Why didn't the Robin seperate with Fuel Tank?

[Lorenzen]

They *were* using British technology to build the thing. The bolt that failed, or some component of the detonation system, probably said LUCAS on it. If they'd been using American tech, the explosive bolt would have worked, since *we* figured those out back in the 60s.

WE? Americans ? You mean, Wernherr von Braun and it's staff of German Engineers.

Americans couldn't even get a Jet engine working.

Please, You Americans twist the History to your end enough already, stay on course with those things you won't make a complete ass out of you.

thanks.

[Spectre]

Um, the explosive bolt issue I refer to is what we figured out after the Apollo pad fire when the explosive bolts didn't. We figured those out rather quickly at that point.

You just want to avoid the fact that it was a Norwegian (Ægidius Elling, 1903) who built the first self-sustaining gas turbine. Sure, a Brit filed the patent (John Barber, 1791), but it took someone else to actually make it work.

*We* twist history? Bahahahahaahah.... You Brits have no ground on which to stand there - or should I mention the "schools" you ran in Ireland? Or India? Or anywhere else in your empire? I've got some Empire history textbooks from that era and the creative editing that you guys did is absolutely hilarious.

That Concorde thing worked out real well, too, neh? Is that why Britain's aviation industry has dominion over the skies today? Oh, wait.....

Should I also point out your standard infantry rifle (designed and built in Britain) is a huge pile of s*** that not even Heckler and Koch can fix?

[Donington]

Did we hurt his feelings? ooooh!

[otispunkmeyer]

They *were* using British technology to build the thing. The bolt that failed, or some component of the detonation system, probably said LUCAS on it. If they'd been using American tech, the explosive bolt would have worked, since *we* figured those out back in the 60s.

This would also be why Britain doesn't have a manned space program and never will - nobody in their right mind is willing to get in a spacecraft that has components that say "Made in UK by LUCAS" in it.

I'd really like to thank the Top Gear team for proving that while the Brits may understand cars, they're complete rubbish for engineering anything else. (/backslam for 9x03]

you forget that one of lucas's parts features was "explodes"

heh dream on bud, the british have invented alot of good shit, without some of our inventions you wouldnt even have an army... jet engines and tanks come to mind, hehe you wouldnt even be typing on the net right now if it wasnt for a british man.

without the german and russian scientists you brought over after WW2 you wouldnt even have a space program as advanced as yours is today so stick that one in a pipe and get smoking (/right back at ya!)

also, the reason you guys bust the sound barrier......... oh british again! there is video evidence of the fully moving tail plane idea in action on an old WW2 plane. at the time the US were also trying to break the barrier too, so it was decided that the bristish and americans would swap and compare notes, share knowledge. the british governemnt being what it is, the funding was pulled and the project shut down, handily we had shared our info to the US... in return you went and broke the sound barrier. infact the Bell X1 was remarkebly similar to the craft sitting in the british hanger at the time, conveniently it was completely dismantled and only a few B&W photos remain.

now im not a conspiracy theorist, though they are jolly good, but i wouldnt put it past the US government if they had paid the british gov to pull the plug after the project leaders divluged their information

[Donington]

We invented..erm, Jaguars?

Sorry, Jagwaaaaars

[finalgearfan]

I think the launch was spectacular. And that Robin is the luckiest old Robin around!

[otispunkmeyer]

FYI, the Columbia disaster was caused by econazis.

First of all, the insulation that hit the wing of Columbia isn't a soft sponge. It's a hard coating, and chunks of it came off. I have a sample of the material in a case (from a much happier time, long before Columbia exploded). It's much like a *very* stale biscuit or a chunk of chalk from the Dover cliffs.

Second, this isn't the original coating that was on the fuel tanks when the thing was designed. The original coating was made using various enviro-unfriendly processes, which included the use of a CFC much like Freon (R-12) as a component. Unfortunately, NASA decided to change to an "environmentally friendly" coating, which, as it turns out, has much less structural integrity. And quite often flakes off on launch. Ooops.

May I remind you that the only significant British space effort in the last 10 years did a faceplant on Mars and failed because nobody over there figured that an object shaped like a coin might land wrong side up and need to flip itself over, so they didn't give it enough power to be able to do so?

touche, nice use of language

yeah that stuff on the fuel tank is no soft sponge at all, and it wouldnt matter if it was considering the speed the shuttle was doing when it came off. the shuttle is a rather fragile bird....but that makes it all the more amazing.

[KaJuN]

Um, the explosive bolt issue I refer to is what we figured out after the Apollo pad fire when the explosive bolts didn't. We figured those out rather quickly at that point.

Actually, NASA has been using explosive bolts throughout it's history of manned space flights. It was a malfunctioning bolt (at least I choose to believe) that led to the sinking of Gus Grissom's capsule. The Apollo 1 accident was caused by a combination of poor hatch design and the pure oxygen environment inside the capsule.

I'm not at all surprised that Top Gear's shuttle failed. In real space programs, problems are worked out on models and computer simulations. TG's approach of build it, then lauch it and see what happens wasn't very favorable for success.

[otispunkmeyer]

Um, the explosive bolt issue I refer to is what we figured out after the Apollo pad fire when the explosive bolts didn't. We figured those out rather quickly at that point.

You just want to avoid the fact that it was a Norwegian (Ægidius Elling, 1903) who built the first self-sustaining gas turbine. Sure, a Brit filed the patent (John Barber, 1791), but it took someone else to actually make it work.

*We* twist history? Bahahahahaahah.... You Brits have no ground on which to stand there - or should I mention the "schools" you ran in Ireland? Or India? Or anywhere else in your empire? I've got some Empire history textbooks from that era and the creative editing that you guys did is absolutely hilarious.

That Concorde thing worked out real well, too, neh? Is that why Britain's aviation industry has dominion over the skies today? Oh, wait.....

Should I also point out your standard infantry rifle (designed and built in Britain) is a huge pile of s*** that not even Heckler and Koch can fix?

yeah the SA-80 sux cox for sure, made from crummt plastics, but please remember it was a english man that gave the world the rifle in the first place.

[Lorenzen]

how nice of you to think I'm british

[Donington]

I wasn't being entirely serious aobut the sponge, you know...oh hell, what's the use of trying to explain...

[Spectre]

yeah the SA-80 sux cox for sure, made from crummt plastics, but please remember it was a english man that gave the world the rifle in the first place.

Experts disagree on that. It's kind of like the gun itself - nobody's really sure who invented it.

[Spectre]

you forget that one of lucas's parts features was "explodes"

See, that's just it. The only Lucas parts that explode are the ones that weren't intended to.

Likewise, if Lucas made a vacuum, it would be the only product they made that didn't suck.

heh dream on bud, the british have invented alot of good shit, without some of our inventions you wouldnt even have an army... jet engines and tanks come to mind, hehe you wouldnt even be typing on the net right now if it wasnt for a british man.

There wouldn't be a net at all for that Brit to invent a Web for if we Americans hadn't invented the Internet with ARPANet.

without the german and russian scientists you brought over after WW2 you wouldnt even have a space program as advanced as yours is today so stick that one in a pipe and get smoking (/right back at ya!)

It was German scientists that we snagged. The Russians defected on their own.
The Brits had every chance to snag those Germans and defectors, and didn't bother. We were smart enough to grab them. You weren't.

also, the reason you guys bust the sound barrier......... oh british again! there is video evidence of the fully moving tail plane idea in action on an old WW2 plane. at the time the US were also trying to break the barrier too, so it was decided that the bristish and americans would swap and compare notes, share knowledge. the british governemnt being what it is, the funding was pulled and the project shut down, handily we had shared our info to the US... in return you went and broke the sound barrier. infact the Bell X1 was remarkebly similar to the craft sitting in the british hanger at the time, conveniently it was completely dismantled and only a few B&W photos remain.

now im not a conspiracy theorist, though they are jolly good, but i wouldnt put it past the US government if they had paid the british gov to pull the plug after the project leaders divluged their information

You Brits are remarkably good at designing things on paper, yet remarkably bad about building those same objects...

[Spectre]

We invented..erm, Jaguars?

Sorry, Jagwaaaaars

Yes, and the only ones that aren't total unreliable heaps are half GM (my Series III, from the factory) or half Ford (my XKR).

How's that native-owned car industry doing these days?

[racingfan1]

How's that native-owned car industry doing these days?

Before you get too smug with that statement, ours isn't doing too well either, infact the only ones that are doing any good at all are the Japanese and German, not American.

[MakotoS13]

yeah but... we got the bombs. F em

[Spectre]

Before you get too smug with that statement, ours isn't doing too well either, infact the only ones that are doing any good at all are the Japanese and German, not American.

Ours may not be doing too well... but we actually still have one - GM and Ford are American, not foreign owned.

All the "major" Brit names are out of business, owned by Americans, or owned by (haha) Germans.

[SuperStalin]

...and the fact that someone who has the same passport as yours
owns a large corporation is making you proud... why exactly?

[Spectre]

And the fact that almost *all* your native industries are owned by foreigners doesn't bother you.... why exactly?

[SuperStalin]

And the fact that almost *all* your native industries are owned by foreigners doesn't bother you.... why exactly?

I'm not British, not even close.

Besides, god only knows who actually owns modern corporations,
who influences the decisions they make, who takes the money they make etc. etc.