Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: The XB-70 bomber program. Message-ID: <10099@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 11 Oct 89 03:36:41 GMT References: <27390@amdcad.AMD.COM> <9861@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 45 Approved: military@att.att.com From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) In article <9861@cbnews.ATT.COM>, amdcad!daveme%tekirl.labs.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Dave Mead) writes: > > > From: Dave Mead > > > > There was a third B-70 I believe since I read a weird > story about the unique supersonic ejection system it > had. It was a self-contained clamshell affair designed > to force the crewman into fetal position and slam shut > just before punch-out. Both B-70s built had escape-pod ejection systems installed. (A fetal position would have been more than uncomfortable... the rider stayed in his seat to fly down.) > This thing had oxygen, survival > gear, chutes, and was to protect the crewman at high > altitude and supersonic speed. Well they had to use > the system for real and it didn't work right. When the XB-70A lost its vertical fin, loss of control made operation of the ejection system unworkable, mostly. > timing was bad and the crewman got his appendages > broken when the clamshell slammed down on his very > non-fetal body and shot him unsealed into the cold > stratosphere. The one crewmember to puch out didn't get one arm completely within the pod, but exited anyway. His arm was injured, but he recovered. Some back injuries were sustained on landing because the flotation bag didn't inflate properly. ------------ "...I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization." - Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C.