An Amazing Picture of Big Shoulders Science in the 1930s

Bing had this as the background pic for August 19, 2026:

The USN stubby carrier plane is a Brewster Buffalo XF2a-1 from 1938 in the full size wind tunnel that would later become NASA Langley.  Unfortunately it was torn down but still, amazing scale !

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-Scale_Wind_Tunnel

The Brewster Buffalo wasn't preferred by the Navy, they liked the Grumman Wildcat F4 and Grumman Hellcat F6 better.  But those wacky Finns liked the Buffalo:

https://historynet.com/brewster-buffalo-finland/

When I was a kid I built a Grumman F6F Hellcat model plane.  I can't remember the vendor, probably Revell but maybe Monogram ?  It seems to me that AMT was the goto for car models.  Now that I think of it while the propeller turned there wasn't much else you could do with a model plane, except look at them, maybe dust them (or maybe not ;).  The upstairs room in our house in Fox Point had two built-in dressers with small display shelves above them.  That's where I'd stick the models (until I eventually broke them).

For an indication of model prices here is a K-mart model kit ad from 1967:

the snake in the garden, Kmart, tempting us with lower prices and novelty

And the obligatory inflated price:

From what I see on Ebay, Hellcat models are a little more expensive these days:

I suppose the kids today might use a 3D printer to make their own plastic models ?

And I suppose that when the kids of today grow up they will use AI to simulate the testing of a wind tunnel - just not the same as building a big fan inside a big building !

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm