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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2098.PDF
Straight & Level roger.bacon@fliqhtinternational.com GAMA welcomes release of alien training rule (Press release headline.) Scene: flight-training school somewhere in the US midwest. Billy-Bob: "OK...that's good, now hold her straight-n-level...watch that wobble." Galubreth of Zagod Five: "Xxxxyyyyygenngg!" Billy-Bob: "I know it's hard on y'all -what with our gravity an' everythin'...but just keep your eyes on the horizon." Galubreth: "Gryzzzzengebbyyn?" Billy-Bob: "Yep..all six of them. Don't want to see any of that sly map reading stuff with that other set you got neither. It's just not fair on the other students or the instructor, OK?" "I didn't think I could get this low" A Saab 105 lands gear up at Farnborough in September 1972 Singing hack fest Bruce Strewth is recovering from the rigours of a recent media tour of Sweden which involved a tough boat trip on Stockholm Lake. What was so tough you may ask? The condition of the boat, the rough water? No, says Bruce...turns out it was the insistence of the senior Swedish defence officials on singing sev eral Abba songs to their captive audience. The bemused hacks, not clearly understanding the local lingo, provided their own interpretation: Song 1: "Money, money, money, must be funny, to have a defence budget at all." Song 2: "Gimme, gimme, gimme a defence budget after September 17" [planned tabling of the original Swedish defence review]. Song 3: (From the hacks, to the tune of "Dancing Queen".) "You can drink, you can write, having the time of your life...whoooo dig that briefing, write up that news release, doing the Saab media scene..." Er...thanks Bruce, stick to the day job will you? Yuckspeak (series of 1,000,000) Effects-based warfare = (er...?) winning. DIY travel Budgie News man of mystery and water bomber expert Monty Orangeball writes of a recent experience on a budget DIYTravel flight from the UK to Canada: "Customers should note that we will be starting our next feature fiIm in around 15min, after your cabin crew have taken a short break." Yes, says Monty, all of them! Space on the cheap Civilian astronaut Mike Melvill on the eve of colleague Brian Binney's X-Prize- winning 4 October SpaceShipOne flight, which broke the X-15 rocket aircraft's unofficial world altitude record of 354,200ft: "Burt [Rutan] has convinced us we don't really need pressure suits and that the vehicle itself is our pressure suit - because you don't need a pressure suit unless you're going really high..." Pioneering words 50 YEARS AGO Talking of record breakers, pioneering X-15 test pilot Scott Crossfield, now in his 80s, says: "While I have been around for a long time, I want to suppress the rumour that I flew chase on the Wrights -1 actually flew top cover." And to the audience: "It's no good asking questions -1 can't even hear you clap." AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FLIGHT 15.10.1954 Animals on Board The carriage of livestock by air by British airlines has expanded so greatly that recently B.OA.C. claimed "one in every seven passengers has four feet." Last year the Corporation carried 50,000 animals as against 305,000 human beings. The proportion would have been higher if birds, fish and reptiles had been included. Monkeys, birds and tropical fish are the most common travellers. Sometimes as many as 5,000 monkeys are carried in a flight, most of them bound for United States zoos and research laboratories. B.E.A. carries a heavy traffic in goldfish from Bologna, Italy and in dogs from all over Europe. From time to time it flies circus animals and does a regular run from the South of France with leeches for London hospitals. On more than one occasion animals and birds have been known to keep airline attendants busy. On one recent Saturday afternoon B.E.A. landed ten pen guins at Northolt and found that the birds could not be delivered until Monday. Over the weekend 2 cwt of fish were fed to the penguins - and every single fish had to be tossed into the air before the fastidious creatures would eat it. 707 Evaluation The "first phase" evaluation testing of the Boeing 707 transport was completed in Seattle a few days ago, well ahead of schedule. Of the 50 hours flying time for which the makers had budgeted, only 48 hr 27 min were required. The final 26 hr 37 min flying was completed in only nine days. Scheduled tests included maximum level flight speeds at all heights, and further detailed performance investigations. Control forces were reported "excellent" on all con figurations. The next phase of testing will involve such items as systems, aerodynamics and power plants, and will be particularly concerned with pro duction of the U.S.A.F. tanker-transport version. Tridac the Unique An abbreviation of "three-dimensional analogue computer," Tridac identifies an electronic calcula tor which has been under construction at the R.A.E. since 1950. Tridac is by far the largest "brain" in Britain and one of the largest in the world. Designed primarily to solve three-dimen sional air-defence problems, Tridac contains such ingredients as 8,000 thermionic valves, over 70 miles of wire, 2,000 adjustable potentiometers, 2,000 relays, over half-a-million terminals and 1,000 gallons of hydraulic oil. It occupies some 6,000 sq ft of floor space and consumes electricity at a rate of 650 kW and has over 2,000 knobs and other controls. www.fliqhtinternatlonal.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19-25 OCTOBER 2004 49
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