Archive for the 'Aviation' Category
Frederik and Gerrit Braun, energetic twin brothers with no shortage of dreams, have just finished construction of the world’s largest model airport. With 40,000 lights, 15,000 figurines, 500 cars, 10,000 trees, 50 trains, 1000 wagons, 100 signals, 200 switches, 300 buildings and 40 planes, Knuffingen Airport is both a wonder to behold as well as a technological tour de force. The best part of Knuffingen is that it’s alive. Forty planes and 90 vehicles move about autonomously. Located in Hamburg, Germany, the model is based on Hamburg Airport.
The airport, roughly 150 square meters (over 1,600 square feet), is breathtaking to behold. But the Brauns’ masterpiece is even more than an autonomous feast for the eyes: it’s interactive. Visitors can push buttons on the railing surrounding the model airport to induce up to 11 different programmed scenarios. A visitor who pushes the button labeled “Fire incident” will see smoke begin to billow out of a house, and then actual flames. The fire house will sound the alarm and begin flashing its lights. Moments later the fire brigade–3-4 vehicles located randomly about the airport–will turn on their lights and start heading towards the fire. At intersections the fire engines will sound their horns and cars will yield the right of way. Meanwhile the fire grows bigger! After the fire engines converge on the burning house the PC decides whether or not the fire has been successfully put out. If not, another alarm is sounded and additional fire engines (up to 35!) from the neighborhood come to the rescue.
My Love Has Wings
(Above) 1943 – 1st lieutenant Roddenberry (2nd from left) and crew, somewhere between Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, and Nandi, in the South Pacific.
Gene Roddenberry flew B-17s in the Pacific Theater during WWII, assigned to the 394th Bomb Squadron. Suffice it to say that war is a hell, and that young Roddenberry had his share of hair raising, and sometimes tragic experiences. The war time experiences shaped Roddenberry and would be an influence on everything he would do through the course of his life.
Over the last year or so I’ve written a number of entries here on the files, connecting the dots between Star Trek and the B-17 experience (many of you know that TOS art director Matt Jefferies was a flight engineer on a B-17). It struck me that I had never seen an images of Gene in the AAF. I grabbed the official Roddenberry biography off my library shelf, and just as I remembered… nothing. I contacted Rod, who mused about it for a second and then got to work. Here are three unusual pictures from the flying days of Gene Roddenberry. A rare glimpse into the background of a man who knew war firsthand, and therefore promote peaced and understanding in his works.
Special thanks to Rod Roddenberry
(Below) Roddenberry at the controls. This picture appears to be a few years later, and perhaps Gene’s days as a commercial pilot for Pan Am.
(Above) Another view of Roddenberry’s B-17. One wonders if the shadow cast of the photographer is the lanky “first looey”.
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/a-god-apollo-is-my-co-pilot/
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/rockin-it-old-school/
A God (Apollo) Is My Co-Pilot
The Boeing B-17 has a special place in Star Trek history. (Above) Second from the left is Sgt Walter M. Jefferies, flight engineer and original Trek production designer, standing with his crew in front of their B-17, circa 1943 in Tunis, Tunisia. Matt peers from the flight deck as he prepares to take a 17 up for flight testing. Design similarities between the 1701 and the 17 are abundant. The flight deck and upper turret reflect the bridge and sensor dome. The front of the engine nacelles only need a bussard collector. In the near future I’ll run an article examining these similarities.
When BarBara Luna introduced me to Mike Forest, we hit it off immediately. When we found that we shared a mutual interest in WWII history, and in particular the Army Air Corp, that was that. When we get together with the girls, Mike and I are off and running, discussing and debating. Every once in a while Luna bangs on the table and pulls us back, “No sidebars!” she scolds. We can’t help it. Last month when Dorth tore an article out of the LA Times saying that the B-17 Liberty Bell would be in Burbank, I knew what we had to do for Mike’s birthday. Diana Hale, Mike’s beautiful wife later told me that Mike was giddy and grinning all week. “He can’t wait! He’s like a little kid!”
(Below) Birds of a feather - Mike Forest, known to Trek fans as the Greek God Apollo, and oh-so-serious Doug, prepare to get up in the blue via the awe inspiring 65 year old Flying Fortress Liberty Bell.
A Doug up to his usual tricks
http://the818now.com/2010/03/13/flying-high-with-liberty/
Full story on the 28th. We fly with Mike (Apollo)Forest!
(Above) The Altair Moon Lander
Dear Friends:
As long-time supporters of real-life space exploration, Denise and I were disappointed to learn that the proposed NASA budget for 2011 would cancel Project Constellation and the planned return to the Moon. Constellation, as you may know, began in 2004, after the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew. NASA was determined to make spaceflight safer for its astronauts, and it knew that it had to give those astronauts a worthwhile mission: exploration.
Constellation is tasked with developing boosters, spacecraft, and other systems to provide a safer replacement for the Space Shuttle, one that would enable a return to the Moon for the specific purpose of developing the ability for humans to live on another world. Unlike Apollo, Constellation is designed to run on a comparatively constrained budget. Constellation’s Ares boosters are based on Space Shuttle technology, reducing their development costs and improving safety and reliability.
(Below) Lunar Truck designed for Constellation.
Continue reading ‘Constellation – A Message from Mike and Denise’
More stuff than “The Right Stuff”.
Most of you know my interest in WWII. My father served in Europe, and my uncle in the Pacific. Dorth and I support several aviation museum around the world. One of them is the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor, who sent us a calendar in appreciation (above). Dorothy hung it in the pantry where we would see it everyday. Everyday I would look at it and read the caption, “Pistol Packin’ Mama was lost on February 25, 1944 in Landau”, and each day I would shake my head and think… all due respect, but Pistol Packin’ Mama ain’t the story here! Look at these women! Can you imagine what it took to be a female aviator during WWII? These are some strong, independent, inspiring and passionate gals. Who are they? What’s the story here? How could you folks at Pacific Aviation miss it?
I read the LA Times everyday on the computer. Dorth has a copy delivered to the door which she enjoys along with a cup of tea. Going through our routine before heading out for work includes my policing Beakies cage. Unfolding the paper, I spread it across the bottom of the avian domicile, and right in front of my face is an obit… BAM! Snatching the paper up, I storm into the pantry, smack the article right under that frustrating calendar, and lo and behold! It’s her! Mystery woman! Third from the left! Claire L. Walters! I scan through the article, and there it is: “During WWII she flew as a ferry pilot, delivering aircraft throughout the United States. I fall back against the wall and slowly slide to the floor awestruck. I read in silent amazement.
(Below) Click on the article and read the real story behind January (Special thanks to Valerie Nelson at the LA Times)
Continue reading ‘We Will Not Allow Them To Be Forgotten – WWII Dept’
I realize it’s been a long time since we looked at the classic 1950s Disney series “Man in Space”. This series, along with Collier’s Magazine, convinced Americans that a trip to the moon not only possible, but worth doing. Enjoy, it’s amazing!
For more on “Man In Space” – http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/disneys-man-in-space-series/
Didja’ miss me?
Just turned on the lights… got the coffee brewing… Beakie stretches his drumsticks and I get ready to begin the drex files broadcast day. It’s been a wild month for us getting “Caprica” ready for air, and a very different landscape with many cityscapes and robots filling our schedule. The BSG-now-Caprica in house VFX team is hard at it under the command of Gary Hutzel. Crazy, but that’s how it goes! We’ll touch on that a little bit today. So let’s get this party started!
(Above) Video courtesy of Binky-Boy, Enterprise’s lovable property master. It nicely sums up how I’m feeling this morning!
Hey! Airforce!
When I met my dear friend Johann Mitchell at the 1976 “August Party” Star Trek Convention at the University of Maryland…I had just moved to the Washington DC area to seek work as a commercial artist…I had no idea that several close friends of mine had already met her. When she and I showed up to meet them several weeks later, they shouted out in unison IT’S THE MOTORCYCLE GIRL! From the accompanying photo (taken about the time I met her) you can get an idea why. Yes that was her motorcycle. She also had an MGB-GT that she let me drive once in a while. Johann turned out to be probably the most fearless woman I’ve ever known…strike that, fearless PERSON I’ve ever known…and to quote Doug Drexler “a trailblazer”. She taught me much of what I needed to become a functioning professional commercial artist (noting that I was previously an art student of C.C.Beck and Helen Drake, but that’s another story). Beautiful, talented and with an infectious laugh, Johann has done more excellent AND interesting things than any of you know…including her time in the US Air Force…but Doug is going to try to remedy that:
(Left) After basic, Johann was reassigned the Charleston AFB, S.C. (Right) In Charleston, she discovered the base’s Aero Club, which changed her life in more ways than one. The photographer, Ralph Mitchell, would eventually ask Johann to marry him.
I decided I wanted to see the world, and wanted to do it in relative safety, so I joined the Air Force, an endeavor that was held up for a while due to my recruiter looking at my test scores, and sending them back because he was sure a girl couldn’t possibly get those scores. All my scores were high enough to pass, and you only have to pass two parts to get into the military, but my lowest score was administrative, and my high scores (almost perfect and perfect) were in mechanical, electronic and general (spatial relationships, etc.).
When we got to the part of basic training where they decided what they were going to have each person do. I did manage to find out from the person who was trying to place me that they needed draftsmen desperately, but he kept telling me that I couldn’t be a draftsman because I would have to go to Fort Belvoir for training, and they didn’t (at that time) have facilities for women. I kept telling him that I didn’t need training because I was already a draftsman. Eventually, I convinced him to let me take a by-passed-specialist test, which I passed with a perfect score. I think that it’s possible I was the first woman ever to be assigned as a draftsman in the US military.
Collier’s Gro-Quick Moon Seed
When I was little, this is the stuff they lined my cage with.
I can’t think of a better time to share these with you than the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. These are selected original pages from 1953′s Collier’s Magazine, left to me by my wonderful friend Leonard Suligowski. What a treasure. Some of you may remember me talking about Collier’s in previous articles. It’s where luminaries like Von Braun, Muller, Ley, Freeman, and Bonestell, to name but a few, planted the seeds that grew all the way to the Moon. Historians credit Collier’s with convincing the American public that a trip to the moon was not only possible, but destined. Incredible art, incredible ideas, incredible dreams… incredible.
As usual it only takes a click to see these images in glorious detail.
(Above) Landing on the moon. Ten minutes before touchdown, rocket motors are switched on to slow the ships’ high speed fall caused by the moon’s gravity. Vehicles are maneuvering 550 miles above landing area known as Sinus Roris (Dewey Bay), dark plain above cargo ship in lower left.
Of additional interest -
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/disneys-man-in-space-series/
From The Earth To The Moon VFX
(Above) The Saturn V miniature on the stand up in Palmdale.
Our buddy John Ellis, the FX Unit Still Photographer on “From the Earth To the Moon”, has generously provided us with an awesome behind the scenes look at the shows remarkable VFX in production. Wow! Thanks John! Don’t forget to check out John’s masterful restoration of “Steve Canyon” on DVD: http://stevecanyondvd.blogspot.com/
(Below) The LLRV, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, affectionately nicknamed “The Flying Bedstead” by the astronauts. Neil Armstrong was nearly killed when the LLRV went out of control and crashed.
Rest in peace, Shifty.
Sent: Fri, Jul 10, 2009 1:02 pm
Subject: Memorial Service: you’re invited.
We’re hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services.
I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell “Shifty” Powers.
Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy
Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st
Airborne Infantry. If you’ve seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the
History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10
episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.
I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn’t
know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having
trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was
at the right gate, and noticed the “Screaming Eagle,” the symbol of
the 101st Airborne, on his hat.
The Return of Steve Canyon!
Who’s the best pilot you ever saw? You’re lookin’ at ‘em! Dean Fredericks as Milton Caniff’s famed newspaper strip U.S. Air Force troubleshooter, Stevenson B. Canyon. Today I go gaga over the return of this vintage 1958 television masterpiece, the most expensive television show of it’s day.
A few months back, I ran this story : In 1970, while assigned to the71st FIS at Maelstrom AFB, Montana, a pilot ejected during an inflight emergency. The flyer somehow got himself into a flat spin — considered generally unrecoverable in an F-106 — and he did what the flight handbook said to do — get out of it, i.e. eject. After the pilot did just that, 58-0787 recovered itself from this “unrecoverable” situation. In a vain attempt to break the spin, the pilot had lowered half flaps, rolled in takeoff trim, and throttled the engine back to an approach power setting. After the ejection, the aircraft recovered from the spin on its own, and established a wings level low rate descent under reduced power to the ground. Ground effect broke its rate of descent, and it settled into a near-perfect gentle belly landing in a farmer’s snow-covered cornfield. http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/sent-to-the-cornfield/
That really grabbed a lot of us by the imagination, and I think that it was Jim Busby who said it reminded him of an old “Steve Canyon” episode. That kind of sent a thunderbolt through me, because it’s rare someone brings “Steve Canyon” up in conversation. Naturally it would be Jim. ”Steve Canyon” left a big impression on me when I was a kid. It ran on both ABC and NBC between the years 1958 and 1961. I had the helmet, and the toy jet fighter console. I LOVED that show, and had not seen it since 1962. We enthused a bit. I was pretty sure that my love was mostly nostalgic.
Well as fate would have it, guess who is reading the drex files? John Ellis of the Milton Caniff Estate, whose passion and madness is to see “Steve Canyon” restored. John got busy and produced three volumes of Steve Canyon beautifully transferred from the original 35mm prints. They are positively stunning. One of televisions original adventure shows, unseen for like 48 years. The next thing I know, I’m slappin’ that DVD home… I gotta tell ‘ya, I was pretty sure it was gonna’ be kid stuff… and holy mackeral! It ain’t! I was blown away. The stories are teriffic, including one written by Ray Bradbury.
Steve Canyon was like a live recruiting poster for the USAF, and the series literally had an open checkbook as far as the Air Force was concerned. The hardware in this show is astonishing. None of the aircraft or their cockpits are sets. They’ve got the real thing workin’ for them. The Air Force even flew scene specific missions for the show. No stinkin’ models or CG here! ; )
(Below) Steve at the controls of a B-29 Superfortress, No aircraft sets for this show. The Air Force made sure they had whatever they wanted.
But it get’s better, “Steve Canyon” is crawling with Star Trek alumnus before they were Star Trek alumnus… circa 1959. Look…
Deforest Kelly.
Sent To The Cornfield!
Hey gang, this amazing story came across my desk, and I had to share it with you…
In 1970, while assigned to the71st FIS at Maelstrom AFB, Montana, its pilot ejected during an inflight emergency. The pilot somehow got himself into a flat spin — considered generally unrecoverable in an F-106 — and he did what the flight handbook said to do — get out of it, i.e. eject. After the pilot did just that, 58-0787 recovered itself from this “unrecoverable” situation. In a vain attempt to break the spin, the pilot had lowered half flaps, rolled in takeoff trim, and throttled the engine back to an approach power setting. After the ejection, the aircraft recovered from the spin on its own, and established a wings level low rate descent under reduced power to the ground. Ground effect broke its rate of descent, and it settled into a near-perfect gentle belly landing in a farmer’s snow-covered cornfield.
When the local sheriff came upon the scene, the engine was still running. The aircraft was situated on a slight incline, and was creeping forward slowly under the thrust of its still-running engine, as
the snow compressed to ice under it. Concerned about where it might be headed, the sheriff didn’t think he could wait for the recovery team to get there from Malstrom which was about 50 miles away; so he got himself connected to the aircraft’s squadron for engine shut down instructions before he entered the cockpit to secure the engine.
The photos show pretty much what the sheriff beheld on that fateful day.
A depot team from McClellan AFB recovered the aircraft and it was eventually returned to service. When the 71st FIS was disbanded in 1971, 58-0787, now famously known as the “Cornfield Bomber”, was transferred to the 49th FIS, where it finished out its operational service life. Pilots of the 49th FIS would occasionally run into ex-71st FIS guys at William Tell and rag them unmercifully about the “emergency” so dire that the plane landed itself.
58-0787 is now on permanent display in its 49th FIS markings at the USAF Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, where its story is told in the exhibit. While the 49th FIS Eagle jocks are reportedly glad to see their squadron immortalized in this way for millions to see, they would prefer to see it made more clear that it was the 71st, and not one of theirs, who jumped out of this perfectly good aircraft.
Pretty gutsy sheriff, if you ask me!
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