Well It was nice while it lasted

[PegLeg45]

There are about 50 C5M models flying see screen shot from ADS-B tracking.

The main problem is USAF/DOD/Congress wanted EVERYTHING NEW.   Well that takes a while to design and assemble so by the time the first a/c rolled out it was already out dated.  The other problem is with so many untried, untested NEW systems the problem multiply exponentially. 

One good example on was the Inertial Nav system on the early models.  All brand new design.  Somewhere north of $100k.  Only one gyro.  Very fragile. Placed in the nose cone (why nobody knows).  Very heavy, ~100 pounds, with all the black boxes.  AND voluminous.  I think somewhere around 18cuft all told.  At the same time Boing was shipping there 747 with 3 (THREE) Honeywell, off the shelf INS systems.  Three system that I think ran a total of 20#ea, cost $10kea and only occupied about 4 rack units in a STANDARD 19" rack.

Somewhat reminds me of the old joke about NASA's high dollar space pens vs Russian pencils.

[Big Frank]

<snip>... It's been awhile since I've had one stolen, but had a total or 4 Polaris ATVs stolen from my driveway. <snip>

Somebody did you a favor...

By stealing the world's best selling ATVs from me? I don't think so! And before you say it, they
weren't the world's best selling just because they kept getting stolen and had to be replaced.

[Big Frank]

Somewhat reminds me of the old joke about NASA's high dollar space pens vs Russian pencils.

There are a ridiculous number of people who think that old joke is true. Social media users are re-sharing old posts saying NASA spent a decade and millions (if not billions) of dollars of tax-payers' money developing pens for its astronauts, while Russia made do with pencils. But the Russians weren't dumb enough to have pencil shavings floating around from sharpening them, wreaking havoc wherever they went. So they developed a trillion dollar pencil sharpener with a vacuum attachment and multi-stage HEPA filtration system.    No, not really. The Fisher Pen Company funded the Space Pen's development, not by NASA, and it was used by both American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.

It reminds me of a meeting we had at work where someone from upper management was addressing us mere peons. According to someone working for GM who was well enough educated to be be an assistant plant manager (<-- well, there's your problem, right there ), the Chevy Nova had terrible sales in Mexico because no va means it doesn't run (literally not going) in Spanish. Most people in their right mind, no matter what language they spoke would probably look at the single word nova and think it means new, like a new star, if they attached any meaning to it.

[Big Frank]

A couple more F***ing aircraft nicknames you may or may not know. 

B-52 bomber, BUFF, Big Ugly Fat F***er. I've known that one for a very long time, but not the next one.

A-7 attack plane, SLUF, Short Little Ugly F***er.  It was based on the F-8 fighter, shortened by nearly 10 feet, restricted to subsonic speeds, and simpler and cheaper to make.


As far as I know, the only U.S. military helicopter* that wasn't named after a Native American tribe was the Cobra, and I still have no idea why. AFAIK, it didn't have a nickname like those planes did, but in Vietnam the pilots were called Snake Drivers. How cool is that?  Not all pilots get their own group nickname like that. I always liked the sound of that, but I don't think I would have made a good Cobra pilot. The cockpit looks like it's barely wider than my shoulders. Even if I fit in it I'd get claustrophobic in no time. I'd be the guy you see with the window rolled down and his arm stretched out on the windowsill.   

* Not counting variants, like Pave Hawks based on Black Hawks, etc., where the original model DID have a First Nations' name.

[alfsauve]

The SR-71 has been known as Habu.  The Habu is an extremely venomous snake native to Okinawa, Kadena AFB there being a major SR-71 base during the '70s.  Those associated with the SR-71 (and it's variants) are called Haburats.  I was not one.  I was however a MAC Trained Killer. 

[Sponsor]

[PegLeg45]

The SR-71 has been known as Habu.  The Habu is an extremely venomous snake native to Okinawa, Kadena AFB there being a major SR-71 base during the '70s.  Those associated with the SR-71 (and it's variants) are called Haburats.  I was not one.  I was however a MAC Trained Killer.

My neighbor's dad was one. I knew the man very well (his family and mine were "generational neighbors" and still are.....he passed away last year) and I was in my late 40's before he ever let on that he worked on the development phases of the SR-71.
He had had knee replacement surgery and we were visiting him one day and he got to talking about all the things that went on an how secretive they had to be back then. He talked for a long time saying they had declassified a lot of it years ago and he could talk now, but since he had never told anyone about it before nobody knew to ask.

[Pathfinder]

It reminds me of a meeting we had at work where someone from upper management was addressing us mere peons. According to someone working for GM who was well enough educated to be be an assistant plant manager (<-- well, there's your problem, right there ), the Chevy Nova had terrible sales in Mexico because no va means it doesn't run (literally not going) in Spanish. Most people in their right mind, no matter what language they spoke would probably look at the single word nova and think it means new, like a new star, if they attached any meaning to it.

I used to work in an ad agency, the biggest independent HQ'd in Chicago. One of the stories I heard was of AMC coming up with a mighty and awe-inspiring name for their sports car, the Matador! Then they went and test marketed it and everyone loved the name - except in the Puerto Rico test market the car dropped like a lead turd. Turns out, in idiomatic Spanish, matador is an assassin.

[alfsauve]

But it turns out the exec's at AMC didn't care.  They named it Matador anyway.  Should have saved their money and not done the focus groups.

Which reminds me.  I took a class (believe it or not a whole college class) on corporate relocation.  Our team was given a supposedly real life example as a project.  We spent hours researching the proposed cities.  Labor, economy, transportation, natural resources, taxed, etc.  Gave our presentation, made our recommendation, got an "A".  I then asked that if this was from a real life scenario what did this company actually decide to do.   Prof said the relocated to Vale, CO.   VALE?  That wasn't even close to the cities they had recommended. WHY?  It met none of the requirements, had none of the resources.  Answer?  Because the CEO liked to ski.

[Jim Kennedy-ar154me]

  Answer?  Because the CEO liked to ski.

Don't you love it when, in life, people ask you for your advice, you spend time to help them, and they turn around and ignore your information? This has happened TOO many times in my life.

[Rastus]

Interesting on the SR-71 was that the fuel guys had to put fuel in , take fuel out and then put some back in again...with the people watching never knowing how much fuel it took on as to gauge just how far it was going to go.  A friend of mine was in defense fuels and relayed the story...he said every time a Blackbird took off there seemed to be a food truck parked on public property under the takeoff path.