Page Six
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, Judy 9 197.1
.eTE C A DSt J 9
r
THE 32ND BIENNIAL PARIS AIR SHOW:
Technoogy take
---- ..
By TIM YAGLE
IMAGINE YOURSELF at a gather-
ing of the world's greatest, newest, and
most magnificent aircraft.
Your dream came true if you at-
tended the 32nd biennial Paris Air Show
(The International Aerospace Exhibition)
held at Le Bourget Airport just outside
of Paris, from June 3-12 of this year.
The show is primarily a trade exhi-
bition with aircraft and space vehicle
parts manufacturers displaying their
wares to commercial and military op-
erators.
AMONG THE AIRCRAFT featured in
the static display area (ground display)
were the BAC (British Aircraft Corpora-
tion)-Aerospatiale (its French counter-
part) Concorde 001 (meaning this Con-
corde was the original version, first built
and flown in 1969); the Soviet SST (TU-
the first aviator to fly solo across
the Atlantic, was remembered in
special exhibitions at the 32nd Bi-
ennial Paris Air Show.
The
Saturday
Magazine
Chicago
Swat ar
No, it's not the Eiffel Tower up-
side-down.
It's yet another flamboyant work
by pop artist and sculptor Claes
Oldenberg, who became famous for
sculptures of, among other things,
giant electrical plugs and outlets,
and massive "soft" sculptures of
button-down business shirts with
ties and handkerchieves and big-
ger-than-life popsicles.
But those were me e museum
pieces, along with the q u i c k 1 y
sketched designs for more monu-
mental outdoor pieces, which in-
clude to date, a monolithic lipstick,
currently situated at Yale, a giant
clothespin, proposals for both an
outsized spark plug or a baseball
mit, approximately t h r e e stories
high, one of which is to find a
home in Grand Rapids, and a
whimsical sketch of a mammoth
windshield wiper blade to be
placed alongside London's Thames
River.
Oldenberg calls this interwoven
steel structure, "Batcolumn" and
it has sparked minor controversies
in its new homestead, Chicago.
Members of the Windy City's un-
employed ranks spoke out candidly
and picketed against the obvious
"expense and frivolousness" on na-
tional news broadcasts, but it looks
like Oldenberg may get the last
laugh.
For the artist, critically acclaim-
ed for his gently sardonic parodies,
has unveiled the sculpture, purely
coincidentally with the rise of Chi-
cago's two major league baseball.
teams to the number one spot in
both leagues, a feat accomplished
only by New York teams since WW
I.
144), NASA's Galileo II (a Convair 990A);
several new military fighter jets from
many different countries; and the Air-
bus Industrie's A300, a commercial trans-
port that looks like a Boeing 737 with
nine-abreast seating.
The other source of entertainment for
the crowd was the flying demonstrations,
with aircraft from 15 countries flying
back and forth over the area and go-
ing into loops and lateral somersaults
and only the Soviets inexplicably de-
clining to fly. Some of the demonstra-
tions were quite dazzling. The real crowd
pleasers were the Boeing YC-14 and the
military fighter jets: Northrop's YF-17
prototype, General Dynamics' F-16 and
the McDonnell Douglas F-15. The YF-17
and the YC-14 offered the most inter-
esting and exciting performances of the
show. Northrop's chief test pilot put on
a tremendous demonstration of the air-
craft's capabilities.
THE BOEING YC-14 and the McDon-
nell Douglas YC-15 (they look structur-
ally similar) demonstrated the same type
of new-generation technology in the trans-
port field. Because of its specific type
of technology, the YC-14 generated the
biggest sensation from the crowds at
Le Bourget.
The YC-14 performances elicited oohs
and aahs from the fascinated onlookers
as it executed maneuvers formerly con-
sidered impossible for medium-sized
transports. Every time the YC-14 dem-
onstrations were announced, the people
would stop in their tracks and look to-
ward the demonstration field to watch
it take off.
THE UNIQUE FEATURE of the YC-
14 is that its the only plane that can
go backwards by itself on the ground.
This is because the engines are mount-
ed on the top of the wings, not be-
neath them.
It can take off in less than 1,000
feet, which is remarkable for an air-
crift its size, and it has a high vertical
speed meaning it can climb very rapid-
ly just after takeoff.
NASA'S GALILEO II is an airborne
space laboratory, that will conduct vari-
ous experiments in flight, including tests
in astronomy, geophysics, pollution, hur-
ricanes and other tests dealing with the
atmosphere.
The show also featured the biggest
display of business jets in recent years,
from single-seater aerobatic aircraft and
gliders to the new tri- and twin-jet and
turboprop designs.
One of these jets on static display
was the Convair 880 Executive Jet that
looked like a plane a rock star might
own. It looked like someone stuck a liv-
ing room inside an aircraft fuselage.
THE MARKET FOR new training air-
craft is expanding in many parts of the
world and it was evident at the show
with several countries exhibiting and fly-
ing new ones.
The static displays of avionics equip-
ment ranging from electronic warfare
systems for transports to airborne op-
erations systems for transports were one
of the more interesting aspects of the
show.
To add to the already incredible cast
of characters,. the major Western Euro-
pean countries, the Soviet Union and the
United States had pavilions to show off
their latest accomplishments in the field
of aerospace.
UPON ENTERING the U.S. pavilion
I was welcomed by a large picture of
President Carter showing off his world
famous smile. The building was divided
into four big rooms. The first one con-
taining a Charles Lindbergh exhibit that
showed old movies about his famed solo
flight and a crude architect's drawing
of the Spirit of '76.
s wing
Then I entered a room displaying
pictures and information about the Space
Shuttle and the NASA program centered
around it. Following this, I walked into
a room wifh a big film screen that
continually showed condensed versions
of this country's aviation history in ss.
minute movies.
After this, I strolled into a room with
displays devoted solely to the United
States' Viking program and its conquest
of Mars.
The Russian pavilion contained their
"Salyut," space lab, the Venus 10 probe,
the Molniya communications satellite and
pictures displaying their latest achieve-
ments.
IN COMMERATION of her son's his-
toric and incredible flight, Mrs. Anne
Morrow Lindbergh, escorded by U.S.
Transportation Secretary Brock Adams,
made a brief appearance the first morn-
ing of the show. She spoke of the cour-
age her son had in attempting the flight
and what a great accomplishment it was
that Charles Augustus Lindbergh landed,
ironically, at Le Bourget Airport 33
hours later.
But she also spoke of the great cour-
age the other men had in even attempt-
ing the long and dangerous flight be-
fore Lindbergh.
One aspect of the show that probably
everyone enjoyed was the fact that visi-
tors were allowed at one time or another
to board several of the aircraft on static
display. Among those open to the curious
were the BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde and
the new Airbus A300B.
Now you might think that the Con-
corde was fully equipped with seats, gal-
leys and the like. But it wasn't. It was
equipped with sophisticated testing equip-
ment. This is so because being the first
Concorde, it had to be tested in flight
to correct any bugs.
ANOTHER FALLACY that needs cor-
rection is that the Concorde is not sim-
ilar in size to a wide-bodied Boeing 747
or a DC-10. It is a long, thin plane with
two abreast seating. Yes, two seats on
either side of a narrow passageway
Another major attraction open to visi-
tors was the Airbus A300B. On the out-
side, it looks like a Boeing 737, but on
the inside it resembles a DC-10 - very
spacious. It was quite a thrill to walk
inside a new, wide-bodied jet airliner
like this one. Eastern Airlines, who pur-
chased So of these planes, brought one
of them to the show and gave the ex-
cited crowd a brief look at it in flight.
During the entire show, there were
only two disappointments: the inexplic-
able absence of flying demonstrations
by the Russians; and the Fairchild A-10
crash on the first morning of the show.
The crash was caused by insufficient
airspace for recovery from the second
loop of the pilot's demonstration flight.
PRESIDENT CARTER'S presence
was also felt at the show where his
pronouncements on the aerospace export
policy of the United States had much
impact. The statements spread joy and
vitality among the Europeans who were
feeling the pressure of U.S. advanced
technology and are now getting their own
products ready for the export market.
The 32nd Paris Air Show will be re-
membered for a long time. It'attracted
close to 200,000 visitors (about 85,000 of
them professional aerospace visitors).
Some of the aircraft there were unbe-
lievable to look at on the ground and
even better to watch in the sky. Most
of the visitors went home with a feel-
ing of satisfaction' knowing that they
had experienced the greatest air show
in the world.
Ti-u Yagle is a Daily staff writr who
recently attended the Paris Air Show.
Oldenberg's
'Batcolumn'