4 ms·

Do you have a recommended resource for reading more about the 757? I find it interesting but I’ve never dig deeper into it.

WalterBright 7y ago
I don't know of any books about its development. Looking back I suppose I should have kept a diary. We weren't allowed to take materials home, so I have no documentation. The 757 was the last airplane designed using paper drawings and wooden mockups. The end of an era :-) Some of the engineers still used slide rules. My lead engineer once said "let me show you how it's done" and pulled out a very nice slide rule in a leather pouch. I made a little show of blowing the dust off of it, and he laughed heartily. He started at Boeing on the B-47 design, and even he had already moved on to calculators. But nobody used computers yet. I found a PDP-11 in a neighboring building and sweet talked the sysop into giving me an account on it. I'd write my own numerical analysis programs using Fortran IV. My other lead was an old salt who told me he didn't trust computers, they always produced unreliable answers. But he was a good egg, and said he'd give me a chance. There was some long complex geometrical calculations to be done to prove the elevator linkage wouldn't bind up under load. The usual method was to use drafting tools to figure it out, and he put his best draftsman on the job. I wrote a program to figure it out, and came back with my column of numbers to 6 places. His draftsman compared it with his column, accurate to 4 places. One of them was off. My lead said see, I told you computers were garbage. I asked the draftsman to recheck that one, and he did, and came back and said I was right. Ever since then I got the calculation jobs, and my lead would defend me. One day, the CS dept head discovered I'd been stealing unauthorized time on the PDP-11, and I got in trouble. My lead went to bat for me, it went up 3 levels of management, and the top guy told the CS mucky-muck to piss off and give me whatever computer time I needed. I was only the vanguard of what was to come in using computers to design airplanes. My experience with that motivated me to ensure D had a first class foundation for numerical programming.
- WWLink 7y ago
  Your story reminds me very much of a coworker of mine. He mentioned how they'd start an analysis job on it and get a printout of the results delivered to their desk later in the day by a messenger. What a difference.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    The nice thing about the 11 was it was an interactive system with a terminal, not one where you submitted jobs on a card deck. The "computer room" was air conditioned with a false floor under which ran cables and the cooling system. There was a line printer to get the results instantly. There was a coded lock on the door, which is why I needed the sysop to give me access. I later bought a Heathkit H-11 so I could have my very own PDP-11. You can see it on my twitter picture https://twitter.com/WalterBright https://twitter.com/WalterBright
- MR4D 7y ago
  > Looking back I suppose I should have kept a diary. I’m quite sure that if you started a blog today with the stories that you can remember, that you’d have a ton of HN’ers who would read it. Thanks again - your posts are great to read!
- dotancohen 7y ago
  > One day, the CS dept head discovered I'd > been stealing unauthorized time on the > PDP-11, and I got in trouble. Are you sure that was because you were designing airplanes on the hardware and not video games? :) I recognize your user name, hello from a fan!
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    > Are you sure that was because you were designing airplanes on the hardware and not video games? I didn't want the sysop who let me in to be sorry he did so. Besides, I was engrossed in my models. When I got my own 11, I wrote a game for it: https://github.com/DigitalMars/Empire-for-PDP-11 https://github.com/DigitalMars/Empire-for-PDP-11 > I recognize your user name Is that 11 still in operation? Wow! DEC sure makes a tank for a computer!
    - dotancohen 7y ago
      I'm not on that machine, I meant that I did recognize your name from the Empire game. DEC sure made tanks, but I doubt that particular tank is still treading. Have a great week!
- jes 7y ago
  The late Colonel John Boyd also chose to steal computer time as part of doing the work to develop his “Energy Maneuverability Theory” for developing USAF dogfighting strategies. I’d say you’re in decent company. :-)
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    I've read Boyd's biography (well worth reading). I couldn't possibly compare to that man and his contributions.

WalterBright 7y ago

I don't know of any books about its development. Looking back I suppose I should have kept a diary. We weren't allowed to take materials home, so I have no documentation. The 757 was the last airplane designed using paper drawings and wooden mockups. The end of an era :-) Some of the engineers still used slide rules. My lead engineer once said "let me show you how it's done" and pulled out a very nice slide rule in a leather pouch. I made a little show of blowing the dust off of it, and he laughed heartily. He started at Boeing on the B-47 design, and even he had already moved on to calculators. But nobody used computers yet. I found a PDP-11 in a neighboring building and sweet talked the sysop into giving me an account on it. I'd write my own numerical analysis programs using Fortran IV. My other lead was an old salt who told me he didn't trust computers, they always produced unreliable answers. But he was a good egg, and said he'd give me a chance. There was some long complex geometrical calculations to be done to prove the elevator linkage wouldn't bind up under load. The usual method was to use drafting tools to figure it out, and he put his best draftsman on the job. I wrote a program to figure it out, and came back with my column of numbers to 6 places. His draftsman compared it with his column, accurate to 4 places. One of them was off. My lead said see, I told you computers were garbage. I asked the draftsman to recheck that one, and he did, and came back and said I was right. Ever since then I got the calculation jobs, and my lead would defend me. One day, the CS dept head discovered I'd been stealing unauthorized time on the PDP-11, and I got in trouble. My lead went to bat for me, it went up 3 levels of management, and the top guy told the CS mucky-muck to piss off and give me whatever computer time I needed. I was only the vanguard of what was to come in using computers to design airplanes. My experience with that motivated me to ensure D had a first class foundation for numerical programming.

WWLink 7y ago
Your story reminds me very much of a coworker of mine. He mentioned how they'd start an analysis job on it and get a printout of the results delivered to their desk later in the day by a messenger. What a difference.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  The nice thing about the 11 was it was an interactive system with a terminal, not one where you submitted jobs on a card deck. The "computer room" was air conditioned with a false floor under which ran cables and the cooling system. There was a line printer to get the results instantly. There was a coded lock on the door, which is why I needed the sysop to give me access. I later bought a Heathkit H-11 so I could have my very own PDP-11. You can see it on my twitter picture https://twitter.com/WalterBright https://twitter.com/WalterBright
MR4D 7y ago
> Looking back I suppose I should have kept a diary. I’m quite sure that if you started a blog today with the stories that you can remember, that you’d have a ton of HN’ers who would read it. Thanks again - your posts are great to read!
dotancohen 7y ago
> One day, the CS dept head discovered I'd > been stealing unauthorized time on the > PDP-11, and I got in trouble. Are you sure that was because you were designing airplanes on the hardware and not video games? :) I recognize your user name, hello from a fan!
- WalterBright 7y ago
  > Are you sure that was because you were designing airplanes on the hardware and not video games? I didn't want the sysop who let me in to be sorry he did so. Besides, I was engrossed in my models. When I got my own 11, I wrote a game for it: https://github.com/DigitalMars/Empire-for-PDP-11 https://github.com/DigitalMars/Empire-for-PDP-11 > I recognize your user name Is that 11 still in operation? Wow! DEC sure makes a tank for a computer!
  - dotancohen 7y ago
    I'm not on that machine, I meant that I did recognize your name from the Empire game. DEC sure made tanks, but I doubt that particular tank is still treading. Have a great week!
jes 7y ago
The late Colonel John Boyd also chose to steal computer time as part of doing the work to develop his “Energy Maneuverability Theory” for developing USAF dogfighting strategies. I’d say you’re in decent company. :-)
- WalterBright 7y ago
  I've read Boyd's biography (well worth reading). I couldn't possibly compare to that man and his contributions.