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Mark_Wallace wrote: you know where we are.
Netherlands?
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Never heard of it.
Oh, wait...
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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And don't forget the Tiger Moth, the Comet, the Vulcan ...
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. - Mark Twain
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If we're going all Top Trumps on this, I'll throw in the Harrier Jump Jet[^]
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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It's probably the most innovative of the lot - a supreme example of "outside-of-the-box" thinking. Has me pining for the days when Britain still had some proper boffins.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. - Mark Twain
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There's also the Reliant Robin.
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We don't talk about that.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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The Robin was actually the product of a crazy road tax and licensing rule rather than an "innovative" thought.
Having fewer than four wheels meant that it was classed as a motorcycle rather than a car or a van, so it was cheaper to tax and you didn't need a full driving license to drive one.
Two wheels = good, four wheels = good, three wheels = erm, have we really thought this one through? It would be interesting to know how many people died in them over the years.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. - Mark Twain
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The Robin was indeed foul, but three wheelers can be real fun.
I had a VW Beetle engined Trike for many years, and while it had all the disadvantages of a bike with all the disadvantages of a car it was solid fun to ride, and would wheelie with no effort at all. I never tipped it over sideways (though I overdid the wheelies a couple of times and nearly flipped it).
The three wheeled ATVs were one heck of a laugh as well!
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Many years ago on my first visit to a friend in London i heard a lottery/competition on the radio.
First price was a trip to Mallorca.
Second was a Reliant Robin.
Third was two Reliant Robins.
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OriginalGriff wrote: If we're going all Top Trumps on this, I'll throw in the Harrier Jump Jet[^]
I was working on the top floor of a building in The Hard, in Portsmouth (it's one of the main inlets to the harbour), when the Ark was in, a number of years ago.
While I stood on the balcony, one afternoon, a harrier went past, about 70 feet away, at about 10mph.
I was stunned at how incredibly stable its movement was -- no wavering, no wobbles -- it just "strolled" past, at eye level, as solid as a rock.
Since then, I've asked every year for one for Christmas, but no luck, so far.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Interesting, possibly apocryphal story about the Harrier I was told back in the late 80's:
Harrier engineers were working on improved digital flight controls. During a tethered, unpiloted test the aircraft successfully took off, slowly reached an altitude of about 10 meters, did a max-rate barrel roll of 180° and fell to the ground under full thrust.
All due to a sign error in some source code.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Except Concorde was only partly designed in Britain hence the name Concorde(joint design and construction between the British and French).
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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All the difficult bits were designed in Britain.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I am guessing that would leave the French with designing the carpets in that case.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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...and the curtains.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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It was sad to see it go the way it did, bad maintenance on the wheel spacer, and a bit of run way debris.
It did actually start to make money in its latter years too.
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Concorde was very destination specific - only between New York and London / Paris. So, I did not get an opportunity to see it.
This had a wider travel base, and could get to see it more.
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Mostly because countries refused to let it fly over them: too loud!
And it was loud. Back then, I worked in Byfleet, just inside the M25 London orbital motorway, and every Thursday at 11:00 you had to stop talking because Concorde flew overhead on its way to the USA. Low, because it had just taken off from heathrow (about 10 miles away) and it was literally so loud you couldn't hear anything else. You could look out the window at this beautiful, fast, silver dart climbing to cruising altitude though, and that was worth it!
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I was even more sad when they retired the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird[^]
Sexiest looking jet ever made IMHO. Seeing one in person is mesmerizing...
The Beer Prayer - Our lager, which art in barrels, hallowed be thy drink. Thy will be drunk, I will be drunk, at home as it is in the tavern. Give us this day our foamy head, and forgive us our spillage as we forgive those who spill against us. And lead us not to incarceration, but deliver us from hangovers. For thine is the beer, the bitter and the lager, for ever and ever. Barmen.
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OriginalGriff wrote: Get a copy of Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet: Amazon.co.uk: Brian Shul, Sheila Kathleen O'Grady: 9780929823089: Books[^]
Not without a windfall of some sort:
Quote: 2 Used from £358.20
1 New from £1,300.71
Pricing on amazon.com is only marginally less obscene.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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It has been a bit of a disaster really this plane. Late into production, a jumbo when the trend was for smaller planes, a production run of only 14 years.
And yet it is a remarkable aircraft to fly on. The engines are 5% quieter (and in decibels thats a lot) than the permitted noise levels.
The skin is thicker than other air craft too.
The result is a plane so quiet you can hear people talking at a normal volume many rows behind you. They are whisper quiet inside.
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As an engineer, I'd argue that it wasn't an engineering marbvel, but a failure, since part of engineering is to make things that are economically viable.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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The saddest thing is that the loss of jobs (on wing production) in the UK will most certainly be blamed by the media on Brexit and then echoed hysterically on social media... 
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