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Old March 11th 08, 02:35 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,alt.global-warming
Bertie the Bunyip[_25_]
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Default Global Warming The debbil made me do it

Dan wrote in
:

On Mar 10, 8:47 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dan wrote
innews:8eedffdb-127c-4e77-b8ce-1d995e07c09f@

60g2000hsy.googlegroups.co
m:



On Mar 10, 4:59 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dan wrote in news:ed613966-4828-4aa4-acba-
:


It's amazing how such efficiencies were wrung from such meager
HP.


Use the same design, reduce the weight with more lightweight
materials, and perhaps..?


Mostly the culprit is desigining airplanes that were relatively
easy to manufacture and also to make them more appealling to more
people. The old Bellancas were a thing of rare beauty. I'm
strongly tempted to get on as they are still very cheap. the old
150 Franklin powered Cruisair will do a genuine 150 mph with four
up. And then there are the prewar Cessnas. Beautiful things that
did an honest 135 mph on 145 HP...


Bertie


Nearby is someone I have to visit -- Bill Pancake, who is
apparently world renown for his Aeronca expertise.


I was floored when I learned the TAS of a Staggerwing from an
owner... unbelievable. And what a huge cabin!,


Yes, but pretty thirsty. The R985 powered ones drink close to 25 GPH
depending on how fast you want to go and how high you guy. A friend
of mine had a B model with a 225 Jake in it and that was considerably
more efficient. Almost all of the wacos had good performance as well.



I'm still impressed by the efficiency and performance of the '47 35
V tail....


Yeah, and it's 60 years old. more than halfway back in the history of
aviation since the wrights now.
Speaking of which, there are some items on the wright flyer that were
just about perfect, first time. The props, for instance, were just
about perfect for that appliaction. Even a computer and a century of
education could improve only marginally on them. The airfoil was also
very good Remember the size of that airplane and the fact it flew on
about 10 HP. Astonishing. I have a lot of texts from the twenties and
thirties. People poke fun at the simple looking machines of that day,
but thye knew an awful lot.
And in fact, while on the subject. there was a house designed at the
time the primary goal of which was maximizing energy and resources
for a shrinking planet. the Engineer responsible was R Buckminster
Fuller and the house had an interesting shower, in particular, that
would do the job with only a cup of water. its only recently come
into it's own, being used in airplanes now..
It's supposed to work very well.

Bertie


When you think that aviation is that young, and consider that the 47 V
can be upgraded to modern and fit right in to all contemporary
requirements -- it really is amazing.

Of course it may just be how little progress we've made in 60 years?

It's interesting that the Wrights choose a canard, pusher design. And
yet since then there have been few truly successful follow ups.

A cup of water for a shower? Sounds like the ------baths I used to
take in the field in the Army -- one canteen cup, a hand towel, and
maybe some baby wipes.


It was a misting thing. Apparently it works quite well. He designed a
whole house system that looked a bit like a flying saucer back in the
thirties. As well as a streamlined body for the Model A ford which
doubled it's fuel economy. I think someone is restoring the dymaxion
house as a museum piece.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house

Bertie