Aircraft carrier made of Ice.

What a ludicrous idea...almost as barmy as a 'bouncing bomb' !

I too thought it a bit, well, unorthodox. The prototype was built to 1/10 scale.

I do like the Pykrete though.

And honestly I don't feel it ludicrous, just unusual.

I was being sarcastic... As the'bouncing Bomb' was a great success designed by Barnes Wallis.

Yes, there's actually a lot of information out there about these iceberg vessels - a combination of ice and sawdust makes for a bullet-proof (even the big stuff, like 20 mm cannon fire), slow to melt, giant (like miles long), aircraft carrier. Seems they had worked out how to make the material and were ready to deploy, then the war ended and ruined everybody's fun. Dang!!!

The bouncing bomb was a brilliant idea, and I'd say it was a great success as well. However, I do recall hearing that it wasn't as successful as hoped in terms if inflicting damage on Germany. They recovered from most of the damage fairly quickly according to one programme I saw (?). The film about it all is a classic.

Another bit of Trivia ( which vermin alludes to) was that Habakuk may have become reality if resources had not been required to develop the bomb. (Hey, my polar bear plan could have become real Del - run for them them tower blocks !)

The genius of Barnes Wallice! He only got the plane to do the tests because he designed it!

NAZI Uber weapon...

Of course, this is the back of the plane, but I think they should have built it with this as the front... Sure would have scared the hell outta me if I'd been in B-17!!!

I remember something about this plane, do you remember what it was?

Every time I see that picture, I think "Now that looks really cool and nasty!" Then, I have to remind myself that it's a picture of the tail section. For pure style, they should have built it backwards!

That's the Horten IX (more info at http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Horten-HoIX/HO-IX.php) It was pretty neat looking. Something I recall reading said it was flown as a glider with dead weight in place of the engines as the engines intended weren't ready. Then something happened to end the project. What was it. Hm. Oh yeah, the war ended and the Germans lost. Still, nice plane. The Horten bros. did a lot of flying wing research some of which probably ended up in yankee hands and maybe was of some use to Northrop when they were doing their big flying wing bomber (also a pretty neat looking thing).

well you prompted me to do some homework:

Horton HO 229

Origin: Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG. to Horten design

Type: Single seat fighter/bomber

Engines:
Two Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets
Thrust: 1,980lb (900kg)

Dimensions:
Span 16.75m
Length 7.47m
Height 2.80m

Weights:
Empty: 10,140lbs (4600kg)
Max. loaded: 19,840lb (9000kg)

Speed:
607mph (977km/h)

Ceiling:
52,500ft (16,000m)

Range:
1,970 miles (3170km) at 393mph (635km/h) with two drop tanks

Armaments: Planned
Four Mk 103 or Mk 108 cannon
Plus
Two 1,000kg bombs

Hi Del. Great idea, but with all this global warming about it may be a bit risky! Spencer.

well, we obviously need to wait till the next ice age, then we can make all of our boats from pykrete!

Scooter

Poor Hendrick!!! OK, who's the rat-bastard that keeps ratting out posts like Hendrick's, and it's always with 5 votes?!

Who is this malignant, mysterious "Gang of five?!" I think we deserve some answers!!!

Show yourself! Or do you prefer to remain hidden like an evil, festering cabal that lurks in the shadows of CR 4!!!

tum te da de da de da...

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/15/Desert-Island-Newsletter-Challenge-06-14-05

http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/55986/Re-Berg-Like-Flotillas-Helping-Polar-Bears

shame on me. Can I claim innocence by ignorance?

No ! I already claim that .

The suiff isn't obvious - I missed out when I posted stuff on the Polar Bear thread. I didn't notice that Chris Leonard had already mentioned the subject years before.LOL. The whole story of Pykrete is covered in CR4 (mainly via links) and also on TV. There is some very good background to it both on the web and TV. The guy who first had the idea is an intriguing 'eccentric' who's life ended in quite a tragedy ( used by the establishment etc). Canadian members can probably dig a fair bit on the whole story as a lot of trials took place in Canada. Don't get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with subjects being reperated in threads - this is probably the first specific one. Kudos for doing so. These lesser known engineering facts are worth knowing about. Carry on, and if it gets interesting I'll see what other links I can find to chuck into the pot.

thanks. As a designer I feel it very important to recognize those lesser knowns, eccentric etc. Often these are the ones who are a half step ahead of their time. And, well, since I am one half step behind I have a good chance of meeting at the zero point.

I try and vindicate myself and them to some degree; me for not finishing school per se and them for the poor timing, in my own humble and subtle little ways.

More seriously, I like the idea of revisiting these ideas for modern applications.

I try and look at old posts, but as you mentioned, some of this stuff is somewhat buried.

All those eccentric types are fascinating. A lot of them were 'used' by Governments, and subsequently dumped when it was felt they were no longer needed. Pike doesn't exactly compare to Turing for brains/end-story but their are similarities. Many people in Science,Engineering and Mathematics have that weird mix of genius and eccentricity - genius seems to arise from being unconventional and having a different perspective on life. Sadly for me, being barking mad has yet to produce any signs of genius !

I was about to suggest that innovative ideas seem to 'pop up from nowhere', but I reckon it is probably already covered somewhere in CR4. Some of the best bits to be found in CR4 are buried in threads simply because folk spontaneously go of topic. A good example is the recent UFO blog - who would expect to find so much interesting stuff hidden within that subject. When I remember ( which is not that often) I chuck a keyword into CR4s own Search engine and it generally finds something good.

Your point about re-evaluating old ideas for new applications is spot on. The concept of Pykrete is probably far from useless. Whether somebody will one day read of it and think of a great application, or a problem will find it's solution because somebody recalls reading of Pykrete is anyones guess. Either way, bringing the subject up from time to time is no bad thing. There are some Challenge Questions on the subject of "Ice" that you may find interesting if you haven't seen them.

It's proably going to be usfull on some distant planet... which for the sake of argument we shall call Tharg.

Thargian dust mixed with some appropriate fluid could make beautiful ships utilising little raw material or energy, vital for early colonisation.

Permit me to sell you some shares in the Thargian Delkrete Shipping Venture ?

I'll take bleen shares!!!

Cheers Verm, I knew I could count on you! (all the way to eleven!)

(Gotta admit I had to Google Bleen ... )

Hey, are you and vermin taking the pykrete here ! Now I'm going to go and invent something very clever with it, then you'll be sorry. Wait 'till you wake up to see Polar Bears prowling Harlow and Silicon Alley. Long haired hippies will seem like a fond memory. A silly Thames barrier won't keep my Armada of bears out Del. Hmphh. The carrier will dock at a secret beach and they'll all march overland. Gosh is my spelling gone bad.

Yeh... I bet that secret beach is near the secret bunker...you know the one with the sign posts!

I didn't know that female Polars are all called Amanda !

Hi Kris. Indeed you are right, one of our most famous and long forgotten engineers is "James Bridley". He was the man who gave us the first real canals here in the UK. Born 1716 died 1772, he was responsible for advancing the cause of the industrial revolution. It is one thing manufacturing goods, but another thing trying to move those goods over vast distances to their final destination. In his day there were no motorways, not even a single tarmaced road. He devised a system of canals all over the country so that manufactures could move their products from one end of the country to the other end. Most of these canals are still in existence and used by pleasure boats. Today there is even talk of excavating new canals. Spencer.

Hi Spencer,

I didn't know the name Bridley, but Canals are very cool. I'm not sure that the leisure industry would allow much scope for going back to Industrial usage, but stranger things have happened. Even without specifically being used for Industry, they still inspire some great Engineering thinking ( eg Falkirk Wheel). I used to visit Stoke Bruerne a lot, which as you probably know is a major point on The Grand Union. If memory serves, they are nearly about to start a major renovation on one of the Inclined Plane lifts. Next time I'm in the area I'll go check - you can't beat a nice pint by a Canal-side pub ! Years ago I went over the Pontcysyllte and it's one heck of a drop down when your on a boat looking down !

I'll look up Bridley sometime, he sound a bit like one of my hero's Bazalgette.

Cheers, Kris

Yeh..those aqueducts look soooooo.... freaky!

They seem to defy common sense...a 1/4" of steel plate holding all that water & a barge???

Nah! It's just not possible... better have another pint quick!

Hi Del. The weight of the barge(narrow boat) can be discounted as it displaces its own weight in water!!!!! Spencer.

Yeh, I know all that ...

But it's the difference between how it is and how it looks.

Ya gotta remember I'm a scaredy cat !

Kriss, you're not dead! (One of those would look great in a glass of whisky...)

Hi Kris. I have travelled through all of the navigable canals in the UK and you are right, nothing beats a pint of real ale at a canalside pub. On another note, when I was in the merchant navy I passed through five of the worlds great canals and nothing beats the Panama canal for sheer size and scope. Spencer.

What about Isambard Kingdom Brunel? Didn't he invent the "Living Bra?"

If we were to excavate the entire British Ilse, it would make a lot more room for maritime cargo. You guys are so heavily taxed you can buy anything anyway. So what's the loss?

Only if you are a policeman!

Explanation:- Ignorance of the law is no excuse!

However the police do noot have to know the law...they can arrest you and then work out why afterwards!

Del del Gato, no one knows this more than I.

LOL

Long ago and faraway these ice berg carriers were described in some detail. I believe in Mechanics Illustrated or Popular Science magazines. The proposal as I remember was to incorporate saw dust ?? into the ice so as to lower the temperature and cause the floating bergs to grow. That's recollection clouded by many, many years.

Bob

The sawdust provided two properties -- it made the ice non-brittle and provided insulation to reduce the size of the cooling plant needed to keep the berg frozen.