La Bella Figura

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TheGreenGoblin
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La Bella Figura

#1 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:43 pm

What is beauty?



And this is beautiful...



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...
Though you remain
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"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: La Bella Figura

#2 Post by Magnus » Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:53 pm

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.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#3 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:10 pm

Magnus wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:53 pm
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.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: La Bella Figura

#4 Post by Rossian » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:11 pm

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.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#5 Post by Pontius Navigator » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:20 pm

Or a Vulcan, no tail, no flaps, no vortex generators, no pylons.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#6 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:29 pm

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.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#7 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:38 pm

Aesthetically very pleasing...

Comet.JPG
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: La Bella Figura

#8 Post by Rwy in Sight » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:40 pm

A wind turbine or even a farm of them.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#9 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:43 pm

Pontius Navigator wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:20 pm
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). :-o

Not a shadow at all! :-o :-o

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Re: La Bella Figura

#10 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:50 pm

Rwy in Sight wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:40 pm
A wind turbine or even a farm of them.
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.
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Your destination remains
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Re: La Bella Figura

#11 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:51 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:38 pm
Aesthetically very pleasing...
Comet.JPG
That's a proppa paint scheme.

Most unlike the baboon's arse job that even a Grantham greengrocers' daughter would be embarrassed by.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#12 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:53 pm

Undried Plum wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:51 pm
TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:38 pm
Aesthetically very pleasing...
Comet.JPG
That's a proppa paint scheme.

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.
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Your destination remains
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Re: La Bella Figura

#13 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:05 pm

There's a gorgeous piece of music whose name is infuriatingly refusing to recall from my Macallan-infused memory.


An adagio or summink.



Damn Damn TripleDamn!

I'll get back to yer later.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#14 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:18 pm

Violins or cellos?
Barber adagio for strings?

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

Another performance.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#15 Post by Hydromet » Sun Jun 28, 2020 10:33 pm

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.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#16 Post by Pinky the pilot » Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:31 am

"There is no prettier sight than a Spitfire in flight.''
You only live twice. Once when you're born. Once when you've looked death in the face.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#17 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:47 am

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:53 pm
£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"


617 Sqn operates the F35

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Re: La Bella Figura

#18 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:08 am

Undried Plum wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:43 pm
Pontius Navigator wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:20 pm
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). :-o

Not a shadow at all! :-o :-o
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.

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Re: La Bella Figura

#19 Post by Boac » Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:00 am

two F35 taking fuel from it:
At least the eagle-eyed fighter pilots will have no trouble finding it =))

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Re: La Bella Figura

#20 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:12 am

Boac wrote:
Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:00 am
two F35 taking fuel from it:
At least the eagle-eyed fighter pilots will have no trouble finding it =))
Provided they identified the right one 😁

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