Obscure but interesting fact thread

[ogr1]

When dispatching I used motocross guards to stop the muff pressing against the levers. Also had the added advantage of allowing me to keep a bag of sweets in there for long journeys.

Bag of sweets?..Muff pressing against levers..are you sure you are sat on the bike right way?

 

[andyBeaker]

Most know that the SR71 was built mainly from titanium.

Most probably don't know that Russia at that time produced over 90% of the titanium supply and that the CIA sourced titanium from...Russia using numerous hoax companies and contracts.

How ironic is that.

The biggest CIA cheese used a false identity in the name of Ben Dover while travelling in SR71 business.

 

[andyBeaker]

Skunk Works had an employee incentive programme for those working on the U2 - for every pound of weight saved on the aircraft they would get $150. I can't remember the exact figures but once the plane got over something like sixty thousand feet every pound saved added an additional something like 100 feet to the maximum achievable altitude.

U2 pilots on the spy missions were extremely well paid.....a $40,000 bonus (a fortune at the time) was payable if, and only if, they completed their full tour of operations!!

Most of the Me109 prototypes were fitted with Rolls Royce Kestrel engines.

After WW2 Spain built Me109s under licence...these were mainly fitted with Rolls Royce Merlin engines, although some had the totally unsuitable Juno engine originally used in the He111

 

[Malone]

My uncle Bill Bailey (cue the laughs) worked throughout the war alongside a Mr. Frank Whittle helping to develop the jet engine.