Open house

Posted on December 4, 2012 by KG

Currently reading about one of the most remarkable aviation achievements ever, the Lockheed SR71 and the equally remarkable man who was largely responsible for it.

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37 Responses to Open house

  2. Darin says:
    December 4, 2012 at 23:59

    Kelly Johnson was brilliant,his team delivered the U-2 from drawing to prototype in 8 months and the A-12 in 30.It’s even more amazing that the construction of the A-12 envolved working Titainium for the first time,everything,every manufacturing process had to be developed all over again to pull it off and the bulk of the engineering computation was done on Slide Rules.
    If you can find a copy online somewhere I highly recomend reading -Sled Driver,Flying the worlds fastest jet written by Brian Shul a former Blackbird pilot that flew the SR.

    http://galleryonepublishing.com/BlackbirdStores/Biography.html

    For more reading here is a link to an article on the machines that made building the planes possible-
    http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/machines.html

    In particular was the Mesta Machine Works,Pittsburg,Pa.They were know for their iron and steel industry machinery,the big stuff.Here is a link to their 1919 catalog
    http://www.archive.org/stream/plantproductofme00mest#page/n135/mode/2up

    • KG says:
      December 5, 2012 at 01:31

      I just knew you’d know something about it, Darin. :grin: Many thanks for the links. :cheers

      • KG says:
        December 6, 2012 at 13:51

        Holy crap! Those are some machines!! :shock: :shock:

        • Darin says:
          December 6, 2012 at 14:40

          Yup,there is an 18,000 ton extrusion press near me that made missile bodies during the cold war.Very impressive machine.What a lot of folks don’t know about the Missiles they see on TV is that many have one or two piece seamless tubular bodies.The way to make the tubes is via extrusion.

          So imagine the technical difficulty in taking a 4ton Aluminum billet,heating it to 1000F and then squeezing it through a die like tooth paste to make a cylinder 40 feet long 3 feet in diameter with a wall thickness of .095″ and maintaining a tolerance of +/-.005″.But we did it on 18 such machines dispersed at mfg facilities scattered across the country.16 of those presses are still making parts for military and aerospace today.

  4. Findalis says:
    December 5, 2012 at 01:16

    Got to see the Blackbird fly in the 70’s. Beautiful bird.

    Putting down some buffalo wings to go along with your beer. Dipping sauce is blue cheese.

  5. Contempt says:
    December 5, 2012 at 06:46

    Darin, great links on the Blackbird! I came within a click of ordering one of Sled-driver’s red Blackbird t-shirts.

  6. Contempt says:
    December 5, 2012 at 07:46

    World goes down the pipes..

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/government-promises-world-won-t-end-dec-21-192819519.html#more-id

    Whew! Thank God! I can relax about the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Check out the movie “2012” to see what it could have been like.

  7. KG says:
    December 5, 2012 at 07:52

    This from Medusa:
    The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American History. Who said ‘Give me Liberty , or give me Death’?”
    
She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Little Akio, a bright foreign exchange student from Japan , who had his hand up: “Patrick Henry, 1775,” he said.
    
”Very good! — Who said, ‘Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth’?”
    
Again, no response except from Little Akio: “Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”
    
”Excellent!” said the teacher continuing, “Let’s try one a bit more difficult — Who said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’?”
    
Once again, Akio’s was the only hand in the air and he said: “John F. Kennedy, 1961.
    
The teacher snapped at the class, “Class, you should be ashamed of yourselves, Little Akio isn’t from this country and he knows more about our history than you do.”
    
She heard a loud whisper: “F_ _ k the Japs.”
    “Who said that? — I want to know right now!? she angrily demanded.
    
Little Akio put his hand up, “General MacArthur, 1945.”
    
At that point, a student in the back said, “I’m gonna puke.’
    The teacher glares around and asks, ‘All right! — Now who said that?”
    Again, Little Akio says, “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”
    
Now furious, another student yells, “Oh yeah? — Suck this!”
    
Little Akio jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to the teacher, “Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”
    
Now with almost mob hysteria someone said, “You little shit! — If you say anything else — I’ll kill you!”
    
Little Akio frantically yells at the top of his voice, “Michael Jackson to the children testifying against him, 2004.”
    The teacher fainted. As the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said, “Oh shit, We’re screwed!”
    
Little Akio said quietly, “The American people, November 6, 2012.”

  8. KG says:
    December 5, 2012 at 08:02

    No wonder he hasn’t been around lately. :shock:
    ‘Harvard opens door to kinky sex group’

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/8037997/Harvard-opens-door-to-kinky-sex-group

  10. Darin says:
    December 5, 2012 at 14:14

    Picture shamelessly stolen from-
    http://freedomlightbulb.blogspot.com/

  11. john says:
    December 5, 2012 at 16:09

    Hi mawm, been wondering that myself. Just hope he makes it out of the Chigger Kompound before Barry and Moochelle transform into non-carbon life forms and devour the place. :vomit

  12. KG says:
    December 5, 2012 at 16:12

    ooh look! A typical female Obama fan voter…
    http://youtu.be/CX2Qfv5O634

  13. KG says:
    December 5, 2012 at 16:58

    via Tim Blair:
    ‘Victorian academic Don Edgar is in love:
    “Obama epitomizes a new model of manhood, masculinity forged not as an assertion of power but as an acknowledgement of mutual support and cooperation. He is a man formed not by his own efforts to succeed but from his ability to relate to other people (including his own wife) as equals, a President calling for justice within American society, for the validity of caring for those not as fortunate as ourselves and for true cooperation between political opponents where the social good of all people and the future of the planet are concerned.”
    :vomit :vomit :vomit
    http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/

    • Darin says:
      December 5, 2012 at 18:16

      Just think of all the poor electrons that were displaced to write all that crap when he could have just said Obama is an Effeminate pussy and been done with it.

  14. starboard says:
    December 5, 2012 at 17:09

    Hassan & Habib

    Hassan and Habib are beggars.
    They beg in different areas of Sydney.
    Habib begs just as long as Hassan but only collects $2 to $3 every day.
    Hassan brings home a suitcase FULL of $10 notes, drives a Mercedes,
    lives in a mortgage-free house and has a lot of money to spend.
    Habib says to Hassan, ‘I work just as long and hard as you do but how
    do you bring home a suitcase full of $10 notes every day?’
    Hassan says, ‘Look at your sign, what does it say?’
    Habib’s sign reads; ‘I have no work, a wife and 6 kids to support’.
    Hassan says, ‘No wonder you only get $2- $3 !’
    Habib says… ‘So what does your sign say ?’
    Hassan shows Habib his sign….

    It reads: ‘I only need another $10 to move back to Pakistan.’

    :cheers

  16. Contempt says:
    December 6, 2012 at 01:27

    Seeing someone mention Harvard reminds me to pass on the glorious news: Harvard survived the extraction of a potato [Irish] plant from his brain and is resting comfortably. The Harvard trained Cairo Medical Hospital brain surgeon, part time Muslim backhoe operator, passed out in an erotic haze after he pulled the plant out of Harvard’s rectum.

    Will tell Harvard y’all asked about him.