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26 tweets,
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My mate who I sometimes refer to as the Former Cold Warrior has been sending me links that I’m only just getting around to reading. I’m doing that now, and will tweet them as I go.
“Black ZEUS: The top secret shuttle mission that never flew” (30 Jan 2017) thespacereview.com/article/3160/1 
The ZEUS cameras would have been variants of those used in the HEXAGON spy satellites.
ZEUS was eventually dropped when the KH-11 KENNEN satellites came online with their electro-optical digital camera systems.
Some discussion of KH-9 HEXAGON variants, and also “On-orbit servicing and recovery of the HEXAGON reconnaissance satellite” forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topi…
“Cold War Eagle Driver: F-15 pilot reveals all” (13 Sep 2017) hushkit.net/2017/09/13/col…
“My overwhelming first impression was of power. Once started, with both engines at idle, it strained against the chocks. Taxiing out, you had to work the brakes constantly to keep it from rolling too fast. From my first takeoff to my last, the thrust was exhilarating.”
This guy seems to have done some interesting Tu-95 intercepts.
“Confessions Of A C-2 Greyhound Carrier Onboard Delivery Pilot” (29 Nov 2017) thedrive.com/the-war-zone/1… Former Cold Warrior says: “I’ve travelled in a C-2 and can confirm the author’s description of the 'pax experience’.”
“The E-2 is an unusual aircraft to fly, aside from its unusual looks. It was unstable in two axes. That made it a handful to fly and a joy to land on the carrier. Little did we know, the C-2 was unstable in all axes.”
The glamour of naval aviation.
This is a seriously good long-form reminiscence. Please give it the attention it deserves.
“And the sky full of stars: American signals intelligence satellites and the Vietnam War” (12 Feb 2018) thespacereview.com/article/3430/1 FCW says: “Short but interesting read, presumably based on recent declassifications.”
“The measure of a man: Evaluating the role of astronauts in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program (part 1)” (19 Mar 2018) thespacereview.com/article/3456/1 (MOL was ostensibly a scientific space station, but was in reality a crewed surveillance station.)
Here’s the full trove of declassified Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) documents at the NRO. nro.gov/Freedom-of-Inf… I’ve been digging through this previously, and it’s thoroughly fascinating. Wikipedia on MOL. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_Or…
FCW says: “Talk of a private Moon mission, using left-over Apollo hardware, in 1971? Good grief.” forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topi…
“1968 promo cartoon for AH-56 Cheyenne gunship helicopter”
“KILLERDRONE! Flying chainsaw” Those wacky Finns, eh?
Finally, the redoubtable James Burke with what must be the best-timed piece to camera in TV history. (This has been on YouTube before but I’ve just fixed the aspect ratio.)
Hmmm. I should’ve cleaned up the audio while I was at it. Oh well, I’ll do that another time.
There ends my bunch of posts from my mate the Former Cold Warrior (FCW).
Yes, this is also well worth your attention.
Hahahaha so much for that!
I’ll chase that up with the BBC. Maybe I should wrap it in some commentary and demand my fair dealing rights, because I am totally over this automated copyright maximalism that tramples all over established fair dealing / fair usage rights.
Given that the BBC has apparently produced a new series with James Burke I reckon they should be a little less arsehat about these things.
Here’s that 71-second video with the audio fixed, at least until the BBC has a sook. drive.google.com/file/d/1R3D2d0…
