Ping Pong Balls Make Plane Buoyant (Nov, 1936)
Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:30 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
Buy on Ebay
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
Buy on Ebay
Ping Pong Balls Make Plane Buoyant
MORE than 10,000 ping pong balls were in the wings and tail of the Vultee airplane in which Harry Richman, orchestra leader, and Dick Merrill, former Eastern Air Lines pilot, flew from New York to London on Sept. 3. Their unique purpose was to supply buoyancy to the airplane in the event that engine trouble caused a forced landing at sea.
The tiny celluloid balls added less than 30 pounds weight to the plane, but pre-flight tests indicated that their combined buoyancy would support the plane on the water indefinitely. The flying team ordered 30,000 balls but dealers could supply only 10,000.
Donald Duck approves!
From Wiki:
A 1949 Donald Duck ten-pager features Donald raising
a yacht from the ocean floor by filling it with ping
pong balls. In December 1965 Karl Krøyer, a Dane,
lifted the sunken freight vessel Al Kuwait in the
Kuwait Harbor by filling the hull with 27 million tiny
inflatable balls of polystyrene[5]. Although the suggestion
is often made, Krøyer denies having been inspired by
this Barks story. Some sources claim Krøyer was denied
a Dutch patent registration (application number NL 6514306)
for his invention on the grounds that the Barks story was
a prior publication of the invention. However no definite
proof of this story is available.[6][7] Krøyer later
successfully raised another ship off Greenland using the
same method, and several other sunken vessels worldwide have
since been raised by modified versions of this concept.
The television show MythBusters also tested this method
and was able to raise a small boat.
Comment by jayessell — March 12, 2008 @ 7:31 am
Wont ping pong balls become loose and wedge on the flap? And besides, he doesn’t need ping pong balls. The guy looks pretty buoyant himself!
Comment by albear — March 12, 2008 @ 10:35 am
A few years back, somebody brought up the idea of raising the Titanic with golf balls. It didn’t get far, considering the Titanic is in two large pieces (and about half a million small ones), both of which are open to the water, and it would likely disintegrate if it were raised even six inches.
Comment by Blurgle — March 12, 2008 @ 10:44 am
Golf balls? I need another cup of coffee. Ping pong balls, of course!
Comment by Blurgle — March 12, 2008 @ 10:45 am
I believe the balls in the photo were just put there for the photo. The real ones would be inside closed compartments in the wings, stabilizer, and other sections of the aircraft.
Comment by Rick Auricchio — March 12, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Blurgle, I think you were right the first time.
Ping Pong balls would be crushed in 100 feet or so.
Steel spheres? Glass spheres?
Either way, the Titanic is a poor candidate for being raised.
Comment by jayessell — March 12, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
they should reconsider using celluloid balls, since celluloid is a very, VERY flamable, almost explosive substance: cellulose nitrate, aka gunpowder…
Comment by galessa — March 14, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
I think you mean Guncotton.
Comment by jayessell — March 14, 2008 @ 4:12 pm
yeah, guncotton!
Comment by galessa — March 15, 2008 @ 11:24 am