16 August 2003
Not Your Garden-Variety Blackbird
[16 Aug 2003] Part of the Blackbird family (and frequently mistaken for an SR-71A), this is an M-21 Blackbird. The M-21's claim to fame is the unpiloted drone it carries. (The drone is what looks like a third engine over the cockpit in the first picture; in the second picture it is the long skinny black object between the vertical stabilizers at the back of the plane.) Ninety-eight feet long, eighteen-and-a-half feet tall, with a fifty-five-foot-plus wingspan, the Blackbird dominates the Museum of Flight's gallery. Gazing in awe at that sleek looking ninety-five percent titanium hull, you just know this baby could move. And move it did: the Blackbird's official top speed is 2,242mph, it has a flight range of 2500+ miles, and its flight ceiling is over sixteen vertical miles!
The drone flew just as fast as its "mother" did, and it flew even higher and farther. It followed a preprogrammed path during its reconnaissance mission; at the end, it ejected the data it gathered (which was recovered during its parachute descent by a C-130) then self destructed. |
|
Turn Left! Your Other Left!
| [16 Aug 2003] Although mostly a hands-off museum, the Museum of Flight does have a couple fighter jets you can clamber into and (for as long as those inline behind you allow) pretend to fly. Michael didn't think he'd fit, but we discovered Kaylyn is just the right size. |
 |
Such A Cute Little Guy
[16 Aug 2003] This cute little guy is a Hiller YH-32 Hornet. Whereas the rotors on most helicopters are turned by a massive engine the copter's body, the Hornet has a ramjet (a type of jet engine) on each end of its primary rotor. The Hornets built for the Army and Navy in the 1950s were the first production tip-jet-powered helicopters ever.
While the ramjets make the Hornet as noisy as its namesake, they have no moving parts and can be disassembled with just a screwdriver. With a top speed of about 70mph, it would have beat the Aerocar in car form but would have been left in the dust when the Aerocar took to the air. |
|
A Good First Car For That Indecisive Sixteen-Year-Old
[16 Aug 2003] With a cruising speed ranging from 60mph (land) to 140mph (air), and an airplane engine driving it both places, the sporty Taylor Aerocar must have been fun to drive. Moulton B. Taylor, a Portland native with degrees in business and aeronautical engineering from the University of Washington, started an aircraft manufacturing business after World War II. The first Aerocar prototype was completed in 1949, but the Civil Aeronautics Association didn't cerity it for seven more years. Taylor came close to a deal with Ford to mass-produce the Aerocar, but it ultimately fell through -- dashing the hopes of every kid who ever wished for their very own aircar.
Transorming the Aerocar from automobile to aeroplane only took about fifteen minutes. The wings could be towed behind the car, but when traveling it might prove easier to simply leave them at the airport. At departure time, you connect the driveshaft, then swing the wings into place and pin them down. The flight controls move into place automatically. How do you know you didn't leave out a step? The engine won't start unless every connection is just right! |
|
A Boomerang Fighter Jet?
[16 Aug 2003] This funny looking wing is part of a Chance Vought F4U Corsair. The Corsair played a key role in turning the tide of the Pacific air war during World War II, proving itself an agile and effective adversary to the Japanese Zero fighter. Ther Corsair was also used as a fighter-bomber during both that war and the Korean War. Seattle local Rex Beisel designed the Corsair around a large engine and giant propeller; the funny-shaped bent wing let the landing gear be close enough to the ground to be stable while still providing sufficient clearance for the propeller.
This particular specimen was built in April 1945; in 1950 it was stationed at the Sand Point Naval Air Station near Seattle. It collided with another Corsair that summer; its pilot made a successful water landing on Lake Washington but the plane was left there to languish until 1983, when it was recovered and restored. |
 |
Funky Cool, But What Is It?
| [16 Aug 2003] Every time we go to or from the airport we pass Boeing Field, marvel at the many airplanes it has sitting around, and say "One of these days we need to go to the Museum of Flight", but we never manager to get there. Today was Microsoft day -- which means we got in free -- so we finally went. Just as we suspected, the Museum has some seriously cool planes. It also has some seriously weird planes. It also has this Funky Engine, officially named the Pratt and Whitney R-4360-4W. The "Wasp Major", as it was commonly called, powered Howard Hughes's "Spruce Goose" flying boat. (It took eight Funky Engines to get it off the ground.) This particular specimen was used as a spare during 1947. |
 |
|
