🚀 go-pugleaf

  - hi; in dipspc article, <1184563621snz@nospam.demon.co.uk>,
                pete@nospam.demon.co.uk wrote:
>       v$af$ppint@i-m-t.demon.co.uk "ppint. at IMT" writes:
>>            sum1@flashy.nut "Ian" volunteered:
>>>           pete@nospam.demon.co.uk wrote:
>>>>                 [i, too, contributed:]
>>>>>
>>>>>	- an interesting principle, the - or at least an - exact
>>>>>	inverse of the principle used to make first evaluations
>>>>>	of the designs of such aeroplanes, as the vickers-super-
>>>>>	marine spitfire and the de haviland mosquito: that their
>>>>>	lines were so beautiful, they *had* to be right...
>>>>
>>>And the late lamented Concorde, don't you think?
>> 
>>	- indeed; there seemed to this ppint. to be quite a bit
>>	of the form of barnes wallis' proposed supersonic air-
>>	liner for (iirc) vickers in the lines of the concord[e].
>
>Really?  Like Ian I had no idea that Barnes Wallis was ever 
>involved/interested in supersonic flight..

	- yes, really; iirc, he was one of the team designing
	this for vickers: i don't have further details to hand,
	but i suspect he was one of the senior (as in main, as
	well as in terms of hierarchy and of age) members of
	vickers' aeroplane design department, given his involve-
	ment in the field from [at least] the R.100, the vickers
	wellesley, and the WW II wellington.
>
>>>>Indeed so and I'm sure few would disagree.  I would even include
>>>>the DH Comet (the air racer, not the airliner) in that list.
>> 
>>	- the pointy-nosed D.H.88 had, aside of the engine nacelles
>>	and undercarriage (when down), lines that flowed beautifully
>>	smoothly - but i don't actually remember now reading what
>>	she was like to fly. is there any account of her handling
>>	in a uk-published book, that you could recommend?
>
>Im sure there must be; best bet to try would probably be the 
>Shuttleworth Collection bookshop.  However I did find this 
>(apparently US) page on the www:
>
> <http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/comet/comet.htm>

	- thank-you; i haven't yet followed the link, but i most
	definitely shall do so.
>
>[hope I type that properly].

	 -                 [or, leastways, attempt to do so :-)]

>ISTR from the distant past that the DH88 was a handful at low speed,
>prone to tip stalling and generally very unforgiving.  But hey, it
>was designed to win races -- and not have its beautiful aerodynamics
>spoilt by "safety features" like washout or being stable ;-)

	- hmm? it was designed specifically for that one, very
	long-distance race, was it not?  so, whilst i fully take
	your point with regard to the dispensability of safety
	features having a significant extra drag (or weight) cost,
	i'd've thought stability in flight would be regarded as an
	asset much greater than high manoeverability: it's not as
	though the ability to make the sharpest turns around some
	pylon in a field every six hundred yards would be highly
	prized in a race of some sixty thousand miles, is it? [a]
>
>>>>But at the other end of the beauty stakes we have helicopters (or
>[..]
>>	- hmmmm... i don't believe *any* helicopter has been said
>>	to "fly beautifully". and, given the way the helicopter
>>	design plummets out of the sky when rotor power is lost
>>	(pure helicopter design, that is), i think it fits the
>
>Actually I believe that a helicopter will "glide" under pure 
>autorotation if power is lost.  The only drawback is that one 
>needs lots of height and or speed to enter this state.

	- i understood (perhaps incorrectly) that this requires
	a modification at the rotor root away from that of the
	pure helicoptor, as the pure helicopter's rotors (unlike
	those of the autogyro) do not generate lift when wind-
	milling freely.
	  which is not to say that such safety modifications are
	not now commonly made, of course.

>Though perhaps with a glide ratio of maybe 3 or 4 to 1, plummet is 
>a rather more apt description!

	- indeed; and i'm not requiring a glide ratio matching
	that of the dakota, neither - but one sufficient to let
	the pilot take stock of the available options and choose
	the least poor with a _reasonable_ chance of making a dab
	at a pancake passengers and crew'll be able to walk away
	from...
[]
>>>>>>but maybe if we keep this thread going long enough...
[]
>>>>Well, we were up to 570 chars or so before this reply so it's
>>>>getting closer -- quality or not.  And with some judiciously
>>>>enhanced message-IDs (see this one) we could get there quicker.
>>>>
>>>Always willing to help out.  Unlessit involves parting with money,
>>>of course....
>
>Thanks for the help.  However I have to confess that I've been 
>messing around in demon.test and can now proudly confirm that the 
>new code works as expected.  Sadly however, in the course of this 
>testing I found an unrelated "feature" with long message-IDs and 
>variously sized fixed-length buffers :-( so spent a lot of 
>yesterday removing all those and replacing them with dynamically 
>allocated ones.

	- was this not a replacement programme  you intended to
	undertake, eventually?
	  [or was it one you were leaving, in the hopes that an-
	other dipspc-er possessed of the now-legendary "copious
	free time of a john washington" might cave in, and tackle
	it first?]

>Still a small display problem, but the articles themselves seem
>uncorrupted; more work to do there...

	- that *sounds* as though you regard the non-corruption
	of articles as a feature devoutly to be deprecated...
>
>[..]
>> 	- the happy^W contented satisfaction of a puddleglum?
>
>??  I see Ian has asked too.
>
	- indeed; but denuded of its context, the remark loses
	its reason to be believed (sorry, tim hardin) appropos:
[quote]
>>>>>>but hey! it's going to work first time ;-)
>> ..
>>>>Still unproven, but I stand by my earlier optimism :-)
>>>
>>>	- good, good; it's nice to see a little unwarranted blind
>>>	faith and optimism in the face of all experience, the gods,
>>>	and the fates..
>>>	                          - and the kindly ones...   *g*
>>
>>What else is there?  ;-)

	- the happy^W contented satisfaction of a puddleglum?
[/quote]

	- the reference is to c.s. lewis's Narnia books, to _The
	Silver Chair_, and to the sanguine outlook characteristic
	of marshwiggles, and of Puddleglum, Jill & Eustace's guide
	in the wilderness north of Narnia, in particular.
	  if you've _not_ read this one in particular, or, indeed,
	the series as a whole, buy them from m^H^H^W^W^W you've a
	feast of delights in store. and to say much more, would be
	to risk some of these.

	  but start with the first-written, _The Lion, the Witch
	and the Wardobe_, and not the prequel now numbered "1" in
	collections & boxed sets; proceed on through _A Horse and
	his Boy_ & _Prince Caspian_ (though "A Horse" may be left
	'til later) before casting back for _The Magician's Nephew_
	and definitely leave _The Silver Chair_ for the last lap
	of three, with _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_, and the
	culminatory climax (and references back to both "A Horse"
	and to "Nephew"), _The Last Battle_ - with, inter alia,
	one of the best, and most unfairly unsung supporting char-
	acters in the history of fantasy, the donkey, Puzzle.

	- there. they're short novels, suitable for the mentally-
	youthful of all ages from about ten or so upwards (maybe
	a bit older-starting, depending upon facility with read-
	ing vocabulary; or a little younger, as bed-time stories)
	and though they have a generally-underlying, though not
	always overtly or exclusively, christian ethos, they are
	officially "good fun". [b]

	- love, ppint. "that's your reading fixed for the next
	                  seven years cft^W^W^W books, then"
	  [the address from which this was posted bounces e-mail;
	   please change the "f" to a "g" and drop the "v" if you
                      wish to cc. or e-mail me.]

	[a] - that's a sports-field estimate, not quite a wild
	   guess, significant figure chosen for reasons of euphony

	[b] - i have this upon the highest possible authority (*g*)
-- 
"homeopathic compression: throw away the data and transmit the spaces;
 the data to be reconstructed from the spaces by virtue of these having
 remembered its shape. the only compression method more effective with
 increasing original data density." - yr hmbl srppnt, 1st october 2004