[Flipside]

[RVB]You could pull 2 or maybe even 3 chicks with this![/RVB]

[Kamikaze]

Plenty of these sort of things occur, there was that HS senior that built a cyclotron.... and the boy scout that built/tried-to-build a breeder...

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Reminds me of how livid the Brits where when the plot for U571 revealed that the yanks where stealing the german encryption machine. In reality the brits did it, created quite the storm in a teacup.

Also is anyone familiar with the background on the first supersonic fighter? Now there's a piece of history that american avionics experts would rather the rest of the world forget.
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[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Kamikaze
Plenty of these sort of things occur, there was that HS senior that built a cyclotron.... and the boy scout that built/tried-to-build a breeder...

That's all the same guy, dude. Look here: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/16/1712236&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=134

Replies 2 and 3.

[Kamikaze]

errr, I guess I didn't read too carefully

hmmm *should build a cold fusion reactor for HS senior*

[Corsair114]

I'm gonna work off the presumption you mean first mass-production super-sonic fighter.

Wasn't it the MiG-19? Seems it entered flew/entered service several months ahead of the (semi-legendary) F-100 Super Sabre. The U.S. played that one down fairly well, y'know, 'cause the Soviet Union was a step ahead of us at that point(Anyone familiar with the Ram-L? It put NATO on alert when it was first spotted going through trials. Anyone who knows what it is gets a cookie).

If not, could you please clarify Maeglmor?

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]It was one of the pioneer attempts to build an aircraft that could break the sound barrier. Basically the americans had the fighter built but had serious problems with maneuverability at speeds above the sound barrier; the plane was practically uncontrollable. The brits hadn't cracked it yet either but had devised a rather simple yet brilliant way to overcome the maneuverability problem: They had made a pivioting tailplane. Until this time all aerilons had been simply flaps on the tail. The yanks knew that the british had cracked the problem somehow and basically offered an exchange of information, they'd give the british what they needed to know in exchange for the info required to fix the maneuverability problem.

The brits (being allies at the time of course) gave the americans the info in good faith. The americans then made all information on the supersonic project classified and the british got nothing. Very nice people.
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[diamondgeezer]

Hmm... according to 'The Right Stuff', the engineers on the X-1 program came up with the pivoting tailplane... IIRC...

At least one side of the Atlantic is telling porkie pies...

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Look for info on the 'miles m52', I found some stuff on a BBC website but it was pretty low detail.
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[Corsair114]

Hrm, yeah, that makes sense. Not the first time in history the U. S. has butted its nose into the foreign aircraft industry and f*cked a perfectly good aircraft outta its shot at being a production vehicle(BAC's TSR.2, anyone? Or maybe the Avro Arrow?). Not like the government is good at picking up/out new fighters, either(*glares at the F/A-22 / F-35 / F/A-18E*).

[Nico]

Wasn't the me262 able to reach mach1 ( altho it would go toothpicks when getting through the sound wall ) ?

[Corsair114]

It wouldn't in level flight, that's for sure. In a dive it *might* be able to break the sound barrier, but I highly doubt it, and the pilot's would die. It was/is fast, that's for sure, and, barring the plane's finicky engines, would probably give most modern fighters a run for their money in a gunfight.