Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 14h

Clearly a touchy business, and always has been. The historic duPont gunpowder plant on the Brandywine in DE is interesting to visit. During the Civil War they became the 1st powder plant to run a night shift (think about it). Only family members had authority to light the lights.

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 15h

The interior will once again be accessible. Lots of lessons about living on orbit were learned in that space (including that the shower was not a good idea).

2

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 19h

Yep.

2

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 19h

I believe that's the sole DC-4E prototype. Triple vert stabs give it away.

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 19h

Start of an interesting🧵...

Dr. M.A. Davis @mikedavis.bsky.social · 20h

Perhaps the most personally admirable Presidential offspring was Theodore Roosevelt "Jr" (actually TR the III, but since his father did not use II or Jr in his name he is usually remembered as Jr) - (1887-1944)

In many ways, his life was much like his father's - a man of business,

Portrait photograph of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1887-1944);

1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 22h

So who should we short?

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 1d

MDAC built 2 Skylabs. One was orbited by the 1st 2 stages of a Saturn 5. The 2nd was placed in the Air and Space Museum on the Mall in DC where its public display is scheduled to resume next July.

1 3

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 2d

In Southeastern CT, that would be "Thames" (as in the river, pronounced as rhyming with James).

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 2d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

Old friend of mine who spent many years at sea as a merchant marine officer said the worst night of his maritime life was on Lake Ontario. Seems that high wind with a long fetch over relatively shallow water makes for some very nasty wave action.

1 4

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

It sounds like the skipper of the Glorioso was a serious badass. Hope he survived the action.

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

Go ahead...invade Switzerland.

Hupple’s Cat @hupplescat.bsky.social · 3d

I just learned from a YouTube video that the Swiss kept their Mirage IIIs in caves.

MCU has nothing on these guys.

A cave hangar with three silver delta wing fighter planes, two on the ground, and one suspended from an overhead crane rig.

Very sci-fi.

3

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

Good info here.

Don Brown @gettheflick.bsky.social · 3d

It's never a good sign when the General Public starts thinking about air traffic control. #ATC. (sigh) We tried to warn ya.

Here's a useful link for you. I'll show you how to use it in the remarks. #FAA #ATC #FlightDelays

National Airspace System

The Federal Aviation Administration's National Airspace System (NAS) dashboard

nasstatus.faa.gov

2

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

That would explain it. Thanks!

1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

So with about 4800 installed hp, ferry at 55% pwr = 2640hp x sfc of about 0.45 = 1188 lbs/hr or at 6 lbs/gal about 196 gph so 820 gal extra ferry fuel gives about 4.2'ish hours; at say 160mph, about 670 miles of extended ferry range with the aux tanks. Certainly non-trivial.

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

My favorite words from your splendid posts: "No lives were lost." Query, tho': Is there any day of the year when you'll have nothing to report?

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 3d

Sounds like he enjoyed the airplane. I liked "the coloring was deserted"; just can't trust those paint jobs, can we?

1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 4d

Ragtop no less. Very cool. We're into the best season for that.

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 4d

The Corvair was, despite Nader, a pretty cool machine. IIRC, a flat six, air-cooled, about 110hp. They were in vogue for a while for powering home-built aircraft.

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 4d

Don't forget that the 1st reactor from Seawolf (SSN-575) is...somewhere
...on the bottom of the Atlantic.

1 2

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 4d

Let's not forget that the Tomcat's first flight occurred in 12/1970. This advanced structural design was done in the late 1960s by guys in short-sleeved white shirts with pocket protectors using K&E Deci-Trig slide rules and engineering smarts.

1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 4d

Huh...never knew that the FW planes of their boomers had an ice penetrating pos'n. Makes sense, tho'. Wonder why they were rigged thus at that time/location.

1 1

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 5d

We were getting TITs near 1600K in 1970 but survival rates were not what you'd want yet.

1 2

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 5d

When I was at P&W briefly in the early 70s we were still pushing casting methods (DS & single crystal) to eke out a bit more TIT. 1st stage turbine vanes & blades were actively cooled but I bet that got a lot better in ensuing years/decades.

2 2

Frank Van Haste @vanhaste.com · 5d

That sounds credible. CFD came a long way over the time period we're talking about.

2

Reposted by Frank Van Haste

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 6d

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

sites.stat.columbia.edu

51 490 1.7K