Funtastical Friday How To Get A Delayed Plane In The Air

Do wars cause delays in mankind's progress?

A great deal of technological progress has been spurred by wars, but we have to decide whether this progress has been beneficial or not.Consider a few…..Radar. Prior to WWII, radar was in it’s infancy. It was used to great effect by the British to win the Battle Of Britain, and underwent extremely rapid development on all sides during the war, becoming an indispensable part of warfare.At the same time, it became indispensable for civilian use and led to the expansion of civil aviation, the microwave oven, weather forecasting, and a myriad of other useful things.War has spurred enormous progress in the field of emergency medicine and the treatment of wounds of all kinds. Not only that, but much of the early progress in controlling epidemics and various transmissible diseases was made by military research outfits.Computers. The first widespread use of computers (aside from the Jaquard Loom…) was the electro-mechanical devices developed in WWII for bomb and artillery and naval bombardment targeting. After the war, large research grants were made to Bell Laboratories and other firms which came up with the transistor and the solid-state circuit…Vital to the fantastical growth of the digital age.And of course, Aviation. We first had powered flight in 1903. By the start of WWI, we had rickety, just-barely-able-to-fly aircraft that were used for observation.By war’s end, we had agile, powerful fighter aircraft and huge 4-engined bombers that could fly across Europe and drop bombs on enemy cities.That was just in 4 years…In between wars, we saw the initial growth of civil aviation and of course after WWII, the industry exploded into what we have now.That’s just a few examples.

How can I ask a girl if she arrived safely to her home?

If it's a date that ends late just say that you would like to make sure she gets home safely and asking she could text you when she gets home. If you don't demand it and don't do it too often, then you can avoid being being an overbearing, controlling twerp. In fact probably make a comment on how you aren't like that so that she can put down the red flag.Don't do it if it's still light outside. I personally (And a lot of my girl friends) find it patronising and controlling, if you ask out of kindness and love, then it is usually well received.The other option is to just send a text like:“Hope the journey home wasn't bad. Had a great time.”Or“Just wondering if you got home alright. Hope to see you soon!”Casual and genuine interest in the person's safety is needed. Nobody likes to be micromanaged.

Can we use things we know in the real world and put it in a fantasy world?

You can and absolutely should. Fantasy fiction isn’t an excuse to abandon logic and reason. Even the magic and monsters and whatever fantastical elements you dream up must adhere to their own internal logic.The most common and important part of real life that you must include in fantasy is human nature. The average wizard should be just as rational as the average accountant. The average dragon trainer should be just as guided by rational or enlightened self-interest the average auto mechanic.

How good were the Japanese fighter planes in World War 2?

Short answer: much better than anticipated by their opponents. The most famous is, of course, the Mitsubishi A6M “Zero,” which was designed in 1937 and entered service in 1940. It had excellent maneuverability and exceptionally long range. To defeat it, the US developed fighters with roughly TWICE the horsepower of the Zero…. a testimony to it’s efficient design (or, as some would see it, extreme lightness to the point of leaving out necessities such as self-sealing fuel tanks, armor, etc). Its Japanese Army equivalent, the Ki-43 “Oscar,” was similar in looks and performance. Early reports from the AVG “Flying Tigers” unit were dismissed by the US Navy as too fantastical to believe… less than a year before Pearl Harbor. Through the early stages of the war, the Zero’s remarkable range allowed them to show up unexpectedly, leading the USN to greatly overestimate the numbers of A6Ms. The Zero fared well against Australian Spitfires in the skies over Darwin (1943). The American-built Brewster Buffalo was infamously withdrawn from combat after being decimated by Zeroes.They (not just Zeroes - all early Japanese fighters) clearly had limitations, and suffered from a short-sighted design philosophy that promoted offense over defense… even when defensive tactics became necessary. But from 1940–1943, it seemed like a winner.Unfortunately for Japan, the Zero became a victim of it’s own success: having convinced themselves they possessed the ultimate Superfighter, the Japanese Navy felt little pressure to advance past it until it was too late. Some of their new designs (1943–1945) were fascinating (they even developed jet and rocket fighters influenced by German designs), but they were “too little, too late” by then.

What role did technology play for the Axis in WW2?

New weapons systems need time to find a doctrine to define how they can be used the most effectively. This was true in WWI when machine guns first made their debut in large numbers. Later in WWI the same happened with armored vehicles. Even early in WWII the exact role for tanks was hotly debated.As the war progressed both sides found how best to use the rapidly evolving new tanks and other armored vehicles. The Germans did not field ground breaking new technology in their tanks, they just made the larger, more complex and that made them mechanically fragile.The Germans did catch up and stay at parity with the Allies in development of Radar which was critical to their air defense system. They even put it in planes used at night against English bombers to good effect.Probably the two areas where they exceeded the Allies was in Rocket and Jet engine development. They fielded the first functional ballistic missile the V-2, the first Cruise missile the V-1 powered by a pulse jet engine. They also fielded the first rocket propelled jet interceptor, the Me-263 and the first operational twin jet powered fighter, the Me-262.When they all came into service in 1944 the war was virtually lost so they came too little too late. Had they not been subject to development and production delays and come two years earlier, the jet fighters and ballistic missiles might have changed the course of the war.Instead of using the ballistic missiles on military targets like the port of Antwerp or other critical centers of supply, Hitler chose to use them as a terror weapon against London. They failed in that role. The Jet and Rocket engine fighters could have prevented Allied air supremacy over France and made the allied offensive across Europe a lot more costly.The Germans did research nuclear power but were no where near having a bomb.The Japanese were dismal in their technology development. They did research biological weapons but more as a weapon to kill millions of Chinese civilians rather than a battlefield weapon. Their radar research and nuclear research was woeful compared to the Allies.