Good Morning

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 07/21/2020 at 09:05 • Filed to: good morning oppo, wingspan

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For Tuesday morning we have the well known Gilbert XF-120.

If you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry, because it’s really a Martin XB-51, a very early Cold War jet bomber. The plane was featured in the 1956 film !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about USAF test pilots starring William Holden and Virginia Leith.

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Link Bond: Pilot and wife beater

According to Wiki, this film sounds like a fantastic who’s who of Cold War aviation. That tug in the top photo is pretty cool, too.

Toward the Unknown was a showcase of the contemporary United States Air Force fleet of combat aircraft: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , shown on the ground and in the air. Unusual stock footage includes a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! being tested, the use of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! aerial tanker with a F-100, F-101, and B-66 being fueled, and a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Also appearing in background shots were the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Peacemaker, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The final aerial sequence is derived from an air show held at the base and depicts the 1955 version of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! air demonstration team, flying Republic F-84F Thunderstreak fighters in a scene described as “special ariobatics”[sic] in the credits.

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , its !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! mother ship, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! are also featured as the experimental aircraft being tested at Edwards AFB. Footage of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was used to depict the later F-102 fighter in the opening crash scene while the surviving !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! bomber prototype stands in as the fictional “Gilbert XF-120" fighter.

The full film is available in Amazon Prime and maybe YouTube, for a few bucks.

InFierority Complex > ttyymmnn 07/21/2020 at 09:33

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That CF-55 AF tug tho.

Weird af vehicle

ttyymmnn > InFierority Complex 07/21/2020 at 09:35

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Weird but also super cool.

user314 > ttyymmnn 07/21/2020 at 10:06

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*Sighs, adds another movie to T he L ist*

ttyymmnn > user314 07/21/2020 at 10:11

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I think I’ll watch it this weekend, since there’s no F1. It’s only $3 on Amazon. Money well spent! I suspect it will turn out like Strategic Air Command and others, where the actual story is melodramatic cheese, but the airplane shots make it all worthwhile. 

ttyymmnn > InFierority Complex 07/21/2020 at 10:56

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That top photo, with the stack, looks like something out of Mad Max.

Jim Spanfeller > InFierority Complex 07/21/2020 at 15:18

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Thanks, I was wondering what that was.