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Author
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Topic: NASA test cannon and windshield testing
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nojnj
Member Posts: 503
From: Highland Heights, KY
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 07-30-2012 06:25 PM
   
Got a chuckle out of this one... Windshield strength testing
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4 pound dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.
British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers.
When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's back-rest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow.
The horrified Brits sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the U.S. scientists for suggestions.
NASA responded with a one-line memo —"Defrost the chicken." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-30-2012 06:26 PM
A chuckle is probably the best reaction; Snopes classifies this as a legend and notes it was originally attributed to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 07-30-2012 06:29 PM
Good one, I'd never heard that before.I think it falls more under the heading of "good joke" instead of urban legend... |
nojnj
Member Posts: 503
From: Highland Heights, KY
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 07-30-2012 09:02 PM
I had not heard this one before. Received it in an email. Apparently is is rather old, according to the dates on the Snopes page. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2474
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 07-31-2012 04:25 AM
This is an old Myth, so much so it was done twice on Mythbusters. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-31-2012 10:58 AM
The way I heard it, it was the RAF which had to remind the USAF to defrost the chicken.... |
kr4mula
Member Posts: 642
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 07-31-2012 11:21 AM
Having a little first-hand experience, I can't say that I ever heard about the USAF forgetting to defrost their chickens  In fact, by the 1980s, we had switched from actual birds to firing solid cylinders of some sort of gelatenous substance that replicate birds. They could control the density, weight, and trajectory much more accurately with those than actual birds. |
Gonzo
Member Posts: 596
From: Lansing, MI, USA
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 07-31-2012 02:46 PM
It's a good thing this is an old joke that I heard years ago. Otherwise... quote:
Originally posted by Blackarrow:
The way I heard it, it was the RAF which had to remind the USAF to defrost the chicken....
...would be fightin' words to this crusty, old USAF NCO retiree!  |
gliderpilotuk
Member Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-31-2012 04:15 PM
The story is wrong on so many points. De Havilland first developed the gun in the 50s: remember who developed the first jetliner? The train test used a gun from RAE Farnborough and the bird wasn't frozen. I suspect that IF this happened it was more likely an embarrassing "domestic" incident., conveniently relocated overseas. |
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