Telstar Logistics

Radioactive Hulk of Aircraft Carrier USS Independence Located Off San Francisco Coast

Sixty years after it was scuttled off the coast of San Francisco, the bomb-scarred, radioactive hulk of the World War II-era aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22) has been located on the seafloor near the Farallon Islands.

NOAA, working with private industry partners and the U.S. Navy, has confirmed the location and condition of the USS Independence, the lead ship of its class of light aircraft carriers that were critical during the American naval offensive in the Pacific during World War II. 

Resting in 2,600 feet of water off California's Farallon Islands, the carrier is "amazingly intact," said NOAA scientists, with its hull and flight deck clearly visible, and what appears to be a plane in the carrier's hangar bay.

Independence (CVL 22) operated in the central and western Pacific from November 1943 through August 1945 and later was one of more than 90 vessels assembled as a target fleet for the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests in 1946. Damaged by shock waves, heat and radiation, Independence survived the Bikini Atoll tests and, like dozens of other Operation Crossroads ships, returned to the United States. 

While moored at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Independence was the primary focus of the Navy's studies on decontamination until age and the possibility of its sinking led the Navy to tow the blast-damaged carrier to sea for scuttling on Jan. 26, 1951.

This is a remarkable and fascinating discovery, because it's no exaggeration so say that the nuclear history of San Francisco and the USS Independence have long been intimately connected — and remain so to this day.

San Francisco is still grappling with the complex and messy task of cleaning up radioactive contamination at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, in no small part because of the massive (and massively unsuccessful) effort undertaken there to try and decontaminate USS Independence after the Operation Crossroads detonations. 

Independence was originally laid down as a cruiser, but during construction it was converted into a light aircraft carrier as an emergency wartime measure. Light carriers had short flight decks, and they were mostly used to transport aircraft between ports, but Independence saw combat too, sustaining torpedo damage at Tarawa in 1943. In January 1944, the ship came to Hunter’s Point for repairs.

Here's how Independence looked when it was moored near Hunter's Point in 1944:

After the war, Independence was sent to Bikini, where it became a target for the Operation Crossroads nuclear detonation experiments:

A fleet of 95 target vessels was assembled in Bikini Lagoon. At the center of the target cluster, the density was 20 ships per square mile (7.7 per km²), three to five times greater than military doctrine would allow. The stated goal was not to duplicate a realistic anchorage, but to measure damage as a function of distance from the blast center, at as many different distances as possible.[34] The arrangement also reflected the outcome of the Army/Navy disagreement about how many ships should be allowed to sink.

The target fleet included four obsolete U.S. battleships, two aircraft carriers, two cruisers, eleven destroyers, eight submarines, numerous auxiliary and amphibious vessels, and three surrendered German and Japanese ships. The ships carried sample amounts of fuel and ammunition, plus scientific instruments to measure air pressure, ship movement, and radiation.

Although heavily damaged by the force of the the 1946 atomic tests, Independence survived the blasts at Bikini. Here's how the ship looked while still smoldering in the immediate aftermath:

A closeup look at the blast damage to her stern (notice the two sailors on board the ship at the far right):

After Operation Crossroads, Independence and several other surviving ships were towed to San Francisco. These were the very early years of nuclear weaponry, so the goal was to investigate techniques that could be used to decontaminate navy ships after a possible nuclear conflict. 

Here's how Independence looked when it was tied up at Hunter's Point, beneath the massive crane that remains a prominent local landmark today:

Much of the effort focused on the use of sandblasting techniques to decontaminate the major components of exposed ships.

By and large, this effort was deemed a failure. However, the Navy generated significant amounts of contaminated sand along the way, and much of this sand was collected and stored on metal barrels. In turn, many of those barrels were loaded onto the hulk of the Independence, which effectively turned the battered ship into a floating nuclear waste repository.

Writing for SF Weekly in 2001, Lisa Davis compiled a definitive history of the nuclear decontamination efforts at Hunters Point:

At some point, [National Radiological Defense Laboratory] scientists determined that there was no hope of ever cleaning up the Independence, and began to use the mighty ship as a floating laboratory. The theory behind this plan was elegantly simple: Because the ship was already contaminated and scheduled for disposal, it was the perfect place for high-level radiation experiments and storage. "Large quantities of fresh fission products were introduced on board and drained into empty tanks for stowage," one memo from the time says. Correspondence between shipyard personnel also shows that samples (including sea life and plants) from Operation Crossroads were moved on board the Independence. Finally, in January 1951, the mighty Independence -- apparently full of nuclear waste -- was towed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and sunk at sea, apparently near the Farallon Islands.

Here are some of the last photos of the Independence ever taken (until now). In January 1951, loaded with its radioactive cargo, Independence was towed out to a point near the Farallons for use as a gunnery target:

The ship took a few direct hits:

And then, it keeled over and sank:

This map identifies where the wreck of the Independence was just found:

 And here's a sonar detail of the wreck:

 PHOTOS: Historical photos of USS Independence via Navsource.org. Hat tip to Jeremy Crandell

Purgatory Station: Inside San Francisco's Vintage Streetcar Boneyard

Recently, Telstar Logistics had an opportunity to take an authorized tour of the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Marin Division yard, thanks to our friends at Market Street Railway. 

The Marin Division Yard is home to San Francisco's derelict streetcar storage facility — a kind of purgatory for old streetcars as they await either restoration or piecemeal destruction as parts-donors for the active streetcars in Muni's thriving vintage streetcar fleet.

Most of the old streetcars here are streamlined PCCs built roughly between 1940 and 1952. Some survive as spooky time capsules of the day when they were removed from service:

Much of the original signage remains:

There's a PCC from Philadelphia here, looking just as it did when San Francisco snatched it up as surplus from Septa, Philly's mass-transit agency:

Some of the old PCCs were left exposed to the elements — and vandals — for years until they finally found refuge inside the boneyard fence. They're now painted blue, but the scars from those feral years are still clear to see:

There's a even retired California Street cable car parked among the hulks:

 

There's also a streetcar from Hamburg, Germany. After retirement in Hamburg, it was imported to the United States and operated in San Francisco during a series of Trolley Festivals held during the 1980s. Now, after years of inactivity, it awaits rehabilitation:

The good news is that as hopeless as some of these old streetcars seem, they are stored here because they remain valuable. Many will enjoy better days again — eventually. Consider this rather grim photo of ex-Muni PCC streetcar No. 1040, as it looked in 2009:

Shortly after that photo was taken, 1040 was fully rebuilt and restored. And here's how streetcar No. 1040 looks now:

Good as new.

Until Restoration Day comes, then, here's a photoset of streetcar survivors preserved at Muni's Marin Division yard. PRO TIP: Embigged to fullscreen.

PHOTOS: All photos by Telstar Logistics, except restored exterior of streetcar 1040,, by Kevin Mueller.

Navy Plans to Scrap Sea Shadow Stealth Warship

Since no one seems to want to take the thing, the US Navy has announced plans to scrap its Sea Shadow stealth warship prototype, which was built during the 1980s. Until recently the ship was in mothballs at Suisun Bay, near San Francisco, but its future now looks bleak:

Navy spokesman Chris Johnson told FoxNews.com the ship's fate is all but sealed: To the junk heap it will go.

"The next disposition is dismantling and recycling," he said.

Johnson said that from 2006 until this year, the Navy made the Sea Shadow available for donation. "While several letters of interest were received, only one organization submitted an application, which was determined to be non-viable,” he said.

The ship is perhaps best known as the inspiration for the stealth ship in the 1997 James Bond film, "Tomorrow Never Dies." Johnson said he couldn't give a time frame for its actual demise, but he said the decision is based on the lack of interest from any viable taker. “A ship that pristine is too expensive,” Johnson said. 

The Sea Shadow, made in secrecy, stored in secrecy and constructed for secrecy, once cost the United States Navy $195 million to build and operate. 

Completed in 1985 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Lockheed Martin, it was the Navy’s first experimental stealth ship. The Sea Shadow is 160 feet long and 70 fee wide, has a maximum speed of 14 knots and has the ability to operate in Sea State 5 conditions, or winds from 17 to 21 knots. But it was never intended for missions, just for testing.  

“The craft was built to examine application of stealth technology on naval missiles,” Johnson said.

Hat Tip: SF Citizen

 

 

Surf's Up! The Lost Los Angeles "Submarine Bus Fleet"

For a time during the 1970s, Los Angeles operated a small fleet of public buses to carry beach-crazed kids from the distant valleys of San Fernando and Pasadena to the cowabunga sands of Santa Monica. The Los Angeles Transportation Library website tells it:

Back in 1974, June got off to a very splashy start for the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

The RTD launched its summer “Street Fleet on four new bus lines (605, 606, 607 and 608) to carry people from different parts of Los Angeles County to Santa Monica. 

The motorcoaches were specially decorated to look like submarines, painted battleship gray along with bright blue waves to create the appearance of churning through the ocean as they rolled down the street.

The fleet was even decked out with conning towers on top to replicate housing of periscopes to reinforce the nautical theme.

The June 18 issue of the RTD employee newsmagazine Headway described the service as “four summer ‘life preservers’ to kids who live in the inland areas of Los Angeles County, running seven days a week for the “93-day summer beach season.”

Line 605 picked up its “crew members” throughout the San Fernando Valley, Line 606 served Pasadena and Altadena, Line 607 departed from East Los Angeles, and Line 608 carried riders from Compton and Watts.

Note also: Surfboards were permitted on the bus! 

This promotional video from 1974 really clinches the package. Sing along:

PHOTOS: Metro Transportation Library and Archive

Hat Tip: BLDGBLOG

A Graveyard for the Buses that Carried the American Civil Rights Movement

Today's New York TImes carries a story about an important aspect of the American Civil Rights movement in the South -- and the fleet of buses that helped make it possible.

No one talks much about Worcy Crawford, who died in July at age 90, leaving a graveyard of decaying buses behind his house on the outskirts of Birmingham.

His private coaches, all of them tended by Mr. Crawford almost until the day he died, do not have the panache of the city buses that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.refused to ride. But they have significance nonetheless.

With their cracked windows and rusting engines thick with brambles, they are remnants of something that was quite rare in the South: a bus company owned by an African-American.

Mr. Crawford’s work was simple. He kept a segregated population moving. Any Birmingham child who needed a ride to school, a football game or a Girl Scout outing during the Jim Crow era and beyond most likely rode one.

So did people heading to dozens of civil rights rallies — including the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

And where is that fleet of buses now?

Today, 18 of Mr. Crawford’s buses sit in various states of repair on a grassy lot behind his house. Family members still charter two newer coaches, keeping his legacy alive. The others are being sold for parts or kept for reasons of nostalgia.

One of them, a tan GMC bus built in 1958, is nicknamed the Rosa Parks.

PHOTOS: Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times

A Field Trip by Streetcar in 1927

A private streetcar just for the kids, with plush curtains decorating the windows? Not a bad way for a bunch of San Francisco school kids to embark on a class field trip, as seen in this photo from 1927. Even better, Santa was waiting at the end of the line. Market Street Railway provides the backstory:

57 kindergarten children from Raphael Weill School (now Rosa Parks Elementary School) rode this Market Street Railway Company streetcar downtown for a visit with Santa in December 1927. The “San Francisco” was dedicated to San Francisco school children and classes for education and charitable purposes. It was used exclusively to transport school children on excursions and had no fare box or charged a fare.The children on these excursions were each rewarded with a Market Street Railway Company wooden ruler, and the teacher received a Market Street Railway Company paperweight. This streetcar is now part of the Bay Area Electric Railway Association Collection.

As always with photos like this, the angels are in the details. Like the special sign at the front of the car:

 

And apart from the uber-styley hat the teacher is wearing, check out the faces of the school kids, who were way multiculti way before it was cool:

Now consider that this picture was taken 84 years ago, and that any of these kids who survive today must be pushing 90 years-old, at least.

Yet here they are, captured for eternity at five or six, during an excursion by streetcar that reminds us all how time flies when you're having fun.

Photo: Courtesy of Market Street Railway

For Sale: One Well Curated Collection of Vintage Matchbox Cars

Costa's "Just Things" is a storefront shop located at 575 San Mateo Avenue, on the downtown strip in San Bruno, California. The store is about 5 minutes away from San Francisco International Airport, so throughout the day big airliners soar just overhead as they take off from SFO, bound for points distant. That's fun, but the best attraction is inside, because Costa's is actually a hands-on haven for fans of classic toys.

Here patrons will find a very nicely curated collection of vintage toys, with a particular emphasis on toy vehicles -- old Tonkas, Lionel trains, and steel toy cars, trucks, boats, and aircraft of every size, shape, and color. For us, however, the centerpiece of the store is a set of three 1970s-era store displays for Matchbox cars -- with vintage Matchbox displayed for sale inside.

Telstar Logistics didn't ask about pricing; we were quite happy just to browse. And if for whatever odd reason fate brings you to San Bruno, we suggest you browse at Costa's "Just Things" too. But if you can't, then wandering around this vintage Matchbox website or this site for Matchbox obsessives is almost as much fun.

Photos: Telstar Logistics

Presidio Pet Cemetery: New Infrastructure Meets Eternal Rest

Doyle Drive is not a particularly famous street in San Francisco, but chances are that if you've ever been to the Golden Gate Bridge, you probably traveled on it -- Doyle Drive the multilane elevated freeway that rises above the former Presidio Army Base to shuttle motorists from the streets of the city to the foot of the bridge.

Built in the 1930s, at the same time as the Golden Gate Bridge, Doyle Drive is now a seismic hazard, so it is being completely rebuilt. But the new construction intersects with the pet cemetery used by U.S. personnel in the days when the Presidio was still a functioning military installation. To preserve the site, the cemetery has been fenced off and left scrupulously undisturbed while a whole world of construction chaos takes place all around it. Quite a spectacle.

Photos by Telstar Logistics

The SS United States is Saved from the Scrapyard (Hopefully)

The SS United States was a luxury ocean liner built during the heyday of the ocean liners, in the years just before air travel destroyed the transoceanic passenger transport industry forever. Celebrated as a modern technological marvel when it snagged the title as the world's fastest ocean liner during her maiden voyage in 1952, the United States claimed the speed record by sailing from New York to England in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots (40.96 mph).

Yet by 1969 the SS United States was unemployed, and since 1996 the ship has lay derelict in the Port of Philadelpha, facing an uncertain fate. 

Now our maritime mates at gCaptain bring the glad news that a conservancy organization has taken ownership of the United States:

In a long-anticipated milestone in the effort to save and redevelop the legendary ocean liner SS United States, the SS United States Conservancy has announced that the national nonprofit organization has aquired title to the nation’s historic “ship of state.”

“We are one big step closer to ensuring that this great symbol of American innovation is permanently preserved,” said Susan Gibbs, the Conservancy’s board president, whose grandfather, William Francis Gibbs, designed the legendary liner.  “Now that we have secured title, we will accelerate our efforts to redevelop the nation’s flagship as a multi-purpose waterfront destination with dynamic hotel, retail, educational and museum offerings.  To succeed, we will tap into the same “can-do” spirit and ingenuity that the ship has embodied since her first splash in 1952.”

In July 2010, the Conservancy announced a pledge of $5.8 million by Philadelphia philanthropist H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest to purchase and maintain the vessel for 20 months.  Owners Norwegian Cruise Line/Genting Hong Kong entered an exclusive purchase option with the Conservancy last year, graciously declining a bid twice as high from a vessel scrapper, in order to support the Conservancy’s efforts.  The Conservancy is deeply grateful to both Gerry Lenfest and Norwegian/Genting for their support.

Lenfest underscored the importance of the ship by stating, “She is worth keeping.  This ship is an iconic part of American maritime history and if there’s any chance at all that she can be saved, we should take that chance.”  Lenfest is a retired Navy Reserve captain and major maritime enthusiast whose father, a naval architect, designed components of the SS United States.  He has been a visionary in his support for the ship.

“This is the first time in the history of the SS United States that a group concerned primarily with the vessel’s historical significance and preservation has owned her,” said Dan McSweeney, the Conservancy’s executive director.  “We can’t truly say she’s saved yet – that will happen when we establish a successful partnership to redevelop the ship – but we can say that we’re generating the right momentum to be able to achieve that goal.

PHOTOS: From top, Aaron Bovier, camera obscura [busy], and historic photo of SS United States in 1956.

 

Modern Warplanes Get Vintage Paint to Celebrate the Centennial of Naval Aviation

Although Telstar Logistics celebrated the 100th anniversary of naval aviation a few weeks ago, the event is an ongoing affair for the US Navy. And as part of the commemoration of the "Centennial of Naval Aviation," the Navy is repainting several of its modern aircraft in vintage paint schemes like those used by naval squadrons during decades past. 

Many of these are very cool to see. The photo at top, for example, is an EA-18 Growler painted in the 1944 colors of Air Group 85 aboard USS Shangri-La (CV-34). The photo below that is a T-4 trainer painted in the 1938 colors aircraft wore aboard the original USS Enterprise.

Here's an F-18 Hornet wearing the paint scheme of a F6F Hellcat from 1945:

For comparison's sake, here are a few of those Hellcats, photographed in 1945:

Here's an S-3B, painted to look like a Navy aircraft during the Battle of Midway in 1942:

Some of the commemorative aircraft make for improbable combinations, like this MH-60 helicopter in a late 1944 paint scheme used aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). That's interesting in a what-if kind of way, because the US Navy didn't operate helicopters in 1944:

Likewise, electronic warfare wasn't practiced much in 1942, but if it was, this EA-6B Prowler electronic countermeasures aircraft would have come in handy as depicted here in the paint scheme US Navy planes wore during the Battle of Coral Sea:

Lots more photos like these, at the US Naval Air Forces photo gallery on Facebook.

Eugene Ely Invented Naval Aviation, Exactly 100 Years Ago In San Francisco

One hundred years is a very long time. Yet in the hierarchy of modern marvels, the ability to recover and launch aircraft from the deck of a moving ship stands out as one of our signature accomplishments. Which just goes to show you: Some tricks never grow old.

Naval aviation was invented one hundred years ago today, on January 18, 1911, when a 24 year-old barnstormer pilot named Eugene B. Ely completed the world's first successful landing on a ship. It happened in San Francisco Bay, aboard the crusier USS Pennsylvania, which had a temporary, 133-foot wooden landing strip built above her afterdeck and gun turret as part of the experiment.

Ely accommplished his feat just eight years after the Wright Brothers made their first flight at Kitty Hawk.His aircraft was rudimentary: a Curtiss Model D "Pusher" biplane equipped with a 60 hp V-8 engine that gave the aircraft a 50 mph airspeed. To get a sense of how simple it was, behold a contemporary replica of Ely's 1911 Curtiss Pusher that was built to celebrate this 100th anniversary:

But back then, innovation was afoot: Ely's Curtis Pusher had been fitted with a clever new invention called a tailhook. The idea was to quickly halt the aircraft after landing by using the tailhook to catch one or two of 22 rope lines -- each propped up a foot above the deck and weighted by 50-pound sandbags tied to each end -- strung three feet apart along the Pennsylvania's temporary flight deck. 

Mark J. Denger of the California Center for Military History has written a tidy biography of Eugene Ely which narrates the historic day:

On the morning of January 18, 1911, Eugene Ely, in a Curtiss pusher biplane specially equipped with arresting hooks on its axle, took off from Selfridge Field (Tanforan Racetrack, in San Bruno, Calif.) and headed for the San Francisco Bay. After about 10 minutes flying North toward Goat Island (now Yerba Buena), Eugene spotted his target through the gray haze  the PENNSYLVANIA. on the morning of January 18, 1911, Eugene Ely, in a Curtiss pusher biplane specially equipped with arresting hooks on its axle, took off from Selfridge Field and headed for the San Francisco Bay. After about 10 minutes flying North toward Goat Island (now Yerba Buena), Eugene spotted his target through the gray haze the PENNSYLVANIA.

Ely's plane was first sighted one-half mile from the PENNSYLVANIA's bridge at an altitude of 1,500 feet, cruising at a speed of approximately 60 mph. Now ten miles out from Tanforan, he circled the several vessels of the Pacific Fleet at anchor in San Francisco Bay. The aeroplane dipped to 400 feet as it passed directly over the MARYLAND and, still dropping, flew over the WEST VIRGINIA's bow at an height of only 100 feet. With a crosswind of almost 15 knots, he flew past the cruiser and then banked some 500 yards from the PENNSYLVANIA's starboard quarter to set up his landing approach.  Ely now headed straight for the ship, cutting his engine when he was only 75 feet from the fantail, and allowed the wind to glide the aircraft onto the landing deck. At a speed of 40 mph Ely landed on the centerline of the PENNSYLVANIA's deck at 11:01 a.m.

The forward momentum of his plane was quickly retarded by the ropes stretched between the large movable bags of sand that had been placed along the entire length of the runway.  As the plane landed, the hooks on the undercarriage caught the ropes exactly as planned, which brought the plane to a complete stop.

Once on board the PENNSYLVANIA, sheer pandemonium brook loose as Ely was greeted with a bombardment of cheers, boat horns and whistles, both aboard the PENNSYLVANIA and from the surrounding vessels.

Ely was immediately greeted by his wife, Mabel, who greeted him with an enthusiastic "I knew you could do it" and then by Captain Pond, Commanding Officer of the PENNSYLVANIA. Then it was time for interviews and a few photographs for the reporters.
 
Everything had gone exactly as planned. Pond called it "the most important landing of a bird since the dove flew back to Noah's ark."  Pond would later report, "Nothing damaged, and not a bolt or brace startled, and Ely the coolest man on board."

(NOTE: Safety first! Check out Ely's inner-tube life preserver!)

After completing several interviews, Ely was escorted to the Captain's cabin where he and his wife were the honored guests at an officers lunch. While they dined, the landing platform was cleared and the plane turned around in preparation for takeoff. Then the Elys, Pond and the others posed for photographs. 57 minutes later, he made a perfect take-off from the platform, returning to Selfridge Field at the Tanforan racetrack where another tremendous ovation awaited him.

Both the landing and take off were witnessed by several distinguished members of both U.S. Army and Navy, as well as state military officials.  Ely had successfully demonstrated the possibility of the aircraft carrier.

Indeed. The US Navy's first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, was commisioned in 1922 -- eleven years later. But Ely didn't live to witness the milestone; he died just a few months after his historic flight, on October 11, 1911, when he was thrown from his aircraft during a crash at an airshow. But 100 years ago, he merged the power of naval warships and aviation in ways that remain cutting-edge, even today.

 

IMAGES: US Navy Naval Historical Center and 1911 Ely-Curtiss Pusher

 

Vietnam Vets Restore a Vietnam-Era Huey, Go Tearing Across Bay Area

Our friend Allan Hough from MissionMission tells us of a historic Bell UH-1H Iriquois helicopter, the men who used to fly it, and their effort to put it back in the skies:

Spots Unknown is working on a movie about a group of vets and enthusiasts who’ve restored to “combat specs” a Vietnam-era Huey. And they fly it around the Bay Area and look badass.

Today, a teaser trailer was released. It combines shots of these dudes in action with vintage footage of other Hueys actually in the shit. Watch it now (before it gets pulled due to unauthorized — but also badass — use of Led Zeppelin):

As a Plan B, "Ride of the Valkyries" would work too. Plus, Wagner is dead, so he's in no position to unleash any lawyers. Nevertheless, let's roll the video: 

Flight of the Huey - Rock & Roll Teaser from Spots Unknown on Vimeo.

 

Driver Report: Behind the Wheel of an Amphicar (!!!)

Regular readers of this Internet weblog may recall that Telstar Logistics has a thing for the Amphicar, a German-made amphibious automobile built during the 1960s. Specifically, we want one. Or, absent owning one ourselves, we've been eager to take an Amphicar out for a test drive. That fantasy also remains unfulfilled, alas, so in the meantime we were glad to receive a first-hand report from Mr. Ben Coifman, who was lucky enough to take an Amphicar for a spin in Ohio.

 Over to you, Ben:

The car belongs to our neighbor across the street. The plate reads, "IMABOAT" and I had seen it around town several times before we bought our house. Indeed, the car is a labor of love. Jim, the car/boat's owner invited us out for a spin last summer and we never got around to it. The last good day of the year comes by, I'm climbing up to the roof of my garage to blow off the leaves, and Jim walks up the driveway to ask if we want to go for a ride. Heck yeah! But I had to round up the two little ones, so he had a head start getting out to the reservoir. We headed out in our own car and got to the boat landing... but there was no Amphicar in sight.

Did we come to the wrong landing? We drove on. Then we decide to call. Ah, Jim explained that an Amphicar doesn't like freeways or anything over 45 mph. A few minutes later they arrived, and got the attention of most of the boaters around.

We suited up in life jackets and waited our turn. First spin in, Jim drove. It mostly looks like a normal car, but has a few extra levers, e.g., to engage the propellers and seal the doors. Second time he asked if I wanted to drive (heh heh). Going in and out of the water he said, "floor it."

I looked like a rookie (brakes don't work in the water, but the brake lights do) and had fun. At least for this landlubber, on the way out of the water I was not quite sure which direction the wheels were pointing, Jim assured me that I would find out soon enough...

Photos courtesy of Ben Coifman

Inside Enola Gay: A 360-Degree VR View from the Cockpit of a Famous B-29 Superfortress

David Palermo captured a superb VR view of the cockpit of Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Enlarge it to full-screen, and be amazed.

via Indy Transponder.

 

1943 Film Teaches You How to Fly a P-47 Thunderbolt

Courtesy of PublicResource.org comes this fascinating 1943 US War Department training film which teaches basic ground, take-off, and landing techniques for pilots learning to fly the P-47 Thunderbolt:

Demonstrates procedures in flying the P-47. Includes preflight and cockpit checks, warm-up, taxiing, cruising, banking, stalling, speeds for approaches, turns, and landings. Also shows how to conduct postflight checks. War Department. Army Air Forces.

Photo: looking thru my lens