Landing Gear Lessons

[2ndsegment]

I personally think it relates to the other speed meter you see in the F-86, the Mach meter. First of all it is dimensionless like Buckingham's pi. You may have seen in my previous post about the B-36 there were two different airspeed gauges where one had a red pointer and the other had the Mach limit in a window. One of the books I recently bought and read said that the B-36 could fly higher than the B-47 before the B-57 and U-2. I just got the symposium reports the book was based on and today I am to receive "Accidental Engineer" on the development of the Central Air Data Computer (CADC). The pitot static system is a direct comparison of dynamic and static pressure that has been with us a long time but needs conversion to any kind of speed.

My pilot's manual had no performance appendix or even a SAC chart but this site says the B-36K service ceiling was 54,150 feet http://tbo.wikidot.com/b-36 The SAC charts in the back of my newly arrived symposium report give B-47s at 46,000 although this is found in the B-36 specs as the combat ceiling for ferry. Early Cold War Flights Symposium Proceedings Volume II: Appendixes Office of the Historian National Reconnaissance Office 2003