Dave,
Here's some background on the bumblebees can't fly story:
Bumblebees CAN fly! The oft heard ridicule of scientists that say a bumble
cannot fly because its wings are too small, in spite of the evidence of
their own eyes, is based on a misrepresentation of an incident that occurred
in the 1930s. McMasters (in the Amer. Sci. 77:164-169) reports that a noted
Swiss professor of aerodynamics at a dinner party with biologists was asked
about the aerodynamics of wasp and bee wings. He performed some calculation
for the bumblebee based on a smooth wing and got a low Reynolds number
"proving" the bee incapable of flight. He obviously knew that the
calculations were simplistic, and later (after examining a wing under a
microscope and noting the bent and folded nature of the wing), corrected his
error, but like the news media of today, the correction received little
notice.
I also have an anecdote about the C-119 "Flying Boxcar". A fellow I worked
with many years ago was in the Air Force Reserves. He was on a heavily
loaded C-119 and they attempted to take off, but couldn't get up enough
speed and the pilot aborted the take-off. They tried again, and again the
take-off had to be aborted. When they said they were going to make a third
attempt, my colleague demanded to be let off the plane. He jumped to the
ground, pulled the rip cord on his chute and walked across the runway
trailing the chute behind him. His explanation was that the C-119 was never
going to get high enough for him to use his chute.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Lane Hobson [mailto:wiseowl1@pacbell.net]
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 12:48 PM
To: tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Bugs
On another piece of unrelated nostalgia.
As I understand it they had that same attitude about the C119. It wasn't
supposed to fly either, so they put us jumpers in it. It shook, rock and
rolled, and you were sure it was going drop any time, so we were ready to
exit the plane.
The great thing about the C119 is that it didn't have the prop blast that
the other planes had.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of DJoh797014@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 9:16 PM
To: SLaifman@socal.rr.com
Cc: tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Bugs
And don't forget that until recently, science could
not explain why bumblebees fly. Their bodies are
too heavy for the wingspan. Then again the
theory of flight is just that....theory.
Dave Johnson
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