Phil Perry

R100 at the mooring mast at Cardington The story of the R100 and R101 airships A passage to India ‘The controversy of capitalism versus state enterprise has been argued, tested and fought out in many ways in many countries, but surely the airship venture in England stands as the most curious determination of this matter.’ So wrote Nevil Shute Norway, better known as Nevil Shute the novelist, in his autobiography Slide Rule in 1954 – and he knew what he was writing about, since he had been personally involved in this venture. The British had never been successful in airship construction. Spurred on by the German Zeppelin raids of World War I, they had built rough copies of their own, but they had little idea of what they were doing. In 1921, when the experimental airship R38 broke in half during trials over the Humber estuary, killing 44 people, the enquiry found that no calculations at all had been done on the aerodynamic stresses on her frame. ‘R’ stood for rigid. The Zeppelins and the British airships had a rigid frame of metal girders, usually of Duralumin, an aluminium alloy, covered with doped cotton canvas. Inside this hung a row of huge hydrogen-filled gasbags supported on a harness of wires, intricately rigged to avoid chafing and holing them. This was long before the invention of flexible plastics, and the bags were made of ‘goldbeater’s skin’, a kind of very thin leather made from the intestines of oxen, the pieces pressed together while still wet so that they adhered. Despite repeated failure, in the 1920s the British government was determined to set up airship communication as a means of reaching the distant parts of the Empire. It took at least 17 days to sail to India in the fastest liners. Aircraft were small and dangerously unreliable, and their short range required a chain of airstrips to be built along their route, often in possibly hostile countries. Under the Conservative governments of Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin no fewer than nine committees debated the feasibility of the project. It was decided that, on economic grounds, the airships should be very large, with a maximum weight of 90 tons, providing 60 tons of useful lift (some of which would be taken up by the weight of fuel and crew). They would be capable of carrying 130 to 150 passengers and 10 tons of mail, with a cruising speed of 63 mph. It was planned to reach Delhi via Egypt in 74 hours. Six airships were to be built, each making the journey twice a week. No sooner had this been decided that the government fell, and was succeeded by the Labour administration of Ramsay MacDonald, under which a further committee inevitably decided that it was against socialist principles to allow private firms to profit from such a lucrative project, and that it should be handled by public enterprise. After much wrangling a compromise was reached. The Air Minister, Lord Thomson, set up the Imperial Airship Scheme, under which two competing prototypes would be built, one by private and one by public enterprise. These airships were to be known as R100 and R101. The Labour government soon fell in its turn, but the decision stood. Although now out of office, Lord Thomson was to remain a fierce enthusiast of the R101, with consequences that will be described later. He had been ennobled by Ramsay MacDonald, and had taken the title of Baron Thomson of Cardington – the site of the vast hangar where R101 was to be built. The building of R100 She was designed and built by the Airship Guarantee Company, a subsidiary of Vickers, at Howden in Yorkshire where there was an existing airship hangar. At this time the chief airship designer at Vickers was none other than Barnes Wallis, who would later design the Wellington bomber. He took on the young Nevil Shute Norway as his chief calculator. R100 was an elegant craft in the ‘teardrop’ shape thought at the time to be the most aerodynamically perfect, with a rounded nose and a long pointed tail. She was 719 feet long and 133 feet in diameter, and as set up for her maiden voyage weighed 102 tons empty, slightly above the stated limit of 90 tons, with a useful lift of 54 tons, not quite the 60 specified. Her most noticeable feature was that Barnes Wallis had used only 16 longitudinal girders in the frame, far fewer than used in the successful Zeppelins. The fabric covering was stretched flat between them, giving her an angular look. Each girder was a lattice based on three Duralumin tubes 4 inches in diameter, and they were linked by seventeen transverse frames. There were only thirteen types of component in the whole structure, which was braced with wire cables. At this time Wallis had not yet invented the ‘geodesic’ frame construction he was to use later for the Wellingon, with its extensive use of rigid triangles, but it was his work on the bracing cables that gave him the idea for it. R100 under construction at Howden One of the specifications for the two airships was that they should not have petrol engines. It was thought that the heat of India would bring 100-octane aviation fuel dangerously near its flashpoint. The original plan was to power R100 with newly designed engines running on a mixture of hydrogen and kerosene, but the development of these was so slow that they were abandoned. The next idea was to replace them with Beardmore Tornado diesel engines, as were to be used in R101. These straight eight-cylinder engines, theoretically delivering 650 bhp, were essentially double versions of four-cylinder engines that had been designed for Canadian railway locomotives. Diesel engines are always heavier than their petrol counterparts, but weight is actually an advantage on a railway, giving better traction. Although lightened to some extent, the Tornado engines were still impractically heavy at over 3¾ tons installed weight each, and the design team wisely abandoned them and, ignoring the specifications, fitted six Rolls-Royce Condor V12 petrol engines, each also giving 650 bhp from a fraction of of the weight of the diesels. They were installed back to back in three engine pods under the hull, one engine pulling, the other pushing. The Condors, predecessors of the famous Merlin engine, were secondhand but performed well; later they were replaced with new ones. Two of the pusher engines were fitted with reversing gearboxes so that the airship could move backwards. Work proceeded slowly. After the R38 crash the Air Ministry had required thorough calculation of stresses on the huge and complex frame, and in the days before computers these took a very long time. The old shed was in a very run-down state, with a great pile of hen’s feathers at one end where a vixen had had her den. It was refurbished, but it always leaked. Condensation formed on the frame in summer and ice in winter, causing corrosion so that it had to be varnished. The whole operation was performed on a minimum budget, mostly with hand tools. In contrast, the construction of R101 at Cardington was eased by modern conveniences supplied by a generous government. There was a joke among the staff there that when one of the R100 engineers at Howden bought a car, construction was much speeded up because they could use its tool kit. So R101 was finished first, making her first test flight on 14 October 1929. The results were disquieting, but were hushed up by the Air Ministry press department. A few facts emerged in the newspapers. When the R100 crew learned that R101 had only 35 tons of useful lift, they did not crow at their opponents’ failure. As fellow engineers, they had a feeling of foreboding. R100 was ready to fly by the end of November 1929, but windy weather kept her in the shed until just before dawn on 16 December, when it was calm enough for her to be ‘walked out’. This tricky operation required 500 soldiers to haul her out slowly, guiding the vast airship with ropes. There was a bare two-foot clearance between the hull and the door frame and one touch would have torn the covering, making it necessary to haul her back in for repairs. But it was successfully completed. Vickers were not allowed to conduct test flights of R100. The contract specified that the airship should be tested by an Air Ministry crew, the same people that were testing R101, under Major G.H. Scott, who had the cumbersome title of Assistant Director (Flying) Officer in Charge of Flight. In fact these people behaved with impeccable neutrality. As soon as the airship had been walked out and swung round to point away from the shed, half a ton of water ballast was released from the bow and another half ton from the stern, and she rose into the air. The flight to Canada The first flight was to Cardington, from where subsequent tests were conducted. It went without incident except that one of the engines developed a cooling leak and had to be shut down. When they arrived, they found the crew at the mooring mast surprisingly incompetent, and had to back off and circle round three times before the airship was latched on and moored. Next day, after overnight engine repairs, came speed trials. Everyone was astonished when R100 reached 81 mph; it was probably the fastest airship of all time. There was a downside to this unexpected turn of speed. At over 70 mph, airflow around the hull built up standing waves of alternate low and high pressure which caused the large fabric panels to bulge in and out. In fact the fabric on the hull held throughout the life of the ship, but later in the trials a zone of high pressure around the elegant tapering cone aft of the tail fins caused the lightly built structure to collapse. The tail cone was not a loadbearing component and was simply removed, leaving R100 with a bobtailed look but not affecting her performance. R100 covered at least 7000 miles in British trials, performing to everyone’s satisfaction. The original contract specified that she should now make a flight to Canada, so off she went on 29 July 1930 under the command of Major Scott. There were minor leaks in two gasbags, soon mended, and as they neared the St Lawrence River the fabric on the upper fin tore, leaving a large hole. One of the great advantages of airships over aeroplanes is that you can stop and get out to mend such things, and soon a party of riggers, secured by safety lines, was climbing around fitting a large sheet of cotton canvas over the hole. She passed Quebec at 6pm local time on 31 July and headed on to Montreal in a thunderstorm, where a strong updraught caused violent pitching, causing the crew’s supper to slide off the table in the central saloon. Bits of food were found as far forward as frame 2. Norway reckoned that for that to happen, the airship must have been nose down at an angle of 35°. Two tears opened in the fabric of the starboard fin, but apart from that there was no serious damage. They moored at Montreal at dawn, having averaged 42 mph on a journey against the wind on which they had had to stop for several hours to repair the upper fin. The saloon of R100 The crew were given a tremendous reception, and a comic song about the airship was sung by Madame Mary Rose-Anna Bolduc. After a few days while the damaged fins were repaired, R100 then went on a day’s tour around Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara falls, carrying a large number of Canadian passengers, and returned to Montreal. One of the engines developed a gearbox fault and had to be shut down. It was found that, although spare engines had been shipped from Britain, they had forgotten to include the derricks on which they were slung to fit them into the pods, so it was decided to return to England on five engines – no great matter, as they would now be travelling with a following wind. R100 left on 13 August and reached Cardington after an uneventful flight of 57½ hours. She was walked into the great hangar next to the one holding R101, on which work was still proceeding feverishly. She was never to fly again. Next: The story of R101 Tachybaptus 2018 Going postal blog.

In the early 1990s I helped to restore an Auster J5, which had a huge rear glass panel, and the rear seat faced rearwards. . . . .this was altered to provide 2 forward facing seats. . . . I spent a whole weekend collecting the fuselage from one location, and then the next day, the wings from another place and then several months assisting in all the restoration, only to find that one of the four syndicate members who bought it, a guy I had personally introduced to flying in the first instance, and at my own expense. . . decided he didn't like me for some reason, and banned me from ever flying in it. . . . . Gobsmacked does not cover the way I felt. . . I'll help anybody, and this bloody city slicker did Nothing in the restoration as he couldn't get time off from his work ( Allegedly ) so I never even had a passenger ride in the damn thing. The real Larf was that I was the only bloke in the crew who had ANY Auster sticktime ( 220 hrs in Australia ) I choose the folks I assist with ANYTHING a lot more care nowadays. . . . Epitaph,. . .the aircraft was crashed beyond repair two months following the new permit to fly being issued. . at an airfield in France, when the P1 gave control to an instructor / Passenger with no time on type, and in the very late stage of a landing,. . . . who stalled it at 30 feet and pancaked it onto the bitumen strip, closing the airfield ( Le Touquet ) for three hours whilst the froggies cleaned up the mess. . . .I can't blame the Instructor, he flew Flexwing Microlight trikes. . . I feel no need to Gloat about this, as it was a waste of a lovely aeroplane,. . but it gave me another insight into that weird thing called the 'Human Condition'. . . . .

We are incredibly lucky in that a Local Corner Shop owner, with whose children went to school with my two Daughters,. . ., prepares herbs and spices so that I can make my own Indian meals. She is a Sikh, Her Husband died of cancer 3 years ago, and even before then, she used to prepare ingredients with specific cooking instructions for a complete meal, even down to preparing a marinade for our chicken or other meats. . . . My Sister in Law walks across the road and regularly avails herself of this freely provided service. There is also a Newsagent / general store up near where Younger Daughter lives at the other end of town, who makes and actually sells fully prepared home made curries from that location. . they really ARE very, very good. . . .She remarks regularly that there is far too much Ghee in 'Restaurant' meals. . . .She hands out extra chillies for those who like things a little hot. . . .

Chicken Tikka Masala has been the favourite, ie, 'Most Ordered' dish in the UK for several years. . . . too mild for me though. I prefer Madras / Jalfrezi etc. . .and in response to Yenn's comment on eating in India,. . .their food isn't hot at all,. . .that malarkey of making them really stupidly hot, Vindaloo / Tindaloo / Fahl etc. . . was started by the British Raj to mask the fact that most of the meat used was rotten. . . . Indian food served 'In Country' is 'Spicy' but not 'hot'. Think Biryani. . lots of rice and veg just slightly spicy. .. ( Persian Origin allegedly )

Our fave was the Kings Castle in Burwood, Melbourne in 1973,. . . not far for us to drive, ( From Vermont ) and a brilliant Indian meal every time. . . .Bearing in mind that my standard was what I used to get served in the UK in the very late sixties. . . .Great food and bonhomie, BYO wines and beers . . . . . and they started the first Delivery service for those who didn't want to go out. . . .7 miles radius. . . .GREAT service. . . We often ordered a take away, and took it to the Burwood Drive in cinema and consumed it whilst I was watching things like 2001 a Space oddysey, whilst Wifey was watching crap like Women in Love. . . YUK. . . .

Exocet – the missile that almost cost Britain the Falklands War 2nd February 2018 Exocet is the French word for a flying fish. It is also an anti-shipping missile that can be launched from submarines, surface ships, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. The Exocet designed and built by Aerospatiale and Nord is a compact missile that is most effective against small to medium sized targets such as corvettes, frigates and destroyers. The missile is guided inertially during its approach phase and then switches to active radar homing as it enters the final target acquisition phase. To avoid detection, the missile surface skims at one to two metres depending on sea state. This effectively means that the missile approaches below the ship’s radar and usually can only be detected at a range of around 6,000 metres before impact. This gives the target ship precious little time to deploy countermeasures and activate the close-in weapons system (CIWS). The missile’s range is 70km. So how did a pariah state run by a military Junta, which tortured and disappeared tens of thousands of its own citizens and foreign nationals as well, get its hands on such a sophisticated and deadly weapons system. The simple answer was that the French gave it to them, with tacit approval of the French government. But before we start our howls of protest, let’s not forget that the British government had already sold Argentina warships that defence cuts had decided were too expensive to run, man and keep in service. The French had been training Argentine pilots, mechanics and support staff at Landivisiau in France since 1980. The missiles were shipped to Argentina where French technicians would set up and calibrate the systems. The French had set up an arms conduit to Argentina via Peru, but MI6 was well aware of this, as was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who sent the following telegram to the French President. France was playing a double game during the Falklands War. Her government was saying that technicians had been withdrawn from Argentina, when in fact they were not ordered home and actively encouraged to stay. The French knew they had a potentially, extremely lucrative missile system and they wanted to test it on Royal Navy ships. Killing British sailors was a bonus. If diplomatically things started to get a bit uncomfortable for the French, Israel could fill the gaps. British diplomats cited evidence that Israel had supplied the Argentine military junta with arms that were used against the Task Force during the campaign to liberate the islands. Israeli military exports before the war included the Skyhawk jets that would later be used to bomb British warships, killing dozens of soldiers, sailors and marines. (Source, Daily Telegraph 24th August 2016). As soon as the cease fire agreement was signed France resumed their shipment of the remaining 7 (of 12) Super Etendard and their missiles to Argentina. First Strike – HMS Sheffield On the early morning of the 4th May 1982, the main force of the British Task Force was 75 nautical miles south-east of Port Stanley. The fleet was in a high state of readiness as there had been several reports of Argentine air activity. A second Black-Buck mission had taken place, Vulcan B2 XM607 had bombed Stanley Airfield the previous night. Lynx helicopters patrolled in the vicinity of Stanley to pinpoint the locations of the Argentine radar sites. At 0815 an Argentine Neptune maritime reconnaissance aircraft detected the radar emissions from one of the British type 42 destroyers. The position was plotted and the assumption made that where there was a Type 42, it was more than likely there was one of the carriers. Ninety minutes later two Super Etendards of 2nd Escuadrilla de Caza y Ataque, each carrying the air-launched version of the Exocet anti-ship missile, took off from their base at Rio Grande on Tierra del Fuego. Unlike a previously attempted raid, the Etendards successfully refuelled from a Hercules tanker and then descended to sea level as they approached the estimated position of the British fleet. With the Neptune acting in an AEWAC capacity, the two Argentine jets approached under the radar and in radio silence. At 1035 the Neptune climbed to just under 4,000 feet and detected a large and two medium sized contacts and this information was relayed to the Super Etendards. The bombers climbed but failed to locate the contacts and dropped back down. They covered another 25 miles and tried again. This time targets appeared on their radar screens. The Argentine pilots inputted the coordinates into their weapons system and launched their Exocet missiles at a range of approximately 25 miles. Their job done, the Super Etendards turned for home, landing at Rio Grande at 1204. The Argentine air tasking that morning had consisted of the two Super Etendards, the KC130 tanker with an escort of two Dagger fighters, the Neptune and Lear Jet in support. At 1000 HMS Sheffield was at defence watch readiness two. She was acting as Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW) picket for the Task Force. The main threat was seen as one of the Argentine 209 submarines, which had been given a higher priority than the air threat. HMS Glasgow was on high readiness and detected the two Super Etendards on her main surveillance radar 40 miles out and immediately communicated the warning “Handbrake.” Sheffield failed to go to action stations because its own radar and ECM hadn’t detected aircraft or missiles. The captain wasn’t informed and no countermeasures such as activating the Sea Dart missiles or deploying chaff were considered. Finally, Sheffield picked up the incoming missiles on her type 965 radar, the Ops Officer informing the Missile Director. Sheffield was not fitted with ECM equipment and still did not go to action stations. Deck crews spotted smoke and glows low on the horizon, five seconds later an Exocet hit the destroyer midships, eight feet above the waterline. The second Exocet missed and splashed harmlessly into the sea, half a mile off her port beam. There is some dispute as to whether the main charge of the Exocet’s warhead actually exploded, however, whether it detonated or not, the ensuing fire gutted the ship and killed 30 sailors. Standard operating procedures were adapted so that ships under attack would turn into the direction of attack, activate all ECM if fitted, release chaff and put up a barrage with everything they could. It was all too late for the “Shiny Sheff” and her crew. A Mortal Blow – The Atlantic Conveyor The Atlantic Conveyor was a 14,950 ton roll-on, roll-off container ship, registered in Liverpool and taken up from trade by the MoD in April 1982. She was refitted to enable her to operate S/VTOL Harrier operations and heavy lift helicopters. The ship was not fitted with either active or passive defensive measures, as someone in the MoD (as always it’s impossible to find out who), decided that she was not a “high value” target. Sailing for Ascension Island on 25 April 1982, Atlantic Conveyor carried a cargo of six Wessex helicopters from 848 Naval Air Squadron and five RAF Chinook HC.1s from No. 18 Squadron RAF. At Ascension, she picked up eight Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers (809 Squadron) and six RAF Harrier GR.3 jump jets. On the ship’s arrival at Ascension, one Chinook was unloaded to support operations on the island. It continued south and arrived with the task force in mid-May. The GR3s went to HMS Hermes, while the Sea Harriers were distributed between the squadrons operating from both Hermes and Invincible. The freeing up of the Atlantic Conveyor’s flight deck allowed the Chinooks to be prepared for operations. The 25th of May was Argentina’s National Day and in the afternoon. HMS Coventry was attacked by Argentine fighter bombers and sunk with conventional bombs. HMS Broadsword picked up the survivors from Coventry. Many miles away to the east, on board Conveyor preparations were being made for the ship to sail into San Carlos through the night to be ready to unload helicopters and stores at first light. This part of the mission carried a relatively high risk that the ship would be found and attacked before the disembarkation was complete. If everything went wrong then the plan was to beach her and to try and rescue as many stores as possible. If the Conveyor survived, she was to be used a helicopter support ship. The crew members were each issued with a copy of the ‘Geneva Convention’ rules for prisoners in case of capture. Around dusk on the 25th, The Atlantic Conveyor was sailing in formation with the ammunition ship RFA Regent and the carrier Hermes. One of the Atlantic Conveyor’s Chinooks, Bravo November was moving stores from ship to ship. The off-duty helicopter aircrews were relaxing in the wardroom with a few beers, before continuing operations the next day. Two Argentine Super Etendards had taken off earlier in the afternoon, and with the aid of air-to-air refuelling, had flown a long dogleg to attack the carriers from an unexpected direction. They had been practising attacks on the Argentine ships sold by the MoD, because their radar profile was similar to the Royal Navy ships. They had perfected a technique known as “pecking the cone,” where they flew below the radar, occasionally popping up so that a passive radar sensor in the aircrafts’ tail fin could detect the strength and direction of the British ships’ active radar emissions. The first British ship to spot the incoming aircraft was the outlying destroyer HMS Exeter, which detected the Super Etendards as they popped up to acquire the targets. The notified the flag ship and the frigate Ambuscade fired chaff. The Argentine pilots spotted two carrier-sized targets, locked on and fired two Exocet missiles at a range of 30 miles. The missiles’ tracks were heading straight for Hermes. On the Atlantic Conveyor, the crews watched the ships manoeuvring frantically and the clouds of chaff erupting in the sky. The Conveyor had been stern on to the missile attack, but the flagship ordered her to turn hard to port exposing the full radar profile. Hermes was tucked in behind the RFA and the Conveyor. The two missiles appeared through the Ambuscade’s smoke and slammed into the port side of the merchant ship. As well as the explosions, the Exocets’ fuel ignited flammable stores within the ships open internal decks. The crew attempted to fight the fires, but the order to abandon ship was given and a few hours later the bow magazine exploded, gutting the ship. Twelve of the Atlantic Conveyor’s crew were killed including the captain. Nothing on board was recoverable and she sank on the 28th May whilst under tow. HMS Glamorgan The ubiquitous HMS Glamorgan was a County Class cruiser. As well as supporting the raid on Pebble Island by Special Forces, she had been guarding the repair and logistics area 200 miles away from the Falkland Islands. On 11th June she was ordered to provide fire support to the Royal Marines during their attack on Two Sisters Mountain. On the morning of 12th June, Glamorgan was hit by an Exocet fired from the shore by an improvised missile launcher. She was steaming at 20 knots some 18 nautical miles from the shore and detecting the incoming missile, attempted a rapid turn away from the incoming Exocet. The missile struck the port side, adjacent to the ship’s hangar. The turn had prevented the missile penetrating and raking the stern. The blast travelled forwards and penetrated the hangar door, destroying the ship’s Wessex helicopter and causing a fierce fire. Fourteen crew members were killed, but the fires were extinguished and the ship underway by 1000. Repairs were conducted in San Carlos Bay. The Argentine garrison on the Falkland Islands surrendered on 14th June and Glamorgan arrived back at Portsmouth on 10th July 1982 after 104 days at sea. Approximately 50% of the Exocets fired during the Falklands War hit their targets. The missiles gutted one ship, sank another and severely damaged a third. Fifty-six British and other nationalities in British service were killed. Over a hundred were burned, blinded maimed and traumatised. The missiles had caused severe wobbling by some members of Margaret Thatcher’s War Cabinet and completely changed the conduct of the war. It’s not difficult to imagine what would have happened if missiles had hit either of the carriers, both militarily and diplomatically. The French certainly seemed to have got their money’s worth. Lest we forget. Blown Periphery 2018 Goingpostal Blog

I wonder if you could get a 'Concealed Carry' permit for an American Boomerang weapon ? ? ?

My mate Wiggy had an Uncle who flew in WW2, here is his response to an article about the P51. . . The P-51 was pivotal in the fact it had the range to escort and protect bombers, the first fighter to be able to do this over long range missions. As with all "best of" categories it depends on introduction timing numbers produced etc and for many fighter types the niche usage they were employed for, the war record of the 109 is outstanding, but it must be remembered that a huge amount of the kills it achieved were on the Russian front against antique aircraft, hence the number of aces that came from that theater of war. I had a personal reason to follow up on the war career of my uncle in WW11 , he started out as a Flight Sergeant with No 3 Squadron in Hurricane 2Cs, flying out of a grass field near North Weald on night fighter missions before radar, like looking for a needle in a haystack is the description given, but was sent to the middle east in Hurricanes at first in ground attack roles, he returned in late '44 to lead 3 Squadron again as Squadron Leader and was flying Hawker Tempests out of Newchurch in Kent. His last mission was a scouting one after the landings along the Dutch coast looking for V2 sites that were often on mobile gantries , one was espied raising it's launcher and the attack was lead by my uncle , sadly over the site there was a huge explosion that took his plane and him out for good. I did a lot of research on all this and before they departed several colleagues including one who was in his wing on that mission gave a picture of that day in a way that can only be described as inspiring. But the reason I write this is about the aircraft, the Tempest at low nd medium levels was without doubt the best piston engined fighter in the war, and was used very successfully against V1s, sadly the losses after the landings in the coastal areas of the continent were horrendous and many including my uncle never made the end of war despite lasting so long. There are several projects to get a Tempest in the air again but none at the moment exist in this country, here is a film of that aircraft and the magnificent sound of it's engine. This is a good Documentary about the Tempest. And several other things. . I Hour and nine mins runtime. . . so get a couple of tinnies or a large mug of cocoa. . . .

Agreed, But I must apologise for the slight thread drift, prompted by Peter's comments about media mis-reporting / mangling of aircraft incidents. . . I know very little about Australian Media. . .

Not long,. . .45 seconds of continuous fire perhaps . . have not checked wiki on that. . .

Just like 'Our' BBC then. . . . It's the unique way they're funded. . .they do not HAVE to get anything right as they are unassailable. I have to seriously wonder who gets the job of proof reading their Africa, 'PIDGIN' site though. . . something we all thought was a parody initially, but him dead serious Bwana. . . .interesting to read, if you have not done so already. . . Back in the early 1970s My mate's Dad was a proof reader for the Melbourne AGE broadsheet. . . days long gone. . .

Vertical aerial photograph showing Handley Page Halifax B Mark III, LW127 'HL-F', of No. 429 Squadron RCAF, in flight over Mondeville, France, after losing its entire starboard tailplane to bombs dropped by another Halifax above it. LW127 was one of 942 aircraft of Bomber Command despatched to bomb German-held positions, in support of the Second Army attack in the Normandy battle area (Operation GOODWOOD), on the morning of 18th July 1944. The crew managed to abandon the aircraft before it crashed in the target area. https://media.iwm.org.uk/ci...

I had not seen nor heard of this one. . .

According to a couple of aircraft engineers and riggers during WW2, the Hurricane was able to sustain far more punishment and keep on fighting. . whereas the Spitfire had more complex systems in it's construction. . . . Whether this is an established fact, I cannot say. . . . Anecdotal evidence from a couple of engineers who were around at the time, does not constitute a case,. . but it is interesting all the same. ( And Welcome Back David )

Only ever visited Dunks four times over several years, each time with a GA flying appliance. . . BUT. . .EXCELLENT bacon sarnies and a good welcome each time. . .even when it was 'Alleged' that I'd 'Cut Up' the CFI in the circuit. . . .I just said that he was jealous of my Aussie orientated 'Bush' flying technique, and that perhaps he needn't really fly cross country circuits. . . Anyway, it all ended up in good natured banter. . . .Last visit was in 2009. . . .Nice field.

'ONLY MICROLIGHTS' ? ? ? Microlights are Great ! Welcome to the site Job, I'm located on the Southern edge of Cannock Chase Forest, and my local airfield is Otherton International, 6 miles South of Stafford, ( <othertonairfield.co.uk> ) alongside the M6 just North of J12. And I echo what Jerry said. . .This is a GREAT site ! If you're flying in the South Staffordshire area on a weekend, you may hear my dulcet tones on 'Otherton radio' 129.825. . .I am a volunteer, responsible for the Total Lack of air traffic control that we don't have. . . .

OK Cobber sounz intrestin' . . . . .I'll send a PM so we don't bore everyone to tears !

Exciting moment ?

Aussie instructor said to me. . Port Red is awful stuff. . .that's why it's LEFT on the table. . . seems like a popular saying dunnit. . . .

How the Spitfire became a symbol of national defiance | Daily Mail Online

No reports of any fatalities, so Yep.. . . Result ! . . . Reports of people panicking as the aircraft slid down the embankment toward the water,. . .. . .I doubt if My Wifey would have been overly impressed either ! Turks not having a good week by the look of it. . . late addtion to that link shows another Turkish flight, A330, slid off the runway end at Katmandhu. . . . No fatals fortunately. . .

Passenger jet skids off runway at Turkish airport | Daily Mail Online

'Limited panel can certainly be hard work Nev, . . especially if you Ain't Expecting it ! My one and only Gyro suction failure occurred whilst ferrying a PA28-R200 ( Arrow 3 ) from Ronaldsway, on the Southern tip of the Isle of Man, to Wycombe Airpark near London. I had met the owner at the TT races campsite on an old WW2 airfield at the North end. Nice chap, we got merry for a few nights all sat around a 44 gal drum for a 'Campfire' and exchanged 'bullcrap' biking and flying stories. I had taken three bikes and loads of tents, assorted camping gear and many slabs of tinnies in the back of my van to the festival that year ( 1985 I think. . ) He had been asking the locals if anyone knew a Pilot well versed with the type, to fly it home for him as he had been offered a return trip via Dublin in his mate's 'Gin Palace 72 ft Yacht, which was moored up in Peel harbour. ( Bloody millionaires, doncha just love 'em ? ) Anyway, I offered to fly it back for him, after he'd stuck me on his insurance. . . and my younger Brother Ray agreed to drive the van / bikes back for me. ( was I current on type ? Yes. I hired one regularly ) The aircraft was parked at IOM Airport, and I filed IFR as the forecast was 'Iffy' for about half the route. I had the suction fail 3/4 of the way back, and fortunately the viz was, not brilliant but 'Useable' The AH settled on a 20 deg left bank and just sat there, so I was very glad I still had good ground ref. Cold shiver down my back thinking what could have happened if it had gone Tech much earlier and I hadn't cross referenced it properly with the turn and slip though. . . only takes a few moments to lose it in imc as you know. . . After this incident, I practiced a lot of limited panel as all good instrument pilots should ! Anyway I liked IFR, as FSUs and Military ATC tend to look after you a lot better and that Radar Advisory service is ( WAS ) terrific. . .even when you're only carrying a stone age Mode C squawkbox. . . ***EDITED TO ADD*** I have to be honest here, I Never really enjoyed 'Single Pilot' IFR. . .there's too much to do and think about in a small place like the UK, with so many altitude / heading / frequency changes and the flight becomes more of a 'Job of Work' rather than an enjoyable pastime. . .It's often good to have another pair of hands in the office, especially when you are carrying innocent victi, er,. . Passengers. Phil.