Category Archives: Travel

Why Does the Black Widow Fascinate Me?

In my early teens, I got into model making. One of the things I used to look forward to was when Airfix released their catalogue for the year. This included the new releases and, one year, they released a kit of the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. I had never heard of this type at the time. WWII aircraft weren’t really my thing then. However, for some reason, this plane really caught my attention. Not enough to buy the kit though – too many modern jets for me to focus on!

For some reason, this fascination with the P-61 has stuck with me. There aren’t many of them in preservation so, when I see one in a museum, I am drawn to it. There is one supposedly being restored to flight but that is a multi-year effort which will take a while yet. The NASM has on at the Udvar-Hazy annex. I was keen to get shots of it. However, they do seem to have done a decent job of tucking it in between other airframes that makes getting a clean shot tricky. I did the best I could with angles between other planes or getting elevated.

The Iconic Main Terminal Building at IAD

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First thing is to apologise for an issue with an image in here. How about that for a compelling way to start a post. However, it was impossible to avoid reflections in some of the shots I took here and, unfortunately, the reflection removal tool in Lightroom continues to underperform in my experience. I do think they did something to make it worse because my initial experience was good. Anyway, for some of these I was shooting through two panes of glass that had a few metres between them, which meant I couldn’t avoid reflections.

Our trip to the US for a family event took us through Dulles airport. The iconic terminal at Dulles now sits at the heart of a bunch of terminal buildings which are far less interesting architecturally. However, the swooping shape is still in use and that is where we checked in. Inside the roofline is equally impressive. When at our departure gate, we had a good view back across and this is where the reflections have been unavoidable. I first saw this airport in 1993, and it still catches my eye when I see it now.

Finding a Sprite in the Strangest Places

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The Austin Healey Sprite is an old British sports car which you don’t often see around. One place I was definitely not expecting to come across one was Warrenton in Virginia. Sure, Northern Virginia is near to the DC metro area so probably has a fair few people that might be interested in an old car like this and have the cash to restore one, but Warrenton is some way out. But there it was as we went to have some lunch. It looked in great condition.

Cruising Along the North Kent Coast

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I posted about the charity ride I did in September. The first day took us along the north Kent coast and a healthy tailwind pushed us along nicely. We went through some places that I have been to and plenty that I haven’t. Margate was last visited when I was in college! I had never been to Broadstairs (that I know of). I grabbed a few pictures of the coastline, castles and beaches so here are some of the places we saw along the way. The end of this day included a long climb up to the top of St Margarets with a brutal headwind, so it wasn’t all easy (and my rear tyre was deflating during that climb too!)

Storms Over Northern France

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Our flight back to the UK from DC arrived early in the morning. I was sitting by the window and looking at the clouds. Nancy looked over and asked if they were storm clouds since they had a similar shape. Initially I thought they were too small, but the shape was right. It turns out, she was spot on. They were storm clouds and they were large – just a long way away. In fact, they were over northern France. As soon as we landed, I looked at the weather radar, and the image below shows just what the residents of that area were experiencing. Amazing to realise just how far you can see when flying.

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Details on Tiles and Insulation Blankets

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The previous post I created about the Space Shuttle, Discovery, had a number of shots of the whole orbiter. However, as I walked around, I found the lighting showed off the texture of the vehicle’s surface in a really interesting way. Not long before I went to Udvar-Hazy, I had seen a video that showed how the tiles had been made for the shuttle. That included a bit about the integrity that was required after which a hole was drilled in each tole for a moisture protection system. This hole created a hot spot which shows on all of the tiles on Discovery.

The tiles were used in the hottest areas of the airframe during reentry. Initially, the whole shuttle was covered in tiles but, over time, they changed to using a blanket type of insulation in the areas that were less stressed. The texture of these blankets looks rather rough for something that flies at such speeds. I guess it did the job nicely, though.

I also liked some of the details around the reaction control system nozzle and on the corners of some of the control surfaces. They look both tough but also quite delicate. An odd contradiction in my perceptions. To think that this was originally designed in the 1970s and then constantly improved up to the point when it was retired is quite something looking at it in 2026.

Sikorsky X2

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A few manufacturers have been experimenting with high-speed rotor craft. Sikorsky put its efforts into a project called X2. This is a contra-rotating helicopter with a pusher propellor. The contra-rotation of the rotors offsets the retreating blade stall issues that high speeds on helicopters cause. The rear pusher propellor allows the higher speeds to be achieved.

When the programme was completed, the airframe was donated to the National Air a Space Museum which put it on display at the Udvar-Hazy Annex at Dulles. Seeing it in person made it quite clear just how small the vehicle is. Since it is a research airframe, there is no need for payloads to be carried. It is about proving the concepts. That means it can be smaller and smaller also can mean cheaper. Seeing it from the side was also matched by having a good view down on it from one of the stairways. It would have been cool to see it fly, I imagine.

Riding From Ebbsfleet to Waterloo the Long Way Around

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It you want to get to Waterloo from Ebbsfleet in Kent, a bike is not the quickest way. However, it would not be a terribly difficult thing to do. However, you can make it a lot harder if you try. Split it into three days with the first being from Ebbsfleet to Dover, the second being from Dover to Brighton and the third being Brighton up to London Waterloo. You’d need a good reason and raising money for The Railway Children charity would seem to be good enough.

The beginning of September had me join a bunch of other fundraisers to make this trip. We had some dodgy weather forecasts with rain and wind on the cards, but it actually turned out okay with little rain and the wind being more of a help than a hindrance – although it did make its presence felt on a couple of occasions.

Four of us from my work rode together and we picked up another companion who seemed to find our pace suited him too. Here are some shots from the various points along the route. The fund raising is still open so, if you want to donate, the link is below. The first day was 92 miles, the second was 82 miles and the last a measly 61 miles. Plenty of climbing in there in case you want to know that it was tough.

https://railwaychildren.enthuse.com/pf/rob-edgcumbe-75d05

The X-35B and Its Propulsion System

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The F-35 is in widespread service in considerable numbers with many more to come in due course. However, before the F-35, there was the X-35 – the Lockheed Martin contender in the JSF competitive fly off. Up against the Boeing X-32, two X-35s were built. One of them was initially used to demonstrate the proposed Air Force configuration before it was modified with the vertical lift system proposed for what became the F-35B in USMC service.

With the competition complete, the demonstrators were superfluous and the X-35B airframe made its way to the National Air and Space Museum. Here it sits on display. What is the most interesting part – at least to me – is that they have taken the propulsion system out of the jet and put it on display separately. You can see the main engine as well as the lift fan module, the shaft coupling the two, the nizzle that both have to direct the flow and the roll posts that are used to provide both additional lift and roll control in the hover.

It is a cool demonstration of the basic configuration that is now operational in the F-35B. it has certainly been developed since this design, but the basic principles remain the same. Unlike the Harrier that had the engine in the centre of gravity of the aircraft (not a very convenient location) and redirected all thrust through four nozzles, this configuration has a mighty engine at the rear which can be vectored down when required through a three bearing nozzle that is both simple and ingenious but then a shaft drive from the same engine to a fan module that sits behind the cockpit drawing air from above and directing it down with some ability to vector it too. This forward fan balances against the rear main nozzle. It provides a significantly higher amount of vertical thrust than the Harrier ever managed and allows a larger and more capable aircraft to land vertically at the end of missions. Quite a smart piece of design.

Discovery from Every Angle

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The last time I visited the Udvar-Hazy facility, it was the home of the Enterprise – the first of the Space Shuttles and the one that was used only for atmospheric testing but, despite original plans, never went to space. When the shuttle programme ended, the orbiters were distributed to museum locations and Discovery was allocated to NASM replacing Enterprise. Therefore, this time I went, it was a first time to see Discovery.

Of course, everyone visiting is interested in a shuttle so there were always people around the orbiter. I just had to embrace that and get whatever shots I could make work. There are some detail shots that I took which I will deal with separately. They have more of an abstract feel to them. Here I shall just focus on the wider view of the orbiter.

As something that was designed to travel at such high Mach numbers, it is actually quite a blunt airframe. The nose has a chunky look to it and the leading edges are very thick. The lines of the wings are interesting and the underside is simple. However, the way it is displayed has the undercarriage extended and the ports that fed fuel from the external tank into the three main engines are opened up.

There is a balcony that overlooks the space hall where Discovery sits. This allows you to get a more level view and one from a distance that takes everything in while not being blocked by people or exhibits in front. I did also take some panoramas from down on the ground level. Being that close to the airframe that big makes for a quite distorted view. I find that rather interesting.

I have now seen three of the flying shuttles. Discovery on this visit, Endeavour as it was being completed in the museum in Los Angeles and Atlantis when it flew to space. Columbia and Challenger are gone, of course. Enterprise completes the set.