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Why Not?
One of the more salient features of this documentary is the reluctance of the US military to experiment with radically different forms of flying machines. The US, having virtually invented powered flight in 1903, thereafter yielded superiority in the airplane's development to Europe.
Richard P. Hallion, US Air Force Historian, a well-spoken New Englander, tells of an amusing incident. During the war, an American aircraft designer visits the British and asks, well, this may sound odd, but do you think jet airplanes are at all feasible? Says the Brit: "Absolutely. You want to see our airplane?" The first innovation covered is the catapults built aboard merchant ships, designed to launch Hurricanes against the pesky German Condors that tracked convoys from America and radioed directions to U-boats. It's treated lightly in most documentaries but it was quite a job for a pilot: (1) A rocket-powered take off from this "contraption," (2) engaging a Condor bristling with eight machine guns and a 20 mm. cannon; and (3) finding the convoy again and ditching in the sea nearby. I've ditched in the sea and it's no fun. You can't do touch and goes for practice.
The second innovation is a curious saucer-shaped craft designed for vertical take off, the brainchild of the American Charles Zimmerman. It was a radical shift. The talking heads explain in just enough engineering detail how it was possible to build an airplane that lifted off the ground almost at once and then could go on to speeds of about 500 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the military was just about to leap on the jet bandwagon and dispensed with the craft. The Navy canceled its orders and the prototype was scrapped.
There isn't enough space to describe all these experiments but one deserves mention: the jumbo aircraft carrier made of ice. Well, not ice alone, but ice mixed with sawdust, which is both strong and enduring. Mountbatten proposed to build one for the invasion of Japan -- 2,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and weighing 20 million tons. It was a floating airfield. At a meeting with America's Admiral King, at the Château Frontenac in Quebec City, some doubts were expressed. To sell the idea, Mountbatten produced two small blocks -- one of ice, and another of the new mixture. Then he produced a revolver and shot the ice to pieces. Next, he fired at the new material. The bullet not only bounced off the target but ricocheted and nicked Admiral King's leg. King recovered, but the proposal never went anywhere because the war's end was at hand.
Richard P. Hallion, US Air Force Historian, a well-spoken New Englander, tells of an amusing incident. During the war, an American aircraft designer visits the British and asks, well, this may sound odd, but do you think jet airplanes are at all feasible? Says the Brit: "Absolutely. You want to see our airplane?" The first innovation covered is the catapults built aboard merchant ships, designed to launch Hurricanes against the pesky German Condors that tracked convoys from America and radioed directions to U-boats. It's treated lightly in most documentaries but it was quite a job for a pilot: (1) A rocket-powered take off from this "contraption," (2) engaging a Condor bristling with eight machine guns and a 20 mm. cannon; and (3) finding the convoy again and ditching in the sea nearby. I've ditched in the sea and it's no fun. You can't do touch and goes for practice.
The second innovation is a curious saucer-shaped craft designed for vertical take off, the brainchild of the American Charles Zimmerman. It was a radical shift. The talking heads explain in just enough engineering detail how it was possible to build an airplane that lifted off the ground almost at once and then could go on to speeds of about 500 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the military was just about to leap on the jet bandwagon and dispensed with the craft. The Navy canceled its orders and the prototype was scrapped.
There isn't enough space to describe all these experiments but one deserves mention: the jumbo aircraft carrier made of ice. Well, not ice alone, but ice mixed with sawdust, which is both strong and enduring. Mountbatten proposed to build one for the invasion of Japan -- 2,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and weighing 20 million tons. It was a floating airfield. At a meeting with America's Admiral King, at the Château Frontenac in Quebec City, some doubts were expressed. To sell the idea, Mountbatten produced two small blocks -- one of ice, and another of the new mixture. Then he produced a revolver and shot the ice to pieces. Next, he fired at the new material. The bullet not only bounced off the target but ricocheted and nicked Admiral King's leg. King recovered, but the proposal never went anywhere because the war's end was at hand.
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- rmax304823
- Apr 4, 2015
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