I had lunch with my 86 year old dad yesterday, who, in the early 1950s, was a USAF captain flying B17s used to control target/drone aircraft in early testing of A2A guided missiles. While flying over desert near Los Angeles, they lost contact with an F4F Wildcat flown remotely for target practice. Well, the rogue Cat had to be destroyed in the air lest it run out of fuel over LA and crash into civilians. Cue the F-89 air defense system! Thus scrambled -- during daylight/VMC conditions -- a flight of 4 Scorpions streaked to the rescue! Upon intercepting the lone Wildcat, itself flying a circular, constant altitude profile, the F-89s attempted to splash the WW2 era fighter with their state-of-the-art weapons systems. After several attempts to gain adequate lock on the Cat, the F-89s returned to base without destroying the drone aircraft. Fortunately, the F4F ran out of fuel and crashed harmlessly into the desert. Based on that story, I'm going out on a limb and say this film might be a WEE BIT optimistic in its appraisal of the operational capabilities of the F-89 Scorpion and our ability at that time to deny Soviet bombers entry to our airspace. Maybe Mrs. Jones slept better believing otherwise....
The Battle of Palmdale gets better than that. The F-89s' targeting systems didn't work so they had to dumb-fire, with the results MAJ Kong (heh) above noted. 'Course, those rockets had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was Palmdale. Rockets bounced down roads, smashed into houses, blew up at least one truck, and set fires all over the area from Palmdale to Newhall. The resulting brush fires took a fair amount of effort to put out.
@@TimperialBroadcastingAgency 2 guys were eatinng their lunch in their truck. Then they decided to eat under the shade of a tree......Then their truck blew up
That's part of why the H variant had six aim 4 falcons with only 42 rockets as a secondary weapon and the J variant had two genies it was a costly advancing aircraft setting the ground work for what was to come in future
My father, Major Donald Adams, an Ace in the Korean War, was killed in an air show in Detroit two months after he came home from Korea when one of the wings came off his plane while performing a high speed maneuver. This was a misbegotten aircraft. The rocket pods placed too much stress on the wings.
My father was korean war veteran from Detroit. His Name was Norman Reeves. I am sorting out when and where he serveved. It was at least from around 1953 to 1958
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Don. Your father served this great nation for many years and was a incredibly brave and selfless man. Losing a parent that early in life is tragic, but rest assured; you'll be reunited one day.
To think, less than 15 years from this film, the XB70 and SR72/YF12/A12 is flying Mach 3+... It's amazing how fast this went from human hands command and control Ops to Radar guided, datalink intercept with mach 2 interceptors like the F4 and F106. Tens years from that....F14, F15 F16 with digital weapon systems and accurate supersonic air to air missiles. Unimaginable advancement in technology, it's almost like we reverse engineered future tech in the 1950s and just developed it until we got the Stealthy fighter/bombers of today...👽
Supposedly the Pasadena Filter Center was very busy during the mid 1950s when the UFO flaps were happening. They were the main filter center for all of Southern California beginning sometime in 1954 and one unlucky individual who got stuck with their old phone number said that sometimes he would get calls at all hours of the night from people reporting UFOs.
A cool classic from the '50's.... That looked like a B-17 drone, that they hit with the rockets... Did those rockets have basic guidance equipment or even remote control?
8:13 I've seen photos of this before but I still find it odd that they're using a ladder given that the Scorpion had built in kick steps. (Granted they take some familiarity before one is anywhere close to graceful getting up or down! It is a bit like Twister with the steps and hand holds labeled "right foot here" and so on. Start with the wrong foot and onlookers start laughing by the time you're halfway up!)
Probably one of my favorite aircraft in history lucky it was never needed to for full the mission it was made for but it was incredibley advanced for its time and set the ground work for even more capable aircraft in future
A little late on my comment, but those Mighty Mouse rockets were very inaccurate. They were designed to be fired into a formation of Soviet bombers in the hopes of hitting something, so they were probably launched in salvo. But I could be wrong.
question: what was Buttercup's (Ms. Jones job in the movie). from the movie if they fired all 104 rockets. t hen they didn't have any thing but their guns. they couldn't just one or two rockets at a time.(all of them went when you pushed the button). I r ead that the comm between the ground and the aircraft was not all that good back in those days. (when t he fighter arrive where the ground controll sent them the enemy would be up to 50 miles away from the fighters). I didn't know we had ground look out during peace time?
If an F-89D fired all its rockets then it had nothing. They didn't have to go in one shot as they could choose between one, two or three salvos. The A,B and C models had the cannons. The H had 21 rockets and three Falcons tucked (very neatly) into each wingtip pod and could also carry three more falcons under each wing although this was seldom done. (The H looked pretty impressive when it had the Falcons popped out of the pods!) The J carried two Genies and four Falcons on pylons.
I mean for the time it was a hell of an interceptor It was heavily armed and could keep up with bombers Its deadliest version was the H model with 12 Falcon missiles and 42 rockets
Amazing this pile of shit my grandpa flew was in service as long as it was. He fired two live Genie rockets. The nuclear detonation blasted him and his plane with intense radiation. The brass didn't care. Probably what caused him to pass away from cancer at 65.
We used them as drone targets for A2A guided missile testing in the early 1950s. Dangerous work back then as the missiles didn't discriminate among heat/radar signatures.
A POS, like many of our a/c of the fifties. Rocket pods and little else. I don't know if they fired them ripple, salvo, or pairs, or shoot the wad at once. We didn't have much else to work with at the time.
The big question is: why so much armament and so much military deployment against whom? against Russia? China?or is it that the cold war continues, the Soviet Union is not there anymore, the Russians say that they arm themselves to defend themselves and not to attack, the Chinese the same or is it that you have to arm yourself to test weapons in fabricated wars: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Siria or to tell the world we are powerful and whoever is not with us is going to do very badly, sanctions, blockades and finally attack, while there is hunger, disease and poverty in the world and climate change It is taking its toll on us: hurricanes, cyclones, floods, heavy snowfalls, high temperatures, torrential rains, the greenhouse effect, Billions are spent on creating weapons and for what just for the pleasure of arming yourself.
@@Mjr._Kong You should be interned into a mental institute if you think an F-89D has anywhere near a fart of a prayers shot of beating an F-22 The F-35 would also just toy with an F-89D These are Americas 4th Gen fighters if the F-89 had anywhere near their capabilities we would just use them instead
Spent a year as an F-89D jet engine mechanic in the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Keflavik, Iceland, 1956-57.
I had lunch with my 86 year old dad yesterday, who, in the early 1950s, was a USAF captain flying B17s used to control target/drone aircraft in early testing of A2A guided missiles. While flying over desert near Los Angeles, they lost contact with an F4F Wildcat flown remotely for target practice.
Well, the rogue Cat had to be destroyed in the air lest it run out of fuel over LA and crash into civilians. Cue the F-89 air defense system! Thus scrambled -- during daylight/VMC conditions -- a flight of 4 Scorpions streaked to the rescue! Upon intercepting the lone Wildcat, itself flying a circular, constant altitude profile, the F-89s attempted to splash the WW2 era fighter with their state-of-the-art weapons systems. After several attempts to gain adequate lock on the Cat, the F-89s returned to base without destroying the drone aircraft. Fortunately, the F4F ran out of fuel and crashed harmlessly into the desert. Based on that story, I'm going out on a limb and say this film might be a WEE BIT optimistic in its appraisal of the operational capabilities of the F-89 Scorpion and our ability at that time to deny Soviet bombers entry to our airspace. Maybe Mrs. Jones slept better believing otherwise....
The Battle of Palmdale gets better than that. The F-89s' targeting systems didn't work so they had to dumb-fire, with the results MAJ Kong (heh) above noted. 'Course, those rockets had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was Palmdale. Rockets bounced down roads, smashed into houses, blew up at least one truck, and set fires all over the area from Palmdale to Newhall. The resulting brush fires took a fair amount of effort to put out.
@@TimperialBroadcastingAgency 2 guys were eatinng their lunch in their truck. Then they decided to eat under the shade of a tree......Then their truck blew up
@@F4Wildcat so that shade protected them from more then just the sun lol
Drone was an F6F Hellcat
Two f-89's were sent
That's part of why the H variant had six aim 4 falcons with only 42 rockets as a secondary weapon and the J variant had two genies it was a costly advancing aircraft setting the ground work for what was to come in future
I love the narration in these old films!
My father, Major Donald Adams, an Ace in the Korean War, was killed in an air show in Detroit two months after he came home from Korea when one of the wings came off his plane while performing a high speed maneuver. This was a misbegotten aircraft. The rocket pods placed too much stress on the wings.
May your father rest in peace. Thank you for your post.
My father was korean war veteran from Detroit. His Name was Norman Reeves. I am sorting out when and where he serveved. It was at least from around 1953 to 1958
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Don. Your father served this great nation for many years and was a incredibly brave and selfless man. Losing a parent that early in life is tragic, but rest assured; you'll be reunited one day.
To think, less than 15 years from this film, the XB70 and SR72/YF12/A12 is flying Mach 3+... It's amazing how fast this went from human hands command and control Ops to Radar guided, datalink intercept with mach 2 interceptors like the F4 and F106.
Tens years from that....F14, F15 F16 with digital weapon systems and accurate supersonic air to air missiles.
Unimaginable advancement in technology, it's almost like we reverse engineered future tech in the 1950s and just developed it until we got the Stealthy fighter/bombers of today...👽
Supposedly the Pasadena Filter Center was very busy during the mid 1950s when the UFO flaps were happening. They were the main filter center for all of Southern California beginning sometime in 1954 and one unlucky individual who got stuck with their old phone number said that sometimes he would get calls at all hours of the night from people reporting UFOs.
"This is Redcap leader. Splash one. He's burning. He's-- oh my God! He's one of ours! I've just killed the Memphis Belle! Aaaaaagh!!!!"
LOL.
Deccelerons? thats awesome!
Norton AFB closed in 1994. I station there from 1980 to 1988. 1835th EIS , AFCC.
where was that located?
A cool classic from the '50's.... That looked like a B-17 drone, that they hit with the rockets... Did those rockets have basic guidance equipment or even remote control?
unguided rockets with horrible accuracy
The Battle of Palmdale.
8:13 I've seen photos of this before but I still find it odd that they're using a ladder given that the Scorpion had built in kick steps. (Granted they take some familiarity before one is anywhere close to graceful getting up or down! It is a bit like Twister with the steps and hand holds labeled "right foot here" and so on. Start with the wrong foot and onlookers start laughing by the time you're halfway up!)
@8:33 where are their G suits??????
OMG that music I remember as a child
Narration sounds as if the film is trying to sell Scorpions to the all the Mrs. Joneses of America.
In a sense, he is! Gotta sell it to the average taxpayer.
Probably one of my favorite aircraft in history lucky it was never needed to for full the mission it was made for but it was incredibley advanced for its time and set the ground work for even more capable aircraft in future
anyone know more about the firing of the actual rockets, could they fire as little as one at a time or were there minimums etc
A little late on my comment, but those Mighty Mouse rockets were very inaccurate. They were designed to be fired into a formation of Soviet bombers in the hopes of hitting something, so they were probably launched in salvo. But I could be wrong.
@@crypto118 I did further research at the time and they were capable of firing bursts but not singles or anything, I forget what the options all were
Castle Air Museum has one on display
question: what was Buttercup's (Ms. Jones job in the movie). from the movie if they fired all 104 rockets. t hen they didn't have any thing but their guns. they couldn't just one or two rockets at a time.(all of them went when you pushed the button). I r ead that the comm between the ground and the aircraft was not all that good back in those days. (when t he fighter arrive where the ground controll sent them the enemy would be up to 50 miles away from the fighters). I didn't know we had ground look out during peace time?
If an F-89D fired all its rockets then it had nothing. They didn't have to go in one shot as they could choose between one, two or three salvos. The A,B and C models had the cannons. The H had 21 rockets and three Falcons tucked (very neatly) into each wingtip pod and could also carry three more falcons under each wing although this was seldom done. (The H looked pretty impressive when it had the Falcons popped out of the pods!) The J carried two Genies and four Falcons on pylons.
Still a better film than /The Starfighters/.
who wrote that music? wow
"over and out"? This must have been created by Hollywood civilians. Still, not much F-89 footage available, entertaining film.
All the Scorpion needed...was a couple J-79's replacing those J-35's to make it come "alive" LOL
J-79 did not significantly increase the preformance of the F-89 due to its straight wing areodinamics being capped
I think that was some Jonny Quest animation.
One of the very first true all - weather interceptors...ahead of its time in technology...lots of teething troubles though, and a maintenance hog...
one shot one kill ? not even today.
I mean I dont know about you but I saw 104 shots 1 kill
What the heck with that grid system...
0:20 Nathan Farragut Twining.
It carried two single-barrelled shotguns.
Oh shit he shot down a B-17!!
Way, way, way too many annoying ads.
Thank to this we have the most cancer op planes at 7.7
Yay the war is over, We won!!... It's a good thing they only sent one bomber.
Bus boy that was a civilian airliner over. Commence operation cover up.
Killing a B17 just for fun? Was a crime!
May have been a bad interceptor but I bet it would have been a great ground attack plane! Strafe them with rockets!
I mean for the time it was a hell of an interceptor
It was heavily armed and could keep up with bombers
Its deadliest version was the H model with 12 Falcon missiles and 42 rockets
So Mrs Jones is the duck
Amazing this pile of shit my grandpa flew was in service as long as it was. He fired two live Genie rockets. The nuclear detonation blasted him and his plane with intense radiation. The brass didn't care. Probably what caused him to pass away from cancer at 65.
Why a B 17, why??????........ you monsters!
Royal Enfield unveils Interceptor 650 Twin, Continental GT 650 Twin at Eicma 2017 : ruclips.net/video/lVFdQRVh55c/видео.html
We used them as drone targets for A2A guided missile testing in the early 1950s. Dangerous work back then as the missiles didn't discriminate among heat/radar signatures.
The universal hope for peace will be realized when America stops meddling in the affairs of other nations.
Ok vlad
A POS, like many of our a/c of the fifties. Rocket pods and little else. I don't know if they fired them ripple, salvo, or pairs, or shoot the wad at once. We didn't have much else to work with at the time.
Royal Enfield unveils Interceptor 650 Twin, Continental GT 650 Twin at Eicma 2017 : ruclips.net/video/lVFdQRVh55c/видео.html
The F-89 was a pile of crap
The big question is: why so much armament and so much military deployment against whom? against Russia? China?or is it that the cold war continues, the Soviet Union is not there anymore, the Russians say that they arm themselves to defend themselves and not to attack, the Chinese the same or is it that you have to arm yourself to test weapons in fabricated wars: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Siria or to tell the world we are powerful and whoever is not with us is going to do very badly, sanctions, blockades and finally attack, while there is hunger, disease and poverty in the world and climate change It is taking its toll on us: hurricanes, cyclones, floods, heavy snowfalls, high temperatures, torrential rains, the greenhouse effect, Billions are spent on creating weapons and for what just for the pleasure of arming yourself.
F-89D could take out the Raptor.
The raptor is superior in every conceivable way
What are you talking about?
It would be close, but the F-22 might have an edge at higher altitudes. The F-35 on the other hand...sheesh!
@@Mjr._Kong You should be interned into a mental institute if you think an F-89D has anywhere near a fart of a prayers shot of beating an F-22
The F-35 would also just toy with an F-89D
These are Americas 4th Gen fighters if the F-89 had anywhere near their capabilities we would just use them instead
@@Starwarsgeek-98 don't minimize the power of a well done fart...