Senator John Glenn Passes at 95

[Thomas Promise]

John Glenn a real American hero. Marine Corp fighter pilot. Served in World War 2 and Korea, Astronaut and US Senator. I met him twice when he was a Senator. Seemed like a really nice man. A guy you could belly up to the bar with. May You Rest In Peace and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

http://fox8.com/2016/12/08/former-u-s-senator-and-astronaut-john-glenn-passes-away-at-age-95/

 

 

[Thomas Promise]

[warpedbored]

One of my childhood heros. I remember being glued to the TV during his historic space flight. My sister had a quarterhorse that was born the day he went into orbit. She named her Glenna.

[Doug]

We watched in the school lunch room every day of a blast off and landing. 3rd grade I think for Shepard & Glenn. So, when the Dallas schools stopped showing it, I skipped school during the Gemini programs, just to hear those Titan missiles wind up and blow it out, 2 seconds before actual lift. I used to record the sound. Wheeewt BANGgggggggggggggggggggggg

 

I was in high school and working when we landed on the moon. I felt guilty for not watching, but turning my head up to the moon and thinking how we have men up there right now was a huge feeling. The world felt better.

 

All that astronaut stuff was exciting and made aerospace acceptable enough to me to overcome my love of cars, to make a living. I found myself years later down on the floor of a NASA building looking up at the tourists. Geez I thought to myself, me in the middle of this great stuff?

 

They loved John Glen at LTV Aerospace. The fast jet he flew to break the transcontinental time was a special F-8U, which Vought (LTV) built. I never thought much of the jet, other than it was big and bulky. After all F-16s and such were buzzing around by the time I got into aerospace. Then one day at lunch, sitting at the end of the runway of Hensley Field, an F-8 came off the end of that thing so dang fast I could not believe it. It flipped on its side in a turn and was gone. WOW, it flew like an F-16, big as it was... I had nothing but respect for the last gunship after that. The NAVY wanted 2 engine jets, so the era of Vought supplying aircraft to the NAVY was well over. Otherwise LTV would have built the NAVY version of the then General Dynamics F-16. F-18 had 2 engines, & I arrived at Vought when most were still bitching about the loss.

 

Links

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/john-glenns-project-bullet-138177585/ His flight.

https://www.flyingleathernecks.org/john-glenns-project-bullet-f8u-crusader-the-rest-of-the-story/ What happened to the jet.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Doug (see edit history)