Can an aircraft wing be beautiful in the same that a Renaissance artist's rendering of the flair of a beautiful woman's hip is beautiful?
I think so...
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:53 pm
by Magnus
I suppose it's an "eye of the beholder" argument. An aircraft wing is beautiful - I'm an engineer. Mahler's 8th Symphony is beautiful, particularly the "Alles Vergängliche" finale. My favourite painting is the Ufizzi's "Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli. Then I see my granddaughter smile and all else pales into insignificance.
I suppose it's an "eye of the beholder" argument. An aircraft wing is beautiful - I'm an engineer. Mahler's 8th Symphony is beautiful, particularly the "Alles Vergängliche" finale. My favourite painting is the Ufizzi's "Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli. Then I see my granddaughter smile and all else pales into insignificance.
+1
You are a true Renaissance man Magnus.
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:11 pm
by Rossian
The curve of an A380 wing from the root going outwards and upwards is a very beautiful thing to behold up close, closely followed by the wing shape of an Su27 which (I have been told) is all one shape not marred by all sorts of extraneous slats/slots and high lift devices.
The Ancient Mariner
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:20 pm
by Pontius Navigator
Or a Vulcan, no tail, no flaps, no vortex generators, no pylons.
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:29 pm
by Undried Plum
Just one great big **** Blue Steel ceramacist shroom cloudmaker!
Hard to beat the Spitfire planform though. That aircraft is just beauty in air. Even the 'soundtrack' is apt.
VC-10 horizontal stab, seen from below, has got to be 'up there' on the beauty stakes, I'd say.
Or a Vulcan, no tail, no flaps, no vortex generators, no pylons.
I remember, when doing my Flying Scholarship, on an early solo sortie over East Lothian at relatively low level, circa 500' agl, seeing that moth-like shadow of a Vulcan beneath me. Then I recognised the roundels on the top of its wing(s).
I agree with you, but I suspect Roger Scruton would be horrified. The video posted above uses imagery of wind turbines to reinforce the notion of modern utilitarianism being bad.
To be fair to Roger Scruton I agree with a large percentage of what he said in that video though. It is well worth watching.
Most unlike the baboon's arse job that even a Grantham greengrocers' daughter would be embarrassed by.
Perfectly put...
£900,000 (and the rest) spent to appease one man's huge ego while reducing the number of the RAF's operational aircraft... there is no way that that aircraft could be used in serious operational scenarios with the baboon arse paint scheme.
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:05 pm
by Undried Plum
There's a gorgeous piece of music whose name is infuriatingly refusing to recall from my Macallan-infused memory.
It was:
Broadcast over radio at the announcement of Franklin D. Roosevelt's death;
Broadcast on television at the announcement of John F. Kennedy's death
Played at the funeral of Albert Einstein
Played at the funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco
Performed at Last Night of the Proms in 2001 at the Royal Albert Hall to honour the memory of the victims of the September 11 attacks
As a sometime furniture designer & maker, I think that most people recognise beauty in design, even if they aren't particularly keen on the style. Likewise in music and architecture. For example, I don't particularly like Brutalist architecture, but the Sirius building in Sydney was an example of beauty, even if it wasn't my kind of beauty. Even if you're not a classical music person, it's hard not to appreciate the beauty of some of the works of Mozart, Beethoven etc.
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:31 am
by Pinky the pilot
"There is no prettier sight than a Spitfire in flight.''
£900,000 (and the rest) spent to appease one man's huge ego while reducing the number of the RAF's operational aircraft... there is no way that that aircraft could be used in serious operational scenarios with the baboon arse paint scheme.
Which accounts for the picture released yesterday of two F35 taking fuel from it:
"Nigger one closing for two raspberry ripples please"
Or a Vulcan, no tail, no flaps, no vortex generators, no pylons.
I remember, when doing my Flying Scholarship, on an early solo sortie over East Lothian at relatively low level, circa 500' agl, seeing that moth-like shadow of a Vulcan beneath me. Then I recognised the roundels on the top of its wing(s).
Not a shadow at all!
My first sighting was in 1963. In a Varsity, lower than usual for some reason, when the Captain called me up the front. There was a Mk 1, all white, no tail bulge, in the circuit at Finningley, it was a thousand feet below and had just overtaken us as we cruised at 180 kts above him.
Apart from the two pitot tubes at the wing tips the white jet was the purest of the lot.
Re: La Bella Figura
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:00 am
by Boac
two F35 taking fuel from it:
At least the eagle-eyed fighter pilots will have no trouble finding it
