アーニャ、大須におでけけしたら招き猫になった♪

@Osu area, Naka ward, Nagoya city, Aichi pref., Japan.（愛知県名古屋市中区大須地区）

Mons Meg est une bombarde médiévale (XVe siècle) de la collection des Royal Armouries prêtée à Historic Scotland. Elle symbolise le passé militaire glorieux de l'Écosse. Cet impressionnant canon de siège de 6 tonnes, de calibre 20 pouces (510 mm) est capable de tirer des boulets de pierre pesant 330 livres (150 kgs) jusqu'à 2 miles de distance (3,2 kms). A l’origine le canon était peint avec du plomb rouge pour l’empêcher de rouiller. Il fallait cent hommes pour le transporter. Avec l'énorme "canon des Dardanelles" en bronze coulé de 17 tonnes fabriquée en 1464 pour le sultan turc Mohamet II (exposé à présent dans la cour de la Tour de Londres), ces bombardes sont parmi les plus gros canons jamais construits. L'auteur anglais Dudley Pope cite le Mons Meg mais également le Dulle Griet de Gand comme exemples des plus gros canons construits au Moyen Age, et dit des deux qu'ils "ont probablement été fabriqués en "Flandre" (région qui deviendra plus tard la Belgique et que les Français appelaient "Pays-Bas"). Le "Dulle Griet mesurait plus de 5 m de long pesait 12.5 tonnes avec un calibre à la bouche d'environ 90 cm. Il était peint en rouge sang lui valant le surnom de « grand démon rouge ». Le nom flamand Griet et le nom anglais Meg sont tous deux des diminutifs du nom de Margaret (ou Margriet), équivalents du français Marguerite. Mons Meg a été construit par Jehan Cambier, fabricant d'artillerie du duc de Bourgogne Philippe le Bonet il a été testé avec succès à Mons dans le comté de Hainaut dans l'actuelle Belgique, en juin 1449. Le duc n'en prendra livraison qu'en 1453. Le duc a offert la bombarde au roi d'Écosse James II en 1457 dont il avait aidé à négocier le mariage en signe de son soutien.

Le canon est fabriqué selon la méthode qui consistait à forger ensemble des barres de fer droites autour d'un mandrin, et de les consolider ensuite avec des cercles de fer, dilatés par chauffe et brusquement refroidis à l'eau pour provoquer un rétrécissement, à la manière des barriques. La manière dont ces canons sont fabriqués ainsi que les variations de qualité de la poudre noire dont les ingrédients étaient souvent transportés séparément et mélangés sur place, en faisait des armes très peu fiables. Les explosions n'étaient pas rares, et on peut dire que ces bombardes étaient plus dangereuses pour leurs servants que pour ceux sur qui on tirait. L'effet psychologique de la flamme et du tonnerre au départ du coup étaient plus impressionnant que le gros boulet de pierre. Il faut également imaginer la somme d'efforts et d'énergie nécessaires au déplacement de ces énormes pièces, ainsi que la difficulté de leur mise en batterie. Une fois en place, ces bombardes ne pouvaient plus être déplacées, et tout réglage de visée était exclu. Elles ne pouvaient tirer qu'une dizaine de coups par jour au maximum en raison de l’énorme chaleur générée par la charge de poudre, et si leurs gros boulets de pierre parvenaient à ouvrir des brèches dans des murailles pas trop épaisses, ils étaient pratiquement sans effet contre l'infanterie et la cavalerie, qui pouvait les voir arriver de loin et les éviter assez aisément.

La bombarde a été employée dans les sièges jusqu'au milieu du XVIe siècle. Probablement pour la première fois en 1460 au château de Roxburgh près de la frontière avec l'Angleterre. Au cours de cette bataille, le roi Jacques II d'Écosse a été mortellement blessé lorsqu'un autre canon de siège géant a explosé. En 1489, elle a été emmenée à 80 km (50 miles) à l'ouest du château de Dumbarton (puis le château de Norham), pour aider à maîtriser le comte de Lennox. Le poids énorme de Mons Meg la rendait très difficile à déplacer. Sa vitesse moyenne n'était que de 14 kms (9 miles) par jour. Elle termina ses jours de combat dans la marine du roi Jacques V, prenant sa retraite vers 1540. Elle ne fut tiré ensuite que lors d'occasions cérémonielles : en 1558 pour célébrer le mariage de Mary Queen of Scots avec le dauphin français, puis de nouveau en 1681, en guise de salut d'anniversaire pour le futur roi Jacques VII. Malheureusement le baril éclata rendant le Mons Meg inutilisable (les cerceaux fracturés sont encore visibles). En 1754, Mons Meg fut emmenée à la Tour de Londres, où il y resta 75 ans. Il est ramené au château en 1829. La cavalerie et l’infanterie l’escortent de Leith Docks à Castle Rock. Mons Meg a depuis été restauré et est maintenant exposé dans le château. Il reste très populaire aujourd’hui auprès des touristes, qui ne résistent pas à mettre la tête dans l'énorme canon…

Mons Meg is a medieval (15th century) bombard from the collection of the Royal Armories on loan to Historic Scotland. It symbolizes Scotland's glorious military past. This impressive 6-ton, 20-inch (510 mm) caliber siege gun is capable of firing stone balls weighing 330 pounds (150 kg) up to 2 miles away (3.2 km). Originally the barrel was painted with red lead to prevent it from rusting. It took a hundred men to transport it. Together with the massive 17-tonne cast bronze 'Dardanelle Cannon' made in 1464 for the Turkish Sultan Mohammet II (now on display in the courtyard of the Tower of London), these bombards are among the largest cannons ever built. The English author Dudley Pope cites the Mons Meg but also the Dulle Griet of Ghent as examples of the largest guns built in the Middle Ages, and says of both that they "were probably made in 'Flanders' (a region which later became Belgium and which the French called "Pays-Bas"). The "Dulle Griet was more than 5 m long, weighed 12.5 tons with a caliber at the muzzle of about 90 cm. He was painted blood red, earning him the nickname "great red demon". The Flemish name Griet and the English name Meg are both diminutives of the name Margaret (or Margriet), equivalents of the French Marguerite. Mons Meg was built by Jehan Cambier, artillery maker for the Duke of Burgundy Philippe le Bonet it was successfully tested in Mons in the county of Hainaut in present-day Belgium, in June 1449. The duke never took delivery of it than in 1453. The Duke gifted the bombard to King James II of Scotland in 1457 whose marriage he had helped negotiate as a sign of his support.

The barrel is made by the method of forging straight iron bars together around a mandrel, and then consolidating them with iron hoops, expanded by heating and suddenly cooled with water to cause shrinkage, to the way of the barrels. The way in which these guns are made as well as the variations in quality of black powder whose ingredients were often transported separately and mixed on site, made them very unreliable weapons. Explosions were not uncommon, and it can be said that these bombards were more dangerous for their servants than for those who were fired at. The psychological effect of the flame and the thunder at the start of the blow were more impressive than the large stone ball. One must also imagine the amount of effort and energy required to move these huge pieces, as well as the difficulty of putting them in battery. Once in place, these bombards could no longer be moved, and any aiming adjustment was excluded. They could only fire about ten shots a day at the most because of the enormous heat generated by the powder charge, and if their big stone balls managed to open breaches in walls not too thick, they were practically without effect against infantry and cavalry, which could see them coming from afar and avoid them quite easily.

The bombard was used in sieges until the middle of the 16th century. Probably first seen in 1460 at Roxburgh Castle near the border with England. During this battle, King James II of Scotland was mortally wounded when another giant siege cannon exploded. In 1489, she was taken 80 km (50 miles) west of Dumbarton Castle (then Norham Castle), to help subdue the Earl of Lennox. Mons Meg's enormous weight made her very difficult to move. Its average speed was only 14 kms (9 miles) per day. She ended her days of combat in the navy of King James V, retiring around 1540. She was only fired afterwards on ceremonial occasions: in 1558 to celebrate the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the French Dauphin, then to again in 1681, as a birthday greeting for the future King James VII. Unfortunately the barrel burst rendering the Mons Meg unusable (the fractured hoops are still visible). In 1754, Mons Meg was taken to the Tower of London, where he remained for 75 years. He was brought back to the castle in 1829. Cavalry and infantry escorted him from Leith Docks to Castle Rock. Mons Meg has since been restored and is now on display in the castle. It remains very popular today with tourists, who can't resist putting their heads in the huge cannon...

+++ 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 Yakovlev Yak-38 (Russian: Яковлева Як-38; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was the Soviet Naval Aviation's first and only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft, in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It was developed specifically for and served almost exclusively on the Kiev-class aircraft carriers.

Officially, all Ukrainian Yak-138 were scrapped until 1994, even though rumor has it that one or two airframes had been sold behind the scenes to China. In Russia only five specimen had survived, and since the spares situation was doubtful none could be kept in flying condition. One Yak-138 was eventually handed over to the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Museum, while the rest was either mothballed or scrapped, too. Unfortunately, the sole museum exhibit was lost in 1995 in a fire accident.

General characteristics:

Crew: One

Length (incl. pitot): 15.84 m (51 ft 10 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 8,17 m (26 ft 9 in)

Height: 4.19 m (14 ft 3 in)

Wing area: 24.18 m² (260.27 ft²)

Empty weight: 7,385 kg (16,281 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 11,300 kg (28,700 lb)

Powerplant:

1x Kuznetsov NK-32L-2 turbofan engine, rated at 137 kN (31,000 lbf)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,176 km/h (730 mph; 635 knots) at sea level

Combat radius: 230 mi (200 nmi, 370 km) lo-lo-lo with 4,400 lb (2,000 kg) payload

Ferry range: 2,129 mi (1,850 nmi, 3,425 km)

Endurance: 1 hr 30 min (combat air patrol – 115 mi (185 km) from base)

Service ceiling: 51,200 ft (15,600 m)

Time to climb to 40,000 ft (12,200 m): 2 min 23 s

Armament:

1x GSh-23L 23mm machine cannon with 250 RPG under the fuselage

5 hardpoints with a total external capacity of

- 3.000 kg (6,600 lb) for C/STOL operations and

- 2.000 kg (4.400 lb) in VTOL mode

Provisions to carry combinations of various types of unguided rockets (up to 240 mm), anti-ship

or air-to-surface Kh-23 (AS-7 Kerry) missiles (together with a Delta N guidance pod), R-60,

R-60M (AA-8 Aphid) or R-73 (AA-11 Archer) air-to-air missiles; tactical nuclear bombs, general

purpose bombs of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber, or incendiary ZB-500 napalm tanks or up to

three PTB-800 drop tanks under the fuselage and the inner pair of wing pylons

The kit and its assembly:

Sixth contribution to the “Soviet” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in early 2017, on pretty short notice since the GB had been coming to its end. This totally fictional aircraft was inspired CG illustrations that had been roaming the WWW for some time: a hybrid between a Yak-38 (mostly the tail section), mated with an AV-8B Harrier II (cockpit, wings, landing gear). This did not look bad at all, yet a bit weird, with lift engines added in front of the fin. Certainly not conformal with a good CG balance – but I liked the idea of a single-engine Forger. And actually, OKB Yakovlev had been considering this.

So, the basic idea was a Harrier/Yak-38 kitbash. But the more I thought about the concept, the more additional donor parts came into play. One major addition was the nose section from a MiG-27 – with its slanted nose it would offer the pilot an excellent field of view, and the aircraft would, as a front line attack plane like the Harrier, not carry a radar, so the Flogger’s nose shape was perfect.

Therefore, initial ingredients for the Yak-138 were:

- Rear fuselage, wings and tail from a Tsukuda Hobby/Kangnam/Revell Yak-38

- Mid-fuselage with air intakes and front vectoring nozzles from a Matchbox Sea Harrier

- Cockpit from an Academy MiG-27

Work started with the MiG-27 cockpit, which was more or less taken OOB (except for side consoles in the cockpit and different seat), and the Yak-38 the tail section, built in parallel. To my surprise the Forger fuselage was easier to combine with the Harrier than expected, even though the position of the right cuts took multiple measurements until I came up with a proper solution. Since the Harrier is overall shorter than the Yak-38, the latter’s fuselage had to be shortened. I retained the tail cone, the Forger’s vectoring nozzles and the landing gear wells – and a 2cm plug was taken out between them. Instead of the Harrier’s tandem landing gear arrangement with outriggers under the outer wings, this one was to receive a conventional landing gear for optional C/STOL operations with a higher ordnance load, so that the Yak-38 parts were a welcome basis. Once the fuselage’s underside was more or less complete, the upper rest of the Yak-38 fuselage could be cut to size and integrated into the lower half and the Harrier parts.

After the rear end was settled, the MiG-27 cockpit could be mounted to the front end, which was slightly shortened by 2-3mm (since the Flogger’s is markedly longer than the short Harrier nose). In order to change the overall look of the aircraft, I eventually dropped the Harrier intakes and decided to use the Flogger’s boxy air intakes instead. These are considerably smaller than the gaping Harrier holes, and blending the conflicting shapes into each other for a more or less consistent look took several PSR turns. But it worked, better than expected, and it changes the aircraft’s look effectively, so that almost anything Harrier-esque was gone.

Once the fuselage was completed, I realized that I could not use the Yak-38 wings anymore. They are already pretty small, but with the more voluminous Harrier and Flogger parts added to the aircraft, they’d just be too small!

What to do...? I checked the donor bank and – in order to add even more individual flavor – used a pair of double delta wings from a PM Model Su-15! But only the core of them was left after considerable modifications: The inner delta wing sections were cut off, as well as the tip sections and parts of the trailing edge (for a planform similar to the Yak-38’s wings). On the underside, the landing gear openings were filled up and wing tips from the Yak-38, with puffer jet nozzles, transplanted. The inner leading edges had to be re-sculpted, too. The Su-15 wing fences were kept - a welcome, very Soviet design detail.

A lot of work, but I think it paid out because of the individual shape and look of these “new” wings?

As a consequence of the new, bigger wings, the little Yak-38 stabilizers could not be used anymore, either. In order to keep the square wing shape, I used modified stabilizers from an Intech F-16C/D – their trailing edges were clipped, but the bigger span retained. Together with the characteristic OOB Yak-38 fin they work well, and all of the aerodynamic surfaces IMHO blend well into the overall design of the aircraft.

After the hull was complete, work on smaller things could start. Under the fuselage, a GSh-23-2 pod from a MiG-21 was added, as well as pylons from the Tsukuda Yak-38 under the wings and a donor part from the scrap box in ventral position.

The landing gear is a mix, too: the main struts come from the Yak-38, the balloon wheels from the Matchbox Harrier. The front landing gear comes from the Academy MiG-27, including the wheels with mudguards. It was just mounted in a fashion that it now retracts forward.

The Harrier vectoring nozzles were modified, too, the exhaust “grills” replaced by square, simple ducts, scratched from styrene profile and putty. Care was taken that the nozzles would remain moveable in the fuselage flanks – for later hover pictures. The Yak-38’s nozzles were retained, but since they can OOB only be mounted in a single, fixed position, I added a simple pin to each nozzle, together with two holes in the hull, so that positions can now be switched between hover and level flight.

All around the hull, finally some small details like pitots, blade antennae and air scoops were finally added, and the ordnance consists of a pair of unguided 57mm rocket pods and a pair of Kh-23 (AS-7 Kerry) guided missiles – the latter come from the Yak-38 kit, but they are very crude and their tail sections were modified in order to come (slightly) closer to reality.

Painting and markings:

As an aircraft of the Soviet Frontal Aviation in the late Eighties, I settled upon a typical, disruptive four-tone camouflage with blue undersides. Very conventional, but with an exotic VTOL model I thought that a subtle look would be appropriate – and also separate it from the Naval Yak-38 cousin.

Design benchmark is the scheme on a contemporary MiG-21bis from a Soviert Frontal Aviation unit, chosen because of the disruptive pattern. The tones are guesstimates, though, based on various similar aircraft in more or less weathered condition. I settled for:

- Humbrol 195 (Dark Satin Green)

- Humbrol 78 (RAF Interior Green)

- Modelmaster 2005 (Burnt Umber)

- Humbrol 119 (Light Earth)

- Humbrol 115 (Russian Blue) for the undersides

The cockpit was painted in Russian Cockpit Green, opf course. The landing gear and their respective wells in a mix of Aluminum and Khaki Drab (Humbrol 56 & 26), and the wheel discs became bright green (Humbrol 131). Several di-electric panels and antennae were painted in Humbrol 106 (RAF Ocean Grey).

The kit received a thin black ink wash, in order to emphasize the panel lines, and panel post-shading with subtly lighter tones of the basic colors. National markings, codes and emblems come from several aftermarket sheets, mostly from High Decal Line and Begemot.

After some soot stains (grinded graphite) had been added, the kit was sealed with matt acrlyic varnish (Italeri) and the ordnace added.

Messy work, but I am surprised how consistent and normal the resulting aircraft appears? From certain angles, my Yak-138 creation reminds a good deal of the stillborn Hawker P.1154 (no similarity intended, though), the SEPECAT Jaguar or rather exotic Soko J-22 Orao/IAR-93 Vultur fighter bomber. IMHO, there’s also some A-4 Skyhawk style to it, esp. in planview? Anyway, there’s still some good Yak-38 heritage recognizable, and the tactical Frontal Aviation paint scheme suits the aircraft well - looks like a serious mud mover.

47/365

Security hologram on the new Bank of England £5 note. If you look closely on a note this hologram runs from top to bottom. This is gonna be a bugger for the forgers!!

So many different colour combinations to be had out of this. Gonna have another go but will need a brand new note as this one was a little creased.

Mons Meg est une bombarde médiévale (XVe siècle) de la collection des Royal Armouries prêtée à Historic Scotland. Elle symbolise le passé militaire glorieux de l'Écosse. Cet impressionnant canon de siège de 6 tonnes, de calibre 20 pouces (510 mm) est capable de tirer des boulets de pierre pesant 330 livres (150 kgs) jusqu'à 2 miles de distance (3,2 kms). A l’origine le canon était peint avec du plomb rouge pour l’empêcher de rouiller. Il fallait cent hommes pour le transporter. Avec l'énorme "canon des Dardanelles" en bronze coulé de 17 tonnes fabriquée en 1464 pour le sultan turc Mohamet II (exposé à présent dans la cour de la Tour de Londres), ces bombardes sont parmi les plus gros canons jamais construits. L'auteur anglais Dudley Pope cite le Mons Meg mais également le Dulle Griet de Gand comme exemples des plus gros canons construits au Moyen Age, et dit des deux qu'ils "ont probablement été fabriqués en "Flandre" (région qui deviendra plus tard la Belgique et que les Français appelaient "Pays-Bas"). Le "Dulle Griet mesurait plus de 5 m de long pesait 12.5 tonnes avec un calibre à la bouche d'environ 90 cm. Il était peint en rouge sang lui valant le surnom de « grand démon rouge ». Le nom flamand Griet et le nom anglais Meg sont tous deux des diminutifs du nom de Margaret (ou Margriet), équivalents du français Marguerite. Mons Meg a été construit par Jehan Cambier, fabricant d'artillerie du duc de Bourgogne Philippe le Bonet il a été testé avec succès à Mons dans le comté de Hainaut dans l'actuelle Belgique, en juin 1449. Le duc n'en prendra livraison qu'en 1453. Le duc a offert la bombarde au roi d'Écosse James II en 1457 dont il avait aidé à négocier le mariage en signe de son soutien.

Le canon est fabriqué selon la méthode qui consistait à forger ensemble des barres de fer droites autour d'un mandrin, et de les consolider ensuite avec des cercles de fer, dilatés par chauffe et brusquement refroidis à l'eau pour provoquer un rétrécissement, à la manière des barriques. La manière dont ces canons sont fabriqués ainsi que les variations de qualité de la poudre noire dont les ingrédients étaient souvent transportés séparément et mélangés sur place, en faisait des armes très peu fiables. Les explosions n'étaient pas rares, et on peut dire que ces bombardes étaient plus dangereuses pour leurs servants que pour ceux sur qui on tirait. L'effet psychologique de la flamme et du tonnerre au départ du coup étaient plus impressionnant que le gros boulet de pierre. Il faut également imaginer la somme d'efforts et d'énergie nécessaires au déplacement de ces énormes pièces, ainsi que la difficulté de leur mise en batterie. Une fois en place, ces bombardes ne pouvaient plus être déplacées, et tout réglage de visée était exclu. Elles ne pouvaient tirer qu'une dizaine de coups par jour au maximum en raison de l’énorme chaleur générée par la charge de poudre, et si leurs gros boulets de pierre parvenaient à ouvrir des brèches dans des murailles pas trop épaisses, ils étaient pratiquement sans effet contre l'infanterie et la cavalerie, qui pouvait les voir arriver de loin et les éviter assez aisément.

La bombarde a été employée dans les sièges jusqu'au milieu du XVIe siècle. Probablement pour la première fois en 1460 au château de Roxburgh près de la frontière avec l'Angleterre. Au cours de cette bataille, le roi Jacques II d'Écosse a été mortellement blessé lorsqu'un autre canon de siège géant a explosé. En 1489, elle a été emmenée à 80 km (50 miles) à l'ouest du château de Dumbarton (puis le château de Norham), pour aider à maîtriser le comte de Lennox. Le poids énorme de Mons Meg la rendait très difficile à déplacer. Sa vitesse moyenne n'était que de 14 kms (9 miles) par jour. Elle termina ses jours de combat dans la marine du roi Jacques V, prenant sa retraite vers 1540. Elle ne fut tiré ensuite que lors d'occasions cérémonielles : en 1558 pour célébrer le mariage de Mary Queen of Scots avec le dauphin français, puis de nouveau en 1681, en guise de salut d'anniversaire pour le futur roi Jacques VII. Malheureusement le baril éclata rendant le Mons Meg inutilisable (les cerceaux fracturés sont encore visibles). En 1754, Mons Meg fut emmenée à la Tour de Londres, où il y resta 75 ans. Il est ramené au château en 1829. La cavalerie et l’infanterie l’escortent de Leith Docks à Castle Rock. Mons Meg a depuis été restauré et est maintenant exposé dans le château. Il reste très populaire aujourd’hui auprès des touristes, qui ne résistent pas à mettre la tête dans l'énorme canon…

Mons Meg is a medieval (15th century) bombard from the collection of the Royal Armories on loan to Historic Scotland. It symbolizes Scotland's glorious military past. This impressive 6-ton, 20-inch (510 mm) caliber siege gun is capable of firing stone balls weighing 330 pounds (150 kg) up to 2 miles away (3.2 km). Originally the barrel was painted with red lead to prevent it from rusting. It took a hundred men to transport it. Together with the massive 17-tonne cast bronze 'Dardanelle Cannon' made in 1464 for the Turkish Sultan Mohammet II (now on display in the courtyard of the Tower of London), these bombards are among the largest cannons ever built. The English author Dudley Pope cites the Mons Meg but also the Dulle Griet of Ghent as examples of the largest guns built in the Middle Ages, and says of both that they "were probably made in 'Flanders' (a region which later became Belgium and which the French called "Pays-Bas"). The "Dulle Griet was more than 5 m long, weighed 12.5 tons with a caliber at the muzzle of about 90 cm. He was painted blood red, earning him the nickname "great red demon". The Flemish name Griet and the English name Meg are both diminutives of the name Margaret (or Margriet), equivalents of the French Marguerite. Mons Meg was built by Jehan Cambier, artillery maker for the Duke of Burgundy Philippe le Bonet it was successfully tested in Mons in the county of Hainaut in present-day Belgium, in June 1449. The duke never took delivery of it than in 1453. The Duke gifted the bombard to King James II of Scotland in 1457 whose marriage he had helped negotiate as a sign of his support.

The barrel is made by the method of forging straight iron bars together around a mandrel, and then consolidating them with iron hoops, expanded by heating and suddenly cooled with water to cause shrinkage, to the way of the barrels. The way in which these guns are made as well as the variations in quality of black powder whose ingredients were often transported separately and mixed on site, made them very unreliable weapons. Explosions were not uncommon, and it can be said that these bombards were more dangerous for their servants than for those who were fired at. The psychological effect of the flame and the thunder at the start of the blow were more impressive than the large stone ball. One must also imagine the amount of effort and energy required to move these huge pieces, as well as the difficulty of putting them in battery. Once in place, these bombards could no longer be moved, and any aiming adjustment was excluded. They could only fire about ten shots a day at the most because of the enormous heat generated by the powder charge, and if their big stone balls managed to open breaches in walls not too thick, they were practically without effect against infantry and cavalry, which could see them coming from afar and avoid them quite easily.

The bombard was used in sieges until the middle of the 16th century. Probably first seen in 1460 at Roxburgh Castle near the border with England. During this battle, King James II of Scotland was mortally wounded when another giant siege cannon exploded. In 1489, she was taken 80 km (50 miles) west of Dumbarton Castle (then Norham Castle), to help subdue the Earl of Lennox. Mons Meg's enormous weight made her very difficult to move. Its average speed was only 14 kms (9 miles) per day. She ended her days of combat in the navy of King James V, retiring around 1540. She was only fired afterwards on ceremonial occasions: in 1558 to celebrate the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the French Dauphin, then to again in 1681, as a birthday greeting for the future King James VII. Unfortunately the barrel burst rendering the Mons Meg unusable (the fractured hoops are still visible). In 1754, Mons Meg was taken to the Tower of London, where he remained for 75 years. He was brought back to the castle in 1829. Cavalry and infantry escorted him from Leith Docks to Castle Rock. Mons Meg has since been restored and is now on display in the castle. It remains very popular today with tourists, who can't resist putting their heads in the huge cannon...

Canon EOS R6 with Canon RF85mm f2

Surf Beach - Torquay, Melbourne, Australia

This beautiful image has been captured at Surf Beach (Torquay, Australia) by Art Studio Maja's photographer Fatima Suljagic (+61 3 9741 7056). Do not forger to order calendars 2015 and holidays greeting cards from Art Studio Maja (Melbourne, Australia).

This image is one of my absolutely favourite photos taken by Nikon D90, the image was taken raw and post processed using the photoshop camera raw for nikon files.

Que en esta Navidad renazcan:

los buenos recuerdos de tu pasado,

la alegría de vivir intensamente el presente,

la esperanza de forjar un futuro mejor y ...

¡Que cada día de tu vida se convierta en una Navidad eterna!

¡FELICES FIESTAS!

May this Christmas be reborn:

good memories from your past

the joy of living intensely this,

the hope of forging a better future ...

Each day of your life will become a Christmas forever!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Que ce Noël soit renaître:

de bons souvenirs de votre passé

la joie de vivre intensément ce,

l'espoir de forger un avenir meilleur ...

Chaque jour de votre vie va devenir un Noël pour toujours!

JOYEUSES FÊTES!

Möge dieses Weihnachten wiedergeboren werden:

gute erinnerungen aus der vergangenheit

die Freude am Leben intensiv dazu

die Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft schmieden ...

Jeder Tag Ihres Lebens werden zu Weihnachten immer zu werden!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Che questo Natale sia rinato:

bei i ricordi del tuo passato

la gioia di vivere intensamente questo,

la speranza di forgiare un futuro migliore ...

Ogni giorno della tua vita diventa un Natale sempre!

BUONE FESTE!

Que este Natal renascer:

boas lembranças de seu passado

a alegria de viver intensamente este,

a esperança de forjar um futuro melhor y. ..

Que cada dia de sua vida se torna um Natal para sempre!

BOAS FESTAS!

Photographer: Florent Joannès

Model: Chan

2022

Monino, 21 August 1995.

There were two Yak-38s in the museum (11 and 14 yellow), but apparently I only took a photo of this one. 10 years later these two had received new codes: 37 and 38. But why?

Digitally composed image

The original craft is exposed in Technical Museum of Vedim Zadorozhny, Moscow.

www.tmuseum.ru/en/collection/catalog_5/135.htm

The Yakovlev Yak-38 (Russian: Як-38, NATO reporting name: Forger) was Soviet Naval Aviation's first and only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft.

Design and development

The first drawings showed a supersonic aircraft strongly resembling by the Hawker P.1154 in study in the United Kingdom but with two R27-300 engines. Supersonic performances would have implied many difficulties of development, and it was decided to initially develop a relatively simple aircraft limited to Mach 0.95. Although the Yak-38 and Yak-38M were developed from the land-based Yakovlev Yak-36, the aircraft had almost nothing in common.

The Prototype VM-01 was finished on April 14, 1970. Though outwardly similar to the British Harrier Jump Jet, it followed a completely different configuration. Apart from having a vectorable engine in the rear used for flight, two smaller, less powerful engines were housed in the front portion of the aircraft and used purely for take-off and landing. (The Harrier uses only one engine, vectoring its thrust through four nozzles.) The aircraft used a similar layout to the German experimental VTOL strike fighter, the VFW VAK 191B, which began development in 1961, and the contemporary Dassault Mirage IIIV.

A diagram showing the lift forces on a Yak-38 in VTOL modeThe Yak 36 was sent for tests in May and June 1970. Mikhail Deksbakh carried out the first flight of the VM-02 in conventional mode on January 15, 1971. The VM-03 made its first flight in short takeoff mode on May 25, 1971. Sea trials aboard the aircraft carrier ("aviation cruiser") Kiev were observed in 1975. 231 Yak-38 aircraft were produced, including 38 two-seat trainers (Yak-38U). These were based on the four Kiev class aircraft carriers.

The Yak-38 used a hands-free landing system. The aircraft could negotiate a telemetry/telecommand link with a computer system in the aircraft carrier which would allow it to be guided onto the deck with no interaction from the pilot.

Markings

The initial colour scheme worn by the AV-MF Yak-38 consisted of dark green anti-corrosion paint on the undersides of the aircraft, with dark blue upper surfaces. This was later replaced by a light grey over dark grey scheme, frequently associated with the Yak-38M. An unusual green-over-silver "tiger" camouflage scheme, reportedly seen on an aircraft onboard Leningrad in 1986, was probably applied for one cruise only. Special camouflage schemes may also have been applied to aircraft involved in the Romb-1 trials in Afghanistan in 1980.

Operational history

The majority of Yak-36M initial production deliveries were to the 279 OKShAP (Otdelnyi Korabelnyi Shturmovoi Aviatsionnyi Polk, Independent Shipboard Attack Air Regiment) initially based at Saki, the AV-MF’s training centre in Crimea. Pilots for this unit were drawn from the Yakovlev OKB and the LII at Zhukovskii, as well as from the AV-MF. Established as early as December 1973, the 279 OKShAP of the Black Sea Fleet made use of a dummy Kiev class aircraft carrier deck, and also operated a pair of MiG-21UMs (and, briefly, Ka-25s) for training. The first AV-MF squadron embarked on Kiev in July 1976. On the conclusion of acceptance tests for the Yak-36M initial series in August 1976 (Kiev was underway in the Atlantic at this point), the aircraft was formally accepted by the AV-MF in October, under the new designation Yak-38.

On its arrival in Murmansk, the 279 OKShAP was transferred to the Northern Fleet, with subsequent flying operations mainly being conducted from Severomorsk-3. The 299 IIAP (Issledovatlesko-Instruktorskiy Aviatsionnyi Polk, Research and Instructor Air Regiment) had been formed as a training unit at Saki in September 1976 to replace the previous unit within the Black Sea Fleet.

The February 1978 entry into service of Minsk, the second Kiev class ship, was accompanied by a further series of Yak-38 shipboard trials, beginning in April 1978, and with the emphasis now placed on developing procedure for STOL operations. The passage of Minsk out of the Black Sea in February 1979 was duly followed by a major exercise involving the first two ships of the Project 1143 class in the Mediterranean. On this occasion, five aircraft from each vessel conducted formation exercises in proximity to NATO observers.

The Yak-38’s limited useful payload was always its Achilles’ heel, but the high ambient temperatures that had been encountered in the Black Sea during the summer 1976 trials frequently prevented the aircraft from carrying any external stores at all, despite a reduced fuel load. Similar problems were then encountered when Minsk sailed off the coast of West Africa and then in the Indian Ocean; in these instances the lift jets proved unwilling to start under hot and humid conditions. (An oxygen-boosting intake system[clarification needed] helped alleviate the problem, and was installed from September 1979 during routine overhauls.) In July 1979, Minsk arrived in the Sea of Japan, where the vessel was home-ported at Strelok Bay, the Yak-38 component of its air wing thereafter being provided by the 311 OKShAP subordinate to the Pacific Fleet. The 311 OKShAP was the second AV-MF Yak-38 unit, and had been established in March 1976.

During its first few years of ship-borne operations the Yak-38 was not cleared to make rolling take-offs and run-on landings, leading some Western observers[who?] to believe that the fundamentals of its propulsion design restricted the type to VTOL operations.[citation needed] In fact, shipboard short take-off trials had begun by December 1979, while experiments with run-on landings followed onboard Minsk between September 1980 and February 1981. V/STOL operations were made easier by the addition of a refined automatic flight-control system, linked to a thumb switch on the pilot’s stick. Rolling take-offs were conducted with the lift engines deflected aft, the main engine nozzles being rotated automatically from 60° to 25° during the take-off run, before being slowly returned to the horizontal as the lift engines were shut down.

The Kiev class ships normally embarked a total of 12 single-seat Yak-38s, supplemented by two or three two-seat Yak-38Us, as part of an independent aviation regiment that also included two squadrons of (mainly anti-submarine warfare) helicopters. Of the seven landing pads available on the deck of each of the Project 1143s, all but one could accommodate the Yak-38.

During April and May 1980 four Yak-38s and four AV-MF pilots were deployed to Afghanistan as part of a 50-day trial codenamed Romb-1, although the ‘hot and high’ conditions prevented any meaningful combat missions from being undertaken – in total, 12 combat sorties were made, but only two 100 kg (220 lb) bombs could be carried. In the event, any involvement would have been further limited by the ‘near-operational’ nature of the Romb-1 deployment (which also involved the first and third prototype Su-25s). The aircraft involved were not intended to be subject to combat, but rather tested under conditions that simulated the battlefield to a high degree. Despite their official non-operational nature, aircraft involved in the Romb trials could be requested to undertake combat sorties by local divisional commanders, on an ad hoc basis. The Yak-38s and prototype Su-25s operated out of a specially prepared air base near Shindand. Even with a much-reduced fuel and weapons load, the Yak-38 proved incapable of operating during the hot daylight hours (after around 0500 hrs).

In September 1982, Novorossiysk - the third Kiev class vessel - was commissioned. By now the V/STOL technique had been well practised, and the resulting increase in the Yak-38’s overall performance and capability was exploited during the passage of Novorossiysk from Severomorsk to join the Pacific Fleet. In a maritime context, the Yak-38 was not limited to the decks of the Kiev class. In September 1983, AV-MF pilots operated from the civilian ‘Ro-Ro’ vessel Agostinio Neto, and NII-VVS pilots conducted further tests from another ‘Ro-Ro’, Nikolai Cherkasov. In both cases, use was made of a heat-resistant landing platform; further land-based trials tested the practicality of dispersed landing platforms, in a similar concept to the RAF’s Harrier operations in West Germany.

General characteristics

Crew: One

Length: 16.37 m (50 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 7.32 m (24 ft 0 in)

Height: 4.25 m (14 ft 5 in)

Wing area: 18.5 m² (199 ft²)

Empty weight: 7,385 kg (16,281 lb)

Loaded weight: kg (lb)

Max takeoff weight: 11,300 kg (28,700 lb)

Powerplant: 1 x Tumansky R-28 V-300 turbojet, 66.7 kN (15,000 lbf)

Powerplant: 2× Rybinsk RD-38 turbojets, 31.9 kN (7,870 lbf>) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 1 280 km/h (795 mph)

Range: 1,300 km[3] (807 miles)

Service ceiling: 11,000 m (36,089 ft)

Rate of climb: 4,500 m/min (14,760 ft/min)

Wing loading: kg/m² (lb/ft²)

Thrust/weight: 1+

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yak-38

I had a stroke of good fortune late this afternoon. At our local charity shop I came across a rare out of print book by one of Australia's greatest Modernist photographers. It is Francis Greenway - A Celebration with photographs by Max Dupain and a forward by Professor J.M Freeland from the School of Architecture at the University of New South Wales.

The book is in excellent condition and cost me just four dollars. It is a double delight in that I enjoy books about early Australian colonial history and architecture, and I love the work of Max Dupain. In fact I already have several classics by the great photographer, including his authoritative work on Georgian architecture in colonial Australia.

Max Dupain (1911-1992) is most famous to the public for his work on Modernist photography. He and his first wife Olive Cotton (1911-2003) and later people like David Moore (1927-2003), led the breakaway from the Pictorialist style that dominated Australian photography early in the 20th century. This was made most popular by the brilliant Harold Cazneaux (1878-1953) and Jack Cato (1889-1971), although Cato gave up photography relatively early. www.flickr.com/photos/luminosity7/53060477299/in/album-72...

Under the influence of exponents of "straight photography", like Walker Evans and Edward Weston, Dupain and his peers began to photograph the Australian way of life from all angles. Perhaps his most famous photograph is the 1937 Sunbather on Bondi Beach in Sydney. www.maxdupain.com.au/

Yet later in his life Dupain began a real passion for architectural photography, and this was indeed very timely. In the post-Second World War boom there was a great deal of progressivist social planning that led to the demolition of many important early buildings. In a small way, Dupain's work (especially on the Georgian architects of NSW and Van Diemen's Land), resonated with people and a number of conservation groups arose to oppose the destruction of priceless architectural treasures and replacing them with concrete boxes (apartments etc.).

In fact Max Dupain's work on architectural photography might be better known in Britain than it is in Australia, where one critic described him as the preeminent architectural photographer in the world. For this work he was made an Honourary Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1980.

I have scanned the cover of this book in colour, and also some sample black and white images from inside. In them you will see Dupain's wonderful contrasty style, his love for geometry and even a sneaky shadow "selfie" (top far right). The influence of Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico can be seen in the way Dupain composes the shadows.

As for Francis Greenway (1777-1837), well his story is among the most extraordinary in architectural history. adb.anu.edu.au/biography/greenway-francis-2120

Australia had several later to be distinguished convict architects and two of them were forgers: James Blackburn (1803-1854) whose career got going in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and was so influential in the development of Melbourne (founded in 1835) that a whole suburb was named after him.

Greenway however, a generation earlier, very quickly became the key architect in the Macquarie era (1810-1821). Gov. Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824) is regarded by many historians as the true founder of modern Australian society. adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macquarie-lachlan-2419

When he arrived in New South Wales the situation had become an unholy mess, and this brilliant but dour Scotsman set about establishing a colony that people could be proud of.

Public buildings became an important part of Macquarie's civilising approach. In Francis Greenway - who had been transported to NSW in 1814 for forging a document while in the practice of architecture in Bristol, England - Macquarie found his man.

When you visit Sydney today, don't go for the flashy new architecture and towers that dominate the skyline (you'll see them everywhere, especially in Dubai). Along with the icons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, set out to find the works of Francis Greenway. Start with St James' Church in Hyde Park (1824), and then wander over to the old Hyde Park Barracks (1819). Here you will see examples of the two pillars of a strong society according to Gov. Macquarie: sound religion and a robust military force.

But really one of my absolute favourites is the extraordinarily beautiful Macquarie Lighthouse at South Head (1816). The Greenway tower of the lighthouse was taken down in 1883 for safety reasons, but it was so respected that a replica was built in its place and that is the one that stands today.

In this book of beautiful photographs, Max Dupain not only pays tribute to a great colonial architect, but reminds us of how important our built structures are to the creation of a free and integrated society.

YBS24Portrait

A picture of Gate 18 of the Poultry Market at Smithfield, London. Several other parts of the market are still very much open for business.

Smithfield was originally the Smooth Field just outside the city walls and was used over the centuries (going back as far as the tenth century) as London's main livestock market.

As a large open space close to the City it was a favourite place for gatherings such as public executions and jousting. Coin forgers were boiled in oil here during the 16th century. And as a counter balance perhaps, Smithfield was also the site of two monasteries - St Bartholomew the Great and Charterhouse.

In 1666 the Smithfield area was left mostly untouched by the Great Fire of London. And in the same century, several residents of Smithfield emigrated to the United States where they founded the town of Smithfield, Rhode Island.

These days, around 120,000 tons of produce pass through the market each year. As well as meat and poultry, products such as cheese, pies, and other delicatessen goods are available. Bargaining between buyers and sellers at Smithfield sets the guidelines for meat and poultry prices throughout the UK.

(Taken in part from Wikipedia)

Part of the Square shots of the Square Mile (and a bit) set.

Moscow Frunze Central Aerodrome, 29 August 1993.

There used to be a large collection of Russian military aircraft near the centre of Moscow.

A Yak-38M 'Forger-A' giving the collection some colour. To the right you can see it's successor, the Yak-141 'Freestyle'. Three Yak-141s were test flown, but the programme was cancelled in 1991.

The amazing collection was still intact in 1993 when I first visited. An entrance fee was asked to get access.

Frunze Aerodrome (or Khodinka) was Moscow's first international airport. It closed in 2003. Most aircraft got vandalised after that and were scrapped. Some survived and moved to a better place.

My husband, Jake, will be 83 years old in December, and he can rememebr a time when our country was one people who worked together for it's good, and the good of each other. The current events in Washington really upset him, as he watches all he once knew and loved and believed in being destroyed. He wrote the following about 4 years or so ago, as his sarcastic solution to the problems we were facing then, and he asked me to post it "all over the internet", because he believes these solutions would apply today also. Anyway...here's Jake:

The “Cash 4 Clunkers” program appears to have been quite a success – at least as far as stimulating new car sales is concerned. However, most of the trade-ins were sound, high quality, late model pickups and SUV’s that fell just below the gas mileage limit (mainly because they were large and heavy, and were geared accordingly). And the new cars that were bought included many hybrids that run on batteries, hype, and hope. Will the buyers actually pay for them? Also the so-called clunker trade-ins were being totally destroyed--deliberately reduced to trash. Is this right? And many local car dealers have yet to receive one red cent of the $4500 promised for each of these piles of metallic junk. In fact, the entire Cash-4-Clunkers stimulus program was cancelled, prior to many dealers being paid anything.

Of course, any money for this, or any other federal program, must come from an empty treasury. So what else is new? If you were to sweep and vacuum all the empty vaults at Fort Knox, you might come up with enough gold dust to make one small wedding ring. But, why bother? Wedding rings are obsolete anyway. However, promised payment from government sponsored programs seem to work just fine. With that in mind—why not initiate a tax refund program? Handled correctly, it could sponsor the greatest consumerism explosion in the history of the world.

It would work like this: Every taxpayer in the U.S. would be eligible for a $10,000 refund. Everyone over the age of 10 would be considered a taxpayer and therefore eligible. Since those under 10 do not normally spend their own money—they would be excluded. We pay income tax, sales tax, property tax, gasoline tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax, poll tax, pole tax, import tax, value-added tax, syntax, sin tax, excise tax, luxury tax, and numerous other taxes—too taxing to remember. Even illegal immigrants pay taxes. Based on latest census info, there are 258,694,227 people over the age of 10 in the U.S. who would qualify for a $10,000 refund.

The tax refund program would start in October, but it might take some time to process the applications. However, since everyone is eligible and promised $10,000 by our benevolent government—they start spending immediately. People give assignments and vouchers on their expected checks. Credit cards boom. Real Estate sales go through the roof. Developers, contractors, and builders go wild. Retail sales zoom. The economic growth is off the charts. Banks loan to the max. However, there is a downside.

The Tax Refund To Americans Program (or T-R-A-P)—as with every federal program—requires considerable paperwork. In fact, the T-R-A-P application is 877 pages, and weighs 18 pounds 12 ounces. The U.S. Postal Service screams. Tree Huggers, Inc. goes crazy when they realize the number of national forests required to produce that amount of paper—not even considering the massive amount of lumber being used in the housing/construction boom. Al Gore comes to Capitol Hill screaming that Nobel also invented T.N.T. The T-R-A-P snaps shut. Not one dime has been paid to the American taxpayers—yet the economy is booming. The tax refund program ends just before Christmas and our wonderful government takes over every bank in America in January. Hitler could not have done it any better.

The two other major problems—health care and the national debt—could be solved just as easily. Since our current national government seems to be operating in the Communist-Fascist-Socialist New World Order format – why have they not seen such a simple solution right at hand? It is Social Security. Properly utilized, Social Security answers almost all of our health care and money woes. It is so simple, even young people are aware of many of the aspects. In fact, many young Americans are quite well-informed.

Most younger Americans know what Tweetie-Bird had for breakfast and where Goldi-locks itches. They also know that Michael Jackson’s circulatory system contained 52% drugs and bleach and only 48% real blood. And every young person knows that 40 is old, 50 is really old, 60 is ancient, and 65 is ridiculous. And most folks in America – both young and old – realize that our current Social Security system is the most massive Ponzi scheme of all time. Young folks will never receive a penny of what they contribute. So why wait? Why not cut off all payouts from Social Security now? Money comes in, but nothing goes out. Everyone over 65 is eliminated. All of their assets go to big government; and we can then pay off the national debt, loan money to China and Brazil, and underwrite the Euro. SS Agents, of course, will supervise. Social Security will become the answer instead of the problem.

The total assets of the elderly in America is a mind-boggling amount, surpassing the combined wealth of 158 poorer countries around the world. Members of Congress (under 65, of course) can divide-up condos, mansions, estates, etc.-- but only one each. Since many older folks have funds stashed in off-shore banks, SS troops will be sent to seize these accounts -- along with the banks and Caribbean Islands where they are located. Everyone knows that these islands should belong to America anyway.

Many jobs are created. Hawaiian document forgers are overwhelmed with orders for birth certificates showing more recent birth dates. And, of course, a large number of jobs become available to build and operate the Senior Serenity System -- a system which eliminates a senior’s aches, pains, worries, and confusion forever. Each facility consists of a very large caldron, capable of holding 1000 seniors, a forge furnace, and a conveyer through a tunnel. SS agents with pitchforks keep the conveyer running smoothly. Abundant corn oil, unused for ethanol, is used for the boiling-in-oil process. On the 2nd day, the temperature reaches 2,200 degrees -- then it is allowed to cool. On the 4th day, funeral parlor workers come to skim off burial bottles, before any flavors are added. Cinnamon, lemon-lime, and chili all seem to work; but the original “Granny” flavor is by far the most popular – whether for Fido and Rover in “Bow-Wow Chow” or George and Larry in “Wham-Bam Spam”. The list of new jobs and other positive ramifications goes on and on.

Alaska Caldron No. 3 could be built at the end of the Bridge to Nowhere. Videos of SS agents with pitchforks, keeping order on a conveyer, are sold to evangelists, and are shown on large screens at revivals. Since griping, grouching, frowning, and bitching are no longer permitted – SS agents enforce our happiness. Yippee!

As the elderly disappear, the general health of the population improves dramatically. In fact, Alzheimer’s rarely shows up at all, and Erectile Dysfunction becomes fairly uncommon. Nursing homes can now take in the homeless. There is no more Medicare or Medicaid. Hospitals now compete, using discounted rates. Doctors will have to work for reasonable wages. For instance, a regular MD will receive 2 times the minimum wage. Surgeons get 3 times minimum wage, and the Surgeon General gets a whopping 4 times the minimum wage. How could it be any more fair. Also, it is discovered that swine flu is a by-product of excessive congressional pork spread all across the country – which will be corrected just as soon as pigs fly. Welcome to the new America!

Jake Von Canon

Please feel free to send to everyone you know, ever knew, or never knew.

Faversham /ˈfævərʃəm/ is a market town and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. The town is 48 miles from London and 10 miles from Canterbury and lies next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The Faversham name is of Latinvia Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".

There has been a settlement at Faversham since pre-Roman times, next to the ancient sea port on Faversham Creek, and archaeological evidence has shown a Roman theatre was based in the town. It was inhabited by the Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday bookas Favreshant. The town was favoured by King Stephen who established Faversham Abbey, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Subsequently, the town became an important seaport and established itself as a centre for brewing, and the Shepherd Neame Brewery, founded in 1698, remains a significant major employer.

The town was also the centre of the explosives industry between the 17th and early 20th century, before a decline following an explosion in 1916 which killed over 100 workers. This coincided with a revival of the shipping industry in the town. Faversham has a number of landmarks, with several historic churches including St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church, the Maison Dieu and Faversham Recreation Ground. Faversham Market has been established for over 900 years and is still based in the town centre. There are good road and rail links, including a Southeastern service to the High Speed 1 line at Ebbsfleet International and London.

History

Faversham was established as a settlement before the Roman conquest. The Romans established several towns in Kent including Faversham, with traffic through the Saxon Shore ports of Reculver, Richborough, Doverand Lympne converging on Canterbury before heading up Watling Street to London. The town was less than 10 miles from Canterbury, and consequently Faversham had become established on this road network by 50 AD following the initial conquest by Claudius in 43 AD. Numerous remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in and around Faversham, including under St Mary of Charity Church where coins and urns were discovered during reconstruction of the western tower in 1794. In 2013, the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, able to accommodate some 12,000 people, were discovered at a hillside near the town. The cockpit-style outdoor auditorium, the first of its kind found in Britain, was a style the Romans used elsewhere in their empire on the Continent.

There is archaeological evidence to suggest that Faversham was a summer capital for the Saxon kings of Kent. It was held in royaldemesne in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Coenwulf, the King of Mercia. Coenwulf described the town as the King's little town of Fefresham, while it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Favreshant. The name has been documented as meaning "the metal-worker's village", which may derive from the Old English fæfere, which in turn comes from the Latin "faber" meaning "craftsman" or "forger". The town had established itself as a seaport by the Middle Ages, and became part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports in the 13th century, providing a vessel to Dover. The Gough Map of Britain, printed in 1360, shows the Swale as an important shipping channel for trade.

The manor was recorded as Terra Regis, meaning it was part of the ancient royal estates. King Stephen gave it to his chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, but soon made him swap it with Lillechurch (now Higham) so that the manor of Faversham could form part of the endowment of Faversham Abbey. Stephen established the abbey in 1148, and is buried there with his consort Matilda of Boulogne, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne. Stephen favoured the town because of the abbey, and so it was historically important during his reign. King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells in 1201, but it was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbeyat Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and denied the request. Abbey Street was constructed around this time in order to provide an appropriate approach to the abbey from the town. It still houses timber framed buildings and has been described as "the finest medieval street in southeast England".

Sir Thomas Culpeper was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Most of the abbey was demolished, and the remains of Stephen were rumoured to have been thrown into Faversham Creek. An excavation of the abbey in 1964 uncovered the empty graves. The entrance gates survived the demolition and lasted until the mid-18th century, but otherwise only a small section of outer wall survived. The abbey's masonry was taken to Calais to reinforce defence of the town, then in British possession, against the French army. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two barns at Abbey Farm. Minor Barn was built around 1425; Major Barn, the larger of the two, dates from 1476. Next to the barns is the Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century. The Abbey Guest house, on the east side of the Abbey's Outer Gateway, has survived as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the murder of Thomas Arden in 1551. The Faversham Almshouses were founded and endowed by Thomas Manfield in 1614, with additional houses being built by Henry Wright in 1823.

Due to the poor quality of roads in the middle ages, travel by sea was an important transport corridor. Richard Tylman (or Tillman), mayor in 1581, expanded the port at Faversham, building two wharfs. He became a key figure in exporting corn, wheat and malt to London from the town.

Several notable people in the middle ages had origins in Faversham. Haymo of Faversham was born in Faversham and later moved to Paris to join the Franciscans, becoming the "Aristotelian of Aristotelians".[27] Simon of Faversham was born in the town around the middle of the 13th century and later became Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1304. The notorious pirate Jack Ward is believed to have been born in Faversham around 1553. John Wilson, lutenist and teacher was born in Faversham in 1595 who was the principal composer for the King's Men and a professor of music at Oxford. There is now a plaque at the site of the house in Abbey Street where he was born.

A gunpowder plant had been established around 1573 in Faversham. The town had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. It became known as the Home Works in the 18th century and was nationalised in 1759. By the 19th century, the site stretched for around a mile along the waterfront. A second explosive works was established at Oare to the northwest of town in the late 17th century, with the Marsh Works following in 1786. Towards the end of the 19th century, two new factories were built alongside the Swale to manage production of TNT and cordite. Faversham developed six explosive factories, and from 1874 to 1919, the town was the centre of the explosives industry in the UK.

The first production of guncotton took place in the Marsh Works in 1847. Due to a lack of experience with production methods, an explosion took place soon after work started, with several fatalities. On Sunday 2 April 1916, an explosion occurred at one of the Swale factories in Uplees after sparks from a chimney ignited the works containing around 150 tonnes of high explosives. The incident killed over 100 people, which led to decline of the explosives industry in the town. Later accounts suggested that had the incident not happened on a Sunday, there would have been many more casualties.

All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934 due to the impending threat of World War II. Production was moved to Ardeer in Ayrshire, Scotland, and the munition industry around Faversham is now extinct. The town is now a harbour and market community; old sail-powered Thames barges are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside.

Kent is the centre of hop-growing in England, being centred on nearby Canterbury and Faversham has been the home of several breweries. The Shepherd Neame Brewery was officially founded in 1698, though brewing activities in Faversham pre-date this. The brewery claims to be the oldest in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The Rigden brewery was founded in the early 18th century by Edward Rigden. It subsequently merged with the Canterbury based George Beer in 1922 to become George Beer & Rigden before being purchased by the Maidstone based Fremlins. Whitbread bought out Fremlins in 1967, and closed the Faversham brewery in 1990. The site is now a Tesco superstore. Shepherd Neame remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes India Pale Ale under licence.

A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty, for manufacturing barges for landing craft. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world, producing vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette, both constructed of concrete. Over 1200 ships were built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.

Faversham Market is still held in the town centre. It is now the oldest street market in Kent, dating back over 900 years. Monthly markets are also held in Preston Street and Court Street.

Having been an important thoroughfare since the 12th century, Abbey Street went into decline around the start of the 20th. Some buildings on the street adjoining Quay Lane were demolished in 1892 and much of the entire street was intended for demolition as recently as the 1950s, until intervention from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeologyprojects are run every year. In 2009, evidence of the town's medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project between 2005 and 2007.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faversham

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

After the success of the Soviet Union’s first carrier ship, the Moskva Class (Projekt 1123, also called „Кондор“/„Kondor“) cruisers in the mid 1960s, the country became more ambitious. This resulted in Project 1153 Orel (Russian: Орёл, Eagle), a planned 1970s-era Soviet program to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. Project Orel would have resulted in a program very similar to the aircraft carriers available to the U.S. Navy. The ship would have been about 75-80,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and carried about 70 aircraft launched via steam catapults – the first Soviet aircraft carrier that would be able to deploy fixed-wing aircraft.

Beyond this core capability, the Orel carrier was designed with a large offensive capability with the ship mounts including 24 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles. In the USSR it was actually classified as the "large cruiser with aircraft armament".

Furthermore, carrier Project 1153 was cancelled in October 1978 as being too expensive, and a program for a smaller ship called Project 11435, more V/STOL-aircraft-oriented, was developed instead; in its initial stage, a version of 65,000 tons and 52 aircraft was proposed, but eventually an even smaller ship was built in the form of the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers in 1985, outfitted with a 12-degree ski-jump bow flight deck instead of using complex aircraft catapults. This CTOL carrier was finally equipped with navalized Su-33, MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft – and the MiG-SK paved the early way to these shipboard fighters, especially the MiG-29K.

General characteristics:

Crew: One

Length: 13.28 m (43 ft 6 in)

Wingspan: 10.39 m (34 ft)

Height: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)

Wing area: 22.6 m² (242.5 ft²)

Empty weight: 5.172 kg (11,392 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 7,560 kg (16,632 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Sorokin R3M-28 turbojets afterburning turbojets, rated at 33.8 kN (7,605 lbf) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,145 km/h (618 knots, 711 mph) at 3,000 m (10,000 ft)

Range: 2,060 km (1,111 nmi, 1,280 mi) with drop tanks

Service ceiling: 17,500 m (57,400 ft)

Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,425 ft/min)

Wing loading: 302.4 kg/m² (61.6 lb/ft²)

Thrust/weight: 0.86

Armament:

2x 30 mm NR-30 cannons in the wing roots with 75 RPG

4x underwing pylons, with a maximum load of 1.000 kg (2.205 lb)

The kit and its assembly:

This kitbash creation was spawned by thoughts concerning the Soviet Naval Aviation and its lack of CTOL aircraft carriers until the 1980ies and kicked-off by a CG rendition of a navalized MiG-17 from fellow member SPINNERS at whatifmodelers.com, posted a couple of months ago. I liked this idea, and at first I wanted to convert a MiG-17 with a solid nose as a dedicated carrier aircraft. But the more I thought about it and did historic research, the less probable this concept appeared to me: the MiG-17 was simply too old to match Soviet plans for a carrier ship, at least with the real world as reference.

A plausible alternative was the MiG-19, esp. with its twin-engine layout, even though the highly swept wings and the associated high start and landing speeds would be rather inappropriate for a shipborne fighter. Anyway, a MiG-21 was even less suitable, and I eventually took the Farmer as conversion basis, since it would also fit into the historic time frame between the late 60ies and the mid-70ies.

In this case, the basis is a Plastyk MiG-19 kit, one of the many Eastern European re-incarnations of the vintage KP kit. This cheap re-issue became a positive surprise, because any former raised panel and rivet details have disappeared and were replaced with sound, recessed engravings. The kit is still a bit clumsy, the walls are very thick (esp. the canopy – maybe 2mm!), but IMHO it’s a considerable improvement with acceptable fit, even though there are some sink holes and some nasty surprises (in my case, for instance, the stabilizer fins would not match with the rear fuselage at all, and you basically need putty everywhere).

Not much from the Plastyk kit was taken over, though: only the fuselage’s rear two-thirds were used, some landing gear parts as well as fin and the horizontal stabilizers. The latter were heavily modified and reduced in sweep in order to match new wings from a Hobby Boss MiG-15 (the parts were cut into three pieces each and then set back together again).

Furthermore, the complete front section from a Novo Supermarine Attacker was transplanted, because its short nose and the high cockpit are perfect parts for a carrier aircraft. The Attacker’s front end, including the air intakes, fits almost perfectly onto the round MiG-19 forward fuselage, only little body work was necessary. A complete cockpit tub and a new seat were implanted, as well as a front landing gear well and walls inside of the (otherwise empty) air intakes. The jet exhausts were drilled open, too, and afterburner dummies added. Simple jobs.

On the other side, the wings were trickier than expected. The MiG-19 kit comes with voluminous and massive wing root fairings, probably aerodynamic bodies for some area-ruling. I decided to keep them, but this caused some unexpected troubles…

The MiG-15 wings’ position, considerably further back due to the reduced sweep angle, was deduced from the relative MiG-19’s landing gear position. A lot of sculpting and body work followed, and after the wings were finally in place I recognized that the aforementioned, thick wing root fairings had reduced the wing sweep – basically not a bad thing, but with the inconvenient side effect that the original wing MiG-15 fences were not parallel to the fuselage anymore, looking rather awkward! What to do? Grrrr…. I could not leave it that way, so I scraped them away and replaced with them with four scratched substitutes (from styrene profiles), moving the outer pair towards the wing folding mechanism.

Under the wings, four new pylons were added (two from an IAI Kfir, two from a Su-22) and the ordnance gathered from the scrap box – bombs and rocket pods formerly belonged to a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38.

The landing gear was raised by ~2mm for a higher stance on the ground. The original, thick central fin was reduced in length, so that it could become a plausible attachment point for an arrester hook (also from the spares box), and a pair of splayed stabilizer fins was added as a compensation. Finally, some of the OOB air scoops were placed all round the hull and some pitots, antennae and a gun camera fairing added.

Painting and markings:

This whif was to look naval at first sight, so I referred to the early Yak-38 VTOL aircraft and their rather minimalistic paint scheme in an overall dull blue. The green underside, seen on many service aircraft, was AFAIK a (later) protective coating – an obsolete detail for a CTOL aircraft.

Hence, all upper surfaces and the fuselage were painted in a uniform “Field Blue” (Tamiya XF-50). It’s a bit dark, but I have used this unique, petrol blue tone many moons ago on a real world Kangnam Forger where it looks pretty good, and in this case the surface was furthermore shaded with Humbrol 96 and 126 after a black in wash.

For some contrast I painted the undersides of the wings and stabilizers as well as a fuselage section between the wings in a pale grey (Humbrol 167), seen on one of the Yak-38 prototypes. Not very obvious, but at least the aircraft did not end up in a boring, uniform color.

The interior was painted in blue-gray (PRU Blue, shaded with Humbrol 87) while the landing gear wells became Aluminum (Humbrol 56). The wheel discs became bright green, just in order to keep in style and as a colorful contrast, and some di-electric panels and covers became very light grey or bright green. For some color contrast, the anti-flutter weight tips on the stabilizers as well as the pylons’ front ends were painted bright red.

The markings/decals reflect the early Soviet Navy style, with simple Red Stars, large yellow tactical codes and some high contrast warning stencils, taken from the remains of a Yak-38 sheet (American Revell re-release of the Kangnam kit).

Finally, after some soot stains with graphite around the gun muzzles and the air bleed doors, the kit was sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish and some matt accents (anti-glare panel, radomes).

A simple idea that turned out to be more complex than expected, due to the wing fence troubles. But I am happy that the Attacker nose could be so easily transplanted, it changes the MiG-19’s look considerably, as well as the wings with (much) less sweep angle.

The aircraft looks familiar, but you only recognize at second glance that it is more than just a MiG-19 with a solid nose. The thing looks pretty retro, reminds me a bit of the Supermarine Scimitar (dunno?), and IMHO it appears more Chinese than Soviet (maybe because the layout reminds a lot of the Q-5 fighter bomber)? It could even, with appropriate markings, be a Luft ’46 design?

"I honestly have no clue what I'm looking at! Other than... a mess, maybe?"

That's how most projects start, though, isn't it?

Banpresto Q Posket Spy X Family Anya Forger Research Version A Figurine

Skilled with forge and hammer, Athero is the most famous Mask-Maker of his Mehri Nui. Patient, noble and wise, his craftsmanship excels in forging beautiful and intricate Kanohi. His encyclopaedic knowledge of masks and their powers make him a valued forger of Su-Metru, but will he be able to keep up with the younger Matoran who finish mask far more quickly ? And how will he deal with the constant pressure his Turaga puts on him ?

____________________________________________________

So, I know Matoran of Plasma are usually orange and white, but I never liked that colour-scheme, so I decided for a slightly darker tone. You can see it as the effect of the never-ending smokebanks of the Su-Metru Forges. Athero has a visor that can be removed, and has a small hammer and mask-holder to work with.

c/n 7977862816323, l/n 06-07.

Previously coded ’11 yellow’.

NATO codename:- Forger-A

The c/n has also been reported as 7977864716323.

Designed to serve on the Kiev class aircraft-carriers, the Yak-38 was the Soviets only VTOL strike aircraft. The type first flew in 1971 and entered service in 1976 with a total of 231 being produced.

On display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.

27th August 2017

The following is a translation of the aircraft's description on the official Monino website:-

"The first flight on a Yak-ZbM aircraft (hereinafter referred to as the Yak-38) was made on January 15, 1970 by V.G. Mukhin.

In 1972, on the Yak-38 made landing on the deck of the anti-submarine cruiser "Moscow". Later, such aircraft were based on the larger anti-submarine aircraft-carrying cruisers “Kiev”, “Baku”, “Minsk”, “Novorossiysk”.

Exhibited in the museum, the Yak-38 was built in March 1975. On March 31, the test pilot of the aircraft factory M.S. Dexbach took it into the air, since September 1975 the aircraft was operated in several parts, having completed 70 flights lasting 20 hours. April 24, 1978 he was sent to the training base of VVIA them. Prof. N.E. Zhukovsky, and in 1989 from it - to the Air Force Museum."

Only 50 of these VTOL-jets were built. This year (1993) 88 yellow was in use with the Yakovlev Design Bureau. The Russian Navy had already retired them.

Brand recognition is like gold to a car manufacturer, unless the brand is say Trabant.

The logo and emblem is described by wikipedia as:

The image is used to identify the brand, a subject of public interest.

The significance of the logo is to help the reader identify the brand, assure the readers that they have reached the right article containing critical commentary about the brand, and illustrate the nature of the brand in a way that words alone could not convey.

Mess with the emblem and a room full of lawyers will descend upon you.

The winged B is for Bentley, for so long in an unhappy marriage with Rolls Royce.

The history of the badge and logo seems to be a bit of a mystery, but considering they built very fast cars from the early days, it probably a good guess that the Bentley went so fast, it was like it had wins.

The badges can change slightly over time but one feature of the first Bentley badge hasn't survived. Gordon Crosby designed it with a different number of wing feathers on each side. You don't notice it at a casual glance, and the supposition is that it was drawn that way to confound forgers, who might not have been aware of the deliberate discrepancy.

Recognition Theme

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

After the success of the Soviet Union’s first carrier ship, the Moskva Class (Projekt 1123, also called „Кондор“/„Kondor“) cruisers in the mid 1960s, the country became more ambitious. This resulted in Project 1153 Orel (Russian: Орёл, Eagle), a planned 1970s-era Soviet program to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. Project Orel would have resulted in a program very similar to the aircraft carriers available to the U.S. Navy. The ship would have been about 75-80,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and carried about 70 aircraft launched via steam catapults – the first Soviet aircraft carrier that would be able to deploy fixed-wing aircraft.

Beyond this core capability, the Orel carrier was designed with a large offensive capability with the ship mounts including 24 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles. In the USSR it was actually classified as the "large cruiser with aircraft armament".

Furthermore, carrier Project 1153 was cancelled in October 1978 as being too expensive, and a program for a smaller ship called Project 11435, more V/STOL-aircraft-oriented, was developed instead; in its initial stage, a version of 65,000 tons and 52 aircraft was proposed, but eventually an even smaller ship was built in the form of the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers in 1985, outfitted with a 12-degree ski-jump bow flight deck instead of using complex aircraft catapults. This CTOL carrier was finally equipped with navalized Su-33, MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft – and the MiG-SK paved the early way to these shipboard fighters, especially the MiG-29K.

General characteristics:

Crew: One

Length: 13.28 m (43 ft 6 in)

Wingspan: 10.39 m (34 ft)

Height: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)

Wing area: 22.6 m² (242.5 ft²)

Empty weight: 5.172 kg (11,392 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 7,560 kg (16,632 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Sorokin R3M-28 turbojets afterburning turbojets, rated at 33.8 kN (7,605 lbf) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,145 km/h (618 knots, 711 mph) at 3,000 m (10,000 ft)

Range: 2,060 km (1,111 nmi, 1,280 mi) with drop tanks

Service ceiling: 17,500 m (57,400 ft)

Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,425 ft/min)

Wing loading: 302.4 kg/m² (61.6 lb/ft²)

Thrust/weight: 0.86

Armament:

2x 30 mm NR-30 cannons in the wing roots with 75 RPG

4x underwing pylons, with a maximum load of 1.000 kg (2.205 lb)

The kit and its assembly:

This kitbash creation was spawned by thoughts concerning the Soviet Naval Aviation and its lack of CTOL aircraft carriers until the 1980ies and kicked-off by a CG rendition of a navalized MiG-17 from fellow member SPINNERS at whatifmodelers.com, posted a couple of months ago. I liked this idea, and at first I wanted to convert a MiG-17 with a solid nose as a dedicated carrier aircraft. But the more I thought about it and did historic research, the less probable this concept appeared to me: the MiG-17 was simply too old to match Soviet plans for a carrier ship, at least with the real world as reference.

A plausible alternative was the MiG-19, esp. with its twin-engine layout, even though the highly swept wings and the associated high start and landing speeds would be rather inappropriate for a shipborne fighter. Anyway, a MiG-21 was even less suitable, and I eventually took the Farmer as conversion basis, since it would also fit into the historic time frame between the late 60ies and the mid-70ies.

In this case, the basis is a Plastyk MiG-19 kit, one of the many Eastern European re-incarnations of the vintage KP kit. This cheap re-issue became a positive surprise, because any former raised panel and rivet details have disappeared and were replaced with sound, recessed engravings. The kit is still a bit clumsy, the walls are very thick (esp. the canopy – maybe 2mm!), but IMHO it’s a considerable improvement with acceptable fit, even though there are some sink holes and some nasty surprises (in my case, for instance, the stabilizer fins would not match with the rear fuselage at all, and you basically need putty everywhere).

Not much from the Plastyk kit was taken over, though: only the fuselage’s rear two-thirds were used, some landing gear parts as well as fin and the horizontal stabilizers. The latter were heavily modified and reduced in sweep in order to match new wings from a Hobby Boss MiG-15 (the parts were cut into three pieces each and then set back together again).

Furthermore, the complete front section from a Novo Supermarine Attacker was transplanted, because its short nose and the high cockpit are perfect parts for a carrier aircraft. The Attacker’s front end, including the air intakes, fits almost perfectly onto the round MiG-19 forward fuselage, only little body work was necessary. A complete cockpit tub and a new seat were implanted, as well as a front landing gear well and walls inside of the (otherwise empty) air intakes. The jet exhausts were drilled open, too, and afterburner dummies added. Simple jobs.

On the other side, the wings were trickier than expected. The MiG-19 kit comes with voluminous and massive wing root fairings, probably aerodynamic bodies for some area-ruling. I decided to keep them, but this caused some unexpected troubles…

The MiG-15 wings’ position, considerably further back due to the reduced sweep angle, was deduced from the relative MiG-19’s landing gear position. A lot of sculpting and body work followed, and after the wings were finally in place I recognized that the aforementioned, thick wing root fairings had reduced the wing sweep – basically not a bad thing, but with the inconvenient side effect that the original wing MiG-15 fences were not parallel to the fuselage anymore, looking rather awkward! What to do? Grrrr…. I could not leave it that way, so I scraped them away and replaced with them with four scratched substitutes (from styrene profiles), moving the outer pair towards the wing folding mechanism.

Under the wings, four new pylons were added (two from an IAI Kfir, two from a Su-22) and the ordnance gathered from the scrap box – bombs and rocket pods formerly belonged to a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38.

The landing gear was raised by ~2mm for a higher stance on the ground. The original, thick central fin was reduced in length, so that it could become a plausible attachment point for an arrester hook (also from the spares box), and a pair of splayed stabilizer fins was added as a compensation. Finally, some of the OOB air scoops were placed all round the hull and some pitots, antennae and a gun camera fairing added.

Painting and markings:

This whif was to look naval at first sight, so I referred to the early Yak-38 VTOL aircraft and their rather minimalistic paint scheme in an overall dull blue. The green underside, seen on many service aircraft, was AFAIK a (later) protective coating – an obsolete detail for a CTOL aircraft.

Hence, all upper surfaces and the fuselage were painted in a uniform “Field Blue” (Tamiya XF-50). It’s a bit dark, but I have used this unique, petrol blue tone many moons ago on a real world Kangnam Forger where it looks pretty good, and in this case the surface was furthermore shaded with Humbrol 96 and 126 after a black in wash.

For some contrast I painted the undersides of the wings and stabilizers as well as a fuselage section between the wings in a pale grey (Humbrol 167), seen on one of the Yak-38 prototypes. Not very obvious, but at least the aircraft did not end up in a boring, uniform color.

The interior was painted in blue-gray (PRU Blue, shaded with Humbrol 87) while the landing gear wells became Aluminum (Humbrol 56). The wheel discs became bright green, just in order to keep in style and as a colorful contrast, and some di-electric panels and covers became very light grey or bright green. For some color contrast, the anti-flutter weight tips on the stabilizers as well as the pylons’ front ends were painted bright red.

The markings/decals reflect the early Soviet Navy style, with simple Red Stars, large yellow tactical codes and some high contrast warning stencils, taken from the remains of a Yak-38 sheet (American Revell re-release of the Kangnam kit).

Finally, after some soot stains with graphite around the gun muzzles and the air bleed doors, the kit was sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish and some matt accents (anti-glare panel, radomes).

A simple idea that turned out to be more complex than expected, due to the wing fence troubles. But I am happy that the Attacker nose could be so easily transplanted, it changes the MiG-19’s look considerably, as well as the wings with (much) less sweep angle.

The aircraft looks familiar, but you only recognize at second glance that it is more than just a MiG-19 with a solid nose. The thing looks pretty retro, reminds me a bit of the Supermarine Scimitar (dunno?), and IMHO it appears more Chinese than Soviet (maybe because the layout reminds a lot of the Q-5 fighter bomber)? It could even, with appropriate markings, be a Luft ’46 design?

Yor Forger and Loid Forger cosplay at Anime NYC 2022.

www.instagram.com/thats.blasph.amy/

www.instagram.com/a.yeh_/

www.mahj.org/en/programme/adolfo-kaminsky-forger-and-phot...

www.mahj.org/fr/programme/adolfo-kaminsky-faussaire-et-ph...

To view on black, press L or left-click the image.

Anya Forger - Pop Mart

IG: www.instagram.com/h_beeo/

Faversham /ˈfævərʃəm/ is a market town and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. The town is 48 miles from London and 10 miles from Canterbury and lies next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The Faversham name is of Latinvia Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".

There has been a settlement at Faversham since pre-Roman times, next to the ancient sea port on Faversham Creek, and archaeological evidence has shown a Roman theatre was based in the town. It was inhabited by the Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday bookas Favreshant. The town was favoured by King Stephen who established Faversham Abbey, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Subsequently, the town became an important seaport and established itself as a centre for brewing, and the Shepherd Neame Brewery, founded in 1698, remains a significant major employer.

The town was also the centre of the explosives industry between the 17th and early 20th century, before a decline following an explosion in 1916 which killed over 100 workers. This coincided with a revival of the shipping industry in the town. Faversham has a number of landmarks, with several historic churches including St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church, the Maison Dieu and Faversham Recreation Ground. Faversham Market has been established for over 900 years and is still based in the town centre. There are good road and rail links, including a Southeastern service to the High Speed 1 line at Ebbsfleet International and London.

History

Faversham was established as a settlement before the Roman conquest. The Romans established several towns in Kent including Faversham, with traffic through the Saxon Shore ports of Reculver, Richborough, Doverand Lympne converging on Canterbury before heading up Watling Street to London. The town was less than 10 miles from Canterbury, and consequently Faversham had become established on this road network by 50 AD following the initial conquest by Claudius in 43 AD. Numerous remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in and around Faversham, including under St Mary of Charity Church where coins and urns were discovered during reconstruction of the western tower in 1794. In 2013, the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, able to accommodate some 12,000 people, were discovered at a hillside near the town. The cockpit-style outdoor auditorium, the first of its kind found in Britain, was a style the Romans used elsewhere in their empire on the Continent.

There is archaeological evidence to suggest that Faversham was a summer capital for the Saxon kings of Kent. It was held in royaldemesne in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Coenwulf, the King of Mercia. Coenwulf described the town as the King's little town of Fefresham, while it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Favreshant. The name has been documented as meaning "the metal-worker's village", which may derive from the Old English fæfere, which in turn comes from the Latin "faber" meaning "craftsman" or "forger". The town had established itself as a seaport by the Middle Ages, and became part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports in the 13th century, providing a vessel to Dover. The Gough Map of Britain, printed in 1360, shows the Swale as an important shipping channel for trade.

The manor was recorded as Terra Regis, meaning it was part of the ancient royal estates. King Stephen gave it to his chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, but soon made him swap it with Lillechurch (now Higham) so that the manor of Faversham could form part of the endowment of Faversham Abbey. Stephen established the abbey in 1148, and is buried there with his consort Matilda of Boulogne, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne. Stephen favoured the town because of the abbey, and so it was historically important during his reign. King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells in 1201, but it was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbeyat Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and denied the request. Abbey Street was constructed around this time in order to provide an appropriate approach to the abbey from the town. It still houses timber framed buildings and has been described as "the finest medieval street in southeast England".

Sir Thomas Culpeper was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Most of the abbey was demolished, and the remains of Stephen were rumoured to have been thrown into Faversham Creek. An excavation of the abbey in 1964 uncovered the empty graves. The entrance gates survived the demolition and lasted until the mid-18th century, but otherwise only a small section of outer wall survived. The abbey's masonry was taken to Calais to reinforce defence of the town, then in British possession, against the French army. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two barns at Abbey Farm. Minor Barn was built around 1425; Major Barn, the larger of the two, dates from 1476. Next to the barns is the Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century. The Abbey Guest house, on the east side of the Abbey's Outer Gateway, has survived as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the murder of Thomas Arden in 1551. The Faversham Almshouses were founded and endowed by Thomas Manfield in 1614, with additional houses being built by Henry Wright in 1823.

Due to the poor quality of roads in the middle ages, travel by sea was an important transport corridor. Richard Tylman (or Tillman), mayor in 1581, expanded the port at Faversham, building two wharfs. He became a key figure in exporting corn, wheat and malt to London from the town.

Several notable people in the middle ages had origins in Faversham. Haymo of Faversham was born in Faversham and later moved to Paris to join the Franciscans, becoming the "Aristotelian of Aristotelians".[27] Simon of Faversham was born in the town around the middle of the 13th century and later became Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1304. The notorious pirate Jack Ward is believed to have been born in Faversham around 1553. John Wilson, lutenist and teacher was born in Faversham in 1595 who was the principal composer for the King's Men and a professor of music at Oxford. There is now a plaque at the site of the house in Abbey Street where he was born.

A gunpowder plant had been established around 1573 in Faversham. The town had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. It became known as the Home Works in the 18th century and was nationalised in 1759. By the 19th century, the site stretched for around a mile along the waterfront. A second explosive works was established at Oare to the northwest of town in the late 17th century, with the Marsh Works following in 1786. Towards the end of the 19th century, two new factories were built alongside the Swale to manage production of TNT and cordite. Faversham developed six explosive factories, and from 1874 to 1919, the town was the centre of the explosives industry in the UK.

The first production of guncotton took place in the Marsh Works in 1847. Due to a lack of experience with production methods, an explosion took place soon after work started, with several fatalities. On Sunday 2 April 1916, an explosion occurred at one of the Swale factories in Uplees after sparks from a chimney ignited the works containing around 150 tonnes of high explosives. The incident killed over 100 people, which led to decline of the explosives industry in the town. Later accounts suggested that had the incident not happened on a Sunday, there would have been many more casualties.

All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934 due to the impending threat of World War II. Production was moved to Ardeer in Ayrshire, Scotland, and the munition industry around Faversham is now extinct. The town is now a harbour and market community; old sail-powered Thames barges are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside.

Kent is the centre of hop-growing in England, being centred on nearby Canterbury and Faversham has been the home of several breweries. The Shepherd Neame Brewery was officially founded in 1698, though brewing activities in Faversham pre-date this. The brewery claims to be the oldest in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The Rigden brewery was founded in the early 18th century by Edward Rigden. It subsequently merged with the Canterbury based George Beer in 1922 to become George Beer & Rigden before being purchased by the Maidstone based Fremlins. Whitbread bought out Fremlins in 1967, and closed the Faversham brewery in 1990. The site is now a Tesco superstore. Shepherd Neame remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes India Pale Ale under licence.

A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty, for manufacturing barges for landing craft. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world, producing vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette, both constructed of concrete. Over 1200 ships were built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.

Faversham Market is still held in the town centre. It is now the oldest street market in Kent, dating back over 900 years. Monthly markets are also held in Preston Street and Court Street.

Having been an important thoroughfare since the 12th century, Abbey Street went into decline around the start of the 20th. Some buildings on the street adjoining Quay Lane were demolished in 1892 and much of the entire street was intended for demolition as recently as the 1950s, until intervention from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeologyprojects are run every year. In 2009, evidence of the town's medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project between 2005 and 2007.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faversham

Although we are sadly lacking in snow, the cold weather has created some cool ice formations along the various local creeks and waterfalls. This was taken on Monday, just prior to meeting up with JDB Photos and Light Forger for some more waterfalls-with-ice shooting.

Linhof Kardan Standard / Schneider Symmar / Agfa MCP paper negative

Some things in the world of cameras will neer stop to amaze me. Up here, you see a clear example: this is a regular FED 5 modified by some nuts camera repairman in the Ukraine into a EURO 2012 Football Championship commemorative edition. It even has a brand new serial sumber (the original one cannot be found anywhere), mine is 24, so if you wanna try, maybe there's still some on evilbay. Or maybe it is one of a kind disguised to be part of a series.

I guess if the forgers in Russia and Ukraine really think that people in western Europe and America really think that these cameras actually left the factory like this, as it is of public domain that the FED factory, as well as all other major camera factories in the FSU, have left consummer camera business by now. Anyway, in ebuy you can find dozens of 'leica copies', which mainly fall in three cathegories:

-Special Edition Leicas; FEDs and Zorkis with all sorts of crazy leatherettes resembling wood, snakeskin, ivory or the like; the chrome parts, including the lenses, are usually polished to give the cameras a 'luxury' look. The coated collapsible Industars are engraved Elmar, ofter they're also painted in colores mathcing the body. Now add all sorts of crazy engravings, mainly nazi paraphernalia in the form of swastikas and military engravings (luftwaffe, kriegsmarine, panzerkampf...) or commemorative ones (most seen is the 1936 Olyimpics). Sometimes you can find some copies with mispellings, reversed Ns and forgotten cirillic engravings in the baseplate. I am amazed at how this things find a market, especially with all the nazi markings. Not all of these are FED o Zorki 1, as there is the occasional later model in this guise.

-Modified FEDs. Yes, they're FEDs and not Zorkis because, for some reason, the forgers think the FEDs have more cache. These include the FED 'Siberia', the 'Standart' and the '250 reporter special'. Somtimes they're also engraved Leica, but you don't usually find them with Nazi engravings. Too much work, maybe. Many of these are simply wonderfully done. They require very specialised craftmanship, and often they're sold for faily high prices.

-Finally, the commemorative editions. That Euro 2012 FED up there falls into this cathegory. If you see a shiny brand new soviet camera commemorating some landmark event in Soviet history, you can bet your boots on it, it's a fake. Well, sort of, as there ARE some commemorative editions (Moscow 80, for instance), but these only sport tiny markings, and never special edition serial numbers, special paint or anything like that. There are also post-FSU editions like the one above, in Leica's best tradition of celebrating the most whatever events with specially engraved/painted cameras with edition serial numbers. Needless to say that I don't think these are legally sanctioned as official merchandise or anything like that, the engravers would simply choose one random event and make the job.

You know, I bought this one because it looked like a superb job, and in many ways it is. All the chrome, including the lens, has been given a shiny coating, the decorative rim in the body has been painted dull silver. There are very well made engravings in four differents places, including the lens barrel and the lens cap, not just tipography, but also the logo of the event. The original leatherette has been replaced with a more glossy one and dull metal parts on FEDs have been painted shiny black, like the winding lever. The nameplate has also been repainted in a new style, without the model name, just the brand name. It is not obviously new, as there is some dirt in the most difficult places to reach, like the innermost parts of the body or the insides of the tipod socket, but it has been cleaned with care.

It is, anyway, a FSU technician job. The devil is in the details: the dull silver paing in the rims is out of the line in some spots, whcih is visible when you remove the back; the shiny leatherette is peeling here and there, and is not well cut, the paint in the nameplate is the weakest point, as its edges are a little bit rough. The rangefinder flares badly, but this is not as much a finish issue as a planning mistake: the glossy coating causes reflections that blind the rangefinder. All this work just to end looking sloppy because of small details.

Well, but what has really amazed me is the fact that, bad or well done, someone has put a pretty big amount of time CLAing and modding this FED 5, and it was sold to me at a price well under 100$, shipping included, when here where I live no repairman would even touch a RF for that much. Oh well.

Faversham /ˈfævərʃəm/ is a market town and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. The town is 48 miles from London and 10 miles from Canterbury and lies next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The Faversham name is of Latinvia Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".

There has been a settlement at Faversham since pre-Roman times, next to the ancient sea port on Faversham Creek, and archaeological evidence has shown a Roman theatre was based in the town. It was inhabited by the Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday bookas Favreshant. The town was favoured by King Stephen who established Faversham Abbey, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Subsequently, the town became an important seaport and established itself as a centre for brewing, and the Shepherd Neame Brewery, founded in 1698, remains a significant major employer.

The town was also the centre of the explosives industry between the 17th and early 20th century, before a decline following an explosion in 1916 which killed over 100 workers. This coincided with a revival of the shipping industry in the town. Faversham has a number of landmarks, with several historic churches including St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church, the Maison Dieu and Faversham Recreation Ground. Faversham Market has been established for over 900 years and is still based in the town centre. There are good road and rail links, including a Southeastern service to the High Speed 1 line at Ebbsfleet International and London.

History

Faversham was established as a settlement before the Roman conquest. The Romans established several towns in Kent including Faversham, with traffic through the Saxon Shore ports of Reculver, Richborough, Doverand Lympne converging on Canterbury before heading up Watling Street to London. The town was less than 10 miles from Canterbury, and consequently Faversham had become established on this road network by 50 AD following the initial conquest by Claudius in 43 AD. Numerous remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in and around Faversham, including under St Mary of Charity Church where coins and urns were discovered during reconstruction of the western tower in 1794. In 2013, the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, able to accommodate some 12,000 people, were discovered at a hillside near the town. The cockpit-style outdoor auditorium, the first of its kind found in Britain, was a style the Romans used elsewhere in their empire on the Continent.

There is archaeological evidence to suggest that Faversham was a summer capital for the Saxon kings of Kent. It was held in royaldemesne in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Coenwulf, the King of Mercia. Coenwulf described the town as the King's little town of Fefresham, while it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Favreshant. The name has been documented as meaning "the metal-worker's village", which may derive from the Old English fæfere, which in turn comes from the Latin "faber" meaning "craftsman" or "forger". The town had established itself as a seaport by the Middle Ages, and became part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports in the 13th century, providing a vessel to Dover. The Gough Map of Britain, printed in 1360, shows the Swale as an important shipping channel for trade.

The manor was recorded as Terra Regis, meaning it was part of the ancient royal estates. King Stephen gave it to his chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, but soon made him swap it with Lillechurch (now Higham) so that the manor of Faversham could form part of the endowment of Faversham Abbey. Stephen established the abbey in 1148, and is buried there with his consort Matilda of Boulogne, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne. Stephen favoured the town because of the abbey, and so it was historically important during his reign. King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells in 1201, but it was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbeyat Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and denied the request. Abbey Street was constructed around this time in order to provide an appropriate approach to the abbey from the town. It still houses timber framed buildings and has been described as "the finest medieval street in southeast England".

Sir Thomas Culpeper was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Most of the abbey was demolished, and the remains of Stephen were rumoured to have been thrown into Faversham Creek. An excavation of the abbey in 1964 uncovered the empty graves. The entrance gates survived the demolition and lasted until the mid-18th century, but otherwise only a small section of outer wall survived. The abbey's masonry was taken to Calais to reinforce defence of the town, then in British possession, against the French army. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two barns at Abbey Farm. Minor Barn was built around 1425; Major Barn, the larger of the two, dates from 1476. Next to the barns is the Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century. The Abbey Guest house, on the east side of the Abbey's Outer Gateway, has survived as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the murder of Thomas Arden in 1551. The Faversham Almshouses were founded and endowed by Thomas Manfield in 1614, with additional houses being built by Henry Wright in 1823.

Due to the poor quality of roads in the middle ages, travel by sea was an important transport corridor. Richard Tylman (or Tillman), mayor in 1581, expanded the port at Faversham, building two wharfs. He became a key figure in exporting corn, wheat and malt to London from the town.

Several notable people in the middle ages had origins in Faversham. Haymo of Faversham was born in Faversham and later moved to Paris to join the Franciscans, becoming the "Aristotelian of Aristotelians".[27] Simon of Faversham was born in the town around the middle of the 13th century and later became Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1304. The notorious pirate Jack Ward is believed to have been born in Faversham around 1553. John Wilson, lutenist and teacher was born in Faversham in 1595 who was the principal composer for the King's Men and a professor of music at Oxford. There is now a plaque at the site of the house in Abbey Street where he was born.

A gunpowder plant had been established around 1573 in Faversham. The town had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. It became known as the Home Works in the 18th century and was nationalised in 1759. By the 19th century, the site stretched for around a mile along the waterfront. A second explosive works was established at Oare to the northwest of town in the late 17th century, with the Marsh Works following in 1786. Towards the end of the 19th century, two new factories were built alongside the Swale to manage production of TNT and cordite. Faversham developed six explosive factories, and from 1874 to 1919, the town was the centre of the explosives industry in the UK.

The first production of guncotton took place in the Marsh Works in 1847. Due to a lack of experience with production methods, an explosion took place soon after work started, with several fatalities. On Sunday 2 April 1916, an explosion occurred at one of the Swale factories in Uplees after sparks from a chimney ignited the works containing around 150 tonnes of high explosives. The incident killed over 100 people, which led to decline of the explosives industry in the town. Later accounts suggested that had the incident not happened on a Sunday, there would have been many more casualties.

All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934 due to the impending threat of World War II. Production was moved to Ardeer in Ayrshire, Scotland, and the munition industry around Faversham is now extinct. The town is now a harbour and market community; old sail-powered Thames barges are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside.

Kent is the centre of hop-growing in England, being centred on nearby Canterbury and Faversham has been the home of several breweries. The Shepherd Neame Brewery was officially founded in 1698, though brewing activities in Faversham pre-date this. The brewery claims to be the oldest in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The Rigden brewery was founded in the early 18th century by Edward Rigden. It subsequently merged with the Canterbury based George Beer in 1922 to become George Beer & Rigden before being purchased by the Maidstone based Fremlins. Whitbread bought out Fremlins in 1967, and closed the Faversham brewery in 1990. The site is now a Tesco superstore. Shepherd Neame remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes India Pale Ale under licence.

A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty, for manufacturing barges for landing craft. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world, producing vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette, both constructed of concrete. Over 1200 ships were built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.

Faversham Market is still held in the town centre. It is now the oldest street market in Kent, dating back over 900 years. Monthly markets are also held in Preston Street and Court Street.

Having been an important thoroughfare since the 12th century, Abbey Street went into decline around the start of the 20th. Some buildings on the street adjoining Quay Lane were demolished in 1892 and much of the entire street was intended for demolition as recently as the 1950s, until intervention from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeologyprojects are run every year. In 2009, evidence of the town's medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project between 2005 and 2007.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faversham

Taken at Otakon Washington DC July 2023

A Yak-38U 'Forger-B'. The two seat version is even uglier than the single seater. Zhukovsky 1993.

Mons Meg est une bombarde médiévale (XVe siècle) de la collection des Royal Armouries prêtée à Historic Scotland. Elle symbolise le passé militaire glorieux de l'Écosse. Cet impressionnant canon de siège de 6 tonnes, de calibre 20 pouces (510 mm) est capable de tirer des boulets de pierre pesant 330 livres (150 kgs) jusqu'à 2 miles de distance (3,2 kms). A l’origine le canon était peint avec du plomb rouge pour l’empêcher de rouiller. Il fallait cent hommes pour le transporter. Avec l'énorme "canon des Dardanelles" en bronze coulé de 17 tonnes fabriquée en 1464 pour le sultan turc Mohamet II (exposé à présent dans la cour de la Tour de Londres), ces bombardes sont parmi les plus gros canons jamais construits. L'auteur anglais Dudley Pope cite le Mons Meg mais également le Dulle Griet de Gand comme exemples des plus gros canons construits au Moyen Age, et dit des deux qu'ils "ont probablement été fabriqués en "Flandre" (région qui deviendra plus tard la Belgique et que les Français appelaient "Pays-Bas"). Le "Dulle Griet mesurait plus de 5 m de long pesait 12.5 tonnes avec un calibre à la bouche d'environ 90 cm. Il était peint en rouge sang lui valant le surnom de « grand démon rouge ». Le nom flamand Griet et le nom anglais Meg sont tous deux des diminutifs du nom de Margaret (ou Margriet), équivalents du français Marguerite. Mons Meg a été construit par Jehan Cambier, fabricant d'artillerie du duc de Bourgogne Philippe le Bonet il a été testé avec succès à Mons dans le comté de Hainaut dans l'actuelle Belgique, en juin 1449. Le duc n'en prendra livraison qu'en 1453. Le duc a offert la bombarde au roi d'Écosse James II en 1457 dont il avait aidé à négocier le mariage en signe de son soutien.

Le canon est fabriqué selon la méthode qui consistait à forger ensemble des barres de fer droites autour d'un mandrin, et de les consolider ensuite avec des cercles de fer, dilatés par chauffe et brusquement refroidis à l'eau pour provoquer un rétrécissement, à la manière des barriques. La manière dont ces canons sont fabriqués ainsi que les variations de qualité de la poudre noire dont les ingrédients étaient souvent transportés séparément et mélangés sur place, en faisait des armes très peu fiables. Les explosions n'étaient pas rares, et on peut dire que ces bombardes étaient plus dangereuses pour leurs servants que pour ceux sur qui on tirait. L'effet psychologique de la flamme et du tonnerre au départ du coup étaient plus impressionnant que le gros boulet de pierre. Il faut également imaginer la somme d'efforts et d'énergie nécessaires au déplacement de ces énormes pièces, ainsi que la difficulté de leur mise en batterie. Une fois en place, ces bombardes ne pouvaient plus être déplacées, et tout réglage de visée était exclu. Elles ne pouvaient tirer qu'une dizaine de coups par jour au maximum en raison de l’énorme chaleur générée par la charge de poudre, et si leurs gros boulets de pierre parvenaient à ouvrir des brèches dans des murailles pas trop épaisses, ils étaient pratiquement sans effet contre l'infanterie et la cavalerie, qui pouvait les voir arriver de loin et les éviter assez aisément.

La bombarde a été employée dans les sièges jusqu'au milieu du XVIe siècle. Probablement pour la première fois en 1460 au château de Roxburgh près de la frontière avec l'Angleterre. Au cours de cette bataille, le roi Jacques II d'Écosse a été mortellement blessé lorsqu'un autre canon de siège géant a explosé. En 1489, elle a été emmenée à 80 km (50 miles) à l'ouest du château de Dumbarton (puis le château de Norham), pour aider à maîtriser le comte de Lennox. Le poids énorme de Mons Meg la rendait très difficile à déplacer. Sa vitesse moyenne n'était que de 14 kms (9 miles) par jour. Elle termina ses jours de combat dans la marine du roi Jacques V, prenant sa retraite vers 1540. Elle ne fut tiré ensuite que lors d'occasions cérémonielles : en 1558 pour célébrer le mariage de Mary Queen of Scots avec le dauphin français, puis de nouveau en 1681, en guise de salut d'anniversaire pour le futur roi Jacques VII. Malheureusement le baril éclata rendant le Mons Meg inutilisable (les cerceaux fracturés sont encore visibles). En 1754, Mons Meg fut emmenée à la Tour de Londres, où il y resta 75 ans. Il est ramené au château en 1829. La cavalerie et l’infanterie l’escortent de Leith Docks à Castle Rock. Mons Meg a depuis été restauré et est maintenant exposé dans le château. Il reste très populaire aujourd’hui auprès des touristes, qui ne résistent pas à mettre la tête dans l'énorme canon…

Mons Meg is a medieval (15th century) bombard from the collection of the Royal Armories on loan to Historic Scotland. It symbolizes Scotland's glorious military past. This impressive 6-ton, 20-inch (510 mm) caliber siege gun is capable of firing stone balls weighing 330 pounds (150 kg) up to 2 miles away (3.2 km). Originally the barrel was painted with red lead to prevent it from rusting. It took a hundred men to transport it. Together with the massive 17-tonne cast bronze 'Dardanelle Cannon' made in 1464 for the Turkish Sultan Mohammet II (now on display in the courtyard of the Tower of London), these bombards are among the largest cannons ever built. The English author Dudley Pope cites the Mons Meg but also the Dulle Griet of Ghent as examples of the largest guns built in the Middle Ages, and says of both that they "were probably made in 'Flanders' (a region which later became Belgium and which the French called "Pays-Bas"). The "Dulle Griet was more than 5 m long, weighed 12.5 tons with a caliber at the muzzle of about 90 cm. He was painted blood red, earning him the nickname "great red demon". The Flemish name Griet and the English name Meg are both diminutives of the name Margaret (or Margriet), equivalents of the French Marguerite. Mons Meg was built by Jehan Cambier, artillery maker for the Duke of Burgundy Philippe le Bonet it was successfully tested in Mons in the county of Hainaut in present-day Belgium, in June 1449. The duke never took delivery of it than in 1453. The Duke gifted the bombard to King James II of Scotland in 1457 whose marriage he had helped negotiate as a sign of his support.

The barrel is made by the method of forging straight iron bars together around a mandrel, and then consolidating them with iron hoops, expanded by heating and suddenly cooled with water to cause shrinkage, to the way of the barrels. The way in which these guns are made as well as the variations in quality of black powder whose ingredients were often transported separately and mixed on site, made them very unreliable weapons. Explosions were not uncommon, and it can be said that these bombards were more dangerous for their servants than for those who were fired at. The psychological effect of the flame and the thunder at the start of the blow were more impressive than the large stone ball. One must also imagine the amount of effort and energy required to move these huge pieces, as well as the difficulty of putting them in battery. Once in place, these bombards could no longer be moved, and any aiming adjustment was excluded. They could only fire about ten shots a day at the most because of the enormous heat generated by the powder charge, and if their big stone balls managed to open breaches in walls not too thick, they were practically without effect against infantry and cavalry, which could see them coming from afar and avoid them quite easily.

The bombard was used in sieges until the middle of the 16th century. Probably first seen in 1460 at Roxburgh Castle near the border with England. During this battle, King James II of Scotland was mortally wounded when another giant siege cannon exploded. In 1489, she was taken 80 km (50 miles) west of Dumbarton Castle (then Norham Castle), to help subdue the Earl of Lennox. Mons Meg's enormous weight made her very difficult to move. Its average speed was only 14 kms (9 miles) per day. She ended her days of combat in the navy of King James V, retiring around 1540. She was only fired afterwards on ceremonial occasions: in 1558 to celebrate the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the French Dauphin, then to again in 1681, as a birthday greeting for the future King James VII. Unfortunately the barrel burst rendering the Mons Meg unusable (the fractured hoops are still visible). In 1754, Mons Meg was taken to the Tower of London, where he remained for 75 years. He was brought back to the castle in 1829. Cavalry and infantry escorted him from Leith Docks to Castle Rock. Mons Meg has since been restored and is now on display in the castle. It remains very popular today with tourists, who can't resist putting their heads in the huge cannon...

Faversham /ˈfævərʃəm/ is a market town and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. The town is 48 miles from London and 10 miles from Canterbury and lies next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The Faversham name is of Latinvia Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".

There has been a settlement at Faversham since pre-Roman times, next to the ancient sea port on Faversham Creek, and archaeological evidence has shown a Roman theatre was based in the town. It was inhabited by the Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday bookas Favreshant. The town was favoured by King Stephen who established Faversham Abbey, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Subsequently, the town became an important seaport and established itself as a centre for brewing, and the Shepherd Neame Brewery, founded in 1698, remains a significant major employer.

The town was also the centre of the explosives industry between the 17th and early 20th century, before a decline following an explosion in 1916 which killed over 100 workers. This coincided with a revival of the shipping industry in the town. Faversham has a number of landmarks, with several historic churches including St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church, the Maison Dieu and Faversham Recreation Ground. Faversham Market has been established for over 900 years and is still based in the town centre. There are good road and rail links, including a Southeastern service to the High Speed 1 line at Ebbsfleet International and London.

History

Faversham was established as a settlement before the Roman conquest. The Romans established several towns in Kent including Faversham, with traffic through the Saxon Shore ports of Reculver, Richborough, Doverand Lympne converging on Canterbury before heading up Watling Street to London. The town was less than 10 miles from Canterbury, and consequently Faversham had become established on this road network by 50 AD following the initial conquest by Claudius in 43 AD. Numerous remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in and around Faversham, including under St Mary of Charity Church where coins and urns were discovered during reconstruction of the western tower in 1794. In 2013, the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, able to accommodate some 12,000 people, were discovered at a hillside near the town. The cockpit-style outdoor auditorium, the first of its kind found in Britain, was a style the Romans used elsewhere in their empire on the Continent.

There is archaeological evidence to suggest that Faversham was a summer capital for the Saxon kings of Kent. It was held in royaldemesne in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Coenwulf, the King of Mercia. Coenwulf described the town as the King's little town of Fefresham, while it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Favreshant. The name has been documented as meaning "the metal-worker's village", which may derive from the Old English fæfere, which in turn comes from the Latin "faber" meaning "craftsman" or "forger". The town had established itself as a seaport by the Middle Ages, and became part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports in the 13th century, providing a vessel to Dover. The Gough Map of Britain, printed in 1360, shows the Swale as an important shipping channel for trade.

The manor was recorded as Terra Regis, meaning it was part of the ancient royal estates. King Stephen gave it to his chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, but soon made him swap it with Lillechurch (now Higham) so that the manor of Faversham could form part of the endowment of Faversham Abbey. Stephen established the abbey in 1148, and is buried there with his consort Matilda of Boulogne, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne. Stephen favoured the town because of the abbey, and so it was historically important during his reign. King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells in 1201, but it was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbeyat Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and denied the request. Abbey Street was constructed around this time in order to provide an appropriate approach to the abbey from the town. It still houses timber framed buildings and has been described as "the finest medieval street in southeast England".

Sir Thomas Culpeper was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Most of the abbey was demolished, and the remains of Stephen were rumoured to have been thrown into Faversham Creek. An excavation of the abbey in 1964 uncovered the empty graves. The entrance gates survived the demolition and lasted until the mid-18th century, but otherwise only a small section of outer wall survived. The abbey's masonry was taken to Calais to reinforce defence of the town, then in British possession, against the French army. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two barns at Abbey Farm. Minor Barn was built around 1425; Major Barn, the larger of the two, dates from 1476. Next to the barns is the Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century. The Abbey Guest house, on the east side of the Abbey's Outer Gateway, has survived as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the murder of Thomas Arden in 1551. The Faversham Almshouses were founded and endowed by Thomas Manfield in 1614, with additional houses being built by Henry Wright in 1823.

Due to the poor quality of roads in the middle ages, travel by sea was an important transport corridor. Richard Tylman (or Tillman), mayor in 1581, expanded the port at Faversham, building two wharfs. He became a key figure in exporting corn, wheat and malt to London from the town.

Several notable people in the middle ages had origins in Faversham. Haymo of Faversham was born in Faversham and later moved to Paris to join the Franciscans, becoming the "Aristotelian of Aristotelians".[27] Simon of Faversham was born in the town around the middle of the 13th century and later became Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1304. The notorious pirate Jack Ward is believed to have been born in Faversham around 1553. John Wilson, lutenist and teacher was born in Faversham in 1595 who was the principal composer for the King's Men and a professor of music at Oxford. There is now a plaque at the site of the house in Abbey Street where he was born.

A gunpowder plant had been established around 1573 in Faversham. The town had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. It became known as the Home Works in the 18th century and was nationalised in 1759. By the 19th century, the site stretched for around a mile along the waterfront. A second explosive works was established at Oare to the northwest of town in the late 17th century, with the Marsh Works following in 1786. Towards the end of the 19th century, two new factories were built alongside the Swale to manage production of TNT and cordite. Faversham developed six explosive factories, and from 1874 to 1919, the town was the centre of the explosives industry in the UK.

The first production of guncotton took place in the Marsh Works in 1847. Due to a lack of experience with production methods, an explosion took place soon after work started, with several fatalities. On Sunday 2 April 1916, an explosion occurred at one of the Swale factories in Uplees after sparks from a chimney ignited the works containing around 150 tonnes of high explosives. The incident killed over 100 people, which led to decline of the explosives industry in the town. Later accounts suggested that had the incident not happened on a Sunday, there would have been many more casualties.

All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934 due to the impending threat of World War II. Production was moved to Ardeer in Ayrshire, Scotland, and the munition industry around Faversham is now extinct. The town is now a harbour and market community; old sail-powered Thames barges are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside.

Kent is the centre of hop-growing in England, being centred on nearby Canterbury and Faversham has been the home of several breweries. The Shepherd Neame Brewery was officially founded in 1698, though brewing activities in Faversham pre-date this. The brewery claims to be the oldest in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The Rigden brewery was founded in the early 18th century by Edward Rigden. It subsequently merged with the Canterbury based George Beer in 1922 to become George Beer & Rigden before being purchased by the Maidstone based Fremlins. Whitbread bought out Fremlins in 1967, and closed the Faversham brewery in 1990. The site is now a Tesco superstore. Shepherd Neame remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes India Pale Ale under licence.

A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty, for manufacturing barges for landing craft. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world, producing vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette, both constructed of concrete. Over 1200 ships were built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.

Faversham Market is still held in the town centre. It is now the oldest street market in Kent, dating back over 900 years. Monthly markets are also held in Preston Street and Court Street.

Having been an important thoroughfare since the 12th century, Abbey Street went into decline around the start of the 20th. Some buildings on the street adjoining Quay Lane were demolished in 1892 and much of the entire street was intended for demolition as recently as the 1950s, until intervention from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeologyprojects are run every year. In 2009, evidence of the town's medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project between 2005 and 2007.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faversham

Yor's "Spy killer sweater" outfit photo set.

Aku edit kat photoshop kasi tambah texture kat belakang model... bagi nampak besh sikit. he he

captured by Shazral

Talent : Sylvia

Studio : SNR

Yang turut hadir menjayakan pengambaran ini :

dangdungdeng www.flickr.com/photos/dangdungdeng/

bunvirus : www.flickr.com/photos/bunvirus/

forger : www.flickr.com/photos/forger/

arabischenab: www.flickr.com/photos/arabischenab/

Thanks to SNR www.flickr.com/photos/damieniman/ n crew coz memberi peluang utk berstudio..

Faversham /ˈfævərʃəm/ is a market town and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. The town is 48 miles from London and 10 miles from Canterbury and lies next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The Faversham name is of Latinvia Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".

There has been a settlement at Faversham since pre-Roman times, next to the ancient sea port on Faversham Creek, and archaeological evidence has shown a Roman theatre was based in the town. It was inhabited by the Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday bookas Favreshant. The town was favoured by King Stephen who established Faversham Abbey, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Subsequently, the town became an important seaport and established itself as a centre for brewing, and the Shepherd Neame Brewery, founded in 1698, remains a significant major employer.

The town was also the centre of the explosives industry between the 17th and early 20th century, before a decline following an explosion in 1916 which killed over 100 workers. This coincided with a revival of the shipping industry in the town. Faversham has a number of landmarks, with several historic churches including St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church, the Maison Dieu and Faversham Recreation Ground. Faversham Market has been established for over 900 years and is still based in the town centre. There are good road and rail links, including a Southeastern service to the High Speed 1 line at Ebbsfleet International and London.

History

Faversham was established as a settlement before the Roman conquest. The Romans established several towns in Kent including Faversham, with traffic through the Saxon Shore ports of Reculver, Richborough, Doverand Lympne converging on Canterbury before heading up Watling Street to London. The town was less than 10 miles from Canterbury, and consequently Faversham had become established on this road network by 50 AD following the initial conquest by Claudius in 43 AD. Numerous remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in and around Faversham, including under St Mary of Charity Church where coins and urns were discovered during reconstruction of the western tower in 1794. In 2013, the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, able to accommodate some 12,000 people, were discovered at a hillside near the town. The cockpit-style outdoor auditorium, the first of its kind found in Britain, was a style the Romans used elsewhere in their empire on the Continent.

There is archaeological evidence to suggest that Faversham was a summer capital for the Saxon kings of Kent. It was held in royaldemesne in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Coenwulf, the King of Mercia. Coenwulf described the town as the King's little town of Fefresham, while it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Favreshant. The name has been documented as meaning "the metal-worker's village", which may derive from the Old English fæfere, which in turn comes from the Latin "faber" meaning "craftsman" or "forger". The town had established itself as a seaport by the Middle Ages, and became part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports in the 13th century, providing a vessel to Dover. The Gough Map of Britain, printed in 1360, shows the Swale as an important shipping channel for trade.

The manor was recorded as Terra Regis, meaning it was part of the ancient royal estates. King Stephen gave it to his chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, but soon made him swap it with Lillechurch (now Higham) so that the manor of Faversham could form part of the endowment of Faversham Abbey. Stephen established the abbey in 1148, and is buried there with his consort Matilda of Boulogne, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne. Stephen favoured the town because of the abbey, and so it was historically important during his reign. King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells in 1201, but it was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbeyat Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and denied the request. Abbey Street was constructed around this time in order to provide an appropriate approach to the abbey from the town. It still houses timber framed buildings and has been described as "the finest medieval street in southeast England".

Sir Thomas Culpeper was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Most of the abbey was demolished, and the remains of Stephen were rumoured to have been thrown into Faversham Creek. An excavation of the abbey in 1964 uncovered the empty graves. The entrance gates survived the demolition and lasted until the mid-18th century, but otherwise only a small section of outer wall survived. The abbey's masonry was taken to Calais to reinforce defence of the town, then in British possession, against the French army. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two barns at Abbey Farm. Minor Barn was built around 1425; Major Barn, the larger of the two, dates from 1476. Next to the barns is the Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century. The Abbey Guest house, on the east side of the Abbey's Outer Gateway, has survived as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the murder of Thomas Arden in 1551. The Faversham Almshouses were founded and endowed by Thomas Manfield in 1614, with additional houses being built by Henry Wright in 1823.

Due to the poor quality of roads in the middle ages, travel by sea was an important transport corridor. Richard Tylman (or Tillman), mayor in 1581, expanded the port at Faversham, building two wharfs. He became a key figure in exporting corn, wheat and malt to London from the town.

Several notable people in the middle ages had origins in Faversham. Haymo of Faversham was born in Faversham and later moved to Paris to join the Franciscans, becoming the "Aristotelian of Aristotelians".[27] Simon of Faversham was born in the town around the middle of the 13th century and later became Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1304. The notorious pirate Jack Ward is believed to have been born in Faversham around 1553. John Wilson, lutenist and teacher was born in Faversham in 1595 who was the principal composer for the King's Men and a professor of music at Oxford. There is now a plaque at the site of the house in Abbey Street where he was born.

A gunpowder plant had been established around 1573 in Faversham. The town had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. It became known as the Home Works in the 18th century and was nationalised in 1759. By the 19th century, the site stretched for around a mile along the waterfront. A second explosive works was established at Oare to the northwest of town in the late 17th century, with the Marsh Works following in 1786. Towards the end of the 19th century, two new factories were built alongside the Swale to manage production of TNT and cordite. Faversham developed six explosive factories, and from 1874 to 1919, the town was the centre of the explosives industry in the UK.

The first production of guncotton took place in the Marsh Works in 1847. Due to a lack of experience with production methods, an explosion took place soon after work started, with several fatalities. On Sunday 2 April 1916, an explosion occurred at one of the Swale factories in Uplees after sparks from a chimney ignited the works containing around 150 tonnes of high explosives. The incident killed over 100 people, which led to decline of the explosives industry in the town. Later accounts suggested that had the incident not happened on a Sunday, there would have been many more casualties.

All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934 due to the impending threat of World War II. Production was moved to Ardeer in Ayrshire, Scotland, and the munition industry around Faversham is now extinct. The town is now a harbour and market community; old sail-powered Thames barges are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside.

Kent is the centre of hop-growing in England, being centred on nearby Canterbury and Faversham has been the home of several breweries. The Shepherd Neame Brewery was officially founded in 1698, though brewing activities in Faversham pre-date this. The brewery claims to be the oldest in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The Rigden brewery was founded in the early 18th century by Edward Rigden. It subsequently merged with the Canterbury based George Beer in 1922 to become George Beer & Rigden before being purchased by the Maidstone based Fremlins. Whitbread bought out Fremlins in 1967, and closed the Faversham brewery in 1990. The site is now a Tesco superstore. Shepherd Neame remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes India Pale Ale under licence.

A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty, for manufacturing barges for landing craft. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world, producing vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette, both constructed of concrete. Over 1200 ships were built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.

Faversham Market is still held in the town centre. It is now the oldest street market in Kent, dating back over 900 years. Monthly markets are also held in Preston Street and Court Street.

Having been an important thoroughfare since the 12th century, Abbey Street went into decline around the start of the 20th. Some buildings on the street adjoining Quay Lane were demolished in 1892 and much of the entire street was intended for demolition as recently as the 1950s, until intervention from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeologyprojects are run every year. In 2009, evidence of the town's medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project between 2005 and 2007.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faversham

The temperature hit 80 degrees on the Columbus day holiday (October 13th, 2008). Dan, Ian, and Jim celebrated the occasion by taking a bike ride down the Genesee Valley Greenway. ( Friends of Genesee Valley Greenway)

Masorini Culture Historical Terrain

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.

(Wikipedia)

Masorini

This site is situated some 11km from the Phalaborwa Gate, on the road to Letaba. As the letters PI-NE appear on the trigonometric beacon, it was incorrectly believed to be another name for Masorini (Piene).

The ancestors of the Baphalaborwa stayed here. They made a living from the melting of iron. The smelters lived on the lower terrace at Masorini and the forgers in the higher terrace, because they had a higher standing in society. Today Masorini is a restored village with stonewalls, grinding stones, potsherds and the remains of foundries, including a smelting furnace, which date back to the 19th century.

There are also some implements dating back to the Stone Age. This village offers an insight into the economy and technology employed by the hunter-gathers, and later Iron Age people. The northeastern Sotho tribe that inhabited this village were known as the ba-Phalaborwa.

From the Masorini hilltop, there is a splendid view of Shikumbu Hill where the Chieftain lived. In the shock waves following the rise of the Zulu kingdom early in the 19thCentury, Masorini ended as a settlement.

(krugerpark.co.za.)

Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.

Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.

(Wikipedia)

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Mount of Scauri (LT)

According to the thesis of scholars almost unanimously [1], the town's name has its origin from Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, princeps senatus, Roman Consul in 115 BC, the ancient port of Pirae owner (the name of the place previously) of a sumptuous seaside villa. A "possessio scauriana" spoken of in the Liber Pontificalis of 432 AD, by which Pope Sixtus III built the Liberian Basilica in Rome thanks to donations from a site in possession "territurio Gazitano" [2]. Consider that all the literary references, between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries., On the assumption of the name taken from the Console born not by historians, but by local canonical [3]. The later scholars (Jotham Johnson, Angelo De Santis, G. Tommasino, F. Coarelli, GM De Rossi, to name a few) reflect that view, citing the previous references. Possible that the town of Ausone "Pirae", along with that of Minturnae, was part of the Pentapolis Aurunca, although there are doubts about the precise location of the anti-Roman cities of the federation. Some one supposes that "Pirae" was nothing more than a castrum, a military outpost and commercial Minturnae same. Beyond the certainty of the location, the existence of Pirae is attested, in any case, four stones can still be seen today at the Museum of Minturnae. In fact, they cite four slaves of the gens Pirana (or Peirana). It should be remembered, then, the huge dolium, container used for storing wine or oil, fished in the 80s off Ventotene and guarded, still, in the Archaeological Museum of the island: its manufacture was the work of freedmen gens of the Pirani. Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia of the century. A.D. gives the already ruined ("oppidum fuit"), localizzandola between Formiae and Minturnae.

In the absence of direct evidence, the connection with the consul M. Aemilius Scaurus is supported by other evidence, including the correspondence between the history of the house and the era in which he lived the political (II-I century BC), the coincidence between the name and the cognomen of the console, the use of adjectives immemorial "scauriana" and "scauritano." It must be stressed, however, that the cognomen "Scaurus" and the adjective "scaurianus" you could bind at least three other noble: the Umbrici, the Aureli, the Terenzi, and that the term "scauritano," as reported by the scholar Castrichino, term is of medieval origin, which could refer to a people or citizenship. Also noteworthy is the "boundary stone" found in Castelforte (and now secure Minturnae) that mentions a Metellus. The family of Cecili amounted to Minturnae and Cecilia Metella was the wife of M. Aemilius Scaurus. To consider the term "Scaurus," you might, therefore, suppose a bond with the Umbrici Scauri, rich producers of the famous garum in Campania (swimming pools for fish farming were present in Monte d'Oro) [4].

Garum, villa Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, Pompeii; G (ari) F (los) SCAM (bri) SCAURI

Consider also that even the term "Scaurus" attracted to metal debris derived from the processing of metals (in this case, we have some news of metalworking in the area of the Roman Minturnae) [5]. According to another theory isolated [6], the origin of the name of Scauri would be connected with the Greek etymology: The name derives from "eskhara," which means burning brazier (relatively mild climate of the town or perhaps small dunes sand of the beach - basking in the sun - became hot). There is another Scauri in Pantelleria, but in this case the name of the place is attributed etymology of Greek origin (eskarion = port, berthing - scaro). The name of two towns would share so greek influences - Byzantine (Byzantine Duchy of Gaeta in our case) and relationships "conflicting" and trade with the Saracens.

A very recent case, two researchers Romans, wants the place to come from the early Middle Ages "scaula" (boat). The lexical form of Byzantine origin, would grow in its place thanks to his being a natural port on the Tyrrhenian Sea (see Salvatore Cardillo - Maximum Miranda, "Scauri them Scauli and the invention of the villa of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus," 2013). The recent historical essay suggests how the tradition that the name of Scauri be traced back to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Roman senator and consul, is likely to be a pure invention. In fact, the hypothesis that happen over the centuries in favor of the derivation of the name from the Roman senator and consul, lack of timely documentary evidence. The first that associates Scauri the "gens Aemilia" is Francesco Maria Pratilli known forger. From the shape scaula-ae, would form the male Scauli rhotacism that would lead to the name of the place. Interesting news was brought to light by the two scholars, that Pontius Pilate would be born in those places, news handed down by the Dominican theologian Thomas Elysium. It is theorized that the very territory of Scauri was the place near the Garigliano, from which the Saracens settled (around all'881) before heading into the terrible and devastating incursions inland (Montecassino itself was put to iron and fire in 883). The settlement buckwheat on the Garigliano was vanquished only around 915, after a long siege and a pitched battle. Recent excavations have unfortunately led to positive results. However, we continue to assume that it could be just the place Scauri pirate settlement. Conjecture rather striking: it would - together with the Saracen stronghold of Fraxinetum, today's La Garde-Freinet, the Gulf of Saint Tropez - the only witness to a settlement "sedentary", even if only for a few decades, the pirates Saracens in Europe [7] [8].

Overview of the natural park of the Golden Mount, Scauri from upstream Petrella - Natural Park of Monti Auruncis.

Monuments and places of interest [edit | edit source]

The ancient town of Pirae, Ausone source, you can see, today, a stretch of the boundary polygon (the megalithic walls) with the city gate (VII-VI century BC). This settlement was already in ruins at the time of Pliny the Elder (first century AD). Some scholars have theorized that it was Pirae a castrum, a defensive outpost and commercial center of Minturnae. According to J. Johnson, however, has not demonstrated that there is, in Minturnae, a gens earlier than the "Pirani".

Another theory says that instead Pirae (or Castrum Pirae) was born from a group ausonico that broke off from the original mountain Campovivo (Spigno Saturnia), colonized the place under the current Monte D'Oro. Pirae then became important maritime village, along with Sinuessa and Minturnae, and was devoted to seafaring and commercial activities, staying in frequent contact with sailors from the East (Phoenicians), Etruria, from the Sicilian coast and the Magna Grecia, reaching its peak in the late sixth century BC, when it was consolidated in a real polis linked to the city of Pentapolis Aurunca for ethnic affinity and ultimate reason of life and independence in the face of any piracy Greek sailors and invasions Etruscan and Samnite historical age. Pirae, as mentioned related to the Pentapolis Aurunca (obstinate enemy of Rome), had to cease to be independent around 314 BC, when Rome secured the final domain of all Latium. Then became a Roman colony, the town acquitted the important function of junction of nerve and commercial locations. The colony declined rapidly until it was completely abandoned, especially after the devastation suffered by the Lombards in 558 AD (common destiny in Lazio to all coastal locations, crushed inside by the barbarian invasions and the coast from Saracen raids). [9]

In Republican and Imperial periods in Pirae some seaside villas were built, one of which belonged, according to experts, the consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (162-90 or 89 BC) and of which there are still some ruins that are visible in the old neighborhood.

From the year 830, are several quotes of locations in the Codex diplomaticus Cajetanus. For example, in an act of the 993 shows the Church of St. Peter the Apostle, located in "port scauritano."

Later he was a production center, but still subject to raids. For defensive purposes arose the Square Tower (the Golden Mount) and that of Mills (in the old district), respectively, were erected in the sixteenth and fourteenth century to defend the coast. On 21 July 1552 the turkish corsair Dragut landed on the shore of Scauri and dragged into slavery 200 people in the surrounding areas.

All the archaeological evidence mentioned (except the Square Tower) are enclosed on private property, but fall in the Protected Area of Gianola-Mount Scauri, which is part of the Regional Park of Riviera di Ulisse. The Square Tower was built on the Golden Mount, converting a factory medieval, circular in shape. Recently acquired by the City of Minto, was restored to favor the creation of a bird observatory.

Religious Architecture [edit | edit source]

Pope Pius IX in 1850 crossed the Via Appia, after the exile to Gaeta. In the Ducal Chapel of Caracciolo Carafa family, from that moment, spread Marian devotion, culminating in the Patronal Feast of the Nativity of Mary (September 8). In 1931 the ducal chapel was elevated to the dignity and parish dedicated to St. Mary. Immaculate, on the initiative of the first parish priest of the town, Don Antonio Pecorino (1878-1950).

In 1954, on the occasion of the centenary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, was built a statue of the Virgin by the sculptor Joseph Obletter South Tyrol, blessed at the Vatican by Pope Pius XII in 2003 and crowned by Archbishop Pierluigi Mazzoni, Archbishop of Gaeta. [10]

As a result of further development of the town, another parish was established in 1958, dedicated to the Virgin and Martyr Albina, to which he was entitled, in the past, a church, mentioned in the Codex diplomaticus Cajetanus since 981 and in a bull of Pope Adrian IV of 1158.

Cinema [edit | edit source]

To point out two characteristic places at the Monte d'Oro: the Blue Grotto and the Beach of Pebbles, which fall in the area of ​​Riviera di Ulisse Regional Park. The Beach of Pebbles is immortalized in the movie "For the grace received," starring Nino Manfredi (winner of the Cannes Film Festival in 1971), and in the drama "The Count of Monte Cristo" in 1998, starring Gérard Depardieu and Ornella Muti. Other scenes of the film were shot in a beautiful villa in Via del Golfo, in the area of "Scauri old." Yet at the Golden Mount dancing ballerinas in "Zibaldone" (2008), a film directed by and starring Umberto Del Prete.

Economics [edit | edit source]

The mill, the brick factories, beach tourism [edit | edit source]

Since ancient Scauri based its economy on agriculture, fishing and tourism. With the advent of the industrial age, factories were built of bricks, ceramics and paper mill, mentioned by the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his book The biography of Hackert, 1811.

Sign on the Appian Way at 150 km in the village of Minto Scauri recalling that there arose the mill mentioned in the biography of Goethe, Hackert

Supplier of the Kingdom of Naples, the mill Scauri family Merola, produced fine sheets for copperplate printing press and the real. The remains of the outer wall of the factory are still visible on the Appia, near the Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Later, towards the end of the nineteenth century, two plants were built of bricks: Sieci and Head. Both factories were inheritors of an ancient activity: that of working with clay, already practiced by the "Gens Pirana." The former complex "Sieci" is now an example of industrial archeology, with its typical Hoffmann kiln. The Town of Minto, the property owner, has pledged to transform the old furnace into a cultural center. In 1996 he was presented with a large project and ristutturazione Ersilia by the recovery of the Russian, who was presented with a very important conference and exhibition in Minto. Up to now this project is still the largest organic and feasible proposal, not only for the recovery of the entire area, but also for the recovery of tourism and economic Scauri and surroundings.

Persons linked to Scauri [edit | edit source]

Dig is a tourist and commercial recovering the glories of the Roman who had consecrated as a recreation center of the patricians. The confirmation comes from the finding, on the coastal strip, to the ruins of Roman villas. During the Republican period, the consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus chose to attend to his business and to enjoy a few days of relaxation. The signs of these "holidays Tyrrhenian" of the famous politician are now in the megalithic walls, where there are the ruins of his villa residential. Then began the tradition of tourism Scauri. Among the distinguished guests of the town in Lazio, the educator Maria Montessori, the explorer Umberto Nobile, singers, Francesco De Gregori and Anna Tatangelo actor-director Nino Manfredi and the then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla.

Today it is one of the most popular seaside resorts of South pontine. During the high season record 60-70 000 admissions into private accommodation in hotels and campsites. The pride and joy of the town of southern Lazio are the long beach, about 4 km away and the subject of a recent work of nourishment, and the Waterfront.