Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 3. Spring Storms. The Su-27/MQ-9 Incident.

Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 3. Spring Storms.:   March 16, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

A Russian Su-27 caused an American drone to crash in the Black Sea yesterday. The two aircraft may have collided.

Russia, which tends to be as dense as a box of rocks about the capabilities of Western equipment, lied and said the drone just suddenly veered off and fell in the sea, apparently wholly unaware that the drone photographed the SU-27 and we'd have the film footage.

D'uh.

Russia is trying to recover the drone presently.

An interesting aspect of this is the release of jet fuel by the Su-27 near the drone.  It may be just me, but I'd fear that the drone's engine would ignite the fuel and send the Su-27 up in a big ball of flame, but apparently not.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday March 8, 1923. Air to Air, almost.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday March 8, 1923. Air to Air, almost.: 

Thursday March 8, 1923. Air to Air, almost.

Inventor Lawrence Sperry, inventor of the autopilot and artificial horizon, demonstrated that air-to-air refueling was a theoretical possibility by intentionally touching a Sperry Messenger to a deHavilland flown by Lt. Clyde Finter.  He did it eight times.

Sperry Messenger.

Both plans maintained a speed of 65 mph during the demonstration.

Sperry would go down over the English Channel that December, losing his life at age 30.  He was flying a Sperry Messenger at the time.  His company lives on.