In the mid '90s I had the privelage to fly the F-106 for the unmanned target unit at White Sands Missle Range. One of our yearly "vacations" was to go to Tyndall AFB, FL and provide target support for the William Tell Air-to-Air Gunnery competition. We would play the high fast flyers in the mass raid profile (4 F-15's/16's/18's would try to stop a package of 10-14 bombers, escorts and interceptors).
We would make our run between FL 460 and FL 500 and at the "fight's on" would point across the range, go full afterburner and wait for the gas to run out. The fastest I ever got was 1.84 mach and had to pull it back because I ran out of range airspace. The plane was still accelerating quite nicely. I remember as I passed 1.8 mach reaching up and running my fingers across the inside of the windscreen and thinking that the only thing between me and certain death was a piece of 40+ year old plexiglass...those folks a Convair sure made some good plastic!
aviation feats
Moderators: GAHorn, Karl Towle, Bruce Fenstermacher
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wingnut
- Posts: 990
- Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:58 pm
The "Around the World Saga of the Pacific Clipper" is one of the all time great aviation feats. Alot of first. Wish I had been there
http://www.panam.org/cgi-bin/_textdispl ... 891&call=D
http://www.panam.org/cgi-bin/_textdispl ... 891&call=D
Del Lehmann
Mena, Arkansas
Mena, Arkansas
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Curtis Brown
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2002 3:47 pm
I learn to fly at Key Field in Meridain. I worked for Fred Key at his FBO. I got an aviation history lesson everyday. This is a cut and paste for a web search:
At 12:32 p.m. on June 4, 1935, brothers Al and Fred Key lifted off the grass strip of Meridian's airport in an effort to break the world record for sustained flight. Working with other Meridianites such as A.D. Hunter and James Keeton, the Key brothers devised a workable method of air-to-air refueling in order to attempt this feat.
The record they established in their 27 days aloft, totaling 653 hours and 34 minutes, remains unbroken in conventional flight. Not until orbiting space labs did man stay aloft longer. When they landed at 6:06 p.m. on July 1, 1935, before a crowd of between 30,000 and 40,000 fans gathered at the airfield, the Meridian airport was renamed "Key Field" in their honor, the name it retains today.
In setting this record they flew an estimated 52,320 miles - or twice the distance around the earth at an average speed of about 80 mph. The engine in their Curtis-Robbins monoplane, the "Ole Miss", had made some 61 million revolutions "without a bobble," as reported by Meridian educator and writer Stephen Owen in his books "The Flying Key Brothers and Their Flight to Remember". Some 300 gallons of oil were used and they consumed 6,000 gallons of gas. Flying in shifts, the men maintained the plane by walking outside on a frightening catwalk that went around the sides of the engine.
At 12:32 p.m. on June 4, 1935, brothers Al and Fred Key lifted off the grass strip of Meridian's airport in an effort to break the world record for sustained flight. Working with other Meridianites such as A.D. Hunter and James Keeton, the Key brothers devised a workable method of air-to-air refueling in order to attempt this feat.
The record they established in their 27 days aloft, totaling 653 hours and 34 minutes, remains unbroken in conventional flight. Not until orbiting space labs did man stay aloft longer. When they landed at 6:06 p.m. on July 1, 1935, before a crowd of between 30,000 and 40,000 fans gathered at the airfield, the Meridian airport was renamed "Key Field" in their honor, the name it retains today.
In setting this record they flew an estimated 52,320 miles - or twice the distance around the earth at an average speed of about 80 mph. The engine in their Curtis-Robbins monoplane, the "Ole Miss", had made some 61 million revolutions "without a bobble," as reported by Meridian educator and writer Stephen Owen in his books "The Flying Key Brothers and Their Flight to Remember". Some 300 gallons of oil were used and they consumed 6,000 gallons of gas. Flying in shifts, the men maintained the plane by walking outside on a frightening catwalk that went around the sides of the engine.
Curtis
1950 A model 1256D
1950 A model 1256D
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cessna170bdriver
- Posts: 4114
- Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2002 5:13 pm
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Iceman07
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:17 am
RE: The Key Brother's flight:
Next time your'e at the NASM, take a close look at "Ol' Miss". Take a look at the catwalk that they used to service the engine. The catwalk is on both sides of the airplane. But, there is only one door, and it's on the right side of the airplane. So, you gotta ask yourself: "How did they work on the cylinders on the left side of the engine, hmmmmm????
Next time your'e at the NASM, take a close look at "Ol' Miss". Take a look at the catwalk that they used to service the engine. The catwalk is on both sides of the airplane. But, there is only one door, and it's on the right side of the airplane. So, you gotta ask yourself: "How did they work on the cylinders on the left side of the engine, hmmmmm????
N5740C 1950 'A' Model
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Curtis Brown
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2002 3:47 pm
I seem to remember photos of Fred working on the catwalk on the left side. Maybe there was a door on both sides before they restored it and flow it to DC in the fifties. I was in DC over Memorial Day, flew my 170 up there, and did visit the NASM and looked the Ole Miss over with wonderment.
About the T-storms... I just can't remember what Fred and Al said about that. I do rembr them telling me they got lost and scared many times. They also said they have never eaten so much good southern cookin'. Four times a day they rendezvous for food, supplies and fuel.
So what about the 172 in Las Vagas? Why does their record not supersede the Key Brothers?
the web link:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... -field.htm
About the T-storms... I just can't remember what Fred and Al said about that. I do rembr them telling me they got lost and scared many times. They also said they have never eaten so much good southern cookin'. Four times a day they rendezvous for food, supplies and fuel.
So what about the 172 in Las Vagas? Why does their record not supersede the Key Brothers?
the web link:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... -field.htm
Curtis
1950 A model 1256D
1950 A model 1256D
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Curtis Brown
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2002 3:47 pm
ebay has the book the flying key brothers
http://cgi.ebay.com/Flying-Key-Brothers ... otohosting
http://cgi.ebay.com/Flying-Key-Brothers ... otohosting
Curtis
1950 A model 1256D
1950 A model 1256D
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Curtis Brown
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2002 3:47 pm
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russfarris
- Posts: 476
- Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 2:25 am
Endurance records that re-fueled in-flight; that is a thorny issue.
The problem is that these are not considered official aviation records by the FAI. Un-fueled flights, like the Voyager in 1986 ARE listed in the FAI records. Heck, the FAI even documents commercial speed records between cities on scheduled flights, if you bother to pay the fee and properly document them. As a matter of fact, I'm the official record holder between Boston and Charlotte, NC in a USAir Boeing 727 as First Officer on July 4, 1990 - average speed from take-off to touchdown was 517.12 MPH. I knew you'd be impressed! (It was the captain's baby, he paid the fee!)
Years ago I wrote and sold an article to Smithsonian Air and Space magazine on the Timm/Cook 1958/59 endurance flight; they paid me and never published it, which was a first for me. They had previously ran an
article on the Key Brothers, which was quoted partly in an earlier post,
which had the erroneous information that their record was never broken until spaceflight. It was - in 1947, 1949, 1958 and then the 1958/59 Las Vegas 64 day record. I've always suspected after they bought my piece, they realized it contradicted the earlier Key Brothers story. The Smithsonian has a history of not admiting mistakes; they didn't officially credit the Wright Brothers until 1947! For years, they insisted Professor Langley made the first flight with that controlled crash into the Potomac earlier in 1903.
As far back as the late 1930s, re-fueled endurance flights were dismissed as an aeronautical version of marathon dancing - a human trial, not an advance of the state of the art. They were all basically publicity stunts, including the Key brothers. The Timm/Cook flight was to promote the "Hacienda" hotel and casino.
For years the Timm/Cook flight was in the Guinness Book of World Records (that's when I learned of it as a kid), but its not there now.
I just opened up my thick dusty file on the 64 day flight and found LOTS of cool pictures - if you guys are interested I'll scan them and post them on this thread, if you think it's appropriate. I might even put my un-pubished story on the Web, since I got paid - Russ Farris
The problem is that these are not considered official aviation records by the FAI. Un-fueled flights, like the Voyager in 1986 ARE listed in the FAI records. Heck, the FAI even documents commercial speed records between cities on scheduled flights, if you bother to pay the fee and properly document them. As a matter of fact, I'm the official record holder between Boston and Charlotte, NC in a USAir Boeing 727 as First Officer on July 4, 1990 - average speed from take-off to touchdown was 517.12 MPH. I knew you'd be impressed! (It was the captain's baby, he paid the fee!)
Years ago I wrote and sold an article to Smithsonian Air and Space magazine on the Timm/Cook 1958/59 endurance flight; they paid me and never published it, which was a first for me. They had previously ran an
article on the Key Brothers, which was quoted partly in an earlier post,
which had the erroneous information that their record was never broken until spaceflight. It was - in 1947, 1949, 1958 and then the 1958/59 Las Vegas 64 day record. I've always suspected after they bought my piece, they realized it contradicted the earlier Key Brothers story. The Smithsonian has a history of not admiting mistakes; they didn't officially credit the Wright Brothers until 1947! For years, they insisted Professor Langley made the first flight with that controlled crash into the Potomac earlier in 1903.
As far back as the late 1930s, re-fueled endurance flights were dismissed as an aeronautical version of marathon dancing - a human trial, not an advance of the state of the art. They were all basically publicity stunts, including the Key brothers. The Timm/Cook flight was to promote the "Hacienda" hotel and casino.
For years the Timm/Cook flight was in the Guinness Book of World Records (that's when I learned of it as a kid), but its not there now.
I just opened up my thick dusty file on the 64 day flight and found LOTS of cool pictures - if you guys are interested I'll scan them and post them on this thread, if you think it's appropriate. I might even put my un-pubished story on the Web, since I got paid - Russ Farris
Last edited by russfarris on Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
All glory is fleeting...
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GAHorn
- Posts: 21291
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 8:45 pm
I believe it does.Curtis Brown wrote:...So what about the 172 in Las Vagas? Why does their record not supersede the Key Brothers?....
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
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