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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test will be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the horizontal integration facility at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen inside the Vertical Integration Facility before being rolled out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is seen under drogue parachutes as it lands at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test will be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Taken on Saturday 27th November 1976, the last time I trespassed into the scrapyard adjoining Swindon Works. I gained entry by grabbing some railings at the top of a wall, hauling myself up and scrambling through a gap where two of the railings had somehow been forced apart ...probably by diehard "Western" fundamentalists. The area was uninhabited, but you had to wait for a moment when there were no cars visible in either direction. The Westerns were down to the last handful of survivors and there wouldn't have been much point in coming again; besides, I was getting on a bit for this sort of misbehaviour.
According to one website I have consulted D1049 was withdrawn 26th April 1976 and arrived at Swindon on 21st September. Wikipedia's article gives the scrapping date as 3rd February 1977. I suppose it was inevitable, once train reporting numbers were no longer displayed, that the screens on the Westerns would be turned to show the locomotive number. This seemed to happen within days of the old system's abandonment. Presumably this was unofficial. Of course it made identification from a distance much easier, but somehow I never cared for the practice.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Thursday, May 19, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 6:54 p.m. ET, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Thursday, July 29, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Sondergerät SG104 "Münchhausen" was a German airborne recoillless 355.6 mm (14-inch) caliber gun, intended to engage even the roughest enemy battleships, primarily those of the Royal Navy. The design of this unusual and massive weapon began in 1939. The rationale behind it was that a battleship’s most vulnerable part was the deck – a flat surface, with relatively thin armor (as typical hits were expected on the flanks) and ideally with vital targets underneath, so that a single, good hit would cripple of even destroy a ship. The purpose of such a high angle of attack was likely to allow the projectile to penetrate the target ship's deck, where the ship's armor, if there was any, would have been much thinner than the armor on its sidesHowever, hitting the deck properly with another ship’s main gun was not easy, since it could only be affected through indirect hits and the typical angle of the attack from aballistic shot would not necessarily be ideal for deep penetration, esp. at long range.
The solution to this problem: ensure that the heavy projectile would hit its target directly from above, ideally at a very steep angle. To achieve this, the gun with battleship caliber was “relocated” from a carrier ship or a coastal battery onto an aircraft – specifically to a type that was capable of dive-bombing, a feature that almost any German bomber model of the time offered.
Firing such a heavy weapon caused a lot fo problems, which were severe even if the gun was mounted on a ship or on land. To compensate for such a large-caliber gun’s recoil and to make firing a 14 in shell (which alone weighed around almost 700 kg/1.550 lb, plus the charge) from a relatively light airframe feasible, the respective gun had to be as light as possible and avoid any recoil, which would easily tear an aircraft – even a bomber – apart upon firing. Therefore, the Gerät 104 was designed as a recoilless cannon. Its firing system involved venting the same amount of the weapon's propellant gas for its round to the rear of the launch tube (which was open at both ends), in the same fashion as a rocket launcher. This created a forward directed momentum which was nearly equal to the rearward momentum (recoil) imparted to the system by accelerating the projectile itself. The balance thus created did not leave much net momentum to be imparted to the weapon's mounting or the carrying airframe in the form of felt recoil. A further share of the recoil induced by the moving round itself could be compensated by a muzzle brake which re-directed a part of the firing gases backwards. Since recoil had been mostly negated, a heavy and complex recoil damping mechanism was not necessary – even though the weapon itself was huge and heavy.
Work on the "Münchhausen" device (a secret project handle after a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in the late 18th century who reputedly had ridden on a cannonball between enemy frontlines), was done by Rheinmetall-Borsig and lasted until 1941. The first test of a prototype weapon was conducted on 9th of September 1940 in Unterlüss with a satisfactory result, even though the weapon was only mounted onto an open rack and not integrated into an airframe yet. At that time, potential carriers were the Ju 88, the Dornier Do 217 and the new Junkers Ju 288. Even though the system’s efficacy was doubted, the prospect of delivering a single, fatal blow to an important , armored arget superseded any doubts at the RLM, and the project was greenlit in early 1942 for the next stage: the integration of the Sondergerät 104 into an existing airframe. The Ju 88 and its successor, the Ju 188, turned out to be too light and lacked carrying capacity for the complete, loaded weapon, and the favored Ju 288 was never produced, so that only the Dornier Do 217 or the bigger He 177 remained as a suitable carriers. The Do 217 was eventually chosen because it had the biggest payload and the airframe was proven and readily available.
After calculations had verified that the designed 14 in rifle would have effectively no recoil, preliminary tests with dumm airframes were carried out. After ground trials with a Do 217 E day bomber to check recoil and blast effects on the airframe, the development and production of a limited Nullserie (pre-production series) of the dedicated Do 217 F variant for field tests and eventual operational use against British sea and land targets was ordered in April 1942.
The resulting Do 217 F-0 was based on the late “E” bomber variant and powered by a pair of BMW 801 radial engines. It was, however, heavily modified for its unique weapon and the highly specialized mission profile: upon arriving at the zone of operation at high altitude, the aircraft would initiate a dive with an angle of attack between 50° and 80° from the horizontal, firing the SG 104 at an altitude between 6,000 and 2,000 meters. The flight time of the projectile could range from 16.0 seconds for a shot from an altitude of 6,000 meters at a 50° angle to just 4.4 seconds for a shot from 2.000 meters at an almost vertical 80° angle. Muzzle velocity of the SG 104 was only 300 m/s, but, prior to impact, the effective velocity of the projectile was projected to range between 449 and 468 m/s (1,616 to 1,674 km/h). Together with the round's weight of roughly 700 kg (1.550 lb) and a hardened tip, this would still ensure a high penetration potential.
The operational Sondergerät 104 had an empty mass of 2.780 kg (6,123 lb) and its complete 14 inch double cartridge weighed around 1.600 kg (3,525 lb). The loaded mass of the weapon was 4,237 kg, stretching the limits of the Do 217’s load capacity to the maximum, so that some armor and less vital pieces of equipment were deleted. Crew and defensive armament were reduced to a minimum.
Even though there had been plans to integrate the wepaon into the airframe (on the Ju 288), the Gerät 104 was on the Do 217 F-0 mounted externally and occupied the whole space under the aircraft, precluding any use of the bomb bay. The latter was occupied by the Gerät 104’s complex mount, which extended to the outside under a streamlined fairing and held the weapon at a distance from the airframe. Between the mount’s struts inside of the fuselage, an additional fuel tank for balance reasons was added, too.
The gun’s center, where the heavy round was carried, was positioned under the aircraft’s center of gravity, so that the gun barrel markedly protruded from under the aircraft’s nose. To make enough space, the Do 217 Es bomb aimer’s ventral gondola and his rearward-facing defensive position under the cockpit were omitted and faired over. The nose section was also totally different: the original extensive glazing (the so-called “Kampfkopf”) was replaced by a smaller, conventional canopy, similar to the later Do 217 J and N night fighter versions, together with a solid nose - the original glass panels would have easily shattered upon firing the gun, esp. in a steep high-speed dive. A "Lotfernrohr" bomb aiming device was still installed in a streamlined and protected fairing, though, so that the navigator could guide the pilot during the approach to the target and during the attack run.
To stabilize the heavy aircraft during its attack and to time- and safely pull out of the dive, a massive mechanical dive brake was mounted at the extended tail tip, which unfolded with four "petals". A charecteristic stabilizing dorsal strake was added between the twin fins, too.
The ventral area behind the gun’s rear-facing muzzle received additional metal plating and blast guiding vanes, after trials in late 1940 had revealed that firing the SG 104 could easily damage the Do 217’s tail structure, esp. all of the tail surfaces’ rudders and the fins’ lower ends in particular. Due to all this extra weight, the Do 217 F-0’s defensive armament consisted only of a single 13 mm MG 131 machine gun in a manually operated dorsal position behind the cockpit cabin, which offered space for a crew of three. A fixed 15 mm MG 151 autocannon was mounted in the nose, too, a weapon with a long barrel for extended range and accuracy. It was not an offensive weapon, though, rather intended as an aiming aid for the SG 104 because it was loaded with tracer bullets: during the final phase of the attack dive, the pilot kept firing the MG 151, and the bullet trail showed if he was on target to fire the SG 104 when the right altitude/range had been reached.
The first Do 217 F-0 was flown and tested in late 1943, and after some detail changes the type was cleared for a limited production run of ten aircraft in January 1944. The first operational machine was delivered to a dedicated testing commando, the Erprobungskommando 104 “Münchhausen”, also known as “Sonderkommando Münchhausen” or simply “E-Staffel 104”. The unit was based at Bordeaux/Merignac and directly attached to the KG 40's as a staff flight. At that time, KG 40 operated Do 217 and He 177 bombers and frequently flew reconnaissance and anti-shipping missions over the Atlantic west of France, up to the British west and southern coast, equipped with experimental Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs.
Initial flights confirmed that the Do 217 airframe was burdened with the SG 104 to its limits, the already rather sluggish aircraft (the Do 217 had generally a high wing loading and was not easy to fly) lost anything that was left of what could be called agility. It needed an experienced pilot to handle it safely, esp. during start and landing. It is no wonder that two Do 217 F-0s suffered ground accidents during the first two weeks of operations, but the machines could be repaired, resume the test program and carry out attack missions.
However, during one of the first test shots with the weapon, one Do 217 F-0 lost its complete tail section though the gun blast, and the aircraft crashed into the Bay of Biscay, killing the complete crew.
On 4th or April 1944 the first "hot" attack against an enemy ship was executed in the Celtic Sea off of Brest, against a convoy of 20 ships homeward bound from Gibraltar. The attack was not successful, though, the shot missing its target, and the German bomber was attacked and heavily damaged by British Bristol Beaufighters that had been deployed to protect the ships. The Do 217F-0 eventually crashed and sank into the Atlantic before it could reach land again.
A couple of days later, on 10th of April, the first attempt to attack and destroy a land target was undertaken: two Do 217 F-0s took off to attack Bouldnor Battery, an armored British artillery position located on the Isle of Wight. One machine had to abort the attack due to oil leakages, the second Do 217 F-0 eventually reached its target and made a shallow attack run, but heavy fog obscured the location and the otherwise successful shot missed the fortification. Upon return to its home base the aircraft was intercepted by RAF fighters over the Channel and heavily damaged, even though German fighters deployed from France came to the rescue, fought the British attackers off and escorted the limping Do 217 F-0 back to its home base.
These events revealed that the overall SG 104 concept was generally feasible, but also showed that the Do 217 F-0 was very vulnerable without air superiority or a suitable escort, so that new tactics had to be developed. One consequence was that further Do 217 F-0 deployments were now supported by V/KG 40, the Luftwaffe's only long range maritime fighter unit. These escorts consisted of Junkers Ju 88C-6s, which were capable of keeping up with the Do 217 F-0 and fend of intercepting RAF Coastal Command’s Beaufighters and later also Mosquitos.
In the meantime, tests with the SG 104 progressed and several modifications were tested on different EKdo 104's Do 217 F-0s. One major upgrade was a further strengthening of the tail section, which added another 200 kg (440 lb) to the aircraft's dry weight. Furthermore, at least three aircraft were outfitted with additional dive brakes under the outer wings, so that the dive could be better controlled and intercepted. these aircraft, however, lost their plumbed underwing hardpoints, but these were only ever used for drop tanks during transfer flights - a loaded SG 104 precluded any other ordnance. On two other aircraft the SG 104 was modified to test different muzzle brakes and deflectors for the rear-facing opening, so that the gun blast was more effectively guided away from the airframe to prevent instability and structural damage. For instance, one machine was equipped with a bifurcated blast deflector that directed the rearward gasses partly sideways, away from the fuselage.
These tests did not last long, though. During the Allied Normandy landings in June 1944 E-Staffel 104 was hastily thrown into action and made several poorly-prepared attack runs against Allied support ships. The biggest success was a full hit and the resulting sinking of the Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Svenner (G03) by "1A+BA" at dawn on 6th of June, off Sword, one of the Allied landing zones. Other targets were engaged, too, but only with little effect. This involvement, however, led to the loss of three Do 217 F-0s within just two days and four more heavily damaged aircraft – leaving only two of EKdo 104's Do 217 F-0s operational.
With the Allied invasion of France and a worsening war condition, the SG 104 program was stopped in August 1944 and the idea of an airborne anti-ship gun axed in favor of more flexible guided weapons like the Hs 293 missile and the Fritz-X glide bomb. Plans for a further developed weapon with a three-round drum magazine were immediately stopped, also because there was no carrier aircraft in sight that could carry and deploy this complex 6.5 tons weapon. However, work on the SG 104 and the experience gained from EKdo 104's field tests were not in vain. The knowledge gathered from the Münchhausen program was directly used for the design of a wide range of other, smaller recoilless aircraft weapons, including the magnetically-triggered SG 113 "Förstersonde" anti-tank weapon or the lightweight SG 118 "Rohrblock" unguided air-to-air missile battery for the Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger".
General characteristics:
Crew: 3 (pilot, navigator, radio operator/gunner)
Length: 20,73 m (67 ft 11 in) overall
18,93 m (62 ft 3/4 in) hull only
Wingspan: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)
Height: 4.97 m (16 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 57 m² (610 sq ft)
Empty weight: 9,065 kg (19,985 lb)
Empty equipped weight:10,950 kg (24,140 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 16,700 kg (36,817 lb)
Fuel capacity: 2,960 l (780 US gal; 650 imp gal) in fuselage tank and four wing tanks
Powerplant:
2× BMW 801D-2 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, delivering
1,300 kW (1,700 hp) each for take-off and 1,070 kW (1,440 hp) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft),
driving 3-bladed VDM constant-speed propellers
Performance:
Maximum speed: 475 km/h (295 mph, 256 kn) at sea level
560 km/h (350 mph; 300 kn) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft)
Cruise speed: 400 km/h (250 mph, 220 kn) with loaded Gerät 104 at optimum altitude
Range: 2,180 km (1,350 mi, 1,180 nmi) with maximum internal fuel
Ferry range: 2,500 km (1,600 mi, 1,300 nmi); unarmed, with auxiliary fuel tanks
Service ceiling: 7,370 m (24,180 ft) with loaded Gerät 104,
9,500 m (31,200 ft) after firing
Rate of climb: 3.5 m/s (690 ft/min)
Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 4 minutes 10 seconds
2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 8 minutes 20 seconds
6,100 m (20,000 ft) in 24 minutes 40 seconds
Armament:
1x 355.6 mm (14-inch) Sondergerät 104 recoilless gun with a single round in ventral position
1x 15 mm (0.787 in) MG 151 machine cannon with 200 rounds, fixed in the nose
1x 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine gun with 500 rounds, movable in dorsal position
Two underwing hardpoints for a 900 l drop tank each, but only used during unarmed ferry flights
The kit and its assembly:
This was another submission to the "Gunships" group build at whatifmodellers.com in late 2021, and inspiration struck when I realized that I had two Italeri Do 217 in The Stash - a bomber and a night fighter - that could be combined into a suitable (fictional) carrier for a Sondergerät 104. This mighty weapon actually existed and even reached the hardware/test stage - but it was never integrated into an airframe and tested in flight. But that's what this model is supposed to depict.
On the Do 217, the Sg 104 would have been carried externally under the fuselage, even though there had been plans to integrate this recoilless rifle into airframes, esp. into the Ju 288. Since the latter never made it into production, the Do 217 would have been the most logical alternative, also because it had the highest payload of all German bombers during WWII and probably the only aircraft capable of carrying and deploying the Münchhausen device, as the SG 104 was also known.
The fictional Do 217 F-0 is a kitbashing, using a Do 217 N fuselage, combined with the wings from a Do 217 K bomber, plus some modifications. What initially sounded like a simple plan soon turned into a improvisation mess: it took some time to realize that I had already donated the Do 217 K's BMW 801 engines to another project, an upgraded He 115... I did not want to use the nightfighter's more powerful DB 603s, and I was lucky to have an Italeri Ju 188 kit at hand which comes with optional BMW 801s and Jumo 211s. Transplanting these engines onto the Do 217's wings took some tailoring of the adapter plates, but was feasible. However, the BMW 801s from the Ju 188 kit have a flaw: they lack the engine's characteristic cooling fans... Another lucky find: I found two such parts in the scrap box, even though from different kits - one left over from another Italeri Do 217 K, the other one from what I assume is/was an Italeri 1:72 Fw 190 A/F. To make matters worse, one propeller from the Ju 188 kit was missing, so that I had to find a(nother) replacement. :-/
I eventually used something that looked like an 1:72 F6F Hellcat propeller, but I an not certain about this because I have never built this model...? With some trimming on the blades' trailing edges and other mods, the donor's overall look could be adapted to the Ju 188 benchmark. Both propellers were mounted on metal axis' so that they could also carry the cooling fans. Lots of work, but the result looks quite good.
The Do 217 N's hull lost the lower rear gunner position and its ventral gondola, which was faired over with a piece of styrene sheet. The pilot was taken OOB, the gunner in the rear position was replaced by a more blob-like crew member from the scrap box. The plan to add a navigator in the seat to the lower right of the pilot did not work out due to space shortage, but this figure would probably have been invisble, anyway.
All gun openings in the nose were filled and PSRed away, and a fairing for a bomb aiming device and a single gun (the barrel is a hollow steel needle) were added.
The SG 104 was scratched. Starting point was a white metal replacement barrel for an 1:35 ISU-152 SPG with a brass muzzle brake. However, after dry-fitting the barrel under the hull the barrel turned out to be much too wide, so that only the muzzal brake survived and the rest of the weapon was created from a buddy refueling pod (from an Italeri 1:72 Luftwaffe Tornado, because of its two conical ends) and protective plastic caps from medical canulas. To attach this creation to the hull I abused a conformal belly tank from a Matchbox Gloster Meteor night fighter and tailored it into a streamlined fairing. While this quite a Frankenstein creation, the overall dimensions match the real SG 104 prototype and its look well.
Other cosmetic modifications include a pair of underwing dive brakes, translanted from an Italeri 1:72 Ju 88 A-4 kit, an extended (scratched) tail "stinger" which resembles the real dive brake arrangement that was installed on some Do 217 E bombers, and I added blast deflector vanes and a dorsal stabilizer fin.
In order to provide the aircraft with enough ground clearance, the tail wheel was slightly extended. Thanks to the long tail stinger, this is not blatantly obvious.
Painting and markings:
This was not an easy choice, but as a kind of prototype I decided that the paint scheme should be rather conservative. However, German aircraft operating over the Atlantic tended to carry rather pale schemes, so that the standard pattern of RLM 70/71/65 (Dunkelgrün, Schwarzgrün and Hellblau) with a low waterline - typical for experimental types - would hardly be appropriate.
I eventually found a compromise on a He 177 bomber (coded 6N+BN) from 1944 that was operated by KG 100: this particular aircraft had a lightened upper camouflage - still a standard splinter scheme but consisting of RLM 71 and 02 (Dunkelgrün and Grau; I used Modelmaster 2081 and Humbrol 240), a combination that had been used on German fighters during the Battle of Britain when the standard colors turned out to be too dark for operations over the Channel. The aircraft also carried standard RLM 65 (or maybe the new RLM76) underneath (Humbrol 65) and on the fin, but with a very high and slightly wavy waterline. As a rather unusual feature, no typical camouflage mottles were carried on the flanks or the fin, giving the aircraft a very bleak and simple look.
Despite my fears that this might look rather boring I adapted this scheme for the Do 217 F-0, and once basic painting was completed I was rather pleased by the aircraft's look! As an aircraft operated at the Western front, no additional markings like fuselage bands were carried.
To set the SG 104 apart from the airframe, I painted the weapon's visible parts in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau, Humbrol 67), because this tone was frequently used for machinery (including the interior surfaces of aircraft towards 1945).
RLM 02 was also used for the interior surfaces and the landing gear, even though I used a slightly different, lighter shade in form of Revell 45 (Helloliv).
A light black ink washing was applied and post-shading to emphasize panel lines. Most markings/decals came from a Begemot 1:72 He 11 sheet, including the unusual green tactical code - it belongs to a staff unit, a suitable marking for such an experimental aircraft. The green (Humbrol 2) was carried over to the tips of the propeller spinners. The unit's code "1A" is fictional, AFAIK this combination had never been used by the Luftwaffe.
The small unit badge was alucky find: it actually depicts the fictional Baron von Münchhausen riding on a cannonball, and it comes from an Academy 1:72 Me 163 kit and its respective sheet. The mission markings underneath, depicting two anti-ship missions plus a successful sinking, came from a TL Modellbau 1:72 scale sheet with generic German WWII victory markings.
After some soot stains around the engine exhaust and weapon muzzles had been added with graphite, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final details like position lights and wire antennae (from heated black plastic sprue material) were added.
Well, what started as a combination of two kits of the same kind with a simple huge pipe underneath turned out to be more demanding than expected. The (incomplete) replacement engines were quite a challenge, and body work on the hull (tail stinger, fairing for the SG 104 as well as the weapon itself) turned out to be more complex and extensive than initially thought of. The result looks quite convincing, also supported by the rather simple paint scheme which IMHO just "looks right" and very convincing. And the whole thing is probably the most direct representation of the inspiring "Gunship" theme!
Date: 8 Nov 2013 - Comet ISON shines in this five-minute exposure taken at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on Nov. 8, 2013.. The image was captured using a color CCD camera attached to a 14" telescope located at Marshall. At the time of this picture, comet ISON was 97 million miles from Earth, moving ever closer toward the sun.
Credit: NASA/MSFC/Aaron Kingery
--------
More details on Comet ISON:
Comet ISON began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system and is now travelling toward the sun. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- 28 Nov 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet.
Catalogued as C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012. This is ISON's very first trip around the sun, which means it is still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation, its top layers never having been lost by a trip near the sun. Comet ISON is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago.
NASA has been using a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescope, in order to learn more about this time capsule from when the solar system first formed.
The journey along the way for such a sun-grazing comet can be dangerous. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether.
This collection of images show ISON throughout that journey, as scientists watched to see whether the comet would break up or remain intact.
The comet reaches its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- Nov. 28, 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun’s surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet.
ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Overdiemerweg | Penbos 18/014/2017 15h20
Frozen trees and reed were the major reason for this afternoon walk but I incidently found out that this was a trainspotters location as well. This Sprinter Light Train (SLT) with fleet number 2409 was on its way as train number 4353 to Almere Oostvaarders.
Sprinter Lighttrain
The Sprinter Lighttrain or SLT is an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) train type operated by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen in the Netherlands. They were built from 2007 to 2012 by Bombardier (2400) and Siemens (2600). It is the successor of the Sprinter train type.
The SLT is designed to replace the Mat '64 trains from the 1960s and 1970s. The first 35 sets were ordered in 2005 and the first set, 2402 arrived in January 2008. The second set, 2602 arrived in February 2008 and both were used on test runs. In September 2007 NS ordered a further 64 sets, and these started arriving in the Netherlands in mid-2009. In 2009 a further 32 were ordered. The trains use regenarative braking, which can feed braking energy back into the contact wire when they brake.
The SLT is primarily for the Randstad area, around the four main cities (Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam). They are used on stopping services, designed for routes where stations are close together and for this they feature many wide doors and fast acceleration.
FACTS & FIGURES
Manufacturer: Bombardier (2400) [69 trains], Siemens (2600) [62 trains]
Fleet numbers: 2401-2469, 2601-2662
Constructed: 2007-2012
Entered service: 2009
Capacity: 40 1st class, 176 2nd class (2400) / 56 1st class, 266 2nd class (2600)
Train length: 69.36 m (2400), 100,54 (2600)
Width: 2.84 m
Height: 4.21 m
Doors: 12 (2400), 20 (2600)
Weight: 129 t (2400), 176 t (2600)
Electric system(s): 1.5 kV DC Catenary
[ Source and more Information: Wikipedia - NS Sprinter Lighttrain ]
Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, May 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 launched at 6:54 p.m. ET, and will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Cu tren EC 274 METROPOLITAN Budapest Nyugati - Praha hlavni nadrazi.
With train 274 "METROPOLITAN" Budapest Nyugati to Praha hlavni nadrazi.
Praha hlavni nadrazi,
02.08.2023
Hull Classification: DD-20
Class & type:
Valley Forge Class Destroyer
Complement:
22 officers, 298 enlisted
Armament:
4x Electromagnetic rail system
16x 50 caliber anti-ship gun, mounted on eight turrets
4x 38 caliber twin-barrel point defense cannons
20x Superluminal torpedo tubes
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The third Valley Forge-class destroyer commissioned by the Union Space Navy, the USS Ticonderoga entered service in 2265.
The "Tico" served with distinction during the pivotal final engagement of "Operation Black Sword", where she and two Hulick-class destroyers, USS Saratoga and USS Ranger, successfully engaged and destroyed a superior enemy taskforce that was en route to attack the civilian hospital complex in the Beta Aquilae star system. By activating their stealth suites and hiding in the system's Kuiper belt, the three destroyers were able to play cat and mouse for 26 hours with the enemy taskforce and lure them into orbit around the system's Jovian gas giant. The planet's gravity well limited the movement of the enemy's larger battlecruisers and carriers, and evened the odds for the more nimble destroyers.
Ships of the Valley Forge-class:
Valley Forge, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, Yorktown, Antietam, Gettysburg, Normandy
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Credit to Red Spacecat for his amazing USS Saratoga, which is the inspiration for this design.
Throughout NASA’s 43-acre rocket factory, the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, engineers are building all five parts of the Space Launch System’s core stage. For the first SLS flight for deep space exploration with NASA’s Orion spacecraft, major structural manufacturing is complete on three parts: the forward skirt, the intertank and the engine section. Test articles, which are structurally similar to flight hardware, and are used to qualify the core stage for flight, are in various stages of production and testing.
Engineers assembled the structure of the intertank that will be flown on the first Space Launch System integrated flight with Orion. The intertank, one of five parts of the 212-foot core stage being built and assembled at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is on its way to undergo the application of thermal protection systems. The intertank is the only major structural part of the core stage that is not welded. It is made of eight large panels which are connected with 7,500 bolts. The 22-foot-tall structure carries most of the massive launch load produced by the solid rocket boosters that separate from the core stage about two minutes after launch.
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/Michoud/Judy Guidry
The Nelson's Monument is a commemorative column or tower built in memorial to Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on the Denes, Great Yarmouth in the county of Norfolk, England. It was designated as a Grade I listed structure in 1953.
Designed by architect William Wilkins, it was raised in the period 1817–19 from money raised by a committee of local magnates. The first custodian of the monument was former Able Seaman James Sharman, a member of the crew of HMS Victory from Norfolk and one of those who carried Nelson below decks after he was shot.
The monument, correctly called the Norfolk Naval Pillar, is in the style of a Doric column topped by six caryatid figures that support a statue of Britannia proudly standing atop a globe inscribed with the motto from Nelson's coat of arms Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat (translates to 'Let him who has merited it take the palm'), she holds an olive branch in her outstretched right hand, a trident in her left and looks inland – said to be towards Nelson's birthplace in Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk. The whole monument is 144 ft (44 m) high, compared to 169 ft (52 m) for the monument in Trafalgar Square and the top is reached by some two hundred and seventeen steps. The structure was completely restored in time for the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005. In 2006 it was removed from English Heritage's Buildings At Risk register. In August 2006 it was rededicated. It currently stands, albeit separated in its own small railed plot, in an industrial estate. The monument is open to the public on a limited basis.
During the evenings of September 5, 6 and 7, 2019 featured the moon and the solar system’s two largest gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. Given clear skies, you can’t miss the moon and Jupiter. The moon is the second-brightest celestial object, after the sun; Jupiter ranks as the fourth-brightest, after the planet Venus, which was in the sun’s glare this month. With Venus gone from our sky, there was no way to mistake Venus for Jupiter in September 2019. Jupiter is simply the brightest starlike object visible.
The moon reached its first quarter phase on September 6, 2019, at 03:10 a.m. Universal Time (UTC). At first quarter, the one half of the moon is illuminated in sunshine while the dark half is engulfed in the moon’s own shadow.
The dark side of a waxing moon always points eastward (direction of sunrise). And the moon in its orbit always travels toward the east, too, relative to the sky background. The moon travels about 1/2 degree eastward – its own width on our sky’s dome – every hour. So the moon went past Jupiter, and then past Saturn.
The moon swang 2 degrees (4 moon-diameters) to the north of Jupiter on September 6, 2019, at 6:52am UTC. Then the moon (more precisely: the center of the moon) swept 0.04 degree to the south of Saturn on September 8, 2019, at 13:53 UTC. In other words, if you were at the right spot on Earth (Australia and Indonesia) you could have actually watched the moon occult (cover over) Saturn on the night of September 8-9.
My great uncle El Fuego loves flying his stunt plane. He actually doesn't do the stunts; he simply loves to make havoc and mayhem for those who ride with him. I say great uncle, for he is great, and he is my uncle.
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November is National Aviation History Month
According to the Government Printing Office, “National Aviation History Month is dedicated to exploring, recognizing, and celebrating America’s great contributions and achievements in the development of aviation. Aviation history refers to the history of development of mechanical flight—from the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic, and space flights.”
It has hard to tell where you are going if you do not know where you have been. The FAA has kicked on National Aviation History Month that runs for the month of November.
To kick off our celebration of National Aviation History Month, here’s a brief history of the FAA . For U.S. aviators—manned and unmanned alike—the FAA is a critical partner in operations. Ever thought that the concept of managing low altitude airspace was new to the unmanned industry, or that the FAA’s incredible safety history a given? Here are a few interesting picks from the FAA article:
“The modern age of powered flight began in 1903 when Orville Wright made the first sustained, powered flight on December 17 in a plane he and his brother Wilbur built. This twelve-second flight led to the development of the first practical airplane in 1905 and launched worldwide efforts to build better flying machines.”
“Pilots flew 200 to 500 feet above ground so they could navigate by roads and railways. Low visibility and night landings were made using bonfires on the field as lighting. Fatal accidents were routine.”
The commercial airline industry got started later. In 1925 an FAA act supported the commercial passenger service with the Air Mail Act of 1925. “…airline companies such as Pan American Airways, Western Air Express, and Ford Air Transport Service began scheduled commercial passenger service. By the mid-1930s, the four major domestic airlines that dominated commercial travel for most of the 20th century began operations: United, American, Eastern, and Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA).” (Where are those airlines today?)
Those initial commercial efforts led to the development of air traffic control. “As air travel increased, some airport operators, hoping to improve safety, began providing an early form of air traffic control (ATC) based on visual signals. Early controllers stood on the field and waved flags to communicate with pilots. Archie League, the system’s first flagmen, began work in the late 1920s at the airfield in St. Louis, Missouri.”
As has happened in the unmanned industry, stakeholders in the early manned aviation industry came to government to ask for clear standards, which the FAA delivered in 1926. “Aviation industry leaders believed the airplane could not reach its full commercial potential without federal action to improve and maintain safety standards. At their urging, the Air Commerce Act was passed in 1926. This landmark legislation charged the Secretary of Commerce with fostering air commerce, issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certifying aircraft, establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation. A new Aeronautics Branch in the Department of Commerce assumed primary responsibility for aviation oversight, and William P. MacCracken, Jr., became its first director.”
There is much history in both the Federal Aviation Administration as well as in commercial manned aircraft. Airplanes have improved over the years thanks to modern technology, radar, computers, and general safety.
Check our accessible text here.
The Moon is believed to be around 4.5 billion years old, born from a giant collision of a Mars-sized object with the young Earth early in the Solar System’s 4.6 billion year history.
Image description: Moon with a birthday cake on top showing 4.5 billion years.
Credits: ESA
M/V Stewart J. Cort was the first 1000-foot vessel on the Great Lakes when she entered service for Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1972. Her bow and stern sections, built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, were joined together and called “Stubby” for the trip to the Great Lakes. At Erie Marine, Erie, Pennsylvania, “Stubby” was cut apart and joined with the midbody built there. The Cort is the only 1000-footer with pilot house forward. All crew accommodations are also forward. Her self-unloading system’s shuttle boom is contained within the after cabin structure. Interlake Leasing III secured the bareboat charter of the Cort in 2005.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the horizontal integration facility at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A tremendous storm system pounded the eastern side of Wayne County, Utah on June 5th. At sunset the edge of the system s right over Torrey giving us some amazing light.
© 2015, Fremont River Photography
You might find it hard to see on your phone’s screen but the planet Saturn is about to disappear over the hills in this image, captured at the Tallowa Dam, south of Sydney, Australia. Saturn is very close to the treeline, between about one third and one half way in from the left of the shot. Our solar system’s second-largest planet has been lurking around the constellation Scorpio this year and is easy to mistake for the “supergiant” star Antares, which is back towards the left and up higher than Saturn. Forming a triangle with Saturn and Antares is Mars, which has been prominent in this part of the sky right throughout 2016.
The rich starfields and interstellar dust lanes of the Milky Way’s galactic core region form a strip from left to right, dominating the top one third of the photo. These dust structures are visible to us because they block out the light of stars closer in to the galaxy’s centre. I love how they look wispy and wind-blown in the area at top right.
This photo is made up of two overlapping images, each shot with my Canon EOS 6D, fitted with a Canon 40mm STM lens at f/2.8, with a 10 second exposure at ISO 8000.
Soon after the Grouse II was put into service, the URE began developing a heavy munitions variant (GII-HMV) of the system to deal with the Greco-Roman Federation's Gladius system. The result is a much more heavily armed Grouse, equipped with an anti-material energy beam launcher, small rocket pod, close-range pistol, and combat vibro-knife. To aid with the massive recoil and energy drain of the beam launcher, the system's "backpack" unfolds into a bracing structure.
Unfortunately, due to the HMV's increased arsenal, it is considerably slower at moving than the normal Grouse II. For this reason they are often accompanied by a squad of no less than two light systems.
So yeah, this is the first variant of the Grouse II. Fun fact: I actually built this before the basic Grouse II, then I just copied this without all the extra bells and whistles to get the normal model.
Note: The image is not at full resolution, but is best viewed as LARGE as possible. Zoom in and out by clicking on the image.
WARNING:
Don't look at the Sun though a Telescope's Eyepiece or Finder Scope without protective Solar filters, as it can cause permanent eye damage. The same applies when you use a camera, and look through the Camera's Eyepiece. If at all possible, rather look at the Sun in Live View on the Camera's LCD Screen.
About this photo:
The Sun on 28 March 2016 from the Southern Hemisphere. Our Star is ever changing, and today there was a huge Sunspot.
This image was created by Stacking several 16 bit RAW images, that were photographed with a Canon 60Da DSLR, on a 6" wide field Newtonian Reflector Telescope (Astrograph).
Scale Reference:
If you consider that the planet Earth fits into the volume of the Sun 1.3 million times, the scale of the Sunspot becomes apparent. Don't be alarmed, this is normal.
Wavelength of Light:
This is a photograph of the Sun was mostly photographed in the wavelengths of visible light, and the H-Alpha (Ha) Infrared (IR) spectral line of Hydrogen at 656.28 nm).
Over 99.999% of the light was blocked with a R-G "White Light" Solar filter. Some finer details like the surface granulation and filaments are visible due to the use of an additional Baader Planetarium Solar Continuum filter (passing a narrowband spectral wavelength of light at 540 nm).
About Sunspots:
The dark spots are cooler holes in the Sun's Photosphere and are called Sunspots. The Photosphere has a temperature of 5,800 degrees Kelvin, and Sunspots have temperatures of about 3,800 degrees K. Sunspots only appear to be dark, as they are surrounded by much brighter and hotter regions of the Sun's Photosphere.
With the use of extreme narrowband Hydrogen-Alpha Solar filters, Ca K-Line filters, and other wavelengths of light like Ultraviolet (UV), the detail of the Sun's surface, prominences and solar flares will be apparent.
About the Sun:
The Sun is a G-type Main-Sequence Yellow Dwarf (G2V) Star. As far as stars go, the Sun is a very average star in the middle of its life cycle (around 5 billion years old). To give an indication of the Sun's size, about 1.3 million Earth sized planets can fit into the volume of the Sun. Through the process of fusion, the Sun burns approximately 600 million tonnes (metric tons) of Hydrogen each second, turning it into 596 million tonnes of Helium. As the Hydrogen nuclei fuse, Photons are emitted, which in short is why the Sun and other stars shine.
The Sun is roughly 150,000,000 km (93,205,679 mi) from Earth. The speed of light is 300,000 km/sec (186,000 miles/sec), which means that the light took just over 8 light-minutes (8 minutes and 26 seconds) to reach my Telescope.
The mass of the Sun is about 2 Nonillion kilograms:
M☉ = (1.98855±0.00025) × 10^30 kilograms or 10^27 metric tons, and is referred to as 1 Solar Mass. The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in our Solar System.
About Hydrogen and the Chemical Elements:
The Hydrogen Atom is the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe (with only 1 Proton and 1 Electron). Through the process of fusion, more complex elements are made at different stages of a star's life and death cycle.
This is what Carl Sagan meant with one of his well known quotes from Cosmos, "The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff."
About the Milky Way, and our Solar System's place within it:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets with moons orbiting them. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It's a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars.
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Click on this link to view an image that illustrates ''our Solar System's position within the Milky Way Galaxy''.
View the spectacular images and videos captured in several wavelengths of light with the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Martin
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off on May 19, 2022, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for NASA Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff for OFT-2 occurred at 6:54 p.m. EDT. Starliner is expected to arrive at the space station for docking about 24 hours later with more than 500 pounds of NASA cargo. The flight test is designed to test the system’s end-to-end capabilities for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program providing valuable data towards NASA certifying Boeing’s crew transportation system for regular crewed flights to and from the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Kevin O’Connell and Kevin Davis
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen after being rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Red-Footed Booby on a rusty old section of the seawall. Tern Island in the French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii.
Camera: Olympus OM-1
Lens: Olympus OM-System S Zuiko MC Auto-Zoom f/4 35-70mm. Yellow filter.
Film: Adox HR-50
Developer: Beerenol (Rainier Beer)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen after being raised into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
This is a train I don't normally get to photograph as it runs Sun-Thu corresponding with my work week and is off the only two days I can usually get out. But this week, thanks to some early morning training I was able to get out after and try for something different. Knowing that the Providence and Worcester Railroad's WOGR/GRWO turns have had a nice matched pair of classic red and brown painted GEs of late I figured they were worth a look.
I made it to the Chair City just as they were pulling into the Pan Am Southern yard along the old Boston and Maine mainline. Having dropped their train and run back to the east end of the yard they have paused for the conductor to grab their EOT off the hind end before heading down another track to pick up a small cut of empty aluminum hoppers which is all they'll return to Worcester with. PW 3903 (B39-8E blt. Apr. 1988 as LMX 8594) and 4005 (B40-8W blt. Feb. 1992 as ATSF 561) will make quick work of the light train down the 26 miles of the former Boston and Maine Gardner Branch.
And as for history of this line, how about a little courtesy of the Holden Historical Society?
In 1869, the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (BB&G) commenced construction of a railroad from Worcester (at Barber), through Holden, to Gardner. This 26-mile line, which cost 1.2 million dollars to build, opened in 1871. It was extended 10 miles to Winchendon in January, 1874 and later that same year the company leased the Monadnock Railroad north another 16 miles to Peterborough, New Hampshire. The BB&G thus attained a total length of 52 miles.
Beset by financial reversals, the Monadnock lease was surrendered to the Cheshire Railroad in 1880. The BB&;G was leased itself to the Fitchburg Railroad in 1884. The following year it was merged into the Fitchburg and became that road's Worcester Division. In 1900 the Fitchburg was leased and soon thereafter merged into the Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M), becoming the B&M's Fitchburg Division. As a part of the B&M system's Fitchburg Division the line through Holden was referred to at different times by various names including the Worcester & Contoocook (N.H.) Branch, the Worcester & Hillsboro (N.H.) Branch, the Peterboro (N.H.) Branch, and finally after the line was severed north o f Gardner, as the Worcester Branch of the Fitchburg Division. At Worcester, the line joined the B&M Portland Division's Worcester Main Line at Barber.
The original 52-mile BB&G line through Holden remained under B&M control for 73 years. In 1974, the line was bought by the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) from the trustees of the bankrupt B&M which was considering the route for abandonment. The last B&M freight left Holden for Worcester in January 1974 and the P&W operated its first train over the line on February 2, 1974.
At various times, passenger stops existed at Chaffins, Dawson, Holden, Jefferson, and at North Woods. Holden and Jefferson were small country depots, while the others were flag stops with small shelters. Only two station structures remain: the Holden depot in its original location and the Jefferson depot which was moved in 1975 to a site next to the Wong Dynasty Chinese Restaurant on Reservoir Street.
In 1878 there were four round trip passenger trains between Worcester and Winchendon. This increased to six round trips at the turn of the century. Under B&M ownership, the old BB&G line became part of a rather unlikely through passenger route from Worcester to Concord, NH. This service ended after the floods of 1936 severed the line north of Peterboro. However, a round trip passenger local from Worcester to Peterboro would survive another 17 years, handling passengers and mail. In its last years, it acquired a certain degree of fame and became known as the Peterboro Local or the Blueberry Special. By the early 1950s the B&M was hemorrhaging financially from passenger train losses and was given permission to discontinue this train. It made its last run, with extra coaches and much fanfare, on March 7, 1953. It had remained a steam train with an ancient wooden combine and one coach almost to the very end, at which time steam power had been taken off and a diesel locomotive substituted.
B&M operated through symbol freights Worcester to Mechanicville, NY (WM-1), and Mechanicville, NY, to Worcester (WM-2), as well as a local freight that switched customers between Worcester and Gardner. The through freights between Worcester and Mechanicville, NY, operated until about 1968. WM-1 would arrive punctually in Holden at 7:30 every evening, switch the small yard, and then depart for Gardner and points west. The eastbound WM-2 passed through in the small hours of the night. The local switcher out of Worcester worked during the day. By the end of B&M control, through service on the line had been discontinued and the Worcester switcher ventured out the line only to service customers as needed.
The line has undergoing a dramatic renaissance since the P&W commenced operations in 1974 and today is a well kept modern 30 mph railroad. In fact it's so well kept that chasing a train along its length is downright challenging!
Gardner, Massachusetts
Wednesday March 16, 2022
by Wilbur Zuckerman
The US Army Central Command today reported that it had successfully deployed a new weapon in an attempt to turn back the forces of the Isamic State in Iaq and Syria.
The recently developed and fielded M1A1 Weaponized Armored Responsive Porcine Infantry Gear System is designed to both demoralize and offend ISIS fighters. Said CENTCOM spokeswoman LTC Charlotte Webb, "It has proven extremely effective in the combat zone. ISIS fighters have either run away in horror and disgust, or become so enraged that they've attacked without regard to cover or concealment, resulting in a target-rich environment. We're still not sure if this is because of the uniform's unique look, or if it's because of the Black Sabbath music blaring from the gun trucks."
Webb credited the system's design to US troops who had previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "So many of them started wearing unauthorized 'Pork-Eating Crusader' morale patches on their uniforms, that we figured 'Why not go whole hog?'."
Webb did concede that there had been some problems with the system. "The uniform is rather heavy, and warms up very quickly giving off a distinctive bacon-y smell. This has resulted in hundreds of fobbits hitting the DFAC in a rush, overwhelming the Class I logistical chain." According to Webb, a more serious issue has been the response from friendly Coalition forces. "It not only offends and enrages the enemy, it tends to do the same to our regional allies" she said. "But, hey, like we told our soldiers, frag 'em if they can't take a joke."
photo by Rooters.
3. Man Wearing Bear Hat
Totem Bight State Historical Park, Ketchikan, Alaska
This Tlingit grave marker was copied from Cat Island by Tlingit carver Charles Brown.
In 1995, Israel Shotridge carveda second replica.
It depicts a man of the Bear clan wearing a large, carved wooden hat surmounted by a bear’s head and surrounded on the brim by painted whales.
Bear and Wolf
Bear and Wolf may appear similar, but the wolf has sharp teeth and a more slender snout.
dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/totembgh.htm
(The number corresponds to the numbers on the totem-pole map in Alaska State Park System's Guide to Totem Bight State Historical Site.)
Sky Watcher SK707AZ2 70mm f/10 + barlow 3X + super 10mm eyepiece.
Jupiter: I took a video with a sony W320 with 4x zoom, 585/601 frames used, edited with Castrator, AS!2 and MS Picture Manager. 04:30 UTC
At Jupiter disk's center the GRS is easily visible; one of the finest takes about it I've ever taken.
Mars: I took a video with a sony W320 with 4x zoom, 248/307 frames used, edited with Castrator, AS!2 and MS Picture Manager. 04:51 UTC
Saturn: I took a video with a sony W320 with 4x zoom, 542/582 frames used, edited with Castrator, AS!2 and MS Picture Manager. 07:44 UTC
Venus: I took a video with a sony W320 with 4x zoom, 192/276 frames used, edited with Castrator, AS!2 and MS Picture Manager. 07:47 UTC
Mercury: I took a video with a sony W320 with 4x zoom, 80/353 frames used, edited with Castrator, AS!2 and MS Picture Manager. 08:15 UTC
Four multiple-units take a regular weekend break at the system's Bury depot. I feel sure that a lot of the graffiti that covered these trains in their latter days was perpetrated at this location! This photo was taken in earlier days when such graffiti was unheard of.
With the growing success of their VCS line, EP Industries decided to delve into the drone market with their ACS (Automated Combat System) line. The first in the series was the RF-X02A, which uses a heavily modified AI system from a Hornet system. The unit saw moderate success, but it was not until the release of the unit's full-armor set that it came into widespread use. The extra armor not only adds new weapons, but covers most of the system's more integral parts with bio-laminate plates, greatly increasing its effectiveness in battle, at the cost of higher energy consumption.
This is based around Lu Sim's reFrame design. I swear it's coincidence that we both built mass-produced looking frames at the same time :P They even share some ideas and techniques!
I was impressed by the customizability & proportions of the reFrame, although the articulation of the basic design was kinda limited (namely in the arms) so I had to address that in this build. When the base mech was built, I felt like it needed something more, and thus the armor set was born. The armor doesn't really hinder the articulation at all, although it does make the waist joint want to bend all the time. I also tried to combine a more Japanese-esque head with a drone-like one, and I think it turned out okay.
Next up: Droneuary!
(Although I guess this technically counts as a drone, doesn't it?)
see it in motion at: n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/projects/sets/zoetropes/
nylon 3D printed by Selective Laser Sintering, MDF, electronics, LEDs
A tree-like form with two leaves grows as the disc spins. The zoetrope illustrates Nervous System’s leaf venation inspired algorithm, hyphae, as it grows across 3D surfaces.
30.5 x 30.5 x 21 inches
The morning sun has finally broken through the fog as the Vermont Rail System's 263 train makes its way through Rockingham, Vermont and is about to cross over Parker Hill Road. VTR 431 leads the train from Rutland to Bellows Falls, where the crew will drop their train and return light power to Rutland.
====Info====
GMRC Bellows Falls Subdivision
Rockingham, VT
VTR 263 (Local; Rutland, VT to Bellows Falls, VT)
VTR 431 SD70M-2 Ex. FURX 101, FEC 101 Blt. 2006
VTR 210 GP38-2 Ex. GMTX 2684, LLPX 3106 GP40, CSX 9704, CSX 6609, BO 4034 Blt. 1971
Avenue de Fonsny 21/04/2021 18h49
PCC tram with fleetnumber 7927 on line 81 on the Avenue de Fonsny near the station Bruxelles Midi on its way to Montgomery and coming from Marius Renard. This tram is part of a series of 61 trams with a length of 27 meters and with three sections. This series has been delivered in 1977 and 1978. Tram line 81 has a length of 13.8 kilometers and has 35 stops.
Trams in Brussels
The Brussels tram (or streetcar) system is a transport system in Brussels, Belgium. It is the 16th largest tram system in the world by route length, and in 2012 carried some 123.5 million passengers. As of 2017, the tram system's total route length was 141.1 km, making it one of the larger tram networks in Europe. In 2016, the Brussels tram system consisted of 17 tram lines (three of which – lines 3, 4 and 7 – qualified as premetro lines). Its development has demonstrated many of the quandaries that face local public transport planners. The Brussels tram system also has a number of interesting peculiarities.
STATISTICS
- Passenger journeys (2016): 126.4 million
- Length of tram line (double-track, 2016): 141.1 km, of which 80.6 km are in dedicated lanes (i.e. own right-of-way) and 12.1 km of which are in tunnels or underground
- Average distance between stops: 395 metres
- Vehicle-kilometres travelled (2016): 15.2 million
- Commercial speed (2016) 16.0 km/hr
- Share of passengers holding a season-ticket (2016): 87%
- Number of trams (2021): 388
- Peak run-out (winter 2017): 301
- Number of depots: 6, with 2 workshops
- Number of points: c. 850 including those in depots
[ Wikipedia - Tram Brussels (ENG) ]
Star Hawk Vx
Less than three lunar months after the mysterious disappearence of Unitron system's Star Hawk V test prototype, sightings were reported of a Galaxy Patrol that bore a striking resemblance to the missing craft.
Galaxy Patrol Engineering and Weapons Division added upgraded proton fusion gravity drive engines designed for a much larger craft, making the Vx capable of achieving incredible speeds and distances. Unitron surveillance gear was scrapped in favor of twin triple-barrel plasma cannons and photon missile batteries.
The Vx also displays the Galaxy Patrol’s dark blue and orange livery and characteristic bling.
Unitron system representatives deny any link to their missing craft.
EVA Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, is using a special power tool to conduct an experiment. His feet are anchored in the mobile foot restraints, which are connected to the Remote Manipulator System's (RMS) End Effector. The Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-01A) serves as a test subject for McCandless's experiment. The SPAS-01A is located in the center of the open cargo bay. Behind him is the protective cradle for the Westar VI satellite.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: S84-27036
Date: February 12, 1984
This is the a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defense system S-75 Dvina also known as the SA-2 Guideline. Instructions available at www.snakebyte.dk/lego/instructions/military/s-75_dvina/in...
The instructions are created by Knud A. Albrechtsen
Size: 1/32
Color: Dark Gray and Light Bluish Gray
Cu tren EC 275 METROPOLITAN Praha hlavni nadrazi - Budapest Nyugati p.u.
Budapest Nyugati p.u.,
07.08,2023
NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, left, and Suni Williams, right, take a selfie as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Thursday, July 29, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Epps and Williams are assigned to fly on Starliner’s first operation mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
EN: ÖBB 4020 307 passes by not far away from Baden, towards Wiener Neustadt. Greets to the Driver! 👋
The Class 4020 is a 3-part electric multiple unit, equiped with thyristor controled regulator equipement, operated by ÖBB.
- Specifications:
- Manifacturer: SGP, BBC, Siemens
- Constructed: 1978-87 (total of 120 units)
- Axle arrangement: Bo'Bo'
- Power output: 1200 kW
- Tractive force: 117 kN
- Lenght: 69,4 m
- Unladen weight: 128,4 t
- Permitted speed: 120 km/h
- Safety system(s): PZB90
- Capacity: seats for 184 passengers
The EMU operates from the 15 kV 16⅔ Hz overhead line.
HU: ÖBB 4020 307-es halad Baden-től nem messze Wiener Neustadt felé. Üdv a vezérnek! 👋
A 4020-as sorozat egy az ÖBB által üzemeltetett, tirisztoros szabályozóelektronikával szerelt, 3 részes villamos motorvonatcsalád.
Műszaki adatok:
- Gyártó: SGP, BBC, Siemens
- Gyártásban: 1978-87 (120 db)
- Tengelyelrendezés: Bo'Bo'
- Vonóerő: 117 kN
- Teljesítmény: 1200 kW
- Hossz: 69,4m
- Öntömeg: 128,4 t
- Engedélyezett legnagyobb sebesség: 120 km/h
- Vonatbefolyásoló rendszer(ek): PZB90
- Kapacitás: 184 (ülő) utas
A motorvonat a 15 kV 16⅔ Hz feszültségű felsővezetékről üzemel.
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our Solar System’s largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth.
These observations of Jupiter’s auroras were captured with Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) on 25 December 2023 (F335M filter). Scientists found that the emission from the trihydrogen ion, known as H3+, is far more variable than previously believed. H3+ is created by the impact of high energy electrons on molecular hydrogen. Because this emission shines brightly in the infrared, Webb’s instruments are well equipped to observe it.
A video of these observations can be found here.
[Image description: Three panels, each showing a close-up near-infrared image of Jupiter’s north pole, in shades of orange. The planet is mostly dark. Thick, bright arcs and rings caused by aurorae cover the pole. The centre and right panels each show the aurora a few minutes later in time, as Webb’s field of view slowly scans over the planet.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. Nichols (University of Leicester), M. Zamani (ESA/Webb); CC BY 4.0
Denver's history of boiler houses is tied to the nation's oldest continuous district steam heating system, started in 1880 by the Denver City Steam Heating Co. This system, powered by boiler houses, delivered steam to downtown buildings, offering a safer alternative to numerous individual, on-site boilers that posed explosion risks, such as the fatal 1895 Gumry Hotel explosion. The system, which grew to include the CB&Q Powerhouse and the boiler house of the Denver Medical Depot, has continuously evolved to supply steam for heating and cooling.
The Rise of Centralized Steam Heating
1879-1880:
Local businessmen formed the Denver City Steam Heating Co., installing a Holly district steam system and beginning steam service on November 5, 1880.
Safety & Growth:
The system provided a safer alternative to the dangerous on-site coal-fired boilers that were common in Denver and other cities at the time. A major boost to the system's popularity came after the 1895 Gumry Hotel boiler explosion, which killed 22 people, highlighting the risks of individual boilers.
By the late 1880s, the system was expanded with new boilers and a larger distribution pipe network.
The System's Evolution
Ownership Changes:
In 1909, the system was acquired by the Denver Gas and Electric Co., which later became part of the Public Service Company of Colorado.
Technological Advancements:
Engineers continued to upgrade the system, with innovations like using steam from a new turbine to supply the downtown network in 1949.
Boiler Houses:
Boiler houses, such as the one at the former CB&Q Denver Shops and the 1942 Denver Medical Depot, were crucial industrial landmarks, providing heat for large complexes.
Enduring Legacy
Longevity:
The Denver system is recognized as the oldest continuously operating commercial district heating system in the world.
Current Operation:
The network continues to supply steam to customers in downtown Denver, although its future is uncertain.
FOUR! No, not the great Miles Davis jazz tune, but four wheel sets with four MDOT F9PHs 7184, 7183, 7185 & 7181. The F's are laying over in Chessie System's Brunswick Yard on an early Sunday afternoon. On Monday morn, they will get to work shoving a horde of commuters to work.
On 1st October 1957, Trolleybus operator, Hastings Tramways Company ceased to exist, when it was wound up and taken over by Maidstone and District Motor Services. Within twelve months, in August 1958, Maidstone and District announced that it would be ending trolleybus operation in the seaside town and that all trolleybuses would be replaced by modern Leyland Atlantean motorbuses. Despite a strong 'Save our Trolleybuses' campaign by the local townspeople, the system would close on the night of 31st May 1959, when trolleybus No28 (BDY803) would make the final journey to Silverhill Depot.
In this fine colour view, taken by transport enthusiast Mr R Copson on the 14th September 1958, the system's intended closure had already been announced. The picture shows trolleybus No21 (BDY976), now devoid of its gold 'Hasting Tramways' fleet name, begining the decent of High Street towards Fishmarket and the seafront, on the No2 Circular route. The narrow street only afforded the trolleybuses two passing points along its restricted width. Today, traffic is banned from High Street, and the road has been bypassed to the East of this location.
Trolleybus 21 was one of ten Sunbeam 'W' Trolleybuses (21-30, BDY796-BDY805) delivered new to Hastings between January and April 1946. On the closure of the system, all ten were sold to Bradford City Transport for further service.
Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)