Another photo from the Jay Miller archive showing the XB-36 in flight.
Nov 112009
Nov 112009
… has not been terribly photogenic of late. Still, I got these portraits of the ginormous ball of fluff and flab…
And for you Koshka fans…
She ran away immediately after I took this shot. She *really* doesn’t like being photographed.
Nov 112009
A few days back at the Hill Aerospace Museum, I saw this A-10 buzzing around.
Nov 112009
From the Telegraph:
During the election campaign, Barack Obama’s cool detachment was a winning quality, the “No Drama Obama” a welcome contrast with the “Mr Angry” John McCain, never mind the hot-headed “I’m the decider” President George W Bush.
A year into his presidency, however, Mr Obama seems a curiously bloodless president. If he experiences passion, he seldom shows it. It is often anyone’s guess as to whether an event or issue truly moves him.
…
When the television networks cut to the President, viewers listened to him spend more than two surreal minutes talking to a gathering of Native Americans about their “extraordinary” and “extremely productive” conference, pausing to give a cheery “shout out” to a man named Dr Joe Medicine Crow. Only then did he briefly and mechanically address what had happened in Texas.On Friday, when most of the basic facts were available, Mr Obama tried again. It was scarcely any better. He began by offering “an update on the tragedy that took place” – as if it was an earthquake and not a terrorist attack from an enemy within – and ended with a promise for more “updates in the coming days and weeks”.
Completely missing was the eloquence that Mr Obama employs when talking about himself. Absent too was any sense that the President empathised with the families and comrades of those murdered
Something that’s been clear for a while is that if the subject isn’t “Barack Obama,” then “Barack Obama” ain’t interested.
As for being “bloodless,” I think we all know why that is.
Nov 102009
Way back in January I showed photos of the 3-D printed Rockwell “Silent Night” stealth design from 1973. The resin model kit is now available from Fantastic Plastic:
Buy as many of these as you can.
Nov 102009
About 6:40 PM tonight (20 or so minutes ago as I write this) I was walking to my car parked in the local Tremonton grocery store’s parking lot when I heard a helicopter flying around. As helicopters are a relative rarity out here in the Utah sticks, this caught my attention. Since it was well after nightfall, I figured the helicopter would be easy to see due to its running lights. It took a minute or so for the chopper to clear the trees and come into view, but when it did, it turned out to be *two* vehicles, one apparently chasing/tailing/following the other. The second vehicle was the helicopter I could hear, but it was equipped solely with a blue light up front and a red blinking light on the tail. The first vehicle, however, I could not hear. It was equipped only with a single orange light that faded to nothing as it passed my position (most likely due to it simply being a forward-pointing light). Once that light was gone, there was nothing else to see.
<> Who the hell flies without lights?
The chopper sounded like a fairly substantial turboshaft chopper, not a bitty piston engine chopper.
Nov 092009
Via Yahoo:
Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they’ll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.
Hmmm. I think I’ll run a couple dozen virus scans now….
Nov 092009
In 1952, the Martin Company produced a design for a single-seat ground attack plane. Check that… a single *couch* ground attack plane. It didn;t have a seat, as the pilot lay prone. The result was a plane of remarkably small frontal section… and remarkably small overall dimensions. The Mighty Midget was designed to be a small, tough, cheap proto-A-10, able to dish out a truckload of industrial strength whoopass; small, fast and nimble enough to evade enemy fire; and tough enough to take whatever did hit it.
A modernized version could very well do great service in today’s wars. The Marines and the Army would almost certainly love to have such a plane (although the Army would tick off the Air Force if they actually went ahead and bought something like this).
To get more info on the Mighty Midget, check this out.
Nov 092009
On display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy facility is a rare air-to-ground variant of the AIM-47 “Falcon” air-to-air missile. The AIM-47 was originally designed for use on the unbuilt F-108 “Rapier,” and then fitted to the YF-12; when the YF-12 did not enter service, the AIM-47 went away. However, experience with it helped on the creation of the AIM-54 “Phoenix” which armed the F-14.
The AGM-47A would have been a very fast air-to-ground missile, travelling at over Mach 4. And for extra spiffiness, it would have been armed with a 250 kiloton nuclear warhead. Range was about 100 miles.
If you like this sort stuff I post, you can support the cause by Buying My Stuff, which includes aerospace drawings and documents, as well as the journal of unbuilt aircraft and spacecraft projects, Aerospace Projects Review. Or you could just Donate.
Nov 092009
