Debris found in Southern CA Desert - Anyone know what it might be?

In article ,
says...


OM wrote:

...The next project is to find that pilot and see if you can get out
of him just what happened. Provided, of course, that's all that fell
of that particular plane.

To me it looks like the motor might have exploded; the obvious question
is "where is the rest of the plane?" It couldn't have flown very far
without its tail. What's really annoying about this is that I used to
have a book ("Last of the Gunslingers" IIRC) entirely about the
Crusader, but gave it away to make more bookshelf space...and it might
of had a list of Crusader crashes in it.
I seem to remember a Crusader getting nailed by its own Sidewinder that
hang-fired after release...either that, or was shot down by a wingman by
accident with a Sidewinder...and blowing the tail off is what a
Sidewinder would do.

Also, recall that several different types of planes have been used as
unmanned drones in target practice over the Southern California desert.
Not only do you need to test new weapons, to make sure they'll work
properly, you also need to train crews on the actual use of these
weapons. Which means you occasionally need to be able to shoot down
real jets.

Does anyone know if the Crusader was ever used regularly in drone
service?

Doug

Doug... wrote:

real jets.

Does anyone know if the Crusader was ever used regularly in drone
service?


Some F8A's were converted as drone control aircraft as DF8L's, but I
haven't found any info on ones that were converted to target drones as such.

Pat

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:30:04 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:

Some F8A's were converted as drone control aircraft as DF8L's, but I
haven't found any info on ones that were converted to target drones as such.

I think you mean QF-8L. The designator for drones is Q and the hyphen
is part of the reformed designations system, which was put in place
just before the F-8 came online.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

Mary Shafer wrote:

I think you mean QF-8L. The designator for drones is Q and the hyphen
is part of the reformed designations system, which was put in place
just before the F-8 came online.


I've found references to both designations on the web; at least some of
them were used in the Regulus II test program.
There doesn't seem to be much info on them; either they were used on
some semi-classified programs, or just weren't considered interesting
enough to write much about.

Pat

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 21:18:49 GMT, Doug...
wrote:

Also, recall that several different types of planes have been used as
unmanned drones in target practice over the Southern California desert.
Not only do you need to test new weapons, to make sure they'll work
properly, you also need to train crews on the actual use of these
weapons. Which means you occasionally need to be able to shoot down
real jets.

This isn't done just anywhere, though. You have to have a range that
you can drop big chunks of airplane on without smashing houses, cars,
livestock, and people.

The Navy does it at China Lake, as part of their missile testing.
They're using QF-4s right now. If the USAF uses drones, it's probably
only at Eglin.

Does anyone know if the Crusader was ever used regularly in drone
service?

I don't think so, because we sold them to the Philippines. They even
took the F-8B, which was at Dryden. It was a two-seat airplane but
its biggest distinction was that it was the last US fighter with a
pushrod and cable flight control system.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer