This Date in Aviation History: May 16 - May 18

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 05/18/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, planelopnik history, Planelopnik

16

20

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting of you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from May 16 through May 18.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(Author unknown)

May 16-17, 1943 – RAF bombers carry out Operation Chastise . The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! traces a meandering course through western Germany from the mountainous !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! region down to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . For centuries, the Ruhr had been the center of farming and industry and, during the early to mid twentieth century, the Ruhr valley was the primary location for much of Germany’s manufacturing, as the river provided both pure water for the manufacture of steel and the generation of hydroelectric power via the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Dams. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! also flowed through this strategic region, and, along with the Möhne and Sorpe, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! played a vital role in German manufacturing and farm irrigation.

An RAF reconnaissance photo of the Möhne Dam. Note the torpedo nets above the dam. (Royal Air Force)

Even before the outbreak of WWII, the British Air Ministry identified these dams, and others like them, as possible strategic targets that could be destroyed should war break out with Germany, as they predicted it might. Breaching the dams would not only drain supplies of water for manufacturing and cut hydroelectric power, but the British also hoped that catastrophic flooding would damage factories, destroy rail lines, and hinder transport on inland waterways. But once the decision to destroy the dams was taken, the RAF was faced with a singular problem: How to do it? A torpedo wouldn’t work, since the dams were protected by multiple torpedo nets. Traditional bombing might eventually break down the dams, but it would take tons and tons of bombs, or perhaps one huge bomb, but there was no aircraft capable of carrying such a bomb, nor did the RAF possess the level of accuracy required to drop just one bomb, no matter the size.

When dropped from the precise altitude and distance from the dam, the Upkeep bomb would bounce over the torpedo nets and drop down the face of the dam before exploding. (Imperial War Museum)

Needing an entirely novel approach, the RAF turned to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Wallis was the Assistant Chief Designer at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and he had been working on a bouncing bomb concept that he originally proposed for use against shipping. But it soon became clear that such a weapon could also be used against dams. In order to breach the dam, the canister-shaped bomb, codenamed Upkeep, would have to be dropped from a precise level above the water, at a precise distance from the dam. It also had to be rotating backwards at 500 rpm. Once the bomb was released, it would skip across the water, over the torpedo nets, and settle to the base of the dam, where it would detonate using a hydroelectric fuse. While the bomb itself was fairly complex, the targeting system was anything but. To determine the correct distance from the dam for dropping the bomb, a simple sight with two prongs was used. As the bomber approached the dam, the prongs lined up with towers on the damn which indicated the correct distance. For altitude, a spotlight was fitted to the front of the bomber, and another aft, pointing downwards. When the circles of light joined on the surface of the water, the bomber was at the correct altitude.

The morning after Operation Chastise, the breached Möhne and Sorpe Dams spill their contents into the valley below. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv)

On the night of May 16, a small armada of 19 specially modified !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! bombers set out for Germany. Almost immediately, aircraft began having trouble. Some returned to base, while others were lost to enemy flak or crashed into antennas or power pylons. But the remaining planes forged ahead, and the Möhne Dam was the first to be hit and breached, followed by the Eder Dam. The Sorpe Dam, which was an earthen dam with a concrete core, was not breached, nor was the Ennepe Dam. On the return flight, two more Lancasters were lost, bringing the total to eight aircraft shot down and 53 airmen killed. Though the dams were breached, with catastrophic flooding downstream, the Germans recovered quickly, and the hoped-for interruption of manufacturing and transportation did not materialize. In all, 1,600 were killed, but 1,000 of those were Russian prisoners and forced laborers working in the fields below the dams. And though factories were damaged and power was interrupted, water and electricity supplies returned to normal in just one month’s time. However, the raids did have the strategic result of keeping the Luftwaffe occupied protecting other infrastructure targets, and the development of extremely large bombs continued, resulting in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ” which were used with great effect against hardened German targets later in the war.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Air Force)

May 17, 1943 – The crew of the Memphis Belle completes its 25th and final mission. In 1935, Boeing flew their new, four-engined bomber, which they called the Model 299, for the first time. The large bomber bristled with five .30 caliber defensive machine guns, so many for its day that a reporter for the Seattle Times described it as Boeing’s new “Flying Fortress,” because surely, this new bomber would be impervious to enemy attack. Boeing liked the name, trademarked it, and the legendary !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was born. In practice, however, the Flying Fortress was clearly not impregnable. By the time the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! began bombing missions into German-occupied Europe, and even though the defensive armament had increased to 10 machine guns, or more, the lack of escort fighters to protect the lumbering bombers meant that they were easy prey for German fighters and sitting ducks for highly accurate flak ( flak is an acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanone , or anti-aircraft artillery). Add to that the fact that the American bombers flew their missions during daylight hours to increase accuracy, and the Flying Fortress began to suffer horrible losses of planes and crews.

In October 1943 alone, the 8th Air Force lost 176 bombers, more than five per day. The aircrews, made up mostly of boys barely 18 years old and pilots who were only in their 20s, were expected to fly 25 missions to complete their tour. However, with an average loss rate of 8-percent of the bombers per mission at that time, the odds were very poor that a single crew would fly all of their missions and return safely without the loss of even one man. Throughout the war, the number of missions needed to complete a tour fluctuated depending on need and risk assessment, sometimes going as high as 35. This was still an arbitrary number, but it gave the crews something to look forward to, a light at the end of a tunnel filled with fighters and flak that just might be attainable. Still, over 3,000 B-17s were lost in the war and, though the advent of long-range escort fighters in the second half of the war helped fend off the German attackers, flak always took its toll.

Despite the terrible odds, there were bombers and crews that managed to complete their tour, and one that did so famously (though not first—see author’s note below), was the Memphis Belle . The Belle was a B-17F (serial number 41-24485) assigned to the 324th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and was commanded by Captain !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Based in Bassingbourn, Scotland, the Belle and her crew carried out its first mission on November 7, 1942 against targets in Brest, France, and flew the majority of their missions over Brittany, with some missions to the Netherlands and a handful into Germany. Throughout its tour, the Belle was shot up numerous times by fighters and punctured by flak. She went through nine engines, had both wings replaced, had the tail replaced twice, and both landing gear assemblies were replaced. But her luck held and, as her 25th mission approached, the US Army Air Corps saw an opportunity to generate some positive news for the home front.

The Army dispatched a film crew, led by famous director and producer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , to make a full-color documentary of the final flight titled Memphis Belle: The Story of a Flying Fortress, which was released to the American public in 1944.* After the final mission, the Belle and her crew returned to the US, where they toured the country to help sell war bonds and to boost the nation’s morale. Following the war, the crew returned to life in the US, and the final member of the crew, top turret gunner Harold Loch, passed away in October 2004. Soon after the war ended in 1945, the Memphis Belle was rescued from reclamation and purchased by the City of Memphis for $350. She was flown to Memphis, where the city displayed the bomber outdoors into the 1980s, where it slowly deteriorated and was eventually stripped of almost all her internal components by souvenir hunters. Finally, in 2004, the aircraft was transferred to National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, where it has been restored.It will feature prominently in a new WWII exhibit, and will be unveiled to the public on March 17, 2018, 75 years to the day after her final mission. Hollywood also produced a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about the plane and her crew, The Memphis Belle , which was released in 1990.

* As was the practice at the time, the crews and the planes were often interchangeable. So, while the crew completed its 25th mission on May 17, 1943 while bombing the submarine pens at Lorient, France, the Belle completed her 25th mission two days later with a different crew. Morgan’s crew completed four of its missions in a total of four different aircraft.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Author’s note: The Memphis Belle and her crew garnered much notoriety for the completion of 25 missions, due in large part to the documentary about their final mission. However, the Belle’s crew was not the first B-17 crew to complete their tour. That distinction goes to the crew of Hell’s Angels (B-17F, serial number 41-24577), which completed its 25th mission on May 13, 1943, five days ahead of the Belle . However, the crew of the Belle was the first to be sent back to the US because the crew of Hell’s Angels signed on for another tour and eventually flew a total of 48 missions before returning to the US in 1944. But Hell’s Angels still wasn’t the first bomber to complete a tour. The crew of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   Hot Stuff completed its 25th mission on February 7, 1943, three-and-a-half months ahead of the Belle , then flew another six missions before returning to the US. Though the Memphis Belle wasn’t the first, she and her crew still serve as a testament to the courage of thousands of young men who flew into harm’s way, many of whom did not return.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(Author unknown)

May 18, 1953 – The first flight of the Douglas DC-7. During WWII, piston-powered aircraft design reached its zenith. But with the arrival of the jet engine at the end of the war, it was only a matter of time before jet power supplanted piston power in the airline industry. Still, in the early post-war period, turbojets were relatively new, and airlines were reluctant to plunge headlong into the new technology. The piston powered airliner still had more miles to fly, though for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the DC-7 was the final piston-powered airliner produced.

As the range of the modern airliner increased, companies like American Airlines wanted to provide nonstop service from coast-to-coast. But the airlines ran afoul of Civil Air Regulations that dictated that flight crews could fly no more than 8 hours in one 24-hour period, and that was not enough time to complete the trip. To stay within the rules, American needed a faster plane. In order for Douglas to commit to building what might quickly end up being an anachronism (the jet-powered DC-8 took its first flight just five years later), American Airlines president C.R. Smith placed an order for 25 aircraft and agreed to cover the $40 million development cost. Still, building the DC-7 was a relative safe bet for Douglas. Sticking with a trusted engine also meant adhering to the design elements that had served Douglas so well in the past. The company based the DC-7’s wing on that of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the fuselage was essentially that of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! but stretched to accommodate more passengers. The DC-7 was powered by four !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a twin-row, 18-cylinder radial engines, the same engine that was used in a host of other aircraft, including the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Just 6 months after the DC-7's first flight, American Airlines began offering nonstop service flying from the west coast of the United States to the east coast, scheduling the flights for just under the required 8 hours, even if actual conditions didn’t always permit that. Weather was always a factor and, despite the mature technology of the radial engines, the DC-7 was plagued with engine reliability problems which caused frequent diversions and delayed flights. Nevertheless, the range and speed of the DC-7 was attractive to the airlines. With the arrival of the DC-7B, which added still more power and range, American carriers were able to schedule east-to-west service from the US to Europe. However, the DC-7 remained unattractive to European airlines because the range was still insufficient for west-to-east transatlantic crossings. Douglas responded with the DC-7C (nicknamed Seven Seas), a variant that moved the engines a bit farther outboard on the wings to reduce cabin noise and provided for yet more fuel, and the fuselage was stretched once again to make room for more seats.

Despite the transatlantic range and relative reliability of the DC-7C, the days of the piston-powered airliner were rapidly coming to an end. With the advent of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and Douglas’ own DC-8, sales of the DC-7 ground to a halt by the end of the 1950s. But the DC-7 still had lots of life in it. Douglas converted the earlier DC-7s and DC-7Cs into the DC-7F, a freighter variant that came with cargo doors added to the front and rear. Douglas produced the DC-7 from 1953-1958, only building a 338, roughly half the number of DC-6s they produced. Today, the DC-7 is nearly extinct, and only a handful remain airworthy.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Short Takeoff

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(NASA)

May 17, 1997 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas X-36, an experimental tailless aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) to explore flight by an aircraft without a traditional vertical tail assembly. Built at 28-percent scale of a possible manned fighter, the X-36 was controlled by a pilot on the ground and maneuvered via flight controls provided by a forward !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , split ailerons (also called a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The X-36 made 31 successful research flights and, while the aircraft performed beyond expectations and displayed excellent maneuverability and stability, development ceased following the successful test program. Two prototypes were built, and one resides at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , while the other is on display at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at Edwards AFB.  

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Navy)

May 17, 1987 – An Iraqi fighter fires two missiles into the US Navy frigate USS Stark . During tensions in the Persian Gulf in the 1980s, the US Navy assumed the task of patrolling the Gulf, particularly the strategic !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , to ensure the safe passage of cargo ships and oil tankers. For reasons that remain disputed, an Iraqi !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fired two French-made !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! anti-ship missiles at Stark (FFG-31). The first missile penetrated Stark just above the waterline but did not explode, while the second entered the ship and detonated in the crew quarters, killing 37 sailors and injuring 21. Stark’s crew failed to detect either the aircraft or the missiles until it was too late, and no defensive countermeasures were taken to stop attack. The Iraqis claimed that Stark was in its territorial waters, but the US Navy held that the frigate was in international waters at the time. Facing courts-martial following the incident, Stark’s captain and her Tactical Action Officer both chose early retirement.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

May 17, 1981 – The death of Jeannette Piccard. Piccard (née Ridlon) was born on January 5, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois and studied philosophy, psychology and biology at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Chicago before marrying scientist and balloonist !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1919. Jean had made a name for himself in Belgium for his flights into the stratosphere, and Jeanette became the first licensed balloon pilot in the United States. On October 23, 1934, Jean and Jeannette flew to an altitude of 10.9 miles, an altitude record for women that Jeannette held for 30 years. Later, Jeannette worked as a consultant for NASA’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and finished her life as an Episcopal priest. For her stratospheric flight, Jeannette Picard was posthumously inducted into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1998, and is considered by some to be the first woman in space.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

May 17, 1964 – The death of John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara. Moore-Brabazon was born in London on February 8, 1884, and learned to fly in 1908. He became the first Englishman to make a recognized flight in England, and became the first licensed aviator in England, receiving the Royal Aero Club Aviator’s Certificate No. 1. During WWI, Moore-Brabazon played a prominent role in the development of aerial reconnaissance, and became a Member of Parliament after the war. Beginning in late 1942, he chaired the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was formed to investigate the postwar future of the English airline industry. Some of the most important aircraft of the postwar period came from the committee’s work, including the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the world’s first jet-powered airliner. The committee also directed the construction of the mammoth !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! airliner (above), although only one was ever built.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

March 17, 1948 – The first flight of the turboprop-powered Boulton Paul Balliol. Development of the Balliol was initiated in 1945 with Air Ministry Specification T.7/45 to find a turboprop-powered training aircraft to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (T-6 Texan in US service). The prototype aircraft first flew on May 30, 1947 powered by a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! radial engine, but the second prototype was powered by an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turboprop, making the Mamba-powered Balliol the world’s first turboprop-powered aircraft to take to the air. However, the Air Ministry changed its requirements in 1947, and the Mamba was replaced in production aircraft by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! piston engine.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Navy)

May 17, 1945 – The first flight of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune, a maritime patrol and anti-submarine (ASW) aircraft developed to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The P-2 entered service in 1947 and was the first aircraft to be fitted with both piston and jet engines, with both types of engine running on the same fuel to save space and limit complexity. Despite the Neptune’s maritime/ASW mission, small numbers of Neptunes were deployed as carrier-based nuclear bombers as a stop-gap measure until dedicated nuclear bombers could be developed. In 1946, a modified Neptune nicknamed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flew from Perth, Australia to Columbus, Ohio, setting an unrefueled distance record of 11,236 miles, a record for piston-powered flight that was not broken until the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flew around the world nonstop in 1986. Replaced by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Neptunes were retired from military service in 1984, though many still fly as civilian water bombers.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(NASA)

May 18, 1969 – The launch of Apollo 10, the fourth manned mission of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the second mission to orbit the Moon. Apollo 10 served as a dress rehearsal for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flight that successfully landed on the Moon two months later. After establishing orbit 70 miles above the lunar surface, astronaut !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who would later command the first flight of the Space Shuttle, remained in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! while mission commander !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! descended to within 8.4 nautical miles of the Moon’s surface. On its return from the Moon, Apollo 10 set a world record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle, flying at 24,791 mph before successfully splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on May 26.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(Author unknown)

May 18, 1951 – The first flight of the Vickers-Armstrong Valiant, a four-engine, high-altitude nuclear bomber and the first of the so-called V bombers (along with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). Designed as a strategic nuclear bomber, the Valiant suffered from fatigue cracks that would also plague the other V bombers, and its service life was relatively short, and it was supplanted by its more advanced successors. Before its retirement, the Valiant carried out nuclear deterrence missions, conventional bombing, and aerial reconnaissance. Some Valiants were also converted as aerial tankers. A total of 107 were built, and the Valiant was formally retired in 1957.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Connecting Flights

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. And if you missed any of the past articles, you can find them all at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . You can also find more stories about aviation, aviators and airplane oddities at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 12:51

4

i think i need this framed..... would look real nice in the art room :)

(also i really should watch the dambusters again one of these days)

beautimouse > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 12:51

0

These posts are great, and appreciated.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 12:55

1

Note for anyone interested: there are several Barnes Wallis-related exhibits at Brooklands, if one visits there.

Derpwagon > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 13:02

0

Sigh. I wish radial engines were still the thing. Something romantic about the golden age of aviation.

facw > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 13:03

0

One thing that seemed odd about the Stark is that it did not have it’s Phalanx system operational when struck (and indeed it’s operator was not even at his station). It seems strange to not to have your automated missile defense system up when operating in a warzone. Don’t know if that indicates they didn’t trust it not to shoot down friendlies or what, but it seems like the goal on a point defense system would be to always have it operational is there’s any chance a missile could come your way.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 13:07

2

One of my favorite WWII tech stories!

Can you even imagine the fallout today if we killed 1,600 people and 1,000 of them were Allied POWs?

Don’t even get me started on the horror and futility of Dresden, Tokyo, etc.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 13:51

0

Today, the DC-7 is nearly extinct, and only remain airworthy.

??

Also, its funny to note that bomber crews and planes were interchangeable when bombers were famous for having nose art that identified a specific machine.

ttyymmnn > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 05/18/2018 at 15:18

1

I should watch it. I’ve never seen it.

ttyymmnn > beautimouse 05/18/2018 at 15:18

0

Thank you for the kind words. And thanks for reading.

ttyymmnn > Derpwagon 05/18/2018 at 15:19

1

Jets are great, but I’ll take the sound of a big ol’ radial engine banging away any day of the week. Nothing like the noise of an A-1 beating up the field.

ttyymmnn > facw 05/18/2018 at 15:20

1

I think the captain was just asleep at the switch. What he did (or failed to do) is arguably criminal, and he and the XO got off lightly.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 05/18/2018 at 15:22

1

When they went back and crunched the numbers after the war, the results were split on strategic bombing, even though the report said it was “decisive.” But what would you expect the winners to say? Bombing helped in some areas, but production of aircraft increased steadily all the way up to the end of the war.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 05/18/2018 at 15:23

1

Dang it. I was trying to find a definitive number and must have gotten sidetracked. Wiki’s numbers are not always trustworthy about these sorts of things.

Let’s go with “handful.”

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 15:33

1

That works.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 17:39

1

As a proud transplanted Daytonian, I am sad that I had to stop volunteering at the NMUSAF.

I may have to take the time on one of my Tuesdays off work and go visit. I haven’t been back since the opened the newest hangar.

I loved working in the R&D hangars on base. The planes were so tightly packed, and there were no stanchions or ropes to keep you from getting up close to them. And that smell. You could smell the history there.

ttyymmnn > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 05/18/2018 at 18:06

1

The new hangar is extraordinary. My oldest son and I went last summer. We got there when it opened, and they chased us out when they locked the doors in the evening. I would go back tomorrow. What was really exciting was seeing so many of the actual aircraft that I wrote about, like Betty Jo, the XP-75, the P-59, Bockscar (I saw the Enola Gay at the Udvar-Hazy Center). And yes, the smell.....

Svend > ttyymmnn 05/18/2018 at 19:16

1

The Air Ministry didn’t approach Barnes Wallis as much as Barnes had a theory on how to do it and went to the Air Ministry himself and pushed and pushed and even used a friend in Whitehall to convince the Air Ministry to give him tank time to prove his theory and make it into a working model.

They created the bouncing bomb when a British team used a Dakota on a lake in Canada a few years back.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 05/19/2018 at 01:06

0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_aircraft_production_during_World_War_II

what is facinating is how comparetively few aircraft they had at the beginning of ww2.

ttyymmnn > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 05/19/2018 at 01:20

0

But they had a lot of Stukas and He 111s. Relatively speaking. That’s an interesting chart, and deserves a bit of attention. Thanks.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 05/20/2018 at 00:56

1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_armored_fighting_vehicle_production_during_World_War_II#Development_of_tank_manufacturing

What is fascinating on how they little they did between 39 through 42, due to overconfidence and fear of upsetting the population like they did during the first world war.