Hubble to be abandoned

"Terrell Miller" wrote


this may be urban myth, but a long time ago I read that part of
the "Saber Dance" thing was because a specific old-timer at the
McDonnell plant was supposed to be installing nuts upside down
for some reason,

That kind of thing happens. In a certain place and a certain time,
there was a cryptosystem that was very good, unbreakable when set
up right and used properly. Unfortunately, there was a non-obvious,
seemingly correct way to set it up wrong which caused the key
generator to collapse to a much, much shorter repetition interval
than it was designed for (ISTR that was called a "depth" condition).

In that certain place and time, there was a certain senior,
experienced NCO who happened to have gotten into the habit of
setting it up wrong. So senior and respected was he, that he got
assigned to instructing new cyptofolk in the arcana of setting up
the system...

On 17 Feb 2004 21:36:43 GMT, Andrew Gray
wrote:

In article , Mary Shafer wrote:

Actually, it's not. The CF-104 and the F-104N were essentially the
same in not having a weapons suite, except that the F-104Ns didn't
carry nukes or recce pods either. The F-104N was a limited-number
(three, to be precise) modification of the F-104G and was pretty much
the only airplane NASA Dryden bought off the production line, directly
from the manufacturer.

Yeah, but NASA Dryden could be reasonably confident that if it somehow
got into a war, they wouldn't be escalating to nuclear levels any time
soon.

I have always lamented NASA's inability to own and use ordnance, at
least since the day that the folks at China Lake blew up a tank in my
honor. This was on a different trip than the one on which they shot
down a drone fighter with an air-to-air missile. Blowing stuff up can
be a lot of fun.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 14:02:57 -0600, Herb Schaltegger
lid wrote:

Andrew Gray wrote:

In article , Derek Lyons wrote:
(George William Herbert) wrote:

There are several ex-nukes who have contributed to alt.war.nuclear
over the years...

At least over here on the seaborne side of the house 'nukes' are the
guys who operate the reactor. 'Weaponeers' work the missile launch
and fire control systems.

Now there's a job title that sounds like you should get a jumpsuit and a
cape.

In the USAF, the officers in the silos are called Missile Launch Officers
(or they were back in the day when that was to have been my MOS . . . long
story . . .); they were often referred to as "missileers" informally.

And that sounds like you should get tights and a funny cap with a
pointy top, both in bright "crayon" colors. And maybe a fancy
stick-out tray collar on your cape. I wish I could think of the movie
the image comes from.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

"Mary Shafer" wrote in message
...

And that sounds like you should get tights and a funny cap with a
pointy top, both in bright "crayon" colors. And maybe a fancy
stick-out tray collar on your cape. I wish I could think of the movie
the image comes from.

'The Rocketeer'?

the story of the bolt being installed upside down is told in Chuck Yeager's
autobiography, page 234. It's a good read, a lot of good stories about the
early days of jet aviation.

"Terrell Miller" wrote in message
. ..
"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
...

this may be urban myth, but a long time ago I read that part of the
"Saber
Dance" thing was because a specific old-timer at the McDonnell plant
was
supposed to be installing nuts upside down for some reason, but he'd
been
there twenty years and he knew damn well you don't install nuts
back'ards.
So under certain flight profiles an aileron would get hung up on the
"properly" installed nut. Apparently they never told the poor schlub
how
many pilots he'd killed.

The other problem offurred with F-86Fs and F-86Hs built, I believe, at
North American's Inglewood plant. There was a connection in the
aileron linkage that, because of the danger of the linkage binding
when the wing flexed at high speeds, needed to be assembled in an
unusual, non-standard manner. (This fault, BTW, is what killed Joe
MacConnel, the #1 USAF/UN Ace from the Korean War, while testing the
F-86H) Some guy on the line figured that the drawings were wrong,
'cause you just don't put a bolt in that way, and did the hookup the
way he thought it should be done.

that's what I was thinking of, just got the wrong Saber. Thanks, Pete.


--
Terrell Miller


"It's one thing to burn down the **** house and another thing entirely to
install plumbing"
-PJ O'Rourke

"Dave C" wrote in message
...
the story of the bolt being installed upside down is told in Chuck
Yeager's
autobiography, page 234. It's a good read, a lot of good stories about the
early days of jet aviation.

Didn't they happen in Britain and Germany

Mary Shafer wrote:

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 14:02:57 -0600, Herb Schaltegger
lid wrote:

In the USAF, the officers in the silos are called Missile Launch Officers
(or they were back in the day when that was to have been my MOS . . .
long story . . .); they were often referred to as "missileers"
informally.

And that sounds like you should get tights and a funny cap with a
pointy top, both in bright "crayon" colors. And maybe a fancy
stick-out tray collar on your cape. I wish I could think of the movie
the image comes from.

Sadly, the uniforms weren't nearly so inspire; we did get really cool
rocket-shaped insignia to wear on the pocket below our service ribbons,
though . . . ;-)

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Remove invalid nonsense for email.

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 19:19:41 +0800, "Neil Gerace"
wrote:

"Dave C" wrote in message
...
the story of the bolt being installed upside down is told in Chuck
Yeager's
autobiography, page 234. It's a good read, a lot of good stories about the
early days of jet aviation.

Didn't they happen in Britain and Germany

....That only works with controls :-P

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 19:05:50 -0800, Mary Shafer
wrote:

I have always lamented NASA's inability to own and use ordnance, at
least since the day that the folks at China Lake blew up a tank in my
honor.

....Ah, if only we could have made sure a certain couple of trolls had
been in the tank at the time :-)

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 19:05:51 -0800, Mary Shafer wrote:

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 14:02:57 -0600, Herb Schaltegger
lid wrote:
In the USAF, the officers in the silos are called Missile Launch Officers
(or they were back in the day when that was to have been my MOS . . . long
story . . .); they were often referred to as "missileers" informally.

And that sounds like you should get tights and a funny cap with a
pointy top, both in bright "crayon" colors. And maybe a fancy
stick-out tray collar on your cape. I wish I could think of the movie
the image comes from.

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there
We're as deep as we should be
M-I-S S-I-S I-L-EE-R-S

Missileers!, Missileers!
Forever let us keep our Titan's by!

Now it's time to say good bye to all and sund-ary.

10-9-8 See you real soon!
7-6-5 Why, cause we've got orders!
4-3-2-1 Launch!