Bit of a shock sighting-Canberra

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wings&wheels

wings&wheels

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Sitting in traffic on Rt 128 and an unfamiliar shape w/ a noticeable smoke trail appeared...unusual now. It was a Martin Canberra turning base to final for Hanscom Field. Per a quick Google, apparently NASA has the only 3 or 4 left flying. Very interesting planform; all wing and engines. Not exactly what I was expecting on a Thursday commute-made my day.
 
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Originally Posted by Shannow
Nice...


yes, I was almost giddy. of course my passenger was looking at me like I was nuts. "..but it's a Canberra!" I guess you either have the aviation disease or you don't....
laugh.gif
 
Originally Posted by wings&wheels
Originally Posted by Shannow
Nice...


yes, I was almost giddy. of course my passenger was looking at me like I was nuts. "..but it's a Canberra!" I guess you either have the aviation disease or you don't....
laugh.gif



I don't. I thought this was about something in Oz.
 
Spent a few days flying photo sorties (storm damage, naturally) out of Ellington Field in Houston after Hurricane Harvey. We had to move some planes one afternoon to allow NASA's two WB-57s to be pulled out of their hangar. A little checking revealed the aircraft are based there. Another "who knew" moment.
 
Originally Posted by wings&wheels
Originally Posted by Shannow
Nice...


yes, I was almost giddy. of course my passenger was looking at me like I was nuts. "..but it's a Canberra!" I guess you either have the aviation disease or you don't....
laugh.gif

I had no idea there were any of these in existence, outside of perhaps museums. I have the disease too, and would have loved to see one in flight.
 
I'm more into prop jobs. It is a cool looking jet. From the pic with the Wikip article. 65 yrs old and still working. Hanscom is about 2K miles from Houston.
 
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One of the few times that the USAF bought an airplane from another country. Our B-57s were built under license, here, because, as I understand it, English Electric wasn't able to add any production capacity when we wanted to buy the airplane.

Shotgun starter, too, I think. It's been a while since I've seen one, but there are several. The Strategic Air Museum in Titusville, FL had just acquired one when I was there a few years ago, and I know that there is one in the New England Air Museum near Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, CT.

Never seen one fly. Would sure like to!

Cheers.
 
My dad was in Pak AF they has US made Martin B57. My dad got 2 empty Shotgun starter shells and after he passed away I bought them with me and they are sitting on my fireplace mantle. Pretty good sized plane compared to F86 & F104.
 
Originally Posted by Number_35
I had no idea there were any of these in existence, outside of perhaps museums. I have the disease too, and would have loved to see one in flight.


Same here - - - what an unusual and rare aircraft to see flying!
 
Looking online at photos, there are obviously a number of engine variations used.

I wonder what the most-recent iterations are using.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin/General_Dynamics_RB-57F_Canberra

"In August 2006, NASA 928 arrived at RAF Mildenhall totally devoid of all the usual identification marks, particularly serial numbers or NASA logos. The only insignia were a small U.S. flag on the tail fin and some even smaller flags beneath the cockpit on the port side. The lack of insignia possibly indicated that the aircraft was operating on behalf of another U.S. government agency."

I have been involved in such missions, but not with these particular aircraft.

It's kind of surprising to see it mentioned in such a way on that website.
 
Originally Posted by Linctex
Looking online at photos, there are obviously a number of engine variations used.

I wonder what the most-recent iterations are using.


Do they still cartridge start ???
 
Shannow: A look at NASA photos of the WB-57 hints the current engines are far more modern (they'd have to be to provide the power for the incredible heights flown during some current miissions). Just a guess, but I'd wager the cartridge-type starters have been removed:)
 
My questionable memory coughs up a data point from long ago....When Northrop was developing the F20 Tigershark in the early-mid 80's the requirement they were working to was a cold and dark airplane sitting strip alert with the pilot onboard. When ordered it was to be wheels up in 23 seconds (actually the requirement was 30 seconds and it beat it). To do that the aircraft had to have been shut down in stored heading align in the RLG INS and have explosive start for the engine. I'm the end Northrop couldn't sell a single squadron to the USAF which meant they would never be able to sell it offshore to replace F-5's sold earlier to allies around the world, it's intended purpose. They scared Lockheed bad enough that Lockheed were (lyingly) offering to sell more F-16's to USAF for $10M apiece (!). The F-20 was a fine aircraft, better in most respects to the F-16, but they could not overcome the raw political power of Lockheed.

The B-57 has done it all. Recon, nuclear sniffer, bomber (Vietnam), research, you name it. Martin produced them here. The Soviets had a VERY similar aircraft NATO code name "Mandrake" (YAK-25) if I recall correctly. Both it and the 57 were converted to high altitude recce with engine changes and much longer wings ala the U2.

Cheers

Larry
 
Originally Posted by cappilot
Shannow: A look at NASA photos of the WB-57 hints the current engines are far more modern (they'd have to be to provide the power for the incredible heights flown during some current miissions). Just a guess, but I'd wager the cartridge-type starters have been removed:)


Yes, they are clearly different...and bigger.
 
I had no idea that any of these were still flying. I have no idea what NASA uses them for but it is neat that they've kept a few and use them.
Good looking out. I'd like to say that I would have recognized the type although there are certain tells in its appearance that it isn't a modern design, but I'm not sure I would have identified it as anything other than a neat old aircraft.
Even the name of the company that designed and developed this type has to make you smile.
I mean "English Electric", really?
An aircraft from the days when Britain really was in the running for technical leadership in aircraft. They still design and build some of the best wings in the world. Just ask Airbus as well as what they plan to do post-Brexit.
 
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