[GlennF]

The NASA B-57s are heavily modified Canberras and I believe still in occasional use. I would guess they have or still do use the U-2 as well. The Canberra was ahead of it's time and a record breaking aircraft - when one was first flown to the USA the USAF tried to intercept it with their latest state of the art fighter the F-86 Sabre - and the Sabres could get nowhere near the Canberra as if flew far higher than they could reach.

In terms of "book numbers" the US sabre has a slightly higher maximum ceiling but if the Canberra was already at 48,000 feet and the Sabre was trying to intercept it would take an awful long time to get up there, the Canberra would be long gone.

The Aussie CAC/Avon Sabre variant would have more chance.  It had a Rolls-Royce Avon R.A.7 with double the thrust of the General Electric J47 fitted to US variants resulting in a 3000' higher ceiling.  It also had more fuel allowing a longer tail chase and was fitted with a pair of 30mm Aden revolving autocannon with 1000+ / minute ROF,  instead of the 0.50 cal of the F86.

[AzCal Retred]

R230 - I got to watch a U2 take off once at Davis-Monthan Air Base in Tucson. It trundled albatross-like down the runway until the wings got a bite on the air & lifted up about 2'-3'. Another couple hundred yards & it lifted clear of the runway. About 1/4 mile later it was 200'-300' up. It tilted near vertical then and began a straight up climb. If it wasn't vertical, it sure looked like it. In about 30 - 45 seconds it was a tiny black cross, then it was gone. I've read that the pressure suits have a MAST function to keep blood in the pilot's head during this maneuver. This machine was operational by the mid-50's. The Blackbird was flying missions by the early 60's, less than 10 years on. I'd really like to see what's been learned in the last 60 years...!

[GlennF]

R230 - I got to watch a U2 take off once at Davis-Monthan Air Base in Tucson. It trundled albatross-like down the runway until the wings got a bite on the air & lifted up about 2'-3'. Another couple hundred yards & it lifted clear of the runway. About 1/4 mile later it was 200'-300' up. It tilted near vertical then and began a straight up climb. If it wasn't vertical, it sure looked like it. In about 30 - 45 seconds it was a tiny black cross, then it was gone. I've read that the pressure suits have a MAST function to keep blood in the pilot's head during this maneuver. This machine was operational by the mid-50's. The Blackbird was flying missions by the early 60's, less than 10 years on. I'd really like to see what's been learned in the last 60 years...!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVfkjpYFqNo

[Keef Sparrow]

Did not know that.

My assumption is the pink thing works because a lot of these flights are done at dawn or dusk (nice long shadows in the photos among other things). No evidence for that though, just my guess as to why they do it.

This is a Desert Pink Buccaneer used in the Gulf War.

[GlennF]

The other aircraft that is often forgotten is the hybrid 10 engine prop/jet Convair RB-36F Peacemaker, the photo reconnaissance variant of the SAC B36 bomber. with a crew of 22.

The forward bomb bay was replaced by a pressurized, manned compartment with 14 cameras and included a small darkroom. Light weight versions were able to operate as high as 58,000 feet.

Over a third of B36's made were RB36 photo reconnaissance variants. They were flown through the Korean War period and the last was retired in 1959.



An interview with a former RB36 pilot  ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pYCtpWGIik

news reel from back in the day ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oSG1TmbAB0

[AzCal Retred]

Something for our Canadian contingent...

The record-breaking jet which still haunts a country
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200615-the-record-breaking-jet-which-still-haunts-a-country


Ambitious Canadian politicians and engineers weren’t satisfied with this. They decided to forge a world-leading aircraft manufacturing industry out of the factories and skilled workforce built up during the war. Tired of manufacturing aircraft designed by others, this new generation of Canadian leaders were determined to produce Canadian designs. Avro Aircraft, the Canadian airplane maker created after the war, was the company that would deliver their dream.

Freed from the set ways-of-thinking of Avro’s more established rivals, the firm’s engineers were able to work on revolutionary jet fighters, commercial airliners, flying saucers and even a space plane. They placed Canada at the technological cutting edge of the new Jet Age.

In so doing, these engineers challenged notions of what small countries like Canada could achieve in the hi-tech industries of the day, even if convincing politicians to stump up the cash for them was an altogether trickier business.

The Arrow was so advanced that Canada didn't have all the facilities for testing it. Instead, the engineers had to use facilities in the USA such as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) supersonic research centre at Langley Park, Virginia. The Canadians and their aircraft impressed their American colleagues – a calling card that had lasting consequences for the future of humanity. In 1958 NACA became Nasa.

>> On February 1959 Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker suddenly cancelled the program. <<

However, Nasa didn’t waste any time. They first approached Avro’s engineers within hours of the project’s cancellation. The 32 men they chose went to work on projects like Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Jim Chamberlain, ex-chief of technical design, led the Gemini mission and was one of the leading advocates for the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR). Owen Maynard, a former senior stress engineer, was the man most responsible for the design of the Lunar Module.


Maybe Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed, etc. didn't like the competition and pushed back hard. Avro's Canadian Engineering staff sure got snapped up fast for being involved with a money losing idea.

[GlennF]

Something for our Canadian contingent...

The record-breaking jet which still haunts a country
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200615-the-record-breaking-jet-which-still-haunts-a-country

There was similar controversy in Australia with the cancellation of the CAC CA15, a proposed P51 replacement, when the RAAF went with jets. The silver lining was CAC went on to design and produce the Avon Sabre variant instead.

https://www.airforce.gov.au/sites/default/files/minisite/static/7522/RAAFmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A62.htm

[AzCal Retred]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_CA-15

CAC = "Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation"!

Nice posting about the "Kangaroo", great bit of aircraft history I was totally unaware of. Thanks for that! - ACR -

[AzCal Retred]

5 year old article. Check out the "Hurtlocker" guy and EOD robot next to the gyrocopter. The air defences discussion is interesting.

https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/gyrocopter-exposes-weaknesses-in-d-c-s-elaborate-air-de-1698170601