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F-ZeroOne

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Everything posted by F-ZeroOne

  1. F-ZeroOne
    Part of it may also be the higher cost of aircraft forcing a lack of variety to a degree. The original intent of the LWF competition was that the winner - the F-16 - would also be the Navy choice, so in one possible timeline it might be that we'd find the concept of twin-engine naval fighters odd...
  2. F-ZeroOne
    Just a thought - I wonder if this whole "twin engines on a navy fighter" thing is as big a deal as its made out to be? I know what I'm about to say isn't an exact comparison and I'm very much aware of the various differences, changed values, technical issues etc but during World War II virtually every carrier aircraft was single-engined. As were some of the early carrier jets, but I'm wondering if experiences with those early, much less reliable jets has coloured the thinking a little over the years. Someone did point out once that one argument against two engines is theres then twice as much that could possibly go wrong...
  3. F-ZeroOne
    One solution thats been proposed is simply to blow it up. If theres something wrong with the F-35, theres been something wrong with every carrier aircraft ever made. Someone once said that you lose at least one aircraft on every carrier deployment; I don't know if thats entirely true but if this had been a F/A-18 it may well have not made headlines. Granted, its slightly concerning two have been lost off carriers from two different navies in recent months, but it doesn't sound like the incidents have related causes (after all, one was on take-off, not landing). And statistically speaking, a F-35 is more likely to be lost just because theres an increasing number of them in use (and from carriers, which is an inherently risky business to start with). It could be that its a flaw with the design, but unless the numbers start spiking up way more than would be expected in this type of operation, they probably don't need to be thinking about refurbishing some F2Gs just yet... 😀
  4. F-ZeroOne
    They can ask us, we've had some recent experience in that regard... 😉
  5. F-ZeroOne
    Boeing made an O-Wing!
  6. F-ZeroOne
    Did... I imagine it or did one line of Bobas dialogue just make The Holiday Special canon?!
  7. F-ZeroOne
    You've just reminded me of Dan Simmons "Hyperion Cantos" series.
  8. F-ZeroOne
    This is a no-brainer for us over on this side of the Pond, but anything by the late, great Terry Pratchett - his co-operation with Neil Gaiman (AS SEEN ON TV!), "Good Omens", is perhaps the best single volume entry point for his style but any of the "Guards" series starting with "Guards, Guards!". Also sadly departed, Iain M. Banks [1] and his "Culture" series of novels for which "The Player of Games" is a good introduction but the one that everyone will jump up and down to recommend is "Use of Weapons". [1] Not to be confused with the equally no-longer-with-us Iain Banks, who was most definitely not the same person what with being a PROPER CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR who would never ever dabble in that childish Sci-Fi nonsense... 😉
  9. F-ZeroOne
    I wonder if this will influence the Canadian decision at all, as I would imagine at least some of Finlands requirements were pretty similar.
  10. F-ZeroOne
    It’s okay, we’ll get James May to make a couple dozen 1/1 scale Airfix kits and drop them around the sea floor to throw them off.
  11. F-ZeroOne
    I think the two-parter starting with the episode “Army of Ghosts” (?), one of the season concluders to David Tennants run, will probably satisfy you in that regard.
  12. F-ZeroOne
    "Theres no way this would ever work on a carrier" is virtually what they said about the right way round Corsair at first... 😄
  13. F-ZeroOne
    I've heard of "tail-sitters" but I think thats the first time I've seen what could be described as a "nose-sitter"...!
  14. F-ZeroOne
    Boy, and I thought the full scale B-17s belly gunner position was cramped!
  15. F-ZeroOne
    I should perhaps clarify, this report was in a British newspaper, one that even at the time had a reputation for... exaggeration. 🙂
  16. F-ZeroOne
    Well, thats interesting, I always considered The Lady to be a really dark blue colour.
  17. F-ZeroOne
    I wouldn't call it "fear mongering", really. "Sensationalism" would be more accurate. Its worth remembering back then, given the political and domestic situation in the UK, the US was in the minds of many occupying a place in popular culture here somewhat akin to the way Japan does now - a place of exotic wonder and unobtainable cool. I mean, you had Stringfellow Hawke and we had "Last of the Summer Wine", it wasn't much of a comparison. 😄
  18. F-ZeroOne
    The Blue Thunder helicopter also makes a very brief appearance in the "Doctor Who" episode "Dalek", under the call sign "Bad Wolf", as the helicopter that transports the episodes antagonist (well, the other antagonist, not that installments titular famous one) to their underground storage base. The British media at the time of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics also ran stories of how the skies would be patrolled by Blue Thunder "style" "gunships", using images of the helicopter to illustrate the stories.
  19. F-ZeroOne
    The Harrier didn't use aerodynamics or thrust, it just used noise to overwhelm gravity. 😄
  20. F-ZeroOne
    What I find slightly alarming is apparently its the Double-Zeta version. 😁
  21. F-ZeroOne
    slide, I think the shape is ambiguous enough that its orientation could be interpreted a number of ways.
  22. F-ZeroOne
    Theres some speculation that the... um... "shape" is "upside down" on the trailer. Edit: oops, I see the linked-to article does mention that possibility. I posted before reading the article.
  23. F-ZeroOne
    I wanted to post this earlier, but had problems doing so - Sir Clive Sinclair, driving force behind the ZX Spectrum, has passed: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-09-19-in-memory-of-sir-clive-sinclair I realise this is probably bigger news on my side of the pond than it will be for most MWers, but its very difficult to overstate the impact his little rubber keyed black box had on the UK games industry.
  24. F-ZeroOne
    Is there a special section on dealing with computers, like how to make them explode by showing them this... human... EMOTION... called LOVE? 🙂
  25. F-ZeroOne
    Its reasonably likely that the "C4" designation is carrying on from the existing JASDF C-1 jet transport rather than a C-130 variant; it wouldn't have existed at the time "Patlabor: The Movie" was made (though it may have been on the drawing board) but there is now a C-2 as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_C-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_C-2
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