Good Morning, Oppo

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 08/01/2019 at 08:48 • Filed to: None

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Another flying boat that looks like a boat  with wings. It’s the massive Dornier Do X, the largest and heaviest flying boat when it first took off in 1929. This is the engineer working the throttles. Looks like it could be the engine room of an ocean liner. 

vondon302 > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 08:53

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Neat. Hard to believe that flew.

Good morning!

Thomas Donohue > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 09:00

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What’s with the leather coat in the engine/control room?  I hope he took that off as soon as the cameramen left.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 09:09

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Mad scientist goes full throttle...nothing much ever changes does it?

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 09:31

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My dad has a hand-carved wooden model of this (about 12" long) in his office. I think he found it at a street vendor in Singapore in the early 90s. Pretty random discovery. I can’t imagine these were just flying off the shelves...

ttyymmnn > vondon302 08/01/2019 at 09:56

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Dat wing doe. Super thick. Likely influenced by Hugo Junkers.

The [ Junkers J 1 ] was the world’s first aircraft to also feature another innovation: an unbraced, cantilever monoplane wing with a thick profile guaranteeing the wing’s inner stability. Already in 1910 Professor Junkers had received a patent for his concept of the “thick wing.” In his own wind tunnel he then tested a multitude of wing profiles, confirming his expectation that a thick wing resulted in no more resistance than the thin, curved wing profiles common at the time. Instead, the thick wing allowed for a much better uplift and could carry additional load. Both Junkers’ innovations – the metal construction and the self-supporting thick wing – are influencing aircraft manufacturing still today. ( junkers.de )

ttyymmnn > Thomas Donohue 08/01/2019 at 09:56

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Probably pretty cold. 

ttyymmnn > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 08/01/2019 at 09:58

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Just noticed the big wheel on the end. I’m guessing that’s so he could move all throttles in unison. And maybe the handles beneath unlocked individual throttles.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 08/01/2019 at 10:00

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They should have just put big ship’s wheels inside. I wonder too about the wire mesh over the windows. Dig the chains, too, on the yoke. That thing must have been a beast to fly.

facw > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 10:40

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I don’t think that’s wire mesh over the windows? It looks like it’s outside and all on one plane instead of being aligned with the windows. If anything I think those may be the mullions/muntins dividing the panes of hangar windows or something. Unless you are talking about something else I’m completely missing.

facw > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 10:43

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I wonder what he would have thought of the F-104:

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 11:00

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Another early big flying boat with a boat’s pilothouse cockpit.

ttyymmnn > facw 08/01/2019 at 11:19

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They are visible in this photo as well. The nose is relatively short, so I suppose they could be from an external wall. Makes sense.

ttyymmnn > facw 08/01/2019 at 11:22

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Before I wrote that reply, I spent some time reading about wing thickness vis-a-vis lift, drag, critical Mach, etc. Thick wings suck for supersonic flight, as Kelly Johnson (and others) clearly understood. The Do X flew 150 mph max. I’m sure that big wing housed a lot of fuel, too.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/01/2019 at 11:22

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And round portholes for windows.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 11:33

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...although, given the window issues with the Comet, round portholes are hardly a bad idea.

Thomas Donohue > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 11:42

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Good point. I actually pictured him in a boiler room. Just realized those aren’t steam-p owered propellers!

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/01/2019 at 12:29

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I’m still a huge fan of the teardrop windows on the Caravelle.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 12:51

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They make a great deal of logical sense from a human factor perspective. Dipped further forward to permit seeing forward easier, dipped back far enough to let the view be wide, tapered to the top (because nothing is worth looking at up there, and the size is reduced overall), and the shape allows it to trick the eye as to how much space is in the cabin as a result - a big window, but with a seemingly wider space between windows. Not to mention a more appealing shape to human sensibility than an oval or pure “egg”.

All that, and stress safe. Sheer elegance.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/01/2019 at 13:35

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And one of my all-time favorite aircraft. It just screams of the era.

The nose of the Caravelle was taken directly from the Comet, which explains the obvious similarities. Just a gorgeous airplane.

InFierority Complex > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 14:10

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It seems like p ush p ull props were a pretty popular thing for flying boats at the time.

ttyymmnn > InFierority Complex 08/01/2019 at 14:26

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Underpowered engines were also pretty popular, so the more the better. The Do X had 12 engines. 

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn 08/01/2019 at 16:50

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Thick wings suck for supersonic flight but are great for slow flight and getting heavy loads airborne.