Ralf Roggeveen
Charter Member
'You've been in there all day,' said my wife. 'Yes, but I did read a couple of books at the same time...' In fact she actually asked how the flight was going recently - there are worse things that a man can do all day with a PC.
First part of the Pacific is now crossed, with mixed results. As mentioned above, the Comet doesn't really have the range, BOAC definitely used 707s for this one.
I found an old Time Life book about Japan from the early '60s. There's a nice picture of their Economic Miracle going off:
Easy to make a joke about those cars being too small for the Western market, but even then Japanese toys look superb - working headlamps! Of course what you have here is the classic over-manned (or rather womanned) low-paid production line which becomes impossible as the standard of living of your workforce rises due to their hard work. So later the Japanese were beaten at their own game by the Koreans, who have now in turn been beaten by the Chinese...and so on. The book also says that there was quite a lot of political unrest in Japan around 1960, including radical students, rioting and even assassinations - so the sterotypical image of a well-ordered, crime-free, deferential society wasn't entirely accurate.
As mentioned, I spent a few months of the early 1980s in Japan as a student. Here's the glorious sight that greeted me every morning:
Nanzan Daigaku, Nagoya. Sorry there aren't any sexy Japanese schoolgirls in micromini kilts, but it is a Christian University. (The excuse for the hideous buildings is that they are earthquake-proof.) Six inch centipedes in the classroom and six foot snakes on the basketball court were not, apparently, optional. But I did travel round & see quite a bit more of Japan than just Nagoya [which = Detroit, USA, Birmingham, UK].
Tried to do elaborate things with the fuel to ensure that G-APDA would get to Honolulu in one go. I have pages & pages of notes & calculations which I won't inflict on you. It didn't really work, but luckily nor did I have things set to full realism, so we made it on empty! Running on vapour as the poet says.
It was drizzling when we left from a sh1tty Gate:
It's a bit early, but at the end of July and into August you get a few weeks' 'Rainy Season', and I can tell you from bitter damp, hot, sweaty experience that even British summers are blissful by comparison.
But we did pass a few nice AIs:
Incidentally, my slot was for 06:00 with an ETA at Hawaii of about 15:00 (never mind about crossing datelines, etc!) - around nine hours.
That BOAC 707 looks like it's saying 'You'll never make it old boy' in it's Mid-Atlantic accent...
This picture will no doubt cheer everybody up:
At least there was no hanging around at that time in the morning:
Oops, slightly over the line there, but just about to get clearance.
Sayonara Nihon!
First part of the Pacific is now crossed, with mixed results. As mentioned above, the Comet doesn't really have the range, BOAC definitely used 707s for this one.
I found an old Time Life book about Japan from the early '60s. There's a nice picture of their Economic Miracle going off:
Easy to make a joke about those cars being too small for the Western market, but even then Japanese toys look superb - working headlamps! Of course what you have here is the classic over-manned (or rather womanned) low-paid production line which becomes impossible as the standard of living of your workforce rises due to their hard work. So later the Japanese were beaten at their own game by the Koreans, who have now in turn been beaten by the Chinese...and so on. The book also says that there was quite a lot of political unrest in Japan around 1960, including radical students, rioting and even assassinations - so the sterotypical image of a well-ordered, crime-free, deferential society wasn't entirely accurate.
As mentioned, I spent a few months of the early 1980s in Japan as a student. Here's the glorious sight that greeted me every morning:
Nanzan Daigaku, Nagoya. Sorry there aren't any sexy Japanese schoolgirls in micromini kilts, but it is a Christian University. (The excuse for the hideous buildings is that they are earthquake-proof.) Six inch centipedes in the classroom and six foot snakes on the basketball court were not, apparently, optional. But I did travel round & see quite a bit more of Japan than just Nagoya [which = Detroit, USA, Birmingham, UK].
Tried to do elaborate things with the fuel to ensure that G-APDA would get to Honolulu in one go. I have pages & pages of notes & calculations which I won't inflict on you. It didn't really work, but luckily nor did I have things set to full realism, so we made it on empty! Running on vapour as the poet says.
It was drizzling when we left from a sh1tty Gate:
It's a bit early, but at the end of July and into August you get a few weeks' 'Rainy Season', and I can tell you from bitter damp, hot, sweaty experience that even British summers are blissful by comparison.
But we did pass a few nice AIs:
Incidentally, my slot was for 06:00 with an ETA at Hawaii of about 15:00 (never mind about crossing datelines, etc!) - around nine hours.
That BOAC 707 looks like it's saying 'You'll never make it old boy' in it's Mid-Atlantic accent...
This picture will no doubt cheer everybody up:
At least there was no hanging around at that time in the morning:
Oops, slightly over the line there, but just about to get clearance.
Sayonara Nihon!
...
