Word: takeoff
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...chartered DC-6 roared down the runway, bound for St. Louis, the atmosphere inside was glum enough: the staggering Cardinals had just dropped a doubleheader to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It quickly got worse. Just 30 seconds after takeoff, a portside engine conked out, and Cardinal ballplayers stared tensely at the feathered prop. Only Stan Musial seemed unruffled. Grinning from ear to ear, he turned to a teammate: "I can see the headline now. CARDINAL PLANE CRASHES -MUSIAL LONE SURVIVOR...
...years ahead of U.S. rivals. It is built around the Bristol Siddeley BS-53 Pegasus, a remarkable jet engine that discharges large volumes of comparatively slow-speed air through four swiveling nozzles that can point either front, back or down. When the VTOL is ready for vertical takeoff, the pilot points all the nozzles down, revs the engine, and the plane rises straight up on an even keel. When sufficiently clear of the ground, the pilot turns the nozzles gradually rearward and accelerates smoothly into normal forward flight. The P-1127, which made its full flight test last fall...
...that Cape Canaveral's marksmen are getting sharper, too. Ranger IV rose perfectly from its pad, engines screaming as it highballed toward its lunar landing. Almost 64 hours later, Ranger hit the far side of the moon, but its flight was far from an unqualified success. Soon after takeoff, something went wrong with the computer that was supposed to control the missile's many instruments and trans mit the data back to earth. As a result, the spacecraft's velocity could not be slowed before it hit the moon. The scientists got no television pictures...
...week the Canaveral record keepers were busy tracking the achievements and disappointments of U.S. missilery. After 13 successful launches in a row, one of the Army's solid-fuel, tactical Pershing missiles had to be destroyed seconds after takeoff. After seven straight successes, one of the Air Force's usually reliable Minutemen also had to be blown...
Almost from takeoff. Operation Tidal Wave lost the necessary ingredient of surprise ; the Germans had cracked the Allied code and tracked the planes all the way to the target. Over the Mediterranean, the lead Liberator carrying the mission navigator suddenly staggered out of formation and crashed into the ocean. It was a disastrous mishap: hours later the lead wave took a wrong heading just short of the target, and Operation Tidal Wave began to disintegrate into chaos...