How to fly backwards
QUESTION Did the Russians once develop a plane that could fly backwards? THIS claim is made for the Antonov An-2. Designed in 1947 for the Soviet Forest Ministry, it was a crop duster and utility transport. Oleg Antonov created an enormous, single- engine biplane, t hat could carry a dozen passengers and a ton of cargo.
The An-2 had to be able to take off from rough ground and from very short distances. So Antonov chose the two-wing design, as it would generate extra lift, and its lift and bulk meant it was exceptionally slow and stable.
The An-2 can be flown under full control at just 25mph. A modern Cessna fourseater light aircraft has, by contrast, a stalling speed of around 50mph. This makes the An-2 popular for parachute training. It also means the aircraft can hover — a favoured trick at airshows.
To do so, the pilot flies into a headwind, and if the wind is strong enough, this manoeuvre can make the plane move backwards in relation to the ground while still under full control.
The An-2 is not unique in this. The German Feisler Storch, a wartime monoplane famous for its short take-off and landing (STOL) capabilities could perform a similar manoeuvre. Airshow visitors might also have seen British Harrier jump jets flying backwards. They do this by thrust vectoring, i . e. by manipulating the direction of the thrust from their engines.
It is a noisy and expensive process (in fuel terms), but it’s a very impressive sight.
James Mews, Portsmouth. QUESTION Which singer has appeared on the most Now compilation albums? NOW That’s What I Call Music 1 was released in November 1983. The very first track was You Can’t Hurry Love by Phil Collins. Other artists included Culture Club, UB40, Limahl, Bonnie Tyler, Howard Jones, Kajagoogoo and The Human League. There have been 91 editions in the series.
Now ... took its name from a 1920s advertising poster f or Danish bacon featuring a pig saying ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ as it listened to a chicken singing. Richard Branson had bought the poster for his cousin because ‘ he was notoriously grumpy before breakfast and loved his eggs, so I bought him the poster, framed it and had it hung behind his desk’.
King of the Now compilations is Robbie Williams. He has featured 32 times — 22 times as a solo artist, six times as a member of Take That, three times in a duet and once as a featured artist.
His first four appearances were as part of Take That: Now 22: It Only Takes A Minute; Now 24: Could It Be Magic; Now 26: Pray; and Now 29: Sure. His first solo track, Freedom, appeared on Now 34. The song reached No 2 in the UK charts, 26 places higher than George Michael’s original.
As a solo artist, Robbie went on to feature on Now 37: Old Before I Die; Now 38: Lazy Days; Now 39: Angels; Now 41: Millennium; Now 42: Strong; Now 44: She’s The One; Now 45: It’s Only Us; Now 47: Rock DJ; Now 48: Let Love Be Your Energy; Now 49: Eternity; Now 51: Something Stupid (with Nicole Kidman); Now 54: Feel; Now 55: Come Undone; Now 56: Something Beautiful; Now 59: Radio; Now 60: Misunderstood; Now 62: Tripping; Now 63: Advertising Space; Now 65: Lovelight; Now 66: She’s Madonna (with the Pet Shop Boys — Madonna herself has never featured: she won’t let Now use her songs); Now 74: Bodies; Now 75: You Know Me; and Now 77: Shame (with Gary Barlow). Robbie reunited with Take That for the album Progress (2010) and Now 78 featured The Flood and Now 79 Love Love. Now 83 featured his solo record Candy and finally Now 85 had Goin’ Crazy by Dizzee Rascal, which featured Robbie.
Close behind Robbie are Rihanna, with 26 appearances, Kylie Minogue with 23 and Girls Aloud with 21.
Henry Griffith, Cardiff. QUESTION Has a mistranslation by an interpreter ever caused an international incident? FURTHER to the earlier answer, the former Federal President of West Germany, Heinrich Lubke, was known for his gaffes.
A decent man, though no intellectual, Lubke had been imprisoned by the Nazis on trumped-up charges and was seen as an admirable candidate for the presidency — and one who was unlikely to outshine the Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer.
Lubke was not much of a public speaker and certainly baffled Queen Elizabeth on her state visit to West Germany in May 1966, when both attended a horse race.
As they were waiting for proceedings to commence, Lubke turned to her and announced: ‘Equal goes it loose.’ The Queen smiled politely, but didn’t have a clue what Lubke was talking about.
He, in fact, wanted to assure her the race was just about to start and had translated the German ‘ gleich geht es los’ word for word into English.
When this gaffe became well-known, the Germans decided their president was a little ‘heavy on wire’ — ‘ schwer auf Draht’, or slow on the uptake).
Patrick Powell, St Breward, Cornwall.