St Edmund, Southwold, Suffolk

 

I kept meaning to come back to Southwold - the church, I mean, for I found myself in the little town from time to time. I finally kept my promise to myself in the summer of 2017, tipping up on a beautiful sunny day only to find the church closed for extensive repairs. The days got shorter, and by the time the church reopened it was too late in the year for me to try again. In fact, it was not until late October 2018 that I made it back there, on another beautiful day.

 

Southwold is well-known to people who have never even been there I suppose, signifying one side of Suffolk to which Ipswich is perhaps the counter in the popular imagination. Some thirty years ago, the comedian Michael Palin made a film for television called East of Ipswich. It was a memoir of his childhood in the 1950s, and the basic comic premise behind the film was that in those days families would go on holiday to seaside resorts on the East Anglian coast. In the child Palin's case, it was Southwold.

 

The amusement came from the idea that people in those days would sit in deckchairs beside the grey north sea, or shelter from the drizzle in genteel teashops or the amusement arcade on the pier. In the Costa Brava package tour days of the 1980s, the quaintness of this image made it seem like something from a different world.

 

I remember Southwold in the 1980s. It was one of those agreeable little towns distant enough from anywhere bigger to maintain a life of its own. It still had its genteel tea shops, its dusty grocers, its quaint hotels and pubs all owned by Adnams, the old-fashioned and unfashionable local brewery. In the white heat of the Thatcherite cultural revolution, it seemed a place that would soon die on its feet quietly and peaceably.

 

And then, in the 1990s, the colour supplements discovered the East Anglian coast, and fell in love with it. The new fashions for antique-collecting, cooking with local produce and general country living, coupled with a snobbishness about how vulgar foreign package trips had become, conspired to make places like Southwold very sought after. Before Nigel Lawson's boom became a bust, the inflated house prices of London and the home counties gave people money to burn. And in their hoards, they came out of the big city to buy holiday homes in East Anglia.

 

Although they are often lumped together, the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk are very different to each other (Cambridgeshire and North Essex are also culturally part of East Anglia, but the North Essex coast is too close to London to have ever stopped being cheap and cheerful, and Cambridgeshire has no coastline). Norfolk's beaches are wide and sandy, with dunes and cliffs and rock pools to explore. Towns like Cromer and Hunstanton seem to have stepped out of the pages of the Ladybird Book of the Seaside. Tiny villages along the Norfolk coast have secret little beaches of their own.

 

Suffolk's coast is wilder. Beaches are mainly pebbles rather than sand, and the marshes stretch inland, cutting the coast off from the rest of the county. Unlike Norfolk, Suffolk has no coast road, and so the settlements on the coast are isolated from each other, stuck at the ends of narrow lanes which snake away from the A12 and peter out in the heathland above the sea. There are fewer of them too. It is still quicker to get from Walberswick to Southwold by water than by land. Because they are isolated from each other, they take on individual personalities and characteristics. Because they are isolated from the land, they become bastions of polite civilisation.

 

Between Felixstowe in the south, which no outsiders like (and consequently is the favourite of many Suffolk people) and Lowestoft in the north, which is basically an industrial town-on-sea (but which still has the county's best beaches - shhh, don't tell a soul) are half a dozen small towns that vie with each other for trendiness. Southwold is the biggest, and today it is also the most expensive place to live in all East Anglia. Genteel tea shops survive, but are increasingly shouldered by shops that specialise in ski-wear and Barbour jackets, delicatessens that stock radicchio and seventeen different kinds of olive, jewellery shops and kitchen gadget shops and antique furniture shops where prices are exquisitely painful. Worst of all, the homely, shabby, smoke-filled Sole Bay Inn under the lighthouse has been converted by the now-trendy Adnams Brewery into a chrome and glass filled wine bar.

 

If you see someone in Norfolk driving a truck, they are probably wearing a baseball cap and carrying a shotgun. in Suffolk, they've more likely just bought a Victorian pine dresser from an antique shop, and they're taking it back to Islington. Does this matter? The fishing industry was dying anyway. The tourist industry was also dying. If places like Southwold, Aldeburgh and Orford become outposts of north London, at least they will still provide jobs for local people. But the local people won't be able to afford to live there, of course. They'll be bussed in from Reydon, Leiston and Melton to provide services for people in holiday cottages which are the former homes they grew up in, but can no longer afford to buy. Does this seriously annoy me? Not as much as it does them, I'll bet.

 

So, lets go to Southwold, turning off the A12 at the great ship of Blythburgh church, the wide marshes of the River Blyth spreading aimlessly beyond the road. We climb and fall over ancient dunes, and then the road opens out into the flat marshes, the town spreads out beyond. We enter through Reydon (now actually bigger than Southwold, with houses at half the price) and over the bridge into the town of Southwold itself.

 

Having been so critical, I need to say here that Southwold is beautiful. It is quite the loveliest small town in all East Anglia. None of the half-timbered houses here that you find in places like Long Melford and Lavenham. Here, the town was completely destroyed by fire in the 17th century, and so we have fine 18th and 19th century municipal buildings. One of the legacies of the fire was the creation of wide open spaces just off of the high street, called greens. The best one of all is Gun Hill Green, overlooking the bay where the last major naval battle in British waters was fought. The cannons still point out to sea. The houses here are stunning, gobsmacking, jaw-droppingly wonderful. If I could afford to buy one of them as a weekend retreat, then you bet your life I would, and to hell with the people who moaned about it.

 

At the western end of the High Street is St Bartholomew's Green, and beyond it sits what is, for my money, Suffolk's single most impressive building. This is the great church of St Edmund, a vast edifice built all in one go in the second half of the 15th century. Only Lavenham can compete with it for scale and presence. Unlike the massing at St Peter and St Paul at Lavenham, St Edmund is defined by a long unbroken clerestory and aisles beneath - where St Peter and St Paul looks full of tension, ready to spring, St Edmund is languid and floating, a ship at ease.

 

Southwold church was just one of several vast late medieval rebuildings in this area. Across the river at Walberswick and a few miles upriver at Blythburgh the same thing happened. Blythburgh still survives, but Walberswick was derelicted to make a smaller church, as were Covehithe and Kessingland. Dunwich All Saints was lost to the sea. But Southwold was the biggest. Everything about it breathes massive permanence, from the solidity of the tower to the turreted porch, from the wide windows to the jaunty sanctus bell fleche.

 

Along the top of the aisles, grimacing faces look down. All of them are different. The pedestals atop the clerestory were intended for statues as at Blythburgh, but were probably never filled before the Reformation intervened. At the west end, above the great west window, you can see the vast inscription SAncT EDMUND ORA P: NOBIS ('Saint Edmund, pray for us') as bold a record of the mindset of late medieval East Anglian Catholicism as you'll find.

 

As at Lavenham and Long Melford, the interior has been extensively restored, but not in as heavy or blunt a manner as at those two churches. St Edmund has, it must be said, benefited from the attentions of German bombers who put out all the dull Victorian glass with blast damage during World War II. Here, the interior is vast, light and airy, and much of the restoration is 20th century work, not 19th century.

 

Perhaps because of this, more medieval interior features have survived. Unlike Long Melford, Southwold does not have surviving medieval glass (Mr Dowsing saw to that in 1644), but it does have what is the finest screen in the county.

 

It stretches right the way across the church, and is effectively three separate screens. There is a rood screen across the chancel arch, and parclose screens across the north and south chancel aisles. All retain their original dado figures. There are 36 of them, more than anywhere else in Suffolk. They have been restored, particularly in the central range, but are fascinating because they retain a lot of original gesso work, where plaster of Paris is applied to wood and allowed to dry. It is then carved to produce intricate details.

 

The central screen shows the eleven remaining disciples and St Paul. They are, from left to right, Philip, Bartholomew, James the Less, Thomas, Andrew, Peter, Paul, John, James, Simon, Jude and Matthew.

 

The south chancel chapel is light and open. The bosses above are said to represent Mary Tudor and her second husband Charles, Duke of Brandon. The screen here is painted with twelve Old Testament prophets, and Mortlock suggests that they are by a different hand to the images on the other two screens. Here on the south screen, some of the figures have surviving naming inscriptions, and Mortlock surmises that the complete sequence, from left to right, is Baruch, Hosea, Nahum, Jeremiah, Elias, Moses, David, Isaiah, Amos, Jonah and Ezekiel. Further, he observes that the subject is a usual one for the English Midlands, but rare for East Anglia, and that perhaps this part of the screen came from elsewhere. The same may be true of the other two parts - it is hard to think that the central screen was deliberately made too wide for the two arcades.

 

The north aisle chapel is reserved as the blessed sacrament chapel. The screen is harder to explore, because the northern side is curtailed by a large chest, but it features angels. Unlike the screens at Hitcham and Blundeston, which show angels holding instruments of the passion, these are the nine orders of angels, with Gabriel at their head, and flanked by angels holding symbols of the Trinity and the Eucharist. Mortlock says that they are so similar to the ones at Barton Turf in Norfolk that they may be by the same hand, in which case the central screen is also by that person. They are, from left to right, the Holy Trinity, Gabriel, Archangels, Powers, Dominions, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Principalities, Virtues, Messengers, and finally the Eucharist. The Holy Trinity angel still has part of the original dedicatory inscription beneath his feet.

 

If part or all of this screen came from elsewhere, where did it come from? Possibly either Walberswick, Covehithe or Kessingland, the three downsized churches mentioned earlier. More excitingly, it might have come from one of the churches along this coast that was lost to the sea, perhaps neighbouring St Nicholas at Easton Bavents, or, just to the south, St Peter or St John the Baptist, the two Dunwich churches lost in the 16th and 17th centuries. We'll never know.

 

If you turn back at the screen and face westwards, your eyes are automatically drawn to the towering font cover, part of the extensive 1930s redecoration of the building. The clerestory is almost like a glass atrium intended to house it. Also the work of the period is the repainting and regilding of the 15th century pulpit (a lot of people blanch at this, but I think it is gorgeous) and the lectern. Beneath the font cover, the font is clearly one of the rare seven sacraments series, and part of the same group as Westhall, Blythburgh and Wenhaston. As at Blythburgh and Wenhaston, the panels are completely erased, probably in the 19th century, an act of barbarous vandalism. Given that Westhall is probably the best of all in the county, we must assume that three major medieval art treasures were wiped out. Astonishingly, vague shadows survive of the former reliefs; you can easily make out the Mass panel, facing east as at Westhall, the Penance panel and even what may be the Baptism of Christ.

 

Stepping through the screen, the reredos ahead is by Benedict Williamson and the glass above by Ninian Comper, familiar names in the Anglo-catholic pantheon, and evidence of an enthusiasm here that still survives in High Church form. There is a good engraved glass image of St Edmund to the north of the sanctuary, very much in the 1960s fashion, but curiously placed. On the wall of the chancel to the west of it, the high organ case is also painted and gilded enthusiastically.

 

As well as the screen, Southwold's other great medieval survival is the set of return stalls either side of the eastern face of the chancel screen. They have misericord seats, but the best feature are the handrests between the seats. On the south side, carvings include a man with a horn-shaped hat and sinners being drawn into the mouth of hell. On the north side are a man playing two pipes, a monkey preaching and a beaver biting its own genitals, a tale from the medieval bestiary, apparently.

 

What else is there to see? Well, the church is full of delights, and rewards further visits which always seem to turn up something previously unnoticed. St George rides full tilt at a dragon on an old chest at the west end of the north aisle. There is good 19th century glass in the porch and at the west end of the nave. A clock jack stands, axe and bell in hand, at the west end, a twin to the one upriver at Blythburgh. This one has a name, he's called Southwold Jack, and he is one of the symbols of the Adnams brewery.

 

As Mortlock notes, there are very few surviving memorials. This is partly because St Edmund was not in the patronage of a great landed family, but it may also suggest that they were largely removed at the time of the 19th century restoration, as at Brandon. One moving one is for the child of a vicar, and there are some interesting pre-Oxford Movement 19th century brasses in the south aisle.

 

High, high above all this, the roofs are models of Anglo-Catholic melodrama, the canopy of honour to the rood and the chancel ceilure in particular. But there is a warmth about it all that is missing from, say, Eye, which underwent a similar makeover. This church feels full of life, and not a museum piece at all. I remember attending evensong here late one winter Saturday afternoon, and it was magical. On another visit, I came on one of the first days of spring that was truly warm and bright, with not a cloud in the sky. As we drove into town, a cold fret off of the sea was condensing the steam of the brewery, sending it in swirls and skeins around the tower of St Edmund like low cloud. It was so atmospheric that I almost forgave them for what they have done to the Sole Bay Inn.

Although maintaining a similar footprint to a compact crossover, the Nissan Gripz Concept has the silhouette of a sports car with a raised ride height, equipped to conquer more challenging driving conditions.

Highest price of the day.

 

At 01:00 in Video Part 4 of 5 of the five videos I took of the car on stage, Evan starts up the car to the crowd's delight. At 01:25, I say, "I think he's trying to hide a chuckle." At 01:40, I say, "So, I saw this car in the back being pulled by a strap by a Japanese SUV. They were trying to start it." Evan was the guy in tow trying to start the Simplex. Wish I had put my camera on that. Evan certainly had fun with this one, from the back lot to the stage. ☺

 

Evan Ide -- works with Bonhams, has been featured on Wayne Carini's "Chasing Classic Cars" several times, and is an advisor to several major museum collections around the world -- driving the car on stage.

 

*The Eleonora Sears Simplex Purchased new by Harold Vanderbilt for Eleonora Sears, Ex-Charles Chayne*

1912 Simplex 50HP 5 Passenger Torpedo Tourer

Sold for US$4,845,000 inc. premium

 

From the catalog:

Coachwork by JM Quinby and Company

597.2ci T-Head, 4-Cylinder Engine (5.75" bore x 5.75" stroke)

50 horsepower ALAM rated

4-Speed Transaxle With 1.97:1 Final Drive by Dual Chains

Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension

Inboard Transaxle Mounted Drum Brakes and Rear Axle Drum Brakes

 

*Unique example of the pinnacle of American pre-war sporting cars

*Owned for over 25 years by Eleonora Sears America's greatest pre-war sportswoman

*Matching numbers, dual-chain drive and desirable short-stroke specification

*Original coachwork with faultless, dramatic styling

*Performance surpassing most cars made decades later

  

SIMPLEX

 

The collector car hobby is now in its ninth or perhaps tenth decade with roots going back as early as the 1920s. Few cars have the distinction of being highly coveted for this entire period of time. Simplex without question is one of the few cars to have remained a great prize of collecting from day one to the present day. No car so completely embodies the romance and excitement of this period better than a Simplex. Possessing all the fleeting features of this charismatic era, massive four-cylinder, T-head engine, with power getting to the rear wheels via prodigious pair of chains all in a svelte and sporty package.

 

The Smith and Mabley Company's beginnings are in the importation of high-end European automobiles. S&M imported Panhard, Renault, Mors and most importantly Mercedes. S&M was the exclusive importer of Mercedes for the US market.

 

After a few years of importing the superb Mercedes products S&M developed their own Mercedes-like car but designed with uniquely American dimensions. S&M based much of the design around the Mercedes Simplex four-cylinder design — the world's finest automobile at the time. In 1908 Smith & Mabley would become the Simplex Automobile Company and focus exclusively on enormous displacement sporting cars. To power the Simplex an enlarged Mercedes type t-head engine of 597ci was designed. Simplex deviated from Mercedes by cleverly matched the bore and stroke at 5.75" to give the engine a combination of brute power and at a surprisingly wide RPM range. The cross flow, t-head design allowed Simplex to fit equally massive valves to aid the voluminous engine flow. Ignition was by Bosch twin-spark dual-magneto and carburetion by a Mercedes type unit by Newcomb. The huge cylinders were mated to a large aluminum crankcase and lubrication was a total loss with copious amounts of fresh oil supplied to the main bearings. S&M used the established high performance chassis configuration of midship mounted transaxle feeding power to the rear wheels through dual chains. This design reduced the cars unsprung weight and allowed for easy final-drive gear ratio changes. Placing the transaxle and brake weight more forward improved the cars balance and handling. Additionally this design allowed for separate braking system inboard at the transaxle as well as in the rear wheel drums helping keep the independent systems cool. This configuration since its development by Panhard et Levassor had become almost universally adopted for racing in this period.

The new 50 horse power Simplex was introduced to the public and despite its breathtaking price tag of $5750 they immediately found favor with sporting car enthusiasts. Unlike some of Simplex's competition the enormous engine was not designed to lug around heavy coachwork this car was designed from the ground up for driving performance. Simplex quickly cemented their reputation with success in motorsports. Unlike many builders Simplex competed with their standard production cars. Wining the Brighton Beach 24 hours and victories at Lowell and Fairmont all bolstered the Simplex reputation.. This was a race car for the street and few cars in the world could rival them for their shear performance.

 

Simplex offered the 50hp several attractive coachwork options for clients including the classic five-passenger toy tonneau and two passenger speedster by Holbrook. Customers could also specify unique coachwork designs by coach builders of their choosing as is the case with this magnificent Quinby example.

 

ELEONORA RANDOLF SEARS

 

Ms Sears born into wealthy family in 1881 would become renowned as one of the finest American sporting figures of the first half of the 20th century. Excelling most notably in international tennis, squash, show jumping, golf among others. She is considered one of the first female motorists in the US as one of the first woman to drive a racing car and the first Woman to contest a speeding ticket. She maintained her sporting prowess for decades even winning the national squash title in 1928 at age 47! She even remained active in competitive in squash at age 73.

 

She began her rise to high level tennis in 1904. She competed in every US tennis championship from 1911 to 1929 and was national doubles champion four time. A three-time competitor at Wimbledon and US Squash champion in 1928. She was not afraid of a public wager and embarked in a much publicized 47 mile walk from Newport, Rhode Island to Boston in 10.5 hours. She frequently caused trouble by wearing trousers and male riding apparel and pushed for allowing more equity in sports and society.

 

She was often in the spotlight of the gossip pages but caused a sensation when she became engaged to Harold Sterling Vanderbilt in 1911. Son of the pioneering motor racer and sportsman William Kissam Vanderbilt, Harold had a similar sporting flair. Most famous for his yacht racing success and ultimately defending the America's cup in Newport Rhode Island three times with the J class yachts Rainbow, Enterprise and Ranger. He maintained excellent taste in high performance motor cars and is remembered for his contribution to the popularity of contract bridge. He and Eleonora made a great celebrity couple with their seemingly compatible sporting interests. Mr Vanderbilt purchased Ms. Sears this Simplex motorcar as a gift for their engagement. Mr Vanderbilt was had several of his own Simplex motorcars including a spectacularly racy v-radiator equipped roadster. The engagement did not last but seemed to have a lasting impact on both. Harold would not marry for another 20 years and Eleonora would keep her beloved engagement gift for at least another 25 years.

 

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

 

Ordered in 1911 this unique coachwork example is arguably the greatest survivor of the marque. Adorned in magnificent sporting coachwork by JM Quinby that is perfectly in harmony with the power and purpose of the Simplex chassis. The deep enveloping, cowl free from the bulk of a windshield with sleek built-in electric side lamps that also act as cockpit ventilators. The rakish fenders hint at the transitional nature of the car with their crisp flat lines and work perfectly with the innovative, torpedo bodywork. The wonderful wooden toolboxes were fitted from new, and the styling is further enhanced by the set of rear mounted spares. Having this sleek and light weight coachwork the Simplex was specified with ultra tall 1.97:1 final drive ratio allowing for 85mph at 1200rpm! There is nothing fussy about the final product pure, un-compromised style.

 

In 1939 Sears herself would drive the car to an early VMCCA at Raceland in Framingham Massachusetts. Ms Sears was awarded a beautiful silver trophy at the event which is still with the car. Original color films survive from this early antique car gathering. Around this time the cars ownership changed for the first time when Ms. Sears sold her beloved Simplex to VMMCA meter Sam Eliott.

 

Eventually the Simplex would find its way to the head of Buick and General Motors chief engineer Charles Chayne. A prolific engineer who developed countless products, Chayne was well known for his collection including the a Bugatti type 57S and most notably the Bugatti Type 41 "Royale" Weinberger roadster. Chayne had GM's full engineering capabilities at his disposal for his restorations. The best talents of GM had their way with Simplex and perfected the operation of the car to the highest standard. The engine was precession balanced and blue printed - to the finest possible standard. The brakes and the steering also received the full GM engineering attention. The Simplex steers light even when not moving and the brakes are shockingly powerful. The light steering and great cornering give enormous confidence during spirited driving. The electric starter installation is probably the crown jewell of the job - a discreet aircraft starter expertly mounted in place of the starting handle. The result is what most agree the finest driving Simplex, bar none.

 

Chayne would gradually disperse his collection many ending up in Museums - the Simplex at Brookline Massachusetts Museum of Transportation (now the Larz Anderson Auto Museum). Eventually the car was sold at auction to The Collings Foundation in the early 1980s. A short time later noted brass era collector Charles LeMaitre would acquire the car where it would reside for the next 20+ years. Of the more than 1000 antique cars Mr. Lemaitre would own this was the one he considers the finest. Mr. LeMaitre would use the car regularly and had the car fully restored starting in the mid 2000s. Trusting the Simplex to the capable hands of noted brass era restorer Fred Gonet in Proctorsville, Vermont. In this time the car was resprayed and new upholstery fitted. The wheels were rebuilt with new wood spokes and fellows. The mechanicals were fully refurbished while keeping the GM engineering that had been done under Chayne's restoration.

 

In 2013 the Sears Simplex was acquired by Seattle collector Craig McCaw. During this time he car was toured with and exhibited in the Simplex celebration at Pebble Beach. Eventually the car made it into the hands of the current owner a passionate collector with a diverse collection of world class automobiles. The Simplex is frequently used and always kept in "on the button" condition.

 

Cars of this quality rarely come to public auction. It has been nearly 17 years since an original bodied Simplex has been offered publicly. This car is among the finest antique cars in America and the opportunity to acquire something of this caliber is truly special.

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It's Bonhams day!

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This year I was able to escape the snow and join Fred in Scottsdale for sunshine, cars, and music! I also drove down to Tucson to meet Doug for lunch and spend a nice evening visting with Richard and Lola.

  

Now owned and maintained by the National Trust, this engine house worked for about six years from 1860. The house itself contained a 30 inch pumping engine. The graceful chimney stack stands at the opposite corner from where the boiler house originally stood. The mine itself was never particulary "prosperous" despite its name. It produced mostly tin, although the actual output is not recorded. The engine house was used by the BBC for the filming of 'Poldark' in the 1970s.

 

Just a short distance to the right of the engine house can be seen a small quarry where the stone for the building was originally sourced.

 

A few hundred yards along the left pathway can be seen the capped Michell's Whim Shaft. The depth of this shaft reached 420 feet below surface.

 

In the bottom right is Rinsey Beach. The entrance to a cave can be seen here into a which an adit opens from Wheal Prosper above.

 

The image was taken from a DJI Phantom Vision 2 Plus quad-copter.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis,_Tennessee

 

Memphis is a city along the Mississippi River in southwestern Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The 2019 population was 651,073, making Memphis the largest city on the Mississippi River, the second most populous in Tennessee, as well as the 26th largest city in the United States. Greater Memphis is the 42nd largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 1,348,260 in 2017. The city is the anchor of West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region, which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas, Mississippi, and the Missouri Bootheel. Memphis is the seat of Shelby County, Tennessee's most populous county. One of the more historic and culturally significant cities of the southern United States, Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods.

 

The first European explorer to visit the area of present-day Memphis was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto in 1541 with his expedition into the New World. The high Chickasaw Bluffs protecting the location from the waters of the Mississippi was then contested by the Spanish, French, and the English as Memphis took shape. Modern Memphis was founded in 1819 by three prominent Americans: John Overton, James Winchester, and future president Andrew Jackson.

 

Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South as a market for agricultural goods, natural resources like lumber, and the American slave trade. After the American Civil War and the end of slavery, the city experienced even faster growth into the 20th century as it became among the largest world markets for cotton and lumber.

 

Home to Tennessee's largest African-American population, Memphis played a prominent role in the American civil rights movement and was the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 assassination. The city now hosts the National Civil Rights Museum—a Smithsonian affiliate institution. Since the civil rights era, Memphis has become one of the nation's leading commercial centers in transportation and logistics. Its largest employer is the multinational courier corporation FedEx, which maintains its global air hub at Memphis International Airport, making it the second-busiest cargo airport in the world. In addition to being a global air cargo leader, the International Port of Memphis also hosts the 5th busiest inland water port in the U.S., with access to the Mississippi River allowing shipments to arrive from around the world for conversion to train and trucking transport throughout the United States, making Memphis a multi-modal hub for trading goods for imports and exports despite its inland location.

 

Memphis is a regional center for commerce, education, media, art, and entertainment. It has long had a prominent music scene, with historic blues clubs on Beale Street originating the unique Memphis blues sound in the early 20th century. The city's music has continued to be shaped by a multicultural mix of influences: the blues, country, rock n' roll, soul, and hip-hop. Memphis barbecue has achieved international prominence, and the city hosts the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, which attracts over 100,000 visitors to the city annually.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland

 

Graceland is a mansion on a 13.8-acre (5.6 ha) estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, once owned by singer and actor Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, has been the owner of Graceland since his death in 1977. Graceland is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community, about 9 miles (14 km) from Downtown and less than 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the Mississippi border.

 

It was opened to the public as a museum on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site related to rock and roll to be entered therein. Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for a rock singer. Graceland is the second most-visited house in the U.S. after the White House, with over 650,000 visitors a year.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley

 

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known simply as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to great success—and initial controversy.

 

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll.

 

In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.

 

With his rise from poverty to significant fame, Presley's success seemed to epitomize the American Dream. The best-selling solo music artist of all time, he was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, R&B, adult contemporary, and gospel. He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley holds several records; the most RIAA certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, and the most number-one albums and number-one singles on the UK Albums Chart and UK Singles Chart, respectively. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Kabul police maintain security during the Emergency Deployment Response Exercise. The EDRE provides the Afghan police units the opportunity to synchronize their efforts across the captial. Role players simulated attacking three separate buildings in Kabul simultaneously. The Afghan police then systematically cordoned and cleared each objective. The Afghan planned and executed exercise provided an excellent opportunity in responsiveness and interoperability prior to the Islamic New Year celebrations and Afghan presidential election.

 

Georgia Army National Guard photo by Capt. Michael Thompson / released

CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines (March 30, 2022) - U.S. and Philippine Air Force maintainers discuss maintenance operations in a deployed environment during Balikatan 22, at Clark Air Base, Philippines, March 30, 2022. Balikatan is an annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. military designed to strengthen bilateral interoperability, capabilities, trust, and cooperation built over decades of shared experiences. Balikatan 22 is the 37th iteration of the exercise and coincides with the 75th anniversary of U.S.-Philippine security cooperation. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Steve Cushman) 220330-M-BQ183-0115

 

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On June 6, 2018 the 12th annual LAFD Merit Scholar Awards Ceremony honored the academic excellence and demonstrated leadership of 11 college-bound students.

 

The Merit Scholar Awards are cash grants, made possible through the Jean Perkins Foundation, of up to $30,000 ($7,500 per year while the student continues to be enrolled and making normal progress toward a college degree). To be eligible, a student must be the child or stepchild of an active or fallen LAFD sworn employee. The eligible student must be a high school senior or college freshman, who will be enrolled in the fall as a full-time student in an accredited college or university. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit. The single most important factor is academic achievement, but the all-civilian Selection Committee considered other relevant criteria, including personal character and extracurricular accomplishments.

 

This year’s awardees were students who demonstrated excellence in academic studies, good character, high moral standards, leadership, distinction in extra-curricular activities, personal accomplishments and a potential for future success. The LAFD Merit Scholarship Fund Board of Directors had the difficult task of selecting the top candidates from an extremely competitive pool.

 

The 2018 LAFD Merit Scholar Award Recipients are Simone Decker, daughter of Firefighter III/Paramedic Dieter Decker; Abigail Sedillos and Brady Sedillos, children of Captain I Leonard Sedillos;Teagan Wasserman, daughter of Firefighter III/Paramedic Curt Wasserman (all bio's provided below).

 

This year’s seven Runner-Up Award winners are to be congratulated for their outstanding merits. Each received a one time grant of $5,000. They are Mia Aguilar, Seth Aguilar, Nina Hernandez, Angelina Maldonado, Delanie McKeon, Derek Rueda, Anna Vidovich and Taylor Wasserman.

The winner of this year’s “Best Essay” award of $2,500, generously sponsored by the LAFD Foundation, is an impressive repeat winner, Nina Hernandez. Nina also received this award in 2017.

 

We would like to thank Mr. James Carroll III and Mr. Joe Connolly, Executive Board Members of the Jean Perkins Foundation and the LAFD Merit Scholarship Fund’s Board of Directors, Dick Barrett, John Anglin, G. Louis Graziadio III, Vicky Leck, Tom Mizo, Robert Nicholas and Molly Taylor for their dedication and support of our members and their children. We are also grateful to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation for their sponsorship of the “Best Essay” award and to the LAFD Sertoma Club, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, LAFD Historical Society and the Los Angeles Firefighter’s Association and the Stentorians of City of Los Angeles who sponsored the awards reception.

 

The announcement for the 2019 competition should be posted early 2019 at www.lafd.org/scholarship.

 

2017 LAFD MERIT SCHOLAR AWARD RECIPIENT BIOGRAPHIES

Simone Decker is a senior from Quartz Hill High School (QHHS) and is the daughter of Firefighter III Paramedic Dieter Decker, assigned to Fire Station 75 (15 years LAFD). She will be attending George Washington University, majoring in Political Science. Simone has volunteered with the Union Rescue Mission and the Children’s Department at Barnes and Noble. Simone has become involved with the Interfaith Youth Leadership Initiative (IYLI) and serves as the Secretary of the LA County Chapter. IYLI promotes religious tolerance through education and interaction. Simone feels the program allowed her to understand religion in a different light and become friends with people form a huge variety of faiths. The program provides a space for youth to interact with one another, free from societal stereotypes or preconceived notions. Simone has interned for Assemblyman Tom Lackey during 2016-2017 and with Congressman Steve Knight, on Capitol Hill, in 2018. She is very active in on-campus clubs. She is currently Social Media Commissioner for the QHHS ASB, Cheer Squad Captain, Multicultural Club, a Bollywood founding member and dance performer, member of Key Club and author of Blog with The Odyssey Online. Simone is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) and was selected for the Award of Excellence from the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists. Other awards include NSHSS Ambassador Award 2017-2018, Principal’s List Honor Roll 2014-2018, and Academic Excellence Awards 2014-2018 after receiving all “A” grades in honors/advanced courses. Simone graduates with a 4.9 GPA.

 

Abigail Sedillos is a graduating senior from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (PVPHS) and the daughter of Captain I Leonard Sedillos, assigned to Fire Station 80 (33 years LAFD). Abbie will be attending Northeastern University, Boston, MA, double majoring in Environmental Studies and Political Science on the Pre-Law track. Abbie has been volunteering since 2012 and believes in the power of service. She is dedicated to commu-nity service and actively volunteers at the National Charity League as a Big Sister/Little Sister coordinator. Abbie also volunteers in Blue Jackets, assisting with discharged patients and making deliveries within the Torrance Memorial Medical Center(TMMC): NOVAs of TMMC, which partners with high school volunteers to fundraise and support patient events. Abbie has received the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award for volunteering over 120 hours a year and the National Charity League Ticktocked Service Award for volunteering over 100 hours a year. Abbie has participated in the following PVPHS clubs: Link Crew, PLUS Leadership, Teen Court and Principal’s Advisory Council. She participated as a sprinter on the PVPHS Track and Field Team, competing in the 100 and 400 meter, 4 x 4 and 4 x1 relays from 2014- 2016. Abbie’s awards include National Hispanic Scholar 2017, Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica 2016, National Honor Society 2016-2018, Science National Honor Society 2016-2018, California Scholarship Federation 2015 - 2018, and AP Scholar with Honors 2017-2018. Abbie graduates with a 4.7 GPA.

Brady Sedillos is a graduating senior from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (PVPHS) and the son of Captain I Leonard Sedillos assigned to Fire Station 80 (33 years LAFD). Brady will be attending Brown University majoring in Biological Sciences on the Pre-Med track. Brady’s inspiration and passion for Biological Sciences is due to his family trips to National Parks. Exploring the natural world and it’s workings while on those trips fueled his curiosity especially in his AP Biology Lab. Brady is a Blue Jacket and a NOVA volunteer at TorranceMemorial Medical Center (TMMC). He served as the Vice President and Social Chair of NOVA at TMMC. Brady is a Youth Leader at Saint John Fisher Catholic Church. He assists with meetings and mentors incoming classes. Brady competed on the PVPHS Swim Team CIF and Bay League, in the 200 meter IM, 2014-2017. He served on the Principal’s Advisory Council as a representative of the student body working to improve the school environment. Brady is a jury member of Teen Court 2014-2018, Peer Leadership Uniting Students (PLUS) 2016-2018, Model United Nations Team Under-Secretary-General of Logistics 2015-2018. Brady is a co-founder/vice president of the Go Toberman School Club, a Game of Thrones fan club. Brady also likes to play the ukulele. Brady’s awards and honors include: Model United Nations Conference Awards; 2016-2018, National Hispanic Scholar; 2017, National Honor Society; 2016-2018; Science and Math National Honor Society; 2016-2018 , and California Scholarship Federation; 2015 - 2018. Brady graduates with a 4.8 GPA.

 

Tegan Wasserman is a graduating senior from Edison High School (EHS) and the daughter of Firefighter III Paramedic Curt Wasserman assigned to Fire Station 99 (32 years LAFD). Teagan will be attending Wagner College, Staten Island, NY, in the five-year advanced Physician Assistant Program. Teagan is currently the Secretary of EHS’s Make a Wish Club, whose duties include raising money, planning and managing event logistics. In 2015, Teagan won Best Scientific Invention in Edison’s Worlds Fair. She continues to volunteer in EHS’s Innovation Lab, maintaining different projects including aquaponics system, fish breeding, etc. Teagan is a volunteer at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, helping in multiple areas, including the operating room and the Surgical ICU. Tegan is a water safety instructor at Aquatots Swim School. Teagan teaches kids 0-18 years old and works with kids with disabilities. Teagan has participated in the Modeled United Nations (MUN) 2014-2018. This year she traveled to the MUN conference host nation Greece, where they learned and debated different world topics. Teagan mentors freshman taking MUN Geography course, by counseling and critiquing their papers. Teagan has played Club/Academy Soccer 2007 - 2018 and played EHS Varsity Soccer during 2014-2017. She is a decorated Scholar-Athlete. Teagan was the CIF Sports Conference and the OCAD Women in Sports Conference Representative for Edison Women’s Soccer. Teagan is the recipient of Edison Character Coalition Award Perseverance winner 2017. Teagan graduates with a 4.6 GPA.

 

LAFD Event-060618

 

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Joe and Lisa are now in a relationship. However, Lisa insists on maintaining strict military protocols between the two of them, though sometimes there is a breakdown in these. Joe Bradley is a sergeant and Lisa, a Leytenant and famous Russian sniper as well as Hero of Soviet Union.

 

End of sequence.

 

Lisa kept her promise to Joe and was on duty waiting for him in Berlin at the end of the war.

 

On the 25th April 1945 Lisa meets up with her unit on the river Elbe and must say goodbye to Joe and the 247 Military Field Hospital she has grown to love since shortly after D-day when she rescued Joe from the clutches of some German soldiers in a stolen Sherman tank.

 

The Germans surrendered on the 8th of May 1945 and shortly after Joe headed for Berlin as part of an interpreter unit for senior officers. However, back at the Elbe Lisa and Joe have to go their separate ways as the American forces are not permitted to enter Berlin. The story goes:

 

...Suddenly he hears Lisa call out.

 

"Sgt comrade Bradley - stop!"

 

Joe stops for a moment still facing forward. He then slowly turns his head, fighting back tears, he turns to face Lisa. Lisa approaches Joe and stands to attention in front of him.

 

"Sgt comrade Bradley - in United States Army is it not customary to salute superior officer?"

 

Surprised, Joe throws a short sharp salute. Lisa replies in kind.

 

"Sgt comrade Bradley, it is also customary for soldiers in armed forces of Union of Soviet Socialist Republic to kiss as a formal military compliment when in presence of Hero of Soviet Union - Leytenant Lisaveta Britchkina from Vologda!"

 

Joe cocks his head to one side to convey his confusion.

 

"Sgt Brad..." Lisa stutters, her lower lip quivers, "Sgt Joe Bradley you may kiss Leytenant!"

 

Lisa lowers her voice to a whisper

 

​"Please Joe, please kiss me!"

 

A smile comes over Joe's face as months of heart ache melt away.

He warmly embraces Lisa

 

"Joe... I love you"

 

Joe repeats her name over and over, the first time he had ever called her by her first name. At the same time Lisa closes her eyes.

 

"Lisa....Lisa....Lisa"

 

​"Lisa, I have always loved you".

 

"Joe, we will see each other again soon"

 

Joe gently caresses her cheek with the back of his hand.

 

"Lisa, do Soviet soldiers really kiss each other?"

 

Lisa briefly breaks their embrace while stilling holding onto Joe.

 

A stern look falls on her face. "You don't believe I am Hero of Soviet Union?"

 

"No, no , no I was just , ah I didn't mean..."

 

Lisa breaks into laughter

 

"It's ok Joe I'm teasing you!"

 

"Would you like to accompany me to airfield Sgt comrade Bradley or should I get those Amercian pilots there to help me?"...

 

And later in Berlin...

 

A few weeks later Joe and the team drove through the city stopping to chat with soviet soldiers whose Russian Joe was able to interpret. He pretended to be interested in their conversation but he was scanning the area around the open spaces. He saw the Brandenburg gate columns peppered with bullets and soviet trucks criss crossing the intersection. And then he noticed a female soldier standing on a platform waving two flags in almost semaphore fashion. Joe excused himself from the group and approached the girl. He also noticed a soviet film crew performing an interview with the female soldier.

​

Joe stopped and stood still. A few trucks drove between them. The film crew departed. The girl flicked her flags for a Soviet Staff car, saluting it as it passed by, putting Joe directly in Lisa's line of sight. Her Mosin Nagant rifle was slung across her back just as Joe had remembered her wearing it after their last meeting. Suddenly the square was quiet. They stood looking at each other for a moment in silence.

 

"Comrade Sgt Bradley" Lisa called out loudly.

 

"Is it customary in United States Army to salute superior officer?"

 

Joe replied.

 

"Is it customary in the the armed forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic to kiss a superior officer as a formal compliment?"

 

"Then Sgt Bradley...you had better obey custom!"

 

​

An ascending aerial shot sets the final scene as Joe crosses over to embrace the love of his life. As they intertwine the sounds of heavy soviet transport truck horns and the cheers of Soviet soldiers can be heard as they pass followed by Duffy and the gang circling them in their jeep. Joe, with his arms around Lisa lifts her up and swings her around. With the fading audio Lisa can be heard to say "Joe, you are so terrible at goodbyes". Fade out - Without any traffic control, the intersection becomes clogged and confusion envelopes.

 

Joe and the unit are stationed on Iwo Jima after the war in Europe is over but Japan surrenders and the unit is sent as part of the occupation forces. After a difficult struggle with red tape, on leave, Joe tracks Lisa down in Berlin and with permission returns to St Lo where they are married.

 

One of Lisa's missions was to secure the Romanov diamond, stolen by German soldiers en route to Stalingrad. However, the diamond was also sought by the USA and they thought they had it in their grasp...

 

Back in Moscow...in a secret warehouse location.

 

"And now comrades we reveal the glorious efforts and ingenuity of the union of the soviet socialist republic, top secret plans taken from under the noses of the allies that will determine our solid future in rocket supremacy and world leaders in space technology"

 

A soldier holding a claw hammer is given the nod to wrench the cover off a large wooden crate. The cover is thrown onto the floor and some wax paper pulled back.

There is a sudden gasp and the sound of flash bulbs going off ten to a dozen.

 

Lying in the crate, bright and shining is the largest diamond in the world - the Romanov Diamond!

 

In Washington...The president begins to speak...

 

"It is with great rejoicing and appreciation that we owe a significant debt of gratitude to our intelligence network. Without their contribution we would not have in front of us today this genuine prize of humanity that speaks for all Americans as we unveil the world's largest diamond. It is a tribute to the power of our democracy and symbol of our strength and courage as we assist to transform the world from the league of Nations to the new United Nations. On that note may I now declare..The second world war in Europe is over. These proceedings are closed!"

 

The whole room is filled with roars and cheers as a corporal splinters the side of the crate open. The furrore dies down in a hurry as the room is filled with the flutter of paper files, sketches and rocket drawings. Complete silence descends on the room. A small component rolls out squeaking and stops at the feet of the president. The president stoops and picks up the object, and a sketch of a V2 rocket, He scratches his head.

 

"Well what the hell is this?".

 

The corporal comes over.

"Mr President, I think it's an automatic pilot, you see sir it says so on the" the corporal is cut off by the president who turns to his inferiors

 

"I know what it says corporal, heads are going to roll for this blunder, what the hell are we going to do with a box of stupid skyrockets?"

 

"And did we get that German chef who works at the rocket centre kitchen famous for world cuisine or did we stuff that up as well?"

 

The corporal replies

 

"Oh no Mr President, he's right here"

 

"Good, what's your name son, I presume you speak English?"

 

The young man replies

 

"Ja Mr President, my name is Von Braun, Wernher Von Braun at your service".

​

​

  

Lisa and Duffy Washington are the only surviving members of the 247 MFH. Duffy is currently in the UK held up by the Covid 19 virus and can't make the 75th anniversary services in Normandy.

 

Lisa is now in a rest home in Allentown, Pennsylvania and is surrounded by her loving family.

 

In Lisa's dreams she once again is the young sniper girl in the strong loving arms of the medic sergeant that sang songs to her and won her heart.

 

One evening, sometime soon, she will hear a couple of jeeps pull up in her driveway, Joe, Tommy, Buck, Katy, Ashi, George, Takitah, Jane, Michelle, Katyusha and Sarah will jump out and invite her to join them in their next big adventure.

 

20 November 2022

 

Over the last few years Duffy in ill health, has been staying with his granddaughter and her family in a 'granny flat' at the back of the family home in a quiet little street in Allentown. In the early hours of one morning, Ranger, the family dog, in slumber spread across and taking up most of the bed space, is awaken by an approaching car in the driveway. Ranger licks Duffy's face who slowly gains consciousness. After peering outside Duffy puts on his slippers and shuffles his way to the entrance of his flat. He goes outside, at first thinking that the Jeep and servicemen he sees in front of him are part of some military enactment group. But then he realises. Ranger looks at Buck and Joe in the front seat, the girls in the back and gently whimpers. Joe tells Ranger he cant come with them but Duffy convinces the team that since the dog is 20 yrs old and near the end of his days he should come with them. Ranger in excitement jumps onto Asahi's lap in the back of the Jeep. Duffy reaches out at Joes outstretched hand and notices his own hands are young and smooth. He squeezes in the back next to a young women, Victoria, the love of his life, together again forever.

 

The following morning, Chelsea comes in with a cup of coffee for her grandfather and sees Ranger and her grandfather lying motionless in their bed. They had passed away.

 

In time, even death itself might be abolished; who knows but it may be given to us after this life to meet again in the old quarters, to play chess and draughts, to get up soon to answer the morning roll call, to fall in at the tap of the drum for drill and dress parade, and again to hastily don our war gear while the monotonous patter of the long roll summons to battle.

Who knows but again the old flags, ragged and torn, snapping in the wind, may face each other and flutter, pursuing and pursued, while the cries of victory fill a summer day? And after the battle, then the slain and wounded will arise, and all will meet together under the two flags, all sound and well, and there will be talking and laughter and cheers, and all will say, Did it not seem real? Was it not as in the old days?

 

THE END

In these uncertain times, it is unclear if we should go out to do normal things, let alone if we find the churches open when we get there.

 

St Michael is under the care of the CCT, and so the electronic lock makes sure the door is open each day at ten.

 

The church stands on a hill, overlooking west Kent, must be wonderful on a fine summer day. On a grey autumn one, less so.

 

We park at the lych gate, walk up the very un-Kentish stone steps, up the churchyard to the south Priest's door, which opened easily.

 

Inside, it was a light and airy space, with Victorian oak pews, and walls filled with memorials. Much of interestm unlike some of those I saw on Heritage weekend where there was barely 30 shots taken, here I took a good hundred, and most are keepers.

 

We leave the church and are greeted with the majestic view as the churchyard slopes away to the lychgate, and the road beyond vanishing down the down.

 

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The medieval church was superseded by a new church in the village in 1842, but remains in good repair being maintained today by The Churches Conservation Trust. In many ways it is the typical Kentish church, showing work of many different periods and many monuments to remind us of former inhabitants. As in some other local churches the north aisle is the primary one, even though the church is entered from the south. The restoration by diocesan architect Joseph Clarke in 1857 was rather heavy-handed and provided a veritable sea of oak pews. In contrast the south chapel, which belonged to the Twysden family of Roydon Hall, has a nice unrestored atmosphere, as does the south porch which shows an abundance of medieval (and later) graffiti. At the lychgate is the famous stable used by nineteenth-century congregations.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=East+Peckham+1

 

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EAST PECKHAM.

SOUTHWARD from Mereworth lies the parish of East or Great Peckham, written in Domesday, PECHEHAM, and in the Textus Roffensis, PECHAM. It has the appellation of East Peckham from its situation eastward from West or Little Peckham, and of Great, from its large extent in comparison of that parish.

 

They both had their name of Peckham probably from their situation; peac signifying in Saxon the peke or summit of an hill, and ham, a village or dwellingplace.

 

THIS PARISH is situated within the district of the Weald, in a country, which though for the most part too deep and miry to be pleasant, is yet exceedingly fertile as to its products, in corn, hops, and cattle, and is full of fine oak timber, with the trees of which it abounds. It joins northward up to Mereworth, and lord Despencer's park, whence it descends southward for upwards of two miles to Brandt, formerly called Stidal's bridge, and Sladis bridge, and the river Medway, which flows along the southern boundaries of it, besides which it is watered by a small stream, which rises near Yokes, in West Peckham, and runs through this parish into the river. The high road from Maidstone through Mereworth, towards Hadlow and Tunbridge, runs along the western boundary of this parish, as that from Watringbury through Nettlested to Brandt bridge, and across the Medway towards Cranbrook, does along the eastern boundary of it. In that part of this parish next to Mereworth, is the village and church of East Peckham, and on the rise of a hill the antient and respectable looking mansion of Roydon-hall, the grounds of which are bounded on each side by coppice woods; hence the ground descends to a more wet and deeper country, being a stiff clayey soil, mostly grazing land, exceedingly rich and fertile, on which are bred and fatted some of the largest beasts of any in these parts. On the roads leading to Brandt-bridge in this part of East Peckham are several hamlets, as those of Chitley-cross, North-hatch, Halestreet, and others.

 

This parish was antiently bound with others in this neighbourhood to contribute to the repair of the 5th pier of Rochester bridge.

 

IN THE YEAR 96y, queen Ediva, mother of king Edmund and king Eadred, gave to Christ-church, in Canterbury, among other lands, this estate of Peckham, free from all secular service, excepting the trinoda necessitas of repelling invasions, and the repair of castles and highways.

 

Peekham remained part of the possessions of Christchurch at the consecration of archbishop Lanfranc, in the 4th year of the Conqueror's reign.

 

The revenues of this church were at that time enjoyed as one common stock by the archbishop and his convent; but archbishop Lanfranc, after the example of foreign churches, separated them into two parts; one of which he allotted for the maintenance of himself and his successors in the see of Canterbury, and the other for his monks, for their subsistence, cloathing, and other necessary uses.

 

In this partition, Peckham fell to the share of the monks, and it is accordingly thus entered in Domesday, under the title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i e. the land of the monks of the archbishop.

 

The archbishop himself holds Pecheham. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was taxed at six sulings, and now for six sulings, and one yoke. The arable land is ten carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixteen villeins, with fourteen borderers, having four carucates and an half. There is a church, and ten servants, and one mill, and six acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs.

 

Of the land of this manor, one of the archbishop's tenants holds half a suling, and was taxed with these six sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, although it could not belong to the manor, except in the scotting, because it was free land.

 

Richard de Tonebridge holds of the same manor two sulings and one yoke, and has there twenty-seven villeins, having seven carucates, and wood for the pannage of ten hogs, the whole value being four pounds. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, the manor was worth twelve pounds, when the archbishop received it eight pounds, and now what he has is worth eight pounds.

 

In the 10th year of king Edward II. the prior of Canterbury obtained free warren for his manor of Peckham among others. About which time it was valued at ten pounds. It continued part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered up to the king, who that year granted this manor to Sir Thomas Wyatt, and his heirs male, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he in the 35th year of that reign conveyed it to George Multon; but there being no fine levied, or recovery had of it, the crown, on the attainder of his son, Sir Thomas Wyatt, for high treason in the 1st year of queen Mary, seized on it as part of his possessions.

 

The court-lodge and demesnes of this manor were afterwards granted away by the crown; but THE MANOR ITSELF continued part of the royal revenue at the death of king Charles I. in 1648; after which the powers, then in being, seized on the royal estates, and passed an ordinance to vest them in trustees, to be surveyed and sold, to supply the necessities of the state; in pursuance of which, there was soon afterwards a survey taken of this manor, by which it appeared, that the quit-rents due from the freeholders in free socage tenure, the like due from the freeholders in the township of Marden, the rent of hens and eggs from the tenants in those townships, and the profits of courts, were worth altogether seventeen pounds and upwards. That there was a court leet and court baron held for the manor, and a heriot was due from the freeholders of the best living thing of such tenant, or in lieu thereof 3s. 4d. in money.

 

Soon after which this manor was sold to colonel Robert Gibbon, with whom it continued till the restoration of king Charles II. when it again became part of the revenues of the crown.

 

The grant of it has been many years in the family of the duke of Leeds, the present grantee of it being his grace Francis, duke of Leeds.

 

THE COURT-LODGE WITH THE DEMESNES of the manor of East Peckham was granted the nextyear after the attainder of Sir Thomas Wyatt, by letters patent, anno 1st and 2d of king Philip and queen Mary, to Sir John Baker, to hold in capite by knight's service, (fn. 1) who passed his interest in them, in the 2d year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, to Anthony Weldon, esq. but the crown afterwards disputing his title to them, the queen, in her 10th year, granted them to William Dodington, and the next year, the attorney-general exhibited an information against the heirs of Weldon in the court of exchequer, on account of these premises, and judgment was had against him. After which a writ of error was brought, and divers other law proceedings had, by which, however, at last, Ralph, son of Anthony Weldon above-mentioned, established his title to them; and his son, Sir Anthony Weldon, (fn. 2) in the latter end of the reign of king James I. passed them away by sale to George Whetenhall, esq. after whose death they came by descent into the possession of Thomas Whetenhall, esq. of Hextalls-court, in this parish, whose descendant, Henry Whetenhall, esq. alienated this estate to Sir William Twysden, bart. of Roydon-hall, whose descendant, Sir William Jarvis Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of it.

 

ROYDON-HALL, antiently called Fortune, is a seat here, which was of no great account till about the reign of king Henry VIII. when Thomas Roydon, of son of Thomas, second son of Thomas Roydon, of Roydon-hall, in Suffolk, where this family had been seated many generations, and bore for their arms, Chequy, argent and gules, a cross azure, came into this county, and seated himself at Fortune, and erected this seat; on which he affixed his own name, and in the 31st year of that reign procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act passed that year for this purpose. He married Margaret, daughter of William Wheten hall, esq. of this parish, by whom he had three sons and five daughters.

 

On the death of the sons without issue, his five daughters became his coheirs; the second of whom, Elizabeth, had this estate as part of her share, and intitled her husband, William Twysden, esq. of Chelmington, in this county, to the fee of it. She survived him, and afterwards remarried Cuthbert Vaughan, esq. and lastly Sir Thomas Golding. She left by her first husband, one son, Roger Twysden, and a daughter, Margaret, married to Richard Dering, esq. of Pluckley.

 

The family of Twysden, written in antient deeds, Twisenden, and in Latin, De Denna Fracta, were originally of the parish of Sandhurst, in this county, the place where they resided being called the Den, or borough of Twisden, at this time, and bore for their arms, Girony of four, argent and gules, a saltier between four cross-croslets, all counterchanged.

 

Adam de Twysden resided at Twysden borough, in the 21st year of king Edward I. and dying without issue, as well as his brother Gregory, John de Twysden, the youngest brother, became his heir. His descendant, Roger Twysden, in the reign of king Henry V. married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas Chelmington, esq. of Chelmington, in Great Chart, who bore for his arms, Argent, three chevrons azure, nine cross-crosiets sable. At which seat his descendants, who lie buried in Great Chart church, afterwards resided, down to William Twysden, esq. who was of Chelmington, and married Elizabeth, second daughter and coheir of Thomas Roydon, and in her right became possessed of Roydon-hall, as above-mentioned, to which he removed soon afterwards. He procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d of king Edward VI. in which he is called William Twisenden, and was sheriff of this county in the 41st year of queen Elizabeth. He died in 1603, and was buried in this church, as was Anne his wife, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allington, who died in 1592. by whom he had issue twelve children, of whom only six survived him.

 

William Twysden, esq. the eldest son, greatly improved Roydon-hall, and having been before knighted, was afterwards made a baronet on June 29, 1611. He was a man, who addicted his time mostly to study, being versed in different parts of learning, especially in the Hebrew and Latin languages, and collected many choice manuscripts and books, which he left to his eldest son. He died in 1628, and was buried in this church leaving by Anne his wife, eldest daughter of Sir Moile Finch, knight and baronet, several sons and daughters; of whom Sir Roger, the eldest son, was his successor in title and estates here; Sir Thomas, the second son, was on the restoration of king Charles II. made one of the justices of the king's bench, and being afterwards made a baronet, seated himself at Bradbourn, in East-Malling, the seat of his descendant, the present Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. under which place an account has already been given of that branch; and Charles, the third son, was created LL. D. and had given him, by his father's will, the seat of Chelmington before mentioned.

 

¶Sir Roger Twysden, knight and baronet, the eldest son, resided at Roydon-hall, round which he obtained licence from king Charles I. to inclose a park, and likewise a grant of a charter of free warren for the ground inclosed. He died in 1672, and was buried in this church, having suffered greatly for his loyalty during the great rebellion, being forced at last to compound for his estate for a large sum of money. He was a great encourager of learning, and a generous patron of learned men, being himself a master of our antient Saxon and English history and laws, and left behind him the united character of the scholar and the gentleman. In whose descendants resident at Roydon hall, who severally lie buried in East Peckham church, this seat with his other estates in this parish, came down to Sir William Twysden, bart. who resided at Roydon-hall, and married Jane, daughter of Francis Twisden, esq. youngest son of Sir Thomas Twisden, bart. of Bradbourn, by whom he had three sons; William, his heir and successor; Thomas, a colonel in the army; and Philip, late bishop of Raphoe; and three daughters. He died in 1751, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William Twysden, bart. who at first followed a military life, but afterwards retired to Roydon hall, and married Jane, the daughter and heir of Mr. Jarvis. He died at Roydon-hall in 1767, leaving his lady surviving, and by her three sons, WilliamJarvis, Heneage, and Thomas, and one daughter, Frances, who in 1783 married Archibald, late earl of Eglington. Sir William Jarvis Twysden, bart. the eldest son, married in 1786, the daughter of governor Wynch, and resides at Roydon-hall, of which he is the present owner.

  

This parish is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a pecu liar of the archbishop of Canterbury, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, is a fair large building, with a square tower at the west end. It stands near the summit of the hill almost adjoining to the southern pales of Mereworth-park.

 

In the 15th year of king Edward I. the church of Peckham was valued at thirty-five marcs, and the vicarage of it at twelve marcs. (fn. 5)

 

In the reign of king Edward III. the taxation of East Peckham was one carucate of arable land, with a meadow of the endowment of the church, worth six pounds per annum, and two dove-houses of the rectory, of the endowment of the church, and worth two marcs, and the profit of the garden, of the like endowment, worth 2s. 5d. (fn. 6)

 

The church, with the advowson of the vicarage, was always appendant to the manor of East Peckham, and as such part of the possessions of the priory of Christchurch, in Canterbury, till the dissolution of that monastery in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, who granted the manor to Sir Thomas Wyatt, and he settled this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions they remain at this time.

 

This church is valued in the king's books at 231. and the yearly tenths at 21. 6s.

 

The vicarage of it is valued at 141. and the yearly tenths at 11. 0s. 8d.

 

It appears by the terrier of the lands belonging to the impropriate rectory, and vicarage of East Peckham at the visitation of archbishop Laud in 1634, that the glebe lands belonging to this parsonage in the park of Mildmay, earl of Westmoreland, which he had from the church of Canterbury, were twenty acres, called Keamehatches; that there were to the parsonage house two gardens, one orchard, two yards, three barns, one stable, one pidgeon-house, one granary, eight acres of meadow, called Well-mead, alias Parsonage mead, one mead called the Vicarage-mead, containing three acres, and two other parcels of land, containing seven acres, called Quarrey-mead, and the Quarrey, and that the tenant of the parsonage was Stephen Arnold; that there was to the vicarge one house, with a little orchard, by estimation almost an acre, and a little garden plot, but that which was called the Vicarage-mead, the impropriator of the parsonage kept and used.

 

¶On the abolishing of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. their lands were by the powers then in being, ordered to be sold, to supply the necessities of the state; previous to which a survey was made, in 1649, of this parsonage, by which it appeared, that there were here a house, outhouses, &c. one orchard, one garden, and one great yard, worth fix pounds per annum, and the tithes and other profits eightyeight pounds per annum; that the parsonage, with the house, glebe lands, tithes, profits, &c. was let by the dean and chapter of Canterbury, in 1638, to John Tucker, gent. of Egerton, excepting one parcel of land, called the Hatches, demised to Sir Francis Fane, late earl of Westmoreland, and the advowson of the vicarage, at the yearly rent of 23l. 6s. 8d. but were worth upon improvement, over and above the said sum, 85l. 14s. 3d. per annum; that the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and likewife to pay twenty shillings for entertainment money. (fn. 7) And by another valuation, taken the next year, the vicarage was valued at twenty-four pounds yearly income. (fn. 8)

 

In the 19th year of the reign of king Charles II. anno 1667, in consequence of the king's letters of injunction, the dean and chapter of Canterbury augmented this vicarage with the yearly sum of forty pounds, the yearly income of it is now upwards of 270l. per annum.

 

The present lessee of the parsonage is Sir William Jarvis Twysden, bart.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp91-106

Lens: Mir 24H 35mm f/2 (~52mm equiv)

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To maintain habitat, our landlord has our fields mowed annually. Unfortunately the guy that mows them comes right when the goldenrod is in bloom (and the pollinators are most active building up their winter stores), and typically before the meadow wildflowers have a chance to go to seed. Luckily, he avoided a damp patch in the field and at least one gentian was spared. I don't know how much aggressive mowing negatively impacts meadow ecology (especially removing each and every last goldenrod), but, personally, I get tired of staring out at dead, mowed fields in the winter, as opposed to ones with active wildlife amongst the tall grass and sedges and ''weeds." We only rent the house, though, and it's not our field, and I don't have the spoons to debate with my landlord over how to manage land they've owned for 25 years (and did a lot of work in cleaning up from pollution and debris when they bought it). ‍♂️

Virgin Trains Class 390 EMU No. 390104 was relivered into a variant of the standard Virgin colours to mark their association with Alstom, who maintain the 'Pendolino' fleet under contract. Each driving trailer now carries a silver and black livery, with the word 'PENDOLINO' in large white capitals and 'ALSTOM ' in smaller lettering on the bodyside. Also, each coach has been modified with the standard black colouring surrounding the windows being partially enlarged. This exercise took place in September 2010 and by now the front end is beginning to look a bit weather beaten below the windscreen. A bit of TLC at Longsight before long, maybe? On 24th March 2015 No. 390104, which was also named 'Alstom Pendolino' when the new livery was applied, is seen speeding through Tamworth with 1S78 1530 London Euston-Glasgow Central. Copyright John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially as the four-oh-one, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It stretches 828.0 kilometres (514.5 mi) from Windsor in the west to the Ontario–Quebec border in the east. The part of Highway 401 that passes through Toronto is the busiest highway in the world, and one of the widest. Together with Quebec Autoroute 20, it forms the road transportation backbone of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, along which over half of Canada's population resides and is also a Core Route in the National Highway System of Canada. The entire route is maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police. The posted speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph) throughout its length, unless posted otherwise.

By the end of 1952, three individual highways were numbered "Highway 401": the partially completed Toronto Bypass between Weston Road and Highway 11 (Yonge Street); Highway 2A between West Hill and Newcastle; and the Scenic Highway between Gananoque and Brockville, now known as the Thousand Islands Parkway.

 

These three sections of highway were 11.8, 54.7 and 41.2 km, (7.3, 34.0 and 25.6 mi), respectively. In 1964, the route became fully navigable from Windsor to the Ontario–Quebec border. In 1965 it was given a second designation, the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway, in honour of the Fathers of Confederation. At the end of 1968, the Gananoque–Brockville section was bypassed and the final intersection grade-separated near Kingston, making Highway 401 a freeway for its entire 817.9-km length. On August 24, 2007, the portion of the highway between Glen Miller Road in Trenton and the Don Valley Parkway / Highway 404 Junction in Toronto was designated the Highway of Heroes, as the road is travelled by funeral convoys for fallen Canadian Forces personnel from CFB Trenton to the coroner's office in Toronto. On September 27, 2013, the Highway of Heroes designation was extended west to Keele Street in Toronto, to coincide with the move of the coroner's office to the new Forensic Services and Coroner’s Complex at the Humber River Hospital.

 

In 2011, construction began on a westward extension called the Right Honourable Herb Gray Parkway. This new route follows, but does not replace, former Highway 3 between the former end of the freeway and the E. C. Row Expressway, at which point it turns and parallels that route towards the site of the future Gordie Howe International Bridge. An 8-kilometre (5 mi) section of the parkway, east of the E. C. Row interchange, opened on June 28, 2015, with the remaining section completed and opened on November 21. Elsewhere in Ontario, plans are under way to widen the remaining four-lane sections between Windsor and London to six lanes and to widen the route between Cambridge and Milton as well as through Oshawa. The expansive twelve-plus-lane collector–express system will also be extended west through Mississauga to Milton and east through Ajax and Whitby.

 

Highway 401 extends across Southwestern, Central and Eastern Ontario. In anticipation of the future expansion of the highway, the transportation ministry purchased a 91.4-metre-wide (300 ft) right-of-way along the entire length. Generally, the highway occupies only a portion of this allotment. It is one of the world's busiest highways; a 2008 analysis stated that the annual average daily traffic (AADT) count between Weston Road and Highway 400 in Toronto was approximately 450,000, while a second study estimates that over 500,000 vehicles travel that section on some days. This makes it the busiest roadway in North America, surpassing the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles and I-75 in Atlanta. The just-in-time auto parts delivery systems of the highly integrated automotive industry of Michigan and Ontario have contributed to the highway's status as the busiest truck route in the world, carrying 60 percent of vehicular trade between Canada and the US.

 

Highway 401 also features the busiest multi-structure bridge in North America, located at Hogg's Hollow in Toronto. The four bridges, two for each direction with the collector and express lanes, carried an average of 373,700 vehicles daily in 2006. The highway is one of the major backbones of a network in the Great Lakes region, connecting the populous Quebec City–Windsor corridor with Michigan, New York and central Ontario's cottage country. It is the principal connection between Toronto and Montreal, becoming Autoroute 20 at the Ontario–Quebec border.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_401

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Maintainers newly assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, assist pilots arriving from the 336th Fighter Squadron, June 13, 2019, at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. The aircrew and maintainers deployed from the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, to join Team ADAB’s diverse inventory of air power.

By conducting small and frequent prescribed fires, park managers are able to keep prairies open in the Bald Hills. These fires kill invasive plants like Himalayan Blackberry and stop the encroachment of Douglas-fir trees into the prairies.

 

Notice: Across the valley in Redwood Creek are straight lines showing old-growth redwoods (dark green) and second-growth forests that grew back after logging occurred in the 1960s.

 

NPS Photo / Greg Litten

Marche contre le racisme anti-asiatique / March against anti-asian racism

  

MARCHE CONTRE LE RACISME ANTI-ASIATIQUE

 

www.facebook.com/events/1037788166710375

 

Le mois de mars marque la commémoration d’un an de la pandémie de COVID-19 au Québec. Bien que l’espoir soit à l’horizon avec des mesures strictes de prévention sanitaire et l’arrivée de vaccins, la montée du racisme anti-asiatique semble s’aggraver.

 

Depuis le début de la pandémie, les membres des communautés asiatiques du Québec ont été physiquement et verbalement agressés, poignardés et même frappés par des voitures. Nos artefacts religieux, culturels et nos commerces ont également été vandalisés.

 

En Amérique du Nord et partout au Canada, les membres des communautés asiatiques et des peuples autochtones sont attaqués. Vancouver a signalé une augmentation de 717 % des crimes haineux contre les Asiatiques, tandis que le SPVM a signalé une augmentation de cinq fois plus de crimes haineux envers les asiatiques.

 

Alors que nous regardons les reportages d’Atlanta sur le tireur qui a assassiné 6 femmes asiatiques hier, nous essayons toujours de comprendre la violence dans nos propres communautés. Pas plus tard que cette semaine à Montréal, un homme d’origine coréenne a été attaqué au gaz poivré en plein jour. N'oublions pas le double délit de fuite à Brossard, en septembre, qui tua deux personnes de nos communautés: Huiping Ding (45 ans) et Gérard Chong Soon Yuen (50 ans).

 

Les communautés asiatiques du Québec en ont assez. Nous descendrons dans la rue le dimanche 21 mars, à l’occasion de la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la discrimination raciale, pour nous élever contre le racisme anti-asiatique et toutes les formes de discrimination raciale. ***Les masques et la distance sociale seront maintenus, ainsi que la possibilité de participer virtuellement.***

Joignez-vous à nous à 13 h à Cabot Square, où nous nous rendrons à Chinatown pour exiger que le gouvernement prenne des mesures efficaces pour mettre fin à la discrimination raciale.

 

Solidaires,

Chinois progressistes du Québec

Groupe d’entraide contre le racisme des asiatiques du Québec

 

Après la marche, Stella, l’amie de Maimie, une organisation de travailleurs et travailleuses du sexe, organisera une veillée dans le quartier chinois pour commémorer les victimes de l’attaque contre les salons de massage asiatiques à Atlanta. Ce sera l’occasion pour les collectivités touchées de pleurer ensemble en toute solidarité et d’honorer la vie de ceux que nous avons perdus et d’attirer l’attention sur les conditions des travailleuses du sexe.

 

Plus de détails à www.facebook.com/events/438407787249008

 

À la mémoire de :

 

Delaina Ashley Yaun (33 ans)

Paul Andre Michels (54 ans)

Daoyou Feng (44 ans)

Xiaojie Tan (49 ans)

Soon Chung Park (74 ans)

Hyun Jung Grant (51 ans)

Suncha Kim (69 ans)

Yong Ae Yue (63 ans)

  

*****************************************

  

MARCH AGAINST ANTI-ASIAN RACISM

 

www.facebook.com/events/1037788166710375

 

The month of March marks the one-year commemoration of the covid-19 pandemic in Québec. Although hope is on the horizon with strict health prevention measures and the arrival of vaccines, the rise of anti-Asian racism appears to be worsening.

 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, members of Asian communities in Québec have been physically and verbally assaulted, stabbed, and even hit by cars. Our religious, cultural and commercial artefacts have also been vandalized.

 

This is in line with what has been happening across North America. Across Canada, members of other Asian communities and Indigenous peoples have also been attacked. Some have been mistaken for being of East Asian descent. Vancouver reported a 717% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes while the SPVM reported a five-fold increase in hate crimes towards asian communities.

 

As we reel from the reports from Atlanta of the gunman who murdered 6 Asian women yesterday, we are still trying to make sense of the violence in our own communities. Just this week in Montreal, a man of Korean origin was attacked with pepper-spray in broad day light. Let’s not forget the double hit-and-run in Brossard in September, which killed two members of our communities: Huiping Ding (age 45) and Gérard Chong Soon Yuen (age 50).

 

Asian communities in Québec have had enough. We are taking to the streets on Sunday March 21, on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to stand up against anti-Asian racism and all forms of racial discrimination.

 

***Masks and social distance will be maintained, as well as the option to participate virtually.***

 

Please join us at 1:00pm at Cabot Square, where we will march to Chinatown to demand effective government action in ending racial discrimination.

 

In solidarity,

Progressive Chinese of Québec

Groupe d’entraide contre le racisme des asiatiques du Québec

 

Following the march, Stella, l’amie de Maimie, an organization by and for sex workers, will be hosting a vigil in Chinatown to commemorate the victims of the attack on Asian massage parlors in Atlanta. This will be a moment for affected communities to grieve together in solidarity and to honour the lives of those we’ve lost and to bring attention to the work conditions of Asian sex workers.

 

More details at www.facebook.com/events/438407787249008

 

In memory of :

 

Delaina Ashley Yaun (age 33)

Paul Andre Michels (age 54)

Daoyou Feng (age 44)

Xiaojie Tan (age 49)

Soon Chung Park (age 74)

Hyun Jung Grant (age 51)

Suncha Kim (age 69)

Yong Ae Yue (age 63)

 

#stopasianhate #racismsucks #stophate #stopracistviolence #stopracism #dotherightthing #beagoodhumanbeing #enoughisenough #hateisavirus #aapi #solidarity #fuckyourbadday #systemicracism #restinpower #montreal #stopaapihate

  

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The “Mighty Mac”

The Mackinac Bridge is currently the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world. In 1998, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan became the longest with a total suspension of 12,826 feet. The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere.

The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet. The length of the suspension bridge (including anchorages) is 8,614 feet. The length from cable bent pier to cable bent pier is 7,400 feet. Length of main span (between towers) is 3,800 feet.

 

The width of the roadway is 54 feet. The outside lanes are 12 feet wide (2), the inside lanes are 11 feet wide (2), the center mall is 2 feet wide, and the catwalk, curb and rail width is 3 feet on each side – totaling 54 feet. The stiffening truss width in the suspended span is 68 feet wide making it wider than the roadway it supports.

The height of the roadway at mid-span is approximately 200 feet above water level. The vertical clearance at normal temperature is 155 feet at the center of the main suspension span and 135 feet at the boundaries of the 3,000 ft. navigation channel.

All suspension bridges are designed to move to accommodate wind, change in temperature, and weight. It is possible that the deck at center span could move as much as 35 feet (east or west) due to high winds. This would only happen under severe wind conditions. The deck would not swing or “sway” but rather move slowly in one direction based on the force and direction of the wind. After the wind subsides, the weight of the vehicles crossing would slowly move it back into center position.

The steel superstructure will support one ton per lineal foot per roadway (northbound or southbound). The length of the steel superstructure is 19,243 feet. Each direction will, therefore, support 19,243 tons. The answer is 38,486 tons (2 x 19,243 tons).

 

Facts & Figures

The Mackinac Bridge is currently the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge opened to traffic on November 1, 1957. The following facts and figures are quoted from David Steinman’s book “Miracle Bridge at Mackinac”.

 

LENGTHS

Total Length of Bridge (5 Miles) : 26,372 Ft 8,038 Meters

Total Length of Steel Superstructure : 19,243 Ft. 5,865 Meters

Length of Suspension Bridge (including Anchorages) : 8,614 Ft. 8,614 Ft.

Total Length of North Approach : 7,129 Ft. : 2,173 Meters

Length of Main Span (between Main Towers) : 3,800 Ft. 1,158 Meters

 

HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS

Height of Main Towers above Water : 552 Ft 168.25 Meters

Maximum Depth to Rock at Midspan : Unknown Unknown

Maximum Depth of Water at Midspan : 295 Ft. 90 Meters

Maximum Depth of Tower Piers below Water : 210 Ft. 64 Meters

Height of Roadway above Water at Midspan : 199 Ft. 61 Meters

Underclearance at Midspan for Ships : 155 Ft. 47 Meters

Maximum Depth of Water at Piers : 142 Ft. 43 Meters

Maximum Depth of Piers Sunk through Overburden : 105 Ft. 32 Meters

 

CABLES

Total Length of Wire in Main Cables : 42,000 Miles 67,592 km

Maximum Tension in Each Cable : 16,000 Tons 14,515,995 kg

Number of Wires in Each Cable : 12,580

Weight of Cables : 11,840 Tons 10,741,067 kg

Diameter of Main Cables : 24 1/2 Inches 62.23 cm

Diameter of Each Wire : 0.196 Inches .498 cm

 

WEIGHTS

Total Weight of Bridge : 1,024,500 Tons 929,410,766 kg

Total Weight of Concrete : 931,000 Tons 844,589 kg

Total Weight of Substructure : 919,100 Tons 326,931,237 kg

Total Weight of Two Anchorages : 360,380 Tons 326,931,237 kg

Total Weight of Two Main Piers : 318,000 Tons 288,484,747 kg

Total Weight of Superstructure : 104,400 Tons 94,710,087 kg

Total Weight of Structural Steel : 71,300 Tons 64,682,272 kg

Weight of Steel in Each Main Tower : 6,500 Tons 5,896,701 kg

Total Weight of Cable Wire : 11,840 Tons 10,741,067 kg

Total Weight of Concrete Roadway : 6,660 Tons 6,041,850 kg

Total Weight of Reinforcing Steel : 3,700 Tons 3,356,584 kg

 

RIVETS AND BOLTS

Total Number of Steel Rivets : 4,851,700

Total Number of Steel Bolts : 1,016,600

 

DESIGN AND DETAIL DRAWINGS

Total Number of Engineering Drawings : 4,000

Total Number of Blueprints : 85,000

 

MEN EMPLOYED

Total, at the Bridge Site : 3,500

At Quarries, Shops, Mills, etc. : 7,500

Total Number of Engineers : 350

 

IMPORTANT DATES

Mackinac Bridge Authority Appointed : June, 1950

Board of Three Engineers Retained : June, 1950

Report of Board of Engineers : January, 1951

Financing and Construction Authorized by Legislature : April 30, 1952

D.B. Steinman Selected as Engineer : January, 1953

Preliminary Plans and Estimates Completed : March, 1953

Construction Contracts Negotiated : March, 1953

Bids Received for Sale of Bonds : December 17, 1953

Began Construction : May 7, 1954

Open to traffic : November 1, 1957

Formal dedication : June 25-28, 1958

50 millionth crossing : September 25, 1984

40th Anniversary Celebration : November 1, 1997

100 millionth crossing : June 25, 1998

 

In Memory Of

Forever Remembered

 

During the construction of the Mackinac Bridge in the 1950’s, five men unfortunately lost their lives.

One man died in a diving accident; one man fell in a caisson while welding; one man fell into the water and drowned; and two men fell from a temporary catwalk near the top of north tower.

The names of those five men (and the date of their deaths) are listed below.

Frank Pepper, Sept. 16, 1954

James R. LeSarge, Oct. 10, 1954

Albert Abbott, Oct. 25, 1954

Jack C. Baker, June 6, 1956

Robert Koppen, June 6, 1956

After the bridge was built and opened to traffic, one MBA maintenance worker lost his life. On August 7, 1997, Daniel Doyle, a bridge painter, fell from his painting platform and drowned in the Straits of Mackinac. His tragic and unfortunate death shocked everyone.

Dan and others who have lost their lives on the job are permanently honored by MDOT in the Clare Welcome Center located in Clare, Michigan. The Employee Memorial is a permanent tribute to highway workers all over Michigan who lost their lives along highways and bridges. The Clare memorial provides an opportunity to educate the public about the human cost of building and maintaining Michigan’s transportation system.

All six of these men will forever be remembered by many.

 

Prentiss M. Brown

1889-1973

Born in St. Ignace, Michigan, Mr. Brown Graduated from LaSalle High school in 1905, Albion College in 1911, and did post graduate work at the University of Illinois. Prentiss married Marion Walker, and practiced law with his father in the St. Ignace area. From 1932 to 1943 he served in the U.S. Congress and Senate. In 1950 Prentiss M. Brown was appointed to the Mackinac Bridge Authority and elected its first Chairman. Mr. Brown, with the assistance of fellow Authority members William Cochran, Murray Van Wagoner, and Charles Fisher, Jr., secured the financing for the Mackinac Bridge. Mr. Brown considered this to be one of his most rewarding accomplishments.

Prentiss M. Brown is well known for his struggle to get the Mackinac Bridge built over the Straits of Mackinac. Mr. Jack Carlisle, in a radio broadcast over WWJ radio station on February 22, 1954, told his listeners of Mr. Brown’s struggle. The transcript from Mr. Carlisle’s broadcast was later published in a newspaper and is as follows:

 

” After a 20-year fight which often seemed hopeless, there finally is going to be a five-mile bridge across the Straits of Mackinac. As one of the states most ambitious projects, it will link Michigan’s two peninsula’s. It will cost about $99 million. It is scheduled for completion in November, 1957.

The bridge project had many stalwart partisans. However, the project actually became a reality through the determination of one man – Prentiss M. Brown, Chairman of the Michigan Mackinac Bridge Authority. Brown, a former United States Senator and Chairman of the Board of the Detroit Edison Company, refused to accept defeat when it seemed inevitable. Prentiss M. Brown just wouldn’t stay licked.

His energetic determination to get the Mackinac Bridge financed is undoubtedly due to the fact that he was born and raised in the midst of a daily realization of the need for the bridge. Now 64 years old, Prentiss Brown spent a lifetime in his old home town of Saint Ignace, Michigan. He was once a bellhop at the old Astor Hotel on Mackinac Island. Probably the bridge idea would have died completely in the last year – if it had not been for an incident that happened to Brown 34 years ago. He was 30 years old then and a lawyer. He was scheduled to appear before the State Supreme Court in Lansing to argue a case.

Brown had to get across the Straits to catch a train at Mackinaw City. However, both of the ferry boats were stuck in the winter ice. He and another hardy voyager, who also had important business on the side of the Straits, hired a horse and a cutter. They started across the ice. They ran into ice hummocks ten feet high and had to send the cutter back to Saint Ignace. They proceeded on foot.

 

They ran into 50 acres of open water, like a big pond, and had to circle it. All in all, they hiked four miles across the ice. The wind was blowing up a small gale. It was snowing. By the time they had spent most of the day walking – well, they missed their train.

Brown said in a recollection today, “That bitter hike across the Straits made a lasting impression on me – for the need of a bridge across the Straits.”

Prentiss Brown never forgot. That is the reason that 20 years ago Brown became legal counsel for the first Mackinac Bridge Commission. Back in 1933 under Governor Comstock. And Prentiss worked for love. He would accept no money. Four years ago he became chairman of the Mackinac Bridge Authority. By 1952, it looked like the RFC woud finance the bridge across the Straits. Whereupon, a New York investment broker offered to organize a private syndicate in October, 1952, to do the financing.

He tried to float the Mackinac Bridge bonds in March and again in June, 1953. Both times he failed. As a matter of fact, it looked like the bridge project was a gone goose last June. For lack of financing. Due to the high cost of money. But Prentiss refused to stay licked. The project was revived on the New York bond market in November due to the increase in interest rates and the increase in traffic across the Straits.

 

It was only six days ago that a check for $98,500,000 to finance the Straits of Mackinac Bridge was put into Brown’s hands in New York. One hundred and fifty investment brokers underwrote the sale of revenue bonds for a commission pot of three million dollars.

Actually, the deal went through last year with just 13 days to spare before the offer of State maintenance for the bridge would have expired. In a four-year battle under Brown to get the bridge finance – this was a slim margin to win a victory.

Michigan will not soon forget the gallant fight of Prentiss M. Brown for the Straits of Mackinac Bridge.”

 

The Mackinac Bridge Authority has created a token in honor of Prentiss M. Brown. To view this and all other tokens visit Token Gift Packs / Medallion.

 

www.mackinacbridge.org/history/the-mighty-mac/

  

Master Corporal Joshua Ferreira, Vehicle Technician, maintains the generators for the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit Operations during Operation LENTUS in Iqaluit, Nunavut on November 8, 2021.

 

Photo by: Master Corporal Jax Kennedy, Joint Task Force (North), Canadian Armed Forces photo

~

Le caporal chef Joshua Ferreira, technicien de véhicules, effectue l’entretien des génératrices utilisées pour les opérations du système de purification d’eau par osmose inverse au cours de l’opération LENTUS, à Iqaluit, au Nunavut, le 8 novembre 2021.

 

Photo : Caporal chef Jax Kennedy, Force opérationnelle interarmées (Nord), Forces armées canadiennes

 

The Report

China is a likely winner of the information age supply chain through ecommerce by sticking with its successful strategy of continued steady growth, coupled with continuing (the appearance of) a transparent society (where currently major decisions are made by top government and business officials behind closed doors) which manipulate and manage economies at large. In order to be considered a great global leader China should maintain peace and respect for corporate property rights. They need to immediately focus on their serious environment pollution problems to survive.

 

Caption: "The sign that says you're welcome in Shanghai" - Johnny Vulkan www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyvulkan/1856903750/

 

The evidence is clear: China has McDonalds restaurants, and with extensive factories they make Dell and other computers. Bill Gates is eagerly pursuing business with China, and the Chinese government has given Microsoft the right to grant post-doctorial fellowships. Key companies invested in technology are willing to go to court to keep the most important Chinese corporate leaders.

 

Kai-Fu Lee, once a vice-president at Microsoft is now Google's manager in China. Mr. Lee was the person at the center of twin lawsuits (suit and countersuit), a battle over which of the two companies would win him to work for them - he may be the ultimate in 'intellectual property.'

 

Caption ”On the Shanghai subway, rather than advertising computers for sale, Dell promotes job openings.” Danburg Murmur www.flickr.com/photos/danburgmurmur/247299162/

 

What is at issue are personably identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property rights (patents and copyrights) which are legislated and widely respected in the West.

 

Personal information is the feeder fish at the bottom of the information age food chain. China does not believe people have a right to privacy because of how communism is structured; this is true of members of their society until that person is wealthy and thus powerful enough to opt out of it, and even then the appearance of opting in must be kept.

 

Even in the West Intellectual property rights are eroding, which is as it should be, as it is not the same as owning a house, and can be damaging to others on a massive scale such as medical patents for aids, cancer, and other life saving drugs.

 

The Chinese style of governance comes with a 5 thousand year old administrative history of ordering a society consisting of large numbers of people. Because most people in American and the West do not speak their language nor write it, much of China remains a society closed to the English speaking countries. Due to communication barriers the West does not have the very healthy level of respect for China that it should.

 

Even the Chinese written language may give China advantages with online screens unknown in the West with their thousands of dense glifts, pictographs, and phonetic parts. Currently it is estimated more than 1 billion people use some form of Chinese as their native language.

 

It can be said that he who owns the resources wins; especially true when supply chains are consistent and reliable. This applies to personally identifiable information in the information age as it relates to sales, because personal information is a building block in the information supply chain. Creating mass marketing campaigns targeting not just individuals but large groups of people is based on creating desire, an example is Steve Jobs and the Apple iPod. This is in addition to knowing what people want, not just what they need.

 

Meeting the needs of all people in the world is still a goal some people are working towards, while many more others try to capture wealth only for themselves and their investors. From the point of view that in the long run we’re all dead, many investors do not view themselves as breaking any moral or other rules, just trying to get ahead, or make a profit on their investment, which they want right now. This uninformed short sighted view is killing people, and eroding the middle class of nations. Any country that has a middle class will miss it when it is gone; most countries are trying to build their middle class.

 

Business to Business (B2B) resource supply chains control wealth. Only the wealthy have a reason to protect privacy of information, because the poor and the very poor have much more immediate concerns. Hopefully the Chinese will learn as other countries like Malaysia did, that including diverse ethnic types is not just a ethical ideal, it is a strategy for long term success.

 

This lesson continues to be a painful and costly lesson to the US, which in many ways is exclusionary. Viewing the poor as beggars while subsidizing production with huge remedies is one of the inadequacies that may be overturned as international growth is managed at a global level because it can not be justified as anything other than corrupt practices. By all accounts I read, generosity in international relationships is mythical and with the digital age has only grown worse . Does it matter what you wear while you ask for money or how well educated you are? Apparently it does.

 

One size fits all privacy will never suit everyone because it has a biological basis and the need increases with education, and its cousin, wealth. Increasingly to have the opt out choice in terms of privacy you need wealth. That too will change subtly because as ecommerce becomes pervasive, some system or sets of systems will always know that someone is there in some detectable way.

 

The patent and copyright systems can be damaging to others on a global scale by shutting down creativity, and unfairly favoring their protection even against life, due to medical patents for aids, cancer, and other life saving drugs being so expensive to produce or purchase that people are allowed to die as a result. Calls to action for multinational drug companies to reduce these costs, have changed little or nothing in the developing world. This has been featured so well in the headlines and news stories lately that it can hardly be a surprise to anyone that it is a problem – youth know because Digital Rights Management (DRM) is dead.

 

Ecommerce is a tool and can be used in many ways. Trading is already a cold transaction and to remove it from human context makes it even more so. In accounting they discuss "arms length transactions" - with ecommerce those arms get pretty long.

 

So we can expect that the human repercussions of global ecommerce, driven by the integration of B2B procurement systems, could stabilize and destabilize entire populations unless the planning is very good. That means everyone must hold the keys in some way, and be open to transparency at some level which runs counter to special interest groups . Transparency in action does exactly what it need to do, but which, for example, is not a match for existing culture in China.

 

Real transparency in global governance with a goal to meet the basic needs of all people living sounds like a science fiction plot, but that is what makes it exciting. Transparent governance may only become possible due to radically unexpected causes, like education, religious idealism, or a shared social solution of the young through organizations such as www.one.org.

 

Ironically one of the religions likely to have a positive effect in China, and is likely to benefit from it is Tibetan Buddhism, long repressed by the current Chinese government.

 

Ecommerce will not cause peace in the world, educated people working with strong idealism in transparent cultures will. Still my conclusion remains that China is a likely winner of the information age supply chain through ecommerce.

 

We should invest in China.

 

After breakfast at the hotel, my wife and I were waiting for the elevator. I noticed this maintain distance sticker, in front of a wet floor sign, next to the elevator. So apparently in Pigeon Forge, you must social distance from wet floor signs beside the elevator!

For the first film with my new Pentax 17 film camera (see the details about the camera below) , I loaded a Washi-X 100 ISO color film that is likely a Kodak Aerocolor film based on a Kodak Ektar formula coated on a maskless PET (polyester teraphtalate) base, spooled by the French film company Washi. This will give normally 72 views and finally gave 80. Due to the optical properties of PET basis that conduct light from the film leader outside the cartridge, the first 3 frames may have some a blue parasite cast (orange on the positive).

 

The film was exposed for 100 ISO over 5 consecutive days. The Pentax 17 was equipped with an Anti-UV 40.5mm Hoya HMC filter or, when indicated below, a circular polarizing filter.

 

For the camera transportation, I used a small camera bag ThinkTank « Mirrorless Mover 5 » that was well protecting the camera from possibly damaging vibrations when using my bicycles.

 

The expositions were automatically metered by the camera system using the « P » program modes with, or without, flash. For very bright scenes the exposition was corrected by +0.3 to +1EV to compensate the biais induced (and reversely -0.3 to 0.7 EV for very dark scenes to objects).

 

40.5mm screw-on circular polarizing filter and +1EV correction

 

Place de Jacobins, April 7, 2025

69002 Lyon

France.

 

After completion the film was processed by a local lab service using the standart C-41 color protocol. As a result, all the frames are very nicely exposed with a very remarkable definition and contrast without noticeable flare even without any shade hood used.

 

Single-frame digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) fitted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm at approximate reproduction ratio of 1:2. The diffuse light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.

 

The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.2) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.

 

About the camera :

 

Since last Christmas, it was on display in the middle of « reusable » cheap camera’s in the window of my local photography store. But this camera is not cheap and sold at 10-times the price of those « reusable » film camera’s. The Pentax 17 is a novel film camera released by Pentax (a brand belonging to Ricoh Imaging, Japan) in June 2024.

 

The history of « Pentax » name is still something worth to mention. After the WWII, in Dresden (that was heavily destroyed by the bombing of Feb. 13-15, 1945), Germany, The Zeiss Ikon company could not produce anymore the legendary original Contax (a high-reputation professional range-finder 35mm released in 30’s) camera that was taken by Russia and transferred to Kiev, Ukraine, in the USSR. However the brand name Contax survived and the German engineers designed something completely new within several years : the Contax S (S for « Spiegel mirror reflex ») that integrated a pentaprism for a full redressed reflex viewer observation. Zeiss Ikon Dresden registered to new trademarks derived from the words « Pentaprism » and « Contax » that were « Pentax » and « Pentacon ». If Pentacon became the new name of the company in Dresden, the trademark Pentax was bought by Asahi Optical Company in Japan, and became a formidable industrial and commercial success. Asahi Pentax, then Pentax alone, produced amazing quality camera’s including the legendary « Spotmatic » (a 35mm SLR) and stunning medium-format camera’s heavily used by professional photographers. Many of these camera’s of the past century are still operative and appreciated by film photography enthusiast’s.

 

Production of film camera’s vanished progressively in the mid 2000’s, as digital camera’s became of better quality and finally of generalized appliances in photography. The Pentax 17 was introduced to the market in June 2024, it was a big surprise for all the film photography lovers. Seeing a newly engineered brand-new film camera was a sort of renaissance of the film photography today of a growing interest worldwide.

 

The camera is a « half-frame » format on the traditional double-perforated 35mm film giving 17x24mm photograms. This format was not as popular as to classical 24x36mm (full-frame) format of most of the 35mm camera’s. However famous and quality half-frame camera’s were produced in the past including, the long series of Olympus Pen for example. Then, the Pentax 17 immediately attracted the attention of experimented film photographers and camera collectors, probably more than the officially targeted customers of the younger generations. Less than a year after, the future of the Pentax 17 and the film photography project of Pentax is questioned today. The chef-engineer who conducted the project in Ricoh company recently left and the marketing of Pentax 17 is now a question.

 

This finally decided me to buy an exemplary from my local shop and to discover this strange machine. The camera is of course guaranteed, even with a there-year extension after the camera registration on the Pentax website. The whole ergonomic is clearly derived from classical past 35mm camera’s with a fully mechanical film advance and rewind, a collimated Albada viewer, no digital display at all, only levers, barrels, crank and wheels… However inside is a automatic electronic exposure system with flash, the focusing is manual but the electronic mechanism moves the whole optical group with a micro motor.

 

The lens is a Cooke triplet 1:3.5 f=25mm equivalent to a 37mm of a 24x36mm format. The Cooke triplet is a photographic lens designed and patented in 1893 by Dennis Taylor who was employed as chief engineer by T. Cooke & Sons of York. It was the first lens system that allowed the elimination of most of the optical distortion or aberration at the outer edge of the image. It likely for this reason that the lens is unscripted curiously « Traditional » on the front lens ring… It is known that a Cooke triplet lens could give surprisingly good results with only three separated optical elements. The Cooke Triplet is still widely used in inexpensive cameras, including variations using aspheric elements, particularly in cell-phone cameras. The Cooke triplet consists of three separated lenses positioned at the finite distance. It is often considered that the triplet is one of the most important discoveries in the field of photographic objectives

 

The lens receives 40.5mm diameter thread filters that I use for my Zorki / Leningrad lenses Jupiter-8 2/50mm, Jupiter-11 4/135mm and Jupiter-12 2.8/35mm. The metal shade hood Minolta D42KA could mounted on the filter but I have to check is there is vignette induced.

 

The camera size is close to the original dimensions of a thread-mount Leica (called also the original Barnack Leica) which are, in a way, a sort of « Gold » size in the 35mm camera’s. I compared with my Zorki 1D year 1954 that is a straight reproduction of the Leica Iic. The upper deck of Pentax 17 is designed very clearly as a classical 35mm and we even find the original logo of Asahi Optical Company. The rewind crank is also a revival of past design seen on old Pentax SLR as my year-1971 Spotmatic SP in this seres of pictures.

 

The Pentax 17 is very light (about 300g) compared to those old ancestors that weight easily the double or the triple. It is then an effortless camera to carry. The Pentax 17 fits in the small ThinkTank bag (called « Mirorless Mover 5 ») that I recently bought to safely carry a film back of my Hasselblad or my Bronica 6X6 camera’s. In this tiny bag, the camera is protected for the element and vibrations due to cycling for instance.

  

Reference

 

analoguewonderland.co.uk/blogs/film-photography-blog/pent...

 

Key features and specifications

* Half-frame image capture (17 x 24mm)

* 37mm (equiv.) FOV F3.5 lens

* Zone focusing system with 6 zones

* Circular leaf shutter (F3.5-16)

* Built-in flash (6m/20ft at ISO100)

* Optical tunnel viewfinder with frame lines

* Exposure from 1/350 sec to 4 sec (+ Bulb)

* Supports films from ISO 50 to ISO 3200

 

Specifically the lens has:

1. HD coating, which maintains high performance of the lens, by using this PENTAX multi-coating. This also enables high contrast and high definition right to the edges.

2. SP coating (Super Protect) which helps to repel water and oil from the lens.

 

The fact that the focusing on the Pentax 17 is electronic i.e. the lens only moves when you half-press the shutter gives me faith that autofocus was already considered in the R&D stage.

Maintained and distributed by DYKSTRA De-Vries, inc. Of Bellflower CA. At Straw hat pizza in 81 Curtner ave San Jose CA.

Maintainers from the 25th Fighter Squadron prepare a Fairchild Republic A-10 "Thunderbolt II" for live weapons loading during exercise Vigilant Ace 18 at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea.

On Wednesday 9th October 19, in their Southwest Conference opener, the Cerritos College wrestling team opened with a 34-10 home win over Santa Ana College.

 

125 Pounds - #1 Jonathan Prata (CERR) def. Hector Camarena (SA), 19-2 (technical fall)

Maintaining his undefeated record, freshman Jonathan Prata (Downey HS) got to work quickly against Hector Camarena. After getting a quick takedown, he followed it with a two-point near fall and after a second takedown in the period, added a four-point near fall before the end of the period. A pair of two-point near falls in the second period was followed by a four-pointer, which ended the match at the buzzer to end the second period.

 

133 Pounds - Jose Mata (SA) def. #5 (125 pounds) Jose Lozano (CERR), 12-0 (major decision)

Competing in his first match at 133 pounds this season, freshman Jose Lozano (North Torrance HS) had a solid first period, where the match remained scoreless. However, in the second period, Jose Mata got Lozano on his back and scored a pair of four-point near falls, with the second coming at the end of the period. After escaping in the third period, Mata added a last-second takedown and went on to record the shutout.

 

141 Pounds - #3 (133 pounds) Andres Gonzalez (CERR) def. #5 Ali Kaveh (SA), 6-3

Ranked #3 in the state at 133 pounds, sophomore Andres Gonzales (Capistrano Valley HS) made a good impression in his first match at 141 pounds this season. Taking on #5-ranked Ali Kavez, Gonzales picked up a pair of points with a takedown with :38 seconds left in the first period. Kaveh earned an escape point before the end of the first and added another to start the second period, before Gonzalez produced another takedown with 1:24 left in the second period. Holding on to a 4-3 lead with 2:00 left, Gonzalez added an escape point and riding time to round out his victory.

 

149 Pounds - Richard Gurule (CERR) win by forfeit

 

157 Pounds - #5 Benji Navarette (SA) def. #6 (149 pounds) V'ante Moore (CERR), 8-2

Taking on #5-ranked Benji Navarette, freshman V'ante Moore (Lawndale HS) suffered his first loss at 157 pounds on the year. Ranked #6 at 149 pounds, Moore found himself trailing, 7-0 after the second period and was nearly pinned, but the clock ran out and had to absorb a four-point near fall. The match was scoreless after the first period. He picked up his two points in the third period, when Navarette was penalized twice for stalling.

 

165 Pounds - #1 (157 pounds) Larry Rodriguez (CERR) win by forfeit

 

174 Pounds - Cobe Hatcher (CERR) win by forfeit

 

184 Pounds - Danny Serrano (SA) def. Jarrod Nunez (CERR), 7-5 (double OT)

In one of two matches that went into overtime, sophomore Jarrod Nunez (Mayfair HS) took a 4-0 lead over Danny Serrano in the first period after an aggressive takedown and two-point near fall. But Serrano started his comeback when he reversed Nunez before the end of the first period and added another early in the second period. Needing at least an escape to be in position to tie the match, Nunez received it with :57 seconds left in the third period, with Serrano earning a point due to riding time. The two completed their 1:00 overtime without scoring, as well as each of their :30 second periods where each wrestling tried to escape to earn a point and the win. In the second overtime, Serrano was able to score a takedown with :18 seconds left to pick up the win.

 

197 Pounds - #4 Hamzah Al-Saudi (CERR) def. Jean Karlos Navas (SA), 19-4 (technical fall)

Riding the momentum of winning the Santa Ana Tournament, #4-ranked Hamzah Al-Saudi (Palisades HS) got stronger and stronger as the match went on against Jean Karlos Navas. Al-Saudi led just 2-1 in the first period, but a pair of takedowns and a last-second four-point near fall put him in front, 10-2 after the first three minutes. Two more takedowns and subsequent near falls earned him a technical fall win with :14 seconds left on the clock in the second period.

 

285 Pounds - #3 Randy Arriaga (CERR) def. Joseph Nava (SA), 3-2 (OT)

The night was capped off with another overtime match, as #3-ranked Randy Arriaga (Capistrano Valley HS) was the beneficiary of two stall points, which aided him in his win. Trailing, 2-1 with time running out in the third period, Joseph Nava was penalized a point for stalling with :23 seconds left. Then, in overtime, another one-point stalling penalty with :48 seconds left gave Arriaga another point to secure the win.

For more stories like this, visit www.jaysjourneys.com.

 

The Back-Story

 

I had tried unsuccessfully 3 times to hike the High Divide loop this year. The first time I just got lazy and decided that a weekend at home sounded nice. The second time, my job at the last minute required me to be at home for some on-line training over the weekend. The third time I was due for an overnight hike and thought I would drive out to the campground at Sol Duc on a Saturday, camp and get a really early start the next morning and do the whole loop in a day. As I was packing to leave on Saturday the 19th, I got a phone call and learned that my brother had passed away. Needless to say my plans for the weekend had changed. I won’t get into all the details but I will say that his passing was unexpected and the cause at this point is unknown. Needing time to reflect on his life, needing some time to myself to reflect on the things that are important to me and my family and really needing to finally get this trail on my ‘been there done that’ list, I decided to head out on Saturday the 26th of Sept 2009 to hike it.

  

The Hike

 

I got up at 4:45 AM and was out the door by 5:00. Driving from Silverdale, I got to the trailhead at 7:15 AM, beating Google Maps drive time prediction by 15 minutes. I was on the trail at 7:20 and it was already light out but the sun had not yet arrived in the Sol Duc River Valley. Taking my time hiking, not wanting to maintain a breakneck speed, yet not taking much in the way of rest breaks, I figured if I maintained a 2 mph pace throughout the hike I would be done with the hike in about 9 hours or so. I figured I should be done around 4:30 PM giving me plenty of daylight left as this time of the year it gets dark around 7:15 PM. So after hiking for a couple miles, I had Yogi on the brain and I was intermittently calling out “hey bear, Yogi bear” to give warning to any bears that might be in the area, even though I knew they were probably all up in the higher alpine zone eating berries. After calling out to the bears on my third or fourth time, I heard a crashing in the woods to my left. I looked up to see what was moving and it was a big Roosevelt bull elk. He ran up the trail in front of me and paused long enough for me to take his picture but my flash went off and the picture came out black. The elk ran again and I figured he was gone so I put my camera away. No more than 500 yards up the trail, I look up and there he is again, standing in the middle of the trail. I dug my camera out to shoot him but he was on to me and he bolted again. OK, this time I’m not going to put the camera away. I hiked on and he was on the trail again just like last time except now I had my camera out, I just needed to turn it on. Snap, damn flash again! This time he runs up hill. I tried desperately to take his picture but it just wasn’t meant to be I guess. I did get one but it was so blurry you can barely tell there is an Elk in it. Oh well. I hiked on. Before coming here I had asked a few people which was the best direction to go on the loop. Clockwise or CCW? I received advice from both people claiming one way was better than the other. In the end, I listened to my friend Mike’s reasoning that the lighting was better for photos during the time of day I would be hiking if I went CW, but I can see why a lot of people would go the other direction, the views are different. If you go clockwise, you will have a long gradual approach before you gain much elevation. It is mostly a river valley hike in the woods for a good 5 or 6 miles before you get many views. Eventually you do start to climb a little and you will get to Sol Duc Park where there is a campground. I didn’t see anyone at the campground when I arrived, in fact I only saw one couple on the trail up to this point. They were camped at the little campsite at Rocky Creek near the Appleton Pass junction and it looked like they had just woke up. I had already been on the trail for a couple of hours by that point. When you get close to Sol Duc Park, the forest opens up a little and there are some nice meadows filled with blueberries. My sense of smell is not what it used to be, due to allergies and medications to allergies I have taken in the past. Something has to have a pretty strong scent usually before I can smell it, so maybe it was my imagination or maybe it was real, but I could swear I could smell the blueberries. It smelled just like blueberry pie to me, and it was such a strong scent. The blueberries themselves were everywhere. I stopped several times to munch on them, they were fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many blueberries, the bushes were just loaded with them. The bears wouldn’t go hungry this year! So after Sol Duc Park, the trail climbs again for a mile or two and crosses a little stream. The creek is the outlet stream of Heart Lake. I have seen Heart in pictures on-line and in books for many years and was excited to see it in person. When I got close, a couple returning from their overnight hike stopped and I asked them if they had seen any bears. The gentleman said that he saw the biggest bear he had ever seen the night before near the privy and said it must have weighed at least a thousand pounds. I pointed out the bear I could see up on the mountainside that looked like a speck it was so far away. Him and his wife said they saw it earlier but had lost track of it and were happy to see it again. Now I don’t know if black bears get up to a thousand lbs or not, but I will take his word that it was a big bear. I’m not surprised really with the amount of berries they have to eat this year. So I finally reach Heart Lake and I’m not too impressed. Maybe it’s all the people congregating near the outlet stream as I first see it, I don’t know. I didn’t even stop. I just kept on hiking past it. Once I got near the top and looked down, I was much happier and could see the famous heart shape it was named for. I was very close to my first views of Olympus and I was pretty stoked! I hiked on and finally reached the divide. It was magnificent. Olympus was much bigger than I imagined. Of course I had seen Olympus before, just never this close. I was very impressed. I hiked a little further and stopped to take a bunch of pictures and videos. I could see clouds down in the Hoh Valley and I wanted to make sure I got some good shots before any clouds obscured the view. After taking a bunch of photos, I was standing there just mesmerized by the beauty of the whole thing, reflecting on the hike. Thinking about my brother and the life he led. Thinking about my life and what I could do to improve upon it, how I could be a better husband and father. All of a sudden, during my reverie, some of the clouds from the valley started spinning around all crazy like and I took what I consider to be one of the better photos I have ever taken. It certainly is odd to say the least. I won’t go so far as to say I see Jesus in it or that its anything other than a big swirl in the cloud, but look at it and let it speak for itself. I don’t think I could ever come close to taking that picture again, even if I made it my life’s ambition. I think it was a one in a million shot, at least for me. So getting done with the photo shoot, I hike on and start seeing more people on the trail. I get to a point where I can finally see the Seven Lakes Basin and I pass a guy with a day pack coming from the other way. I said to him “nice day for a day hike”. He said it was and that he thought we were at about the half way point. I looked at my GPS and we were indeed about 9 miles into it. The trip was half over. On I hiked with Olympus on the left of me and the Lakes Basin on the right. Expansive views in every direction. These are the reasons for which I hike. Soon I came to a little side trail and there was a guy sitting there picking blueberries. After consulting my map I came to the conclusion that this was the side trail to Bogachiel Peak. I asked the blueberry picker how far it was to the top and he said “only five minutes, definitely worth it”. Two minutes later as I stood at the top, someone’s cell phone rings and he starts a conversation with someone else, laughing about how he can’t believe he has reception up here blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Bogachiel was too crowded for me so I took a couple pictures and left. The berry picker asked how I liked it and I said it was nice but a little crowded. He apologized and said that was his group up there which made me feel like a jerk for saying that. Sometimes I forget that the mountains are for everyone and not just my own pleasure. It’s hard to share sometimes but I don’t go there to be around people and phones and all that nonsense. I go to the mountains to free myself from it. To be able to fart or scratch my butt whenever I want to, or unlike when I’m in my car, to actually be able to pick my nose and not be seen doing so! I won’t go so far as to say that I’m looking forward to hike naked day, but I think you catch my drift. Soon I’m walking over to the junction of the Hoh Trail which rests on a neat little saddle. There are more people congregating here so I pass them and take a few shots of the junction which also marks the beginning of my downhill trek and final leg of the hike. Only 8 miles to the car! So on the way down, the trail skirts below Bogachiel Peak and with the fall colors, the hillside is very beautiful. As I’m hiking down I keep hearing a shrill whistle that I think is a hawk but all I see flying around is a big raven. I keep hiking and the whistle gets louder and louder occurs every time the big raven flies by. I notice movement on the hillside and see a great big old marmot watching me and I realize that it is the marmot whistling not a hawk. So this is why it’s called a whistle pig. I have seen lots of Marmots before, but I never recall hearing one whistle. It is much louder than I thought it would be. It must have been whistling to warn it’s friends of the big raven that was flying around. Down the trail I went, looking over my shoulder the whole way to see what I might have missed by doing the trail clockwise. Soon I was at the Seven Lakes Basin trail. I passed a couple of ladies on their way up and they said hi as we passed. One of the ladies turned and said “oh by the way there is a big bear sitting on the trail about 40 paces down the way”. I say oh really? She says no just kidding. Hardy har har. I actually wanted to see a bear other than one so far away it looked like a little speck, oh well. After a while I let a couple of people pass me as they keep gaining on me every time I stop to take a picture. Before long I am passing them again as they stop to throw rocks in an un-named lake just before Deer Lake. I stop too as I haven’t had lunch yet and I wanted to give them a chance to hike ahead of me so I don’t have to listen to them prattle on about God knows what (did I mention I enjoy my solitude?). It must have been around 2:00 PM or so when I stopped and it was nice to take a break after so many hours without really stopping for more than five minutes at a time. I took a good 20 minute break, ate a sandwich and took some pictures of the little lake. Soon I was hiking again and came to another lake, could this be the Deer Lake I see on the map? More photos of the nice reflections on the lake and I was off again. Not much further and I see a little wooden boardwalk style trail going through a marshy area and I see a sign that says welcome to Deer Lake. Oh good, now only a little over 3 ½ miles to go. Up to this point in my hiking career, the farthest I have ever hiked was a trip I did when I was much younger up to Flapjack Lakes and back which, if memory serves me correctly is about 16 miles round trip. On this hike I felt pretty tired at about mile 12 but once I got to around mile 16 I felt like a second wind had come on. Down the trail I went, deeper into the valley towards the Sol Duc. I eventually came to a bridge crossing the Canyon Creek which the trail follows from Deer Lake. Not much farther now. I finally reached Sol Duc Falls. There were people milling about and I felt kind of sorry for them. Sol Duc Falls is pretty but nothing compared to what I had seen today. Oh yeah, as an afterthought I took a picture of the falls too. Only .7 miles to go! Up ahead I saw someone that looked familiar. It was the day hiker that I passed going the other way at the top of the divide. I called to him and he slowed down to let me catch up so we could chit-chat. I compared notes with him and found out that he started hiking only five minutes earlier than I did. Upon further investigation I discovered that he had been to several of the same hikes that I had done this year. We both hiked Burroughs Mountain at Mount Rainier on the same weekend. We both hiked some of the same hikes in the gorge this spring. We both hiked Umtanum over near Yakima this year. What a small world, and how odd to go in different directions of the loop starting and ending at almost the exact same times. Before I knew it I was back at my car. The time was 4:40 PM so I was pretty close to my estimation of 9 hours hiking time. What a great hike. Maybe I will do it again next year from the other direction.

 

This trip report is dedicated to the memory of my brother Jeff Steveson.

Aug 25th 1959 – Sept 19th 2009

Rest in Peace Brother

  

When arriving from the south at Chicago union station you pass through the amtrak 14th Street Coach Yard & Maintainence facility Amtrak operates a 48 acre site here : ( Metra also has a 20 acre site adjoining, on the right )

A six-story control tower overlooks and coordinates activities there

Amtrak long distance trains could be described as hotels on wheels, Railroad workers perform numerous tasks here such as as repairing engines, replacing the wheels on sleeping cars, checking water supplies to restocking toilet paper.Replenishing food and drink supplies ,cleaning Etc..

There is a giant car wash for washing the locomotives and coaches

In the inspection building, which can hold as many as 28 cars on two sets of tracks. Are pits below the tracks that allow workers to walk the length of the trains and inspect the undercarriages.

In the car shop, five sets of tracks accommodate cars that need wheels replaced, refrigeration repairs or major electrical work.

In the Engine house, up to 20 locomotives are fueled, traction motors are changed and wheels are resurfaced.

On the storage tracks, cars wait to go out and a few are in line for maintenance.

Switch crews, coach cleaners, train directors, levermen, stationmasters, tower operators and yard masters are some of the 400 workers that keep the yard running 24 hours a day.

“I will maintain and defend the sovereignty of the United States paramount to any and all allegiance, sovereignty, or fealty,” the more than 1,200 new cadets pledged at the end of their Reception Day June 29, 2021. The Class of 2025 is composed of 302 women, 504 minorities, 10 combat veterans and 16 international students. (U.S. Army Photo by John Pellino/USMA)

Picture shows a Leading Electronics Technician (Weapons Engineer) (LET(WE))) maintains one of the several minigun weapons carried onboard HMS Bulwark.

 

HMS Bulwark is taking part in Cougar, a three month deployment to the Mediterranean as part of the United Kingdom's Response Force Task Group, exercising with key allies. Exercises will include Corsican Lion, which will test the maritime element of the UK-French Combined Joined Expeditionary Force (CJEF), and exercise Albanian Lion which will provide superb faculties for the Lead Commando Group to train with Albanian forces, consolidating our relationship.

  

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Photographer: LA(Phot) Joel Rouse

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The Continuity of St. Patrick's Parades in Montreal

 

St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in Montreal as far back as 1759, after the Conquest, by Irish soldiers of the Montreal Garrison. In 1817, the beginning of the Irish community here, the observance of St. Patrick's day was marked by special dinners and the celebration of religious services.

 

The actual celebration of a St. Patrick's parade commenced on March 17, 1824. Michael O'Sullivan, lawyer and member of the Parliament of Lower Canada, was the main organizer of this public display. In 1836 he was appointed Chief Justice of Lower Canada but unfortunately he died in 1839.

 

The St. Patrick's Society of Montreal was founded by prominent Montrealers of Irish heritage on March 17th, 1834. They became the organizers of this parade until 1892.

 

The parades of that era were a manifestation of of the Irish success in the community and parades were held in Old Montreal on the day proper. Church services would precede the parade and a banquet was held after the parade with numerous toasts in celebration.

 

In 1847, St. Patrick's Church (Basilica) was completed and officially opened on March 17th. On that date, the parade started at 7am from the Old Recollet Church off Notre Dame and Ste. Hélène Streets, and proceeded on Notre Dame to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It then turned onto St. James Street to Commissioners (McGill St.) north past Commissioners Square (Victoria Square) and up the hill into St. Patrick's Church for the service and blessing. After the service, the parade regrouped and marched back to the St. Patrick's Society headquarters on Commissioners Square to take the salute. A successful parade was followed by a splendid banquet.

 

In the late 1860s, Father dowd of St. Patrick's appealed to the Irish people of Montreal to maintain the parade against a strong wave of opposition. Much of the opposition was related to the Fenian problems which resulted in the assassination of D'Arcy McGee on April 7th, 1868. It was conceded that as long as Father Dowd lived there would be a parade. Father Dowd died on December 19th, 1891 and it was suggested that the parade not be held the following March in respect of his memory. In respect of his memory, the parade was held as usual in 1892 and thereafter.

 

The Ancient Order of Hibernians organized the St. Patrick's Parade commencing in 1893 until 1917. In 1918 the parade was suspended to avoid clashes with military conscription agents who were active in the city. The agents would not enter Griffintown, the Irish stronghold in the city of Montreal. Because of this, the Ste. Anne's Parish supported by the A.O.H. and the St. Anne's Young Men's Society held the parade through the streets of Griffintown in the spirit of continuity.

 

In 1928, the United Irish Societies of Montreal was founded with the mandate to continue the organizing of the parades. The U.I.S. held their first parade in 1929. The U.I.S. is still organizing the St. Patrick's Parade today.

 

During the Depression years of the 1930s the St. Patrick's Parades of Montreal became marching units as floats were discontinued to defray expenses.

 

In 1942, Montreal's 300th anniversary, fifteen parish priests petitioned the United Irish Societies to cancel the parades for the duration of the war. Many parishes and their parishioners did not participate, but the parades went on with the inclusion of the Canadian military. John Loye, President of the U.I.S., refused to cancel the parades.

 

In 1949, on March 21st. John Loye, President of the U.I.S., cancelled the parade because of inclement weather. The military command, participating, stated that they had made a commitment and would march independently. Parish units began to organize to march irrespective of the decision. When it became inevitable the parade would carry on, the President, executive and honoured guests marches as well.

 

The choice of a Grand Marshal (formerly Marshal in Chief) goes back to the origins of the St. Patrick's parades in Montreal. In 1952 the position of Chief Reviewing Officer was created. The officer of the day who took the salute from the reviewing stand on Sherbrooke Street in front of the Ritz Carlton Hotel was William J. Bryant, past president of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society replacing J.J. Russell, the president who was unable to attend.

 

In 1956 something new was added to the celebration of St. Patrick's parades with the choice of a Queen and princesses in the parade.

 

In 1963 the Green Line was first painted down the centre of Ste. Catherine Street noting the route of the St. Patrick's parade.

 

On March 13th 1993, the eve of the St. Patrick's parade, a major snow storm hit Montreal. The media speculated that the parade would be cancelled as approximately 1.5 feet of drifting snow had fallen. On parade day, the 14th, the storm stopped in the morning and the city plows pushed the snow to the sides of Ste. Catherine Street. The parade was held with no thought of cancellation.

 

In 2002, Mabel Ann Fitzgerald, a past president of the United Irish Societies was honoured as the Chief Reviewing Officer of the Parade. The first lady to hold this position. In 2005, the first lady to be appointed to the position of Grand Marshal was Margaret Healy. In 1943, Margaret's father Thomas P. Healy M.P. was the Grand Marshal.

 

In my research, thanks in great part to two outstanding historians, John Loye and John Kenny, I am convinced that Montreal's St. Patrick's parades have been held in continuity since 1824. May it continue in the memory of those who went before us to maintain a tradition of our Irish Heritage.

 

Don Pidgeon

Historian, U.I.S.

5/9/08: Day 154 Tummy Tuck Day 9: Maintaining

 

Nothing too new today… resting and getting stronger. The rest is sure making a difference in the healing. I’m no tummy tuck expert, but I think the results are fantastic considering the short time since surgery. =)

Durga

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In Hinduism, Durga one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress; is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practising mudras, or symbolic hand gestures.

 

An embodiment of creative feminine force (Shakti), Durga exists in a state of tantrya (independence from the universe and anything/anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Kali is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Durga. Durga is also the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

 

The word Shakti means divine feminine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother. Other incarnations include Annapurna and Karunamayi. Durga's darker aspect Kali is represented as the consort of the god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing.

Durga Slays Mahishasura, Mahabalipuram sculpture.

 

As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the energies of the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.

 

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

 

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

 

And the terrible Mahishasur rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

 

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".[cite this quote] When Mahashaur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

 

Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini — the slayer of Mahishasur. According to one legend, the goddess Durga created an army to fight against the forces of the demon-king Mahishasur, who was terrorizing Heaven and Earth. After ten days of fighting, Durga and her army defeated Mahishasur and killed him. As a reward for their service, Durga bestowed upon her army the knowledge of jewelry-making. Ever since, the Sonara community has been involved in the jewelry profession [3].

 

The goddess as Mahisasuramardhini appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands [4]. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini (2-, 4-, 6-, and at Udayagiri, 12-armed). The spear and trident are her most common weapons. a Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a bufalo-faced demon (as contrasted with a buffalo demon); a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures (post-seventh Century), sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon

 

Durga Puja

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Durga puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja

 

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday.In West Bengal and Tripura which has majority of Bengali Hindus it is the Biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh where 10% population are Hindu. Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum.

 

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the Indian independence movement. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

 

Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

St Edmund, Southwold, Suffolk

 

It is hard now to remember a time when Southwold was not fashionable. It must be coming on for thirty years ago now that the comedian Michael Palin made a film for television called East of Ipswich. It was a memoir of his childhood in the 1950s, and the basic comic premise was that in those days people used to go on holiday to seaside resorts on the East Anglian coast. In Palin's case, this was Southwold.

 

The amusement came from the idea that people in those days would sit in deckchairs beside the grey north sea, or shelter from the drizzle in genteel teashops or the amusement arcade on the pier. In the Costa Brava package tour days of the 1980s, the quaintness of this image made it seem like something from a different world.

 

And I remember Southwold in the 1980s. It was one of those agreeable little towns distant enough from anywhere bigger to maintain a life of its own. It still had its genteel tea shops, its dusty grocers, its quaint hotels and pubs all owned by Adnams, the old-fashioned and unfashionable local brewery. In the white heat of the Thatcherite cultural revolution, it seemed a place that would soon die on its feet quietly and peaceably.

 

And then, in the 1990s, the colour supplements discovered the East Anglian coast, and fell in love with it. The new fashions for antique-collecting, cooking with local produce and general country living, coupled with a snobbishness about how common foreign travel had become, conspired to make places like Southwold very sought after. Before Nigel Lawson's boom became a bust, the inflated house prices of London and the home counties gave people money to burn. And in their hoards, they came out of the big city to buy holiday homes in East Anglia.

 

Although they are often lumped together, the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk are actually very different from each other (Cambridgeshire and North Essex are also culturally part of East Anglia, but the North Essex coast is too close to London to have ever stopped being cheap and cheerful, and Cambridgeshire has no coastline). Norfolk's beaches are wide and sandy, with dunes and cliffs and rock pools to explore; towns like Cromer and Hunstanton seem to have stepped out of the pages of the Ladybird Book of the Seaside. Tiny villages along the Norfolk coast have secret little beaches of their own.

 

Suffolk's coast is wilder. Beaches are mainly pebbles rather than sand, and the marshes stretch inland, cutting the coast off from the rest of the county. Unlike Norfolk, Suffolk has no coast road, and so the settlements on the coast are isolated from each other, stuck at the end of narrow lanes that snake away from the A12 and peter out in the heathland above the sea. There are fewer of them too. It is still quicker to get from Walberswick to Southwold by water than by land. Because they are isolated from each other, they take on individual personalities and characteristic. Because they are isolated from the land, they become bastions of polite civilisation.

 

Between Felixstowe in the south, which no outsiders like (and consequently is the favourite of many Suffolk people) and Lowestoft in the north, which is basically an industrial town-on-sea (but which still has the county's best beaches - shhh, don't tell a soul) are half a dozen small towns that vie with each other for trendiness. Southwold is the biggest, and today it is also the most expensive place to live in all East Anglia. Genteel tea shops survive, but are increasingly shouldered by shops that specialise in ski-wear and Barbour jackets, Jack Wills and White Stuff, delicatessens that stock radicchio and seventeen different kinds of olive, jewellery shops and kitchen gadget shops and antique furniture shops where prices are exquisitely painful. Worst of all, the homely, shabby, smoke-filled Sole Bay Inn under the lighthouse has been converted by the now-trendy Adnams Brewery into a chrome and glass filled wine bar.

 

If you see someone in Norfolk driving a truck, they are probably wearing a baseball cap and carrying a shotgun; in Suffolk, they've more likely just bought a Victorian pine dresser from an antique shop, and they're taking it back to Islington. Does this matter? The fishing industry was dying anyway. The tourist industry was also dying. If places like Southwold, Aldeburgh and Orford become outposts of north London, at least they will still provide jobs for local people. But the local people won't be able to afford to live there, of course; they'll be bused in from Reydon, Leiston and Melton to provide services for people in holiday cottages which are the former homes they grew up in, but can no longer afford to buy. Does this seriously annoy me? Not as much as it does them, I'll bet.

 

So, lets go to Southwold, turning off the A12 at the great ship of Blythburgh church, the wide marshes of the River Blyth spreading aimlessly beyond the road. We climb and fall over ancient dunes, and then the road opens out into the flat marshes, the town spreads out beyond. We enter through Reydon (now actually bigger than Southwold, with houses at half the price) and over the bridge into the town of Southwold itself.

 

Having been so critical, I need to say here that Southwold is beautiful. It is quite the loveliest small town in all East Anglia. None of the half-timbered houses here that you find in places like Long Melford and Lavenham; here, the town was completely destroyed by fire in the 17th century, and so we have fine 18th and 19th century municipal buildings. One of the legacies of the fire was the creation of wide open spaces just off of the high street, called greens. The best one of all is Gun Hill Green, overlooking the bay where the last major naval battle in British waters was fought; the cannons still point out to sea. The houses here are stunning, gobsmacking, jawdroppingly wonderful. If I could afford to buy one of them as a weekend retreat, then you bet your life I would, and to hell with the people who moaned about it.

 

At the western end of the High Street is St Bartholomew's Green, and beyond it sits what is, for my money, Suffolk's single most impressive building. This is the great church of St Edmund, a vast edifice built all in one go in the second half of the 15th century. Only Lavenham can compete with it for scale and presence. Unlike the massing at St Peter and St Paul at Lavenham, St Edmund is defined by a long unbroken clerestory and aisles beneath - where St Peter and St Paul looks full of tension, ready to spring, St Edmund is languid and floating, a ship at ease.

 

Southwold church was just one of several vast late medieval rebuildings in this area. Across the river at Walberswick and a few miles upriver at Blythburgh the same thing happened. Blythburgh still survives, but Walberswick was derelicted to make a smaller church, as were Covehithe and Kessingland. Dunwich All Saints was lost to the sea. But Southwold was the biggest. Everything about it breathes massive permanence, from the solidity of the tower to the turreted porch, from the wide windows to the jaunty sanctus bell fleche.

 

Along the top of the aisles, grimacing faces look down. All of them are different. The pedestals atop the clerestory were intended for statues as at Blythburgh, but were probably never filled before the Reformation intervened. At the west end, above the great west window, you can see the vast inscription SAncT EDMUND ORA P: NOBIS ('Saint Edmund, pray for us') as bold a record of the mindset of late medieval East Anglian patriotism and Catholicism as you'll find.

 

As at Lavenham and Long Melford, the interior has been extensively restored, but not in as heavy or blunt a manner as at those two churches. St Edmund has, it must be said, benefited from the attentions of German bombers who put out all the dull Victorian glass during World War II. Here, the interior is vast, light and airy, and much of the restoration is 20th century work, not 19th century. Perhaps because of this, more medieval interior features have survived. Unlike Long Melford, Southwold does not have surviving medieval glass (Mr Dowsing saw to that in 1644), but it does have what is the finest screen in the county.

 

It stretches right the way across the church, and is effectively three separate screens; a rood screen across the chancel arch, and parclose screens across the north and south chancel aisles. All retain their original dado figures; there are 36 of them, more than anywhere else in Suffolk. They have been restored, particularly in the central range, but are fascinating because they retain a lot of original gessowork - this is where plaster of paris is applied to wood and allowed to dry; it is then carved to produce intricate details. The central screen shows 11 disciples and St Paul; they are, from left to right, Philip, Matthew, James the Less, Thomas, Andrew, Peter, Paul, John, James, Batholomew, Jude and Simon.

 

The south chancel chapel is light and open; the bosses above are said to represent Mary Tudor and her second husband Charles, Duke of Brandon. The screen here is painted with twelve Old Testament prophets, and Mortlock suggests that they are by a different hand to the images on the other two screens. Further, he observes that the subject is a usual one for the English Midlands, but rare for East Anglia, and that perhaps this part of the screen came from elsewhere. The same may be true of the other two parts - it is hard to think that the central screen was deliberately made too wide for the two arcades. Here on the south screen, some of the figures have surviving naming inscriptions, and Mortlock surmises that the complete sequence, from left to right, is Baruch, Hosea, Nahum, Jeremiah, Elias, Moses, David, Isaiah, Amos, Jonah and Ezekiel. Hover and click on them below.

 

The north aisle chapel is reserved as the blessed sacrament chapel, and also contains a quite extensive modern library. The screen is harder to explore, because the northern side is curtailed by a large chest, but it features Angels. Unlike the screens at Hitcham and Blundeston, which show angels holding instruments of the passion, these are the nine orders of angels, with Gabriel at their head, and flanked by angels holding symbols of the Trinity and the Eucharist. Mortlock says that they are so similar to the ones at Barton Turf in Norfolk that they may be by the same hand, in which case the central screen is also by that person. They are, from left to right, the Holy Trinity, Gabriel, Archangels, Powers, Dominions, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Principalities, Virtues, Messengers, and finally the Eucharist. The Holy Trinity angel still has part of the original dedicatory inscription beneath his feet.

 

If part or all of this screen came from elsewhere, where did it come from? Possibly either Walberswick, Covehithe or Kessingland, the three downsized churches mentioned earlier. More excitingly, it might have come from one of the churches along this coast that was lost to the sea; perhaps neighbouring St Nicholas at Easton Bavents, or, just to the south, St Peter and St John the Baptist, the two Dunwich churches lost in the 16th and 17th centuries. We'll never know.

 

If you turn back at the screen and face westwards, your eyes are automatically drawn to the towering font cover, part of the extensive 1930s redecoration of the building. The clerestory is almost like a glass atrium to house it. Also the work of the period is the repainting and regilding of the 15th century pulpit (a lot of people blanch at this, but I think it is gorgeous) and the lectern. Beneath the font cover, the font is clearly one of the rare seven sacraments series, and part of the same group as Westhall, Blythburgh and Wenhaston. As at Blythburgh and Wenhaston, the panels are completely erased, probably in the 19th century, an act of barbarous vandalism. Given that Westhall is probably the best of all in the county, we must assume that three major medieval art treasures were wiped out. Astonishingly, vague shadows survive of the former reliefs. You can easily make out the Mass panel, facing east as at Westhall, the Penance panel and even what may be the Baptism of Christ.

 

Stepping through the screen, the reredos ahead is by Benedict Williamson and the glass above by Ninian Comper, familiar names in the Anglo-catholic pantheon, and evidence of an enthusiasm here that still survives in High Church form. There is a good engraved glass image of St Edmund to the north of the sanctuary, very much in the 1960s fashion, but curiously placed. On the wall of the chancel to the west of it, the high organ case is also painted and gilded enthusiastically.

 

As well as the screen, Southwold's other great medieval survival is the set of return stalls either side of the eastern face of the chancel screen. They have misericord seats, but the best feature are the handrests between the seats. On the south side, carvings include a man with a horn-shaped hat and sinners being drawn into the mouth of hell. On the north side are a man playing two pipes, a monkey preaching and a beaver biting its own genitals; a tale from the medieval bestiary, apparently.

 

What else is there to see? Well, the church is full of delights, and rewards further visits which always seem to turn up something previously unnoticed. St George rides full tilt at a dragon on an old chest at the west end of the north aisle. There is good 19th century glass in the porch and at the west end of the nave. A clock jack stands, axe and bell in hand, at the west end, a twin to the one upriver at Blythburgh. This one has a name - he's called Southwold Jack, and he is one of the symbols of the Adnams brewery.

 

As Mortlock notes, there are very few surviving memorials. This is partly because St Edmund was not in the patronage of a great landed family, but it may also suggest that they were largely removed at the time of the 19th century restoration, as at Brandon. One moving one is for the child of a Vicar, and there are some interesting pre-Oxford Movement 19th century brasses in the south aisle.

 

High, high above all this, the roofs are models of Anglo-catholic melodrama, the canopy of honour to the rood and the chancel ceilure in particular. But there is a warmth about it all that is missing from, say, Eye, which underwent a similar makeover. This church feels full of life, and not a museum piece at all. I remember attending evensong here late one winter Saturday afternoon, and it was magical. On another visit, I came on one of the first days of Spring that was truly warm and bright, with not a cloud in the sky. As I cycled into town, a cold fret off of the sea was condensing the steam of the brewery, sending it in swirls and skeins around the tower of St Edmund like low cloud. It was so atmospheric that I almost forgave them for what they have done to the Sole Bay Inn.

A visit to the monthly flea market at Ahetze, South West France normally allows some opportunities for the discerning photographer. However my aesthetics vanished as soon as the heavy showers caught us out in the open (again).

A maintainer from the 27th Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron uses a pressure washer to rinse soap from an MC-130J Commando II Dec. 18, 2014, at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. In addition to keeping aircraft clean, scheduled washes help prevent the corrosion of multi-million dollar assets. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Shelby Kay-Fantozzi/Released)

 

For more great Air Force photos, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/usairforce.

Page 8 of This is Roller Skating.

Signal & Track maintainers have worked overnight to get the plant back in working order. The first trains rolled over the repairs around 0600 this morning. After some final ballast grooming and minor repairs of wires related to the signal & control system things should be back to normal.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

In early 1968, the Soviet Ministry of Defense decided to develop a specialized shturmovik armored assault aircraft in order to provide close air support for the Soviet Ground Forces. The idea of creating a ground-support aircraft came about after analyzing the experience of shturmovaya (ground attack) aviation during World War II, and in local wars during the 1950s and 1960s. The Soviet fighter-bombers in service or under development at this time (Su-7, Su-17, MiG-21 and MiG-23) did not meet the requirements for close air support of the army. They lacked essential armor plating to protect the pilot and vital equipment from ground fire and missile hits, and their high flight speeds made it difficult for the pilot to maintain visual contact with a target. Ordnance load and loiter time were also insufficient.

 

In March 1969, a competition was announced by the Soviet Air Force that called for designs for a new battlefield close-support aircraft. Participants in the competition were the Design Bureaus of Sukhoi, Yakovlev, Ilyushin and Mikoyan. The original request was for a simple, relavtively light aircraft, that was easy to produce and maintain and would allow a high survivabilty in a combat environment.

 

The aircraft was to be powered by two Ivchenko AI-25T non-afterburning turbofans, each with a thrust of 1.750 kgp (3.860 lbst) - a modification of the AI-25 developed for the Yak-40 feederliner, and the same engine that powered the Czech-built L-39 Albatros trainer. The aircraft was to carry an internal cannon and was only intended to carry unguided weapons - bombs of up to 500 kg caliber and rockets/rocket pods.Sighting was to be simple, consisting of a collimating gunsight and a laser rangefinder.

Normal combat payload was to be 1.500 kg (3.310 lb), increasing to 2.500 kg (5.511 lb) in overload configuration. Normal TOW would be 8.200 kg (18.080 lb) and MTOW in the 10.000 kg (22.050 lb) range

 

All OKBs made submissions, but in the course of the proposals the requirements were widened, eventually necessitating a bigger, more capable aircraft. This eventually led to the Ilyushin’s Il-42 (later renamed into Il-102) and Sukhoi’s T-8 (the later Su-25), which remained in the official competition and the Su-25 would, aftre a long development phase, turn out to be the winner.

 

OKB Yakovlev had been late with its submission, which was still based on the original requirement. it was clear that their aircraft, internally known as the Yak-35, would neither meet the more demanding profile, nor offer the development potential for a heavier type. Anyway, OKB Yakovlev kept the development going, as a lot of export potential was expected.

 

Until May 1970 a total of three prototypes were built and successfully tested. The Yak-35 was a compact aircraft with clean lines, and it took the experience from the recently built (but rejected) Yak-30/32 trainer (NATO code "Magnum/Mantis") further. The modern design featured shoulder-mounted, slightly swept wings and a swept cruciform tail. The AI-25T engines were buried side by side in the rear fuselage, fed by lateral air intakes. The pilot sat in an armored cockpit that would withstand 0.5" caliber fire, and the slanted nose offered good for- and downward view. The aircraft reminded vaguely of the Saab 105 trainer or Sukhoi's initial, light T-8 design.

 

The rugged landing gear with single low pressure tires retracted into the fuselage. Armement compriseda pair of 30mm Nudelman-Richter NR-30 cannons with 100RPG, mounted under the air intakes, and a total of seven hardpoints (three under each wing, one under the fuselage) for ordnance. The inner pair of pylons was "wet" and could carry PTB-600 drop tanks, the fuselage hardpoint was intended for extre equipment like a reconnaissance pod, an ECM jammer or (in later versions, see below) guidance pods for air to ground missiles. For self-defence, IR-guided missiles like the R-3S, R-13M and later the R-60 could be carried on the outer pylons.

 

Avionics included a passive SPO-10 Sirena 3M RHAWS, coupled with a set of KDS-23 chaff/flare dispensers at the rear base of the fin, and an active SPS-141 Siren jammer. A Fon laser rangefinder was fitted into the nose tip, coupled with an S-17VG-1sighting mechanism, a DISS-7 doppler speed and drift measurement unit and a PKB-3 sight for toss bombing, an ASP-17B gunsight, an RV-5R radar altimeter and a V-144 computer.

 

Western officials first became aware of the new type during the October Parade 1972 in Moscow, when the three initial Yak-35 made a single pass at medium altitude. The unknown type immediately received the NATO code "Fraudster". The prototypes and two static airframes continued the development program at slow pace - no serious problem occured, and the Yak-35 turned out to be a stable and agile weapon platform, receiving positive praise from the test pilots.

 

As time went by, things turned into favor of the the Yak-35, which eventually got its chance: As the shturmovaya program around the Su-25 ran into more and more delay, and a new attack aircraft was direly needed - not long ago, tensions with China concerning the disputed Damanskiy and Kirkinskiy Islands on the Ussuri River had caused much alert. Finally, the Yak-35 was ordered into production, while parts of its fuselage design had already been used for the Yak-38 VTOL aircraft for the Soviet Navy.

 

From 1974 on the Yak-35 was delivered to front line squadrons, in parallel with the VG Su-17 fighter bomber. The service aircraft were updated with Delta-N radio guidance equipment, placed in a fairing in front of the fin, which would allow the Yak-35D ('dorabotanyy' = Updated; NATO code "Fraudster B") to carry radio-guided AGMs like the Kh23 or Kh-25 missiles. The emitter had to be carried in an external pod, though, normally placed under the fuselage. A pair of these missiles could be carried on launch rails on the inner pair of pylons.

 

A total of 110 Yak-35Ds were built until 1979, all of them remained in Soviet Air Force Service, and almost exclusively in transbaikalian units. None of them were deployed to Afghanistan, as the rather weak engine powered was deemed unsatisfactory for the 'hot and high' conflict theatre.

From 1982 on the Yak-35Ds were quickly replaced by the then-finally-ready Su-25 and relegated into second line services. Most of the remaining Yak-35Ds were kept in use for weapon training, mostly at flight academies along MiG-21 fighters until 1990, and some served as target tugs with frontline units in the Far East. No specimen was ever exported.

 

General characteristics

Crew: One

Length incl. pitot: 14.54 m (47 ft 7 3/4 in) incl. pitot

Wingspan: 9,52 m (31 ft 2½ in)

Height: 4.6 m (15 ft ½ in)

Empty weight: 6.525 kg (14.375 lb)

Loaded weight: 8.750 kg (19.275 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 11.400 kg (25.110 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Ivchenko AI-25T non-afterburning turbofans, each with a thrust of 1.750 kgp (3.860 lbst)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1.050 km/h (652 mph/Mach 0.9) at height, clean configuration; 825 km/h (512 mph) with external stores at sea level

Range: 1.450 km (900 mi); high, clean configuration

Ferry range: 2.500 km (1,553 mi)

Service ceiling: 14.000 m (45.850 ft)

Rate of climb: 76 m/s (14.936 ft/min)

Thrust/weight: 0.54

 

Armament:

2× NR-30 30mm cannons with 100 RPG

7 hardpoints for up to 2.500 kg (5.511 lb) of external ordnance, including rails for 2× IR-guided air-to-air missiles for and a wide variety of general-purpose bombs, cluster bombs, gun pods, rocket pods, drop tanks and radio-guided air-to-surface missiles like the Kh-23 or Kh-25.

  

The kit and its assembly:

This fantasy thing was spawned by the vague thought that one could turn the rather crude Yak-38 kit from Tsukuda Hobby into "something pretty". The plan had been lingering for some time, and when I got hands on an incomplete Yak-38 (Revell re-boxing of the kit, canopy missing) I eventually started with the surgery, letting inspiration and donation parts flow.

 

I had a vague idea of what the aircraft should look like, but the overall layout evolved step by step. One initial measure was to shorten the fuselage considerably: plugs from in front of and behind the original wings were cut out, and the remaining three fuselage pieces glued together. As the fuselage has an almost even diameter and shape all along its length, this turned out to be pretty easy, but still needed considerably putty work.

 

The original fittings for the wings and tail surfaces were then filled with styrene plugs and sanded even.

 

Moving the wings from their original mid-position to the shoulders was already something I had in mind before the project started. But the eventual solution just evolved as I had the fuselage ready and could judge positions and proportions.

The wings I used come from a Alpha Jet (Heller), and they were not simply stuck to the fuselage. Due to the curved back of the Yak-38 I had to add a kind of console, made from the upper wing's mid section of a Matchbox SBC Helldiver biplane (!). This connector piece was placed into a carved fairing on top of the fuselage, the new wings attached to it, and the missing bodywork sculpted with 2C putty. This way I was able to blend the new arrangement into the rest of the body with matching wing roots, without having it look as if the wings had simple been stuck onto it. The result is pretty good, looks rather organic.

 

The tail is new, too. Original plan had been to use the Yak-38 tail, maybe with a T-tail arrangement - but that simply did not look good. Finding a replacement was tough, I finally settled on an A-4M (Italeri) fin, which had to be modified with a clipped top, Yak-38 style, in order NOT to remind too much of the Douglas creation! It fits in shape and size, though.

 

New stabilizers had to be used, too - the original Yak-38 looked much too small and flimsy. A T-tail was not possible anymore, so I used a cruciform tail, A-4 style, even though the stabilizers had to be moved upwards since the Yak-38 tail is much wider than an A-4. The stabilizers themselves are new, too: a pair of F-86 fins(!), leftover from Hobby Boss kits. They are a bit thick, but look great and blend well into the whole arrangement.

 

The main landing gear was taken OOB, but with new wheels and extra struts fitted. The front wheel is totally new, it belongs to a Fiat G-91. The cockpit received a new seat (from a MiG-29), a pilot figure and a primitive dashboard, and a donation canopy had to be found and integrated (I think it comes from a Tamiya 1:100 F-105).

All around the hull small details were added, including the seven pylons and the rocket pod ordnance.

  

Painting and markings:

It took a while and some research to turn up a suitable, tactical paint scheme. Normally I keep whifs rather subtle, and I did not want to paint the Yak-35 in a dark green/brown scheme, typical for Eastern Europe aircraft.

Afghanistan was a vague idea, a desert/mountainous scheme, as well as the Su-25 prototype which appreared at Le Bourget ("301 Blue"), with its two-tone brown livery and a few green accents.

 

I finally found a Su-7UM trainer in a light, three-tone camouflage which I transplanted on my Yak-35. It consists of two sand tones (Humbrol 187 and 63) and a green tone (Humbrol 155). Looks rather surreal! The undersides are kept in Russian Blue (Humbrol 115).

Since much of the fuselage consists of pure putty and re-engraving would be rather hazardous I painted panel lines, with a mix of sepia ink and acrylic matt varnish. A second-best solution, but the result is O.K., when you do not take a closer look...

 

The whole thing received a light wash with black ink in order to emphasize panel line and details and the leading edges were lightly dry-brushed with pale grey. Basic colors were also ‘tamed down’ trough dry painting with shades of light beige and grey, for a worn and bleached look.

 

Cockpit interior was painted in typical, Soviet "anti fatigue" turquoise, the landing gear was painted in a mix of Aluminum and Olive Drab. Di-electric panels were painted in a bright green, a mix of Humbrol 2 and 175.

 

Most markings come from the scrap box, insignia and tactical code come from a Carpena Decals 1:72 MiG17 aftermarket sheet.

  

This thing was a major surgical act, but turned out nicely. With an arrestor hook this could also have become a maritime fighter bomber, e. g. an alternative to the French Dassault Ètendard or the Jaguar M? It looks familiar, has some serious Su-25 appeal, yet the thing looks unique. And the desert/mountain style paint scheme suits the aircraft well.

Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, Sarasvatī) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning. She is a part of the trinity of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. All the three forms help the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to create, maintain and regenerate-recycle the Universe respectively.

 

The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in Rigveda. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic age through modern times of Hindu traditions. Some Hindus celebrate the festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring) in her honour, and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write alphabets on that day. The Goddess is also revered by believers of the Jain religion of west and central India, as well as some Buddhist sects.

 

Saraswati as a goddess of knowledge, music and arts is also found outside India, such as in Japan, Vietnam, Bali (Indonesia) and Myanmar.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Saraswati, sometimes spelled Sarasvati, is a Sanskrit fusion word of Sara (सार) which means essence, and Sva (स्व) which means one self, the fused word meaning "essence of one self", and Saraswati meaning "one who leads to essence of self knowledge". It is also a Sanskrit composite word of surasa-vati (सुरस-वति) which means "one with plenty of water".

 

The word Saraswati appears both as a reference to a river and as a significant deity in the Rigveda. In initial passages, the word refers to Sarasvati River and mentioned with other northwestern Indian rivers such as Drishadvati. Saraswati then connotes a river deity. In Book 2, Rigveda calls Saraswati as the best of mothers, of rivers, of goddesses.

 

अम्बितमे नदीतमे देवितमे सरस्वति |

– Rigveda 2.41.16

 

Saraswati is celebrated as a feminine deity with healing, purifying powers of abundant, flowing waters in Book 10 of Rigveda, as follows:

 

अपो अस्मान मातरः शुन्धयन्तु घर्तेन नो घर्तप्वः पुनन्तु |

विश्वं हि रिप्रं परवहन्ति देविरुदिदाभ्यः शुचिरापूत एमि ||

– Rigveda 10.17

 

May the waters, the mothers, cleanse us,

may they who purify with butter, purify us with butter,

for these goddesses bear away defilement,

I come up out of them pure and cleansed.

–Translated by John Muir

 

In Vedic literature, Saraswati gains the same significance to early Indians, states John Muir, as Ganges river became to their descendants. In hymns of Book 10 of Rigveda, she is already declared to be the "possessor of knowledge". Her importance grows in Vedas composed after Rigveda and in Brahmanas, and the word evolves in its meaning from "waters that purify", to "that which purifies", to "vach (speech) that purifies", to "knowledge that purifies", and ultimately into a spiritual concept of a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work and anything whose flow purifies the essence and self of a person. In Upanishads and Dharma Sastras, Saraswati is invoked to remind the reader to meditate on virtue, virtuous emoluments, the meaning and the very essence of one's activity, one's action.

 

Saraswati is known by many names in ancient Hindu literature. Some examples of synonyms for Saraswati include Brahmani (goddess of sciences), Brahmi (from being wife of Brahma), Bharadi (goddess of history), Vani and Vachi (both referring to the flow of music/song, melodious speech, eloquent speaking respectively), Varnesvari (goddess of letters), Kavijihvagravasini (one who dwells on the tongue of poets).

 

NOMENCLATURE

In the Telugu language, Sarasvati is also known as Chaduvula Thalli (చదువుల తల్లి), Sharada (శారద). In Konkani, she is referred to as Sharada, Veenapani, Pustaka dharini, Vidyadayini. In Kannada, variants of her name include Sharade, Sharadamba, Vani, Veenapani in the famous Sringeri temple. In Tamil, she is also known as Kalaimagal (கலைமகள்), Kalaivaani (கலைவாணி), Vaani (வாணி), Bharathi. She is also addressed as Sharada (the one who loves the autumn season), Veena pustaka dharani (the one holding books and a Veena), Vaakdevi, Vagdevi, Vani (all meaning "speech"), Varadhanayagi (the one bestowing boons).

 

Within India, she is locally spelled as Bengali: সরস্বতী, Saraswati ?, Malayalam: സരസ്വതി, Saraswathy ?, and Tamil: சரஸ்வதி, Sarasvatī ?.

 

Outside India, she is known in Burmese as Thurathadi (သူရဿတီ, pronounced: [θùja̰ðədì] or [θùɹa̰ðədì]) or Tipitaka Medaw (တိပိဋကမယ်တော်, pronounced: [tḭpḭtəka̰ mɛ̀dɔ̀]), in Chinese as Biàncáitiān (辯才天), in Japanese as Benzaiten (弁才天/弁財天) and in Thai as Suratsawadi (สุรัสวดี) or Saratsawadi (สรัสวดี).

 

HISTORY

Saraswati is found in almost every major ancient and medieval Indian literature between 1000 BC to 1500 AD. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic age through modern times of Hindu traditions. In Shanti Parva of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Saraswati is called the mother of the Vedas, and later as the celestial creative symphony who appeared when Brahma created the universe. In Book 2 of Taittiriya Brahmana, she is called the mother of eloquent speech and melodious music. Saraswati is the active energy and power of Brahma. She is also mentioned in many minor Sanskrit publications such as Sarada Tilaka of 8th century AD as follows, May the goddess of speech enable us to attain all possible eloquence,

 

she who wears on her locks a young moon,

who shines with exquisite lustre,

who sits reclined on a white lotus,

and from the crimson cusp of whose hands pours,

radiance on the implements of writing, and books produced by her favour.

 

– On Saraswati, Sarada TilakaSaraswati became a prominent deity in Buddhist iconography – the consort of Manjushri in 1st millennium AD. In some instances such as in the Sadhanamala of Buddhist pantheon, she has been symbolically represented similar to regional Hindu iconography, but unlike the more well known depictions of Saraswati.

 

SYMBOLISM AND ICONOGRAPHY

The goddess Saraswati is often depicted as a beautiful woman dressed in pure white, often seated on a white lotus, which symbolizes light, knowledge and truth. She not only embodies knowledge but also the experience of the highest reality. Her iconography is typically in white themes from dress to flowers to swan – the colour symbolizing Sattwa Guna or purity, discrimination for true knowledge, insight and wisdom.

 

She is generally shown to have four arms, but sometimes just two. When shown with four hands, those hands symbolically mirror her husband Brahma's four heads, representing manas (mind, sense), buddhi (intellect, reasoning), citta (imagination, creativity) and ahamkara (self consciousness, ego). Brahma represents the abstract, she action and reality.

 

The four hands hold items with symbolic meaning — a pustaka (book or script), a mala (rosary, garland), a water pot and a musical instrument (lute or vina). The book she holds symbolizes the Vedas representing the universal, divine, eternal, and true knowledge as well as all forms of learning. A mālā of crystals, representing the power of meditation, inner reflection and spirituality. A pot of water represents powers to purify the right from wrong, the clean from unclean, and the essence from the misleading. In some texts, the pot of water is symbolism for soma - the drink that liberates and leads to knowledge. The musical instrument, typically a veena, represents all creative arts and sciences, and her holding it symbolizes expressing knowledge that creates harmony. Saraswati is also associated with anurāga, the love for and rhythm of music, which represents all emotions and feelings expressed in speech or music.

 

A hansa / hans or swan is often located next to her feet. In Hindu mythology, hans is a sacred bird, which if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. It thus symbolizes discrimination between the good from the bad, the essence from the superficial, the eternal from the evanescent. Due to her association with the swan, Saraswati is also referred to as Hansvahini, which means "she who has a hansa / hans as her vehicle". The swan is also a symbolism for spiritual perfection, transcendence and moksha.

 

Sometimes a citramekhala (also called mayura, peacock) is shown beside the goddess. The peacock symbolizes colorful splendor, celebration of dance, and peacock's ability to eat poison (snakes) yet transmute from it a beautiful plumage.

 

She is usually depicted near a flowing river or near a water body, which may be related to her early history as a river goddess

 

REGIONAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SARASWATI

MAHA SARASWATI

In some regions of India, such as Vindhya, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam, as well as east Nepal, Saraswati is part of the Devi Mahatmya mythology, in the trinity of Maha Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati. This is one of many different Hindu legends that attempt to explain how Hindu trinity of gods (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and goddesses (Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati) came into being. Various Purana texts offer alternate legends for Maha Saraswati.

 

Maha Saraswati is depicted as eight-armed and is often portrayed holding a Veena whilst sitting on a white lotus flower.

 

Her dhyāna shloka given at the beginning of the fifth chapter of Devi Mahatmya is:

 

Wielding in her lotus-hands the bell, trident, ploughshare, conch, pestle, discus, bow, and arrow, her lustre is like that of a moon shining in the autumn sky. She is born from the body of Gowri and is the sustaining base of the three worlds. That Mahasaraswati I worship here who destroyed Sumbha and other asuras.

 

Mahasaraswati is also part of another legend, the Navdurgas, or nine forms of Durga, revered as powerful and dangerous goddesses in eastern India. They have special significance on Navaratri in these regions. All of these are seen ultimately as aspects of a single great Hindu goddess, with Maha Saraswati as one of those nine.

 

MAHAVIDYA NILA SARASWATI

In Tibet and parts of India, Nilasaraswati is a form of Mahavidya Tara. Nila Saraswati is a different deity than traditional Saraswati, yet subsumes her knowledge and creative energy in tantric literature. Nila Sarasvati is the ugra (angry, violent, destructive) manifestation in a one school of Hinduism, while the more common Saraswati is the saumya (calm, compassionate, productive) manifestation found in most schools of Hinduism. In tantric literature of the former, Nilasaraswati has a 100 names. There are separate dhyana shlokas and mantras for her worship in Tantrasara.

 

WORSHIP

TEMPLES

There are many temples, dedicated to Saraswati around the world. Some notable temples include the Gnana Saraswati Temple in Basar, on the banks of the River Godavari, the Wargal Saraswati and Shri Saraswati Kshetramu temples in Medak, Telangana. In Karnataka, one of many Saraswati/Sharada pilgrimage spots is Shringeri Sharadamba Temple. In Ernakulam district of Kerala, there is a famous Saraswati temple in North Paravur, namely Dakshina Mookambika Temple North Paravur. In Tamil Nadu, Koothanur hosts a Saraswati temples about 25 kilometres from Tiruvarur.

 

FESTIVALS

Saraswati's is remembered on – Vasant Panchami – is a Hindu festival celebrated every year on the 5th day in the Hindu calendar month of Magha (about February). Hindus celebrate this festival in temples, homes and educational institutes alike.

 

In Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Saraswati Puja starts with Saraswati Avahan on Maha Saptami and ends on Vijayadashami with Saraswati Udasan or Visarjan.

 

SARASWATI PUJA CALENDAR

Saraswati Puja Avahan – Maha Saptami – Triratna vratam starts in Andhra Pradesh.

Saraswati Puja (main puja) – Durga Ashtami

Saraswati Uttara Puja – Mahanavami

Saraswati Visarjan or Udasan – Vijaya Dashami

Saraswati Kartik Purnima on (Sristhal) siddhpur of Gujaratis ancient festival since Solanki ruling of Patan state.

 

SARASWATI PUJA IN SOUTH INDIA

In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the last three days of the Navaratri festival, i.e., Ashtami, Navami, and Dashami, are celebrated as Sarasvati Puja. The celebrations start with the Puja Vypu (Placing for Worship). It consists of placing the books for puja on the Ashtami day. It may be in one's own house, in the local nursery school run by traditional teachers, or in the local temple. The books will be taken out for reading, after worship, only on the morning of the third day (Vijaya Dashami). It is called Puja Eduppu (Taking [from] Puja). Children are happy, since they are not expected to study on these days. On the Vijaya Dashami day, Kerala celebrates the Ezhuthiniruthu or Initiation of Writing for the little children before they are admitted to nursery schools. This is also called Vidyarambham. The child is made to write for the first time on the rice spread in a plate with the index finger, guided by an elder of the family or by a teacher.

 

SARASWATI OUTSIDE INDIA

SARASWATI IN MYANMAR

In Burma, the Shwezigon Mon Inscription dated to be of 1084 AD, near Bagan, recites the name Saraswati as follows,

 

"The wisdom of eloquence called Saraswati shall dwell in mouth of King Sri Tribhuwanadityadhammaraja at all times". – Translated by Than Tun

 

Statue of Thurathadi at Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple (Yangon)

 

In Buddhist arts of Myanmar, she is called Thurathadi (or Thayéthadi).: 215 Students in Myanmar pray for her blessings before their exams. :327 She is also believed to be, in Mahayana pantheon of Myanmar, the protector of Buddhist scriptures.

 

SARASWATI IN JAPAN

The concept of Saraswati migrated from India, through China to Japan, where she appears as Benzaiten (弁財天). Worship of Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries. She is often depicted holding a biwa, a traditional Japanese lute musical instrument. She is enshrined on numerous locations throughout Japan such as the Kamakura's Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine or Nagoya's Kawahara Shrine; the three biggest shrines in Japan in her honour are at the Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay, the Chikubu Island in Lake Biwa, and the Itsukushima Island in Seto Inland Sea.

 

SARASWATI IN CAMBODIA

Saraswati was honoured with invocations among Hindus of Angkorian Cambodia, suggests a tenth-century and another eleventh-century inscription. She and Brahma are referred to in Cambodian epigraphy from the 7th century onwards, and she is praised by Khmer poets for being goddess of eloquence, writing and music. More offerings were made to her than to her husband Brahma. She is also referred to as Vagisvari and Bharati in Yasovarman era Khmer literature.

 

SARASWATI IN THAILAND

In ancient Thai literature, Saraswati (Thai: สุรัสวดี; rtgs: Suratsawadi) is the goddess of speech and learning, and consort of Brahma. Over time, Hindu and Buddhist concepts on deities merged in Thailand. Icons of Saraswati with other deities of India are found in old Thai wats. Amulets with Saraswati and a peacock are also found in Thailand.

 

SARASWATI IN INDONESIA

Saraswati is an important goddess in Balinese Hinduism. She shares the same attributes and iconography as Saraswati in Hindu literature of India - in both places, she is the goddess of knowledge, creative arts, wisdom, language, learning and purity. In Bali, she is celebrated on Saraswati day, one of the main festivals for Hindus in Indonesia. The day marks the close of 210-day year in the Pawukon calendar.

 

On Saraswati day, people make offerings in the form of flowers in temples and to sacred texts. The day after Saraswati day, is Banyu Pinaruh, a day of cleansing. On this day, Hindus of Bali go to the sea, sacred waterfalls or river spots, offer prayers to Saraswati, and then rinse themselves in that water in the morning. Then they prepare a feast, such as the traditional bebek betutu and nasi kuning, that they share.

 

The Saraswati Day festival has a long history in Bali. It has become more widespread in Hindu community of Indonesia in recent decades, and it is celebrated with theatre and dance performance.

 

WIKIPEDIA

 

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Standing amid a well maintained garden of trained Japanese maples, ragwart, lavender and roses with a well clipped lawn, this substantial 1920s Art Deco villa in the Ballarat suburb of Wendouree, would have been for a larger sized upper-class family.

 

Built of white painted bricks with shingled detailing beneath the gable, this sprawling house with its high gables is far simpler than some of its older Federation Queen Anne style neighbours, extolling the clean lines of the Art Deco movement so popular across Britain and her dominions during the 1920s and 1930s. Built in the years after the Great War (1914 - 1918), you can start to see the transition from Edwardian villa to the popular Californian Bungalow of the early 1920s. The overall design is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement. However, the minimal decoration is typical of the "Metroland" Art Deco period. Of particular note is the lack of any stained or leadlight glass in any of the windows, and the wonderful floor to ceiling "waterfall window" to the right of the double front door, which will flood the room with natural light.

 

This style of house would have appealed to the moneyed upper-classes of Ballarat whose money came from either the Nineteenth Century gold rush, or from the wool or farming industries that developed post the boom. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectablity and not inconsiderable wealth.

 

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

Towards the end of WWII, the Swedish Army's main tank was the Stridsvagen 42. It was a medium tank, modern in design and it was also well protected and mobile. It fielded a 75 mm L/34 gun, the first of its size in a Swedish tank and entered service with the Swedish army in November 1941. As a neutral nation in World War II Sweden did not engage in combat; thus its tanks had no battlefield record. Between April 1943 to January 1945, 282 Strv 42s were delivered.

 

After WWII, the Strv 42 was kept in service, but it was soon clear that it would not have enough firepower to defend Sweden against heavier tanks. The benchmark was the Soviet T-34/85 and the Soviet Union regarded as a major threat in the context of the rising tensions between Eastern and Western Blocs after WWII. The smoldering Korean conflict stirred this fear even more. The Soviet threat seemed even more real to Sweden, which - although still neutral - tightened its relations with the West and NATO, even though the country never joined the Atlantic organization.

 

This neutrality was especially hard to maintain with such proximity to the USSR borders, especially in the Baltic. In fact it would have been nearly impossible to Sweden to not take sides in case of an open war between the two super powers due to this strategic and geographic position.

 

The Swedish military was therefore more cautious to elaborate on scenarios of a Soviet invasion to model its combined ground, air and naval assets, even though this position was more nuanced on the political side and these realist ties were maintained on a high secrecy level.

 

Anyway, the armed forces needed modernization and therefore the Swedish Army decided in 1948 to develop and introduce a modernized or even new battle tank, which primarily incorporated a heavier cannon than the Strv 42, coupled with a more effective armor and high mobility.

 

In 1949 the Swedish government was secretly provided with the option of purchasing the American M46 Patton, but this offer was rejected as the tank was, with more than 45 tons, considered to be too heavy and too bulky for the local terrain and the Swedish Army’s tactical requirements. The same argument also initially turned down an offer for the British Centurion tank during that time. Consequently, the decision was made in the same year to develop a whole new tank around the Swedish Army's specifications.

 

The original requirements were:

- In order to effectively use a small number of tanks to cover up a large area, the size and weight of the tank had to be light enough for trains or special trucks to carry and to move on soggy ground.

- Due to the above target, the weight of the armor was limited around 25 tons, yet as heavily armored as possible.

- Main cannon had to be bigger than 75mm.

 

The Strv 42's chassis turned out to be too narrow for a bigger turret that could accommodate the bigger gun, a crew (of three) and a decent ammunition store.

 

Its armor concept with many vertical surfaces was also outdated, so that the development of a totally new chassis was started.

The new vehicle was aptly designated Strv 50.

The weight was the main concern since if this first constraint was met, the tank could also be transported by a specially modified truck through most major highways. The second constraint couldn't be met due to the mock up development team finding out that the armor would be too thin to protect the vehicle, even if anything was done to slope the surfaces and increase the armor’s effectiveness. As a result, the armor weight constraint was raised to 35 tons for a while.

 

However, this weight penalty led to delays in the production of the planned Volvo diesel engine, because the tank did not have enough power to attain good mobility with the overall weight raised by 40%.

The Strv 50 was of conventional layout, with a central turret and the engine located at the rear of the hull. The tank had a crew of four: a commander, driver, gunner and loader. A co-driver/radio operator who'd potentially operate a bow machine gun was omitted in order to save weight and internal space.

The hull was welded steel, with a cast steel turret. The maximum armor thickness was 64 mm.

 

The driver sat at the front right of the hull, with a hatch immediately above him, and three vision periscopes covering the forward arc. To the drivers left was the transmission, which could easily be accessed for servicing by removing a large panel on the front of the hull.

The track was driven from the front and had six rubber road wheels on each side along with three return rollers - inspired by American designs like the M24 or M26. The suspension was a torsion bar system with the first, second and sixth road wheel fitted with hydraulic shock absorbers.

 

The commander and gunner sat in the turret, with the commander on the right side provided with a large domed cupola with a hatch on the rear of it. The cupola had four vision blocks and a one-meter base stereoscopic rangefinder with x7 magnification. A further 8 mm machine gun could be mounted on the cupola for manual anti-aircraft use.

 

The gunner did not have a separate hatch and was seated in front of the commander. The gunner had a x6 magnification periscope, as well as a x6 magnification sight. The loader was provided with a hatch.

 

The main gun was the British 20 pounder cannon with 84 millimeter (3.3 in) caliber, outfitted with a horizontal sliding breach block and a 4.60 m (15 ft) barrel, 55 calibers in length. This weapon's APCBC projectile had a muzzle velocity of 1,020 meters per second and could penetrate 21 cm (8.3 in) of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA), and the alternative armor-piercing discarding sabot projectile even had a muzzle velocity of 1,465 m/s (4,810 ft/s) and could penetrate 30 cm (12 in) of RHA.

The 20-pounder could also fire high-explosive and canister shot. Storage was provided for 18 rounds in the bustle at the rear of the tank, with additional rounds being distributed in various positions inside the tank for a total of 58 rounds.

 

In the Strv 50 the gun was fitted with a muzzle brake that diverted firing gases sideways and reduced the amount of dust kicked up by firing. The main gun was not stabilized, so firing on the move was impractical, and the vehicle was not fitted with an NBC protection system or deep wading equipment. Three smoke grenade launchers were mounted on each side of the turret.

 

The tank was originally to be powered by a the proven VL 420 engine from the post-war 42 versions, but the increased total weight called for a more powerful engine. The result was a 570 horsepower Volvo VL 570 turbocharged V-8 engine. The engine was mounted at the rear of the hull and exhausting through pipes on either side of the rear of the hull. It was coupled with a manual electromagnetic ZF 6-speed transmission system.

 

Tests in 1952 and 1953 were successful, even though the prototypes had to be powered by the old VL 420 engine, the VL 570 only became available towards the end of the trials.

 

Nevertheless, the tank's modern suspension and good handling were major improvements compared to the 42, as well as the much more effective armor. In December 1953 the Strv 50 was cleared for production and the delivery of the first tanks started in late 1954. In service, the Strv 50 started to replace the WWII 42 in the heavy tank companies of the armored brigades.

 

However, just as production was turning up, the Soviet T-54/55 appeared on the scene and rendered the Strv 50 in its intended role as a main battle tank almost obsolete. The 20 pounder cannon was still adequate, but the rather lightly armored Strv 50 would not have been a true adversary for the new generation of Soviet tanks - a more heavily armored MBT was needed for the Swedish Army.

 

Since the Strv 50 did not offer the potential for an effective upgrade towards what was needed, the Swedish government eventually ordered the British Centurion tank as Stridsvagn 81. In consequence, the Strv 50 was relegated to reconnaissance and infantry support roles (much like the light American M41 Walker Bulldog tank) and the planned production of 250 vehicles was drastically cut back to just 80 which were delivered until 1959.

 

In the 1960s the Swedish ground forces could count on a small, well-equipped professional core and a large conscript army. However, many tanks and armored cars still dated back then from WW2. Some, like the Terrängbil 42D troop transport, were maintained into service until the 1990s while other old models were recycled or modernized. Even the Strv 42 soldiered on and was finally updated in 1958 to the Stridsvagn 74 standard as a supplement to the newly bought Stridsvagn 101 (a more modern Centurion variant with a 105 mm L7 cannon).

 

The Strv 50 served on until 1984, when it was phased out together with the Strv 74 and superseded by the Strv 103, the famous and unique, turret-less Swedish “S” tank.

  

Specifications:

Crew Four (commander, gunner, loader, driver)

Weight 35 tonnes

Length 6.03 metres (23 ft in) (hull only)

8,36 metres (27 ft 5 in) with gun forward

Width 2,95 metres (9 ft 6 in)

Height 2.49 metres (8 ft 1 1/2 in) w/o AA machine gun

Suspension: torsion-bar

Ground clearance: 495 to 510 mm (1 ft 7.5 in to 1 ft 8.1 in)

Fuel capacity: 820 l (180 imp gal; 220 US gal)

 

Armor:

10–64 mm (0.8 – 2.5 in)

 

Performance:

Speed:

- Maximum, road: 46 km/h (28.5 mph)

- Sustained, road: 40 km/h (25 mph)

- Cross country: 15 to 25 km/h (9.3 to 15.5 mph)

Operational range: 200 km (125 mi)

Power/weight: 17.14 hp/t

 

Engine:

VL 570 turbocharged V-8 diesel engine with 570 PS (420 kW)

 

Transmission:

ZF electromagnetic (6 forward and 2 reverse)

 

Armament:

1× 90 mm kanon strv 50 L55 with 58 rounds

1× co-axial 8mm ksp m/39 strv machine gun with 3.000 rounds

Optional, but rarely used, another 8mm ksp m/39 strv machine gun anti aircraft machine gun

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Cold War” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com, and, as a shocker, it’s not a fictional aircraft but a tank! I came across Sweden as an operator because the country tested some German tanks (bought from France) after WWII, including the Panzer V ‘Panther’. While I considered a Swedish Army Panther I eventually went for an indigenous design for the late 50ies – the Strv 50 was born.

 

The basis is a JGSDF Type 61 tank (Trumpeter kit), more or less the whole body and chassis were taken over. The turret is different/new, a mix of a late WWII M4 Sherman (‘Jumbo’) turret from Wee Friends (resin and white metal) coupled with a white metal gun barrel and some implants from the Type 61 tank like the commander’s cupola or the gun mantle.

 

The result is a rather generic tank with some retro appeal – like a big brother to the M24 Chaffee or M41 Walker Bulldog, or like a dramatically modernized M4 Sherman?

  

Painting and markings:

Benchmark were pictures of Swedish post-WWII 42 tanks, painted in a disruptive 3 color scheme of grayish green, black and a light, reddish tan. I used FS 34096, RAL 7021 and French Earth Brown (all Modelmaster enamels) as basic tones. In order to give the vehicle a post WWII look I painted the small wheel hub covers in bright red – a decorative detail inspired by British Army vehicles.

 

Later the surface received a dark brown wash and some dry-brushing with ochre and grey. After decals were applied (all from the scarp box: the Swedish flags come from a H0 scale Roco Minitanks UN units sheet, the numbers are actually German WWII font), the kits was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

 

Finally, the tank was treated with grey and brown artist pigments, simulating dust especially around the lower chassis.

Original Caption: Vine Street Entrance to Fountain Square. Base of Du Bois Tower at Left. Tyler Davidson Fountain at Center Right 06/1973

 

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-10755

 

Photographer: Hubbard, Tom, 1931-

 

Subjects:

Cincinnati (Hamilton county, Ohio, United States) inhabited place

Environmental Protection Agency

Project DOCUMERICA

 

Persistent URL: catalog.archives.gov/id/553214

  

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.

 

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

 

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

   

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Use Restrictions: Unrestricted

 

I revisited this magnificent site today Saturday 22nd September 2018, a mile or so from my home and always worth a visit.

 

Historic Environment Scotland maintain the site, it is steeped in Scottish History and visited by thousands of tourists and locals each year .

 

St Machar's Cathedral (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a high kirk, as it has not been the seat of a bishop since 1690.

 

St Machar is said to have been a companion of St Columba on his journey to Iona. A fourteenth-century legend tells how God (or St Columba) told Machar to establish a church where a river bends into the shape of a bishop's crosier before flowing into the sea.

 

The River Don bends in this way just below where the Cathedral now stands. According to legend, St Machar founded a site of worship in Old Aberdeen in about 580. Machar's church was superseded by a Norman cathedral in 1131, shortly after David I transferred the See from Mortlach to Aberdeen.

 

Almost nothing of that original cathedral survives; a lozenge-decorated base for a capital supporting one of the architraves can be seen in the Charter Room in the present church.

 

After the execution of William Wallace in 1305, his body was cut up and sent to different corners of the country to warn other dissenters. His left quarter ended up in Aberdeen and is buried in the walls of the cathedral.

 

At the end of the thirteenth century Bishop Henry Cheyne decided to extend the church, but the work was interrupted by the Scottish Wars of Independence. Cheyne's progress included piers for an extended choir at the transept crossing. These pillars, with decorated capitals of red sandstone, are still visible at the east end of the present church.

 

Though worn by exposure to the elements after the collapse of the cathedral's central tower, these capitals are among the finest stone carvings of their date to survive in Scotland.

 

Bishop Alexander Kininmund II demolished the Norman cathedral in the late 14th century, and began the nave, including the granite columns and the towers at the western end. Bishop Henry Lichtoun completed the nave, the west front and the northern transept, and made a start on the central tower.

 

Bishop Ingram Lindsay completed the roof and the paving stones in the later part of the fifteenth century. Further work was done over the next fifty years by Thomas Spens, William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar; Dunbar is responsible for the heraldic ceiling and the two western spires.

 

The chancel was demolished in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation. The bells and lead from the roof were sent to be sold in Holland, but the ship sank near Girdle Ness.

 

The central tower and spire collapsed in 1688, in a storm, and this destroyed the choir and transepts. The west arch of the crossing was then filled in, and worship carried on in the nave only; the current church consists only of the nave and aisles of the earlier building.

 

The ruined transepts and crossing are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th Century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland.

 

The Cathedral is a fine example of a fortified kirk, with twin towers built in the fashion of fourteenth-century tower houses. Their walls have the strength to hold spiral staircases to the upper floors and battlements. The spires which presently crown the

 

Though worn by exposure to the elements after the collapse of the cathedral's central tower, these capitals are among the finest stone carvings of their date to survive in Scotland.

 

Bishop Alexander Kininmund II demolished the Norman cathedral in the late 14th century, and began the nave, including the granite columns and the towers at the western end. Bishop Henry Lichtoun completed the nave, the west front and the northern transept, and made a start on the central tower.

 

Bishop Ingram Lindsay completed the roof and the paving stones in the later part of the fifteenth century. Further work was done over the next fifty years by Thomas Spens, William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar; Dunbar is responsible for the heraldic ceiling and the two western spires.

 

The chancel was demolished in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation. The bells and lead from the roof were sent to be sold in Holland, but the ship sank near Girdle Ness.

 

The central tower and spire collapsed in 1688, in a storm, and this destroyed the choir and transepts. The west arch of the crossing was then filled in, and worship carried on in the nave only; the current church consists only of the nave and aisles of the earlier building.

 

The ruined transepts and crossing are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th Century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland.

 

Bishops Gavin Dunbar and Alexander Galloway built the western towers and installed the heraldic ceiling, featuring 48 coats of arms in three rows of sixteen. Among those shown are:

* Pope Leo X's coat of arms in the centre, followed in order of importance by those of the Scottish archbishops and bishops.

* the Prior of St Andrews, representing other Church orders.

* King's College, the westernmost shield.

* Henry VIII of England, James V of Scotland and multiple instances for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain, Aragon, Navarre and Sicily at the time the ceiling was created.

* St Margaret of Scotland, possibly as a stand-in for Margaret Tudor, James V's mother, whose own arms would have been the marshalled arms of England and Scotland.

* the arms of Aberdeen and of the families Gordon, Lindsay, Hay and Keith.

 

The ceiling is set off by a frieze which starts at the north-west corner of the nave and lists the bishops of the see from Nechtan in 1131 to William Gordon at the Reformation in 1560. This is followed by the Scottish monarchs from Máel Coluim II to Mary, Queen of Scots.

 

Notable figures buried in the cathedral cemetery include the author J.J. Bell, Robert Brough, Gavin Dunbar, Robert Laws, a missionary to Malawi and William Ogilvie of Pittensear—the ‘rebel professor’.

 

There has been considerable investment in recent years in restoration work and the improvement of the display of historic artefacts at the Cathedral.

 

The battlements of the western towers, incomplete for several centuries, have been renewed to their original height and design, greatly improving the appearance of the exterior. Meanwhile, within the building, a number of important stone monuments have been displayed to advantage.

 

These include a possibly 7th-8th century cross-slab from Seaton (the only surviving evidence from Aberdeen of Christianity at such an early date); a rare 12th century sanctuary cross-head; and several well-preserved late medieval effigies of Cathedral clergy, valuable for their detailed representation of contemporary dress.

 

A notable modern addition to the Cathedral's artistic treasures is a carved wooden triptych commemorating John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen (d. 1395), author of The Brus.

I visited Doonies Rare Breed Farm this week, its a fine farm well managed, maintained and open to the public over the summer months.

 

As a nature lover and keen photographer I enjoy seeing the animals up close and archiving our visits with my Nikon.

 

The Farm is no more than two mile from the soon to be new harbour at Nigg Bay in Aberdeen Scotland , we had a great visit , this photograph is one of many I captured on the day .

  

Doonies Rare Breeds Farm, Aberdeen, has one of Scotland's largest collections of rare and endangered farm animal breeds. The farm is nationally recognised as a breeding centre for rare breeds. There are 23 rare animal breeds on the farm. The farm holds a number of endangered and rare breeds of pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, chickens and ducks. During the Easter time of year, new arrivals can be seen such as lambs, calves, chicks and foals.

 

Doonies farm stands on the coast, just past the old fishing village of Cove in Aberdeen, Scotland.

 

Doonies farm is operated as a family-run business; however, the farm used to be owned and operated by Aberdeen City Council and is run as a working farm, although it is open to the public. Due to council cutbacks, it was earmarked for closure in the summer of 2008; however, there have been many petitions and protests to persuade the council to save Doonies, and an agreement may still be reached.

 

Aberdeen City Council had ownership of the farm for some twenty years, until in 2008 budget cuts faced potential closure for the farm.

 

Recently, the farm's manager of fifteen years had taken over the business as "Doonies LTD.", which means that the farm is no longer Council-run, but a family business establishment.

NEX-6 + Meopta Meostigmat 1.4/70

eNewsletter 209: 35 Woods Trail by Bernadette Capellaro

  

It’s warm in Southern California, and that’s exactly the feeling Andy and Liz sought to maintain inside their new Tuscan-style home as they embarked on a modern interior makeover. After all, the couple had two small children and a dog to consider. Empty and austere simply wasn’t a good fit for the young family whose interests include photography, art and lots of Lego’s.

 

Andy, an engineer, became intrigued with Cantoni after driving past the Irvine location on his daily commute. It wasn’t long before he and Liz decided to venture into the Los Angeles showroom, and that’s where they met Bernadette. By all accounts, the trio made for great collaboration, and the project that began in February 2012 is still a work in progress today.

 

“We were impressed by Bernadette,” says Andy. “We liked her and her work, and she won us over.”

 

The project began with pictures sent and an in-home walk-through where measurements were taken. The couple knew they wanted furnishings for the living, dining and family rooms, as well as the media room and a study. They were open to art and accent pieces, and hoped to incorporate natural elements into the mix. Bernadette set to work.

 

“It was fun touring our LA showroom and listening to Liz and Andy discuss their likes and dislikes. One thing was for sure,” she adds, “the Laguna Sectional was going in their theater room even if we needed to knock out a wall!”

 

Phase I of the job is complete (as you can see from the stunning images), but instead of parting ways, Andy and Liz decided to have Bernadette help re-imagine the master bedroom and kitchen, next. The ongoing nature of this project illustrates a trend we see with most of our clients: we build trusted, long-term relationships. It’s not about the transaction, but about great design, the design process, and the ability of our talented staff to help clients create the lifestyles they want.

 

As always, there’s plenty to love about the products seen in our feature stories. To help you shop the look, we’re introducing a Featured Products page via a link to the images in each story. We’ve also redesigned our site to make sourcing and finding that just-right piece a breeze.

 

To shop the look: cantoni.com/shop/35-woods-trail

 

To view contact information and a bio on Cantoni LA designer Bernadette Capellaro, or to view more of her remarkable work: cantoni.com/modern-furniture-showroom/cantoni-los-angeles...

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (English: Shrike) was a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Fw 190 became the backbone of the Luftwaffe's Jagdwaffe (Fighter Force). The twin-row BMW 801 radial engine that powered most operational versions enabled the Fw 190 to lift larger loads than the Bf 109, allowing its use as a day fighter, fighter-bomber, ground-attack aircraft and, to a lesser degree, night fighter.

 

The Fw 190A started flying operationally over France in August 1941, and quickly proved superior in all but turn radius to the Royal Air Force's main front-line fighter, the Spitfire Mk. V, particularly at low and medium altitudes. The 190 maintained superiority over Allied fighters until the introduction of the improved Spitfire Mk. IX. In November/December 1942, the Fw 190 made its air combat debut on the Eastern Front, finding much success in fighter wings and specialized ground attack units called Schlachtgeschwader (Battle Wings or Strike Wings) from October 1943 onwards. The Fw 190 provided greater firepower than the Bf 109 and, at low to medium altitude, superior manoeuvrability, in the opinion of German pilots who flew both fighters.

 

The Fw 190A series' performance decreased at high altitudes (usually 6,000 m (20,000 ft) and above), which reduced its effectiveness as a high-altitude interceptor. From the Fw 190's inception, there had been ongoing efforts to address this with a turbo-supercharged BMW 801 in the B model, the much longer-nosed C model with efforts to also turbocharge its chosen Daimler-Benz DB 603 inverted V12 powerplant, and the similarly long-nosed D model with the Junkers Jumo 213. Problems with the turbocharger installations on the -B and -C subtypes meant only the D model would enter service, doing so in September 1944. While these "long nose" versions gave the Germans parity with Allied opponents, they arrived far too late in the war to have any real effect. The situation became more and more dire, so that, by early 1945, an emergency fighter variant, the Fw 190E, was rushed into production and service.

 

The Fw 190E was based on the extended D model airframe, and actually surplus airframes from the type’s production lines were converted, because its Jumo 213 inline engine was short in supply. Instead, a conversion kit for the DB 605D powerplant (the engine for the Bf 109 K) was devised in the course of just six weeks, which included a modified engine frame and a radiator bath with its respective plumbing, which would be installed under the cockpit. The rationale behind this decision was that developing a new annular radiator and engine cover would have taken too much time – and while the ventral radiator was not the aerodynamically most efficient solution, it was the most simple way to create an urgently needed high-performance fighter.

 

The DB 605D, with its Single-stage variable-speed centrifugal type supercharger and a methanol-water injection system, created an impressive performance: Using MW 50 and maximum boost, the Fw 190E was able to reach a maximum level speed of 710 km/h (440 mph) at 7,500 m (24,600 ft) altitude. Without MW 50 and using 1.80 ata, the E model still reached 670 km/h (416 mph) at 9,000 m (30,000 ft). The Initial Rate of climb was 850 m (2,790 ft)/min without MW 50 and 1,080 m (3,540 ft)/min, using MW 50. While the E model’s top speed was slightly higher than the D-9’s with its Jumo 213, it could only be achieved at lower altitudes.

 

The Fw 190E’s radio equipment was the FuG 16ZY, and the FuG 25a Erstling IFF system, as well as the FuG 125 Hermine D/F equipment, were also fitted. Internally, the oxygen bottles were relocated from the rear fuselage to the right wing.

Armament of the Fw 190E consisted of two, synchronized 13 mm (0.51 in) MG 131s in the nose with 475 RPG, firing though the propeller disc, and two more synchronized 20mm (0.78 in) MG 151/20 machine cannon with 250 RPG were mounted in the wing roots. Theoretically, a 30 mm (1.2 in) MK 108 engine-mounted cannon (Motorkanone) with 65 rounds was mounted (in the initial E-1 variant), too, but this weapon was hardly available at all (almost the complete production of the MK 108 was allocated to Me 262 and other jet fighters’ production) and it often jammed while the aircraft was manoeuvring in battle – so it was frequently removed in order to save weight, or replaced by an MK 151/20 with 100 rounds from the start (in the E-2 variant see below).

This impressive basic weaponry could even be augmented: two more cannons could be installed in the outer wings with the help of modification kits (either MG 151/20 or MK 108 with Rüstsatz R2 or R3, respectively), but this rarely happened because the weapons were not available at all. A more typical and very common modification, applied at the factory, was the Rüstsatz R1, which included racks and fusing equipment for fitting a 250 kg (550 lb) bomb or a 300l drop tank under each wing. An underfuselage hardpoint was not possible to fit, due to the ventral radiator fairing.

 

Production of the E-1 model started hastily at Fock Wulf’s Soltau plant in February 1945, and the first machines, which were immediately transferred, suffered from severe integration problems and poor manufacturing quality, even resulting in fatal losses as aircraft disintegrated in flight. After just 26 completed aircraft, production was stopped and switched to the E-2 variant in April, which, beyond a simplified gun armament, also incorporated technical improvements that eventually improved reliability to a normal level. Until the end of hostilities, probably 120 Fw 190E-2 were produced, with 50 more in various states of assembly in several factories, and probably 80 machines were operationally used at the Western front and for the defence of Berlin. A handful of these machines were also modified with a pair of vertical Rb 50/30 cameras (Rüstsatz R6) in the rear fuselage for low and medium altitude reconnaissance duties.

A planned high performance E-3 with a 2.250 hp DB 605 engine and a reduced armament (only three MG 1515/20) as well as a high altitude E-4 with a DB 603 engine, a pressurized cockpit and extended wings never materialized..

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 10.20 m (33 ft 5½ in)

Wingspan: 10.50 m (34 ft 5 in)

Height: 3.35 m (11 ft 0 in)

Wing area: 18.30 m² (196.99 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,490 kg (7,694 lb)

Loaded weight: 4,270 kg (9,413 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 4,840 kg (10,670 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder inverted-Vee piston engine rated at 1.800 PS (1.295 kW)

and a temporary emergency output of 2.050 HP (1.475 kW) with MW 50 injection

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 710 km/h (440 mph) at 7,500 m (24,600 ft) altitude

Range: 835 km (519 mi)

Service ceiling: 11,410 m (37,430 ft)

Rate of climb: 18 m/s (3,540 ft/min)

Wing loading: 233 kg/m² (47.7 lb/ft²)

Power/mass: 0.30–0.35 kW/kg (0.18–0.22 hp/lb)

 

Armament:

1× 30 mm (1.2 in) engine-mounted MK 108 cannon with 65 rounds (rarely mounted)

2× 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine guns with 475 RPG above the engine

2× 20 mm (.78 in) MG 151/20 cannons with 250 RPG in the wing root

Optional: 2× 250 kg (550 lb) SC 250 bombs or 300 l drop tanks under the wings

 

The kit and its assembly:

A popular what-if/Luft ‘46 topic: a Fw 190 with a late Bf 109 nose, and sometimes other transplants, too. This one was triggered by a fictional profile created by fellow user ysi_maniac at whatifmodelers.com, but it’s rather a personal interpretation of the idea than a hardware recreation of the artwork. The reason is simple: virtually putting together 2D profiles is an easy task, but when the 3rd dimension comes to play, things become more complicated.

One of the consequences is that such an aircraft would have been very unlikely in real life. Another factor against the idea is that the Daimler Benz engines were primarily earmarked for Messerschmitt products, esp. the late Bf 109. Even Kurt Tank’s Ta 152, powered by his favored DB 603, was hard to realize – and the RLM’s unwillingness to provide him with this engine delayed this high potential aircraft so far that the Fw 190 D-9, with its Jumo 213 as a fallback option, was realized as an interim/second best solution.

 

However, whifworld offers the freedom of creativity, and I have never seen a hardware realization of a Fw 190/Bf 109 hybrid, so I created the Fw 190E through the mating of a Fw 190D (Academy kit) with the engine/front end of a Bf 109K (Heller).

 

The transplantation was basically straightforward, starting with the Bf 109 engine cut off of the fuselage. Then a matching section from the Fw 190 nose was cut away, too. While the diameters of both sections (in a side view) match each other quite well, the fuselage diameter shapes are to tally different, and the Bf 109 engine is MUCH too narrow for the Fw 190. That’s the problem the CG whiffers can simply ignore.

The eventual solution concerned both donor parts: the DB 605 was widened by ~2mm through the insertion of wedge-shaped pieces of styrene between the halves. As an unwanted side effect, the Bf 109’s machine guns on the cowling would squint now, so they had to be erased with putty and re-drilled, once the body work was finished.

The fuselage section in front of the Fw 190’s cockpit was, on the other side, narrowed through wedges taken out, and some force – again narrowing the fuselage width by another ~2mm. That does not sound much, but at 1:72 these 4mm mean a major disparity! This modification also created a gap between the fuselage and the wing roots towards their front end, which had to be filled, too, and the wing roots themselves had to be re-shaped in order to match the much more narrow DB 605’s underside.

 

Furthermore, the engine internally received a styrene tube adapter for the propeller’s new metal axis, and the oil cooler intake was filled with foamed styrene (it would normally remain empty). Once the engine had dried and the fuselage halves with the OOB cockpit closed, both elements were mated and the cowling gap filled and re-sculpted with 2C putty, since the OOB part with the Fw 190’s engine-mounted machine guns would not fit anymore.

 

As a result, the profile view of the aircraft is O.K., it looks slender and quite plausible, but when you take a look from above, the (still) wide section in front of the cockpit looks odd, as well as the widened rear section of the BD 605 cowling.

 

Another central issue was the radiator installation for the DB 605. In real life, I’d expect that an annular radiator would have been the most probable solution, and the aircraft wouldn’t have differed much outwardly from the Dora. But for the sake of a different look, and following the idea of a rushed emergency conversion program that would use as many stock elements as possible, I rather went for the complete Bf 109K nose, coupled with a separate ventral radiator under the fuselage. Wing coolers (as used on board of the Bf 109) were ruled out, since I expected them to be too complicated to be quickly added to the Fw 190’s airframe and wing structure.

The radiator fairing was scratched from leftover ship hull parts – thanks to its wide and relatively flat shape, the arrangement looks quite aerodynamic and plausible.

 

The propeller had to be modified, too: I retained the Bf 109’s spinner, but rather used the Fw 190’s slightly bigger propeller blades, for a balanced look.

 

The canopy became another issue. While the Academy kit is very nice and goes together well, the clear parts, esp. the sliding part of the canopy, has a major flaw: the headrest is to be glued into it, and in order to give the builder some help with the proper position, Academy added some locator slots to the clear part. This could be nice, and the rear pair will later be covered under paint, but the front pair is plainly visible and reaches up very high into the side windows! WTF?

You can hardly sand them away, and so I dediced outright to replace the canopy altogether - I was lucky to have a Rob Tauris vacu canopy, actually for the Hasegawa Fw 190A/F in the donor bank. This does naturally not fit 100% onto the (modified) Academy fuselage, but with some (more) PSR work the vacu parts blend in quite well, and the thin material is an additional bonus.

 

Apart from the engine and the canopy, not much was changed. The landing gear is OOB, I just replaced the wing root gun barrels with hollow steel needles.

  

Painting and markings:

I did not go for anything spectacular, rather a slightly improvised look of many late-production German fighters which were painted with whatever was at hand, if at all. The overall pattern is based on the typical Fw 190D-9 scheme, with two shades of green, RLM 82 and 83 on the upper surfaces (Humbrol 102 and 75). The fuselage was painted in a greenish variant of RLM 76 (a mix of Humbrol 90 with a little 247), frequently referred to as RLM 84, but this color never officially existed. Some light mottles of the upper tones, plus an underlying layer of RLM02 mottles, were added to the flanks, too.

The wings’ undersides were left in bare metal (Revello 99), with their leading edge kept in grey primer (RLM 75, I used Humbrol 123). The undersides of the ailerons and stabilizers, as well as the vertical rudder, were painted in RLM 76 (Humbrol 247) – both a frequent late WWII practice, when the parts were manufactured in separate, outsourced factories. The mottled landing gear covers are an unusual detail, but this appreared quite frequently on late-war Fw 190s, esp. on Doras.

 

The cockpit interior was painted in dark grey (RLM 66, I used Humbrol 67), while the interior of the landing gear was painted with RLM 02 (Revell 45).

 

The tactical markings were improvised; the blue fuselage ID band for the JG 54 was created with generic decal sheet material, other markings come from various sheets, e. g. from an Academy Fw 190A/F. The black dot as a squadron marking is unusual - but as a sqaudron of a (rare) fifth group, no standard symbols were typically assigned, so this is within historic limits.

 

The kit received some light weathering thorugh dry.brushing and grinded graphite, and finally a coat with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A more complex conversion stunt than it might seem at first glance – and proof that a virtual 2D whif is not easily transferred into hardware. The 3rd dimension still exists, and in this case it posed severe problems that could eventually be overcome with the help of (lots of) PSR. The flawed OOB canopy is another issue. However, the result does not look bad at all, even though the DB 605-powered Fw 190 somehow reminds me of the British Fairey Fulmar naval fighter, and also somewhat of the Ju 87?