This weekend saw the anniversary of the finest air transport of all time,the venerable Douglas Dakota,how this aircraft has stood the test of time through wars and pioneering flights.
The secret of the aircrafts longevity has been the wings,there is no main spars to degenerate in this old bird,the wings are bolted on with hundreds of fittings to the integral centre section,more modern machines have wing spars that are lifed,that is to say they are only good for 'x' amount of flying ( and flexing ) hours as the alloy gradually cracks no matter the quality,this is why machines such as the Vickers Viscount virtually vanished overnight,they just ran out of flying hours.
The designer could never have envisaged how long this aircraft would remain in service,there are still hundreds of Daks as they are affectionately called in flying condition thjroughout the world.
Circumstance is a great way of bringing out the very best in designers,as proven many times men of iron will set about conceiving just the right product,and this was the case with the Dakota,if it had not been for the war and the military use then many small airliners would not have evolved or even got started.
Which brings us to the other topic,belt and braces ! in this high tech world we live in,there is virtually nothing that is now built without transistors,chips or other electronic wizardry,remember when we used to set up the points on our cars ? it was not that long ago,but now with electronic ignition we are assured even the weakest spark will ignite the fuel,something that we can be truly grateful for on a bitter cold morning as we crank over the engine in the car to get to work.
If we really need to see the belt & braces approach then we need go no further back than the industrial revolution,just take a look at what could be achieved from relatively crude materials,parts and unskilled labour ? it never ceases to amaze me how they managed to get some of that gear assembled,probably with the loss of life and limb as huge gantry like structures were assembled,pithead gear,cranes and remarkable buildings as well.
Our social history,especially as applied to engineering feats is full of great inventions and the people who designed and built them,we have an awful lot to be very proud of in the past century thanks to some great people.