AVIATION TREATS
BODACIOUS AIRCRAFT
The Martin Mars today
(The museum at Sproat Lake B.C. closed, it is unlikely that the Mars will keep operating. One is destined for the US Navy museum in Florida. the other may end up in a museum in Canada.)
old advertisement to carry passengers and a proposed use that didn't sell.
more history including its origin as an armed multi-role aircraft, plus proposals for larger flying boats from Martin and others, as well as a reason why use of flying boats faded. (The advantage of airplanes over ships was fully realized in the jet age for passenger and high value cargo – speed giving great productivity for the capital investment.)
Jet-engined flying boats! (a demanding development effort)
Valkryie
(The first SST? Those interested in avionics for pilots might note the crew's difficulties
judging height above touchdown and maintaining level flight.) (Link sometimes slow to respond.)
Shuttle Carrier
(first used for "take it up and release as a glider" testing!)
LINK LOST IN CYBERSPACE - NASA MOVED THE PHOTO
My minor item, a big bold fuel cargo tank for use in the High Arctic in the 1970s. Air freight was essential, one move of a drilling rig took 100 trips by the Hercules airplane, only a 22 minute flight.
Rotodyne
(a helicopter, mostly.) [Site layout jumps around like a helicopter!.]
A Surprise
(honorable mention in this category for bold advertising
- might appeal to production people & accountants with a sense of humor :-)
LESSER KNOWN MUSEUMS
tucked away near Portland
OR, this group have been recognized with a new building
It was a very well done volunteer effort, with a variety of exhibits including military
and airline, in an old building. Their new incarnation is best suited for non-aviation people especially students, rather than aviation nuts, but I saw some big radial engines in a back room. (And has other events, from car shows to dances, in conjunction with a park across the road and the Fort Vancouver historical district close by.)
They've updated their own website.
near Victoria BC
(This modest sized museum has breadth, from active restoration work through engines and instruments to airline uniforms - and of course the aircraft on display.)
Canadian Forces Base Comox B.C. has a nice museum full of artifacts and historical information, supported by a very good library. Look to the southeast of the road intersection in front of the main gate, and a few blocks south for a collection of aircraft fading in the open - including the kludge named "Argus" that did much submarine patrol work for Canada.
Langley B.C. airport, on the highway east of Langley B.C., has a good museum with a pioneering jet fighter and either a Hampton or Bolingbroke light bomber they are very proud of (Victoria airport's museum has the other - hey I don't remember even though one looks odder than the other, perhaps reverse-correlated to the oddness of the name ;-).
And a quick mention of two in the UK, especially if you are a Vulcan fan or a technical pilot:
- the Cockpit collection, Rayleigh Essex, which has some V-bomber cockpits
- the RAF Museum Cosford Shropshire has each of the three V-bomber designs (Valiant, Victor, Vulcan - three quite different designs)
(Hey, once over there you might as well search out one of the Vulcans on display around the island - checking when the one now flying again will be in the air) - and see the complete examples of the other B-bombers :-) If you can't afford to go over there, a Vulcan or two or three are on display in the US.
...and see the Mars link above for information on the new Mars and helicopter museum near Port Alberni B.C.
Plus for sub-surface types (or at least near both sides of the surface) check museum at CFB Esquimalt near Victoria B.C.
MISCELLANEOUS
An aerospace painting (rocket launch). (Click on link below painting to read a tribute to its artist.)
Another for airplane pilots. (Below the painting is a link to the artist's description of how he made it.)
For a bit of humour from the ATC procedures people
- if you know the comic strip with Sylvester & Tweety characters -
check the GPS approach to runway 16 at KPSM (Portsmouth NH, USA).
© Keith Sketchley
2015.07.13
Please advise Keith if any links don't work or have become inappropriate - the Internet changes.
