Request

[grayrider]

Hello all

I have a request for a military 135 and or paint,depending on how you do the acft. and paints here.

I will explane first.When I entered the U.S.A.F. in the late 60's,my first base assignment was at the 55th Weather Recon. Sq. at McClellan A.F.B.Calif.When I got there we had weather recon. B-47's/RB-57 short wing and high Altitude RB-57 long wing weather recon acft.,also at the same time these planes where phasing out.What replaced them was five WC-135 B model acft. to continue the weather recon. work

So what I would like to see and fly again would be the WC-135 weather recon.B model acft.

I think if there are any still around today,they may be "W" models and may be at KOFF.

Just a thought of what I wuold like to see again,since that was my first airplane as a crew chief in 1969.

THX

GrayRider

[Jordan Claus]

Thats absolutely true, most WC-135's have since been converted to RC models. There is still one WC-135 stationed at offutt under the designation WC-135W. Serial for that particular bird is 61-2667 and as far as I know she's the only one still operating. She was converted from a "B" standard to "W" sometime in the late 90's, I should think. The only visible difference between the "B" and "W" model is the addition of an arial on it's topside similiar to those that litter the RC series aircraft. This, I would think, may be an indicator that she's been outfitted with some sort of ELINT equipment.

"grayrider," not to worry. Unless Gary gets to her first I'll put the "WC" on my "to build list. Right now I'm just a little pre-occupied with some current projects that I'm trying to hammer out.

Happy Landings,
Jay

[grayrider]

Thanks for your reply Jordan

No hurry on my request,because I didn't really think about that one until after I started downloading all the military 135 acft you all have available,and the WC-135B kind of popped in my mind.

One thing it did have was large U-1 foils,one on each side of the fuealage either forward or aft.,of the over the wing hatches,which were used for taking air samples,and they were painted black.it did have the yellow tail flash with the word weather across it.Prior to me getting a lot of the acft,were still using the tail flash with the word MATS on them.

I would even like to see and fly the RB-57 High altitude long wing with the retractable wing tip gear.The wings were so long,when refueled,the wing tips were only inchs from the ground,and had an awsome wing flex on take off.

I do have one freeware RB-57 long wing in my FS9,but it isn' a very good model,there are a lot of things missing on it,to make it as real as possible.
I don't think anyone ever really created a good RB-57 long wing.

Thanks for your reply,and I'm going to look around for some pictures of the planes.

THX

GrayRider

[Jordan Claus]

Thanks for the info, I'm aware of the U-1 airfoils. I was just making the distinction between the B and W models, the latter which has some sort of ELINT antenna added to the dorsal fuselage.

Are you using the RB-57F that was made by Kazunori Ito? I'm not a big fan of that particular model either. There is another RB-57F that is on flightsim.com which I'm particularly fond of that was created by Tim Conrad. The package includes both USAF and NASA models. I'm not to familiar with the specs on the long wing, though I've had a huge fascination with them, but from what I do know about aircraft design I'd say that as far as the FDE's are concerned this is pretty darn close to the real deal. Sure I'd like to see a hardcore RB-57F that matches the same level of detail as our HJG material. What would keep such an aircraft like this out of the loop here at HJG is the fact that the Canberra was never a Jetliner.

Happy Landings,
Jay

By the way, I wasn't aware that the RB/WB-57F had retractable wintip gear? All the photographs of the aircraft that I have seen don't show any outriggers. Even the two that are being flown by NASA in Houston don't have outriggers?

[Jordan Claus]

Just a correction on my previous statements about an ELINT antenna on the WC-135W. I just got a line on the antenna that it is, in fact, a UHF Data Link. This was the direct cause for the change in designation from WC-135B to WC-135W. There are currently two "Constant Phoenix" aircraft in operation at Offutt, 61-2665 and 61-2667.

Jay

[grayrider]

Hello Jordan

Thanks for your reply

The RB-57's at McClellan did have the outriggers,we used them primarily for refueling,if the fuel load was going to be maxed out.from what little I can still remember they were not used for takeoff and landing.One thing is for sure they did leak a lot

I haven't flown the one I have in my FS9 in about a year,but I will check which one it is.I have never been able to find good engine sounds for it.The long wing did have four engines,kind of built into the wings.The other two were inbd.,of the main engines,mounted on pylons.when the get to the high altitude,the main engines are shut down and the small inbd. engines are used while flying,and you probably already knew that
Do you know of any good sound packs for the main and inbd. engines?.I don't think anyone has ever put a lot into this acft for FS9 over the years.

Since I am here at the bone yard about two years ago the last two we had were dismantled and shipped out to a museum somewhere

THX

GrayRider

P.S. I just downloaded Tim Conrads RB-57 long wing.Do you know where I can down load the TF-33 Turbofan engine sounds,and of course the J-60 sounds,but i don't think I can use both.

[Jordan Claus]

Okay, that makes more sense now. The outriggers just supported the wings while the aircraft was sitting "wet." I imagine that they were removed before taxi and weren't retractable right? Glad to hear that the last two long wings left AMARC! ;D For a moment I thought they'd never get out of that Arizona sun.

The only TF33 sounds that I know of are the soundpacks that we have here on HJG. Of course they're optimized for 707's but they just might do the trick. If I remember correctly, Tim didn't model the outboard engines so you won't have to worry about the J-60 sounds.

Jay

[grayrider]

The sounds that are here at HJG are for the TF-33 Fanjet sounds.The RB-57 called for the TF-33 Turbofan Engine sounds.

The outriggers were operated by Hyd's or electrical and they did have followup doors for them.They were not removed unless required for maint.if you ever watched one on takeoff roll like I have,it only takes a few seconds on roll out to get incredable lift out of the wings.
With a maxed out fuel load the wingtips are only a couple of feet off the grond give or take.
The outriggers were the same for the B-47's and we still had three left when I got there


The inbd. J-60 engines could be removed if need be depending on the recon mission for that flight,since they were mounted on under the wing pylons.We at the 55th at McClellan rarely had to remove them,since most of the flights were high altitude.

So I am still surfing for the TF-33 Turbofan sounds not the TF-33 fanjet sounds,which are the ones here at HJG.

GrayRider

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

"GRAYRIDER" .... Benoit PLAMONDON & myself constructed the TF33 sounds for HJG.

The sounds that are here at HJG are for the TF-33 Fanjet sounds.The RB-57 called for the TF-33 Turbofan Engine sounds.

I have called these particular soundpacks "FANJET" (which is correct), but, some folk and references prefer identifying them as "TURBOFAN". In this particular case both designations are actually correct .... and for the same TF33 TYPE engine. The fanjet engine is in fact a turbofan .... albeit a much earlier type.

We have 3 types of base sounds for our C135 TYPE inventory. These are as follows

TURBOJET .... P&W J57 for original early model aircraft from the mid 1950's.

FANJET aka TURBOFAN .... P&W TF33 for the later aircraft models from the early 1960's.

TURBOFAN .... CFM56 for the current "big fan"/re-engined birds from the 1980's.

I hope this helps clarify things for you.

Download and try'em and you'll be fine !

Mark C
AKL/NZ

[Jordan Claus]

grayrider said:

The outriggers were operated by Hyd's or electrical and they did have followup doors for them.They were not removed unless required for maint.if you ever watched one on takeoff roll like I have,it only takes a few seconds on roll out to get incredable lift out of the wings.
With a maxed out fuel load the wingtips are only a couple of feet off the grond give or take.
The outriggers were the same for the B-47's and we still had three left when I got there

Interesting, I gotta follow up on that one. I got some friends over at ellington field in houston who work on the Nasa birds. I gotta ask them about that one 'cause I've never seen them in operation. If you got some pic's and any more information I'd love to hear it! ;D Who knows, I might find some time to try and crank out an "accurate" model of the long wing.

Happy Landings,
Jay