Slashdot Mirror
Bugatti 100P Rebuilt: The Plane That Could've Turned the Battle of Britain
concertina226 writes "A team of engineers is working together to recreate the Bugatti Veyron (or Bugatti 100P), an art deco-era fighter plane designed for World War II that would have broken the air speed record in 1940 — only the plane was never flown. Featuring forward pitched wings, a zero-drag cooling system and automated flight control assistance, plane was capable of reaching an air speed of 500mph, which would have made it the fastest and most advanced plane of its time."
"Bugatti, who had gained French citizenship between the two wars, decided to hide the craft in pieces in crates in a barn in the French countryside to prevent it from being discovered by the Nazis."
Learn to read.
what exactly does "computer-directed flight control" mean for a plane from 1939?
This whole article is full of lazy incomplete writing.
To wit -
WWII Bugatti 100P Plane Rebuilt: Jet Fighter that Could Have Won Battle of Britain for the Nazis
A group of airplane enthusiasts have rebuilt the Bugatti 100P, an advanced fighter jet from 1940
The word 'Jet' appears nowhere else in the article, nor does it appear the 'jet' was ever built as a 'fighter.'
It's as if the internet is full of wack jobs. Do you not know when to use its? Do you know it exists, its?
As usual, linking to the people who actually know what they are talking about would have helped.
Instead we have a story with the headline "WWII Bugatti 100P Plane Rebuilt: Jet Fighter that Could Have Won Battle of Britain for the Nazis" in bold print directly over a photograph of a plane with a propeller.
Amazingly enough, even the Daily Fail article which the International Business Times cribbed for this story contained more accurate information.
It wasn't a Nazi plane.
it was Italian
Looks like a mangling of this quote: "Automatic wing-flaps, that changed the wingprofile for extra lift or less drag. Adjustment automatic according to airspeed, throttle etc. This system was also capable of acting as an airbrake, or be used during dives. The same system also automatically lowered and raised the retractable landing gear." Source
I've tweaked the summary to refer to automation, rather than computers.
One other fact of serious consideration is this, how many could the Germans have built if they went all in on building them? One of the decisive factors in WWII was the greater production capability of the U.S. over Germany. By the end of the war, the U.S. was building more tanks each month than Germany had over the course of the entire war.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
It wasn't a Nazi plane. it was Italian
Bugatti was Italian, living in France and proposing to build his plane for the French. So it might have been in use against the Luftwaffe in the fight for France. I don't know how the person who wrote the headline gets from there to the Battle of Britian unless the only things he or she knows about the time is that and Pearl Harbor and the bomb.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
RTFA. Bugatti hid the plane before the Germans invaded. If they had found it, and made use of the technology Bugatti had developed, the Germans would probably have succeeded in their attacks on London.
Will