Monday, November 20, 2006

Gaming at Dragon's Lair, 20 Nov 2006

Okay, this is a late post, but tonight there will be SABG-style board gaming at Dragon's Lair. I have Mission: Red Planet, Leonardo, and Mag-Blast 3rd edition in the trunk, and I plan on getting there around 1630 hours.

PS: For those not with a military inclination, this is a picture of a U-2 Dragon Lady, the only airplane I know of that requires the assistance of a Chevy Camaro driving at 100 mph in order to land safely.

6 Comments:

At 1:46 PM, November 20, 2006, Blogger Jeff said...

OK, I'll bite.

Why does the plane need a Camaro doing 100 mph to land?

 
At 3:40 PM, November 20, 2006, Blogger Ben said...

The U-2 is designed for performance and speed at very high altitude as a spy plane. The U-2 is also a 50+ year old design. At low altitude and low speed the U-2 is apparently very unstable and difficult to fly (i.e., Dragon Lady).

A second pilot rides in the Camaro on the ground, matching the speed and position on the runway of the airplane as it is coming in for a landing. The pilot in the car radios the pilot in the plane his altitude and various other items of interest and guides the other pilot down safely.

 
At 3:42 PM, November 20, 2006, Blogger Ben said...

Oh, wait... they explain it better here:

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/milarticles/blu-2.htm

 
At 10:55 PM, November 20, 2006, Blogger Ben said...

Mission: Red Planet was great fun! Frank's Zoo was good too.

 
At 11:13 PM, November 20, 2006, Blogger Brian said...

My favorite fact about the U-2. At altitudes, it's minimum (stall) speed and maximum speed differ by ... 5 knots.

 
At 8:57 AM, November 21, 2006, Blogger Rob said...

Sounds like a great pain... I mean, plane.

 

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