It’s true. I’m a little bit weird. Today, I’ll admit one thing that I think about that is kind of strange. I don’t know how this came about, but I think it is because of my love of sci-fi movies, especially cheesy ones. Here goes…
One day I was looking at a bug on the ground, an ordinary little black beetle of some sort. I suddenly had this flash! What if bugs weren’t bugs at all, but really,really, small, all terrain vehicles on little missions from their ET basecamps. And what if inside, instead of bug guts, there were teeny people at the controls, giving orders, navigating, fixing coffee, and all that? I thought the idea was a pretty good one, and I’m waiting for the defense department to start
using some kind of 8-legged crawler in some war. Then I’ll say “Hah!, you see, I’m right! Just wait, the Giant People will soon be here, and we will look just like little bugs.”. I had this thought about the bug/machine thing a long time ago. Since then I’ve realized that the idea is ludicrous. Those bugs can’t all be machines…
As some of you know, I build model airplanes. This may seem a juvenile pursuit for a 40-year old man, but I find it to be extremely relaxing, a great way to learn about the early history of aeronautics, and just plain fun, no pun intended. There is quite a community of folks around the globe who all have the same love of aircraft, especially those of The First World War, or shortly afterwards, The Golden Age of Aviation. These were times when flying was truly a skill, devoid of any computers, and in some cases, altimeters and fuel gauges. The aircraft were made of wood, canvas, and steel wire. They were covered in what is called “dope”, which was a type of varnish that sealed in the linen canvas fuselage and made it waterproof. This stuff is also extremely flammable. So basically these pilots were flying wooden boxkites covered in varnish drenched cloth, held together by a series of criss-crossed steel wiring, drawn tight to keep everything aligned. Sometimes they just fell apart in mid-air. Sometimes they burst into flame when the engine ran too hot. If they were shot down by an opponent, they would usually go up in flames, taking the pilot with them. Remember, no parachutes until 1918…Tough decisions at 5000 feet. Either jump and risk that scenario (some pilots did survive) or go down in flames and most certainly die.
Anyway, here is a picture of one of my “builds” as they are called. It is a Nieuport 28, post WW1, flying for the Swiss Air Service. This plane was widely used by the US Army Air Corps in WW1, but had the bad habit of shedding its lower wing in any kind of dive.
http://photobucket.com/albums/a248/jono1965/Model%20Builds/th_23589.jpg
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