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Airstrip in a box: 1938

Cory Doctorow at 4:58 am Thu, Apr 24, 2008

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In December 1938, Popular Science featured this fantastic, gigantic 12-ton "landing strip in a box" for converting cow-pastures to airstrips.

ROLLING swiftly down highways on ten oversize balloon tires, a revolutionary airport-in-miniature for use by passenger air lines and military air forces now provides quick and complete assistance to stranded airplanes. This curious “twelve-ton tool box” is the invention of Kibbey W. Couse, of East Orange, N. J. It is capable of turning any level cow pasture into an airport complete with machine shop, repair parts, floodlights, and radio.
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I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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  • Skep

    Not actually an “air strip” in a box. It is an “airport” in a box. That is, it is a machine shop with portable lights and a radio. It has absolutely no equipment for making or improving a landing strip.

  • ThinkPositive

    Much less harmful to the environment that the airports we have today! In the UK, the extension of Standstead airport completely cancelled out the benefits of the nation converting to eco light bulbs.