Then, of course, there is the (apocryphal?) story of the Brits forgetting to
defrost the chickens in their tests...  just goes to say that those dreally
etailed test procedures can come in handy...
 

Kathy M. MacLean 
President, APREL Laboratories 
-EMC-RF Safety-Antenna Design/Test-SAR/MPE-SAR/Near-Field
Tools-Acoustics-Wireless- 
51 Spectrum Way, Nepean, Ontario K2R 1E6 
(613) 820-2730 fax (613) 820-4161 
cell (613) 791-3777 
Web site:  http://www.aprel.com <http://www.aprel.com/>  - watch for our new
web site coming soon! 

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Taylor [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: September 26, 2001 3:52 PM
To: '[email protected]'; [email protected]
Subject: RE: Steel Balls vs. Chickens



A really "trick" cannon was used at China Lake-NWTC & Edwards-AFB to test
the impact resistance on All Weather Aircraft wind screens & canopy's.
Fresh Frozen chickens were defrosted the day before and "shot" out of a high
pressure tube at the subject wind screens & canopy's simulating bird impact
in flight.  At the end of the test you could not imagine the carnage unless
you saw it.  What a mess.  Many times I wished I was able to photograph the
scene - but no cameras allowed.

Michael Taylor. 

-----Original Message----- 
From: [email protected] [ mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> ] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 12:51 PM 
To: [email protected] 
Subject: Steel Balls vs. Chickens 





In the late 1960's I was working on what became IBM's first copier. 
We made frequent use of "NESA" glass, a PPG product.  This consisted 
of an ultra-thin gold layer deposited on glass sheets.  We could perform 
photoconductor light-discharge experiments by coating the PC on the 
gold surface, and expose from the opposite side. 

I was told that the NESA glass concept was developed during WWII to 
defrost bomber windshields.  These were typically made of plexi-glass, 
and would not thermally conduct sufficient heat from within the cockpit to 
defrost the exterior.  The gold coating was placed on the outside of the 
windshield, and DC current passed across the surface to create enough 
heat to melt frost. 

The question of durability of the gold coating to birds striking the surface

was established by "firing" dead chickens at test surfaces.  I often kidded 
one of my mechanical engineering friends that he could  and should design 
a top-of-the-line chicken "cannon", with variable muzzle velocity, variable 
bores for using birds of different sizes, etc. 

As you know, jet airplane engines are still tested for their resiliency to
birds 
both small (near airport ground level) and large (those ecountered at high 
altitudes) by similar methods. 

George Alspaugh 



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