Forum: X-planes

This next pic is of the "boneyard" west of the runway, it is in the top left corner of the previous pic

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Last pic - in the center of this image is the A-12 Full Scale Mockup. The FSM is pointing southwest (north is up) and the wingtips have been removed at the hinge line and are piled underneath the fuselage. At one time the FSM was fully restored and headed for a North Texas aviation museum at Alliance Field, but when the museum deal fell apart Lockheed couldn't justify hangar space to protect the FSM. So now, and for the past 18 months (or more) it has been sitting outside, ravaged by the elements. Sorry, I don't have any ground-level photos, taking a camera on site would land me in jail.

A pic from my site of the restored FSM on display at an air show in 1996

My first assignment back in the good old days of SAC Laughing

Saw a lot of F-16 demos too including a few XL's.

That is neat that you found a A-12 mock up.

You can always ask the Public Relations people for permission/clearance to take photos if you can convince them: a historical write up etc. They can only say no.

That's where I was born. I've only ever been back once after that.

BTW... when were those satellite pics taken? I looked on Google Maps and it doesn't show it there anymore. It looks like there's an old F-16 there now.

The pics were taken before early 2006, and I know it (FSM) was still there in May 2007. I'm basing the early 2006 date on the fact that, if you pan around, you can see LM hasn't broken ground on the new JSF F-35 final assembly building, which is where the parking lot immediately north of the main assembly line building is. I'm pretty sure they broke ground in late '05 or early '06, can't remember.

I would venture that the google pics are older than these I snagged from live.com

Still there on Google earth, just to the right of the old house.

The real reason the Navy A-12 was cancelled was that we (GD and Mc) never could figure out how to build such massive composite spars for the wing/fuselage center section. Successful bonding such thick flanges and webs was never achieved reliably. Then, GD, Mc, and the Navy compounded the problem by lying to SecDef Dick Cheney. He then unwittingly repeated the lies to Congress and was more than pi$$ed when he found out the truth. You don't mess with Dick Cheney.

I was leader of the structural flight test team for A-12 and was well along toward planning the program when it waa cancelled. The flight test program would have been great fun, but was never to be. My number 2 transferred to Marietta and ran the F-22 structural flight test and is now back in Fort Worth running th F-35 structural flight test. Lucky bastard!

Habu2, the building you referred to is not an assembly building, but is the F-35 paint facility. F-35 assembly is in the main assembly building. F-16 assembly has been moved out of the main assembly building into another smaller building. The F-35 line is located where many thousands of planes have been built, including B-24, B-32, B-36, B-58, F-111, and F-16. Quite a heriatge to live up to.

Just to add to John's post and the posts above; the A-12 mockup is still sitting outside with all the other mockups at the north side of the plant. The wings are off and sitting right next to her and she looks pretty good for being beat up over the years by being outside.

johnwill wrote:

The real reason the Navy A-12 was cancelled was that we (GD and Mc) never could figure out how to build such massive composite spars for the wing/fuselage center section. Successful bonding such thick flanges and webs was never achieved reliably.

How many plys?

Couldn't even guess, but they were at least an inch thick.

Salute!

Never did see the Northrop-Grumman entry, but as I stated, did all the weapon control algorithms and cockpit displays.

Some dweebs from our parent contractor got to see the mockup, but I never did.

With all the work that Northrop had done for the B-2, I don't think they were going to have many problems with the composites.

Looks to me that GD-McAir "bought" their way in, then couldn't come thru.

A few years later, worked on Lockheed's P-7 to replace the Orion. They did the same thing, then got canned by the Navy.

Gums sends ...

Forum: X-planes

McAir/General Dynamics A-12 Avenger II (Flying Dorito)