It’s been a crazy four weeks, but I’m finally back home for at least seven weeks, I think. I was in Wichita from 12 Sep to 27 Sep for two flight test projects back to back, then home for less than 36 hours before heading to Europe on the 29th (one day in London, then meetings in Basel, Switzerland). I got home on Friday afternoon, and have enjoyed a nice weekend at home.
In principle, the engine and prop should arrive this week, so hopefully next weekend I’ll be busy putting it all back together. I doubt I’ll get the job done next weekend, but I should get most of the way there.
While I was in London I visited the Churchill War Rooms, a very highly rated piece of history. This comprises the underground Cabinet War Rooms where Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet ran the British portion of WWII, and the attached Churchill Museum, which chronicles his life. The Churchill War Rooms are a “must visit” for anyone interested in WWII history. Following the war, the underground complex was preserved pretty much the way it was during the later stages of the war, including all the maps, etc left as they were.
After a day off in London I flew to Basel, Switzerland. Basel is a very nice small city with a lot of history, on the Rhine river. Here we see Basel City Hall - The original city hall was destroyed in an earthquake in 1356. The new city hall was built between 1504 and 1514.
I was quite interested to see four small cable ferries that crossed the river, powered solely by the river current. Each ferry was attached via a pulley and cable to another cable that went straight across the river. The fact that it was attached to a cable running across the river stopped it from drifting down stream. The ferry would turn about 45 degrees to the left or right, so the river current pushed it across the river.
The cable attachment on the ferry is pivoted, and is moved to one side or the other to control the natural angle of the ferry. Here the ferry is moving from right to left. When it is time to go back to the other side of the river, the cable attachment arm is swung over to the left side of the ferry.
