Lord Burley Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 American (licence built my Martin) Canberras were B57Sorry my mistake.I was out with a digit.You are correct.B57. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Don't be fooled by the use of "U2/TR1" and "RAF Alconbury" in the same breath. Though RAF owned, the base was entirely USAF, a Tactical Reconaissance Wing IIRC. I remember the American pad brats tended to get upset by base signs proclaiming RAF Alconbury and regularly painted out RAF to replace with USAF.<snipped> Fear not!! We got our own back on occasion - at least one US Army base in Germany woke up on the morning following our departure late at night to find the Union Jack flying from it's flag poles -as permanently as we could make it - i.e. locking pins at the bottom of the pole and the hinge superglued, flag secured to top of pole, pole greased - that sort of thing. :rofl::rofl::rofl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Good Man!! Lackonheath did have MODPLOD on the perimiter, To keep the forigner's in. From nosing on the web, U2's are still flying recce over Afganistan though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Burley Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Taken from the SR71 blog.The pilots storys....................... One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied. A Bonanza soon made the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,' ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walt's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walt startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ' Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.' Some great storys.More to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Burley Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Some more from the same pilots blog............... That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: “Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?” There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. “Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.” I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: “Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.” For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A. came back with, “Roger that Aspen. Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one.” It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Mischievous devils, but it had to be done! Great story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 This might appeal to devotees of the SR-71 http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/SR-71/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Burley Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Resurrection of an old thread.But i have just come across some old pics i took of a HABU from the 9th SRW leaving and arriving back at RAF Mildenhall back in 1988 Sorry for the quality of pics.It was a few years ago,and it was a crap camera. But you get the idea........................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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