July 21, 2009
Apropos of the Apollo 11 commemmoration I just re-watched The Right Stuff, which of course set me on a good ol' Wikiwander through 1960s space and aeronautics topics.
* Did you know you can make a cloud on a humid day by cracking a whip? The Prandtl-Glauert Singularity, also explains the stunning shock cone that sometimes seen as a plane crosses Mach 1.
* Chuck Yaeger was shot down over France, escaped to Spain with the help of the French resistance, was re-instated to flight status by Eisenhower, and once made an 'Ace in a day': one mission, 5 enemy planes shot down. At the time of this 1991 interview, Yaeger was still flying F15s, F16s and stealth fighter prototypes - he brings the crotchet yet shuts down all attempt to collect a 'yeah the good ol' days were better'. He flew supersonic planes up to his final retirement in 1997 at age 73.
* Pancho's Happy Bottom Riding Club, seen in the beginning of the Right Stuff, is worth a whole post on its own. Pancho's was named for it owner, Mrs. Florence 'Pancho' Barnes: a socialite who wandered revolutionary Mexico, became a test pilot and stunt pilot, and eventually an entrepreneur whose business grew with the nearby Muroc (later Edwards) air force base. Her 'Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch' aka Happy Bottom Riding Club was basically the Posse East for dry lakes test pilots. If you don't click on anything else in this post please enjoy these rules for hostesses at the HBRC. By the way, season 3 of Mad Men starts in a few weeks.
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The shock cone can form during during subsonic flight as well depending on the atmospheric conditions. Also, I don't buy that this effect is limited to "transonic" motion. What should we make of the condensation trails that form from the wingtips of airliners taking off in humid air when the temperature is near the dewpoint? I've also seen condensation clouds around the wing surfaces even though we're certainly not in transonic flight.
Brief physics lab intro to bow/shock waves with a link to a neat applet for understanding how they're created
posted by splatnikGanglion at 12:06AM CST on July 22