Indeed I have heard the story.  I also heard the follow-on to that store
with a fifth aircraft, the fabled Aurora being top dog.

I am sure that you have visited the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.  There
you will find an example of all the airplanes flown by the Air Force.  It
has the only extant XB-70 Valkyrie on display.  There is also a B-36 with a
Goblin right beside it.  This museum is a must-see.

I also want to visit the SAC museum in Wichita, KS one of these days.

Denys

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Bill Brandt
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 11:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [HP3000-L] [Possible SPAM] RE: [HP3000-L] [OT] Fun space shuttle
facts!
Importance: Low

Denys - I am sure you heard the Internet story of the transcript between 4
aircraft
at various altitudes  and Los Angeles ATC - the top dog, of course, being an
SR-71 on the way into Edwards. They all wanted to know their ground speeds.


I have been the the National Air and Space Museum in DC - certainly one of
the
world's top aviation museums, there is one in the Bay Area that while small
- is interesting - profilling aviation from the Bay Area.

The Seattle Museum to me ranks in interest right with the Smithsonian -
certainly
its collection is smaller (whose isn't) but the way they arrange the
displays
- you can walk around many of them - and their new wing of WW1 and 2
aircraft
has to be among the best in the world.

All WW2 fighters are virtually extinct - as an example of the 8,000 P51s
made
about 100 are left flying. Of the 40,000 Me109s made there is only 1 or 2
left
flying with the original DB 601 engine. You can tell because the engine was
unique in that plane - designed to hang inverted for better CG - the exaust
stacks on the cowling on a DB powered 109 are always towards the bottom -
virtually
every other 109 you see in the movies (maybe less than 10 flying?) have been
converted to Merlin engines - the exhaust is in a more conventional location
towards the top.

The Seattle museum has the rarest of these planes - like an F4G - a varient
of the Corsair made by Goodyear with a bigger P & W engine - only 5 were
made
in total - and a liquid cooled Jumo-powered FW190 - if you like aviation the
Seattle museum is a must see - I didn't have time to go outside to see the
Concorde
and the 747 prototype - that will have to wait for the next visit.

BTW my host in Seattle, who is an engineer for Boeing, told me a funny story
abnout the Concorde - the plane - like the SR-71, expands in supersonic
flight
and one of the pilots put his hat between the floor and a bulkhead - well,
the
plane lands, the metal cools and retracts and the hat is permently stuck in
there for all to see in perpetuity.

Bill

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