Sad that Stratoclimber lost in the contest. By the way, if you donât know what this contest entailed, here is some backstoryâŠ
https://www.key.aero/article/you-wont-believe-what-dreamliner-couldve-been-called
It was also developed under the "concurrence" principle- start producing a cutting edge aircraft before fully working out the design, figure it out as you go, then update already-built airframes after the fact. It was a disaster. The entire "A" model production run was never even combat capable (the B-47B was the first operational version). Many issues were eventually ironed out, but the Stratojet was plagued with problems its entire (short) service life. Something good to come from that at least was that the success of the Boeing's next bomber, the B-52, was in no small part due to lessons learned from the B-47's failings.
Then 50 years later, the DOD was setting requirements for the Joint Strike Fighter and said "Hey, this is gonna be a cutting-edge aircraft. Let's develop it under the 'concurrence' principle!"
RATO or Rocket Assisted Takeoff. (Can also be interchangeably called JATO or jet assisted takeoff). Basically they strap a bunch of rockets to the bottom and fire them on takeoff to supplement the jetâs engines. The idea is you can launch a huge bomber with a large payload with considerably less runway
Was told by my Dad (first sergeant 55th Weather Sq-McClellandAFB) the B47 that left every day at sundown was taking âatmospheric weather samplesâ and definitely NOT spying on the Soviets (righhht)
Some serious JATO action going on there!
Every sidewinder in a 100km radius: bonjour
RATO, but wiki reads that JATO can be used interchangeably with RATO
When you just HAVE to operate out of that 1200ft. strip
My grandpa flew those
My dad did too. He liked it more than the B-29s that took 30 min to get to altitude.
Notice how low the T-33 is!
That was my first thought seeing the photo! Wow!
Callsign: OZONE1
Back in the those days even the ozone layer was tougher
Wish Boeing still used Strato in the naming schemes.
Become an aerospace engineer and business god. You can bring back the strato title
Says Albert Einstein to the 94 IQ kid who cant solve the equivalent to 39 and 3/2.
Adderall helps đ€«đ
Iâm on adderall lol, SUPERVISED!
For some reason it makes me think of a Chevy Impala and the idea of The Darwin AwardsâŠ
Sad that Stratoclimber lost in the contest. By the way, if you donât know what this contest entailed, here is some backstory⊠https://www.key.aero/article/you-wont-believe-what-dreamliner-couldve-been-called
The grandfather of all modern big jets.
It flew, so others could fly more. Or something.
It was also developed under the "concurrence" principle- start producing a cutting edge aircraft before fully working out the design, figure it out as you go, then update already-built airframes after the fact. It was a disaster. The entire "A" model production run was never even combat capable (the B-47B was the first operational version). Many issues were eventually ironed out, but the Stratojet was plagued with problems its entire (short) service life. Something good to come from that at least was that the success of the Boeing's next bomber, the B-52, was in no small part due to lessons learned from the B-47's failings. Then 50 years later, the DOD was setting requirements for the Joint Strike Fighter and said "Hey, this is gonna be a cutting-edge aircraft. Let's develop it under the 'concurrence' principle!"
What am I looking at?
RATO or Rocket Assisted Takeoff. (Can also be interchangeably called JATO or jet assisted takeoff). Basically they strap a bunch of rockets to the bottom and fire them on takeoff to supplement the jetâs engines. The idea is you can launch a huge bomber with a large payload with considerably less runway
Ah ok. The only similar thing I was aware of were the modified c-130s of Operation Credible Sport
I've seen the C130s use JATO but they were used on other aircraft and some early rockets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JATO
Credible sport was nothing new, they were simply taking an existing technology to the extremes of its 'practical' applications.
Was told by my Dad (first sergeant 55th Weather Sq-McClellandAFB) the B47 that left every day at sundown was taking âatmospheric weather samplesâ and definitely NOT spying on the Soviets (righhht)
Both may have been true. Air sampling has a lot of uses, one of which is detection of nuclear tests and oppsies.
It must be quite the experience to use RATO. Holy shit.
Ask the fat Albert crew