*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 29, 2024, 12:44:59 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Recent

Author Topic: How do Aeronefs fly?  (Read 7244 times)

Offline Sinewgrab

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2907
  • All to all, by my mustard!
How do Aeronefs fly?
« on: August 20, 2011, 10:36:19 PM »
I was trying to explain to a friend who is an utter novice to VSF how Aeronefs have been determined to fly over the years, and I thought I would ask for help compliling the list.

So far, I have:

Cavorite (our favorite anti-grav metal) (HG Wells, of course)
Liftwood (naturally occurring on Mars, of course) (Space:1889)
Gravity Screws - acting as a propeller in gravitational fields (Aeronef game)
8th rays or nth rays (from John Carter)
Hydrogen (Boooring...)

Which ones have I missed?
"There is no known cure for the wargaming virus, only treatments with ever increasing doses of metal."

Offline DrVesuvius

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 72
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2011, 10:49:20 PM »
Regular, non weird science airscrews (aka helicopter style rotor blades, although usually in large numbers per vessel, as per George Griffith's "Angel of the Revolution" found in Forgotten Futures VII "Tsar Wars")

Steel spheres containing perfect vacuums (which are obviously lighter than air... OK it's not a very good idea, but I remember seeing it was proposed at one point)

Castle Falkenstein's airships used Hydrogen for lift (or at least neutral buoyancy in air) but semi-sorcerous engines that latch on to the Earth's magnetic field and propel the ship in any direction at great speed.

Finally for the smaller and extremely whimsical flyers there's the old "tethered flock of geese" gag, but whether that would scale up to the gunboat/warship level is doubtful.

Offline Froggy the Great

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2415
  • ...let slip the frogs of war.
    • My deviantArt gallery of painted figures
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2011, 11:09:43 PM »
I've always favored the Unobtanium plating on the hulls, from the mines on Atlantis...
You, sir, are not allowed to attempt a takeover of the solar system until your octopus sobers up.

Offline Mr.Marx

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1212
    • Bloggity-Blog-Blog / "The Zone"
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2011, 11:11:27 PM »
'The master of the world' and 'Robur the conquor', whilst not great books, show the theory behind virtical airscrews. 'The War In the Air' also shows a number of different Ideas on viable flying machines - particularly Onathropters (machines that mimic the flight of birds).

And then theres always Tesla's experiments using electrical charge to exploit the worlds natural magnitism to produce flight.

If your one of those 'steampunk people' then theres the option of jet engines or magic.

Marx

Offline Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 453
    • Little lead men of valour
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2011, 11:42:03 PM »
Don't forget good old steam with more efficient engines enabling enough power to propel a craft like a convential combustion or jet engine.

This technique is used in the vsf - ish futuristic novel Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson.

Also you have Helium or the extra light Zeelium.

Basically any type of elevation is fine as long as you can make up a convincing back story :)

Cheers
Fuzzy.
Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly
down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red
Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture,
torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals.
Blackadder 4

Offline Sinewgrab

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2907
  • All to all, by my mustard!
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2011, 12:49:41 AM »
Oh, I know, but he needs background, and by noting which ones have been proposed, it allows me to point him at books and references.

I love the vacuum sphere idea...hmm that could be more durable than a balloon...

Offline Red Orc

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2601
  • Baffled but happy
    • My new VSF blog:
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2011, 10:03:11 AM »
Hey Sinewgrab, can I point you at this thread - http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=14926.0 - that details some of these things?

In the 'Airborn' books by Kenneth Oppel (not exactly VSF but containing airships and sky-pirates and scientifical expeditions and whatnot, in a sort of alternative-Edwardian setting), there is a lighter-than-air gas that comes out of vents in the ground and smells of mangoes. It's called 'hydrium' and that's what's used to give the airships lift.

There are also ornothopters in the books, but the airship crews seem to regard them as crazy contraptions.

EDIT: meant to put a link to the wiki about Airborn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborn

EDIT part 2: away from the Airborn books and on to VSF more generally, there are also aether-sails I think but I can't remember which stories use them. Not that they give you lift of course, and they're for interplanetary travel rather than atmospheric, but a part of the pseudo-science nevertheless.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2011, 10:21:40 AM by Red Orc »

Offline Fitz

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 925
    • The Website of Fitz
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2011, 10:47:29 AM »
Good lord, whatever do they teach in schools these days? As every schoolboy should know, aeronef flight is primarily achieved by the effect of phlogiston on the aether.

Offline Sinewgrab

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2907
  • All to all, by my mustard!
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2011, 03:50:28 PM »
I love it, Red Orc - I posted heavily in that thread, and I still couldn't find it when I was running searches for this kind of thing.  Thanks for the pointer.

Of course, having reread that thread, now I have the idea of disbelievium, which, when mixed with suspensitite, allows huge steel and wood contraptions to sail through the air.

Hah!  :D

Offline Red Orc

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2601
  • Baffled but happy
    • My new VSF blog:
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2011, 05:18:31 PM »
I live to serve, Sinewgrab.

I found it because I remembered I'd made the 'suspension of disbelief' gag, and searched for that...  ::) lol

Offline DrVesuvius

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 72
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2011, 06:41:04 AM »
Disbelievium?  Suspensite?  Brilliant!

I tip me 'at to you guv'nor, if only to distract you from the well train'd urchin wot's swiping that gag for me.

Offline Melnibonean

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2067
  • Boiled Beans
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #11 on: August 22, 2011, 12:33:20 PM »
This is just my concept but it's the Antigravatical Gyrometer. A vertically mounted gyroscopic engine with pole-nodes projecting from the deck and the keel. One node pushes a narrow focus antigravatical field against the earth the other pushes a wide focus field against the atmosphere. Balancing the two poles determines altitude. The craft however, requires a seperate propulsion system as well as stablization (ie: wings).

That's my concept. ;)
Below is a link to my blog. It's the place where I write uninteresting things about little toy soldiers. I do this because I refuse to grow up and behave like an adult.

http://this28mmlife.blogspot.com.au/

Offline The_Beast

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Galactic Brain
  • *
  • Posts: 4917
  • As my grandchildren see me...
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #12 on: August 22, 2011, 12:37:47 PM »
My yet-to-be-built Cytherian forces include armored zep's because of the heavy, damp atmosphere. This in spite of the fact that water vapor is lighter than air.  lol

I toyed with the idea of steam-filled, floating contraptions, but, brainwise, it's a bit of a tough go.

Doug

Offline meninobesta

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 706
  • Bastard Saint, Scorn of the Earth
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2011, 03:17:31 PM »
Quote from: Douglas Adams
There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] suggests, and try it.

The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.

That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground. Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.

Clearly, it is the second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.

One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.

It is notoriously difficult to prize your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people's failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.

If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phyllum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in your vicinty, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.

This is a moment for superb and delicate concentration. Bob and float, float and bob. Ignore all consideration of your own weight simply let yourself waft higher. Do not listen to what anybody says to you at this point because they are unlikely to say anything helpful. They are most likely to say something along the lines of "Good God, you can't possibly be flying!" It is vitally important not to believe them or they will suddenly be right.

Waft higher and higher. Try a few swoops, gentle ones at first, then drift above the treetops breathing regularly.

DO NOT WAVE AT ANYBODY.

When you have done this a few times you will find the moment of distraction rapidly easier and easier to achieve.

You will then learn all sorts of things about how to control your flight, your speed, your maneuverability, and the trick usually lies in not thinking too hard about whatever you want to do, but just allowing it to happen as if it were going to anyway.

You will also learn about how to land properly, which is something you will almost certainly screw up, and screw up badly, on your first attempt.

There are private clubs you can join which help you achieve the all-important moment of distraction. They hire people with surprising bodies or opinions to leap out from behind bushes and exhibit and/or explain them at the critical moments. Few genuine hitchhikers will be able to afford to join these clubs, but some may be able to get temporary employment at them.
Cheers,
Pedro

Offline Dr DeAth

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2879
    • My Little Lead Men
Re: How do Aeronefs fly?
« Reply #14 on: August 23, 2011, 07:12:01 AM »
As part of my Khosindan back story I've come up with Gravanthracite, discovered by Sir Henry Northbrook.

An extract from Sir Henry's journal

“Eureka! Success indeed. I believe I have discovered a mineral with properties that will change transportation for ever. This evening after dinner, Arnold, Du’Lac and I sat around the camp fire brewing coffee and discussing the days’ surveying. I had placed a canvas camp stool close to the fire and had emptied my pocket’s contents onto it, so that I could sit more comfortably. The coffee pot must have shifted as the logs in the fire burnt through, as the steam rising from the spout started to come through the stool’s canvas top. Within moments, a number of the nuggets that had been in my pocket were rocketing skyward, accompanied by their now all too familiar whistling sound. It appears that Gravanthracite simply requires water vapour and heat to become weightless; it does not need to be fully immersed in water!”

The full story can be read here  http://www.consolemonkey.plus.com/vsf/gravanthracite.pdf

Photos of my recent efforts are at www.littleleadmen.com and https://beaverlickfalls.blogspot.com

 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
7 Replies
2707 Views
Last post June 12, 2009, 09:24:37 AM
by Shazam
Aeronefs to Mars

Started by warbeads VSF Adventures

11 Replies
3400 Views
Last post March 15, 2010, 11:13:33 AM
by JollyBob
6 Replies
2146 Views
Last post July 17, 2012, 03:36:19 PM
by michi_k
18 Replies
7099 Views
Last post December 21, 2014, 03:58:43 PM
by The_Beast
13 Replies
3361 Views
Last post December 09, 2021, 07:22:01 PM
by Easy E