Maggie’s Military Jeopardy

#951
If there is an Aurora... and it's a pulse jet or scram jet... that theoretically powers it.

Personally, I think Aurora was a fun figment of Aviation Week's imagination... I was at NASA when all the Hullabaloo came out. Everyone there discounted it. At the time, India was far ahead of the USA in scram/pulsejet technology anyway.

But, hey, it makes for a great conspiracy theory!

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
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#953
sirhrmechanic said:
If there is an Aurora... and it's a pulse jet or scram jet... that theoretically powers it.

Personally, I think Aurora was a fun figment of Aviation Week's imagination... I was at NASA when all the Hullabaloo came out. Everyone there discounted it. At the time, India was far ahead of the USA in scram/pulsejet technology anyway.

But, hey, it makes for a great conspiracy theory!

Cheers,

Sirhr
Click to expand...

I’ve heard bits and pieces about Aurora. I had no idea that it was all a myth.
Haha that’s to bad because I was looking forward to learning more about it. Oh well..
 
#954
The Angler said:
I’ve heard bits and pieces about Aurora. I had no idea that it was all a myth.
Haha that’s to bad because I was looking forward to learning more about it. Oh well..
Click to expand...

Well that's great because my next question has to do with just that!

Testors made a model of the F19 in the 80's. Some claim this is the Aurora plane. But the F19 had a real covert use. What was it?
 
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#956
Pretty much. The Russians bought thousands thinking they could reverse engineer the "stealth technology" because most of our other kit airplanes like that were to scale. They had nothing else to go on. They were likely the biggest customer of this model.

It's another example of how SDI really worked. There was real technology, but there was a lot of fakery too.

Some think it's actually the Aurora though, and for whatever reason isn't in inventory.
 
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#961
Strykervet said:
Well that's great because my next question has to do with just that!

Testors made a model of the F19 in the 80's. Some claim this is the Aurora plane. But the F19 had a real covert use. What was it?
Click to expand...

He real program was Have Blue. And the nickname was the Frisbee. It was also 'outed' in Tom Clancy's great novel "Red Storm Rising" which is still an amazing read to this day! He described the plane based on the Testors model.

It was a major psychological operation by the Agency and the DoD to 'get all mad' at Testors. Deny. Tell them to stop making the kit. Made a big splash. Soviets bought up tons of kits... scaled them up. Spent millions trying to make them stealthy. They did the same with a lot of technology....

In fact, here is a question:

During the 1970's, the Soviets penetrated the British Aerospace/French Aerospatiale so thoroughly that plans for the Concord were in Moscow as fast as they were off engineers desks. This resulted in the Soviet "Concordski" that crashed in its debut at the Paris Air Show. What spoof did the British SIS run on the Soviets after they found out about the penetration and leaks?

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
#966
FWIW, and to backtrack just a bit (ya'll are moving too fast) the Canadian Air Force had (has?) a fleet of Aurora's, but we're not talking about the same thing at all.
Ours were/are 4 engine turbo-prop sky-stages that were primarily of "what" purpose? And yes, they had a minor 'secondary' purpose, that was really important,,,,,,, but?
 
#968
Sean the Nailer said:
FWIW, and to backtrack just a bit (ya'll are moving too fast) the Canadian Air Force had (has?) a fleet of Aurora's, but we're not talking about the same thing at all.
Ours were/are 4 engine turbo-prop sky-stages that were primarily of "what" purpose? And yes, they had a minor 'secondary' purpose, that was really important,,,,,,, but?
Click to expand...
crew training...they are much cheaper to operate than the fancy stuff.
 
#970
Sean the Nailer said:
FWIW, and to backtrack just a bit (ya'll are moving too fast) the Canadian Air Force had (has?) a fleet of Aurora's, but we're not talking about the same thing at all.
Ours were/are 4 engine turbo-prop sky-stages that were primarily of "what" purpose? And yes, they had a minor 'secondary' purpose, that was really important,,,,,,, but?
Click to expand...
Anti submarine warfare. Secondary: intelligence gathering.
 
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#975
sirhrmechanic said:
In fact, here is a question:

During the 1970's, the Soviets penetrated the British Aerospace/French Aerospatiale so thoroughly that plans for the Concord were in Moscow as fast as they were off engineers desks. This resulted in the Soviet "Concordski" that crashed in its debut at the Paris Air Show. What spoof did the British SIS run on the Soviets after they found out about the penetration and leaks?

Cheers,

Sirhr
Click to expand...

They followed and fed the agent with false information that ensured their "copy" would never work, resulting in the crash at the Paris Airshow.
 
#978
Yeah, you had me looking! Was about to use a lifeline and call my sister who teaches American History. I recall that being brought up in some class I took or another myself. The Continental Army had been disbanded and there was no standing army yet. The states rebelled against paying taxes on liquor to pay for the war, which the war was fought over (no taxation without representation but many took it as "no taxation" period). Washington recalled several thousand soldiers and made a show of force in 1791 (through 1794). People were pissed. IIRC, Washington wasn't paying taxes on the liquor he made and I don't think that sat well with others either (I may be in error about this).

A standing army was permitted not long after this, and 1792 saw the Legion of the United States, the first standing army.

Manifest Destiny is the push west but that was in 1801 with Lewis and Clark.
 
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#980
No worries bro, it was a good question. Some of the historical events overlapped making it a bit confusing, and I suppose it could be how you interpret it --Continental Army or US Army, militia or standing?

Got another? I'll put one up when I can think of a good one.
 
#981
timesublime said:
Anti submarine warfare. Secondary: intelligence gathering.
Click to expand...
Realistically, you're probably right. When I was young and in Air Cadets, we toured CFB Comox (amonst many others) and we were 'told' that secondary was Search and Rescue. We were shown LOTS of SAR stuff and people, but 'very little' regarding the electronics and magnetometer and such.
 
#982
Strykervet said:
They followed and fed the agent with false information that ensured their "copy" would never work, resulting in the crash at the Paris Airshow.
Click to expand...

Nope... they did that all on their own. There was a specific component that they provided "fake news" on. Cost the Sov's millions.

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
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#985
Strykervet said:
Was it the landing gear?
Click to expand...
Close... The tires. They created a fake rubber formula and planted info that the speeds required this special compound. Aalso that it would revolutionize military fighter jet capabilities because tires would not melt at hypersonic speeds... Made it all code word top secret. When formula was followed the tires were soft as chewed bubblegum. Sovs went batty trying to make the tires work. Cheers, Sirhr.
 
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#986
sirhrmechanic said:
Close... The tires. They created a fake rubber formula and planted info that the speeds required this special compound. Aalso that it would revolutionize military fighter jet capabilities because tires would not melt at hypersonic speeds... Made it all code word top secret. When formula was followed the tires were soft as chewed bubblegum. Sovs went batty trying to make the tires work. Cheers, Sirhr.
Click to expand...
That's one where they get so fixated on copying someone, that they forget they can come up with a workable solution of their own.
 
#987
sandwarrior said:
That's one where they get so fixated on copying someone, that they forget they can come up with a workable solution of their own.
Click to expand...

That was exactly their problem, but it worked SO well for the atom bomb. Like I said, there were Soviet engineers who were way ahead of their time who got snubbed because the govt. was more interested in reverse engineering, which doesn't really require engineers. Yeah, they were a rightfully pissed lot.

That's funny they did that with the tires... I wonder how many spoofs like this we've fallen for, it makes you wonder. There have to be some interesting ones but I can't think of any off hand.
 
#988
This may well have been covered before but is a neat story and brings light into my eyes as well as tears.
WW-II Who was Franz Stigler and why did he and Charlie Brown have a friendship that lasted til both of their deaths?
 
#989
I could answer but I didn't know and cheated and looked it up so I'll hold off. It's really cool though, and no, don't think that's been brought up.

Cheating makes answering this one too easy, so if you don't know guessing for a bit may make it more fun. The names are sort of a hint.
 
#990
All the more to make it a good read and know that chivalry was not dead then.
I would not have extended myself to Luke the Gook. I would have shot him between the eyes.
I did have a good relationship with an old Viet that worked in a local Chinese restaurant that was a porter down the Ho Chi Minh trail years ago when we were both there. I was a pall bearer and only spoke to him thru an interpreter, yet we both spoke the same language in our minds.
RIP Lam. FM
 
#991
Stigler had Brown in the sights and was going to down him (his 3rd for the day). As he got close he saw the plane was defenseless and useless. So, he didn't fire on the already shredded B-17. he also saw the dead and wounded.

He tried to get him to just land, but Brown wanted to try for home. Anyhow, Stigler escorted the B-17 to the North Sea so the Germans wouldn't shoot him down with flak. Then he saluted him and let him go

They got in contact after the war. Stigler had emigrated to Canada and answered an ad for a reunion. That's how Brown found him.

I watched a documentary on it, but didn't remember what it was called.
 
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#996
I'm thinking of something that took place during the late summer and fall leading up to the invasion. It involved a hacking of milnet and discovery of certain resources.

Nobody actually believed him until after it happened.
 
#999
You all know the guy that hacked milnet, that's a clue, but what was it he found that tipped him off that US soldiers were planning a buildup in the Middle East? It's pretty common too. A name you all know and a product you are all familiar with.

That's the best I can do really. Enjoy!
 
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