Posted on 08/17/2016 3:14:22 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The Airlander 10 - which is part plane and part airship - took off from Cardington Airfield in Bedfordshire.
Its original test flight on Sunday was postponed, but it finally left the ground at 19:40 BST.
The £25m aircraft measures 302ft (92m) long and is about 50ft (15m) longer than the biggest passenger jets.
...
Christened the Martha Gwyn, the aircraft was first developed for the US government as a surveillance aircraft but the project was shelved amid defence cutbacks.
...
The huge aircraft will be able to stay airborne for around five days during manned flights.
HAV claims it could be used for a variety of functions such as surveillance, communications, delivering aid and even passenger travel.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Does that make Shrillary a hybrid too?
gasbag shape = M-I-L
This would make an excellent ASW platform. Fill it with sona-bouys and it could hover over a hostile sub totally unaware that it was being tracked. Give the patrol aircraft a break.
Thank you.
Yes, good idea.
But the USN version would be four times as expensive,
carry half the payload,
have half the range,
half the speed,
and be delivered twice in the schedule, years late.
But it would be built to MILSPECs, so it would “have to be good” in half the time , right?
It generates aerodynamic lift with its gasbag shape?
Hell, that means that Rosie O’Donnell, whoopee Goldberg, Michele Obama and Hillary Clinton constitute a fleet of blimps.
Holy Schnikes! A Thermite encased non-atomic H-bomb!
They really had a winner there in regards to passenger safety. I can't believe they did that. What morons.
It’s obvious in retrospect.
LOL! It blows up real good.
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