Re: another shoe

On Oct 26, 2:22 pm, Bill Higgins <higg...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 17 Aug 2007, Kip Williams wrote:
'Along the way, the airlines tried different ways of moving the mail. One
innovative scheme was called "skyhooking," which brought the mail to towns
that were too small for an airport. In skyhooking, a plane would hook
outgoing mail that was hanging on a rope suspended between two posts using a
grappling hook on the airplane's tail. Incoming mail would simply be dropped
from the plane-a Stinson Reliant R10. The method required great piloting
skill and also reliance on visual landmarks. Begun in May 1939 with a
one-year trial, All American Airways Company made 23,000 mail pickups this
way along two routes out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and won a contract to
continue the service for 10 years. By the summer of 1941, the line was
serving more than 100 locations and picking up some 400,000 pieces of mail
each month...'

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/1930-airmail/...

The All American system was also used to launch gliders and, I think,
rescue people in WWII. One Robert Fulton developed an even more impressive
skyhook, which you may see in action in *Thunderball*. See one of my old
postings:

<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.fandom/msg/0c5fb84a858d8e67>

A version of this system was used to snatch parachuting spy-satellite
capsules from the sky, and, if I'm not mistaken, to recover Ryan Firebee
drones over Vietnam.

I've watched planes which tow advertising signs pick up their payload
in this manner - the sign is laid out on the ground, and at one end
the
tow rope is actually a loop. This is laid over the top of two posts
with
Y-shaped holders at the top, about 20 feet apart, and 20 feet high.
The pilot of the tow plane deploys a grapnel on a line behind the
plane,
and uses it to catch the loop. Before he lands, he flies low over the
field and detaches the line.

I've also seen (on TV) this used as a method to recover downed
pilots - they are dropped a kit which includes a harness, a line, a
balloon, and a canister of helium. they set them up in the expected
configuration, and then the plane snatches the balloon and brings
to pilot up. Quite a ride!

A spy satellite film pickup can be viewed at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Keyhole_capsule_recovery.jpg

The train mail systems consisted of two parts - for dropping the
mail a basket on a post by the track with the opening facing
the oncoming train, and on the train the bag suspended from a
hook which faced bacwards. The idea was that the hook was
just high enough to pass over the basket, but the bag would
be pulled off and left behind in the basket.

The opposite mechanism has used to pick up mail - a basket
hanging outside the train facing forwards, and the bag on a
forward facing hook on a post.

In those days, they'd have mail sorting rooms on the train,
and sort the mail as the train sped along.

Peter Trei



.

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