1 EAGLETON NOTES: A Whale, an Aircraft or a Sturgeon?

.

.

Monday 25 October 2010

A Whale, an Aircraft or a Sturgeon?

When I was in Chester in September I saw an aeroplane which appeared, even from tens of thousands of feet below, very strange:  it looked like a dolphin - a  flying dolphin.  Hmm.  Today I came across the photo I took which,  considering the great distance involved, shows a remarkable amount of detail.  But what struck me was that it appeared devoid of windows.  So into Google I typed 'Which aeroplane looks like a dolphin?'  Immediately, and very much to my surprise, came back the answer:   an Airbus Beluga (also known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter).   Ah, I thought, it must look like a Beluga Whale but, no, it actually looks like a Beluga Sturgeon.  Why am I still amazed that I had never  seen nor heard of such a huge aircraft and that Google has answered just about very question I've ever thrown at it.

3 comments:

  1. An amazing contraption and photograph.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now I know what a sturgeon looks like! Would have said a dolphin myself

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree it looks like a dolphin. Had I just seen the photo without explanation and no reference of size I would might have taken it for a toy...

    ReplyDelete

Comment moderation is activated 14 days after the post to minimise unwanted comments and, hopefully, make sure that I see and reply to wanted comments.