by Nick Anderson | Apr 12, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The language of aviation is treasured by those of us who use it, especially since it separates us from those poor earth bound souls who don’t spend their lives with their eyes cast skyward. In the spirit of fairness, particularly to spouses who stand impatiently, eyes rolling as we converse with our avgeek friends about how pretty that Wedgetail is, here are a few pointers to help you join in the conversation.
The axes of an aircraft
Flight Bag
Drag!
An Empennage
Flaps
A Chinese Follow-Me car
A world record hail stone
Hi is for Hangar
The angle of incidence
The F8 “Last of the Gunfighters’.
The Jetway!
Images under the Creative Commons licence with thanks to M9matr0902, ZeroOne, Comicship, Olivier Cleynen, NiD29, NOAA and Wallsworth.
by Nick Anderson | Apr 4, 2021 | Plane Tales
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I apologise to you all but it’s time for my tatty old RAF log book to come out of the cupboard again. It was a sad, sad situation but for the recently promoted Flight Lieutenant Anderson, his departure from flying the Phantom on 43 Squadron was a reality that he had to face up to. Central Flying School is an august establishment that will proudly inform anyone with an interest (or not) that it is the world’s longest existing flying training school. It was to this anachronistic institution that I was bound!
The crest of the Central Flying School of the Royal Air Force
The Staff of the Central Flying School
The Red Arrows
The island of Anglesey
The Britannia Bridge
The BAE Systems Hawk T1
Flying the Hawk
The Great Orme and Llandudno Pier
Llandudno Pier
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to CFS, the RAF, the National Library of Wales, Tim Felce, Defence Imagery, Google Maps, Noel Walley and images within the Public Domain.
by Nick Anderson | Apr 1, 2021 | Plane Tales
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The subject of UFOs became a very popular theme in the press, on the television and in film, something that Intelligence services quietly encouraged. There were many, very secret projects that the US Government was investing enormous resources in, and any alternative explanation was preferable than the truth. One such project was the Silver Bug, a US Black version of the Canadian Avrocar. However, the Silver Bug’s true capabilities were about to be discovered! But beware… not everything may be as it seems!
Sightings given credibility by the Swedish Air Intelligence Service
Everyone was caught up in the new UFO phenomena
Henri Coanda, discoverer of the Coanda effect
Jack Frost of Avro, the designer of the Avrocar
USAF regulations relating to UFOBs
The Canadian Avrocar during tests
Groom lake in Area 51
Technical Report on the Silver Bug
The Silver Bug’s special Jet Stream aerodynamics
The Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer accelerates
The Silver Surfer crosses the coast
The Silver Surfer completes its secret flight around the planet
The Soviet Aпреля Один (Aprelya Odin)
Images under Creative Commons Licence with thanks to the USAF, Bzuk, National Archives UK, Instituto Geográfico, Invencion propia, Doc Searles, William Bill Zuk, Phylyp and the USGov.
by Nick Anderson | Mar 25, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
It takes about 12 seconds for the human body to reach terminal velocity. At that speed they will see the earth’s surface approach them at 177 feet or 54 meters every second. These are the stories of a few survivors who have fallen from an aircraft, without opening a parachute… and survived!
The remarkable Juliane Koepcke
Nicholas Alkemade
RAF Lancasters
The Ju88 nightfighter
The Il-4
B17 Flying Fortress bombers on a mission over Europe
The B17 ball turret
Vesna Vulović and a JAT DC9
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, SDASM, IWM and clipperarctic. Other images are in the Public Domain or considered Fair Use.
by Nick Anderson | Mar 19, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The landing gear, or undercarriage, of a big airliner is a massive and powerful system. In modern times stowaways, have frequently attempted to hide within the undercarriage wheel-wells of airliners. The chances of surviving such an ordeal are remote in the extreme as the hazards are many. If someone attempting such a dangerous journey isn’t crushed by the movement of the gear as it stows or fall to their death when the undercarriage doors open to raise or lower the gear, then the environment will present an almost insurmountable hazard. Some, however, still survive!
The landing gear of a B747
The forces that the undercarriage assembly is subjected to are considerable
The landing gear assembly and doors of a B747
FAA guidance on times of useful consciousness
Stranded near Newfoundland in the ice
A Douglas DC8
The DC10
Japanese troops in Timor
A 1950’s airport similar to Kupang
A Netherlands Air Force C47
Darwin Hospital
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Adrian Pingstone, Faisal Akram, Alf van Beem, Australian War Memorial, Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Luchtmacht and kenhodge13.
by Nick Anderson | Mar 12, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The Hovercraft is something of a rare beast. This story examines the many engineers and scientists who contributed to the development of a vehicle that is lifted on a cushion of air and is capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, tarmac, sand and many other flattish surfaces.
The Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg is known to have sketched the first hovercraft design in 1714.
Dagobert Müller von Thomamühl’s Luftkissengleitboot, a surface effect boat.
How a hovercraft functions.
Ford’s efforts at hovering cars.
The L1 hovering tank.
Charles Fletcher’s Glidemobile.
Cockerell’s hovercraft patent.
Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell.
SRN1.
SRN4.
The US Navy LCAC.
The Soviet Zubr class ACV, the biggest in the world weighing in at 555 tons.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to those in the Public Domain, Technical Museum Vienna, Messer Woland, the Ford Motor Company, Ad Meskens, GB Patent Office, The National Archives UK, USN, Andrew Berridge and Mil.Ru (LightZone).
