Monday, March 31, 2025

Russians are preparing to send an almost 75-year-old GAZ-69 to the battlefront.



England is on the verge of shutting down the World Economic Forum's "15 Minute Cities" programme after almost all the cameras were destroyed and 50,000 people refused to pay the fines.

 

the Blade Runners activist group has neutralised 90% of the cameras installed under a zero-emission scheme that penalizes vehicles that fail to meet standards.

what in the world was airplane malt, and why was a company named that?

 


Designed By Harry L. Vaughan, Design Patent No. 44,226 (06/17/1913).

here's a drag racing video that had me wondering if either driver ever considered lifting... just to avoid crashing into each other (skip to 14:30)







I just learned that JC Whitney sponsored Kevin Smith (pop culture icon / director) for a 5 episode series of 3 minute videos on movie cars, that seems to have run it's course.






a gasser Celica in Hawaii... thank you Ken!

 



the annual Shelby car show is going to be at the Segerstrom Shelby Events Center and Museum (near the 5/405 split in Irvine, 5 Whatney, Irvine, CA 92618) 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM on Saturday May 17.


Bill in Arizona has now collected 11,525 car club plaques

 https://carclubplaques.pairsite.com/

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Groovy graphics.... thank you Jim!


more than one B 17 tail gunner was stuck in the tail section after it was severed from the rest of the aircraft with no parachute, and survived the crash landing


Raley's account came almost three months to the day after he improbably survived that fall from the skies over Piraeus Harbor in Greece. His crew was part of the 353rd Bomb Squadron, 301st Bomb Group, Fifteenth Air Force

He recalled "a hell of a jolt" as the bomber's 12-foot tail section was sheared off from the rest of the aircraft. Crammed into tight quarters and his movement constricted by the pair of machine guns he manned and several hundred rounds of ammunition, Raley could not create enough space to put on his parachute.

But instead of descending at breakneck speed, the bomber's tail spiraled downward, somewhat slowing its velocity, and Raley estimated it took 10-15 minutes for the wreckage to complete its fall.

The tail section fortuitously first made contact with a cluster of trees on a mountainside before stopping abruptly. Raley painstakingly extricated himself from all of the ammo surrounding him, then -- with the escape hatch nearest him damaged and pinned shut -- exited through the bulkhead door. For the first time, Raley saw the full extent of what he had survived.


On Nov 1943, inside a B-17F named Rikki Tikki Tavi from the 96th BG, was Staff Sergeant Moran.

 As a tail gunner, Moran was in the thick of the fight against the swarm of enemy fighters  when the Rikki Tikki Tavi was cut into two pieces, by German Bf 109s and FW190s. 

Moran was still inside the tail.

Some of the research for the above film of his experience was found in the great book Tailspin by John Armbruster.

https://www.military.com/history/how-world-war-ii-tail-gunner-survived-midair-collision-without-parachute.html
https://www.thegleaner.com/story/opinion/2019/04/04/henderson-soldier-survived-3-7-mile-fall-during-wwii/3371078002/

The Chrysler Technical Center is the second largest office complex in the U.S., the Pentagon is the largest

https://www.theautopian.com/when-i-worked-at-chrysler-i-kept-a-glossary-of-ridiculous-corporate-terms-engineers-overused-at-meetings-here-is-that-glossary/

Arizona and California highway patrol are catching a lot of safety fails. Just letting you know that there are a lot more vehicles ready to cause problems on the freeways than you'd believe...






https://www.facebook.com/AZDPSHighwayPatrol
https://cdllife.com/2025/here-are-some-of-the-eye-popping-commercial-vehicle-violations-inspectors-have-spotted-at-scale-houses-lately/

here's a small indication of how bad the trucking industry is...

About 88,000 trucking companies and 8,000 freight brokerage firms went out of business in 2023

The trucking sector reported a net loss of about 10,000 carriers in the first half of 2024

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