 | Armstrong Siddeley Outback rally 2008 Robert Penn Bradly, ASCC historian and author, organized a rally for Armstrong Siddeley cars through the Australian Outback from 27 July to 8 August 2008. Eight Sapphires, 4 other cars by AS owners, 30 participants went to Cobar, and then to Cunnamulla, Thargominda, via Noccundra and Eromanga to Charleville, to Barcaldine, Longreach. via Sapphire to Emerald, to Roma, Goondiwindi, Coonabarabran, and finished in Dubbo before returning and home. From Cobar to Dubbo alone the shared route was about 4000 km. The video has a lot of wind noise. |
 | Parnall Peto Submarine Launched Seaplane and the HMS M2 The Parnall Peto was a small seaplane designed to Air Ministry specification 16/24 in the early 1920s for use as a submarine-carried reconnaissance aircraft. Half a dozen examples were designed and built by George Parnall and Company, one being lost with the submarine HMS M2 when her hangar flooded. It was one of the most challenging projects which the company undertook, because of the very small hangar in which the aircraft had to fit, mounted immediately in front of the submarine's conning tower. Of mixed wood, fabric, aluminium and steel construction, it had unequal span, Warren-braced folding rectangular wings. The first aircraft, N181, was powered by a 128 hp Bristol Lucifer engine and had mahogany plywood "Consuta" type floats. Performance was generally satisfactory but improvements were made and the machine was rebuilt with new wings, metal floats and a 169 hp Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose engine. Tests both on the sea and in the air showed that designer, Harold Bolas, had met the requirements and it was officially judged to be exceptionally good. The aircraft was launched using a compressed air catapult mounted on the forward casing of the submarine and recovered using a crane. HMS M2 was a Royal Navy aircraft-carrying submarine shipwrecked in Lyme Bay, England, on 26 January 1932. She was one of three M class boats completed. M2 was laid down at Vickers shipyard at Barrow in Furness in 1916, and launched in 1919. After the accidental sinking of HMS M1 in 1925, M2 and her sister M3 were taken out of service and reassigned for experimental use. She had her gun removed because of the limit in submarine gun calibre of 8 inches imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, and it was replaced by a small aircraft hangar, the work being completed in 1928. This could carry a small Parnall Peto seaplane, specially designed for the M2 and which could be launched by hydraulic catapult within a few minutes of surfacing. The aircraft would land alongside the submarine on completion of its sortie and be winched aboard using a crane. The submarine was to operate ahead of the battle fleet in a reconnaissance role, flying off her seaplane as a scout. The accident M2 left her base at Portland on 29 January 1932, for an exercise in West Bay. Her last communication was a radio message at 10:11 to her Submarine depot ship, HMS Titania to announce that she would dive at 10:30 am. The captain of a passing merchant ship, the Newcastle coaster Tynsider, mentioned that he had seen a large submarine dive stern first at around 11:15. Unaware of the significance of this, he only reported it in passing once he reached port. Her crew of 60 were all killed in the accident. The submarine was found on 3 February, eight days after her loss. Ernest Cox, the salvage expert that had raised the German battleships at Scapa Flow, was hired to salvage the M2. In an operation lasting nearly a year and 1,500 dives, on 8 December 1932, she was lifted to within six metres of the surface before a gale sprang up, sending her down to her final resting place. The hangar door was found open and the aircraft still in it. The accident was believed to be due to water entering the submarine through the hangar door, which had been opened to launch the aircraft shortly after surfacing. This is a similar reason to the loss of the RO-RO cross channel ferry Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987, which capsized when the sea entered the ship through the large car-deck door which was close to the waterline. Two explanations have been advanced. The first is that since the crew were always trying to beat their record time for launching the aircraft, they had simply opened the hangar door on surfacing whilst the deck was still awash. The other theory is that the flooding of the hangar was due to failure of the stern hydroplanes. High pressure air tanks were used to bring the boat to the surface in an awash condition but to conserve this limited resource, compressors were then started to completely clear the ballast tanks of water by blowing air into them. This could take as long as 15 minutes to complete. The normal procedure for launching the aircraft was therefore to hold the boat on the surface using the hydroplanes whilst the hangar door was opened and the aircraft launched. Failure of the rear hydroplanes would have sent the stern down as observed by the merchant officers and water would have eventually entered the hangar. The aftermath. The submarine currently lies upright on the sea bed at ( 50°34′34″N, 2°32′55″W) OSGB36. Her keel is about 32 metres below the surface at low tide, and her highest point at the top of the conning tower at around 20 metres. She is a popular dive for scuba divers. |
 | Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a decade. Some of the world's smaller air forces still fly Mirage IIIs or variants as front-line equipment today, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Pakistan (largest operator), and Venezuela.The Mirage III family grew out of French government studies begun in 1952 that led in early 1953 to a specification for a lightweight, all-weather interceptor capable of climbing to 18,000 m (59,040 ft) in six minutes and able to reach Mach 1.3 in level flight. Dassault's response to the specification was the Mystère-Delta 550, a sporty-looking little jet that was to be powered by twin Armstrong Siddeley MD30R Viper afterburning turbojets, each with thrust of 9.61 kN (2,160 lbf). A SEPR liquid-fuel rocket motor was to provide additional burst thrust of 14.7 kN (3,300 lbf). The aircraft had a tailless delta configuration, with a 5% chord (ratio of airfoil thickness to length) and 60 degree sweep. The tailless delta configuration has a number of limitations. The lack of a horizontal stabilizer means flaps cannot be used, resulting in a long take-off run and a high landing speed. The delta wing itself limits maneuverability; and suffers from buffeting at low altitude, due to the large wing area and resulting low wing loading. However, the delta is a simple and pleasing design, easily built and robust, capable of high speed in a straight line, and with plenty of space in the wing for fuel storage. The first prototype of the Mystere-Delta, without afterburning engine or rocket motor and an absurdly large vertical tailfin, flew on 25 June 1955. After some redesign, reduction of the tailfin to more rational size, installation of afterburners and rocket motor, and renaming to Mirage I, the prototype attained Mach 1.3 in level flight without the rocket, and Mach 1.6 with the rocket lit in late 1955.The first major production model of the Mirage series, the Mirage IIIC, first flew in October 1960. The IIIC was largely similar to the IIIA, though a little under a half meter longer and brought up to full operational fit. The IIIC was a single-seat interceptor, with an Atar 09B turbojet engine, featuring an "eyelet" style variable exhaust. The Mirage IIIC was armed with twin 30 mm DEFA revolver-type cannon, fitted in the belly with the gun ports under the air intakes. Early Mirage IIIC production had three stores pylons, one under the fuselage and one under each wing, but a second outboard pylon was quickly added to each wing, for a total of five. The outboard pylon was intended to carry a Sidewinder air-to-air missile (AAM), later replaced by Matra Magic.The Mirage IIIC was exported to Israel as the Mirage IIICJ, to South Africa as the Mirage IIICZ, and to Switzerland as the Mirage IIICS, to which one was sold in preparation for license construction. Some export customers obtained the Mirage IIIB, with designations only changed to provide a country code. Such as the Mirage IIIDA for Argentina, Mirage IIIDBR and Mirage IIIDBR-2 for Brazil. Mirage IIIBJ for Israel, Mirage IIIDL for Lebanon, Mirage IIIDP for Pakistan, Mirage IIIBZ and Mirage IIIDZ and Mirage IIID2Z for South Africa, Mirage IIIDE for Spain, Mirage IIIBS and Mirage IIIDS for Switzerland, Mirage IIIDV for Venezuela. * Crew: 1 * Length: 15 m (49 ft 3.5 in) * Wingspan: 8.22 m (26 ft 11 in) * Height: 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) * Wing area: 34.85 m² (375 ft²)3 * Empty weight: 7,050 kg (15,600 lb) * Max takeoff weight: 13,500 kg (29,700 lb) * Powerplant: 1× SNECMA Atar 09C turbojet * Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (2,350 km/h, 1,460 mph) * Range: 2,400 km (1,300 NM, 1,500 mi) * Service ceiling: 17,000 m (56,000 ft) * Rate of climb: 83.3 m/s (16,400 ft/min) * Wing loading: 387 kg/m² (79 lb/ft²) |
 | R@DICAL Departure.. The Douglas DC-3 is a fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Because of its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II, it is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made.The DC-3 was engineered by a team led by chief engineer Arthur E. Raymond, and first flew on December 17, 1935 (the 32nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk). The plane was the result of a marathon phone call from American Airlines CEO Cyrus Smith to Donald Douglas requesting the design of an improved successor to the DC-2. The amenities of the DC-3 (including sleeping berths on early models and an in-flight kitchen) popularized air travel in the United States. With only three refueling stops, eastbound transcontinental flights across America taking approximately 15 hours became possible. Westbound trips took 17 hours 30 minutes - still a significant improvement over the competing Boeing 247. Before the arrival of the DC-3, such a trip would entail short hops in commuter aircraft, during the day, coupled with train travel overnight.Early U.S. airlines like United, American, TWA and Eastern ordered over 400 DC-3s. These fleets paved the way for the modern American air travel industry, quickly replacing trains as the favored means of long-distance travel across the United States. Piedmont Airlines operated DC-3s from 1948 to 1963. One of Piedmont's DC-3s, operated by the Carolinas Aviation Museum, continues to fly to air shows today and has been used in various movies.During World War II, many civilian DC-3s were drafted for the war effort and nearly 10,000 military versions of the DC-3 were built, under the designations C-47, C-53, R4D and Dakota. Peak production of the type was reached in 1944 with 4853 being delivered. The armed forces of many countries used the DC-3 and its military variants for the transport of troops, cargo and wounded. Licensed copies were built in Japan as Showa L2D (487 aircraft) and in the USSR as the Lisunov Li-2 (between 2200 and 4900 aircraft, per varying sources).10,655 DC-3s were built at Santa Monica, California and Long Beach, California in both civil and military versions. Over 2000 were built in Russia, under license, as the Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab). 485 were built in Japan, as the L2D Type 0 transport. More than 400 remained in commercial service, in 1998. A wide variety of engines was fitted to the DC-3 throughout the course of production. The most popular was the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Double Wasp radial, but both the Wright R-1820 Cyclone and the Pratt & Whitney R-2000 radials saw use. Some DC-3s were upgraded to use Rolls-Royce Dart or Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turbines. The Basler BT-67 is a derivative type of the DC-3. Basler refurbishes DC-3s, fitting them with PT-6 turbo-prop engines, lengthening the fuselage by over 3 feet and strengthening the airframes in selected areas. |
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![Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\](images/articles/thumbs/nytremblantthumb.jpg "Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\")
