Qantas and the coolest plane ever

[write-light.livejournal.com]

Qantas Empire Airways, 1947  ("The Big Name in Empire Aviation")



Artwork by Rhys Williams

Comments

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

Nice! I hope I can fly Qantas someday.

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

Do visit us in Australia, but honestly QANTAS is dreadful. Unionised flight attendants that have been in the job longer than they want to makes the experience less than pleasant, especially on a 14 hour LAX-SYD flight! And if you are living in the US and used to such pleasures as selecting your seat when you purchase your ticket - forget it! For a better level experience fly Cathay Pacific and connect through Hong Kong with a short stay!

[write-light.livejournal.com]

Nothing inherently wrong with a unionized workforce; workers have just as many rights as they can win from their employers, and flying 30 days in a row is one they said "not interested" to. (Come on, it's May 1st, you didn't think I could let that pass, did you?) :D

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

Hahaha...of course you're right. I was using the word in its perjorative...perhaps I should have used some adjectives such as militant or too-long-in-the-job or maybe even just grouchy!!

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the invite and the advice. Sounds like QANTAS sucks as much as most of the American carriers, sadly. At this point, it's not really a concern for me one way or another since I can't even afford to get as far as LAX! But I can dream. :)

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

Are those windows in the wings? I just love how every attempt to predict the future gets it almost completely WRONG.

[write-light.livejournal.com]

No, those are the jet intakes. They got the double-decker part right at least, if not the empire part. ;D

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

Jet intakes for a propeller plane?

[write-light.livejournal.com]

Ah THERE they are. Honestly, an aft prop never occurred to me. Pardon my not being an airplane expert - but couldn't those still be air intakes for a turbo prop? Isn't this "The Future" we see depicted? Which way is this supposed to be flying? R-L or L-R?

[warphammer.livejournal.com]

Except this was a *well-informed* attempt.

This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Brabazon) was the future airliner depicted in the image, it was planned before the end of the war. It doesn't have the pusher props and the "windows" (air intakes) in the front was due to config changes made along the way. It uses plenty (gobs, even, lookit that tail) of artistic license, but if they hadn't made a few wrong steps and had a few things against them (like jets just being around the corner), this is what their fleet would've looked like.

[write-light.livejournal.com]

So is the tail complete fantasy? Did anyone design/build tails like that, ever?

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

There are a couple small Cessna designs that used that V technique. It doesn't provide sufficient lateral control though for larger craft I don't think.

[warphammer.livejournal.com]

Sure! Most famous is the good old Fork-Tailed Doctor Killer, the V tailed models of the Beech Bonanza: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1957_Bonanza_H35_N5589D.jpg

Used to see one of these when I was a kid at the local airport, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouga_Magister

Or there's always the F-117.

[write-light.livejournal.com]

OOOH cool! Thanks!