What the h*ll went wrong?

[XBe02Drvr]

Nice ride, Mike!
Could that be a late model (relatively) CB-750 behind the Wing, hiding under all the accessories and ornamentation and travel gear? Had a lot of fun on those back in the day. Owned five of them over the years, including one was a full hardtail chop. Great fun in Florida, hell on the kidneys in Vermont! And it didn't require a drip pan like the Harley chops (and the Beezer) do.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[MiTasol]

on the subject of English electrical components and Lucas

AIRCRAFT ELECTRICS - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Forget all that nonsense about magnetic fields and the flow of electrons along a conductor, for it is just that, nonsense, a myth put about by aircraft electricians to support their lavish lifestyle at your expense. The reality is that electrics are a crude form of hydraulics using smoke! When you think about it, it all becomes startlingly obvious - smoke makes all electrical devices function. If smoke escapes, the component ceases to operate! A generator or alternator always leaks smoke before it fails.

The wiring loom in an aircraft carries smoke from one device to another, pumped around the system by the alternator (remember when they told you voltage was pressure - true - smoke under pressure) and when a wire or component springs a leak it lets all the smoke out and everything stops. The starter motor requires lots of smoke in order to operate hence it has a larger diameter wire going to it.

The battery stores up lots of smoke dissolved in the battery acid, which is why they were once called accumulators until it became apparent that even pilots would twig to the secret. Notice that when the acid leaks out it gives off smoke - simple. Naturally, if you try to dissolve too much smoke in your battery it will escape through those little holes in the top, which is why those new fangled batteries with sealed tops explode when they get too much smoke in them.

With regard to Joseph Lucas and his wrongfully sullied reputation, why is he so maligned? Why are Lucas components more likely to leak smoke than, say, those manufactured in the U.S. or on the Continent? Naturally it is because Lucas is British and British things always leak. British cockpits leak water, British engines leak oil (the famous Gipsy Major is really a modified 4 cylinder oil pump), British pneumatics leak air, British governments leak military secrets. So, naturally, British electrical components leak smoke.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Grizzled Chief Avionics Technician (tech school instructor): "Can any of you maggots explain the meaning of 'FM'?"
Earnest young Airman Apprentice (current class GPA leader): "Yes, Sir, it stands for frequency modulation, where modulation of the carrier wave is accomplished by...."
"WRONG, SAILOR!!, what is this Navy coming to with the likes of you in its future? It stands for F__KING MAGIC! When the R&D techs have built the prototype to the engineer's plans and it doesn't work, and after the second revision it's still not working, the techs start tweaking it until lo-and-behold, in defiance of the laws of physics and the engineer's designs, IT WORKS. That, son, is FM!"
Cheers,
Wes

 

[parsifal]

It was a favourite trick to send young smarty ar*e officers down to the store for the long weight., or long wait. beats getting the plug spanner for that huge diesel.......

 

[XBe02Drvr]

It was a favourite trick to send young smarty ar*e officers down to the store for the long weight., or long wait. beats getting the plug spanner for that huge diesel.......

Or a hundred foot spool of shore line. Or a replacement for Davey Jones's lost locker key. Or a gallon of prop wash.

 

[mikewint]

Left-hand monkey wrench, bucket of steam, muffler fluid as in "change the muffler fluid" or muffler bearing grease, can of squelch then when the boob returns - Oh yea it now comes in spray cans, the glass hammer or axe or magnet, headlight fluid, metric adjustable wrench, K9P cutting fluid, key to the vapor lock, adjustable needle-nose pliers, in Vietnam an FNG would be sent to the quartermaster for a PRC-E7

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Shortround6]

Hmmm,

I have seen a left handed monkey wrench (the adjustment nut turned the opposite way)
An old co-worker once returned to someone who asked for a bucket of steam with some dry ice and water in a bucket.
Is a 200mm adjustable wrench different than an 8in adjustable wrench?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Is a 200mm adjustable wrench different than an 8in adjustable wrench?

Of course it is, silly! The one drinks cabernet sauvignon, the other drinks Budweiser.
Star-struck young female music student: "I've always wanted to ask someone who really knows: 'What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?' "
Yo Yo Ma: "Ah, yes, it is the redness of the player's neck."
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[bobbysocks]

Lucas....just keep a can of replacement smoke and you are set for life.

hoping all those problems are solved. i am looking at getting a 2016 T100 Bonneville.....

 

[mikewint]

'What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?' "

When you are buying one, it's a fiddle. When you are selling one, it's a violin.
It's the nut who's holding the bow.
$125 per hour and a tuxedo.
You can't play a violin barefoot.
It's OK if you spill beer on your fiddle.
A violin has strings, and a fiddle has strangs.
About $5,000.
You'll never find a violinist with a mullet.
A violin sings, but a fiddle dances.
It's a matter of style. If you have style, it's a fiddle.

Sooo….When it comes down to it, the real difference between a violin and a fiddle today is a matter of style. If you are playing by ear, and free to improvise, it's fiddling. If you are playing what is on the page with accuracy and precision, it's violin.
Traditional folk styles would fit under the realm of fiddle. Fiddling is learned primarily by ear. It requires internalizing of the melody, and allows for some level of freedom in choosing how you want to present the tune. You can bow it with the bowings you choose, and even the notes you choose, provided you honor the tradition you are following. If you are only playing notes written on the page, you probably don't really know the song yet. But once you know the song, then you have freedom to improvise with it.
I would also include playing violin with country, bluegrass, jazz, or rock music in the fiddle category. They are styles that are fundamentally improvisatory in nature, and allow for clear freedom of expression in your playing.
If you are playing violin in an orchestra, there is no room for improvisation. You must play with the same bowings as the rest of your section, or you will stick out like a sore thumb. You must play the same notes as the rest of your section, or it will sound like a giant mess.
But, even within the classical violin tradition, there is room for fiddling around. If you are the soloist, you have the freedom to bow it how you want, and you even get a cadenza now and again.

 

[Zippythehog]

I have a Triumph.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

My condolences, Zippy. We have no Triumph, only a Trump.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Zippythehog]

Lol- so this is a political thread?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Nope, just an observation. "Political" is in the eyes of the beholder. Sorry, let's drop it. Minefield ahead.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[gumbyk]

At the beginning of my maintenance technician training in the early 60's our instructor started by saying

"it is my job to teach you the three ways to build an aircraft, the right way, the wrong way, and the British way. The first law of British design is why make it difficult when, with a little bit of thought, you can make it bloody near impossible"

He got it perfectly.

That explains how the spitfire is built then...

 

[XBe02Drvr]

That explains how the spitfire is built then...

My engines instructor in A&P school had been an 8th AF mechanic who went over with the first squadrons of Packard powered Mustangs after training at the Packard plant. Later, his outfit assumed responsibility for a hodgepodge collection of different marks of American owned and flown reconnaissance Spits with Rolls engines. These engines were supremely frustrating, as there seemed to be very little parts interchangeability, not only between marks, but even within a mark series. Further compounded by the fact many airframes no longer carried the s/n engine the records showed. Mustangs, on the other hand, had very high interchangeability and very few engine mods requiring special or different parts. Finally, he and his boss went to a Rolls plant to try and make some sense of the jumble, and were astounded to find workshops full of craftsmen fabricating engine parts with hand-held small power tools. There seemed to be no QA or QC system, and each craftsman was measuring and certifying his own output. After seeing the Packard plant, with its rows of identical programmable semi-automatic machine tools, its QC and QA and linear sequential production expediting systems, they were flabbergasted!
Shortly thereafter, D-Day happened, and then the Spits and some of the Mustangs flew off to newly liberated airstrips across the Channel, and John got transferred to a bomber wing. Good old American round engines!
Cheers,
Wes

 

[XBe02Drvr]

an FNG would be sent to the quartermaster for a PRC-E7

We never had to send to the quartermaster for one of those. There were always several right to hand. If you tried to bypass the nearest one, he'd send for his boss and you'd have a PRC-E9 to deal with! Or even worse, a FNG PRC-O1 with the lacquer still on his butterbars!
Cheers,
Wes