Everything you always wanted to ask...

[Archibald]

Why the french navy never understood that the missions of the Etendards and Crusaders could be fulfill by ONE mach-2 multirole fighter (Ie the Mirage F-1 or the F-18)?
Is it right that the delta wing have catastrophic turn-rate, even with FBW?
Why the hell Mc Donnell created the Phantom from the Demon and not from the Voodoo (which was screaming GIVE ME J-79 engines!!)?

Is it right that the German lost the Battle of GB because some stupids pilots dropped bombs on London, not on an airfield?
(then Churchill bombed Berlin, as a consequence  the Germans bombed London seriously, forgiving the airfields, and lost the battle)

How can I save my life if I'm targeted for assasination by the JMNs !!!!

[Gary]

The upside down airplane looks like one of those radar and radio reflective test rigs I've seen. In Boston near where my Auntie lives they do that sort of thing, usually testing components and such. Urban legend has it that the Have Blue project had a shape demonstraitor was put up on the Boston test stand to test for radar reflectivness.  I did see what appeared to be a wing section of something or another on the stand once. Why Upside down, I can only guess.

One interesting note, again urban legend, it's rumoured that during the development of the F-15, the CIA managed to get hold of a Mig 23 radar set, and used it to test the reflective signature that the radar would receive when it painted the F-15. Apparently it was an unhappy surprise for the Mac Air guys and some more black boxes were required to defeat the radar.

[jcf]

Is it right that the German lost the Battle of GB because some stupids pilots dropped bombs on London, not on an airfield?

Nope. Even if they had not switched to the cities...the Luftwaffe would not have been able to achieve air superiority and would have eventually lost the battle anyhow.

[Allan]

Hi fellows,
Can anyone tell my why trained soldiers always seem to hold their rifles in the same way, with the stock resting on their upper arm and the muzzle pointed down and to the left, in the case of a righ-hander? Is there something particularly efficient to holding it this way?
Allan in Canbera

[dragon]

Hi fellows,
Can anyone tell my why trained soldiers always seem to hold their rifles in the same way, with the stock resting on their upper arm and the muzzle pointed down and to the left, in the case of a righ-hander? Is there something particularly efficient to holding it this way?
Allan in Canbera

For starters, holding your rifle or submachine gun that way avoids the muzzle from covering the guy ahead of you.  Basic thing with guns, never let the muzzle cover anything you do not intend on destroying.  

[Allan]

Agreed, but why do they position the stock on their upper arm instead of in their armpit, which you would think would be the natural position?
Allan in Canberra

[dragon]

Because that position (stock firmly against shoulder) can bring the rifle to the ready position faster.  When a rifle is fired properly (accurately), the butt stock is pushed firmly against the shoulder.  Keeping the butt under the armpit may be more natural, but in a life or death situation, you cannot miss your target fast enough to hit it.  Keep the stock close to what would be your normal firing position, and you can go from patrol to firing in fractions of a second.  One thing, the military usually does things a certain way, because the lesson has been written in somebody's blood at some time or another.  

[Allan]

Thanks Dragon all clear now. I knew there must be a logical and good reason because I know the military thinks things through pretty carefully before they decide on their methods.
Allan in Canberra

[Leigh]

Why don't Camouflage uniforms have pretty wild flowers on them? Wouldn't that be more realistic?

[John Howling Mouse]

Why don't Camouflage uniforms have pretty wild flowers on them? Wouldn't that be more realistic?

It would be if you served near Burton, TX!!   ^_^

[BlackOps]

Leigh, I believe the military abandoned that idea while the uniforms were being tested many of the troops came down with allergies   I think it still could have worked if they would have had a nice Kleenex dispensing pocket added.

Jeff G.

[Leigh]

Are there any real  visible differences between an R.A.F. F-4 Phantom and an F-4S?
I know the F-4S was basically an F-4J With some airframe and electronics upgrades. If you changed the afterburner cans to look like Speys could you make a reasonably accurate R.A.F. Phantom from an F-4S Kit. I think I'm correct in saying that the F.A.A. Phantoms had a visible fairing on the tail which I don't see on the R.A.F. ones.

Leigh- The guy who seems to have a ton of F4-S kits and only the one Matchbox R.A.F. Phantom

[Allan]

Hi fellows,
You know the AK-47? It has some wooden parts in it, notably the stock and some bits near the muzzle. Now, isn't that inefficient from the manuacturing point of view, because it means someone has to carve/plane the wood into shape and then sand it and give it a coat of varnish?
If it was all metal or plastic then it would be much easier to make.
Allan in Canberra

[dragon]

Hi fellows,
You know the AK-47? It has some wooden parts in it, notably the stock and some bits near the muzzle. Now, isn't that inefficient from the manuacturing point of view, because it means someone has to carve/plane the wood into shape and then sand it and give it a coat of varnish?
If it was all metal or plastic then it would be much easier to make.
Allan in Canberra

Google AK-102 and AK-103... B)  

[jcf]

Hi fellows,
You know the AK-47? It has some wooden parts in it, notably the stock and some bits near the muzzle. Now, isn't that inefficient from the manuacturing point of view, because it means someone has to carve/plane the wood into shape and then sand it and give it a coat of varnish?
If it was all metal or plastic then it would be much easier to make.
Allan in Canberra

Gunstock copy lathes are among the oldest of standardized parts manufacturing machinery, the first were developed in the early nineteenth century.

Copy Lathe



So ya see, aint' nobody been "hand-shaping" the wooden components of mass produced firearms for a long time.

Cheers, Jon