Supersonic Planes

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SUPERSONIC PLANES
Flying faster than the speed of sound has always been the sole proviso of the military, but in the late-Sixties, Russia, France, the UK and the US were all working on the idea of supersonic commercial
travel. Faster planes meant shorter travel times, increased demand and higher prices.

THE FIRST
1. Bell X-1 As well as being the first aircraft to break the speed of sound, the X-1 was the first in a long line of experimental, pioneering aircraft
THE FASTEST
2. SR-71 Blackbird A futuristic, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71 was capable of up to Mach 3.35, or 2,275 miles per hour

THE FAILURE
3. Tupolev-144 (NATO code name – Charger) The TU-144 flew two months before Concorde in December 1968 but was ultimately scrapped due to lack of demand

 An aircraft that could fly across the Atlantic in less than three hours seemed as impossible as it was desirable
 Concorde was the result of France and the UK combining their efforts to produce a supersonic airliner and, even now, it’s impossible not to be impressed by its pioneering stature.

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Most prominent armed ships from the 16th to 19th Century

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Spanning a variety of ship designs from the 1500s to 1850, but typified by the galleon and ship of the line class of vessels, man of war ships were exemplars of ship-building expertise, delivering high manoeuvrability, storage capacity and firepower. They worked by taking the roundship and cog ship
designs that had been the staple for European trade, transport and warfare since medieval times both were powered by oars instead of sails  and added multiple masts, decks and cannons as well as more advanced rudder systems. These additions meant that long-scale voyages were now possible, opening up the largely uncharted world to nations and merchants looking to exploit the Earth’s natural resources  events that lead to the great Age of Discovery. One of the most notable man of war



Highly versatile and powerful ships capable of trade, diplomacy and combat, the man of war was the most prominent of armed ships from the 16th to 19th Century

15th-16th Century (caravel)
A small, highly manoeuvrable sailing ship developed in the 15th Century by the Portuguese, the caravel was the predominant exploration and trading vessel at the time operating in Europe and Africa. It was also used in naval warfare.
15th-16th Century (carrack) A three or four-masted ship used in Europe, the carrack is considered the forerunner of the great ships of the age of sail. Slightly larger than the caravel it could undertake longer trading journeys. It was armed with few cannons.
16th-18th Century (galleon) Used for both trade and warfare, the galleon evolved from the carrack,
 and included a lowered forecastle and elongated hull for improved stability and manoeuvrability.
 It had multiple cannons on multiple decks and became a major fighting ship.
17th-19th Century (frigate) Smaller than galleons, frigates were similar to ships of the line but were faster and lightly armed. They were often used for patrolling and escort missions as well as protecting trade ships and trade routes with their cannons and crew
17th-19th Century (ship of the line) The largest ships built in the great age of sail were ships of the line, massive warships designed to engage with each other in line warfare. These were primarily combat vehicles and sported monumental fire power.

One of the most notable man of war ship designs was that devised by Sir John Hawkins, treasurer and controller of the British Royal Navy for Elizabeth the 1st, and a key player in defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588. Hawkins’ man of war – a name chosen by Henry VIII – was adapted from the 

Spanish galleon and Portuguese carrack and had three masts, was 60 metres long and sported a maximum of 124 cannons, four at the front, eight at the back and 56 on each side. Powered by sail and with a high (for the time) top speed of nine knots, Hawkins’ man of war proved to be incredibly successful through the 17th and 18th Centuries. It was chosen and adapted by Sir Francis Drake on numerous expeditions. The last man of war ships to be designed were the grade-1 listed ships of the line in the late 18th and 19th Centuries. These were colossal warships designed to be used in line of battle warfare, a naval tactic where two columns of opposing ships would try to out-manoeuvre each other to bring their largest cannons into range of the enemy. They were built primarily for combat and, as demonstrated on Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory – which sported a massive array of 32, 24 and 12-pounder cannons – were incredibly well-armed. For these first-rate ships of the line, trade was merely an afterthought, coming behind transport, diplomacy and combat in both functionally and priority.  

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Battle of the bridges

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LONGEST SUSPENSION
1. Akashi Kaikyo Bridge At 3,900 metres long, this masterwork of Japanese engineering can survive an earthquake up to 8.5 on the Richter scale.

BIGGEST ARCH

2. Dubai’s Mile- Long Bridge Leave it to boomtown Dubai to dream up a fantastically futuristic proposal for a mile- long double arch bridge spanning 12 lanes of traffic 

BRIDGE OF THE FUTURE

3. Bering Strait Bridge The proposed 88.5km (55mi) bridge linking North America and Asia would carry vehicle traffic, a high-speed train and pipelines for natural gas and oil

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Every Megastructure is a Dare

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The Millau Viaduct
 Majestic and minimalist, the world’s longest bridge is also one of the most beautiful From a distance, the seven steel masts of the record-breaking Millau Viaduct in southern France look like billowing sails of a cosmic spacecraft. Up close, the tallest bridge in the world is no less stunning, a minimalist masterpiece that resembles an Apple iPad in bridge form. 
The Statistics
Millau Viaduct Opened: 14 December 2004
Designed by: Michel Virlogeux and Norman Foster
Length: 2,460 metres (1.52 miles)
Width: 32 metres (105 feet)
Mast height: 343 metres (1,125 feet)


Palm islands
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has only one requirement for construction projects in his desert nation of Dubai: if it doesn’t break a world record for tallest, biggest or most expensive, he’s not interested. It shouldn’t surprise, therefore, that the original design of the Palm islands – three man-made islands of colossal proportions off the coast of Dubai – came from the Sheikh’s own pen. But how do you build the world’s largest man-made islands? Luckily, Dubai has almost as much sand as it does oil money. The state-run developer Nakheel hired the Dutch dredging fi rm Van Oord, specialists in land reclamation, to suction up millions of cubic metres of sand from the sea fl oor and precision spray it into the shape of a huge date tree with 16 slender fronds extending into the sea. Van Oord’s dredging equipment is guided by DGPS (differential global positioning system), NASA’s new real-time positioning technology that’s accurate down to ten centimetres. 
The Statistics
Palm Jumeirah
Nickname: The Eighth Wonder of the World
Opened/opening: Palm Jumeirah, the smallest island, was completed in 2006 Built by: Nakheel Length: 5km (3.1mi) Width: 5km (3.1mi)
Composition: 94 million m3 of reclaimed sand; 7 million tons of quarried rock
Cost: £8.14 billion ($12.3 billion)

Laerdal Tunnel
An ambitious dig gives drivers an unprecedented journey through the centre of the Earth
A decade ago, the drive from Oslo to Bergen, Norway required travellers to ferry multiple fjords and summit 1,600-metre peaks subject to rockslides and piles of snow. In 2000, King Harald V cut the ribbon on the Laerdal Tunnel, a 24.5km (15.2-mile) passage beneath the mountain ranges and waterways that had made travel between the two coastal cities so daunting and slow. Laerdal is
by far the longest road tunnel in the world, beating the previous record-holder by seven kilometres


Taipei 101
The world’s second-tallest skyscraper has a 660-ton pendulum for a heart
Building a skyscraper in Taipei is like playing Jenga on a trampoline. The Taiwanese capital,
 located along the famed Ring of Fire, sits atop an active seismological zone with a very long
history of deadly earthquakes. As recently as 1999, a 7.3 trembler killed over 2,400 people.
As if the earthquakes aren’t enough, Taipei is also directly in the path of 26 annual tropical
storms and typhoons,the Pacific equivalent of hurricanes.

The Statistics
Taipei 101
Opened: 2004
Architect: CY Lee & Partners
Height: 508 metres (1,666 feet); 101 storeys above ground
Weight: 700,000 tons Total fl oor area: 374,336m2

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