The Lindbergh of Hobbyists [Maynard Hill 1926-2011]

WSJ ^ | June 11, 2011 | Stephen Miller

[beebuster2000]

In 2003 Maynard Hill flew a model plane from Newfoundland to Ireland on a gallon of gas, and it landed manually via remote control. He just passed away. Amazing guy, and astounding that a model plane could make the trip.

Maynard Hill flew model plane to europe

[rightly_dividing]

Interesting story, the article at the source was way too short.

[Radio Free American?]

I don’t quite get it, he was afraid his planes might be used in war, yet he helped develop unmanned aircraft in the 80’s and 90’s with radar jamming and weapons capability?

[beebuster2000]

here is a link with a lot more detail on the flight. fascinating, and i guess a cliffhanger. after 37 hours landed with only minutes left of fuel.

http://www.progressiveengineer.com/profiles/maynardHill.htm

[Gen.Blather]

“I don’t quite get it, he was afraid his planes might be used in war, yet he helped develop unmanned aircraft in the 80’s and 90’s with radar jamming and weapons capability?”

The idea behind the development of the first machine gun and the development of gas warfare was to make war so terrible that it would be “unthinkable.” Liberals are so cute when they say things like that. If they had met a sociopath, they quickly elect him president.

[netmilsmom]

>>If they had met a sociopath, they quickly elect him president.<<

They did.

[Always A Marine]

Thanks for linking to the Progressive Engineer article, beebuster2000. That's a fascinating story that I thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend...

[VeniVidiVici]

Amazing.

[Radio Free American?]

That’s just racist! s/ or is it s\? I can never remember, you know what I mean sarcasm off.

[null and void]

If they had met a sociopath, they quickly elect him president.

They did.

[null and void]

</sarcasm> That way there’s no question.

(To make the leading less than bracket type in & followed by lt)

[ScreamingFist]

Here’s the full article of the flight attempts by Maynard himself. He is truly an RC legend.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/mag/mhill/hillindex.htm

[Tallguy]

The idea behind the development of the first machine gun and the development of gas warfare was to make war so terrible that it would be “unthinkable.”

The first combat uses of Hiram Maxim's machine gun were by (european) colonial armies against the native populations of Africa & Asia. They got pretty good at employing them as subsequent events in WW1 were to prove.

They probably would have been used anyway, but probably not to any great effect. Kinda like the Gatling Gun of the US Civil War or the Mitrailleuse of the Franco-Prussian War. Both flawed weapons, but with a lot of potential. Problem was nobody knew how to employ them to maximize their killing potential.

[null and void]

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite to make war too horrible to contemplate.

That worked out well...

[Forgotten Amendments]

That theory has held for nukes. So far.

[null and void]

Knock on wood.

[Radio Free American?]

Thanks null and void.

[Paleo Conservative]

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite to make war too horrible to contemplate.

No it wasn't. It was invented to be a safer explosive than liquid nitroglycerin but more effective than black powder for blasting rocks. The cylindrical shape of dynamite sticks also makes it easy to place dynamite in drill holes.

[null and void]

Do a minimal amount of research next time:

A pacifist at heart and an inventor by nature, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. However, the invention that he thought would end all wars was seen by many others as an extremely deadly product. In 1888, when Alfred's brother Ludvig died, a French newspaper mistakenly ran an obituary for Alfred which called him the "merchant of death."

Not wanting to go down in history with such a horrible epitaph, Nobel created a will that soon shocked his relatives and established the now famous Nobel Prizes.