To All Our Vets...

[DakotaTG]

Thanks for a great post Sully! I new a couple guys that were on the same base where an SR-71 was stationed and they always said it was something else to watch roll out and take off. They also mentioned that the North Vietnamese were very frustrated that they could never get one. They would come in over the country and be back out before their radar could make a full sweep. They say it was the photo satellites put in orbit that really killed off the Blackbird but as mentioned the costs of operating the "Birds" was expensive. The "Blackbird" was perhaps the greatest plane every produced.

2011 Merlot and Black TG
1969-1972 USAF 6910th SS

 

[Gorilla]

I used to provide the air traffic control for this beautiful bird during air refueling when I worked at Miami Center. It was great fun. All of sudden it's there and after we were done poof they were gone. You knew they were coming but you don't see them until they want you to, after they slow down and descend to a normal air traffic altitude. It would take 2 KC-10 or 3 KC-135's to give it enough fuel.

 

[Sully]

Government Offices in Washington, DC closed because of heavy snow yet this Tomb Of The Unknown Sentinel continued to stand guard with honor and without complaint! God Bless Our Heroes.
Please share to show your support for our troops.

 

[Peter A.]

Guard

AMEN, may God bless these dedicated HEROS......

 

[Trikindan]

ThumbUpThumbUp

 

[Rod69]

God Bless our Military!

 

[Blueline]

Thank God, some still adhere to principles of Honor and Duty and Respect. Bless them all.

 

[hogcowboy]

Here's some facts based on question and answers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/1126293/posts

 

[AFChief]

I saw an SR-71 take off one evening from Kadena AB in the late 80s. Simply amazing, it was so loud and out of sight in seconds. The afterburner flames seemed as long as the aircraft.

I also got to see the SR-71 on static display this past Sep at the Dulles Air and Space Museum. What an incredible aircraft.

 

[Gorilla]

They took off with only enough fuel to get to the airborne tankers. On the ground they would leak fuel. They had to get airborne to heat the skin up to seal it up.

 

[rhino 2]

They took off with only enough fuel to get to the airborne tankers. On the ground they would leak fuel. They had to get airborne to heat the skin up to seal it up.

A little off track here, [1966] The B52's with full bomb load, Would carry just enough fuel to take off from Guam gain altitude meet the tankers then take on about 312,000 pounds of fuel, Then fly to Nam and rock Charlie's world.... And make swimming pools...Never heard them coming till the ground shook:cxtv:

 

[Gorilla]

Yep they hated that bird. They built a good one they are lookin to 25 more years out of them.

 

[Sully]

A piece of American history that should be shared with the younger generations!KILROY WAS HERE!

He is engraved in stone in the National War Memorial in Washington, DC,
Back in a small alcove where very few people have seen it.
For the WWII generation, this will bring back memories.
For you younger folks, it's a bit of trivia that is a part of our American history.


Anyone born in 1913 to about 1950, is familiar with Kilroy.
No one knew why he was so well known, but everybody seemed to get into it.


So who was Kilroy?

In 1946 the American Transit Association, through its radio program,
"Speak to America," sponsored a nationwide contest to
Find the real Kilroy, offering a prize of a real trolley car to the person
Who could prove himself to be the genuine article.
Almost 40 men stepped forward to make that claim,
But only James Kilroy from Halifax, Massachusetts,
Had evidence of his identity.

'Kilroy' was a 46-year old shipyard worker during the
War who worked as a checker at the Fore River Shipyard
In Quincy.

His job was to go around and check on the
Number of rivets completed. Riveters were on piecework and
Got paid by the rivet. He would count a block of rivets and
Put a check mark in semi-waxed lumber chalk,
So the rivets wouldn't be counted twice.
When Kilroy went off duty, the riveters would erase the mark.
Later on, an off-shift inspector would come through
And count the rivets a second time,
Resulting in double pay for the riveters.

One day Kilroy's boss called him into his office.
The foreman was upset about all the wages being paid
To riveters, and asked him to investigate. It was then
He realized what had been going on. The tight spaces he
Had to crawl in to check the rivets didn't lend themselves to
Lugging around a paint can and brush, so Kilroy decided to
Stick with the waxy chalk. He continued to put his check
Mark on each job he inspected, but added
'KILROY WAS HERE'
In king-sized letters next to the check, and eventually
Added the sketch of the chap with the long nose peering
Over the fence and that became part of the Kilroy message.

Once he did that, the riveters stopped trying to wipe
Away his marks. Ordinarily the rivets and chalk marks
Would have been covered up with paint. With the war on,
However, ships were leaving the Quincy Yard so fast
That there wasn't time to paint them.

As a result,
Kilroy's inspection "trademark" was seen by thousands of
Servicemen who boarded the troopships the yard produced.

His message apparently rang a bell with the servicemen,
Because they picked it up and spread it all over
Europe and the South Pacific.

Before war's end, "Kilroy" had been here, there,
And everywhere on the long hauls to Berlin and Tokyo.
To the troops outbound in those ships, however,
He was a complete mystery; all they knew for sure was
That someone named Kilroy had "been there first."
As a joke, U.S.

Servicemen began placing the graffiti
Wherever they landed, claiming it was
Already there when they arrived.

Kilroy became the U.S. Super-GI who had always
"already been" wherever GIs went. It became a challenge
To place the logo in the most unlikely places imaginable
It is said to be atop Mt. Everest, the Statue of Liberty,
The underside of the Arc de Triomphe,
And even scrawled in the dust on the moon.

As the war went on, the legend grew. Underwater demolition
Teams routinely sneaked ashore on Japanese-held Islands in the
Pacific to map the terrain for coming invasions by
U.S.

Troops (and thus, presumably, were the first GI's there).
On one occasion, however, they reported seeing
Enemy troops painting over the Kilroy logo!

In 1945, an outhouse was built for the exclusive use of Roosevelt,
Stalin, and Churchill at the Potsdam conference.
Its' first occupant was Stalin, who emerged and
Asked his aide (in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

To help prove his authenticity in 1946, James Kilroy
Brought along officials from the shipyard and some
Of the riveters.

He won the trolley car, which he gave to
his nine children as a Christmas gift and set it up as a
playhouse in the Kilroy yard in Halifax, Massachusetts.

And The Tradition Continues...

EVEN Outside Osama Bin Laden's House!!!

Share This Bit Of Historic Humor
With All Your Friends!

God Bless you World War II Veterans

 

[rhino 2]

I left a few Kilroy's along some trails in the central highlands [1966 RTO] I used a grease pencil, The same one i used to mark positions on the plastic covering my Typographic map... doubt if anyone else ever seen them' Except for maybe Charley.. Or that there still there...

 

[Bikerbozo]

That was a great history lesson. I've been drawing Kilroy pics for years and make that look peering over cubicle walls in my office. Nobody gets it anymore. I knew it was from WWII, but had no clue of the reality.:cxtv:

 

[dbruce56]

Nice history trivia/lesson. Never knew the real story. I know of quite a few places that lil bugger got to during the 70's, 80's and 90's courtesy of a certain soldier. Hmmm, I see a possible reappearance here at beautiful Harmony Church.

 

[79Spitfire]

Kilroy Lives

Never knew the story behind it but he was alive and well during my 21 years in the Air Force. I even left a Kilroy here and there a time or two. My favorite was when I was tasked to make a floorplan for a Nato headquarters bldg. in Bosnia. I had to teach myself an autocad type program then make office furniture symbols etc to populate the rooms showing layout and flow etc. On the CINC Nato's desk I left behind a tiny Kilroy that without blowing up the drawing you would think it was a just a blip of excess ink. :cxtv: Often wondered if the plan was ever used and if anyone ever noticed it was there.

 

[79Spitfire]

Love Hate Relationship

When I was a kid one would occasionally fly over our house on the way to AF Plant 42 in Palmdale Ca. It was awesome to see but it really rattled the house! Never really knew why they would come there but was told once that it had some connection to the Skunkworks. :xszpv:

 

[irmagoo]

Never knew the story behind it but he was alive and well during my 21 years in the Air Force. I even left a Kilroy here and there a time or two. My favorite was when I was tasked to make a floorplan for a Nato headquarters bldg. in Bosnia. I had to teach myself an autocad type program then make office furniture symbols etc to populate the rooms showing layout and flow etc. On the CINC Nato's desk I left behind a tiny Kilroy that without blowing up the drawing you would think it was a just a blip of excess ink. :cxtv: Often wondered if the plan was ever used and if anyone ever noticed it was there.

I hear that kilroy is on many printed circuit board as well as many other symbol that only mean something for those who put them there when they designed the boards- can only be viewed through high magnification??? left their tag/avatar??/who knows someone started it:xzqxz:

 

[pcombe]

Great post Sully, Thank you!

 

[pcombe]

After reading the post I had to google the plane.

 

[consitter]

Great post. Thanks Sully!

 

[DakotaTG]

India foxtrot. Yankee oscar uniform. Charlie alpha november. Uniform november delta echo romeo sierra tango alpha november delta. Tango hotel india sierra. Charlie oscar papa yankee. Alpha november delta. Papa alpha sierra tango echo. Tango oscar. Yankee oscar uniform romeo. Sierra tango alpha tango uniform sierra. (In honor of all armed forces wherever they may be)

Don't know where I've been as I hadn't seen this until today.

USAF 69-72
6910th SS

 

[Texan]

My dad was a B29 bombardier in the Army Air Corp, told me the story years ago but had forgotten most of it. While he was stationed Tinian and Sipan they use to put "Kilroy was here" on a lot of the ordinance they dropped but changed it most of the time to "Here comes Kilroy"....

Thanks for the great memories.....

8~\o

 

[jim mccarty]

Thanks Sully. I thought Kilroy was a career Marine. Everywhere I went during my tour, he'd already been there.

 

[Sully]

F-15 lands with one wing

 

[Gorilla]

Great pilot and alot of luck

 

[rhino 2]

Ignorance is bliss.... Like he said, If he would have known the wing was off' They would ejected..

Never the less 'Great piloting and fantastic engineering on the F15..ThumbUp

 

[Sully]

 

[Bikerbozo]

Picture Barbarella and you will feel better.