Sunday, March 23, 2008

Flying Boat Jet Fighters

(We'll return to the story just as soon as I find a plot to borrow, but for now...).

...Jet-powered flying boats? Jet fighters? Supersonic jet fighters that ply the seas on their own hulls? Sure, it sounds like "edible, chocolate-chipotle-flavored automobile tires," but in fact there have been at least two designs flown, one of 'em faster than sound.
Have a look!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Story? borrow? Mars needs swimmin? Only stories to borrow are "man who fell to earth" or "Stranger in a strange land"

the pawnbroker said...

wow, what was accomplished in the 1940's is amazing considering that even earthbound waterspeed records are so elusive, with the 1976 record still standing, as shown here:

http://www.cojoweb.com/speed-machines.html#boat

my son and i watched the craig arfons attempt, which took place just a few hundred yards from our home, end in tragedy ...jtc

Roberta X said...

Og, there aren't all that many plots, just better or worse stories built around them. I started that'n on a lark. Now it's time to step back and see here I'd like to go.

Pawnbroker, I think water's tricker than air or land; much as I love airplanes and motorcycles, ultrafast boats give me the shivers!

Turk Turon said...

The plot from "The Big Clock" by Kenneth Fearing has gotta be a contender for Most Stolen.
Although he probably lifted the plot from Balzac.

Anonymous said...

Try the plot from "The Way Farer" by Dennis Schmidt, easily the worst piece of fiction ever published. He hardly used it.

Anonymous said...

Roberta, the reason why the Waterspeed records are lower is simple: Drag. Air resistance is alot lower than Water resistance.

That said, Unlimited Light Hydro's can reach some impressive speeds using off the shelf technology - the current record for the class is 166MPH

AFAIK, the record for a boat is 317MPH set in 1978 by Ken Warby. There are several efforts right now to break this record, notably the "American Challenge" which looks vaguely like a fighter plane missing its wings.

the pawnbroker said...

"I think water's tricker than air or land; much as I love airplanes and motorcycles, ultrafast boats give me the shivers!"

exactly...that's what makes taking off and landing a freakin' jet on water with 40's technology so amazing...dip a wing at the wrong time and it's disintegration time, which by the way is what the arfons boat did...jtc

the pawnbroker said...

btw, htrn is correct; the standing waterspeed record (warby) is from 1978, i mistyped 1976...jtc

Anonymous said...

That's very cool. Coincidentally, yesterday, I ran across a couple references to the flying sub from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".

Apparently, the Russkies and the USN considered flying submarines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_submarine

phlegmfatale said...

NIFTY! Whyzzit that anything described by a narrator like that first one sounds even cooler?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the time tunnel! That is one big fat fighter, what did they use to give it fighter cover?

Roberta X said...

"Old-time Newsreel Announcer" + "British Accent" = Made Of Win! :)

...There's a reason why the RAF seaplane jet is so tall -- imagine what would happen if the jet engine took a big ol' gulp of water on takeoff. Ugh.

Rob K said...

One other problem in water speed records would be the relative unavailability of good stretches of water for a fast run. Most places it's easy enough to find a nice long straight stretch of road, and good stretches of sky ain't even a dime a dozen. But a long, flat stretch of water...

the pawnbroker said...

actually, rob k, in the 1989 arfons waterspeed attempt here in sebring, fl they didn't want dead calm, but rather a very light, even chop, apparently in order to keep the tunnel hulls semi-airborne...

they actually attributed the crash to hitting a dead calm patch at 200+ mph, causing loss of control...

holy shit, "control" is a very relative term when you're skipping across water with a bigass jet engine and not much else...jtc

Matt G said...

"'Old-time Newsreel Announcer' + "British Accent" = Made Of Win! :)

Get out of my brain, 'Berta. ;)