What? No, autopilot? :-) How did you guys compensate for a Dutch roll tendency? We got Yaw Dampers, today did you guys have them back then I was just a vapor in the mist?
Don -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Anderson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 9:58 PM To: soaring@airage.com Subject: [RCSE] War story Things have been a little slow on RCSE lately so I decided to post another war story. I am out of stories short enough to be posted here so I am posting the start of a much longer story. This story happened in February, 1956. Hope you enjoy it. Chuck Anderson The reflections of the flight line floodlights glittered in the puddles of water on the ramp as I rode the line taxi out to my plane. The ceiling was about 2000 ft. with layers of stratus up to 18000 ft and no higher clouds. At least that's what the weatherman in base ops said. There was also no moon until after midnight. A perfect night for flying! Especially since the mission was high altitude target for F86D All Weather Interceptors. I went out to the T33 early to be sure the canopy was clean. The crew chief looked a little unhappy when I ask him for some cleaning fluid and a clean rag. A few wipes removed the smudges on the inside of the canopy over the pilot's head. The outside of the canopy was clean so I was ready to start engines early. Takeoff was on time and I initiated a slight right turn as I passed over the end of the runway to cross over the center of the East Bay Bridge and provide additional clearance from the housing area just to the left of runway 31L. The lights of Tyndall blinked out as I entered the base of the overcast. The fuselage strobe lights began reflecting off the clouds creating a flickering effect in the cockpit. The strobe lights could induce vertigo when flying at night in the clouds so I turned them off. The wing tip lights continued to produce a red glow around the left tip tank while a green glow surrounded the right tip tank. I did not break out of the clouds at 18,000 ft as promised by the weather forecaster. At 20,000 ft, the red and green glows around the tip tanks had vanished so I turned the strobe lights on again. There was no reflection so I was clear of clouds. The plane was flying in a completely black void with nothing visible outside the cockpit. Haze layer! A star finally became visible overhead when passing through 25,000 ft and, at 28,000 ft, the whole sky exploded with thousands of stars as I broke through the top of the haze layer. I was flying in a giant inverted bowl filled with stars. Somewhere below my right wing tip Tallahassee lay buried beneath the clouds while ahead lay Albany, Georgia. A quick check of the cabin altitude indicated that cabin pressurization was holding good. The climb was now less than a thousand feet a minute and decreasing but I should be able to get to 42,000 ft ahead of time. The controller vectored me into a holding pattern over Albany while I continued to climb. The controller informed me that the fighter takeoff was late as usual so I had a few extra minutes to enjoy the spectacular view outside my canopy. I finally leveled off at 42,000 and trimmed the plane for level flight. Once stabilized in the holding pattern, I turned the cockpit lights down until the instruments were just barely visible. Now there were no reflections on the canopy to mar the view. There were thousands of stars just outside the canopy. A red one. That must be Mars. Blue white stars. Bright stars. Dim stars. The Milky Way cut a glowing band across the sky. How many stars can I see? Wherever I look, there are stars. Look at a blank area for a few seconds and a myriad of faint glowing dots become visible. There were so many stars that it was difficult to pick out constellations that were so familiar and easy to see from the ground. The stars looked so close that it seems as if I could reach out and grab one if I just could reach through the canopy. John Gillespie Magee you must have seen something like this to be able to write High Flight! A faint vibration in the control stick interrupted my enjoyment of the view. A little back pressure on the stick dropped the airspeed below the critical Mach number and eliminated the aileron buzz. I turned the cockpit lights up and noted that I had lost 500 ft. Control called as I leveled off and gave me a new heading to fly. The fighters were airborne and it was time to go to work. RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
