Tacit Blue

[Stuka]

Work in progress. If anyone knows what the marking are around the cockpit please let me know. The triangle is probably Danger Ejection Seat but the other ones are a mystery. Possibly a Rescue arrow?

 

[Lord Vader]

I saw Tacit Blue on a recent trip to Dayton. As it currently sits at the museum, there are no markings of any kind on the aircraft. It's possible they were painted over, but there seems little reason to cover non-restricted markings.

 

[Orionblamblam]

It's possible they were painted over,

The whole vehicle was painted over, with a thick layer of something very much like blue-gray house paint.

 

[InvisibleDefender]

The entire aircraft was 'sanitized' before being sent to the museum. You can't see any of the original panel lines. If you find some of the old in flight photos and play with the brightness and contrast, you can make them out.

The model looks good. I've seen drawings that show those flight test booms as you have them under the wings, but I've never actually seen any photos of the aircraft in the configuration.

As for the logos, one was a red danger triangle, the other was "Escape" and a cavity for an external manual lever.

Hope that helps!

 

[Orionblamblam]

The entire aircraft was 'sanitized' before being sent to the museum.

Not entirely true. Through sheer dumb luck, I visited the museum shortly after the TB was put on display, back in '96 or so, and I took a number of photos of it with a crappy film camera. At the time, you could peer in the windows and see the cockpit and everything. Some years later I saw it again, and it had been slathered over with housepaint and the windws blacked out. Not sure where I put the original photos.

 

[InvisibleDefender]

Orion - I've got the photos of TB when it was inducted into the musuem, and they covered up pretty much everything - except as you pointed out, the windows. I'm not sure when that happened.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Orion - I've got the photos of TB when it was inducted into the musuem, and they covered up pretty much everything

Shrug. Memory is a bit dusty; I just remembered the aircraft not looking as horribly *crappy* as it did later. Maybe they slapped on another coat of Sherwin Williams, or maybe my earlier memories are just stuck in that happy place of the mid 1990's when the world didn't yet look like getting overrun with flesh eating zombies would be an improvement.

 

[roadrunner2]

Great job Stuka .
Whitch soft do you use ?
Perhaps can you post a 4 or 5 vue drawing ? with cross sections ?

 

[InvisibleDefender]

Orion - I've got the photos of TB when it was inducted into the musuem, and they covered up pretty much everything

Shrug. Memory is a bit dusty; I just remembered the aircraft not looking as horribly *crappy* as it did later. Maybe they slapped on another coat of Sherwin Williams, or maybe my earlier memories are just stuck in that happy place of the mid 1990's when the world didn't yet look like getting overrun with flesh eating zombies would be an improvement.

First three are some good in flight photos where you can see the panels. The rest should jog your memory in regards to the museum. (and watch out for those zombies!!! LOL)

 

[roadrunner2]

It's the first time I see the cockpit door ! very intereting !

Have someone more photos of this place ?

 

[Stuka]

Thanks for the photos. I've never seen the door open before. I think some of those photos have been mirrored. Nose landing gear door hinge line and cockpit door appear on different sides of the airplane in different photos. Some day I'll make it out to WPAFB with my camera. Roadrunner2, rendering was done in VRay for Rhino.

 

[flateric]

cockpit access hatch at lower starboard side

 

[Deino]

Was it this one ?? ???

Deino

 

[flateric]

yes, it's TB cockpit

InvisibleDefender, what's the story behind zombies in USAFM?

 

[Stargazer]

Deino, thank you so much for posting this pic! I don't think I'd ever seen Tacit Blue's control panel before. Brilliant.

 

[Matej]

Deino, thank you so much for posting this pic! I don't think I'd ever seen Tacit Blue's control panel before. Brilliant.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,278.0.html
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,278.msg1710.html#msg1710
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,278.msg103748.html#msg103748

 

[Skyraider3D]

Being one of the ugliest aircraft to ever have graced offended the sky, I think you're making a pretty nice 3D model there!

 

[Stuka]

Being one of the ugliest aircraft to ever have graced offended the sky, I think you're making a pretty nice 3D model there!

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I don't think it gets any uglier than X-32.

Basic cockpit details added. Not much can be seen from the exterior so I didn't go too crazy.

 

[flateric]

oh, cool!!! in the evening I'll help a bit with cockpit ceiling details

 

[flateric]

From excellent Hell of a Ride: A first person biography of the 'gutsy' test pilot, Richard G. 'Dick" Thomas, notorious for his bold, daring and dashing flight test escapades by Cynda Thomas and Velvet Thomas - the only Tacit Blue pilot published memoirs so far

Dick Thomas in Tacit Blue cockpit on May 22, 1996 unveiling ceremony at USAFM

 

[Skyraider3D]

That's a pretty rare picture, very cool.


Yes the X-32 is in a similar class to the Stuka: so ugly it's beautiful! ;D

3D model's looking great, by the way!

 

[OM]

...Tacit Blue was simply an attempt to prove that an upside-down bathtub could fly.

 

[Gridlock]

...I suspect they used to fly it towards UFO enthusiasts head on. From that angle it certainly looks like ALF might pop up in the window.

 

[OM]

...I suspect they used to fly it towards UFO enthusiasts head on. From that angle it certainly looks like ALF might pop up in the window.

...Reminds me of one of my favorite There I Was... by Bob Stevens from the back page of Air Farce magazine. Detailed the story of how early AWACS test pilots would throttle and choke their engines while doing a really low pass over some small Texas town. This resulted in the townspeople scrambling in a mass panic, and dozens of calls to the local constabulary about "UFO's are attacking our planes!". I personally would have given my remaining good leg to have been a fly on the wall during the review boards following those flights

 

[Stargazer]

...I suspect they used to fly it towards UFO enthusiasts head on. From that angle it certainly looks like ALF might pop up in the window.

...Reminds me of one of my favorite There I Was... by Bob Stevens from the back page of Air Farce magazine.

LOL. I've always loved "There I Was..." and I hope someone will come up with the great idea of publishing the best of them in a hardbound volume.

 

[OM]

LOL. I've always loved "There I Was..." and I hope someone will come up with the great idea of publishing the best of them in a hardbound volume.

...I got some e-mail about five years ago from a guy claiming to be working on a There I Was... book, but I can't remember if he'd said it was a "best of" or a complete compilation. Haven't heard from him since, nor have I come across a book yet either online or at the local Half-Assed Used Books stores. I'd go for either one, as the strip really was the best reason to read Air Farce after about 1982, if not the only reason. My pop dropped his subscription - he'd been reading it since he was a member of the USAF since Korea - about two months after Stevens had passed away and they'd turned the back page into some lame-assed memorabilia page. The magazine just wasn't the same without the strip.

[thinks]

...Frack me if I won't do a bit of google fu and see what pops up:

http://www.amazon.com/There-Was-25-Years/dp/0830638318

...The date on this book is 1992, so it's clearly not the same book as the one the guy who contacted me claimed to be working on. However, it is a compilation, so both of us would be well advised to track down copies.

 

[Stuka]

Still a work in progress but getting closer.

 

[Stargazer]

Awesome! ;D