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Fire Fighters from around Southern California battle a very rare and late season Santa Anna wind driven fire on the night of Christmas Day along Highway 101 north of Ventura that burned over 1,300 acres and threatened 50 homes.
Driven @ Hard Rock Live on The Las Vegas Strip 8.3.2017
Photos © Fred Morledge - www.PhotoFM.com
For licensing or prints of these images, please contact Fred@PhotoFM.com
1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302 driven by Vic Edelbrock during Friday practice for Group 9A (1966-1972 Trans-Am) at the 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
If you are interested in this photo or any of my other photos from this event please visit my website. prints.swankmotorarts.com/f211274133
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
The origins of the Turbo Fury reach back to 1943, when the piston-driven Hawker Sea Fury's development was formally initiated in response to a wartime requirement of the RAF.
As the Second World War drew to a close, the RAF cancelled their order for the aircraft. However, the Royal Navy saw the type as a suitable carrier aircraft to replace a range of increasingly obsolete or poorly suited aircraft being operated by the Fleet Air Arm. Development of the Sea Fury proceeded, and the type began entering operational service in 1947.
The Sea Fury had many design similarities to Hawker's preceding Tempest fighter, but the Sea Fury was a considerably lighter aircraft. Both the Sea Fury's wings and fuselage originated from the Tempest but were significantly modified and redesigned.
The Sea Fury attracted international orders as both a carrier and land-based aircraft; it was operated by countries including Australia, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, West Germany, Iraq, and Pakistan. The Sea Fury was retired by the majority of its military operators in the late 1950s in favour of jet-propelled aircraft. One of the largest export customers for the type, Pakistan, went a different way.
A total of 87 new-build Sea Furies were purchased and delivered to Pakistan between 1950 and 1952, but some ex-FAA and Iraqi Sea Furies were also subsequently purchased.
The Sea Fury began to be replaced by the jet-powered North American F-86 Sabre in 1955, but it became quickly clear that the Sabre was primarily a fighter, not a ground attack aircraft. It also lacked adequate performance in 'hot and high' operation theatres, and the PAF's B-57 bombers were too big for certain CAS tasks, and their number highly limited.
Hence the decision was taken to modernize a part of the PAF Sea Fury fleet for the ground attack role. This was to be achieved with a better engine that would deliver more power, a better overall performance as well as an extended range for prolonged loiter times close to the potential battlefield.
Engine choice fell on the Allison T56 turboshaft engine, which had originally been developed for the C-130 Hercules transporter (later also installed in the P-3 and E-2) - the type had just been bought by the PAF, so that low maintenance cost due to parts and infrastructure commonality was expected. Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (commonly abbreviated 'PAC') was tasked to develop a suitable update, and this lead to the integration of a turboprop engine into the Sea Fury airframe.
For the relatively small Sea Fury airframe the T56 was downrated to 3.000 hp, to which approximately 750 lbs of thrust from its exhaust could be added. The latter was bifurcated and ran along the fuselage flanks, ending in fairings at the wings' trailing edge. In order to cope with the additional power, the original five-bladed propeller had to be replaced by a six-bladed, indigenously developed propeller. Together with the more pointed spinner and the raised propeller position, the Sea Fury's profile changed dramatically, even though the good field of view for the pilot was retained. Officially, the modified machines were just called 'Sea Fury FB.61', inofficially they were called 'Turbo Furies' or 'وایلار' (Urdu: Wailer), for their characteristic, penetrating engine and propeller sound.
Internally, structural reinforcements had to be made and new wing spars were introduced. These allowed higher g forces for low level maneuvers and also carried additional ordnance hardpoints under the outer wings - these enabled the aircraft to carry HVARs of American origin and/or several small caliber bombs instead of only a single pair of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber.
The last piston engine Sea Furies in Pakistani service were ultimately retired in 1960, while the Turbo Fury fleet was used throughout the 1965 India-Pakistan War. After the end of hostilities, the 'Turbo Furies' were quickly phased out since it had become clear that they had become too vulnerable in battlefield conditions.
Some of these machines were sold to Thailand, though, where it served with the Royal Thai Marine Corps (นาวิกโยธินแห่งราชอาณาจักรไทย) in the CAS role and saw frequent use: The Chanthaburi and Trat borders with Cambodia gave the Marine Corps Department its first assignment, safeguarding the coastline and southeastern border. Since 1970 the Marine Corps' Chanthaburi-Trat Task Force had been officially assigned the defense of this area.
During 1972 and 1973, Thai Marines were involved in the "Sam-Chai" anti-communist operations in Phetchabun Province and the "Pha-Phum" anti-communist operations in Chiang Rai Province. In 1973 and 1974, they took part in anti-communist operations in the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. After ten years of frequent and successful use, the end of the Thai TurBo Furies came - the type was retired in late 1975. Two specimen were sold into the USA to Flight Systems Inc., where the machines were de-militarized and modified to be used as fast low-level target tugs.
Still, the aircraft would see a late career for the USAF, even though only an indirect one - and ironically against another WWII veteran reincarnation! In 1971 Piper Aircraft Corp. at Lakeland, Florida, built for the USAF's PAVE COIN programm (calling for a simple aircraft tailored to the ground attack role for small armies) two Piper Enforcers by heavily modifying two existing P-51 Mustang aircraft and fitting them with Lycoming T55-L9A turboprop engines, along with numerous other significant modifications.
Prior to the PAVE COIN evaluation, N202PE was lost in a crash off the Florida Coast. Although the Enforcer performed well in PAVE COIN, Piper failed to secure a United States Air Force contract. Anyway, Piper kept on lobbying Congress for another 8 years to force the USAF to officially re-evaluate the Enforcer.
Eventually in the 1979 defense bill $11.9 million was allocated for Piper to build two new prototypes and for the USAF to perform another flight evaluation. Since the Enforcer was never in the Air Force inventory, it was not given an official military designation and did not receive an Air Force serial number. Instead, it carries the Piper designation PA-48 and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration numbers N481PE and N482PE.
During 1983 and 1984 the PA-48s were pitted against several "modern" jets at 1984 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida and Edwards Air Force Base, California. Beyond 'state of the art' competirion, the USAF wanted a direct competitor - and found Flight Systems Inc's Turbo Furies. One of these, aircraft N287FS, was leased in 1981 and revamped to military status in order to act as a further benchnmark and as aggressor.
By the time the machine had already undergone some major modifications, including an ejection seat for the pilot and a new five-bladed propeller plus exhaust dampers in order to minimize the machine's distinctive, penetrating noise.
Further modifications saw the re-installment of armament, including wing hardpoints and the respective wiring, as well as adding four 20mm cannon, this time domestic Pontiac M39A1 revolver cannon - easily recognizable through the longer gun barrels that protruded from the wings' leading edge.
During the two years of evaluation the revamped Turbo Fury fared well, while its sister ship remained in the target tug role - and it was the only machine to survive, since N287FS crashed on 8th of August 1984 at Eglin AB due to hydraulic failure, with the pilot escaping securely thanks to the new ejection seat.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 36 ft 2 in (11.05 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 43⁄4 in (11.69 m)
Height: 15 ft 101⁄2 in (4.84 m)
Wing area: 280 ft2 (26.01 m2)
Empty weight: 10.500 lb (4.767 kg)
Loaded weight: 14,100 lb (6.400 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 15,650 lb (7.105 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Allison T56 turboshaft engine rated at 2.206 kW (3.000 hp) plus 750 lbs of residual thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 490 mph (427 knots, 790 km/h) at 18,000 ft (5,500 m)
Range: 700 mi (609 nmi, 1,126 km) with internal fuel;
1,040 mi (904 nmi, 1,674 km) with two drop tanks
Service ceiling: 35,800 ft (10,910 m)
Rate of climb: 4,320 ft/min (21.9 m/s)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (0.787 in) Pontiac M39A1 revolver cannon
Eight underwing hardpoints for an external load of 4.000 lb (1.814 kg),
including bombs, unguided rockets, napalm tanks or drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
Turbo Fury V3.0, spinning forth the initial fictional background story of this whif conversion. The combination of a WWII figher design and a C-130 Hercules sounds unlikely, but that's what I built. The idea of revamped piston-engine aircraft for a post-WWII-use has its charm and continually brings forth impressive designs, like the real world Piper PA-48.
Inspiration came with a set of 1:72 aftermarket C-130J resin engine nacelles from OzMods, which I had bunkered a while ago. This time the engine was mated again to the single seater kit from Pioneer2/PM Models. The Hercules engines are an almost perfect fit - the original fuselage just had to be cut away behind the original exhaust reflectors. Some sculpting had to be done on both sides, and the wing roots filled up in order to match the new, more narrow engine, but things went really smoothly.
This time, the Turbo Fury was to have a more modern touch - we are in the 80ies now. So I decided to use the original C-130 sickle blades that come with the OzMods conversion kit, even though I only used five of them instead of six (the spinner was modified accordingly). Another idea was to conceal the original exhaust pipes under the cockpit - I scratched dampers with intakes that would muffle engine sound and mix the hot gases with fresh air. These break up the sleek lines of the Fury, but I think that this installation makes sense, also as a potential survival measure that reduces the aircraft's IR signature?
Otherwise, only little things were changed. In the cockpit a new seat and a dashboard cover were added. The underwing hardpoints were new, too, and I added some antennae for a more modern and purposeful look. All pylons are new, and the bomb ordnance was puzzled together from the spares box, including four Rockeye CBUs from an Italeri F-16, an camera pod (from an Italeri F-18, IIRC) and a single ACMI pod from an Italeri F-21.
Painting and markings:
Piper's PA-48 was a bit of inspiration for this build, and I wanted the final Turbo Fury to be an American aircraft. USAF use would have been unlikely, though, but a private operator like Flight Systems Inc. (Which also operated F-86 as target tugs!) opened a new opportunity, as well as the historic trials of the PA-48 in the early 80ies.
Well, how to paint the Turbo Fury? An early idea had been a simple, all Gunship Grey aircraft with low-viz markings, but I eventually settled for the contemporary "USMC Land Scheme", applied to helicopters (AH-1, CH-46) and some of the USMC's OA-10. On a classic airframe like the Sea Fury's it would look totally anachronistic - but for an aggressor and test aircraft? Why not?
This wraparound scheme consists of grey, green and black - I used FS 35237 (Humbrol 145), FS 34097 (Humbrol 105) and FS 37038 (Humbrol 85, slightly lightened with some Humbrol 32 Dark Grey). The cockpit interior was kept in dark gray, the landing gear is in Aluminum, just like on the former builds of this series.
As per usual the kit received a light black ink wash and some dry painting that emphasizes the panel lines.
Decals were puzzled together from the scrap box, with some typical US markings and modern stencils.
Even though the paint finish turned out to look a bit more worn than initially intended, I am very happy with the result of this "Final Turbo Fury", esp. with its modern details. It looks rather odd and purposeful! And there's still one Hercules engine left... maybe a forth Turbo Fury might come forth, in the hands of another obscure operator's hands. ;)
This shot came about in an unusual, unrepeatable way, and purely by chance, so I was quite amazed when I downloaded this shot. It all happened in the following way: -
I was using a tripod to shoot a landscape, but had to stand in the middle of a very quiet lane to get the shot I wanted. Sure enough, a rare car came along at the wrong moment, and I had to move out of the way, just as the camera self timer opened the shutter. This lead to the "speed blurs" of this image, which after winding up the colour and contrast produced this interesting abstract image.
And so to the title - Whilst using a tripod to get a stable image, ironically I managed to get the most blurred image I think I have ever taken! Honestly, it's enought to - drive you to abstraction :-)
1969 Ford Escort Mk. 1 with the Lotus-Ford eight-valve Twin Cam. This Escort was being driven by Peter Frijlink (Classic Competition) during the Dantuma GTTC Race (Dantuma Dutch Historic GT & Touringcars NK).
I've shot this at the Nationaal Oldtimer Festival 2013 on Circuit Park Zandvoort. Hundreds of classic cars from all kinds of marques showed up. There were classic races on the track, free tracktime for anyone who wanted a go, a huge Porsche Paddock, various Bulls in honour of Lamborghini's 50th anniversary year and a demonstration by Indian Pete and his Peterbilt Jettruck (2 Phantom F4 turbine engines developing a whopping 12000 HP).
Take a look at the rest of the photo's I took at the Nationaal Oldtimer Festival here:
Orders can also be placed via that website. Or you can contact me directly.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.
© All rights reserved - Alle rechten voorbehouden
1956 Alfa Romeo Sebring Spyder driven by Martin Lauber in Group 1B at the 2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
If you are interested in this, or any of my other photos from this event please visit my website. prints.swankmotorarts.com/f923231362
Tomo el tren a Pirna. Con bicicleta también. El boleto está aquí en Pirna también válido para autobuses o ferries. Inmediatamente me subo al autobús para Pirna-Sunstone y él se va. El conductor del autobús no parece arrogante, sino enojado. Es gordo y tiene pérdida de cabello, cabello negro y ojos. Él siempre comienza a toda velocidad. Conduce hasta la rotonda y gira 90 grados a 20 o 30 km / h. Casi caes en el vaso. Se siente como un maestro. Luego llego a la terminal de Sonnenstein. Luego se dirige a mí y dice que está aquí, a donde quiero ir. Como he dicho, conduce por aquí. Debería haber dicho que esto es un obstáculo y que no puede continuar aquí. Terminé con la piedra solar después de un tiempo. Los pensionistas me han estado esperando en ciertos puntos: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. Eran como nazis. Me miró como si fuera un criminal. Uno de ellos resultó estúpido por mi bandera argentina, el de Struppener Strasse parecía loco y su vecino incluso se detuvo para hurgarse la nariz. Masivamente fueron perseguidos en la carretera de Longuyoner o incluso informados por teléfono. También había un informador con un perro inglés y se quedó a mi lado para observarme. Spitzeln está aquí de forma gratuita. Extraño es que los parques en la piedra del sol no tienen nombres. Un árabe ha sido dirigido por la milicia de Pirna a través de un teléfono inteligente. Eso fue en la calle de la juventud. En la escuela primaria, Sonnenstein fue nuevamente una educación de tránsito para niños. Había dos policías. Se trata de pensar que el estado solo quiere hacer el bien. Así que si no funciona, entonces lo tienes tú mismo. Luego conocí a las abuelas y les hablé brevemente. Voy a bajar de nuevo porque he terminado. Esta vez va directo a Pirna-Neundorf. Comienzo en el Gimnasio Protestante. El conductor del autobús me grita hostil: "¿Qué tal si se muestra el boleto?" Voy a él y le digo: ¿Tienes un director o algo así? Él: "¡No los hemos tenido en mucho tiempo!". Así que han abolido sus fichas para que más personas estén desempleadas y no tengan familias. Inmoral. La sala de juntas es probablemente corrupta. El dinero es suficiente está allí. Entonces estoy en Neundorf. Aquí hay algunos amigos de élite que han sintonizado automóviles y conducen por allí. Todos se ven bonitos también. Está limpio, pero un edificio prefabricado necesita una nueva capa de pintura. Las ventanas parecen quemadas. La escuela aquí es más grande de lo que pensabas. Llegan furgonetas que miran. Yo conduzco de regreso En el castillo de Rottwerndorf, los propietarios vienen a verme. Una mujer muy hermosa. Ellos llevan un piso alrededor. Ellos reconstruyen el castillo solo. Olvidé un camino. La calle Brahms. El "barrio de los músicos" / asentamiento Rottwerndorf ahora está fotografiado. Por extraño que parezca, las personas reaccionan a mí de una manera diferente que antes. Ahora son más abiertos o sonrientes. Es muy rápido aquí. En Mühlenstraße, un anciano conduce el ciclomotor y me mira con enojo. Él sale del restaurante y se parece al dueño. Luego conduzco a Waschhausstraße, donde un Nazi me insulta como un maricón. También se me acerca por la pequeña bandera argentina. Su jardín está totalmente descuidado y es una pena para la reputación de la ciudad. Ese fue un barrio elitista aquí. Con demasiada frecuencia se han encontrado nazis bien alimentados aquí. Su madre rubia y gorda lo besa por abuso verbal en mi contra. Tiene ojos negros, pelo alto y negro. Me quedo allí y pienso ahora. Los minutos pasan. Una mujer pelirroja viene en bicicleta. Como si ella hubiera conducido aquí por mí. Ella me mira sin comprender. Conduzco desde Max Schwarze Straße ahora en Erich Sagittarius Pirna. Allí me sigue durante unos minutos una furgoneta en blanco y negro. Se ve poco atractivo e inmoral. Su coche tiene máscaras y esposas de Jason. Otro espía está de vuelta en la práctica, donde siempre observaba desde el balcón y toda la Kohlbergstraße tiene a la vista y siempre me registra directamente. Aquí estoy hecho. Luego me dirijo a la estación de Pirna. Compro un café allí y me pregunto por qué es tan barato. Cuando lo bebo, me doy cuenta de que sabe a agua. El café en la Dippoldiswalder Straße, al lado de la LIDL no está mal. La mujer es muy agradable allí.
I take the train to Pirna. With bike too. The ticket is here in Pirna also valid for buses or ferries. I immediately get on the bus for Pirna-Sunstone and he leaves. The bus driver does not look arrogant, but angry. He is fat and has hair loss, black hair and eyes. He always starts at full throttle. He drives into the roundabout and 90 degrees turns at 20 or 30 km / h. You almost fall into the glass. He feels like a master person. Then I arrive at the terminus Sonnenstein. Then he addresses me and says that it's over here, where I want to go. Like I said, drive around here. He should have said that this is a roadblock and you can not continue here. I was done with the sunstone after some time. Pensioners have been waiting for me at certain points: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. They were like Nazis. Looked at me as if I was a criminal. One of them proved stupid because of my Argentina flag, the one from Struppener Strasse looked like crazy and his neighbor even stopped to pick his nose. Massively they were pursued on the Longuyoner road or even reported by telephone. Also an informer with an english dog was there and stayed extra beside me to watch me. Spitzeln is here for free. Strange is that the parks on the sunstone have no names. An Arab has been led by the Pirna militia via smartphone. That was on the street of youth. In the primary school Sonnenstein was again a traffic education for children. There were two policemen. It is about thinking that the state wants to do only good. So if it does not work, then you have it yourself. Then I met grandmas and talked to them briefly. I'm going down again because I'm done. This time it goes straight to Pirna-Neundorf. I start at the Protestant Gymnasium. The bus driver shouts unfriendly to me: "How about ticket showing !?" I go to him and say: You have a conductor or something? He: "We have not had them for a long time!". So they have abolished their checkers so that more people are unemployed and have no families. Immoral. The boardroom is probably corrupt. Money is enough is there. Then I'm in Neundorf. Here are some elite friends who have tuned cars and drive around there. They all look pretty too. It's clean, but a prefab building needs a new coat of paint. The windows look like burned out. The school here is bigger than you thought. There arrive vans that take one's view. I drive back. At the castle Rottwerndorf the owners come to me. A very pretty woman. They carry a floor around. They rebuild the castle alone. I forgot a road. The Brahms Street. The "musicians quarter" / settlement Rottwerndorf is now photographed. Strangely enough, people react to me in a different way than before. They are now more open-minded or smiling. It is very fast here. On Mühlenstraße an old man drives off on the moped and looks at me angrily. He comes out of the restaurant and looks like the owner. Then I drive to Waschhausstraße, where a Nazi insults me as a fagot. He also approaches me because of the small Argentina flag. His garden is totally neglected and is a shame for the reputation of the city. That was an elitist quarter here. Too often you have run well-nourished Nazis here. His fat blonde mother kisses him for verbal abuse against me. He has black eyes, tall, black hair. I stand there and think now. The minutes pass. A red-haired woman comes on a bicycle. As if she had just driven here for me. She looks at me blankly. I drive from the Max Schwarze Straße now on the Erich Sagittarius Pirna. There I am followed for a few minutes by a black and white van. He looks unattractive and immoral. His car has Jason masks and handcuffs. Another spy is back at the practice, where he always observed from the balcony and the entire Kohlbergstraße has in view and always logs me straight. Here I am done. Then I make myself to the station Pirna. I buy a coffee there and wonder why it's so cheap. When I drink it, I realize that it tastes of water. The coffee on the Dippoldiswalder Straße, next to the LIDL is not bad. The woman is very nice there.
Ich fahre mit dem Zug nach Pirna. Mit Fahrrad dazu. Die Fahrkarte ist hier in Pirna auch gültig für die Busse oder Fähren. Ich steige sofort in den Bus für Pirna-Sonnenstein ein und er fährt los. Der Busfahrer schaut nicht arrogant, sondern böse. Er ist dick und hat Haarausfall, schwarze Haare und Augen. Er fährt immer mit Vollgas los. Er fährt in den Kreisverkehr und 90 Grad Kurven mit 20 oder 30 km/h. Man fällt fast in die Scheiben. Er fühlt sich als Master-Mensch. Dann komme ich an der Endstation Sonnenstein an. Da redet er mich an und sagt, dass es hier zuende sei, wo ich denn hinwill. Als hätte ich gesagt, fahr mich mal hier herum. Er hätte sagen müssen, dass hier eine Straßensperre ist und man hier nicht mehr weiter kann. Ich war mit dem Sonnenstein nach einiger Zeit fertig. An bestimmten Punkten haben Rentner auf mich gewartet: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. Die waren wie Nazis. Haben mich angesehen, als wenn ich kriminell sei. Einer belegte mich wegen meiner Argentinienfahne dumm, der von der Struppener Straße schaute wie verrückt und sein Nachbar blieb sogar stehen, um die Nase zu mir zu pflücken. Massiv wurde man an der Longuyoner Straße verfolgt oder gar mit dem Telefon gemeldet. Auch ein Spitzel mit einem englischen Hund war dort und blieb extra neben mir stehen, um mich zu beobachten. Spitzeln ist hier für umsonst zu haben. Seltsam ist, dass die Parkanlagen auf dem Sonnenstein keine Namen haben. Ein Araber ist unter Anleitung von der Pirna-Miliz per smartphone geleitet worden. Das war auf der Straße der Jugend. In der Grundschule Sonnenstein war wieder ein Verkehrslehrgang für Kinder. Da waren zwei Polizisten. Es geht hierbei darum, dass man denken soll, dass der Staat einen nur Gutes tun will. Also wenn es nicht klappt, dann man selber daran schul sei. Dann traf ich Omas und habe mit denen kurz geredet. Ich fahre wieder runter, weil ich fertig bin. Diesmal geht es gleich nach Pirna-Neundorf. Ich steige am Evangelischen Gymnasium ein. Der Busfahrer schreit mich unfreundlich an: "Wie wäre es einmal mit Fahrkarte-Vorzeigen!?" Ich gehe zu ihm hin und sage: Sie haben doch Schaffner oder so? Er: "Die haben wir schon lange nicht mehr!". Also die haben ihre Kontrolleure abgeschafft, damit mehr Leute arbeitslos sind und keine Familien haben. Unmoralisch. Wahrscheinlich ist die Chefetage korrupt. Geld ist genug ist da. Dann bin ich in Neundorf. Da kommen nun ein paar elitäre Freunde an, die getunte Autos haben und dort herum fahren. Die sehen auch alle schön aus. Es ist sauber, aber der eine Plattenbau braucht einen neuen Anstrich. Die Fenster sehen aus wie ausgebrannt. Die Schule hier ist größer als man gedacht hat. Da kommen Transporter an, die einen die Sicht nehmen. Ich fahre zurück. Am Schloss Rottwerndorf kommen mir die Besitzer an. Eine sehr schöne Frau. Sie tragen einen Fußboden herum. Sie bauen das Schloss alleine wieder auf. Eine Straße habe ich vergessen. Die Brahms Straße. Das "Musikerviertel" / Siedlung Rottwerndorf wird nun abfotografiert. Seltsam ist, dass die Leute ganz anders auf mich reagieren als vorher. Sie sind nun aufgeschlossener oder lächeln. Es geht hier sehr schnell. An der Mühlenstraße kommt ein alter Mann auf dem Moped losgefahren und schaut mich böse an. Er kommt aus dem Restaurant und sieht aus wie der Besitzer. Dann fahre ich zur Waschhausstraße, wo ein Nazi mich als schwuchtel beschimpft. Er geht mich auch an, wegen der kleinen Argentinienfahne. Sein Garten ist total verwahrlost und ist eine Schande für das Ansehen der Stadt. Das war mal hier ein elitäres Viertel. Zu oft hat man hier gut genährte Nazis laufen. Seine dicke, blonde Mutter küsst ihn dafür, dass er verbale Gewalt gegen mich ausführt. Er hat schwarze Augen, groß, schwarze Haare. Ich stehe da und denke nun nach. Es vergehen die Minuten. Eine rothaarige Frau kommt mit dem Fahrrad angefahren. Als wenn sie nur wegen mir hier hergefahren sei. Sie schaut mich leer an. Ich fahre von der Max Schwarze Straße nun auf den Erich-Schütze-Weg Pirna. Dort verfolgt mich einer Minutenlang mit einem schwarz-weißen Transporter. Er sieht unattraktiv und unsittlich aus. Sein Auto hat Jason-Masken und Handschellen. Ein anderer Spitzel steht wieder an der Praxis, wo er auch vom Balkon immer observiert und die gesamte Kohlbergstraße im Blick hat und mich immer gleich meldet. Hier bin ich fertig. Dann mache ich mich zum Bahnhof Pirna. Ich kaufe mir einen Kaffee dort und wundere mich, warum der so billig ist. Als ich ihn trinke, merke ich, dass er nach Wasser schmeckt. Der Kaffee an der Dippoldiswalder Straße, neben dem LIDL ist nicht schlecht. Die Frau dort ist sehr lieb.
Specifications:
220bhp at 3,500 rpm, 7,982.81 cc, coupling rod driven single overhead camshaft inline six-cylinder engine with a 110 mm bore x 140 mm stroke, four-speed sliding pinion transmission with open propeller shaft, two SU carburetors, front and rear half elliptic leaf spring suspension, four-wheel drum brakes. Wheelbase: 156"
Walter Owen Bentley was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. He left in July 1905 at age sixteen to study engineering at King’s College in London. The course lacked a practical element and, finding theory boring, W.O. left and joined the Great Northern Railway as a premium apprentice.
W.O. spent six years at the Great Northern Railway Works at Doncaster, progressing through the various shops and finally ending up on the footplate of the company’s locomotives.
W.O’s next job was assistant to the works manager of the National Motor Cab Company where he was responsible for the maintenance of over five hundred London taxis.
Bentley’s first motorized transport was a Quadrant motorcycle. As time went on, he bought better motorbikes and began entering races and touring events. Bentley won a gold medal in the difficult London to Edinburgh trial and in 1909 competed in the Tourist Trophy but crashed his Speed King on the first lap.
W.O’s first car was a 9 hp Riley that he bought in 1910. About a year later he purchased a French Sizaire-Naudin. The path of his life could not have been predicted; this early in his life, his views on this form of transportation were not favorable. “The motor car seemed to me a disagreeable vehicle. Perhaps I should have realized the vast potentialities of internal combustion and recognized from my nursery days that it was to be the impelling force in my life. But the fact must be recorded that the motor car struck my young, literal mind as a slow, inefficient, draughty and antisocial means of transport. Motor cars splashed people with mud, frightened horses, irritated dogs and were a frightful nuisance to everybody.”
In March 1912, in partnership with his brother, Horace Milner Bentley, W.O. secured the British concession for three French motor manufacturers. Two, Buchet and La Licorne, were not considered very good and so the new company concentrated on the superior Doriet, Flandrin et Parent car. Bentley and Bentley had a showroom in Hanover Street and later in New Street Mews, off Upper Baker Street. Motor racing was a great way to promote and sell cars and W.O. began to develop the four cylinder 2,001 cc 12/15 hp D.F.P. for competition use. Humber, with a similar engine capacity, was dominating this class of racing – Bentley would soon change that.
W.O.’s first event was June 15, 1912 at Aston Clinton hill-climb where the D.F.P. easily won Class II. More modifications followed and considerable success was achieved at Brooklands, eventually averaging 81.98 mph over ten laps. After fitting alloy pistons, Bentley took the car to Paris and broke the flying half-mile record at 89.70 mph. In June 1914 Bentley finished an incredible sixth overall in the Isle of Man T.T. against out and out racing cars of much higher capacity. This competition experience led to the D.F.P. 12/40 hp, the first car in motoring history to be fitted with aluminium pistons as standard.
The First World War brought the brothers’ car sales operation to a halt. Having fitted alloy pistons to the D.F.P. car, W.O. Bentley felt that his knowledge of this technology could help the war effort. W.O. approached the Admiralty with the suggestion that this knowledge should be incorporated into aero engines used by the Royal Naval Air Service.
Lieutenant Bentley was sent to the experimental department at Rolls-Royce in Derby where his ideas were tried, even though the company had already used aluminium pistons in their Silver Ghosts in the Austrian Alpine Trial of 1913. Bentley also worked at Sunbeam and Gwynnes before he was given the opportunity to design his own aero engine.
Bentley went to Humber in Coventry where he met designer F.T. Burgess and later his old friend from his motorcycling days, now Admiralty Inspector S.C.H. Davis. Fredrick Tasker Burgess worked with W.O. to produce the Bentley Rotary aero engines the B.R. 1 and B.R. 2. Later he would work in design at Bentley Motors. W.O. said of him, “I soon recognised that we talked the same language, understood and appreciated the same things, and that he was a man in a thousand to have on design work.”
W.O. was to meet another person who would figure significantly in Bentley Motors, on an airfield in France during the war while under attack by the Red Barron. W.O.: “The adjoining canal seemed to be the only retreat left to me when a Fokker came over one day, and after a terrific hundred-yard sprint with the bullets dancing behind me, in I went with a splash and huddled under the overhanging bank. The plane’s next run across the airfield brought me company in the shape of Petty Officer (Nobby) Clarke, and side-by-side Bentley Motors’ future head racing mechanic and I huddled among the rushes, teeth chattering. The pilot who sent us there, and helped to seal a warm friendship, was Barron von Richtofen himself. I almost felt a pang of regret when Brown in a (Sopwith) Camel, powered by one of our B.R.1’s, caught him at last a year or two later.”
W.O. Bentley was awarded the M.B.E. (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his service in World War I and the Royal Commission on Awards paid him £8,000 for his work designing the B.R.1 and 2 engines. This money would provide W.O. with the means to set up Bentley Motors. W.O. wanted to build a car. “The creative instinct is strong in most engineers, and, just as I hadn’t been satisfied for long to work on someone else’s rotary engine, so I had to produce my own car.”
After the war, in a small office in Conduit Street, Bentley began to design a new engine. He recruited F.T. Burgess from Humber and Harry Varley from Vauxhall. By September 1919 the design was complete and all the parts manufactured. Nobby Clarke, chief mechanic of one of the R.N.A.S. squadrons that had used Bentley rotary engines, was hired to assemble the first car engine.
The 2,996 cc four-cylinder engine followed the current customary long stroke, high efficiency principals with maximum power developed at just 3,500 rpm. The engine was successfully run for the first time at New Street Mews at the beginning of October and a mock-up chassis was made ready for the Olympia Motor Show in London.
The car made an immediate impression, with a tall, imposing radiator and winged Bentley badge that had been designed by famous motoring artist, F. Gordon Crosby. The Autocar reported that, “The Bentley chassis stands alone in its class as a car designed to give that peculiar and almost perfect combination of tractability and great speed usually to be found on machines built for racing, and racing only.”
Of course Bentley would go on to achieve incredible success in motor racing for many years, winning the Twenty-Four Hours at Le Mans four times in a row during the twenties. Bentley’s drivers included Woolf Barnato, Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin, Jack Barclay, Glen Kidston and George Duller. The Bentley Boys, as they were known, would become part of the Bentley legend. W.O.’s policy was to “race on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
S.C.H. Davis gave a 3.0-liter Bentley with an open four-seater tourer body its first road test for The Autocar in January 1920. Bentley moved to a factory in Oxgate Lane in Cricklewood where the Bentley cars were assembled. The first customer 3.0-liter was delivered in August 1921. Bentley would go on to produce models of 4.5-liters and 6.5-liters and finally between 1930 and 1931 the mighty 8-Litre.
The 8-Litre was basically an enlarged version of the Speed Six. It had a new lower chassis frame, with out-set rear springs and an ‘F’ series gearbox differing from all previous Bentley designs with its casing split down the centre, as opposed to the square box with a lid on top which was used in all earlier cars. This layout allowed for larger bearings which provided extra strength and reduced engine noise.
The first 8-Litres appeared at the Olympia Motor Show in October 1930 and created a sensation. This magnificent machine would top 100 mph with limousine coachwork and eight people inside.
Bentley’s Sales Manager Arthur Hillstead in his book, Those Bentley Days, wrote. “Eight litres! Nearly three times the cubic capacity of the never-to-be-forgotten 3! And what a motor it was! Having a six-cylinder engine with a bore and stroke of 110 mm by 140 mm respectively, and a top-gear speed range (with a ratio of 3.5 to 1) of a minimum of 6 mph and a maximum of 104 mph – what more could man ask for? Yes, indeed; and add to that an acceleration capacity of 10 mph to 100 mph in 50 seconds with a fully equipped saloon body, and surely we had the answer to the sporting motorist’s prayer? The sporting motorist! Speed cum refinement in its highest form! A creation evolved from years of racing experience!”
The 8-Litre was clearly aimed to go head to head with the Rolls-Royce Phantom II, challenging to be the best car in the world, although Hillstead was impressed by the fact that the Bentley outperformed the supercharged Mercedes of that time, on both acceleration and maximum speed, “but it performed with a silence that was uncanny.” He said, “There was nothing like it in the world.”
The 8-Litre was clearly aimed to go head to head with the Rolls-Royce Phantom II, challenging to be the best car in the world, although Hillstead was impressed by the fact that the Bentley outperformed the supercharged Mercedes of that time, on both acceleration and maximum speed, “but it performed with a silence that was uncanny.” He said, “There was nothing like it in the world.”
It would have been interesting to see what developed in this rivalry but Bentley was in deep financial trouble. Bentley Motors effectively ended in 1931 when they notified London Life that they would be unable to make their June 30th mortgage payment. W.O. was confident that the company would continue under the proposed new ownership of Napiers of Acton, London. The receiver’s sale of Bentley’s assets was regarded to be a formality, but in the Royal Courts of Justice in London’s Strand a barrister representing the British Central Equitable Trust made a counter offer, much to everyone’s astonishment. Napier immediately offered more, but the judge informed the court that he was not an auctioneer and gave the two parties until 4.30 in the afternoon to come back with sealed bids. W.O. said, “I don’t know by how much precisely Napier were out-bidded, but the margin was very small, a matter of a few hundred pounds. All I knew that evening was that the deal would not be going through after all.”
Later W.O. commented on the bankruptcy. He said, “When people ask me (and they are too tactful to do so often) why Bentleys went bust, I usually give three reasons: the slump, the 4-Litre car, and the ‘blower’ 41/2s; in proportions of about 70, 20 and 10% respectively.”
Following the court case, it became apparent that the B.C.E.T. was representing Rolls-Royce. Having acquired all of Bentley’s assets, including the design of the 8-Litre, it is perhaps telling that the model was never again produced. Napier’s original bid had been for £103,675, their sealed bid £104,775. Rolls-Royce paid £125,256.
After the acquisition of Bentley by Rolls-Royce, Walter Owen Bentley was asked to call at Rolls-Royce’s London offices to see Sir Henry Royce. Royce, like Bentley, had started working life on the Great Northern Railway. Bentley said, “It might be called an exploratory interview, I suppose, and I have often wondered what was its purpose.”
Royce asked, “I believe you’re a commercial man, Mr. Bentley?”
Bentley replied, “Well, not really, primarily, I suppose I’m more a technical specialist.”
Royce, in some surprise, said, “You’re not an engineer, then, are you?”
“Yes, I suppose you could call me that.” Bentley replied. “I think you were a boy in the G.N. running sheds at Peterborough a bit before I was a premium apprentice at Doncaster.” This was accepted with a nod, W.O. recalled, and he was then offered a job, “on not ungenerous terms…”
The first Rolls-Royce built Bentley was the 31/2 Litre. W.O. was heavily involved in the testing of this car, which became known as ‘The Silent Sports Car’. W.O. loved it.
Bentley were Rolls-Royce’s greatest rivals, but there was great mutual respect between the two men and admiration for the cars that they produced. The Bentley 8-Litre was superior to the Phantom II in a number of respects. Royce considered buying one, but rejected the idea. He said, “We can see in which way it can be better than we are.”
Chassis no. YR5076
Only one hundred 8-Litre Bentleys were built. The car presented here, chassis number YR5076, has its original open tourer coachwork by R. Harrison and Son, who were established in 1883. This incredibly handsome car has velvet green paintwork with a green leather interior and is in beautiful condition.
The 8-Litre was the last car designed by W.O. Bentley and of the hundred examples built, seventy-eight are still in existence today. Only sixteen 8-Litres were built with open bodywork,
six drophead coupés and ten open tourers; only twelve of these open cars survive today with their original coachwork. YR5076 is one of these extremely rare cars.
This car was delivered to Mr. W.B. Henderson, of Somerset, England on January 3, 1931 and was subsequently owned by G.R. Wilson and Lt. Col. A.J.A. Beck before being shipped to the United States in 1953 by Leo Pavelle from New York. The car then became the property of Bill Klein, who then had the largest collection of Bentleys in the world. The car remained in America in the ownership of Jimmy Black from Tennessee, Johnnie Bassett, Ed Jurist, Wayne Brooks and then David Van Schaick, who showed the car at Pebble Beach in 1989. YR5076 returned to the U.K. in 1995 having been sold to Richard Procter, the odometer showing just 43,000 miles, which was believed to be correct. The Bentley was restored during this time and was repainted and retrimmed. It was then sold to William Connor II in Hong Kong.
This car, chassis number, YR5076 has always been maintained to a very high standard and represents an exceptional opportunity to own one of these elegant, rare, high-speed touring cars. It is ready to be enjoyed at important events around the world.
[Text from RM Auctions]
www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm?lot_id=218906
This Lego miniland-scale Bentley 8-Litre Open Tourer YR5076 (1931 - Harrsion), has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 89th Build Challenge, - "Over a Million, Under a Thousand", - a challenge to build vehicles valued over one million (US) dollars, or under one thousand (US) dollars.
This particular vehicle was auctioned by the RM Auction house on Saturday March 8, 2008, 2010, where it sold for $2,200,000.
These are some shots from a shoot I did for Driven-- a luxury car service in London. I was shooting with a photographer friend of mine all over the city.
The photos we took in Trinity Square (next to the Tower of London) were pretty interesting to capture as everyone who saw us shooting assumed there was someone famous in the car and stood around getting in our way, until we got into the cars ourselves. haha.
Goodtimes.
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Dear All,
I try to be pretty sharp with my notes, but this was one spot where I just wasn't entirely sure if I got everything exactly right. I apologize to anyone who served here.
This field area was the site of a pitched tank battle, the original march in by the 101st airborne and major resupply drops by C-47s. The fields were so open, that the C-47s saw this as an ideal drop zone for supplies. This field is about 2.5 miles from Bastogne.
Hemroulle was in the northwest sector of Bastogne, and in some later pictures, you'll see more of this town. Just so you all know, the 101st Airborne did their "Three Foot Jump" when they detrucked, just up the road northwest of Hemroulle. I'll show you in later pictures the road they came down. They exited near Champs and came down through Hemroulle into Bastogne. The order happened to be where First Battalion of the 506th was in the lead of the regiment, so that's why when the 506th deployed, they ended up in Noville, all the way in front.
Hemroulle is a tiny town and a lot of the houses seem post-war and I'm guessing that many buildings were flattened during the fight.
I posted below a story about the battle for Hemroulle, but I'd like to try to add some things that I read off a sign right next to the church, which you see on the left.
This road runs northeast and the town on the other side of that treelein appears to be Longchamps.
On December 25th, the Germans attacked in force in Hemroulle and it led to an incredible fight involving skirmish lines made up of artillerymen, cooks and others.
I got a little turned around and I think they came right across from the left in that field and were blasted back by hidden tank destroyers and men along the road and from those far trees. I apologize if I got that wrong. It was hard to follow the exact line of battle because the German tanks came in from the southwest and then turned to the north, which would be towards those trees, and they were then blasted.
Since I've butchered the story, here's a history of this battle
Just as the first light of Christmas morning broke, the S-2 of the 1st Battalion, First Lieutenant Samuel B. Nickels, Jr., came at a dead run into the château where the Headquarters, 502d, was. "There are seven enemy tanks and lots of infantry coming over the hill on your left," he said.16 He had first sighted them moving along parallel to the ridge southwest of Hemroulle. (Plate 36.) They were striking toward the ground where the 502d and 327th joined hands.17
The Rolle Château was emptied almost before Lieutenant Nickels had finished speaking. Cooks, clerks, radio men and the chaplains collected under Captain James C. Stone, the 502d headquarters commandant, and rushed west to the next hill.18 From the château gate at Rolle, the road dips down through a deep swale then rises onto the ridge where it joins the main road into Hemroulle, about two miles northwest of Bastogne. The road line is on high ground all the way until just before it reaches Hemroulle where it drops down again to the village.19 Captain Stone's scratch headquarters force ran across the swale and took up firing positions close to the road and facing westward.20 Within a few minutes they were joined by the men of the regiment's wounded who were able to walk. Major Douglas T. Davidson, the regimental surgeon of the 502d, had run to the chateau stable that was serving as a temporary hospital, rallied his patients, handed them rifles and then led them out against the tanks.21
They could see the tanks coming on toward them now. From the archway of Rolle Château it was about 600 yards to the first line of German armor. (Plate 38.) Colonels Chappuis and Cassidy and the radio operator looked westward from the archway and could see just the outline of the enemy movement in the dim light. They were now the only men at the headquarters.22
Colonel Cassidy called Major Hanlon and told him to leave Company B where it was but to get the company ready to protect its own rear and then try to get Company C faced to the west to meet the German tanks as they came on.23
The 327th Glider Infantry was already engaged. At 0500
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Colonel Harper had heard by phone from Company A of his 3d Battalion that 18 enemy tanks were formed for attack just east of Mande-St.-Étienne.24 At 0710 the German armor supported by infantry of the 77th Grenadier Regiment smashed through the positions held by Companies A and B.25 In coming through the companies, the tanks fired all their guns and the German infantrymen riding the tanks blazed away with their rifles. The spearpoint of the German armor had already broken clear through to the battalion command post.26 At the 327th regimental headquarters Colonel Harper heard by telephone of the breakthrough, and on the heels of that message came word from Lieut. Colonel Cooper that his 463d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion already had the German tanks under fire.27 At 0715 Colonel Allen, the 3d Battalion (327th) commander, called and said that the tanks were right on him.
Harper asked, "How close?"
"Right here!" answered Allen. "They are firing point-blank at me from 150 yards range. My units are still in position but I've got to run." But Colonel Allen's battalion had not been wholly taken by surprise. "Tanks are coming toward you!" Captain Preston E. Towns, commanding Company C, had telephoned to Allen.
"Where?" Allen had asked.
"If you look out your window now," said Captain Towns, "you'll be looking right down the muzzle of an 88."28
Christmas Day was just then breaking. Colonel Allen stayed at his 3d Battalion, 327th, command post only long enough to look out of his window, and prove what Towns had told him, and to call Colonel Harper and tell him he was getting out. Then he ran as fast as he could go and the German tanker fired at him as he sprinted toward the woods. He could see the muzzle blasts over his shoulder in the semidarkness. But all of the shots were leading him. The Germans were giving him credit for more speed than his legs possessed.
Two members of Allen's staff followed him. As they all came out of the other end of the woods, men of Colonel Chappuis' 502d Parachute Infantry along the ridge road saw them and promptly
162
pinned them down with heavy rifle fire. The three then crawled back to the woods, circled south through a little valley and returned to Hemroulle.
As they came out of the woods the second time, they were fired on by artillerymen of Colonel Cooper's 463d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion who had formed a skirmish line in case the enemy broke through the infantry. But Colonel Allen was getting tired of all this and he waved his handkerchief vigorously until finally the gunners lowered their rifles and let the party come in.
Colonel Harper, on getting the phone call made by Allen just before Allen had to dash from his headquarters, realized that there was now no control over the 3d Battalion, 327th. So he sent his own S-3, Major Jones, with his radio to Colonel Cooper's artillery command post and Jones got there just as Allen did, and he got through at once to the companies with the radio.29
In the meantime the forward line had held (Map 21, page 163), partly because of the quick thinking of Captain McDonald of Company B. He had heard Colonel Allen's urgent report to Colonel Harper over his own telephone and he at once called Companies A and C by radio. "The battalion commander has had to get out," he said to them. "I can see you from where I am. Your best bet is to stay where you are. Hold tight to your positions and fight back at them."30
That was what they did. The main body of the German armor rolled straight through Company A's lines—18 white-camouflaged tanks moving in column. The men of Company A, 327th (First Lieutenant Howard G. Bowles was the acting commanding officer), stayed in their foxholes and took it, replying with their rifles and whatever other weapons were at hand. After the tide of German steel had passed over and through them, 4 men of the company were dead and 5 lay wounded. But the 68 survivors were up and fighting, and in the next round of the battle they captured 92 German prisoners.31
Having crashed through Colonel Harper's 327th front, the German armor split as it came on toward the ridge and half of it swung north toward Rolle where Lieutenant Nickels saw it and
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Map 21
warned Colonel Chappuis, commander of the 502d Parachute Infantry, in time for him to make his last-minute preparation. Companies B and C, 502d, were even then in column of twos moving up the road toward Champs.32
Thus far Colonel Templeton's 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion had played only a minor part in the defense of the sector, but their best moments were approaching. Two of the tank destroyers had been of some assistance to Captain Swanson (Company A, 502d) in his fight for Champs. They were already in position there when the German attack got under way, one destroyer in the center of Champs and another slightly to the west of it so placed that it could cover the road to the southwest and the ridge to the
164
north and northwest. Upon setting up, the tank destroyer crews manned four machine guns on the ground around their centrally located guns. This position held when the German infantry closed on Champs and the tank destroyer force even spared a few of its men to go forward and help the paratroopers root the enemy out of the houses.33
Too, the heavy guns were used for close-up interdiction fire to keep the enemy from moving any deeper into the village. In this work, the 37mm. guns, firing canister, were especially effective. Captain Swanson got one of the tank destroyers, under Sergeant Lawrence Valletta, to go forward and blast a house where about thirty Germans had taken cover. Sergeant Valletta moved right in next to the building, trained his big gun on the doors and windows and blew the place apart. He then shelled two more houses and returned to his original position. Just about dawn, he made a second sortie of the same kind.34
To the southward of Champs where the crisis of the Christmas action was swiftly maturing, the tank destroyers got away to a bad start but then staged a swift recovery.35 Two of them from Company B, 705th Battalion, had been in the 327th Glider Infantry area and were out along the road which runs from Rolle toward Grandes-Fanges, a mile to the southwest (this put them to the southward of Company C, 502d Parachute Infantry), when the German attack came over the hill.36 The crews had at first put their tank destroyers into concealment behind a haystack and from there had engaged the enemy armor at a distance, knocking out two or three tanks.37 Yet as the power of the German armor became more obvious, they decided to withdraw.38 That was how it happened that they were moving back toward Rolle and were directly in line with the German tank fire when Company C of the 502d Parachute Infantry faced toward the enemy.39
Both tank destroyers were knocked out almost instantly.40 The men of Company C saw them reel and stop from the enemy fire and realized that the loss of the tank destroyers had helped spare them the worst part of the blow.41
The encounter had had one other powerful effect—two tank destroyers from Company C, 705th, were waiting in the woods
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behind Colonel Chappuis' 502d infantrymen. The German armor, confident that it was now in full command of the field, came on boldly against the infantry line.42 Colonel Cassidy (executive of the 502d) had sent a runner sprinting toward the woods to alert the two concealed tank destroyers. The runner had been told to run from the guns on to Captain George R. Cody's Company C, 502d, position and tell him that the tank destroyers would be backing him up. But he didn't get there in time.43
The guns of the seven Mark IVs were already firing into Company C. About 15 to 20 German infantrymen were riding on the outside of each tank, some firing their rifles. But the ground fog was bad and their fire was erratic. Captain Cody turned his men about and told them to fall back to the edge of the forest. Without any part of its line breaking into a general dash for the rear, Company C fell back to the shelter of the trees and there took up positions and opened fire on the tanks with machine guns, bazookas, and rifles. Despite the surprise of the German assault, this movement was carried out with little loss and no disorder.44
Then swiftly, there was a complete turning of the situation as Company C's first volleys from its new position took toll of the German infantry clinging to the tanks. Dead and wounded pitched from the vehicles into the snow. As if with the purpose of saving their infantry, the tanks veered left toward Champs and the position held by Company B, 502d.45
Until this moment the two tank destroyers in the woods behind Company C had not fired a round.46 But as the tank line pivoted and began to move northward along the top of the ridge, the flank the German armor became completely exposed and the two tank destroyers went into action.47 So did Company B, which was now firing at the enemy front. Three of the Mark IVs were hit and knocked out by the tank destroyer fire before they completed their turning movement. One was stopped by a bazooka round from Company C. A fifth tank was hit and stopped by a rocket from Captain Stone's scratch group from Headquarters, 502d.48 The infantry riding on the tanks were cut to pieces by bullet fire. As Company C s part of the battle ended there were
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67 German dead and 35 prisoners, many of them wounded, in the area around the ruined tanks.49
One tank did break through Company B and charge on into Champs. Company A, 502d, fired bazookas at it and it was also shelled by a 57mm. gun which had taken position in the village. The tank was hit by both types of fire but which weapon made the kill is uncertain.50
Captain James J. Hatch, S-3 of the 502d, had gone forward to reconnoiter Company A's situation and was in the Company A command post at the time. He heard the fight going on outside, grabbed his pistol and opened the door. He was looking straight into the mouth of the tank's 75mm. gun at a range of 15 yards.
Hatch closed the door and said to the others, "This is no place for my pistol."51
The seventh tank in the German group—it was later determined that this was the same tank that had knocked out the two tank destroyers—was captured intact at Hemroulle.52 By 0900, December 25, the action was cleared up around Rolle. Headquarters of the 502d Parachute Infantry had called 101st Division Headquarters and asked about the situation of 327th Glider Infantry over on its left. Colonel Kinnard (101st Airborne Division G-3) reported that the 327th's lines were generally intact and the situation there well in hand.53
In the 327th's sector there had been four tank destroyers behind Captain McDonald's Company B and four behind Lieutenant Bowles' Company A. Captain Towns' Company C was unsupported by tank destroyers but Colonel Harper had sent him two Sherman tanks on hearing that the German attack was coming.54
These guns, the bazooka fire of the 327th Glider Infantry outfits and the barrage fire of Colonel Cooper's 463d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion had dealt in detail with that part of the German armor that tried to ride on through toward Hemroulle after breaking Harper's front.55 The German tanks were fired at from so many directions and with such a mixture of fire that it was not possible to see or say how each tank met its doom.56 One battery from the 463d stopped two tanks at a range of 600
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Map 22
yards and then some men ran out from the battery position and captured the crews. Eighteen German tanks had been seen on that part of the 327th Glider Infantry's front that morning. Eighteen tanks had driven on through the infantry. But not one got away. When the fighting died at last there were eighteen disabled German tanks, many of them with fire-blackened hulls, scattered out through the American positions along the ridges running from Hemroulle to Champs.57
In the 502d Parachute Infantry area, the wire maintenance men had kept on working right through the fire fight and by 0900 the lines were again in solid.58 None of the German infantry had managed an escape.59
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Map 23
The few survivors, upon recoiling, were rounded up by the members of Colonel Allen's overrun 3d Battalion, 327th. The German tankers died inside their tanks.
Although Company C, 502d, had been compelled to engage without artillery support because of the closeness of the action, its losses were negligible. It was put in position along the high ground west of the scene of the skirmish. At about the same time the Company C fight ended, Company A, 502d, was getting Champs under control and was doing the last of its rat hunting through the village houses. Company B was put over to the eastward of Company A to fill out the line as far as the 3d Battalion. In getting to this position, Company B, 502d, took heavy losses from enemy artillery while moving across the high ground north
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of Champs, but by 1500 the position was complete (Map 22, rage 167). Company A counted 98 Germans killed and 79 enlisted men and 2 officers captured in the Champs action.60
About 0800 on Christmas, 101st Division moved Force Cherry out through Hemroulle to a position on the high ground along the edge of the woods to the southward of the 502d Parachute Infantry. Colonel Cherry stayed there until after dark to cover the restoration of the 1st Battalion, 327th, position. He then pulled back to Hemroulle.61 A German field order captured during the morning fight showed that the German tank and infantry mission that came to grief along the ridge south and west of Rolle had been attempted by the 115th Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 15th Panzergrenadier Division (Map 23, page 168). Two battalions of the 77th Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by the division artillery of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division, had implemented the assault against Champs and to the southward which preceded the Panzer advance.
Christmas day closed with Colonel Chappuis and Colonel Cassidy of the 502d sitting down to a table spread with a can of sardines and a box of crackers.
To all fans, my book, "From Toccoa to the Eagle's Nest: Discoveries in the Boosteps of the Band of Brothers" is now available on Amazon, Booksurge and Alibris Thanks Dalton
The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, but is overall a larger aircraft.
Canada Place, Vancouver, BC., Canada
The new Maserati Ghibli is a premium saloon, based on the same root architecture as the Quattroporte, that's designed to rival the BMW 5-series. Maserati's slick new 2014 Ghibli gets driven. Slightly more than just a baby Quattroporte.
Test 1 diesel
What is it?
This is Maserati’s glamorous alternative to the BMW 5-series. It’s the first time the luxury sports car maker has offered a car in this class, although this is not the first Ghibli, the most recent predecessor being a startlingly fast 306bhp 2.0-litre Biturbo-based two door that dazzled briefly in the early ‘90s.
Before that, the Ghibli was an exotic, front-engined V8, late-1960s supercar. Three very different animals then, and the latest bearer of the name owes little to this haphazard bloodline except that all three cars are resolutely sporting, and flaunt lavish and classily flamboyant interiors.
Instead, the latest Ghibli is a very close relative of the just-launched and larger Quattroporte saloon. They share the same root architecture, drivelines, suspension and indeed, the same production line. They differ in looks – no two exterior panels are the same, the Ghibli is almost a foot shorter, slightly wider and besides its bespoke cab-rear proportioning bears its own sculptural character. And inside, there’s a more driver-biased dashboard design.
Nevertheless Maserati has a challenge here, in developing a car of more distinctive and more sporting character using the same engines, transmissions and suspension, but without tempting prospective Quattroporte owners into thinking that they might as well spend less money to get a car that in essence, is the same.
The Ghibli offers three engines and two drivelines, the range beginning with a rear-drive 3.0-litre petrol twin-turbo V6 developing 326bhp. Above that sits the Ghibli S with the same 404bhp twin turbo version of the V6 recently debuted in the Quattroporte, this engine available either with rear or four-wheel drive - although disappointingly the latter will not be available in the UK.
The most unusual offering, in a Maserati context, is a 271bhp 3.0 V6 turbodiesel that’s an essential weapon if the Modenese marque is to boost its sales from well under 10,000 units to 50,000.
All Ghiblis come with an eight-speed paddle-shift ZF transmission, multilink rear suspension and double wishbones up front, Maserati’s electronically controlled Skyhook dampers, a limited-slip differential, Brembo brakes and hydraulically assisted steering. And all benefit from 50:50 weight distribution, a model-for-model kerb weight 50kg lighter than the Quattroporte and a 0.31 drag coefficient.
What is it like?
Listen to it kick-off from outside, and the Ghibli diesel has a slightly maritime sound to it. But if you’re inside you hear none of this, the silence instead broken by a low hum. And in the powertrain’s normal mode this hum rises smoothly, but rarely turns penetrating.
It’s not quite as sweet as BMW’s best but it’s civil, and with some subtly sporting rort too. Now press the sport button beside the gearlever, accelerate hard from 1000rpm in second and, after a pause while the revs wind to 1800rpm, you’ll hear a deep-chested, swelling back-beat. Thank Maserati’s Active Sound system for this, a pair of noise actuators heightening the desirable elements of the diesel’s tune.
You’ll want to leave the Ghibli in this mode, because the engine feels unexpectedly indolent in normal mode, despite its fat 443lb ft of torque, which spools from a not-quite-low-enough 2000rpm through to 2600rpm. In sport the diesel pulls with a fair bit of verve – if rather less than the lively 325bhp petrol – to produce a distinctly brisk 6.3sec 0-62mph sprint.
This pace is not wasted when you chance on some bends. The Maserati feels secure, and with its variable-ratio steering plunges into bends with encouraging zeal. Turn the ESP off, pull yourself a lower gear via an aluminium paddle shift, deep-dip the throttle and the Ghibli’s tail will perform a satisfying arc through a curve, and straighten itself with admirable tidiness, too.
Though in the wet we suspect the Maser' may swing like a church bell at midnight. Steering feel? Well it feels real and it’s consistently weighted too, if over-heavy in sport at a cruise. And yes, you can sense something of what the fat front rubber is doing when you charge hard.
The Ghibli’s weak link is its ride, which is very variable, and not only because it can be tautened via a damper button on the centre console. Sharp-edged ridges and shallow potholes cause audible agitation as the suspension patters with effort, while camber changes on hard-charged straights produce a slightly wayward feeling.
On sharply undulating roads, the Ghibli falls well short of mustering the body control exerted by an XF or a 5-series. Yet at other times the Maserati feels as stable and civilised as the ambience of its richly upholstered cabin.
It’s hard to resist the allure of the interior, too. Finely tooled leather, subtly deployed aluminium and wood highlights, supportively sumptuous seats and excellent air-con make long journeys a pleasing prospect. Better still, ergonomic flaws are few and trifling (the row of buttons flanking the gearlever could be easier to read, for instance) and there’s plentiful room up front and decent room in the rear.
Should I buy one?
All-new executive class entries are rare. And it’s a big ask to expect this Maserati Ghibli to match the polished excellence of the 5-series, E-class and XF first time out. In a few areas, such as ride and high speed body control, it doesn’t.
The Ghibli also seems to be a bit of your Italian heart-over-head car. Its muscularly alluring style, aristocratic bearing, classily sumptuous cabin and outright performance are all serious tempters. So is the simple fact that it’s fresh and the compromises so often imposed by Italian cars are less severe.
The numbers turned by its diesel (including its 158g/km of CO2) are highly competitive if not quite class-best. Its performance is engagingly and subtly thunderous, if sometimes languid in the delivery. And the Ghibli has few practical flaws, besides succeeding in its quest to be a sportier drive than the Quattroporte. It is, however, a bit pricey compared to its more commonplace competition.
The one significant worry is its ride, which might just turn out to be a bit busy for Britain’s 3D roads. Otherwise, the Ghibli has to be the most stylish, desirable and exciting executive debut in years.
Maserati Ghibli Diesel
Price £48,830; 0-62mph 6.3sec; Top speed 155mph; Economy 47.9mpg; CO2 158g/km; Kerbweight 1835kg; Engine V6, turbocharged, diesel, 2987cc; Power 271bhp at 4000rpm; Torque 443lb ft from 2000-2600rpm; Gearbox 8-spd automatic
Test 2 diesel
Verdict
As Porsche and now Maserati has proved, diesel models do have a place in sporty brands. This Ferrari-built 3.0 V6 isn't the most powerful or cleanest engine in the class, but it fulfils its brief. Setup the chassis for comfort and the Ghibli is the perfect tool for covering motorway miles, but when the road opens up it's engaging to drive fast. Factor in good looks, the allure of that badge and a price that dips below the £50,000 mark and the Ghibli is definitely the right car for Maserati right now.
The new Maserati Ghibli marks a significant milestone for the company. It's never had two four-door saloons on sale at the same time and, more importantly, it's the first Maserati to be offered with a diesel engine. Purists will be cringing at the thought, but the business case is clear; Maserati wants to sell 50,000 cars a year by 2015 (it sold less than 7,000 in 2012), and if you want to shift a BMW 5 Series sized saloon in Europe, a diesel is a must.
Based on the a shrunken version of the new Quattroporte's steel and aluminium platform, the Ghibli is 291mm shorter, with a 173mm shorter wheelbase, and weighs 50kg less at 1,835kg. It also shares the Quattroporte suspension architecture and turbocharged V6 petrol engine (designed by Maserati but built by Ferrari at its factory in Maranello), available with either 325bhp or 404bhp. But it's the 271bhp 3.0 V6 diesel we're concentrating on here.
Push the starter button and there's no flamboyant flair of revs, just a typical muted hum from under the bonnet. Slot the eight-speed ZF gearbox into 'D' and the Ghibli wafts down the road gliding over bumps in near silence like a luxury limousine, not a sports saloon. Squeeze the throttle and there's a surge of acceleration, but it never revs with the aggression of a BMW six-cylinder diesel and runs out of puff much sooner.
However, the Ghibli has a trick up its sleeve. Push the Sport button and a pair of sound actuators located near the quad exhausts add a bassy petrol V8-style rumble right throughout the rev range. It might be synthetic, but it brings the driving experience to life. To take things even further switch the skyhook adaptive dampers to their firmer setting, take manual control of the gearbox, and immediately the car feels more alive.
Although the gearbox can occasionaly heistate on downshifts, it's reponds crisply as you move up through the ratios. The variable ratio steering, which increases its effect on the front wheels the more lock you apply, can be frustrating (at first you'll add too much lock, and having to wind some off mid-corner), but once you've got the hang of it, it adds stability and high speeds and means you don't have to cross your hands around hairpins.
With a relatively narrow powerband, you quickly learn to drive the car not with the throttle pinned, letting the engine rev out, but on part throttle, shortshifting and making use of the immense mid-range torque. Do so, and you can make seriousy swift progress, helped by the Ghibli's neutral balance in the corners and lots of lateral grip. Drive like a hooligan and it is possible to break traction at the rear, but the car responds better to smooth, controlled inputs.
It's not just the Quattroporte's mechanicals that the Ghibli shares, there's a more than a hint of its bigger brother in the way it looks. Both cars feature strong creases over the rear wheelarch, a full-width lower grille and a trio of square holes punched in the flanks. To set them apart, the Ghibli gets a much shorter rear overhang, a more angular front grille and slimmer headlights. It doesn't have the immediate jaw-dropping beauty of the GranTurismo coupe, but it's certainly more captivating to look at than than any of the German competition.
It's a similar story inside, where all the major components such as the dials, steering wheel and gearlever are shared with the Quattroporte. The Ghibli's arrangement is more driver focused though and feels sportier thanks to a chunky metal surround for the central touchscreen. The quality is excellent and there are some lovely touches, such as the elongated metal paddles that feel expensive on your fingertips and operate with a satisfying click.
In the back, a six-foot passenger will just about fit behind a six-foot driver, and the 500-litre boot looks large, but actually trails the 5 Series by 20-litres. You can forgive the Ghibli for not being the biggest car in its class, because the bottom line is you can now have a Maserati that drives with panache, returns nearly 50mpg and is yours for £48,830. That's £4,780 more than a BMW 530d M Sport Auto, but given the exclusivity of the Maserati badge it's a premium plenty of buyers will be prepared to pay.
Key specs
Price: £48,830
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel
Transmission: eight-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power/torque: 271bhp/600Nm
0-62mph: 6.3 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
Economy: 47.9mpg
CO2: 158g/km
Equipment: Sat-nav, climate control, cruise control, leather upholstery, electric seats, stop-start
On sale: Now
Test 3 petrol
This is Maserati's answer to the Mercedes CLS and Audi A7, a midsize sports sedan that's the core part of a ballsy plan to go from producing 6000 cars in 2012 to 50,000 in 2015.
Loosely based on Maserati's new, much larger Quattroporte luxury sedan, it comes with a two different V6s, a 345 hp version with rear-drive, and as the S Q4 with four-wheel drive and 404 hp. There's also a diesel for Europe, but it won't be coming here yet. We've driven it and you're not missing much.
That Ghibli name sound familiar? It's been used before, first on a pretty front-engined GT in the 1960s, then on another square-edged V6 coupe in the wilderness years of the 1990s.
Do yourself a favor and find the extra $10k for the Q4S. The basic 345 hp Ghibli posts 0-62 mph in 5.6 sec, but only really delivers the goods in the upper half of the rev range. It's not just the SQ4's 0.8 sec advantage that's so appealing either, but its effortless mid-range performance too.
And far from being a killjoy, the S Q4's rear-biased four-wheel drive system only sends enough torque to the front axle to make you feel like a hero. Both cars have a 50:50 weight distribution and feel sweetly balanced; both have hydraulic steering that's heavy but only moderately talkative; and both have a ride that can get caught out with sharp ridges.
The Skyhook adaptive dampers are optional with both engines, but the standard passive setup is close to Skyhook with the sport button pressed, so only shell out if you need the extra comfort, not better handling.
You just know Maserati is holding the best stuff back for now, like the 523 hp V8 from the Quattroporte that will eventually make an AMG rival of the Ghibli.
The Maserati name might sound exotic, but to succeed in this market, the Ghibli has to get the sensible stuff right, too. So interior room up front is strong, and passengers in the back get a much better deal than those in a Mercedes CLS when it comes to headroom.
Standard equipment includes leather trim, reversing camera and an eight-speed ZF automatic, while extended leather trim, adaptive dampers, 19, 20 and 21in wheels, a 1280w Bowers and Wilkins sound system, and even electrically adjustable pedals are just waiting to be plucked from the options list. One of the best touches in the car is the huge gearshift paddles made from real metal, not some cheap plastic facsimile. Yes, we're looking at you Jag.
One option not on the list but probably worth lobbying your dealer for is a bulkhead-foam delete checkbox. Both engines make a great noise, just not enough of it. You can't help but feel that people watching from the sidewalk are getting a better deal.
The Ghibli is an interesting attempt to break the German stranglehold on the premium car market. Is it the best car in its class? No, but it's a serious contender, and it has soul, that unquantifiable quality that has traditionally helped Italian carmakers part fools from their money. This time though, the rest of the package is strong enough that being a fool is not a prerequisite.
Ghibli: 2979cc 24v twin-turbo V6
Horsepower: 345 hp
Torque: 369 lb-ft
0-60 : 5.6 sec
Ghibli S: 2979cc 24v twin-turbo V6
Horsepower: 404 hp
Torque: 406 lb-ft
0-60: 4.8 sec
Notes from Michael Ferner:
It should be noted, however, that the "Jay-Eye-See Special" had nothing to do with the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co. It was a Fiat, rebuilt by Louis Disbrow who subsequently joined the Case team and renamed the car to please his new employer.
Nice picture of the "White Streak", by the way. This is one of the 1911 cars, rebodied and rechassied. I can't be 100 % sure, but I believe it's the one raced by Jagersberger at Indy.
Ah, that's why I didn't recognize the driver! I haven't seen that many pics of Jagersberger that I remembered, and since it's the rebuilt version of the car I only checked with 1912 pictures.
"Won many dirt track races" is perhaps a bit of embellishment, but Jagersberger did win one big meeting at the Hawthorne track in Cicero/Chicago back in June, with the car still in its Indy specification, against a field containing Hughie Hughes in the Mercer, Bob Burman (Benz) , Ralph de Palma (Simplex) and Eddie Hearne (Fiat). The cars were rebuilt during the summer months, and Jagersberger crashed at a dirt track meeting in Columbis/SC early in November, putting an end to his promising career. He was then driving a sister car, called the "Eagle" which was later renamed as the "Bullet" and run until the late teens with many famous drivers at the wheel, including Hearne, Bill Endicott and Fred Horey. I believe that the "Bullet" was originally Will Jones's Indy ride.
Excerpt from something I wrote on the Case, "Jay-Eye-See" etc. on another forum:
The J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company (one of the best ever names for a racing team ) of Racine in Wisconsin made automobile racing history by filing the first ever entry for an Indianapolis 500 Mile race on October 27 in 1910. Though the brand name still exists, it is no longer connected to the car manufacturing business (which went under in 1927), and the total output of racing cars never even reached double digits, but its importance in racing is still enormous since it formed the nucleus of the very first, and possibly biggest ever team of "historic" racing cars in the world - the team of John Alexander "Alex" Sloan, and his travelling circus show under the banner of the International Motor Contest Association, or IMCA for short.
In October of 1910, when that first Indianapolis entry had been filed, Case had only just begun manufacturing cars, and the racing car that was going to be raced at the Brickyard was no more than an idea in the mind of Lewis Strang, a young racing driver from New York. Although young in years, Strang had already acquired extensive experience in racing, having driven Isotta-Fraschini, Thomas, Renault, Buick, Fiat, Allen-Kingston, SPO and Jackson cars in competition during the last three years, mostly very successful, too.
It was hoped to test the Case as early as February 27, during the Mardi Gras Carnival races at New Orleans (LA), but the car could not be finished in time. Luckily, though, Strang got another chance on the last of March, putting the new Case through 300 miles of a beach race at Jacksonville (FL) - actually, he completed only 270 miles, finishing 6 laps down and in last place, but at least the reliability was there. With its small 4649 cc engine, the Case was not going to win anyway, but to go through such an arduous grind without much trouble was exactly the publicity that the Racine company was looking for. The winning Pope (6389 cc) and National (7320 cc) cars were running in a different league, but the third placed Mercer (4927 cc) finished only 12½ minutes ahead, so the speed of the little Case was competitive, too.
On Memorial Day, the three Case cars lined up in the hopeful expectation of giving a good account of themselves: On Memorial Day, the three Case cars lined up in the hopeful expectation of giving a good account of themselves:
1911 Case #1, Lewis Strang, relief driver Elmer Ray
1911 Case #8, Joe Jagersberger, relief driver Louis Larsonneur
1911 Case #9, Will Jones, relief driver Russell Smith
All three cars now sported the flashy look of the #9 car, but none of them managed to stay in the race for more than 300 miles - the steering gear proved to be the weak point on the rough bricks of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Undeterred, the team commenced an exhaustive schedule of racing over the following weeks: the Algonquin Hill Climb on June 8, the Hawthorne Track race on the 11th, Kenosha Driving Park on June 18, and Wisconsin State Fair Park on the 21st. With fair success, as Jagersberger even won the main event at Hawthorne, but Strang was injured the following week in Kenosha (WI), just a few miles south of home base, breaking an arm and an ankle. Worse was to come, as within a month he was dead, crashing fatally during a reliability tour through Wisconsin - at zero mph!!! Strang had stopped his Case touring car at a newly built bridge, in order to let a horse-drawn carriage through, only to find the fresh road shoulder giving way, and tumbling down the steep embankment - he was pinned under the car, and killed instantly.
Bereft of its leading light, the team soldiered on, now headed by Jagersberger, an Austrian-born racing veteran, and a promising young Californian named Jay McNay, but incredibly, within little more than a fortnight two more careers ended in Case racing cars during November, with Jagersberger suffering very serious injuries at the South Carolina State Fair races in Columbia, and McNay perishing in a practice shunt at the Vanderbilt Cup and Grand Prize meeting in Savannah (GA)! That was the nadir of a debutant year that could perhaps be best described as "character building", but thankfully, fortunes improved from here on. Two factors or, to be more precise, two persons were chiefly responsible for that reversal of fortunes, and one of them had already joined the team previous to that disastrous month of November: Alex Sloan. A former member of the management team of the already legendary Barney Oldfield, Sloan was a master manipulator, educated and entrepreneurial, with a vast experience of sports in general, and racing in particular. It was probably he who contacted Louis Disbrow, the second piece of the jigsaw puzzle, and one of the leading drivers in the country, who had only just announced that he was leaving the Pope-Hartford factory team to branch out on his own, with a "new" car he had just purchased, of which more anon.
Disbrow was present at Savannah to race the potent Pope "Hummer", merely fulfilling his last contractual obligations for the team that was about to close its storied racing department, and consented to drive Jagersberger's Case in one of the supporting races. It was an inauspicious debut for the driver, but Disbrow still joined the Case team over the winter, apparently liking the itinerary set out by Sloan: dirt track racing, dirt track racing, and more dirt track racing - every day of the week, if at all possible! That was right up Disbrow's alley, who really didn't care that much about road racing, having been reared on America's dusty fairground ovals - he and Alex Sloan would be partners for the rest of his career, well into the twenties! The setup is now complete for our journey, the "magical mystery tour" with Alex Sloan and his travelling circus show: within a few short years, the "old" Case racing team will be totally revamped, expanded and disguised, and it's so easy to lose orientation. So let's start right here with our inventory:
Three Case cars had been built for the Indy 500, all three basically identical, with 4-cylinder T-head engines built by the Wisconsin Engine Co., 4 1/4 * 5 inches (283.7 CID/4649 cc). It does not really look plausible to assume that there were more cars, but we should investigate: what about Strang's car at Jacksonville (March 31)? Occam's razor leads us to suggest that it was the same car he raced at Indy, and indeed, looking at the pictures of the two unpainted cars, Strang's looks slightly "used", while Jagersberger's has a fresh finish. Did the team ever enter more than three cars? Not to the best of my knowledge. And the accidents? No "terminal" damage? The most difficult question, as only very few pictures exist to help us out. But we mustn't forget that in those times, almost anything was repaired, over and over again - even the engines were likely special developments, and any damage, even major engine failures would be put back into action after suitable time in the workshop, as there would be no complete spare units, only parts. Yet we should be prepared for "transformations", i.e. cars being rebuilt with more or less major changes in appearance, and maybe even specification - this should become more clear in the process of our survey.
A little help may be provided by the nicknames the cars acquired during the year, presumably under the influence of Sloan's management. The first occurence of these nicknames that I can detect is from the September 13, 1911 meeting at Comstock Park in Grand Rapids (MI). McNay was there with his Cutting, presumably as part of the Ernie Moross équipe with Bob Burman, Lee Oldfield (not Barney!) and Juddy Kilpatrick, complete with a team of cars including the Blitzen-Benz. Ray Harroun was also there, giving various "exhibitions" with the Marmon "Wasp", including a wheel-change race - if ever somebody tries to tell you, that both car and driver retired upon winning the inaugural Indy 500, don't listen! Sloan arrived with only two cars, both carrying names much in the same fashion as the "Wasp" or the "Blitzen": Jagersberger was to drive the "White Streak", while the former Marmon chauffeur Lou Heinemann was down to drive the "Little Case Giant", or "Little Giant" for short. Interestingly, a few weeks later at Springfield (IL), the "Little Giant" was entered by one A. McFadden, as opposed to the Case factory (or Alex Sloan) for the other cars, as usual - anomalies like that will happen from time to time, and though I can't be sure if it has any meaning, it's perhaps best to take note just in case. This Mr. McFadden also appears to have gotten some seat time in the car during the afternoon, and this will also become a recurring theme: the swapping around amongst the drivers. Other than that, one Austin A. McFadden appears as the promoter of two race meetings at Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo (MI) the next July, both (naturally) attended by Sloan and his team. Racing is a small world indeed, even in America...
More on the "Jay-Eye-See":
Before the Case team started its 1912 campaign in California, Sloan saw to it that the press knew what to expect: for one thing, joining the team now as a full-time member was Louis Disbrow, as has been mentioned. The other big news item was the cars he was bringing to the team: early in November of 1911, it had been reported that Disbrow had bought the "200 hp Fiat" of E. W. C. Arnold, allegedly the car Felice Nazzaro had raced at Brooklands in 1908, (in)famous for its alleged lap record of over 121 mph - actually, it appears to have been an identical "twin" of that particular car, an 18,146 cc (190 * 160) OHV monster with an actual output of 175 hp, according to the most reliable sources. It had been driven for Arnold by Lewis Strang and Ralph de Palma in exhibitions at the Atlanta Motordrome, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Los Angeles Motordrome at Playa del Rey. Its only race appearance, as far as I can determine, happened in a 50-miler at Indianapolis on Labor Day of 1910, where de Palma finished 4th behind Eddie Hearne (Benz), Ray Harroun (Marmon) and Al Livingston (National) - not quite the performance of a champion!
Shortly after the purchase of the big Fiat, Disbrow announced plans to convert the car over the winter into the fastest dirt track racer in the world, but consented to a public tryout during a motorcycle meet at the Guttenberg track in New Jersey, during which the Fiat caught fire and inflicted painful burns on the driver. Both he and the car were restored to health by March 31 for their first competitive event at the Lakeside Inn Speedway near San Diego (CA), where the big Fiat sported the now well known upside-down boat body as well as the name "Jay-Eye-See Special", and was reportedly powered by a 290 hp engine of 1,760 CID - first indications of the Sloan flair for embellishment that would become a virtual trademark for IMCA later on! Somehow, Sloan seems to have become "confused", and quoted the specifications of the new Fiat S76 record car instead (apart from adding another 30 CID for good measure) - oh, well... The quoted weight of 3,150 lbs (1,429 kg) was likely more accurate, and indicative of some actual gains in that department - not really surprising, either, as the car had been devoid of any ornamental features such as bodywork, originally!
www.ravishlondon.com/londonstreetart
Together Shoreditch and Spitalfields in the East of London constitute the most exciting place to be in London. The population is young, dynamic and imaginative; Friday and Saturday nights are a riot with a plethora of bars and clubs many with their own unique flavour. But what makes this area really special is that Shoreditch and Spitalfields comprise what one might call, ‘the square mile of art’; a de factor open air art gallery; with graffiti, posters and paste-ups being displayed on the main streets, down the side roads and in all the nooks and crannies of this post-industrial environ.
From Eine’s huge single letters being painted on shop shutters, to the haunting propaganda posters of Obey, to Cartrain’s political black and white pop-art; and to the one very small bronze coloured plastic circle, with the imprint of a dog shit and a man's foot about to step into it, which I once saw pasted to a wall, there is an incredible diversity.
Being on the streets, the work can be destroyed, taken or painted over at any minute. It is fragile and transient. Furthermore the juxtaposition of different pieces of art is random and unpredictable both in content and its location, which means that each day throws up a new and unique configuration of work within the streets, which you can only experience by travelling through the city.
Street Art Beginnings
The reasons for why East London has seen the flowering of street art are manifold. The post-industrial legacy of Shoreditch’s crumbling low-rise warehouses, not only provides an environment in which the artists and designers can do their work, but East London’s proximity to the City of London provides an economic source of support for the artists and designers; and finally Shoreditch with its building sites, old dilapidated warehouses provides a canvas upon which those artists can display their work and increase their commercial value.
Set against the characterless nature of the steely post-modernity of the city, the autumnal colours of the terraced warehouses in Shoreditch, no bigger than four to five stories high; offer a reminder of the legacy of a thriving fabrics and furniture industry which blossomed in the seventeenth Century. Both Shoreditch and Spitalfields have industrial pasts linked to the textiles industry, which fell into terminal decline by the twentieth century and was almost non-existent by the end of Wolrd War II. The decline was mirrored in the many three to four storey warehouses that were left to decay.
The general decline was arrested in the 1980s with the emergence of Shoreditch and Hoxton (Hoxton and Shoreditch are used interchandeably to refer to the same area) as a centre for new artists. It is difficult to say what attracted the artists to this area. But it was likely to be a combination of the spaces offered by the old warehouses, the cheap rents, and the location of Shoreditch and Spitalfields close to the City of London; where the money was to buy and fund artistic endeavour.
Not just that but post-war Shoreditch dominated by tens of post-war tower blocks, built amidst the ruins of the terraced housing that lay there before, which was bombed during World War II; had the rough edge which might inspire an artist. Shoreditch hums with the industry of newly arrived immigrants but also of the dangers of the poorer communities which inhabit these areas. Homeless people can be found sat underneath bridges on the main thoroughfares on Friday and Saturday nights; and Shoreditch is apparently home to one of the largest concentrations of striptease joints and a number of prostitutes. So, Shoreditch is a crumbling dirty, dodgy, polluted mess but it also has money; and these two factors provide an intoxicating mix for artists, who can take inspiration from their environment, but also rub shoulders with people who have the kind of money to buy their work.
By the early nineties Hoxton’s reputation as a centre for artists had become well established. As Jess Cartner-Morley puts it ‘Hoxton was invented in 1993. Before that, there was only 'Oxton, a scruffy no man's land of pie and mash and cheap market-stall clothing…’ At that time artists like Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin were taking part in ‘A Fete Worth than Death’ an arts based event in Hoxton. Gradually these artists began to create their own gravity, attracting more and more of their own like. Clubs and bars began to emerge, as did a Hoxton style, ‘the Hoxton fin’ being a trademark haircut. Many designers and artists located around Shoreditch and Spitalfields. Shoreditch has also become a hive of studios for artists, vintage fashion shops, art students and musicians.
At the same time as an artistic community was forming fuelled by money from the City, London was subject to a revolution in street art. According to Ward, writing for Time Out, the street art scene began in the mid-1980s as part of London’s hip-hop scene. Graffiti artists, emulating what was going on Stateside, began to tag their names all over London. According to Ward many of those pioneers ‘went on to paint legal commissions and are at the heart of today’s scene’. That is to say, from the community of artists congregating in East London, a number were inspired by graffiti, and because the East London, with its countless dilapidated warehouses, and building sites, offered such a good canvas; they went on to use the East London as a canvas for their work.
Little seems to have been written about the individual journey’s particular street artists have taken to get to where they are, which help illuminate some of the issues talked about in this section. Cartrain said that Banksy was a huge influence for him commenting that, "I've sent him a few emails showing him my work and he sent me a signed piece of his work in the post."
What created the East London street art scene may also kill it
The East London urban art scene is unlikely to last forever, being the symptom of a delicate juxtaposition of industrial decline and economic forces.
The irony is that the same factors which are responsible for the creation of the East London art scene are likely to destroy it.
Politicians from all parties, spiritual leaders for global capital, tell us of the unstoppable forces of globalisation. They say if Britain is to continue to dip its paw into the cream of the world’s wealth it needs to become a post-industrial service economy; suggesting a rosy future of millions of Asians slaving away co-ordinated by keyboard tapping British suits, feet on desk, leant back on high backed leather chairs, secretary blowing them off.
Art, which is feeble and dependent upon the financial growth of an economy for its survival, will have to shape itself around the needs and demands of capital.
The financial district of the City of London, lying to the south of Shoreditch, has been successfully promoted as a global financial centre, and its mighty power is slowly expanding its way northwards. Plans are afoot for the glass foot soldiers of mammon, fuelled by speculative property investment, to gradually advance northwards, replacing old warehouses with a caravan of Starbucks and Japanese sushi places and a concomitant reduction in dead spaces to portray the art, increased security to capture and ward off street artists, increased property prices and the eventual eviction of the artistic community. Spitalfields has already had big corporate sized chunks taken out of it, with one half of the old Spitalfields Market being sacrificed for corporate interests in the last five years.
So then the very same financial forces, and post-industrial legacy, which have worked to create this micro-environment for street art to thrive, are the same forces which will in time eventually destroy it. Maybe the community will move northwards, maybe it will dissipate, but until that moment lets just enjoy what the community puts out there, for its own financial interests, for their own ego and also, just maybe, for the benefit of the people.
Banksy
Banksy is the street artist par excellence. London’s street art scene is vibrant and diverse. There is some good, cure, kitschy stuff out there, but in terms of creativity and imagination Banksy leads by a city mile. His stuff is invariably shocking, funny, thought provoking and challenging.
Banksy considers himself to be a graffiti artist, which is what he grew up doing in the Bristol area in the late eighties. According to Hattenstone (2003) Banksy, who was expelled from his school, and who spent some time in prison for petty crimes, started graffiti at the age of 14, quickly switching over to stencils, which he uses today, because he didn’t find he had a particular talent for the former. His work today involves a mixture of graffiti and stencils although he has shown a capacity for using a multitude of materials.
Key works in London have included:
•In London Zoo he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We're bored of fish" in six-foot-high letters.
•
•In 2004 he placed a dead rat in a glass-fronted box, and stuck the box on a wall of the Natural History Museum.
•
•‘A designated riot area’ at the bottom of Nelson’s Column.
•
•He placed a painting called Early Man Goes to Market, with a human figure hunting wildlife while pushing a shopping trolley, in the British Museum.
•
His work seems to be driven by an insatiable desire to go on producing. In an interview with Shepherd Fairey he said, ‘Anything that stands in the way of achieving that piece is the enemy, whether it’s your mum, the cops, someone telling you that you sold out, or someone saying, "Let’s just stay in tonight and get pizza." Banksy gives the impression of being a person in the mould of Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher or Lance Armstrong. Someone with undoubted talent and yet a true workaholic dedicated to his chosen profession.
Its also driven by the buzz of ‘getting away with it’. He said to Hattenstone, ‘The art to it is not getting picked up for it, and that's the biggest buzz at the end of the day because you could stick all my shit in Tate Modern and have an opening with Tony Blair and Kate Moss on roller blades handing out vol-au-vents and it wouldn't be as exciting as it is when you go out and you paint something big where you shouldn't do. The feeling you get when you sit home on the sofa at the end of that, having a fag and thinking there's no way they're going to rumble me, it's amazing... better than sex, better than drugs, the buzz.’
Whilst Banksy has preferred to remain anonymous he does provide a website and does the occasional interview putting his work in context (see the Fairey interview).
Banksy’s anonymity is very important to him. Simon Hattenstone, who interviewed Banksy in 2003, said it was because graffiti was illegal, which makes Banksy a criminal. Banksy has not spoken directly on why he wishes to maintain his anonymity. It is clear that Banksy despises the notion of fame. The irony of course is that ‘Banksy’ the brand is far from being anonymous, given that the artist uses it on most if not all of his work. In using this brand name Banksy helps fulfil the need, which fuels a lot of graffiti artists, of wanting to be recognised, the need of ego.
Banksy is not against using his work to ‘pay the bills’ as he puts it. He has for example designed the cover of a Blur album, although he has pledged never to do a commercial job again, as a means of protecting his anonymity. Nevertheless he continues to produce limited edition pieces, which sell in galleries usually for prices, which give him a bit of spending money after he has paid the bills. Banksy has said, ‘If it’s something you actually believe in, doing something commercial doesn’t turn it to shit just because it’s commercial’ (Fairey, 2008). Banksy has over time passed from urban street artist into international artistic superstar, albeit an anonymous one.
Banksy has a definite concern for the oppressed in society. He often does small stencils of despised rats and ridiculous monkeys with signs saying things to the effect of ‘laugh now but one day we’ll be in charge’. Whilst some seem to read into this that Banksy is trying to ferment a revolutionary zeal in the dispossessed, such that one day they will rise up and slit the throats of the powers that be, so far his concern seems no more and no less than just a genuine human concern for the oppressed. Some of what seems to fuel his work is not so much his hatred of the system but at being at the bottom of it. He said to Hattenstone (2003) ‘Yeah, it's all about retribution really… Just doing a tag is about retribution. If you don't own a train company then you go and paint on one instead. It all comes from that thing at school when you had to have name tags in the back of something - that makes it belong to you. You can own half the city by scribbling your name over it’
Charlie Brooker of the Guardian has criticised Banksy for his depictions of a monkey wearing a sandwich board with 'lying to the police is never wrong' written on it. Certainly such a black and white statement seems out of kilter with more balanced assessments that Banksy has made. Brooker challenges Banksy asking whether Ian Huntley would have been right to have lied to the police?
Brooker has also criticized Banksy for the seemingly meaninglessness of some of this images. Brooker says, ‘Take his political stuff. One featured that Vietnamese girl who had her clothes napalmed off. Ho-hum, a familiar image, you think. I'll just be on my way to my 9 to 5 desk job, mindless drone that I am. Then, with an astonished lurch, you notice sly, subversive genius Banksy has stencilled Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald either side of her. Wham! The message hits you like a lead bus: America ... um ... war ... er ... Disney ... and stuff.’ Brooker has seemingly oversimplified Banksy’s message, if indeed Banksy has one, to fuel his own criticisms. It is easy to see that for many the Vietnam painting tells us that the United States likes to represent itself with happy smiling characters, that hide the effects of its nefarious activities responsible for the real life faces of distress seen on the young girl. Something that we should be constantly reminded of. But then that’s a matter of politics not of meaninglessness.
Banksy’s ingenuity comes through in his philosophy on progression, ‘I’m always trying to move on’ he says. In the interview he gave with Shepherd Fairey he explained that he has started reinvesting his money in to new more ambitious projects which have involved putting scaffolding put up against buildings, covering the scaffolding with plastic sheeting and then using the cover of the sheets to do his paintings unnoticed.
Banksy has balls. Outside of London he has painted images in Disney Land; and on the Israeli wall surrounding Palestine. How far is he willing to push it? What about trying something at the headquarters of the BNP, or on army barracks, or at a brothel or strip club employing sex slaves, or playing around with corporate advertising a la Adbusters?
2014 Audi R18 e-tron QUATTRO, driven by André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer.
304 pieces LEGO model
Instructions available on Rebrickable
Stickers made by Brickstickershop
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
The origins of the Turbo Fury reach back to 1943, when the piston-driven Hawker Sea Fury's development was formally initiated in response to a wartime requirement of the RAF.
As the Second World War drew to a close, the RAF cancelled their order for the aircraft. However, the Royal Navy saw the type as a suitable carrier aircraft to replace a range of increasingly obsolete or poorly suited aircraft being operated by the Fleet Air Arm. Development of the Sea Fury proceeded, and the type began entering operational service in 1947.
The Sea Fury had many design similarities to Hawker's preceding Tempest fighter, but the Sea Fury was a considerably lighter aircraft. Both the Sea Fury's wings and fuselage originated from the Tempest but were significantly modified and redesigned.
The Sea Fury attracted international orders as both a carrier and land-based aircraft; it was operated by countries including Australia, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, West Germany, Iraq, and Pakistan. The Sea Fury was retired by the majority of its military operators in the late 1950s in favour of jet-propelled aircraft. One of the largest export customers for the type, Pakistan, went a different way.
A total of 87 new-build Sea Furies were purchased and delivered to Pakistan between 1950 and 1952, but some ex-FAA and Iraqi Sea Furies were also subsequently purchased.
The Sea Fury began to be replaced by the jet-powered North American F-86 Sabre in 1955, but it became quickly clear that the Sabre was primarily a fighter, not a ground attack aircraft. It also lacked adequate performance in 'hot and high' operation theatres, and the PAF's B-57 bombers were too big for certain CAS tasks, and their number highly limited.
Hence the decision was taken to modernize a part of the PAF Sea Fury fleet for the ground attack role. This was to be achieved with a better engine that would deliver more power, a better overall performance as well as an extended range for prolonged loiter times close to the potential battlefield.
Engine choice fell on the Allison T56 turboshaft engine, which had originally been developed for the C-130 Hercules transporter (later also installed in the P-3 and E-2) - the type had just been bought by the PAF, so that low maintenance cost due to parts and infrastructure commonality was expected. Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (commonly abbreviated 'PAC') was tasked to develop a suitable update, and this lead to the integration of a turboprop engine into the Sea Fury airframe.
For the relatively small Sea Fury airframe the T56 was downrated to 3.000 hp, to which approximately 750 lbs of thrust from its exhaust could be added. The latter was bifurcated and ran along the fuselage flanks, ending in fairings at the wings' trailing edge. In order to cope with the additional power, the original five-bladed propeller had to be replaced by a six-bladed, indigenously developed propeller. Together with the more pointed spinner and the raised propeller position, the Sea Fury's profile changed dramatically, even though the good field of view for the pilot was retained. Officially, the modified machines were just called 'Sea Fury FB.61', inofficially they were called 'Turbo Furies' or 'وایلار' (Urdu: Wailer), for their characteristic, penetrating engine and propeller sound.
Internally, structural reinforcements had to be made and new wing spars were introduced. These allowed higher g forces for low level maneuvers and also carried additional ordnance hardpoints under the outer wings - these enabled the aircraft to carry HVARs of American origin and/or several small caliber bombs instead of only a single pair of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber.
The last piston engine Sea Furies in Pakistani service were ultimately retired in 1960, while the Turbo Fury fleet was used throughout the 1965 India-Pakistan War. After the end of hostilities, the 'Turbo Furies' were quickly phased out since it had become clear that they had become too vulnerable in battlefield conditions.
Some of these machines were sold to Thailand, though, where it served with the Royal Thai Marine Corps (นาวิกโยธินแห่งราชอาณาจักรไทย) in the CAS role and saw frequent use: The Chanthaburi and Trat borders with Cambodia gave the Marine Corps Department its first assignment, safeguarding the coastline and southeastern border. Since 1970 the Marine Corps' Chanthaburi-Trat Task Force had been officially assigned the defense of this area.
During 1972 and 1973, Thai Marines were involved in the "Sam-Chai" anti-communist operations in Phetchabun Province and the "Pha-Phum" anti-communist operations in Chiang Rai Province. In 1973 and 1974, they took part in anti-communist operations in the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. After ten years of frequent and successful use, the end of the Thai TurBo Furies came - the type was retired in late 1975. Two specimen were sold into the USA to Flight Systems Inc., where the machines were de-militarized and modified to be used as fast low-level target tugs.
Still, the aircraft would see a late career for the USAF, even though only an indirect one - and ironically against another WWII veteran reincarnation! In 1971 Piper Aircraft Corp. at Lakeland, Florida, built for the USAF's PAVE COIN programm (calling for a simple aircraft tailored to the ground attack role for small armies) two Piper Enforcers by heavily modifying two existing P-51 Mustang aircraft and fitting them with Lycoming T55-L9A turboprop engines, along with numerous other significant modifications.
Prior to the PAVE COIN evaluation, N202PE was lost in a crash off the Florida Coast. Although the Enforcer performed well in PAVE COIN, Piper failed to secure a United States Air Force contract. Anyway, Piper kept on lobbying Congress for another 8 years to force the USAF to officially re-evaluate the Enforcer.
Eventually in the 1979 defense bill $11.9 million was allocated for Piper to build two new prototypes and for the USAF to perform another flight evaluation. Since the Enforcer was never in the Air Force inventory, it was not given an official military designation and did not receive an Air Force serial number. Instead, it carries the Piper designation PA-48 and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration numbers N481PE and N482PE.
During 1983 and 1984 the PA-48s were pitted against several "modern" jets at 1984 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida and Edwards Air Force Base, California. Beyond 'state of the art' competirion, the USAF wanted a direct competitor - and found Flight Systems Inc's Turbo Furies. One of these, aircraft N287FS, was leased in 1981 and revamped to military status in order to act as a further benchnmark and as aggressor.
By the time the machine had already undergone some major modifications, including an ejection seat for the pilot and a new five-bladed propeller plus exhaust dampers in order to minimize the machine's distinctive, penetrating noise.
Further modifications saw the re-installment of armament, including wing hardpoints and the respective wiring, as well as adding four 20mm cannon, this time domestic Pontiac M39A1 revolver cannon - easily recognizable through the longer gun barrels that protruded from the wings' leading edge.
During the two years of evaluation the revamped Turbo Fury fared well, while its sister ship remained in the target tug role - and it was the only machine to survive, since N287FS crashed on 8th of August 1984 at Eglin AB due to hydraulic failure, with the pilot escaping securely thanks to the new ejection seat.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 36 ft 2 in (11.05 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 43⁄4 in (11.69 m)
Height: 15 ft 101⁄2 in (4.84 m)
Wing area: 280 ft2 (26.01 m2)
Empty weight: 10.500 lb (4.767 kg)
Loaded weight: 14,100 lb (6.400 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 15,650 lb (7.105 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Allison T56 turboshaft engine rated at 2.206 kW (3.000 hp) plus 750 lbs of residual thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 490 mph (427 knots, 790 km/h) at 18,000 ft (5,500 m)
Range: 700 mi (609 nmi, 1,126 km) with internal fuel;
1,040 mi (904 nmi, 1,674 km) with two drop tanks
Service ceiling: 35,800 ft (10,910 m)
Rate of climb: 4,320 ft/min (21.9 m/s)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (0.787 in) Pontiac M39A1 revolver cannon
Eight underwing hardpoints for an external load of 4.000 lb (1.814 kg),
including bombs, unguided rockets, napalm tanks or drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
Turbo Fury V3.0, spinning forth the initial fictional background story of this whif conversion. The combination of a WWII figher design and a C-130 Hercules sounds unlikely, but that's what I built. The idea of revamped piston-engine aircraft for a post-WWII-use has its charm and continually brings forth impressive designs, like the real world Piper PA-48.
Inspiration came with a set of 1:72 aftermarket C-130J resin engine nacelles from OzMods, which I had bunkered a while ago. This time the engine was mated again to the single seater kit from Pioneer2/PM Models. The Hercules engines are an almost perfect fit - the original fuselage just had to be cut away behind the original exhaust reflectors. Some sculpting had to be done on both sides, and the wing roots filled up in order to match the new, more narrow engine, but things went really smoothly.
This time, the Turbo Fury was to have a more modern touch - we are in the 80ies now. So I decided to use the original C-130 sickle blades that come with the OzMods conversion kit, even though I only used five of them instead of six (the spinner was modified accordingly). Another idea was to conceal the original exhaust pipes under the cockpit - I scratched dampers with intakes that would muffle engine sound and mix the hot gases with fresh air. These break up the sleek lines of the Fury, but I think that this installation makes sense, also as a potential survival measure that reduces the aircraft's IR signature?
Otherwise, only little things were changed. In the cockpit a new seat and a dashboard cover were added. The underwing hardpoints were new, too, and I added some antennae for a more modern and purposeful look. All pylons are new, and the bomb ordnance was puzzled together from the spares box, including four Rockeye CBUs from an Italeri F-16, an camera pod (from an Italeri F-18, IIRC) and a single ACMI pod from an Italeri F-21.
Painting and markings:
Piper's PA-48 was a bit of inspiration for this build, and I wanted the final Turbo Fury to be an American aircraft. USAF use would have been unlikely, though, but a private operator like Flight Systems Inc. (Which also operated F-86 as target tugs!) opened a new opportunity, as well as the historic trials of the PA-48 in the early 80ies.
Well, how to paint the Turbo Fury? An early idea had been a simple, all Gunship Grey aircraft with low-viz markings, but I eventually settled for the contemporary "USMC Land Scheme", applied to helicopters (AH-1, CH-46) and some of the USMC's OA-10. On a classic airframe like the Sea Fury's it would look totally anachronistic - but for an aggressor and test aircraft? Why not?
This wraparound scheme consists of grey, green and black - I used FS 35237 (Humbrol 145), FS 34097 (Humbrol 105) and FS 37038 (Humbrol 85, slightly lightened with some Humbrol 32 Dark Grey). The cockpit interior was kept in dark gray, the landing gear is in Aluminum, just like on the former builds of this series.
As per usual the kit received a light black ink wash and some dry painting that emphasizes the panel lines.
Decals were puzzled together from the scrap box, with some typical US markings and modern stencils.
Even though the paint finish turned out to look a bit more worn than initially intended, I am very happy with the result of this "Final Turbo Fury", esp. with its modern details. It looks rather odd and purposeful! And there's still one Hercules engine left... maybe a forth Turbo Fury might come forth, in the hands of another obscure operator's hands. ;)
Found this to be a rather odd mural, I've driven by a bunch but never got a very close look at it. Statue of Liberty, Oregon trail pioneers, a variety of visionary leaders in a rose, a Mayan pyramid, Mt. Hood...sure!
This is Kenny from our Asset Management and Analysis Division- doing another review our Asset Risk Exposure Portfolio.
A tough job but someone has to do it.
[Riding " The Boardroom" aka "Driven By Profit"]
Driven by dreams during the 2021 FIA Prize Giving Ceremony, at the Carrousel du Louvre, on December 16 in Paris, France - Photo Germain Hazard / DPPI
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
The Sea Fury was a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and also one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built. Developed during the Second World War, the Sea Fury entered service two years after the war ended. The Sea Fury proved to be a popular aircraft with a number of overseas militaries, and it was successfully used during the Korean War in the early 1950s where it could keep up with 1st generatiom jet fighters like the MiG-15.
The Sea Fury's development was formally initiated in 1943 in response to a wartime requirement of the RAF, thus the aircraft was initially named Fury. As the Second World War drew to a close, the RAF cancelled their order for the aircraft. However, the Royal Navy saw the type as a suitable carrier aircraft to replace a range of increasingly obsolete or poorly suited aircraft being operated by the Fleet Air Arm. Development of the Sea Fury proceeded, and the type began entering operational service in 1947.
The Sea Fury had many design similarities to Hawker's preceding Tempest fighter, but the Sea Fury was a considerably lighter aircraft. Both the Sea Fury's wings and fuselage originated from the Tempest but were significantly modified and redesigned. Production Sea Furies were fitted with the powerful Bristol Centaurus engine, and armed with four wing-mounted Hispano V 20mm cannons. While originally developed as a pure aerial fighter aircraft, the definitive Sea Fury FB 11 was a fighter-bomber, the design having been found suitable for this mission as well.
The Sea Fury attracted international orders as both a carrier and land-based aircraft; it was operated by countries including Australia, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, West Germany, Iraq, and Pakistan. The Sea Fury was retired by the majority of its military operators in the late 1950s in favour of jet-propelled aircraft. One of the largest export customers for the type, Pakistan, went a different way.
Originally, an initial order for 50 Sea Fury FB 60 aircraft for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) was placed in 1949. A total of 87 new-build Sea Furies were purchased and delivered between 1950 and 1952, but some ex-FAA and Iraqi Sea Furies were also subsequently purchased.
The aircraft was operated by three frontline squadrons, Nos. 5, 9, and 14 Squadrons.
The Sea Fury began to be replaced by the jet-powered North American F-86 Sabre in 1955, but it became quickly clear that the Sabre was primarily a fighter, not a ground attack aircraft. It also lacked adequate performance in 'hot and high' operation theatres, and the PAF's B-57 bombers were too big for certain CAS tasks, and their number highly limited.
Hence the decision was taken to modernize a part of the PAF Sea Fury fleet for the ground attack role. This was to be achieved with a better engine that would deliver more power, a better overall performance as well as an extended range for prolonged loiter times close to the potential battlefield.
Engine choice fell on the Allison T56 turboshaft engine, which had originally been developed for the C-130 Hercules transporter (later also installed in the P-3 and E-2) - the type had just been bought by the PAF, so that low maintenance cost due to parts and infrastructure commonality was expected. Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (commonly abbreviated 'PAC') was tasked to develop a suitable update, and this lead to the integration of a turboprop engine into the Sea Fury airframe.
For the relatively small Sea Fury airframe the T56 was downrated to 3.000 hp, to which approximately 750 lbs of thrust from its exhaust could be added. The latter was bifurcated and ran along the fuselage flanks, ending in fairings at the wings' trailing edge. In order to cope with the additional power, the original five-bladed propeller had to be replaced by a six-bladed, indigenously developed propeller. Together with the more pointed spinner and the raised propeller position, the Sea Fury's profile changed dramatically, even though the good field of view for the pilot was retained. Officially, the modified machines were just called 'Sea Fury FB.61', inofficially they were called 'Turbo Furies' or 'وایلار' (Urdu: Wailer), for their characteristic, penetrating engine and propeller sound.
Internally, structural reinforcements had to be made and new wing spars were introduced. These allowed higher g forces for low level maneuvers and also carried additional ordnance hardpoints under the outer wings - these enabled the aircraft to carry HVARs of American origin and/or several small caliber bombs instead of only a single pair of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber.
The last piston engine Sea Furies in Pakistani service were ultimately retired in 1960, while the Turbo Fury fleet was used throughout the 1965 India-Pakistan War. After the end of hostilities, the 'Turbo Furies' were quickly phased out since it had become clear that they had become too vulnerable in battlefield conditions.
Some of these machines was sold to Thailand, though. Due to its close proximity with Thailand, Vietnam's conflict was closely monitored by Bangkok. Thai involvement in Vietnam did not become official until the total involvement of the United States in 1963, and Thailand allowed the United States Air Force in Thailand to use air bases and naval bases for U.S. forces. Furthermore, constant border disputes with Cambodia urged the government to enlarge the military arsenal.
As a consequence, the Royal Thai Marine Corps received 13 Turbo Furys for the CAS role in 1966. Actually, these were the first aircraft for the naval air arm since 1951, because after a coup attempt by the Navy to overthrow the prime minister Phibun Songkhram the Government had decided to remove all planes from the Navy and give it to the Royal Thai Air Force.
The Thai Turbo Furys saw frequent use: The Chanthaburi and Trat borders with Cambodia gave the Marine Corps Department its first assignment, safeguarding the coastline and southeastern border. Since 1970 the Marine Corps' Chanthaburi-Trat Task Force had been officially assigned the defense of this area.
During 1972 and 1973, Thai Marines were involved in the "Sam-Chai" anti-communist operations in Phetchabun Province and the "Pha-Phum" anti-communist operations in Chiang Rai Province. In 1973 and 1974, they took part in anti-communist operations in the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
Since 1975, Thai Marines have been assigned to Narathiwat as Marine Corps special forces, and this. after ten years of frequent and successful use, was the end of the Thai Tubro Furies - the type was retired in late 1975. Two specimen were sold into the USA and the remaining airframes (a total of 5 had been lost, two through accidents and three had been shot down by AA fire) were scrapped.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 36 ft 2 in (11.05 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 43⁄4 in (11.69 m)
Height: 15 ft 101⁄2 in (4.84 m)
Wing area: 280 ft2 (26.01 m2)
Empty weight: 10.500 lb (4.767 kg)
Loaded weight: 14,100 lb (6.400 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 15,650 lb (7.105 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Allison T56 turboshaft engine rated at 2.206 kW (3.000 hp) plus 750 lbs of residual thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 490 mph (427 knots, 790 km/h) at 18,000 ft (5,500 m)
Range: 700 mi (609 nmi, 1,126 km) with internal fuel;
1,040 mi (904 nmi, 1,674 km) with two drop tanks
Service ceiling: 35,800 ft (10,910 m)
Rate of climb: 4,320 ft/min (21.9 m/s)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk V cannons in the wings
Eight underwing hardpoints for an external load of 4.000 lb (1.814 kg),
including bombs, unguided rockets, napalm tanks or drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This is tehe second build of the same kit conversion idea - spinning forth the initial fictional background story. Well, the combination of a WWII figher design and a C-130 Hercules sounds unlikely, but that's what I built. The idea of revamped piston-engine aircraft for a post-WWII-use has its charm and continually brings forth impressive designs, so here's another contribution to that wild bunch of whifs.
Inspiration came with a set of 1:72 aftermarket C-130J resin engine nacelles from OzMods, which I had bunkered a while ago. This time the engine was mated to a two-seater, the simple but solid "Bagdad Fury" from Pioneer2/PM Models. The Hercules engines are an almost perfect fit - the original fuselage just had to be cut away behind the original exhaust reflectors. Some sculpting had to be done on both sides, and the wing roots filled up in order to match the new, more narrow engine, but things went really smoothly. Additionally, the rear cockpit opening had to be faired over, and the canopy had to be adjusted a little.
For the turboprop's exhaust I drilled up oval holes on the fuselage flanks, under the cockpit, and inserted styrene tubes - the best position I could think of?
The spinner comes from the OzMods set, too, but the C-130J sickle-shaped propeller blades were just a bit too modern and too large for the Sea Fury. I was lucky to have some spare blades from a Pavla propeller set for the Academy B-24 Liberator - these were attached to the pointed spinner, and it looks menacing!
Otherwise, only littel things were changed. In the cockpit a new seat and a dashboard cover were added. The underwing hardpoints were new, too, and I added some antennae for a more modern and purposeful look of the aicraft.
All pylons are new, and the bomb ordnance was puzzled together from the spares box (P-47 drop tanks and four unguided rocket pods from the Revell G.91).
Painting and markings:
When searching for a potential user after the PAF I came across Thailand; the country had operated a handful of Fairey Fireflys after WWII, but these had to be retired in the early 50ies and the Thai Navy lost its air arm. These machine probably carried standard Extra Dark Sea Grey/Sky liveries.
One of these is on display in the Thai Air Force museum - and probably in a garish, non-authentic livery with a light blue underside, and very light grey uppers. Anyway, it looks odd enough to incorporate the concept onto my whiffy Turbo Fury...
The basic colors are Revell 57 (RAL 7000, very close to FS 35237) and FS 34515 for the lower sides. The Thailand (Navy) markings come from a Fairey Firefly aftermarket decal sheet, and suit the Fury well. Tactical codes and the "RTMC.
The cockpit interior was kept in very dark gray, the landing gear is in Aluminum.
Again, the "Turbo Fury" looks very conclusive, and the conversion is rather simple. Acutally, I might add a third chapter and build another one, since history opens an interesting "final use" to this aircraft. Maybe more in some time...
I can remember the days before the A143 was driven between the village and the church, you would head out of Gillingham, past the pub, through Geldeston, now stuck at the end of a dead end lane, and into Kirby Cane, where the road dog-legged round the pub and then out towards Bungay.
Now the busy road passes between the village and church, and I only happened to be passing by on account of following the sat nav.
I had tried to see inside All Saints once before, a short winter day around Christmas, with the light fading, the flint wall then attracted my attention before trying the ancient door inside the porch.
Then, as this day, the door was locked and with no details of a key holder.
The Norman doorway deserves to be revisited, as some of the shots I took did not come out, as the carving seems especially fine and still clear.
But the church was locked, and so will return some other day when I hope to be luckier.
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The first time I ever visited Kirby Cane church, it was in the middle of the night. We were driving past, taking the narrow country lanes between Norwich and Bungay. We came over a rise, and the round tower loomed up before us in the moonlight. I remember getting out and wandering up the path under the dark spreading canopy of the magnificent spruce trees. It was like walking into a Gothick horror story.
Kirby Cane parish contains the sizeable village of Kirby Row, but the church and churchyard are some way off on the other side of the Diss to Yarmouth road. In daylight this is a rather charming spot, although the trees are still magnificent. I can't think of any bigger in a Norfolk graveyard than the one near the gate. The graveyard itself is small, and pleasingly random.
And All Saints is a small church, the tower to scale. Its age is revealed by the beautiful Norman south doorway, a common feature around here in this area of small parishes with small churches, although Sam Mortlock points out that this one has an outer ring of decoration which is unique in the county. The door is a little fiddly - you have to get the handle of the latch just right - but you step into a well-maintained interior which is full of light. There is a beautiful roodloft stairway set in the splay of the window on the south side.
The font is a fine example from the 14th century. It's traceried panels were probably painted once, and the heads peering from beneath the bowl are all different. The font cover remembers the Coronation of Edward VII, the first there had been of a British monarch in 65 years.The royal arms and a pair of hatchments on the west wall have been restored splendidly - they look almost new - and, indeed, one of them is 20th Century, one of the very last in England.
The furnishings are simple and seemly; the chancel, with its Restoration period communion rails. is elegant in its simplicity. It is all thoroughly fitting for modern Anglican worship. The glass in the east window is stretched to create a shimmering effect, with a single panel of heraldic glass in the middle. On the north side of the chancel is a blocked archway, once that to a chapel, with a tombchest set against it. Can it once have been an Easter sepulchre? It seems hard to believe that it is in its original place.
A curiosity is the brass plaque on the chancel floor inscribed in an amateur hand. It tells us that Here lieth the body of John Watson Rector of Kirby Cane who died January 5th Ano Do MDMV - presumably it means MDCV, that is to say 1605. It ends with words which I cannot decode.
Simon Knott, July 2009
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/kirbycane/kirbycane.htm
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The principal manor in this town was in the abbey of St. Edmund of Bury, to which it was given by Algiva Queen of England, mother of Edward the Confessor. It is to be observed here, that Emma is by historians generally called this King's mother, who first married Etheldred King of England, by whom she had King Edward, and afterwards married Canute King of England, &c.; the Saxon Chronicle calls her Ælgiva Ymma; (fn. 1) and it is probable that she gave it about the year 1020, when King Canute, her lord, was a great benefactor to that abbey.
The said abbey held it at the grand survey, and Rafrid of the abbot, with 2 carucates of land, a villain and eleven borderers; there were 2 carucates in demean, 5 carucates among the tenants, and 14 acres of meadow, paunage for 6 swine, the moiety of a mill, &c.; a church endowed with 20 acres in free alms, and 2 parts of a church endowed with 14 acres; 4 runci belonged to the lordship, 4 cows, &c. and 100 sheep. There were also 4 freemen with 3 carucates of land, and 4 carucates and an half, and 3 acres of meadow, valued at 40s. but at the survey at 6l. and the 20 acres of the church at 20d.—It was nine furlongs long, and 5 broad, and paid 10½d. gelt. (fn. 2)
Rafrid was succeeded by Godebald de Kirkebia, most likely his son, to whom Anselm, abbot of St. Edmund's Bury, granted this lordship with all its appertenances, and to his heirs, to be held by one fee, sans date; witnesses, Gilbert Blound, Robert de Wridwell, Osward de Thuston, Ralph de Lodnes, Richard de Cadomo, and this grant was confirmed by the letters patent of Henry I.
HENRICUS REX Anglie, &c. Episco. Norwic. Sciatis ME concessisse Godeboldo de Churchebey terram de Chirebeiam cum soca, et saca, &c: Test. A. Lino. Espico. Galfrido Cancell. Auberio de Vere, Robto. filio Walteri, Gilb. de Blund, &c.
It appears that this King's grant was in the singular number Me concessisse, and not Nos.
William, son of Godebold held it temp. King Stephen.
In the 8th of Richard I. a fine was levied between Sampson, abbot of Bury, and Alexander, son of Gobald, before Hubt. Archbishop of Canterbury, William de Sca. Maria church, Mr. Thomas de Husseborn, Simon de Pateshull, Richard Heriet, Oger, son of Oger, the King's justices; whereby Alexander agrees to pay 20s. when the scutage for one fee was so taxed, and to do full wardship to Norwich castle. This Alexander left a daughter and heir, Mary, married first to Gilbert de Norfolk, and after to Walter de Cam; Robert de Norfolk, her son, released to her, and Walter her husband, in the 3d of Henry III. all his right in his land here, by fine. (fn. 3)
After this, the lordship seems to have been divided, and in the 52d of Henry III. Richard de Thwait, and William de Stockton granted by fine their interest in the advowson of this church to Richard de Cadomo, or de Caam, who gave that name (as lord) to this town.
This Richard was descended from Richard de Cadomo, who was living, as is above shown, in the time of King Henry I. and was father of Walter de Cam. King Henry II. in his 30 year, granted to—, son of Thomas Fitz-Bernard, the custody of Mary, the daughter of Walter de Cam, with Wabrigg, (she being 5 years old, and in the custody of the wife of the late Thomas Fitz-Bernard; (fn. 4) ) this Walter had a younger brother, Richard, who was living about the same time, and father of Walter de Cam, who married Mary, daughter and heir of Walter aforesaid; and in the reign of King John, this Walter, and Mary his wife, let to Thomas de Longville, a mill in this town, that she had by inheritance; also a lordship here, as appears from her deed, sans date, whereby she confirmed to persons, lands held of her ancestors, not to be aliened by them, without her consent; and they held it by the 3d part of a fee.
Sir Richard de Cam was their son, and inherited this lordship, who lived in the 52d of Henry III. and married Maud, sister of Adam de Mendham; and died about the year 1286, when he made his last will.
Walter de Cam, his son and heir, succeeded, was lord in 1287, and in the 22d of Edward I. he and Constance his wife were living in the 31st, and did homage to the abbot of Bury. This Walter, in the 15th of Edward II. sold this manor to Roger Gavel, a burgess of Great Yarmouth, and Constance, his wife, (probably Walter's daughter;) in the following year, Rich. the second son of Walter de Cam, released ot Roger and his wife, all his right; and in the 19th reciting that whereas the said Roger and his wife were to pay to him an annuity of 20s. and to provide him a new robe every winter, he had released the same to them.
John, eldest son and heir of Walter, impleaded Roger Gavel, in the 49th of Edward II.; but it appearing that he had also released his right, Roger kept possession. One John de Cam was summoned to parliament in the 28th, 32d, &c. of Edward II. and was of the King's council.
Roger Gavel was son of John Gavel, living at Yarmouth, ao. 10 Edward I. son of Jeffrey Gavel, of the said town, by Alice his wife, daughter of Rich. Fastolf; Roger was also lord of Mettingham in Suffolk, in the 5th of Edward III. and father of Edmund, by Constance his wife. Edmund was lord of Kirby in the 10th of Edward III.; in the 17th of that King, he leased the manor of To-How's marsh in Thurverton, to Anselm de Fordele, and William, his son paying him, 5l. per ann. and finding him and Mary his wife, diet at his table, &c. for 2 years. Witnesses, Barth. de Thorp, John de Jernemouth, Thomas Aleyn, John de Wytton, and Hugh de Kymberly, burgesses of Great Yarmouth. In the next year he was in rebellion against the King, riding about Suffolk with banners displayed, imprisoning, and committing many murders, for which he was indicted befor William de Shareshull, &c. the King's justices, and after had a pardon under the broad seal, dated June 29, in the said year.
Nicholas Gavel was his son and heir, by Mary his wife, and in the wardship of Nicholas de Wichingham, in the 25th of the said King: he married Catherine, daughter and heir of — Myniot, and was ord of Myniot's manor in Kirkested, in her right.
Robert Gavel was their son. Ellen Myniot, widow, mother of Catharine, wife of Nicholas Gavell, released to him, ao. 18 Richard II. all her right in this manor and advowson, which she had of the gift of Nicholas his father; and Catherine his mother was living in the 2d of Henry IV. then the wife of John Godfrey of Chedeston in Suffolk. Robert, by his will. dated February 19, 1439, was buried in the chapel of St. Mary, on the north side of the chancel of this church; Maud, his wife, survived him; her will was proved February 19, 1454.
Thomas succeeded his father Robert, was lord of this manor and of Kirksted; by his will, dated December 17, 1461, he orders his body to be buried at the door of the chapel of St. Mary in this church; appoints Heny, his son, and George, his brother, executors; which was proved January 28, 1462. (fn. 5) Emma his wife was living in 1474.
Henry Gavell, Gent. inherited this lordship: by his will, dated August, 30, 1474; he was buried in the chapel aforesaid; he bequeaths to Anne, his wife, the manor of Kirby and Ellingham, as long as she continues sole, but if not, then an annuity of 10 marks per annum, and to his mother, Emma, 4 marks per annum Bartholomew, Robert, and Ellen his children mentioned, and proved January 12, following.
Bartholomew, son and heir of Henry, was father of Thomas Gavel, the last heir male of this family, and lord in the 12th of Henry VII. by Anne, his wife, daughter of Henry Everard, of Linstead in Suffolk, he left four daughters and coheirs; first, Thomasine, married to Leonard Copledike, Esq. 2d, Dorothy, to Francis Clopton, of Liston in Essex, Esq. 3d, Eleanor, to John Bury, Esq. of Worlingham in Suffolk; and 4th, Elizabeth, to John Cook, Esq.
This Thomas, by his will, dated February 16, 1522, was buried in the church of Kirkeby; (fn. 6) and was proved August 9 following. To Thomasine, his eldest daughter, he gives this lordship, who brought it by marriage to Leonard Copledike, Esq. (fn. 7) 2d son of Sir John Copledike of Frampton in Lincolnshire, and of Horham in Suffolk, by Margaret his wife, daughter of — Heton. On the death of this Leonard, (by whom she had a son and heir, John,) she remarried Edward Calthorp, Esq. in 1525; and in the 22d of Henry VIII. this lordship and advowson with 20 messuages, 400 acres of land, 60 of meadow, 300 of pasture, 12 of wood, and 40s. rent per ann. in this town, Elingham, Stockton, Geldeston, and Hale, were settled on the said Edward and Thomasine, for their lives; remainder to John Copledike, son of the said Thomasine, and his heirs. Thomasine died in 1557.
Edward was son of Edward Calthorp, Esq. of Ludham, and Anne his wife: in the 4th and 4th of Philip and Mary, he demised to John Copledike, Esq. the site of this manor, which he held for life by the courtesy of England, after the decease of Thomasine, his wife: John paying to him 20l. per ann. in the hall of the said house; Edward was also to have meat and drink for himself, and one servant, as often as he shall reside there; and 2 chambers, one for his own the other for his servant's lodging; with convenient fewel; the keeping of 3 geldings or mares, in summer-time at grass, in the winter in the stable, with hay, &c. and Edward to pay to John 10l. per ann.; in 1557, he died, and was buried by his wife in the chancel of this church, his will being dated May 5, and proved November 5; gives to Edmund his son, all his goods; and to Mary, Grace, and Prudence, his daughters, legacies.
¶John Copledike was lord in the 6 of Elizabeth, and held it in capite of the castle of Norwich; he married, first Ellen, daughter and heir of John Woodhouse, Esq. and his 2d wife was Maud, daughter of John Highfield, Esq. of Calais, who died s. p.; by his first wife he left, a daughter and sole heir, Thomasine, who married Humphrey Copledike, Esq. of Hetherset, 5th son of Sir John Copledike, of Harington in Lincolnshire. By an inquisition taken ao. 36 of Elizabeth, the above said John was found to die possessed of it, held of that Queen, by knight's service.
Humphrey had several children by his wife Thomasine; but he sold this lordship to Thomas Catelyn of Lakenham by Norwich.
ichard Catelyn, Esq. was sheriff of Norwich, in 1531, and alderman of that city; by his will dated August 28, 1556, he wills his body to be buried by his wife, in St. Peter's church of Norwich, and was buried there on November 3 following; his wife was buried there in August 1555.
In 1553, he had a patent to bear these arms; p. chevron, azure and or, three lions passant, guardant, in pale, counterchanged; on a chief argent, as many snakes nowed, sable, stinged gules.
Richard Catelyn, Esq. was 5th son of Richard, by Elizabeth: in the 4th of Edward VI. he was autumn-reader of Lincoln's Inn, serjeant at law May 19, ao. 1552; steward of the city of Norwich, and King and Queen's serjeant, October 16, 1555; deputy lieutenant and justice of the peace, and one of the commissioners to try the rebels in the reign of Queen Mary; he died before his father, in August, 1556, and was buried in the chancel of Huningham church in Norfolk, and was lord of Huningham Hall, and of Walsoken Popenhow in Norfolk. Barbara, his widow, erected a monument to his memory, which being after decayed, another was erected by Thomas, his 2d son.—He had three daughters; Ann, married to Thomas Derham, Esq. of West Derham; Elizabeth, to Thomas Townsend, Esq. of Testerton, and Lettice, to William Guybon of Fincham. Esq.
Richard Catelyn, Esq. first son of the serjeant, was lord of Wolverston Hall in Suffolk, and died March 11th, ao. 43 Elizabeth; he married Dionysia, daughter of Thomas Marsh, Esq. and was father of Philip, who by Dorothy, daughter of — Lawrence, Esq. of — in Cambridgeshire, and Jane his wife, daughter of Sir John Pagrave, Bart. had Richard his son and heir; Richard had also by Dionysia, a 2d son, Sir Nathaniel Catelyn, Knt. recorder of Dublin in Ireland.
Philip, by Dorothy, was father of Richard, who, by—, daughter of — Larke of Lincolnshire, had Philip his son, who died unmarried.
Thomas Catelyne, Esq. 2d son of the serjeant, married Judith, daughter of Edward Ellington of Theydon Bois in Essex, was lord of Wingfield Hall in Suffolk; in 1604, was lord of Hastings Hall and Whitfoot Hall in Irmingland, and he purchased of Humphrey Copledike, this lordship of Kirkeby.
He died in 1636.
Richard Catelyn, Esq. son of Thomas, married first Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Houghton, one of the judges of the King's Bench; she died s. p.; his 2d wife was Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Nevil of Billingbere in Berkshire, by whom she had a son and heir, Sir Nevil, and Richard who died s. p. also Anne, who married Thomas Leman, Gent. of Wenhaston in Suffolk. Dorothy, married to Leonard Gouch, Gent. of Ersham in Norfolk. Barbara, to Henry Mordaunt of Congham, Esq. Elizabeth who died single.
Sir Nevil Catelyne was knighted by King Charles II. at Somersethouse, London, in 1662, lord of this town, and Wingfield castle in Suffolk; he married, first, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Bedingfield of Darsham in Suffolk; and his 2d wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Houghton of Ranworth, Esq. and had children by both, who died young; his 3d wife was Mary, daughter of Sir William, and sister of Sir Charles Blois, Bart. of Cockfield Hall in Yoxford, Suffolk, and of Grandesburgh: Sir Nevil was buried in this church, on July —, 1702.
She survived Sir Nevil, and married Sir Charles Turner of Warham in Norfolk, and were both living here in 1720; and Sir Charles was lord in 1740, and patron.
Rafrid (as has been observed) held, at the survey, this lordship of the abbot of Bury, by one fee, and so did Godebald de Kirkeby, and Alexander his son; but after, this fee was divided and held by three different families; the family of De Cam held one 3d part; the Bigots Earls of Norfolk had also an interest in another 3d part which came to the Bigots Lords of Stockton. In the 14th of Edward I. Sir John Bigot, lord of Stockton, claimed view of frank-pledge, assise, free warren, as his ancestors had held of the abbot of Bury; this came to the Garneys, Delapoles, &c. as in Stockton.
Another 3d part was in Richard de Thwayt, who, with William de Stockton, granted by fine, in the 52d of Henry III. their interest in the advowson of this church, to Richard de Cam; and Imania, widow of Richard de Thwayt, claimed an interest herein, in the 15th of Edward I.— William, son of Richard de la Grene of Kirkeby, confirmed to Sir Richard de Cam, and Maud his wife, in the sixth of Edward I. for 8 marks, all his lands in this town, Stockton, Hales, &c. with the services, homages, rents, &c. except the capital messuage in Kirkeby. Witness, John de Waleton, master of the hospital of St. Bartholomew, in London; this 3d part was thus united, and so came to Gavel's manor, &c. as above.
Ralph Lord Bainard was lord of a manor in this town. When Domesday book was made, Ulmar, a freeman of King Edward, held it with 30 acres of land; Robert, son of Corbun, laid claim to this land, and had livery; there belonged to it 2 borderers, one servus, 2 carucates, and half a carucate of the tenants, &c. with 3 acres of meadow. There were also 8 freemen belonging to the lord's fold, and under his protection, with 20 acres, and 2 carucates and half an acre of meadow; valued at the survey at 40s. but before at 20s. It came to Bainard by an exchange. (fn. 8)
By the forfeiture of the Lord Bainard, this came to the Lords FitzWalter, and was called Loot's or Lowt's fee, being held by John Loot, of the Lord Fitz-Walter, in the 3d of Henry III. Roger de Hales had an interest herein about the same time, and John de Hales in the 2d year of Edward III. this was soon after united to the abovementioned manors.
About 1266, William de Wendling had a messuage, &c. with several rents, services, here, in Raveningham, &c. which Philip Loot had conveyed to him, and William gave them to the canon of Langley, and were confirmed by Robert Lord Fitz-Walter. Henry Walpole held this Lowt's fee, and owed to the abbot of Langley, in the 12th of Henry VI. 10l. 4s. 2d. arrears of rent for the land and tenements here and in Stockton, formerly George Felbrigg's.
Eustace Earl of Bologne, in France, had also a lordship, of which Osmund, a thane of Archbishop Stigand was deprived; Ralph de Beaufoe had an interest in it after Osmund, but at the survey, Warine held it under Eustace.
In King Edward's time there was one carucate of land, and a borderer, with one carucate and 3 acres of meadow, &c. and 4 freemen under commendation, with 15 acres and hall a carucate, valued at 15s. (fn. 9)
Warine was ancestor of the family of De Meynwarine of Cheshire.
The temporalities of Bury abbey here, in 1428, were valued at 11l. 0s. 6d. of the prioress of Campsey 3s. 5d. ob.
The Church is a rectory dedicated to All-Saints, and the patronage belonged to the abbot of Bury's manor.
In the 14th of Henry III. Walter de Cam and Mary his wife, could not deny on an assise, but that Roger de Tweyt, and Roger de Stockton, were parceners with them in the advowson of this church, of the inheritance which was Alexander's, son of Godebald de Kirkeby, therefore they all presented at this time, which proves that they had it by inheritance. In 1220, there was a composition between the monks of St. Ildevert of Gurnay in France, and Master Walter, dean of Flegg hundred, of the tithe of some sheafs of corn, out of the abbot's manor, held by Sir R. de Cam.
In the 52d of Henry III. Richard de Thwait and William de Stockton granted by fine the advowson to Richard de Cam.
Rectors.
In 1268, Laurence de Monteforti was instituted rector, presented by Richard de Cam.
The rector in the reign of Edward I. had a house and a carucate of land, the valor was 15 marks, Peter-pence 22d. carvage 9d.
1311, Walter de Hekungham by Walter de Cam: this Walter aliened to the rector three acres of land in the 7th of Edward II.
1326, John de Cam, by Roger Gavel.
1328, William de Merche. Ditto.
1330, Roger Gavel, occurs rector.
1351, Robert de Weston, by William de Wychingham, guardian of Nicholas Gavel.
1355, John Foucher, by ditto.
1361, Nicholas Batchelor, by ditto.
1378, William de Redham, by Nicholas Batchelor of Wychingahm, Sir Wythred of Denton, and John Bole of Wodeton, Thomas Storme of Blakeney, and Elen Myniot, (fn. 10) patrons.
1379, Nicholas Jacob, by Thomas Storme, and Elen Myniot, and John Wythred chaplain.
1389, Walter Gerard, by ditto.
1393, Thomas Busk, by Robert Gavel.
1418, John Bassys on, by ditto.
1420, John Vernon Ditto.
1449, Robert Hare, by Thomas Gavel.
1497, Thomas Mortimer, by Thomas Gavel.
1511, Thomas Grene, by ditto.
1540, Robert Hilton, by Edward Calthorpe, Esq. and Thomasine his wife.
1565, Thomas Fell, by John Copledyke, Esq.
1570, German Gardiner, by ditto.
1571, Robert Hill, by ditto.
1579, Richard Davison, by ditto; in 1603, he returned 58 communicants.
1619, Thomas Potts, A. M. by Richard Catelyn, Esq.
1646, John Watson, by Richard Catelyne, Esq. he wrote a book in octavo, called Memoirs of the Stuarts, printed at London in 1689, after his death; he was ejected during the rebellion.
1662, John Hardware, by Richard Catelyne, Esq.
1690, William Randall, by Sir Nevil Catelyne.
1700, Abraham Baker, by ditto.
1733, Samuel Baker, by Sir Charles Turner, Knt.
In the chancel by the communion table are several grave-stones; one,
In memory of Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Houghton, the first wife of Richard Catelyne of Kirby Cane, Esq. by whom she had 2 sons and 2 daughters; Thomas the eldest, a man of great hopes; at 21 was captain of a troop of horse for king Charles I and slain by the rebels at the 2a Newbury fight 1644.—Mary, the eldest daughter, married Edward Ward of Bixley, in Norfolk, Esq. and died without issue; Robert and Judith died young; she died in 1633, in the 45th year of her age.
Another,
In memory of Judith, daughter of Edward Elrington of Theydon Boys, in Essex, Esq. and wife of Thomas Catelyne, Esq. who dyed in 1615.
Thomas Catelyne, Esq. son of Richard Catelyne of Honyngham, serjeant at law to king Philip and queen Mary: by his wife Judith, daughter of Edward Elrington, Esq. &c. he had Richard Catelyne of Kirby Cane, Esq. and Thomas Catelyne of Blofield, Gent.—Barbara, mother of Robert Bendish, Esq. and Judith, mother of Robert Houghton, Gent.; he died in 1636.
Exuviæ viri plene memorabilis, Rici. Catelyn, Armigi. qui vitam exuit A°. Ætatis 79, A°. 1662.
Quod mortale fuit reliquum est Dorotheæ, Rici. Catelyn, Armigi. uxoris ex prænobili Nevillorum familiâ, in com. Berc. oriundæ, obt. 29 Sept. A°. Ætatis 67, et A°. 1672.
Thomas et Nevillus, filij Nevilli Catelyn, Equitis Aurati, et Dorotheæ conjugis redamatæ ex antiquâ familiâ de Bedingfeld, in agro Suffolc. oriundæ, infantes ambo, bimuli, heic præmaturam posuerunt mortalitatem. Thomas in Anno Dni. 1662, Nevillus A°. 1663.
M. S. Elizab. Catelyne, cujus pars melior cum Deo, et semper fuit semperq; est futura, quæ dum mortalibus convixit nobis benignum nuper sydus præluxit. Fratris verè germani Nevilli Catelyne, Equitis Aurati, soror; supra quam dici potest dilecta; cujus res domesticas ad annos non paucos, summâ cum prudentiâ administravit.
Quam primæva in Deum pietas, piè profusa in pauperes charitas. Intaminata in se castitas, probataq; in omnes relationes bonitas, opimæ famæ reddidere saturam. Cunctorum passim bonorum cum luctu denatam, puriore ævo vere dignam. Terræ parumper peregrinam, sempiternam cæli piè credimus incolam. Obt. Feb. 5°. 1681. Ætat. suæ 41.
Amoris nunquam intermorituri tessellam hanc posuit Nevillus Catelyn, Miles.
Radulphus filius natu tertius Richardi Catelyn, Armigi. et Dorotheæ uxoris ejus (ex prænobili Nevillorum familiâ) ætate quinquenni diem clausit Ao. Dni. 1645.
Against the north wall of the chancel was erected a little tomb of free-stone, which had an epitaph, many years past, through time obliterated; it was,
In memory of John Copledike, Esq. who was here buried, April 12, 1593, who left Thomasine, his daughter and co-heir.
On the west end of this tomb were the arms of Gavell, sable, a chevron between three garbs, argent, with an impalement now obscure.
On the body of the tomb, the single shield of Copledike, argent, a chevron between three cross crosslets, gules:—also Copledike, with his quarterings; 1st, Gavell—2d, a saltire, but obscure—3d, lozengy ermin and gules, Rockeley,—4th, or, a chief gules, with a bend over all, azure, Harrington—5th, azure, a saltire, between four cross crosslets, or, Friskeny, impaling Woodhouse of Kimberley:—also Copledike, with his quarterings, impaling, azure, a chevron between three acorns slipt, or, Hayfield. Copledike's crest here is a goat's head, argent, issuing out of a coronet.
Beatam expectans resurrectionem, sub hoc marmore obdormit Gulielmus Randall, A. M. hujus ecclesiæ quondam rector et benefactor Probitate et amicitiâ clarus, et mirè constans, sinceræ et non fucatæ pietatis exemplar. Matildam filiam Johs. Hawys, M. D. duxit, e quá unicam filiam nomine Mariam reliquit. Obt. 13 cal. Apr. Ætat. 49, Ao. salulis 1699.
Johs. Hardwar, rector hujus ecclesiæ, hic jacet in spe resurrectionis, cælebs, obt. 21, die Febr. Ao. ætat. 75, salutis 1689.
Here rests Margaret, wife of Abraham Baker, rector, and three of their children; she was daughter of the Rev. Mr. Pycroft, late rector of Ditchingham, and died March 20, 1717, aged 36.
Here lies the body of Anne, wife of John Chambers of Kirby Cane, Gent. who died Feb. 3, 1681.
Sir Nevill Catelyne is buried in a vault here, which he built several years before his death, which was in July 1702, also Mrs. Elizabeth Catelyne, his daughter, was here interred in 1685, as was Mrs. Philippa Culpeper in 1719.
In 1559, Thomas Hare, Gent. was here buried, and in 1557, Mrs. Thomasine Calthorp.—Edmund, son of Edward Calthorp, Esq. in 1567.—Mrs. Maud Copledike, wife of John Copledike, Esq. in 1589.
In 1286, Sir Richard de Cam was here buried.
The present valor is 10l. and pays first fruits and tenths.
¶It is generally said that towns beginning with Kirke, signifies that their site is by some church, (fn. 11) but it rather is a compound word, and wrote, as in Domesday, Ker, Che, or Ke; Kerkstead is wrote Ker-chessstead, Ches, or Che, signifies always water, and Ker, is tbe same as Car; thus Carbroke is wrote Cherebroc, and sets forth a clear water, as Kercheby does a dwelling by clear water.
This is an old belt driven Horizontal Mill from early part of the 20th Century I am not sure what year bu as you can see, it is still in use.....!
C&C's Welcome, Thanks for Viewing.
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From MacLaren Automotive, England:
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With great determination and ambition he founded his own race team, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, in 1963. Following success on the race track in both Formula 1 and Can-Am Bruce turned his attention to building a road car.
Bruce wanted McLaren to enter Le Mans in the late 1960’s. The plan was to take an M6 Can-Am car and develop a coupe body that would be competitive in long distance racing. To meet regulations at the time a minimum of fifty cars had to be completed. However homologation problems lead to the project being scrapped.
Having always harboured an ambition to build his own road car Bruce wanted to turn the project into the ultimate road car. He wanted to build the fastest and quickest accelerating car in the world that translated their expertise on the race track, to create the definitive road going sports car.
So in early 1970 Bruce organised for a GT to be built so he could use it on the road in an effort to find out what problems would have to be overcome.
Together with chief designer Gordon Coppuck, Bruce planned to refine the prototype, eventually aiming to produce up to 250 cars per year.
In fact only two M6GTs were ever built, Bruce’s original prototype and a second built by Trojan. The original prototype, OBH 500H, became Bruce's personal transportation, and remained so until his untimely death at Goodwood on June 2, 1970 when the road car project died with him.
The M6GT stands as testament to his passion and vision to enter the world of super sports cars.
Performance >>
Top Speed 290/180.2 km/h / mph
0-100 km/h 4.2 s
Powertrain >>
Type number Chevrolet LT1
Cylinder arrangement V8
Cylinder angle 90 degrees
Engine Capacity 4993 cc
Valves/cylinder 2
Bore 102.1 / 4.02 mm / inches
Stroke 76.2 / 3.00 mm / inches
Valvetrain Chain driven overhead pushroad and rocker
Engine Block Cast iron
Cylinder heads Cast iron
Transmission Hewland LG 600
5 speed
Hypoid final drive
Limited slip differential
Chassis >>
Front Suspension Independent coil spring and fabricated A-arms
Rear Suspension Independent coil spring, trailing arm and transverse link
Front Brake Disc Type Girling ventilated
Rear Brake Disc Type Girling ventilated
Body >>
Length 3937 / 155 mm / inches
Width 1727.2 / 68 mm / inches
Height 1041.4 / 41 mm / inches
Wheelbase 2735 / 93.5 mm / inches
Front Track 1435 / 56.5 mm / inches
Rear Track 1372 / 54.0 mm / inches
Fuel Tank Capacity 140 litres
Kerb weight 800 / 1760 kg / lbs
The history of this vision and the M6GT is told here by the people closest to the project at the time - Gordon Coppuck and Eoin Young.
GORDON COPPUCK
Gordon was Chief Designer in the late 1960’s
“Our original intention was to race the M6 GT at Le Mans, but when the idea fell on deaf ears because of homologation problems, we started to think about a road car.”
McLaren and Coppuck went to Detroit for a meeting with General Motors styling chief Bill Mitchell, who arranged for Bruce to drive all their exotic road cars on the GM test track.
“Bruce came away convinced that there was nothing special about any of them. He thought we could do better ourselves.
Back in Colnbrook we had a model of a GT body in the workshop and Bruce and I rubbed clay on it until we came up with a shape we were happy with. We put a ZF gearbox in it and completed the car that winter of 1969/70.
I borrowed the car one weekend and I took it for a Sunday morning drive to Bournemouth with my wife. It ran beautifully. It really was ridiculously fast for a road car at that time. It weighed the same as a Mini and had 10 times the power!
The acceleration was spectacular and the shape drew crowds everywhere. It wasn’t the easiest car to get in and out of and I remember it was the end of the miniskirt era and my wife was particularly shy of the onlookers around the car when we came out after lunch.”
EOIN YOUNG
Began working for Bruce McLaren in the early 1960’s and became one of the first directors of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited when the company was formed in 1963.
This quote is from Young’s book “McLaren, The Man, the Cars & the Team” which was first published in 1971:
“Bruce’s favourite project was the road-going version of the M6 GT which failed to get homologated as a Group 5 GT car – of which 50 were required to be built – even though a batch of 50 neat-looking bodies had been made to fit the basic M6 monocoque Can-Am chassis.
Building his own road car was a project that had interested Bruce as an ambition to be achieved when the company was well under way with the racing program.
It was a five-year-old, off and on project, but early in 1970 he organized the building of one of the GTs for use on the road in an effort to find out what problems would have to be overcome in a proper mid-engined road car. The result was, literally, a semi-civilized Can-Am car that was anything but easy to climb into but was bliss to drive once you were installed.
Even with a standard five litre Chevrolet V8 in the back it would accelerate to 100mph in around eight seconds, and of course the handling was fantastic.
One problem was that the car was so low that other traffic often had difficulty in seeing it coming up behind. Bruce loved the GT, but he wasn’t blind to its shortcomings.
Gordon Coppuck and Bruce had long discussions about the GT and about the problems they had discovered running the car on the road.
The radiator outlet duct in the nose, for instance, while proving to be an ideal windshield defroster on cold mornings, generated a lot of noise and they had decided to delete the duct on the next version of the McLaren road car.
Entry and exit across the broad side tanks was another feature that was scheduled for a tidy-up.
Another problem was that it had odd sized wheels, with small ones in front and big ones at the back. It handled beautifully, but it meant that we would have to find out which were the best rim sizes so that we only needed to carry one spare wheel. At that time there wasn’t room for a spare anyway, and that was another problem.
I was really surprised with how comfortable the car was when I borrowed it for a weekend. Quite incredible when you considered that it was basically a racing car.”
It is commonly accepted that three period-built McLaren M6 GTs exist. The first original prototype built by McLaren and two further GTs built by the Trojan Group which had been franchised by McLaren to build all of the customer racing cars since the mid 1960's.
M6/GT-01
Bruce McLaren's own car built in the McLaren Motor Racing shops and UK road registered as OBH 500H. Following Bruce's death it was purchased by Phil Kerr and Denny Hulme and displayed at the Auckland Transport Museum. The car was sold to a collector in the USA and now resides in the Harry Matthews collection.
M6B/GT 50-17
Built by Trojan and sold to David Prophet who raced it twice in 1969 European races as a GT. The car was sold to a private collector in Canada in 1972 where it remained until it was auctioned by RM Auctions in January 2006.
M12 GT (chassis number unknown)
Built by Trojan and tested by Road & Track magazine as an "M6 GT" in 1974. The car was auctioned in 1972 at the Kirk White, Philadelphia auction but did not sell. The car was eventually sold to Ted Petersen in California who converted it to a road car. Its present whereabouts are not known.
Other replicas M6 GTs are in existence, many using original Can-Am mechanicals and wearing a Trojan body.
Thursday morning, and all I had to do was get back to Kent. Hopefully before five so I could hand the hire car back, but getting back safe and sound would do, really.
I woke at six so I could be dressed for breakfast at half six when it started, and as usual when in a hotel, I had fruit followed by sausage and bacon sarnies. And lots of coffee.
Outside it had snowed. OK, it might only be an inch of the stuff, but that's more than an inch needed to cause chaos on the roads.
Back to the room to pack, one last look round and back to reception to check out, then out into the dawn to find that about a quarter of the cars were having snow and ice cleared off them before being able to be driven.
I joined them, scraping the soft snow then the ice. Bracing stuff at seven in the morning.
Now able to see out, I inched out of the car park and out to the exit and onto the untreated roads.
It was a picturesque scene, but not one I wanted to stop to snap. My first road south had only been gritted on one side, thankfully the side I was travelling down, but was still just compacted snow.
After negotiating two roundabouts, I was on the on ramp to the M6, and a 60 mile or so drive south. The motorway was clear of snow, but huge amounts of spray was thrown up, and the traffic was only doing 45mph, or the inside lane was, and that was quite fast and safe enough for me.
More snow fell as I neared Stoke, just to add to the danger of the journey, and then the rising sun glinted off the road, something which I had most of the drive home.
I went down the toll road, it costs eight quid, but is quick and easy. And safe too with so little traffic on it. I think for the first time, I didn't stop at the services, as it was only about half nine, and only three hours since breakfast.
And by the time I was on the old M6, there was just about no snow on the ground, and the road was beginning to dry out.
My phone played the tunes from my apple music store. Loudly. So the miles slipped by.
After posting some shots from Fotheringhay online, a friend, Simon, suggested others nearby that were worth a visit, and I also realised that I hadn't taken wide angle shots looking east and west, so I could drop in there, then go to the others suggested.
And stopping here was about the half way point in the journey so was a good break in the drive, and by then the clouds had thinned and a weak sin shone down.
Fotheringhay is as wonderful as always, it really is a fine church, easy to stop there first, where I had it to myself, and this time even climbed into the richly decorated pulpit to snap the details.
A short drive away was Apethorpe, where there was no monkey business. The village was built of all the same buttery yellow sandstone, looking fine in the weak sunshine.
Churches in this part of Northamptonshire are always open, Simon said.
Not at Apethorpe. So I made do with snapping the church and the village stocks and whipping post opposite.
A short drive up the hill was King's Cliffe. Another buttery yellow village and a fine church, which I guessed would be open.
Though it took some finding, as driving up the narrow high street I failed to find the church. I checked the sat nav and I had driven right past it, but being down a short lane it was partially hidden behind a row of houses.
The church was open, and was surrounded by hundreds of fine stone gravestones, some of designs I have not seen before, but it was the huge numbers of them that was impressive.
Inside the church was fine, if cold. I record what I could, but my compact camera's batter had died the day before, and I had no charger, so just with the nifty fifty and the wide angle, still did a good job of recording it.
There was time for one more church. Just.
For those of us who remember the seventies, Warmington means Dad's Army, or rather Warmington on Sea did. THat there is a real Warmington was a surprise to me, and it lay just a couple of miles the other side of Fotheringhay.
The church is large, mostly Victorian after it fell out of use and became derelict, if the leaflet I read inside was accurate. But the renovation was excellent, none more so than the wooden vaulted roof with bosses dating to either the 15th or 16th centuries.
Another stunning item was the pulpit, which looks as though it is decorated with panels taken from the Rood Screen. Very effective.
Back to the car, I program the sat nav for home, and set off back to Fotheringhay and the A14 beyond.
No messing around now, just press on trying to make good time so to be home before dark, and time to go home, drop my bags, feed the cats before returning the car.
No real pleasure, but I made good time, despite encountering several bad drivers, who were clearly out only to ruin my mood.
Even the M25 was clear, I raced to the bridge, over the river and into Kent.
Nearly home.
I drive back down the A2, stopping at Medway services for a sandwich and a huge coffee on the company's credit card.
And that was that, just a blast down to Faversham, round onto the A2 and past Canterbury and to home, getting back at just after three, time to fill up the bird feeders, feed the cats, unpack and have a brew before going out at just gone four to return the car.
Jools would rescue me from the White Horse on her way home, so after being told the car was fine, walked to the pub and ordered two pints of Harvey's Best.
There was a guy from Essex and his American girlfriend, who were asking about all sorts of questions about Dover's history, and I was the right person to answer them.
I was told by a guide from the Castle I did a good job.
Yay me.
Jools arrived, so I went out and she took me home. Where the cats insisted they had not been fed.
Lies, all lies.
Dinner was teriyaki coated salmon, roasted sprouts and back, defrosted from before Christmas, and noodles.
Yummy.
Not much else to tell, just lighting the fire, so Scully and I would be toast warm watch the exciting Citeh v Spurs game, where Spurs were very Spursy indeed.
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I was exploring the churches of north-east Northamptonshire, and on my way back to Peterborough station how could I resist a visit to lovely Warmington church? The village is rather a suburban one but, the solid little entirely Early English church sits at its heart. Entirely a Huntingdonshire church in style, with a stubby spire and big dormer-style lucarnes.
I had previously visited almost exactly a year ago, and as before I left my bike in the Early English porch, which is vaulted in blocks of stone, handsome yet familiar. I remembered in 2015 stepping into what turned out to be then the most interesting interior of the day, although rather overshadowed by Apethorpe and Blatherwycke on my current trip. The most striking feature, and rather a surprising one, is that the roof of the nave is vaulted in wood. This was done in the 13th Century, and the bosses survive from that time - even more surprising, they all depict green men, nine of them. Why was this not done elsewhere?
The rood screen is one of the best in the area, and the medieval pulpit appears to be constructed of rood screen panels (can that be right? Did they come from the rood loft? Surely it is pre-Reformation, in which case perhaps they came from somewhere else). Lots to think about. A good church, it would be considered so in any county.
So I got back on my bike and headed on towards Peterborough, but not without a memory of the last time I had done the same thing, because in 2015, as I was about to leave the church, three young women came in. They were walking the Nene Way, and were attired as you might expect attractive young women to be on such a sunny day. I didn't want them to be made nervous by the presence of a middle-aged man with a camera, so I nodded a greeting as I left, but in the event they engaged me in conversation, asking me where I'd come from, telling me what they were doing, where they were going, and so on.
In the end I had to make my apologies and leave as they didn't seem to want to let me go, not an experience I have very often these days, I can tell you. It rather put me in mind of the Sirens episode in the Odyssey.
And so I headed on, wary now of any wandering rocks and one-eyed giants.
www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/27033140016/in/photo...
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St Michael’s Parish Church, Warmington
Warmington was already an established farming community when its assets were recorded in Domesday Book. Shortly afterwards, its Norman owner, the Earl of Warwick, gave the manor of Warmington to the Benedictine Abbey which his father had endowed in Normandy, St.Peter’s at Preaux. Warmington was to remain in monastic hands, with one short break, for about 450 years. Monks were sent over from Preaux who built a small Priory. Its foundations were discovered when houses were built in Court Close in the 1950s. The Priory has disappeared, but the splendid church built under the monks’ supervision, mainly in the early medieval period, remains.
The church stands high above the village, close to the summit of Warmington Hill. Tradition tells us that the stone for building it was dug close by, in the area known as Catpits, or Churchpits. The stone for the tower was brought from a field known as Turpits, or Towerpits, a quarter of a mile away along the Hornton road. The churchyard is entered either by the lych-gate from the main road, or from the village by two long flights of steps. A diagonal line of pine trees marks the former boundary of the churchyard which was extended in the 1850s. In the older part, and especially near the south porch, are gravestones of exceptionally fine workmanship dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. About eighty of these are ‘listed’ by the Department of the Environment. All the inscribed memorials were recorded in 1981.
An admirable and detailed architectural description of the church is available in the Victoria County History. These notes are intended rather as a ‘layman’s conducted tour’. The church was purpose-built and used for the first half of its long life for forms of worship very different from our own. It was also the village meeting place for many secular purposes The church comprises north and south porches, nave with north and south aisles, a west tower and chancel with two-storey vestry adjoining.
As you enter the church by the south porch you walk forward into the nave. This area, with the first three pillars on each side, is where Warmington people have met and worshipped since the twelfth century. The area was extended by the addition of the aisles a century later. Today the overwhelming impression is a sense of simplicity, of space and of strength. Imagine the scene in the medieval period: no pews but white-washed walls covered with paintings, images of the saints in stone, on wood and painted cloths, the whole lit by the sunlight through stained glass and by candles and lamps burning before every image. On Sundays before Mass, at special festivals and for some fifty saints’ days in the year, a procession would form, with banners and hand bells, winding its way around the church and churchyard, and stopping at various points for particular acts of worship. The north and west doors, so rarely used today, had significance in these processions.
Before leaving this area of the church, notice the variety of windows, almost all of early date, but now mostly with clear glass. The ones at the east ends of the aisles, where the stone plate is pierced with roundels and a five-pointed star, are unusual. Considerable work has been undertaken in recent years in renewing the stone mullions, worn by the weather over time. The early Norman tub font of simple design is large enough for infant immersion. The aisles both taper by a foot, one to the east, and one to the west. The nave and chancel are slightly out of alignment, perhaps symbolic of Christ’s drooping head on the cross.
Before stepping down into the chancel, run your hand along the wooden screen under the chancel arch. This is all that remains of the great rood-screen which would have dominated the medieval church. The screen was hacked through quite roughly when the church was stripped of its ‘idolatrous’ treasures at the Reformation. Just to the right of the chancel arch is the doorway and stair which used to lead to the rood-screen loft.
The stained glass and memorial tablets in the chancel all commemorate the family of the Victorian rector during whose incumbency the church was restored. On the south wall are a richly decorated triple sedilia and piscina, dating from the fifteenth century when Warmington manor had newly passed to the Carthusian monks of Wytham in Somerset.
A door from the chancel leads into the vestry, built about 1340. The lower room was a chapel, dedicated to St Thomas. The stone altar shows four of its five original crosses cut in the top. An altar would have a piscina nearby for washing the vessels used at Mass. The piscina here has a trefoiled ogee-head and quartrefoil basin. On the opposite wall is a blocked fireplace.
The oak doors and stairway are delightful and a testament to the skills of local carpenters, smiths and masons. The upper room was the priest’s home complete with windows, commanding extensive views, fireplace, lavatory and a shuttered opening for keeping watch over the main alter. The exterior walls of the vestry are extraordinarily thick. One Warmington tradition was that it was used as a prison for recalcitrant monks!
A more credible and interesting suggestion is that the walls were so constructed to carry the weight of a tower. If this was indeed the plan, it was quickly abandoned, for soon after the vestry was built work started on the tower in the usual Warwickshire position at the west end of the nave.
The slightly different stonework on the exterior indicates the stages of its building. The tower is recessed slightly into the nave, presumably to accommodate it in the very limited land there was available for extending the church at the west end. A stair within the thickness of the wall gives access to the bell chamber and the roof. The flight is steep and the treads are worn down to the bottom of the risers. The present bells are dated 1602, 1613 and 1811.
There are many interesting gravestones in the churchyard, which were recorded by members of Warmington WI in a 1981 survey.
VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY
WARMINGTON
This extract from the Victoria County History gives a very detailed description of the parish church.
The church stands directly on the east side of the main road from Banbury to Warwick at the top of a steep gradient and the village lies mostly to the northeast of it at a lower level. The parish church of ST. MICHAEL, or ST. NICHOLAS, consists of a chancel, north chapel with a priest’s chamber above it, nave, north and south aisles and porches and a west tower.
The nave dates from the 12th century; no detail is left to indicate its original date but it was of the proportion of two squares, common in the early 12th century. A north aisle was added first, about the middle of the 12th century, with an arcade of three bays; a south aisle followed, near the end of the 12th century, also with a three-bay arcade. After about a century a considerable enlargement was begun and continued over a period of half a century or more; the nave was lengthened eastwards about 10 ft. and a new chancel built. The extra length of the side walls added to the nave perhaps remained unpierced at first.
Although there is a general sameness in the Hornton stone ashlar walling throughout, all the various parts—chancel, chapel, aisles, and tower—have different plinths, &c., and there is a great variation in the elevations and details of the windows, showing constant changes from the 14th century, when there was much activity, onwards, probably because of decay and need for repair caused by the church’s exposed position on the brow of a hill.
The south aisle was widened to its present limits about 1290, on the evidence of the wide splays and other details of its windows; but an early-13th-century doorway was re-used. It is possible that the east part of the north aisle followed soon afterwards, c. 1300, as a kind of transeptal chapel, on the evidence of its east window, which differs from the other aisle windows. From c. 1330–40 much was done. The chancel arch was widened, new bays to match were inserted in the east lengths of the nave walls, making both arcades now of four bays, the widening of the whole of the north aisle was completed with the addition of the north porch. The 12th-century north arcade, which seems to have lost its inner order, was probably rebuilt. There is a curious distortion about both aisles, perhaps only explained by the widenings being made in more than one period; the north aisle tapers from west to east and the south aisle tapers from east to west, about a foot each, as compared with the lines of the arcades. The south porch was probably added about 1330.
About 1340 came also the addition of the chapel with the priest’s chamber above it. The north wall of the chancel, probably of the 13th century and thinner than any of the other walls, was kept to form the south wall of the chapel, but the other walls were made unusually thick, as though it was at first intended to raise a higher superstructure than was actually carried out, perhaps even a tower. If such was the intention it was quickly abandoned and the west tower was begun about 1340–5 and carried up to some two-thirds of its present height. There was not much room above the road-side and it had to encroach 2 or 3 ft. into the west end of the nave. The top stage was added or completed in the 15th century.
With the addition of the chapel, alterations were made to the chancel windows, but its south wall had to be rebuilt in the 15th century, when new and larger windows were inserted and the piscina and sedilia constructed.
There have been many repairs and renovations, notably in 1867 to the chancel and 1871 for the rest of the church, and others since then. The roofs have been entirely renewed, though probably more or less of the original forms of the 14th or 15th centuries.
The chancel (about 30½ft. by 16½ft.) has an east window of four trefoiled pointed lights and modern tracery of 14th-century character in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould having head-stops. The jambs and arch, of two moulded orders, and the hood-mould are early-14th-century. In the north wall is a 14th-century doorway into the chapel with jambs and ogee head of three moulded orders and a hoodmould with head-stops, the eastern a cowled man’s, the western a woman’s. It contains an ancient oak door, with stout diagonal framing at the back and hung with plain strap-hinges. At the west end of the wall are two windows close together; the eastern, of c. 1340, of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and cusped piercings in a square head with an external label having decayed head-stops. It has a shouldered internal lintel which is carved with grotesque faces. The western is a narrower and earlier 14th-century window of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil, &c., in a square head with an external label.
The window at the west end of the south wall is similar. The other two are 15th-century insertions, each of two wide cinquefoiled three-centred lights under a square head with head-stops, one a cowled human head, the other beast-heads. The jambs and lintel of two sunk-chamfered orders are old, the rest restored. The rear lintel is also sunk-chamfered and is supported in the middle by a shaped stone bracket from the mullion.
The 14th-century priest’s doorway has jambs and two-centred ogee head of two ovolo-moulded orders and a cambered internal lintel; it has no hood-mould.
Below the south-east window is a 15th-century piscina with small side pilasters that have embattled heads, and a trefoiled ogee head enriched with crockets. The sill, which projects partly as a moulded corbel, has a round basin. West of it are three sedilia of the same character with cinquefoiled ogee heads also crocketed and with finials. At the springing level are carved human-head corbels: the cusp-points are variously carved, an acorn, a snake’s head, a skull, and foliage. The two outer are surmounted by crocketed and finialled gables and all are flanked and divided by pilasters with embattled heads and crocketed pinnacles.
The east wall is built of yellow-grey ashlar with a projecting splayed plinth; the gable-head has been rebuilt. At the south-east angle is a pair of square buttresses of two stages, probably later additions, as the plinth is not carried round them. Another at the former north-east angle has been restored. The south wall is of yellow ashlar but has a moulded plinth of the 15th century. The eaves have a hollow-moulded course with which the uprights of the 15th-century window-labels are mitred.
The 14th-century chancel arch has responds and pointed head of two ovolo-moulded orders interrupted at the springing line by the abacus.
The roof with arched trusses is modern and is covered with tiles.
The north chapel (about 12 ft. east to west by 17 ft. deep) is now used as the vestry, and dates from c. 1340. In its south wall, the thin north wall of the chancel, is a straight joint 3¼ft. from the east wall probably marking the east jamb of a former 13th-century window, and below it is the remnant of an early stringcourse that is chamfered on its upper edge. The east wall is 3 ft. 10 in. thick and the north wall 4 ft. 6 in. In the middle of each is a rectangular one-light window with moulded jambs and head of two orders and an external label; the internal reveals are half splayed and part squared at the inner edges and have a flat stone lintel. The lights were probably cusped originally. In the west wall is a filled-in square-headed fire-place, perhaps original. Partly in the recess of the east window and partly projecting is an ancient thick stone altarslab showing four of the original five crosses cut in the top. It has a hollow-chamfered lower edge and is supported by moulded stone corbels. South of it in the east wall is a piscina with a trefoiled ogee-head and hood-mould and a quatrefoil basin.
The stair-vice that leads up to the story above is in the south-west angle, its doorway being splayed westwards to avoid the doorway to the chancel. In it is an ancient oak door with one-way diagonal framing on the back. The turret projects externally to the west in the angle with the chancel wall; it is square in the lower part but higher is broadened northwards with a splay that is corbelled out below in three courses, the lowest corbel having a trefoiled ogee or blind arch cut in it. The top is tabled back up to the eaves of the chapel west wall. A moulded string-course passes round the projection and there is another half-way up the tabling. The doorway at the top of the spiral stair leading into the upper chamber has an ancient oak door hung with three strap-hinges.
The upper priest’s chamber has an east window of two plain square-headed lights, probably altered. In the north wall is a rectangular window that was of two lights but has lost its mullion. Outside it has a false pointed head of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and leaf tracery, all of it blank, and a hood-mould with human-head stops, one cowled. Apparently this treatment was purely for decorative purposes, like the square-headed windows at Shotteswell and elsewhere. The south wall is pierced by a watching-hole into the chancel, which is fitted with an iron grill and oak shutter: it has been reduced from a larger opening that had an ogee head and hood-mould. There is a square-headed fire-place in the west wall and in the splayed north-west angle is the entrance to a garderobe or latrine, which is lighted by a north loop.
The walls are of yellow ashlar and have a plinth of two courses, the upper moulded, a moulded stringcourse at first-floor level, and moulded eaves-courses at the sides. The north wall is gabled and has a parapet with string-course and coping. At the angles are diagonal buttresses of two stages; the lower stage is 2½ft. broad up to the first-floor level, above this the upper stage is reduced to about half the breadth. They support square diagonal pinnacles with restored crocketed finials. The west wall is unpierced but above it is a plain square chimney-shaft with an open-side hood on top. Internally the walls are faced with whitish-brown ashlar. The gabled roof is modern and of two bays.
The nave (about 41½ft. by 16½ft.) has north and south arcades of four bays. The easternmost bay on each side, with the first pillar, is of the same detail and date as the chancel arch. They vary in span, the north being about 9 ft. and the south about 10 ft., and in both cases the span is less than those of the older bays. Those on the north side are of 11–12 ft. span and date from the middle of the 12th century. The pillars are circular, the west respond a half-circle, with scalloped capitals, 6 in. high and square in the deep-browed upper part and with a 4½in. grooved and hollowchamfered abacus. The bases are chamfered and stand on square sub-bases. The arches are pointed and of one square order with a plain square hood-mould, The voussoirs are small. The middle parts of the soffits are plastered between the flush inner ends of the voussoirs, suggesting a former inner order, abolished perhaps in a rebuilding of the heads.
The same three bays of the south side are of 11 ft. span and of late-12th-century date. The round pillars are rather more slender than the northern, and the capitals are taller, 12 in. high, with long and shallow scallops, and have 4 in. abaci like the northern. The bases are taller and moulded in forms approaching those of the 13th century, on chamfered square sub-bases.
The pointed arches are of one chamfered order and their hood-moulds are now flush with the plastered wall-faces above.
The half-round west responds of both arcades have been overlapped on the nave side by the east wall of the tower.
High above the 14th-century south-east respond is a 15th-century four-centred doorway to the former rood-loft. The stair-vice leading up to it is entered by a four-centred doorway in the east wall of the south aisle.
The north aisle (11½ft. wide at the east end and 12½ft. at the west) has an uncommon east window of c. 1300. It is of three plain-pointed rather narrow lights; above the middle light, which has a shorter pointed head than the others, is a circle enclosing a pierced five-pointed star, all in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould having defaced head-stops, and with a chamfered rear-arch.
Set fairly close together at the east end of the north wall are two tall windows of c. 1340, each of two trefoiled round-headed lights and foiled leaf-tracery below a segmental-pointed head with an ogee apex, the tracery coming well below the arch. The jambs are of two orders, the outer sunk-chamfered. The lights are wider and the splays of ashlar are more acute than those of the east window.
The third window near the west end is narrower and shorter and of two plain-pointed lights and an uncusped spandrel in a two-centred head: it is of much the same date as the east window. The jambs and head are of two hollow-chamfered orders and the fairly obtuse plastered splays have old angle-dressings. The segmental-pointed rear-arch is chamfered.
The north doorway, also of c. 1340, has jambs and two-centred head without a hood-mould; the segmental rear-arch is of square section. In it is an 18th-century oak door.
The three-light window in the west wall has jambs and splays like those of the north-west but its head has been altered; it is now of three trefoiled ogee-headed lights below a four-centred arch. The chamfered reararch is elliptical.
The walls are yellow ashlar with a chamfered plinth and parapets with moulded string-courses and copings that are continued over the east and west gables. Below the sills of the two north-east windows is a plain stringcourse. At the east angle is a pair of shallow square buttresses and a diagonal buttress at the west, all ancient. White ashlar facing is exposed inside between the two north-east windows only, the remainder being plastered. The gabled roof of trussed-rafter type is modern and covered with tiles.
The south aisle (13 ft. wide at the east end and 12 ft. at the west) has an east window of three plain-pointed lights, and three plain circles in plate tracery form, in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould having mask stops. The yellow stone jambs and head of two chamfered orders and the wide ashlar splays are probably of the late 13th century; the grey stone mullions and tracery are apparently old restorations but are probably reproductions of the original forms.
There are two south windows: the eastern is of two wide cinquefoiled elliptical-headed lights under a square main head with an external label with return stops. The jambs are of two moulded orders, the inner (and the mullion) with small roll-moulds, probably of the 13th century re-used when the window was refashioned in the 15th century. The wide splays are of rubble-work and there is a chamfered segmental reararch. The western is a narrower opening of two trefoiled-pointed lights, with the early form of soffit cusping, and early-14th-century tracery in a twocentred head: the jambs are of two chamfered orders and the wide splays are plastered, with ashlar dressings: the chamfered rear-arch is segmental pointed.
The reset south doorway has jambs and pointed head of two moulded orders with filleted rolls and undercut hollows of the early 13th century, divided by a three-quarter hollow more typical of a later period, and all are stopped on a single splayed base. The hoodmould has defaced shield-shaped head-stops. There are four steps down into the church through this doorway.
The window in the west wall is like that in the east but the three lights are trefoiled and the three circles in the two-centred head are quatrefoiled: the head is all restored work. The jambs are ancient and precisely like those of the square-headed south window, and the wide splays are of rubble-work.
The walls are of yellow fine-jointed ashlar and have plinths of two splayed courses, the upper projecting like that of the east chancel-wall, and plain parapets with restored copings. At the angles are old and rather shallow diagonal buttresses. There are three scratched sundials on the south wall, one, a complete circle, being on a west jambstone of the south-east window.
The gabled roof is modern like that of the north aisle.
The south porch is built of ashlar like that of the aisle but the courses do not tally and it has a different plinth, a plain hollow-chamfer. The gabled south wall has a parapet with a restored coping. The pointed entrance is of two orders, the inner ovolo-moulded, the outer hollow-chamfered, and has a hood-mould of 13thcentury form. There are side benches. The roof is modern but on the wall of the aisle are cemented lines marking the position of an earlier high-pitched roof at a lower level than the present one.
The north porch is of shallower projection. It has a gabled front with diagonal buttresses and coped parapet and a pointed entrance with jambs and head of two chamfered orders, the inner hollow, and a hood-mould with head-stops.
The west tower (about 9½ft. square) is of three stages divided by projecting splayed string-courses: it has a high plinth, with a moulded upper member and chamfered lower course, and a plain parapet. The walls are of yellow ashlar, that of the two upper stages being of rather rougher facing and in smaller courses than the lowest stage. At the west angles are diagonal buttresses reaching to the top of the second stage. There are no east buttresses but in the angle of the north wall with the end of the nave is a shallow buttress against the nave-wall. In the south-west angle, but not projecting, is a stair-vice with a pointed doorway in a splay, and lighted by a west loop. The archway to the nave has a two-centred head of two chamfered orders, the inner dying on the reveals, the outer mitring with the single chamfered order of the responds. It has large voussoirs. The wall on either side of the archway is of squared rough-tooled ashlar.
The 14th-century west doorway has jambs and pointed head of two wave-moulded orders divided by a three-quarter hollow, and a hood-mould with return stops. The head of the tall and narrow 14th-century west window is carried up into the second stage, its hood-mould springing from the string-course. It is of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head: the jambs are of two chamfered orders.
There are no piercings in the second stage, but on the north side is a modern clock face.
The bell-chamber has 15th-century windows, each of two lights with depressed trefoiled ogee heads and uncusped tracery in which the mullion line is continued up to the apex of the two-centred head. The jambs are of two chamfered orders and there is no hood-mould.
The font is circular and dates probably from the 13th century. It has a plain tapering bowl, a short stem with a comparatively large 13th-century moulding at the top: a short base is also moulded.
In the vestry is an ancient iron-bound chest.
There are three bells, the first of 1811, the second of 1616, and the tenor of 1602 by Edward Newcombe.
The registers begin in 1636.
Advowson
The church was valued at £8 6s. 8d. in 1291, and at £16 3s. 10d., in addition to a pension of 13s. 4d. payable to Witham Priory, in 1535. The advowson passed with the manor until 1602, when the patron was Richard Cooper. In 1628 William Hall and Edward Wotton, by concession of — Hill, the patron, presented Richard Wotton, who at the time of his wife’s death in 1637 was ‘rector and patron, of the church’. In 1681 and 1694 presentations were made by Thomas Farrer, and from 1726 till his death in 1764 the patronage was held by his son Thomas Farrer. His widow Alice held it in 1766, but by 1773 it had been divided between their two daughters, Mary wife of John Adams, and Elizabeth Farrer (1782) who afterwards married Hamlyn Harris. In 1802 Henry Bagshaw Harrison was patron and rector. He died in 1830, and by 1850 the advowson had been acquired by Hulme’s Trustees, in whose hands it has continued, so that they now present on two out of three turns to the combined living of Warmington and Shotteswell, which was annexed to it in 1927.
For a list of rectors and clergy of Warmington see the ‘trades and occupations’ section of the site.
www.warmingtonheritage.com/village-history/significant-bu....