u/historysbestsellers

Thought everyone here would like to celebrate the birthday of Patriot Games and Jack Ryan.

Fun fact:
The novel was so packed with incredibly accurate, hyper-detailed descriptions of Soviet submarines and naval maneuvers that when it was published, Tom Clancy was actually paid a visit by the FBI and the Pentagon.

Because he was just an insurance broker at the time with no military background, high-ranking military officials were absolutely convinced that he had somehow obtained classified documents. They wanted to know exactly who was leaking top secret information to him. In reality, Clancy had just pieced it all together entirely from unclassified sources, public technical manuals, and an unclassified Soviet mutiny case study.

Source: https://www.baltimoresun.com/2014/09/27/fbi-files-show-details-of-background-checks-on-author-tom-clancy-2/

On this day in 1900, the Zeppelin era officially began. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin blew everyone's minds over Lake Constance in Germany when he launched the LZ 1. It was 420 feet long, longer than a football field, and made out of a aluminum skeleton. To make sure it didn't just pop and crash, it was packed with 17 separate hydrogen balloons inside. It only stayed airborne for 18 minutes on its first try before a forced landing, but it completely proved to the world that you could actually steer a massive ship through the sky.

Because the LZ 1 was longer than a football field but incredibly lightweight, it acted like a giant sail. If a strong crosswind hit the airship while ground crews were trying to wheel it out of a traditional land based hangar, the wind could easily slam the craft into the hangar doors, snap its frame, or blow it completely out of control.

How did they solve this?
They made a floating hangar on water. By putting the hangar out on the water of Lake Constance and letting it float, they could anchor it from a single pivotal point. This allowed the entire hangar to naturally rotate and align itself with the wind, much like a giant weather vane.

As a result, no matter which direction the wind was blowing, the front of the hangar always pointed directly into it. When it was time to launch or land, the airship could exit or enter the hangar straight into the wind, drastically reducing the risk of a catastrophic crash before the flight even started.

Even though this specific prototype was scrapped for parts after just three flights, it changed aviation forever. The massive project ended up forcing scientists to invent super strong, lightweight metal alloys the exact material breakthroughs that paved the way for modern airplanes.

Just wanted to celebrate and remind this sub its the 40 Year Anniversary of True Blue.

One of my favorites. I will be enjoying this one one the way to work.