Boeing SST, 50 Years -- March 24, 2021

 

50 years ago today, on 24-March-1971, the US Senate refused to provide more funding for the Boeing SST project. The SST may have been the first aviation story that I followed closely.  I cut articles out of the San Francisco Chronicle and pasted them into a scrap book. 

Thomas-Morse M.B.-3 -- January 29, 2021

 

nix.ksc.nasa.gov/info?id=EL-2002-00567&orgid=1

The Thomas-Morse M.B.-3 was a fighter built for the United States Army Air Service. The Thomas-Morse Company designed the airplane and built the initial order. Boeing outbid Thomas-Morse for a later, much larger, order. 

Plane Crash at SFO -- July 6, 2013

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777, flying from Korea, crashed on landing at San Francisco International Airport.  Two people died and a relatively low number were seriously injured.  Witnesses report that the plane came in low, tail down and clipped the sea wall.  Video from a helicopter showed the tail and perhaps the nose wheel lying on the runway.  The fuselage and one engine were visible farther down the runway.  The top of the cabin had burned away. 

We took my mother grocery shopping today and then she took us to lunch at Bill's Place.  I had a Jazzbeaux.
 The Giants beat the Dodgers to break their latest losing streak.  The team is in last place.  Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey and Marco Scutaro will be on the All Star team.  

Fast and Slow Airplanes -- May 5, 2013

On Wednesday, the last Boeing X-51a Waverider scramjet airplane launched from its B-52 host and used a rocket booster to reach Mach 4.8.  Then the scramjet fired and drove the plane up to Mach 5.2.  The engine ran long enough to burn up its entire four-minute fuel supply.  Reports like to say that at that speed, an airliner could travel from the west coast to the east in one hour.  Credit: Air Force photo by Bobbi Zapka

Friday morning, the Solar Impulse, a solar-powered airplane, took off from Moffett Field and flew to Phoenix in 18 hours and some minutes, on the first leg of an attempted flight across the United States using only solar power.  Solar Impulse cruises at 43 miles per hour.  I wish her a safe journey.  Credit: Across America 2013: Golden Gate Flight © Solar Impulse | J. Revillard