"Operation Geronimo" helicopter

On 9/11/2011 3:06 AM, Moramarth wrote:>

It reminds me of the MiG-25 that defected to Japan. Hasegawa was alleged to have gotten to inspect and measure it before US intelligence people.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

My memory of that period is patchy but I thought Hasegawa's MiG-25 was already out before the defection and suddenly became a worldwide best-seller?

(kim)

I'm pretty sure the defection & hands-on availibility of Belenko's MiG is what prompted them to make the kit.

I doubt Hasegawa was allowed access, there was enough of a Russian flap that US intelligence was given access to the aircraft 'to determine customs duties'. The general layout was known, what wasn't was internal electronics (vacuum tubes) and how bad the reliability of the engine was a M2+. There were lots of press photos taken of it before they were run off. It was returned to the USSR in pieces.

Okay, thanks :o)

It was available so soon after the incident (100 days) it was hard not to believe it wasn't already in production.

NB: My only souce of modelling news at the time was an aviation weekly newspaper.

(kim)

Japanese were pretty quick to get kits out, still are.

Revell and Monogram used to be almost as fast. Not to mention Aurora, there were kits of an F-107.

Testors even had that really bad guess of what the F-117 looked like. Went well with my photo of the 'Stealth Fighter Pilot' when I was at Edwards (a pair of boots - common joke at the time at AF airshows).

Or even if you don't - the Chernobyl (or rather Chornobyl, as the Ukrainians prefer) complex continued in use as a power plant for another 14 years after the accident to unit 4, with the operators' doses remaining within internationally accepted norms. It still has a large workforce involved in decommissioning operations. The difference is they now have a 60km round trip commute, rather than a

6km...

It's true of most nuke sites - they tend to be fenced and secure, and occupied by people not interested in hassling the fauna. I had access to the UK Low Level waste Repository on several occasions in the 1980s, and although limited in area it then supported a small herd of deer.

The big surge was in childhood thyroid cancers, due to intake of radioiodine and the thyroid of children being more vulnerable than that of adults. The sad thing there was no immediate issue of iodine tablets - in the UK it is the norm for all households within a certain radius of operating Nuclear power reactors to have iodine tablets (potassium iodate?) issued to them in case of an incident. IIRC, the thyroid soaks up the iodine from these and then doesn't absorb the radioactive stuff, but they're not too good for you in other ways...

There is a resettlement programme for a large part of the former exclusion zone, and there was always an unofficial population within it. For the most part these were older members of the rural population who had returned to their homes and were tolerated by the authorities as both parties had correctly determined they were likely to expire of old age before any radiation-related problems arose - I understand many actually lived to a ripe old age. Conversly, there are several upland farms on the western perimeter of the English Lake District where it is safe to live but the sheep that graze there arn't allowed to enter the food chain - the air mass that carried the Chernobyl contamination west hit the maritime weather just above them, and the resultant downpour dumped a lot of crap on them (and, ironically, the Sellafield nuclear complex!).

Same in the UK - I can remember as a child (between the ages of about

5 and 9) being allowed to go and play in a disused quarry, with the the admonishment to stay away from the "cliff" (the old working face). Plenty of cuts and grazes, but no real damage to anyone. Nowadays it would be irresponsible parenting at the least...

Regards,

Moramarth

< When it was revealed the Pakistanis has allowed the inspection of the < remains of the stealth helicopter by the Chinese, it was logical to < assume this inspection was by members of their Intelligence/Military. < But evidence is emerging to the contrary...

That model looks suspicously like that old Testors kit.....

Regards, John Braungart

'Flying Restaurant" because of its 500 liter tank of alcohol, used for hydraulic fluid, cooling the radar and warming the ground crew.

The engine was originally intended for a cruise missile.

jsw

Ah childhood memories... running bare-footed (and bare chested, nothing on but a pair of shorts) through sugarcane fields that contained a multitude of poisonous bitey things (snakes, spiders), as well as the sharp edges of the cane leaves. None of us ever died. Or even got injured, come to think of it. And we'd stand on the side of the field and watch the harvesters at work, with the same result - no-one was gobbled up by the machine.

Riding our bikes to school, no helmets, no flags, no shoes, no high visibility vest - we were taught to stay the hell out of the way of cars, or we'd get run over and die. Yes, we were told about dying, unlike today were kids are shielded from that. No wonder that they all need therapy after an event, they haven't been accustomed to real life.

Meh, I'm old and grumpy, and don't have enough time to build models. Which makes me grumpier.

RobG (the Aussie one)

sharp edges on erector sets...small screws that could be swallowed. yeah, we survived.

then the axe boy scouts used. one idiot nearly took his foot off.

Yup, and the rest of you learned to pay attention to what you were doing, or pay the price.

Can't learn nothin' from TV, ya gotta get out there and do it.

RobG (the Aussie one)

We told the twit not to play with the axe, so what did he do? brought it down straight on his foot. He is now an MD. Go figure.

"Hmmm. Surgery...it's not so hard..."

Axe or hatchet? They're all potentialy dangerous but anything smaller than a 3/4 axe is just asking for trouble. Heavier pack weight yields an order of magnitude in usefulness and with some training and practice is safer than a hand axe. Tends to go where you put it rather than ziping off sideways.... With sharp things, bigger is often better. A 7" Ka-Bar beats a Swiss army knife all to heck....

The original box art was the Mig on the ground partially covered by a tarp and a Top Secret stamp indicating the defection aircraft.

Val Kraut

"

Unless what you actually need are tweezers. Or a corkscrew, or splinter pick, or a magnifying glass...

Sometimes, you don't need to be able to stab Godzilla to death, you just want to peel an apple. :~)

Correct tool for the application wins every time.

Has anyone seen the Swiss army knife/French Army knife cartoon?

And then there's the (genuine) Roman army multitool Damn, the stuff you can find on the internet...

RobG (the Aussie one)

This is strange, I ~thought~ that forks as eating utensils only dated to about the 1300s, prior to that were the five-tined forks at the end of your arms....

You've got that right!

Regards, John Braungart

the theory among paleosociologists are that sharp instuments, ie knives, were the first non-protoplasmic eatring utensils. you know, stick it and lick it.