Thursday, January 21, 2010

Be Careful Out There

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In the 1950s, the islands of most aircraft carriers were marked with a very visible caution about the danger of working around airplane prop...
Sunday, December 20, 2009

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time VII

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By the beginning of World War II, the US Navy had transitioned from a silver fuselage/yellow wing paint scheme with complex and colorful car...
Saturday, December 12, 2009

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time VI

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Boundary Layer Control increases the lift of the wing at low air speeds. Air drawn from the jet engine compressor is blown over the wing fla...
1 comment:
Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Reason for Those Lines on the Vertical Fin

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I thought I'd mentioned this before in this blog but apparently I hadn't, because I can't find it. Back before the pilot and the...
9 comments:
Sunday, November 29, 2009

Air Groups and Markings in Transition

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According to the caption on this National Archives picture of a VC-4 F2H-4 Banshee refueling from a VC-5 AJ-2 Savage, it was taken on 28 Jan...
Friday, November 27, 2009

A-12, The Gift That Keeps On Giving II

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A gift to lawyers, in this case. Back in June, I wrote: "I was surprised when writing the chapter on the A-12 Avenger II program in S...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Hell It Won't Fit

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In the early 1950s, atomic bombs were reduced to a weight that could be managed by tactical aircraft. The lighter of the two options, the Mk...