Civil War Balloon Flights Were Not Leisurely Flights of Fancy September 24, 2010

Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe's Life Rose Like the Incline and Balloons He Developed Before It Came Crashing Back to Earth

On This Date In History: This date in 1861 was not a good day for flying. At 3:30 AM on April 20, 1861 Thaddeus S C Lowe decided it was a good time to test his new 20,000 cubic foot balloon called Enterprise. I’m not sure if the balloon was shown in the Star Trek movie that showed all of the previous vessels called Enterprise. I don’t think that I recall that being the case. Anyway, he took off from Cincinnati before the sun comes up and his little test mission turned into a misadventure. He got whisked away by 100 mph winds aloft that sent him to South Carolina. He thought he’d get welcomed like a crowned prince like the Wizard of Oz. Instead he was arrested as a spy. Apparently the professor was absent minded as he had no clue that 6 days before Fort Sumnter had fallen and the Civil War had begun. Fellow academics convinced the state authorities that Lowe was on a scientific mission and they let him go.

Lowe's Intrepid

I’m not sure if Professor TSC Lowe was ticked at being arrested or if his buddies were wrong because Lowe promptly went north and became the leader of the Union’s Army of the Potomac Aeronautic Corps of balloonists. Lowe designed and built several balloons for a whole Union fleet with the largest being the 32,000 cubic foot Intrepid that required 1200 yards of silk. This was a group of mainly civilians who made some 3000 flights in the first two years of the war. They would tether up and view the battlefield from aloft and then use a telegraph to wire down the enemy position and direct artillery fire. It was the forerunner to aerial reconnaissance. In fact, later in WWI, the airplane was used initially for recon missions until it was discovered you could drop bombs from planes or put machine guns on the plane and shoot down enemy planes and blimps. Anyway, on this date in 1861 Lowe himself was shot down. Somehow he ended up behind enemy lines. I don’t know if he got caught up in another 100 mph wind or enemy fire cut his tether or if he was just going on another “scientific excursion” but down he went and he was captured again. His wife Leontine was a witness to the whole thing. Did she sit and cry? Did she hope that academics would again get her husband set free? Nope. Instead, she personally led a raid of nighttime commandos who moved in and rescued the professor before he could be captured again.

Railway was cool but it cost Lowe his fortune

Before the war, Lowe had established a reputation for new theories and study in Chemistry, Meteorology and Aviation. He had a dream of a transatlantic balloon flight. I guess he got rich because after the war, he moved to Pasadena, CA and built a 24,000 foot house.  The professor made a bunch of money after he invented the ice machine in 1865 followed by a number of other inventions.   He also founded Citizen’s Bank, which I remember as a kid being the sponsor of my friend’s Little League baseball team.   He tried to build  a railroad to Mount Wilson but, when that fell through, he built a rail line to Echo Mountain and then on to the summit of  the mountain named for him and the Lowe Observatory among other things. Funny thing is the guy ended up living with his daughter in her Pasadena home as he lost his fortune.  Seems his financial grasp had extended beyond his reach when it came to that railroad up the mountain overlooking Altadena.   Makes you wonder if now California will rename its mountains something like Mount AIG or Mount Lehman Brothers.

Weather Bottom Line:  Count yourself lucky if you got any rain out of the frontal passage on Friday.  It was the 83rd day of Louisville having temps 90 or better this year which betters the old mark of 81 days in 1954.  While the upper air was too warm and the air too dry to support much in the way of rain, the front will bring a halt to the hot weather as highs will be in the upper 70′s on Saturday and Sunday.  A winter-like low will drop into the Ohio Valley and southern states beginning early in the week.  This will greatly enhance our much-needed rain chances on Monday and clouds and scattered showers should hold temps in the low to mid 70′s for a good chunk of the week ahead.

Will Rogers and Wiley Post May Have Died From a Lack of Patience August 15, 2010

Will Rogers and Wiley Post In One of Their Last Photographs Together With The Plane That Would Carry Them to Their Doom

Will Rogers 1879-1935

On This Date in History: Will Rogers was probably the most popular man in America in the 1920′s and 1930′s.  He was born in Indian Territory known as Oklahoma in 1879 to parents who both had Cherokee ancestry.  When he was 10, Will Rogers mother died, leaving his wealthy, rancher father to raise him and his two sisters.  His father, Clem, was a tough man and had standards to which he expected his children to live.  In relation to those standards, Clem Rogers thought that his boy Will was pretty wild.  When Will was 20, he left behind any conflicts he had with his father, utlizing his skills as a wrangler and a roper to earn a living as he traveled the country.  Just a year later, he returned to the Oklahoma Territory at his father’s request to show support for the effort to make Oklahoma a state.  While he was there, he met Betty Blake, whom he eventually would marry.  But, his stay at home was short as he once again got into disagreements with his father over how Will should lead his life.  So, Will Rogers left Oklahoma again.

Will Rogers Was An Ace With a Rope

Over the next few years, he took part in numerous Wild West Shows as “the Cherokee Kid” and traveled the country.  Typically, his act included extraordinary roping displays while dazzling the crowds with equally impressive riding tricks.   He and Betty were married when his last Wild West Show in New York closed.  The couple decided to stay there for a few weeks after he was offered a lucrative contract to take his act to Vaudeville.  But, his “Cherokee Kid” act didn’t transfer too well to the vaudevillian stage.  Betty was pregnant with their first child and Will found himself out of work for some time.  He took a replacement job for a vaudeville show in Brooklyn when disaster became a life-altering moment.  His horse was not delivered to the theatre when the show began and he had to take the stage alone.  He messed up some rope tricks and the audience grumbled.  So, he just began to talk.  He told homespun stories of life in Oklahoma and made witty comments about politics and anything else he had read about in the paper.  The audience loved it and a star was born.  To this day, the quotes of Will Rogers appear in the media in various forms on a daily basis. 

Wiley Post Before He Lost His Left Eye

Around that time, Rogers met a pilot named Wiley Post.   Post had a job flying film canisters from movie and newsreel film locations to the studio for production.  Post and Rogers had much in common and struck up a fast friendship.  Both were part Cherokee and both were from the West.  Each man loved travel, adventure and airplanes.  As Will’s fame grew and he traveled throughout the nation, it was often Wiley Post who flew him to the town or city of his next appearance.  Soon, as Roger’s popularity grew, Post’s achievements rocketed him to world-wide fame as well.  Post had begun working in the oil fields and also as a skydiver in barnstorming shows.  But, he wanted to be a pilot, not a sky diver.  That dream seemed to fade when Post lost his eye in an oilfield accident.  Instead, he learned to adapt and not only became a pilot but was so well accomplished that he was one of America’s first test pilots. 

Wiley Post's Third Version of His Pressure Suit

In 1931, Post obliterated the record for an around the world flight when he flew around the globe in eight days, 15 hours and 51 minutes.  He bested the old record by 21 days.  In 1933, he piloted the Winnie Mae to another around the world record by beating his old mark by about a day.  The Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae was a very fast plane and he was convinced that he could set numerous long distance records by flying at extremely high altitude.  No one had done that before as the thin air made flying in the sub-stratosphere difficult, especially when one considers that Post’s plane was not airtight and was not pressurized.

US Military's Version of Post's Suit in 1940's known as a Tomato Worm Suit

  But, Post worked with the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company to design a pressure suit that would allow him to breath as if he was at 5500 feet instead of the 30,000 to 40,000 feet that he proposed flying his unpressurized monoplane.  On September 5, 1934 Post successfully tested the third version of a suit over Chicago at 40,000 feet, though some histories put the figure at 49,000.  That set the stage for his attempts to set a transcontental speed record.  Mechanical problems prevented him from reaching his goal but he did set a new air speed record of 340 mph during one of his attempts.    Wiley Post’s suit was the earliest version of the suit the astronauts would wear in space.

Top: Rogers and Post At Dawson Creek, AK Bottom: Wreckage of Plane in Lake South of Barrow, AK

In 1935, Rogers was looking for new material for his act and a newspaper column that appeared in papers across the nation.  He decided that a trip to America’s final frontier, Alaska, would provide him an opportunity and inspiration for fresh ideas.  He hired his friend Post to fly him to what was then an American territory. The two friends would make the whole trip and adventure filled with bear hunts and possibly finding a new air route to Europe through Alaska and Siberia.  Post had a new plane that was built using the parts of two Lockheed aircraft.  The fuselage came from an Orion while the wings were from an Explorer.  For some reason, Post was short on cash and it was the most advanced plane that he could afford.  He decided that it would be a good idea to fit the aircraft with pontoons to make water landings in Alaska possible.  But, the pontoons he ordered did not arrive on time.  Patience can be a virtue and a lack of patience can lead to problems; in this case it may have been fatal. 

Tragic Loss of Two Great Americans of the Early 20th Century

Instead of waiting for the specially built pontoons, Post fitted the aircraft with a set that were longer than necessary.  The long pontoons made the plane noseheavy.  On This Date in 1935,  Wiley Post and Will Rogers took off from Fairbanks, Alaska to Point Barrow.  From there, the details are somewhat conflicting.  One version is that they ran into storms and Post used more fuel than anticipated.  He tried to make his way Barrow and ran out of fuel. A problem with this post-event narrative is that Post’s modified plane had an oversized 260 gallon tank.  And,  the initial reports were that, there were issues with the plane and Post put it down south of Barrow for repairs.   Shortly after takeoff, the plane stalled and plunged nose-first into the lake.  Both Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed and America lost perhaps the most influential voice of the common man in the midst of the Great Depression and one of it’s most innovative aviation pioneers.  Ultimately, if the pontoon story is correct, then the cause of their deaths may have been a lack of patience.

Weather Bottom Line: Previous forecast holds.  Front comes through Sunday evening bringing rain and t’storms.  First day or so of the week should be dry then the front backs up close enough and works with tropical moisture to give us rain chances every afternoon.  We’ll be talking about highs in the upper 80′s to near 90 instead of upper 90′s to near 100. So, it’s a cold front….just not that cold.

1st Female Pilot to Cross English Channel Was Not Named Amelia April 15, 2010

The real first lady of flight

 

One Hot Pilot

 On This Date In History:

Perhaps the greatest and most courageous aviators no one has ever heard of got her flying license on August 1, 1911. Harriet Quimby was a single woman working in New York, which at the time was a pretty tough thing to do. Quimby worked for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. She was an independent and strong minded woman but wasn’t cast in the role of the Suffragettes. Instead she wrote articles that focused on neglect of children, corrupt politics and over hunting of certain species of animals.  However, she went on to do spectacular things that hardly anyone knows about.  Fortunately, as a writer, she did leave behind the tales of Harriet Quimby adventures in her own words.

Quimby also must have had a thing for machines because in 1906 while covering a race at the Vanderbilt Race Track, she went for a ride in a high speed automobile. So enthralled was she that she purchased her own car. I wonder if she was the only female car owner in 1906 New York. She covered a flying meet in 1910 and decided to take flying lessons.   Quimby met Matilde Moisant and her brother John at the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament.  John and his brother Alfred ran a flying school so Harriet signed up.  She said ” There is no more risk in an airplane than a high-speed automobile and a lot more fun. Why shouldn’t we have some good American pilots.”   She became the first American woman to get a flying license and the second in the world.   Not only did Harriet get her pilot’s license, but so did her friend Matilde, who became the second American woman to officially become a pilot just 10 days after Harriet.  Matlide went on to establish herself as a female aviation pioneer as she and Harriet had a friendly competition.  Just a month after receiving her license, Moisant defeated both Quimby and French pilot Helene Dutrieu in an altitude competition when she took her 50 hp monoplane up to 1200 feet.  I’ve driven go-karts with a 50 hp engine.  That’s really pretty incredible and the ladies were quite brave. 

Harriet Quimby and Matilde Moisant

In fact, it took quite a bit of bravery to take to the air in the early days of aviation. Perhaps she learned her daring from John Moisant who dazzled the world when he crossed the English channel only  a month after he learned to fly!  Nevertheless, in spite of Harriet’s claim that it was no more dangerous than driving a car,  John Moisant was killed in a flying accident not long after she made his acquaintance.   Then, on April 14, 1912, Matlide landed her plane after a performance and it burst into flames due to a leaky fuel tank.  She was pulled from the wreckage with her clothing on fire, but she survived.   Nevertheless, Harriet was not deterred.   Just two days after her friend nearly burned to death,  on this date in 1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel.   Her accomplishment went largely unnoticed because on April 16, 1912, the press was filled with details of the tragic Titanic sinking and her feat was left to the back pages and generally lost to history.  However, as  a journalist, Quimby decided to write the story of how Harriet Quimby flew solo across the English Channel.

A looker

A few months later, she turned her sights on the air speed record. Her plane was a two seat monoplane. When she flew this particular aircraft solo, she used sandbags in the passenger seat in order to maintain balance. For some reason, she took a man on a ride, presumably before she went for the record. The man won the opportunity in a coin flip with his son.   As the plane went on its journey, for unknown reason it pitched forward and the man was tossed to his death.   Harriet maintained control briefly before the plane pitched again and she was tossed to her death at age 37(NYTimes 1912 story/obit). Like the more famous, Amelia Earhart, I think that Harriet was quite the looker. Her flying outfit was a quite handsome purple silk jumpsuit. Earhart gained fame perhaps as much for her disappearance as for her flying feats. While Quimby has been largely forgotten, I have an idea that her death highlighted the need of seatbelts in planes. When you buckle up on your next flight, think of Harriet.

SPC slight risk for April 16 2010

Weather Bottom Line:  After a week of splendid weather, the big day is here.  Yes, it’s my birthday but to highlight it’s importance, I am getting a colonoscopy! That is a sure sign that age is creeping up and that I don’t count birthdays anymore.  Snow White already had my birthday party last week at Burger King.  I think that she’s getting me back for taking her to Golden Corral for Valentine’s Day.  Guys..don’t make fun of Valentine’s Day.  It will go on the “do not forget” list.  But, this evening, it will be interesting to see how my emcee appearance goes tonight for the Justice Racing Stables as they kick off the Derby season.   Hopefully, no one will strike a match.  And I hope that John Nolley has planned for an indoor event because the cold front will be coming through and I suspect it will be less exciting than my visit to the doctor, though the Storm Prediction Center is rattling our cage a bit.

SPC risk for gusty winds biggest threat

That 5% risk for severe weather that they had yesterday they upped to be a slight risk for severe thunderstorms.  They only claim a less than 2% risk for twisters and hail but are watchful for high winds.  As the front comes down, they are noting the amount of sunshine ahead of the boundary and that may increase the lapse rates sufficiently to team with a low level jet of about 50 kts and increasing dew points to produce a line of thunder storms.  We are on the extreme western tip of the risk area but nothing really jumps out at me.  The CAPE forecast is only 500 J/KG and, while  that is sufficient to produce some boomers, I’m not too impressed.  So, I wouldn’t head to the basement just yet.  Nevertheless, it’s out there so keep in mind, if we do get some storms this evening with the front, there may be some winds to contend with in individual storms.  Otherwise, Thunder Over Louisville weekend is upon us and the weather will be pretty good, though cooler than we’ve recently seen.  Highs in the low to mid 60′s.  Fireworks temperatures will be falling through the 50′s and the wind will be out of the North, meaning that if you are on the Louisville side of the river, be prepared for some smoke.

The Odd End to the Amazing Howard Hughes April 5, 2010

Time Magazine April 1976

The Dashing Hughes

On This Date in History: If you saw the movie The Aviator starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, you may recall a scene in which Hughes is testifying before a Senate committee and the charge is brought that Hughes regularly used funds to entertain influential people in the military industrial complex to help win contracts. Hughes acknowledges the charges in a matter-of-fact manner, saying that is just the way the aviation business is done and that everyone spends money on key people, not as bribes, but as a way to influence their decisions. I’ve never read the transcripts of the actual hearings so I don’t know if that part of the script was just written to indicate the true situation. But, on August 3, 1947, the New York Times broke the story, though its much more interesting.

It is more interesting because the NYTimes goes to great lengths to describe how Hughes is charged with spending over $5000 on the son of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elliott Roosevelt, who was the guy who could make or break military contracts with individual companies. In the story, it’s not Hughes who fesses up, but instead one of his associates who, just a easily as Hughes was portrayed in the movie, admits that they did and do regularly throw parties and entertain people like Fred Roosevelt. In fact he said Elliott was just “one of 1000″ that he entertained. The Times goes on to say that there was more…that Hughes Aircraft provided women to government officials! What is intersting is that no one really gets mad at the government folks accepting the gratuities. I mean, Howard Hughes could invite FDR’s son all he wants but no one forces him to go. But, that never comes up.

The Giant Plane Made of Wood Flew Nov 3, 1947

Spruce Goose Dwarfed Any Other Aircraft for Decades

Howard Hughes defied all probability. He had contracted with the U.S. Government to produce a flying boat that could ferry 750 combat troops or two 30 ton tanks across the Atlantic during World War II. Officially called the H-4 Hercules, the plane fell seemingly hopelessly behind construction schedule and well over budget. The war ended before delivery and the government cancelled the order.  But Hughes was convinced his vision could be transformed to civilian use and revolutionize the airline and air cargo industry. He completed the plane with his own money. Aluminum and other metals were short during the war so he made the plane out of wood.  Not long after his famous Senate hearings in early November 1947, Hughes flew the flying boat near Long Beach in California, confounding critics who said such a huge machine could never fly. It never flew again as it was obsolete before it ever flew and after that Hughes was rarely seen in public for the rest of his life.

The Dashing Aviator Howard Hughes

To this day, it still holds the record for aircraft with the broadest wingspan at 319 feet….more than a football field. It’s also the tallest plane ever built at over 79 feet, or about a 7 story building. It is the worlds largest flying boat and, of course, the record that will probably never be equaled; the largest plane ever built from wood. Many think of the thing as a lark but it is another in a long list of examples of Hughes genius for vision. Hughes exploits proved it was possible for enormous aircraft to fly and thus did indeed revolutionize flight design. Even though by weight and length other modern planes have been deemed the largest planes ever built, the “Spruce Goose,” as it was called by Hughes detractors, stands alone was one of the most daring an innovative steps in the history of flight.

Hughes at the Helm of the Hercules

Hughes achieved many great things and his effort shows what can happen when determination, courage and self-confidence come together with the means to render moot the opinions of the experts.  Hughes’ Spruce Goose exhibition (video) was perhaps the crowning achievement in a remarkable life. We see him as the richest man in the world of his time but in reality, he was an innovator in aircraft and satellite technology. Many of our conveniences we take for granted are directly linked to Howard Hughes. Many of our missile defense systems had their genesis from Howard Hughes.  He set air speed records, furthered aviation development and helped advance satellite technology.  Though not as important, in my view, he was also somewhat of a pioneer in filmaking. 

Hughes Testifying

Now, Hughes died on this date in 1976 amidst mysterious circumstances. He was said to have become exceedingly excentric and developed phobias to about everything, including germs. Some speculate that he was the money man behind Watergate and that Richard Nixon never would have been forced to resign had not Hughes been secretly funding White House operations. Seems, in the early 1970′s, the then richest man in the world was found in England flying around naked, which was apparently not unusual. Late in his secret life, he surrounded himself by Mormons and doctors, yet in death the only way he could be identified was through fingerprints. He was a genius on many levels, but his later life was clouded with his erratic behaviour. There are those who say that Hughes was allowed to die by his handlers who were more interested in making money for themselves than caring for Hughes, who was reportedly around 90 lbs, with long stringy hair, a beard to his waist and very long fingernails when he died on a plane over the Gulf of Mexico enroute to Houston from Acapulco. There are those who say he really died in Acapulco and the story was simply a fabrication to add to his legacy. Then, of course, there were the years sifting through all of the wills that appeared following his death.

Another Hughes?

Now, does that sound familiar? Who else can you think of that gained great fame and fortune as a youth? Who else was dubbed a genius for the innovation that he brought to his field? Who else became extremely eccentric and mysterious later in his life? Who else died of mysterious circumstances leaving a vast estate? How about Michael Jackson. And now, like Hughes, there are charges, criminal investigation and speculation that his death was not as it seemed.  But, in the case of Hughes, when it all was settled, Hughes fortune went to fund the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It is a non-profit organization that is one of the largest philanthropies in the United States having spent $730 million in research and dispersed over $100 million in grants in 2009.

SPC slight risk area just West of Louisville due to expectation of system coming through Ohio Valley late Wednesday night

Weather Bottom Line:  T’storms possible with a warm front passing on Monday afternoon should be relatively benign but they may be elevated such that a few hail reports won’t be out of the question.  Tuesday look for exceedingly warm conditions with highs in the mid 80′s.  I told you that I was suspicious of this next cold front for Wednesday.  The SPC has been pooh-poohing it but now has come around, though the timing of us may make it a moot point.  It’s getting delayed a bit…the cold front that is.  So, by the time the storms get here it should be late Wednesday night and without the sun, they will lose a key ingredient. However, I wouldn’t be completely sold that it’s a dud.  If it speeds up a bit and we’re talking about before midnight, then I would think that we’d have enough latent heat with a warm and relatively humid Wednesday afternoon to perhaps allow for any strong storms to the west or southwest to hang together sufficiently to cause some racket.  Possible? Yeah…but the data says thats not probable.  Nevertheless, its not unheard of for the computers to be off on their story by  a few hours so its worth watching for.  After that, we should get temperatures back to seasonal levels..but not cold. I think I’m going to go ahead and plant my sunflowers.  I’m not too concerned about freezes anymore.  That’s like me washing my car.  That’s a sure sign of rain and if I plant my sunflowers…that will probably result in one more overnight freeze.  So, if it happens, it’s my fault.

1st Woman Pilot was pretty hot; Lone Star State Stories: Charles Whitman & 6 Flags over Texas August 1, 2009

 

The real first lady of flight

One Hot Pilot

On This Date In History:

Perhaps the greatest and most courageous aviators no one has ever heard of got her flying license on this date in 1911. Harriet Quimby was a single woman working in New York, which at the time was a pretty tough thing to do. Quimby worked for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. She was an independent and strong minded woman but wasn’t cast in the role of the Suffragettes. Instead she wrote articles that focused on neglect of children, corrupt politics and over hunting of certain species of animals.

Quimby also must have had a thing for machines because in 1906 while covering a race at the Vanderbilt Race Track, she went for a ride in a high speed automobile. So enthralled was she that she purchased her own car. I wonder if she was the only female car owner in 1906 New York. She covered a flying meet in 1910 and decided to take flying lessons. She said ” There is no more risk in an airplane than a high-speed automobile and a lot more fun. Why shouldn’t we have some good American pilots. She became the first American woman to get a flying license and the second in the world. On April 16, 1912 she became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel. So why haven’t we heard of her? On that date, the press was filled with details of the tragic Titanic sinking and her feat was left to the back pages and generally lost to history.

A looker

A few months later, she turned her sights on the air speed record. Her plane was a two seat monoplane. When she flew is solo, she used sandbags in the passenger seat in order to maintain balance. For some reason, she took a man on a ride, presumably before she went for the record. The man won the opportunity in a coin flip with his son. As the plane went on its journey, for unknown reason it pitched forward and the man was tossed to his death. Harriet maintained control briefly before the plane pitched again and she was tossed to her death at age 37(NYTimes 1912 story/obit). Like the more famous, Amelia Earhart, Harriet was quite the looker. Her flying outfit was a quite handsome purple silk jumpsuit. Earhart gained fame perhaps as much for her disappearance as for her flying feats. While Quimby has been largely forgotten, I have an idea that her death highlighted the need of seatbelts in planes. When you buckle up on your next flight, think of Harriet.

Whitman Finally Was Stopped

Other things  happened on this date. In 1966, Charles Whitman took to the top of the University of Texas main building tower and shot a bunch of people. WWI began in 1914. The Sonny and Cher Show Debuted in 1971. In 1953, “Shane, Come Back!” entered the American lexicon as Shane was released. It is said that many actors had to stand in small ditches so Alan Ladd didn’t look so short. I think it was the debut of a young Jack Palance. And in 1943, Lt. John F. Kennedy had his PT-109 torpedoed. Kennedy was credited with helping to save the lives of his crew and his heroism helped launch his political career. Later Cliff Robertson portrayed Kennedy in PT-109 and made a coconut famous. My favorite guy though was Lenny.

Angus: The Man with the Plan

But the most interesting thing to me today(aside from Harriet) was that Six Flags Over Texas opened on this date in 1961. It was the first of the Six Flags parks and had the first log rides and mine train rides. It was also the first park to feature a single admission price, which was $2.75 for adults and $2.25 for kids. Previously all parks required payment for each ride. What is more remarkable though is that the guy who came up with the idea, Angus Wynne, Jr. only thought of it as a short term investment. He was an oilman and real estate developer who had other plans for the 212 acre site in Arlington, Texas. He was planning on just using the park to get the land to produce some revenue until he could develop an industrial park. He put up $3.5 million of the $10 million required to start up Six Flags Over Texas. His plans changed when in 18 months he had gotten his money back. Within 10 years, over 17 million people had visited his plan for a quick buck and became the most profitable private tourist attraction in Texas. Seems Ol’ Angus struck oil without even drilling one well.

SPC Convective Outlook 8am Sat to 8am Sun

Sunday 8AM

Weather Bottom Line:  There is another cold front approaching in what continues to be a fairly active pattern across the eastern 2/3 of the nation for this time of year.  The mean longwave trof extends across the northern half of the country from the Rockies eastward.  The base of the trof will be down in Arkansas by Saturday afternoon and as the front moves across the central plains and extends down into the southern plains, activity will begin to erupt.  The best chance for severe weather will be at the base of the trof, though some strong storms may be found all along the front as it makes its way eastward during the heat of the day into the evening. 

Tornado probability Sat

Now, the front doesn’t get here until about 8am on Sunday and will be slow to move through.  The severe indices from the early Saturday model runs are rather pedestrian and, given the time of day, t’storms will be relatively benign.  Several of the models indicate that a piece of the energy, in the form of a dying shortwave, will break off from the base of the trof and move through the Ohio Valley, riding along the front.  I suspect that what we will see will be similar to our last few events which is for rain chances to increase late Saturday night and carry into the first part of Sunday.  I haven’t checked but I can’t imagine that the precipitable water will be as excessive as last Thursday.  So, I doubt if we will get the 2-4 inch rains like we had then.  But, its a pretty fair bet for widespread rain with a few t’storms late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.  Won’t be surprised to see some renegade afternoon t’storms pop up in advance of the front this afternoon.

Severe Wind Probability Sat

DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK 
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   1239 AM CDT SAT AUG 01 2009
  
   VALID 011200Z – 021200Z
  
   …THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS PORTIONS MS DELTA/ARKLATEX
   REGIONS TO N-CENTRAL/NW TX…
  
   …SYNOPSIS…
   LARGE SCALE PATTERN WILL CONTINUE TO FEATURE MEAN RIDGE OVER W COAST
   STATES AND TROUGHING FROM HUDSON BAY TO OZARKS.  STG SHORTWAVE
   TROUGH — INITIALLY OVER WRN MN…SERN SD AND NEB…IS FCST TO PIVOT
   NEWD INTO EVOLVING CLOSE 500 MB LOW OVER NWRN ONT.  AS THIS
   OCCURS…RELATED SFC COLD FRONT — NOW ANALYZED FROM NRN MN TO SERN
   NEB TO ERN CO — IS EXPECTED TO REACH LOWER MI…ERN MO…S-CENTRAL
   OK AND TX PERMIAN BASIN REGIONS BY 2/00Z.  BY 2/12Z…FRONT SHOULD
   EXTEND NEAR LINE FROM TOL-SDF-TXK…THROUGH WEAK FRONTAL-WAVE LOW
   OVER N-CENTRAL TX…THEN WEAK AND QUASISTATIONARY WSWWD ACROSS TX
   PERMIAN BASIN/SOUTH PLAINS REGIONS.
   
 

Severe Hail Probability Sat

  MEANWHILE…BROAD MID-UPPER LEVEL CYCLONE NOW CENTERED INVOF 36N130W
   SHOULD MOVE SLOWLY/ERRATICALLY THROUGH PERIOD…BEING ISOLATED FROM
   PREVAILING FLOW FIELDS FARTHER N AND W…BUT WITH PROBABLE NET EWD
   DRIFT.  SMALLER/WEAKER MID-UPPER LOW IS EVIDENT IN MOISTURE CHANNEL
   IMAGERY OVER BC COAST.  THIS FEATURE WILL DEAMPLIFY INTO OPEN-WAVE
   TROUGH AND MOVE SLOWLY SEWD THROUGH MEAN RIDGE POSITION…REACHING
   NRN ROCKIES BY END OF PERIOD.  SHORTWAVE PERTURBATION — WITH TWO
   VORTICITY LOBES EVIDENT IN MOISTURE CHANNEL IMAGERY — SHOULD PIVOT
   SEWD ACROSS OK/AR DURING AFTERNOON/EVENING HOURS IN SUPPORT OF
   CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL OVER CATEGORICAL RISK AREA.
  
   …MS DELTA/ARKLATEX REGIONS TO N-CENTRAL/NW TX…
   SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS TSTMS IN CLUSTERS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
   ALONG OR MORE LIKELY AHEAD OF SFC COLD FRONT DURING AFTERNOON…WITH
   POTENTIAL MAINLY FOR SVR GUSTS AND HAIL.  PRECONVECTIVE/WARM-SECTOR
   AIR MASS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED BY SFC DEW POINTS COMMONLY 70S
   F…AND WHERE CLOUD COVER DOES NOT LIMIT DIABATIC HEATING
   APPRECIABLY…STEEP ENOUGH LOW-MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES TO SUPPORT
   MLCAPES 2000-3000 J/KG.  THIS CORRIDOR WILL BE JUST OUTSIDE SRN
   FRINGE OF STRONGEST MIDLEVEL WINDS…WHICH WILL LIMIT BULK SHEAR.
   LOW LEVEL FLOW SHOULD REMAIN WEAK AT 5-10 KT THROUGH MOST OF SFC-800
   MB LAYER…KEEPING HODOGRAPHS SMALL.  HOWEVER…SUFFICIENT UPPER
   LEVEL FLOW SHOULD COVER THIS AREA TO SUPPORT ORGANIZED MULTICELL
   POTENTIAL INVOF 50-75 KT 250 MB SPEED MAX…GIVEN EXPECTED LARGE
   AMOUNT OF AVAILABLE MOISTURE/BUOYANCY.  ANY SUPERCELL MODES SHOULD
   BE SHORT-LIVED AND DEPENDENT ON LOCALIZED/BOUNDARY PROCESSES. 
  
   …LOWER MI TO OZARKS…
   BAND OF STG-SVR CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TO FORM INVOF FRONTAL ZONE
   AND MOVE EWD ACROSS THIS CORRIDOR FOR A FEW HOURS…MOST PROBABLY
   DURING 1/21Z-2/02Z TIME FRAME WHEN MINIMIZED MLCINH IS EXPECTED.
   SWLY PREFRONTAL WINDS ARE FCST IN BOUNDARY LAYER…LIMITING BOTH
   CONVERGENCE AND LOW-LEVEL SHEAR.  HOWEVER…DEEP-LAYER SPEED SHEAR
   WILL BE FAVORABLE FROM IL NEWD…WHILE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND
   HEATING EACH SHOULD SHOW GENERAL INCREASE WITH SWD EXTENT.  LIMITING
   FACTORS WILL INCLUDE LACK OF BETTER SHEAR/INSTABILITY
   JUXTAPOSITION…AND MRGL MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES.
  
   …NE GA TO CENTRAL/ERN VA…
   ALTHOUGH CONSIDERABLE CONVECTION OCCURRED OVER MUCH OF THIS REGION
   DURING PRIOR DAY…RICH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL REMAIN IN ABSENCE OF
   ANY PROGRESSIVE FRONTS OR ADVERSE ADVECTIVE PROCESSES.  STG DIURNAL
   HEATING AND UPPER 60S TO MID 70S F DEW POINTS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO
   DEVELOPMENT OF FAVORABLE BUOYANCY AND WEAK CINH BY
   AFTERNOON…OFFSETTING ONLY ABOUT 6 DEG C/KM MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES TO
   YIELD MLCAPE 1500-2000 J/KG.  LEFTOVER BOUNDARIES FROM PRIOR
   DAY…AS WELL AS WEAK TROUGH E OF MOUNTAINS…MAY PROVIDE PRIMARY
   FOCI…ALTHOUGH SOME TSTMS SHOULD DEVELOP OVER BLUE RIDGE CORRIDOR
   AS WELL.  THIS AREA WILL BE BENEATH SERN RIM OF FAVORABLE MID-UPPER
   FLOW…BUT ALSO WITH WEAK LOW LEVEL WINDS.  MULTICELL MODES SHOULD
   PREDOMINATE…WITH ISOLATED DAMAGING GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL EXPECTED.
   MORE CONCENTRATED AREA OF SVR POTENTIAL MAY DEVELOP WITHIN THIS
   CORRIDOR…BUT IS TOO DEPENDENT ON MESOSCALE PROCESSES TO SPECIFY A
   15-PERCENT PROBABILITY AREA ATTM.
  
   …INTERIOR PAC NW…
   SCATTERED TSTMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER HIGHER TERRAIN OF SRN
   ORE AND FAR NRN CA DURING AFTERNOON…UNDER NERN FRINGE OF ENHANCED
   BELT OF SELY MID-UPPER WINDS CAUSED BY OFFSHORE CYCLONE.  FAVORABLE
   LOW-MIDLEVEL MOISTURE IS EXPECTED…WITH SFC DEW POINTS 50S F IN
   LOWER ELEVATIONS.  MODIFIED ETA-KF FCST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST WELL-MIXED
   SUBCLOUD LAYERS FOR AFTERNOON CONVECTION MOVING OVER LOWER
   ELEVATIONS…BENEATH MLCAPE LOCALLY TOPPING 1000 J/KG.  WEAK
   LOW-MIDLEVEL WINDS WILL LIMIT SHEAR…BUT A FEW STRONGER CELLS MAY
   PRODUCE HAIL OR DAMAGING GUSTS.
  
   ..EDWARDS.. 08/01/2009

Wrong Way To Get A Parade; Led Zeppelin and Tropics Update July 18, 2008

The Song Remains The Same It’s the old Led Zeppelin Forecast. Humidity levels should begin to increase some as we progress through the weekend. Otherwise, it’s the same thing. Highs at the airport will be around 94 or 95 but where you live probably more like 91 or so. There may still be an isolated afternoon t’storm on Sunday but we get more activity, at least on a scattered basis as we go to the first few days of the week ahead as a weak front tries to move in but it will generally wash out and go on the retreat, putting us back into the same pattern again for the latter part of next week.

On The Led Zeppelin Reunion Update: Seems that Robert Plant is holding up a big anticipated reunion tour as he has decided to extend his current trip with some bluegrass band. He must be having too much fun.

Tropical Disturbance: I’m tired of Bertha. It’s going to head northeast and turn extra-tropical but will still be fairly formidable. I still wouldn’t be surprised if it affected England or some other part of Europe. As for the disturbance in the Western Caribbean. It’s still pretty far south near 12.5 or 13 North Latitude. The Hurricane Hunter keeps finding a large broad circulation but nothing to pinpoint. So, it’s not a depression. But, you can see from the map from the boys at the Naval Research Laboratory that the general track is slightly north of west, which puts it more over open water and will allow Coriolis forces to perhaps get involved and get a better circulation. The models really don’t do much with it…you can make an argument that the Navy’s NOGAPS takes it into the Bay of Campeche after crossing Central America and Mexico. In short, there is absolutely no evidence that this will develop. However, in these situations, the computers are often confused and so as this guy moves along, don’t be surprised to at least get a depression and then if it gets some good upper support…a hat if you will…maybe something to look at … by then the models will figure out where it is. That’s a lot of ifs and buts.

Headed the Wrong Way Into History: Douglas Corrigan was an experienced pilot in the 1930′s. He in 1927 worked for the company that built Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. He worked on the installation of the gas tanks, the wings and instrument panel. In 1935, he had aspirations of flying across the ocean too but was denied permission to make a transatlantic flight because authorities said his plane wasn’t airworthy for such an adventure. Nevertheless, he was cleared to fly across the country. So, he got into his somewhat dilapidated single engine airplane and took off from New York to head home to California. But, he claimed that he got lost in the clouds and his compass was stuck. Instead of going west, he went east and crossed the Atlantic On This Date in 1938. He became an international sensation and earned the moniker “Wrong Way Corrigan.” He even got a ticker-tape parade in New York in which 1 million people lined the parade route.

Corrigan stuck to his story until his death in 1995. Lost in the hoopla was the fact that it was still a very courageous and dangerous feat to fly solo across the Atlantic. Since “Wrong Way” stuck to his story and got a parade. I wonder if Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are expecting the same treatment.