From: Doug Jones (djones@xcor.com)
Date: Fri Apr 06 2001 - 15:43:52 MDT
Michael Lorrey wrote:
>
> I've got a dare from someone on a news group to come up with some
> reference that shows proof that a large aircraft (707 to 747 range) has
> successfully done a barrel roll at an airshow and not crashed. Now, I
> know about the 707 roll at the SeaFair airshow back in the 70's, and I
> even saw one (747) myself at an airshow in the 80's, but apparently my
> word isn't good enough.
See the autobiography of Tex Johnston, chief test pilot of Boeing in the
50s through 70s, _Tex Johnston : Jet-Age Test Pilot_ ISBN: 1560989319.
He barrel rolled the 367-80 prototype of the Boeing 707 not once but
*twice* at the 1955 Gold Cup Hydroplane races. The book has a photo
shot by a journalist on board showing a wing with blue & green in the
wrong places.
See http://www.historylink.org/output.cfm?file_id=390 for photos. Rumor
has it that Bill Allen didn't talk to Johnston for twenty years after
that event- although he didn't fire the madman because he was good for
sales.
He also routinely did loops in B-52s, pulling up from buzz passes at 500
knots. My kind of maniac...
-- Doug Jones, Rocket Engineer XCOR Aerospace www.xcor.com
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