Walt

And I love “Jet Pilot”! Sure, it’s positively silly but those flight sequences, particularly the long F-86 two-ship set is worth every bit of it. Besides, what’s so wrong with a bit of downright silliness? And then there’s Janet Leigh in a flightsuit…(long before we had female pilots in the USAF)…how bad can that be?

However, I’d put “Pearl Harbor” at the top of the Ten Worst list. I refuse ever to watch it a second time while I have watched the idiotic “Top Gun” quite a few times.

Actually, no matter the plot, I hate all flying movies that use CGI; CGI flying machines are instantly recognizable and annoying to watch. Nothing beats real airplanes and real explosions.

I think it is possible that you may have the date confused, as I’d left the Museum in 1986. Perhaps it was 1978–whats ten years between friends?–and then I was Curator of Aeronautics. Glad you had a good tour!
Best regards
Walt

Christopher B. Scharping, SMsgt, USAF-Ret

The Martin NBS-1″ you refer to was a one-off convesion at McCook Field of one of the original Martin GMB-M, AS 39059, McCook Field designation P 104. It has another 400 horsepower Liberty engine installed in the nose, with the cockpit in an impossible rear position, probably for weight and balance purposes.

The great advantage of testing at McCook Field is that things could be done quickly with a minimum of paperwork. The great disadvantage was that things could also be stopped quickly, with little paperwork. Many airplanes were tested, found wanting by the test pilots after one or two flights, and then were either modified or scrapped. Sustained testing that might have resutled in an excellent aircraft was simply not done.

I suspect that after one or two flights, the three engine version was deemed impractical or even dangerous, and agandoned. It might have been converted back to the normal twin engine configuration, although I doubt it.

sorry not to be more hepful, but there is very little history vailable on the aircraft.

Good luck with your project.

Walt

Greetings from Western Australia.

I emailed you back in 2008 about research I was doing for a book to be titled TRIMOTORS – An Illustrated History of Three-engined Aircraft. The project is ongoing !

I enquired specifically about some photos of the LWF Owl and Emsco types, attributed to your collection, that had appeared in Airpower and Wings, and you informed that your collection had gone to the NASM.

I have just been given some scans by Gerald Balzer, of a Martin NBS-1 that was converted at McCook Field into a trimotor, and I am having major problems getting any useful information about that aircraft. The only information I have been able to unearth is an article by Peter Bowers in Skyways (#3, July 1978) about Mc Cook Field. This gives me some minor detail about the aircraft but no history of the rationale behind the conversion, testing outcomes, and its fate.

I note that a couple of articles were published in Airpower (July & Aug 1975) entitled The Treasures of McCook Field. The articles don’t mention this aircraft but I wondered if you could point me to some possible sources of information about that bird?

Best regards

Ray Watkins

Walt

I grew up loving airplanes and aviation. I just found your “Surly Bonds” and this ability to talk to you. Question: I love B-47s and would like to know if any of your writings contain anything on flying it on a special long range mission and all the particulars of actually piloting the aircraft and such boring things (not to me by any means). I have never been inside a B-47 but have seen some sketches and when I was a kid I got to see the movie Strategic Air Command. That is all I ever saw of the B-47 front office. Today I am 67 and have been diagnosed with Altzheimer’s. I am moderate at this point. My old flight instructor died in a Piper 2 seater low wing. I saw the report and being as I was involved in identical situations with this instructor I can unofficially say exactly what happened that caused the crash and the death of the instructor and the pilot getting a bi-annual. My instructor normally would take an engine out emergency landing clear to within foot draging distance above the ground before applying power to continue on. I performed this maneuver many times with him so I know his habbits (we were also very good friends). On one occasion while I was flying I was performing one of these practice approaches toward a hedgerow. I had the airspeed nailed and just let the airplane float on down delaying the flap extension (c172) because I was a little short and would need to jump the hedgrow to make the field I had chosen. I determined at that point I would be able to make the maneuver work so continued on. My instructor did not bother me or talk and such. I just put the nose down and maintained the proper airspeed and did’nt let the proximity of the ground distract me. We reached a point where I couldn’t see beyond the tree row and I used my excess speed to get up and over the trees and come down on the other side. ALL THIS TIME my instructor friend sat cooly watching. I dumped flaps as we sailed over the trees and we darn near landed before I could get the power back in. This instructor was cool and let you alone…….which, I think was his undoing at the crash site. AT ANY TIME during my landing approach if I had sucked that wheel back into my gut because of my proximity to the ground we would have stalled…..period. I believe my instructor was being himself except the person he was checkriding had the sucking instinct and killed them both. I don’t think he had time to react and this guy sucked that wheel back and the nose pitched down and they went in. Some folks who pull the wheel back just cannot let loose of it if they are close to the ground. I taught myself early on that airspeed must be maintained and the ground is just one of the parameters involved in the maneuver. I think fear of the ground has figured into many accidents of this nature. The pilot I knew. He was the tower person at Hutchinson Municipal Airport in Hutchinson, KS and my instructor ran a small FBO there. The FAA Control Tower Operator had some hours and was just getting a bi-annual. I used to have a Revell model of the B-47 (early). I have never figured out why Gen. LeMay did not want tandem seating in the B-52. There were good things to be said for the tandem setup. You can duplex intercoms. I once crewed a Huey and we all still used intercoms. Those helos were quite something to fly around in. I was in the KS medivac outfit up in Topeka at Forbes in the eighties. Because I was the family aeroplane nut, my parents would take me down Oliver and let me view the long lines of B-47s lined up on the east side of the street with their tails to the fence. You could almost reach out and touch them. The only thing I remember being there at that time was the line huts where outdoor maint. was done and a brick tower on the apron. At that time there were no buildings on the west side of Oliver south of the main Boeing offices. That was all open country back in those days. Rock Road was a country gravel road!!! My family would drive me down Rock to watch approaches. BOY, those were the days weren’t they. You were probably one of the pilots flying that day I was there. Every time we would go to ICT I would have to stop at McConnel and view the B-47s. I eventually made it into the Air Force as an enlisted type running (operator) SAGE radars (heightfinders). A whole ‘nother story for another time. I was in only 4 years. There are times when I wonder what it would have been like had I stayed in. I just figured I could do better money wise on “the outside” or “in the world. I got married while I was still in the AF so wanted to avoid a 12 month tour of northern Alaska minus family which meant I had to try my hand at civilian life. In some ways mission accomplished. In other ways, what a waste. I had it made and I didn’t know it. I also didn’t have much patience with the way the AF was treating enlisted types at that time. When we are young we do rash things at times without realizing it. I loved the job and I did it above requirements and even got a few attaboys. One time a few of your guys tried to sneak in under our radar and I painted every last one of them on my radar and no one got through. I used a new radar mapping device (1965) that used the side lobes of jamming to point to the jamming aircraft basically using the aircraft jammer against itself for detection. Kind of a passive detector. We emitted no radiation to get this information. This raid ran all through the night and into the nest morning and I worked a double shift plus without leaving Operations because I had been practicing and no one else had so no one else was familiar enough to use the new tool. It got me a letter of commendation from my base commander. It also woke up SAC and they sent a Colonel, Major and a 1st Lt. to see what I was up to. At radar sites we seldom ever saw anything above the rank of Major (base commander). I was always afraid of Officers so I was not overjoyed at the prospect of visiting high ranking officials. However, they quickly got right on the subject and wanted a demo of what I had done during the mission. Well I then found out how nice these guys were and actually enjoyed the visit and the question and answer period. It was a highlight of my career at the time. I don’t remember any of the Officer’s names though. Didn’t think to write down names for later. I have so enjoyed your on aviation matters and Wings etc. I am a real aviation nut and really appreciate the things you have done. You have helped with my aviation knowledge and I thank you for caring enough to keep us informed. What I have just said carries a lot of meaning. Thanks so much for your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Norman A. Shafer
115 South Exchange,
St. John, KS 67576
p.s. 17May44, AF 07Nov62 to 04Nov66 normal 4 year tour. Enlisted right out of high school. Aced the final exam at radar school at Keesler AFB and spent the rest of my 4 years at Klamath Air Force Station, Requa (Klamath), California (just 20 miles south of Crescent City on the coast at the mouth of the Klamath River and Pacific ocean. Darn, the duty was really good there for EMs. All of our officers were all top drawer to a person. I think my old ops officer is on the internet if you look up 777th Radar Sq. Requa. We were data linked to a blockhouse in Corvallis, OR which was sector hq. 25th Air Division was at McCord up in Seattle. I wound up working as a CATIA designer and tool designer up there at Boeing Paine Field. I never made it back to college for a degree. I became a contractor (as a designer on airframes as well as tooling) which involved some travel and moving around.

Walt

Walt