Recent content by Currell

Regarding the Dauntlesses bombing Pearl Harbor...this frustrates me too, but there is an explanation: After Pearl Harbor, General Marshall wanted information regarding the war provided to the public in a moving yet accurate way. He didn't think the Signal Corp was quite up to the task. He hired...

Buster01 is correct. The idea that a canard causes instability is itself a canard. Currell

A P-26. I would paint it up in late 30s yellow and blue, realizing that this is not how they looked on 10 Dec 41, when a few engaged Japanese aircraft in the Phillipines. Supposedly, they shot down no less than three Zeroes. How they managed that is a mystery... A P-26 would show well at any...

Slight correction here: The original 1930-37 V-16 had a single distributor, so it really wasn't like two separate engines. This was an overhead valve motor 45 degrees between the cylinders. The second Cadillac V-16, 1938-40, was a flathead, with 135 degrees between the cylinders. It had two of...

You are correct: Peter O'toole...

Regarding V-16 usage: As crankshafts lengthen, flexibility and "wobble" become an issue. This was borne out in the auto industry. Straight 8s, such as used by Packard and others, lost out to the more compact (and lighter) V-8s. So, the issues would be crankshaft flexibility, packaging (a long...

Murphy's War, a 1971 film starring Steve McQueen. He teaches himself to fly a Grumman OA-12 Duck! Currell

Murphy's War. Steve McQueen

Yes, the gear and flap switches. This is a classic example of early "knobs and dials" human factors engineering. Another related problem would be: how to configure the control to sweep the wings back on a variable sweep wing, such as on an F-111. Typically, in a "go faster" situation, the...

As you may know, the Napier Sabre (the Typhoon engine) was a sleeve valve. There are none of the usual poppet valves used here. Napier was behind on the required metallury for the sleeves, and they often would seize. This improved with time. Also, prep at the factory was poor, with metal filings...

Dr Chapanis (Johns Hopkins) was one of the founding fathers of The Human Factors Society. This was one of the early examples of using engineering psychology to good use. This example is a classic, and is discussed in Ernie McCormick's Human Factors text. Currell

The Avia 534 should be mentioned as a contender, although the CR 42 still would have the edge. It was strange that the Italians continued to develop the biplane at so late a date. It would be like Ford Motor Co. building the Pinto in 2006...the ultimate Pinto, no doubt, but why? From the...