February 9, 2008

Flying Bomb Guided by Man Pilot (Aug, 1938)

Filed under: Aviation, War — @ 12:16 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1938

Why this would be any better than a dive bomber? The pilot is screwed either way. If he misses the ship they are just going to blow up his little raft and if he hits the ship then he’ll be floating around in water that is filled with all of the people who jumped off the ship. They might hold a grudge. He might as well just fly it right into the ship, at least that way it’ll be quick.

Flying Bomb Guided by Man Pilot

GUIDED by a human pilot, a “flying bomb” designed by Lester P. Barlow, well known aerial munitions expert, would enable one man to destroy a battleship and escape alive, according to the inventor. The new aerial weapon consists of a small airplane-like structure, featuring wings, rudder and elevator controls, to which a 3,500-pound bomb is fitted as a nose.

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February 8, 2008

Super-Speed Turbo-Plane to Span Ocean (May, 1936)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:40 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1936

Super-Speed Turbo-Plane to Span Ocean

by DOUGLAS P. ROLFE

FIVE hours out of New York and the flasher lights of the Central London Air Terminal are blinking their welcome to the Trans-Oceanic express as it glides to a swift, effortless landing.

Five hours out of New York! This and similar pictures of future transportation have been painted ever since man first flew, but today it can be said that this is no idle fancy or paper prophecy. Even the most casual review of various activities in the United States, Great Britain and France show the vast number of experiments that are now being conducted towards this very end.

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February 7, 2008

Learn to Fly—Right on Ground (Apr, 1934)

Learn to Fly—Right on Ground

A RECENTLY developed machine gives actual flying instruction to beginning aviators when a coin is placed in the slot.

A small plane is fixed within a glass cage, which is also a miniature wind tunnel. The plane is controlled by regulation joystick, rudder pedals and throttle handled by the embryo pilot seated just in front of the apparatus.

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February 6, 2008

FLYERS USE HAND TO WARN OF MOVEMENTS (Oct, 1931)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 2:05 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1931

FLYERS USE HAND TO WARN OF MOVEMENTS

To warn other pilots of their movements, aviators at a Glendale, Calif., flying field use hand signals. Extending the hand diagonally upward means a right turn; straight out, a left turn; downward means the pilot will land. Above a girl student is seen learning the signals.

Is The Military Dirigible Doomed? (May, 1935)

Filed under: Aviation, War — @ 2:00 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1935
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Is The Military Dirigible Doomed?

YES!

by WING COMMANDER S. K. UHLER

Royal Air Force, Great Britain, Retired Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views or opinions of the armed forces of His Majesty, the King of England.

SINCE Count Zeppelin built and flew the first large, rigid airship, approximately 150 such lighter-than-air craft have been built and flown. Practically all of them, built by Germany, Great Britain, France and America have exploded in mid-air, burned or crashed with disastrous loss of life. There have been 19 major, peacetime dirigible disasters during the past 23 years.

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February 4, 2008

MERRY-GO-ROUND LAUNCHES AIRPLANE (Nov, 1933)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 2:05 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1933

MERRY-GO-ROUND LAUNCHES AIRPLANE

Swung into the air from a merry-go-round launching device, a plane could attain flying speed without the need of a long runway, in a plan proposed by a Denver, Colo., inventor. The device consists of a tall mast with a revolving horizontal boom at the top, from which is suspended a hoop-shaped trapeze. When the plane has been attached to the trapeze and hoisted aloft, the pilot starts his motor. Then the plane revolves around the mast until flying speed is attained, and the pilot frees his craft from the device.

February 3, 2008

COLEOPTERE (Dec, 1958)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 9:25 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1958

COLEOPTERE, or Beetle, is the last word in French jet-powered VTOLs. The annular (ring-shaped) wing gives it odd outline and name. It flies vertically or horizontally.

February 2, 2008

Can Cities be Annihilated from the Air? (Aug, 1935)

Filed under: Aviation, War — @ 2:00 am
Source: Science And Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935

Ten years later we had the unfortunate answer to this question.

Can Cities be Annihilated from the Air?

IN contemplating the horrors of war, those whose natural instincts are inclined to peace look upon the newest weapons of war as threatening swift extinction of the whole civilized —that is to say, city—population. Such writers as Wells have pictured all the world’s great centers of population uninhabited and uninhabitable, after a war carried on with new death-dealing devices. They recall the fall of ancient empires which perished completely with their capitals—like Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre and Carthage—and others—like Rome—which barely escaped; and they wonder if Paris and London and New York are similarly to be obliterated when the scientific world war comes.

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January 31, 2008

New De Luxe Sleeper Planes (Mar, 1936)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 2:03 am
Source: Science And Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1936

New De Luxe Sleeper Planes

THE day was, when to ride in an airplane was an adventure, and one which involved a degree of “roughing it.” The newest plane design carries all the facilities of luxury and comfort afforded by any form of transportation; made possible by the great size of the new high-speed transports. The new Douglas Sleeper Transports, of American Airlines, pictured here, have a wing span of 95 feet, an over-all length of 65 feet, and height of 17-1/2; feet; the gross weight is 24,000 pounds, and they can carry 24 passengers each as day planes, or 16 as night passengers, with sleeping accommodations.

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January 15, 2008

Belgian Helicopter Stays Aloft 10 Min. to Set Record (Feb, 1934)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 2:01 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1934

Belgian Helicopter Stays Aloft 10 Min. to Set Record

A QUEER Belgian helicopter, entirely without wings, recently set a new world’s record for heavier-than-air craft designed for vertical ascent by remaining in the air for 9 minutes and 58 seconds.

The strange craft has a centrally located aircraft motor mounted on a framework of steel tubing.

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January 10, 2008

Sensational German Paddle Plane Built On “Flapping Wing” Principle (Sep, 1936)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:45 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1936

Yup, that’ll work. No Problem.

Sensational German Paddle Plane Built On “Flapping Wing” Principle

FROM Germany comes the news of another attempt to produce a plane of the rotating wing, or “paddle” variety. Unlike the well-known Dr. Rohrbach’s paddle-plane design, the latest attempt to get away from conventional airscrews as a means of propulsion does not depend upon the paddles as a sole means of lift as well as propulsion. Rather, it seeks to adapt the paddle principle to an otherwise normal airfoil.

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January 8, 2008

Wooden Jet Mockups (Mar, 1948)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:48 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1948

Wooden Jet Mockups
Canadians are saving time and money by making jet-engine mock-ups of pine, mahogany and cherry wood instead of metal. From blueprints, woodworkers make full-scale patterns of every component part and accessory, except piping, on proposed engines. Completed assemblies are then inspected by designers and engineers for possible changes. Shortcomings or design improvements are more easily spotted with the aid of the three-dimensional mockups than with blueprints alone. After approval, the patterns help foundrymen in casting parts for the actual engine.

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