Nothing strange at all about it, IMHO... it was probably a record-challenging racer (cross-country as opposed to closed-course); having no windscreen eliminates a
lot of drag.
The periscope was most likely only used on climbout and descent, to see and avoid towers and buildings (only reason the
Spirit had one; that one was retractable, in fact)- back in the old days, there was very little traffic to worry about, and as far as finding checkpoints goes, a good view over the side is more useful than trying to note the exact time of passage of something dead ahead; such a checkpoint will disappear under the nose several minutes before you fly over it.
And with the generous glass down the sides, takeoff and landing was probably not too bad: plenty of peripheral view.
Taxiing, however...
The tail makes it look like the Hughes H1's chubby sister... I'll bet it's fast!
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:35 pm
