Balloon Buster | Hacker News Reader

Balloon Buster

en.wikipedia.org

41 pointsPaulHoule13 comments

From the article on the top balloon busting ace, Willy Coppens:

> Later when on another attack run, he got shot at from a balloon. He parked his plane on top of the damaged balloon, shut down his engine in order to protect its propeller, and waited until the balloon descended to slide off the balloon and fly away.

Rad!

engines at that time were "kickstarted" by manually spinning the propeller. How would he get his engine restarted? I suppose if you dived from a high enough height you could get enough wind? I'm also guessing to land he'd have to do it on one of those long blimp style "aircraft carrier" balloons rather than on a round one. He could get out of his plane and start the propeller himself and jump back in? seems unlikely.

OK, you can get out and start your own plane:

research: from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_engine_starting

Hand starting of aircraft piston engines by swinging the propeller is the oldest and simplest method, the absence of any onboard starting system giving an appreciable weight saving. Positioning of the propeller relative to the crankshaft is arranged such that the engine pistons pass through top dead centre during the swinging stroke.

As the ignition system is normally arranged to produce sparks before top dead centre there is a risk of the engine kicking back during hand starting, to avoid this problem one of the two magnetos used in a typical aero engine ignition system is fitted with an 'impulse coupling', this spring-loaded device delays the spark until top dead centre and also increases the rotational speed of the magneto to produce a stronger spark.

Accidents have occurred during lone pilot hand starting, high throttle settings, brakes not applied or wheel chocks not being used, all resulting in aircraft moving off without the pilot at the controls.

Aircraft began to be equipped with electrical systems around 1930, powered by a battery and small wind-driven generator. The systems were initially not powerful enough to drive starter motors. Introduction of engine-driven generators solved the problem.

Are you implying that "aircraft carrier balloons" had to be long to accommodate a runway on top?

This is not how they worked. Instead, planes were launched and recovered from the bottom of the balloon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_F9C_Sparrowhawk

If a hand can start an engine, surely the windmilling can too? I don’t know.

I struggled to find a reference to this in WP, but found this article covering it:

https://aircrewremembered.com/coppens-willy.html

What a story.

The callsign of the F-22 which downed the balloon off the US east coast was FRANK01, as a homage to Frank Luke, one of the American “balloon busting aces” mentioned in this article.

Am I the only one who's lately had the sudden urge to take a ride in a zeppelin?

Paradoxically it feels like a relic and thing of the future. Floating across the Atlantic seems like it'd be so much fun.

Maybe this whole thing is an ingenious marketing campaign by big-blimp.

On many a cramped flight I have fantasised about floating from country to country in comfort with cabins and a bar.

Just fly Emirates A380 business class. They have a bar. Or you can upgrade to a first class private cabin.

No ticket.

Sounds great, except that you'll use half your vacation days on the trip plus the return trip.

I had the same thought a few months ago. Unfortunately I cant imagine a ride costing much less than $1000.

On this note I believe a 4th object has been shot down today.

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