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Domain: charleslindbergh.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to charleslindbergh.com.
Comments · 10
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Re:Up to 11
My recollection was that that was the one and only reason for his presence.
And it was lightnings, but I think he may have taught some corsair pilots as well.And, so I looked it up.
According to this, it was corsairs first
http://www.charleslindbergh.co...
And this seconds it
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory...
and this says that it was corsairs, but the issue he solved was taking off with large bomb loads ( the corsair was designed as a fighter, but was in use with the Marines as the Navy didnt like it's landing characteristics )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... -
Re:LindberghLindbergh was not safety-first! From the official website: http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/jumps.asp Even before the days of flying the mail, Lindbergh had been a barnstorming wing walker and exhibition parachutist. About the reason why he chose a single-engine plane: http://www.charleslindbergh.com/plane/index.asp His equation was simple: less weight (one engine, one pilot) would increase fuel efficiency and allow for a longer flying range. The Orteig prize did not specify that the crew was to be limited to one pilot, and so French ace Nungesser and copilot Coli took off to have their shot at it, in a bigger "better" plane designed specifically for this crossing. Yet it was untested and was lost over the Atlantic. (same page)
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Re:LindberghLindbergh was not safety-first! From the official website: http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/jumps.asp Even before the days of flying the mail, Lindbergh had been a barnstorming wing walker and exhibition parachutist. About the reason why he chose a single-engine plane: http://www.charleslindbergh.com/plane/index.asp His equation was simple: less weight (one engine, one pilot) would increase fuel efficiency and allow for a longer flying range. The Orteig prize did not specify that the crew was to be limited to one pilot, and so French ace Nungesser and copilot Coli took off to have their shot at it, in a bigger "better" plane designed specifically for this crossing. Yet it was untested and was lost over the Atlantic. (same page)
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Re:Manned spaceflight?Keeping with the aviation parallels, Lindbergh would probably not have been allowed to take off today - single engine, no radio, no forward visibility and so on - and yet he is (rightly) credited with pulling off an amazing feat*, rather than "doing something foolhardy and dangerous"
* being picky, the amazing part was landing at his chosen destination (Paris), rather than flying non-stop across the Atlantic, as that had already been done
Actually, to be completely accurate, Lindbergh is famous for winning the Orteig Prize, which was specifically:
In 1919 Raymond Orteig offered a prize of $25,000 for the first nonstop aircraft flight between New York and Paris.
People often mischaracterize Lindbergh's flight as merely being "non-stop across the atlantic". NY to Paris is actually nearly twice as far (3609 miles) as Alcock & Brown's Newfoundland to Ireland flight (1890 miles). Though from the sound of it, Alcock & Brown had a MUCH harder time of it in that old open Vickers bomber! -
The Answer's Been Available for 12 Years
Twelve years ago fusion prize award legislation was proposed. It had the support not only of cold fusion researchers but of one of the three primary founders of the US fusion program supported the legislation. Prizes actually work. Let the DoE go ahead and do its skeptical measurements and the let private sector do what it does best -- take risks and compete -- peacefully -- while we still can compete peacefully.
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This could have been decided a long time ago.In 1992 I circulated draft legislation that would have established a system of prize awards for milestones in fusion. Like the later Ansari X-prize, my inspiration was the Orteig prize that preceded Lindburgh's flight across the Atlantic.
A former head of the Atomic Energy Commission's fusion program -- indeed one of the 3 primary founders of the Tokamak program, Robert Bussard, picked up that legislation and sent it to all members of the Congressional committees on energy as well as to the various physics labs. In his cover letter he admitted that the Tokamak program had been a sham program -- promoted in the wake of the Apollo program -- to try and get funding to try out all the "hopeful ideas" out there. The Tokamak program turned into a Frankenstein monster and instead started killing all the hopeful ideas they had originally set out to fund.
It's taken quite a while for the government to lose its fixation on the Tokamak.
Maybe now they'll reconsider my legislation -- especially now that the prize award approach has been largely vindicated.
Or will it take another Viet Nam, or worse, WW III for them to wake up to the stupidity of their energy policies?
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Re:Don't get your hopes up too far.> As I understand it, this ship can't make orbit, couldn't come back from one if it did, and has no clear path to an orbital vehicle. It's designed to win the prize and nothing else. Not that it's not an important milestone, mind you, but it's just a dead-end.
As I understand it, this ship is so laden down with fuel that it can barely make it off the runway, and with only a single engine and single pilot, has no clear path to being able to carry passengers or transatlantic mail. It's designed to win the $25,000 Orteig Prize and nothing else. Not that it's not an important milestone, mind you, but it's just a dead-end.
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A Constitutional Convention is NeededThe fact that the feds didn't do something like the X-Prize long ago, and on a much larger scale, is proof they are not worthy of the position of power they have usurped. They're afraid of letting the best men win and will continue the long and sordid history of claiming "you can't keep a good man down".
The feds could have pushed on things like prize award incentives for technical achievements in energy or space transportation or scientific discovery.
Think about Henry Ford and The Guggenheim Trophy or Charles Lindbergh and the Orteig Prize.
Of course, I think we all know why prizes that let the best man win (AKA "fair contests") are anathema to the guys who run things.
The feds have become the enemy not simply of the people but of the planet. They're going to grind the United States, and with it life on earth, into the dust. Nanotech grey-goo won't be an issue if the feds aren't removed from the seat of power by something at least as radical as a Constitutional Convention.
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Re:subsidiaries
there are some things more important than the war against terrorism
Like being coherent. The National Guard is in the airport to protect citizens, not threaten them. But you knew that.
Holding people without charges is unpatriotic. Even with the best intentions.
FYI, you can't be unpatriotic with the best of intentions. It's a contradiction in terms. It's saying someone hates his country with the best of intentions. Can't be done. I think you mean their patriotism is misguided.
Questioning someone's patriotism has a long and ignoble history. It's a form of demogoguery. People can be wrong and still be patriots and patriots have no monopoly on the truth. But you knew that.
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Ho hum
These kinds of feats just don't have the glamor they used to. Especially since his gondola is all tricked out with hi-tech stuff. The balloon even flies itself so that he can sleep. I understand that this is a very tough feat, particularly since this is his 5th attempt at it, but it just doesn't have that extra dimension that makes it very exciting (it isn't a first circumnavigation, because that was done in the 16th century; it doesn't demonstrate the possibilites of future transport or a smaller world; it doesn't have great political implications; nor is it a demonstration of new technologies and engineering). I doubt that 100,000 people will storm the landing zone in celebration if he does make it around.
