Flight Lessons

In message , funkraum
writes
(ArtKramr) wrote:

[...]
There has been number of comments on how much more complicated things are now
as compared to WW II. But I dont k now about that. When I talk to guys at
[...]


Plus ça change.

WWII navigation might well have looked complicated by the standards of
the twenties:


From:

http://www.imperial-airways.com/History_page_1.html

#In January 1927 a service was opened between Cairo and Basra,
#in the Persian Gulf. To solve the difficulty of navigating
#across the trackless desert between Palestine and Baghdad,
#a furrow, several hundred miles long, was ploughed in the
#sand. It was probably the longest furrow ever ploughed.
#

Anyone know if this is still there ?

Presumably it was filled-in as advances in furrow-less navigation took
place, due to the number of explorers spraining their ankles by
stepping into it while staring intently at the burning horizon, etc.

I wonder why they didn't make it a dotted line to save wear and tear on
the plough?

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 05:53:49 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:

On the other hand, I've been told that the scorched earth where
gliders burned at Arnhem? in 1944 are still visible from the air. And
I have walked with great comfort along the former logging railroads in
the White Mountains, the railroads having disappeared 80 years
earlier.

You can see where George Patton practiced tank maneuvers in the desert
(at Fort Irwin, the NTC, I think it is) but sort of backward. Joshua
trees grow very thickly in the track because the seed pods have to be
crushed before the seeds can sprout. The tracks are dense groves of
Joshua trees.

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 18:32:31 -0700, Mary Shafer
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 05:53:49 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:

On the other hand, I've been told that the scorched earth where
gliders burned at Arnhem? in 1944 are still visible from the air. And
I have walked with great comfort along the former logging railroads in
the White Mountains, the railroads having disappeared 80 years
earlier.

You can see where George Patton practiced tank maneuvers in the desert
(at Fort Irwin, the NTC, I think it is) but sort of backward. Joshua
trees grow very thickly in the track because the seed pods have to be
crushed before the seeds can sprout. The tracks are dense groves of
Joshua trees.

There is also the "plank road", a wooden road laid down in the desert
near Glamis, dating from the ~1890's. Many of the planks are still in
place and are in quite good condition.

Al Minyard