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"{ } The Boeing YB-9 was the first all-metal monoplane bomber aircraft designed for the United States Army Air Corps. The YB-9 was an enlarged alteration of Boeing's Model 200 Monomail commercial transport. Design and development P-26 fighter. In May 1930, Boeing had flown its Model 200 Monomail single-engined mailplane. The Monomail was of radical design for the time, being a semi-monocoque, stressed skin cantilever monoplane with a retractable undercarriage. Air Corps bomber squadrons of the day were largely equipped with slow strut-braced biplanes built from steel-tube frames covered in doped fabric, such as the Keystone B-6, and Boeing decided to design and build a twin-engined bomber using the same techniques used in the Monomail to re-equip the Air Corps.Pelletier 2002, p. 44.Swanborough and Bowers 1963, p. 72. Using its own money, Boeing decided to build two prototypes of its new bomber design as a private venture. The two aircraft differed only in the engines used, with the Model 214 to be powered by two liquid-cooled Curtiss V-1570-29 Conqueror engines while the Model 215 had two Pratt & Whitney R-1860 Hornet B radial engines.Bowers 1989, p. 200. Both aircraft were low winged cantilever monoplanes with a slim, oval cross-section fuselage accommodating a crew of five. The pilot and co-pilot sat in separate open cockpits, with the co-pilot, who doubled as the bombardier sitting forward of the pilot. Two gunners, each armed with a single machine gun sat in nose and dorsal positions, while a radio operator sat inside the fuselage. Like the Monomail, a retractable tailwheel undercarriage was used.Pelletier 2002, pp. 44–45.Bowers 1989, pp. 200–201. The first of the two prototypes to fly was the radial powered Model 215 which, carrying civil markings and the aircraft registration X-10633, made its maiden flight on 13 April 1931.Bowers 1989, pp. 202–203.Pelletier 2002, p. 47. It was leased to the Air Corps for testing under the designation XB-901, demonstrating a speed of 163 mph (262 km/h). Testing was successful, and both the XB-901 and the as-yet incomplete Model 214 were purchased as the YB-9 and Y1B-9 respectively on 13 August 1931, with an order for a further five for service testing following shortly.Pelletier 2002, pp. 46–47. The Y1B-9 (Y1 indicating funding outside normal fiscal year procurement), powered by two liquid-cooled Curtiss V-1570-29 'Conqueror' engines, first flew on 5 November 1931. The increased power from these engines, combined with increased streamlining of the engine nacelles, increased its top speed to 173 mph (278 km/h). The YB-9, meanwhile, had been re-engined with more powerful Hornet Bs, demonstrating slightly better performance than the Y1B-9, which was therefore also re-engined with Hornet Bs. With the exception of the B-2 Condor, liquid-cooled engines were never used on production bombers for the United States military. The air-cooled radial engine was lighter and more reliable than the liquid-cooled engine, and less vulnerable to enemy damage. The five Y1B-9A service test aircraft (Boeing Model 246) had the Pratt & Whitney R-1860-11 Hornet B engines which powered the re-engined YB-9 and Y1B-9 and a redesigned vertical stabilizer modeled on the 247D transport. While enclosed canopies were considered and designed, the B-9 was never fitted with them. Although it equaled the speed of all existing American fighter aircraft,"YB-9 factsheet." National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved 7 July 2010. no further aircraft were built, as the Glenn L. Martin Company had flown a prototype of a more advanced bomber, the XB-907, which was ordered into production as the Martin B-10. Operational history The first of the five Y1B-9As entered service with the 20th and 49th Bombardment Squadrons, 2nd Bomb Group on 14 September 1932, with all being in service by the end of March 1933. The new bomber proved impossible to intercept during air exercises in May 1932, strengthening calls for improved air defense warning systems. Two B-9s were destroyed during crashes in 1933, one of the accidents being fatal, while the remaining aircraft were gradually phased out over the next two years, with the last being withdrawn on 26 April 1935.Pelletier 2002, pp. 48–49. Variants Curtiss Conqueror liquid-cooled engines *YB-9 (one produced). Pratt & Whitney R-1860-13 Hornet B (575 hp). Reengined with supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-1860-11 Hornet B (600 hp) and was fitted with three-bladed propellers. Trim tab ran the full height of the rudder ::Boeing model B-215 ::contract number: XB-901 * Y1B-9 (one produced). Curtiss GIV-1570 Conqueror (Curtis V-1570-29 Conqueror) (600 hp). Reengined with supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-1860-11 Hornet B (600 hp) and was fitted with three-bladed propellers. Short trim tab on rudder. ::Boeing model B-214 * Y1B-9A (five produced). Pratt & Whitney R-1860-11 Hornet B (Y1G1SR-1860B) (600 hp). Metal instead of fabric covering on the control surfaces. There were also many internal structural and equipment changes ::Boeing model B-246 Operators ; * Spanish Air Force (nationalist) ; * United States Army Air Corps Specifications (Y1B-9A) See also References =Notes= =Bibliography= * Baugher, Joe. "Boeing B-9". Encyclopedia of American Aircraft, 10 September 2002. Retrieved: 7 July 2010. * Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft since 1916. London: Putnam, 1989. . * Jones, Lloyd. U. S. Bombers. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1974. . * Pelletier, Alain. "End of the Dinosaurs: Boeing's B-9, Breaking the Bomber Mold". Air Enthusiast, Volume 101, September/October 2002, pp. 44–49. * Swanborough, F. G. and Peter M. Bowers. United States Military Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam, 1963. * Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes. New York: Doubleday, 1982. . External links * "Advent of the All-Metal Airplane," USAF Museum * Boeing B-9 history * "New Boeing "Death Angel" to be World's Fastest Bomber", Modern Mechanics * "Plane Built Like Albatross Latest Army Bomber", Popular Mechanics, July 1932 B-09, Boeing Boeing B-09 Category:Low-wing aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1931 Category:Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft "
"Blood & Magic is a real-time strategy computer game released by Interplay Productions in 1996 which uses the Dungeons & Dragons license. The first of Interplay's computer games inspired by TSR's AD&D; roleplaying system, Blood & Magic is a real-time strategy game set in a previously uncharted area of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Gameplay Blood & Magic is a real-time strategy game, where players take on the role of wizards, using blood magic to create monsters. The game is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in an area called the Utter East. Warfare in this land revolves around the powerful magic of the Blood Forges, ancient magical items with the power to create vast armies of loyal followers for their users. Players use their Blood Forge to create Basal Golems, which can either generate mystical energy to power the forge, explore the land and fight, or be transformed into a number of more powerful units. The game features five pre-generated campaigns of three missions each, or the option to play a random campaign over all 15 maps. The basic units of the game are the basal golems, which are created at the Bloodforge. They provide mana for the production of new units and can be turned into buildings or monsters. When four are placed on a foundation, they may transform into a mystical site dedicated to the kind of magic the player's choosing. Placing a basal golem adjacent to a friendly mystical site will allow them to change into a different creature, based on the type of mystical site. The player automatically is only able to use the weakest transformation, and can unlock more by researching. Researching costs experience, which is gained by creating or transforming basal golems, creating or destroying structures, casting spells and slaying enemies. While this approach is original compared to the usual Dune-like system where the player had to harvest or mine resources, it brings its own set of problems. There are no limits on basal golem and almost no limits mana production (the only one being that a player can not have more than 300 mana at one time) and the stationary golems are much easier to protect than moving harvesting units meaning that unhindered exponential growth can easily occur. Also, not having to protect supply routes means less opportunities for strategic thinking, as does the lack of any defensive structures (with the exception of passive walls). The most egregious deviation from normal RTS gameplay is the extreme micromanagement required for the collection of the game's resources. The golems charge mana individually, and collecting the mana requires a continuous cycle of selecting individual golems and clicking a "transfer" button (or, alternatively, the right mouse button). Golems will eventually transfer mana on their own if they reach their maximum capacity and are left unattended for a long period of time, but this severely impacts their efficiency. The game's pacing is similar to that of vintage RTS games like Dune II and Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. By comparison, the gameplay is very slow compared to Warcraft II which came out the year prior. The AI is on similar level as in most other RTS games from the 1990s. It can assemble and send small strike forces quite well, can cast spells, find and use magic items, making it a dangerous opponent in the early game. However, it does not coordinate its defences very well, making the endgame an easy cleanup exercise once the player has managed to gain a foothold. The AI does not abuse the possibilities of exponential growth. Plot The single player game consists of five regular campaigns of increasing difficulty, followed by a world conquest (a long campaign during which the player conquers all 15 maps and then challenges the gods themselves). In all regular campaigns the player can choose one of two sides of conflict. To unlock the next campaign, the player has to finish the current campaign at least once. The storylines of all campaigns are typical fantasy tales (without any explicit AD&D; references), although each campaign has its own take on the genre. The stories are told between battles by a narrator voice (often in verse) and illustrated by gradually uncovered pictures. A brief summary of the campaigns: =Howl of Vengeance= The story begins with a barbarian leader Rathgar the Raider conquering the kingdom of Doegan. With his last breath, the realm's rightful king curses the barbarian. The king's daughter flees and seeks the help of a young necromancer, Aelric the Avenger. Playing as either the usurper defending his new kingdom or as the avenger, the player seeks to either lift or fulfill the king's curse. =Matchmaker Mayhem= When Roxana, princess of the kingdom of Edenvale, had come of age, she proclaimed a challenge: Any man that wants to take her hand in marriage must first defeat her. The player can choose whether to help Roxana flee from the hordes of suitors or take the lead of Bryan the Bold's armies and win the princess' heart. =Tartyron Unbound= A classic struggle between law and chaos, with similarities to many stories of fallen angels and balance. Tartyron, the Lord of Chaos, broke free from his underground prison and wants to spread chaos in the surface world. His opponents are the two lords and a lady from the Circle of Order who have exiled Tartyron once and hope to do so again. =Nuts and Bolts= A campaign with strong elements of comedy. Two brothers, Garrulos the Occasionally Good and Wormskull the Artificier have found a pearl of great magical powers. The pearl is also cursed and causes strife between the brothers. Wormskull wants to use the pearl's magic to create inventions, while Garrulos seeks to stop his brother's insane plans and win the king's favors. The final scenario of the 'Nuts and Bolts' campaign is an encounter with a special unit called the Juggernaut, which has several features that make it far more powerful than a normal unit. The Juggernaut has high health and defense values, and is immune to harmful effects from magic and items. It also has multiple attacks, including a high-damage melee hit, a flame projectile, and the ability to freely move into spaces occupied by other ground units -- with the exception of Stone Golem units -- in order to crush them for an instant kill. The Juggernaut is physically large, taking up a 2x2 area of terrain, rather than the usual 1x1 used by all other units. =Harvest of Horrors= The villagers living in the shadow the forbidden plateau fear the harvest time, as it is then that creatures hungering for human stew descend from the plateau, hunting the villagers. This year the tradition might end, however, as the mage Heradan the Hermit stands up to oppose the dark hordes of the Kingdom of Nix (led by Redfang the Reaper). This campaign introduces new units on Nix's side (Goblin, Harpy and Enchanter) as well as magical cauldron that boils creatures back to mana. The new units are of above-average quality and present a great threat for Heradan. Arguably, the creatures' side of this campaign is much easier to play. Critical reception Andy Butcher reviewed Blood & Magic for Arcane magazine, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall. He commented that "Blood & Magic is a fairly easy game to pick up, and plays like a simplified version of Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer. Everything works in a logical fashion, and there's enough variety in the available units and the individual battles to keep you playing for some time." Butcher concluded his review by saying, "However, it doesn't really offer anything new. If you've played any other real-time strategy games, you'll have seen much of this before, and to be honest, it simply isn't as involving or as much fun as Warcraft 2. In addition, its links to AD&D; are tenuous at best - most of the units featured appear in AD&D;, but their strengths and weaknesses are different, as is the combat system. Blood & Magic does what it does in an effective and playable manner, but it simply doesn't offer enough to be a great game. There's nothing really wrong with it, but there's nothing that makes it stand out, either." The Herald-News gave a mostly positive review of Blood & Magic, saying the variety of units and terrain were two of the game's strong points. It also called the game "habit- forming". Weaknesses noted in the review included the enemy AI and the large number of clicks required for resource management via the basal golems. The Buffalo News gave the game a C rating, calling the storyline "deep". According to GameSpy, "It didn't take long before gamers started to realize that -- even as the RTS genre was exploding -- there was nothing here that should drag them away from Warcraft II or Red Alert." Source code A demo version of Blood and Magic was included in The Forgotten Realms Archives in 1997. This demo version included all of the C++ source code and asset files.bam mirror on GitHub.com References External links * Category:1996 video games Category:Commercial video games with freely available source code Category:DOS games Category:DOS-only games Category:Forgotten Realms video games Category:Interplay Entertainment games Category:Real-time strategy video games Category:Video games developed in the United States "
"Hotel Georgia is a 12-story historic hotel located at 801 West Georgia Street in the city's downtown core of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. History Hotel Lobby It was opened on May 7, 1927. The architects were Robert T. Garrow and John Graham, Sr. Sold in early 2007 by owner Allied Hotel Properties Inc, the hotel, then operating as the Crowne Plaza Hotel Georgia underwent restoration and was unveiled on July 15, 2011 as Rosewood Hotel Georgia, managed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. In the process of the renovation, its 313 rooms were reduced to 155. The building and many portions of the interior are designated as a protected heritage property by the City of Vancouver. The interior design for the renovation was by Toronto-based design firm, Munge Leung. It is a registered cultural heritage site in Canada, with the number 11158 in the Canadian Register of Historic Places. Private Residences at Hotel Georgia in Downtown Vancouver. Notable guests * Nat King Cole * Prince of Wales (later the Duke of Windsor) * Elvis Presley * Jack Carter * Louis Armstrong * The Beatles (decoy booking to avoid fans) * Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip * Errol Flynn died while a guest at the hotel in 1959 (though not in the hotel, but at the nearby apartment of a friend) * John Wayne The Private Residences at Hotel Georgia A 48-story, 158.5 metre, high-rise residential building has been constructed on the adjoining site of the hotel's parking structure. It is the 3rd tallest tower in the city, after the Living Shangri-La Tower and the Trump International Hotel and Tower. All three of these developments are new mixed use hotel/residences towers on Georgia Street. Night time view. See also *List of heritage buildings in Vancouver *List of tallest buildings in Vancouver *List of tallest buildings in British Columbia References External links * Official Site of Rosewood Hotel Georgia * Official Site of The Private Residences at Hotel Georgia * Redevelopment Report 2007 (PDF) * Minutes of meeting regarding current development plans (2007) * Development Board Report for Expansion (2003)- not implemented Category:Hotels in Vancouver Category:Heritage buildings in Vancouver "