What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?
If you grew up anywhere near the Monty Python era you’re bound to know the title of this post. The quote comes from The Life of Brian. When John Cleese asks the question “what have the Romans done for us?” the answer he ends up being forced to say All right, all right...Pierce McKennon – Dead Hot
Last weekend I meant to write a post for Memorial Day. Unfortunately, a dose of food poisoning left blog posts way down on my to-do list. However, since I recently reinvented the calendar, I’ve no problem with rearranging a few special days as well. Leaving this...The Bell X-16 and the Lockheed U-2
Ok, let’s get this out of the way to start with: There never was an X-16 aircraft. There was a program to develop it and a mockup was constructed, but the program was cancelled before a real aircraft was built. So, the astute reader will have figured out what I’m...Neil Armstrong and the X-15
In my last post about the X-15 we looked at the sad end of Major Michael Adams. This time we are going to look at one of the happier stories from the X-15, Neil Armstrong. Before he signed onto the Apollo program, Neil Armstrong was both a Naval aviator (serving in...X-15: Triumph and Tradgey
The X-15 was designed to smash existing aerospace records. Jets had reached mach 2, manned rocket planes had reached mach 3, and missiles and rockets (X-7 thru 12) had reached into space. The X-15 was designed to double the mach number and reach 250,000ft (space)...Nigel Blackwell
Nigel Blackwell was born in rural Oxfordshire in England. He has a love of books, a PhD in Physical Chemistry, and a black belt in pointing out the obvious. As a teenager he toured Europe, and hasn't stopped traveling since. He loves seeing the wonders of the world and meeting the people in it, and hasn't been anywhere that doesn't have the potential for a story. He now lives in Texas with his wife and daughter, where they enjoy the sunshine and listen to the coyotes howl at night.