Honey, I Finished The Internet

6 Replies to “Honey, I Finished The Internet”

1. The 2 million ton Pycrete aircraft carrier was even better
   http://www.metacafe.com/watch/235665/2_million_ton_pykrete_aircraft_carrier_in_ww2/
   they almost built it.

2. I prefer this one:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2vhAQZaGNQ

3. One of the problems the designers of these stopgap “unconventional” airships
   and the iceberg carrier were trying to solve was insufficient power from both early
   aircraft and the aircraft carriers to launch planes under less than optimal conditions.
   This was the reason the Royal Navy kept the old Swordfish biplanes in carrier service.
   The B29 design had also partly achieved its extreme range requirement by designing overly
   tight shrouding of engine nacelles to the disadvantage of long engine life and reliability.
   Everything involved tradeoffs to keep the concepts barely viable pending the arrival of
   more powerful engines for newer plane designs and more advanced faster aircraft carriers.

4. Yeah, the engine fire problem also for the same reason doomed the Luftwafe’s heavy bomber the Griffin….and gave the yanks a lotta bad moments deploying the first nuclear weapons.
   The accident rate for B29’s on take-off was large.
   The Soviet Tupolev “Bull” ironically was a much better (reliable) aircraft…..a reverse engineered B29 with Soviet Ash engines…….
   The “Bull” couldn’t have really impressed the Soviets or the Tupelev Bureau…….or the turbo-prop TU 95 “Bear” wouldn’t have been developed.
   Yeah the B36 is humongous…..I recommend a visit to the USAF Museum in Dayton….worth the trip……

5. Yeah, that SHIELD heli-carrier?
   Just a tad unstable, I’d say.

6. I saw a B36 in Nebraska at the SAC museum. http://www.sasmuseum.com/aircraft/b-36j-peacemaker/
   It is idiotically large. Watching one take off would be a heart-in-mouth experience.