Totally useless information/trivia

[Tegis]

15 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

The Lockheed SR71 had 4000 missiles fired at it during it's service. Not one ever got near it.

JA-37 Viggen had a few radar locks and simulated missile fired. They did cheat a bit since they knew the routes taken over the Baltic Sea to intercept it from the front.  But no other aircraft managed it.

[Mandy Lifeboats]

But 12 of the 32 SR71 were lost in accidents.  That's a high rate.  But it was also cutting edge technology that was operating at the limits of performance.  

If you ever get chance read the story of Gary Powers whose U2 was shot down over the USSR.  According to standard procedures he should have activated the self destruct function.   He didn't.  It was also an unwritten rule that if you were crashing in enemy terroritory you died with the plane.  He didn't.  This gave the USSR the technology and someone who knew what it did and how to operate it. 

When he was finally released in a spy exchange he was treated as a pariah.    

[BOF]

9 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

But 12 of the 32 SR71 were lost in accidents.  That's a high rate.  But it was also cutting edge technology that was operating at the limits of performance.  

If you ever get chance read the story of Gary Powers whose U2 was shot down over the USSR.  According to standard procedures he should have activated the self destruct function.   He didn't.  It was also an unwritten rule that if you were crashing in enemy terroritory you died with the plane.  He didn't.  This gave the USSR the technology and someone who knew what it did and how to operate it. 

When he was finally released in a spy exchange he was treated as a pariah.    

I see Spielberg wasn't big on historical accuracy in Bridge of Spies when he mis-represented Powers' treatment by the Russians, who actually treated him very well. I guess his film-making motivations are subject to change.

"...though reviewers have praised the film and argued that such departures [from historical record] are permissible" - I guess that also depends on who the reviewer is and who the departure taints.

Maybe I'm too cynical of Hollywood attempting to be 'The idiot's guide to history' (see also Argo)

[Mandy Lifeboats]

57 minutes ago, BOF said:

I see Spielberg wasn't big on historical accuracy in Bridge of Spies when he mis-represented Powers' treatment by the Russians, who actually treated him very well. I guess his film-making motivations are subject to change.

"...though reviewers have praised the film and argued that such departures [from historical record] are permissible" - I guess that also depends on who the reviewer is and who the departure taints.

Maybe I'm too cynical of Hollywood attempting to be 'The idiot's guide to history' (see also Argo)

I don't think we will ever know tye full facts because all concerned had motives to portray a particular version of events.  Powers was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for withstanding "harsh" interrogation techniques.  But many think that is an attempt to repair his image.  He was eventually freed in a Spy exchange.  But many Americans opposed this.  Many thought he had no value to the Russians because he'd revealed all.  Yet other say that he should be commended for giving away so little.  

It's all a fascinating read and a great example how governments rewrite history. He is now portrayed as a hero.  At the time many took the view that failing to self destruct the plane, bailing out and not using his suicide pill was cowardice, incompetence or treason.  

[Chindie]

The thing that always blew my mind with the SR71 was it leaks on the ground. In flight it gets so hot that many of the panels and components expand, so it was built with that expansion in mind, a result of which is on takeoff it has fuel and other fluids leaking out of it.

[Mandy Lifeboats]

It's very similar to F1 engines.  You cannot start a F1 engine at room temperature.  Until the engine is warm the components are seized together.  

That level of engineering is just amazing. 

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, Chindie said:

The thing that always blew my mind with the SR71 was it leaks on the ground. In flight it gets so hot that many of the panels and components expand, so it was built with that expansion in mind, a result of which is on takeoff it has fuel and other fluids leaking out of it.

Apparently it leaked so much fuel and used so much on take off, that when it was airbourne it had to refuel before starting off on it's mission

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

Apparently it leaked so much fuel and used so much on take off, that when it was airbourne it had to refuel before starting off on it's mission

it leaked fuel but not to that sort of quantity … from memory , the refuel was to do with air vapour and the fuel or something , it would be highly volatile due to the extreme heat so they would top up the tank and force the vapour out … one of the geeks will be along shortly to explain it correctly though I’m sure

 

I saw it fly a few times at air shows , it’s a genuine wow sorta thing 

[blandy]

8 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

it leaked fuel but not to that sort of quantity … from memory , the refuel was to do with air vapour and the fuel or something , it would be highly volatile due to the extreme heat so they would top up the tank and force the vapour out … one of the geeks will be along shortly to explain it correctly though I’m sure

Didn’t they take off with low fuel levels so they could, in case of emergency or technical failure, do an immediate landing, without having to dump fuel?  So the IFR was for filling up fully, post take off, basically.

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, blandy said:

Didn’t they take off with low fuel levels so they could, in case of emergency or technical failure, do an immediate landing, without having to dump fuel?  So the IFR was for filling up fully, post take off, basically.

That could also be a reason and based on the post earlier about the number of them that crashed could make sense

Inspired by this thread , I was reading up on Gary Powers earlier and found this Former pilots explanation which gives a more technical reason for it.

 The JP-7 fuel reaches temperatures well over 300 degrees F. during Mach 3 cruise, making the fumes in each of the six fuel tanks very volatile and potentially explosive. The metal skin of the aircraft approaches 400 degrees F., adding to the volatility of the fuel inside the tanks. One of our aircraft limitations was a maximum speed of Mach 2.6 without an inert atmosphere inside the fuel tanks.

The aircraft had three liquid nitrogen Dewar flasks containing 260 liters of liquid nitrogen, located in the nose wheel well. The only way to ensure 100 percent inert atmosphere in each fuel tank was to refuel the plane inflight completely full of JP-7, allowing ambient air in each fuel tank to vent overboard. Once full of fuel, gaseous nitrogen would now dominate each fuel tank’s empty space above as it burned off JP-7. The nitrogen gas pressurized each fuel tank to 1.5 psi above ambient pressure and inerts the space above the heated fuel to prevent autogenous ignition. This is why we refueled after takeoff. Then we could safely accelerate beyond Mach 2.6.”

[Mandy Lifeboats]

No enemy aircraft has ever shot down the air superiority version of the F15. 

But one has been shot down by an aircraft whilst on active service.  

On 22/11/95 two Japanese Airforce F15 were intercepting an unknown contact when the lead pilot was accidentally downed by a missile fired by his wingman. 

 

[BOF]

All this talk of SR-71s and F15s is taking me back to my 'Take Off' Top Trump & 'Mach 3' Super Top Trump days.

Yes I still have the entire collection put away somewhere (they're not mine ^)

[Mark Albrighton]

Iceland officially executed 22 people for witchcraft. Twenty one of them were men.

[Xela]

50 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Iceland officially executed 22 people for witchcraft. Twenty one of them were men.

Even still, I think their lowest point was putting both Katona and Biggins in the same advert. 

[HanoiVillan]

Tesla's share price went up by like 12% or something yesterday, which made Elon Musk somewhere between $25bn and $35bn richer, depending which online news source you read, and it's kind of darkly amusing that it could be quite so unclear about ten billion dollars in wealth here or there.

[bickster]

1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said:

Tesla's share price went up by like 12% or something yesterday, which made Elon Musk somewhere between $25bn and $35bn richer, depending which online news source you read, and it's kind of darkly amusing that it could be quite so unclear about ten billion dollars in wealth here or there.

Wouldn't that depend on what time the reporter filed their report because the price shot up but then fell back somewhat. At one point it breached the magic trillion dollar barrier but then fell back below it. It was all to do with a deal made with a car hire firm I think

[HanoiVillan]

2 minutes ago, bickster said:

Wouldn't that depend on what time the reporter filed their report because the price shot up but then fell back somewhat. At one point it breached the magic trillion dollar barrier but then fell back below it. It was all to do with a deal made with a car hire firm I think

Yes, I think you may well be right actually, seems it did fall back slightly before the end of trading. Hertz I think it is, buying 100,000 (or something like that?) electric cars for their fleet. 

[OutByEaster?]

Starbucks have cards you pre-load with cash so that you can order online and collect in stores, beating the queues.They also have gift cards you can pre-load.

The outstanding value on those cards is estimated as being over $2bn.

That money 'belongs' to Starbucks, you've spent it with them the moment you put it on the card, not the moment you get the coffee, and you can never ever get it back as cash.

It's an interest free loan to Starbucks from their customers of over $2bn - and even better for them, it's not subject to any of the banking rules or regulations around loans.

Better still for them is that they estimate that around 10% of that money will never be spent in their stores, it'll simply be forgotten.

Starbucks had a UK tax credit of £4.4m in 2020 because of reported losses, whilst at the same time, its global customer base gifted them $200m and loaned them $1.8bn, interest free.

I'm not sure whether to be horrified or impressed.

 

[Stevo985]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

Starbucks have cards you pre-load with cash so that you can order online and collect in stores, beating the queues.They also have gift cards you can pre-load.

The outstanding value on those cards is estimated as being over $2bn.

That money 'belongs' to Starbucks, you've spent it with them the moment you put it on the card, not the moment you get the coffee, and you can never ever get it back as cash.

It's an interest free loan to Starbucks from their customers of over $2bn - and even better for them, it's not subject to any of the banking rules or regulations around loans.

Better still for them is that they estimate that around 10% of that money will never be spent in their stores, it'll simply be forgotten.

Starbucks had a UK tax credit of £4.4m in 2020 because of reported losses, whilst at the same time, its global customer base gifted them $200m and loaned them $1.8bn, interest free.

I'm not sure whether to be horrified or impressed.

 

I'm sure it's not as bad regarding the tax implications etc, but I read something similar about TFL and Oyster cards.

I don't think it was in the billions but it was certainly in the hundreds of millions of unused cash that was on Oyster cards, most of which will never be claimed

[OutByEaster?]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-50304437

Quote

Oyster used to be the go-to way of paying for travel around London, but 66 million of the blue plastic cards haven't been used in at least a year. And while they languish forgotten in drawers, bags and wallets, Transport for London (TfL) has amassed a fortune in unclaimed balances and deposits - now worth almost £400m.

Blimey - £400m in 2019 - that's pre-pandemic. I'm guessing the pandemic will have increased that as there was a period of dormancy for a lot of these cards and they'll have been lost or forgotten or people will have moved to parts fo the country that don't have the benefit of the London's transport systems.