The Cellar - View Single Post

xoxoxoBruce · 11-09-2003, 08:42 PM

OK, '64/'65 I worked as a machinest at Tufts University for the head of the Electrical Engineering Dept, Dr. Howell. Doc was the Chairman of some national balloon research council that handed out government money. One of his favorite tricks was to award say $10 million to an MIT or Cal Tech for a project, then turn around and do the exact same project in parallel for $500k. While the "major" project would have all the bells and whistles like a chase helicopter, we had Gus (the foreman) in a rental car.
This particular package would fly on a helium balloon out of Alamogordo NM. During the day the sun would heat the balloon and it would rise and drift easterly then at night it would sink a few thousand feet and drift westerly. They kept it in the same area for as long as 30 days. If it got too far away they couldn't signal it to drop the package. One flight it caught the jet stream and came down 24 hrs later in Spain.
This picture shows the bare bones framework with the 24" mirror installed (covered with brown paper) and the tripod for mounting the 12" mirror above it.
aside-The guy in the grey shirt was a halftrack driver in the 1st Armored Div. and scheduled for discharge on Dec 20th 1941, just in time for Christmas. Dec 8th they said no dice and he served another 4 years.

11-09-2003, 08:42 PM	#11
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	OK, '64/'65 I worked as a machinest at Tufts University for the head of the Electrical Engineering Dept, Dr. Howell. Doc was the Chairman of some national balloon research council that handed out government money. One of his favorite tricks was to award say $10 million to an MIT or Cal Tech for a project, then turn around and do the exact same project in parallel for $500k. While the "major" project would have all the bells and whistles like a chase helicopter, we had Gus (the foreman) in a rental car. This particular package would fly on a helium balloon out of Alamogordo NM. During the day the sun would heat the balloon and it would rise and drift easterly then at night it would sink a few thousand feet and drift westerly. They kept it in the same area for as long as 30 days. If it got too far away they couldn't signal it to drop the package. One flight it caught the jet stream and came down 24 hrs later in Spain. This picture shows the bare bones framework with the 24" mirror installed (covered with brown paper) and the tripod for mounting the 12" mirror above it. aside-The guy in the grey shirt was a halftrack driver in the 1st Armored Div. and scheduled for discharge on Dec 20th 1941, just in time for Christmas. Dec 8th they said no dice and he served another 4 years. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. Last edited by xoxoxoBruce; 04-07-2007 at 06:06 PM.