At the Smithsonian Air and Space museum Washington are some interesting items that are works of art beyond any oil painting or sculpture see if you agree..
Part of the structure of an airship, look at the elegant way the bracing is made.a thing of beautylovely valve gear 12 Cyl three banks, I bet the crank journals are tiny. that was also the very first thing that Milly thought of as well… maybe
Head gasket anyone ? Because a turbo two stroke flat twelve diesel is not enough they added a jet engine on the bottom…really 😲 it was extremely fuel efficient better than all but the latest car hybrids, If you think working on this engine is labour intensive then ->>>>
try lapping the valves on this beauty ….. all 36 cylinders !!!
Lycoming made this 7000 hp monster, read more on this amazing engine here
a bearing in the remote arm of the space shuttle. just this was an amazing bit of engineering ..but look at the wiring loom..pahalso look at the wiring on that…. sloppy work on the Skylabthe PDU ( power Distribution Unit) from Motec is not even close to this, but the wiring is still sloppy, why do the space people do such random wiring?? please let me know, some of it was so tight to apertures that it must rub through at some point. Oh you want to know what it is? it’s the PDU for the Hubble telescope that was swapped when they fixed the focus issues. and it is the size of a wardrobe.Russians are a bit neater but still have a similar style, I always love the green the Russians use. Inertial guidance system for the minute man missile, all this now fits on a match head and is solid state.in the museum was our first GPS… and I sold ours on eBay…damI bet no one guess’s why this panel from the Hubble telescope has so many holes in it. click the image to see what type of holes they are for a clue.Lindbergh’s tool kit when he was the first person to cross the Atlantic, no hammer FFS, but it does have a square spanner Chloe 😀 Looks impressive , the body work is a bit shoddy but I reckon it could have made some changes to history had it been built a year or two earlier
…. did I mention there was a Blackbird in the hall
Milly let me drive over an hour into a snow storm to look at this, she never tutted and even made me believe she was interested.. I am lucky to have such a wife.
in a blizzard snow storm, I promise to stay married for another 30 years (although it may not be with you after this )…please pretty please, you never know you may like it. and then we can do it every year …
our 30th wedding aniversay evening on the ferry docks for the Delaware – new Jersey ferry.. and that girl is here doing a photo bombs again , she’s even still got the same coat on…WTFoh what joy Milly was so happy to see the sign appear through the snow storm
WARNING: If you want to see the SR71 blackbird at the national air and space museum in Washington, then Don’t go to Washington it’s not there!!, it’s at the satellite museum of the air and space museum at Chantilly here
This site is much better, more exhibits including a space shuttle and Concorde and easy parking
Is there a better engineered shape? you can keep your oil painting and you church roofs this is a shape and machine that is beyond comparisonMilly let me drive over an hour into a snow storm to look at this, she never tutted and even made me believe she was interested.. I am lucky to have such a wife.the people who put this on paper should be proudand proof I was actually there, a rare photo of me on a pilgrimage.
There was other interesting things at the museum like……..
some of the oldies were just excellentthis was a scary French bomberlooks fast just stood still.. and a kit plane that can do 400MPH !!!just too much content in these two pictures to comment onEmilia Earhart’s plane , A inspiration for my girlseven my mum knows what this is…and again did I mention there was a Blackbird at this museum ??what a collectionlook at the arse on that..
downtown Manhattan from the base of Brooklyn bridgeThis girl is following me around standing in all my pictures…I think she fancies mebridge in AmericaGhost bridge to Manhattan.
Downtown Manhattan and a statue by a French bloke..
Ferry across the Hudson.. (sing in a New York accent)Obligatory Statue picture, apparently its by some French bloke and it is meant to be quite famous, I’ve never heard of it before but the ferry went past it so I thought I may as well get a quick photo just in case someone can tell me what’s so good about it 🙂World trade centre 2019, outside and….Inside. The Oculus train station at One world trade centre New Yorkdo you come here often love?there are some odd building in Manhattonbut New York does have the odd pretty building this is the old ferry terminal at South Ferry next to the new Staten island ferry terminalorange boat…err and its to Staten island…SNOWFLAKE ALERT :Two chinks go into a bar one says to the other is it nippy in here or is just me 🙂 but they didn’t , instead they got into this Rolls Royce and sloped off. RIP Top gearMore dreary metro rides around New York, the only decent Metro station is the 9/11 world trade centre and thats a really sad place to have a cool station, all the rest want to make you jump on the tracks.
First class on BA to new York , and the air hostess knew who we where from Dakar, turns out she is a uber fan of Dakar and said to meet us was the best people ever in 20 years of first class service to have on board. we got first ++ service 🙂
Constant supply of top champagne pleased some of the passengers on the flight…Not your average in flight meal, lovely al a carte steak, and later fresh baked scones.Amazing wooden escalator in Macy’s department store.homeless people in cold New York are very resourceful.Horses on the Central park queue fight the pigeons for their tea Central park and the perimeter of big buildings. Its a nice place in the centre of a city, but thats itSomeones in Wonderlandunusual and disturbing sculpture near central park metro stationThe New York Metro is a seriously depressing place.View of downtown Manhattan from the Empire state building.isn’t it just 🙂 Cool NYPD support vehicles ina big line upDeLorean back to the future….nearlyNYPD in times squareTimes square
Mad max chevy on Yukon chassis at Um al Quwain Pirates of the carribean race carBentley Red label Turbo resting in Dubai, ready for a minor repairBig brakes on the Desert Warrior 3
Toyota Land cruiser 5.7 V8 off road in OmanToyota Land cruiser 5.7 V8 off road in OmanAnd the start of the fun, every track is legal in Oman.IBRi castle in the wadi of oman, Lunch time in the shadeMilly rests after a hard slog up the dunes in southern Omansome lovely sunsetsSnake canyon, miles and miles of rock cut like butterChristmas day call home 🙂Milly holding up the worldSama Wakan hotel, in Wakan heritage village deep in the high mountains, fantastic placeSome nice old building , very much the opposite of DubaiWakan trail into the mountainsRare picture of us togetherMilly checks out how fat she looks in her little black dress !!!
On our travels to Oman at the border…that doesn’t let you into Oman if the car isn’t in your name !!!! there was a airfield with some interesting old commercial jets.
after the little issue of the IK man being locked up for spying I decided not to take any photos on the ground but here’s’ a shot from google earth.
and the location in GE. can you work out what they are. Not all are American some a UK and some Russian.
