On Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:43:53 +0100, ®i©ardo wrote:

I can still recall, as a paratrooper in the 60s, standing in the door of
a Blackburn Beverley waiting for the green light to come on so that I
could depart and watching the main undercarriage wheels turning in the
slipstream. I doubt, though, that that was intentional in order to
reduce tyre wear.

I tell ya - for folks that brought us the Fury/Hart, Spitfire, Hunter,
Comet and 'alf a Concorde, you Brits could sure hit the urgly button
once in a while!

(Yeah - I know Boeing crapped out the X-32...)