Tag: aircraft

Sound Mirror

Sound mirror, Abbott’s Cliff, England, 1928

Sound or acoustic mirrors were one of the first early warning detection systems invented to give advanced notice of an approaching enemy aircraft. These worked by focusing the sound from the plane’s engine so it could be heard before it was visible.

Sound mirrors worked using a curved surface to concentrate sound waves into a central point, which were picked up by a sound collector and later by microphones. An operator using a stethoscope would be stationed near the sound mirror, and would need specialist training in identifying different sounds. Distinguishing the complexity of sound was so difficult that the operators could only listen for around 40 minutes.

[Image found here. Caption and more here.]

The Demise of a Fokker D.VII

GERMAN PLANE FALLS.  Fokker D-7 A German fighting airplane which “nose-dived” to destruction near a zeppelin shed at Namur.

From History of The Fokker D.VII

The Fokker D.VII is the only aircraft mentioned by name in the Armistice demands of November, 1918. Germany was ordered to surrender “1,700 airplanes (fighters, bombers – firstly, all of the D 7’S and all the night bombing machines)” (number of aircraft to surrender are not always the same).

armisitice1

In the end, not all D.VII’s were handed over. Some were flown back to Germany by their pilots and hidden in sheds. From the ones that were flown to the collection points of the Inter-Allied Control Commission, some were wrecked during landings or taxiing. After the war, some were sold abroad. Anthony Fokker flew from Germany and smuggled six trains with sixty wagons each full of aeroplanes and tools to Holland. Among these were 120 D.VII’s.

[Photos and more  here.]

Flying Bum Flies

 Flying Bum 2

Flying Bum 3

Flying Bum 1

A vessel said to be the world’s largest aircraft has left its hangar for the first time, in preparation for a test flight.

British company Hybrid Air Vehicles towed the Airlander 10 – nicknamed the Flying Bum – out of its hangar at the UK’s Cardington Airfield in the early hours of Saturday morning [via].

And Iowahawk wins at Twitter again:

Flying Bum 3a

DANGER: PEEING AIRCRAFT AHEAD

warning-sign_NTN 090619

DANGER: PEEING AIRCRAFT AHEAD

Yield to the Cat_NTN 090619

CAT WARNING

Zombie Warning_NTN 090619

WARNING: ZOMBIE EXCAVATION ZONE

wombats

If you’re out of wombats, they’re available at the next exit.

[More interesting signs here… clever caption for the top image from there, too.]