Using information he obtained from various sources about the P-38, Jim drew up a set of plans in CAD and began building the plane 15 years ago with only his wife Mitzi aiding him in the construction of the aircraft. He first flew his plane in July of last year, and has just completed flying it in its first cross-country trip.

It looks like we've now got a new member to add to the home-built hero club started by Ken Imhoff and his homemade basement Lamborghini. (Hat tip to Ilari!) [OshKosh365]

The ferry flight initiates a sequence of F-35 arrivals at Patuxent River this year and next.

The aircraft will be supported at Patuxent River by the F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) and will be monitored by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Sustainment Operations Center in Fort Worth. Look at ALIS as something like Skynet without the control — yet.

This prototype, known as BF-1, is the first F-35 to be sustained by ALIS - the worldwide support system that will monitor the prognostics and health of F-35s around the globe to ensure mission readiness and fulfillment of its destiny to enslave the human race and kill Sarah and John Connor. (Hat tip to One 'ROESian!) [via Lockheed-Martin]

From what we know in the limited drawings and photos at the end of the gallery above, the original K7 only had six BMW engines but they decided to switch to Soviet-built engines (that's thinking ahead!) so they added a seventh engine because Soviet engines sucked. Approximately 25 passengers and crew set themselves up inside the huge wing or hung out inside the train car-sized landing gear.

Enjoy the renderings above as they get a little crazy...

[CTRL-C via Hooniverse, English Russia]

The full-size replica normally sits outside the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, but sustained significant damage when it was flipped over by wind during a storm last year. Lotus intends to repair the body, re-attach the wings and convert the plane from a Mark IX to a Mark II - the model that flew during the battle - by removing the cannon pods. The plane will then be displayed in London's Trafalgar Square as part of a series of events planned to commemorate the historic battle.

The Battle of Britain was the first major war campaign to be fought entirely in the air and marked a turning point in WWII, preventing a German invasion of England which seemed incredibly likely after British soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk. Lasting from 10 July to 31 October, 1940 it was also Germany's first major defeat during the war.

"When you say model it conjures up images of a little toy, but it turns out it's rather bigger than that," said Lotus's Neil turner. "The level of detail on it is really good, it's very realistic." The model includes genuine Spitfire parts like the wheels and canopy. There are only 44 complete and original Spitfires left in the world. Lotus hopes to finish repairs by the new year. [via Evening News 24]

[via Wired]

Photo Credit: KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images

Kids say the darnedest things. It could be that young Falcon Henne was just confused about the question or felt pressure to say anything under the glare of the camera lights, but when asked live on CNN by his parents why he didn't come out when they called him, he responded with "You guys said... that... we did this for the show." Awkward.

Now, we're not saying the whole story was a big stunt designed to put media attention on a family which has been on the TV show Wife Swap... twice, but the whole thing has a certain stink about it. Why would the boy's brother have said he saw Falcon climb aboard before it took off if clearly that hadn't happened? Who unleashed the balloon if the boy was hiding in the attic? Considering the amount of emergency personnel assigned to chasing down the balloon and later hunting for the boy, the fact that air traffic around Denver International Airport had to be rerouted, and that we all had to listen to Wolf Blitzer wildly speculating for hours, if this turns out to be a self-promotional hoax, we'll be more than a little bit annoyed.

The now missing boy is Falcon Heene, son of Mayumi and Richard, who is a scientist and storm chaser. The family has twice appeared on Wife Swap.

[MSNBC]

Princess Juliana began life as a military airstrip in 1942 and became a civilian airport shortly thereafter. Just how close is the landing strip to the beach and the road? This close:

The airport is located on the Dutch half of the island: the eastern part of Saint Martin belongs to France and has its own airport. You’ve probably seen plenty of photos of the big blue KLM 747’s swooping in, but Josef Hoflener’s black and white series, one of which you can see above, treats the scene with a level of artistry (and a generous helping of bikini-clad women) rarely seen anywhere else.

Another way to capture the surreality is to use a cellular phone, adding a frightening immediacy to the landing:

And as if you needed telling, HEAVY JETS ARE DANGEROUS and can cause EXTREME BODILY HARM:

Photo Credit: Josef Hoflener, Jj04/Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Ben Margot/AP Photo

The tunnel was built in 1930 and used to test World War II fighters, the Mercury space capsule, and concepts for a supersonic transport.

Langley Research Center decommissioned the tunnel in 1995, then leased it to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., for research and student engineering training. The lease was up this summer and the tunnel is scheduled for demolition because of its lack of national strategic importance, limited testing capability, deteriorating condition and the environmental liability associated with the materials used in its construction.

But not before it got this one last go-around with the X-48C prototype. In fact, it's actually the second time a BWB model was put through its paces at the huge wind tunnel. In 2006, preliminary tests helped engineers determine how the X-48B would perform during remotely piloted flight tests. Blended wing body designs are different from traditional tube-and-wing aircraft in that the tube and wings are blended for lower drag and better lift, and they rely primarily on multiple control surfaces on the wing for stability and control.

Such a shame such an awesome wind tunnel's getting demolished. We feel like we need a "Save The Wind Tunnels" t-shirt.

If you've flown through Detroit in the last couple years, you know that the recently updated and rebuilt Metro airport is one of the most fantastic, easy to get around, well-designed airports in the world. What you might not know is that there's another — much, much older and largely disused airport commonly referred to as City Airport. It was the city's first major airport and now smack dab in one of the nastier areas of the city and mostly relegated to freight and private air traffic. That's where today's shenanigans take place.

Apparently, as part of a regular Homeland Security training exercise, SWAT teams train regularly in the fine art of helicopter rappelling and as such use a military-provided Blackhawk helicopter as their perfectly good flying machine of choice to jump out of. This morning around nine, the training was going along as planned until the wash from the helicopter proved too much for the nearby hangar housing the Detroit Police Departments helicopters. The entire facade was blown off and came crashing to the ground, creating quite a mess. Cleanup crews were dispatched by mid-day, but there are no plans to change the training plan, the Blackhawk will be back tomorrow around 9 AM to continue tearing apart hangars training.

On a side note, we find it amusing that there's plenty of Federal money to run regular SWAT training operations in a city and state so hopelessly in the red that they'll be shortly slashing the budgets for police, basic city and state-run administrative departments and education funding.

Click "next" to scroll through the steps involved in dropping the giant space shuttle on the even larger cargo jet. Humorously, the technicians painted a note stating "Attach Orbiter Here" with the sarcastic note: "Black Side Down."

The shuttle is towed to the mate-unmate dock.
Photo credit: NASA/ Jim Grossmann
The orbiter is towed into the seven-story mate-unmate dock.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
The shuttle is attached to the lift and prepped.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
Prep includes inspecting the shuttle and getting it ready for flight. In transit, they're not supposed to encounter turbulence or moisture.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
The rear is covered with a shield to reduce drag.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
The rear of the jet, including the stabilizer, are fixed in place.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
Every inch of the orbiter is carefully investigated and sealed for flight, which is often as low as 10,000 feet to avoid extreme temps.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
The entire shuttle is raised.
Photo Credit: Matt Hartman

Photo Credit: Matt Hartman

Photo Credit: Matt Hartman
Once the orbiter is raised ot the proper height (note, it takes a while) the 747 SCA is towed into place.
Photo credit: NASA/ Jim Grossmann
Once the shuttle is properly positioned over the plane it's then dropped onto the special supports.
Photo credit: NASA/ Jim Grossmann

Photo credit: NASA/ Jim Grossmann
Once the shuttle is connected they tow both back out.
Photo credit: NASA/ Jim Grossmann
The shuttle is now ready to take off.
In flight over the desert, they get to do the opposite on the other end to get it off and ready to take off.
Image credit: NASA
To see a time lapse video of this process check out Gizmodo