3 ms·

I wonder if perhaps that's the kernel of truth that started the legend. I can certainly imagine that kind of attitude during the Cold War, particularly since i

• Animats 7mo ago
  Ah. The rumor is probably from this scene in Strategic Air Command, with Jimmie Stewart.[1] Stewart had been a USAF officer, and the movie was filmed with the full cooperation of the USAF. That's a classic SAC no-notice inspection. (The movie is worth seeing just to see how much stuff the USAF had when the DoD got 40% of the US government budget. The whole takeoff sequence for the B-36 bomber is shown. The last of the huge propeller planes, just at the transition from props to jets. Six propellers, four jets, and 10,000 mile range. It looks like a scaled-up B-29, tail guns and all. Although this was a transition aircraft just before the jet age, there were 336 built. None still fly. Also in the movie is the B-47 bomber. This was another intermediate step. It looks like a jet fighter scaled up to heavy bomber size. Six jets plus rocket-assisted takeoff. Worked, but not a great aircraft. Over 2000 were built. None still fly. Then the USAF finally tried an an adventurous new design, the B-52, which was the first really good large jet airplane. About seventy still flying, three quarters of a century after first flight.) [1] https://archive.org/embed/strategic.-air.-command.-1955.?start=1002.3 https://archive.org/embed/strategic.-air.-command.-1955.?sta...