firbeck
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Posts posted by firbeck
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Well done Beefsteak, I was getting worried and about to PM SWMBO, glad to see you back on line with a vengeance.
It's interesting to note that the display pilot went up in a two seater, not a clean one either, he still had his centre tank and sensor gubbins strapped on, but if you can chuck a heavyweight like that about with panache, who cares, it's all good practice.
Really great shots, having not used my film camera for several years and despite having a reasonable Canon 75-300 lens stuck on the end, I found it very difficult to cope with fairly simple take off and landing shots, when I get my film back, I have a feeling it might go straight in the bin, pity you didn't have to go back on my route and subsequently ended up at the end of the runway at 17:00.
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It's interesting to read about the Somali's reasons for doing this on the Al-Jazeerah website, it's very conflicting, an economically ruined country with no help, a dumping ground off their coast for the Wests waste, religious fundamentalism, warlords running amok and wishing to fund their hareems and drug habits. I go for the latter, which is why the Yanks don't want to get too involved, don't forget how they got their fingers burnt aka 'Blackhawk Down'. I'm sure that if they knew of a definate Al-Queda link, then cruise missiles would be raining down on every pirate settlement and warlords headquarters on the coast.
It's interesting that the US freighter that sparked all this off was carrying food aid to Somalia and other African countries, I wonder if they knew this before they attacked it, probably, knick the grub and charge their own people for it.
As more incidents are about to happen now that the monsoon season has finished, with so many foreign warships about, I would have thought that a simple solution would be to go back to the days of WW2 and form the passing ships into escorted convoys, I doubt whether the pirates would try anything then.
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If it wasn't for the fact that the poor captains life was at stake, I couldn't take it seriously, this latest incident off the coast of Somalia is turning out to be another farce.
I wonder if Johnny Depp is involved here, on the one hand we have 4, probably half starved pirates armed with AK-47's, holding one man hostage, drifting on a lifeboat with no engine power and probably few supplies faced by one of the most powerful destroyers in the world, nearly 10,000 tons of lethal fire power, armed with 92 Tomahawks, it could probably have won every previous major sea battle throughout history on it's own.
Backed up by a PC-3 Orion maritime aircraft and the might of US intelligence, it appears powerless to act.
Yes, the French have just tried to kick ass and it didn't quite come off, but their military exploits have hardly been inspirational have they, they're too impulsive, but at least they are prepared to do something.
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First of all , remember that two engined transport that flew over whilst we were saying our goodbyes at Petwood and we struggled to identify it ??
Beefsteak
How are you feeling this dull and dismal morning. Have you had those terrible pain killers yet, I was given a load in casualty when I broke 3 ribs last year, they worked, but made me feel wierd, I gave up with them after a few days. Funny, I was also examined by Osama Bin Ladens brother, I couldn't understand a word he said, so I just kept nodding, he was more concerned about the late night drunks than a genuine injury case, whats the world coming to.
Your poor kids, it must have been very traumatic for them, but kids are very resilient aren't they.
Back to your posting, where was I when it flew over, I never saw it, was I in the bog in the Petwood or had I gone, though I seem to recall you went first, or did it fly over after you'd sent Rog and I the wrong way!!
It's part of the 'Open Skies' treaty worked out in 1992 giving various nations the rights to check on their neighbours arms misdemeanours. It's the reason why so many Phantoms were destroyed at that time, the Russians assumed that despite withdrawal from frontline service, anything like that lurking about could be classed as a threat.
We went to RIAT 2000 when it was at Cottesmore and one of their AN-30 'Clanks' was at the show:-
Not my picture but I have some great video of the inside of this thing. We wandered over to look at it and the Russian pilot invited us to look inside, why, because on entering the hold, they had set up a trestle table selling all kinds of stuff, Soviet badges, Russian souveniors and of course, Vodka.
It turned out that they hadn't been paid for several months and wanted to raise a bit of cash for themselves and so they could go to the pilots international disco and not feel embarassed. I spent a tenner on the most fantastic bottle of Vodka I've ever had, it was amazing stuff. At this point we were sent off into the cockpit, unsupervised!! That was an eyeopener. The controls were so crude and basic that my limited skills flying a Piper seemed more difficult to deal with. The nav had a tatty old map, a slide rule and half a pencil, that glazed nose was like sitting in the front of a Flying Fortress only less sophisticated. They lifted up the hatches and showed us the cameras which looked like something that had probably been fitted to that MkXIX Spit at the BBMF.
We came away realising how much of a bluff the mighty Soviet empire had been, still, at least we saw the poor old boys later, trotting off to the party in their best Soviet style uniforms of a quality that even Littlewoods wouldn't have found acceptable.
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As I turned into the close where I live last night at about 17.59 I received a text message on my phone from a mate at Tattershall informing me that THE LANC was up, yes Ian it took off at the last minute round about six as we were told by Tom Jones, just for the record though, there was nothing at all flying today from any of the local bases so yesterday was the right choice.
firbeck, check out the serial number on that Hunter at Gedney, it doesn't correspond to a Hunter I have been informed,
Rog
I'm gutted, the Lanc must have come out the hangar while I was up the other end of the runway, had I been in the car park I would have seen all the activity and stayed to watch, I reckon I only missed it flying by about 20 minutes.
The serial on the Hunter is correct, it's actually a very rare F1, delivered intially to the Fighter Leaders School then kept for 30 years by the ATC at Aberporth then delivered to Holbeach in 2005, the only problem is that it's in the wrong colour scheme, obviously well looked after though.
Poor old Ian, what a terrible thing to happen, just when he's obviously getting going in life, this sort of thing occurs with all the problems associated with it.
As they say, 'God works in wondrous ways', b@ll@cks.
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Bloody hell man thats terrible, I'm speechless, what a sad end to your trip, how are the wife and kids, are they ok.
I expect the Scouser blames you for it as usual, take it easy today, I know what broken ribs are like, bloody painfull, and there's nowt you can do about it.
All the best mate, look after yourself and I hope your appendage remained undamaged.
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Perhaps they'd been in his freezer for too long, was King George VI part of the pretty picture on the front.
Yes, some meals are cr@p, but there are decent ones, and they are of benefit to some people. My mum is 93 next week, she can still cook well, but sometimes likes an easy life, she gets ready meals from the corner shop when she feels like it and sticks them in the microwave, I know she wouldn't eat rubbish and they do her a favour, not every old dear wants, or needs to, rely on 'meals on wheels'. They are a good alternative for people like her and they ain't done her any harm either, she's still as bright as a button, whatever e-numbers, as they used to call them, are contained inside this stuff.
I'm not too keen on your alternative menu, the chippie sounds a better bet.
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You should be sent to that place down your road for that one, still, at least he'd already taken his hat off.
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Please note that we did get a wave from the pilot of the Typhoon:-
Then this Hawk sneaked up on us:-
Back to the Petwood for our farewells and my attempt at a group picture, yes, that bloody timer did work, but only after I'd given up:-
I decided to take the scenic route home by driving right through the middle of the Fens, I didn't get far as the Typhoons were coming in over the Boston road, but I could only take any pictures of them in the air with the 'proper' camera, it was a good spot and I hung around for half an hour.
Near Holbeach, I came across this little gem in the car park of a cafe:-
It was a lovely evening, this was near Welney Fen where I was astonished to find myself driving alongside a Barn Owl in flight, sorry didn't manage to catch it and take it home. Typical Fen scene:-
It didn't finish there as I pulled up in a lay by near Soham to watch a USAF KC-135 from Mildenhall doing circuits, I eventually got home at 20:30, it was much quicker wandering through the countryside than hammering along those motorways.
Once again, thank you all, I look forward to the next trip, I bet Beefsteaks panicking to get home to download his hundreds of shots!!!!
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Then it was off to the crash gate at Conningsby to view some Typhoons, except I liked this Lightning:-
Then off to the Bluebell for the famous Lincolnshire Ham and Dambuster Bitter lunch, where the Fyngers had their reunion with the landlord:-
Some more memorabilia and a nice roaring fire:-
Then back to the BBMF hangar at Coninsby for a guided tour by our guide, Tom Jones, he didn't sing a note though:-
Most of the aircraft were undergoing maintenance:-
We thought we were in luck as the Lancaster was due to have it's first flight of the season, but the wind put paid to that, I reckon the rear gunner was dissapointed:-
Then it was off to the end of the runway and a cup of coffee:-
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I'd just like to say that I had a great day yesterday and met some fantastic people who were very kind, generous, enthusiastic about everything, extremely good humoured, easy to get on with and quite frankly, the salt of the earth.
Thanks to Beefsteak, Plantfitt, Denshaw and Mr and Mrs Fynger for giving me the tonic that I needed.
I won't bore you with all my pictures, I haven't got the prints anyway, but just a few before Beefsteak sorts through his massive film department.
It was very wet and windy in Braintree at 6:30 in the morning, on the way I called in at the gate at Alconbury to view the (plastic?) F-5E Aggressor:-
Being late for the Typhoon practice, I got to Petwood at 9:45 where Mr and Mrs Fynger were already drinking coffee in the posh lounge, a commotion outside found Beefsteak desperately waving his giant lens around in search of a Red Kite. After coffee we looked at all the 617 Squadron wonders in the bar:-
Then it was off to East Kirby for a peek at the Lancaster running up via the fence, we weren't dissapointed:-
Does anyone know how I get this bit of video to play?
Please note Beefsteak trying to avoid assaulting everyone with his appendage:-
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What colour would you suggest for Tornado, Grand Central, GNER, Virgin, it would probably look interesting, I must admit. A1's did run in those apple green colours at first. When BR was first formed, the title British Railways was simply slapped on the tenders, whatever colours they were, they couldn't paint them all overnight, some SR Pacifics were running about with BR on the tenders and yet still retained the Southern 21C number designation. Then the experimental blue livery was tried out, which is going to be Tornado's next colour scheme, then BR Brunswick Green.
When I can find my old 1948 combined volume I'll illustrate some odd combinations.
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Great, car passed MOT with flying colours, and I have a bit of petrol money, see youse tomorrow. Are you going to Conno before Petwood as I'm setting off early and will have to pass the place first in any case, in fact depending on how well I do journey wise I'll probably go there first if the time is right.
I have one problem, I can't remember how to work my old film camera, it's a complicated effort when you haven't used it for a few years, is it the same set up as an SLR digital.
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I always thought that Flying Scotsman should be painted up to look like Gordon, why not, thats what Gordon was based on after all, I wouldn't like to see it given a haughty face and bricked up in a tunnel though.
Beefsteak, I'm not sure what Pete Waterman did to FS, possibly them blinkers, I know that there was a bit of controversy when Alan Pegler first bought it and ran it with two tenders, but that was because those nice people at BR had made it difficult to refuel and recoal it during long runs. ( nearly said re-arm,< 'Not with your blood sergeant'> sorry, wrong thread ).
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I agree with what you say Scriv, it would be a pretty dull preservation movement if everything was painted up as it was when they were withdrawn, but the problem with Royal Scot is that it looks nothing like it did in LMS days. When Scots Guardsman was languishing in Dinting it was painted up in black wartime LMS colours and very striking it looked too, after all, some Scots had been reboilered by then. I've been trying to think of something else that changed its appearance drastically and I can think of Compound 1000, which never ran looking like it does now in MR days, I gather that on withdrawal that plans were afoot to give it back an original boiler but they couldn't be bothered in the end.
I'd be interested to see when they finally get Flying Scotsman back on the road, whether they paint it up in LNER apple green, but have it running with those German style smoke diflectors, sorry Fynger, blinkers, which weren't introduced until the 60's.
The NNR are currently working on their B12, which was drastically altered in LNER days, it's been running in apple green and BR black, I've often wondered whether they might be tempted to paint it up in GER blue.
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Craig
It's interesting that I've looked on the Timothy Taylors website to see where the nearest TT Landlord outlet is to me. According to them it's the White Hart in Braintree which is literally 5 mins walk up the road from me and very cosy. When you look on the pub website, it's a Greene King pub whose real ales are listed as GK IPA and Abbot, not a sniff of TT in site, well there wouldn't be, if they sold that they'd have to buy up the TT brewery and shut it down, TT Landlord made in Bury St Edmunds, not on your life.
I was interested to read Fyngers article on The White Cow which is from the Ilkeston paper, I've found an identical event occuring in Bristol, the Friendship pub being shut down and turned into a Tesco mini-mart, exactly the same quote by that nice woman from Tesco, 'we have a transferable planning permission'?????
I've been involved in planning for 40 years and never heard of such a thing, to turn a pub into a shop requires an application for a change of use, full stop, I'm also presuming that they will have to knock the place down in order to put up the standard Tesco shop design, which means an even more involved application. I've checked again with Erewash Borough Council and no applications have been made to them in respect of the White Cow.
As usual, GK and Tesco are full of Cr@p.
A worrying thing on our local news last night, Adnams are in financial trouble, their trade and profits have dropped off by 67%. I bet GK are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of getting their hands on that place. If you've never been to Southwold in Suffolk, it's a wonderful place and the brewery dominates the town, the Adnams pubs and beer are magnificent, I'm very concerned that the lovely Sole Bay Inn, opposite the brewery, will end up full of GK p@ss and ruin our trips to the seaside.
Beefsteak, if The Bluebell is a freehouse, why is Alan selling GK, I would have thought that the local brew Batemans was a better choice, their brewery is just up the road.
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Hillsborough was an appalling tragedy that saw so many innocent lives lost, it should never have happened, but the way that violence had become so much part of the game from certain supporters had already manifested itself at Heysel, they should have realised it then but they didn't care to consider the consequences of their actions, they just carried on regardless, and looked to blame anyone or anything else when the inevitable disaster occured.
The way that fencing had been shoved around grounds as a result of mob violence, in stadiums that had been designed for happier times, was ridiculous, but what alternative had the authorities got at the time.
The police were too outnumbered to cope, on the other hand they and the idiotic clubs did stupid things as well. I recall being at an FA Cup match at Millwall, their then very notorious supporters were itching to get at the small band of Notts County fans, so what did the officials do, open all the dividing gates in the second half, very clever.
I've personally witnessed horrific scenes involving the fans of Leeds, Man Utd, Chelsea and worst of all, Newcastle, but there was always an excuse on the part of the clubs and their cities. Geordies are the most passionate and honest football supporters in the world, we get told, but the riot I witnessed at St James Park, just because they were losing to an 'inferior team', was terrifying, not just a small hardcore of fans either, and they more or less got away with it. It didn't finish there, the threats and intimidation we received when we went for a night out in that 'friendly city' made us never want to go back.
I'm sorry if I've caused offence, but I've not forgotten my experiences in Liverpool either, being greeted by a hail of bricks on the East Lancs Road, and being forced to pay some youths to guard the car by the Everton Mafia, or else, while the police looked on, all in the cause of innocently going to watch a football match in another proud city.
I've just heard on the news that a consortium of bands and old Liverpool players are to make a record in recognition of the Hillsborough disaster, fair enough, but it would have been a good idea for them to have made more of an effort to calm fans passions down after 1985 and prior to 1989.
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The only beer to beat Timothy Taylors ,Landlord , IMO, is Theakstones 'Old Peculiar' !!
Ah, but did you know that another small brewery assasin, Scottish and Newcastle ( aka Home Brewery), took over the Theakstons Brewery at Masham and without telling anyone, shifted Old Peculiar production to Newcastle, could you tell the difference, you bet, you could taste the p@ss that the directors added to it. Fortunately, S & N were subjected to further take overs themselves and gratuitously allowed the original Theakstons brewery to carry on independantly from Masham, trouble is, all the original staff had moved over to the breakaway Theakston sons new Black Sheep brewery just down the road and wouldn't go back. So, if you want something more akin to Theakstons Old Peculiar, try Black Sheep, it hasn't been tainted by big business deals at the expense of public taste and opinion.
Sorry, but I get passionate about my beer and it's manipulation by the big companies who are only interested by property deals and massive profit for their directors at the sacrifice of smaller, independant companies and their employees.
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I note that in a few days it's the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough incident, I'm probably going to get crucified over what I say, but how many of you think on similar lines.
No doubt we'll have to suffer the usual sob stories over and over again from the Liverpool fans/angels about what happened and how it was everyones fault but themselves.
You may think that I'm way out of order here, I was offered a ticket for that game, but it was in that Liverpool end of the ground and no way was I going to stand with a bunch of malicious, drunken thugs who had already got away with causing deaths at the Heysel Stadium, I obviously did the right thing.
It was a sad day for the innocent, and no doubt that the majority of those killed were simply that, but as far as they are concerned, the sun shines out of every Liverpudlians backside, if thats not the way of things, in their eyes, everyone else is to blame for whatever else happens to go wrong with their self esteem.
I have my own thoughts on what happened that day, which I'd better keep to myself, but perhaps for a change, someone should think of the Forest fans who had to bear witness to those terrible events, I seem to recall at the time that LFC even tried to blame them for securing tickets at the end that they felt that they were more entitled to.
I shan't be watching any of the inevitable number of programmes that will be shoved apon us that day, I'm not suggesting that all Forest fans were angels, but I don't recall many problems at any of their away matches, but then, unlike some, Nottingham folk have never considered themselves the beyond reproach, centre of the Universe, have they.
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Bip, a voice in the wilderness, thank you, please can you convince Beefsteak not to drink Abbot. Compared to what it was several years ago, when believe it or not yours truly designed the new Abbot pipeline, and made a few adjustments, and before the GK terrorists kicked in, it was lovely.
I was in Sainsburies yesterday and this bloke chucked a bottle of Abbot in his basket, I managed to convince him to swap it for a bottle of real beer, Timothy Taylors Landlord, now that is a pint of the real stuff, for better or worse, Madonnas favourite tipple, try it on draught and it's real pleasure, much better than the bottled variety, but where can you get it on draught apart from Keighley, all pubs there are devoted to it.
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How come you called them blinkers Fynger, that was our little description for them when we were young spotters.
Official name, smoke deflectors, put onto the loco to stop smoke and steam blowing sideways and obscuring the drivers view, most express locos had them, though I can think of a few that didn't, all the GWR engines for instance, the designers must have got their design right from the start.
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What Beefsteak means is that Royal Scot, the loco, was numbered 46100 in BR days, but in it's LMS guise and time at Butlins, it was 6100.
It would appear that it has finally been restored to running order and has been running in on the West Somerset Railway at Minehead, it would have been nice to have seen it taking it's first mainline run on 'The Royal Scot', wouldn't it.
It has been restored to it's spurious LMS livery as many of you remember it at Butlins at Skegness, personally as it never actually ran in service in it's current form like that, I don't like it, I would sooner it have been restored to BR green as it was when shedded at Nottingham in the early 60's.
If you don't understand what I mean, Royal Scot was originally built with a parallel boiler and didn't look much like it does now, having been reboilered to Staniers taper boiler design in the 50's, so it never ran in LMS colours in the shape it's now in. The other restored Royal Scot, 46115, Scots Guardsman, has been restored and runs in it's proper BR colours of Brunswick Green.
See what I mean, Royal Scot as built, though in this picture it is a little bit tooled up for it's trip to the USA, headlight, name on front, Westinghouse pump etc:-
In BR days having been reboilered in 1950:-
As it is running now:-
Not quite right is it.
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Not according to their official website it isn't.
Pre-flight maintenance doesn't start till 20th April and will take 6 weeks, all early airshows are therefore out of the question, it's first appearance will be at Cosford on June 14th, Beefsteak won't need his big lens for that one.
I'm wondering whether it will feature in the Queens Birthday Flypast this year which should be round about the same date.
Just checked, it's the day before, pity, it doesn't sound like it will feature, but who knows.
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No he's not!!!
Nice one Beefsteak, I bet all your local cats had dissapeared when they were flying about.
I don't understand why they are so rare around here, I saw a pair down the road a few weeks ago and was told they live locally, but considering the amount of countryside around here, particularly large areas of woodland up the road I'm surprised we don't see more. I reckon it must have something to do with the fact that most of the farming is arable, especially that stinking oil seed rape. Thinking about it, there are a lot of sheep about where they are supposed to be living so that must be the reason.
I took the dog for a very long walk along the river last night and conditions were perfect, warm and sunny, but I still never saw a single swallow, where are they.
I've just looked up to see we have been invaded by long tailed tits, I gather from the RSPB Garden Watch results that they have entered the top ten of common birds for the first time, nice to see something doing well as our sparrows have vanished.
Four Pirates V The Might of the US Navy
in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !
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Chief Ryback strikes again!!!!!
They got what they deserved.