Strange Airplane

[J.F.]

[Jake]

Is jack Northrup finally vindicated?

Jake

[CWO4 Dave Mann]

Jake wrote:
> Is jack Northrup finally vindicated?
>
> Jake


Mr Northrop was vindicated many years ago.

During the final build days of the very first HAVE BLUE platform, The
Secretary of Defense made a decision. The SecDef authorized full access
to HAVE BLUE and the many sub-compartments to one Jack Northrop,
aviator, entrepreneur, designer, engineer and legend.

Mr Northrop at the time was quite feeble, but as usual gentlemanly,
alert, friendly and still with a sharp wit.

He was escorted to the HAVE BLUE site and given the one and only "All
Access - All Levels" badge to be issued. See, even the Secretary of
Defense's clearance message transmitted by the SSO system, had a long
string of initials, digraphs and code names after his name, indicating
the Sec Def might have access to 90 percent, but not to all.

The message ... from SSO DOD, spelled out that Mr Northrop was to be
given "the grand tour".

Later in the day, after briefings in SCIF and Special Access Required
(SAR) rooms, he was escorted to the HAVE BLUE simulator. The simulator
operator, a senior USAF command pilot who was one of the principal
ground test and simulation engineers, took Mr Northrop for a ride,
including refueling, and delivery of a weapon onto a target inside an
enemy's capital city.

Finally, the honored gentleman was escorted to the hanger floor where he
was shown the B2 Spirit Bomber receiving it's final touches for air
worthiness.

As Mr. Northrop sat in the cockpit, he exclaimed "Now I know why I've
lived this long .. to see this, and oh my, this is a wonder!"

He passed on to the Great Beyond a few weeks later, secure in the
knowledge that his Flying Wing was still alive.

[Bob Harrington]

[CWO4 Dave Mann]

Bob Harrington wrote:
> CWO4 Dave Mann > wrote in
> :
>
>> Jake wrote:
>>> Is jack Northrup finally vindicated?
>>>
>>> Jake
>>
>> Mr Northrop was vindicated many years ago.
>>
>> During the final build days of the very first HAVE BLUE platform, The
>> Secretary of Defense made a decision. The SecDef authorized full access
>> to HAVE BLUE and the many sub-compartments to one Jack Northrop,
>> aviator, entrepreneur, designer, engineer and legend.
>>
>> Mr Northrop at the time was quite feeble, but as usual gentlemanly,
>> alert, friendly and still with a sharp wit.
>>
>> He was escorted to the HAVE BLUE site and given the one and only "All
>> Access - All Levels" badge to be issued. See, even the Secretary of
>> Defense's clearance message transmitted by the SSO system, had a long
>> string of initials, digraphs and code names after his name, indicating
>> the Sec Def might have access to 90 percent, but not to all.
>>
>> The message ... from SSO DOD, spelled out that Mr Northrop was to be
>> given "the grand tour".
>>
>> Later in the day, after briefings in SCIF and Special Access Required
>> (SAR) rooms, he was escorted to the HAVE BLUE simulator. The simulator
>> operator, a senior USAF command pilot who was one of the principal
>> ground test and simulation engineers, took Mr Northrop for a ride,
>> including refueling, and delivery of a weapon onto a target inside an
>> enemy's capital city.
>>
>> Finally, the honored gentleman was escorted to the hanger floor where he
>> was shown the B2 Spirit Bomber receiving it's final touches for air
>> worthiness.
>>
>> As Mr. Northrop sat in the cockpit, he exclaimed "Now I know why I've
>> lived this long .. to see this, and oh my, this is a wonder!"
>>
>> He passed on to the Great Beyond a few weeks later, secure in the
>> knowledge that his Flying Wing was still alive.
>
> While I have heard this story, I believe 'Have Blue' was the lead-in project
> that resulted in the F-117 Nighthawk, not the B-2 Spirit.
>
> Pedantically yours,
>
> Bob ^,,^
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>


Hi Bob,

Yes you are correct; HAVE BLUE was the original overall compartment
which housed the feasibility and R&D effort into "Stealthy Aircraft".
The B2 was still in it's initial hanger floor construction and
development phase when Mr Northrop viewed it. He saw the F117 and was
given a complete briefing with videos of various F117 flights.

I expect that DoD will declassify the rest of the story one of these
days so that historians can view the entire fantastically successful
project from start to finish.

Cheers,

Dave

[Neil Hoskins]

"CWO4 Dave Mann" > wrote in message
. ..

>
> Yes you are correct; HAVE BLUE was the original overall compartment which
> housed the feasibility and R&D effort into "Stealthy Aircraft".

I seem to recall hearing that the Americans were always intrigued by the
fact that, during NATO exercises, RAF Vulcans were always difficult to see
on radar.

[Jake]

On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:26:25 -0000, Neil Hoskins wrote:

> I seem to recall hearing that the Americans were always intrigued by the
> fact that, during NATO exercises, RAF Vulcans were always difficult to see
> on radar.

I don't know it seems to me that one of the faults of the US is an attitude
that says if it wasn't invented here it doesn't exist. That is one reason
that for the most part Russian fighters have seemingly out performed the US
fighters. That is they learned from us but we did not learn from them.

Jake

[CWO4 Dave Mann]

Peavey_HP_Signature_Guy wrote:
> "Neil Hoskins" > wrote in
> message ...
>>
>> "CWO4 Dave Mann" > wrote in message
>> . ..
>>
>>>
>>> Yes you are correct; HAVE BLUE was the original overall compartment
>>> which housed the feasibility and R&D effort into "Stealthy Aircraft".
>>
>> I seem to recall hearing that the Americans were always intrigued by
>> the fact that, during NATO exercises, RAF Vulcans were always
>> difficult to see on radar.
>>
>
> Given the above...did the RAF ever look at the "stealth" technology in
> detail and make a decision on it?
>
> Just curious : /
>
> Chris


Do you mean the work done by the great Vice Air Marshal Sir James
Haridistan Lacey-Bigglesworth, MC(Bars), DFC(Bars), George Medal (Brs)
KC, OG (Companion)?

Most likely still quite classified.

Cheers,

Dave

[Ron]

"Peavey_HP_Signature_Guy" > wrote in message
...
>
> Given the above...did the RAF ever look at the "stealth" technology in
> detail and make a decision on it?
>
They did, and came up with retiring the Vulcan, and replacing them with the
Tornado, which is to be replaced by Typhoon. Typhoon was at one time
advertised as a Raptor without stealth, at a fraction of the price. I guess
that means the RAF decided against developing pure stealth platfors,
although I'm pretty sure they *did* incorporate some of the technology.

Stealth is useful, but overrated. During their first peace time overseas
deployment in the early 1990s (Gilze-Rijen AB in the Netherlands) we at the
GCI station had no problem tracking F-117s on their flights to and from the
bombing ranges. In fact, we used to call Wing-Ops to inform them when the
birds were about 10 minutes out for recovery.

When the US brought the B-2 to Europe (Farnborough, 1996), a BAe/RAF Rapier
system had no problem tracking that aircraft either. BAe bragged about it,
so the next day it was accompanied by two F-15 escorts. This allowed the
USAF to claim that the Rapier crew was not tracking the B-2, but one of the
F-15s.

Ron
--
Non urinat in ventum

[redc1c4]

Ron wrote:
>
> "Peavey_HP_Signature_Guy" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Given the above...did the RAF ever look at the "stealth" technology in
> > detail and make a decision on it?
> >
> They did, and came up with retiring the Vulcan, and replacing them with the
> Tornado, which is to be replaced by Typhoon. Typhoon was at one time
> advertised as a Raptor without stealth, at a fraction of the price. I guess
> that means the RAF decided against developing pure stealth platfors,
> although I'm pretty sure they *did* incorporate some of the technology.
>
> Stealth is useful, but overrated. During their first peace time overseas
> deployment in the early 1990s (Gilze-Rijen AB in the Netherlands) we at the
> GCI station had no problem tracking F-117s on their flights to and from the
> bombing ranges. In fact, we used to call Wing-Ops to inform them when the
> birds were about 10 minutes out for recovery.
>
> When the US brought the B-2 to Europe (Farnborough, 1996), a BAe/RAF Rapier
> system had no problem tracking that aircraft either. BAe bragged about it,
> so the next day it was accompanied by two F-15 escorts. This allowed the
> USAF to claim that the Rapier crew was not tracking the B-2, but one of the
> F-15s.
>
> Ron
> --
> Non urinat in ventum

maybe the transponder was on? %-)

redc1c4,
just guessing......
--
"Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear
considerable watching."

Army Officer's Guide