The front runner's massive lead among the party faithful has me once again despairing that conservatives just don't get it (to recycle a criticism from a past election).

 

A wall...?!! It's going to take more than a wall. That's not even "thinking outside the box", and what it's really going to take is some thinking outside the perimeter wire. Like, say, some of that there "job creation" among those of my neighbors who give my part of town the nickname "Little Saigon", who probably won't be averse to a juicy government contract to import all those punji stakes, because it's going to require 1900-some-odd miles of those plus another 1900+ of concertina wire, with machine gun positions and four-deuce mortar pits every 50 meters or so with interlocking fields of fire, God knows how many Claymores and enough command-detonated 55-gallon drums of fougasse to force us back to those of odd/even plate number days at the pumps we all recall so fondly from the Seventies, with an unbroken chain of firebases a few miles to the rear to provide artillery support. And, if he's really serious about interdicting the Ho Chi Menendez Trail, we're going to need a 50-mile-deep free fire zone where if so much as a Mexican bean jumps, we ARC LIGHT every madref-----g grid square from Matamoros to Tiajuana.

 

But even all that is just TOO conservative, the sort of effort that's about 15/32nds short of a half-measure, precisely the kind of meaningless gesture that we've consistently seen out of congressional conservativettes under Crybaby Boehner and, from what I've seen so far, what we can continue to expect with the guy who's waffling between the Charles Atlas and Maynard G. Krebs look. Besides, it's a plan based on our weakness rather than playing on our strength. As Patton's romp through Europe in '44-45 proved, and was reconfirmed by the Gulf War and the initial phase of the Iraq War (and proven in the negative by Vietnam and Iraqistan since 2003), if there is one thing that the United States Army absolutely excels at, it's the division-level drive-by shooting.

 

Therefore, fuzzy-thinking Liberal that I've become, I propose a much more expansive Big Government Spending Program to SOLVE the problem. Namely, have everybody at Hood, Bliss, Riley and Carson mount up, head out the main gate and DRIVE SOUTH! I figure by the time 1st Cav and 1st Armored are holding at PHASE LINE AY CHIHUAHUA! six klicks south of Mexico City waiting for 1st and 4th ID to finish mopping up, security along el viejo Rio Grande will have become pretty much a non-issue.

 

On a serious note (and I do trust that everyone realizes that I had my tongue planted firmly in my cheek in writing the foregoing; well, except for the part about invading Mexico, of course--you can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the boy), what really worries me about the lunatic wing of the party's adoration of The Donald is that I don't trust him, and am just astounded that so many of them have been fooled into doing so.

 

To begin with, he IS a Republican, which means he talks a good fight but once he wins the election, taking the oath of office will be the only real accomplishment of his entire administration. If voting for those lying, double-dealing, two-faced, back-stabbing bastards for forty-plus years has taught me anything, it's that Richard Nixon was not only the first of them I ever voted for, he's still the best of them. And even he wimped out in the end. As the saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and Republicans only have one: roll over and play dead.

 

More importantly, I believe the most serious problem confronting the United States today is our shrinking middle class and their even-more-rapidly-shrinking real income. There is a reason "bourgeois" is the F-bomb equivalent in commie lexicon, and why so much commie agit-prop hammers at and attempts to discredit, destabilize, demoralize and destroy the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie, the middle class, are the backbone of the civilized world, and no Christian democracy can survive without them. They are most certainly what The Greatest Generation, who won WW II and then came home to make America the world power and Middle Class Heaven on Earth it was in the twenty years after, were. They're dying out, the number of their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren who have remained in their socioeconomic strata are becoming fewer and fewer every year, and those who remain find ourselves paying higher and higher prices to stay there, while working longer and longer hours at jobs that provide less and less real income to pay for the privilege. We have hit the point where we in the middle can no longer do a proper job of taking care of the poor, and certainly can't enjoy the dubious luxury of tolerating an increasingly self-indulgent wealthy class--especially an increasingly self-centered and unpatriotic CEO class. And I don't see The Donald as the man to do anything about it, unless it's everything in his power to make the situation even worse. As his supporters like to point out, he's a successful businessman. They are 100% right, of course, but they seem incapable of grasping the obvious, that that's precisely 100% the danger: he IS a successful businessman, and no successful businessman ever became a billionaire by giving a fat rat's ass about the working class, or failing to screw 'em over any way he could, every chance he got.

 

It's not that I don't understand his appeal to the party base. It's obviously symptomatic of our growing frustration with the unrelenting failure of the GOP to represent us in a meaningful way, to whine and bleat and blather incessantly about the problems but never, ever get them solved like we elected them to do, and in comparison to the others he does SEEM to be saying what needs to be said. I mean, after all those years hearing all that phony sincerity about "my respected colleague, my closest friend and esteemed opponent" being jabber-babbled on the debate stage, it IS kind of refreshing to hear The Donald make it plain that Carly Fiorina is so damned ugly he wouldn't do her with Jeb Bush's erectile dysfunction, nor would he piss up the rest of 'em's asses even if the sorry bastards' guts were on fire. But...if you listen between the lines, it's just the same old Crapola - Breakfast of Losers with a new picture on the box. Just like all the others, he's got his favorite Scripture passage, as if he wasn't a business man whose god is The Almighty Dollar and he worships no other (or as if you didn't have a better chance of finding a Christian child pornographer than a Christian politician), and, yes--rah-rah-rah it's a grand old flag!--him and his third or fourth or seventeenth or whichever mail order Bolshevik babushka he's on now love America with all their Red, White and Blue hearts. It's not a wall, it's a smokescreen, the same old hypocritical Bible Thumping and Flag Waving and Fear Mongering to keep us from seeing that we're getting the business as usual, and the only difference between him and the other betrayers is that he managed to finagle considerably more than thirty pieces of silver for his soul.

 

Presidents don't create jobs, businesses create jobs, and we only need to ask ourselves a few questions about The Donald's record as a "successful businessman"--and view the answers in light of the old business law, "The boss is always right", and its corollary, "Since the boss is incapable of error, if things are screwed up it must be because the boss wants them to be screwed up"--to know just how much we can expect out of a President Trump. So, how many steel workers have good jobs at the rolling mills of Trump Steel in Pittsburgh? How many engineers, stylists and assembly line workers are on the massive payroll at that massive Trump Motors plant in Detroit? How many pilots, mechanics, dispatchers, ticket agents and what have you are pocketing fat pay envelopes for keeping all those Boeing Triple-7s flying in Trump Airways International's scheduled service? How many engineers and machinists and sheet metal workers are making the big bucks at Trump Aerospace? How many train crews and track gangs and yard and backshop hands does the Trump Pacific R.R. have getting a good paychecks every week and looking forward to a comfortable pension--and how many crack passenger trains do they have in service? Once upon a time in America we had industries like that, industries that made us The Arsenal of Democracy and The Envy of the World, with millions of Americans having secure, and securely middle class, jobs in them, because American--that is, REAL American--Captains of Industry wanted things that way. We don't have them anymore, we have minimum wage plus tips service jobs instead, because The Donald and all his breed of Corporate Thugs found out they could maximize their personal profits by simply selling off--and selling out--their country. And now he wants us to reward his treason by giving him the most prestigious job in the world?

 

Because regulations prohibit the carrying of weapons in polling places, I may have to turn a one-off incident into a Family Tradition this time around. My great grandmother voted in every single election she could vote in from the time women got the vote until she died in the 1970s, except for one. In 1960, being a good Baptist she couldn't bring herself to vote for that papist Kennedy, but, being an Eleanor Roosevelt clone right down to the klunky toes of her sensible shoes, she sure as hell couldn't vote for "that snake in the grass Republican Nixon". I now have a much more sympathetic appreciation of her predicament. I sure as hell can't vote for that snake in the grass Republican Trump, and thanks to those aforementioned weapons laws, I can't hold a gun to my head and force myself to vote for Hillary.

 

On an artistic and historical note, those of you familiar with military history, and with the life of George S. Patton, Jr., in particular, may have looked at the helmet of our LUCKY (REEEEEEALLY) FORWARD heroine here and thought that, ever the stickler for uniform regulations, Patton wouldn't have tolerated a brigadier general (or a major general or a lieutenant general, for that matter) running around with the chin strap unhooked like that. But in this case he couldn't have said anything, because, if you'll look again, she's NOT a brigadier general. Altogether, she's wearing as many stars as Georgie had (although one of them IS a bit smaller, due to the limited room for maneuver in the area of operations, so to speak). Whatever his misgivings about her chin strap might have been, however, I'm pretty sure Old Blood'n'Guts would have looked favorably upon the kind of kick-ass pole dancing moves she could make in her spit-shined M1940 3-buckle cavalry boots!

Once again, DRS were contracted to transport aggregates to the Low Level Nuclear Waste Repository at Drigg in 2015 2016. A stockpile was created on ABP (Associated British Ports) land at Barrow Docks by Burlington Aggregates Ltd, (an amalgamation of local firms Neil Price Construction Services and the aggregates division of Burlington Slate Ltd). On 31 March, 6C21, the 1305 Drigg - Barrow docks, made up of 101.5 te glw JNA & MBA wagons stands on the Barrow Docks branch with 66434 at its head. 66433 is attached to the rear and will now begin to haul the train back through the Burlington Aggregates stockpile area for loading.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The AH-1 Cobra was developed in the mid-1960s as an interim gunship for the U.S. Army for use during the Vietnam War. The Cobra shared the proven transmission, rotor system, and the T53 turboshaft engine of the UH-1 "Huey". By June 1967, the first AH-1G HueyCobras had been delivered. Bell built 1,116 AH-1Gs for the U.S. Army between 1967 and 1973, and the Cobras chalked up over a million operational hours in Vietnam.

The U.S. Marine Corps was very interested in the AH-1G Cobra, too, but it preferred a twin-engine version for improved safety in over-water operations, and also wanted a more potent turret-mounted weapon. At first, the Department of Defense had balked at providing the Marines with a twin-engine version of the Cobra, in the belief that commonality with Army AH-1Gs outweighed the advantages of a different engine fit. However, the Marines won out and awarded Bell a contract for 49 twin-engine AH-1J SeaCobras in May 1968. As an interim measure the U.S. Army passed on thirty-eight AH-1Gs to the Marines in 1969. The AH-1J also received a more powerful gun turret with a three-barrel 20 mm XM197 cannon based on the six-barrel M61 Vulcan cannon.

 

During the 1990s, the US forces gradually phased out its Cobra fleet. The withdrawn AH-1s were typically offered to other potential operators, usually NATO allies. Some were also given to the USDA's Forest Service for fire surveillance, and a handful AH-1s went into private hands, including the NASA. Among these airframes were some USMC AH-1Js, which had in part been mothballed in the Mojave Desert since their replacement through more powerful and modern AH-1 variants and the AH-64.

About twenty airframes were, after having been de-militarized, bought by the Kaman Corporation in 2003, in a bold move to quickly respond to more than 20 inquiries for the company’s K-1200 ‘K-Max’ crane synchropter since the type’s end of production in 2001 from firefighting, logging and industry transport requirements. While not such a dedicated medium lift helicopter as the K-1200, which had from the outset been optimized for external cargo load operations, the twin-engine AH-1J promised to be a very effective alternative and a powerful basis for a conversion into a crane helicopter.

 

The result of this conversion program was the Kaman K-1300, also known as the “K-Cobra” or “Crane Cobra”. While the basic airframe of the AH-1J was retained, extensive detail modifications were made. To reduce weight and compensate for the extensive hardware changes, the SeaCobra lost its armor, the chin turret, and the stub wings. Beyond that, many invisible changes were made; the internal structure between the engine mounts was beefed up with an additional cage structure and a cargo hook was installed under the fuselage in the helicopter’s center of lift.

 

To further optimize the K-Cobra’s performance, the dynamic components were modified and improved, too. While the engine remained the same, its oil cooler was enlarged and the original output limit to 1.500 shp was removed and the gearbox was strengthened to fully exploit the twin-engine’s available power of 1,800 shp (1,342 kW). The rotor system was also modified and optimized for the transport of underslung loads: the original UH-1 dual-blade rotors were replaced with new four-blade rotors. The new main rotor with rugged heavy-duty blades offered more lift at less rotor speed, and the blades’ lift sections were moved away from the hub so that downwash and turbulences directly under the helicopter’s CoG and man hook were reduced to keep the cargo load more stable. Due to the main rotor’s slightly bigger diameter the tail rotor was changed into a slightly smaller four-blade rotor, too. This new arrangement made the K-1300 more stable while hovering or during slow speed maneuvers and more responsive to steering input.

 

The Cobra’s crew of two was retained, but the cockpit was re-arranged and split into two compartments: the pilot retained the original rear position in the tandem cockpit under the original glazing, but the gunner’s station in front of him, together with the secondary dashboard, was omitted and replaced by a new, fully glazed cabin under the former gunner position. This cabin occupied the former gun station and its ammunition supply and contained a rearward-facing workstation for a second pilot with full controls. It was accessible via a separate door or a ladder from above, through a trap door in the former gunner’s station floor, where a simple foldable bench was available for a third person. This arrangement was chosen due to almost complete lack of oversight of the slung load from the normal cockpit position, despite a CCTV (closed circuit television) system with two cameras intended for observation of slung loads. The second pilot would control the helicopter during delicate load-handling maneuvers, while the primary pilot “above” would fly the helicopter during transfer flights, both sharing the workload.

 

To accommodate the cabin under the fuselage and improve ground handling, the AH-1J’s skids were replaced by a stalky, fixed four-wheel landing gear that considerably increased ground clearance (almost 7 feet), making the attachment of loads on the ground to the main ventral hook easier, as the K-1300 could be “rolled over” the cargo on the ground and did not have to hover above it to connect. However, an external ladder had to be added so that the pilot could reach his/her workstation almost 10 feet above the ground.

 

The bulky ventral cabin, the draggy landing gear and the new lift-optimized rotor system reduced the CraneCobra’s top speed by a third to just 124 mph (200 km/h), but the helicopter’s load-carrying capacity became 35% higher and the Cobra’s performance under “hot & high” conditions was markedly improved, too.

For transfer flights, a pair of external auxiliary tanks could be mounted to the lower fuselage flanks, which could also be replaced with cargo boxes of similar size and shape.

 

K-1300 buyers primarily came from the United States and Canada, but there were foreign operators, too. A major operator in Europe became Heliswiss, the oldest helicopter company in Switzerland. The company was founded as „Heliswiss Schweizerische Helikopter AG“, with headquarters in Berne-Belp on April 17, 1953, what also marked the beginning of commercial helicopter flying in Switzerland. During the following years Heliswiss expanded in Switzerland and formed a network with bases in Belp BE, Samedan GR, Domat Ems GR, Locarno TI, Erstfeld UR, Gampel VS, Gstaad BE and Gruyères FR. During the build-up of the rescue-company Schweizerische Rettungsflugwacht (REGA) as an independent network, Heliswiss carried out rescue missions on their behalf.

 

Heliswiss carried out operations all over the world, e. g. in Greenland, Suriname, North Africa and South America. The first helicopter was a Bell 47 G-1, registered as HB-XAG on September 23, 1953. From 1963 Heliswiss started to expand and began to operate with medium helicopters like the Agusta Bell 204B with a turbine power of 1050 HP and an external load of up to 1500 kg. From 1979 Heliswiss operated a Bell 214 (external load up to 2.8 t).

Since 1991 Heliswiss operated a Russian Kamov 32A12 (a civil crane version of the Ka-27 “Helix”), which was joined by two K-1300s in 2004. They were frequently used for construction of transmission towers for overhead power lines and pylons for railway catenary lines, for selective logging and also as fire bombers with underslung water bags, the latter managed by the German Helog company, operating out of Ainring and Küssnacht in Germany and Switzerland until 2008, when Helog changed its business focus into a helicopter flight training academy in Liberia with the support of Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

A second Kamov 32A12 joined the fleet in 2015, which replaced one of the K-1300s, and Heliswiss’ last K-1300 was retired in early 2022.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2, plus space for a passenger

Length: 54 ft 3 in (16,56 m) including rotors

44 ft 5 in (13.5 m) fuselage only

Main rotor diameter: 46 ft 2¾ in (14,11 m)

Main rotor area: 1,677.64 sq ft (156,37 m2)

Width (over landing gear): 12 ft 6 in (3.85 m)

Height: 17 ft 8¼ in (5,40 m)

Empty weight: 5,810 lb (2,635 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 9,500 lb (4,309 kg) without slung load

13,515 lb (6,145 kg) with slung load

 

Powerplant:

1× P&W Canada T400-CP-400 (PT6T-3 Twin-Pac) turboshaft engine, 1,800 shp (1,342 kW)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 124 mph (200 km/h, 110 kn)

Cruise speed: 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn)

Range: 270 mi (430 km, 230 nmi) with internal fuel only,

360 mi (570 km 310 nmi) with external auxiliary tanks

Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

Hovering ceiling out of ground effect: 3,000 m (9,840 ft)

Rate of climb: 2,500 ft/min (13 m/s) at Sea Level with flat-rated torque

 

External load capacity (at ISA +15 °C (59.0 °F):

6,000 lb (2,722 kg) at sea level

5,663 lb (2,569 kg) at 5,000 ft (1,524 m)

5,163 lb (2,342 kg) at 10,000 ft (3,048 m)

5,013 lb (2,274 kg) at 12,100 ft (3,688 m)

4,313 lb (1,956 kg) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

  

The kit and its assembly:

This is/was the second contribution to the late 2022 “Logistics” Group Build at whatifmodellers.com, a welcome occasion and motivation to tackle a what-if project that had been on my list for a long while. This crane helicopter conversion of a HueyCobra was inspired by the Mil Mi-10K helicopter – I had built a 1:100 VEB Plasticart kit MANY years ago and still remembered the helicopter’s unique ventral cabin under the nose with a rearward-facing second pilot. I always thought that the AH-1 might be a good crane helicopter, too, esp. the USMC’s twin-engine variant. And why not combine everything in a fictional model?

 

With this plan the basis became a Fujimi 1:72 AH-1J and lots of donor parts to modify the basic hull into “something else”. Things started with the removal of the chin turret and part of the lower front hull to make space for the ventral glass cabin. The openings for the stub wings were faired over and a different stabilizer (taken from a Revell EC 135, including the end plates) was implanted. The attachment points for the skids were filled and a styrene tube was inserted into the rotor mast opening to later hold the new four-blade rotor. Another styrene tube with bigger diameter was inserted into the lower fuselage as a display holder adapter for later flight scene pictures. Lead beads filled the nose section to make sure the CraneCobra would stand well on its new legs, with the nose down. The cockpit was basically taken OOB, just the front seat and the respective gunner dashboard was omitted.

 

One of the big challenges of this build followed next: the ventral cabin. Over the course of several months, I was not able to find a suitable donor, so I was forced to scratch the cabin from acrylic and styrene sheet. Size benchmark became the gunner’s seat from the Cobra kit, with one of the OOB pilots seated. Cabin width was less dictated through the fuselage, the rest of the cabin’s design became a rather simple, boxy thing – not pretty, but I think a real-life retrofitted cabin would not look much different? Some PSR was done to hide the edges of the rather thick all-clear walls and create a 3D frame - a delicate task. Attaching the completed thing with the second pilot and a dashboard under the roof to the Cobra’s lower hull and making it look more or less natural without major accidents was also a tricky and lengthy affair, because I ignored the Cobra’s narrowing nose above the former chin turret.

 

With the cabin defining the ground helicopter’s clearance, it was time for the next donors: the landing gear from an Airfix 1:72 Kamow Ka-25, which had to be modified further to achieve a proper stance. The long main struts were fixed to the hull, their supporting struts had to be scratched, in this case from steel wire. The front wheels were directly attached to the ventral cabin (which might contain in real life a rigid steel cage that not only protects the second crew member but could also take the front wheels’ loads?). Looks pretty stalky!

Under the hull, a massive hook and a fairing for the oil cooler were added. A PE brass ladder was mounted on the right side of the hull under the pilot’s cockpit, while a rear-view mirror was mounted for the ventral pilot on the left side.

 

The rotor system was created in parallel, I wanted “something different” from the UH-1 dual-blade rotors. The main rotor hub was taken from a Mistercraft 1:72 Westland Lynx (AFAIK a re-boxed ZTS Plastyk kit), which included the arms up to the blades. The hub was put onto a metal axis, with a spacer to make it sit well in the new styrene tube adapter inside of the hull, and some donor parts from the Revell EC 135. Deeper, tailored blades were glued to the Lynx hub, actually leftover parts from the aforementioned wrecked VEB Plasticart 1:100 Mi-10, even though their length had to be halved (what makes you aware how large a Mi-6/10 is compared with an AH-1!). The tail rotor was taken wholesale from the Lynx and stuck to the Cobra’s tail with a steel pin.

  

Painting and markings:

Another pushing factor for this build was the fact that I had a 1:72 Begemot aftermarket decal sheet for the Kamow Ka-27/32 in The Stash™, which features, among many military helicopters, (the) two civil Heliswiss machines – a perfect match!

Using the Swiss Helix’ as design benchmark I adapted their red-over-white paint scheme to the slender AH-1 and eventually ended up with a simple livery with a white belly (acrylic white from the rattle can, after extensive masking of the clear parts with Maskol/latex milk) and a red (Humbrol 19) upper section, with decorative counter-colored cheatlines along the medium waterline. A black anti-glare panel was added in front of the windscreen. The auxiliary tanks were painted white, too, but they were processed separately and mounted just before the final coat of varnish was applied. The PE ladder as well as the rotors were handled similarly.

 

The cockpit and rotor opening interior were painted in a very dark grey (tar black, Revell 06), while the interior of the air intakes was painted bright white (Revell 301). The rotor blades became light grey (Revell 75) with darker leading edges (Humbrol 140), dark grey (Humbrol 164) hubs and yellow tips.

 

For the “HELOG/Heliswiss” tagline the lower white section had to be raised to a medium position on the fuselage, so that they could be placed on the lower flanks under the cockpit. The white civil registration code could not be placed on the tail and ended up on the engine cowling, on red, but this does not look bad or wrong at all.

The cheatlines are also decals from the Ka-32 Begemot sheet, even though they had to be trimmed considerably to fit onto the Cobra’s fuselage – and unfortunately the turned out to be poorly printed and rather brittle, so that I had to improvise and correct the flaws with generic red and white decal lines from TL Modellbau. The white cross on the tail and most stencils came from the Begemot sheet, too. Black, engine soot-hiding areas on the Cobra’s tail were created with generic decal sheet material, too.

 

The rotor blades and the wheels received a black ink treatment to emphasize their details, but this was not done on the hull to avoid a dirty or worn look. After some final details like position lights the model was sealed with semi-matt acrylic varnish, while the rotors became matt.

  

A weird-looking what-if model, but somehow a crane-copter variant of the AH-1 looks quite natural – even more so in its attractive red-and-white civil livery. The stalky landing gear is odd, though, necessitated by the ventral cabin for the second pilot. I was skeptical, but scratching the latter was more successful than expected, and the cabin blend quite well into the AH-1 hull, despite its boxy shape.

 

Kumeu Truck Show. 18 Nov 2017

Kumeu Truck Show. 18 Nov 2017

When I saw that the P5 was going to Abellio, I knew instantly that the 484 was going to Go-Ahead. And it’s turned out to be true. Next March, the old Darts will go and be replaced by E200ev units, similar to the ones on the 100.

 

This is the oldest unit currently at Walworth (WL) and riding on these units, you get reminded why they rattle so much at stops and feel more than a bit tired overall. I wonder if the P13 will change operator as well. Could open the door for Abellio to take a Central route.

 

YX10EBC (8322) is at East Dulwich Station on a morning run to Lewisham via Nunhead and Brockley.

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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.

    

On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.

  

These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, a Nikon D850 FX Pro body as my trusted companion, I travel light with less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 31.569+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 15th 2018

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1066539090 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,538th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty nine metres at 13:43pm on Friday 9th November 2018, off Bjoovegur 1 at Skógafoss waterfall situated on the Skógá River in the South of Iceland at the cliffs of what once was the coastline. The coastline has now receded a distance of approximately five kilometres from Skógar.

  

The waterfall is one of Icelands largest, with a width of fifteen metres and a drop of around two hundred feet.Icelandic legend tells of the first Viking settler in the area, Þrasi Þórólfsson, who buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. Locals salvaged only a ring from the chest of treasure which is now located in the Skógar museum.

 

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Nikon D850 Focal length 35mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/20s Aperture f/4.5 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 63d 31m 52.40s

LONGITUDE: W 19d 30m 43.90s

ALTITUDE: 39.0m

  

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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.1MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 21.20MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB DATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

N251FL - Boeing B-727-22C - Contract Air Cargo

(leased from International Trading Co. of Yukon Inc.)

at Hamilton International Airport (YHM) in March 2008

 

c/n 19.204 - built in 1967 for United Airlines -

operated by Kelowna Flightcraft as C-GKFZ for PUROLATOR between 03/1994 and 2004 -

leased to Contract Air Cargo

 

After the end of the lease the aircraft was slowly parted out by Kelowna Flightcraft at YHM and was finally scrapped in 2008 - a sad sight.

 

The current N251FL of IFL Group might go the same way (currently stored at YHM).

 

scanned from Kodachrome-slide

Seen in June 2005 Aircoach liveried Scania/Irizar 01KY2174 is seen departing Dublin City Centre bound for Cork, if my memory serves me correct i think some coaches were contracted in or came from a company that ceased trading in Kerry, this one is a very highly speced( Full Leather Seats) . Back then Aircoah operated the Portlaoise Dublin Airport service but it wash' viable, today Dublin Coach operate this service and is quite successful, what a difference 9 years makes!!

Reading Buses Vodafone Contract branded 21 YN17ONF Scania K250UB4 bodied Irizar i3 based at the Newbury depot on Boundary Road at the time. It was originally new to Newbury (Reading Buses) in 2017 as part of a batch of 6 for use on the Vodafone HQ Contract in and around Newbury. It is seen on show at Reading Buses open day in 2018 these interior shots show how Reading spec buses these to what Vodafone wanted for the Contract including Black and Red high back half leather seats, big litter bin, USBs and Free WIFI.

M40 Bucknell 27/03/2018

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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.

    

On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.

  

These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, a Nikon D850 FX Pro body as my trusted companion, I travel light with less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 32.454+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on December 12th 2018

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1080233028 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,665th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Twenty three metres at 10:36pm on Friday 9th November 2018, off Þjóðvegur 1 , the ring road which connects most of the inhabited parts of Iceland, just past Seljalandsfoss heading towards Ásólfsskáli in southern Iceland.

  

This is one of many small unamed waterfalls that fall from the vulcanic mountains along the ring road.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 86mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/125s (Electronic front-curtain) Aperture f/4.5 iso1000 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 63d 36m 3.40s

LONGITUDE: W 19d 58m 55.30s

ALTITUDE: 23.0m

  

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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.5MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 25.10MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB DATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Viscount Travel based in North Yorkshire have been hiring vehicles and assisting Yorkshire Buses covering some service and contracts for a while. They recently repainted this Alexander MAN single decker in this very attractive livery of yesteryear. How smart and professional the whole image looks, even a programmed destination. Not many of this model have found new owners since they fell out of favour with stagecoach. This is P1OTL ! ( KX09BHE ) operating Yorkshire Buses L57 from Lawnswood to Bramley.

A move of contract cars including those of McKinley Explorer and Princess Cruise lines departs the Denali station and heads north toward Fairbanks. The ARR does a good amount of business during the summer (in 2010 it did anyway) with these operations. Lodges along the line at Talkeetna and Denali host cruise passengers and the connections with air travel at Fairbanks and Anchorage and direct service to cruise ships at Whittier, Anchorage, and Seward make for a very dynamic operation. The forest of conifers, aspen and alders make for a nice mosaic of shades of greens.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications.

 

Sally B / Memphis Belle. B17 bomber - Duxford, ENGLAND 2018

 

(Wikipedia)

Sally B is the name of an airworthy 1945-built Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, it is the only airworthy B-17 left in Europe, as well as one of three B-17s in the United Kingdom. The aircraft is based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, England, Sally B flies at airshows in the UK and across Europe as well as serving as an airborne memorial to the United States Army Air Forces airmen who lost their lives in the European theatre during World War II.

The aircraft was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 19 June 1945 as 44-85784, too late to see active service in the war. After being converted to both a TB-17G training variant and then an EB-17G it was struck off charge in 1954. In 1954 the Institut Géographique National in France bought the plane for use as a survey aircraft. In 1975 it moved to England and was registered with the CAA as G-BEDF to be restored to wartime condition.

The Sally B was first fitted with accurate gun turrets and other much needed additions for her role as Ginger Rogers, a B-17 bomber of the fictitious bomber unit featured in the 1981 LWT series We'll Meet Again.

During the winter of 1983–84, Sally B was painted in an olive drab and neutral grey colour scheme, in place of the bare metal scheme she had worn since construction, in order to protect the airframe from the damp UK weather. At the same time, she received the markings of the 447th Bomb Group.

The Sally B was used in the 1990 film Memphis Belle as one of five flying B-17s needed for various film scenes, and it was used to replicate the real Memphis Belle in one scene. Half of the aircraft is still in the Memphis Belle livery, following restoration of the Sally B nose art and the black and yellow checkerboard pattern on the cowling of the starboard inner (no 3) engine, carried as a tribute to Elly Sallingboe's companion Ted White, whose Harvard aircraft had the same pattern on its cowling. Sally B was reworked to B-17F configuration for filming.

Since 1985, Sally B has been operated by Elly Sallingboe's 'B-17 Preservation Ltd and maintained by Chief Engineer Peter Brown and a team of volunteers. The aircraft is flown by volunteer experienced professional pilots. The B17 Charitable Trust exists to raise funds to keep the plane flying. In 2008, Elly Sallingboe was awarded the Transport Trust 'Lifetime Achievement Award' in recognition of over thirty years of dedication to the preservation and operation of Britain's only airworthy Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as a flying memorial to the tens of thousands of American aircrew who lost their lives in her sister aircraft during the Second World War.

One of the key events in the flying calendar for Sally B is an annual tribute flypast following the Memorial Day service at the American Military Cemetery at Madingley, Cambridge. This takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Flypasts over former Eighth Air Force bases are also carried out whenever possible during the summer months.

twitter.com/KeltruckLtd/status/990148390930481152

 

New #Scania XT G410 joins the Scania only #Prichards fleet #TomPrichard #TomPrichardContacting #Llantrisant #Wales #SouthWales #Cymru #CF72 #ScaniaXT prichardholdings.co.uk

 

Cracking job, Peter Harris!

 

#SuppliedByKeltruck keltruckscania.com/suppliedbykeltruck

Vanquish Contracting Corp Demolition Specialist Mack RD/Leach 2rll

Still strying out my protos. Also, this is the start of a new faction, I will be working on.

twitter.com/prichards1995/status/1101452418695479296

March 1st can only mean one thing... three brand new trucks have arrived and are out on the road! #Prichards #growingfleet #19plates #scania #suppliedbykeltruck

How to Heal Mindfully if Your Candidate Loses t.co/3E4CNnAxjx via @GoodNewsNetwork (via Twitter twitter.com/GehresLaw/status/807858964037767168)

@20110430 鎌倉市/扇ガ谷　Gf670+Portra400

maccontracting.co.uk

Dutch postcard by Takken, no. 1560. Photo: Paramount.

 

Yesterday, 29 November 2021, elegant American actress Arlene Dahl (1925) passed away. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The former MGM star achieved notability during the 1950s. She has three children, the eldest of whom is actor Lorenzo Lamas. Arlene Dahl was 96.

 

Arlene Carol Dahl was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1925. She was the daughter of Idelle (née Swan) and Rudolph S. Dahl, a Ford Motor dealer and executive. Dahl's mother was involved in local amateur theatre. As a child, Dahl took elocution and dancing lessons and was active in theatrical events at Margaret Fuller Elementary School, Ramsey Junior High School, and Washburn Senior High School. After graduating from Washburn High School. The following year, she was voted Miss Rheingold Beer of 1946. The Rheingold ad campaign was one of the most famous beer campaigns from the 1940s through the 1950s. There was a Miss Rheingold contest each year, and by the early 1950s, more than 25 million votes were cast annually. The winner received a cash payment as well as a modeling contract and many other opportunities. Dahl held various jobs, including performing in a local drama group and briefly working as a model for department stores. Dahl briefly attended the University of Minnesota, and then went to Chicago where she was a buyer for Marshall and Brown and worked as a model. She travelled to New York where she successfully auditioned for a part in the play Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston. This led to her getting the lead in another play, Questionable Ladies which was seen by a talent scout from Hollywood. Dahl had an uncredited bit in Life with Father (1947). She was promoted to leading lady in My Wild Irish Rose (David Butler, 1947) with Dennis Morgan. The film was a big hit and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1948. This led to an offer from MGM for a long-term contract. At MGM she played a supporting role in the romantic comedy The Bride Goes Wild (Norman Taurog, 1948). She remained there to play the female lead in a Red Skelton comedy A Southern Yankee (Edward Sedgwick, 1948). Both were very popular. Eagle-Lion hired her to star as the female lead in Reign of Terror (Anthony Mann, 1949), then at MGM she acted opposite Van Johnson in the Film Noir Scene of the Crime (Roy Rowland, 1949), Robert Taylor in the Western Ambush (Sam Wood, 1950), Joel McCrea in The Outriders (Roy Rowland, 1950), Fred Astaire and Skelton in the musical Three Little Words (Richard Thorpe, 1950), and Skelton again in Watch the Birdie (Jack Donohue, 1950). Of these MGM films, only The Outriders was not profitable.

 

MGM gave Arlene Dahl the lead in several B-films, such as the drama Inside Straight (Gerald Mayer, 1951) and the Film Noir No Questions Asked (Harold F. Kress, 1951). Both flopped. Dahl was hired by Pine-Thomas Productions who signed her to a multi-picture contract and put her in a swashbuckler with John Payne, Caribbean Gold (Edward Ludwig, 1952). She went to Universal to co-star with Alan Ladd in a French Foreign Legion story, Desert Legion (Joseph Pevney, 1953), then Pine-Thomas used her again in Jamaica Run (Lewis R. Forster, 1953) opposite Ray Milland, and Sangaree (Edward Ludwig, 1953). In the latter, Paramount's first 3-Dimensional film release, Fernando Lamas starred. Lamas and Dahl soon marred. She supported Bob Hope in the comedy Here Come the Girls (Claude Binyon, 1953). Dahl and Lamas reunited on the adventure film The Diamond Queen (John Brahm, 1953) at Warners. In 1953 Dahl played Roxanne on stage in a short-lived revival of Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jose Ferrer. Dahl played the ambitious Carol Talbot in Woman's World (Jean Negulesco, 1954) at Fox, and she was Rock Hudson's leading lady in Universal's adventure war film Bengal Rifles (Laslo Benedek, 1954). She began writing a syndicated beauty column in 1952 and opened Arlene Dahl Enterprises in 1954, marketing cosmetics and designer lingerie. Dahl began appearing on television, including episodes of Lux Video Theatre and The Ford Television Theatre. In 1954, she played Ilsa in a TV adaptation of Casablanca. She and John Payne were reunited in a Film Noir, Slightly Scarlet (Allan Dwan, 1956), alongside Rhonda Fleming, another red-haired star. Dahl made some films in England for Columbia: Wicked as They Come (Ken Hughes, 1956) and Fortune Is a Woman (Sidney Gilliat, 1957) with Jack Hawkins. In 1957 she sued Columbia for $1 million saying the film's advertisements for Wicked as They Come were "lewd" and "degraded" her. A judge threw out the suit. Dahl hosted the short-lived TV series Opening Night (1958) and had the female lead in the adventure film Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henry Levin, 1959), opposite James Mason and Pat Boone. She was injured on set making the latter, but it turned out to be one of her most successful films.

 

In 1960, Arlene Dahl played the role of Lucy Belle in the episode 'That Taylor Affair' of Riverboat, alongside Darren McGavin. The same year she married Texas oilman Christian Holmes and announced her retirement from acting. The marriage did not last but Dahl increasingly diversified her work to become a lecturer, and beauty consultant as well as continuing her acting. She had a supporting role in Kisses for My President (Curtis Bernhardt, 1964) and could be seen on TV in Burke's Law, and Theatre of Stars. In the cinema, Dahl appeared in the French drama Du blé en liasses/Big Bank Roll (Alain Brunet, 1969) opposite Marcel Dalio and Jean Richard, the French-Italian crime-drama Les Chemins de Katmandou/The Pleasure Pit (André Cayatte, 1969) with Renaud Verley and Jane Birkin, and the Western The Land Raiders (Nathan Juran, 1970), starring Telly Savalas. Dahl returned to Broadway in the early 1970s, replacing Lauren Bacall in the role of Margo Channing in Applause. On TV, she appeared in a TV movie The Deadly Dream (Alf Kjellin, 1971) with Janet Leigh, and guest-starred on Love, American Style (1971), Jigsaw John (1976), Fantasy Island (1981), and The Love Boat (1979-1987). Her focus was on business by now. After closing her company in 1967, she began working as a vice president at ad agency Kenyon and Eckhardt that same year. Dahl moved to Sears Roebuck as director of beauty products in 1970, earning nearly $750,000 annually, but left in 1975 to found her short-lived fragrance company Dahlia. In 1981, Dahl declared bankruptcy. From 1981-1984, Dahl appeared on the soap opera One Life to Live as Lucinda Schenck Wilson. The character was planned as a short-termed role (she guest-starred from late 1981 to early 1982 and in late 1982), but Dahl was later offered a one-year contract to appear on the series from September 1983 to October 1984. Later, she starred in the film A Place to Hide (Scott Thomas, 1988) opposite Dana Ashbrook.

 

Arlene Dahl was married six times. In the early 1950s, she met actor Lex Barker; they wed in 1951 and divorced the following year. Dahl went on to marry another matinee idol, Fernando Lamas. In 1958, Dahl and Lamas had their only child, Lorenzo Lamas. Shortly after giving birth to Lorenzo, Dahl slowed and eventually ended her career as an actress, although she still appeared in films and on television occasionally. Dahl and Lamas divorced in 1960, and Dahl later remarried. In addition to Lorenzo Lamas, Dahl has two other children: a daughter Christina Carole Holmes (1961) by third husband Christian R. Holmes, and a second son, Rounsevelle Andreas Schaum (1970), by her fifth husband, Rounsevelle W. Schaum. Her fourth husband was Alexis Lichine (1964-1969). Dahl has been married to Marc Rosen, a packaging designer, since 1984. She has six grandchildren, one of whom is Shayne Lamas, and two great-grandchildren. In 1980, she entered the field of astrology, writing a syndicated column and later operating a premium phone line company. Dahl has written more than two dozen books on the topics of beauty and astrology. Her last feature film role was in Night of the Warrior (Rafal Zielinski, 1991), which starred her son, Lorenzo Lamas. Dahl also guest-starred on episodes of the TV shows Renegade (1995-1997) and Air America (1999), which also starred her son. And she had a role in the soap opera All My Children (1995). Arlene Dahl divided her time between New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. She passed away in Manhattan, New York City.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

What happens when two models are contracted to do the same photoshoot by mistake? Harry Emmalong, the unfortunate fashion photographer found out when sisters Flambo and Gissles Lank turned up at the same time.

 

The plan had been a simple shot, featuring an armchair by the newly formed furniture company, Shabby Sheik. However, both women were determined they should be the model employed, not accepting it to be a back-office mistake.

 

Harry said "Frankly, I just let them argue it out amongst themselves. There was much squealing from the back room, and afterwards I found tufts of hair all over the floor. But I wasn't going to get involved".

 

Eventually, Harry took this shot of the pair trying to force themselves into the same chair. It was as good he was going to get that day, especially as they broke the chair.

 

Shabby Sheik were delighted with the picture, and paid both girls half the amount.

 

On receiving the news of this, there was much squealing from the back room.

Ousted by the low-floor revolution, a brace of new to Manchester Volvo B10s await their fates at Lillyhall.

Used for an article about a pension fund for freelancers: www.24oranges.nl/2014/05/17/a-pension-for-freelancers/

 

Photo by Branko Collin.

The contract between ESA and Arianespace to launch the ADM-Aeolus satellite was signed on 22 July 2016 by ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Josef Aschbacher, (right) and CEO of Arianespace, Stéphane Israël, (left) in the presence of Jan Woerner, ESA Director General, (centre), at ESA headquarters in Paris, France. Aeolus will be launched on a Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana at the end of 2017. Using novel laser technology, this new mission will provide profiles of wind, aerosols and clouds to advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and to improve weather forecasts.

 

Read more: Vega to launch ESA’s wind mission

 

Credit: ESA–Nadia Imbert-Vier, 2016

Optare Solo M850SL . B26F

 

New to First Somerset & Avon 53817 during May-2005 . Acquired by this Operator , early Spring-2021 .

 

SGZ2223 is working into Bishop's Stortford on Essex County Contracted Route 7A , from Stansted Airport .

 

Dunmow Road , Hockerill , Bishop's Stortford , Hertfordshire .

 

Wednesday afternoon 21st-April-2021

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

 

Some background:

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber, designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades.

Beginning with the successful contract bid in June 1946, the B-52 design evolved from a straight wing aircraft powered by six turboprop engines to the final prototype YB-52 with eight turbojet engines and swept wings. The B-52 took its maiden flight in April 1952. Built to carry nuclear weapons for Cold War-era deterrence missions by the United States Air Force (USAF), the B-52 Stratofortress replaced the Convair B-36. A veteran of several wars, the B-52 has dropped only conventional munitions in combat, capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg) of weapons.

 

The B-52 has been in active service with the USAF since 1955. The bombers flew under the Strategic Air Command (SAC) until it was inactivated in 1992 and its aircraft absorbed into the Air Combat Command (ACC). In 2010 all B-52 Stratofortresses were transferred from the ACC to the new Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC).

 

Superior performance at high subsonic speeds and relatively low operating costs have kept the B-52 in service despite the advent of later, more advanced aircraft, including the canceled Mach 3 B-70 Valkyrie, the variable-geometry B-1 Lancer, and the stealth B-2 Spirit. The B-52 has so far completed sixty years of continuous service with its original operator, and after being upgraded between 2013 and 2015, it is expected to serve with the USAF even into the 2040s, maybe even beyond that.

 

The only foreign operator of the B-52 had been the Royal Air Force in the 1980ies and 19990ies, and just in a small number. After the USAF's retirement of the earlier B-52 types, the remaining G and H models were used for nuclear standby ("alert") duty as part of the United States' nuclear triad. This triad was the combination of nuclear-armed land-based missiles, submarine-based missiles and manned bombers.

 

After the end of the Falkland War, the Royal Air Force withdrew its final long-range bomber type, the Avro Vulcan - which was to be replaced by the MRCA Tornado which was designed to a totally different tactical profile. Fearing the loss of international influence, the Ministry of Defence decided to fill this gap and leased twelve revamped and heavily modified B-52Gs from the USA. This was a convenient deal for both sides, since these bombers were earmarked to be scrapped per the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

 

These modified aircraft were designated B-52K by Boeing, while the RAF officially called them later in service Stratofortress B.I, even though B-52K was more common. Most obvious change was the introduction of new engines. The B-52K benefited from a Boeing study for the U.S. Air Force in the mid-1970s which investigated replacing the original TF33 engines, changing to a new wing, and other improvements to upgrade B-52G/H aircraft as an alternative to the B-1A, then in development. Boeing had suggested re-engining the complete USAF B-52 fleet with four Rolls-Royce RB211 535E-4 each. The RB211 had originally been developed for the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar in the early 1970ies, but also saw use with several Boeing airliners, the "535" being a special development for the 757 airliner.

 

This new, bigger engine would not only improve overall weight and power (total thrust 8× 17,000 lb vs .4× 37,400 lb), it would also increase range and reduce fuel consumption and simplify the whole aircraft. Despite these direct benefits the USAF did not opt for this offer: the costs for aircraft modifications, infrastructure, logistics and also for the running operations of the complete fleet would have been prohibitively high, as well as only a partial conversion. For the UK, where the weapon system was to be introduced from scratch and also on a much smaller scale, the update made sense, though.

Boeing supported the British project, since the company expected to present the UK conversion as a field case study for potential later large-scale sales to the USAF. This included extensive wind tunnel testing, in order to optimize the engine pylons. These tests also demonstrated that the new four-engined aircraft may not have enough rudder authority to counter the adverse yaw generated by an outboard engine-out scenario. As a consequence, an enlarged fin was (re-)introduced, even though it was different from the earlier B-52 variants. Actually, as a cost saving measure, fin elements from the Boeing 747 airliner were used - and its integral tank enhanced the overall fuel capacity even further.

 

The ex-USAF B-52Gs converted into K models were taken from surplus stock that not been modified into cruise missile carriers, they were rather conventional bombers with nuclear capabilities - its main purpose for the RAF. A secondary role were martime operations like mine laying or missile attacks against surface ships over long distances.

 

Hence, the RAF aircraft underwent a series of modifications to improve conventional bombing and to adapt them to RAF standards. They were fitted with a new Integrated Conventional Stores Management System (ICSMS) and new underwing pylons that could hold larger bombs or other stores, including up to twelve AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The B-52K also introduced new radios, integrated Global Positioning System into the aircraft's navigation system and replaced. The under-nose FLIR was retained, even though with a modernized system. A fixed refluelling probe for the RAF's drogue system was installed on top of the cockpit section (earn ing the B-52K the nickname "unicorn"), and the tail gun station was deleted and replaced with ECM equipment and flare/chaff dispensers.

 

Delivery started in 1990, and the B-52K was just too late to become operational during the First Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm), in which RAF Tornados took part in, though, as well as USAF B-52s. In fact, the modified BUFF took three years to become fully operational, despite - or perhaps because of - the small fleet. In parallel, the Tornado was gradually introduced, too.

Eventually, the B-52Ks were baptized with fire: in 1999, when 'Operation Allied Force' began and USAF and RAF bombers bombarded Serb targets throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - even though with mixed success, since more than 600 of the 1.000 bombs dropped by the RAF during the Kosovo conflict missed their target, the Ministry of Defence admitted in 2000.

 

In 2003 the B-52Ks also took part in the invasion of Iraq as part of 'Operation Telic'. The Iraqi Forces were unable to mobilize their air force to attempt a defense, and the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Naval Aviation, as well as the Royal Air Force, operated with impunity throughout the country, pinpointing heavily defended resistance targets and destroying them before ground troops arrived.

 

This success reinstated the B-52K's performance reputation a little, but could not deny the fact that the global political situation had changed since the fall of the Soviet Union, and that the heavy bomber was a concept of the past. Furthermore, the changing character of conflicts and the respective mission profiles made the British MoD in 2004 decide to retire the small, costly B-52K fleet, of which four aircraft had already to be grounded due to the end of their airframe lifetime. Consequently, all B-52Ks were scrapped until 2005.

 

Besides, the program results did not change the USAF's decision to keep the B-52H with its eight engine layout in service.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 5 (pilot, copilot, Weapon Systems Officer, navigator, Electronic Warfare Officer)

Length: 159 ft 4 in (48.5 m)

Wingspan: 185 ft 0 in (56.4 m)

Height: 42 ft (12.8 m)

Wing area: 4,000 sq ft (370 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 63A219.3 mod root, NACA 65A209.5 tip

Zero-lift drag coefficient: ~0,0119

Drag area: 47,60 sq ft (4,42 m²)

Aspect ratio: 8,56

Fuel capacity: 48.630 U.S. gal (40.495 imp gal; 181.090 l)

Empty weight: 185.000 lb (83.250 kg)

Loaded weight: 265.000 lb (120.000 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 488.000 lb (220.000 kg)

 

Powerplant:

4× Rolls-Royce RB211 535E-4 turbofan jet engines, rated at 17.000 kp (37.400 lb) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 560 kn (650 mph, 1.047 km/h)

Cruise speed: 442 kn (525 mph, 844 km/h)

Combat radius: 4.750 mi (4.125 nmi, 7.650 km)

Ferry range: 10.715 mi (9.300 nmi, 17.250 km)

Service ceiling: 50.000 ft (15.000 m)

Rate of climb: 6.270 ft/min (31,85 m/s)

Wing loading: 120 lb/ft² (586 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.31

Lift-to-drag ratio: 21.5 (estimated)

Armament:

Approximately 70.000 lb (31.500 kg) mixed ordnance; bombs, mines, missiles, in various

configurations in an internal bomb bay and/or on wing pylons

 

Avionics:

Electro-optical viewing system that uses platinum silicide forward looking infrared and high

resolution low-light-level television sensors

LITENING Advanced Targeting System

Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod

IBM AP-101 computer

 

The kit and its assembly:

I remember that I read about the re-engine project of the USAF's late B-52 versions when I was in school, many years ago, and the BUFF is still flying - even though in its original eight engine layout. Anyway, I wonder why this topic has not been adopted by modelers more often? O.K., a B-52 is a large aircraft, but there are good small scale version around, like the Dragon kit in 1:200 which I converted.

 

Work was pretty straightforward, and the basis is/was a B-52G. The kit was built almost OOB, only mods include:

- engine nacelles from a Hasegawa Boeing 747-400

- the upper section of the latter's fin, too

- a scratched refuelling probe

- a modified tail without the four machine guns

 

Fit is good and surface structure/details are more than satisfactory for a kit of this small scale. Only thing that bugged me was the slightly tinted canopy that is a bit too wide for the fuselage, it's hard to blend it into the rest of the body. Another building horror were the 24 itsy-tiny bombs for the quadruple MERs under the wings.

 

Integrating the Jumbo nacelles was easier than expected, even though, after finishing the conversion, I'd recommend reducing the height of the outer pyolns by 2-3 mm, so that the engines come higher and closer to the wings. Space to the ground is very little - and to mend this I lengthened the outrigger wheels slightly.

 

Another issue were the wing parts - the left wing was slightly warped, upwards, and even though I tried to bend and force it into a stright line it somehow move back into its original position, so that a B-52 on the ground was hard to realize. If you build one, tuck the landing gear up and put it on a stand. It looks better, anyway... ;)

  

Painting and markings

This was the fun part. A B-52 with four bigher jet engines is one thing, and at first I intended to create a contemporary USAF aircraft. But then I remembered the weird Hemp apint scheme for large RAF birds like the Nimrod, VC.10 or Tristar tankers, and I wondered if that could not be applied to a B-52 in "foreign service"...?

 

Said and done, and from there things unfolded in a straightforward fashion. The only consequence of the RAF as useer was the refuelling probe, and the 340kg iron bombs that came as ordnance with the kit were a welcome option, too.

 

Even though Hemp is available from Humbrol (168) I rather used a darker tone, 187. Hemp was later used for shading, though. The undersides were painted in Barley Grey (Humbrol 167) and shaded with Light Ghost Grey (FS 36375, Humbrol 127), after a light wash with highly thinned black ink. Radomes and antennae received a yellow-ish, beige finish, the landing gear and the air intakes were painted white, as well as the MERs.

 

Decals come from several kits, e .g. a Cyber Hobby 1:200 Vulcan, a Matchbox Hawk 200 and a Tornado sheet from the Operation Allied Force era (the nose art was taken from there, as well as the ZA447 code).

  

A relatively simple whif - the large engine nacelles look strange and demonstrate how slender the B-52's body actually is, compared with an airliner. But the Hemp/Grey livery suits it very well, and the pics taken from above show how effective this scheme is when the aircraft is parked on a concrete airfield - and it is even effective in the air!

 

M5 Strensham 26/05/2015

twitter.com/prichards1995/status/1536225233862017026

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

 

Some background:

The Arsenal (de l'Aéronautique) VB 31 was a French naval fighter aircraft developed shortly after World War II. In January 1947 Arsenal were given a contract to develop a powerful naval fighter for the four French aircraft carriers. Since the modernization of the Aéronavale was pressing, the aircraft had to be developed fast. In order to cut time, the initial concept, the VB 30, was based on the unrealized German Messerschmitt Me 155 project.

 

The Me 155 naval fighter had been a naval development of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G, intended for the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, which never saw the light of day. When it was clear that the Me 155 was a dead end, the basic design was developed further into a high altitude interceptor and the project handed over to Blohm & Voss. The resulting, highly modified Bv 155 saw the prototype stage in the late years of WWII, but was never put into service. Years later, though, the Me 155 should surface again: Evolved by Ingenieur-General Vernisse and M. Badie, the VB 30 did not only use many design features of the original Me 155 design, it also heavily drew on the indigenous VB 10 heavy fighter which had been previously under development since WWII.

 

The VB 30 was more compact than the VB 10, though, even though it had similar proportions. IIt was an all-metal single-seat fighter with a low-wing monoplane, a retractable tailwheel undercarriage and of largely orthodox configuration. The wings had an inverted gull wing shape, in order to shorten the main undercarriage as much as possible, and were foldable. The landing gear retracted inwards, and the tail wheel was retractable, too.

 

The VB 30's layout resembled much the smaller North American Mustang. The aircraft was powered by a powerful Arsenal 24 H engine which was theoretically capable of 3.400hp – itself a development based on the cylinder blocks of the German Junkers IV12 213 engine. A huge radiator bath for the liquid-cooled engine was located under the fuselage, at the wings’ trailing edge.

 

The aircraft was heavily armed, with a newly developed, compact 30mm cannon (which would eventually become the famous DEFA cannon), firing through the propeller axis, plus four HS-404 20mm cannons or six 12.7mm machine guns in the wings, outside of the propeller arc. Various ordnance loads, including bombs of up to 500 kg caliber, drop tanks or unguided missiles, could be carried under the fuselage and outer wings.

 

Unlike the huge, tandem-engined VB 10, the VB 30 was (relatively) more successful, but its career started under misfortunate stars: Just one month after the VB 10 contract was cancelled, the prototype VB 30-01 made its maiden flight on 8th of December 1948. Overall, the aircraft behaved well, but its low speed handling was hampered by the immense torque of the Arsenal 24 H engine and the huge, four-bladed propeller. This problem was eventually countered with an enlarged fin, which earned the type its nickname "Requin" (Shark).

With this and many other detail modifications the aircraft was now called VB 31and cleared for series production, even though it was already apparent that the future of the fighter lay with jet power. A second prototype, the VB 30-02, had been started, but its assembly lagged so much behind that it was eventually finished as the first serial VB 31. Anyway, the development of the VB 31 continued as a safety net for France's nascent jet fighter programs, since it was not clear when pure jets would eventually offer the appropriate performance for carrier use, and when they'd be ready for service.

 

The VB 31’s development saw several drawbacks, including constant problems with the complicated, liquid-cooled engine, the radiator system and the landing gear. Serial production and service introduction of the VB 31 started slowly and was delayed until January 1951 – by which the French Air Force already had to rely on surplus British and American fighters to tide it over until domestically-produced jet fighters appeared. Time was already working against the VB 31.

 

Additionally, with the brooding Indochina War since August 1945, the need for a maritime fighter and fighter-bomber became so dire that the Aéronavale had to order the WWII Vought F4U-7 to fill this specific gap and replace several obsolete types. The XF4U-7 prototype did its test flight on 2 July 1952 with a total of 94 F4U-7s built for the French Navy's Aéronavale (79 in 1952, 15 in 1953), with the last of the batch, the final Corsair built, rolled out on 31 January 1953. With this proven (and cheaper) alternative, only a single batch of 40 VB 31 aircraft (instead of the planned 200!) was eventually built and put into service.

 

The VB 31 just came in time for the First Indochina War between France’s French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Emperor Báo Dai’s Vietnamese National Army against the Viet Minh, Led by Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap. During this conflict, the French used many different pre Cold War aircraft of World War Two, as well as the new types.The VB 31 were distrubuted between Flotille 3F and 12F, where they replayced Curtiss SB2C Helldivers and Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats, respectively. Flotille 12F pilots arrived in Asia on board of the aircraft carrier 'Arromanches' in early 1952, equipped with both VB 31 and F4U-7 fighters. Both types were deployed from the carrier and also served from Haiphong for CAS and escort duties in the Tonkin area.

 

The operational era of the VB 31 did not last long, though. The type was powerful, but complicated. The VB 31 also needed much more maintenance than the sturdy Corsair, which could also take more damage and had a considerable larger range. Hence, already in June 1953, all VB 31 were returned to Europe and based at Hyères, where they replaced obsolete F6F-5 Hellcats and were mainly used for training purposes. In the early sixties, with naval jet fighters finally available, the VB 31 were quickly withdrawn and scrapped, being replaced by Sud-Ouest SO-203 'Aquilon' (license-built D.H. Sea Venom) and Dassault Etendard IVM.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: one, pilot

Length: 11.63 m (38 ft 8 in)

Wingspan: 13.07 m (43 ft 6 in)

Height (peopeller at max. elevation): 4,9 m (16 ft 1 in)

 

Powerplant:

1 × Arsenal 24 H, 2.260 kW (3.000 hp), driving a four-bladed propeller

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 665 km/h (413 mph)

Range: 1.191 km (740 miles)

Service ceiling: 11.125 m (37.100 ft)

Rate of climb: 10.2 m/s (2008 ft/min)

 

Armament:

1× 30 mm cannon with 100 RPG, firing through the propeller axis

4× 20 mm HS-404 cannons with 200 RPG or 6×12,7mm machine guns with 250 RPG in the outer wings

1.500kg (3.300 lbs.) of external ordnance, including bombs of of to 454kg (1.000 lbs) calibre, drop tanks or up to eight unguided missiles under the outer wings.

  

The Kit and its assembly:

I wonder if you recognize the basis for this fantasy airplane? It's actually a modified Bv 155 kit from ART Model/Special Hobby from Russia (Both kits are identical; the ART Model contains an injected clear canopy while the Special Hobby kit offers two vacu canopies, though).

 

Inspiration struck when I read about the huge VB 10, which has, in its profile view, much resemblance to the Bv 155 - and the latter actually has some naval-friendly features, e .g .the raised cockpit, placed pretty far forward at the wings' leading edge, or the massive landing gear. Since France used some German aircraft after WWII (e.g. Fw 190 for the Air Force and Ju 188 for the Navy), why not create a naval fighter from the Me 155/Bv 155 concept? Well, here it is... the Arsenal VB 31.

 

For this fantasy conversion, the Bv 155 kit saw major modifications, e. g.:

● The wing span was reduced - from each wing, 4.2cm/1.65" were taken away

● The wings received a new inverted gull wing shape, the cuts came handy

● Outer wings were clipped by 10mm/0,4" each

● Original wing tips were transplanted and re-sculpted to fit

● The rear fuselage was shortened by about 1.3cm/0.5"

● A carburetor intake was added under the nose (from a Hawker Hurricane)

● New horizontal stabilizers from a Grumman Panther (Matchbox)

● Lower position of the horizontal stabilizers

● New landing gear wells had to be cut out, a simple interior was scratch-built

● The landing gear retracts now inwards, original struts and covers were slightly shortened

● New main wheels from a Douglas Skyknight (Matchbox) were used

● New tail wheel (front wheel of a Revell F-16, I guess)

● Modified tail section with an arrestor hook

● The original, extensive exhaust piping between the engine and the turbo charger had to go

● New exhausts at the nose were added (scratch, HO scale roof tiles)

● New propeller from a Matchbox Hawker Tempest was mated with the original spinner

● Cockpit was taken OOB, but a different seat, a pilot and a radio in the rear were added

● Some panel lines had to be re-engraved, due to putty work and/or logical reasons

● Missile hardpoints under the wings come from an F4U

● Antennae were added, accoring to French F4U-7 pictures

 

There actually was no big plan - I had an idea of what to make from the kit, but modifications came step by step, as the parts fell together and looked or looked not right.

 

The 24 cylinder Arsenal 24 H engine was really under development in France, so it was a neat choice for such a relatively large aircraft. The huge turbocharger bath under the fuselage of the Bv 155 could easily be taken as a radiator bath for the large, liquid-cooled engine, so that no additional adaptations had to be made.

Overall, I wanted to save the elegant lines of the Bv 155. With the reduced wing span the aircraft looks even elegant, IMHO. All in all, and with its slender, inverted gull wings, the VB 31 somehow reminds of the Ju 87 and the later paper Ju 187 development. There's also something IL-2ish to it?

 

A side note concerning the kit itself: it has nice engraved details and some fine resin parts for the cockpit or the radiators. But wall strength is high (up to 2mm!), the material is somewhat soft and waxy, and fit is mediocre, so expect serious putty work. Not a bad kit, but something for the experienced modeler. Things surely were worse here, since my modifications to wings and fuselage called for even more sculpting.

  

Painting and markings:

It took some time to settle on a French naval aircraft, since I already have an all dark-blue whif in my collection (the whiffy F1J Sea Mustang). But I had some appropriate decals at hand, and the time frame as well as the potential user offered a good and plausible story behind the VB 31 in Aéronaval service.

 

Overall, the aircraft was painted in Blue Angels Blue (FS 15050, Testors 1718) and weathered with slightly lighter shades of blue and grey, for a sun-bleached look and in order to emphasize the panel lines. One can argue about this tone: many Aéronavale aircraft look much darker, rather like FS 15042, but I have seen pictures of such bright aircraft - I'd assume that the color standard was not very strict, as long as the aircraft was "dark blue"?

After basic painting the VB 31 looked very bright, so I did some major dry painting with darker/duller shades like Humbrol 67, 77 and 104 to tame things down, and the result is O.K. now.

 

The interior surfaces were painted in Mid Stone and dry-painted with Chromate Yellow (Humbrol 225 and 81). AFAIK, this is the typical interior finish for Aéronavel aircraft of that time, and it is a nice contrast to the dark and uniform outside.

 

Most markings come from an F4U-7 decal sheet, some things like the tail rudder Tricolore had to be improvised (comes from a 30 year old Airfix Bristol Blenheim decal sheet!).

 

Beyond the dry-painted blue and grey hues on the upper surfaces, the model was slightly weathered with exhaust and soot stains and some dry-painted silver on the leading edges. This makes the all-blue aircraft look a bit more lively and is IMHO authentic for Aéronavale fighters of the 50ies, esp. under the harsh climate of South East Asia.

 

Finally, everything was sealed under a semi-matt varnish (Tamiya Acryllics, rattle can), and some additional matt varnish was applied on the upper surfaces, also for a dull and sun-bleached look.

  

The kit was built in a week from sprues to pictures, overall a sleek and elegant aircraft with plausible lines - an hommage to the many elegant and innovative aircraft which were developed in France in WWII and later but which are easily overlooked today!

I got your BACK !

The year is 1982. The interest rate on the mortgage is 10 1/4%.

ready to give motorway verges a short, back and sides. McConnel cutting equipment.

Aurora Aksnes (born 15.6.1996), is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and record producer. Born in Stavanger and raised in the towns of Høle and Os, she began writing her first songs and learning dance at the age of six. After some of her songs were uploaded online and became popular in Norway, she signed a recording contract with Petroleum Records, Decca and Glassnote Records in 2014. Aurora gained recognition with her debut extended play (EP), Running with the Wolves (2015), which contained the sleeper hit "Runaway". Later that year, she provided the backing track for the John Lewis Christmas advert, singing a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away".

 

Aurora's debut studio album, All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend (2016) received generally positive reviews, charting in various European countries and earning platinum certification two times in Norway. Her second EP Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) (2018) was the first part of a two-part album, while the second part was her second studio album, A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) (2019). Her third studio album The Gods We Can Touch was released on 21 January 2022.

 

Her music is primarily electropop, folk, and art pop with vocals referred to as "ethereal". She only played piano at the beginning of her career, but later involved herself in percussion and other aspects of music production. In addition to her solo work, Aurora has collaborated with and co-written songs for other artists, including Icarus, Askjell, Lena, Travis and the Chemical Brothers. She has also contributed to soundtracks for several films and television series, including Girls, Frozen II and Wolfwalkers.

 

She calls herself a "forest person" due to being surrounded by nature and her love to "climb trees", and being "isolated and hidden".[15] She has also shown interest in the ocean since she lived close to the sea, and her parents have a sailboat.[15][16] When she attended school, her sisters—Miranda (currently her makeup artist) and Viktoria Aksnes (currently her costume designer)—worried that she might be bullied due to her eccentric personality and style of dress.[17] Contrary to this, Aurora's classmates asked for more time than she was willing to give, and she instead preferred to spend time in the forest.[18] She also claimed that withdrawing into natural spaces gave her time to philosophize and discover the "power" of her own mind.[19] As a child, she was afraid of people who sought to hug her and disliked such a gesture in general: "I used to be terrified of people who wanted to hug me", she said. "I did not like to be hugged as a child. And I used to be terrified of one of my teachers at school, but then I met him a few months ago, and it was really nice. It’s weird how things change."[20]

 

At age nine, when she had a better handle of the English language, she began writing songs.[13] She has mentioned being influenced at that time by artists like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Enya, and the Chemical Brothers.[24][25]

  

According to Aurora, the first song she ever finished writing was titled "The Lonely Man".[33] Her first work before embarking on her music career was washing a pizza restaurant using a hose.[33] Songs from her early works were written in this early stage of her life.[34][35] Another of her early compositions was "I Had a Dream", which referred to how hard the world can be.[25][23] Although she considered it a "really long and boring song about world peace" she performed it once at her high school's leaving ceremony. The recording of her song "Puppet" (which was originally made as a Christmas gift for her parents) and a video filmed by a classmate of her school performance were uploaded online without her permission (which made her angry),[13][36] and was quickly discovered by a representative of the agency of Artists Made Management, a Norwegian management company, who invited Aurora to visit their office for a meeting in early 2013.[37][38] Aurora initially denied the proposal: "At first I thought no", she recalls, "but then my mum said I should think about the idea of sharing my music with the world because maybe there's someone out there who desperately needs it. And that could actually be a good thing".[36] In a few hours, both songs received thousands of visits in Norway, which earned Aurora some recognition in her country, in addition to a fan base on Facebook.[38][21][39]

 

2012–2016: Running with the Wolves and All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend

Aurora self-released the song "Puppet" as her debut single in December 2012 under her birth name.[40] Aurora then set about working on her songwriting for around a year before giving her "first proper live performance" at Nabovarsel Minifestival in Bergen. About similar performances to that one she said: "I don’t think I was born to be an entertainer, I used to really be afraid of playing live on-stage. Obviously it’s terrifying! But now I’ve learned to, and I’ve learned to not focus on myself, cause it’s not about me. Now I only think about giving everyone the best experience. A magic moment."[20][41] Her second single, "Awakening", followed in March 2014, which became the first one released under the stage name Aurora.[42] Her third single "Under Stars" was the first one signed to her labels Glassnote Records and Decca Records, released in November 2014. Both songs established her as a "Promising Artist" of 2015 and attracted the attention of critics in Europe and the United States, especially for the artist's voice. Her next single "Runaway" was released in February 2015, which gained attention from singers Katy Perry and Troye Sivan.

 

Her next single, "Running with the Wolves" was released in April 2015, and its music video was released two months later. The song gained attention from BBC Radio station.[49] It was released alongside the announcement of the release of her debut EP Running with the Wolves.[50] Released in May 2015 on digital platforms, the EP received positive reviews from online music blogs and national press. To promote the EP, she appeared at summer festivals such as Way Out West, Wilderness, and Green Man Festival. Aurora's next single, "Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)", was released in September 2015 and has received continued support in the national press, on national radio, and popular online music blogs.[51] Aurora also performed at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert,[52] saying that she and her family "have been following it from the living room at home for many years", and "it is an incredibly beautiful thing to be a part of."[53] Her presentation was praised by the concert's host Jay Leno.[54] She has played a sold-out headline show in London and supported Of Monsters and Men at Brixton Academy in November 2015.[55] Aurora recorded a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away" for the 2015 John Lewis Christmas advert.[56] Her next single, titled "Conqueror", was released in January 2016, and a music video was released the following month. Before the single release, the song appeared in the soundtrack of the videogame FIFA 16.[57]

 

In early 2016, Aurora featured on British band Icarus' song "Home" and released a cover of David Bowie's "Life on Mars" for the HBO Girls television series.[58][59][60] After a prolific start with her first musical productions, she released her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend in March 2016,[61] receiving generally positive reviews from critics. After releasing the album, Aurora embarked on an international concert tour beginning in Australia that lasted more than a year.[62]

 

On 14 March 2016, Aurora made her American television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing "Conqueror", which was later performed on Conan.[63] On 25 July 2016 she performed her cover of "Life on Mars" on The Howard Stern Show. The following night on 26 July, she performed "I Went Too Far" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which was later released as the album's fifth single. The album's sixth and final single "Winter Bird" was released on 20 December. Aurora became the first in a series of emerging artists to partner with YouTube for a creative content distribution program,[64] she also starred in her own short documentary directed by Isaac Ravishankara and produced by The Fader, titled "Nothing is Eternal."[65]

 

2017–2019: Infections of a Different Kind and A Different Kind of Human[edit]

When All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend debuted, Aurora said that it was "the first album of many" she was planning to release.[66] As of 12 May 2016, after coming back from her European tour, the singer announced that she was ready to begin writing and producing more material, which will form her second studio album. She stated in a Facebook event that she has fifteen demo songs and has written a thousand songs/poems. Her next project consisted of covering the song "Scarborough Fair" for the Brazilian telenovela Deus Salve o Rei and filming the opening sequence for it.[67] Between April and August 2018, the singer released two singles, "Queendom" and "Forgotten Love",[68][69] which would be included in the first half of a two-part album divided into "steps".[70] Aurora recorded the album during her stay in France in January of that year, and the production included the producers Askjell Solstrand, Roy Kerr and Tim Bran, with Aurora herself also involved in this aspect.[15] Some of that new material was anticipated in live performances, including festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella.[71][72]

 

While maintaining some of the themes and stories of the previous album, this production would mark the first time that Aurora has incorporated themes of politics and sexuality into her music.[73] Most of the new inspiration came from the interaction that she had with her fans during her first tour.[74] The music video for "Queendom" saw its release in May 2018, which presented themes of inclusivity and empowerment of "the underdog", particularly her LGBT fans. In the video, Aurora kisses one of her female dancers to convey that "every type of love is accepted and embraced" in her "queendom".[75]

 

On 28 September 2018, the singer released the first half of her second album on EP format,[70] under the title Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1). The EP features eight songs,[76] and the title itself comes from the eighth track included on it, which Aurora declared as "the most important song I've ever written".[77] A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) followed on 7 June 2019, with lead singles "Animal" and "The River".

 

On 12 April 2019, Aurora contributed with co-writing and vocals in the songs "Eve of Destruction", "Bango", and "The Universe Sent Me" for the Chemical Brothers' ninth album No Geography.[78] On 4 November 2019, the soundtrack to the Disney film Frozen II was released, with Aurora providing backing vocals on the song "Into the Unknown". On 9 February 2020, she performed the song on stage as part of the 92nd Academy Awards alongside Idina Menzel and nine singers that dubbed the song in their respective languages.[79] She released her solo version of "Into the Unknown" as a standalone single on 3 March 2020.[80]

Aurora released the single "Exist for Love" in May 2020, which was presented as her first love song ever with a self-directed music video.[81] The song was made during the COVID-19 lockdown in collaboration with Isobel Waller-Bridge, who composed the string arrangements.[81] It was the first glimpse into what she described as "a new era" in her career, with the upcoming release of a new album.[82] Under the musical direction of Gaute Tønder, she recorded the title track of the Christmas miniseries Stjernestøv [no] for Norwegian public broadcaster NRK; such contribution was made known in mid-November of the same year.[83] She also provided her vocals on the songs "Vinterens Gåte" and "Det Ev Ei Rosa Sprunge" (Norwegian version of the German song "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen"), from the album Juleroser by Herborg Kråkevik, in which the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and other Norwegian artists.[84] She also re-recorded her track "Running with the Wolves" for the animated fantasy and adventure film Wolfwalkers.[85]

 

In early 2021, she released five compilation EPs in celebration of her song "Runaway" receiving over 100 million streams on Spotify: For the Humans Who Take Long Walks in the Forest, Music for the Free Spirits, Stories, For the Metal People and Music for the Fellow Witches Out There throughout February.[86] On 7 July 2021, Aurora released the single "Cure for Me" as the lead single for the forthcoming album.[87] On 14 October, "Giving in to the Love" was released as the album's third single, and The Gods We Can Touch was announced for release on 21 January 2022.[88] Aurora featured in Sub Urban's song "Paramour", released on 19 November as a single for the latter's upcoming debut album.[89] She also released the song "Midas Touch for the soundtrack of the third season of the Amazon Prime Video Hanna series. To promote The Gods We Can Touch, she announced a concert tour throughout the United States and Europe (with Sub Urban, Sei Selina and Metteson as supporting acts) in 2022.[90] "Heathens" was released on 3 December 2021 as the album's fourth single, and a virtual concert film was announced, which released exclusively to Moment House on 25 January 2022, a week later after the album's release.[91][92] A collaborative event with the video game Sky: Children of the Light was released on 17 October 2022, which included a virtual concert that premiered on 8 December after The Game Awards 2022 and reoccurred from 9 December until 2 January 2023.

A1(M) Bramham 12/07/2018

x.com/keltruck/status/1781627941857730845

M1 Brockhall 09/03/2022

M74 Coatsgate 12/06/2019

Here are all the mobile phones I've owned. Starting from the left we have:

 

Ericsson SH888

Originally introduced in 1998, I was given it in about 2000 by someone I used to work for who worked for Ericsson. It was one of the earliest dual-band phones and also one of the first with built in infrared. I think I managed to get it to talk to my Psion 5 once. Very solid and dependable.

 

Ericsson T39m

In 2001 I took out a contract with Vodafone and chose this phone to go with it. It features tri-band, Bluetooth, predictive text, GPRS and a WAP browser, nice clear screen and very good battery life. It's also very light and thin. It's seen a lot of use: I used it for just over two years I think, then I lent it to my housemate who used it for a year or so. It still works fine, though it is a little worn. One of the best phones Ericsson made.

 

Sony Ericsson T610

Oh dear. I don't know what came over me with this one. I thought it was time I had a new phone on renewing my contract and the T610 caught my eye with its retro styling. This was in 2003 or so. Ericsson and Sony had joined forces to make phones and my good experience with the T39 lead me to believe this one would be OK. How wrong I was. Sony brought nice styling to the partnership, unfortunately rather than combining it with Ericsson's robust content they apparently discarded it altogether. It features a colour screen which is unreadable outdoors and a camera which not only takes pointlessly small 288x352 pictures, but the sensor lends a green tint usually and the optics distort to the edge of recognition. The software is very sluggish, especially when opening the text message inbox. The keys and joystick are not great, though they're even worse when mango chutney is applied I found. Yet another negative is the level of bastardisation by Vodafone, most annoyingly that the right-hand soft key always goes to "Vodafone Live" which I hardly ever used and was not allowed to change.

 

Nokia 6630

Just as soon as that contract was up I got this phone. I realised my mistake and so was much more careful choosing this one. Put off Sony Ericsson I decided to switch to Nokia and to splash out some extra cash to get a fairly high end smart phone. Definitely content over looks this time, it is a bit bulbous, funny looking and bulky. After the T610 the content is a very large breath of lovely fresh air. The very first thing I did was reassign all the shortcuts on the standby screen, because I could. Features a nice bright screen which is very legible in all lighting conditions, especially with the sensor which varies the backlight brightness depending on the ambient light level. It has a 1.3MP camera with reasonable optics though like nearly all phone cameras it doesn't cope well with bright lights in the shot. Has 3G and the keys are good and responsive. The main feature though is Series 60 which is a version of the Symbian OS. There's a fair bit of software available for it, including a version of PuTTY which is very handy. It takes a reduced size dual-voltage MMC memory card, it took me a while to find a compatible one, but I eventually got a 256MB card off ebay. It didn't take too long to fill it with music, pictures and text messages. One gripe with the software implementation is the lack of integration between the Symbian apps and the phone functions, for instance the clock and calendar applications have no connection so there is a lack of sophistication in how alarms can be set, one can't have different alarms repeated on different weekdays. I'd like to be able to set alarms which switch profiles for meetings, lectures etc. One can include a person's birthday in their entry in the contacts database, but it doesn't show up on the calendar.

 

Nokia E70

I've just got this one. After a fair bit of research, I was seriously considering the N93 with its 3.2MP camera with auto focus and 3x optical zoom, but then I saw some results and came to the conclusion that the quality is still not that good. So Instead I went for this phone, the most exciting feature of which is the full and very nice to use qwerty keyboard, or is it the 802.11G wireless networking? Probably both equally. SSH on this phone is a joy, nethack is quite playable though the 'b' key is on the other side of the screen to the rest of the direction keys. The WLAN really is great, if I'm at home or near an accessible network (including unconfigured netgears) I can use the networking features of my phone without worrying about paying for every byte. The browser has had mixed reviews, I think it is mostly very good. It copes with just about every page, including flickr with all its javascript, and though you get a little frame view onto the entire page it always seems to be wide enough to fit the main text column without having to scroll sideways to read the text. A major problem with it is the lack of RAM. It often runs out of memory on graphics heavy pages, though sometimes just reloading helps. Quite a hassle for me is the lack of ability to download a file linked to from a page, all it can do is attempt to open it with an installed program. I can't even find a way to copy and paste the linked url nor indeed any text on a web page. Again it suffers from a lack of integration between phone and application functionality. Yesterday I looked up a restaurant's phone number on their web page and wanted to dial it, all I could do is commit it to memory, switch to the phone interface and type it in.

Go Ahead London fleet number 51 on Contract

Kenworth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

History

United States

Name:USS Vesuvius (AE-15)

Namesake:Mount Vesuvius

Launched:26 May 1944

Commissioned:16 January 1945

Decommissioned:20 April 1946

Recommissioned:15 November 1951

Decommissioned:14 August 1973

Struck:14 August 1973

Honors and

awards:

 

2 battle stars (World War II)

2 battle stars (Korea)

10 battle stars (Vietnam)

 

Fate:scrapped, 1974

Badge:USS Vesuvius (AE-15) insignia, circa in the 1960s (NH 71935-KN).png

General characteristics

Length:459 ft 2 in (140 m)

Beam:63 ft (19.2 m)

Draft:28 ft 3 in (8.6 m)

Propulsion:

 

Geared turbine

1 × shaft

6,000 shp (4.5 MW)

 

Speed:16 knots (30 km/h)

Capacity:7,700 long tons (7,800 t) deadweight

Complement:267 officers and enlisted

Armament:4 × 3"/50 caliber guns

 

The fourth USS Vesuvius (AE-15) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1381) by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, N.C.; launched on 26 May 1944; acquired by the United States Navy on 4 July 1944; and commissioned on 16 January 1945, Comdr. Flavius J. George in command.

 

Service history

World War II, 1945–1946

 

The ship underwent builder's trials out of Brooklyn, New York, and then began shakedown out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, in Chesapeake Bay. On 17 February, she sailed to Earle, New Jersey, to load ammunition. She then headed for the island of Ulithi, via the Panama Canal, on 5 March. She reached her destination on 5 April and promptly unloaded and took on more cargo. Vesuvius departed for Okinawa on 10 April where she became part of Service Squadron 6. In this role, she replenished ammunition to the Fleet in the waters around Okinawa. In July 1945, Vesuvius joined a rearming group off Honshū, Japan, to support raids on Japan by the 3rd Fleet. She detached on 2 August and set sail for Leyte Gulf, Philippines. While there, word of the Japanese capitulation was received on 15 August 1945. The ship remained in the Philippines until 28 October, when she left for the United States.

 

After transiting the Panama Canal, Vesuvius joined the Service Force, Atlantic Fleet. The ship arrived at Yorktown, Virginia, on 14 December 1945. Vesuvius departed Yorktown on 10 January 1946, bound for Leonardo, N.J., to discharge her cargo and ship's ammunition to the Naval Ammunition Depot. On 7 February, she headed for Orange, Texas, arriving there on 13 February to commence her pre-inactivation overhaul. Vesuvius was placed out of commission, in reserve, at Orange on 20 August 1946.

Korean War, 1951–1952

 

In response to the needs imposed by the Korean War, Vesuvius was recommissioned on 15 November 1951. She remained at Orange and Beaumont, Texas, for outfitting and readying for sea until 7 January 1952, when she departed for San Diego. Having arrived on 14 February, the ship conducted exercises and loaded ammunition at Port Chicago, California, before sailing on 22 March for Sasebo, Japan. She arrived at Sasebo on 3 May 1952 and, after voyage repairs, began supplying ammunition to the ships of Task Force (TF) 77 on patrol off the east coast of Korea. On 1 December, Vesuvius headed for the United States, arriving at San Francisco on 18 December for overhaul.

Pacific Fleet, 1953–1967

 

Over the next decade, Vesuvius was to make 11 more extended deployments to the western Pacific where she serviced units of the 7th Fleet. These operations were interspersed with port visits to Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Periods on the west coast of the United States were spent in overhaul and in the conduct of underway training.

 

On 24 June 1963, Vesuvius commenced her 13th post-World War II deployment to the western Pacific, making stops at Pearl Harbor and at Guam for repairs and arriving at Yokosuka on 4 August. She serviced the 7th Fleet throughout August. In October, she visited Sasebo and Kagoshima, Japan; Subic Bay, Philippines; and Buckner Bay, Okinawa. In November, she visited Hong Kong and spent the entire month of December 1963 in and out of Yokosuka, Japan. She also visited Beppu, and Komatsushima, Japan. (1st American Navy ship to visit since end of World War II).

 

Vesuvius began 1964 in Yokosuka making final preparations for her homeward passage. On 7 January, she got underway for San Francisco via the great circle route. She arrived on 31 January and spent February and March moored to the pier at Port Chicago. A brief trip to San Diego and participation in an exercise with other units of the 1st Fleet occupied April, and Vesuvius spent May in an upkeep status at Concord, California. On 6 July, she was underway for coastal operations. August and September saw the ship in and out of port, training and providing services to the Fleet Training Group. In October, she participated in operations with members of the 1st Fleet. On 20 November 1964, Vesuvius returned to Concord for upkeep and a holiday leave period. She got underway on 18 December for the Mare Island Annex, where she spent the holiday season.

Vietnam, 1965–1972

 

The ship made a brief trip to San Diego beginning on 4 January 1965 before returning to Concord on 13 January. She began reloading cargo in preparation for deployment and got underway for the Far East on 1 February. Vesuvius reached Subic Bay, via Pearl Harbor and Guam, on 28 February. She then began operations in the South China Sea interrupted by brief returns for the onload of cargo in Subic Bay. In July 1965, she received a respite from her duties in Hong Kong. After a week there, she resumed operations. Having made 182 underway replenishments during the deployment, Vesuvius returned to Concord, California, on 28 November.

 

Vesuvius began the year 1966 by steaming on 3 January to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, to undergo repairs for six weeks. After leaving Bremerton, the ship headed south to Concord to onload ammunition. On 5 March, she sailed for San Diego for refresher training. Shortly after arrival, a 26-inch crack in one of her hull plates was discovered. She promptly began transferring her load of ammunition to other ships. By 26 March, the ammunition had been successfully offloaded; and, on 28 April 1966, Vesuvius proceeded to the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in San Francisco. On 14 May, Vesuvius deployed for the western Pacific. From 13 June through 27 November 1966, Vesuvius conducted replenishment operations between the Philippines and the South China Sea. In December, she stopped at Pearl Harbor on her way home, where an unusual cargo was embarked — $9,700,000 was brought on board for a special currency lift back to the United States. Shortly before Christmas, Vesuvius reached Concord.

 

The year 1967 found the ship berthed at Mare Island preparing to undergo her first major overhaul since 1962. Following completion of overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard and underway training, Vesuvius departed for the western Pacific on 15 July 1967, bound for Subic Bay. Except for brief periods in Hong Kong, Vesuvius came off the line in the South China Sea only long enough to fill her hold with more ammunition.

 

Near the end of January 1968, Vesuvius sailed to Yokosuka on her return trip to the United States, only to be recalled to the seas off Vietnam following the Pueblo Incident to support Operation Formation Star. Vesuvius finally returned to the San Francisco Bay area on 17 March 1968, offloaded, proceeded to the Naval Shipyard at Mare Island and, on 4 April, entered the Triple A Shipyard in San Francisco for extensive repairs and upkeep. Repairs were completed on 10 May, and the ship began refresher training in June. Following inspections and loadout, Vesuvius deployed again on 31 July 1968. She reached Subic Bay on 20 August for receipt of ammunition, then began operations in the Vietnam area. She remained on line through 3 December, when she left for a period of rest and recreation in Hong Kong. She departed there on 10 December to return to Vietnam.

 

Vesuvius remained on line through January and February 1969. In late February, she sailed into Bangkok, Thailand. From Bangkok, the ship went to Subic Bay to commence her final loadout before heading home. After a brief stop in Hawaii, Vesuvius arrived in Concord on 1 April 1969. In late April, the ship underwent six weeks of restricted availability at a commercial yard in San Francisco. Late in June, she steamed for San Diego and refresher training and exercises. By 23 July, she had returned to San Francisco and began three weeks of loadout for yet another deployment. Vesuvius departed for the western Pacific on 17 September 1969. After stopovers in Pearl Harbor and Yokosuka, she touched at Subic Bay for a few days before starting her line period off Vietnam.

 

During this deployment, Vesuvius conducted seven line runs in the South China Sea and the Tonkin Gulf in support of 7th Fleet operations. On 25 April, she left for home with stops at Kobe, Japan, and Pearl Harbor. She arrived at Concord on 23 May 1970. The ship entered a three-month upkeep in San Francisco from July to October followed by a pre-deployment inspection. On 9 November, Vesuvius departed the San Francisco area for intensive training in San Diego and, on 6 December, steamed back to Port Chicago for a holiday leave period.

 

Vesuvius again departed for the western Pacific on 4 January 1971. She arrived at Subic Bay on 25 January, and, one week later, was underway for her first line run of the deployment. On 20 February, she pulled into Singapore and then proceeded shortly thereafter to the Philippines for a 15-day upkeep period. Vesuvius then resumed her assignment of providing ammunition logistics support to the 7th Fleet and Royal Australian Navy units off the coast of Vietnam. On 2 August 1971, Vesuvius left Subic Bay for San Francisco, arriving on 1 September. After offloading ammunition at Concord, the ship moved to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for a month of stand-down. On 4 October, she entered a six-week upkeep. Upon completion, she returned to Concord on 19 November. Vesuvius departed Concord on 29 November for refresher training off San Diego, returning to Mare Island on 4 December.

 

Vesuvius got underway on 3 January 1972 and, on 5 January, commenced refresher training in San Diego. She returned to Concord on 29 January. Preparations for deployment began immediately, and the ship left California on 14 February. Upon arrival at Subic Bay, Vesuvius again supported combat operations for the 7th Fleet. On 29 June, she began upkeep and returned to action on 18 July. Her duties were interrupted for short trips to Hong Kong and Bangkok in August and October. In December, she entered drydock at Subic Bay to replace her propeller, but she promptly returned to Vietnam and ended the year in the combat zone.

Decommissioning, 1973

 

The ship returned to Concord on 3 March 1973. After offloading ammunition, the ship moved to Mare Island. The ship was scheduled for upkeep from April to July. However, a message was received from the Chief of Naval Operations in July to prepare the ship for decommissioning. On 14 August 1973, Vesuvius was decommissioned and transferred to the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Mare Island for further disposition and was struck from the Navy List. Vesuvius was reported to have been used for target practice, shortly after decommissioning.

Awards

Vesuvius received two battle stars for World War II, two battle stars for the Korean War, and 10 battle stars for her service in Vietnam.