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Custer
Space Sector Commander
Joined: 22 Aug 2015
Posts: 929
Location: Earth
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 Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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It would be tempting fate to call a futuristic ocean liner "Gigantic" - a bit too similar to "Titanic" as names go. A streamlined shape seems cool, but at ordinary nautical speeds, the shape of the bit above the water level wouldn't be very important. A hovercraft or a hydrofoil, though, could zoom along a bit faster...
This is a real hovercraft, one of the biggest ever to go into service... and now in danger of being sold for scrap.  |
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Krel
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2016 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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I used to work with a guy, that at one time worked at the Bell Textron plant where they made hovercraft. He said that the hovercraft had a keel that they could lower when they traveled over the water to aid the hovercraft in keeping as straight course.
My Brother-in-law served on a joint forces Aircraft Carrier, Navy and Marines, while in the Navy. Interestingly, the Navy/Marine sections of the A.C. were separate, except for the hanger deck. There were only a couple of locations were you could pass from Navy to Marine sections, and back again. The Marines had hovercraft for beach landings. He said that the hovercraft rested in a saucer like cradle that would pivot down for launching and recovery. This was to keep the skirt from rubbing or scraping on anything. This aided in prolonging the life of the skirt, which can suffer damage from contact with surfaces.
David. |
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Robert (Butch) Day
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 1377
Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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Now this is going too far; the 1957 Ford X-2000:
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orzel-w
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Robert (Butch) Day wrote: | | Now this is going too far... |
Amen to that!
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WayneO
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Pye-Rate
Starship Navigator
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 598
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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Did that car come from this universe?
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Robert (Butch) Day
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 1377
Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2016 12:20 pm Post subject: |
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We've all seen the Tucker Torpedo in Tucker: The Man And His Dream (1988):
But there was supposed to be an even more futuristic version:
Someone actually built a replica of the prototype!
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Last edited by Robert (Butch) Day on Sat Mar 19, 2016 5:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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scotpens
Space Sector Commander
Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 919
Location: The Left Coast
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2016 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Robert (Butch) Day wrote: |
Someone actually built a replica of the prototype!
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Doesn't look much like the illustration, does it? It's obviously a customized 1971-1973 Buick Riviera. And man, that thing is UGLY!
In the mid-1950s, Tucker stylist Alex Tremulis designed a rather nice-looking, updated version called the Tucker Talisman. It never got beyond the drawing stage.
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Robert (Butch) Day
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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The first mobile wall phone?
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Krel
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 7:09 am Post subject: |
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| Robert (Butch) Day wrote: | Now this is going too far; the 1957 Ford X-2000:
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Is this the real X-2000, or the copy the guy in England made?
David. |
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Robert (Butch) Day
Galactic Ambassador
Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 1377
Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 8:41 am Post subject: |
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It's a colorized photo of the original car.
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Robert (Butch) Day
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 2:43 am Post subject: |
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This is the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar. A true retro-future vehicle:
When President Kennedy changed this real space program "platform" into the publicity stunt that was Mercury/Gemini/Apollo we were set back over 20 years!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-20_Dyna-Soar
The original 7 astronauts, the proposed pilots, were (from front to rear) Neil Armstrong (NASA), Bill Dana (NASA), Henry C. Gordon, (Air Force), Pete Knight (Air Force), Russell L. Rogers (Air Force), Milt Thompson (NASA) and James W. Wood (Air Force).
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orzel-w
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Robert (Butch) Day wrote: | | The original 7 astronauts, the proposed pilots, were (from front to rear)... |
But there are only six in the photo. 
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WayneO
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Brent Gair
Mission Specialist
Joined: 21 Nov 2014
Posts: 466
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| orzel-w wrote: | ...
But there are only six in the photo. |
I wouldn't put any faith in the order of names. Neil Armstrong is missing. I'm pretty sure that's James W. Wood second from the rear. Not sure about the rest.
I regret that the X-20 never flew but I really don't think it was much of a setback. Regrettable...but not history altering.
The X-20 was an Air Force project in an era of a lot of cool USAF projects. It seemed to lack specific purpose or direction. Winged spaceflight was (and is) a neat idea. But the space program was not going to advance on the back of the Dyna-Soar.
In the spirit of "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" (and vice versa), the American public needed a grand vision with a specific goal and a timeline if they were going to get onboard with a huge investment in manned space. Getting to the moon in less than a decade is the kind of thing that would capture the imagination and support of the tax paying public.
I suspect, had it not been cancelled in 1963, the Dyna-Soar would have staggered into the mid 60's and likely fallen victim to USAF budget pressure from the war in Vietnam. It may have been transferred to NASA in the way that the XB-70 was transferred to NASA for research. But I don't see the public being enthralled by this ship skipping along the atmosphere...not if the Russians were walking in space and trying to get to the moon. |
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Robert (Butch) Day
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 1377
Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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WHAT?
You can't see into the cockpit?
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Gord Green
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 3001
Location: Buffalo, NY
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| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| That's not Bill Dana, that's Jose Jimenez, the first Mexican astronaut . |
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