EH>Wasn't that the ship that quite often made you think you'd had a minor
EH>explosion in the engine room?
    You mean the F-102? Yes, it would get compressor
stalls ranging from a series of rapid chugs to full
fledged "explosions in the engine room". First time
I ever got one, it scared the heck out of me - not
because of the noise, but because I had automatically
associated compressor stalls with engine damage and
the subsequent complete engine failure.
    The USAF used to have a magazine called Flying
Safety, and they would print narrative summaries of
major accidents. In the 50s and 60s, F-100s were
experiencing beau coup engine failures, and the
summaries would read "compressor stall, engine failure,
ejection". This was the cause of my misconception.
   Turns out that it was the other way around. Engine
failure of some sort would be accompanied by compressor
stalls, in the F-100.
    Compressor stalls were quite common, with no damage
to the engine, in the F-102, because of airflow problems
due to duct design, and were usually associated with
high altitude, and low airspeed, often occurring when
the pilot maneuvered the aircraft in such a way as to
further disrupt the airflow.
EH> I'm not really all that familiar with the
EH>Century series airplanes except for what Frank Walters has said about
EH>them. He of course thought the Six Shooter was the best of them. (But
EH>then he was addmittedly predjudiced....)
    Never heard of the Six Shooter - was that the F-86?
I flew the E and F models, which were simply variants
of the F-86A, at Nellis. The F-86Hs at Nellis were
equipped with the 20mm. I guess it was the cannon, but
I've forgotten the nomenclature. The A-7 resembled the
F-86, and carried the 20 mm cannon, Gatling gun, M61A1A.
    I also flew the F-86L, which was the radar scope
    equipped interceptor. The F-86A, E, F, and H
    also had radar, but no scope. It was used purely
    for radar range inputs to the optical gunsight.
EH>Back when I was flying aerobatics, seriously, I was making my daily
EH>bread by fixing electronic game machines in bowling alleys and skating
EH>rinks.  Some of the kids playing those things had the damndest reflexes
EH>I'd ever seen.  We had one particular game which used a joystick to
EH>'fly' the player's game piece through mountains and 'other' obstacles.
EH>Those kids could zing through there at full bore. Heck, I had to
EH>throttle back just to stay alive!
EH>I sure wanted to take some of those kids out to the airport and
EH>introduce them to aerobatics.  With reflexes like that, just THINK what
EH>they could've done!
    I seriously believe that these games are good training
for future pilots, to help develop the near ATARI skills
needed to fly the things and "center the dot", and like that.
   The A-7 was dual service use, Air Force and Navy. I, of
course, never made a carrier landing, but after flying the
JetFighter 1 and 2 simulators, I think I could make a real
carrier landing in the A-7. The GIB would need lotsa guts. 
EH>->   We had a guy in our outfit that didn't like the
EH>->   Aeronautical Charts - he carried a Texaco road
EH>->   map.
EH>  I probably would have too.  Old habits die hard.... 
   Well, you know, I'm sure, what IFR  REALLY means, don't you?
..
---
 * SLMR 2.1a * - Once you've made all the mistakes, you're an expert.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------