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Zeppelins


mattingly

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Re: Zeppelins

 

The Zeppelin took off around 10:25 and rose to an altitude of about 1000 feet. We flew over Stanford University and the Linear Accelerator. The winds were pretty high' date=' which made the flight a bit bumpy. So some of my pictures didn't come out well. Unfortunately, those include the accelerator and the campus tower. But I was able to take other photos of the campus and the area. One of them was taken from the bathroom that has great view.[/quote']

 

Hey, I can see my house from here!

 

Well, kinda - in photo number 2, I can see what looks like Lozano's brushless carwash and the roof of the apartment building I lived in for my first 6 months in the Bay area!

 

cheers, Mark

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Re: Zeppelins

 

Last set: Macon and friends

 

[ATTACH]36446[/ATTACH][ATTACH]36447[/ATTACH][ATTACH]36448[/ATTACH]

 

Ah..Moffett Field. I was stationed there for a while in the Patrol. I had a get together with some of my old Navy buddies in San Fransico back a few years ago. We wanted to go into Hanger 3 (the old wooden airship hanger) that the Squadron used when we were there, but they had it closed off as unsafe.

 

The Museum was still there, but the old static display P-3 was in rough shape.

 

But even though it is now a Federal Airfield it brought back some memories.

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Re: Zeppelins

 

I can't say that this was my best work, but here are a couple of Zeppelin models I built and painted. The first one is more or less painted the way you might see the Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen decorated. I decided to give the second a more Steampunk look. The engines on the Steampunk Zeppelin are bent because they broke off, and I did a lousy job retattaching them. Still, that adds a little character to the model.

 

[ATTACH]36603[/ATTACH][ATTACH]36602[/ATTACH]

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Re: Zeppelins

 

Ah..Moffett Field. I was stationed there for a while in the Patrol. I had a get together with some of my old Navy buddies in San Fransico back a few years ago. We wanted to go into Hanger 3 (the old wooden airship hanger) that the Squadron used when we were there, but they had it closed off as unsafe.

 

The Museum was still there, but the old static display P-3 was in rough shape.

 

But even though it is now a Federal Airfield it brought back some memories.

 

It's a crying shame no-one had bothered to maintain that, given that a) it's a museum and caring for the exhibits is their job, and B) the Orion is a beautiful airplane.

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Re: Zeppelins

 

It's a crying shame no-one had bothered to maintain that' date=' given that a) it's a museum and caring for the exhibits is their job, and B) the Orion is a beautiful airplane.[/quote']

 

The Orion is still a solid flyer. Over 20+ years I got to work on P-3B's, P-3C's, UII's, UII.5's and UIII's. Good bird and tough.

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Re: Zeppelins

 

Ah yes' date=' the "Bayside Blimp" (an old Digital Hero article). Despite the alliterative name, it was a rigid-frame airship. And the casino used solid gold chips for the highest denomination (the value in metal was less that the chip's value, but some customers liked them as souvenirs).[/quote']

 

Thank you for the mention. That was my very first publication for pay, and I'm pretty proud of it. Airborne casino, restaurant, plus enough staterooms for overnight accomodations for a few dozen. Included a single-plane hangar as a nod to the Akron and Macon, too.

 

It still operates in my campaign, but in Millennium City as a retro-attraction known locally as the Boblo Blimp.

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Re: Zeppelins

 

Not many people seem to know the term "Zeppelin." Most people I've talked to call it a blimp' date=' although one student called it a dirigible (which is correct). They do understand the term "airship," however.[/quote']

 

Yep. Dirigibles (and Zeppelins) have rigid frames, while blimps do not. The Bayside Blimp / Boblo Blimp nickname is an intentional misnomer, created for PR purposes. (People tend to associate dirigibles with the Hindenburg, and associate blimps with the Goodyear Blimp. Which would make Joe Tourist feel safer?) But airship is a good general term covering both.

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Re: Zeppelins

 

The P-3 is still flown by various other countries. The RAAF has gotten very good service from their P-3s - to be phased out within the next ten years' date='and replaced by the P-8 (militarized 737) and some kind of UAV.[/quote']

 

ahh...yes. The P-8.

 

The X-3 Stilleto of the Patrol community. Or in plain language, the latest aviation boondoggle.

 

I can't go into details, but basically the advisers guiding design and mission profile were drawn from the least important positions of the crew. The end design will pretty much miss the mark. The priority has shifted dramatically from maritime patrol to union appeasement and guaranteeing Boing X number of build contracts to support a minimum number of hires.

There is a lot of innovation and new tech out there. But the P-8 isn’t it.

 

Of course I don’t attend cocktail parties with Senators and have 27 PhD’s in “reading about maritime patrol” from the UW. But I do have 20+ years in actual patrol and served during the high water point of the US Maritime Patrol community when we actively prosecuted Soviet targets. And so many of the ‘cool’ ideas in the P-8 are, “umm, well that is a problem. But let’s not slow things up with excess discussion today. Let’s set a meeting for…….” ad nauseum.

Personally I am glad I will neither have to fly on it or be near it during ops.

 

Anyway, nuff said. I am merely an old crab, what do I know….:doi:

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Re: Zeppelins

 

ahh...yes. The P-8.

 

The X-3 Stilleto of the Patrol community. Or in plain language, the latest aviation boondoggle.

 

I can't go into details, but basically the advisers guiding design and mission profile were drawn from the least important positions of the crew. The end design will pretty much miss the mark. The priority has shifted dramatically from maritime patrol to union appeasement and guaranteeing Boing X number of build contracts to support a minimum number of hires.

There is a lot of innovation and new tech out there. But the P-8 isn’t it.

 

Of course I don’t attend cocktail parties with Senators and have 27 PhD’s in “reading about maritime patrol” from the UW. But I do have 20+ years in actual patrol and served during the high water point of the US Maritime Patrol community when we actively prosecuted Soviet targets. And so many of the ‘cool’ ideas in the P-8 are, “umm, well that is a problem. But let’s not slow things up with excess discussion today. Let’s set a meeting for…….” ad nauseum.

Personally I am glad I will neither have to fly on it or be near it during ops.

 

Anyway, nuff said. I am merely an old crab, what do I know….:doi:

 

Buying US hardware and then spending 5-10 years trying to make it work well enough to be called 'operational', seems to be a standard conundrum for the Australian Defense Force.

 

Sometimes, it all works out - eventually ('O.H. Perry' frigates, HMASs Kanimbla and Manoora); sometimes it works out superbly (the F-111); and sometimes it simply doesn't (the Kaman Seasprite helo).

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Re: Zeppelins

 

Well, the Australian military did one thing right - they chose the Steyr AUG as their issue assault rifle (as did the Falkland Island Defense Force, to the chagrin of the British MoD).

 

And Spense - what do you know? Probably more than those Senators and Piled Higher and Deepers who will probably never see the P8, let alone go operational in it.

 

BTW - that's an amazing looking airship your Army's got itself. :thumbup:

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Re: Zeppelins

 

Look like they pulled a Fox Network on it. . . y'know, it was good, it was innovative, so it got cancelled. C'mon, a blimp that could schlep half a kiloton of troops, vehicles and gear halfway around the world in less than a week and someone pulls the plug?

 

sighs yet another ace piece of tech fades into the dimension known as "alternative history/what-could-have-been".

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