Getting in and out of Interceptors

Someone wrote:-

> ...we're left to guess exactly how the SHADO astronauts get into the interceptors.
> ... There's really no plausible way to show the astronauts boarding the
> interceptors unless they are 'injected' by a pressure sealed tube or similar ...

Also, in combat the cockpit may be hit and quickly leak to space. I can see
no easy answer to this, unless (as would be very sensible and much preferred
in the real world!) the interceptor pilots' suits were fully sealed pressure
suits. I suppose Gerry Anderson let sensibility be overruled by wanting his
good side's pilots to look human with their faces fully visible and not sealed
in. Compare in Star Wars (original episode) where the good side's fighter
pilots' faces are exposed, and the bad side's fighter pilots' faces are hidden
with real world fighter pilot type or gasmask type oxygen masks with small
eyeholes. Where canon contradicts itself, some part of canon must be ignored,
and the easiest way to me is to imagine that the interceptor pilot suits have
a full sealable faceplate and a small emergency oxygen supply despite what I
see on the screen. The visible UFO story combination of pilot suit with open
riotsquad-type half-visor plus need to be exposed to space from time to time,
is a blunder and a blooper-issimo. Even so, the chute would need an airlock
somewhere along its route.

All excellent points.
Seems more plausible that the chutes lead to a pressurized hanger
where the pilots enter/exit the interceptors the old fashioned way.


Anthony Appleyard wrote:

And likely one trick that the aliens would like to do, would be to slip into
the silo a trick craft that catches the ends of all the pilot chutes so that
whatever slides in down them is pumped straight into a heavy-duty destructor.

Diabolical!
Sounds like UFO meets LEXX.
The stuff they come up with...
A guillotine attached to a stationary bike.


Anthony Appleyard wrote:
>
> And likely one trick that the aliens would like to do, would be to slip into
> the silo a trick craft that catches the ends of all the pilot chutes so that
> whatever slides in down them is pumped straight into a heavy-duty destructor.

Keith Carpenter <[hidden email]> wrote:-
> Seems more plausible that the chutes lead to a pressurized hanger
> where the pilots enter/exit the interceptors the old fashioned way.

Not to me, with the amount of air or time lost every time the interceptors
take off. If enough air was pumped out of such a big silo before the
interceptors took off, to avoid wasting far too much, that would take ages
while the UFO's get right past the moon and away to Earth.

The only other way would be for the air in the silo to be kept in by a force
field. With fighter bases on planet, that force field exists and it is that
planet's gravity. On a small airless moon, it would have to be a tractor beam
field or suchlike Star Trek type stuff.

It is easy to forget the law of physics. I don't know how many out there
remember the "General Hospital" series of space stories, but in it one central
character is a very fragile insectile flying sentient alien called Prilicla,
who evolved like that on a planet with an eighth of Earth's gravity and a
dense atmosphere - fine except to wonder how at livable temperature an eighth
of a G planetary gravity could hold onto a dense atmosphere long enough
for life to evolve and become sentient??????

To me, UFO interceptor pilot's suits would have to be fully enclosed pressure
suits.

First rule of writing - get your facts straight before going to the B.S. - the
series name is 'Sector General' and is still going strong - General Hospital is a
U.S. daytime serial that's been running for years and has no science fiction
elements in it.
The authorof Sector General is James White, and from his previous writings, I'd
say his grasp of physics is excellent - IF any violations of the laws of physics
has been written by him, it was in the mode of fictional license - like hyper
drive and tractor beams.

I like Prilicla - he just made Diagnostician.
You must live a dull life if all a rainbow is is a refraction of light.

As to the interceptor pilots - given the nature of the enemy and the apparent
fragility of the interceptors themselves, it may well be the pilots themselves
have chosen to go without pressure suits, with just a spare air bottle in the
event of a minor (very minor) hull breach. Given the nature of the enemy, a quick
death by decompression would be preferable to ejecting from a damaged interceptor
in a pressure suit, waiting to be made into spareparts. Concerning access to the
interceptors - a sealed chute would work quite nicely - we see the astronauts go
down chutes - why assume they end somewhere other than an interceptor cockpit?

Anthony Appleyard wrote:

This has been a pretty interesting thread. On one hand I think its fun to
explain away the science gaps in the production of the show, I doubt if
anyone was consulted on how to get into the interceptors in big silos on the
moon. Since SHADO is at war with the aliens maybe the silos have several
different levels, would that make them more survivable in case of attack? I
thought about the pilots coming into the ships via a moving chair but there
doesn't seem to be any space in the silo for that type of mechanism.

So I think several levels maybe the way to go since we can see the level
that opens to the surface and there's nothing there that indicates a way to
enter the interceptors.

Now about the spacesuits or lack there of, one way would be maybe the entire
cockpit can be ejected as a "survival capsule" like on the show Space Above
and Beyond. I sort of remember a discussion about this method for Star Wars
when the rebels were encouraged to eject over the Death Star even though
they had no spacesuits on.

But for UFO maybe there's a better tack to take. The Earth is in a
desperate struggle to fight off the superior aliens on the show. The
interceptors had to be produced FAST. Maybe in the production of the ships
simple stuff like Eject, multiple missiles and landing back on the moon were
meant for the next generation of interceptors and Straker & Co. had to get
something up on the moon quickly to defend the Earth. This makes the whole
thing more dramatic as the interceptors are perhaps Kamikaze craft. Someone
here suggested because they had skis that they landed away from Moonbase and
were dragged back to the silos! (Very smart) It would have made a great
episode to show Henderson and Straker fighting about the next level of
Interceptor. The 1996 Australian revival attempt of the show had a picture
of the next level of interceptor that could fly in the atmosphere.

Any other ideas?


I'm going to Main Mission 2000 September 1 - 3!
http://www.cybrary1999.com/con2000/
-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Appleyard <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Date: Monday, August 21, 2000 10:16 AM
Subject: [SHADO] Getting in and out of Interceptors


>Someone wrote:-
>
>> ...we're left to guess exactly how the SHADO astronauts get into the
interceptors.
>> ... There's really no plausible way to show the astronauts boarding the
>> interceptors unless they are 'injected' by a pressure sealed tube or
similar ...
>
>Also, in combat the cockpit may be hit and quickly leak to space. I can see
>no easy answer to this, unless (as would be very sensible and much
preferred
>in the real world!) the interceptor pilots' suits were fully sealed
pressure
>suits. I suppose Gerry Anderson let sensibility be overruled by wanting his
>good side's pilots to look human with their faces fully visible and not
sealed
>in. Compare in Star Wars (original episode) where the good side's fighter
>pilots' faces are exposed, and the bad side's fighter pilots' faces are
hidden
>with real world fighter pilot type or gasmask type oxygen masks with small
>eyeholes. Where canon contradicts itself, some part of canon must be
ignored,
>and the easiest way to me is to imagine that the interceptor pilot suits
have
>a full sealable faceplate and a small emergency oxygen supply despite what
I
>see on the screen. The visible UFO story combination of pilot suit with
open
>riotsquad-type half-visor plus need to be exposed to space from time to
time,
>is a blunder and a blooper-issimo. Even so, the chute would need an airlock
>somewhere along its route.
>
>
>
>

As you suggest, the evolution of Moonbase defenses would probably have
included a multi-shot machine gun interceptor to replace the single
shot flint lock model. But this would have quickly given way to
faster ABM style guided missiles. I'd guess if UFO were made today,
that Reagan Star Wars stuff would probably best represent our near
term (10 year) technology capability.

Unfortunately, this doesn't make for quite the drama of fighter pilots
entering into dog fights with aliens.


Phil Merkel wrote:

> The 1996 Australian revival attempt of the show had a picture
> of the next level of interceptor that could fly in the atmosphere.
>
> Any other ideas?

Deborah A Rorabaugh <[hidden email]> wrote (Subject: Re: [SHADO]
Getting in and out of Interceptors):-

> ... the series name is 'Sector General'

Sorry.

> and is still going strong ...

Where can I get a full list of all the Sector General stories and how to get
copies of them? Are they all text stories, or what? Is there an email group or
forum that talks about the series, and if so, how to access it?

Anthony Appleyard wrote:

The recent Sector General series is published by Tor books - 175 Fifth Ave. NY,
NY, 10010- USA
Books in series:
Hospital Station (1962)
Star Surgeon ( 1963)
Major Operation ( 1971)
Ambulance Ship (1979)
Sector General (1983)
Star Healer ( 1985)
Code Bule - Emergency (1987)
The Genocidal Healer (1992)
The Galactic Gourmet (Tor, 1996)
Final Diagnosis (Tor, 1997)
Mind Changer (Tor, 1998)
Double Contact (Tor 1999)

Check out Amazon.com or abebooks.com for a used bookstore search on the older
titles. I am not aware of any email discussion group or forum, but there is
probably one out there.

Deborah