SST as Air Force One

[KJ_Lesnick]

If either Lockheed or Boeing were actually able to develop the SST, do you think it would have eventually ended up as Air Force One? 

(Also, since both planes to the best of my knowledge featured FBW, do you think some fighters like the F-14 and F-15 would have featured it as it would have been state of the art, and do you think it would have appeared on transport aircraft earlier?) 


Kendra

[Mossie]

Hi Kendra, welcome to the What If Forum!

I think there's a good chance.  Both the aircraft that the USAF have fielded as Air Force One have been, at the time, the largest & arguably most prestigous US aircraft available at the time.  The Boeing SST would definately have had the prestige & was also large enough.  IMHO Air Force one is only partly about shuttling the President about, it's mostly about flag waving & the Boeing SST would have done that very well.

I thought about this myself some time ago, but I'll probably never build it.  The Revell 1/200 SST is probably large enough that you could cross it with the decals from one of Minicrafts 1/144 Air Force One kits.

Simon.

[Hobbes]

As I understand, the F-15A did have a FBW system of sorts, named CAS:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avf15_1.html

This was an analogue system, and it was used in combination with conventional hydraulic controls.

I don't know if Boeing and Lockheed would have been willing to share their FBW data and experience with McDonnell (F15) or Grumman (F-14), though. The FX (that resulted in the F-15) and VFX (F-14) competitions might have turned out differently if Boeing and Lockheed had competed with SST-derived FBW.

[KJ_Lesnick]

Were all the control-surfaces on the F-15 controlled with redundant analog FBW, with mechanical-backup?  To my knowledge, the SST, and even the CF-105 Arrow used a similar set-up...


   

[Archibald]

I've asked myslef similar questions some years ago during my "CF-105 phase". 

From what I understood, this

As I understand, the F-15A did have a FBW system of sorts, named CAS:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avf15_1.html
This was an analogue system, and it was used in combination with conventional hydraulic controls.

was common with lots of others aircrafts of the time. Seems there was two kind of "partial FBW" at the time

-  the CAS + hydraulics on one hand (used on the X-15 and Lifting bodies)

-  the computored air intakes (F-15, XB-70, SR-71, Tomcat used it, among lots of others).

You forgot the DynaSoar... and Concorde!
Seems both used a FBW rather similar to the Arrow. and btw its seems the Lunar Module had some kind of FBW, too.

There was also these Phantom and Crusader prototypes of 1972...

Not a Boeing 2707 I agree, but still a supersonic boeing airliner : I've build a AF1 Sonic Cruiser one year ago http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,15637.0/highlight,sonic%20cruiser.html

[B777LR]

If im not mistaken, the aircraft type used for Air Force one must have been in service for a certain amount of time before being allowed to carry the president, hence the current aircraft being the "old" 747-200, built when Boeing didnt offer the -200 anymore, but only the -400.

[KJ_Lesnick]

I think its 5 or 10 years before it can be used as Air Force One.  There's a good reason for this; it's to make sure the plane's safety record is good, and any flaws in the design have already been seen.

Kendra

[B777LR]

I think its 5 or 10 years before it can be used as Air Force One.  There's a good reason for this; it's to make sure the plane's safety record is good, and any flaws in the design have already been seen.

I dont think the next AF1 will be a Crash-8-Q400 then...