James May meets Kelly Johnson:::::::

[Dan4th]

For those of you who didn't see it last night:



This bears watching more than once!

Dan4th

[Nickolas]

Absolutely Beautiful...............

James May.......... such a lucky guy. Back seating in a Typhoon and a U2..............

[Spitfire]

What a brilliand little film - 10 minutes that caught the whole experience - and I though 50,000ft in Concorde was high May was 20,000ft higher than that

[Dan4th]

U-2 is even more remarkable when you consider it
first flew in 1955! Plus, although they generally don't,
they're capable of as high as 85,000 ft. if required.
Cruise is 430 mph, so not exactly a slug, either....

It's good they sent May, don't you think? Just imagine
how either of the others might have handled it!

Dan4th

[Saracenman]

i started watching it last night on iPlayer, but haven't finished it yet

agreed re dispatching JM - Clarkson would never have survived ANY of it, given his reaction to his ETPS Hunter experience!

U-2 is an astonishing machine - and the fact that it has succeeded the a/c slated to replace it, SR-71

it does look like a complete git to fly though - always right on the edge of falling out of the sky

sm

[Spitfire]

2 things....

1) why on earth do cars follow it at speed on take off and landing ??

2) as it uses dolly wheels on the wings at take off - what happens at landing - is it like a glider and the wing just tips over and rests on the ground - we never saw??

Also that was a thumping landing - it just sort of fell out of the sky at the very end

edit - MMMmmm on landing they seem to have to talk the pilot down by telling him where the ground is - sort of stalling it in - although some of the landings below are a little better

The driver in the chase car is a fellow u2 pilot, they chase the plane to help the pilot with landing as they can not see much from the cramped cockpit, the driver radio's the pilot to let him know how close the landing gear is to the runway before the pilot "stalls" the plane for landing

But what the heck are they doing on take off????

[Saracenman]

answers...

1) the car is driven by another U-2 pilot to guide the a/c down - it's a complete git to land apparently

2) yes - just like a glider. in fact, that's one of the jobs of the chase car - to direct the pilot to keep the wings up for as long as possible

"thumped landing" - they stall very easily apparently - they can go from flying beautifully to dropping like a stone - no 'shade of grey' in between!

sm

[Dan4th]

Beat me to it!!!!!!!

Just two things to add, though......

Those pods on the wingtips will enable the
aircraft to "tip over" at a slowish speed with
no damage. Also, the pilot(s) in the car DO
jump out and rush over to re-attach the wing
wheels for the taxi back to the hangar.

Half aircraft/half glider, really.....

Danf.

[Spitfire]

OK - I was editing whilst you were answering - and as you see I sort of worked it out - but why the chase on take off??

[Dan4th]

Well, I DO know that the a/c is prone to
a lot of instability problems at lower
speeds. Once again, you would think that
with that situation, extra eyes would be
nice to have.

I'll see what else I can excavate and let
you know....

D.

[Saracenman]

as you say Danf

also, belt and braces basically - the all-round visibility is dreadful, so an extra pair of eyes is useful to get on the runway!

plus the detachable wheels sometimes get hung up apparently, and the pilot-driver confirms that they have separated

I've got a good programme on it somewhere

sm

[Wedgy]

Thanks for the vids guys

That was truely wonderful

[Dan4th]

MORE MAY!

Additional scenes and a different edit of the flight:



Dan4th

[IanM]

An ex-girlfriend of mine was called Kelly Johnson

That is all

[Dan4th]

Ah, but was she "aerodynamic"?????

Dan4th

[RLN]

Shame on you Dan4th.