added to the Skunk Works Digest archive. - -- Andreas ************ Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington, DC June 3, 1997 (Phone: 202/358-1726) Michael Finneran Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (Phone: 757/864-6124) David Morse Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA (Phone: 415/604-4724) RELEASE: 97-118 NASA STUDIES HIGH ALTITUDE RADIATION WITH UPGRADED ER-2 Using an upgraded NASA ER-2 aircraft, researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, have begun a month-long campaign to measure radiation at high altitudes. This campaign, funded by NASA's High-Speed Research program, is the first of several that will measure naturally occurring radiation from cosmic and solar rays at altitudes between 52,000 and 70,000 feet. The data will be used to characterize the radiation environment for the aircrew and frequent-flying public on a future High-Speed Civil Transport. The High-Speed Civil Transport, a conceptual supersonic airliner, would carry 300 passengers at 2.4 times the speed of sound, at altitudes of up to 68,000 feet. "The broad aim of the Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation ER-2 flight-measurements campaign is to understand the composition, distribution and intensities of cosmic and solar radiation at commercial supersonic transport-cruise altitudes," said Allen Whitehead, the High-Speed Research environmental impact manager. "Our primary concern is the level of uncertainties in the knowledge of the upper atmosphere's radiation environment and the human body's response to that type of environment," said Dr. John Wilson, the Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation chief scientist. "Radiation measurements will be obtained by an array of instruments from the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy in a collaborative effort devised by Dr. Wilson," said Donald Maiden, the Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation project manager. "The instrument types which make up the array were recommended by the National Council on Radiation Protection in a study sponsored by the High-Speed research program." "The primary thrust is to characterize the atmospheric radiation and to define dose levels at high altitude flight. A secondary thrust is to develop and validate dosimetric techniques and monitoring devices for protection of the aircrew who work many hours at cruise altitudes," Maiden added. According to Maiden, "Even though the exposure levels are higher at the higher cruise altitude, the typical flying public will actually receive less radiation exposure than on today's subsonic transports because of the higher speed of the High-Speed Civil Transport. This is another advantage for speed." The flight program is a collaborative effort with the Department of Energy's Environmental Measurements Laboratory; NASA's Johnson Space Center; the Canadian Defense Research Establishment and Royal Military College; the German Aerospace Research Establishment; the United Kingdom's National Radiation Protection Board; the Boeing Company; and several domestic and foreign university guest investigators. Recent modifications to the NASA ER-2, sponsored by NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program, increased its altitude capabilities, allowing it to reach easily those altitudes where the High-Speed Civil Transport will fly. The NASA ER-2 is based at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA. - end - - --- --- 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 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 12:16:26 -0700 From: larry@ichips.intel.com Subject: Re: Mach Wei-Jen Su asked: >>How a supersonic aircraft know her Mach speed? I know that they >>use its pitot tube, it measure the total pressure after the shock wave >>and knowing the static pressure before the shock wave you will know the >>Mach number. But, how does it knows the static pressure before the shock >>wave? Andreas responded: >The pitot tube pokes out in the free air stream and measures the ram-air >pressure of the air ahead of the aircraft (or at the shock wave). The static >pressure would be the pressure of the ambient air, behind (or inside of) the >shock wave, rather than "before the shock wave". The difference of those >pressures would be created solely by the movement through air, and the Mach >meter would display it as fractions of the speed of sound. That would be IAS >(Indicated Air Speed), but might be actually corrected for temperature and >altitude pressure to TAS (True Air Speed) by some (most ?) displays. > >I could be dead wrong though, because I have no formal education in >aerodynamics and such, and just made that up, based on some books I read. :) Dead wrong. :) The disappointing thing here is that we seem to have lost our techs in one way or the other. Hopefully they're still lurking. You seem to have it backwards. The supersonic pitot tube formula merely has you measure the ratio between the total pressure behind the normal shock caused by the pitot probe and the static freestream pressure (ahead of the shock). The formula also depends on the ratio of specific heats for the gas (air) conditions (a constant 1.4 for non high temp flow conditions). Once you know those things and solve the equation, the Mach number falls out. So Su Wei-Jen had it correct. What Su Wei-Jen was puzzled about, was this. Since the entire aircraft is supersonic, and therefore behind a shock wave of one sort or the other, how does one measure static freestream pressure? To do this, one must be familiar with shock wave and mach wave theory. It's easiest to think of designing a SEPERATE probe to be the static freestream pressure probe. So in the measurement of mach number, one will use the pitot normal shock probe to read total pressure, and a seperate probe to read static pressure. How can such a static pressure probe be designed if the aircraft is supersonic and therefore even the static probe should have a shock? One way is to design the static pressure probe as a wedge. Put the static air source on the other side of the wedge. Everything on the wedge side of the probe will be behind the oblique shock caused by the wedge and therefore effected by that shock and therefore not freestream static pressure. However on the other side of the probe, where the wedge angle is not present, you will have undisturbed freestream conditions. This assumes of course that the axis of the probe is alligned with freestream streamlines. There are several conditions that must be met however with this probe. Namely, the leading edge of the wedge has to be sharp enough so that the oblique shock is not detached. Also, this wedge instrument is sensitive to angle of attack. Another way is with a very slim internal angle cone shaped probe that essentially causes a mach wave at the tip. A number of diameters downstream of the tip one can put a static source. It turns out that this static source will be very close to static freestream. There are other approaches as well. One good source of information is Tony Ferri's 1949 book on supersonic aerodynamics. Dr. Ferri has a complete chapter on measuring all aspects of a supersonic flow from first principles. His book is rare, but one can find it in good college engineering libraries. I would be interested in a more modern source of information on this as well from all the flight test engineers that I know have been on this list in the past. I hope they're still around. >The F-117A obviously doesn't fly faster than Mach 1 (at least not on >purpose). The 4 diamond-shaped pitot tubes are flat and angled (like the >rest of the aircraft), for RCS-control only. Yes, however the F-117A is in the region of compressible flow and not subsonic incompressible flow. Compressible flow begins around M = 0.3. This means that the F-117A's pitot tube does not use the same measurement system as a Cessna 150 say. So we talked about 3 different types of pitot measurement systems here. 1. Subsonic M < .3 2. Compressible .3 < M < 1 3. Supersonic M > 1 Larry ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 15:55:26 -0400 From: gregweigold@pmsc.com (GREG WEIGOLD) Subject: Re: First X-38 Atmospheric Vehicle to Begin Flight Tests in If I remember the earlier press releases correctly, I think that the construction is being MANAGED by JSC, but the construction is actually being done at and by Scaled Composites. Or at least the original prototypes were..... but I've remembered wrong before.... This is the "Alien Contact" list, isn't it? Just kidding!!!!!! Greg Weigold Columbia,SC gregweigold@pmsc.com ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: First X-38 Atmospheric Vehicle to Begin Flight Tests in July Author: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl at INTERNET Date: 6/4/97 2:30 PM This is the second NASA press release, and even though it is not directly Skunk Works connected, it is somehow related. I do wonder why they say that the X-38s are mostly built at the Johnson Space Center -- I was under the impression that Scaled Composites built the first vehicle, and will deliver the others too. - -- Andreas ********************* Michael Braukus Headquarters, Washington, DC June 4, 1997 (Phone: 202/358-1979) James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) RELEASE: 97-121 FIRST X-38 ATMOSPHERIC VEHICLE TO BEGIN FLIGHT TESTS IN JULY The first X-38 atmospheric test vehicle, which carries applications for future space vehicles, was shipped today from the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, to the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, to begin unpiloted flight tests in July. The X-38 represents an innovative new spacecraft design as a technology testbed, with possible use as an International Space Station emergency crew return "lifeboat." Once operational, the successors to the X-38 may become the first new piloted spacecraft to travel to and from orbit in more than 20 years, and the X-38 is being developed at a fraction of the cost of past human space vehicles. The primary application of the new spacecraft would be as an International Space Station "lifeboat," which would be delivered to the station by the Space Shuttle. The project also aims to develop a design that could be modified easily for other uses, such as a possible joint U.S. and European human spacecraft that could be launched on the French Ariane 5 booster. "Beginning full-scale flight tests is a big milestone for us that our team has been looking forward to with a lot of excitement," said X-38 project manager John Muratore. "No one has ever done anything like this before -- deploying a parafoil from a lifting body and flying a lifting body with an all-electric flight control system -- and there are unknowns. We expect surprises. But we have done a lot of work to minimize the unknowns, and we are confident this vehicle can perform well." The atmospheric test vehicle, designated vehicle 131, is the first of three sub-scale vehicles largely built at Johnson planned for such testing. The unpiloted flight testing will begin at Dryden with "captive carry" flights, during which the vehicle remains attached to the NASA B-52 aircraft, in July and early August. The first free-flight drop test of the vehicle, in which it will be released at an altitude of 25,000 feet, is planned for late August. Similar free-flight drop testing will continue at Dryden periodically through late 1999. An unpiloted space flight test is scheduled for launch aboard a Space Shuttle in the spring of 2000. The X-38 space flight test vehicle also will be built largely at Johnson. The X-38 is being developed with an unprecedented eye toward efficiency, taking advantage of available equipment and already- developed technology for as much as 80 percent of the spacecraft's design. The design uses a lifting body concept originally developed by the Air Force's X-24A project in the mid-1970s. Following the jettison of a deorbit engine module, the X-38 would glide from orbit unpowered like the Space Shuttle and then use a steerable parafoil parachute for its final descent to landing. In the early years of the International Space Station, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be attached to the station as a crew return vehicle. As the size of the station crew increases, however, a return vehicle like the X-38 that can accommodate up to six passengers will be needed. - end - - --- --- 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 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 15:12:39 -0500 (CDT) From: drbob@creighton.edu Subject: RoCAF U-2 site and BAR article Followers of the Skunk Works may be interested to know that the second and final part of the excellent article on U-2 operations in England appeared in the April 1997 issue of _British Aviation Review_, pages AP385-AP399. In addition, there is an interesting web page on RoCAF U-2 operations. Although I have not yet checked the information it contains with my own sources, it appears at first glance to be both accurate and professional. http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~wei-bin/u2.html Finally, my hat's off to anyone who's published an article only to discover that an editor somewhere has changed the text or captions, thus making the author look foolish. I think it's a requirement for anyone who publishes to have at least one major piece go from glory to goat because of an editor. Oops! That represents my opinion! Sorry, folks. :) Robert Hopkins ------------------------------ End of skunk-works-digest V6 #57 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@netwrx1.com". 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