Recent content by fannum

I've always been partial to the DH Hornet. (I didn't read back 38 pages) (btw: My rich uncle had me play with his AD-6/7s and CAF friends let me enjoy their P-51s, and they're high on my lust list ... just a bit of shameless bragging about my misspent youth.)

MAIN reason Concorde/Tu144/Boeing SST failed was economic, pure and simple. It couldn't be justified even as a corporate/national image booster. Ozone was just the media whipping boy of the day, with spray cans, refining plants, and conifer forests all sharing the blame in the activist movements.

Silverplate modification, pioneered by 509th BG. Later often field retrofitted to many units for weight, speed, range and reduced crew advantages, with minimal risk from Japanese fighters.

How about a date?

Well done. I'd like to see it spread out, at least 2-3 minutes, with running calendar. Some major event markings would be a plus too.

I wouldn't think that the flags and airplane image were related in any way. Flags may indicate either origin or market, or both just decorations.

My immediate thought was the Capelis which had a short, sad life until it became an over exposed RKO movie prop. John Wayne made it famous. It seemed everywhere in movies, early TV and models. I know of at least two balsa, one cast metal, and a couple early plastic toys, the latter appearing...

It's amazing how invulnerable the J8M is, and how instantly effective it and the Zeros are against the usually sturdy B-29s and P-51s. Also, those A6Ms seem to have gained magic superchargers to operate so effectively at those B-29 altitudes. Wow!

I'm late to comment on this thread and am surprised that no one seems to have mentioned range and altitude advantages of larger area wings, especially high aspect ratio. Here are some thoughts to broaden the discussion. Note that most bombers and all transports utilize that layout. Early war...

Gawd, I love that there are minds here so willing to devote so much energy to determining earthshaking concepts as important as what the real definition of "is" is!

C'mon guys ... MASS produced, large cabin. There's an order of magnitude of complexity vs. a tiny crew cabin ala Ju86, Wellington V/VI experiments. The 307 by no measure qualifies as mass production, as they were hand built, and never well developed, constantly troublesome with LIMITED...

Invariably, the second to the table reaps the richest rewards. 1 - I'm old enough to have traveled the country and crossed the Pacific in '48 in an unpressurized C-54/DC-4 and C-47s/DC-3s. Remember NO mass production pressurized large cabin preceded the B-29, and that alone made travel without...

Again, anyone who claims an absolute (first, fastest, best, etc.) is only fodder for a bar fight. I'm sure it's been covered elsewhere, but there are over 80 humans who traversed the Atlantic by air before Charley. (most in dirigibles or island hoping seaplanes.) He deserves all the acclaim as...

(I'm sure this has been covered before) OK all you Kansans ... What is this? The big clue ... the national insignia! That's People's Republic of China. The aircraft is a Chinese adaptation of a Russian copy of the Boeing B-29. Due to fuel or battle damage over Japan, four B-29s landed in...

Bill Barnes Silver Snorter!