![]() 07/30/2019 at 09:35 • Filed to: None | ![]() | ![]() |
I’m a little bit behind my time
this morning. Had to get all the kids up and off to band camp, then squeeze in a bike ride.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 09:51 |
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There’s something about that age I find really compelling - what you might call the perfect, elegant execution of bad ideas. Is it smart to have an exposed and open cockpit so far behind the wing it affects landing visibility? With passenger and cargo
compartment directly exposed to engine noise? Of course not, in either case, but it’s done in a seeming perfection that combines with the “bad idea” to make it seem almost alien.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 09:55 |
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I plan on writing about the Northrop Alpha soon. I’m pretty sure it’s a mail plane converted for pax. Maybe not an execution of bad ideas as much as a collection of the best ideas and conventional wisdom at the time.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 09:57 |
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You know, I complain about engine placement on the DC-9 family and similar aircraft, but I suspect sitting immediately behind the engine would be worse.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:04 |
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The bulkhead seat you don’t want.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:35 |
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Any taildragger from that era has poor forward visibility requiring a zig-zag taxi.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:36 |
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A bubble canopy would’ve made the pilot’s life a lot easier.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:45 |
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Neat plane.
I was going to go for a dawn bike ride this morning, but my rechargeable headlight decided today was the day it no longer wanted to recharge. Rode it on the trainer for an hour instead.
Nothing like doing interval training before the sun comes up! I was impressed with my efforts. The dog however just laid on the floor and gave me the “W hy are you up so early, and why aren’t you feeding me and walking me?” look.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:46 |
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True. This is just on a high near-Gee Bee
level of badness, which not all are.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:51 |
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Come on, who didn’t love the Bee Gees?? /s
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:52 |
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Gee Bee rather. Need covfefe.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:54 |
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LoL. But that thing was just as scary as pop music today. I sat in one at the aviation museum in my state. I barely fit, and if I ever had to exit in a hurry I knew I’d be good and truly fucked.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 10:58 |
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I wonder how many times they had to rehearse/reshoot the getting out scene in The Rocketeer?
(if you haven’t seen it, starting scene, gets shot by mobsters in the oil cooler forcing a landing and quick exit)
![]() 07/30/2019 at 11:25 |
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I enjoy being up early, I just hate getting up early.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 11:26 |
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I feel ya!
![]() 07/30/2019 at 11:41 |
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Did you see this piece on The Drive two months ago? It’s the slightly less scary version.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 11:58 |
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An almost normal length canopy feels like cheating.
![]() 07/30/2019 at 13:06 |
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Marching Band? I remember those days.
![]() 07/31/2019 at 18:37 |
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Along the same lines, check out this Lockheed Air Express with parasol wing. The wing doesn’t pass through the fuselage, which not only simplifies construction but also makes for more internal space. The Vega, while not technically a parasol, was a similar concept , with wing resting on the fuselage and the enclosed cockpit moved to the front . Still, I never understood why it took so long to get the pilot under cover. I suppose old habits die hard.
![]() 07/31/2019 at 19:39 |
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I was struck by the "bad idea perfectly executed" observation on the flying boat post earlier today. How the cockpit was effectively a boat's pilothouse, and looked elegant but in a way that would reduce an aerodynamicist to a seizure. Less then crippling at the speeds involved and helpful for visibility in a harbor, but a Bad Idea when on a plane.