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Post by daoleguy A.J. Hoehn (deceased) on Aug 9, 2007 7:14:16 GMT 9
I am not sure what year it was, 70, 71 or 72, but i recall seeing a Habu at Loring. It was not on display, but "passing thru" of sorts. I was working a long swing shift in the Instrument shop and we were milling around behind the nose dock BSing. A 130 landed just before sundown and taxied to the west side of the Arch (DCM we called it) hangar. They off loaded what looked like two hydraulic carts and rolled them in the hangar. We never saw that before.
Later one of the guys came flying into the shops babbling "SR, I think its the F****** Blackbird!" We followed him out back of the ND and low and behold there it was and taxiing directly into the hangar. I have no clue why, but I know I shook my head in disbelief. The night super called to us and said we were stuck at the shop. As we had to drive across the ramp to exit the 27th ramp area to go home and it became restricted. Gazing down at the hangar we could see nothing.
Early in the AM we heard load motors, not jet, start in the hangar followed by turbines. Soon the doors opened and out bolted the SR. It whizzed by directly to the 27th end of the RW. It was awesome seeing the two ABs climbing out in the dark sky and hauling ass off in a west direction. It was not until '76 on Andrews for the Bi-Centenial that I saw one up close again.
I have been told this is total BS, but I was there. Anyone else here to corroborate with me? Someone else had to be on the line that night and see it. I know I am not nuts yet though my daughter swears I am.
Cheers AJ
Just and EDIT: It dawned on me 40 years has fried off some memory cells. I do belive I am making one hangar out of two with my comment on the DCM Hangar. After some pondering the DCM sat facing the ADC hangar in 27th Land of sorts.
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Post by Cougar on Aug 9, 2007 12:37:07 GMT 9
You are correct about the SRs taxiing directly into the hanger, followed by shutdown and hanger door closure. You are correct about light-off in the hanger, followed by a taxi to the active - leaving out that she was escorted by so many AP's that you'da though Al Capone was in town. What followed was a prolonged run up, then roll out and a burner light that gave you a better rush than 2 am tuna. Not Loring, but McConnell in 69. Black declared an emergency over Montana, evidently running hot enough to establish McConnell as the first place it could safely land. The active went sterile shortly after the emergency was declared, and there were more security people around than hemorrhoids at a fudge-packers convention. She departed the next morning, and what a sight she was - charging down the runway an picking up speed at a rate that would make a second slot Thud pilot think his afterburner had failed to light during take-off. An Yes, she left you wondering about what it would take to qualify as her crew chief.
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sixerviper
F-106 Skilled
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Post by sixerviper on Aug 13, 2007 0:24:15 GMT 9
One came into Minot on an emergency in October of 1972, but I was home on leave when it happened, so I didn't see it. My next-door neighbor got pics of it, though. He was in SAC; they put the Habu in one of the SAC hangars. Us poor ADCers never had a chance!!
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Post by lindel on Aug 13, 2007 3:29:19 GMT 9
I'm surprised they didn't confuscate the camera and film! I never got to see a 71 in the "flesh" so to speak, other than a museum display. I envy you guys a little.
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Post by guest on Aug 13, 2007 11:47:55 GMT 9
I was stationed at kadena in the late 60s and early 70s with mr habu. let me tell you they were a work art as well as a GREAT BIG PILE of $hit. thats all i can say.
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Post by pat perry on Aug 14, 2007 0:45:30 GMT 9
I was stationed at kadena in the late 60s and early 70s with mr habu. let me tell you they were a work art as well as a GREAT BIG PILE of $hit. thats all i can say. Hi Guest, why don't you sign up to be a member. I take your statement to mean that the SR was labor intensive and costly to maintain. Is that correct or did I miss something? Whatever it's shortfalls might have been it's results were certainly worth the cost. I just wish we had more Kelly Johnson type engineers these days. Maybe we do and I just don't know of them yet. Best Regards, Pat Perry 456th FIS
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Post by Tom Dlugosh on Aug 14, 2007 2:06:11 GMT 9
We had one come into Loring sometime in '66 or early '67. Most of us didn't know what it was (it wasn't until sometime later that LBJ let the cat out of the bag that it even existed). We were restricted to the nose dock for a while. It taxied directly into the ADC hanger, doors closed, AP's everywhere. I just caught a glimpse of it as it passed the nose dock door, they had purposely parked the Metro in front of the door so we couldn't see, but we managed anyhow. They must have fixed it overnight because it was gone before I came to work the next day.
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Post by Cougar on Aug 14, 2007 4:47:13 GMT 9
I was stationed at kadena in the late 60s and early 70s with mr habu. let me tell you they were a work art as well as a GREAT BIG PILE of $hit. thats all i can say. Having never crewed an SR, but having witnessed one during an emergency landing and a next day lift-off, I can well image that the technology required to support the Blackbirds mission profile would present as a bit of a challenge to those who had been selected to keep her flying.
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Post by daoleguy A.J. Hoehn (deceased) on Aug 14, 2007 5:39:15 GMT 9
I had a Shop Chief, TGSgt Averill, that worked the YF-12 program way back when. He said the instrumentation was pretty much ole F-104 type roundeye. The YF team seemed to more or less "wing" it on the early days. It honestly surprised me that in the "Avionics " area (if you can really call old 50's gear Avionics), was pretty much what the general USAF was using. He did say the engineers did help develop new electronic and support systems as a result of the YF program.
I was surprised when I finally got to look in the cockpit in 1976 at Andrews when one was there for display. I was in the 89th by then and I can honestly say 26000 and 27000 had much more modern instumentation (early Glass Cockpit type). I kinda feel the maintentance on the YF and SR was like we had for the C-9's on Andrews - All just R&R and near total contractor support for serious maintenance.
A J
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Post by guest on Aug 14, 2007 10:57:07 GMT 9
;D Wrong! if you were a hydraulic,fuel cell,mechanical accessories ,or engine mech. you pretty well knew you had 12 to14 hours of ass hole and elbows every night to get her ready for a 4am take off.And i might say we did one hell of a job. Expansion and contraction was its worst enemy. You can imagine what that did to bleed air ducts,hyd and fuel lines
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Post by daoleguy A.J. Hoehn (deceased) on Aug 26, 2007 10:00:47 GMT 9
Trust me I didn't say not labor intensive. Jim Averill said he lived in the shop most of the time supporting the birds.
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sixerviper
F-106 Skilled
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Post by sixerviper on Aug 30, 2007 3:19:13 GMT 9
According to the SR-71.org website where they have the dash 1 online, the YF-12 had vertical tapes just like the Six, but they were more like the F-111's verticals. SRs were round-eyes. Don't know what the A-12s had.
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