December, January, February APR rewards

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, new products, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Mar 052022
 

Yeesh, I am *terrible* at advertising. Just realized I missed reporting on *several* months worth of rewards packages for APR patrons and Monthly Historical Documents program subscribers.

December 2021 rewards:

Document: “B-52G Advanced Configuration Mockup inspection,” Boeing presentation on the design of the then-new B-52G configuration

Document: “Performance Potential Hydrogen Fueled, Airbreathing Cruise Aircraft, Final report, Volume I, Summary” 1966 Convair report on hydrogen fueled hypersonic jetliners

Document: “Integral Launch and Reentry Logistics System” late-60’s Space Division of North American Rockwell presentation on very early Space Shuttle-type systems

Art: Large format McDonnell Douglas DC-10 cutaway

CAD Diagram: Convair MA-1 pod for B-58

January 2022 rewards:

Document: “The Configuration of the European Spaceplane Hermes,” 1990 conference paper on the unbuilt French spaceplane

Document: “Space Rescue Charts,” 1965 USAF presentation charts describing space “life rafts” and shelters

Document: Two nuclear-powered car brochures… Ford “Gyron” and Ford “Seattle-ite XXI”

Diagram: “AGM28 Hound Dog Missile,” North American Aviation informational graphic

CAD Diagram: Boeing MX-1965 missile

February 2022 Rewards:

Diagram: Boeing 720-022 model diagram, United Airlines configuration

Document: Aerojet Ordnance Company brochure, describes aircraft ammo

Document: “The Nova (Liquid) Vehicle a Preliminary Project Development Plan,” October 1961 NASA-MSFC report on facilities planning for the “Saturn C-8” configuration of the Nova vehicle

Document: “Ground Handling Equipment and Procedures for a X-15 Research Aircraft Project 1226,” 1955 North American Aviation report on the early B-36-launched design for the X-15

CAD Diagram: F-111 Escape capsule

 

 

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.



 

 Posted by at 1:20 am

Why is this war different?

 blather, Hmm..., politics, youtube  No Responses »
Mar 052022
 

In recent decades we’ve seen lots of places go up in flames. But the war in Ukraine just *seems* different. Why? For some people on the left, the answer is easy: Ukraine is “white people.” But to me, it’s something else: Ukraine – the country, the buildings, the infrastructure, the culture, the cars, buildings, fashions, the STUFF – looks like *here.* All the wars in recent years have taken place in places that don’t look like here. They look like desert countries with lax building standards, or steamy jungles, or barely iron-age villages. But Ukraine? It looks like Illinois or Iowa.

It’s also winter. When was the last time you saw war in recognizable winter, apart from grotty Afghan mountains?

And Ukraine isn’t the only place affected that looks like here. The video below is from Russia (somewhere… it seems to be a big place), the YouTuber goes from gas station to gas station checking current gas prices. And honestly, I’d *love* to find gas going for the prices he’s paying… less than two bucks a gallon? Yes please! But something that struck me was when he went into the gas station/quick mart, it looked indistinguishable from the ones that dot Americas highways.

When China launches its invasion of Taiwan, there will likely be a lot of the same “hey, that reminds me of here” that was generally lacking from middle eastern and African conflicts. And like it or not, people empathize far more with places that remind them of home.

 Posted by at 12:08 am

Pretty sure this is part of why Putin chose *now*…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, Worldwreckers, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Mar 042022
 

And this was *Texas.*

How much did Mom, Dad and the taxpayers have to pay to send these lunatics to university?

An explanation of this extrusion of Clown World into reality:

 

 Posted by at 8:58 pm

War crime via cell phone?

 blather, Hmm..., politics  No Responses »
Mar 042022
 

Something the Ukrainians are doing is broadcasting photos and videos of captured and killed Russians. I keep hearing that it is a violation of the Geneva convention – or is in some way a war crime – to release photos or videos of prisoners/ corpses that leaves the face identifiable. I don’t doubt this, and I can see the point of it… but *how* can this be a war crime for civilians, when it’s typically not illegal to broadcast photos and videos of criminals or accident victims? Is it illegal if the Ukrainian army or civilian government does it, but not if some average Joe does it?

 Posted by at 8:07 pm

B-70/SST report

 aircraft, APR, awesomeness, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, news, Patreon, projects, sales & specials  No Responses »
Mar 042022
 

An advantage of being an APR patron or Monthly Historical Documents Program subscriber is that I give subscribers/patrons the opportunity to help out with various crowdfunding opportunities. As probably surprises nobody, I buy a *lot* of aerospace documentation off of eBay. Most of the time, it comes straight out of my pocket… but sometimes, I call for assistance. Some items start off terribly expensive; some items start off inexpensive, but you can tell right off that they are going to explode in price in the end. Such was the case with a recent item, a vintage 1961 North American Aviation report on development plans for the supersonic transport. It was described as being 97 pages in length, was shown to include diagrams showing conversion of the B-70 into an SST testbed, and *could* be filled with all kinds of good stuff. The initial bid was *cheap.* But I knew it would go for much more, so I contacted my patrons/subscribers and brought on board enough pledges to make a last minute kinda-nutty bid. A bid that won, but not by a whole lot. But won it did, so not all of those funders will receive a complete set of high-rez scans. Some pledged to contribute more than the price I’d asked for, which turned out to be very helpful in getting that successful last-minute bid. Those higher-level funders will get some extra rewards.

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.



 

 

 

 Posted by at 3:41 pm

Yup, been there

 AARRRGH, humor, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Mar 042022
 

 

I feel like that now. An eBay auction for a B-70 document I’d hoped to win with an initial bid of something like $36 just went for nearly $700. *My* $700 as it turns out. Even though it was crowdfunded, those last few seconds of the auction were stress inducing.

 Posted by at 10:41 am

Take with a grain of salt… Russia may be planning increased supervillainy

 Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., history, news, politics, russian empire, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Mar 042022
 

Russia Drafts Plans For Public Executions In Captured Cities: REPORT

Russia devised plans to stage public executions in cities its forces conquer as a way to cut down the morale of Ukrainians, a European intelligence official told Bloomberg.

The idea apparently is to use these executions as a way to dissuade Ukrainians from carry out an insurgency. The evidence for this claim is – as is traditional at this point – shaky to the point of non-existence, but it’s not like there isn’t historical precedent. This tactic has been used by conquerors since basically the invention of conquest. Probably the most famous practitioners of it are, of course, the Nazis… once again demonstrating that those who scream the loudest that they are fighting Nazis or are anti-fascist are the most likely to actually emulate the Nazis.

So far Ukrainians can still largely communicate with the outside world, and they have a bagrillion cameras… so if these executions actually happen, the world will know in a matter of moments. These sort of executions can be effective if the population is already conquered, subjugated, beaten down into submission…  but if there’s still fight in ’em, all they’ll do is piss off those most likely to grab a rifle or a Molotov cocktail or just a pointy stick and go find an enemy to rub out. And these videos will be flashed around the world, even into Russia… and they’ll likely do a *fantastic* job of demoralizing the Russian population (“Are we the baddies?”). So on the whole, the idea is not just bugnuts, it’s *dumb.* Unfortunately, neither  of those has ever prevented tyrants for doing whatever it is that comes into their weird little heads.

 Posted by at 1:44 am

WTF: Russians reportedly shelling a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., news, nukes, politics, russian empire, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Mar 032022
 

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on fire after Russian attack

A spokesman for Europe’s largest nuclear plant says the facility is on fire after Russia attacked the power station in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar.

“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Andriy Tuz, spokesperson for the plant in Enerhodar, said in a video posted on Telegram. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.” Tuz told Ukrainian television that it is urgent to stop the fighting to put out the flames.

From the AP:

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on fire after shelling

Firefighters cannot get near the fire because they are being shot at, Tuz said.

A government official told The Associated Press that elevated levels of radiation were detected near the site of the plant, which provides about 25% of Ukraine’s power generation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been publicly released.

This map might prove useful:

https://www.windfinder.com/#5/47.0252/47.3730

Shows current wind directions. At the moment, the winds in the region of the reactor under attack are circling around a region in north-eastern Ukraine, then seemingly drifting south-east over Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran. If the reactor pops, the Caspian Sea is likely to get trashed. Tomorrow the wins is to be more generally easterly, but Saturday the wind will come down from the north and then hang a right straight over Greece. From then on it looks like the region of Greece and Turkey will get a constant flow from the area of the reactor.

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 7:06 pm

And there’s confirmation that the Russians trashed the Mriya

 AARRRGH, aircraft, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., history, news, politics, russian empire, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Mar 032022
 

UPDATE: A better look, courtesy Russian state TV:

—————

Here it is, on fire. You can see the blue, yellow and white nose laying cocked at an angle.

Good job on deNazyfying the Antonov 225. Bah.

 Posted by at 4:19 pm
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