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Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
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Roofy
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
Soooo.... whats the SK equivalent to Van Halen's "Higher"???? #jets
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AmishJohn
10/22/09

@Roofy: You mean 'Dreams'? Besides, that footage was from the bad, old days when budget cuts meant they flew trainers (?!) instead of frontline birds. #jets
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Jeb_Hoge
10/22/09

@AmishJohn: No way, the A-4 Skyhawks from those days weren't trainers, but light attack jets. John McCain flew them in Vietnam. The Blues had stripped-down hot-rod versions, but Skyhawks were generally considered to be flying sports cars. #jets
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AmishJohn
10/22/09

@Jeb_Hoge: The subsonic Skyhawk was still a downgrade from the supersonic Phantom, even if it did have a better glide ratio. #jets
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FrankGrimes
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
Ah yes the Deadly Bouffants. I once saw a show of theirs. They by some miracle got US visas and performed in my favorite barber shop. The smell of disinfectant was thick in the air. To a small but dedicated crowd huddled amongst the outdated magazines.

They performed the flat top with precision, they also did the fade, the buzz, they refused to do a faux hawk saying something about decadent western hairstyles.

As a triumphant grand finale they attempted a pompadour in honor of thier majestic leader. Tragedy struck the fearless pilots when their inferior North Korean built machines ran out of pomade. #jets
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AmishJohn
10/22/09

@FrankGrimes: I'll never forget the screams as they spiral-permed in. #jets
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Vintage Racer - with V-12 goodness
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels

When the Blue Angels are in Seattle, there's a place to stand right of the end of the runway.... #jets
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AmishJohn
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
I remember seeing the Thunderbirds when they flew F-4s... thems some big, angry birds. #jets
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Triborough
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
The T-50 looks like a mashup of the F-104, F/A-18 and F-16. #jets
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Jeb_Hoge
10/22/09

@Triborough: They kind of are...it's like most of the airframe is shrunken F-16, but with F-18A inlets and it uses a single F404, which is the F-18A powerplant. Even the gun is a 3-barrel version of the Vulcan.

[www.lockheedmartin.com] #jets
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bugattatra
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
When I first moved to San Diego, I thought the Blue Angels practicing in formation over my office nearly daily was simply fucking awesome.

Now I can't hear anymore :(

Seriously though, faaahuck NK and long live the Blue Angels! #jets
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Spinnyd
10/22/09

@bugattatra: when were they in San Deigo? the home base is in Pensacola and the winter practice grounds are in El Centro, is that near San Diego? #jets
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HoonThatFerrari
10/22/09

@Spinnyd: El Centro is only about a hundred or so miles from San Diego. NAS Miramar also used to host an airshow every year (have no idea if they still do, now that it's pretty much just a Marine base from what I understand), so yeah, it's conceiveable that at some times of year he could've seen them right overhead.
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Edited by HoonThatFerrari at 10/22/09 9:16 PM HoonThatFerrari was starred HoonThatFerrari was unstarred

Spinnyd
10/27/09

@HoonThatFerrari: Thanks, I never knew exactly where they were in Cali. they probably still do a show there, they do one in Pensacola on the beach. #jets
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Peugeot--Making Bicycles Once Again
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
I am partial to these guys for obvious reasons, the French version called the Patrouille Acrobatique de France or simply PAF.

On a completely separate note, my brother and I attended a small air show in the Midwest. As we were driving on the long road up to park, we nearly crapped our pants. A stealth bomber that was there decided to do a bombing run and low fly over just on us. He was high up, dropped down flew a few hundred feet over us then climbed again. My brother who is a commercial airlines pilot couldn't believe it, it was awesome and terrifying at the same time.
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FrankGrimes
10/22/09

@Peugeot--Can't keep up with his new followers: Man that would be cool! I am jealous. #jets
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Elhigh
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
I had a friend - drove an IH combine thinly disguised as a gigantic Travelall - who used to work with the Blue Angels, part of the maintenance and repair crew. He loved to tell about how many paint and wingtip repairs they would do per year from what he called "tip taps." BA pilots are crazy. #jets
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Alfisted
10/22/09

In reply to Meet The Bizarro World Blue Angels
The Deadly Bouffants may be on foot but their seemingly random walk is highly coordinated. #jets
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HoonThatFerrari
10/09/09

In reply to Giant NASA Wind Tunnel Blows One Last Time For Concept Plane
Instead of the BWB, they were originally going to call this design the Boeing Aerospace Blended Aerodynamic Wing And Widebody Aircraft... until they found out they'd have to pay royalties to SNL if the acronym was BABA WAWA.
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evoCS-Hench-Minion to the stars
10/09/09

In reply to Giant NASA Wind Tunnel Blows One Last Time For Concept Plane
Boy, I can't decide what's cooler; that monstrous old wind tunnel or the model Boeing is testing in it.
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philibuster
10/09/09

In reply to Giant NASA Wind Tunnel Blows One Last Time For Concept Plane
They were going to demolish it earlier, but Jackie Chan needs to film another fight scene in it first.
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CopterBob
10/09/09

In reply to Giant NASA Wind Tunnel Blows One Last Time For Concept Plane
You'd think some big corporations would buy it for use as an emergency high volume document shredder.
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Mobius
10/09/09

In reply to Giant NASA Wind Tunnel Blows One Last Time For Concept Plane
I like peace. I really do. But without a single hint of an impending conflict of a reasonable scale, it s hard for governments to gather the motivation to push the boundaries of technology and budgets. Sure, education and health are important, but I miss the bravado of NASA in the space race, the meticulously gorgeous but deadly Spitfire drawn up by a man in his last months and inspired a country to victory, the awesome capabilities of the F-22 Raptor since deemed unnecessary.

Humanity thrives in troubled times, and stagnates in comfort. I surely don't want a nuclear war that ends this world, but the world would be a worse place if everyone was a couch potato.
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evoCS-Hench-Minion to the stars
10/09/09

@Mobius: Well said.
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UdeleWildfowl
10/09/09

In reply to Giant NASA Wind Tunnel Blows One Last Time For Concept Plane
I'm an engineer at Langley and as much as I hate to see tunnels closed down, LFST was past its prime. Max speeds were limited by vibration to under 100mph and there was no provision for a rolling road for automotive testing. With the proliferation of quality facilities in NC (AeroDyn, WindShear, etc.), its capabilities were far eclipsed. Most of the ODU work has been moved to the 14x22 ft tunnel which has the capability of 250mph.
Historically, most of the fighter aircraft produced by the US from WWI through WWII went through the tunnel for final cooling and drag reduction tweaks.
The number of large tunnels in operation at Langley (the first NACA/NASA center BTW) has been in decline for years now as the cost to maintain them could not be supported by their customer base. We're down to one low speed tunnel (14x22), 2 transonic tunnels (the National Transonic Facility, the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel) and the 8ft High Temperature Tunnel for hypersonics work.
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avconsumer2
10/09/09

@UdeleWildfowl: Wow. Thanks for the comment. Was about to bash the government for demolishing a perfectly good wind tunnel.
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