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+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Nakajima Ki-104 was a further development of the Ki-87; the latter was a Japanese high-altitude fighter-interceptor of World War II, a single seat, exhaust-driven turbo-supercharged engined, low-wing monoplane with a conventional undercarriage.
The Ki-87 was one of several designs of various manufacturers developed in response to American B-29 Superfortress raids on the Home Islands. The Ki-87 followed up on earlier research by Nakajima and the Technical Division of Imperial Army Headquarters into boosting a large radial engine with an exhaust-driven turbo-supercharger, which had begun in 1942, well before the B-29 raids began.
The efforts of the Technical Division of Imperial Army Headquarters eventually culminated into the high-performance, tandem-engine Tachikawa Ki-94-I, while the Ki-87 under the lead of Kunihiro Aoki was developed as a fall-back project, using less stringent requirements.
Nakajima started in July 1943 with the construction of three prototypes, to be completed between November 1944 and January 1945, and seven pre-production aircraft, to be delivered by April 1945.
The Technical Division of Imperial Army Headquarters made itself felt during the development of the Ki-87 prototype when they insisted upon placing the turbo-supercharger in the rear-fuselage, and from the sixth prototype the Nakajima fighter was to have that arrangement. Construction was further delayed due to problems with the electrical undercarriage and the turbo-supercharger itself. As a consequence, the first Ki-87 prototype was not completed until February 1945; it first flew in April, but only five test flights were completed.
A further variant, the Ki-87-II, powered by a 3,000 hp Nakajima Ha217 (Ha-46) engine and with the turbo-supercharger in the same position as the P-47 Thunderbolt. Due to the long development period of the Ki-87, several major structural changes were made, too, that eventually changed the aircraft so much that it received a new, separate kitai number and became the Ki-104.
Kunihiro Aoki's new design was approved by the Koku Hombu, and an order was placed for one static test airframe, three prototypes, and eighteen pre-production aircraft. Only 2 prototypes were built in the event; the first was equipped with a single 1,895 kW (2,541 hp) Nakajima Ha219 [Ha-44] engine, driving a 4-blade, but the second one received the stronger Nakajima Ha217 (Ha-46) and a 6-blade propeller.
The pre-production machines (Ki-104-I or -Tei) were all produced with Ha217 engines, but featured various four-bladed propeller (-a, -b) designs as well as the new 6-blade propeller (-c). Compared to the prototypes, armament was beefed up from a pair of 20mm Ho-5 and a pair of 30mm Ho-155-I cannons in the wings to four of the new, more compact Ho-155-II cannons (originally designed for the unsuccessful Ki-102 assault aircraft and optimized for wing installation).
All pre-production Ki-104-Is were allocated to an independent IJA Headquarter Flight where they were tested alongside established fighters in the defence of the Tokyo region. Based on this 3rd Independent Flight's unit marking, a completely black tail with the unit's emblem, the Ki-104s were inofficially called Ic '黒の尾'/'Kurono-'o, which literally means "Black Tail".
The first operational Ki-104s reached this unit in spring 1945 and saw limited use against the incoming streams of B-29 bombers (2 unconfirmed downings in the Tokyo region). After these initial contacts that left a serious impression the new type received the USAF code name "Cooper", but the hostilities' soon end however stopped any further work and serial production. No Ki-104 survived the war.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 14 m (45 ft 11 in)
Height: 4.65 m (15 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 28 m² (301.388 ft²)
Airfoil: Tatsuo Hasegawa airfoil
Empty weight: 4,637 kg (10,337 lb)
Loaded weight: 6.450 kg (14.220 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Nakajima Ha219 [Ha-44-12] 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 1,835 kW (2,461 hp)
Performance
Maximum speed: 712 km/h (385 kn, 443 mph)
Cruise speed: 440 km/h (237 kn, 273 mph)
Range: 2,100 km (1,305 mi)
Service ceiling: 14,680 m (48,170 ft)
Wing loading: 230.4 kg/m² (47.2 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.28 kW/kg (0.17 hp/lb)
Climb to 5,000 m (16,400 ft): 5 min 9 sec;
Climb to 10,000 m (32,800 ft): 17 min 38 sec;
Climb to 13,000 m (42,640 ft): 21 min 03 sec
Armament
4× 30 mm (1.18 in) Ho-155-II cannons in the wings
Underwing hardpoints and centerline pylon for up to 3× 250 kg (551 lb) bombs
or a single 300l drop tank under the fuselage
The kit and its assembly:
This whif is the result of many ideas and occasions. First of all, I had a leftover six-blade propeller from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden in stock. Then I recently had an eye on kits of late Japanese high altitude fighters with turbosuperchargers, like the Ki-91-II or the Ki-106. These are available from RS Models, but rare and rather costly. And I wondered how a P-47 might look like without its deep belly? All this was finally thrown into a big idea stew, and the Ki-104 is the home-made hardware result!
As a side note: the Ki-104 was a real IJA project, AFAIK based/related to the Tachikawa Ki-94-I twin-boom/push-pull high altitude fighter, a re-worked, more conventional design. Information is sparese and it never reached any hardware stage and remained a paper project as the Rikugun Kogiken Ki-104; I just "revived" the number for my whif, but maybe the real Ki-104 could have looked like it... ;-)
The kit is a bashing of various parts and pieces:
- Fuselage and wing roots from an Academy P-47-25
- Wings from an Ark Model Supermarine Attacker (ex Novo)
- Tail fin is a modified part of a Matchbox Ju 188 stabilizer
- The stabilizers are outer sections from a Matchbox Douglas F3D Skyknight
- Cowling comes from an ART Model Grumman F8F Bearcat, the engine was scratched
- Propeller from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Matchbox F6F Hellcat
My choice fell onto the Academy Thunderbolt because it has engraved panel lines, offers the bubble canopy as well as good fit and detail. The belly duct had simply been sliced off, and the opening later faired over with styrene sheet and putty.
The Bearcat cowling was chosen because it had very good fitting width in order to match with the P-47 fuselage, and it turned out to be a very good choice - even though I had to add a dorsal connection, a simple styrene wedge, to create a good profile.
Inside, the engine consists of a reversed Hobby Boss F6F engine, with a fan dummy that covers any view on non-existent interior details... A styrene tube was added, into which a metal axis can be inserted. The latter holds the propeller, so that it can spin with little hindrance.
The Attacker wings were chosen because of their "modern" laminar profile - the Novo kit is horrible, but acceptable for donations. And the risen panel lines and rivets should later do great work during the weathering process... OOB, the Attacker wings had too little span for the big P-47, so I decided to mount the Thunderbolt's OOB wings and cut them at a suitable point: maybe 0.5", just where the large wheel fairings for the main landing gear ends.
The intersection with the Attacker wings is almost perfect in depth and width, relatively little putty work was necessary. I just had to cut out new landing gear well parts.
With the new wing shape, the tail surfaces had to be changed accordingly, with parts from a Matchbox Skyknight and a highly modified piece from a Matchbox Ju 188 stabilizer.
The OOB cockpit and landing gear was retained, I just replaced the main wheels with slightly more delicate alternatives from a Matchbox F6F Hellcat.
Once the basic bodywork was done I added the exhaust arrangement under the fuselage; the outlets are oil cooler parts from a Fw 190A, the air scoop once belonged to a Martin Marauder and the long ducts are actually HO scale roof rails. The oil cooler under the engine comes from a Hobby Boss La-7.
Pretty wild mix, but it works surprisingly well!
Painting and markings:
Even though this was supposed to become a late WWII IJA fighter, I did neither want the stereotype NMF look nor the classic green/grey livery or a respective mottled scheme. What I finally settled upon, though, took a long while to manifest, and it looks ...odd.
I wanted a camouflage scheme, but none of the more exotic real world options was fine for me; there had been fighters with black upper surfaces, bright blue ones, or blue mottle on top of NMF. But all this did not convince me, and I eventually created an experimental scheme. And the paint was supposed to look heavily worn, as if the paint had been applied directly onto the bare metal, without primer, so that it chips and flakes off easily.
The tones were supposed to be suitable for high altitudes, but not the classic IJA colors - nothing even close. eventuelly I came up with an all-around turquoise green (ModelMaster Fulcrum Grey Green) plus a pale grey-green (ModelMaster RAF Dark Slate Grey) as contrast for the upper sides. Sick combination, yes, esp. with the Aluminum shining through, which was applied first as a kind of acrylic primer. The camouflage paint was carefully brushed on top of that, with panel-wise strokes from back to front. Tedious, but effective.
The black tail was applied similarly, it is a free interpretation of real IJA markings; for instance, the 244th Sentai arcraft bore all-red tail sections. Black is an uncommon color, but since I wanted to create fictional squadron markings, too, this was a suitable concept. And it looks cool and mysterious...
The cockpit interior was painted with Aodake Iro (Modelmaster), the section behind the pilot's seat and where the sliding canopy moves on the outside, were painted with IJA Dark Green - just an odd idea. In front of the cockpit a black anti glare panel was added. The landing gear and the respective wells were painted with Steel Metallizer (just to set them apart from the lighter Aluminum all around). The propeller was painted in reddish brown tones, the spinner in Humbrol 160 and the blades in 173.
After this basic painting the kit received a black ink wash, and decals were applied. These were taken from various aftermarket sheets, including generic, white and yellow sheet for the Home Defence markings on wings and fuselage, the white fuselage trim or the yellow ID markings on the wings' leading edges.
As next step the complete kit was carefully wet-sanded, primarily from front to back, so that more of the aluminum primer showed through, the decals (esp. the Hinomaru) were worn out and the camouflage paint on top lost some of its hard edges.
The sanding residues had to be cleaned away thoroughly (with a soft toothbrush and lots of water), and then, repairs, e .g. where the bare plastic came through, as well as extra effects with dry-painted, lighter camouflage tones were done. Final cosmetics also include oil and dirt stains with Tamiya"Smoke", also applied by brush.
Once everything was dry and clean (despite the kit's look), everything was sealed under a coat of varnish - a 3:1 mix of matt and gloss Revell Acrylics.
A complex and lengthy painting process, but I think the effort paid out because the procedure mimicks the structure and look of a worn paint job instead of trying to look like it when you paint a cammo scheme and add metal effects "on top". This works for small chips, but not for the flaked look I had been looking for.
The Ki-104 turned out to be a very conclusive kitbashing - I think that the P-47-with-Attacker-wings-and-new-cowling bears more potential, and I might try it again, e. g. for a naval Thunderbolt development?
It has the appearance of a three-wheeler, but the two rear wheels are placed very close together – the track width is no more than 33.5 cm.
Both rear wheels share the same brake. The total length of the vehicle is 2.67 m. The electrically driven VLV (Voiture Légère de Ville – light town car) was manufactured by Peugeot during World War II because of the lack of fossil fuels, .
Peugeot built 377 of these two-seater vehicles between 1941 and 1945, many of which were used by the postal service. Its range is 80 km and it can reach a maxim
Louwman Museum
Den Haag - The Hague
Nederland - Netherlands
March 2013
Venice, Italy.
Notice the iron bars which have been used to draw the wall into a more level,position. Venice is built on foundations of wooden piers driven into mud, not an ideal structural support.
Fitted with a flight test-probe and now painted in her new overall grey colour scheme with black Royal Navy titles, code letter and serial number, development Leonardo Merlin Mk.4 ZJ122/F caught about to land back at the former Agusta-Westland's Yeovil Airfield in Somerset.
Changes incorporated into the upgrades are a folding rotor head and tail rotor, strengthened landing gear, deck lashing points, and a fast roping point for the Royal Marines
Note also that unlike their original - now HM.2 Navy counterparts, instead of those single main wheels, these ex RAF machines have the dual wheels all round and no underbelly radar.
IMG_7550
February 28, 2018 - Pacific white sided Dolphins Transfer – Taiji, Japan
Taiji: Day 10 of the ordeal for the Pacific white sided dolphins. The day started out well when the banger boats did not go out. However, scenes from the past 9 days began to repeat themselves. Cove Monitors documented 2 Pacific white sided dolphins captured just yesterday, wrestled into slings, driven across the harbor only to be lifted by a crane, placed in a box in the back of a truck and driven to, we believe, the Whale Museum. 7 other dolphins were manhandled into slings and taken to the sea pens in Moriura bay. At least 2 dolphins were left behind in a harbor pen and 1 is unaccounted for. Cove Monitors were hopeful that tarps and banger poles would be removed today but the hunters had unfinished business. We noticed skiffs full of divers head out to the fishing nets. Those fishing nets are placed by non dolphin hunting fishermen but have become yet another tool for the hunters in their relentless pursuit of dolphins. There were 4 more dolphins encircled in the nets. During yet another bloody and brutal capture, 3 more dolphins were taken from within the nets. One dolphin escaped the nets and was seen outside the nets as its pod mates were captured. A total of 6 Pacific white sided dolphins have been found, alive, trapped within the nets over the past 10 days. While Cove Monitors are hopeful that today was the last day of the brutal and bloody drive hunt season, we will return tomorrow morning and report as usual. We hope to see the tools of destruction put away for another 6 months. The day will come when they are put away forever.
Be a voice for the voiceless:
TAKE ACTION: dolphin.fyi/HelpJapanDolphins
Credit: DolphinProject.com
Laser installation as a promotional campaign and starting signal for the "Intensity.Driven.United.-Tour" by Aston Martin on Moosacher Str. in Munich from half-time of the opening match of the European Football Championship in Munich (Germany : Scotland).
One of the most powerful show lasers, which can shine up to 30 km into the night sky in clear weather, gets stuck here on the low cloud cover.
The laser is harmless and switches off automatically when flying objects approach.
===
Laser Installation als Werbeaktion und Startschuss zur „Intensity.Driven.United.-Tour.“ von Aston Martin in der Moosacher Str. in München ab der Halbzeitpause zum Eröffnungsspiel der Fußball-EM in München (Deutschland : Schottland).
Einer der stärksten Show-Laser, der bei klarem Wetter bis zu 30 km in den Nachthimmel strahlen kann, bleibt hier allerdings an der niedrigen Wolkendecke hängen.
Der Laser ist harmlos und schaltet sich bei Annäherung von Flugobjekten automatisch ab.
www.tz.de/muenchen/stadt/hat-fussball-em-was-es-mit-dem-g...
www.bild.de/regional/muenchen/waehrend-em-eroeffnungsspie...
Alice Gast, President, Imperial College London, United Kingdom speaking during the Session: Data-Driven Decision-Making with Imperial College London at the Annual Meeting 2017 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 18, 2017
Copyright by World Economic Forum / Sikarin Thanachaiary
"Steps lead to Hog's Hall where there is a collection of leather fire buckets and early pully-operated and later battery-driven bells." - info from the Burghley House mini guide.
"Burghley House is a grand sixteenth-century English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire. It is a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, built and still lived in by the Cecil family. The exterior largely retains its Elizabethan appearance, but most of the interiors date from remodellings before 1800. The house is open to the public and displays a circuit of grand and richly furnished state apartments. Its park was laid out by Capability Brown.
The house is on the boundary of the civil parishes of Barnack and St Martin's Without in the Peterborough unitary authority of Cambridgeshire. It was formerly part of the Soke of Peterborough, an historic area that was traditionally associated with Northamptonshire. It lies 0.9 miles (1.4 km) south of Stamford and 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Peterborough city centre.
The house is now run by the Burghley House Preservation Trust, which is controlled by the Cecil family.
Burghley was built for Sir William Cecil, later 1st Baron Burghley, who was Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I of England, between 1555 and 1587, and modelled on the privy lodgings of Richmond Palace. It was subsequently the residence of his descendants, the Earls, and since 1801, the Marquesses of Exeter. Since 1961, it has been owned by a charitable trust established by the family.
Lady Victoria Leatham, antiques expert and television personality, followed her father, Olympic gold-medal winning athlete, IAAF President and MP, David Cecil, the 6th Marquess, by running the house from 1982 to 2007. The Olympic corridor commemorates her father. Her daughter, Miranda Rock, is now the most active live-in trustee. However, the Marquessate passed it in 1988 to Victoria's uncle, Martin Cecil, 7th Marquess of Exeter, and then to his son, William Michael Anthony Cecil, both Canadian ranchers on land originally bought by the 5th Marquess, who have not lived at Burghley.
The house is one of the main examples of stonemasonry and proportion in sixteenth-century English Elizabethan architecture, reflecting the prominence of its founder, and the lucrative wool trade of the Cecil estates. It has a suite of rooms remodelled in the baroque style, with carvings by Grinling Gibbons. The main part of the house has 35 major rooms, on the ground and first floors. There are more than 80 lesser rooms and numerous halls, corridors, bathrooms, and service areas.
In the seventeenth century, the open loggias around the ground floor were enclosed. Although the house was built in the floor plan shape of the Letter E, in honour of Queen Elizabeth, it is now missing its north-west wing. During the period of the 9th Earl's ownership, and under the guidance of the famous landscape architect, Capability Brown, the south front was raised to alter the roof line, and the north-west wing was demolished to allow better views of the new parkland. A chimney-piece after the design of Venetian printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi was also added during his tenure.
The so-called "Hell Staircase" and its neighbour "The Heaven Room" has substantial ceiling paintings by Antonio Verrio, between 1697 and 1699. The walls to the "Hell Staircase" are by Thomas Stothard, who completed the work about a century later. The Bow Room is decorated with wall and ceiling paintings by Louis Laguerre." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
Pictured is a 1995 Jordan-Peugeot 195 Grand Prix Car.
This particular car is Chassis 4 and was driven by Rubens Barrichello in fifteen of the season's seventeen Grands Prix, a sister car being driven by Eddie Irvine.
After two seasons using V10 engines provided by Brian Hart's small Essex-based manufacturing company Jordan became a fully-fledged works team for 1995, taking over the Peugeot engine contract that had been terminated early by McLaren at the end of 1994.
Jordan had enjoyed a stellar 1994 season that saw the team collect both their first podium finish and Pole Position (both courtesy of Barrichello) ending the year fifth overall with their highest points tally for a season to date.
With a history of punching above their weight on limited resources much was expected of Eddie Jordan's team heading into 1995 but the season would prove to be something of an anti-climax, scoring fewer points and dropping a position in the overall standings.
Chassis 4 first appeared at the third round of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, but retired from the race with a gearbox failure.
The next race in Spain saw Barrichello bring the car home a lapped seventh before registering another retirement in the Monaco Grand Prix with a throttle issue.
The Canadian Grand Prix proved to be the highlight of the season for both car and team with Jordan enjoying its best ever race result to that date.
Barrichello qualified the car in ninth position, one place behind team-mate Eddie Irvine, and the two 195s were running in third and fourth positions when a rare technical glitch struck runaway race leader Michael Schumacher's Benetton.
The German returned to the pits for a lengthy pit stop to remedy the problem and the two Jordans dutifully gained a position each, staying there until the end to clinch a double podium for Jordan with Barrichello second and Irvine third.
Chassis 4 would only score points on three further occasions.
The following race in France saw Barrichello finish a lapped sixth to clinch a solitary point before an eventful British Grand Prix two weeks later.
Whilst running fifth on the penultimate lap behind the McLaren of Mark Blundell, Barrichello attempted to overtake the Englishman ahead. The ensuing contact saw Barrichello lose both front wheels and end his race spectacularly in the gravel trap, eventually being classified eleventh.
Barrichello retired from the German Grand Prix with engine failure, finished out of the points in seventh in Hungary, took a point for sixth in Belgium before suffering another retirement in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, this time a hydraulicss problem.
An anonymous race in Portugal followed with the car coming home a lapped eleventh before a better race at the Nurburgring saw Barrichello claim a surprise fourth position in a wet-dry race. That would prove to be the final points finish for Chassis 4.
Three retirements rounded out Barrichello's season. The Brazilian suffered an engine failure in the Pacific Grand Prix at Aida, spun out on a damp track in Japan one week later before crashing out of the season-ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.
Barrichello ended the season eleventh overall in the standings, one place ahead of team-mate Irvine, with Jordan dropping to sixth overall in the constructors standings.
Pictured in February 2025 at Race Retro, Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.
took legohaulic's design and reconstructed just about everything, i think the doors are the only thing i kept the same, its longer, taller, and i had to change the suspension a little. but i like the outcome.
The Ford Fiesta RS WRC driven by Erik van Loon and Harmen Scholtalbers during the Tank S Rally.
The car arrived on thursday, the day before the start of the rally. They didn't had the time to test the car. What Erik said about the car: "The Fiesta is slower on the long straights but the cornering and the handling is so much better then the Focus WRC I drove before. Only the speed into the corner is slower if you compare it with the Focus. But I can solve that by changing my driving style"
More photos of this rally on Facebook.
Especially when rain was in the area. Some streets in downtown Charleston became impassable in low cars (or even trucks!) when it rained.
1983 URD C83 BMW M1, driven by Jørgen Strøjer in the "Le Mans & Prototypes" exhibition class of the 2014 CRAA (Classic Race Aarhus)
A "danish" classic, driven by Jens Winther (DK), David Mercer (GB) and Lars-Viggo Jensen (DK) in the 1986 Le Mans, taking an 11th place. It was the first time a danish driver finished the race. Now owned by Strøjer Samlingen (the Strøjer Collection)
Dress and Jacket are sold separate!
Available on Marketplace:
Inworld: No!Saint & G-StyleZ Store (10% Group Discount, free join)
Dress includes
- Dress
- String Addon
- 12 Color HUD
Jacket includes
- Jacket
- 12 Color HUD, 8 Metals, 2 Patterns
True Second Life Advertise, NO AI / KI Filter!
Sizes:
~Reborn + Juicy Boobs
~Legacy + Perky + Nerido
~Kupra
~Gen.X Curvy & Dainty + Classic & Dainty
~Lara X + Petite
~Maitreya + Petite V5.3
~Erika + Bubble
~Peach
Please always try a DEMO before buying!
Crafted by Ettore Bugatti, the Type 41 is said to have come about because he took exception to the comments of an English lady who compared his cars unfavourably with those of Rolls-Royce.The prototype had a near 15-litre capacity engine. The production version, its stroke reduced from 150 mm (5.9 in) to 130 mm (5.1 in) had a displacement of 12.7 litres.[3] The engine was built around a single huge block, and at (apx. 4.5 ft (1.4 m) long x 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high), is one of the largest automobile engines ever made, producing 205 to 223 kW (275 to 300 hp). Its eight cylinders, bored to 125 mm (4.9 in) and with a stroke length of 130 mm (5.1 in), each displaced more than the entire engine of the contemporary Type 40 touring car. It had 3 valves per cylinder (two inlet:one exhaust) driven by a centrally positioned single overhead camshaft. Three bearings and only a single custom carburettor was needed. The engine was based on an aero-engine design that had been designed for the French Air Ministry, but never produced in that configuration.The chassis was understandably substantial, with a conventional semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension arrangement at the front. At the rear the forward-facing Bugatti quarter-elliptics were supplemented by a second set facing to the rear. Strangely, for the modern day observer, the aluminium clutch box was attached to the chassis, not to the engine, and the gear box, also in aluminium was attached to the rear axle, so was part of the unsprung mass of the suspension. The reason placing clutch and gearbox at such odd locations was reducing noise, so increasing comfort inside the cars, a difficult problem in those days. On the other hand, in view of the Royale's huge mass, placing the gearbox on the rear axle did not present a driveability problem. Massive brake shoes were mechanically operated via cable controls: the brakes were effective but without servo-assistance required significant muscle power from the driver. The car's cast "Roue Royale" wheels measured 610 mm (24 inches) in diameter. Reflecting some tradition-based fashions of the time, the driver was confronted by a series of knobs of whalebone, while the steering wheel was covered with walnut. A road test performed in 1926 by W.F. Bradley at the request of Ettore Bugatti for the Autocar magazine proved how exquisite chassis construction allowed very good and balanced handling at speed, similar to smaller Bugatti sports cars, despite the car's weight and size. All Royales were individually bodied. The radiator cap was a posed elephant, a sculpture by Ettore's brother Rembrandt Bugatti.
The good results achieved by the Lancia Aurelia B20 coupé on its competitive debut in 1951 came at a time of racing success for Lancia, which started the year with the class victory of the new Aurelia B21 in the Giro di Sicilia. The GT cars specially prepared for racing were equipped with the two-litre engine of the B21 with power increased from 75 to 90 HP, capable of a speed of 175 km/h.
The race chosen for the new car's debut was the 1951 Mille Miglia, in which Lancia competed with four virtually standard-production B20 GT 2000s. The car driven by Bracco/Maglioli finished a very encouraging 2nd overall behind Villoresi's Ferrari 4500, an excellent performance reinforced by the good finishes of the other three cars, in 5th, 7th and 17th positions. Commenting on the XVIII Mille Miglia in "Auto Italiana" magazine just after the event, the famous racing-driver, journalist and team leader Giovanni Lurani wrote: "If a fresh slogan had to be found to define every edition of the Mille Miglia, we would have to name the 1951 race the Lancia Aurelia Mille Miglia!"
In June 1951, Bracco's B20 won its class and finished twelfth overall in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Also in 1951, B20 cars won the Pescara "6 hours" and the Coppa delle Dolomiti.
The two litre B20 also repeated its racing success at the next year's Mille Miglia, with a third place overall and four cars finishing in the first ten: wonderful publicity, especially in view of how little was spent on preparing the cars, which earned the Aurelia the image of a production car so efficient and safe that it could even be used successfully in races.
1.991 cc
V6
90 PS @ 4.500 rpm
Vmax : 175 km/h
Techno Classica 2017
Essen
Deutschland - Germany
April 2017
The Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont y Borth or Pont Grog y Borth) is a suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the world's first major suspension bridge. The bridge still carries road traffic and is a Grade I listed structure.
The Menai Strait was created by glacial erosion along a line of weakness associated with the Menai Strait Fault System. During a series of Pleistocene glaciations (that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago), a succession of ice-sheets moved from northeast to southwest across Anglesey and neighbouring Gwynedd, scouring the underlying rock and creating a series of linear bedrock hollows. The deepest of these channels eventually became flooded by the sea as the ice sheets receded, forming the Menai Strait.
As Anglesey has been an island throughout recorded human history, the only way to reach it was by crossing the strait. However, this has always been a dangerous endeavour because there are four strong tidal flows each day generated by the twice daily tides. These flow in both directions through the strait, creating strong currents and whirlpools. Despite the dangers, ferries operated all along the Menai Strait, carrying passengers and goods between the island and the mainland. In 1785, a boat carrying 55 people ran aground at the southern end of the Menai Strait in a strong gale and began to sink. Before a rescue boat from Caernarfon could reach the stricken vessel it sank, and only one person survived.
Additionally, the main source of income on Anglesey was from the sale of cattle, and to move them to the markets of the mainland, including London, they had to be driven into the water and encouraged to swim across the Strait. This often resulted in the loss of valuable animals.
In 1800, Ireland joined Great Britain in the Act of Union. This led rapidly to an increase in people travelling between London and Holyhead en route to Dublin. In 1815, the British Parliament passed an Act to build the Holyhead Road with responsibility for the project given to civil engineer Thomas Telford. Despite some difficult geographical obstacles to overcome (e.g. Snowdonia and the Menai Strait), the route was chosen because Holyhead was the principal port for ferries to Dublin as it was the closest point to Ireland. After Telford had completed a survey of the route from London to Holyhead, he proposed that the best option was to build a bridge over the Menai Strait from a point near Bangor on the mainland to the village of Porthaethwy (now commonly known as Menai Bridge) on Anglesey.
The site for the bridge was chosen because it had tall banks that would be high enough to allow the passage of sailing ships to pass underneath. Telford proposed that a suspension bridge would be the best option because it would have a span wide enough to cross the fast flowing waters of the Strait at this point. His recommendation was accepted by Parliament.
Construction of the bridge, to Telford's design, began in 1819 with the towers on either side of the strait. These were constructed from Penmon limestone and were hollow with internal cross-walls. Then came the sixteen huge chain cables to support the 176-metre (577 ft) span, each consisting of five parallel bars of wrought iron links, for a total of 80 iron bars and 935 links per cable.
The chains were carried over the piers on cast iron saddles with rollers, allowing for movement caused by temperature changes.[6] Each chain measured 522.3 metres (1,714 ft) and weighed 121 long tons (123 t; 136 short tons). Their suspending power was calculated at 2,016 long tons (2,048 t; 2,258 short tons). To avoid rusting between manufacture and use, the iron was soaked in linseed oil and later painted. On both sides of the strait the chains were conveyed through three tunnels into a chamber cut into the rock, where they were held in place by 9 feet (2.7 m) bolts resting in cast iron sockets. William Hazledine was contracted to supply the necessary wrought and cast iron, and each chain had four adjusting links to compensate for differences in length caused by imperfections during the production of the large number of separate links.
Workmen assembled the majority of the chains link by link on-site. This was carried out on platforms near the tunnel mouths until the chains, supported by scaffolding, reached the tops of the piers. A cradle capable of carrying two workers was then suspended from each tower and links were lifted up and attached by the men in the cradles until the chains reached water level. The final central portion of each chain was floated across on a 400 feet (120 m) raft and lifted via a system of pulleys by 150 men.
The bridge was opened to much fanfare on 30 January 1826. It reduced the 36-hour journey time from London to Holyhead by 9 hours.
The roadway was only 24 feet (7.3 m) wide and, without stiffening trusses, soon proved highly unstable in the wind. The deck of the Menai Bridge was strengthened in 1840 by W. A. Provis and, in 1893, the entire wooden surface was replaced with a steel deck designed by Sir Benjamin Baker.[10] Over the years, the 4½-ton weight limit proved problematic for the increasing freight industry and in 1938 the original wrought iron chains were replaced by a new arrangement of steel ones, without the need to close the bridge. In 1999, the bridge was closed for around a month to resurface the road and strengthen the structure, requiring all traffic to cross via the nearby Britannia Bridge.
On 28 February 2005, one carriageway of the bridge was closed for six months, restricting traffic to a single carriageway. The bridge was reopened to traffic in both directions on 11 December 2005 after its first major repainting in 65 years.[11] It has been proposed by the British government as a candidate World Heritage Site.
Operation Menai Bridge is the code name for plans related to the death of King Charles III.
On 21 October 2022, the bridge was shut without prior notice. A statement from the Welsh Government said it was closed for essential maintenance work following safety recommendations from structural engineers. Initially, the bridge was shut completely in both directions, but it was soon reopened to foot passengers and dismounted cyclists. The Welsh Government stated the bridge will remain closed for 14 to 16 weeks, reopening in early 2023.
On 1st February 2023 the bridge was reopened in both directions, but subject to a seven and a half ton weight restriction. A date for full remedial work has yet to be set.
The Anglesey Coastal Path passes below the bridge and the Wales coast path passes over the bridge and joins the mainland path at the bridge end.. The bridge has a memorial to the Aberfan disaster victims on the Anglesey side.
The nearest settlement is the town of Menai Bridge. A representation of the Menai Bridge inside a border of railings and stanchions is featured on the reverse of British one-pound coins minted in 2005.
The Menai Strait is a strait which separates the island of Anglesey from Gwynedd, on the mainland of Wales. It is situated between Caernarfon Bay in the south-west and Conwy Bay in the north-east, which are both inlets of the Irish Sea. The strait is about 25 km (16 mi) long and varies in width from 400 metres (1,300 ft) between Fort Belan and Abermenai Point to 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) between Puffin Island (Ynys Seiriol) and Penmaenmawr. It contains several islands, including Church Island (Ynys Tysilio), on which is located St Tysilio's Church.
The strait is bridged by the Menai Suspension Bridge (Pont Grog y Borth), which was completed in 1826 to a design by Thomas Telford and carries the A5 road, and the Britannia Bridge (Pont Britannia) a truss arch bridge which carries the North Wales Main Line and the A55 road; it is an adaptation of a tubular railway bridge completed in 1850 to a design by Robert Stephenson, which was severely damaged by a fire in 1970.
The differential tides at the two ends of the strait cause very strong currents which create dangerous conditions. One of the most hazardous areas is the Swellies (Pwll Ceris), between the two bridges, where rocks near the surface cause over-falls and local whirlpools. This was the site of the loss of the training ship HMS Conway in 1953. Entering the strait at the Caernarfon end is also hazardous because of the frequently shifting sand banks that make up Caernarfon bar.
The present day channel is a result of glacial erosion of the bedrock along a line of weakness associated with the Menai Strait Fault System. During a series of Pleistocene glaciations a succession of ice-sheets moved from northeast to southwest across Anglesey and neighbouring Gwynedd scouring the underlying rock; the grain of which also runs in the same direction. The result was a series of linear bedrock hollows across the region, the deepest of which was flooded by the sea as world ocean levels rose at the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 BC).
The name Menai comes from Welsh main-aw or main-wy, meaning "narrow water."
According to Heimskringla, the 11th century Norse-Gael ruler Echmarcach mac Ragnaill plundered in Wales with his friend, the Viking Guttorm Gunnhildsson. However they started quarreling over the plunder and fought a battle at the Menai Strait. Guttorm won the battle by praying to Saint Olaf and Echmarcach was killed.
In the 12th century, a later Viking raid and battle in the Menai Strait are recounted in the Orkneyinga Saga as playing an important role in the life of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney – the future Saint Magnus. He had a reputation for piety and gentleness. Refusing to fight in the raid on Anglesey, he stayed on board his ship, singing psalms. This incident is recounted at length in the 1973 novel Magnus by Orcadian author George Mackay Brown, and in the 1977 opera, The Martyrdom of St Magnus by Peter Maxwell Davies. The first of the opera's nine parts is called "The Battle of Menai Strait".
From the 1890s until 1963, the pleasure steamers of the Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Company would ply their main route from Liverpool and Llandudno along the Menai Strait, and around Anglesey. After the company's voluntary liquidation in 1962, P and A Campbell took over the services for a while. Now, every year for two weeks in the summer, the MV Balmoral undertakes a similar service. The most recent service appears to have been Feb-2021, since when the vessel has been taken to dry dock for essential repair work
The tidal effects observed along the banks of the strait can be confusing. A rising tide approaches from the south-west, causing the water in the strait to flow north-eastwards as the level rises. The tide also flows around Anglesey until, after a few hours, it starts to flow into the strait in a south-westerly direction from Beaumaris. By this time, the tidal flow from the Caernarfon end is weakening and the tide continues to rise in height but the direction of tidal flow is reversed. A similar sequence is seen in reverse on a falling tide. This means that slack water between the bridges tends to occur approximately one hour before high tide or low tide.
Theoretically it is possible to ford the strait in the Swellies at low water, spring tides when the depth may fall to less than 0.5 metres (1.6 ft). However, at these times a strong current of around 4.8 knots (8.9 km/h) is running, making the passage extremely difficult. Elsewhere in the strait the minimum depth is never less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) until the great sand flats at Lavan Sands are reached beyond Bangor.
The tides carry large quantities of fish, and the construction of fish weirs on both banks and on several of the islands, helped make the Strait an important source of fish for many centuries. Eight of the numerous Menai Strait fish weirs are now scheduled monuments.
Because the strait has such unusual tidal conditions, coupled with very low wave heights because of its sheltered position, it presents a unique and diverse benthic ecology.
The depth of the channel reaches 15 metres (49 ft) in places, and the current can exceed 7 knots (13 km/h). It is very rich in sponges.
The existence of this unique ecology was a major factor in the establishment of Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences at Menai Bridge, as well as its status as a special area of conservation with marine components. The waters are also a proposed Marine Nature Reserve.
The same unique ecology and geomorphology has let to a number of designations of SSSIs along the strait including Glannau Porthaethwy, the ivy–oak–ash woodland on the southern shore (Coedydd Afon Menai) and Lavan Sands (Welsh: Traeth Lafan). The banks of the Menai Straits are home to the critically endangered Menai Whitebeam. The plant is an extremely rare species of Sorbus only found in this part of North Wales. The population contains about 30 plants, and most of these are thought to be mature.
Much of the land on Anglesey at the eastern end of the strait is designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Opened in 1826, the Menai Bridge is a 417 metre long, 30 metre tall suspension bridge, and the first bridge to cross the Menai Strait. The bridge, designed by Thomas Telford, carries the A5, a road which connects the capital London to Holyhead on Holy Island. The bridge itself is grade one listed and a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Opened in 1850, the Britannia Bridge was built as a rail bridge connecting Anglesey to the mainland. The bridge, 461 metres long and 40 metres tall, carries the North Wales Coast Line connecting Holyhead to Crewe. Between 1970 and 1972, the bridge underwent a redesign in order to accommodate what would later become the A55, a dual carriageway connecting Chester to Holyhead. The bridge is grade two listed and is the more common crossing point out of the two bridges.
Since 2007, a Third Menai Crossing had been proposed by government to tackle congestion on the other two crossings. However, on 14 February 2023, the Welsh Government announced that the project would not go ahead, citing efforts to reduce car usage, its environmental impact and it being a "blot" on the landscape. Issues with financing the project was later stated by the government as another reason why the project could not proceed. Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change, later stated the crossing could be considered again as part of a wider review into the infrastructure of North Wales, rather than individually.
The Isle of Anglesey is a county off the north-west coast of Wales. It is named after the island of Anglesey, which makes up 94% of its area, but also includes Holy Island (Ynys Gybi) and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni. The county is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd.
The Isle of Anglesey is sparsely populated, with an area of 276 square miles (710 km2) and a population of 68,900. After Holyhead (12,103), the largest settlements are Llangefni (5,500) and Amlwch (3,967). The economy of the county is mostly based on agriculture, energy, and tourism, the latter especially on the coast. Holyhead is also a major ferry port for Dublin, Ireland. The county has the second-highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 57.2%, and is considered a heartland of the language.
The island of Anglesey, at 676 square kilometres (261 sq mi), is the largest in Wales and the Irish Sea, and the seventh largest in Britain. The northern and eastern coasts of the island are rugged, and the southern and western coasts are generally gentler; the interior is gently undulating. In the north of the island is Llyn Alaw, a reservoir with an area of 1.4 square miles (4 km2). Holy Island has a similar landscape, with a rugged north and west coast and beaches to the east and south. The county is surrounded by smaller islands; several, including South Stack and Puffin Island, are home to seabird colonies. Large parts of the county's coastline have been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The county has many prehistoric monuments, such as Bryn Celli Ddu burial chamber. In the Middle Ages the area was part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and native Principality of Wales, and the ruling House of Aberffraw maintained courts (Welsh: llysoedd) at Aberffraw and Rhosyr. After Edward I's conquest of Gwynedd he built the castle at Beaumaris, which forms part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. The Menai Strait to the mainland is spanned by the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826, and the Britannia Bridge, originally designed by Robert Stephenson in 1850.
The history of the settlement of the local people of Anglesey starts in the Mesolithic period. Anglesey and the UK were uninhabitable until after the previous ice age. It was not until 12,000 years ago that the island of Great Britain became hospitable. The oldest excavated sites on Anglesey include Trwyn Du (Welsh: Black nose) at Aberffraw. The Mesolithic site located at Aberffraw Bay (Porth Terfyn) was buried underneath a Bronze Age 'kerb cairn' which was constructed c. 2,000 BC. The bowl barrow (kerb cairn) covered a material deposited from the early Mesolithic period; the archeological find dates to 7,000 BC. After millennia of hunter-gather civilisation in the British Isles, the first villages were constructed from 4000 BC. Neolithic settlements were built in the form of long houses, on Anglesey is one of the first villages in Wales, it was built at Llanfaethlu. Also an example permanent settlement on Anglesey is of a Bronze Age built burial mound, Bryn Celli Ddu (English: Dark Grove Hill). The mound started as a henge enclosure around 3000 BC and was adapted several times over a millennium.
There are numerous megalithic monuments and menhirs in the county, testifying to the presence of humans in prehistory. Plas Newydd is near one of 28 cromlechs that remain on uplands overlooking the sea. The Welsh Triads claim that the island of Anglesey was once part of the mainland.
After the Neolithic age, the Bronze Age began (c. 2200 BC – 800 BC). Some sites were continually used for thousands of years from original henge enclosures, then during the Iron Age, and also some of these sites were later adapted by Celts into hillforts and finally were in use during the Roman period (c. 100 AD) as roundhouses. Castell Bryn Gwyn (English: White hill castle, also called Bryn Beddau, or the "hill of graves") near Llanidan, Anglesey is an example of a Neolithic site that became a hillfort that was used until the Roman period by the Ordovices, the local tribe who were defeated in battle by a Roman legion (c. 78 AD). Bronze Age monuments were also built throughout the British Isles. During this period, the Mynydd Bach cairn in South-west Anglesey was being used. It is a Beaker period prehistoric funerary monument.
During the Iron Age the Celts built dwellings huts, also known as roundhouses. These were established near the previous settlements. Some huts with walled enclosures were discovered on the banks of the river (Welsh: afon) Gwna near. An example of a well-preserved hut circle is over the Cymyran Strait on Holy Island. The Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles (Welsh: Tŷ Mawr / Cytiau'r Gwyddelod, Big house / "Irishmen's Huts") were inhabited by ancient Celts and were first occupied before the Iron Age, c. 1000 BC. The Anglesey Iron Age began after 500 BC. Archeological research discovered limpet shells which were found from 200 BC on a wall at Tŷ Mawr and Roman-era pottery from the 3rd to 4th centuries AD. Some of these huts were still being used for agricultural purposes as late as the 6th century. The first excavation of Ty Mawr was conducted by William Owen Stanley of Penrhos, Anglesey (son of Baron Stanley of Alderley).
Historically, Anglesey has long been associated with the druids. The Roman conquest of Anglesey began in 60 CE when the Roman general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, determined to break the power of the druids, attacked the island using his amphibious Batavian contingent as a surprise vanguard assault and then destroyed the shrine and the nemeta (sacred groves). News of Boudica's revolt reached him just after his victory, causing him to withdraw his army before consolidating his conquest. The island was finally brought into the Roman Empire by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, in AD 78. During the Roman occupation, the area was notable for the mining of copper. The foundations of Caer Gybi, a fort in Holyhead, are Roman, and the present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll was originally a Roman road. The island was grouped by Ptolemy with Ireland ("Hibernia") rather than with Britain ("Albion").
After the Roman departure from Britain in the early 5th century, pirates from Ireland (Picts) colonised Anglesey and the nearby Llŷn Peninsula. In response to this, Cunedda ap Edern, a Gododdin warlord from Scotland, came to the area and began to drive the Irish out. This was continued by his son Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and grandson Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion; the last Irish invaders were finally defeated in battle in 470.
During the 9th century, King Rhodri Mawr unified Wales and separated the country into at least 3 provinces between his sons. He gave Gwynedd to his son, Anarawd ap Rhodri, who founded the medieval Welsh dynasty, The House of Aberffraw on Anglesey, also his other son Cadell founded House of Dinefwr in Deheubarth, and another son, Merfyn ruled Powys (where the House of Mathrafal emerged). The island had a good defensive position, and so Aberffraw became the site of the royal court (Welsh: Llys) of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Apart from devastating Danish raids in 853 and 968 in Aberffraw, it remained the capital until the 13th, after Rhodri Mawr had moved his family seat from Caernarfon and built a royal palace at Aberffraw in 873. This is when improvements to the English navy made the location indefensible. Anglesey was also briefly the most southerly possession of the Norwegian Empire.[citation needed]
After the Irish, the island was invaded by Vikings — some raids were noted in famous sagas (see Menai Strait History) such as the Jómsvíkinga— and by Saxons, and Normans, before falling to Edward I of England in the 13th century. The connection with the Vikings can be seen in the name of the island. In ancient times it was called "Maenige" and received the name "Ongulsey" or Angelsoen, from where the current name originates.
Anglesey (with Holy Island) is one of the 13 historic counties of Wales. In medieval times, before the conquest of Wales in 1283, Môn often had periods of temporary independence, when frequently bequeathed to the heirs of kings as a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd, an example of this was Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn I, the Great c. 1200s) who was styled the Prince of Aberffraw. After the Norman invasion of Wales was one of the last times this occurred a few years after 1171, after the death of Owain Gwynedd, when the island was inherited by Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, and between 1246 and about 1255 when it was granted to Owain Goch as his share of the kingdom. After the conquest of Wales by Edward I, Anglesey became a county under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284. Hitherto it had been divided into the cantrefi of Aberffraw, Rhosyr and Cemaes.
During 1294 as a rebellion of the former house of Aberffraw, Prince Madog ap Llywelyn had attacked King Edward I's castles in North Wales. As a direct response, Beaumaris Castle was constructed to control Edward's interests in Anglesey, however, by the 1320s the build was abandoned and never complete. The castle was besieged by Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century. It was ruinous by 1609, however, the 6th Viscount Bulkeley had purchased the castle from Crown the in 1807 and it has been open to the public under the guardianship of the Crown ever since 1925.
The Shire Hall in Llangefni was completed in 1899. During the First World War, the Presbyterian minister and celebrity preacher John Williams toured the island as part of an effort to recruit young men as volunteers. The island's location made it ideal for monitoring German U-Boats in the Irish Sea, with half a dozen airships based at Mona. German POWs were kept on the island. By the end of the war, some 1,000 of the island's men had died on active service.
In 1936 the NSPCC opened its first branch on Anglesey.
During the Second World War, Anglesey received Italian POWs. The island was designated a reception zone, and was home to evacuee children from Liverpool and Manchester.
In 1971, a 100,000 ton per annum aluminum smelter was opened by Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation and British Insulated Callender's Cables with Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation as a 30 per cent partner.
In 1974, Anglesey became a district of the new county of Gwynedd. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county and the five districts on 1 April 1996, and Anglesey became a separate unitary authority. In 2011, the Welsh Government appointed a panel of commissioners to administer the council, which meant the elected members were not in control. The commissioners remained until an election was held in May 2013, restoring an elected Council. Before the period of direct administration, there had been a majority of independent councillors. Though members did not generally divide along party lines, these were organised into five non-partisan groups on the council, containing a mix of party and independent candidates. The position has been similar since the election, although the Labour Party has formed a governing coalition with the independents.
Brand new council offices were built at Llangefni in the 1990s for the new Isle of Anglesey County Council.
Anglesey is a low-lying island with low hills spaced evenly over the north. The highest six are Holyhead Mountain, 220 metres (720 ft); Mynydd Bodafon, 178 metres (584 ft); Mynydd Llaneilian, 177 metres (581 ft); Mynydd y Garn, 170 metres (560 ft); Bwrdd Arthur, 164 metres (538 ft); and Mynydd Llwydiarth, 158 metres (518 ft). To the south and south-east, the island is divided from the Welsh mainland by the Menai Strait, which at its narrowest point is about 250 metres (270 yd) wide. In all other directions the island is surrounded by the Irish Sea. At 676 km2 (261 sq mi), it is the 52nd largest island of Europe and just five km2 (1.9 sq mi) smaller than the main island of Singapore.
There are a few natural lakes, mostly in the west, such as Llyn Llywenan, the largest on the island, Llyn Coron, and Cors Cerrig y Daran, but rivers are few and small. There are two large water supply reservoirs operated by Welsh Water. These are Llyn Alaw to the north of the island and Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island, which is fed by the headwaters of the Afon Cefni.
The climate is humid (though less so than neighbouring mountainous Gwynedd) and generally equable thanks to the Gulf Stream. The land is of variable quality and has probably lost some fertility. Anglesey has the northernmost olive grove in Europe and presumably in the world.
The coast of the Isle of Anglesey is more populous than the interior. The largest community is Holyhead, which is located on Holy Island and had a population of 12,103 at the 2021 United Kingdom census. It is followed by Amlwch (3,697), Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf (3,085), and Menai Bridge (3,046), all located on the coast of the island of Anglesey. The largest community in the interior of Anglesey is Llangefni (5,500), the county town; the next-largest is Llanfihangel Ysgeifiog (1,711).
Beaumaris (Welsh: Biwmares) in the east features Beaumaris Castle, built by Edward I during his Bastide campaign in North Wales. Beaumaris is a yachting centre, with boats moored in the bay or off Gallows Point. The village of Newborough (Welsh: Niwbwrch), in the south, created when townsfolk of Llanfaes were relocated for the building of Beaumaris Castle, includes the site of Llys Rhosyr, another court of medieval Welsh princes featuring one of the United Kingdom's oldest courtrooms. The centrally localted Llangefni is the island's administrative centre. The town of Menai Bridge (Welsh: Porthaethwy) in the south-east, expanded to accommodate workers and construction when the first bridge to the mainland was being built. Hitherto Porthaethwy had been one of the main ferry ports for the mainland. A short distance from the town lies Bryn Celli Ddu, a Stone Age burial mound.
Nearby is the village with the longest name in Europe, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, and Plas Newydd, ancestral home of the Marquesses of Anglesey. The town of Amlwch lies in the north-east of the island and was once largely industrialised, having grown in the 18th century to support a major copper-mining industry at Parys Mountain.
Other settlements include Cemaes, Pentraeth, Gaerwen, Dwyran, Bodedern, Malltraeth and Rhosneigr. The Anglesey Sea Zoo is a local attraction offering looks at local marine wildlife from common lobsters to congers. All fish and crustaceans on display are caught round the island and placed in habitat reconstructions. The zoo also breeds lobsters commercially for food and oysters for pearls, both from local stocks. Sea salt (Halen Môn, from local sea water) is produced in a facility nearby, having formerly been made at the Sea Zoo site.
Landmarks
Anglesey Motor Racing Circuit
Anglesey Sea Zoo near Dwyran
Bays and beaches – Benllech, Cemlyn, Red Wharf, and Rhosneigr
Beaumaris Castle and Gaol
Cribinau – tidal island with 13th-century church
Elin's Tower (Twr Elin) – RSPB reserve and the lighthouse at South Stack (Ynys Lawd) near Holyhead
King Arthur's seat – near Beaumaris
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, one of the longest place names in the world
Malltraeth – centre for bird life and home of wildlife artist Charles Tunnicliffe
Moelfre – fishing village
Parys Mountain – copper mine dating to the early Bronze Age
Penmon – priory and dovecote
Skerries Lighthouse – at the end of a low piece of submerged land, north-east of Holyhead
Stone Science Museum – privately run fossil museum near Pentraeth
Swtan longhouse and museum – owned by the National Trust and managed by the local community
Working windmill – Llanddeusant
Ynys Llanddwyn (Llanddwyn Island) – tidal island
St Cybi's Church Historic church in Holyhead
Born in Anglesey
Tony Adams – actor (Anglesey, 1940)
Stu Allan – radio and club DJ
John C. Clarke – U.S. state politician (Anglesey, 1831)
Grace Coddington – creative director for US Vogue (Anglesey, 1941)
Charles Allen Duval – artist and writer (Beaumaris, 1810)
Dawn French – actress, writer, comedian (Holyhead, 1957)
Huw Garmon – actor (Anglesey, 1966)
Hugh Griffith – Oscar-winning actor (Marianglas, 1912)
Elen Gwdman – poet (fl. 1609)
Meinir Gwilym – singer and songwriter (Llangristiolus, 1983)
Owain Gwynedd – royal prince (Anglesey, c. 1100)
Hywel Gwynfryn – radio and TV personality (Llangefni, 1942)
Aled Jones – singer and television presenter (Llandegfan, 1970)
John Jones – amateur astronomer (Bryngwyn Bach, Dwyran 1818 – Bangor 1898); a.k.a. Ioan Bryngwyn Bach and Y Seryddwr
William Jones – mathematician (Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd, 1675)
Julian Lewis Jones – actor, known for his portrayal of Karl Morris on the Sky 1 comedy Stella (Anglesey, 1968)
John Morris-Jones – grammarian and poet (Llandrygarn, 1864)
Edward Owen – 18th-century artist, notable for letters documenting life in London's art scene
Goronwy Owen – 18th-century poet (Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf, 1723)
Osian Roberts – association football player and manager (Bodffordd)
Tecwyn Roberts – NASA aerospace engineer and Director of Networks at Goddard Space Flight Center (Llanddaniel Fab, 1925)
Hugh Owen Thomas – pioneering orthopaedic surgeon (Anglesey, 1836)
Ifor Owen Thomas – operatic tenor, photographer and artist (Red Wharf Bay, 1892)
Sefnyn – medieval court poet
Owen Tudor – grandfather of Henry Tudor, married the widow of Henry V, which gave the Tudor family a claim on the English throne (Anglesey, c. 1400).
Kyffin Williams – landscape painter (Llangefni, 1918)
William Williams – recipient of the Victoria Cross (Amlwch, 1890)
Andy Whitfield – actor (Amlwch, 1971)
Gareth Williams – employee of Britain's GCHQ signals intelligence agency (Anglesey, 1978)
CHIditarod is Chicago's 100% volunteer-driven Epic Urban shopping cart race, charity food drive, costumed beauty pageant, talent show, fundraiser and chaos generator all in one. It's probably the world's largest mobile food drive, benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository and the CHIditarod Foundation.
We are having a fedeal election on Oct. 19 and they are trying to enthuse us any way they can. This is a Conservative candidate being driven around in a fake Auburn - kind of appropriate.
The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engined sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
The original version had a top speed of 407.12 km/h (252.97 mph). It was named Car of the Decade and best car award (2000–2009) by the BBC television programme Top Gear. The standard Bugatti Veyron also won Top Gear's Best Car Driven All Year award in 2005.
The current Super Sport version of the Veyron is recognized by Guinness World Records as the fastest street-legal production car in the world, with a top speed of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph), and the roadster Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse version is the fastest roadster in the world, reaching an averaged top speed of 408.84 km/h (254.04 mph) in a test on 6 April 2013.
Name origin
The Veyron EB 16.4 is named in honour of Pierre Veyron, a Bugatti development engineer, test driver and company race driver who, with co-driver Jean-Pierre Wimille, won the 1939 24 hours of Le Mans while driving a Bugatti. The "EB" refers to Bugatti founder Ettore Bugatti and the "16.4" refers to the engine's 16 cylinders and 4 turbochargers.
World record controversy
A controversy developed in 2013 over the Veyron Super Sport's status as the world’s fastest production car, ultimately resolved in the Veyron's favor.
In early April 2013, driving.co.uk (also known as Sunday Times Driving) began an investigation following claims from US car maker Hennessey that its 928 kW (1,244 bhp) Hennessey Venom GT was entitled to the Guinness World Record. With a recorded speed of 427.6 km/h (265.7 mph) the Hennessey was 3.4 km/h (2.1 mph) slower than the Veyron but Hennessey dismissed Bugatti’s official record saying that the Veyron Super Sport was restricted to 415 km/h (258 mph) in production form and that for it to achieve its record top speed of 431.0 km/h (267.8 mph), the car used was in a state of tune not available to customers. Hennessey said its Venom GT was road-ready and unmodified and was therefore a production car in the strict sense of the term.
Driving.co.uk requested clarification from Guinness World Records, which investigated this claim and found that the modification was against the official guidelines of the record. Upon finding this, Guinness World Records voided the Super Sport's record and announced it was "reviewing this category with expert external consultants to ensure our records fairly reflect achievements in this field."
After further review, Shelby SuperCars, the producers of the Ultimate Aero TT, said that they had reclaimed the record, however Guinness reinstated the Super Sport's record after coming to the conclusion that "a change to the speed limiter does not alter the fundamental design of the car or its engine."
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, World Record Edition (2010–)
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is a faster, more powerful version of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. Production is limited to thirty units. The Super Sport has increased engine power of 1,200 PS (880 kW; 1,200 bhp), a torque of 1,500 N·m (1,100 lbf·ft), and a revised aerodynamic package. The Super Sport has a 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph) top speed, making it the fastest production road car on the market although it is electronically limited to 415 km/h (258 mph) to protect the tyres from disintegrating.
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition is a version of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. It is limited to five units. It has an orange body detailing, and a special, black, exposed, carbon, body.
The vehicle was unveiled in 2010 at The Quail, followed by the 2010 Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca, and the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
[Text taken from Wikipedia]
This Lego MotorCity-scale 2010 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 88th Build Challenge, - "Let's go Break Some records", - for vehicles that set the bar (high or low) for any number of vehicles statistics or records. In the case of the Veyron Super Sport, the fastest road car in the world - 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph).
This is Nellie being driven by my father. Due to the lack of brakes a slow lap or two around the yard is all we can enjoy for now.
Driven by Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2001 Formula 1 season.
On display at the Haynes International Motor Museum, Sparkford, Somerset during December 2021.
Stumpf Lane - Liberty Township, OH. Bus was being driven down to the Petermann storage lot after retirement.
From my visits to the continent, the first generation Ypsilon seemed popular with both sexes, while this second generation was usually driven by women. Check out the cream alcantara material on the dash.
This example is from Vert-Saint-Denis in central northern France (77).
I photographed this "Turn of the Century Steam Driven Winch" at the 1990 Steam Weekend at the Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad Station in Hamburg, Pennsylvania on September 16, 1990. There is also a Tranter Vertical Steam Engine on the Right Side of my Photograph and one of the workers in the foreground. In the Left Background are at least two Reading Steam Locomotives..
Disclaimer: This photo was taken on September 16, 1990 with my Minolta Maxxim 5000 SLR using Print (Negative) Film when I was just learning photograph; so it is very soft & grainy. I scanned the Negative, used Photoshop Elements to correct the exposure and to generate a Digital Image.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background
After Mil Helicopters' Mi-28 combat helicopter did not find takers, the design bureau decided in the 2000s to take a huge development step forward and question the basic helicopter layout. The result was the Mil Mi-62 (NATO reporting name: Hepcat), a single-seat attack gyrodyne/compound helicopter: a VTOL aircraft with a helicopter-like rotor system that is driven by its engine for take-off and landing but basically relies on conventional means of propulsion to provide forward thrust during cruising flight. Lift during forward flight is provided by a combination of the rotor, like an autogyro, as well as conventional wings, even though these alone would not keep the aircraft in the air.
The Mi-62 featured a tip-jet-powered rotor that burned a mixture of fuel and compressed air, bled from two wing-root-mounted jet engines. The rotor was only driven during the start/landing phase and at low speed. The air for the rotor was produced by compressors driven through a clutch off the main engines, though, which was fed through ducting up to the rotor head. Two Progress AI-222-25 turbofans, each rated at 24.52 KN (5.512 lbf), provided thrust for translational flight while the rotor autorotated, enabling VTOL and STOL start with overload. The cockpit controls included a cyclic and collective pitch lever, as in a conventional helicopter.
Each engine supplied air for a pair of opposite rotor blades. The rotor blades were a symmetrical airfoil around a load-bearing spar. The airfoil was made of carbon fiber and light alloy because of center of gravity concerns. The compressed air was channeled through three tubes within the blade to tip-jet combustion chambers, where the compressed air was mixed with fuel and burned, driving the rotor. As a torque-less rotor system, no anti-torque correction system was required. Propeller pitch was controlled by the rudder pedals for low-speed yaw control. To support handling at low speed, bleed air from the main engines was also ducted to a control vent system in the tail.
Transition from helicopter to autogiro took place at around 60 mph by extinguishing the tip-jets, and at higher speeds up to half the lift was provided by the fixed wings. At high cruising speed, the Mi-62 almost behaved like a standard aircraft. Cruising speed was to be at about 500 km/h (312 mph), coupled with a range of up to 1400 km (870 ml).
Since the speed of the advancing rotor tip is a primary limitation to the maximum speed of a helicopter, this arrangement allowed a faster maximum speed than pure helicopters such as the Mi-24/35 or the AH-64. The elimination of the tail rotor is a qualitative advantage, too, because the torque-countering tail rotor can use up to 30% of engine power. Furthermore, the vulnerable boom and rear gearbox are fairly common causes of helicopter losses in combat. The Mi-62’s entire transmission presents a comparatively small target to ground fire, and is a rather simple/rigid arrangement with much less moving parts than a standard helicopter.
The Mi-62 was designed as an alternative to Kamov's successful Ka-50/52 program, and regarded as a heavier alternative. While the Ka-50 was designed to be small, fast and agile to improve survivability and lethality, the Mi-62 was to rely on speed, quick acceleration and decelleration as well as on good low altitude handling, coupled with sufficient protection against small caliber weapons. Since operation would be primarily at low level and using the landscape as cover, not much emphasis was put on stealth features, even though many passive protection elements like RAM were incorporated into the aircraft.
One of the program priorities was to enhance the helicopter's survivability. With this goal in mind, the configuration and systems' arrangement were chosen, assemblies designed, and structural materials tested, beyond the robust rotor propulsion system. The following measures to enhance pilot survivability were taken:
• Engines were placed on both sides of the airframe to prevent a single hit from destroying both engines
• The gyroplane could fly on a single engine in various modes – even with a damaged rotor a controlled landing glide was possible
• The cockpit was armored and screened with combined steel/aluminum armor and armored Plexiglas
• The hydraulic steering system compartment was armored and screened
• Vital units were screened by less important ones
• Self-sealing fuel tanks were filled with polyurethane foam
• Composites were used to preserve the helicopter's efficiency when its load-carrying elements are damaged
• A two-contour rotor-blade spar was developed, integrating the air ducts
• Control rod diameter was increased by positioning most of them inside the armored cockpit
• The powerplant and compartments adjacent to the fuel tanks were fire-protected
• The hydraulic system is capable of operating for 30 minutes if the oil system is damaged
• The power supply systems, control circuits etc. were made redundant and placed on opposite sides of the airframe
The armor consisted of spaced-aluminum plates with a total weight of more than 300 kg. The armor is fitted into the fuselage load-bearing structure, which reduces the total weight of the helicopter. GosNIIAS tests confirmed the pilot's protection up to 20mm caliber cannon rounds and shell fragments.
Another unique feature of the Mi-62 is the use of a rocket-parachute ejection system in case of an emergency. The helicopter emergency-escape system uses the K-37-800 ejection seat that was developed by the Zvezda Scientific Production Association (Chief Designer Guy Severin). The pilot's safety was also ensured by the undercarriage design. The undercarriage is capable of absorbing large loads in an emergency landing, and the cockpit has a crunch zone of up to 10-15% upon impact.
Basic armament consists of a twin-barreled Sh2A42 30-mm gun. The gun is mounted in a shallow turret which can rotate full 360° near the center of fuselage. It has 460 rounds of ammunition, firing high-fragmentation, explosive incendiary rounds and armor-piercing rounds.
The cannon has a dual-feed, which allows for a cyclic rate of fire between 300 to 900 RPM. Its effective range varies from 1500 meters for ground vehicles to 2,500 meters for air targets. Stated penetration for the 3UBR8 is 25 mm of RHA at 1,500 meters.
Beyond that, the aircraft carries a substantial load of weapons in six external hardpoints under the stub wings. An total of some 2.000 kg mixed ordnance, including AAMs, AGMs, gun and unguided rocket pods which include the S-13 and S-8 rockets, can be carried. Even unguided and guided (IR, optical, laser) bombs have been successfully tested, so that the Mi-62 could eventually replace early Su-25 combat aircraft in the CAS role. The "dumb" rocket pods can be upgraded to laser guided with the proposed Ugroza system.
The main armament against moving ground targets consists of up to sixteen laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles (transl. Vortex or whirlwind) with a maximum range of some 8 km. The laser guidance is reported to be virtually jam-proof and the system features automatic guidance to target, enabling evasive action immediately after missile launch.
Like the Ka-50, the Mil gyrodyne was from the outset to be operated by a single pilot only. Mil’s designers concluded after thorough research of helicopter combat in Afghanistan and other war zones that the typical attack mission phases of low-level approach, pop-up target acquisition and weapon launch would not simultaneously demand navigation, maneuvering and weapons operation of the pilot. Thus, with well-designed support automation, a single pilot was expected to carry out the entire mission alone.
During operational testing from 1995 to 1996 the workload on the pilot was found to be similar to that of a fighter-bomber pilot, and the pilot could perform both flying and navigation duties. Later flight tests of the Mi-62 prototypes proved that its handling was more like an aircraft with VTOL capabilities than a standard helicopter, so that jet pilots could master it with some training.
Initially the Mi-62 was to be have been fitted with the Merkury Low-Light TV (LLTV) system. Due to a lack of funding, the system was late and experienced reliability and capability issues. As a result, focus shifted to Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) systems, including the Shkval-N sighting system with an infrared sensor. Many versions were tried; on some the original "Shkval" was supplemented by a thermal imaging system, while others saw a complete replacement by the "Samshit" day-and-night system, which has become the final sensor standard, mounted in a chin sensor turret.
The fire control system automatically shares all target information among the four Mi-62 of a typical flight in real time, allowing one helicopter to engage a target spotted by another, and the system can also input target information from ground-based forward scouts with personnel-carried target designation gear.
The Mi-62 was, after a lengthy development and constant lack of funds, eventually adopted for service in the Russian army in 2015. It is currently manufactured by the new Russian Helicopters company that was founded in 2009 in Moscow, and built at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. It has been introduced to both Air Force (Mi-62 sans suffix, ‘Hepcat A’) and Naval Aviation (Mi-62K, ‘Hepcat B’) and is being used as a heavily armed attack helicopter against both ground and airborne targets.
The navalized Mi-62K derivative has been selected as the new ship-borne attack type for the Russian Naval Aviation (Aviatsiya Voenno-morskogo Flota Rossii). It will feature folding rotor blades and life-support systems for the crew, who will fly in immersion suits. The fuselage and systems will be given special anti-corrosion treatment and a new fire-control radar will be capable of operating in "Sea Mode" and of supporting anti-ship missiles. Aviatsiya Voenno-morskogo Flota Rossii will need no fewer than 20 Mi-62, which will be operated together with Ka-52Ks.
The first Mi-62K is tentatively slated to enter squadron service by late 2014 or early 2015, coinciding with the delivery of the first carrier of the new Mistral class amphibious assault ships, ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry. These small carriers will contain rotary-wing assets, formed into aviation groups, and each of these groups is planned to include eight attack and eight assault/transport helicopters.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length (fuselage only): 13,46 m (44 ft 1 in)
Rotor diameter: 15,40 m (50 ft 5 1/2 in)
Height: 4.60 m (15 ft 1 in)
Disc area: 186.3 m² (1.998 ft²)
Empty weight: 7,700 kg (17,000 lb)
Loaded weight: 9,800 kg / 10,400 kg (21,600 lb / 22,930 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 10,800 kg (23,810 lb)
Powerplant
2× Progress AI-222-25 turbofans, 24.52 KN (5.512 lbf) each plus
4× rotor tip jet burning compressed air/fuel, 4.4 kN (1,000 lbf) thrust each
Performance
Never exceed speed: 550 km/h (297 knots, 342 mph) in dive
Maximum speed: 515 km/h (278 knots, 320 mph) in level flight
Cruise speed: 370 km/h (200 knots, 230 mph)
Range: 545 km (339 ml)
Combat radius: 800 km (500 ml)
Ferry range: 1400 km (870 ml) with 4 drop tanks
Service ceiling: 5,500 m (18,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 10.7 m/s (2,105 ft/min)
Armament
1× turret-mounted, wtin-barreled 30 mm Shipunov Sh2A42 cannon (460 rounds total, dual feeding AP or HE-Frag) under the fuselage
6×wing hardpoints with a capacity of 2,000 kg and provisions to carry combinations of launch pods for 80 mm S-8 rockets or 122 mm S-13 rockets, APU-6 Missile racks or up to 20× 9K121 Vikhr anti-tank missiles, 6× Vympel R-73 (NATO: AA-11 Archer) air-to-air missiles, Kh-25 semi-active laser guided tactical air-to-ground missiles, 4× 250 kg (550 lb) bombs or 2x 500 kg (1,100 lb) bombs, plus 23 mm UPK-23-250 gun pods (240 rounds each) or 500 l (130 US gal) external fuel tanks.
Two compartments in the lower fuselage with flare and chaff countermeasure dispensers, typically 4× UV-26 dispensers each (total 512 chaff/flare cartridges in each pod)
The kit and its assembly:
Another entry for the “Za Rodinu - The Anthony P Memorial Build” at whatifmodelers.com, and this time it’s a modern and rather exotic whif. Helicopters are rare among whiffers, so I thought I’d give that subject a chance, and I actually had the basis kit in store for some time, as I intended to build it for another GB but never got that kick to start it.
The fictional Mi-62 is a conversion of a snap-fit kit from Kotobukiya from a series of generic, roughly 1:72 scale mecha vehicles that do not belong to a specific series or movie, but they seem to be intended to go well with Gundam or Dougram. These are rather toy-like, sturdy things, but they have potential for more – especially the gyroplanes (two different types exist).
These seem to be unmanned drones/UAVs, though, and that immediately leads to the conversions I made. Most important change is a manned cockpit with a clear canopy (from a KP Su-25) and the respective, scratched interior.
Another big change was the deletion of the original, gigantic gatling gun under the fuselage, replaced by a much smaller twin cannon turret. That left a lot of ground clearance – as a late modification I decided to chop the landing gear and the respective fin/wing endplates by more than 1cm, so that the gyroplane would sit closer to the ground.
Further small cosmetics include an asymmetrical radome and a protruding pitot boom, some antenna bulges, new engine exhausts, chaff dispensers in the fuselage flanks, and free-standing main wheels.
The ordnance comes from a Dragon Soviet-Air-To-Ground-Ordnance kit, hung onto six new wing hardpoints (from a 1:144 F-4E and an ESCI Ka-34 in 1:72, IIRC).
Painting and markings:
Choosing a proper scheme was tricky. The helicopter was to look realistic, but still exotic, at least for Russian standards. I considered various options:
● An all-mid-grey livery, inspired by current Mi-35 attack helicopters. Too dull & simple!
● A trefoil-style scheme in khaki and olive drab, with blue undersides. Flashy, but IMHO rather old-school.
I finally found an original scheme on a Ka-62 prototype (shown at MAKS-2009): a wraparound scheme in olive drab, medium grey and chocolate brown. The colors are enamels, I used Olive Drab ANA 613 (ModelMaster #2050), German Uniform “Feldgrau” (ModelMaster #2014) Grey and German Armor Red Brown (Humbrol 160), later highlighted through dry-brushing with lighter shades of the basic tones and a black ink wash, standard process.
The interior was to be Russian-style, too, but instead of the eye-boggling turquoise I went for PRU Blue (Humbrol 230) inside of the cockpit. Still looks odd, but it’s not so bright.
As a twist I decided to use Russian Navy markings – and the real world introduction of Mistral Class ships was a good excuse for a naval version of this attack helicopter. The Naval Aviation used to and does employ many land-based aircraft and helicopters, incl. e. g. the Mi-24, in similar liveries to the Air Force or Army cousins.
The markings were puzzled together from various aftermarket decal sheets from Begemot , Authentic Decals and TL Modellbau, as well as from the scrap box. After some additional dry-brushing with medium grey overall, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish.