![]() 11/17/2016 at 16:34 • Filed to: `planelopnik | ![]() | ![]() |
A modified P-80 Shooting Star
![]() 11/17/2016 at 16:39 |
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I once talked to a guy who rode in the camera bay for a U2 flight.
This reminds me of that.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 16:45 |
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It could be worse.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 16:45 |
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Your predecessor.
Also 3 seats? What sort of sorcery is this? I know the Skunk Works folks were technical wizards, cranking out a prototype from a proposal in half a year is miraculous. But 3 seats on a fighter is beginning to look like techno heresy.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 16:54 |
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That’s intriguing, since there are plenty of photos of two-seat P-80s/F-80s out there. I wonder what was up with your picture. It’s a cool pic, btw. You never disappoint.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 17:05 |
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Oddly, I saw a U2 yesterday, climbing out from my local airport.
11/17/2016 at 17:06 |
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Back in ‘94, McD-D had the idea of slinging a three-man pod under each wing of an AV-8B for delivering or extracting SOC teams. Pretty sure that idea never went anywhere either.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 17:10 |
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Why? What is his job that requires him to be in a tube under the wing?
![]() 11/17/2016 at 17:16 |
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It’s for photography. While that looks like a P-38, it is actually an F-5 (no, not that F-5), the reconnaissance version of the Lightning. According to Wiki, the XF-5E was a “prone observer variant.” That would be a pretty awful gig, really. I hope there wasn’t a drop switch for that tank in the cockpit.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 17:20 |
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Of course, we already know that this is a thing:
![]() 11/17/2016 at 17:25 |
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This back seat looks pretty tight, too.
Fairey Gannet. It was powered by a huge double turboprop engine called the Double Mamba . It was as crazy as it was awesome.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 18:01 |
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Any details beyond “it was tight and I couldn’t scratch my nose”?
![]() 11/17/2016 at 18:15 |
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Had to get a particular photograph, and he sat on a chair bolted to the airframe.
![]() 11/17/2016 at 23:57 |
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crazy germans had a bomber with the pilot in a prone position, and designed it to withstand 12gs