My original question was does each blade have a light in the tip or only one of the three. I asked this because the light trail in the night take off picture was so clear. I don't know because that ain't my job, they were installed over in flight test. It would make sense to have all the blades the same and interchangeable, but we're talking about the military so sense doesn't count, they're libel to have a light in each blade and only power one on each engine, or some dumb shit.

OK, I had to go find out, ya whining maggots. According to the Aviationist...
So yes, each tip, like the helicopters.

I found this here; http://www.plus613.net/image/441

December 7th, 1941. You've seen a million pictures of Pearl Harbor Navel Base, but here's Wheeler Army Airfield, near Schofield Barracks, in Honolulu, taken by a Jap pilot.

I don't know how fast the thing was falling, but that's a pretty good shot to snag that in the air.

Chopping up the fleet with the "guillotine".

Makes me kinda want to cry....

All those venerable beauties, all that lost nose art, all that history!

Yes, but the war was over and we had to show the world how peace loving we are. A gentle giant, the Mother Teresa of nations. :hearts:



Besides, some people with friends in high places could make a fortune with that scrap aluminum.

And the military-industrial complex would make a fortune selling bigger badder bombers.

http://s24.postimg.org/wqsaihw7p/Handley_Page_HP42.jpg

It's quite astonishing how aviation has developed in less than a century.
From flights several taking days with stops at rough desert airstrips to flights that can whisk you to another continent in the space of a few hours.

For a high definition version of the above image, go to Wikipedia and click on the fourth image down. Handley Page H.P.42

One modern day intercontinental flight that took somewhat longer than a few hours.



http://www.birdinabiplane.com/

The colorized photographs make a huge difference in the feel, and make the details pop out that just disappear in the originals.

A century... 100 years. That's a very long time, or a very short time, depending on your perspective.

100 years ago;
The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
Only 14 % of homes in the United States had a bathtub.
Only 8 % of homes had a phone.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.
Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
1 in 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% had graduated from high school.
18% of US households had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

I imagine Old Blighty has had similar changes.

I was using my Dad's life span as a comparison.
He was six years old when that photo was taken.
In an admittedly long life, he's seen all manner of world records set for speed, endurance and altitude.
Commercial aviation has progressed from a sealing wax and string operation for the wealthy, to a safe mass transportation system.
Commercial aircraft are now such a common part of global infrastructure that they go largely unnoticed.
They might just as well be buses or trains for all the attention they attract.

Definitely, we usually gage events by our own lifetime, or someone we know. But 100 years is peanuts in "the big picture". That's why I was pointing out 100 years ago, when these people were imitating birds, how incredulous it must have seemed to people who were watching motor cars whizzing by at 10 mph.

I was born in '44, my Dad in '18 and my Grandfather in 1880. I often ponder the changes each of us saw... or read about in the paper, or heard at the general store. I also wonder if the progress, is really progress, or just change? Maybe it's picked up speed because it's downhill. ;)

Like Bruce, I've wondered about the things the old folks saw and thought.
I was born in 43, my dad in1902, granddad in 1867, and greatgrand dad in 1836

Your kids will be doing the same thing to us.

They just have to come to the Cellar archives. :D

Nice cut-away of the Gee Bee R-2.

Love it!

Given that the pilot would have such a poor view of the runway, I bet landings were tricky to say the least!
How on earth would you manage a final approach and landing?
Side slip it in and kick it straight at the last moment?

It's an extremely hard to fly plane, but it was fast and could do maneuvers nobody else could, which is why it won races. One guy who actually flew one said todays high tech fighter pilots would take to it right away. And yes, one pilot was killed when he botched the landing.

Well he hit the center line. WTF are they pulling down on wings for? Relive stress?

With just center wheels, when he stops the plane will tip one way or the other. They're pulling down the high side to lift the low side wing enough to deploy the outrigger dollies on the wing.

Hell I knew that :bolt:

so. to take off it starts with the dollies and then ejects them when airborne?

how extravagantly impractical

They are reused when the plane comes back, and if it doesn't come back, it won't need them. Having retractable wheels on the wings would be too heavy, and fixed wheels too much drag, so there isn't really an alternative.

more here

The Granville Brothers (post77) built a race car too.

Thanks for posting the U2 video, Grav.

I suppose that it's human nature, up to a point, to be curious about things that you're not supposed to know about. For that reason the U2 has always been a source of considerable interest.

Strange to relate, but I have here a facsimile copy of the pilot's notes for the U2. A little light reading, you understand. :blush:

U-2 Flight Manual: Models U-2C and U-2F Aircraft

Gravity assists, except when....

http://s7.postimg.org/4qopamvej/img2...5_11180595.png

There's nothing worse than a hung pogo. :)

Scanned from the above mentioned manual.

There are no U-2s permanently based at Fairford, but they stage through from time to time usually en-route to having a prod around one of the world's trouble spots.
Their visits to RAF Fairford always create a great deal of interest amongst aircraft enthusiasts and this hasn't gone unnoticed by the USAF.

Mike B, one of the administrators at www.fightercontrol.co.uk seems to be well known.

http://s9.postimg.org/57dodkdfz/image.jpg

There is a permanent U2 detachment at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
I understand that the Cypriot government has its reservations about the aircraft being based there, but the Sovereign Base Area is essentially British territory so that's that.
The official position is that the aircraft are engaged in 'weather research'. ;)
In 2014 the unit celebrated it's fortieth anniversary at Akrotiri with the slogan 'Still not here after forty years'.

http://s1.postimg.org/etstgw48f/Olive_Harvest.jpg

Swoooosh...

Beautiful. Can you imagine being rich enough that you could have flown on the Concorde? That would have been amazing.

Attachment 54943

ETA: That Tornado shouldn't have had too much trouble keeping up with the Concorde, not at mach 2, anyway.

~ Wiki

An RAF Tornado:

Attachment 54944

:devil:

I tried to find the altitude before I posted that, but without success.
The Tornado was low on fuel, over the Irish Sea, and I'd assume at mach 2 uses fuel at a prodigious rate. So four minutes of balls to the wall, playing with a camera, and watching the fuel gage, kept him busy. But you can ask him at his site, Adrian Meredith. You can buy a print signed by him and the Concorde Chief Pilot Mike Bannister, for £50.

Pesky peckers...

Have any of you ever met a Concorde in person? Heh, met... I mean have seen one in person? I have. There's one parked at the air and space (?) museum near Boeing field south of Seattle. Slang and I visited there when he came through town once. The plane is undeniably sleek, fast-looking even sitting still. But it is tiny, not nearly as big as I thought it would be. I don't think it's just because it was parked next to a much bigger plane, it is just smaller, more intimate that I expected.

Yes, it's only 200 ft long and 84 ft wide, although the sumbitch is 40 ft high. Since it only carries about 100 passengers, the tickets were sky high. ;)

The closest I got was taxiing(taxying?) by a parked one in Atlanta. It looked kind of sad with it's nose drooping, but at least it was on my side of our plane.

There's one at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum.

Speaking of which, here's their restoration floor:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1454/...d346bcb0_z.jpg

Bob Hoover, without question, one of the top aviators of our era. this is long, but very well worth it (sorry about having to follow the link)

Perfecting Flight, Bob Hoover

Hells Angels.

Getting out of my car at a south-of-London B&B long ago, I looked up as any old pilot would at the sound of a jet. The dropped nose (on final to Heathrow) and the squared tail held my gaze until it disappeared. Wow!

I also saw Bob Hoover on several occasions. An elegant. dapper man in a black suit and white shirt no matter what the aircraft.
One day it was a Beech twin that he put through an aerobatic show that probably sent the designer into cardiac arrest.
After cutting the engines just above the runway in front of the crowd, he completed a full loop and coasted to a stop right where he had started.
Then he got out sipping at the cup of coffee he had also started with.
Wow again!
Hey, this page is almost as fun as the IOTD.

Is this the same guy who once rolled a commercial airliner, maybe 707 or some such, (with company brass aboard) during one of them there 'show-what-it-can-do' flights?

Yep, that's him.

He is one of my personal heroes. I hope to become half the pilot he is. I will never be AS good as he is. Half will be more than enough.

Wonder if my Cessna will roll and not have the wings fall off?

Chopper with tiny blades.

That was pretty cool. Thanks, Philthy.

I found it odd that I did not pick up that it was Harrison Ford narrating. I usually notice stuff like that.

Built like a dragonfly, sting like a ... bee?

I give you the Edgley EA-7 Optica

That is a strange bird.

I'd go along with that, Grav. :thumb:

Some years ago, Hampshire Police had one but it crashed killing the pilot and photographer he had on board.

Although slow speed handling was a main selling point, it would never have the flexibility of a helicopter.

No doubt cost was a limiting factor when it was chosen for police work.

Wiki

Aviation Safety Network

Looks like something James Bond would steal from an evil genius and fly away with.

Boeing 787...

No seats? Do we all have to stand and hold straps now?

No straps, they'll pack you in tight enough that nobody can fall over.
And if you have to pee, just open a window. :p:

Velcro carpet, you get your mating Velcro jumpsuit at the gate.

I thought, wow, what a crazy drone. :haha: But they're just illustrating the nose cannon.

Ch-46 catching fire on takeoff.