[NTLK] [OT] Comparisons w/ the future (was Re: iWalk is a good thing)

From: Eric L. Strobel (fyzycyst_at_home.com)
Date: Sun Jan 06 2002 - 21:53:16 EST


somewhere near the temporal coordinates of 1/6/02 7:47 PM, the entity known
as David Brown transmitted the following from sushi_at_ragingbull.com:

> However, the movie the "Final Countdown" gives a glimse via a real world
> comparison. The movie itself is pretty lame, but the real world comparison is
> great. The movie was made in the early 1980's -- roughly 40 years after WWII.
> Basically a modern day Aircraft Carrier timewarps back to December 6th, 1941.

I seem to recall a SF story about a jet fighter finding itself back in WW-I
and it had a real problem. The aircraft were all wood & cloth, no radar
signature to speak of, not enough of a heat source for the IR missiles to
lock onto. As I recall, the pilot discovered the most efficient way to down
one was to blast by at supersonic speed and destroy it that way.

>
> In the movie you see premier WWII Japanese fighter planes up against the F-14.
> There is simply no comparison. One of my favorite scenes is the Japanese
> pilot who has been rescued after his plane is shot down, is standing on the
> carrier deck and observing air operations. He can't believe what he sees.

Imagine the further surprise in a few decades when the carrier is equipped
w/ maglev catapults, and the Phalanx are replaced with lasers.

-- 

Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org)

===================================================================== If aviation had grown as slowly as space travel, the first paying customer would have flown in 1943 -- in the 1,657th expendable Wright Flyer. =====================================================================

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