PLC1966

That is absolute quality. Well done. Jags inbound?

The Grey Whale as we used to call them

Damon Hill is not a name I remember, but Alan Carter, Kenny Irons, Niall Mackenzie, Donnie MaCleaod I think as well, absolute bat poo-poo mental fun. Can remember watching them coming out of the hairpin at Snetterton, coming onto the straight opening it up and still crashing into each other with one ending up on the grass in front of me. As for your behaviour, well, it kind of come with the bike didn't it LOL...

The RD350LC Pro-Am. Not racing, forty loonies headbanging the track, themselves and each other. Total madness but great to watch.

It's a war, stuff gets blown up, thats part of it. Most important is the crew got out alive.

Working Carriers is a game we had been out of for too long, and it was always said it was going to take a long time to build the skills packages up of both the ships crew and air contingent, and mistakes, however self-induced, would be made. The shortage of Sqn numbers is really poor and shows that someone who dealt with Manning Establishments did not understand the pace of life on board, and did not consult the right people. Turnover of Sqn Members cannot be helped, that is part of being in HM Forces. Surprised a Navy EngO turned down the SngO slot as it limits career prospects, to me, being on the first Operational Sqn would be a great opportunity. Not much mentioned about the Pilot missing the Intake Cover when on his walkround. Really poor control on the FOD Covers overall. No practical QA undertaken when the jets had been embarked on the Carrier and little carried out at Marham. Failure to ensure deployed crews had not carried the appropriate training really poor, a lot made about the Medical Support Staff but I cannot see what has driven that particular piece, although AAIB do a really good job at looking at the big picture rather than directly at the accident. As I noted at the start, I see a lot of this as down to the F-35 and Carrier Force building up a new skill on a new aircraft on a new Aircraft Carrier and I suspect we will lose another couple as we continue that process.

That Jensen, wow.....

Replacing the Navigators canopy on an RAF Phantom, it took eight different canopies before they found one that fitted correctly. The F731 on the Transport Container would state which airframe the individually serial numbered canopy would not fit.

Do you know mate, that is some nice work on this kit.

I never knew Wallace rode a Triumph.

Nice work, looks a decent kit. Come together well. Gloss Black is always deceptively hard to get looking nice. Decals look like a nice set, those tatty ton skulls are very attractive. Angus, so for translation purposes......Lizzie and PoW are HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The two Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers. Cats and Traps is the method used to launch and recover aircraft from US Navy and French Aircraft Carriers. Aircraft are catapulted off the front of a ship using a Steam Powered Catapult and when they return to the Carrier the aircraft drops a tailhook which catches a wire strung across the deck, thus trapping the aircraft and stopping it falling off the front !!!! Being too lazy to Google I think US Carriers have four wires. By using this method, the Navies can use 'normal' aircraft. Normal being relative obviously. Alize, Gannet and E-1 Tracer, E-2 Hawkeye refers... The Royal Navy Carriers do not have Cats and Traps*. Therefore, they have to use an Aircraft capable of Vertical or Rolling Take off and Landings using their own power. This is how the F-35B became the Jet selected for the RN Carriers. I genuinely cannot remember what came first, the Carrier or the Jet. But we ended up with the only jet that could work off our Carriers. The US Navy fly T-45 Goshawks off Carriers with Cats and Traps as part of their training role. The Gentleman above is suggesting had the Royal Navy brought Carriers with Cats and Traps they could also have brought T-45 Goshawks. However, being British that is obviously wrong, we would have gone back to BAe and asked them to design a unique British Sea Hawk... *Having ordered the Carriers under the last Labour Government as F-35B launch pads, the incoming Conservative Government then announced a review to look at going to Cats and Traps as was being pushed by many of the old and bald. This idea was abandoned as too much of a redesign issue I believe, having put the project on hold for at least a couple of years. However it is a subject that seems to come back round every couple of years, and I think there was yet another review announced this year linked to the need to launch UCAV in the future.... Somebody else can take on EMALS and Steam Powered Cats which I believe is the way ahead....I am not clever enough to explain that. Please note, some, none or all of the above maybe me spouting rubbish, but as already noted I cannot be bothered to Google. Rgds PLC

Bit harsh LOL............

I quite like the Luft scheme. The Air India comes into the 'could be worse' category.

Always wise after the event, I know the feeling...

Lovely work, but by heck, that is an ugly Aircraft. Didn't realise they were quite so big though. Good stuff.

I will be PM'ing you Carl for any info. My interest is stirred.......

Nice work there. Probably between the original CB1000R and this CB1100R my favourites Real Life Bikes. Remember seeing Ron Haslam, Joey Dunlop and Wayne Gardner racing these round Brands in the October Superbike meeting, Gardner switching the indicators on as he was going around the corners.

That JU88 painting. What a picture, a real flashback to young PLC1966 stood in the toy department in Williams and Griffins in Colchester High Street staring at the boxes.

Certainly Hawks were working out of a HAS on 19Sqn working with the Phantoms on Exercise @1988, Mixed Fighter Force I think it was called. I was working on the RAF Wyton Mobility Supply Flight when Tatty Ton went from Canberras to Hawks. We went from a deployable spares pack of probably ten or twelve Lacons and a big Main Wheel five feet tall to two Lacons and a didley wheel anybody could move. Like playing with a tonka toy in comparison to kit for the mighty Canberra.

Hi Terry, Welcome back to the Hobby. And keep quiet about the North Norfolk coast. One of the UK's best kept secrets, I love it round there.

Good stuff, the chequared rudder looks fine.

English Electric............lol

That is one heck of a collection. Are you single LOL...?

Yeah, like that. Must be great in the 'flesh' so as to speak.

As mentioned above there was the Jag shotdown by a Phantom in Germany. I knew an old Ex-Shack Ground Eng who said a mate and himself had taken a Pembroke for a trip around Wildenrath back in the 70's. He was a pretty straight up guy so I am inclined to believe him. And as for odd ejections, about 1989 on 19Sqn there was a Nav who jumped out the back of Phantom leaving the Pilot behind. Apparently, the Phantom had been training with a 360Sqn Camberra over the North German plain somewhere and the Phantom came out of the cloud that close to the Canberra the Nav ejected. They were that close the Canberra crew heard and felt the Nav's Canopy hit their jet.