Flight Journal 06/2013

ONLY ONCE IN HISTORY has an intercontinental ballistic missile — an ICBM — been launched from an aircraft in flight. It happened October 24, 1974 when a C-5A Galaxy from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, launched a 60-foot, 78,000-pound LGM-30F Minuteman II ICBM from its cargo ramp high over the Pacific Ocean. Now, the C-5A (serial no. 69-0014) is on its way to the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover. With a wingspan over 222 feet and a maximum takeoff weight of 840,000 pounds, the Galaxy will become the museum's largest display item. "People will be fascinated by this huge aircraft," museum Director Michael Leister told Flight Journal. Amid heightened Cold War tensions, the United States and the Soviet Union were searching for ways to make their ICBMs less vulnerable, including launching them from railway trains or from aircraft in flight.

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Aeroplane Monthly 01/2013

"Wings Ltd started operating from Winnipeg in July, 1934. Up to September, 1935, they had carried 8,600 passengers and just under 2,000,000lb of goods, divided between 'freight and express'. Freighting has been the chief feature of air transport in Canada in the past three or four years, when developments in the mining of gold have brought some brightness in the clouded economic skies. For comparison, the amount of goods carried by United States air lines in 1934 was 3,449,675lb, about 11,000,000lb less than in Canada. Freighting in Canada has gone over straight from the dog team to the aeroplane, and the loads are very mixed. Everything from dynamite to darning needles, canned milk to cyanide, diamond drills to diesel motors, cows to comforters goes by air these days into the mining settlements.

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Small-Scale Armour Modelling

Over the years I've gradually built up a good collection of modelling tools and equipment, and those I describe here are relevant to all types of scale modelling, not just small-scale armour. Some specialist tools can be expensive and these include things such as lathes, milling machines and others but so far I've managed without these. They can also take up quite a bit of space, often more than most people without a dedicated workshop or hobby room have and so for both these reasons I won't be covering them in this book. Resin casting materials could be considered advanced or specialist, but beginner casting sets are available at reasonable prices and they don't require much room to use. With these you can make multiple copies of simple homemade parts without the need for expensive casting equipment, and so this is something that I will be looking at in more detail later in the book.

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Painting and Finishing Techniques

Plastic model building has been around for many decades. Over time, it has evolved into an art of creating very detailed and accurate miniatures. With the advent of such accessories as photo-etched and resin parts, different types of markings and well-researched references, it has become a very involved hobby that can produce some stunning results. Inspired by a family friend, I was introduced to the hobby at an early age. I spent most of my time and money, together with my brother Tony, building practically every model that Aurora, Airfix and Revell released. Our efforts produced some rather crude results at first, most of which met their end at the hands of my pellet gun or some well-placed fireworks. The interest in the hobby never died, and we continued to improve our building and painting techniques, buying matt-finish paints, airbrushes and other new tools as we discovered them.

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