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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 15d

Perhaps of the few aircraft that could be deemed worthy to survive the rapture:

the Evangel 4500 - designed by bush pilot Carl Mortenson ("no formal education in aeronautical engineering") for STOL missionary work. only 8 made - most came to an end in S America, but the 1st is still going (N4501L)

Colour photo. a smallish twin engined taildragger on the banks of a lake, with wooded hills in the background under a clear blue sky. A fairly nice looking bird. Lots of straight lines, square side windows, straight functional dihedral wings and tail. Engines in long rectangular cowlings coming out far forward of the wings. This one looks to have a primarily dark blue fuselage, with white and yellow trim detailing on the wings and tail

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 15d

(I think we’re going to go with outer space daydreaming/escapism for a while)

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 15d

“A photon rocket glides swiftly across the face of the Triffid Nebula, bound for some remote part of our Galaxy"

art by David A. Hardy - featured in EXPLORING SPACE, by Heather Couper, 1985
(archive.org/details/expl...)

Colour artwork. the eerie blood-red hues of the nebula frame the whole shot, glowing supergiant-blue in the centre against dark dust strands. in the foreground, the ship appears to be passing overheard - resembling a spire containing fuel cells, and a large lampshade rear

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 26d

It was also, often, a communal journey - as the Internet was something you usually accessed in college or uni computer rooms

I remember a whole row of desks losing their minds when someone found the “Thundercats outtakes”

Stock photo of an old man reclining with pipe and walking stick

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 26d

I like to imagine - 6 billion+ years from now - some residents of the remnants of this clumpy galaxy starting their own deep space survey, looking at our pretty galaxy as it is now, and wondering how things are going within one of the minor spiral arms 👋

All the Galaxies! @allthegalaxies.galaxyzoo.org · 27d

A clumpy galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the AEGIS survey.

It is at redshift 0.64 (lookback time 6.15 billion years) with coordinates (214.45709, 52.50905).

115 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

A clumpy galaxy from the Galaxy Zoo: Hubble project, classified by 115 volunteers.

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 27d

Ah, so the reason Andre Delprat’s ornithopter “summerhouse” - built in Alexandra Park, 1906 - failed was mainly due to lack of legs..

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · 29d

“the hell are you wiseguys all staring at?! Scram, capish? Badda-bing badda-boom”

black and white photo. a large Ryan Firebee guided missile - the with an “angry” shark mouth painted on its front air intake has been unveiled to a crowd of suited wiseguys. “BGM-34B STRIKE SUPPORT WEAPONS SYSTEM” is written above the curtains

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Sep 7

it was simply the most suitable photo I could find at the time

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Sep 7

more good news: after consulting NATO document

ATP-3.3.4.6 - "AIR-TO-AIR (AERIAL) REFUELING EQUIPMENT: PROBE–DROGUE INTERFACE CHARACTERISTICS"

An F-22-sized hummingbird’s 8cm diameter tongue would fit in the refuelling nozzle tip

BUT, the tongue does widen into forks - could be an issue 🤷‍♂️

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colour photo. Closeup of a hummingbird’s tongue extending from its beak

Images showing a hummingbird’s tongue split into two when feeding

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Sep 7

If we take a Rufous Hummingbird, magically made the length of a fighter jet, with the same basal metabolic rate (BMR), all muscle/square cube law/biomechanics stuff discarded, and a (generous) weight of 200kg

it would need ~80t of nectar per day, which is what a KC-135 can carry!

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colour photo. a KC-135 drogue operator, with a hummingbird squadron patch on his khaki suit, watched as a hummingbird approaches from the rear

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Sep 7

apparently, yesterday was National Hummingbird Day, and it reminded me of something I saved off the other place a few years ago - someone (I’ve lost who, sorry) made this KC-135 Hummingbird feeder!

It got me thinking about a fighter-sized bird..

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colour photo. A hummingbird hovers in front of a drogue-like fitting on a model KC-135, possibly 1:48 scale - suspended from a garage door or porch roof

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Sep 7

"On 16 November 1982, Columbia approaches Edwards AFB bringing to an end STS-5”

(photo by Erik Simonsen (author of PROJECT TERMINATED! crecy.co.uk/project-term...)

colour photo. Side view of the shuttle and leading T-38, that are rather small silhouettes against a deep orange and yellow sunrise

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Sep 7

from “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Young Technician”, a Soviet kid’s science and engineering book, 1987

(archive.org/details/luKr...)

colour magazine scan. an extremely colourful photo: two teenagers and a younger child, dressed in very retro jumpers and shirts, examine an elaborate display of metal (or shiny plastic?) rockets and other educational devices relating to propulsion(?)

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Aug 27

My current take on the “Meet the Performative Male hunky guy reading Harry Potter with an ice lolly” thing..

colour photo. A book - “Une histoire des balloons”, with a pack of Baton de Berger Mini sausages and some cheap sunglasses

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Aug 27

(with apologies, this was either from a Luftwaffe Im Focus magazine, or a “Luftwaffe in Colour” type of book)

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Aug 27

“from the private collection of a Luftwaffe pilot of Fighter Wing JG 54, taken in 1943 at 9/JG54’s airfield at Schwerin-Görries.

The ”Staffel Umbrella“, with hand-painted ”Devil’s Head“ emblem, created by members of the Staffel (squadron), appears to be made of parachute silk..”

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Aug 26

Ok, technically it seems to be “International” or “National” Dog Day 🤷

Either way, that photo was from the Jerwan scrapbook - an amazing collection here:

t.co/OniWN3SOkT

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https://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?eadrefid=NASM.XXXX.0231_ref505

t.co

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Aug 26

I know its World <Something> Day pretty much every day, but earlier I found out its World Dog Day while smoking a cigar in a monoplane and listening to Shakira, and I was iiiinstantly reminded of this banger:

“Monoplane", and his co-pilot - Shakir Jerwan. Moisant aviation school, Long Island

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Black and white photo. A leathered and helmeted-up moustached aviator beams at the camera in the open cockpit area of a very old monoplane. Behind him, a dog with goggles atop it’s head - maybe a bull terrier of some kind - appears to be in a chill pose with a cigar in it’s mouth

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Aug 25

“Welcome to Conair!”

“A mid 70s shot of the Conair [firefighting] Fleet at Abbotsford Airport (YXX), including TBMs, A-26s and the Venerable DC6.

This was also the period in time when Conair transitioned from 337 Skymasters to TS60 Aerostars as air attack platforms”

(rb.gy/p69gq)

A white DC-6 with red stripe does a low pass next to the parked Conair fleet, over 30 aircraft in four rows. Stormclouds over the hills in the background add to the drama

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Jul 14

I owe you an email response - something AI-related iirc..

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · Jul 12

I’m gearing up for a return

It will be like this- but instead of a glorious white steed, a Magnus Spherical Airship will rise over the ridge

"Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east."

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · May 5

thanks - I stand corrected 🙏

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · May 5

if you can find a source, please share! would be great if true, but getting hold of a Harrier or a Rolls Royce Pegasus engine back then doesn't seem likely to me

(interestingly, there are a few of these vents in the Echo Base corridor walls, but I don't think these are Harrier engine nozzles)

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · May 5

I would love to see more photos or an inventory of all of the stuff taken to Tunisia…

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Echoes in the Sky @exoticaviation.bsky.social · May 5

Harrier model kit parts - particularly the engines - were used in the detailing of ships and vehicles (incl Slave 1, AT-ATs, and the Jawa Sandcrawler), but this method of detailing models (“greebles/greebling”) is a separate thread in itself..

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