Beep-beep: a race is on
QUESTION
Can coyotes outrun road runners? tHe road runner, while fast, is 10mph slower than a coyote.
Despite being the largest American cuckoo, the greater road runner (Geococcyx californianus) would have remained a little-known bird if it weren’t for cartoonist Chuck Jones.
When he stopped his car in the desert and a crested, long-tailed bird shot past him down the highway, he immediately signed up a new cartoon star.
the real road runner — which doesn’t go beep-beep — is able to fly a short distance, but relies on its fleetness of foot to find food and evade predators.
With its long legs and toes, it easily reaches speeds of 20mph and has been clocked at 27mph, taking 12 steps every second. to reduce wind resistance, it runs with its head down and body close to the ground. Its tail is more than half the length of its body and acts as a rudder, helping the bird to manoeuvre.
When it stops, its crest and tail rise simultaneously. While running, it can leap several feet in the air to catch insects.
the cartoon road runner has been caught only once by its arch enemy Wile e. Coyote. However, a real coyote (Canis latrans) can run at speeds exceeding 30 mph, so in theory could easily catch a road runner.
the bird has the advantage of being able to body swerve and switch direction, thus putting a four-footed animal off its stride and unable to switch direction without slowing down.
Coyote will eat virtually any type of prey, but unless it were hungry, a road runner would not normally be on its menu.
Bill Naylor, Wilsford, Lincs.
QUESTION How did we come up with different meanings for the word trifle?
tRIFle comes from the Old French word trufle and was adopted into english in the 13th century.
It began as a way to refer to a false tale or foolishness or something trivial. By the 1300s, it was used for a knick-knack and by the 1500s, a small sum of money.
At this time, it was also used for a particular dessert. the Oxford english Dictionary describes it as ‘a dish composed of cream boiled with various ingredients’. It was also called a fool or foole, suggesting a little sweet dessert that was trivial or unimportant.
By the 18th century, the trifle became grander, made with layers of sponge cake, ‘good, boiled custard’, syllabub and other niceness.
Simone Raleigh, Winchelsea, E. Sussex.
QUESTION In military action, not ceremonial duty, when was the last time the order was given to fix bayonets?
untIl the end of World War II, it was common practice for soldiers to be ordered to fix bayonets in defence and attack. At close range, it took too long to reload a rifle, so the bayonet was the only way to defend yourself.
It became less common when the conflicts in which the Army was engaged involved less close quarters fighting. the exception was the Korean War. the last known bayonet charge took place in Afghanistan in October 2011. lance Corporal Sean Jones led a section of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment against taliban fighters in the village of Kakaran, Helmand Province.
Having been pinned down by small arms fire, he knew that only quick action would save them, so he gave the order to fix bayonets and charge.
l.Cpl Jones’s swift action allowed his soldiers to drive the enemy fighters out of the village and hold it until the rest of the platoon arrived. His leadership resulted in the award of a Military Cross.
In Iraq in 2004, a detachment of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders routed a force of around 100 insurgents with a bayonet charge.
the last bayonet charge known to have been started by a bugle call took place in April 1945 after 1st Commando Brigade had crossed the River Aller in northern
Germany during the night. they were fighting through thick pine forest, opposed by SS troops and German Marines. the fighting was fierce as the Germans were trying to delay the advance towards Belsen concentration camp a few miles away.
With the noise and thickness of the forest interfering with verbal commands, the CO of 6 Commando, lt Col Derek Mills-Roberts, ordered his bugler to sound the charge.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.
QUESTION Was the U.S. Bell X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, invented in Britain?
FuRtHeR to the earlier answer, at the time of the cancellation of the Miles M52, de Havilland was pursuing a similar goal with its DH 108 Swallow, a tail-less aircraft with swept wings. this small aircraft was a test bed for the swept wing concept for the Comet airliner.
three Swallows were built, a slowspeed version and two high-speed aircraft. On September 27, 1946, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr, the test pilot son of the famous aviation engineer, was flying a Swallow, serial tG306, one of the highspeed aircraft, when it broke up over the thames estuary and he was killed.
taking to the air on September 8, 1948 in VW120 (the other high-speed Swallow), John Derry became the first man in Britain to break the sound barrier. unlike the Bell X1, which was launched from the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber, this aircraft left the ground under its own power.
less than 18 months later, on February 15, 1950, Squadron leader John Stuart Muller-Rowland DSO, DFC and Bar was at the controls. the aircraft became uncontrollable with severe oscillations just below the speed of sound, broke up in mid-air and crashed near Brickhill, Buckinghamshire.
It was a similar fate for tG283, the slow-speed airframe. On May 1, 1950, it went out of control while being flown by Squadron leader George e. C. (Jumbo) Genders AFC, DFM, a World War II pilot. He tried to parachute to safety, but got caught up on the aircraft and was killed.
though these aircraft all crashed, the data gathered during the test programme proved invaluable for future aviation.
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