View allAll Photos Tagged Retractor
Lock and Dam No. 14, the Mississippi River, LeClaire, Iowa.
The eagle rotated its body and swung its feet and tail up (1, the above photo). Then, the eagle retracted its left wing and dove vertically (2, in the next photo).
Alula (like human's thumb, the darker small feather on the anterior edge of the wing) is moved up and forward to stabilize the flow, like the slats of the wing of an aircraft on landing (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula).
Also check out the shadow of its left talon on its tail.
This Canada goose was very irritated at Fabyan and before long it took off, leaving a trail of splash behind. The one in the comments: with retracted landing gear.
For Release: July 1, 1969
Photo No. 107-KSC-69P-565 / 69-H-1010
"KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Circular work platforms on the mobile service structure, right, retract from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicle as transporter carries service structure to the parking area. The move took place during a Countdown Demonstration Test or dress rehearsal for launch."
Pruple Heron flying over Pong Lake near Talwara, Punjab.
Herons have a long neck which they can amazingly retract into an S-shape. It is kept retracted during flight, which - among long necked birds - is unique only to Herons.
Egrets point their bills skyward and stretch and retract their necks to display their gossamer breeding plumes and let potential mates know they are ready for action.
(Ninth Street Rookery, Santa Rosa, California)
Heading home from Green Things with a red grapefruit plant on the backseat.
I captured these lovely A-10s from Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson through the passenger's windshield. I think we were stopped at a traffic light on Pima in Tucson, Arizona, USA. This is cropped from a moderate angle shot.
These A-10s are constantly in use for training. They are an amazingly effective anti-tank weapon for the Army. The Air Force keeps wanting to kill their budget. I believe we need an Army Air Force with its own budget.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II
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Design
Overview
Side-view drawing of aircraft with cut-throughs showing crucial internal components
A-10 inboard profile drawing
The A-10 has a cantilever low-wing monoplane wing with a wide chord.[32] The aircraft has superior maneuverability at low speeds and altitudes because of its large wing area, high wing aspect ratio, and large ailerons. The wing also allows short takeoffs and landings, permitting operations from primitive forward airfields near front lines. The aircraft can loiter for extended periods and operate under 1,000-foot (300 m) ceilings with 1.5-mile (2.4 km) visibility. It typically flies at a relatively low speed of 300 knots (350 mph; 560 km/h), which makes it a better platform for the ground-attack role than fast fighter-bombers, which often have difficulty targeting small, slow-moving targets.[52]
The leading edge of the wing has a honeycomb structure panel construction, providing strength with minimal weight; similar panels cover the flap shrouds, elevators, rudders, and sections of the fins.[53] The skin panels are integral with the stringers and are fabricated using computer-controlled machining, reducing production time and cost. Combat experience has shown that this type of panel is more resistant to damage. The skin is not load-bearing, so damaged skin sections can be easily replaced in the field, with makeshift materials if necessary.[54] The ailerons are at the far ends of the wings for a greater rolling moment and have two distinguishing features: The ailerons are larger than is typical, almost 50 percent of the wingspan, providing improved control even at slow speeds; the aileron is also split, making it a deceleron.[55][56]
The A-10 is designed to be refueled, rearmed, and serviced with minimal equipment.[57] Its simple design enables maintenance at forward bases with limited facilities.[58][59] An unusual feature is that many of the aircraft's parts are interchangeable between the left and right sides, including the engines, main landing gear, and vertical stabilizers. The sturdy landing gear, low-pressure tires, and large, straight wings allow operation from short rough strips even with a heavy aircraft ordnance load, allowing the aircraft to operate from damaged airbases, flying from taxiways, or even straight roadway sections.[60]
The front landing gear is offset to the aircraft's right to allow placement of the 30 mm cannon with its firing barrel along the centerline of the aircraft.[61] During ground taxi, the offset front landing gear causes the A-10 to have dissimilar turning radii. Turning to the right on the ground takes less distance than turning left.[Note 1] The wheels of the main landing gear partially protrude from their nacelles when retracted, making gear-up belly landings easier to control and less damaging. All landing gears retract forward; if hydraulic power is lost, a combination of gravity and aerodynamic drag can lower and lock the gear in place.[56]
Durability
The A-10 is exceptionally tough, being able to survive direct hits from armor-piercing and high-explosive projectiles up to 23 mm. It has double-redundant hydraulic flight systems, and a mechanical system as a backup if hydraulics are lost. Flight without hydraulic power uses the manual reversion control system; pitch and yaw control engages automatically, roll control is pilot-selected. In manual reversion mode, the A-10 is sufficiently controllable under favorable conditions to return to base, though control forces are greater than normal. The aircraft is designed to be able to fly with one engine, half of the tail, one elevator, and half of a wing missing.[62]
The cockpit and parts of the flight-control systems are protected by 1,200 lb (540 kg) of titanium aircraft armor, referred to as a "bathtub".[63][64] The armor has been tested to withstand strikes from 23 mm cannon fire and some strikes from 57 mm rounds.[59][63] It is made up of titanium plates with thicknesses varying from 0.5 to 1.5 inches (13 to 38 mm) determined by a study of likely trajectories and deflection angles. The armor makes up almost six percent of the aircraft's empty weight. Any interior surface of the tub directly exposed to the pilot is covered by a multi-layer nylon spall shield to protect against shell fragmentation.[65][66] The front windscreen and canopy are resistant to small arms fire.[67]
The A-10's durability was demonstrated on 7 April 2003 when Captain Kim Campbell, while flying over Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, suffered extensive flak damage. Iraqi fire damaged one of her engines and crippled the hydraulic system, requiring the aircraft's stabilizer and flight controls to be operated via the 'manual reversion mode.' Despite this damage, Campbell flew the aircraft for nearly an hour and landed safely.[68][69]
The A-10 was intended to fly from forward air bases and semi-prepared runways with a high risk of foreign object damage to the engines. The unusual location of the General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofan engines decreases ingestion risk and allows the engines to run while the aircraft is serviced and rearmed by ground crews, reducing turn-around time. The wings are also mounted closer to the ground, simplifying servicing and rearming operations. The heavy engines require strong supports: four bolts connect the engine pylons to the airframe.[70] The engines' high 6:1 bypass ratio contributes to a relatively small infrared signature, and their position directs exhaust over the tailplanes further shielding it from detection by infrared homing surface-to-air missiles. The engines' exhaust nozzles are angled nine degrees below horizontal to cancel out the nose-down pitching moment that would otherwise be generated from being mounted above the aircraft's center of gravity and avoid the need to trim the control surfaces to prevent pitching.[70]
To reduce the likelihood of damage to the A-10's fuel system, all four fuel tanks are located near the aircraft's center and are separated from the fuselage; projectiles would need to penetrate the aircraft's skin before reaching a tank's outer skin.[65][66] Compromised fuel transfer lines self-seal; if damage exceeds a tank's self-sealing capabilities, check valves prevent fuel from flowing into a compromised tank. Most fuel system components are inside the tanks so that fuel will not be lost due to component failure. The refueling system is also purged after use.[71] Reticulated polyurethane foam lines both the inner and outer sides of the fuel tanks, retaining debris and restricting fuel spillage in the event of damage. The engines are shielded from the rest of the airframe by firewalls and fire extinguishing equipment. In the event of all four main tanks being lost, two self-sealing sump tanks contain fuel for 230 miles (370 km) of flight.[65][66]
Since the A-10 operates extremely close to enemy positions, where it is an easy target for MANPADS, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and enemy fighters, it can carry up to 480 flares and 480 chaff cartridges, which is more than any other fighter, but usually flies with a mix of both.[72]
Weapons
Although the A-10 can carry a considerable amount of munitions, its primary built-in weapon is the 30×173 mm GAU-8/A Avenger autocannon. One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, it fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. The GAU-8 is a hydraulically driven seven-barrel rotary cannon designed specifically for the anti-tank role with a high rate of fire. The cannon's original design could be switched by the pilot to 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute;[73] this was later changed to a fixed rate of 3,900 rounds per minute.[74] The cannon takes about half a second to reach top speed, so 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 65 or 70 rounds per second thereafter. The gun is accurate enough to place 80 percent of its shots within a 40-foot (12.4 m) diameter circle from 4,000 feet (1,220 m) while in flight.[75] The GAU-8 is optimized for a slant range of 4,000 feet (1,220 m) with the A-10 in a 30-degree dive.[76]
Front view of the A-10's GAU-8 installation
The fuselage of the aircraft is built around the cannon. The GAU-8/A is mounted slightly to the port side; the barrel in the firing location is on the starboard side at the 9 o'clock position so it is aligned with the aircraft's centerline. The gun's 5-foot, 11.5-inch (1.816 m) ammunition drum can hold up to 1,350 rounds of 30 mm ammunition,[61] but generally holds 1,174 rounds.[76] To protect the GAU-8/A rounds from enemy fire, armor plates of differing thicknesses between the aircraft skin and the drum are designed to detonate incoming shells.[61][66]
The AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missile is a commonly used munition for the A-10, targeted via electro-optical (TV-guided) or infrared. The Maverick allows target engagement at much greater ranges than the cannon, and thus less risk from anti-aircraft systems. During Desert Storm, in the absence of dedicated forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras for night vision, the Maverick's infrared camera was used for night missions as a "poor man's FLIR".[77] Other weapons include cluster bombs and Hydra rocket pods.[78] The A-10 is equipped to carry GPS and laser-guided bombs, such as the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, Paveway series bombs, JDAM, WCMD and glide bomb AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon.[79] A-10s usually fly with an ALQ-131 ECM pod under one wing and two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles under the other wing for self-defense.[80]
Modernization
The A-10 Precision Engagement Modification Program from 2006 to 2010 updated all A-10 and OA-10 aircraft in the fleet to the A-10C standard with a new flight computer, new glass cockpit displays and controls, two new 5.5-inch (140 mm) color displays with moving map function, and an integrated digital stores management system.[18][43][44][81]
Since then, the A-10 Common Fleet Initiative has led to further improvements: a new wing design, a new data link, the ability to employ smart weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser, as well as the newer GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, and the ability to carry an integrated targeting pod such as the Northrop Grumman LITENING or the Lockheed Martin Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). Also included is the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) to provide sensor data to personnel on the ground.[43] The A-10C has a Missile Warning System (MWS), which alerts the pilot to whenever there is a missile launch, friendly or non-friendly. The A-10C can also carry an ALQ-184 ECM Pod, which works with the MWS to detect a missile launch, figure out what kind of vehicle is launching the missile or flak (i.e.: SAM, aircraft, flak, MANPAD, etc.), and then jams it with confidential emitting, and selects a countermeasure program that the pilot has pre-set, that when turned on, will automatically dispense flare and chaff at pre-set intervals and amounts.[82]
Colors and markings
Since the A-10 flies low to the ground and at subsonic speed, aircraft camouflage is important to make the aircraft more difficult to see. Many different types of paint schemes have been tried. These have included a "peanut scheme" of sand, yellow, and field drab; black and white colors for winter operations, and a tan, green, and brown mixed pattern.[83] Many A-10s also featured a false canopy painted in dark gray on the underside of the aircraft, just behind the gun. This form of automimicry is an attempt to confuse the enemy as to aircraft attitude and maneuver direction.[84][85] Many A-10s feature nose art, such as shark mouth or warthog head features.
The two most common markings applied to the A-10 have been the European I woodland camouflage scheme and a two-tone gray scheme. The European woodland scheme was designed to minimize visibility from above, as the threat from hostile fighter aircraft was felt to outweigh that from ground-fire. It uses dark green, medium green, and dark gray in order to blend in with the typical European forest terrain and was used from the 1980s to the early 1990s. Following the end of the Cold War, and based on experience during the 1991 Gulf War, the air-to-air threat was no longer seen to be as important as that from ground fire, and a new color scheme known as "Compass Ghost" was chosen to minimize visibility from below. This two-tone gray scheme has darker gray color on top, with the lighter gray on the underside of the aircraft, and started to be applied from the early 1990s.[86]
Operational history
Entering service
The first unit to receive the A-10 Thunderbolt II was the 355th Tactical Training Wing, based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in March 1976.[87] The first unit to achieve full combat-readiness was the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina, in October 1977.[1] Deployments of A-10As followed at bases both at home and abroad, including England AFB, Louisiana; Eielson AFB, Alaska; Osan Air Base, South Korea; and RAF Bentwaters/RAF Woodbridge, England. The 81st TFW of RAF Bentwaters/RAF Woodbridge operated rotating detachments of A-10s at four bases in Germany known as Forward Operating Locations (FOLs): Leipheim, Sembach Air Base, Nörvenich Air Base, and RAF Ahlhorn.[88]
A-10s were initially an unwelcome addition to many in the Air Force. Most pilots switching to the A-10 did not want to because fighter pilots traditionally favored speed and appearance.[89] In 1987, many A-10s were shifted to the forward air control (FAC) role and redesignated OA-10.[90] In the FAC role, the OA-10 is typically equipped with up to six pods of 2.75 inch (70 mm) Hydra rockets, usually with smoke or white phosphorus warheads used for target marking. OA-10s are physically unchanged and remain fully combat capable despite the redesignation.[91]
A-10s of the 23rd TFW were deployed to Bridgetown, Barbados during Operation Urgent Fury, the American Invasion of Grenada. They provided air cover for the U.S. Marine Corps landings on the island of Carriacou in late October 1983, but did not fire weapons as Marines met no resistance.[92][93][94]
Gulf War and Balkans
The A-10 was used in combat for the first time during the Gulf War in 1991, destroying more than 900 Iraqi tanks, 2,000 other military vehicles, and 1,200 artillery pieces.[10] A-10s also shot down two Iraqi helicopters with the GAU-8 cannon. The first of these was shot down by Captain Robert Swain over Kuwait on 6 February 1991 for the A-10's first air-to-air victory.[95][96] Four A-10s were shot down during the war by surface-to-air missiles. Another two battle-damaged A-10s and OA-10As returned to base and were written off. Some sustained additional damage in crash landings.[97][98] The A-10 had a mission-capable rate of 95.7 percent, flew 8,100 sorties, and launched 90 percent of the AGM-65 Maverick missiles fired in the conflict.[99] Shortly after the Gulf War, the Air Force abandoned the idea of replacing the A-10 with a close air support version of the F-16.[100]
U.S. Air Force A-10 aircraft fired approximately 10,000 30 mm rounds in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994–95. Following the seizure of some heavy weapons by Bosnian Serbs from a warehouse in Ilidža, a series of sorties were launched to locate and destroy the captured equipment. On 5 August 1994, two A-10s located and strafed an anti-tank vehicle. Afterward, the Serbs agreed to return remaining heavy weapons.[101] In August 1995, NATO launched an offensive called Operation Deliberate Force. A-10s flew close air support missions, attacking Bosnian Serb artillery and positions. In late September, A-10s began flying patrols again.[102]
A-10s returned to the Balkan region as part of Operation Allied Force in Kosovo beginning in March 1999.[102] In March 1999, A-10s escorted and supported search and rescue helicopters in finding a downed F-117 pilot.[103] The A-10s were deployed to support search and rescue missions, but over time the Warthogs began to receive more ground attack missions. The A-10's first successful attack in Operation Allied Force happened on 6 April 1999; A-10s remained in action until combat ended in late June 1999.[104]
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and recent deployments
During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the A-10s did not take part in the initial stages. For the campaign against Taliban and Al Qaeda, A-10 squadrons were deployed to Pakistan and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, beginning in March 2002. These A-10s participated in Operation Anaconda. Afterward, A-10s remained in-country, fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants.[105]
Operation Iraqi Freedom began on 20 March 2003. Sixty OA-10/A-10 aircraft took part in early combat there.[106] The United States Air Forces Central Command issued Operation Iraqi Freedom: By the Numbers, a declassified report about the aerial campaign in the conflict on 30 April 2003. During that initial invasion of Iraq, A-10s had a mission capable rate of 85 percent in the war and fired 311,597 rounds of 30 mm ammunition. A single A-10 was shot down near Baghdad International Airport by Iraqi fire late in the campaign. The A-10 also flew 32 missions in which the aircraft dropped propaganda leaflets over Iraq.[107]
In September 2007, the A-10C with the Precision Engagement Upgrade reached initial operating capability.[81] The A-10C first deployed to Iraq in 2007 with the 104th Fighter Squadron of the Maryland Air National Guard.[108] The A-10C's digital avionics and communications systems have greatly reduced the time to acquire a close air support target and attack it.[109]
A-10s flew 32 percent of combat sorties in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The sorties ranged from 27,800 to 34,500 annually between 2009 and 2012. In the first half of 2013, they flew 11,189 sorties in Afghanistan.[110] From the beginning of 2006 to October 2013, A-10s conducted 19 percent of CAS missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than the F-15E Strike Eagle and B-1B Lancer, but less than the 33 percent flown by F-16s.[111]
In March 2011, six A-10s were deployed as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, the coalition intervention in Libya. They participated in attacks on Libyan ground forces there.[112][113]
The USAF 122nd Fighter Wing revealed it would deploy to the Middle East in October 2014 with 12 of the unit's 21 A-10 aircraft. Although the deployment had been planned a year in advance in a support role, the timing coincided with the ongoing Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIL militants.[114][115][116] From mid-November, U.S. commanders began sending A-10s to hit IS targets in central and northwestern Iraq on an almost daily basis.[117][118] In about two months time, A-10s flew 11 percent of all USAF sorties since the start of operations in August 2014.[119] On 15 November 2015, two days after the ISIL attacks in Paris, A-10s and AC-130s destroyed a convoy of over 100 ISIL-operated oil tanker trucks in Syria. The attacks were part of an intensification of the U.S.-led intervention against ISIL called Operation Tidal Wave II (named after Operation Tidal Wave during World War II, a failed attempt to raid German oil fields) in an attempt to cut off oil smuggling as a source of funding for the group.[120]
On 19 January 2018, 12 A-10s from the 303d Expeditionary Fighter Squadron were deployed to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, to provide close-air support, marking the first time in more than three years A-10s had been deployed to Afghanistan.[121]
Future
The future of the platform remains the subject of debate. In 2007, the USAF expected the A-10 to remain in service until 2028 and possibly later,[122] when it would likely be replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.[38] However, critics have said that replacing the A-10 with the F-35 would be a "giant leap backwards" given the A-10's performance and the F-35's high costs.[123] In 2012, the Air Force considered the F-35B STOVL variant as a replacement CAS aircraft, but concluded that the aircraft could not generate sufficient sorties.[124] In August 2013, Congress and the Air Force examined various proposals, including the F-35 and the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle filling the A-10's role. Proponents state that the A-10's armor and cannon are superior to aircraft such as the F-35 for ground attack, that guided munitions other planes rely upon could be jammed, and that ground commanders frequently request A-10 support.[110]
In the USAF's FY 2015 budget, the service considered retiring the A-10 and other single-mission aircraft, prioritizing multi-mission aircraft; cutting a whole fleet and its infrastructure was seen as the only method for major savings. The U.S. Army had expressed interest in obtaining some A-10s should the Air Force retire them,[125][126] but later stated there was "no chance" of that happening.[127] The U.S. Air Force stated that retirement would save $3.7 billion from 2015 to 2019. The prevalence of guided munitions allow more aircraft to perform the CAS mission and reduces the requirement for specialized aircraft; since 2001 multirole aircraft and bombers have performed 80 percent of operational CAS missions. The Air Force also said that the A-10 was more vulnerable to advanced anti-aircraft defenses, but the Army replied that the A-10 had proved invaluable because of its versatile weapons loads, psychological impact, and limited logistics needs on ground support systems.[128]
In January 2015, USAF officials told lawmakers that it would take 15 years to fully develop a new attack aircraft to replace the A-10;[129] that year General Herbert J. Carlisle, the head of Air Combat Command, stated that a follow-on weapon system for the A-10 may need to be developed.[130] It planned for F-16s and F-15Es to initially take up CAS sorties, and later by the F-35A once sufficient numbers become operationally available over the next decade.[131] In July 2015, Boeing held initial discussions on the prospects of selling retired or stored A-10s in near-flyaway condition to international customers.[42] However, the Air Force then said that it would not permit the aircraft to be sold.[132]
Plans to develop a replacement aircraft were announced by the US Air Combat Command in August 2015.[133][134] Early the following year, the Air Force began studying future CAS aircraft to succeed the A-10 in low-intensity "permissive conflicts" like counterterrorism and regional stability operations, admitting that the F-35 would be too expensive to operate in day-to-day roles. A wide range of platforms were under consideration, including everything from low-end AT-6 Wolverine and A-29 Super Tucano turboprops and the Textron AirLand Scorpion as more basic off-the-shelf options to more sophisticated clean-sheet attack aircraft or "AT-X" derivatives of the T-X next-generation trainer as entirely new attack platforms.[131][135][136]
In January 2016, the USAF was "indefinitely freezing" plans to retire the A-10 for at least several years. In addition to Congressional opposition, its use in anti-ISIL operations, deployments to Eastern Europe as a response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, and reevaluation of F-35 numbers necessitated its retention.[137][138] In February 2016, the Air Force deferred the final retirement of the aircraft until 2022 after being replaced by F-35s on a squadron-by-squadron basis.[139][140] In October 2016, the Air Force Material Command brought the depot maintenance line back to full capacity in preparation for re-winging the fleet.[141] In June 2017, it was announced that the aircraft "...will now be kept in the air force’s inventory indefinitely."[142][5]
Other uses
On 25 March 2010, an A-10 conducted the first flight of an aircraft with all engines powered by a biofuel blend. The flight, performed at Eglin Air Force Base, used a 1:1 blend of JP-8 and Camelina-based fuel.[143] On 28 June 2012, the A-10 became the first aircraft to fly using a new fuel blend derived from alcohol; known as ATJ (Alcohol-to-Jet), the fuel is cellulosic-based and can be produced using wood, paper, grass, or any cellulose based material, which are fermented into alcohols before being hydro-processed into aviation fuel. ATJ is the third alternative fuel to be evaluated by the Air Force as a replacement for the petroleum-derived JP-8 fuel. Previous types were a synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from coal and natural gas and a bio-mass fuel derived from plant-oils and animal fats known as Hydroprocessed Renewable Jet.[144]
In 2011, the National Science Foundation granted $11 million to modify an A-10 for weather research for CIRPAS at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School[145] and in collaboration with scientists from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSM&T),[146] replacing SDSM&T's retired North American T-28 Trojan.[147] The A-10's armor is expected to allow it to survive the extreme meteorological conditions, such as 200 mph hailstorms, found in inclement high-altitude weather events.[148]
Variants
YA-10A
Pre-production variant. 12 were built.[149]
A-10A
Single-seat close air support, ground-attack production version.
OA-10A
A-10As used for airborne forward air control.
YA-10B Night/Adverse Weather (N/AW)
Two-seat experimental prototype, for work at night and in bad weather. The one YA-10B prototype was converted from an A-10A.[150][151]
A-10C
A-10As updated under the incremental Precision Engagement (PE) program.[43]
A-10PCAS
Proposed unmanned version developed by Raytheon and Aurora Flight Sciences as part of DARPA's Persistent Close Air Support program.[152] The PCAS program eventually dropped the idea of using an optionally manned A-10.[153]
Civilian A-10
Proposed by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to replace its North American T-28 Trojan thunderstorm penetration aircraft. The A-10 would have its military engines, avionics, and oxygen system replaced by civilian versions. The engines and airframe would receive protection from hail, and the GAU-8 Avenger would be replaced with ballast or scientific instruments.[154]
Operators
The A-10 has been flown exclusively by the United States Air Force and its Air Reserve components, the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and the Air National Guard (ANG). As of 2017, 282 A-10C aircraft are reported as operational, divided as follows: 141 USAF, 55 AFRC, 86 ANG.[155]
United States
United States Air Force
Air Force Materiel Command
514th Flight Test Squadron (Hill AFB, Utah) (1993-)
23rd Wing
74th Fighter Squadron (Moody AFB, Georgia) (1980-1992, 1996-)
75th Fighter Squadron (Moody AFB, Georgia) (1980-1991, 1992-)
51st Fighter Wing
25th Fighter Squadron (Osan AFB, South Korea) (1982-1989, 1993-)
53d Wing
422d Test and Evaluation Squadron (Nellis AFB, Nevada) (1977-)
57th Wing
66th Weapons Squadron (Nellis AFB, Nevada) (1977-1981, 2003-)
96th Test Wing
40th Flight Test Squadron (Eglin AFB, Florida) (1982-)
122nd Fighter Wing (Indiana ANG)
163d Fighter Squadron (Fort Wayne ANGS, Indiana) (2010-)
124th Fighter Wing (Idaho ANG)
190th Fighter Squadron (Gowen Field ANGB, Idaho) (1996-)
127th Wing (Michigan ANG)
107th Fighter Squadron (Selfridge ANGB, Michigan) (2008-)
175th Wing (Maryland ANG)
104th Fighter Squadron (Warfield ANGB, Maryland) (1979-)
355th Fighter Wing
354th Fighter Squadron (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) (1979-1982, 1991-)
357th Fighter Squadron (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) (1979-)
442nd Fighter Wing (AFRC)
303d Fighter Squadron (Whiteman AFB, Missouri) (1982-)
476th Fighter Group (AFRC)
76th Fighter Squadron (Moody AFB, Georgia) (1981-1992, 2009-)
495th Fighter Group (AFRC)
358th Fighter Squadron (Whiteman AFB, Missouri) (1979-2014, 2015-)
924th Fighter Group (AFRC)
45th Fighter Squadron (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) (1981-1994, 2009-)
47th Fighter Squadron (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) (1980-)
926th Wing (AFRC)
706th Fighter Squadron (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) (1982-1992, 1997-)
Former squadrons
18th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1982-1991)
23d Tactical Air Support Squadron (1987-1991) (OA-10 unit)
55th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1994-1996)
70th Fighter Squadron (1995-2000)
78th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1979-1992)
81st Fighter Squadron (1994-2013)
91st Tactical Fighter Squadron (1978-1992)
92d Tactical Fighter Squadron (1978-1993)
103d Fighter Squadron (Pennsylvania ANG) (1988-2011) (OA-10 unit)
118th Fighter Squadron (Connecticut ANG) (1979-2008)
131st Fighter Squadron (Massachusetts ANG) (1979-2007)
138th Fighter Squadron (New York ANG) (1979-1989)
172d Fighter Squadron (Michigan ANG) (1991-2009)
176th Tactical Fighter Squadron (Wisconsin ANG) (1981-1993)
184th Fighter Squadron (Arkansas ANG) (2007-2014)
353d Tactical Fighter Squadron (1978-1992)
355th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1978-1992, 1993–2007)
356th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1977-1992)[156]
509th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1979-1992)
510th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1979-1994)
511th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1980-1992)
Aircraft on display
Germany
A-10A
77-0264 – Spangdahlem AB, Bitburg[157]
South Korea
A-10A
76-0515 – Osan AB[158]
United Kingdom
A-10A
77-0259 – American Air Museum at Imperial War Museum Duxford[159]
80-0219 – Bentwaters Cold War Museum[160]
United States
YA-10A
71-1370 – Joint Base Langley-Eustis (Langley AFB), Hampton, Virginia[161]
YA-10B
73-1664 – Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, Edwards AFB, California[162]
A-10A
73-1666 – Hill Aerospace Museum, Hill AFB, Utah[163]
73-1667 – Flying Tiger Heritage Park at the former England AFB, Louisiana[164]
75-0263 – Empire State Aerosciences Museum, Glenville, New York[165]
75-0270 – McChord Air Museum, McChord AFB, Washington[166]
75-0293 – Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Elmira, New York[167]
75-0288 – Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin AFB, Florida[168]
75-0289 – Heritage Park, Eielson AFB, Alaska[169]
75-0298 – Pima Air & Space Museum (adjacent to Davis-Monthan AFB), Tucson, Arizona[170]
75-0305 – Museum of Aviation, Robins AFB, Warner Robins, Georgia[171]
75-0308 – Moody Heritage Park, Moody AFB, Valdosta, Georgia[172]
75-0309 – Shaw AFB, Sumter, South Carolina. Marked as AF Ser. No. 81-0964 assigned to the 55 FS from 1994 to 1996. The represented aircraft was credited with downing an Iraqi Mi-8 Hip helicopter on 15 Feb 1991 while assigned to the 511 TFS.[173][174]
76-0516 – Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum at the former NAS Willow Grove, Horsham, Pennsylvania[175]
76-0530 – Whiteman AFB, Missouri[176]
76-0535 – Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, New York[177]
76-0540 – Aerospace Museum of California, McClellan Airport (former McClellan AFB), Sacramento, California[178]
77-0199 – Stafford Air & Space Museum, Weatherford, Oklahoma
77-0205 – USAF Academy collection, Colorado Springs, Colorado[179]
77-0228 – Grissom Air Museum, Grissom ARB (former Grissom AFB), Peru, Indiana[180]
77-0244 – Wisconsin Air National Guard Museum, Volk Field ANGB, Wisconsin[181]
77-0252 – Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, New York (nose section only)[182]
77-0667 – England AFB Heritage Park, Alexandria, Louisiana[183]
78-0681 – National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio[184]
78-0687 – Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum, Fort Campbell, Kentucky[185]
79-0097 – Warbird Park, former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina[186]
79-0100 – Barnes Air National Guard Base, Westfield, Massachusetts[187]
79-0103 – Bradley Air National Guard Base, Windsor Locks, Connecticut[188]
79-0116 – Warrior Park, Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona[189]
79-0173 – New England Air Museum, Windsor Locks, Connecticut[190]
80-0247 – American Airpower Museum, Republic Airport, Farmingdale, New York[191]
80-0708 – Selfridge Military Air Museum, Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Harrison Township, Michigan[192]
Specifications (A-10A)
Data from The Great Book of Modern Warplanes,[193] Fairchild-Republic A/OA-10,[194] USAF[81]
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m)
Wingspan: 57 ft 6 in (17.53 m)
Height: 14 ft 8 in (4.47 m)
Wing area: 506 ft2 (47.0 m2)
Airfoil: NACA 6716 root, NACA 6713 tip
Empty weight: 24,959 lb (11,321 kg)
Loaded weight: 30,384 lb (13,782 kg)
CAS mission: 47,094 lb (21,361 kg)
Anti-armor mission: 42,071 lb (19,083 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 50,000 lb[195] (22,700 kg)
Internal fuel capacity: 11,000 lb (4,990 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric TF34-GE-100A turbofans, 9,065 lbf (40.32 kN) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 381 knots (439 mph, 706 km/h) at sea level, clean[194]
Cruise speed: 300 knots (340 mph, 560 km/h)
Stall speed: 120 knots (138 mph, 220 km/h) [196]
Never exceed speed: 450 knots (518 mph,[194] 833 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) with 18 Mk 82 bombs[197]
Combat radius:
CAS mission: 250 nmi (288 mi, 460 km at 1.88 hour loiter at 5,000 ft (1,500 m), 10 min combat
Anti-armor mission: 252 nmi (290 mi, 467 km), 40 nmi (45 mi, 75 km)) sea-level penetration and exit, 30 min combat
Ferry range: 2,240 nmi (2,580 mi, 4,150 km) with 50 knot (55 mph, 90 km/h) headwinds, 20 minutes reserve
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,700 m)
Rate of climb: 6,000 ft/min (30 m/s)
Wing loading: 99 lb/ft2 (482 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.36
Armament
Guns: 1× 30 mm (1.18 in) GAU-8/A Avenger rotary cannon with 1,174 rounds (original capacity was 1,350 rd)
Hardpoints: 11 (8× under-wing and 3× under-fuselage pylon stations) with a capacity of 16,000 lb (7,260 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets:
4× LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19×/7× Hydra 70 mm/APKWS[198] rockets, respectively)
6x LAU-131 rocket pods (each with 7x Hydra 70 rockets)[199][200]
Missiles:
2× AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for self-defense
6× AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles
Bombs:
Mark 80 series of unguided iron bombs or
Mk 77 incendiary bombs or
BLU-1, BLU-27/B, CBU-20 Rockeye II, BL755[201] and CBU-52/58/71/87/89/97 cluster bombs or
Paveway series of Laser-guided bombs or
Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) (A-10C)[202] or
Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (A-10C)
Other:
SUU-42A/A Flares/Infrared decoys and chaff dispenser pod or
AN/ALQ-131 or AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods or
Lockheed Martin Sniper XR or LITENING targeting pods (A-10C) or
2× 600 US gal (2,300 L) Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for increased range/loitering time.
Avionics
AN/AAS-35(V) Pave Penny laser tracker pod[203] (mounted beneath right side of cockpit) for use with Paveway LGBs (currently the Pave Penny is no longer in use)
Head-up display (HUD)[31]
Notable appearances in media
Main article: Aircraft in fiction § A-10 Thunderbolt II
Nicknames
The A-10 Thunderbolt II received its popular nickname "Warthog" from the pilots and crews of the USAF attack squadrons who flew and maintained it. The A-10 is the last of Republic's jet attack aircraft to serve with the USAF. The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was nicknamed the "Hog", F-84F Thunderstreak nicknamed "Superhog", and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief tagged "Ultra Hog".[204] The saying Go Ugly Early has been associated with the aircraft in reference to calling in the A-10 early to support troops in ground combat.[205]
See also
Craig D. Button – USAF pilot who crashed mysteriously in an A-10
190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident
1988 Remscheid A-10 crash
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Ilyushin Il-102
Northrop YA-9
Sukhoi Su-25
Related lists
List of attack aircraft
List of active United States military aircraft
References
Notes
With the inner wheel on a turn stopped, the minimum radius of the turn is dictated by the distance between the inner wheel and the nose wheel. Since the distance is less between the right main wheel and the nose gear than the same measurement on the left, the aircraft can turn more tightly to the right.
This one started off trying to get the chest piece and the head piece to line up correctly... he was going to have legs but then I figured out how get the bottom plate on... I really love how the arms retract on this guy. Quite proud of this one!
There is not enough room for pilot in slave mode due to structural integrity measure, but legs do retract :P
This ALIEN is happening. Yes, I retracted the inner jaw. It does that.
Also, in the tradition of ALIENS, I will be displaying it with only
one side fully finished, just like the Sulaco. A little tweaking in
the morning and maybe a few extra bits from the con and I'll be pretty
darn pleased.
I watched this hawk circling around then I looked off to other things. When I looked back at him I was surprised to see this RWBB making the hawk's life miserable. Unfortunately the focus hadn't locked on yet for the first image. I included it because it shows the RWBB attacking and the hawk's rear guard defense. It was interesting watching the hawk bring out the talons once in a while but mostly had them retracted for speed. It is always amazing watching the Davids take on the Goliaths and generally drive them away.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 16, 2020) Aviation Boatswain’s Mates (Equipment) retract an arresting wire after an EA-18G Growler, attached to the Shadowhawks of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141, lands on the flight deck of the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in support of Valiant Shield 2020. Valiant Shield is a U.S. only, biennial field training exercise (FTX) with a focus on integration of joint training in a blue-water environment among U.S. forces. This training enables real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces through detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Erica Bechard)
====The Iceberg Lounge====
The bartender is leaving just as we arrive. Though he avoids my gaze, his muttering confirms our suspicions. Penguin *is* upstairs. The marksmen up on the balcony open fire. Their mistake. Since Needham last fired at me, I have upgraded my armour to contain a cold field, stopping their bullets in their tracks. Leonard Snart isn't as useless as I had once thought. Sionis' men return fire, and eventually, the marksmen fall. I break open the front door, revealing the bar, now almost completely empty- there are four men around us, and guarding the office are Penguin's two bodyguards. I deliver them a warning.
"We are here for The Penguin. If you resist, or try to protect him, you will be eliminated."
"Please resist," Zsasz murmurs behind me. He licks his knife clean of blood. His own. The animal has already made two new tally marks on his skin.
The Kabuki don't listen. Their loyalty to the Penguin precedes any survival instincts they might have. Claws retract from their hands, and they run at us. They move fast. Already four of Black Mask's men are dead. Five. Six. Seven. One attempts to slash my armour. I catch it's hand. Then, I remove my glove, and wrap my bare fist around it's throat, bestowing upon it an icy burn. It falls to the ground, and the connections between head and neck severs. Brown is struggling with the other one. Sionis insisted he be brought along. No doubt hoping he may be killed in the crossfire. A liability. The animal, Zsasz, slays the second twin. A knife through the jugular. He adds another tally to his arm. He kills only for sport.
"You didn't have to-" Brown grimaces. I ignore him, having now observed a brown substance on the ground. Kite-Man could never understand. There are few extremes I will not cross when *her* life hangs in the balance. If Sionis doesn't keep his promise, rest assured he would suffer a similar fate as Penguin's muscle.
=====Gotham City====
Head's all... Where... I hear a motor. I'm in a car? How... How did I get in a-
Gar- Josie!
"Oh how the turn tables"
No. Not Josie. Joker. He's driving the car. And I'm... I'm in the backseat, tied up, I think.
"Y'know, I haven't had children myself- if you've met Harley, you'll know why haha! But I don't *think* they're supposed to do that."
What's he... Of course. Josie blew up those cops. With her... powers? She has powers... Guess she inherited more from Claire than just the red hair.
Gar- They're... They're not
"Didn't think so! Seems you've spawned the Anti-Christ! Funny, I always imagined that'd be me."
Spinning... What am I wearing?
Gar- Rigger's... The dogs... Where are they?
"Oh no, they're dead. Burnt to a crisp. Lovely little Korean barbeque that was."
Gar- Murdering-!
"I'm joking! Course I'm joking! What, you think I'd kill something without an audience? And dogs of all things? You sir, insult me. ... Now, do you like my papoose?"
He's got her sat beside him... I have to... Wait. I'm wearing the suit again, aren't I? Shit. Josie's giggling, for now at least. Just think happy thoughts, Gar. Think happy- We've arrived. Wherever this is. He's touching my face.
"Just you sit tight, Handsome, I just need to pick up a few things, change my clothes- you get it. They're covered in blood, piss and a just little bit of bile. Funnily enough, none of it's the baby's!"
Maybe... Maybe I'll just lie down a little longer.
====Penguin's Office=====
Her name was Doctor Grace Balin. During my tenure at Gothcorp, I had few friends. My coworkers had written me off as awkward. The truth was that I was simply focused. Devoted. With the death of my mother I became more determined to continue my research into cryogenics. Doctor Balin was different. Meeting during an arctic research expedition- her field was on marine life, we fellow outcasts grew close.
She was confined to a wheelchair herself, and though she told others it didn't bother her, I knew deep down that it did. She helped me through my pain, and I her's. And though I disapproved of her social circle (Her boyfriend, Gaige, was rude and short tempered, and his friends were equally impolite), I was able to see past it, once she introduced me to my wife. My Nora. Now, Doctor Balin is but a puppet for the Penguin. Orca. Kept in a shark tank for his amusement. In an attempt to slow us down, Cobblepot has unleashed her on us. And, now, regrettably, she stands between Nora and I. She fights without any rhyme or reason, tearing the office apart in a series of furious attacks. I end her suffering quickly, encasing her in ice. She's still alive. A mercy I rarely give. As the remainder of Sionis' men regain consciousness, I see it again, on the ground. Clay.
"Look who I found!"
Zsasz has returned, he's holding Cobblepot by the scruff of his neck.
Penguin- Victor... Victor... Gentlemen, perhaps we can come to an arrangement. Roman can't get you your wife back, you must realise you're hanging onto an empty promise! But I can... I *Waugh* *Waugh* I know Lyle Bolton quite well, and we might-
Freeze- Never use my wife against me.
*He freezes Penguin, and smashes him into hundreds of icy shards. One of the henchmen speaks up in protest
"I think the boss was hoping to get some licks in there."
Freeze- I believe he still can. Don't you, Hagen? Tell me, how long have you been coming here in Penguin's place?
As I suspected, the shards reform into Clayface. Hagen's just as sloppy as always.
Hagen- Oh... Since before that Zeiss mess. You... You lose snowman.
====Santa Prisca====
"Mental link established. State your names."
"Bane."
"Thaal Sinestro."
"Teth Adam."
"Felix Faust."
"Orm Marius."
"Grodd"
...
"Noah Kuttler"
Calculator shuddered. He hated having the monkey in his head, but... it was the best way for them to communicate without interference.
Bane- Good. You have news, Grodd?
Grodd- The Clown came to the set today. Murdered my proxy. How long is it going to take before we silence him, once and for all.
Bane- Until he stops being useful.
Sinestro- You mean until he is no longer simply a distraction.
Bane- I do. Kuttler, you said our agent contracted you?
Kuttler- I- Yes. He's already made contact with Hugo Strange, and The Court of Owls. They don't suspect a thing.
Bane- And is it true they're working with Ra's?
Kuttler- Apparently so, although he hasn't met with him in person *just* yet. ... He says whatever is going down, could be as soon as tomorrow.
Bane- Then we'll just have to advance our own schedule... Tell our agent, we've transferred his fee to his offshore account.
Kuttler- Will do. Sinestro, I'm sending you the coordinates of your ring now. The NVKDemon sends his regards.
Sinestro- You can thank him only once I have confirmed his story, Kuttler.
Kuttler- Naturally.
Orm- While we're all still connected, we *should* discuss the matter of Brown's replacement.
Bane- Oh, I agree...
===Uglich Cemetery. Russia===
The small graveyard is bathed in a glow of yellow light, as Sinestro lands. He passes grave after grave, before finally, he sees *it.* A monument to a thief, and a crook. The marble statue towers over the others, depicting the Electrocutioner posed triumphantly over the Scarecrow. How did it make sense, Sinestro thought, that this nobody, someone who had never cared about anyone else for much of his adult life, warranted this shrine? He looked at the plaque and frowned.
"Lester Butchinsky. Son. Husband. Hero."
The Electrocutioner a hero? No, he was just a naïve fool. Sinestro created a drill, to tear down this false idol, and beneath it, was a small container. The Calculator's intel was correct, the ring was hidden here all along. But why? To honour Butchinsky? The gall.
Otis Flannegan had possessed *his* ring, he'd weilded the full power of the Sinestro Corps and... he had just thrown it away. What a waste. He picked up the yellow ring, and held it to his Lantern, recharging it, and reciting his oath. And fully charged, he sent it on it's way.
"Fly away, little ring, and find yourself a worthy addition to my Corps."
The doors are unique in that they retract vertically, instead of traditional designs which swing outward or upward (the first car with retractable doors was the 1954 Kaiser Darrin, although these doors slid forwards not downwards). The body with its high sills, offers crash protection independent of the doors, and it is possible (although perhaps not legal in some countries) for the Z1 to be driven with the doors lowered.
The windows may be operated independently of the doors, although they do retract automatically if the door is lowered. Both the window and door are driven by electric motors through toothed rubber belts and may be moved manually in an emergency.
Wikipedia
Departing into a cloudy sky...
Gear already fully retracted and starting its rather short flight to Newark.
I love this livery. Painted on the airplane for the 60th anniversary. But due to the Germanwings crash in March the celebrations didn't took place which is perfectly understandable.
"The Roman Catholic parish church of Spitz is in the market town of Spitz in the Krems-Land district in Lower Austria. The parish church consecrated to St. Mauritius belongs to the Deanery Spitz in the diocese of St. Pölten. The church is a listed building.
The church consecrated to Saint Mauritius was originally also consecrated to Saint Godehard and is located in the eastern part of the village on Kirchenplatz. A chapel was mentioned in a document in 1163. It was incorporated into the St. Florian Monastery and until 1239 a branch of St. Michael in the Wachau. From 1222/25 onwards a parish church was named a pastor in a document. From 1238 to 1803 the parish church was the Niederaltaich monastery incorporated. The late Gothic hall church under a high gable roof with the main portal in the presented west tower has a long choir bent out of its axis under a slightly higher gable roof. A medieval, formerly fortified enclosure wall, partly as a lining wall with stepped supporting pillars and partly with large, uncut stone blocks, has been preserved.
The late Gothic church building consists of a nave and a retracted long choir with three-lane pointed arched windows with richly varied tracery and stepped buttresses. The four-storey west tower with a local stone structure has a steep hipped roof with a small roof house. The lower two tower floors are from the beginning of the 14th century with a presumably Romanesque wall core, in the bell floor there are two-lane tracery windows from the 16th century. A head sculpture is walled in over the beveled pointed arch portal of the tower. The main portal of the vestibule in the tower from the end of the 15th century is wicker-arched in an ogival shape richly profiled with pear rods, in the tympanum is a three-passport with crab decoration, the portal to the nave is a chamfered two-passportal. The tower ground floor is vaulted with ribs and a keystone with a profiled rosette and mask face from the beginning of the 14th century. On the north and south sides of the nave there is a late Gothic light house with a keel arch crown from around 1500. The retracted two-bay choir withThe five- eighth closure is from the 1st quarter of the 16th century, the southwest buttress is marked with H. Wilhelm Paldauv 1694, a buttress with 1547, has a stone cross on the ridge at the transition to the nave, a crypt window and a late Gothic niche between two buttresses Mesh rib vault. In the south of the tower is the donor and burial chapel of Wolfhard von der Au and Anna Murstetter, with a pent roof and pointed arch window, before 1395. In front of it is a niche gabled on the south side from the beginning of the 19th century with a crucifix from the beginning of the 18th century. To the north of the west wall is a shallow two-storey extension with small Gothic windows, a staircase and a former healing chamber. On the south side of the nave is a gable-independent staircase with small rectangular windows from the 15th century that extends to the eaves. On the south wall of the nave there are remains of a crucifix fresco and next to it a donor couple from the 1st third of the 16th century. There are gravestones Sigmundt Ler. 1603 with wife 1612, Niclas Zalbinger 1532, 1422, around 1500, Wolfgang Kernstockh 1521 and Martha 1521, Michel Ern 1486, Margret around 1500.
The richly structured three-aisled, four-bay late Gothic nave was built in several sections with the direction of construction from west to east from the 14th century to the 1st quarter of the 16th century. The cross-rib vaulted side aisles are open to the central nave with pointed arches. The central nave has a ribbed vault on octagonal pillars and relief keystones with the coats of arms of Spitz and Niederaltaich. The eastern three-aisled yoke is somewhat widened and not quite in the axis, it was built in the 15th century to 1517, is separated from the western nave and choir by retracted arches and has a parallel net rib vault in the northern nave yoke, a star rib vault with a coat of arms in the central nave yoke with 1517; the southern nave yoke, which is shortened because of the sacristy adjoining it to the east, has a warped, star-ribbed vault with a painted coat of arms in relief with crossed raft hooks; The square sacristy has a ribbed vault from the 2nd half of the 15th century. The three-aisled gallery building before 1438 is vaulted with cross ribs in the side aisles, in the central nave with mesh ribs vaulted has a richly structured parapet with tracery in double quadrangular shapes and a two-axis organ foot each, in the middle part there are blind niches with apostles' figures, some with keel arches. A two-lane tracery window from the 14th century leads to the upper floor of the sacristy. The square sacristy has a ribbed vault from the 2nd half of the 15th century. The three-aisled gallery building before 1438 is vaulted with cross ribs in the side aisles, in the central nave with mesh ribs vaulted has a richly structured parapet with tracery in double quadrangular shapes and a two-axis organ foot each, in the middle part there are blind niches with apostles' figures, some with keel arches. A two-lane tracery window from the 14th century leads to the upper floor of the sacristy. The square sacristy has a ribbed vault from the 2nd half of the 15th century. The three-aisled gallery building before 1438 is vaulted with cross ribs in the side aisles, in the central nave with mesh ribs vaulted has a richly structured parapet with tracery in double quadrangular shapes and a two-axis organ foot each, in the middle part there are blind niches with apostles' figures, some with keel arches.in the middle part there are blind niches with figures of apostles, some with keel arches.in the middle part there are blind niches with figures of apostles, some with keel arches.
A retracted pointed arch triumphal arch with 1406 and 1506 forms the transition to the choir, which is also raised in the floor, with a sharp bend to the north. The choir is vaulted with net ribs with painted coats of arms Zollern, Kirchberger, with colored head sculptures at the intersections of the ribs, the pierced, partially crossed ribs rest on bundled services. The services are presented with statue canopies with crossed keel arches as well as pinnacles and crab ornaments, the consoles have lush branches and foliage. The session is in a richly profiled arched niche. Under the choir is a lower church with vaulted rooms.
A shoulder-arched south portal is walled up at the donor's chapel south of the tower. The two oblong yokes have cross ribbed vaults on consoles around the change from the 14th to the 15th century. There is a rectangular sacrament niche with an original wrought iron door. There are remains of a wall painting Crucifixion, St. Christophorus from the 2nd third of the 14th century on the previously unobstructed south side of the tower, now visible in the attic of the Stifterkapelle.
Remains of ornamental panes are preserved in the sacristy window (grisaille) from the 2nd half of the 14th century. The church's colored figural stained glass was created between 1910 and 1916.
The high altar from the end of the 17th century was transferred from Niederaltaich in 1718 and consecrated and renovated in 1724 and designated 1735. The aedicule structure has a split gable, the extension is framed with twisted columns and a segmented gable, with rich acanthus decor. The altarpiece of the Martyrdom of St. Mauritius is named Martin Johann Schmidt, 1799. The figures of angels, putti, St. Michael are from the end of the 17th century, in the pillared pedestals are the figurines of Saints Ulrich and Urban from around 1730. The three-part tabernacle from the 1st quarter of the 18th century has niche figurines with holy bishops. On both sides of the pillars are sacrificial portals with foliage decoration from around 1700.
The left Marian altar from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century has a structure with inclined pillars and columns on pedestals, has fragments of entablature and a scroll framed excerpt. The altar figures are Saints Joseph and Zacharias, angels, putti, and in the central niche Maria Immaculata are from the 2nd half of the 16th century. The upper image of St. Joseph with child is from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century.
The right St. Nicholas altar from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century is a foundation of the rafters, the structure is as on the left. The altar figures are the saints Florian and Maria Magdalena, putti, in the excerpt the figure of St. Johannes Nepomuk, altarpiece St. Nicholas over the village of Spitzby the painter Ferdinand Mory from 1744. There are two further side altars on the nave pillars with the same structure from 1744, reredos with volute struts on the sides and excerpts flanked by valutes. The left Sebastian altar has the figures of Saints Karl Borromeo and Rochus from the workshop of Matthias Schwanthaler, the altarpiece Apotheosis of St. Sebastian and the essay picture St. Thekla was painted by the painter Wolf Körner in the middle of the 18th century. The right altar of Catherine has the altar figures of Saints Maria Madgalena and Margareta, the altarpiece Mystical Marriage of St. In 1751 Katharina painted Anton Hamel, the top picture St. Religious is from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century. In the choir there are console figures of Saints Benedict and Scholastica from the 4th quarter of the 17th century, the 4 evangelists from the 1st.Quarter of the 18th century, in the nave the console figures of Saints Sebastian and Joseph from the 1st quarter of the 18th century. There is the figure Risen Christ as a gardener around 1500.
The wooden figures of Christ and the 12 apostles in the blind niches in the middle of the gallery parapet from the 4th quarter of the 14th century are painted in color. In niches on the gallery pillars are two stone figures of Saints Benedikt and Godehard, from Niederaltaich around 1500.
In the chapel is a monumental crucifix from around 1520 with the figures of Saints Mary and John from the early 17th century. There are three images of fasting, the crucifixion by Martin Johann Schmidt from the end of the 18th century, the coronation of thorns and the flagellation from the 18th century. The 14 Stations of the Cross were created around 1800. Behind the high altar is a wall paneling with structure in the manner of choir stalls with panel paintings with mainly Old Testament scenes from the 1st quarter of the 17th century. There are late Gothic iron plate doors with vine tendrils from the beginning of the 16th century.
The pulpit from the middle of the 18th century has a curved basket with volute struts, putti and evangelist symbols with the church fathers as a relief, the sound cover with volute top has St. Mauritius. The choir stalls are from the middle of the 17th century, the communion bench was built around 1730. The pews and vestry cupboards are from the 3rd quarter of the 18th century. The holy water font with a bowl is from the beginning of the 16th century.
The organ case from the 2nd quarter of the 19th century is partly in neo-Gothic form and provided with gold-plated rocailles, today's organ was built by Friedrich Heftner in 1981/82.
Spitz an der Donau is a market town in the district of Krems-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, in the midst of the UNESCO World Heritage area Wachau, further down from Willendorf on the left bank of the Danube. The ferry across the Danube here is interesting in that it has no motor or sail: it is powered by rudder set against the river current, anchored to a cable above the river. The ferry carries passengers, bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles.
Occupied since Celtic times, it was first mentioned in 830. A hill "Tausendeimerberg" (the "Hill of a Thousand Buckets") is so named because of the many grapes that grow there, for the Wachau valley, for which Spitz is in, is famous for them. The Late Gothic church to St. Maurice is famous for its Apostles (1380) and an altarpiece by Kremser Schmidt. To the south of Spitz is the famous fortress of Hinterhaus.
In February 2008, Spitz made an appearance in domestic news following the poisoning of then–mayor Dr. Hannes Hirtzberger.
Spitz lies on the left bank of the Danube in the Waldviertel in Lower Austria. The area of the market town covers 23.83 square kilometers. 69.21 percent of the area is forested. In Spitz, the Spitzer stream flows into the Danube.
The Wachau (German pronunciation: [vaˈxaʊ]) is an Austrian valley with a picturesque landscape formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located midway between the towns of Melk and Krems that also attracts "connoisseurs and epicureans" for its high-quality wines. It is 36 kilometres (22 mi) in length and was already settled in prehistoric times. A well-known place and tourist attraction is Dürnstein, where King Richard the Lionhearted of England was held captive by Duke Leopold V. The architectural elegance of its ancient monasteries (Melk Abbey and Göttweig Abbey), castles and ruins combined with the urban architecture of its towns and villages, and the cultivation of vines as an important agricultural produce are the dominant features of the valley.
The Wachau was inscribed as "Wachau Cultural Landscape" in the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in recognition of its architectural and agricultural history, in December 2000." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.
I retract my earlier statement about spring coming
Also Lydia got a new look I think she super cool!!! get it cool as it cold!!!
I never said I was good at puns did I. I hope you all have a greet weekend as I pretend winter is not a thing
I was like this now, now im like that
I was off road now, now im on track
Always tryin to front, but you're bringing me back...
You're wise enough to start a revolution...in me
A revolution...in me. I feel there's something moving...in me
You start a revolution, you're the strike of a match,
You're the bomb, bomb blowing me up...
A revolution, I can feel your retract taking on, on, all of your love,
A revolution, cause you turn and you turn and my world and I just can't stop,
A revolution, you start a revolution...
Inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the work platforms have been retracted from around the Artemis I Space Launch System atop the mobile launcher on Sept. 20, 2021. All 10 levels of platforms were extended and retracted as part of an umbilical test. During the test, several umbilical arms on the mobile launcher were extended to connect to the SLS rocket. They swung away from the launch vehicle, just as they will on launch day. NASA and Jacobs teams will continue conducting tests inside the VAB before transporting the Orion spacecraft to the assembly building and stacking it atop the SLS, completing assembly of the rocket for the Artemis I mission. Artemis I will be the first integrated test of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
Whaddup, apparently I'm not dead! See below if you're curious why I was gone. This vehicle features a handmade canvas roof (retracted). I've also used this technique in a much more elaborate fashion for a non-retracted canvas roof in another car, which I'll post at a later date.
©2018 Chris Elliott, All Rights Reserved.
This project received the "Staff Favorite" award at Brickfair Virginia 2017.
Find me also on:
chriselliott.art | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit
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So, long story short about why I've been absent from Lego cars for 3 years - I never stopped building them, I just stopped photographing and posting them. This is for a couple reasons.
One was that I got a job that sucked the life out of me for about a year and a half (I'm at a much less stressful one now, thanks), another was that the photographing became a hindrance to my enjoyment of the hobby. With this new photography setup and style I'm aiming to focus just on the car itself, without any fancy effects or camerawork. They became a burden instead of a boon.
Lastly, I went through a long period of creative doubt, and felt the work I was producing wasn't of the quality I wanted. I worked through that, and I'm now meeting my own expectations for quality, but it just took a while of solitary practice.
The landing gear on this beast proved one of the most complex parts to get right. The 707 used a four-wheel bogie which is harder to fit into the 12 stud wide fuselage.
Yup, the laser cannon can retract and lower when not in use. With a little effort, Johnny 5 can also raise up a little.
Update: ideas.lego.com/projects/115817
I spotted this wee fella in the shallow waters of Ladram Bay last Sunday. I picked up the snail shell and saw the crab retracted all the way back. A few moments passed then suddenly the claws and head appeared and it started crawling on my palm. I put it back onto the sand and after taking the photo I made sure to place the crab safely back into a rock pool. Fascinating sea life!
As the sun rises over Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rotating service structure and the arms of the vehicle stabilization system have been retracted from around the Constellation Program's 327-foot-tall Ares I-X rocket, resting atop its mobile launcher platform, for launch. The transfer of the pad from the Space Shuttle Program to the Constellation Program took place May 31. Modifications made to the pad include the removal of shuttle unique subsystems, such as the orbiter access arm and a section of the gaseous oxygen vent arm, and the installation of three 600-foot lightning towers, access platforms, environmental control systems and a vehicle stabilization system. The data returned from more than 700 sensors throughout the rocket will be used to refine the design of future launch vehicles and bring NASA one step closer to reaching its exploration goals. The Ares I-X flight test is targeted for Oct. 27.
Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Original image:
mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=43915
More about Ares I-X: www.nasa.gov/aresIX
p.s. You can see all of the Ares photos in the Ares Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/ares/ We'd love to have you as a member!
“SATURN APOLLO 501 IN HIGH BAY 1, WITH WORK PLATFORMS RETRACTED. VAB HIGH BAY 1.
5-24-67”
Note access arm No. 8 “Service Module (inflight)” directly behind the CSM. Access arm No. 9 “Command Module (preflight)” is to the far right. Speaking of the CSM, note also the lack of RCS thrusters on the SM. Kind of clue as to vehicle identification.
And, unless something else surfaces, maybe on the verso of a “S-67-XXXXX” version of this photo - if such exists - the following lame, I’m sure contemporary pablum is apparently what’s meant to pass as the official description/caption:
“This photograph depicts the Saturn V vehicle (SA-501) for the Apollo 4 mission in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). After the completion of the assembly operation, the work platform was retracted and the vehicle was readied to rollout from the VAB to the launch pad. The Apollo 4 mission was the first launch of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Objectives of the unmanned Apollo 4 test flight were to obtain flight information on launch vehicle and spacecraft structural integrity and compatibility, flight loads, stage separation, and subsystems operation including testing of restart of the S-IVB stage, and to evaluate the Apollo command module heat shield. The Apollo 4 was launched on November 9, 1967 from KSC.”
Surprisingly, the above, with a bullshit, probably arbitrarily assigned “NASA ID” of 6754387 is actually available at:
images.nasa.gov/details-6754387
Unfortunately, as with many others, the description has been propagated everywhere. While I’ve read MUCH worse, it’s merely a copy/paste from some Apollo 4 document, which doesn’t address the context of the photograph…that is, what’s actually going on…the REASON the photograph was taken.
With that, the recognition/correct identification of the content of this photograph, along with the date, hence its pertinence to the problematic history of the SA-501 vehicle, has been…take your pick: lost, overlooked, unrecognized, omitted…something unacceptable.
For starters, the NASA photo ninjas, especially at the time of the photo’s processing, i.e., 1967, should’ve recognized that the CSM atop the vehicle was NOT the flight CSM (CSM-017). It ALSO should’ve been easily/readily identified as M-11, the Flight Verification Vehicle (FVV), it having been photographed a bazillion times during 1966 as part of SA-500F photo documentation.
As if that weren’t enough, within the multiple regurgitations of the trials & tribulations of making Apollo 4 happen, there’s not a mention of M-11, other than within the following, which although incomplete, with its own errors, at least references it…ONCE:
“The third stage (S-IVB) was the first major component of Apollo 4 to be delivered at KSC. It arrived from Sacramento aboard the Guppy aircraft on 14 August 1966 and went immediately into a low bay of the assembly building for inspection and checkout. The following week the spacer and instrument unit arrived. On 12 September, as Peter Conrad and Richard Gordon prepared to blast off in Gemini 11, the barge Poseidon sailed into the Banana River with the first stage. Boeing gave it a lengthy checkout in the transfer aisle of the high bay before erecting the booster on 27 October. During the following week, technicians stacked the remaining launch vehicle stages, using the spool for the absent S-II. There were a few problems - the checkout of the swing arms took an extra two days and a cooling unit for the instrument unit sprang a leak - but the launch team, still counting on the mid-November delivery date for the S-II, hoped to roll the complete vehicle out to pad A by 13 January 1967.
By late November the Apollo Program Office had moved the S-II's arrival back to January, and the launch back to April. Since spacecraft 017 would not arrive for another three weeks, KSC erected the facilities verification model of Apollo on 28 November.
[The first linked black & white photograph by Cliff Steenhoff below, depicts such.]
This allowed North American to check out some of its spacecraft support equipment. The first week in December the memory core in a digital events evaluator failed after intermittent troubles; cracked solder joints were blamed. A hurried repair put the computer back on line.
The command-service module arrived at KSC on Christmas Eve and was mated to the launch vehicle on 12 January 1967. That tardy prima donna, the S-II stage, finally appeared on 21 January. Tank inspection, insulation, and engine work were in progress by the 23rd. Test crews found damaged connectors on three recirculation pumps and set about investigating the extent of the rework that would be necessary. While inspecting the liquid hydrogen tank on the second stage, the North American team found 22 cracked gussets. These triangular metal braces, used to support the horizontal ribs of the stage framework, had to be replaced. Plans to move the second stage into a low bay checkout cell on the 29th were temporarily set aside because of a late shipment of the aft interstage (the cylindrical aluminum structure that formed the structural interface between the first and second stages). The interstage arrived on 31 January, and by the end of the next day the stage was in a low bay cell with work platforms around it.
Despite the delay with the S-II stage, KSC officials expected to meet the new launch date in May. The fire on 27 January placed all schedules in question. Although Apollo 4 was an unmanned mission, NASA officials wanted to give command-module 017 a close examination. On 14 February, a week before the S-II could be inserted into a fully assembled vehicle, the spacecraft was removed from the stack and taken to the operations and checkout building. When inspection disclosed a number of wiring errors, KSC's Operations Office cancelled the restacking of the spacecraft. By 1 March electrical engineers had discovered so many wiring discrepancies that the test team stopped their repair work, pending a thorough investigation of all spacecraft wiring. Within two weeks the North American and NASA quality control teams recorded 1,407 discrepancies. While North American repaired about half of these on the spot, modifications, repair work, and validations continued into June. During the break technicians performed pressure tests on service module systems at pad 16. It would be mid-June, with the wiring modifications for the command module finally completed, before North American could remate the spacecraft and take it back to the assembly building.
As the extent of the wiring problems was not immediately recognized, the launch vehicle team forged ahead to recoup the time lost on the S-II stage. In mid-February Boeing's airframe handling and ordnance group removed the instrument unit and spacer from the 501 stack and on the 23rd erected the S-II. The operation involved incredibly close tolerances. To qualify crane handlers, Stanley Smith, Bendix senior engineer of the crane and hoist group, stated, "We give them a technical examination and then check their reflexes and response to commands in training sessions." During a mating, an operator and an electrician boarded the crane and another man helped guide movements from the floor by communicating with the operator via a walkie-talkie. Smith set a high goal for his team: "We strive to train our men to the point where they could conceivably lower the crane hook on top of an egg without breaking the shell."
After a stage was properly aligned on the Saturn stack, a crew of one engineer, two quality control inspectors, one chief mechanic, and eight assistants took eight hours to complete the mating. Three 30-centimeter pins on the second stage fitted into brackets located 120 degrees apart on the periphery of the first stage. Then the mechanics inserted 216 one-centimeter, high-strength fasteners into matching holes around the perimeter where the two stages joined. The team torqued the fasteners in a staggered sequence to secure the bolts evenly and ensure a uniform distribution of stress. The mating of the second and third stages was conducted in much the same manner. The 501 was now set up except for the missing CSM.
[This is where something about the FVV (M-11) being reincorporated into the stack should’ve been referenced.]
The lengthy delays with the flight hardware aided the Site Activation Board in its efforts to get LC-39 ready for its first launch. The board's first flow [see chapter 15-1] included firing room 1, mobile launcher 1, high bay 1, and the other facilities required for the support of Apollo 4 - 1,280 activities altogether. During the first quarter of 1967, PERT charts showed less than 1% of these activities behind schedule. The decision in mid-April to modify the LOX system on launcher 1 and pad A put five weeks of negative slack into the site activation schedule. The modifications were made necessary by excessive pressure in the LOX system. KSC engineers added an automatic bleed system, relief valve supports, and a block valve that prevented purging through the drain line. As continued vehicle problems further delayed the rollout, the five weeks of negative slack disappeared.
On 24 May the S-II stage was in trouble again. NASA announced it would be dismantled for inspection, consequent on the discovery of hairline cracks in the propellant tank weld seams on another S-II at the factory in California.
[The photograph is dated 5-24-67. If correct, then the image was taken as part of documenting preparations for destacking M-11 & the S-IVB in order to remove the S-II stage.]
Additionally, thanks to the remarkable “CAPCOM ESPACE” website:
“For Apollo 4, the M11 was placed on launcher 501 on November 28, 1966 and removed at the end of 1966 following delays in stage S2. It will be put back in place on April 6, 1967 and removed on May 26.”]
Above, along with much more good stuff, at:
www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_US/apollo/vaisseaux/...
So, somewhere out there, there’s some documentation from which the above was gleaned. I probably don’t have it & certainly didn’t find it online.]
The additional checks were not expected to delay the flight of 501 "more than a week or so." By mid-June the inspection, which included extensive x-ray and dye penetrant tests, was completed and the stage returned to the stack. On 20 June, the command-service module was mechanically mated to the Saturn V, and 501 was - at last - a fully assembled space vehicle. A revised schedule on 21 July set rollout for mid-August. On 26 August 1967, the big rocket emerged from the high bay slightly more than a year after its first components had arrived at KSC, and a good six months after its originally scheduled launch date. It had been a year of delay and frustration, and the end was not yet.”
The above, other than the inserted (bracketed) astute comments, observations & additional useful links, at/from:
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4204/ch19-3.html
Inexcusable, incompetent, confounding at least, considering the importance/significance of this vehicle. But then again, for an organization that seems to have “officially/formally” misidentified the Command Module on display at Expo ’67 – to this day – the oversight, ignorance & tacit mis/non-identification of a lowly FVV is both literally & figuratively a no-brainer. The buffoonery continues. At least this shit is so far back in the rearview mirror that no one remembers, those that did are probably dead, and no one now cares, or will in the future. No harm, no foul, all good. 👍
The grey heron has a slow flight, with its long neck retracted (S-shaped). This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, and spoonbills, which extend their necks. It flies with slow wing-beats and sometimes glides for short distances. It sometimes soars, circling to considerable heights, but not as often as the stork. In spring, and occasionally in autumn, birds may soar high above the heronry and chase each other, undertake aerial manoeuvres or swoop down towards the ground. The birds often perch in trees, but spend much time on the ground, striding about or standing still for long periods with an upright stance, often on a single leg.
For more information please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_heron
It was windy for this one. I set up with a break wall behind me. The waves were crashing over it and spraying me with mist. By the time I was finished, the back and side of the camera was covered in ice. When I got back to the car I could not close the legs of the tripod because the ice was built up to much so they could not be retracted. It was an invigorating shoot that I ended up enjoying... it is fun to enjoy the harshness of mother nature sometimes (as long as you dress for it).
A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name snail is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into. When the word "snail" is used in this most general sense, it includes not just land snails but also numerous species of sea snails and freshwater snails. Gastropods that naturally lack a shell, or have only an internal shell, are mostly called slugs, and land snails that have only a very small shell (that they cannot retract into) are often called semi-slugs.
Snails have considerable human relevance, including as food items, as pests, and as vectors of disease, and their shells are used as decorative objects and are incorporated into jewelry. The snail has also had some cultural significance, tending to be associated with lethargy. The snail has also been used as a figure of speech in reference to slow-moving things. The snail is similar in shape to the cochlea.
Overview
Snails that respire using a lung belong to the group Pulmonata. As traditionally defined, the Pulmonata were found to be polyphyletic in a molecular study per Jörger et al., dating from 2010. But snails with gills also form a polyphyletic group; in other words, snails with lungs and snails with gills form a number of taxonomic groups that are not necessarily more closely related to each other than they are related to some other groups.
Both snails that have lungs and snails that have gills have diversified so widely over geological time that a few species with gills can be found on land and numerous species with lungs can be found in freshwater. Even a few marine species have lungs.
Snails can be found in a very wide range of environments, including ditches, deserts, and the abyssal depths of the sea. Although land snails may be more familiar to laymen, marine snails constitute the majority of snail species, and have much greater diversity and a greater biomass. Numerous kinds of snail can also be found in fresh water.
Most snails have thousands of microscopic tooth-like structures located on a banded ribbon-like tongue called a radula. The radula works like a file, ripping food into small pieces. Many snails are herbivorous, eating plants or rasping algae from surfaces with their radulae, though a few land species and many marine species are omnivores or predatory carnivores. Snails cannot absorb colored pigments when eating paper or cardboard so their feces are also colored.
Several species of the genus Achatina and related genera are known as giant African land snails; some grow to 15 in (38 cm) from snout to tail, and weigh 1 kg (2 lb). The largest living species of sea snail is Syrinx aruanus; its shell can measure up to 90 cm (35 in) in length, and the whole animal with the shell can weigh up to 18 kg (40 lb). Recently, the smallest land snails, Angustopila dominikae, have been discovered in China, and measure 0.86mm long.
The largest known land gastropod is the African giant snail Achatina achatina, the largest recorded specimen of which measured 39.3 centimetres (15.5 in) from snout to tail when fully extended, with a shell length of 27.3 cm (10.7 in) in December 1978. It weighed exactly 900 g (2 lb). Named Gee Geronimo, this snail was owned by Christopher Hudson (1955–79) of Hove, East Sussex, UK, and was collected in Sierra Leone in June 1976.
Snails are protostomes. That means during development, in the gastrulation phase, the blastopore forms the mouth first. Cleavage in snails is spiral holoblastic patterning. In spiral holoblastic cleavage, the cleavage plane rotates each division and the cell divisions are complete. Snails do not undergo metamorphosis after hatching. Snails hatch in the form of small adults. The only additional development they will undergo is to consume calcium to strengthen their shell. Snails can be male, female, hermaphroditic, or parthenogenetic so there are many different systems of sexual determination.
Diet
Snails' eating habits vary widely, with some being generalists and some being specialist feeders. Snails feed at night.[9] They feed primarily on decaying organic matter. Their diet also includes fungi, lichens, green foliage, worms, centipedes, insects, animal feces, carrion, and other slugs.[9] Some snails feed on other snails too.
Types of snails by habitat
Gastropods that lack a conspicuous shell are commonly called slugs rather than snails. Some species of slug have a maroon-brown shell, some have only an internal vestige that serves mainly as a calcium lactate repository, and others have some to no shell at all. Other than that there is little morphological difference between slugs and snails. There are however important differences in habitats and behavior.
A shell-less animal is much more maneuverable and compressible, so even quite large land slugs can take advantage of habitats or retreats with very little space, retreats that would be inaccessible to a similar-sized snail. Slugs squeeze themselves into confined spaces such as under loose bark on trees or under stone slabs, logs or wooden boards lying on the ground. In such retreats they are in less danger from either predators or desiccation. Those are often suitable places for laying their eggs.
Slugs as a group are far from monophyletic; scientifically speaking "slug" is a term of convenience with little taxonomic significance. The reduction or loss of the shell has evolved many times independently within several very different lineages of gastropods. The various taxa of land and sea gastropods with slug morphology occur within numerous higher taxonomic groups of shelled species; such independent slug taxa are not in general closely related to one another.
Human relevance
Land snails are known as an agricultural and garden pest but some species are an edible delicacy and occasionally household pets. In addition, their mucus can also be used for skin care products.
In agriculture
There are a variety of snail-control measures that gardeners and farmers use in an attempt to reduce damage to valuable plants. Traditional pesticides are still used, as are many less toxic control options such as concentrated garlic or wormwood solutions. Copper metal is also a snail repellent, and thus a copper band around the trunk of a tree will prevent snails from climbing up and reaching the foliage and fruit. A layer of a dry, finely ground, and scratchy substance such as diatomaceous earth can also deter snails.
The decollate snail (Rumina decollata) will capture and eat garden snails, and because of this it has sometimes been introduced as a biological pest control agent. However, this is not without problems, as the decollate snail is just as likely to attack and devour other gastropods that may represent a valuable part of the native fauna of the region.
Culinary Use
In French cuisine, edible snails are served for instance in Escargot à la Bourguignonne. The practice of rearing snails for food is known as heliciculture. For purposes of cultivation, the snails are kept in a dark place in a wired cage with dry straw or dry wood. Coppiced wine-grape vines are often used for this purpose. During the rainy period, the snails come out of hibernation and release most of their mucus onto the dry wood/straw. The snails are then prepared for cooking. Their texture when cooked is slightly chewy and tender.
As well as being relished as gourmet food, several species of land snails provide an easily harvested source of protein to many people in poor communities around the world. Many land snails are valuable because they can feed on a wide range of agricultural wastes, such as shed leaves in banana plantations. In some countries, giant African land snails are produced commercially for food.
Land snails, freshwater snails and sea snails are all eaten in many countries. In certain parts of the world snails are fried. For example, in Indonesia, they are fried as satay, a dish known as sate kakul. The eggs of certain snail species are eaten in a fashion similar to the way caviar is eaten.
In Bulgaria, snails are traditionally cooked in an oven with rice or fried in a pan with vegetable oil and red paprika powder. Before they are used for those dishes, however, they are thoroughly boiled in hot water (for up to 90 minutes) and manually extracted from their shells. The two species most commonly used for food in the country are Helix lucorum and Helix pomatia.[citation needed]
Famine food
Snails and slug species that are not normally eaten in certain areas have occasionally been used as famine food in historical times. A history of Scotland written in the 1800s recounts a description of various snails and their use as food items in times of plague.
Parasitic diseases
Snails can also be associated with parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis, angiostrongyliasis, fasciolopsiasis, opisthorchiasis, fascioliasis, paragonimiasis and clonorchiasis, which can be transmitted to humans.
Cultural depictions
Because of its slowness, the snail has traditionally been seen as a symbol of laziness. In Christian culture, it has been used as a symbol of the deadly sin of sloth. Psalms 58:8 uses snail slime as a metaphorical punishment. In Mayan mythology, the snail is associated with sexual desire, being personified by the god Uayeb.
Divination and other religious uses
Snails were widely noted and used in divination. The Greek poet Hesiod wrote that snails signified the time to harvest by climbing the stalks, while the Aztec moon god Tecciztecatl bore a snail shell on his back. This symbolised rebirth; the snail's penchant for appearing and disappearing was analogised with the moon.
Love darts and Cupid
Professor Ronald Chase of McGill University in Montreal has suggested the ancient myth of Cupid's arrows might be based on early observations of the love dart behavior of the land snail species Cornu aspersum.
Metaphor
In contemporary speech, the expression "a snail's pace" is often used to describe a slow, inefficient process. The phrase "snail mail" is used to mean regular postal service delivery of paper messages as opposed to the delivery of email, which can be virtually instantaneous.
In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts snails are depicted as a comic relief due to the similarity between the armour of knights and the shell of snails.
In Indonesian mythology
Keong Emas (Javanese and Indonesian for Golden Snail) is a popular Javanese folklore about a princess magically transformed and contained in a golden snail shell. The folklore is a part of popular Javanese Panji cycle telling the stories about the prince Panji Asmoro Bangun (also known as Raden Inu Kertapati) and his consort, princess Dewi Sekartaji (also known as Dewi Chandra Kirana).
Textiles
Certain varieties of snails, notably the family Muricidae, produce a secretion that is a color-fast natural dye. The ancient Tyrian purple was made in this way as were other purple and blue dyes. The extreme expense of extracting this secretion is sufficient quantities limited its use to the very wealthy. It is such dyes as these that led to certain shades of purple and blue being associated with royalty and wealth.
As pets
Throughout history, snails have been kept as pets. There are many famous snails such as Lefty (Born Jeremy) and within fiction, Gary and Brian the snail.
Shown is a technical rendition of the Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to the Kristall module of the Russian Mir Space Station. The configuration shown is that of STS-71/Mir Expedition 18, a joint U.S. Russian mission completed in June 1995. The Space Shuttle/Mir combination, which was the largest space platform ever assembled, is shown overflying the Lake Baikal region of Russia. The Space Shuttle Atlantis appears in a new configuration for the STS-71 flight. The Russian developed Androgynous Peripheral Docking System (APDS) is used to link the Orbiter to the Kristall module. The APDS is mounted atop the U.S. developed external airlock that connects to a modified tunnel section leading to the Spacelab module in the far aft of the payload bay. Mir is shown in its 6 module configuration. The Kristall module has rotated to the forward docking port of the Mir Base Block to facilitate the docking of the Space Shuttle. The Priroda module is shown extending over the port wing of the Orbiter with its solar panel in the retracted position required by the dynamics of Orbiter/Mir docking. The Kvant 2 airlock module appears parallel to the Orbiter crew module, while the Spektr module is at the nadir and is hidden from view by the port solar panel of the Mir Base Block. The Kvant module is shown at the aft of the Mir Base Block with the solar panels of the Kristall module installed and fully extended. The Soyuz TM transport vehicle used for the launch and docking of the Mir Expedition 18 crew is docked to Kvant.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: S93-46073
Date: October 7, 1993
(October 11, 1968) Attached to the Saturn IV-B stage, the Lunar Module Adapter's four panels are retracted to the fully open position. This is where the Lunar Module (LM) is stored during launch. On missions requiring the use of a LM, the four panels would be retracted and jettisoned before rendezvous and docking. This photo was taken during the Apollo 7 mission, when no Lunar Module was carried. The SIV-B stage flew as the second stage on a Saturn IB rocket. It is also used as the third stage on the Saturn V. The Apollo 7 mission was designed to test the Apollo Command and Service Module spacecraft systems specifically. Apollo 9 was the first mission to fly the Lunar Module.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS7-4-1569
Date: October 11, 1968
Daily Photo - The Amazing FAO Schwarz
While I was in New York City for the big book party, we took some time out for shopping! This is the famous FAO Schwarz, which holds a special place in the hearts of many people. I'm sure at one point, you could call it the greatest toy store in the world. I'm sure other places hold that title now. In fact, I think I heard about FAO going bankrupt or something a few years back? I can't remember... but, either way, the store was still alive and hopping while we were there!
I figured this is most certainly the kind of place you cannot use a tripod, which made me determined to use a tripod. I quickly set up on the second floor after surveying the whole store for about 30 minutes, looking for the most interesting vantage. I quickly extended the tripod, fired away, and then retracted back into stealth-mode.
Shopping in 2010?
Speaking of today's image, I've noticed I have really changed the way I shop!
Now, this doesn't happen in all shopping situations, but it is happening more and more every month.
On my Trey's App List, I mention something called RedLaser. When I was in the toy store below, I basically walked around with my iPhone, found cool stuff, scanned in the UPC with RedLaser, chose the best price, and had it sent to my home. Most often, Amazon had the best price. In some ways, this could become the future of retail stores -- they become showrooms.
It reminded me a bit of a later trip to B&H Photo. They have an amazingly cool system there where you find the stuff you want on the show floor, and then the boxes are sent to the front from an underground warehouse across a robotic series of conveyor belts overhead. While you shop, the boxes whiz above your head with a gentle buzz... it's all very cool.
And so, I picture this same sort of thing as I shop in other stores using RedLaser. I imagine the box sliding all around the UPS/Fed-ex World, slowly weaving its way to my home.
Newsletter in next 48 Hours!
At some magical point in the next two days, the Most Beautiful Newsletter Ever will arrive in your email. You will see how it took a small eternity to put together.
In exchange, I have one simple request. If you find it pretty, forward to your mom, your kids, or your best friends. Life is too short for ugly emails. Besides, you know how everyone else forwards you ugly junk? Do them a favor and up the ante a little!
from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com
Lufthansa D-AIPF
Airbus A320-211
Retracting Landing Gear
Location: Quinta do Lago - Faro Airport (Fao) - Faro - Algarve - Portugal - Pt - Europe - EU
Photographer: Mark
Photoshop Camera Raw Filter
********* Thanks for all groups invitations *********Please do not post default group messages/badges, It will be deleted.If you like my photo, please fave it and/or comment with your own words.Thanks for understanding.************************************************************
With her unique tandem gear arrangement still retracting and with all 'Eight Burning', 'Icer One One Heavy' heaves away from RAF Fairford while performing touch and go's there.
That undercarriage arrangement allows the crew to land and take-off under high cross-wind components as those four double-wheeled bogies can be collectively angled to the runway heading and the fuselage pointed into wind!
Amazing machines to watch and gaze in awe at - let alone the loads that they can carry!
DSC06055
The Barking Owl (Ninox connivens) is a medium-sized hawk-owl that occurs in eastern, south-eastern and south-western Australia. It is a medium-sized, robust owl with a rounded head and no ear-tufts as it hunts using sight not sound. The Barking Owl is Crepuscular in that it only hunts at twilight (dawn and dusk). It is named for its remarkably dog-like 'wuf wuf' barking call.