Mate, my edumacated guess would be the Bristol Bloodhound?

Well done Nick..
I knew that one would give it away!
Yes, the gate guardian at RAAF Richmond for many years was a Bristol Bloodhound sitting on its launcher in the firing position.
Over to you Nick..

Thanks Warren! Your earlier clue got me onto the right track, just couldn't remember its name. I used to drive past it once every blue moon as a kid.

Anyway folks, sorry for the delay but here is the next question. Who was the person that is credited for discovering and identifying the aerodynamic forces of flight and what are they?

Fairly easy question but couldn't pass up a bit of history!

Cheers,
Nick.

Are you thinking of Bernoulli and his principle of pressure differential corresponding with speed of fluid flow, or Sir George Cayley and his ideas of lift, weight, thrust and drag?

I was thinking along the lines of Sir George Cayley and you are correct. I did say it was should be an easy one. Almost lasted an hour! Over to you Jessica.

Okay, what is a plastron and why it important that an Airbus 340 has them?

Its the bulge under the fuselage between the wings that is used to correct airflow around the engine pylons. It can also be used to help house the main undercarriage when retracted.

Almost, but you've got the basics. The ones I was thinking of are actually attached to the wings at the outboard pylons of the A-340-200 and -300. Airbus realised almost too late that they'd made the outer wing structure too light to support the engines in some conditions so they attached the plastrons to smooth out the airflow and damp oscilations. I'm glad you answered before my review of the Revell A-340 went live and spoiled my question

Anyway, your turn.

It helps to have been part of a structural engineering team for the B707... It has one as well. They are far from new really..
Give me a little time to come up with a question.

The last time I checked, a plastron was part of a tortoise. How times do change, eh.

Warren! Would you like a little more time?

Erm.. sorry.. I forgot all about it!! DOH!!!

OK .. an easy one.. What are time-expired aircraft turboprop engine compresser blades used in?

Razors?

Nope.. but they would be pretty expensive razor blades if they were!

Power generation? or some other industrial turbine use?

Well done JP. They are taken out of the aero-use engines and used in power-generating turbines, and to keep wind-turbines turning when there is no wind, which is over 90 percent of the time. So there goes their greenness out the window!

Thanks Warren.

Now, can anyone name a coal powered aircraft?

Messerschmitt Me 264a?

I'll take that. Yep it was proposed to use solid fuel (coal dust) in a jet engine for that aircraft. Abandoned due to slow combustion rate. Given the price of oil we could be flying in coal powered (liquid fuel) jets before long. Couple of eco questions there. Lets get back to some speedy fuel burners please, Warren.

Just for historical reasons, let me add that in the 18th century, during the siege of Paris, a coal powered balloon (double cylinder driving a single prop) was used by the French. That is if the word aircraft includes everything that flies. Warren lets hear it from you.

OK. Let me dig down into my trivia stuff and find something about a darty silver thing..

Ooooh! Which one? There were several ...

Changed my mind..

Who scored the first victory for Jagdstaffel 17 in WW1 and what aircraft was he flying?

Wikipedia says

Well that turned out to be a good one!

Well done Jessie and it is over to you...