@ttyymmnn I mean, yeah. The later versions, with all the lumps and bumps and whatnot are kinda eesh, but the B.1 has a graceful aspect to it that is spoiled on the Vulcan:

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it's like they started at the tail and worked their way forwards, but when they got to the intakes it was pretty much "Blimey, look at the time! 1430 on a Friday, time for a pint!"

@ttyymmnn Just want to point out that the Gimli Glider is more proof that the metric system is the tool of the devil - my car gets 632,000 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I like it.

@ttyymmnn The JU388 K and L has an even more streamlined birdcage. It was the perssurized development of the 88/188 airframe.

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@skyfire77 great post! Brian Regan's mention of the Apache still cracks me up 15 years later.

@skyfire77 Why does she have legs like the Arbiter.

Also please tell me more about screen_4.

@benn454 The Ascender was just ahead of its time. The same basic layout was used by Burt Rutan for a number of aircraft as well as the Beechcraft Starship.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Starship

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@grindintosecond what gets skewed in terms of apples to oranges is the original radar of the f4 only had a 2 mile range on targeting a fighter vs the 80-100+ range of modern radars.

@ttyymmnn need to offer pieces to the families first, then dispose of the rest.

@facw said in There's a guy on Flickr who builds massive Lego replicas of airplanes, and I am in awe.:

I'd assume someone who builds these monsters presumably looks for cheaper ways to acquire bricks than buying retail kits.

bricklink.com there's a few others that i cant remember off the top of my head. also yard sales and stuff like that, people can find a good % of a certain set in a bin with a bunch of other pieces they figure out the set and whats missing and then order the missing pieces off sites to complete the set for much cheaper than it would have been to buy the originally completed set

certain pieces will be more expensive because of color/rarity. especially color. and minifigs. especially the star wars ones.

when I worked at a store, they had a thing called the pick a brick wall, with a bunch of bins and 2 sized cups that people could come in and fill up and buy whatever they could fit into the cup.

well some people once they figured out we had a piece they needed would come in and completely empty out the bin, fill a bunch of cups and then buy the 2-3 extra boxes of a specific piece to do whatever set they were building.

also those planes are absolutely gorgeous, built to minifig scale is the best.

@ranwhenparked

Agreed.

@skyfire77 Saab: we can make a supersonic interceptor, but your auto is still a two stroke

@skyfire77 In addition to the exports you mentioned, South Africa worked with IAI to integrate many of the Kfir's improvements into their Mirage III fleet, creating the fairly similar Atlas Cheetah:
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South Africa no longer operates the type, but Ecuador has bought some of the retired planes, and Draken operates them as agressors.
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@ranwhenparked said in This Date in Aviation History: July 10 - July 13:

@ttyymmnn And here's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth checking out the bomb damage to Buckingham Palace. Fairly minor, but supposedly wasn't fully repaired until the 1960s

Famously, Queen Elizabeth said after that incident “I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.”

@awesomeaustinv I bet you could tuck those under a G wagon

@forsweden Your assumption may prove true. The last I heard, the NTSB wants to lift the fuselage to the surface to get the recorders. They may want to lift the entire fuselage for their analysis.

My understanding is that there isn't a rush to get to the recorders. They know where they are. The NTSB is willing to wait a little time to try to keep as much of the wreckage intact for their analysis.

@krustywantout

And, you never really knew if something would fly until you flew it. Modern computer modeling has made the test pilot’s job significantly safer.

@facw yeah, but they've supposedly got 80 of them listed as "active", its plausible that less than half of those are actually flight-capable, and of the ones that are, you could still have a lot that are just patched together well enough for a ferry flight.

I mean, we know Kim doesn't trust his own VIP configured Il-62M to be reliable for long-distance trips, and if they were able to keep any plane working properly, you'd think that would be one of them.

@cb

It was just “Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties.”

@ttyymmnn Huh, TIL.

@whoistheleader

Distance straight out to 18L, distance to threshold.

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@forsweden bordel, actually

@gmporschenut-also-a-fan-of-hondas Great list. The range is impressive and important. However, we have bases, carriers, and subs all over the world so the actual range needed is actually less. One of the reasons there are only 19 planes is that they cost over $2 billion each and that's in 90's dollars. Plus it's highly sensitive to its environmental conditions.

I thought it was an amazing aircraft when it came out, but now I see how wasteful these programs are and the fact that the companies building these aircraft blatantly lie about the capabilities. I believe we need to be more resourceful in tackling these mission requirements. I'm not a defund the military guy, but more let's use our money wisely and invest in our people, optimizing our existing infrastructure, and the communities that support our bases.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1997-08-23-1997235010-story,amp.html

@nowhere said in This Date in Aviation History: July 3 - July 6:

Great post! I love how wide ranging you are in these.

Thank you! I do try to cover as many bases as possible, so my definition of "aviation" may be a bit broad at times. I also try hard to represent more women who were aviation pioneers, since they still get short shrift these days.

As for the Lego Winnie Mae, I recently built the Amelia Earhart tribute set. As soon as I finished it, I wondered if I could order all the pieces in white and make a Winnie Mae with the same instructions. Then it would just be a matter of sourcing the stickers somewhere. Oh, and trying to find a one-eyed Wily Post minifigure....

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https://opposite-lock.com/topic/10654/legolopnik-amelia-earhart-tribute-set

https://opposite-lock.com/topic/10047/legolopnik-crazy-idea

It's probably the lens but it looks like it was flying high enough to capture the curvature of the earth.

@skyfire77 I built a lot of model airplanes as a kid. I remember building a Revell or similar kit of this plane.

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My childhood model planes are long gone, but there are still photos of this model available.

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