[QUOTE]Originally posted by RED MX5
July 17, 1962 - Bob White took the X-15 to 314,750 feet, becoming the first man to qualify for astronaut wings without literally being shot into space as a payload on the top of a ballistic missile.

 

I met Yeager when we made the movie "The Right Stuff". He's about the nicest most unassuming guy you could ever meet. Everyone was in awe of him, but his attitude was always "Aw shucks!"

 

I was looking around the web for a photo of the F104 to post, and look what I found...



It's very strange to see German markings on one of our planes

 

about as strange as it is that our planes are powered by German technology. Third Reich or not, those German engineers were-- and still are-- some of the finest in the world. coming up with the jet engine... and who can forget the Messerschmitt Me-262 rocket-powered interceptor of WWII? imagine what our pilots were thinking just to see one of those things zooming by them at 2-3x their speed? the Nazi regard for human life may have been atrocious... but their engineers made some groundbreaking technologies.

 

"Don't worry Mr. Vice President... our Germans are better than their Germans."

(favorite line in "The Right Stuff")

We'd never have made it to the moon without them

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tritium_pie
wow.

 

True. It is also entirely possible that we still wouldn't be in space even today if it weren't for the Soviets. We didn't get the technology from them (except for the Tesla stuff), but we sure got a lot of motivation from them.

I have just as much respect for the men behind the Soviet Triad as I do the men behind our own triad. They were a formidable advisory and a worthy opponent. And my friends, they sacrificed too, and the balance kept this world from nuclear destruction. There were hordes of unsung heroes on the other side too, and just because they were on the other side does not diminish their achievements or sacrifices in any way.

 

They are all that way. The very best, the guys with "the right stuff," are always humble and modest. God love 'em.

 

I never understood why the cockpit was so cramped in the SR-71. I got to sit in one when I was about 12 (1973) and was in heaven. Yeah it was a violation of a several laws but I got into a lot of stuff that I wasn't supposed to back then. Amazing what growing up on Air Force bases with all of the big shot pilots and security guy could get you. I wish I still had all of the stuff I had from Air Force One back in the early 70's. One friends father was the navigator, another the co-pilot and another head of security for Air Force One back then. I remember sneaking off the plane with a pack of Presidential Seal Marlboros about an hour before Nixon took his last flight. I was never in the service myself as my father told me I would be in Leavenworth in 6 weeks and I should choose another path but he lasted 34 years which allowed me to have a pretty good time growing up. I sometimes regret not going in as I could have gone to the Academy and been a pilot but dad was right I would have been in Leavenworth quick.

Mark

 

A few years back, I was working a mod for the Navy out on Pt. Mugu, when a AN-124 landed and taxiied in. One of my colleagues commented how much it looks like a C-5...

I looked at him and said, "does it? I mean does it really look like a C-5... or does a C-5 look like an AN-124???"

It took him a second, but then he got my point. I dunno who has copied who, but there sure have been a number of adversary aircraft that resemble our own over the years...