Comments on: Paul Allen’s WWII Planes Show How Innovation Can Soar Ahead

By: Richard Skinner

Richard Skinner — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:15:54 +0000

What is the shortest runway on which a Feisler Storch can land?

By: Greg Howard

Greg Howard — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:35:59 +0000

Beyond a shadow of a doubt this is one of the most ambitiouse flight museum projects I have ever heard of- AIRWORTHY?!? OMG!!! That the Fi 103R might not get a workout is hardly suprising, but the rest of these historical pieces being more than inert lumps of history boggles the mind! Many of these planes represent a number of survivours that can be counted on one hand… how do you put a value on something like that? The Japanese Zero was produced in outstanding numbers- there are less than ten in ANY condition this side of the ocean’s surface. I think I just read that the Fi 103R (Buzz Bomb with a cockpit) only numbered 107 or so- with few survivours. And the U-2 Russian biplane also had short lifespans, being wood and rag like the JND-4 Jenny (which were sacrificed to many Hollywood and daredevil stunts). Every last one of these birds represents a key moment in aircraft development- they MADE history, not just sat through it.
the Old Sgt.

By: Stewart Lyman

Stewart Lyman — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:00:18 +0000

I think the parallel here between fighter airplane advances and biotech is evolution, which works in both environments. Incremental advances in new technologies get incorporated, allowing the new entity to survive in the skies over WW II Germany (in the case of planes) or, in the case of biotechnology, the pharmaceutical marketplace. In the biotech space, people needed to be able to patent inventions, like gene sequences, in order to attract capital. Advances in DNA manipulation and protein manufacturing, aided by computing power, along with regulatory changes and the education of doctors (and a large number of other factors that won’t be named here), allowed the birth of biotech drugs. It’s also interesting to note that old pre-Vietnam War era drugs, like thalidomide (sold now at Thalomid for treating multiple myeloma as well as a skin condition associated with leprosy), have found new uses in the marketplace with the support of new technologies and biological understanding.