I have to differed a little with the characterization of the B52.
Seeing that it’s (B52) projected life expectancy goes well beyound 2030, it’s use has changed to adapt to it’s ever changing load. . It was designed to be a munitions platform from the beginning and is now one for precision guided weapons. With it’s long range and capacity it can carry multiple assets. Nothing has changed in the use of the B52. It is literally an aerial battleship and always has been, no more, no less. Speed has never been an issue in it’s use and having a platform that is faster is of no advantage and having one bigger is not worthwhile either. My bro in law made these observations many years ago as to why and how the B52 was originally designed.
It is what it is…an outstanding war machine that adapts to the needs as modern warfare changes. It was not designed just for total distruction no more then a naval war machine (now cruisers) are. . It is indeed capable of it but was designed to be the ultimate platform from which is now launched nearly ANY airborne weapon, precision or otherwise. Nuclear powered submarines which launch guilded nuclear missiles were likewise adapted to launch precision munitions as well. The successful craft changed with the times, the unsuccessful ones don’t. You and I will probably pass on before the B52 is decommissioned and looses it’s worth.
Coleman lantern, though they may still make them, I don’t go camping any more.
Also, my hand-held Ace Clipper stapler, I got it around 1978. Recently, I found a source for a new one, and had to order staples online. But, the cheap plastic junk from office supplies aren’t worth taking as a gift. I brought the old one to Mexico with me in December and left the new one in McAllen. I expect it to last longer than I do.
A few years ago, my wife’s uncle asked her if she wanted her grandma’s Singer. She went to Puebla to a sewing school in 1910, and her god mother bought it new. The s/n shows it was made in Elizabeth, NJ in 1910. She made wedding dresses; men’s suits; almost anything.
My wife cleaned and lubed it, and hemmed a bed sheet the next day. Her new Toyota machine works much better, but I bet that Toyota won’t be in service for 100 years.
A few days after we moved it to our house, the roof on the old house developed a problem and that machine would have been destroyed if it were still there.
Our daughter wants it when my wife passes on. But, I think it should stay here in its original homes.
The machine belonging to my wife’s aunt was made in 1885.
You can still buy a new treadle machine, but it won’t be by Singer. I have seen them in Mexico City in stores.
Another thing on the “Buff” or “Aluminum Storm” if you will.There could be some serious worthwhile updates(check out Dale Browns “Old Dog” series) but it just seems pointless on such an old airframe,it performs its functions now perfectly well,it will be in service till manned bombers are no longer in service,it was the King of the old pencil fuselage bombers.How fast could it actually go? I dont know,but I have seen a picture of its front end leading its shockwave,my guess is flatout it was a bit faster then the B-47(606) mph-Kevin
Afterthought,after reading irlandes’s post-can you still buy a wringer washing machine?Have fond memories of helping Mom on washday and getting my fingers hung in the wringer(ouch!) On second thought can you buy an extractor?-Kevin
We get diggers hotline tickets for utility locates, there has been a few looking for putting in a clothes line, remembering the smell of sun dried clothes, I might just go there myself!
Guess you could say most weapons platforms in the military from the B52 to the Huey choppers to subs to the venable Douglas C47 were all like “utility belts” you adapted from one “war” or set of needs to another. Guess any of them still left today you can say served needs today as they did yesterday. Guess that’s why I like old Toyota pick ups. They change once every decade or two.
True, but some utility belts are far more robust and versatile that others…
I’ll argue too that BUFFs have a value that most other planes do not… intimidation by virtue of their image. Movement of BUFFs into a region has cause adversaries to pause in their aggression. I read last year when North Korea was acting up that BUFFs were deployed to the region for just that purpose. It’s sort of analogous to the idea that very large, very muscular bouncers, preferably with facial scars and tattoos, are more effective in preventing violence than little guys would be. A BUFF is like a very large, very muscular bouncer… complete with facial scars and tattoos.
I dont like to fly in them,but I’m always fascinated by them(have even sketched out a few designs) our local" airshow" degenerated into an "RC’’ & Hotrod event(the airplanes are cordoned off,so I dont particularily care if I go or not{went to look at the airplanes,not the cars!}-Kevin
I’ll cast my vote for a decent American made can opener. The best one I own is probably forty years old, weighs about three ounces and still works like a charm. I’m always on the look out for these old (swing-a-way, 777) supremely useful beauties at garage sales and thrift shops.
On the subject of marvelous old (although sadly no longer competitive) piston driven aircraft I will offer up four that have always caught my fancy: Supermarine Spitfire, deHavilland Mosquito, P51 Mustang, B29 Superfortress. I have been fortunate enough to see and especially hear the Spit and P51 in low level high speed fly overs. What an incredibly sweet sound those planes make. The old man flew in Bomber Command as a wireless operator in a Handley Page Halifax. During the war someone he knew who flew Mosquitoes took him up for what I’m sure was a totally unauthorized joy ride 20 feet above the Firth of Fourth at 400 plus miles per hour.
^
At the incredible Imperial War Museum in London, one of the exhibits is the famed Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which powered the Supermarine Spitfire. The exhibit materials state that this engine “saved England” from a Nazi takeover of The UK, and I don’t think that the claim is overstated.
When permission was granted for the engine to be produced in The US, The War Department chose The Packard Motor Company to manufacture the engine, as it was thought that only Packard had the expertise to produce flawless copies of that incredibly complex engine.
Just read a library book last month, think it was titled “Fortress Forge” about how U.S. industry geared up to war production for WWII. The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine figured prominently in the book. Absolutely fascinating book.
The “Hurricane” should be mentioned too,it really helped save England and of course the incredible brave,talented,patriotic Guys that flew them,the old flying Fortress had its admirers on both sides it is said the German Fighter pilots didnt really like to engage a “box” of those things with the air full of 50 caliber slugs-indeed a “flying fortress”-Kevin
@london swingaway can opener, one from the 40’s one current work great! Mom got rid of the 50 era frigidaire at the cabins, only needed new door seals, oh well. The stove with a manual light for gas is gone also, probably for the better.
“The stove with a manual light for gas is gone also, probably for the better”. @Barkydog–I agree. About 18 years ago, I got a telephone call from my son who was a college student at the time. His first words were, “Dad, I started a fire”. I replied, "Where did you start a fire?’ “In a church”, he replied.
It turned out that he worked with the church and had arranged to have a spaghetti supper for a college group at the church. He turned on one burner to heat a kettle of water. He then turned on the oven to warm it up for the garlic bread. Finally, he turned on another burner to make the spaghetti sauce. At that point, a big ball of fire came up the oven vent. My son turned off everything on the stove, told everyone to get out and called the fire department. By the time the fire department arrived, the fire was out and no damage was done. However, the fire department “red tagged” the stove indicating that it was not to be used. When my son argued with the fire captain, the minister asked him to be quiet. When the fire department left, the minister told my son “You did us a favor. I’ve been trying to get rid of that stove for the last ten years”. The burners on the stove lit with a pilot light, but there was no pilot light for the oven–it was a manual light. At the time, I was about 55 and I described the incident to friends who were my age. None of them remembered that one had to light the oven on the pre-WW II gas ranges. I remembered it because we had a gas range when I was growing up where the oven had to be lit with a match.
When I think about things that I would like to see again, it would be the Chambers brand gas range. These stoves were really well built and I think they had a pilot light for the oven.
Another relic from the past is the Servel gas home refrigerator. These units would last indefinitely. However, Servel went out of business in 1957. These refrigerators have now been recalled by the government and the government will pay $100 for one. Apparently, over time, the burner carbons up and carbon monoxide can be released into the house. This may explain why the refrigerators outlasted their owners.
@triedaq. Bet your son looked odd without eyebrows. He had a lucky close call there, but I would have done the same. As the burners had pilot lights it would be natural to assume the oven did. A d not obvious that it wasn’t operating properly. Wonder why they did it that way? It probably dated back to before natural gas was common, when an unlit oven would have been truly dangerous, and a. common way to commit suicide.
Coal gas was nasty stuff. Natural gas blows up a few houses, but it isn’t poisonous. All those ad campaigns promoting natural gas as safe and clean burning meant nothing to my generation. I thought they were odd when I was a kid because natural gas was all I knew about.
@MarkM–Actually, my son escaped this mishap unscathed. The flame blew out the top of the range. He felt so bad about having caused the range to be taken out of service by the fire department that he bought a replacement stove. My church built a new kitchen and we sold the equipment from the old kitchen. One item was an electric stove that was made in the 1950s. My son purchased it with his savings and I hauled it 50 miles in my van to his church. The stove he purchased from our sale was electric.
It sounds like a good outcome for all parties, @Triedaq. I’ve always preferred cooking with gas, but once you’re familiar with an electric stove it works about as well. What I’d love to try is an induction cooktop. They sound close to perfect. The prices keep coming down and our stove is getting old. We don’t use it much, but it was a cheap stove and isn’t a lot of fun when we do cook. At least it is gas.
