We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:58:19 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 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... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:25:44 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112504 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112504 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:57:53 -0600 Jello. Wall. Nail.

Piffle.  Mad Science has covered this *extensively*.  No, I am not one of the contributing researchers.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112061 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112061 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:49:34 -0600 Which, I would add, features Bill's face on the dustjacket as an example entry...

For the benefit of those who might be browsing your local bookseller's. Ease of recognition, and all that.

Jello. Wall. Nail.

]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112059 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112059 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:26:10 -0600 OMG, I am so dumb! And impercipient! I failed to notice that the thing did not have a squarely planar butt, but that our view of its butt was cut off by that building! Call me butt-head! Looks like an old-fashioned barrage balloon, except for prolly having been inflated with precious irreplacible helium. Hydrogen is plenty good enough for unmanned aerostats. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112047 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112047 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:32:48 -0600 www.amazon.com/Airship-Design-Charles-P-Burgess/dp/1410211738/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Cheers
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112042 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112042 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:59:29 -0600 Needs battledore ...

Cheers
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112041 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112041 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:56:55 -0600 Says he, as he puts his bid on eBay for a copy of Jane's All the World's Gasbags...

Which, I would add, features Bill's face on the dustjacket as an example entry...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112036 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112036 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:25:23 -0600
(snarksnarksnark!)
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112035 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112035 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:19:21 -0600 Spiff
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112034 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112034 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:18:15 -0600
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.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112033 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112033 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:17:54 -0600 I ignore you all.

Says he, as he puts his bid on eBay for a copy of Jane's All the World's Gasbags...

]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112031 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-112031 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:02:52 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111970 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111970 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:33:49 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111969 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111969 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:33:01 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111960 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111960 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:09:53 -0600 Something about ballast cancelled the opportunity.

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...


]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111957 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111957 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:02:11 -0600
ML
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111953 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111953 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:50:53 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111934 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111934 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:16:39 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111932 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111932 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:59:30 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111931 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111931 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:41:03 -0600
And "rear sight for a Vetterli 1870/87 carbine" is exactly what Annabelle had in mind when she said, "It's for a gun."
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111929 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111929 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:20:18 -0600
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.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111927 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2010/08/and_now_the_wee.html#comment-111927 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:05:06 -0600