April 27, 2014

Complicated Landing Rapid City, South Dakota 2014

This is just a fractional view of the landing gear on a B52 bomber. If the controls of a simple moving part like the landing gear was this oddly complex–all it has to do is go up and down after all–it makes one wonder what the structure of the rest of the plane looks like and how reliable it would be with so many small parts that could malfunction. BUt it must have been just the right amount of complexity paired with a good deal of reliability as the B52 remained a mainstay of the Air Force for some 50 years–almost a geological age compared to the lifespan of a modern electronic device such as a computer or cell phone.]]>