WATERS SURROUNDING THE KOREAN PENINSULA (Oct. 14, 2016) The U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), transits waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula during Exercise Invincible Spirit. Invincible Spirit is a bilateral exercise conducted with the Republic of Korea Navy in the waters near the Korean Peninsula, consisting of routine carrier strike group (CSG) operations in support of maritime counter-special operating forces and integrated maritime operations. USS Ronald Reagan is on patrol with CSG 5 supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Burke/Released)

linking the subject to the camera using a simple device (me)

well, the theory is there - i'll regurgitate the result from the camera later on...

...and here's the result that appeared at the other end

me me

Canon Powershot S3IS

1/100

f3.2

iso - not a clue

photo by Catriona (daughtery creature)

CORAL SEA (July 15, 2019) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) receives supplies from an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, assigned to the "Island Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) squadron 25, during a replenishment-at-sea with the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Mathew Perry (T-AKE 9). William P. Lawrence is currently participating in Talisman Sabre 2019. A bilateral, biennial event, Talisman Sabre is designed to improve U.S. and Australian combat training, readiness and interoperability through realistic, relevant training necessary to maintain regional security, peace and stability. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Caledon Rabbipal/Released)

New york

©2018- Exotic photos by Hadeed Sher

behind the scenes of my latest hit film "an english man's home". note sand piled on top of tripod feet for extra stability

this is only the second film i have got back from my vivitar ultra wide slim. i quite like the results, the contact sheet makes it look really good every shot exposure looks alright (i only shot in day light) but when you look at the images closer you can see that all the edges are blurred witch is not a bad thing, check hi res for bluring. i have been using it a lot when me and rockcakes go swimming from kemptown beach, i don't have to worry about it getting nicked as it only cost £2.50, well one cost me £2.50 the other was a gift from flickr.com/photos/lomod/

Puck's Glen is a river-formed ravine on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, with a popular scenic walking trail beside the Eas Mòr stream (Gaelic for "big waterfall"). In 2020 the glen and adjoining trails were closed temporarily due to issues of stability of the gorge, and felling of trees infected by larch disease.

It comes under Forestry and Land Scotland which has highlighted it as a feature of the Argyll Forest Park (itself within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park), and described it as "One of the most magical forests in Scotland, with a delightful trail along a rocky gorge."

The stream tumbles down a series of waterfalls and rapids, joining the River Eachaig about 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) south of the entrance to the Benmore Botanic Garden. A car park off the A815 road (about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Dunoon on the road to Loch Eck) gives access by a track to the foot of the glen path, as well as forest paths giving an alternative route to the top of the glen.

The Benmore Estate, previously hunting grounds of the Campbells of Ballochyle, was improved by a succession of owners in the 19th century. Forestry plantation began in the 1820s, and extensive garden improvements were made from 1862 by James Piers Patrick. The Ordnance Survey from 1865 shows the Eas Mòr gorge extending uphill through a small area of woodland into open moorland with some trees in the ravine.

In 1870 the Greenock sugar refiner and philanthropist James Duncan bought the estate, and added the adjacent Kilmun and Bernice Estates. He arranged extensive plantings, including more than six million trees around the estate, and added paths leading up the Eas Mòr gorge for his visitors to enjoy the magical atmosphere of the glen, reminiscent of the mythological Puck, the character Puck in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Henry Younger of the Edinburgh brewer Younger's bought the estate in 1889, and with his son Harry George Younger made many improvements to the woods and gardens.

Two strips of Japanese larch planted at Puck's Glen around 1903 were successfully established by 1912, though European larch had failed in the locality. In 1918, the Anchor Line Staff Magazine noted that Benmore House was celebrated for "Puck's Glen with its amber stream cutting a channel through moss-draped schistose rock, and tumbling from one silver rock-chalice to another."

In 1924, Harry George Younger presented the estates to the Forestry Commissioners. The Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society made a visit in July 1925, and described Puck's Glen as "a striking example of how man, working hand in hand with nature, has made what was once a bare hillside ravine into one of the most lovely walks imaginable." Starting near the sixth milestone from Dunoon on the old main road to Arrochar, the bridle-path "by the stream which the Ordnance Survey map calls the Eas Mor, but which is better known as Puck's Burn" was soon hemmed in by steep banks, "while growing on their slopes are conifers of a dozen or more varieties, rhododendrons, and many of the rarer species of ferns. The path follows the stream through the whole course of the ravine".

In commemoration of the improvements James Duncan had made to the estate, Younger provided the Bayley Balfour Memorial Hut above the glen, dedicated to the memory of the botanist Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour. The hut was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer with wood panelling featuring all the varieties of timber grown at Benmore, and positioned above the tree-tops. The dedication ceremony in September 1928 enjoyed fine weather; The Gardeners' Chronicle described its site as commanding "beautiful views above a gorge where 'the singing waters fall to the Eachaig River from lofty heights' " amidst towering woods, with Beinn Mhòr visible through a faint blue haze.

In 1929 the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh opened the Younger Botanic Garden in the Benmore estate as its first outstation, and in the 1930s the Forestry Commission established Kilmun Arboretum to the south of Puck's Glen, planting large groups of tree species rather than individual specimens

The Forestry Commission's Scottish National Forest Park Guide, issued in 1947, calls Puck's Glen "a rocky cleft beside a rushing stream, leading up to a fine viewpoint, which may be visited without charge or formality", and describes access by Clyde steamer and bus services.

In 1948, the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal noted regular visits to Puck's Glen, "attractive at all seasons but at its best in the Rhododendron month of June", and praised the view "from the Rest Hut, exquisitely designed by Robert Lorimer".

The Bayley Balfour Memorial Hut, Puck's Hut, was moved in 1968 to the walled garden in the Botanic Garden. It originally had a fireplace and chimney, but these were not reconstructed, and were replaced by an additional window. In 1992 the hut was listed as a Grade C listed building.[15] The Puck's Glen path needed repair, and was restored in May 1986, with renewed bridges.

The high rainfall, with an average annual precipitation of around 200 to 230 cm (79 to 91 in), is suited to temperate rainforest and associated undergrowth. The acid soil makes the area particularly suitable for conifers. The Forestry Commission has planted coniferous trees at the sides of Puck's Glen, which runs through Uig Wood. The lower slopes of this woodland feature some of the earliest tree plantations on the estate.

The wood forms part of Benmore forest, which features waymarked trails leading visitors among trees including giant Californian redwoods, Douglas fir and Western hemlock. Puck's Glen itself is part of the Puck's Glen Gorge Trail, leading from the car park, and the Black Gates Trail which starts at the entrance to Benmore Botanic Garden, and goes past extensive mature conifers on the hillside of Benmore forest before connecting to the top of the Upper Puck's Glen loop.

A signpost at the forestry track crossing Puck's Glen points south along the track to Kilmun Arboretum and north along the track to Benmore Botanic Garden. It also points to the Upper Puck's Glen Loop path which continues further uphill beside the stream before connecting to the top of the Black Gates Trail. Some detailed routes are available online at Walkhighlands.

Argyll Forest Park is a forest park located on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. Established in 1935, it was the first forest park to be created in the United Kingdom.[2] The park is managed by Forestry and Land Scotland, and covers 211 km2 in total.

From the Holy Loch in the south to the Arrochar Alps in the north, the park includes a variety of landscapes, from high peaks to freshwater and seawater lochs.

Much of the forest park lies within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, which was established in 2002, however the forests at Corlarach and Ardyne in Cowal are outwith the national park boundary but within the forest park.

Forestry and Land Scotland highlight trails at the following places:

Glenbranter, bike trails and walks, featuring ancient oaks

Puck's Glen, trail up rocky gorge among woodlands

Benmore, forest around Benmore Botanic Garden, with giant trees

Kilmun Arboretum, collection of tree species in woodland groves

Ardentinny, easy trails and beach walk

Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park (Scottish Gaelic: Pàirc Nàiseanta Loch Laomainn is nan Tròisichean) is a national park in Scotland centred on Loch Lomond and the hills and glens of the Trossachs, along with several other ranges of hills. It was the first of the two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, the second being the Cairngorms National Park. The park extends to cover much of the western part of the southern highlands, lying to the north of the Glasgow conurbation, and contains many mountains and lochs. It is the fourth-largest national park in the British Isles, with a total area of 1,865 km2 (720 sq mi) and a boundary of some 350 km (220 mi) in length. It features 21 Munros (including Ben Lomond, Ben Lui, Beinn Challuim, Ben More and two peaks called Ben Vorlich) and 20 Corbetts.

The park straddles the Highland Boundary Fault, which divides it into two distinct regions - lowland and highland - that differ in underlying geology, soil types and topography. The change in rock type can most clearly be seen at Loch Lomond itself, as the fault runs across the islands of Inchmurrin, Creinch, Torrinch and Inchcailloch and over the ridge of Conic Hill. To the south lie green fields and cultivated land; to the north, mountains.

The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park lies close to Scotland's heavily populated Central Belt, and the area has long been popular with visitors. Principal attractions are viewing scenery and wildlife, walking, climbing, water sports, and other outdoor activities. In 2017, there were 2.9 million visits to the park, of which 2.1 million were day visits and 783,000 were made by visitors staying overnight within the park.

Argyll and Bute is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020). The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate. The current council leader is Robin Currie, a councillor for Kintyre and the Islands.

Argyll and Bute covers the second-largest administrative area of any Scottish council. The council area adjoins those of Highland, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

History

Buteshire and Argyll were two of the historic counties of Scotland, having originated as shires (the area controlled by a sheriff) in the Middle Ages. From 1890 until 1975 both counties had an elected county council.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts were abolished and replaced with upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. The Strathclyde region was created covering a large part of western Scotland. Strathclyde was divided into nineteen districts, one of which the 1973 Act called "Argyll", covering most of the former county of Argyll, but also including the Isle of Bute from Buteshire. The shadow authority elected in 1974 requested a change of name to "Argyll and Bute", which was agreed by the government before the new district came into being on 16 May 1975.

As created in 1975 the Argyll and Bute district covered the whole area of fourteen of Argyll's sixteen districts and part of a fifteenth, plus two of Buteshire's five districts, which were all abolished at the same time:

From Argyll:

Campbeltown Burgh

Cowal District

Dunoon Burgh

Inveraray Burgh

Islay District

Jura and Colonsay District

Kintyre District

Lochgilphead Burgh

Mid Argyll District

Mull District

North Lorn District: the Lismore and Appin, and Ardchattan electoral divisions only, rest (Ballachulish and Kinlochleven electoral divisions) went to Lochaber district of Highland

Oban Burgh

South Lorn District

Tiree and Coll District

Tobermory Burgh

From Buteshire:

Bute District

Rothesay Burgh

The two Buteshire districts together corresponded to the whole Isle of Bute. The rest of Buteshire, being the Isle of Arran and The Cumbraes went to Cunninghame district. The Ardnamurchan district from Argyll went to the Lochaber district of Highland. The new district was made a single Argyll and Bute lieutenancy area.

Local government was reformed again in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts which had been created in 1975, replacing them with unitary council areas. Argyll and Bute became one of the new council areas, but had its territory enlarged to include the town of Helensburgh and surrounding rural areas which had been in the Dumbarton district prior to 1996, and had formed part of the county of Dunbartonshire prior to 1975. The Helensburgh area had voted in a referendum in 1994 to join Argyll and Bute rather than stay with Dumbarton.

Transport

Railways

The main railway line in Argyll and Bute is the West Highland Line, which links Oban to Glasgow, passing through much of the eastern and northern parts of the area. From the south the line enters Argyll and Bute just to the west of Dumbarton, continuing north via Helensburgh Upper to the eastern shores of the Gare Loch and Loch Long. The line comes inland at Arrochar and Tarbet to meet the western shore of Loch Lomond. At the northern end of the loch the lines leaves Argyll and Bute to enter Stirling council area. The Oban branch of the West Highland Line re-enters the area just west of Tyndrum, and heads west to Oban: stations on this section of the line include Dalmally and Taynuilt railway station. The majority of services on the line are operated by ScotRail: as of 2019 the summer service has six trains a day to Oban, with four on Sundays. In addition to the ScotRail service is the nightly Caledonian Sleeper, although this does not run on the Oban branch.

Helensburgh also has a much more frequent service into Glasgow and beyond via the North Clyde Line, which has its western terminus at the town's central railway station.

Roads

The main trunk roads in Argyll and Bute are:

The A82, which runs along the western shore of Loch Lomond, providing the main route between Glasgow and Fort William.

The A83, which leaves the A82 at Tarbet, heading west and then south to eventually reach Campbeltown by way of Inveraray and Lochgilphead.

The A85, which leaves the A82 at Tyndrum (just outside Argyll and Bute) and heads west to Oban via Dalmally.

The A828, which leaves the A85 at Connel and north through Appin to join the A82 at Ballachulish.

The A815, which leaves the A83 in Glen Kinglas near Cairndow, heading south through Strachur and Dunoon and ends at Toward 40 miles later, on the southern tip of the Cowal peninsula. The A815 is the main road through Cowal.

The A886, which leaves the A815 at Strachur, passing through Glendaruel, the route includes a ferry link to the Isle of Bute, Colintraive - Rhubodach terminating at Port Bannatyne to the north of Rothesay.

Ferry services

Due to its heavily indented coastline and many islands, ferries form an important part of the council area's transport system. The main ferry operator in Argyll and Bute is Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac), which operates services from the mainland to most of the inhabited islands. Several other routes are operated by commercial operators, usually on contract to the council, although the Western Ferries service across the Firth of Clyde is run on a commercial basis.

Bute is served by a route across the Kyles of Bute between Rhubodach and Colintraive in Cowal, as well as a route between Rothesay to Wemyss Bay in Inverclyde. Both routes are operated by CalMac.

Coll and Tiree are each served from Oban, via a CalMac service that also provides links between the two islands, and a once-weekly link to Barra.

Gigha is served by a CalMac route from Tayinloan in Kintyre.

Islay is served by a CalMac route from Kennacraig in Kintyre. The service is timetabled to utilise either one of two ports on the island, with both Port Askaig and Port Ellen having a service to the mainland.

Feolin on Jura is linked to Port Askaig on Islay via a vehicle ferry run by ASP Ship Management on behalf of Argyll and Bute Council. There is also a passenger-only service between the island's main centre, Craighouse, and Tayvallich on the mainland that is operated by Islay Sea Safaris.

Kerrera is linked to Gallanach (about 3 km (1.9 mi) southwest of Oban) by a passenger-only service operated by CalMac.

Lismore is served by two ferries, a vehicle and passenger service operated by CalMac that runs from Oban, and a passenger-only service from Port Appin that is operated by ASP Ship Management on behalf of Argyll and Bute Council.

Mull is served by a route between Oban and Craignure on the island's east coast, as well as routes across the Sound of Mull (between Lochaline and Fishnish, and Tobermory and Kilchoan). All three routes are operated by CalMac.

Iona is linked to Mull via a CalMac service from Fionnphort at Mull's southwest tip.

The island of Seil, which itself is linked to the mainland via the Clachan Bridge, has links to two further islands: Easdale and Luing. Both services are operated by ASP Ship Management on behalf of Argyll and Bute Council.

There are also routes connecting some mainland locations in Argyll and Bute to other parts of the mainland:

There is a CalMac service across Loch Fyne which provides a link between Portavadie in Cowal and Tarbert in Kintyre.

The Cowal peninsula route is a passenger-only service from the Dunoon Breakwater to Gourock pier, giving easy access to ScotRail services at Gourock railway station with onward transport to Glasgow Central station. This route was for a period run by a CalMac subsidiary company, Argyll Ferries, but has since January 2019 been operated directly by CalMac.

CalMac provide a limited (3 ferry each way per week) service between Cambeltown in Kintyre and Ardrosssan in North Aryshire during the summer months.

Western Ferries, a commercial operator, runs a vehicle and passenger service between Hunters Quay to McInroy's Point that also provides a link between Cowal and Inverclyde in (partial) competition with the subsidised CalMac service.

A service operated by Clyde Marine Services on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport runs between Kilcreggan and Gourock pier, providing a link from the Rosneath peninsula to the rail network at Gourock.

Argyll and Bute also has ferry services linking it to islands in neighbouring council areas:

Oban is the mainland terminal for services to Barra in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Outer Hebrides).

Lochranza on Arran, in North Ayrshire, has a year-round service to Kintyre: during the summer the mainland port used is Claonaig, however in winter the service is reduced to a single daily return crossing from Tarbert.

There is also a passenger-only ferry service linking Campbeltown and Port Ellen on Islay with Ballycastle in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, running seasonally from April to September, operated by West Coast Tours as the Kintyre Express.

Cultural references

The later scenes of the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love were filmed around the lochs and hills of Argyll and Bute.

The area has also been indirectly immortalised in popular culture by the 1977 hit song "Mull of Kintyre" by Kintyre resident Paul McCartney's band of the time, Wings.

There has been some stability in Grantham operations since Centrebus took over some years ago. One of the constituent companies was Kimes who contributed this DAF SB200 Wright Commander. PJZ 9450 was new to Kimes as FX04 TJY and was operating a Grantham town service yesterday, 29th October, 2018.

Stability isn't everything

© All Rights Reserved - Black Diamond Images

These terraces probably served several purposes, namely, for growing food, including grazing animals,defence of the city, stability of the mountainside against earthquakes as well as for purely aesthetic purposes.

Five guard houses were situated on the various terraces on the eastern side entrance to the city, the largest being at the lowest terrace level and the smallest at the highest level.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background

In response to the disappointing Kawasaki Ki-45 "Toryu" (US code name 'Nick') in late 1939 and 1940, the Japanese army ordered the development of another twin-engine fighter. As an alternative, a lighter and more agile design was demanded, better suited for high altitude interception tasks than the twin-engine escort fighters of the era. One proposal was the Manshu Ki-53 "Insei" ('Meteor', code name 'Stacy'), a relatively small and sleek, single-seated design which was built around two water-cooled Kawasaki Ho-40 (licence-built Daimler Benz DB 601, also used for the Kawasaki Ki-61 fighter) engines. The design was heavily influenced by German planes like the Messerschmitt Bf 110 or Focke Wulf Fw 187, in search of a better performance compared to both current single-or double-engine fighters in service.

Later, the interceptor concept was taken back to single-engine projects like the Ki-87 or Ki-94, but both failed to proceed to hardware stage.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 29 ft 8 in (9.05 m)

Wingspan: 44 ft (13.4 m)

Height: XXX m

Wing area: 213 ft² (19.7 m²)

Weight: 6.886 kg

Maximum speed: 390 mph (625 km/h)

Range: 800 miles (1,200 km)

Service ceiling: 39.400 ft (12.000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,857 ft/min (14.1 m/s)

Engine: 2 Kawasaki Ho-40 with 1.475 hp

Armament: 2× 20 mm Ho-5 cannon (in the lower nose, 175 rpg each, one hard point under the fuselage fore a 500 kg bomb or an auxiliary tank.

The kit and its assembly

This is total whif, a true Frankenstein creation from various kits without a real life paradigm. Actually, a pair of DH.88 wings were the start of it all. They are so elegant and slender, I wanted to build something for high altitudes with them, like a Luft '46 BV 155 or Bf 109H. That idea turned into a twin engine propeller fighter, like a small-scale Westland Welkin. But since such a plane would not fit into German demands, I 're-located' it conceptually to Japan. Historically it would fit, esp. its DB 601 engines, which were also used on the Ki-64 'Hien', the only other serial production plane of the army with a water-cooled engine. The sleek lines and its small size would also fit Japanese design.

Consequently, I gave it the Ki-53 designation. I am not certain if this number had been allocated or used, I could not find a good reference?

Anyway, now that the basic idea was clear, here's a list of what went into this fantasy creation (all 1:72 scale):

- Fuselage, tail and cockpit from a Hobby Boss He 162

- Engines from an Italieri He 111

- Propellers from an Airfix OV-10D

- Main wings and rear engine nacelle parts from an Airfix DH.88

- Wing radiator units from a Matchbox Me 410

- Landing gear from a Dragon Ho 229

- Main wheels from a PM Ta 183

- Tail wheel from a Revell Eurocopter 'Tiger'

- Matchbox pilot figure

The He 162 fuselage lost its jet engine on the back (closed with 2c putty), resulting in a very clean fuselage, IMHO a great complement to the sleek DH.88 wings. Since I wanted to keep the original cockpit from the He 162 (even though the Hobby Boss kit is gruesome in this point!) but not use a tricycle undercarriage, the wing roots were moved forward and lowered. To hide the poor cockpit, I added half of a pilot figure, added two narrow side consoles and a steering stick, but left the rest OOB. The undercarriage doors of the He 162 were all closed and hidden under NC putty, as well as the original guns under the cockpit.

But coming back to the wings: the DH.88's engine nacelles were (much!) too narrow. Height would fit the bill, but their width hat to be increased by 4-5mm in order to 'accept' the Ho-40/DB 601 engines! These engines are not big at all, but in comparison with the tiny DH.88 wings, they look like huge metal bulks!

Consequently, I kept the DH.88 nacelles' inner sides, cut the original motors away, attached the new engines and finally added the outer nacelle halves. Bits of plastic sheet and lots of putty filled the remaining gaps, but the result ain't bad at all. After the nacelles were done, I also added thin radiators from a Matchbox Me 410 to the wings' undersides. The propellers become problematic, too. I wanted to keep the original He 111 propellers, but they were too big for the slender machine and the narrow space between the engines! It took a lot of searching in the pile yard, but I finally came up with two propellers (complete with spinners) which were small enough for the Ki-53! Nevertheless, the engines look brutally big, esp. with the tiny OV-10 propellers. As a positive side effect, something of the original air intakes at the nacelles' front can be seen - they'd be hidden behind the original He 111 spinners.

The new landing gear well covers were cut and 'welded' from flat polystyrene sheet, inside a mounting basis from polystyrene was added in order to hold the landing gear. The tail wheel well was cut from the massive(!) fuselage of the Hobby Boss He 162, the wheel comes from an Eurocopter 'Tiger' from Revell.

A lot of work, esp. at the wings, but the result looks plausible. The Ki-53 reminds a bit of a De Havilland Hornet, Westland Whirlwind (esp. its early P.9 design with two tail fins) or a Gloster G.39?

Painting

The Ki-53's livery was inspired by a Nakajima Ki-43-IIb 'Hayabusa' from 3rd chutai, 25th sentai, operated in January 1944 in China. The rather strange paint scheme with ever more green on the fuselage from the front to the back looked interesting - not sure if it had been a field improvisation?

The Ki-53 received an overall light grey base coat with dark green mottles and an almost 'fully green' tail. The horizontal stabilizers were painted fully green, too, but the wings' upper sides received typical 'blotches'.

Even though authentic tones are available (e .g. from Tamiya or Testors), I went for a free choice of colors and settled for Humbrol 167 ('Barley Grey') and Humbrol 105 ('Marine Green'). All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in Humbrol 226 ('Interior Green' and dry-painted with a mix of olive drab and zinc chromate green).

For markings I used Japanese Ki-45 profiles as a design benchmark. Hinomaru, stencellings and the white home defense fuselage band stem from an Aerormaster aftermarket decal sheet. The fake squadron markings for the hypothetical 1st chutai, 4th sentai actually belong to a JASDF F-86 in 1:48 scale! Everything is made up from scratch and fantasy.

was in June 1992 that an unusual architectural manifesto was launched in Great Britain. For the next ten years or more, the manifesto entitled "Urban Villages, a concept for creating mixed-use urban developments on a sustainable scale" continued to make waves, and was much commented and criticised - often unfavourably - in the specialist and general media.

In the language of contemporary British town planning, the expression "urban village" has for many people come to be synonymous with the name "Poundbury", the neo-traditionalist suburban development on the fringes of the rural town of Dorchester, piloted and largely masterminded by the Prince of Wales. Yet although Poundbury is certainly the most extensively developed of Britain's urban village projects, there are many others throughout Britain, and the expression "urban villages" is also used in other English speaking countries to describe modern suburban developments - and in some cases rural developments - that conform (or more or les conform) to certain holistic principles of planning that run against the grain of accepted modern practices in suburban development.

This article takes a concise look at the origins of the "urban village" concept, and its definition, before studying the situation of urban village development in the UK today, looking at Poundbury and the other projects throughout the country that were in 2001 affiliated to the Urban Villages Forum, the think tank set up under the patronage of the Prince of Wales.

Indeed, no discussion of "urban villages" in a British context can begin without reference to the role of the Prince of Wales who, long dissatisfied by much of the dreary suburban development that has occurred in Britain during his lifetime, has used his position to spearhead the development of socially and architecturally successful sustainable communities designed to avoid the failures of the recent past.

The much-used expression "neo-traditionalist", imported from the United States, clearly establishes the conceptual framework that underlies the urban village movement; urban villages are seen as not just an architectural or planning concept, but one predicated on a form of social organisation that has its roots in a long-established model that has stood the test of time. In Britain, as in the United States, the aim of the proponents of urban villages is not just to design modern living environments that reflect those of a previous and supposedly more stable rural society, but to rediscover the forms of living environment that engendered the stability of such traditional rural communities. In this respect, the "urban village" is a concept that takes its place in a historic British - and notably English - paradigm that has previously been illustrated in the model towns of Lever, Cadbury and others, the garden cities of the first half of the twentieth century, and, in community terms at least, in late twentieth century developments such as Newcastle's Byker village.

The expression "urban village" seems however to be an American invention. The earliest bibliographical reference to the phrase would seem to be a book entitled Urban Village: Population, Community, and Family Structure in Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1683-1800, by Stephanie Grauman, published in 1980. Yet early usages of the expression do not refer to any specific planning concept, but are a more a convenient pairing of words used to describe certain types of close-knit urban communities whose structures reflected traditional rural models. The phrase was even used as a rendering of the Spanish expression "barrio". It was in the early eighties, however, that the first references to the "urban village" as a planning concept began to appear, in the writings of Christopher Leinberger, a Los Angeles based urban affairs consultant (Urban Villages: The Locational Lessons. Wall Street Journal. New York. November 13, 1984) and Charles Lockwood (The Arrival of the Urban Village in Princeton Alumni Weekly November 1986). Leinberger used the phrase "urban villages" to describe what he saw as a new tendency towards mixed-use development in suburban America, resulting from the fact that in post-industrial America, there was no longer any need to separate business and residential areas for environmental reasons (pollution, noise, etc.).

More recently, and notably in the 1990's, the phrase has been used sporadically in discussions of the American "new urbanism" movement, often by and with reference to neotraditionalist planners Leon Krier and the Andres Duany / Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk partnership; yet generally speaking, American writers and planners - until recently - have made considerably more use of the expression "new urbanism", rather than "urban village". The idea of the "village", with its notions of "community", seems to be particularly English, and it was only in the late 1990's, following the international interest aroused by the first of England's "urban villages", Poundbury, that the expression really began to become popular in the United States and Australia.

It was the Prince of Wales who introduced the concept of the "urban village" into the vocabulary of British planning; the expression is used briefly in his 1989 book A Vision of Britain (the follow up to a 1988 television documentary), though not at the time directly in conjunction with the Poundbury project, which is mentioned. It was also this book that clearly established the dual parentage of the urban village concept in the English acceptance of the phrase; on the one hand, the historic English village tradition, on the other hand the American neotraditionalist architectural planners, notably Krier and Duany. In the final pages of A Vision of Britain, a presentation of Krier's archetypal neotraditionalist development in Florida, the town of Seaside, covers a full five pages, compared to just two covering the development of "model villages" in the U.K. from Saltaire to the garden cities.

Yet clearly, however great the influence of Krier on Prince Charles has been, it is the historic English concept of the village, and the idealised view of village life, that form the theoretical models that the British proponents of the "urban village" have sought to translate into a modern idiom.

One may speculate as to whether Prince Charles, while thinking over the possibility of creating a planned modern urban village at Poundbury, on the outskirts of Dorchester, had read P.H.Ditchfield's 1908 book The Charm of the English Village, which had recently been reprinted (1985); there is a lot in this book, most notably perhaps its preoccupation with the small details, the use of materials, and the stylistic and functional variety that characterise traditional English villages, that prefigures the Prince's view of the model community. Along with many other publications, both Prince Charles's and Ditchfield's books are also woven on the loom of nostalgia for a supposed almost utopian past, common to the proponents of New Urbanism, and anathema to many modernists. In an article in Harvard Design Magazine in 1997, marxist geographer David Harvey, professor at Johns Hopkins university wrote :

"The New Urbanism in fact connects to a facile contemporary attempt to transform large and teeming cities, so seemingly out of control, into an interlinked series of 'urban villages', where, it is believed, everyone can relate in a civil and urbane fashion to everyone else."

Harvey, however was looking on new urbanism in the fundamentally North American idiom; and although, historically, many earlier settlers in the United States - notably in New England - transposed onto north American soil social models imitated from those of the English village, on the whole the American model was, by definition, different. Early American villages may not have been subject to the rectilinear grid planning of 19th century American towns and villages, but neither did they evolve slowly over time in the manner of the historic English village. In addition, America's "New Urbanism", as exemplified by Seaside, is rather different from the English "urban village" as first exemplified at Poundbury.

Ditchfield (1908) more than once stresses the particular nature of English villages, even as opposed to villages in other parts of Europe, referring to the particular social structure of the English village as the "village commonwealth", a structure that would more normally be referred to in modern terms as the "village community". It should be noted that the notion of "community" is a fundamental building block in the societies of modern English speaking countries, and is considerably more deeply rooted in the English tradition (and more broadly speaking the Germanic traditions) than in that of any newer country, or even of other European countries in which the structures of pre-industrial society had evolved out of Roman law.

Since the departure of the Romans, the village has been the core community unit in the British Isles. Though England long boasted, in London, Europe's largest city, and though Britain was the first European nation to undergo major population drift to the towns, the village has always survived - in thought, literature or art - as the ideal, and often idealised, social unit. In Roman times, cities became the nuclei of life in Britain; but after the Romans left, most of their great cities, with the exception of London, were largely abandoned, the British populations moving out to occupy new village sites outside the city walls or further afield; and whilst in continental western Europe the great cities of Roman times remained great cities after the Romans left, and in many cases remain so to this day, the same was not true in the British Isles.

In mediaeval Britain, the extensive devolution of power and authority under the Anglo-Norman feudal system - inherited from the Anglo Saxon period - and the territorial representation that existed in English parliaments from the late thirteenth century onwards, played their role in formulating, in the national psyche, an image of England as being a nation represented emblematically by its villages, rather than by its capital city. In the English mind, London has never been the nexus of national identity in the way that Paris has long been the symbol of France and French life. In Shakespeare, the quintessential images of English life are not those of Henry IV and Bolingbroke at court or on the battle field; they are those of Justice Shallow in his orchard in rural Gloucestershire.

The Industrial Revolution completed, by the mid nineteenth century, a process that had been set in motion by the Enclosures Acts of the eighteenth, precipitating Europe's first massive rural exodus, and with it a further pauperisation of the former rural labourers. It was during this period that poets, artists and novelists, from Blake to Constable to William Morris or Thomas Hardy, began to place rural England at the heart of English art and writing, often in an idealised manner that helped give a new impetus to the longstanding perception of the superiority of English rural society over urban society. The apparent immortality of the BBC's classic radio soap opera, the Archers, set in its fictitious village of Ambridge, is just another more modern illustration of the same point.

It is perhaps significant that Trevor Osborne, chairman of the Urban Villages Group, notes, in the introduction to Urban Villages, that "the term 'urban village' will not be readily understood in mainland Europe; when exported to other EC member states, it will need a different label." One might even add : "or to the USA".

It is clearly by another quirk of coincidence that the first English "Urban Village", Poundbury, should have been located on the outskirts of Dorchester, the town immortalised under the name of Casterbridge, in the novels of Thomas Hardy.

Proposals for a major expansion of Dorchester were first debated in 1987, and two years later outline planning permission for the westward extension of the town was granted by West Dorset District Council, for a mixed-use residential suburb that will eventually stretch over 400 acres (about 190 hectares). The initial development was to cover 35 acres of land.

Prince Charles was involved in the project from the start; the greenfield site on the outskirts of Dorchester was in effect his land, agricultural leasehold land belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall. When the Dorchester council applied to the Duchy to purchase the land for development, the answer they received was more favourable than they had imagined possible. Not only would the Duchy make the land available for development, but Prince Charles himself would oversee the operation, with the aim of establishing an attractive mixed-use and socially mixed suburban development; Britain's first "urban village".

For many in the UK architectural and planning establishment, news that the Prince of Wales was to take charge of a major suburban development project was like a red rag to a bull. Relations between the Prince and many of Britain's leading architects and planners had been, to say the least, tense ever since the Prince had begun airing in public his none-too-complimentary opinions on the architecture and planning of the sixties and seventies. His famous description of Birmingham's new library as looking more like an incinerator than a place of learning, or his much quoted speech to the Royal Institute of British Architects, in 1984, when he described the proposed extension to London's National Gallery as being like a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", had done little to endear him to the modernists in British architecture.

Consequently, and unsurprisingly, reactions to the initial proposals for Poundbury were not favourable, neither in the specialised reviews nor in the architectural columns of the British broadsheets. The project was decried variously as an exercise in retrophilia, a pastiche, an irrelevance, or worse.

That was in 1989; and it is true that Leon Krier's bird's-eye sketch of what Poundbury might look like, published at the time in A Vision of Britain (p138), does look more like a heteroclite exercise in nostalgia than a serious plan for a late twentieth century suburban development.

The reality of Poundbury has been somewhat different: with the first phase of building now complete, the earliest streets have already had time to mellow, and as an urban environment, the general consensus among both residents and the press is that this new "urban village" is a success. After its early hostile coverage, the British mainstream press - including the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Mirror and the Mail - has now changed tack, and since 1998 press coverage of the ever-evolving project has been largely positive.

Among the common complaints voiced by residents now is that Poundbury is a victim of its success, with large numbers of tourists and visiting architects and town planners who invade their space, sometimes in coachloads, turning their residential quarter into an unintended tourist attraction.

So why do they come? What is it that has established Poundbury as a stopping point on the architect's and town planner's tour of Britain in the early twenty-first century? Firstly, of course, there is its curiosity value - an unusual - some would still say eccentric - act of royal patronage, an experiment in suburban architecture and planning, masterminded by an amateur planner who is due to become the next King of England. Secondly they come to see how the ten point theory of the "urban village", laid out in the Vision of Britain, transforms into reality.

Over 22 pages, the book sets out a list of "ten principles we can build upon" in order to create a successful modern urban living environment. These are as follows:

1. Place. That planners should understand the local environment, and design their projects to blend with it.

2. Hierarchy. That the design of buildings should always reflect their hierarchical position in the community, that "public buildings ought to proclaim themselves with pride", and others be designed in function of their value in society.

3. Scale. That buildings should bear relation to the human scale, and the scale of other buildings in an area.

4. Harmony. That buildings should blend harmoniously with others in the vicinity.

5. Enclosure. That spatial identity is of major importance, and that new developments should incorporate such public spaces as squares and courtyards

6. Materials. that building materials used should reflect the diversity of local traditions, and not conform to any national or international standard.

7. Decoration. That decorative craftsmanship should still be, as it always has been, a major feature of the urban environment.

8. Art. That artistic decoration has a major and a symbolic role to play in the enhancement of the urban environment, and that artists as well as architects should have a role to play in the designing of new living environments.

9. Signs and lighting. That these also contribute to the success of the built environment, not detract from it, and should therefore be put up with care and attention.

10. Community. That a successful community is a place where residents feel involved, and contribute to the planning and running of their environment.

While points 1 - 9 can be - and in the case of Poundbury, are being - ensured through the masterplan, point 10 cannot. A successful community can only be brought about by the people who live in it; and so far, in spite of the fact that Poundbury is still very much an ongoing project, those who live there are happy with their environment and, on the whole, consider it to be a successful community.

Besides the above ten points, which essentially concern the architectural and visual aspects of the environment in urban villages, there are other fundamental aspects that distinguish the urban village from other suburban or rural housing projects, aspects that are perhaps rather more fundamental than aesthetics. These are social mixity, and mixed use - together seen as preconditions for the creation of new sustainable communities.

As well as reflecting the ten principles, the masterplan for Poundbury was for a housing development that would include a seamless and indistinguishable mixture of owner-occupied dwellings and social housing. The mixed-use plan also called for the inclusion, within easy walking distance of the residential streets, of shops, workshops and factories, enabling residents to live and work in the community without the need for commuting.

In many details, the masterplan for Poundbury went against conventional planning orthodoxy. Its fundamental tenet, mixed use, ran counter to accepted zoning theory, which prefers to concentrate business in business parks, housing in housing estates, and shops in shopping centers.

As for social diversity, critics of the Poundbury plan argued that the type of home buyers wanting to buy in Poundbury would not wish to buy houses that shared a dividing wall with social housing units; it was also suggested that the densely-packed housing environment was out of keeping with the tastes and expectations of modern middle-class British house-buyers, more usually attracted by the ideal of detached houses in wrap-around gardens.

Others predicted that industry would not want to relocate in the middle, or even on the edge, of a residential area, and that in the end, Poundbury would end up as no more than a "glorified council estate".

So far at least, this has not been the case - which is exactly what its planners expected. Having conceived Poundbury as a carefully planned (or, in its critics' opinions, contrived) recreation of a traditional organically developed village, they did not expect to encounter the problems facing many other suburban developments.

Like the village, the urban village is conceived as a community of mixed housing, catering for all ages and income groups. At Poundbury, the first phase of housing consisted of 55 units of social housing, administered by a housing association, the Guinness Trust, and 141 freehold owner-occupier homes, as well as retail and commercial premises. By the time the development is completed, towards the year 2020, Poundbury will have between 2,000 and 3,000 housing units, with social housing accounting for about 20% of the total, in line with the national average.

The question that remains, however, is whether the model of Poundbury can be transposed into other settings, or whether the success of this rather middle-class development on the edge of a rather trouble-free county town in the heart of the Westcountry, can be replicated in other areas?

Following the media coverage - both positive and negative - given to the Poundbury project when it was first mooted in the late 1980's, a forum known as the Urban Villages Group was founded in 1989, at the Prince of Wales's behest, under the wing of Business in the Community, an organisation whose purpose is "to tackle economic, social and environmental issues affecting local communities" (Aldous, p8).

Among the founder members of the Group were Leon Krier, plus the chief executives of a number of property development companies, housing corporations, and the Managing Director of the Cooperative Bank. The aim of the Group was to encourage councils and property developers to take the urban village concept nationwide, as a viable - if slightly more costly - alternative to the monotonous standardized run-of-the-mill developments, the "edge cities" that have mushroomed, and will continue to mushroom, on the outskirts of most British urban areas.

As of January 2002, eighteen development projects across England are being carried out in partnership with the Prince's Foundation, according to "urban village" principles; none however is as advanced as Poundbury, and some, such as the Westoe Colliery project at South Shields and the Northwich city centre project, are still on the drawing board. Yet as the location of these two projects shows - one in the heart of the depressed northeast, and the other in the rundown centre of a Cheshire town - the "urban village" concept can be, and is being, applied in areas that are very different from semi-rural Dorset.

Only two other projects are listed, like Poundbury, as "urban extensions" on greenfield sites, one in Basdildon Essex, the other in Northampton; by far the majority of projects are "urban regeneration" projects on brownfield sites.

Some of these are in fact far removed from the "urban village" concept as illustrated by Poundbury. In particular, the Ancoats project in Manchester, the Jewellery quarter in Birmingham and the Little Germany redevelopment in the centre of Bradford appear more like classic industrial heritage preservation programmes, along the lines of the Albert Dock regeneration scheme in Liverpool, or the redevelopment of Butler's Wharf on the South Bank in London.

They are, however, different, inasmuch as these three projects, though they will never become villages in the sense that Poundbury can call itself a large village, have been conceived with the ethos of the urban village concept in mind, and not as just three more chic urban residential areas for the upwardly mobile.

Little Germany and the Jewelry Quarter are interesting cases, both being central urban areas which, in the past, had a clear spatial and social identity, the former as the fiefdom of Bradford's German cloth merchants, the latter as the densely populated network of small streets which housed both the homes and the workshops of Birmingham's hundreds of jewelers and watchmakers - a classic historic example of both mixed usage and a clearly defined urban quarter.

A hundred years ago, Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter provided employment for some 70,000 people – many of whom lived and worked in the quarter. Since then, the number of jobs in the sector has fallen by over 90%, and the residential population has all but disappeared. In 2000, the quarter harboured some 1,200 business, but only about 700 residents. The aim of the project is to redress this imbalance, and rekindle the vibrant community that existed at the start of the twentieth century.

The Ancoats Urban Village, in Manchester, is different - so different indeed that although Ancoats announces itself as an "urban village", the project's development manager herself is not convinced that it really is one.

"I feel uneasy about offering Ancoats as representative of the Urban Villages movement, as it does not conform to many of the criteria that the Urban Villages movement sets out, and although we are still members of the Prince's Foundation, I don't think they would suggest Ancoats as an example of their philosophy; we seem to spend most time disagreeing!" (Lyn Fenton, private letter of 02/01/02).

Ancoats prides itself for its place in urban history, as the world's first industrial suburb – an area in which 13,000 people once lived and worked; the targets of the Urban Village project are to bring people back to live in this historic industrial site, close to the centre of Manchester, through a programme of mixed use residential and business development. Classed as a conservation area in 1989, it is on the UK's short list for designation as a UNESCO world heritage site. In spite of the reservations of the developers, the targets set out in the Ancoats Supplementary Planning Guidance reflect the same principles as those adopted for Poundbury; the fact that this, as some other urban village sites, are not totally new-build areas, does not fundamentally change the perspective.

Naturally perhaps, it is not in Britain's great urban centres that other urban village projects closer to the Poundbury model can be found, but on the edges of Britain's smaller towns and cities, as the following two examples illustrate. The Westoe site in South Shields is being developed by Wimpey on the 17 hectare site of a disused colliery, as a high-density mixed-use and socially mixed suburb with up to 800 homes, its own school, shops and office premises. In Lancashire, the Luneside development at Lancaster, albeit smaller - 6 hectares - is being developed along similar lines.

Finally, although only 18 projects are affiliated to the Prince's Trust as recognised "urban village" developments, neither the Prince nor the trust has exclusive rights to the expression, and other new housing development projects elsewhere in Britain, are taking up the label in order to give themselves a certain cachet.

Indeed, the "urban village" approach to the design and planning of residential areas has now found its way into official UK government guidelines, a new guide from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions showing among its primary inspirations:

" the 'Urban Villages' movement in the UK and neo-traditional design generally. Indeed, the design philosophy promoted is essentially one of working with context, promoting pedestrian friendly environments, returning to traditional perimeter block systems, and - where possible - mixing uses." (DETR Website 2002)

The current popularity of the notion of the "urban village" in contemporary UK planning would tend to indicate that a sea change in planning theory has taken place in the UK since Prince Charles first launched his vision of Britain in 1989. Whether or not this will result in the recreation of something resembling the types of close-knit communities that existed in nineteenth century, or pre-Enclosures English villages, or even in twentieth century industrial villages, and whether "mixed usage" will really have any serious impact on the social habits of the British in the 21st century, other than reducing car usage, are different matters.

And in the end, it is perhaps of little matter in the context of this paper, in which I have set out to show the peculiarly high value attached to the word village in England, and the particularly strong belief that runs through English thought and culture, that the village - and notably the idealised village with its green spaces, flowered gardens, and friendly folk, is the finest possible form of spatial and social organisation - even in the resolutely urban society of the start of the third millennium. In this respect, the phrase "urban village" has readily come to be seen not as a contradiction in terms, but as a means of having one's cake and eating it, or at least getting the best of both worlds.

Bibliography

Aldous, Tony. Urban Villages, a concept for creating mixed-use urban developments on a sustainable scale, London, The Urban Villages Group 1992.

Ditchfield, P.H. The Charm of the English Village, 1908, reprinted London, Bracken Books, 1985,

Harvey, David. The New Urbanism and the Communitarian Trap, in Harvard Design Magazine, Winter/Spring 1997, no. 1.

Miller, Anthony. The role of Landscape Architecture in fostering community; Byker, a case study, in L'Espace Urbain Européen, Cahiers du Créhu 6. Annales littéraires de l'Université de Franche Comté 1996

Mumford, Lewis. T, The City in History, Secker & Warburg 1961, reprinted Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1973 &&.

Rossiter, Andrew. Retour à l'Utopie? Poundbury; redéfinir la banlieue en village urbain. In Ville et Utopie, Cahiers du Créhu no. 10, actes du Colloque. Presses Universitaires de Franche Comté, 2001.

Wales, Charles, Prince of. A Vision of Britain, a personal view of architecture. London, Doubleday, 1989

Webography:

Thandani, Diriu A. New Urbanism Bibliography, published by the Architectural Resources Network

periferia.org/publications/cnubibliography.html

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions:

www.planning.detr.gov.uk/livingplaces/02/03.htm

Copyright :

About-Britain academic : texts © Authors and About-Britain.com

Andrew Rossiter, Université de Franche Comté

From a paper presented at the International Symposium on Urban and Rural Britain at the University of Valenciennes, France, 2002

SOLOMON SEA (Aug. 6, 2021) U.S. Marines with Battalion Landing Team 3/5, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), assist with a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter land during a fast rope aboard the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) in the Solomon Sea. Marines train to fast rope in case they are required to depart from the aircraft in a timely manner or a possible landing on uneven terrain. The 31st MEU is operating aboard ships of America Expeditionary Strike Group in the 7th fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Malik Lewis)

SASEBO, Japan (Aug. 10, 2020) Sailors prepare COVID-19 tests during the second crew-wide screening for the virus in the medical ward aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42). Germantown, part of America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serves as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Nov. 21, 2020) The guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) conducts routine underway operations. Barry is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Molly Crawford)

Macduff Shipyards Ltd – YD653 “Crystal Dawn” Published: 09 March, 2012

Macduff Shipyards Limited have just completed a new design Scallop Trawler in the under 15m Class.

The new vessel Crystal Dawn CN20 has been built to the order of Islay Crab Exports Limited, headed by James Monaghan, and the design was developed in close co-operation with Macduff Ship Design Limited who produced the steel kit drawings and Stability Data.

The hull form is double chine with a box keel for ballast, and also features a bulbous bow.

Dimensions

Length Overall 14.95m

Length Registered 14.10m

Breadth Extreme 6.50m

Depth Moulded 3.50m

Tonnage 41.79

Capacities

Oil Fuel 9860lt

Fresh Water 2994lt

The steel kit was cut in house by Macduff Profilers from cutting information supplied by Macduff Ship Design Limited, and the hull was fabricated in Macduff, and fully fitted out under cover.

The steel galley messroom is accommodated across the transom of the vessel, with a short deckhouse forming the entrance, toilet and shower room and engineroom companionway and escape. Cabin access and escape.

The aluminum alloy wheelhouse is arranged over the deckhouse.

A steel whaleback is arranged forward, with a central shelter strip extending from whaleback to deckhouse.

Layout below deck from forward forepeak with fresh water tank below, fishroom, engineroom and cabin and steering gear compartment.

The main engine is a Caterpillar 3406C rated 250HP at 1800RPM with a Reintjes WAF374 with 7.476:1 reduction ratio, driving in 1800mm diameter 4 blade propeller in a Rice thrust nozzle.

Drives from the main engine include 2 x Cleghorn AM50D bilge/deckwash pumps, 2 x DCG55 24v Transmotor alternators, Tenjford steering pump, fishroom cooling compressor, and standby hydraulic through Dong-I clutched pto.

A Mitsubishi 6D16 auxiliary engine is fitted on the port tank top to drive the main hydraulics.

A Beta Marine 18kva 240v generator is fitted on the starboard tank top providing power for tools and limited AC circuit on board.

The main electrics are 24vDC.

All engines are heat exchanger cooled.

The sterngear is manufactured by the Yard and fitted with Deep Sea Seals.

The deck machinery package is as follows:

2 Macduff split trawl winches

2 Gilson winches

2 pull down winches

1 landing winches

2 conveyors

2 hydraulic tipping doors

The Gilson arrangement amidships can handle 8 dredges per side, and control is arranged from with the wheelhouse.

A steel foremast is arranged on the whaleback, with a steel landing derrick.

The fishroom is fully lined and insulated with pumped foam by Bruce Davidson, who also carried out the painting on the vessel.

Fishroom chilling system was provided by Premier Refrigeration Limited.

Electrics and galley equipment by R D Downie Ltd.

Fire doors by Promat Ltd.

Steering gear by Tenfjord.

Controls by Kobelt.

Wheelhouse windows by HK van Wingerden & Zn BV Holland.

Compass by T Gunn, Aberdeen.

Fire appliances by Blue Anchor Fire & Safety Ltd

LSA and pyrotechnics by Blue Anchor Fire & Safety Ltd.

Paint by Sigma Coatings.

Electronics as follows (supplied by Electrotech Marine)

Radar Furuno M1945 with ARPA and AIS

Sounder Furuno FCV85,50-9B Transducer

Sat Compass Furuno SC30 with Furuno IF-NMEA Interface

GPS Furuno GP33 Heading Display

Furuno RD33 VHF DSC

Sailor 6215 VHF

Sailor 6210

Autopilot Navitron NT77 with 2 x Rudder Angle Displays and 3 x Remote Jog Levers

Sonar WAASP Multibeam Sonar System

Olex 3D system with WASSP multibeam interface, AIS and ARPA

WAASP heave correction from SC30 and pitch/roll correction from remote motion sensor

Trax V5 Plotter with ARPA and AIS

Sat TV Intellian i3 Intercom

Furuno LH3000 AIS Class B transponder

EPRIB Ocean Signal E100 with Hydrostatic Release

Weather Station WS200 anemometer/weather sensor

Displayed information on Olex/Trax

Mobile phone 3G/GSM

Phone booster system

CCTV system

Crystal Dawn

The new 14.95m scalloper Crystal Dawn is one of the finest vessels of its kind to make its way to the west coast of Scotland for some time and has been built to the order of Islay Crab Exports Limited, headed by James Monaghan of Port Ellen.

The vessel was built by Macduff Shipyards Limited. She is 14.95m long with a beam of 6.50m. The hull form is double chine with a box keel for ballast, and she also features a bulbous bow. Her main engines are Caterpillar and achieved a top speed of 9.3 knots during sea-trials. A Mitsubishi auxiliary engine is fitted to drive the main hydraulics. Twin wing tanks in the engineroom enable Crystal Dawn to carry almost 10,000 litres of fuel.

Layout below deck from forward follows the customary arrangement – forepeak with fresh water tank below, fishroom, engineroom and cabin either side of the steering gear compartment. A watertight door gives access off the main deck into the steel deckhouse which houses a toilet and shower room as well as leading down to the engineroom and to the wheelhouse and cabin. The steel galley messroom is housed across the transom of the vessel and all accommodation areas are finished to the highest standards, giving the crew some home comforts on their downtime. Four waist height bunks are arranged in the roomy single cabin; two on either side of the steering gear compartment and two along the inner side of the hull. Continue reading....

The aluminum alloy wheelhouse is arranged over the deckhouse and is fitted with a comprehensive array of electronic equipment supplied and installed by Electrotech Marine Ltd. in Oban. The Crystal Dawn has a full automated gear and catch handling system and its design allows the vessel to fish with maximum efficiency, reducing the crew’s workload while providing a safer working environment. The deck machinery package includes two Macduff 15t split trawl winches spooled with 200 fathoms of 24mm compact steel core wire. The Gilson arrangement amidships can handle eight dredges per side, and control is arranged from within the wheelhouse. The scallop dredges were manufactured by Oban Scallop Gear Ltd.

A key feature of Crystal Dawn is the considerable amount of working space available on the main deck. That this has been achieved while incorporating catch handling conveyers and shows the extent to which the owners/designers/builders have used the room available to optimum effect. After hauling, the scallop dredges are emptied into the catch hoppers, the catch is then deposited onto the slow moving conveyor where the selected scallops are picked off. After washing, the shellfish are lowered to the fishroom in baskets where they are bagged and stored. The fishroom has capacity for some 300 bags and is fully lined and insulated.

Crystal Dawn is purpose built to fish traditional king scallop grounds around Islay and our neighbouring islands of Jura, Gigha and Colonsay, off the Mull of Kintyre, as well as at other inshore locations along the west coast of Scotland, together with the Moray Firth, Irish Sea and around the Isle of Man. She is skippered by Sean McIlwraith of Ballantrae, who for the past three years was in the wheelhouse of the scalloper ‘Kayleigh M’, having earlier been in command of ‘Christy M’, the first boat owned by Islay Crab Exports Ltd. ‘Kayleigh M’ is now skippered by John Hutchinson.

Together with crewmen John McGuire, Andrew Halls and James Williams, Sean expects to work mainly 2/3 day trips before landing into the nearest convenient harbour, from where scallop catches will be collected for processing by her parent company.

Islay Crab Exports Ltd

Islay Crab Exports is a family run business specialising in the supply of high quality live velvet, green, spider and brown crabs, lobsters, winkles, surf and razor clams and scallop meat throughout Europe. The company operates five vivier lorries which collect their produce from the Outer Hebrides and the west coast of Scotland to as far afield as Co. Donegal and deliver to well established markets in France, Spain and Italy.

The company diversified into catching and processing scallops in 2005 when they bought the scalloper Christy M which fished successfully until it was sold in 2009. She was replaced by the scalloper ‘Germount’, a 13m vessel that was then renamed ‘Kayleigh M’ after James and Fiona’s daughter. Another addition to the fleet is the 14.95m vivier crabber ‘Annie’, which replaced their previous vivier crabber, the 20.8m ‘Niamh Eoghan’. The ‘Niamh Eoghan’ is still owned by Islay Crab Exports and is currently in Macduff Shipyards Ltd. where she is undergoing a major renovation, converting her into a scallop vessel.

The Crystal Dawn is the first new vessel of this class to be built for Islay and represents a major vote of confidence in the future of the Islay fishing industry by Islay Crab Exports Ltd. In order to maintain their development, Islay Crab Exports Ltd. took over the former Islay Shellfish & Game processing factory in Port Ellen last year, from where premium quality scallop meats are exported to Europe weekly.

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 13, 2016) An MH-60S Sea Hawk, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, takes off from amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Bonhomme Richard, flagship of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the Philippine Sea in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Diana Quinlan/Released)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 8, 2020) Landing Craft, Air Cushion 30, assigned to Naval Beach Unit 7, conducts amphibious operations off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, while attached to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42). Germantown, part of the America Amphibious Ready Group assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 24, 2020) As seen from the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42), the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18), left, conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the fleet replenishment oiler USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194). Germantown, part of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven (ESG 7), along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

96" wide - $15.99 per yard

120" wide - $18.99 per yard

Heirloom® Premium Cotton Blend is made from 80% long staple cotton fibers and 20% fine polyester. This combination of fibers creates a strong, longwearing batt and is very easy to handle.

The batting is lightly needle punched and treated with a soft resin to provide stability to the fibers and prevent the polyester from bearding. This process makes Heirloom® Cotton Blend Batting uniquely easy to quilt by hand.

This was a ride / stability test of a new Trailer Train seen at Cricklewood recess sidings coupled with Test Car 1 (ADW150375) and ADC201055, 8 May 1986.

The PXA test train was formed of Trailer Train Bogies TN 95901-95904, Adaptors TN 95951-95952 and Trailer Train Van Trailers TN 96001-96003. Testing was carried out during May-June 1986 to confirm acceptable running to a maximum operating speed of 75 mile/h.

Read about how and why trains were tested in the 80s and 90s in my RAIL VEHICLE TESTING book - ISBN-9781999935603.

© Dave Bower - Rail Vehicle Testing

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sweden required a strong air defense, utilizing the newly developed jet propulsion technology. This led to a pair of proposals being issued by the Saab design team, led by Lars Brising. The first of these, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft, which bore a resemblance to the American Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The second design, which would later be picked as the winner, was a barrel-shaped design, codenamed R 1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile upon closer study.

Nevertheless, the J 29D soldiered on, together with the rest of the J 29F and S 29C fleet, until 1970, even though not in front line duties anymore.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 10.80 m (35 ft 4 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)

Height: 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)

Wing area: 24.15 m² (260.0 ft²)

Empty weight: 4,845 kg (10,680 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,375 kg (18,465 lb)

Powerplant:

1× Svenska Flygmotor RM2B afterburner turbojet, rated at 6,070 lbf (27 kN)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,060 km/h (660 mph)

Range: 1,100 km (685 mi)

Service ceiling: 15,500 m (50,850 ft)

Rate of climb: 32.1 m/s (6,320 ft/min)

Armament:

4x 20mm Hispano Mark V autocannon in the lower front fuselage

Typically, a pair of 400-liter (106 US gallon) or 500-liter (132 US gallon) drop tanks was carried on the outer “wet” pylons

Further air-to-air ordnance initially consisted of 75 mm (3 in) air-to-air rockets, from 1963 onwards the J 29D could also carry up to 4x Rb 24 (AIM-9B Sidewinder) IR-guided air-to-air missiles.

Optionally (but never carried in service), the J 29D could also deploy a wide range of bombs and unguided missiles, including 145 mm (5.8 in) anti-armor rockets, 150 mm (6 in) HE (high-explosive) rockets or 180 mm (7.2 in) HE anti-ship rockets

The kit and its assembly:

Sweden is a prolific whiffing territory, and the Saab 29 offers some interesting options. The all-weather Tunnan was a real Saab project, and things actually got as far as the aforementioned radome shape test stage. But eventually the project was fully dropped, since Saab had been busy with standard J 29 production and conversions, so that this aircraft never materialized, just as the projected side-by-side trainer Sk 29 of the same era.

However, I recently came across a nice Saab 29 book which also covers some projects – including drawings of the radar-equipped Tunnan that never was. My converted model with the thimble radome and the raked air intake is based on these drawings.

The basic kit is the Heller Saab 29, which I deem superior to the Matchbox Tunnan, with its mix of raised and engraved panel lines and overall rather soft detail (despite the surprisingly nice cockpit). Anyway,, the Heller kit has its flaws, too, e. g. a generally weak material thickness, lack of locator pins or other stabilizing aids and some sinkholes here and there.

The kit was built mostly OOB, with as much lead in the gun tray as possible - and it actually stands on its own three feet/wheels! The only major change is the modified nose section. It sounds simple to graft a radome onto the Tunnan's nose, but the rhinoplasty was challenging. The whole front end had to be renewed, based on the profile drawings and sketches at hand.

The thimble radome is actually a recycled drop tank front end from a Hasegawa F6F Hellcat. The raked, lower aitr intake lip comes from a Matchbox Mystère IVA - but it lost its splitter, was reshaped and had the OOB air intake duct glued into place from behind. Once the intake was glued into its place, a wedge opeing was cut into the area in front of the canopy and the drop tank radome adapted to the gap, a step-by-step approach, since I wanted to have the radome slightly protrude into the airtake, but also keep a staright line in front of the windscreen.

Additional details include new pitots on the wing tips and some additional antennae. The heat shield for the afterburner engine is OOB, as well as the streamlined drop tanks and their pylons. I just added an additional pair of pylons (from an Acedamy MiG-23) to the inner wing, holding a pair of AIM-9Bs.

Painting and markings:

Finding a suitable, yet “different” scheme for the J 29 night fighter was not easy; most J 29 were left in bare metal, some carried dark green upper surfaces and some S 29C wore a paint scheme in olive green and dark blue. I eventually settled for the RAF style paint scheme that had been adopted with the J 30 Mosquito and J 33 Venom night fighters – not spectacular, but different from the Swedish early Sixties norm, and it subtly underlines the J 29D’s role.

The scheme was lent from RAF Venom night fighters (which was used on the Swedish J 33, too), and of the upper surfaces I used RAF tones, too: Humbrol 163 (Dark Green) and 165 (Medium Sea Grey). However, I did not want to use the grey on the lower surfaces, since I found that scheme a bit too uniform and British, so I painted the lower surfaces in NMF, with a waterline at medium height - higher than the camouflaged S 29C’s and lower than the early, camouflaged J 29A fighters (with an experimental all-green upper surface).

The bare metal finish was created with acrylic Aluminum (Revell 99) and Polished and Matt Aluminum Metallizer (Humbrol) added on top, highlighting single panels. Around the engine bay and the exhaust, a base with Iron (Revell 91) was laid down, with Steel Metallizer (Modelmaster) on top.

Under the wing tips, green formation markings (again Humbrol 163) were added, as well as black ID stripes (cut from generic decal sheet material). Other, Swedish adornment, like the roundels, codes or squadron markings, was taken from the OOB sheet, a PrintScale sheet for the J 29 and leftover decals from a Heller J 21.

Interior details were painted according to Swedish standard, thankfully there are many good pictures available. The cockpit interior became grey-green (Revell 67 comes very close to the real thing) with light grey dashboard and side consoles. The landing gear wells medium (Revell 57) grey with some dry-brushed Aluminum, while the wheel discs became grey-green, too.

An interesting result, through relatively little effort: the dog nose changes the look of the tubby J 29 a lot, it looks much sleeker and somewhat German now – but somehow also more retro than the original aircraft? The different paint scheme looks unusual, too, despite being relatively down-to-earth. This will certainly not be my last modified J 29, a two-seat trainer would certainly be another cool and reality based Tunnan whif?

Governor Brainard, Chair Powell and Governor Bowman participate in a panel for Fed Listens: Perspectives on Maximum Employment and Price Stability. Learn more: www.federalreserve.gov/conferences/fed-listens-perspectiv...

190603-N-CL550-0489 PHILIPPINE SEA (June 03, 2019) Electrician’s Mate Fireman Nathan Maguder practices setting electrical isolation while a simulated fire is fought during a damage control training exercise aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54). Curtis Wilbur is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino/Released)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 24, 2020) The amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18), right, sends empty oil barrels to the fleet replenishment oiler USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194) during an underway replenishment. New Orleans, part of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven (ESG 7), along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kelby Sanders)

US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June.

Washington is believed to support the move which would see the Western alliance grow to 32 members. US State Department officials said last week that discussions had taken place between Nato leaders and foreign ministers from Helsinki and Stockholm.

Before it launched its invasion, Russia demanded that the alliance agree to halt any future enlargement, but the war has led to the deployment of more Nato troops on its eastern flank and a rise in public support for Swedish and Finnish membership.

Finland shares a 1,340km (830 miles) long border with Russia and has been rattled by the invasion of Ukraine.

And Sweden's ruling Social Democratic party, which has traditionally opposed Nato membership, said it is rethinking this position in light of Russia's attack on its western neighbour. Party secretary Tobias Baudin told local media that the Nato review should be complete within the next few months.

"When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden's security position changed fundamentally," the party said in a statement on Monday.

But Moscow has been clear that it opposes any potential enlargement of the alliance. Mr Peskov warned the bloc "is not that kind of alliance which ensures peace and stability, and its further expansion will not bring additional security to the European continent".

Last week Mr Peskov said that Russia would have to "rebalance the situation" with its own measures were Sweden and Finland to join Nato.

And in February Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, warned of "military and political consequences" if the countries joined the bloc.

Nato was formed in 1949 to counter the threat of Soviet expansion, though since the fall of the Berlin wall a number of formerly communist eastern European countries have joined.

Member states agree to come to one another's aid in the event of an armed attack against any individual member state.

Despite the threats, both countries have pushed ahead with their bids and stepped up defence spending.

On Monday, army leaders in Helsinki announced a new plan to allocate €14m (£10.88m) to purchase drones for Finland's military.

And last month Swedish officials said they would boost defence spending by three billion kronas ($317m; £243m) in 2022.

{bbc.com}

My own opinion:

Russia isn’t behaving like a big brother, its aggressive unprovoked and unjustifed invasion of Ukraine, a sister nation sharing similar cultural heritage, under ever changing pretext, is a wake up call to whoever thought Russia brought peace and stability to the region, in light of what’s happening, Russia is best described as a rogue terrorist state intent on imposing its will on neighbouring nations with an overkill use of force not afraid to kill, rape and destroy the civilian population

Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, warned of "military and political consequences" if the countries joined the bloc! Maria warning is more like a threat making its message clear: do as you’re told or else expect tanks and missiles to reinforce our advice! sound typical of unsavoury terrorism to me

SOUTH CHINA SEA (June 14, 2019) Culinary Specialist 2nd Class George Hawkins, from Pittsburgh, prepares dinner for the crew aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85). McCampbell is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Isaac Maxwell/Released)

WATERS NEAR GUAM (Nov. 3, 2014) An SH-60B Seahawk helicopter from the Easyriders of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 37 launches off the flight deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97). Halsey is on deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialists 3rd Class Bradley J. Gee/Released)

"Eulogy for a Veteran"

(Author Unknown)

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the Gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the mornings hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight,

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die.

🗽

A Letter To Our Soldiers,

A debt of gratitude to all that served and do serve for the Preservation and Protection of the United States Constitution and our Democracy against ALL that would try to undo our stability and freedoms, be they foreign or DOMESTIC!! 🗽

Unequivocal Sincerity,

Sherilyn Sands

Peace be with you all,

Sherilyn 🌷

niki has water. hannah helps. albert uses hannah as stability.

The Republic of Peru is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, and to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty, which included most of its South American colonies. After achieving independence in 1821, Peru has undergone periods of political unrest and fiscal crisis as well as periods of stability and economic upswing.

Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. Its geography varies from the arid plains of the Pacific coast to the peaks of the Andes mountains and the tropical forests of the Amazon Basin. It is a developing country with a medium Human Development Index score and a poverty level around 40%. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing of products such as textiles.

The Peruvian population, estimated at 28 million, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages. This mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music.

__________________________________________________________________

Capital (and largest city): Lima

Official language: Spanish

Demonym: Peruvian

Government: Presidential republic

Independence from Spain

- Declared July 28, 1821

- Recognized December 9, 1824

Area

- Total 1,285,220 km² (20th), 496,222 sq mi

- Water (%) 8.80

Population

- 2007 census 28,220,764

- Density 22/km² (193rd), 57/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate

- Total $207.985 billion (51st)

- Per capita $7,410 (79th)

GDP (nominal) 2007 estimate

- Total $101.504 billion (55th)

- Per capita $3,616 (87th)

HDI (2005): ▲0.773 (medium) (87th)

Currency: Nuevo Sol (PEN)

Time zone: PET (UTC-5)

Internet TLD: .pe

Calling code: +51

Updated Jedi Starfighter — still tinkering with a few details / stability issues, but I’m pretty close to being done

This was taken from the observation tower at Sheldon Lake with a 500mm mirror lens (the 7D is a crop-sensor camera, so that's 844mm equivalent on a 35mm full frame sensor). It's a fixed f8 aperture lens, so I chose 1/2000 as my shutter speed and let the camera choose the ISO. I did not take a tripod with me, but rested it on the railings of the observation tower to give me some stability.

Despite the fact that it was February, there was so much heat that day, that a heat haze made the edges of the buildings look irregular. The downtown skyscrapers are about 17-18 miles away as-the-crow-flies from Lake Sheldon.

The trees are only about 1/2 mile away, so they are slightly fuzzy because I was focusing on the buildings in the distance. I enhanced the contrast a little, so the is a faint bloom at the edge of the treeline.

I've had this lens for 25 years (a Tamron Adaptall SP series converted to Canon EOS), and it's still going strong!

PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 30, 2021) Dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9) sails alongside the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), during a replenishment-at-sea. Essex, flagship of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jennessa Davey)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 22, 2020) Lt. Vanica Smith, assigned to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), fires an M240B machine gun from an MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. America, flagship of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Walter Estrada)

On November 19, 1335, in the most important diplomatic event in Central Europe of the 14th century, Casmir III of Poland and John I of Bohemia came to the royal court of Charles of Hungary in Visegrád to form an alliance against the rising power of the Habsburgs in the region.

Characterized by decline and decay, the 14th century opened an era of unparalleled crisis in Europe as disaster after disaster struck every aspect of European life, bringing centuries of European prosperity, growth and stability to a halt. It notably brought with it a sharp decline in population growth, largely due to a series of famines and plagues, along with its fair share of political instabilities and religious upheavals.

14th century diplomacy in Central Europe

Faced with increasing frictions and social unrest, the three Central European kingdoms of Bohemia, Poland and Hungary were not spared by the crises. In Hungary and Bohemia, the historic Árpád and Přemyslid dynasties died out almost simultaneously at the beginning of the century, while Poland was still recovering from a long period of feudal fragmentation after being reunified by the Piast ruler Władysław I Łokietek.

Added to this were rising diplomatic tensions, as the new Polish king was embroiled in territorial disputes with the Teutonic Order and with the recently crowned king of Bohemia, John I of the House of Luxembourg, who laid claim to the Polish throne through his claim on Silesia. But after the death of Władysław in 1333, his son Casimir ascended to the throne, which created a new dynamic in the relations of the three kingdoms. Once in power, Casimir III launched himself into the task of sorting out matters left to him by his father.

With a new king on the Polish throne, John of Bohemia also took an interest in normalising diplomatic relations, for he was in search of an ally against the rising power of his long-time enemies, the Austrian Counts of the House of Habsburg. In 1334, to settle the dispute over Polish territories, the parties involved chose arbiters and the young Polish king appointed his brother-in-law and ally, King Charles of Hungary.

Married to Casimir’s sister, the Hungarian king accepted the task with great zeal and mediated between the young Polish ruler and the old Bohemian king during the two-year diplomatic process between Bohemia and Poland on the one hand, and Poland and the Teutonic Order on the other. And in September 1335, a Bohemian delegation went to the Hungarian royal court in Visegrád to conclude an alliance with Charles of Hungary on the Bohemian king’s behalf.

By November 1335, the time was finally ripe for the meeting of the three kings and Charles of Hungary invited Casimir III of Poland and John of Bohemia, along with his 19-year-old son Charles, later to be Emperor Charles IV, to Visegrád, where they were joined by many Polish, Silesian and German principals as part of their delegations, as well as the rep--resentatives of the Teutonic Order, for a period of over four weeks.

(kafkadesk.org/2021/11/19/on-this-day-in-1335-the-kings-of...)

Must attribute with link to: www.ptpioneer.com

Image of a girl working out Outside doing stability ball Planks with feet on stability ball.

PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 13, 2020) Sailors chock and chain an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the “Archangels” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, Detachment 6, during deck landing qualifications on the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42). Germantown, part of America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serves as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

In September 1952, the United States Navy announced a requirement for a new fighter. It was to have a top speed of Mach 1.2 at 30,000 ft (9,144.0 m) with a climb rate of 25,000 ft/min (127.0 m/s), and a landing speed of no more than 100 mph (160 km/h). Korean War experience had demonstrated that 0.50 inch (12.7 mm) machine guns were no longer sufficient, and as the result the new fighter was to carry a 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon. In response, the Vought team led by John Russell Clark, created the V-383. Unusual for a fighter, the aircraft had a high-mounted wing which necessitated the use of a fuselage-mounted short and light landing gear.

From this point on, the F-8Qs lost their raison d’être, since the Argentinian air force already had, with the Mirage III and IAI Nesher/Dagger, capable and less costly land-based interceptors available. Due to lack of spares and funds, the remaining Argentinian Crusaders (after several accidents, only eight F-8Qs were still in service and only five of them actually operational) were in 1988 transferred to Villa Reynolds air base in Western Central Argentina, grounded and stored in the open, where they quickly deteriorated. Eventually, all F-8Qs were scrapped in the early Nineties. Only one specimen survived and has been preserved in its original Gull Grey/White livery as a gate guard at the Naval Aviation Command headquarters at Comandante Espora Airport, Bahía Blanca.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 54 ft 3 in (16.54 m)

Wingspan: 35 ft 8 in (10.87 m)

Height: 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m)

Wing area: 375 sq ft (34.8 m²)

Aspect ratio: 3.4

Airfoil: root: NACA 65A006 mod;

tip: NACA 65A005 mod

Zero-lift drag coefficient: CD0.0133

Drag area: 5.0 sq ft (0.46 m²)

Empty weight: 17,541 lb (7,956 kg)

Gross weight: 29,000 lb (13,154 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 34,000 lb (15,422 kg)

Fuel capacity: 1,325 US gal (1,103.3 imp gal; 5,015.7 L)

Powerplant:

1× Pratt & Whitney J57-P-20A afterburning turbojet engine

with 10,700 lbf (48 kN) dry thrust and 18,000 lbf (80 kN) with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,066 kn (1,227 mph, 1,974 km/h) at 36,000 ft (10,973 m)

Maximum speed: Mach 1.86

Cruise speed: 495 kn (570 mph, 917 km/h)

Combat range: 394 nmi (453 mi, 730 km)

Ferry range: 1,507 nmi (1,734 mi, 2,791 km) with external fuel

Service ceiling: 58,000 ft (18,000 m)

Rate of climb: 19,000 ft/min (97 m/s)

Lift-to-drag: 12.8

Wing loading: 77.3 lb/sq ft (377 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.62

Armament:

4× 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannons in lower fuselage, 125 RPG

2× side fuselage mounted Y-pylons for up to four AIM-9 Sidewinders and/or Zuni rockets

2× underwing pylon stations with a capacity of 4,000 lb (2,000 kg)

The kit and its assembly:

This relatively simple build was triggered by the “In the navy” group build at whatifmodelers.com in April/May 2020, even though I started it too late for the deadline.

After having recently read a lot of stuff about the Falklands/Malvinas conflict, I wondered if Argentina could not have procured a dedicated fighter for its single carrier – and the F-8 from US surplus stocks was a perfect candidate for the potential timeframe of the Seventies, when the type was retired from USN/USMC service or, in part, modernized and/or put up for sale, like the machines for the Philippines. The only real-world problem would have been the weight: the F-8E weighed up to 15 tons, while the Super Étendard, which was reportedly already hard to launch from Veinticinco de Mayo, had a MTOW of “only” 12 tons. Not certain if the F-8’s afterburner engine and the wings’ raised angle of incidence would have been enough to launch a Crusader? Well, it’s whifworld, after all. 😉

The basis is the Hasegawa F-8E, a kit that I had originally stashed away as a donor for a different project.

The model was built mostly OOB, I just sanded the dorsal avionics hump away and gave the machine a pair of drop tanks under the wings (from an A-4) – a rather unusual sight on a Crusader, and it looks even more weird with the wings in the raised position! The Sidewinders, relatively simple pieces, too, were taken OOB, since they look very much like early AIM-9Bs.

The kit goes together well, but it is a simple affair and you see the mold’s age. You get raised (though fine) panel lines, a rather simple cockpit tub with flat dashboards (for decals), a clumsy seat and no cockpit back wall at all. Fit is basically O.K., but the windscreen refused to fit well, and the hatch turned out to be somewhat too narrow for the rear bulkhead you are supposed to glue into it. Furthermore, the fuselage halves, especially on the underside, have shallow shrink areas close to the seams, so that PSR is mandatory. I would, not call the kit my first choice for the F-8 (which would rather be the Academy kit), but you get the Hasegawa kit at reasonable prices, and I originally purchased it as a body donor bank.

Since the kit lacks a proper air intake duct, sanding the fuselage halves inside of the respective orifice is not easy - I used a soft acrylic putty and left the radome away until the job was done. Furthermore, I added a visual blocker inside of the intake, a piece of black foamed styrene under the cockpit tub - otherwise you have direct sight down the empty interior in a head-on view.

Further small additions are some blade antennae on the hull and on the fin, inspired by the Argentinian Skyhawks.

Painting and markings:

Again, I wanted a rather subtle, semi-authentic look. The most natural choice would certainly have been a Light Gull Grey/White livery like the A-4Qs, but for a twist and because I like the late French F-8Ps in their all-over dark grey livery, I settled upon something that resembles the French/Argentinian Super Étendards: a dark, bluish-grey upper surface with white undersides and the upper colors well wrapped around the wings’ leading edges.

Concerning the French grey tone there are many different opinions and recommendations – ranging from Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231, which is IMHO much too light) over Gunship Grey (FS 36118) to dark blue.

I settled for Humbrol 79 (Blue Grey) as basic tone, which is AFAIK Humbrol’s interpretation of the German RAL 7012 (Basaltgrau), a tone that is very close to the British Dark Sea Grey. The undersides, including the landing gear, were painted with acrylic semi-gloss white from a rattle can. This was done as the first step, with a masked low waterline. Then the grey was applied by brush, and also wrapped around the wings’ leading edges. In order to improve the camouflage effect from above, the pylons as well as the outer sides of the stabilizers under the tail were painted in blue grey, too.

The flags on the rudder as well as the on the stabilizers were painted with white and Humbrol 48 (Mediterranean Blue), too, just the sun emblems on the fin are decals. Since the F-8 has, unlike the A-4 or the Sue, all-mowing stabilizers, I decided to paint the whole tail surface in white and blue and not just the trailing edge. This looks quite bright, but it is IMHO a great detail that sets this whif really apart and shows some pride.

The afterburner fairing was painted with a mix of Humbrol 27002 and 27003 (Polished Aluminum and Steel Metallizer) and later treated with graphite for a burnt look.

After an overall black ink wash the upper surfaces were treated with dry-brushed post shading (Humbrol 106 and 156). The decals come primarily from an Academy Super Étendard, augmented by markings from various decals from an Airfix Falklands War kit set sheet (e.g. the sun icons for the fin flash).

The silver leading edges of the wings, stabilizers and the fin were created with decal sheet material. the same material in black was used for walkway markings.

Decals come primarily from an Acedemy Super Étendard sheet, the tactical code was modified. Only the sun icons on the fin flash had to be procured from a different source (an Airfix A-4 Skyhawk sheet). The stencils come from the Hasegawa OOB sheet.

Finally, the kit received an all-over coat of matt acrlyic varnish.

A Nikon D3 and Nikon 70-200mm lens are heavy!! - but I like the stability of it when shooting.

PHILIPPINE SEA (Oct. 13, 2022) An MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced), takes off from the flight deck aboard amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7). Tripoli operates in U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter Burghart)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 14, 2020) An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the “Archangels” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, Detachment 6, delivers cargo to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) as the ship conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11). Germantown, part of the America Amphibious Ready Group assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

PHILIPPINE SEA (March 7, 2016) - An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Warhawks of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 97 performs a flyby during an aerial change of command ceremony above USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Providing a ready force supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, Stennis is operating as part of the Great Green Fleet on a regularly scheduled 7th Fleet deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Tomas Compian/Released) 160307-N-MY174-030

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PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 26, 2020) Force Reconnaissance Marines with Command Element, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) fast-rope to the flight deck from a CH-53 E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter during a visit, board, search and seizure exercise aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42). Germantown, part of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, 31st MEU team, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serves as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

U.S. Soldiers wave to locals as they perform an independent, coordinated patrol through a village near Manbij, Syria, June 26, 2018. These patrols are done in coordination with Turkish Military forces on opposite sides of the demarcation line to ensure the safety and stability of the region. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy R. Koster)

Caught a glimpse of this while driving back home. Pulled over and set the camera on the back of the truck for stability. Colors and Fog are only brightened in lightroom. No Photoshop.

A U.S. soldier uses binoculars to look toward the demarcation line near a village outside Manbij, Syria, June 26, 2018. These patrols are done in coordination with Turkish military forces, who patrol on the opposite side of the line, to maintain the safety and security in the region since it was liberated from ISIS. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy R. Koster)

أخواننا في الشام ثابتون رغم الصعاب فالله الله بالدعاء لهم.

ربي انصرهم وعجل بفرجهم - آمين

مكان التقاط العمل : السعودية - أملج

Saudi Arabia- Umm Lijj

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