Monday, August 30, 2021

Is that pronounced...

..."ot-tow-yee-ROH", "ot-tow-j-EYE-row", "ot-tow-GEE-row"...

Seen at the Air Force museum in Dayton OH circa 2008

Monday, August 23, 2021

Dewy's workshop


If you ever think your shop is cramped, just try running a mill, a drill, two lathes, and shaper off of lineshafts in an 1892 steam ship!

Monday, August 02, 2021

I think I left the blinker on

.  
I wish I remembered what aircraft this was, but I'm fairly certain this was taken at the Solway Aviation Museum.  

Monday, July 26, 2021

Monday, July 19, 2021

Water as a display of opulence


Burj Khalifa and the Dubai fountain.  
Given that there's not much in the way of a fresh water supply around here, it's a pretty spectacular feat to have a fountain big enough you give boat tours around it. 

Don’t spread it around, but it’s fed by ‘recycled’ water from the tower that’s been run through some serious reverse osmosis filters.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Night patrol

P-61c Black Widow  
(the paint scheme may be more appropriate for the 61b)

I remember learning about these and thinking they were one of the coolest planes of the war.  As is often the case though, the real work was done with the planes available, not the ideal ones for the job.  The US hadn't found a need for a dedicated night fighter prior to the outbreak of war in Europe and this was basically a response to the German attacks during the blitz.  

The first production models were available in October of '43 but flew their first combat missions in mid '44 by which point the P-51 had already put the Luftwaffe on the back foot.  Had it been available earlier, it's extended loiter time could have made a pretty significant difference in the damage done by German bombers.  It did, however, serve very effectively in ground attack rolls during the battle of the bulge. and is unofficially credited with the last kill of the war (in the Pacific.)  

Neat, just a little too late.