Phil Kane wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 17:59:36 GMT, K=D8HB wrote:

That was everyones signal to get out on the main deck and put your finge=
rs in
your ears and look to the sky, because he'd then coordinate fake
strafing/bombing runs on his own ship.

When I was working at March AFB in the early 60s (the civilian
component of the 22nd SAC Communications Squadron) the 3 am B-52
launches would fly over my apartment at 500 feet or so before
rising into "the wild blue yonder".

No need to own an alarm clock in those days.

AGREED. The things have to be the loudest most obnoxious aircraft ever
built. I had to work on a technical paper for a few days at what was
originally an LTV plant in Ft. Worth. I forget who operated it then,
maybe General Dynamics which was building F-16s then. My contact
recommended a motel so I booked it and signed in when I got to Ft.
Worth late on night. I was in bed not more than ten minutes after I
landed in the room. Maybe a couple hours later I was jolted awake by
the most gawdawful noise I'd ever heard, I thought there was an
explosion and headed for the door.

Then came another one, then another. It finally dawned on me that the
racket was aircraft takeoffs and tried to get back to sleep. Nah, not
that night. Come morning I was just starting to shave when another
bunch took off. I couldn't see my puss because the mirror was bouncing
all over the wall. Final straw.

The motel was directly off the end of whatever B-52 base it was which
was alongside the plant. Found another motel, logged outta that dump,
moved, went to the plant and thanked the contact profusely for
recommendation.

Even worse I also bit on his recommendation for a steakhouse figuring
that hey, this is Texas, the home of the ultimate steaks. Worst steak I
ever ran into. If I had enough of them I coulda pieced together a
high-pressure boiler out of the things.


--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

w3rv

wrote:


The motel was directly off the end of whatever B-52 base it was which
was alongside the plant.

Carswell, and if you think the B-52s were loud you should have been
there when the B-36s were.

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
wrote:


The motel was directly off the end of whatever B-52 base it was which
was alongside the plant.

Carswell,

There ya go, tnx.

and if you think the B-52s were loud you should have been
there when the B-36s were.

Found this:

"The engines and propellers produced an unforgettable throbbing sound
when the B-36 flew overhead. A friend of mine remembers the sound from
his boyhood as a "captivating drone. The noise went down to your heels,
it was so resonant. It just stopped you in your tracks. You looked up
into the sky to try to find this thing, and it was just a tiny cross,
it was so high." Others remember that it rattled windows on the ground
from 40,000 feet."

w3rv

wrote:

Found this:

"The engines and propellers produced an unforgettable throbbing sound
when the B-36 flew overhead. A friend of mine remembers the sound from
his boyhood as a "captivating drone. The noise went down to your heels,
it was so resonant. It just stopped you in your tracks. You looked up
into the sky to try to find this thing, and it was just a tiny cross,
it was so high." Others remember that it rattled windows on the ground
from 40,000 feet."

w3rv


Thats about how high they would be when they came over our house some
200 miles west of Ft. Worth and the windows would rattle. It was an
unmistakeable sound.

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 15:44:01 -0400, Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:

Thats about how high they would be when they came over our house some
200 miles west of Ft. Worth and the windows would rattle. It was an
unmistakeable sound.

Six a'turnin' and four a'burnin.....

A good friend of mine who died too young was an engine mechanic on
the '36 in the 50s, which prepared him for his full-time hobby of
rebuilding the two Jaguar engines that he had - one was in his
wife's "Saloon Car" and the other one was up on the hoist. Then
they would switch. How many folks do YOU know who have a chain
hoist and a full engine rebuilding shop in their 2-car garage?

No wonder I could never interest him in ham radio.....

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
wrote:

Found this:

"The engines and propellers produced an unforgettable throbbing sound
when the B-36 flew overhead. A friend of mine remembers the sound from
his boyhood as a "captivating drone. The noise went down to your heels,
it was so resonant. It just stopped you in your tracks. You looked up
into the sky to try to find this thing, and it was just a tiny cross,
it was so high." Others remember that it rattled windows on the ground
from 40,000 feet."

w3rv


Thats about how high they would be when they came over our house some
200 miles west of Ft. Worth and the windows would rattle. It was an
unmistakeable sound.

One of the unique features of the B-36 is it's geared-down props, i.e.,
the props turn much slower than it's six big Wasps. The rotational
speed reduction was necessary because given the 19 foot diameter prop
disk the tips of the blades would go supersonic and all hell would
break if loose if they turned at engine RPMs. I don't know of any other
reciprocating engine powered fixed-wing military A/C which had
geared-down props like the B-36 had.

Seems reasonable to me to wonder if the B-36 also churned out an
acoustic signature which was also quite unique in that from the ground
they apparently sounded something like six "down to your heels"
thumping overpowered military helicopters which I'm sure we've all
heard in our neighborhoods. The little speck in the sky does thumps
galore on the ground from miles away. With it's six big, unusually
slow-turning props the B-36 it might very well be that it's acoustics
were helicopter-like. Except a whole lot more so. Acoustics is radio in
a different medium and frequency range. The results of resonance apply
to both. The B-36 probably had an acoustic SWR of 1:1 at ground level.

I never saw a B-36 in flight but I was there when Bell-Boeing V-22
Osprey airframe No. 8 arrived in the pattern over Brandywine airport in
West Chester PA and flew it's last flight before being turned over to
the American Helicopter Museum which is on the airport property. The
V-22 also has monster slow-turning props and can fly like a fixed-wing
A/C at speeds not too disimilar from B-36 speeds. I'm here to tell you
the thing damned near drove all of us who were there that day thru the
tarmac during it's high-speed demo passes. The Apache did not.

w3rv

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
wrote:


The motel was directly off the end of whatever B-52 base it was which
was alongside the plant.

Carswell,

Tnx.

and if you think the B-52s were loud you should have been
there when the B-36s were.

Found this:

"The engines and propellers produced an unforgettable throbbing sound
when the B-36 flew overhead. A friend of mine remembers the sound from
his boyhood as a "captivating drone. The noise went down to your heels,
it was so resonant. It just stopped you in your tracks. You looked up
into the sky to try to find this thing, and it was just a tiny cross,
it was so high." Others remember that it rattled windows on the ground
from 40,000 feet."

w3rv