Because I couldn't possibly give you another clue without *everybody* getting it.
So, here it is, and, quite obviously -- it's an aerostat.
Yup -- we have a gasbag with a sensor suite riding herd on the bad guys. Not a dirigible, 'cuz it doesn't have a rigid internal structure, and not a blimp, 'cuz it's tethered, rather than powered. For an idea of how big it is, that darker line with the teensy-weensy ladder on the north end is the work platform, and somebody six-foot-six could walk around on it and not bump his head on the radome on the belly.
This is what it looks like in its normal habitat:
Makes perfect sense to stick a balloon tied to a steel cable on an airfield where you're teaching student pilots,
*koff*
but nobody's even come close to it -- yet. Of course, they'd have to be about 200 meters on the wrong side of the runway to do that in the first place.
Oh, yeah -- I mentioned a radome and sensor suite, huh? Well, just so you don't have to strain your eyes looking for them in the pic above -- ta-daaaaah!
No, that's *not* Carborundum hanging on trying to spot where I went after I took the pic...
So, here it is, and, quite obviously -- it's an aerostat.
Yup -- we have a gasbag with a sensor suite riding herd on the bad guys. Not a dirigible, 'cuz it doesn't have a rigid internal structure, and not a blimp, 'cuz it's tethered, rather than powered. For an idea of how big it is, that darker line with the teensy-weensy ladder on the north end is the work platform, and somebody six-foot-six could walk around on it and not bump his head on the radome on the belly.
This is what it looks like in its normal habitat:
Makes perfect sense to stick a balloon tied to a steel cable on an airfield where you're teaching student pilots,
*koff*
but nobody's even come close to it -- yet. Of course, they'd have to be about 200 meters on the wrong side of the runway to do that in the first place.
Oh, yeah -- I mentioned a radome and sensor suite, huh? Well, just so you don't have to strain your eyes looking for them in the pic above -- ta-daaaaah!
No, that's *not* Carborundum hanging on trying to spot where I went after I took the pic...
I give myself constructive credit, and go to my room to sulk and suck my thumb.
Not that you could actually split any hairs, not having provided any for scale.
And "rear sight for a Vetterli 1870/87 carbine" is exactly what Annabelle had in mind when she said, "It's for a gun."
ML
A weight and balance issue with the center of gravity, most likely -- the balloon would probably have folded in half, like a grilled brat with a trapped air bubble...
Says he, as he puts his bid on eBay for a copy of Jane's All the World's Gasbags...
It wasn't the cost or support manpower requirements that nixed the idea; it was that the Paks weren't too keen on us being able to see that much inside their country.
Spiff
(snarksnarksnark!)
Which, I would add, features Bill's face on the dustjacket as an example entry...
Needs battledore ...
Cheers
Cheers
For the benefit of those who might be browsing your local bookseller's. Ease of recognition, and all that.
Jello. Wall. Nail.
Piffle. Mad Science has covered this *extensively*. No, I am not one of the contributing researchers.