787 visit to Australia

Aussie_superbug · November 20, 2011, 12:33:44 AM

I managed to have a look around her on Friday while at Melbourne Airport, and the best part was i was being paid for it as well.

Brendon

MilitaryAircraft101 · November 20, 2011, 01:27:45 AM

That HUD is awesome!

PR19_Kit · November 20, 2011, 03:59:21 AM

There's something unsettling about an airliner with HUDs. I found myself looking for the weapon pylons under the wings!

Hobbes · November 20, 2011, 04:33:05 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on November 20, 2011, 03:59:21 AM
There's something unsettling about an airliner with HUDs. I found myself looking for the weapon pylons under the wings!

Not half as strange as the HUD I saw on a Spitfire recently (in the '75 years of Spitfire' programme on the BBC):

(not my photo, source)

Martin H · November 20, 2011, 06:57:45 AM

I have to admit, I like the styling of the 787. And the current Boeing house colors suit it very well.

Gondor · November 20, 2011, 08:00:41 AM

Quote from: Hobbes on November 20, 2011, 04:33:05 AM
Quote from: PR19_Kit on November 20, 2011, 03:59:21 AM
There's something unsettling about an airliner with HUDs. I found myself looking for the weapon pylons under the wings!

Not half as strange as the HUD I saw on a Spitfire recently (in the '75 years of Spitfire' programme on the BBC):

Your getting HUD's and Gun Sights mixed up.

Gondor

The Big Gimper · November 20, 2011, 09:52:31 AM

Hey Brendon:

Nice pictures. How many cup holders?

- Carl

Hobbes · November 20, 2011, 10:21:49 AM

Quote from: Gondor on November 20, 2011, 08:00:41 AM

Your getting HUD's and Gun Sights mixed up.

Ah, I see now. I wasn't aware that they used projection gunsights in WW2.

Weaver · November 20, 2011, 11:14:15 AM

It's definitely a looker, but what happened to the "huge" windows it's CFC fuselage was supposed to make possible? Those don't look much bigger than regular ones....

PR19_Kit · November 20, 2011, 05:20:11 PM

Quote from: Hobbes on November 20, 2011, 10:21:49 AM
Ah, I see now. I wasn't aware that they used projection gunsights in WW2.

They were called 'reflector gunsights' back then, and were effectively a single purpose HUD that just reflected the cross-hairs of the panel mounted sight into the pilot's sight-line.

Weaver · November 20, 2011, 06:24:36 PM

There were more advanced sights available in WWII as well: the earliest lead-computing gyro gunsights entered service in 1943. They were only used by the Brits and the Yanks, and they played a huge, and generally unrecognised, role in defeating the Luftwaffe by roughly doubling the accuracy of the average pilot.

rickshaw · November 20, 2011, 06:46:13 PM

Quote from: Hobbes on November 20, 2011, 04:33:05 AM
Quote from: PR19_Kit on November 20, 2011, 03:59:21 AM
There's something unsettling about an airliner with HUDs. I found myself looking for the weapon pylons under the wings!

Not half as strange as the HUD I saw on a Spitfire recently (in the '75 years of Spitfire' programme on the BBC):

(not my photo, source)

Errr, I think that is the reflector gun sight - which is a primitive sort of HUD, I suppose...

MilitaryAircraft101 · November 20, 2011, 09:23:52 PM

Technically, the reflector gunsight is a very early HUD, as the crosshairs are projected onto the glass panel, which is effectively the same as a pipper on a HUD..

rickshaw · November 21, 2011, 06:15:46 AM

Quote from: Weaver on November 20, 2011, 06:24:36 PM
There were more advanced sights available in WWII as well: the earliest lead-computing gyro gunsights entered service in 1943. They were only used by the Brits and the Yanks, and they played a huge, and generally unrecognised, role in defeating the Luftwaffe by roughly doubling the accuracy of the average pilot.

Errr, the Germans introduced their own gyroscopic gunsights in 1943 as well. However, they weren't as successful as the American ones and often had to be locked into facing forward (which rather negated their purpose). The gyros had a tendency to tumble under high accelerations apparently.