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 "Airplanes have a lot to learn from birds,
and
PigeonBot is teaching us about the magic of feathered flight. Birds have been
doing their flying thing with flexible and feathery wings for about a hundred million
years, give or take. And about a hundred years ago, give or take, humans decided
that, although birds may be the flying experts, we're just going to go off in our
own direction with mostly rigid wings and propellers and stuff, because it's easier
or whatever. The few attempts at making artificial feathers that we've seen in the
past have been sufficient for a few specific purposes but haven't really come close
to emulating the capabilities that real feathers bestow on the wings of birds..."
 "Blue Origin, Boeing, and SpaceX are among
those proposing ships to put
astronauts back on the moon by the end of 2024. After 50 years of lamenting
that America had abandoned the moon, astronauts are in a rush again, trying to go
back within five—and NASA has asked aerospace companies to design the lunar landers
that will get them there. The project is called Artemis, and the agency is now reviewing
proposals to build what it calls the Human Landing System, or HLS. In January, it
says, it will probably select finalists. NASA had said a landing was possible by
2028. Then, the White House said to do it by 2024..."
 Our grandparents used to tell us how one
of the most disappointing aspects of growing older was having the lifelong familiar
family, friends, and places disappear. Now that I'm in my sixties, hard as that
is to believe, the scenario is unfolding before my eyes. Department stores like
Montgomery Ward, Woolworth's, Britt's, and Sears & Roebuck are in the dustbin
of history, as the saying goes. I really miss the garden and tool departments of
Sears. Nearer and dearer to my heart are the missing hobby products and distributors.
In the late 1960s when I first really was aware of radio control, a Kraft two-channel
receiver/servo "brick" system was my objet de désir for a simple sailplane. I had
to settle for a used three-channel OS Digital R/C system, and installed it in a
Mark's Model Windward glider. Tower Hobbies,
Hobby Lobby, Hobby Shack, Hobby People, and the like ran multi-page...
 "Virgin Galactic has reached the 'Weight
on Wheels' milestone in the build of its second commercial spaceship. In this milestone,
all major structural elements of the vehicle were assembled, and the vehicle deployed
its main landing gear and carried its own weight for the first time. The milestone
signals strong progress in the manufacture of
Virgin Galactic's space vehicle fleet by The Spaceship Company, VGH's wholly-owned
aerospace development subsidiary. This Weight on Wheels milestone has been reached
considerably faster than it took to get to this stage with the first spaceship in
the Virgin Galactic fleet, VSS Unity, which is currently in flight test. This pace
has been achieved through a more efficient, modular assembly process...
 This website exists entirely on the support
of its visitors by way of a small percentage earned with your
Amazon.com purchases. It typically works out to less than $10
per month. That barley covers the domain registration and secure server fees. If
you plan to buy items via
Amazon.com, please begin your shopping session from the AirplanesAndRockets.com
website so that I get credit for it. Doing so does not cost you anything extra.
Thank you for your support.
 "Steadicopter, one of the companies involved
in the
Rotary Unmanned Aerial Systems (RUAS) industry, recently unveiled its next generation
Black Eagle 50 advanced lightweight unmanned robotic helicopter. New capabilities
include an inertial navigation system with no dependence on GPS, as well as support
for naval missions. Steadicopter's Black Eagle 50 unmanned helicopter has been upgraded
with several additional new features and is tailored for naval missions with its
robust mechanical and electronic capabilities that support flight in maritime environmental
conditions. The company also recently signed a cooperative agreement with Israel
Shipyards..."
 Founded in 1943, in the midst of World War II,
Revell's staff of talented artists, sculptors, machinists, chemists, engineers,
researchers, instruction writers, and assembly line workers have tuned out multiple
millions of highly detailed scale plastic models of every mode of transportation
ever devised, from every country that devised said modes of transportation.
Revell also made scale scenery and people to compliment the models. They even
made model of things that never really existed, like star ships and submarines that
could explore 20,000 leagues under the sea. I use images from the box tops of many
Revell kits for the Airplanes and Rockets website daily logos. Monogram (founded
in 1945) and Revell merged in 1986...
 "NASA's first large scale, piloted X-plane
in more than three decades is cleared for final assembly and integration of its
systems following a major project review by senior managers held Thursday at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. The management review, known as Key Decision Point-D
(KDP-D), was the last programmatic hurdle for the X-59
Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft to clear before officials meet
again in late 2020 to approve the airplane's first flight in 2021. "With the completion
of KDP-D we've shown the project is on schedule, it's well planned and on track.
We have everything in place to continue this historic research mission for the nation's
air-traveling public," said Bob Pearce, NASA's associate administrator..."
 "Drones are usually in the news for bad reasons,
like controversial killings of suspected terrorists in the Middle East, bombings
of Saudi oil facilities or an assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro. What many people may not know is that United Nations peacekeepers use
drones to protect civilians from violence. These drones are different: They
don't carry weapons. I have followed the U.N.'s use of drones since its beginning
in 2013 and have spoken with peacekeepers and U.N. officers who are familiar with
their use. I believe drones have the potential to save lives. But that doesn't mean
they necessarily will..."
 Peter Bowers was a well-known designer and
builder of both full-size and model airplanes. As an aeronautical engineer working
for Boeing in Seattle, he was well qualified for his hobby pursuits of homebuilt
airplanes and competition-class free flight airplanes. He was also an aviation photographer
and historian with many books and magazine articles to his credit. Bowers' most
famous creation is undoubtedly the Bowers Fly Baby monoplane, which won the Experimental
Aircraft Association (EAA) contest in 1962 for the best low-cost, folding-wing plane
that can be towed or trailered from home to and from the airport - the goal being
to avoid expensive hanger or tie-down fees. The Fly Baby was much in the fashion
of a large model as it was constructed almost entirely of wood...
 "Harbour Air's
all-electric-powered de Havilland Beaver took off for an inaugural flight test
just after daybreak December 10 to the cheers of about two dozen people huddled
on a chilly dock in Vancouver, British Columbia, as the distinctive seaplane ushered
in a new era of aviation. Several thousand more also watched online as the yellow-and-navy
magniX-powered seaplane retrofitted with a 750-horsepower magni500 propulsion system
thundered into the air during a live social media broadcast. The fossil fuel-free
aircraft partnership between North America's largest seaplane airline and Redmond,
Washington-based electric propulsion venture magniX was announced in March..."
 "A highly anticipated ASTM International
standard is designed to satisfy the growing demand for better identification and
tracking of unmanned aircraft systems - commonly known as drones. Similar to the
function of a car license plate, the
Remote ID standard supports technology that allows the general public and public
safety officials to identify a drone using an assigned ID, while preserving the
privacy of the drone pilot’s personal information. The standard, which will be published
in the coming weeks with the designation F3411, was developed by the ASTM International
unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) committee (F38)..."
This website exists entirely on the support
of its visitors by way of a small percentage earned with your
Amazon.com purchases. It typically works out to less than $10
per month. That barley covers the domain registration and secure server fees. If
you plan to buy items via
Amazon.com, please begin your shopping session from the AirplanesAndRockets.com
website so that I get credit for it. Doing so does not cost you anything extra.
Thank you for your support.
 Mya Rae Nelson has an excellent article in
the current issue of Fine Woodworking magazine entitled, "The
Science Behind Epoxies." I was surprised to read that epoxy has only been around
since the 1940s, so when
I first used it in the early 1970s, it was only a three decade old technology. As
with cellphones, now that we have epoxy, how did we ever get along without it? Ms. Nelson
uses layman terms to describe the molecular makeup of both the epoxy resin and the
hardener, and describes how the bonds between the resin atoms are broken then reestablished
with the insertion of hardener atoms into the matrix. If you attended classes
for and understood the basics of chemistry, that will help with understanding the
technical side of epoxy curing and strength, but even without the nerd knowledge
you will still gain a better understanding of how this indispensible modeler's brew
works.
 "The Great War triggered a trend toward
big flying
machines. Really big. I had been warned that there wasn’t much left of the airplane
that designer Gianni Caproni had intended to be a transatlantic flying boat - the
Noviplano - which had crashed and broken apart concluding its first and final flight,
on March 4, 1921. There wasn't. I'd trekked up into the Italian Alps to the Caproni
museum in Trento only to learn that a small section of the hull and other pieces
from the wreck of the Noviplano were in storage, awaiting conservation. Next I took
the train to the Volandia Museum of Flight, just outside the perimeter fence of
Milan's Malpensa international airport. I was ushered inside to meet Gregory Alegi,
a Yale-educated Italian journalist, defense analyst, and aviation historian..."
 "At one time or another, you've probably
supported your local high school by buying candy. Now you have another option: purchasing
an airplane, built by the students themselves. The students are participants in
a program created in 2016 by the nonprofit
Tango
Flight, which got its start by raising $90,000 in Georgetown, Texas. Since then,
Tango Flight has expanded to five other cities across the country, boosted by funding
from Airbus and local sponsors, such as the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire. 'It's
really amazing to see the aviation community come together and support this,' says
Tango Flight co-founder Dan Weyant. 'Most of the folks in this business recognize
that we are in desperate need to bring younger new folks into it either as a hobby
or as a career..."
 "Researchers in the U.S. have developed a
high speed
digital twin of a custom built drone to monitor its reliability and predict
potential failures. The Dynamic Data-Driven Application Systems (DDDAS) digital
twin project includes researchers from University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), MIT,
Akselos and drone maker Aurora Flight Sciences. The twin represents each
component of the UAV, as well as its integrated whole, using physics-based models
that capture the details of its behaviour. The digital twin also uses on-board sensor
data from the UAV and integrates that information with the model to create real-time
predictions of the health of the vehicle. 'It's essential that UAVs monitor their
structural health..."
 This is the Sunday, January 30, 1944, "Flyin'
Jenny" comic strip. The Baltimore Sun newspaper, published not far from where
I grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, carried "Flyin' Jenny" from the late 1930s until
the strip ended in the mid 1940s, so I saved a couple dozen from there. The first
one I downloaded has a publication date of December 7, 1941 - that date "which will
live in infamy," per President Roosevelt. Many Americans were receiving word over
the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while reading this comic at the
breakfast table. I expect that soon there will be World War II themes. "Flyin'
Jenny," whose real name was Virginia Dare (what's in a name?), was a test pilot
for Starcraft Aviation Factory who divided her time between wringing out new airplane
designs and chasing bad guys...
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