Are you all sitting comfortably? Good...you'll need to be, because from now on we're all going to be S...L...O...W...I...N...G things downnnnn a bit, and those seats will need to be nicely padded. You see it's been officially decided to reverse the course of human development, and we are now beyond the turning point.
You probably saw the first signs of it in 1999 when NASA cancelled the High Speed Research programme. Then of course, there was another little clue when those interesting people at DARPA made sure the Quiet Supersonic Platform changed from a nice shiny white to a dull green camouflage. If you still missed all of the above, how about the death of the Sonic Cruiser?
So now we come to Concorde. By the time it is grounded we will have wound the clock back to the 1960s. The SR-71s are now nicely distributed around museums already, so dear old Conc will make a nice adjunct to various collections.
Which brings us to our latest aircraft development plans. In light of the reversal of time and the need to slow down, we are looking for any bright young engineers with a keen interest in biplanes. In particular, your uncle has heard of one project that may become the focus for the entire air transport industry - the building of a Handley Page HP.42 replica. The New Hannibal Project wants to build what will amount to a ninth production example of the Hannibal. So how about it? Check out their website at: www.hannibal-II.co.uk or contact project director Michael Russell at mike@navart.co.uk
At this rate, we might see the HP.42 going back into series production. The more struts the better....aaaaaahhh Handley Page!
Source: Flight International