via Instagram kotaserang.net/1TQhA6p, When the sunset has come, no candle can replace it. #repost Photo by : @dilhamnandi . . #serang #kotaserang #pulautiga #sunset #island #karangantu #holiday #weekend #senja #Banten #indonesia. . kotaserang.net/1BFtNAa , May 29, 2016 at 07:46PM When the sunset has come, no candle can replace it. #repost Photo by : @dilhamnandi . . #serang #kotaserang #pulautiga #sunset #island #karangantu #holiday #weekend #senja #Banten #indonesia. . kotaserang.net/1BFtNAa #KotaSerangDotCom #KotaSerang Original Post: kotaserang.net/1TQhA6p Link Gambar: kotaserang.net/1qUjvLG By: www.kotaserang.net

Lyndhurst.

A pastoral station 35 kms east of the town site was taken out in 1858 and named after John Copley the first Baron of Lyndhurst. Around 1860 Sir Thomas Elder acquired Mount Lyndhurst station and eventually that passed to the Beltana Pastoral Company. In 1869 a copper mine, and later in the 1880s several silver and lead mines, began on Mount Lyndhurst station. They lasted into the 1890s and some gold was mined from 1899. The town was surveyed for the coming of the railway to Farina in 1882 but it was not gazetted until 1896 when town blocks were put up for sale in June. The siding became important for wool carted down the Strzelecki Track from the QLD border and from closer stations like Cordillo Downs (another Thomas Elder station) and Mount Lyndhurst. A general store was licensed in Lyndhurst in 1891 and it had a license to sell wine by 1893. The Lyndhurst Hotel was licensed from 1896. This burnt down following a gas explosion in 1988 and was replaced with current building. The government school opened in 1920 and closed in 1942. The hotel now runs a caravan park. North of the town are some Aboriginal ochre (saprolite) pits were mined for thousands of years by the local Aboriginal people. The quarries are 6 kms long and up to 2 kms wide and 30 metres high. The red ochre was highly prized and traded along routes into the gulf country of QLD and elsewhere. The first railway yards were developed in 1882 and the second east of the town in 1957. Lyndhurst has a population of 24.

 

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 25-Feb-25.

 

First flown in Mar-88 with the British Aerospace (Avro) test registration G-5-099, this aircraft was delivered to Trident Aviation Leasing and leased to Loganair as G-OLCA in Jul-88.

 

It was wet-leased to British Airways for three months between May / Jul-90 and wet-leased to NortJet (a Spanish charter airline) for four months between Sep / Nov-90. It was also wet-leased to AirSur (Spain) between Dec-90 / Feb-91.

 

The aircraft was returned to British Aerospace Asset Management in Nov-91 and stored until it was leased to Air UK for three months between Jan / Mar-92. A few days later it was leased to LAR Transregional (Portugal) and returned to the lessor in Oct-92.

 

It was immediately leased to Malmo Aviation (Sweden) and returned to the lessor in Feb-93. The aircraft was leased to Jersey European Airways in Mar-93 and was re-registered G-JEAJ in Sep-93. It was wet-leased to Malmo Aviation in Mar-98 and returned to Jersey European the following month.

 

In Jun-00 Jersey European was renamed British European Airways (the original British European [BEA] was merged with BOAC to form British Airways in 1974). This British European was renamed FlyBe Airlines in Jul-02.

 

The aircraft was returned to the lessor and stored at Kemble, UK in Oct-06. It was ferried to Bacau, Romania in Mar-07 and converted to B.Ae 146-200QT standard with the addition of a main deck cargo door.

 

It was due to be leased to Amerer Air (Austria) as OE-IAA but the lease wasn't taken up and the aircraft was ferried to Southend, UK, in Jun-08 for further storage. It returned to Bacau in Dec-08 and returned to long-term storage. Converting it to a freighter appears to have been a waste of money as it was broken up at Bacau, Romania in 2015. Updated 25-Jan-23.

Replacing my old P38 Range Rover

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 28-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

This aircraft was delivered to Australian Airlines as VH-TAY in Jun-87. Australian Airlines was merged into QANTAS Airways in Oct-93.

 

It continued in service until it was leased to Jet Connect (New Zealand) as ZK-JNA in Nov-03. It was returned to QANTAS in Jun-06 as VH-XMR and stored at Avolon.

 

The aircraft was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door at Avolon in Jan-07 and leased to Australian Air Express, operating on behalf of QANTAS Freight.

 

It was repainted in full QANTAS livery with 'QANTAS Freight' titles in Oct-14. The QANTAS Freight titles were replaced by 'Australia Post' titles in Jul-20. It's now 35 years old! Current, updated 28-Jan-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 11-Oct-21.

 

I have this down as 'DB Air' but I was told it was 'Falcon Air Express'. However, after doing my research I think DB Air were operating it on behalf of Miami Air International in early Oct-03. I also seem to recall that it it was bringing in American wrestlers for some sort of exhibition in Manchester.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Sterling Airways (Denmark) as OY-SAT in Dec-73. It was sold to Boeing as N728BE in May-84 and stored.

 

The aircraft was sold to Federal Express Aviation Services as N223FE in Feb-86. They sold it back to Sterling Airways the same day as OY-SAT. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Copenhagen, Denmark in Sep-93. The aircraft was repossessed by Aero Lease in Nov-93.

 

In Feb-94 it was sold to Royal Aviation (Canada) as C-GRYP. They sold it to a lessor in Aug-97 and leased it back. It was returned to the lessor in May-98 and sold to Riverhorse Investments Inc as N211DB in Jun-98.

 

A period of short-term leases followed, first to Laker Airways (Bahamas) between Dec-98/Aug-99, then to Star Air Tours (USA) between Sep/Nov-99.

 

In Jan-00 it was leased to DB Air and operated for Sky Trek International Airlines between Jan/May-00 and Sun Country Airlines between Jul-00/Sep-01. It was wet-leased to Miami Air International in late summer 2003 and was wet-leased to Sunworld International Airlines in late Oct-03.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Falcon Air Express in Apr-04. It returned to DB Air in Jul-05 and was sold to Oneida Equipment Leasing in Jul-05 and then leased to Sky One Express Airlines (USA) between Aug/Dec-05 when it was stored.

 

It was sold to OK Consultants Inc in May-08 and broken up. The forward fuselage was sold to the China Lantien Trade Company in Apr-10. It was shipped to Beijing, China and installed in a children's play centre painted in Air China livery.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 17-Oct-19.

 

Named: "A. Glazunov".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWBD, this aircraft was delivered to GECAS as VP-BWI in Mar-04. It was returned to the lessor in Jan-14 and stored at Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was then leased to Rossiya Russian Airlines in Aug-14. Current, updated (Oct-19).

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 06-Nov-19.

 

Suffering from some heat shimmer.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Finnair O/Y as OH-LHB in May-75. It was wet-leased to Nigeria Airways for 3 weeks in Sep-81, to Sudan Airways (short-term) in Sep/Oct-81, to Nigeria Airways again between Oct/Nov-81 and to VASP Brasil between Mar-94/Mar-94. It was wet-leased to SkyJet Belgium in Jun-94 and immediately sub-leased to Birgenair (Turkey), still operated by Finnair. It was returned to SkyJet and Finnair in Sep-94. The aircraft was sold to the Capra Corporation in Jun-95 and immediately leased to Air Liberte (France) as F-GPVB. It was returned to the lessor and sold to Continental Airlines as N17085 in May-97. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Mojave, CA, USA in Oct-01. It was sold to Omni DC-10 Leasing LLC and leased to Omni Air International in Nov-02. It was returned to Omni DC-10 Leasing and stored at Victorville, CA, USA in Mar-07. In Nov-07 the aircraft was sold to 10 Tanker Air Carrier LLC and remained stored until it was converted to a fire fighting tanker aircraft at Victorville in Jul-08. It was sold to BC Aircraft Leasing in Mar-14 and leased back to 10 Tanker Air Carrier. Now 44.5 years old it continues in service. Current, updated (Nov-19).

AKA "The Brain Washer"

 

Bax Toh'Rhee had found a true mentor and friend in Doctor Kehl'Rhan, or at least he thought so. Going so far as to assist Bax in a surgery to remove and replace his own hand with a prototype that allowed him to feel through sensor clusters in the prosthetic.

 

When Kehl'Rhan asked Bax to accompany him to a new position at an outpost near the outer rim, it seemed like a great adventure as well as an opportunity. Unfortunately for Bax, the Doctor had a different set of experiments in mind for the young man. Almost immediately following their arrival at the outpost, Kehl'Rhan drugged Bax and locked him away in a secret lab and over the course of several months he conducted experiments on him that, in the end, amounted to a complete dissection. A slow, torturous living autopsy.

 

The Doctor used Bax's technological advances to keep his head alive and functioning as a CPU that processed all the data and completely ran the lab. Unfortunately for Bax, the Doctor had also been conducting other experiments that drew the attention of the authorities and he was arrested, tried and executed. The offsite lab was not discovered on the doctor's arrest and Bax remained, disembodied and trapped for 42 years.

 

During that time, Bax was able to use the robotics of the lab to construct a robotic body and even take control of it remotely. Eventually, the lab was discovered by a relative of Kehl'Rhan who inherited the madman's off the book properties and he was horrified by the revelation. Not allowing the opportunity to regain his freedom escape, Bax commanded his robot body to apprehend his captor's relative and forced them to assist in the surgical attachment of Bax's head and his new body. After the surgery, Bax killed his now savior in a fit of uncontrolled rage and made his escape.

 

Feeling the need to flee the planet before his actions were discovered, he made his way to a testing facility he had toured when he first arrived and happened on a starfighter that required only minor modifications to allow him to operate it using a neural interface. Overnight, he made his initial adjustments and integrated himself to the fighter, making a hasty escape. Of course, his departure was detected, but the security forces that were scrambled could not match the fighter's speed or maneuverability and the Evader Class easily lived up to its name.

 

TO BE CONTINUED... Maybe.

 

Built for the first round of FBTB's MOC Madness Alphabet Fighters 2013

 

Brought to you by the letter E.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 09-Aug-21 (DeNoiseAI). With some heat shimmer...

 

Fleet No: "808".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVWM, this aircraft was delivered to America West Airlines as N808AW in Sep-99. It was sold to Polaris Leasing on delivery and leased back to America West. America West Airlines was merged into US Airways in Sep-05 and US Airways was merged into American Airlines in Dec-13. However they continued to operate separately until their AOC's were combined with the official merger date 08-Apr-15. Current, updated 25-Apr-21.

 

Note: The registration N808AW was used previously on an America West DHC Dash 8-102 in 1989.

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 16-Mar-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

This aircraft was delivered to Western Airlines as N913WA in Jul-79. Western was merged into Delta Air Lines in Apr-87. It was sold to UAS United Aviation Services in Jun-88 and was leased to Scanair (a SAS subsidiary) later the same month.

 

It was re-registered SE-DHS in Dec-88. Scanair was renamed Premiair in Jan-94 and in Dec-96 Premiair was bought out by the UK based Airtours Group and the aircraft was re-registered OY-CNS.

 

It was transferred to Airtours International Airways as G-DPSP in Aug-00. In May-02 Airtours was renamed MyTravel Airways. By this time the aircraft was 25 years old and as the DC-10's would soon be retired they were left in basic Airtours livery with MyTravel titles.

 

The aircraft was retired and stored at Exeter, UK in Sep-03. It was ferried to Kemble UK in Jan-04 where it was due to be broken up. It was repainted as 'Oriental Airways' in Apr-04 and was 're-registered' with the fictional registration G-BPPL for a TV film.

 

It was sold to Executive Aerospace in Oct-04 and 'exported to Swaziland' as 3D-MRR. It was ferried to Johannesburg in Nov-04 and sold to Interlink Airways. It operated until May-05 when it was permanently retired at Johannesburg.

 

It was noted at Johannesburg in deteriorating condition in Feb-08 and still in basic Airtours livery. Although it was no longer flyable, it was re-registered S9-GAP around Apr-09 and re-registered ZS-GAP to Global Aviation Investments (Pty) Ltd in Mar-12.

 

It was last noted still at Johannesburg in Dec-12. I'm advised that it was finally broken up in Oct-15.

Garden City

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 21-Jan-20 (very small file, unable to enhance with DeNoise).

 

G-CPEM was repainted with this special livery for the BBC 'Blue Peter' Childrens TV programme. It was the prizewinning design in a 'Blue Peter' competition.

 

This aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-CPEM in Mar-97. It was withdrawn from service and parked at London-Gatwick in Mar-11.

 

The aircraft was sold to FedEx Federal Express as N951FD in Apr-11 and stored at Victorville, CA, USA before being converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door in Nov-11. Current, updated (Jan-20).

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 29-Mar-24.

 

First flown in May-96 with the Airbus test registration F-WWBG, this aircraft was delivered to Aerostar Leasing and leased to Vietnam Airlines as S7-ASB (Seychelles) in Jul-96.

 

It was operated on behalf of Vietnam Airlines by Region Air. Vietnam Airlines took over the operation when it was re-registered VN-A302 in Jan-06.

 

The aircraft was returned to the lessor as N620SC in May-12 and stored at Jakarta-CGK. It was written off at Jakarta-CGK on 15-Mar-13. It was badly damaged when ground equipment was blown into it by high winds during a severe storm.

 

It was broken up at Jakarta-CGK in mid 2014, the registration was cancelled in Sep-14. Updated 29-Mar-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 31-Oct-19.

 

First flown in Jan-94 with the Airbus test registration F-WWIP, this aircraft was due to become G-MALE with Monarch Airlines, but they obviously gave it a bit more thought. That registration wasn't used and it was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to Monarch Airlines as G-OZBA ('ZB' was Monarch's flight code) in Mar-94. It was returned to ILFC in Apr-99. It was leased to Air Jamaica as 6Y-JMB the following month. The aircraft was returned to ILFC in May-08 and in Jul-08 it was leased to Vladivostok Avia as VP-BEQ. It returned to ILFC in Jan-14 and was permanently retired at St. Athan, Wales, UK in Feb-14.

 

Note: The registration 6Y-JMB was previously used on an Air Jamaica Boeing 727-200 between Jan-75/Oct-85.

This beautiful setting sun is about to be replaced with a gorgeous moon........Okay, that's probably stretching it for this challenge but I just had to get this sunset in! lol

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 01-Jun-20.

 

Repainted all white with just MyTravel titles and logo after winter lease to Skyservice Canada.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Airtours International Airways as G-WJAN in Mar-97. Airtours was renamed MyTravel Airways in May-02.

 

It was leased to Skyservice Airlines Canada as C-FFAN between Nov-03/May-04, returning to MyTravel Airways as G-WJAN. It was leased to Skyservice as C-FFAN again in Nov-04, but this time it didn't return to MyTravel as G-WJAN until Oct-05.

 

The aircraft was leased to Skyservice again, as C-FFAN, in Nov-06. This time it stayed away even longer. MyTravel was merged into Thomas Cook Airlines UK at the end of Mar-08 and the aircraft returned to Thomas Cook as G-WJAN in Apr-09.

 

It was leased to Skyservice again as C-FFAN in Nov-09. Skyservice Airlines ceased operations at the end of Mar-10 and the aircraft was returned to Thomas Cook as G-WJAN at the beginning of Apr-10.

 

In Nov-10 the aircraft was leased to Jazz Air (Canada) as C-GJZS and operated on behalf of Thomas Cook Travel Canada, returning to Thomas Cook UK as G-WJAN in Mar-11. For the next four winters, between Dec-11/Apr-12, Dec-12/Apr-13, Dec-13/Apr-14 and Dec-14/Apr-15 the aircraft was wet-leased to WestJet Airlines (Canada) and operated on behalf of Thomas Cook Travel Canada.

 

After the return from Canada the aircraft continued to operate for Thomas Cook Airlines UK until it was sold to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest (as trustee for SF Airlines, China) as N553CC in May-16.

 

It was stored at Prestwick, Scotland, UK until it was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door at Xiamen, China in Mar-17. The aircraft was sold to SF Airlines as B-1432 in Apr-17 and continues in service. Current, updated (Jun-20).

 

Note: The aircraft suffered a severe tail strike at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic after a flight from the UK with a fuel stop at Bangor, Maine, USA on 01-Jan-1998. It had made two failed ILS approaches in bad weather when the Captain decided to do a visual circuit. The aircraft touched down heavily to the right of the runway on the third attempt, successfully carried out a go-around and diverted to Santo Domingo where it landed safely. There were no injuries. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service.

Replaced the original with this cropped one :)

Replacing the usual Boeing 787-9.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 05-Aug-17.

 

KLM UK was renamed from Air UK and operated ATR.72's and Fokker 100's until it was absorbed into KLM Cityhopper in Holland. The ATR's were disposed of and the Fokker 100's were re-registered in Holland

 

First flown in Sep-96 with the ATR test registration F-WWLT, this aircraft was stored at Toulouse, France until it was delivered to ATRiam Capital and leased to Air UK as G-UKTN in Jun-98.

 

It was repainted and renamed KLM uk in Apr-99. The aircraft was withdrawn from service abd stored to Norwich, UK in Nov-99. It ferried to Jersey, Channel Islands, UK in basic KLM livery in Dec-99 and was used as a back-up aircraft by British Regional Airlines operating for British Airways Express.

 

The aircraft was stored at Norwich again in Oct-01 and returned to service with KLM uk in Feb-02 for the summer season and was stored at Norwich again in Sep-02. In Nov-02 KLM uk became KLM cityhopper UK while G-UKTN remained stored.

 

It was returned to ATRiam Capital as F-WQNL in Jun-03 and was stored at Toulouse until it was leased to Cimber Air, Denmark as OY-RTF in Nov-04. Cimber Air was renamed Cimber Sterling in Dec-08 after it bought parts of Sterling Airways after it ceased operations two months earlier.

 

It was wet-leased to AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines in Oct-11 and returned to Cimber Sterling in May-12 when they ceased operations. The aircraft was stored at Soenderborg, Denmark.

 

It was sold to Danish Air Transport Leasing as OY-LHB in Apr-13 and operated as Danish Air Transport A/S. In Jul-13 the aircraft was wet-leased to Aer Arran and operated flights on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional for one month, it returned to Danish Air Transport in Aug-13.

 

In Jul-18 it was wet leased to an Italian subsidiary, DAT Volidisicilla and operates local flights within southern Italy. On 27-Mar-19 Danish Air Transport became known as DAT A/S, the services for DAT Volidiscilla continued. Current, updated 22-Feb-25.

still quite new at HDR.. replaced the image...

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales cared for by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service. It was a motte-and-bailey castle from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began to replace it with the current stone structure. The Edwardian town and castle acted as the administrative centre of north Wales, and as a result the defences were built on a grand scale. There was a deliberate link with Caernarfon's Roman past, and the Roman fort of Segontium is nearby.

 

While the castle was under construction, town walls were built around Caernarfon. The work cost between £20,000 and £25,000 from the start until the work ended in 1330. Although the castle appears mostly complete from the outside, the interior buildings no longer survive and many of the building plans were never finished. The town and castle were sacked in 1294 when Madog ap Llywelyn led a rebellion against the English. Caernarfon was recaptured the following year. During the Glyndŵr Rising of 1400–1415, the castle was besieged. When the Tudor dynasty ascended to the English throne in 1485, tensions between the Welsh and English began to diminish and castles were considered less important. As a result, Caernarfon Castle was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Despite its dilapidated condition, during the English Civil War Caernarfon Castle was held by Royalists, and was besieged three times by Parliamentarian forces. This was the last time the castle was used in war. The castle was neglected until the 19th century when the state funded repairs. The castle was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911 and again in 1969. It is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd".

 

The first fortifications at Caernarfon were built by the Romans. Their fort, which they named Segontium, is on the outskirts of the modern town. The fort sat near the bank of the River Seiont; the fort was probably built here due to the sheltered position and because it could be resupplied via the river Seiont. Caernarfon derives its name from the Roman fortifications. In Welsh, the place was called y gaer (lenition of caer) yn Arfon, meaning "the stronghold in the land over against Môn"; Môn is the Welsh name for Anglesey. Little is known about the fate of Segontium and its associated civilian settlement after the Romans departed from Britain in the early 5th century.

 

Following the Norman Conquest of England, William the Conqueror turned his attention to Wales. According to the Domesday Survey of 1086, the Norman Robert of Rhuddlan was nominally in command of the whole of northern Wales. He was killed by the Welsh in 1088. His cousin Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, reasserted Norman control of north Wales by building three castles: one at an unknown location somewhere in Meirionnydd, one at Aberlleiniog on Anglesey, and another at Caernarfon. This early castle was built on a peninsula, bounded by the River Seiont and the Menai Strait; it would have been a motte and bailey, defended by a timber palisade and earthworks. The motte, or mound, was integrated into the later Edwardian castle, but the location of the original bailey is uncertain, although it may have been to the north-east of the motte. Excavations on top of the motte in 1969 revealed no traces of medieval occupation, suggesting any evidence had been removed. It is likely that the motte was surmounted by a wooden tower known as a keep. The Welsh recaptured Gwynedd in 1115, and Caernarfon Castle came into the possession of the Welsh princes. From contemporary documents written at the castle, it is known that Llywelyn the Great and later Llywelyn ap Gruffudd occasionally stayed at Caernarfon.

 

War broke out again between England and Wales on 22 March 1282. The Welsh leader, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, died later that year on 11 December. His brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd continued to fight against the English, but in 1283 Edward I was victorious. Edward marched through northern Wales, capturing castles such as that at Dolwyddelan, and establishing his own at Conwy. War finally drew to a close in May 1283 when Dolbadarn Castle, Dafydd ap Gruffudd's last castle, was captured. Shortly afterwards, Edward began building castles at Harlech and Caernarfon. The castles of Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech were the most impressive of their time in Wales, and their construction—along with other Edwardian castles in the country—helped establish English rule. The master mason responsible for the design and construction of the castle was probably James of Saint George, an experienced architect and military engineer who played an important role in building the Edwardian castles in Wales. According to the Flores Historiarum, during the construction of the castle and planned town, the body of the Roman emperor Magnus Maximus was discovered, and Edward I ordered its reburial in a local church.

 

The construction of the new stone castle was part of a programme of building which transformed Caernarfon; town walls were added, connected to the castle, and a new quay was built. The earliest reference to building at Caernarfon dates from 24 June 1283, when a ditch had been dug separating the site of the castle from the town to the north. A bretagium, a type of stockade, was created around the site to protect it while the permanent defences were under construction. Timber was shipped from as far away as Liverpool. Stone was quarried from nearby places, such as from Anglesey and around the town. A force of hundreds worked on the excavation of the moat and digging the foundations for the castle. As the site expanded, it began to encroach on the town; houses were cleared to allow the construction. Residents were not paid compensation until three years later. While the foundations for the stone walls were being created, timber-framed apartments were built for Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, his queen. They arrived at Caernarfon on either 11 or 12 July 1283 and stayed for over a month.

 

Construction at Caernarfon Castle continued over the winter of 1283–84. The extent of completion is uncertain, although architectural historian Arnold Taylor speculated that when Edward and Eleanor visited again in Easter 1284 the Eagle Tower may have been complete. The Statute of Rhuddlan, enacted on 3 March 1284, made Caernarfon a borough and the administrative centre of the county of Gwynedd.[Gwynedd was not a county.] According to tradition, Edward II was born at Caernarfon on 25 April 1284. Edward was created Prince of Wales in 1301, with control over Wales and its incomes. Since then the title has traditionally been held by the eldest son of the monarch. According to a famous legend, the king had promised the Welsh that he would name "a prince born in Wales, who did not speak a word of English" and then produced his infant son to their surprise; but the story may well be apocryphal, as it can only be traced to the 16th century. In 1284, Caernarfon was defended by a garrison of forty men, more than the thirty-strong garrisons at Conwy and Harlech. Even in peace time, when most castles would have a guard of only a few men, Caernarfon was defended by between twenty and forty people due to its importance.

 

By 1285, Caernarfon's town walls were mostly complete. At the same time work continued on the castle. Spending on construction was negligible from 1289 and accounts end in 1292. Edward I's campaign of castle-building in Wales cost £80,000 between 1277 and 1304, and £95,000 between 1277 and 1329; by 1292 £12,000 had been spent on the construction of Caernarfon's castle—of which the southern façade was furthest along—and town walls. As the southern wall and town walls completed a defensive circuit around Caernarfon, the plan was to build the castle's northern façade last.

 

In 1294, Wales broke out in rebellion led by Madog ap Llywelyn, Prince of Wales. As Caernarfon was the centre of administration in Gwynedd and a symbol of English power, it was targeted by the Welsh. Madog's forces captured the town in September, and in the process heavily damaged the town walls. The castle was defended by just a ditch and a temporary barricade. It was quickly taken and anything flammable was set alight. Fire raged across Caernarfon, leaving destruction in its wake. In the summer of 1295, the English moved to retake Caernarfon. By November the same year, the English began refortifying the town. Rebuilding the town walls was a high priority, and £1,195 (nearly half the sum initially spent on the walls) was spent on completing the job two months ahead of schedule. Attention then shifted to the castle and on finishing the work that had halted in 1292. Once the rebellion was put down, Edward began building Beaumaris Castle on the Isle of Anglesey. The work was overseen by James of Saint George; as a result, Walter of Hereford took over as master mason for the new phase of construction. By the end of 1301, a further £4,500 had been spent on the work; the focus of the work was on the northern wall and towers. The accounts between November 1301 and September 1304 are missing, possibly because there was a hiatus in work while labour moved north to help out with England's war against Scotland. Records show that Walter of Hereford had left Caernarfon and was in Carlisle in October 1300; he remained occupied with the Scottish wars until the autumn of 1304 when building at Caernarfon resumed. Walter died in 1309 and his immediate subordinate, Henry of Ellerton, took over the position of master mason. Construction continued at a steady rate until 1330.

 

From 1284 to 1330, when accounts end, between £20,000 and £25,000 was spent on Caernarfon's castle and town walls. Such a sum was enormous and dwarfed the spending on castles such as Dover and Château Gaillard, which were amongst the most expensive and impressive fortifications of the later 12th and early 13th centuries. Subsequent additions to Caernarfon were not major, and what remains of the castle is substantially from the Edwardian period. Despite the expense, much of what was planned for the castle was never carried out. The rears of the King's Gate (the entrance from the town) and the Queen's Gate (the entrance from the south-east) were left unfinished, and foundations in the castle's interior mark where buildings would have stood had work continued.

 

For around two centuries after the conquest of Wales, the arrangements established by Edward I for the governance of the country remained in place. During this time the castle was constantly garrisoned, and Caernarfon was effectively the capital of north Wales.[30] There was a degree of discrimination, with the most important administrative jobs in Wales usually closed to Welsh people. Tension between the Welsh and their English conquerors spilled over at the start of the 15th century with the outbreak of the Glyndŵr Rising (1400–1415). During the revolt, Caernarfon was one of the targets of Owain Glyndŵr's army. The town and castle were besieged in 1401, and in November that year the Battle of Tuthill was fought nearby between Caernarfon's defenders and the besieging force. In 1403 and 1404, Caernarfon was besieged by Welsh troops with support from French forces;[30] the garrison at the time was around thirty. The accession of the Tudor dynasty to the English throne in 1485 heralded a change in the way Wales was administered. The Tudors were Welsh in origin, and their rule eased hostilities between the Welsh and English. As a result, castles such as Caernarfon, which provided secure centres from which the country could be administered, became less important. They were neglected, and in 1538 it was reported that many castles in Wales were "moche ruynous and ferre in decaye for lakke of tymely reparations".

 

In Caernarfon's case the walls of the town and castle remained in good condition, while features which required maintenance—such as roofs—were in a state of decay and much timber was rotten. Conditions were so poor that of the castle's seven towers and two gatehouses, only the Eagle Tower and the King's Gate had roofs by 1620. The domestic buildings inside the castle had been stripped of anything valuable, such as glass and iron. Despite the disrepair of the domestic buildings, the castle's defences were in a good enough state that during the English Civil War in the mid-17th century it was garrisoned by Royalists. Caernarfon Castle was besieged three times during the war. The constable was John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, who surrendered Caernarfon to Parliamentarian forces in 1646. It was the last time Caernarfon Castle saw fighting. Although it was ordered in 1660 that the castle and town walls should be dismantled, the work was aborted early on and may never have started.

 

Despite avoiding slighting, the castle was neglected until the late 19th century. From the 1870s onwards, the government funded repairs to Caernarfon Castle. The deputy-constable Llewellyn Turner oversaw the work, in many cases controversially restoring and rebuilding the castle, rather than simply conserving the existing stonework. Steps, battlements, and roofs were repaired, and the moat to the north of the castle was cleared of post-medieval buildings that were considered to spoil the view, despite the protest of locals. Under the auspices of the Office of Works and its successors since 1908, the castle was preserved due to its historic significance. In 1911, Caernarfon was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales for the first time for Prince Edward (later Edward VIII), eldest son of the newly crowned King George V; the ceremony was held there at the insistence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George, a Welshman raised in Caernarfonshire. In 1969, the precedent was repeated with the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales. Although Caernarfon Castle has been the property of the Crown since it was built, it is currently cared for by Cadw (English: to keep), the Welsh Government's historic environment division, responsible for the maintenance and care of Wales' historic buildings. In 1986, Caernarfon was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites as part of the "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd" in recognition of its global importance and to help conserve and protect the site. The castle houses the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum. During 2015 a new "entrance pavilion" was built, designed by architects Donald Insall Associates.

 

Caernarfon Castle is now a major tourist attraction, with over 205,000 people visiting the attraction in 2018.

 

Caernarfon is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the island of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) to the north-east, while Snowdonia (Eryri) fringes Caernarfon to the east and south-east.

 

Abundant natural resources in and around the Menai Strait enabled human habitation in prehistoric Britain. The Ordovices, a Celtic tribe, lived in the region during the period known as Roman Britain. The Roman fort Segontium was established around AD 80 to subjugate the Ordovices during the Roman conquest of Britain. The Romans occupied the region until the end of Roman rule in Britain in 382, after which Caernarfon became part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. In the late 11th century, William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a motte-and-bailey castle at Caernarfon as part of the Norman invasion of Wales. He was unsuccessful, and Wales remained independent until around 1283.

 

In the 13th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, ruler of Gwynedd, refused to pay homage to Edward I of England, prompting the English conquest of Gwynedd. This was followed by the construction of Caernarfon Castle, one of the largest and most imposing fortifications built by the English in Wales. In 1284, the English-style county of Caernarfonshire was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan; the same year, Caernarfon was made a borough, a county and market town, and the seat of English government in north Wales.

 

The ascent of the House of Tudor to the throne of England eased hostilities with the English and resulted in Caernarfon Castle falling into a state of disrepair. The town has flourished,[when?] leading to its status as a major tourist centre and seat of Gwynedd Council, with a thriving harbour and marina. Caernarfon has expanded beyond its medieval walls and experienced heavy suburbanisation. The community of Caernarfon's population includes the highest percentage of Welsh-speaking citizens anywhere in Wales. The status of Royal Borough was granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1963 and amended to Royal Town in 1974. The castle and town walls are part of a World Heritage Site described as the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd.

 

The town's name consists of three elements: caer , yn, and arfon. "Caer' means 'fortress", in this case either the Roman fort of Segontium, which lies on the outskirts of the modern town, or the Norman castle erected near the mouth of the Afon Seiont. "Arfon" means "opposite Môn (Anglesey)", and the full name therefore means "the fortress in the land opposite Anglesey".

 

The earlier British and Romano-British settlement at Segontium was named Cair Segeint ("Fort Seiont") after the river. It was also known as Cair Custoient ("Fortress of Constantine"), after a belief that it was the capital of Gwynedd under Constantine, a supposed son of Saint Elen and the Emperor Magnus Maximus. Both names appear in the Historia Brittonum traditionally ascribed to Nennius. A medieval romance about Maximus and Elen, Macsen's Dream, calls her home Caer Aber Sein ("Fort Seiontmouth" or "the fortress at the mouth of the Seiont") and other pre-conquest poets such as Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd used the name Caer Gystennin. A 1221 charter by Llywelyn the Great to the canons of Penmon priory on Anglesey mentions Kaerinarfon, and the Welsh chronicle Brut y Tywysogion mentions both Kaerenarvon and Caerenarvon.

 

The town and the county named after it were officially spelled "Carnarvon" until 1926. At a meeting on 10 November 1925 the borough council resolved to ask the county council to change the spelling to "Caernarvon". The county council gave permission for the change of spelling for the name of the borough with effect from 14 January 1926, and at the same time decided to ask the government to also change the spelling of the county's name to Caernarvon. The government confirmed the change in the spelling of the county's name with effect from 1 July 1926.

 

The municipal borough was designated a royal borough in 1963. When the borough was abolished in 1974 the status of "royal town" was granted to the new community which succeeded it. The spelling of both borough and county remained "Caernarvon" until they were abolished in 1974. The spelling of the community's name was changed from "Caernarvon" to "Caernarfon" with effect from 2 June 1975 by order of Arfon Borough Council.

 

Caernarfon contains a Roman fort, Segontium, and a Norman motte-and-bailey castle was built at the mouth of the River Seiont.

 

In 1283, King Edward I completed his conquest of Wales which he secured by a chain of castles and walled towns. The construction of a new stone Caernarfon Castle seems to have started as soon as the campaign had finished. Edward's architect, James of St. George, may well have modelled the castle on the walls of Constantinople, possibly being aware of the town's legendary associations. Edward's fourth son, Edward of Caernarfon, later Edward II of England, was born at the castle in April 1284 and made Prince of Wales in 1301. A story recorded in the 16th century suggests that the new prince was offered to the native Welsh on the premise "that [he] was borne in Wales and could speake never a word of English", however, there is no contemporary evidence to support this.

 

Caernarfon was constituted a borough in 1284 by a charter of Edward I. The charter, which was confirmed on a number of occasions, appointed the mayor of the borough Constable of the Castle ex officio.

 

On 2 November 1401, 'Y Ddraig Aur' (The golden dragon) of Owain Glyndŵr was attested to have been flown during the Battle of Tuthill at Caernarfon, it is also likely that it was also flown throughout the Welsh independence campaign.

In 1911, David Lloyd George, then Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon boroughs, which included various towns from Llŷn to Conwy, agreed to the British Royal Family's idea of holding the investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. The ceremony took place on 13 July, with the royal family visiting Wales, and the future Edward VIII was duly invested.

 

In 1955, Caernarfon was in the running for the title of Capital of Wales on historical grounds but the town's campaign was heavily defeated in a ballot of Welsh local authorities, with 11 votes compared to Cardiff's 136. Cardiff therefore became the Welsh capital.

 

On 1 July 1969, the investiture ceremony for Charles, Prince of Wales was again held at Caernarfon Castle. The ceremony went ahead without incident despite terrorist threats and protests, which culminated in the death of two members of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Welsh Defence Movement), Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, who were killed when their bomb – intended for the railway line at Abergele in order to stop the British Royal Train – exploded prematurely. The bombing campaign (one in Abergele, two in Caernarfon and finally one on Llandudno Pier) was organised by the movement's leader, John Jenkins. He was later arrested after a tip-off and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

 

In July 2019, Caernarfon hosted a rally for Welsh independence. The event, organised by AUOB (All Under One Banner) Cymru, included a march through the town centre. Organisers estimated that roughly 8,000 people joined the march on the town square; local authorities confirmed at least 5,000 attendees. The event featured a number of speakers including Hardeep Singh Kohli, Evra Rose, Dafydd Iwan, Lleuwen Steffan, Siôn Jobbins, Beth Angell, Gwion Hallam, Meleri Davies and Elfed Wyn Jones. Talks covered criticism of Brexit and Westminster with advocating Welsh Independence.

 

The history of Caernarfon, as an example where the rise and fall of different civilizations can be seen from one hilltop, is discussed in John Michael Greer's book The Long Descent. He writes of Caernarfon:

Spread out below us in an unexpected glory of sunlight was the whole recorded history of that little corner of the world. The ground beneath us still rippled with earthworks from the Celtic hill fort that guarded the Menai Strait more than two and a half millennia ago. The Roman fort that replaced it was now the dim brown mark of an old archaeological site on low hills off to the left. Edward I’s great grey castle rose up in the middle foreground, and the high contrails of RAF jets on a training exercise out over the Irish Sea showed that the town’s current overlords still maintained the old watch. Houses and shops from more than half a dozen centuries spread eastward as they rose through the waters of time, from the cramped medieval buildings of the old castle town straight ahead to the gaudy sign and sprawling parking lot of the supermarket back behind us.

 

Caernarfon is situated on the southern bank of the Menai Strait facing the Isle of Anglesey. It is situated 8.6 miles (13.8 km) south-west of Bangor, 19.4 miles (31.2 km) north of Porthmadog and approximately 8.0 miles (12.9 km) west of Llanberis and Snowdonia National Park. The mouth of the River Seiont is in the town, creating a natural harbour where it flows into the Menai Strait. Caernarfon Castle stands at the mouth of the river. The A487 passes directly through Caernarfon, with Bangor to the north and Porthmadog to the south.

 

As the crow flies, the summit of Snowdon lies a little over 9.6 miles (15.4 km) to the southeast of the town centre.

 

Caernarfon's historical prominence and landmarks have made it a major tourist centre. As a result, many of the local businesses cater for the tourist trade. Caernarfon has numerous guest houses, inns and pubs, hotels, restaurants and shops. The majority of shops in the town are located either in the centre of town around Pool Street and Castle Square (Y Maes), on Doc Fictoria (Victoria Dock) or in Cei Llechi (Slate Quay). A number of shops are also located within the Town Walls.

 

The majority of the retail and residential section of Doc Fictoria was opened in 2008. The retail and residential section of Doc Fictoria is built directly beside a Blue Flag beach marina. It contains numerous homes, bars and bistros, cafés and restaurants, an award-winning arts centre, a maritime museum and a range of shops and stores.

 

Pool Street and Castle Square contain a number of large, national retail shops and smaller independent stores. Pool Street is pedestrianised and serves as the town's main shopping street. Castle Square, commonly referred to as the 'Maes' by both Welsh and English speakers, is the market square of the town. A market is held every Saturday throughout the year and also on Mondays in the summer. The square was revamped at a cost of £2.4 million in 2009. However, since its revamp the square has caused controversy due to traffic and parking difficulties. During the revamp, it was decided to remove barriers between traffic and pedestrians creating a 'shared space', to force drivers to be more considerate of pedestrians and other vehicles. This is the first use of this kind of arrangement in Wales, but it has been described by councillor Bob Anderson as being 'too ambiguous' for road users. Another controversy caused by the revamp of the Maes was that a historic old oak tree was taken down from outside the HSBC bank. When the Maes was re-opened in July 2009 by the local politician and Heritage Minister of Wales, Alun Ffred Jones AM, he said, "the use of beautiful local slate is very prominent in the new Maes."

 

There are many old public houses serving the town, including The Four Alls, The Anglesey Arms Hotel, The Castle Hotel, The Crown, Morgan Lloyd, Pen Deitch and The Twthill Vaults. The oldest public house in Caernarfon is the Black Boy Inn, which remained in the same family for over 40 years until sold in 2003 to a local independent family business. The pub has stood inside Caernarfon's Town Walls since the 16th century, and many people claim to have seen ghosts within the building.

 

In and around the Town Walls are numerous restaurants, public houses and inns, and guest houses and hostels.

 

Gwynedd Council's head offices are situated in the town. The Caernarfon parliamentary constituency was a former electoral area centred on Caernarfon. Caernarfon is now part of the Arfon constituency for both the UK Parliament and the Senedd. The town is twinned with Landerneau in Brittany. Caernarfon was the county town of the historic county of Caernarfonshire.

 

At the local level, Caernarfon Royal Town Council consists of 17 town councillors, elected from the wards of Cadnant (3), Canol Tref Caernarfon (3), Hendre (3), Menai (4) and Peblig (4). The current Mayor is Councillor Maria Veronica Sarnacki.

 

The population in 1841 was 8,001.

 

The population of Caernarfon Community Parish in 2001 was 9,611. Caernarfon residents are known colloquially as "Cofis". The word "Cofi" /ˈkɒvi/ is also used locally in Caernarfon to describe the local Welsh dialect, notable for a number of words, not in use elsewhere.

 

Within Wales, Gwynedd has the highest proportion of speakers of the Welsh language. The greatest concentration of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd is found in and around Caernarfon.

 

According to the 2011 census, 85.8% of residents were born in Wales, one of the highest proportions in Gwynedd, and 77.0% reported a 'Welsh only' national identity.

 

The present castle building was constructed between 1283 and 1330 by the order of King Edward I. The banded stonework and polygonal towers are thought to have been in imitation of the Walls of Constantinople. The impressive curtain wall with nine towers and two gatehouses survive largely intact. Caernarfon Castle is now under the care of Cadw and is open to the public. The castle includes the regimental museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

 

The medieval town walls, including eight towers and two twin-towered gateways, form a complete circuit of 800 yards (730 m) around the old town and were built between 1283 and 1285. The walls are in the care of Cadw but only a small section is accessible to the public. The town walls and castle at Caernarfon were declared part of a World Heritage Site in 1986. According to UNESCO, the castle and walls together with other royal castles in Gwynedd "are the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe".

 

Dedicated to Saint Peblig, the son of Saint Elen and Macsen Wledig (Magnus Maximus), the church is built on an important early Christian site, itself built on a Roman Mithraeum or temple of Mithras, close to the Segontium Roman Fort (200m away, in the care of Cadw). A Roman altar was found in one of the walls during 19th-century restoration work. The present church dates mainly from the 14th century and is a Grade I listed building.

 

The statue in Castle Square was sculpted by W. Goscombe John and was erected in 1921 when Lloyd George was Prime Minister. David Lloyd George was the Member of Parliament for the area from 1890 to 1945.

 

The Old Market Hall in Hole-in-the-Wall Street and Crown Street was built in 1832, but the interior and roof were rebuilt later in that century. It is a Grade II listed building. It now acts as a pub and music venue.

 

A small Victorian urban park, Morfa was laid out in 1888. It stands to the south of the town, bordered by the 'Ysbyty Eryri' hospital [see below] at its southern edge. It is listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

 

The old County Hall, which went on to become a courthouse, is situated inside the castle walls, next door to the Anglesey Arms Hotel. The old courthouse was built in the Neo-classical style. The courthouse was replaced by the new Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre on the former Segontium School site in Llanberis Road in 2009. The old courthouse adjoins what used to be Caernarfon Gaol, which has been closed since the early 20th century and was subsequently converted into council offices.

 

There is a small hospital in the town, 'Ysbyty Eryri' (i.e. "Snowdonia Hospital"). The nearest large regional hospital is Ysbyty Gwynedd, in Bangor.

 

Caernarfon Barracks was commissioned by John Lloyd, County Surveyor of Caernarfonshire, as a military headquarters and completed in 1855.

 

Caernarfon was at one time an important port, exporting slate from the Dyffryn Nantlle quarries. This traffic was facilitated from 1828 by the Nantlle Railway which predated far more widely known ventures such as the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Ffestiniog Railway.

 

Five passenger stations have served the town. Caernarvon railway station opened in 1852 as the western terminus of the Bangor and Carnarvon Railway. This connected the town with the North Wales coast and the expanding national network. Carnarvon Castle railway station opened in 1856 as the northern passenger terminus of the 3ft 6in narrow gauge Nantlle Railway. This service ended in 1865 when the line being built from the south by the standard gauge Carnarvonshire Railway took over most of its trackbed. The Carnarvonshire Railway's temporary northern terminus was at Pant to the south of the town. Pant station opened in 1867. At the same time, the Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway built its line from Llanberis to Caernarfon. Its temporary western terminus was called Carnarvon (Morfa). It opened in 1869 near the modern road bridges over the Afon Seiont. For a short period, therefore, Caernarfon had three terminating stations on its edges. Records are contradictory, but this ended in either 1870 or 1871 when they were connected by a line through the town using the tunnel which survives, having been converted in 1995 for road traffic. When the through route was opened Pant and Morfa stations closed and the original station became the town's only station. The London and North Western Railway also took over all the lines mentioned leaving one station and one service provider by 1871.

 

The services to Llanberis and south to Afon Wen closed progressively from the 1930s, with tracks being lifted in the mid-1960s, but Caernarvon station survived until 1970, with Bangor to Caernarvon one of the last passenger services to be closed under the Beeching Axe; it is now the site of a Morrisons supermarket. In November 2020 the Welsh Government stated 'further consideration' should be given to reopening the line. The fifth station was opened in 1997 on the old trackbed in St. Helen's Road. It is the northern terminus of the 2ft narrow gauge Rheilffordd Eryri / Welsh Highland Railway. Work began on a permanent station for the town in February 2017. The new station opened to passengers in the Spring of 2019. Heritage steam services provide links to Porthmadog, where passengers can change for services on the Ffestiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

 

Bus services in the town are provided by Arriva Buses Wales, and a number of smaller, local operators. Longer distance, cross-country services are operated by Lloyds Coaches, and connect the town with Bangor to the north, and Aberystwyth via Porthmadog, Dolgellau and Machynlleth to the south. These services are part of the Welsh Government funded TrawsCymru network.

 

The A487 trunk road bisects the town, providing access to major urban areas along the North Wales coast and the Port of Holyhead, via the A55 expressway. Llanberis at the foot of Snowdon can be reached via the A4086, which heads east out of the town towards Capel Curig.

 

Heading north out of the town is the Lôn Las Menai cycle path to nearby Y Felinheli. Heading south out of the town is the Lôn Eifion cycle path, which leads to Bryncir, near Criccieth. The route provides views into the Snowdonia mountains, down along the Llŷn Peninsula and across to the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Caernarfon Airport is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) to the southwest, and offers pleasure flights and an aviation museum.

 

The Aber Swing Bridge is a pedestrian swing bridge that crosses over the Afon Seiont to connect pedestrians from the foreshore to the Watergate entrance in the centre of Caernarfon by the Caernarfon Castle.

 

There are four primary schools in Caernarfon, Ysgol yr Hendre being the largest. The others are Ysgol y Gelli, Ysgol Santes Helen and Ysgol Maesincla. Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen is the single secondary school serving Caernarfon and the surrounding areas and currently has between 900 and 1000 pupils from ages 11 to 18. Ysgol Pendalar is a school for children with special needs. Coleg Menai is a further education college for adult learners.

 

Notable people

Lewis Jones, 1898

Saint Elen, late 4th-century founder of churches in Wales.

Edward II of England (1284–1327), King of England from 1307 to 1327.

Morris Williams (1809–1874), clergyman and writer, known by his bardic name Nicander

William Henry Preece (1834–1913), an electrical engineer and inventor.

Lewis Jones (1837-1904), one of the founders of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia.

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), Prime Minister of the UK from 1916 to 1922.

Gwilym Edwards (1881–1963), Presbyterian minister, writer and academic

Lionel Rees (1884–1955), aviator, flying ace and recipient of the Victoria Cross

Maureen Peters (1935–2008), an historical novelist

Dafydd Wigley (born 1943), politician, MP for Caernarfon from 1974 until 2001

Sian Eleri, BBC Radio 1 presenter

Sport

Bryan Orritt (1937–2014), a professional footballer with over 370 club caps

Barry Hughes (1937–2019), a professional footballer and manager, active primarily in the Netherlands

Wyn Davies (born 1942), a footballer with 611 club caps and 34 for Wales

Tom Walley (born 1945) footballer with over 410 club caps

Catrin Thomas (born 1964), ski mountaineer and mountain climber.

Waynne Phillips (born 1970), a professional footballer with over 470 club caps

Nathan Craig (born 1991), a professional footballer.

Osian Dwyfor Jones Wales Commonwealth Hammer Thrower

 

Caernarfon Town F.C. (Welsh: Clwb Pêl Droed Tref Caernarfon) is a Welsh football club based in the town, which currently plays in the Cymru Premier, the top level for football in Wales. The club is nicknamed "the Canaries" because of its yellow and green strip. Caernarfon Town plays at The Oval which has a capacity of 3000 people and 250 seated people.

 

Caernarfon hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1862, 1894, 1906, 1921, 1935, 1959 and 1979. Unofficial National Eisteddfod events were also held there in 1877 and 1880. Caernarfon also hosted the 30th annual Celtic Media Festival in March 2009. Cultural destinations include Galeri and Oriel Pendeitsh. Galeri is a creative enterprise centre that houses a gallery, a concert hall, a cinema, a number of companies, and a range of other creative and cultural spaces. Oriel Pendeitsh is a ground-floor exhibition space adjoining the Tourist Information Centre opposite Caernarfon Castle. The gallery has a varied and changing programme of exhibitions throughout the year.

 

The Caernarfon Food Festival takes place in the town's streets including The Slate Quay (Cei Llechi) and Castle Square (the Maes), which is pedestrianised for the event. Stalls are also located along the promenade next to the Menai Strait towards the marina and Doc Fictoria.

 

The festival was formed in 2015 as a result of public consultation within the town. The first festival was held in 2016. It is organised by the Caernarfon Food Festival Group which is made up of local volunteers who hold regular meetings to plan each festival. The festival has a number of support groups, including a content group, sponsorship group, technical group, communication group and volunteer group. These groups feed into the main group's monthly meetings. The festival logo was inspired by contributions from pupils at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen and designed by Iestyn Lloyd of Cwmni Da. The festival has been supported by Welsh Government through the Food Festival Grant Scheme and was highly commended by Food Awards Wales in 2019, Car parking is provided at the Slate Quay (Cei Llechi) and at other car parks around the town while the Welsh Highland Railway provides transport from Porthmadog. Cycle access is by the cycle tracks along the disused railway lines which include Lôn Las Eifion, which runs from Porthmadog, by-passing Penygroes and on to Caernarfon, Lôn Las Menai from Y Felinheli to Caernarfon and Lôn Las Peris from Llanberis to Caernarfon.

 

Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.

 

The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).

 

The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.

 

In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.

 

Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.

 

The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.

 

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.

 

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy. In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.

 

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

 

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.

 

There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.

 

The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.

 

Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.

 

The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.

 

Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.

 

The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

 

The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.

 

It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.

 

The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.

 

The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.

 

Notable people

Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth

Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon

Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle

Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University

Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.

Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog

Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia

T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy

Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion

Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.

Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 11-Apr-24.

 

First flown with the ATR test registration F-WWEQ, this aircraft was delivered to a lessor and leased to Aer Arann as EI-REN in Mar-08. It operated some service for Aer Lingus Regional but didn't stay long and returned to the lessor in Nov-08.

 

It was sold to Erik Thun AB the following day as SE-MDA and leased to Golden Air Flyg (Sweden) at the end of Nov-08 and operated on behalf of Kullaflyg. It was returned to Golden Air Fly in 2009.

 

Golden Air Flyg was sold to Braathens Regional Airlines in late 2012 and was merged into BRA Braathens Regional Airlines on 01-Jan-13. The aircraft was leased to DAT Danish Air Transport in Apr-19 and sub-leased to Caribbean Airlines a week later. It returned to DAT and Braathens Regional in Sep-19.

 

In Jul-20 the aircraft was operated for Air Leap, a Swedish Virtual Airlines. It returned to Braathens Regional in late Dec-21 and was parked at Billund, Denmark. It was returned to the lessor at the end of Jan-22 and stored at Halmstad AFB, Sweden.

 

In Apr-22 the aircraft was ferried to East Midlands Airport, UK and was repainted in full Blue Islands livery. It was leased to Blue Islands Airways, UK as G-ISLO in May-22. Current, updated 11-Apr-24.

Built on Ireland Street in the Victorian Alpine town of Bright, this red-brick 1884 Wesleyan Methodist church replaced an earlier 1860s Wesleyan Methodist church. Designed in Victorian Gothic style, the church is not unlike an English country church. Small, the church has an imposing bell tower, and steep spire at its eastern end, with four smaller spires on the corners of the tower. There are the typical pointed arch windows with small amounts of brightly painted stained glass around its edges and entry door, with brick flying buttresses. The foundation stone was laid on the 10th of March by Mrs. Worth.

 

Bright, a town in north-east Victoria, is situated in the Ovens Valley and is part of the Alpine Region of Victoria. 210 kilometres from Melbourne, Bright was one of the towns in the Ovens Valley where gold was discovered. Gold was found near the junction of Morses Creek and the Ovens River in the 1850s. Established in 1862 and named Bright, most likely after John Bright (1811 - 1889) an English publicist, reformer and parliamentarian the township thrived. With the Gold Rush in full swing, Bright soon had Catholic, Wesleyan and Presbyterian churches, schools, three hotels, three quartz mills and two bank branches. As the yield of gold declined in the 1870s, so too did Bright’s population, yet by the 1880s, it became an alpine tourism town. The Bright Alpine club was formed in 1887 and a community library was started there in 1889. In the following year Bright was connected by railway to Myrtleford and Wangaratta, bringing with it much needed tourists from Melbourne. In 1910 a grand chalet was opened at Mount Buffalo and Bright ran a hire car service for visitors, who often stayed there overnight at a hotel or guesthouse. In 1919 a secondary school was opened in Bright. It also had a tourist progress association and local angling, bowling, racing, tennis and golf clubs amongst its many attractions. By the mid 1920s the people of Bright began planting exotic trees partly for landscape improvement and partly to lay the summer dust. The street tree plantings produced extraordinary autumn colours. By 1933, Bright was described as the “Tourism Capital of the Ovens Valley”. Bright’s train line continued until 1983 when it was finally discontinued and replaced with coaches. By that time, it was a well established tourism town with people flocking there all throughout the year for different reasons. Bright is a base for exploring the peaks of Mount Buffalo National Park and Alpine National Park as well as Mount Hotham, a popular ski resort. Bright is a starting point for the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, a hiking and cycling path. Bright Museum, in the town’s former train station, documents rail and gold rush history. The region is also known for wineries and of course its amazing display of autumnal foliage.

Replacing the earlier side valve engined MM model, series II was produced from 1952-56 with a 803cc 4 cyl power plant

Pirellis’ 2016 Calendar Replaces Sexy Stars With Influential Women

 

jh-siesta.com/photography/pirellis-2016-calendar-replaces...

Replacing a leaking waterline to the greenhouse.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 09-Nov-24.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Guinness Peat Aviation (later to become GECAS) and leased to Air 2000 as G-OOOU in Aug-91. It was wet-leased to Kiwi Travel International (New Zealand) in Nov-95 and returned to Air 2000 in Apr-96.

 

In Mar-99 it was operated for TCS Expeditions in an all First Class configuration for exclusive 'Round-the-World' charter flights, returning to Air 2000 the following month. Similar flights were operated for TCS Expeditions between Jan/Mar-00, Jan/Mar-01 and Nov-01/Feb-02.

 

The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-02 and stored. In Apr-03 it was leased to Air Atlanta Icelandic as TF-ARI and operated on behalf of Excel Airways in May-03. It returned to Air Atlanta Icelandic in Nov-04 and was placed in winter storage at Marana, AZ, USA until Mar-05 when it was again operated for Excel Airways.

 

In Nov-05 the lease was transferred to Excel Airways and the aircraft was re-registered G-VKNA. Excel Airways was renamed XL Airways in Nov-06. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-07 and immediately leased to Aladia.com (Mexico) as XA-MTY.

 

Aladia ceased operations in Oct-08 and the aircraft was returned to the lessor and re-registered N240MQ in Nov-08. It was initially stored at Lake City, FL, USA and later at Victorville, CA, USA.

 

It was sold to FedEx Federal Express in Aug-09 and remained stored at Victorville. The aircraft was re-registered N930FD in May-10 and was ferried to Mobile-BFM, AL, USA for freighter conversion with a main deck cargo door. It entered service with FedEx in Oct-10. Current, updated 09-Nov-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 05-Jan-25

 

The early version of Ryanair's livery.

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N1786B, this aircraft was delivered to Ryanair as EI-CSF in May-00. Blended winglets were added and 'eyebrow windows' were removed in Jan-07.

 

The aircraft was sold to CIT Aerospace International in Mar-08 and immediately leased to The IMP Group Ltd, trading as CanJet Airlines as C-FTCX. It was sub-leased to Travel Service Airlines (Czech Republic) as OK-TSJ in May-15 for the European summer season.

 

In Sep-15, The IMP Group made the decision to close down CanJet's own flight operations due to high losses, retaining some of the aircraft for sub-lease to other airlines. OK-TSJ was returned to IMP Group/CanJet in Nov-15, becoming C-FTCX again.

 

It was sub-leased to Air Transat in Dec-15 for the winter season, returning to IMP Group/CanJet in May-16. At the end of May-16 the aircraft was re-registered SP-ENO and sub-leased to Enter Air, Slovak Republic.

 

It was sold to Avolon Aerospace in Apr-17 while the lease to Enter Air continued. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and parked at Warsaw, Poland(?) at the end Oct-23. It was ferried to Knock, Ireland at the end of Nov-23 and stored.

 

It was returned to the lessor as EI-CSF, again, in Jan-24. The aircraft was broken up at Knock in Jul-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 12-Mar-15.

 

'Biggin Hill Air Fair 1966'.

 

G-ASJF was delivered new to British United Airways in May-65, BUA merged into Caledonian Airways to form Caledonian//BUA in Nov-70 becoming British Caledonian Airways in Sep-71. Sold to the British Jet Aircraft Company in Apr-82 it was leased to Pacific Express as N103EX. They didn't keep up the payments and it was repossessed in Mar-84. After a period in storage it was leased to Cascade Airways in Oct-84 and returned to British Jet Aircraft Company in Jan-86. It was sold to Florida Express the same month and broken up for spares in Feb-86.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 27-Aug-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

Left side.

 

This aircraft was delivered to JAS Japan Air System as JA8029 in Oct-97. It was sold to a lessor and leased back to JAS in Mar-98. JAS was merged into Japan Airlines in Apr-04 and integrated into JAL's new Domestic Division.

 

in Oct-06 the aircraft was transferred to Japan Airlines - International Division. The separate divisions were brought together when it all became Japan Airlines again in Apr-11.

 

This aircraft operated JAL's 'final' MD-90 service in Mar-12 and was stored at Tokyo - Haneda. However, after three months in storage the aircraft was returned to service in Jun-12 and was finally retired in Apr-13.

 

In mid May-13, it was sold to Delta Air Lines (USA) as N951DL and ferried to Jacksonville - Cecil Field, FL, USA for heavy maintenance and cabin reconfiguration. It entered service in Sep-13.

 

Delta Air Lines managed to get another six years service out of the aircraft before it was permanently retired at Birmingham, AL, USA in Sep-19. Updated 27-Aug-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 02-Mar-14.

 

Diversion day, fog in the south of England...

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6055X, this aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-BDXO in Apr-87. It was withdrawn from service in Oct-01 and initially stored at the British Airways Engineering facility at Cardiff, Wales, UK.

 

It was moved to Mojave, CA, USA in Jan-02. The aircraft was sold to European Skybus Ltd in Mar-03 and came back across the Atlantic to be stored at Manston, Kent, UK in basic British Airways livery with the 'Paithani' tail.

 

It was leased to European Skybus' associate company European Aviation Air Charter in Dec-03 and repainted all white with 'European' titles and a blue tail with 'Euroflag' stars.

 

However, it never entered service and was returned to European Skybus in Oct-04 (I guess there must have been a good reason why BA got rid of it after only 14 years). The aircraft was ferried to Amsterdam, Netherlands later the same month and stored.

 

It was broken up there in Nov-05. The flight deck section was taken by road to ROC Hoofdorp (an aviation related training school ?) on 22-Dec-05.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 19-Apr-18.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Air France as F-GBYK in Apr-83. It was sold to a lessor in Jun-99 and leased back to Air France. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-00 and sold to Triton Aviation Services as N242TR the same day. It was leased to Austral Lineas Aereas (Argentina) as LV-PIS in Nov-00 and was re-registered LV-ZXB the following month. In Nov-03 it was returned to the lessor and leased to Aerolineas Argentinas in Dec-03. The aircraft was permanently retired at Buenos Aries - Ezeiza International in Nov-09. It was auctioned off for scrap in Jul-11 and subsequently broken up.

light field reflective lighting and a strip box camera right to light the plant.

Navigatiestation Groningen

 

The bunkers were constructed to replace an earlier navigation station from 1949 at Oling. Construction took place between 1953 and 1957 and cost several million guilders.

From 1958 these bunkers were in use to detect and follow enemy aircraft. The men formed part of the 928th division light Lua Territorial and were stationed in the Pieter Bierema barracks and (from 1953 also) in the new Camp Fivelingo (later renamed Willem Lodewijk van Nassaukazerne) in Appingedam.

378 men could stay in the bunkers. The radar could detect aircraft as far as Berlin. The command bunker consists of several dozen rooms spread over two floors, has walls up to 5.6 meters thick and was equipped with massive gas-tight steel doors. In the event of an atomic attack, a cavity wall and a pump installation were provided to allow the groundwater to be pumped out again in the event of a crack in the outer wall.

The entrances to all seven bunkers were placed 1.5 meters above NAP so as not to be flooded in the event of a dike breach.

In order to be self-sufficient, the complex had three generators of 250 kW each and a drinking water supply of 160,000 liters, so that people could remain underground for two to three months. 1800 telephone lines were available for communication with the outside world.

 

The bunkers remained in use for only 6 years. It would then have been the most modern station in Western Europe.

Create a card using ONLY CREAM, RED, GOLD. No other colors. Christmas theme is not required. www.flickr.com/groups/heroarts/discuss/72157632030518707/...

 

HA CG140 Poppy Background

HA CL511 Sweet Threads Thank You

 

Versamark ink embossed in clear detail powder on watercolor paper for texture.

 

Buffed with HA Red Royal mid tone ink

 

Sentiment stamped in Gold pigment ink and embossed with detail gold powder.

 

Mounted on Gold CS, tied with gold mesh ribbon and layered onto Neenah Ivory CS.

 

Seriously need to work on my embossing skills and/or replace my pigment inks.

This swing deck ferry was replaced by something more conventional in between this shot and my last visit in 1987.

 

In 1995 the ferry was replaced by a bridge. This resulted in a 9 year campaign against the extortionate toll that was set. The protesters finally won in 2004 when the Scottish Executive purchased the bridge from the private owners (Bank of America!). The bridge is now toll free.

 

I'm sure that the bridge with its toll free status will be good for the Skye economy, but for me the desire to go back there died when the bridge was built. Somehow Skye no longer feels like an island, and it is therefore not the place that I loved. I climbed there many times in the 1960s.

 

I had similar feelings when a roro ferry was introduced to Mull. These developments seem to represent the tourism dilemma. I cannot in conscience not want the local people to enjoy the economic benefits that result, but Mull is now a completely different place. I go elsewhere to enjoy what I used to enjoy on Mull. And for the things that Mull now offers I can mostly go elsewhere (except for the little theatre at Craignure!).

 

These dilemmas beset just about the whole of New Zealand at present. Of course I am representing the classic development problem for beautiful places. We all want development to be allowed until I have built my house. Then we want it to stop.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 23-Feb-26.

 

Leased from / operated by Nouvelair Tunisie.

 

First flown in primer with the Airbus test registration F-WWBY, this aircraft was delivered to GECAS and leased to Iberworld, Spain as EC-IAG in Nov-01.

 

At the request of GECAS the aircraft was returned to them as EI-DIG in late Oct-04. It was leased to Ryan International Airlines, USA two days later and operated on behalf of US Tour Operator Funjet Vacations.

 

It was returned to the lessor on 01-May-05 and leased to Iberworld again three days later and continued to operate with it's Irish registration.

 

The aircraft was sub-leased to GoAir, India as VT-WAZ in Oct-05 and returned to Iberworld as EC-JRU in Apr-06. In May-06 it was wet-leased to Arkefly Holland, operating for TUI Netherlands.

 

It returned to Iberworld in Nov-06 and was leased to GoAir again a few days later, this time as VT-WAV. the aircraft returned to Iberworld as EC-KEN in May-07. It was returned to the lessor in May-09.

 

In Jun-09 it was leased to Nouvelair Tunisie as TS-INP. The aircraft was sub-leased to Coral Blue Airlines, Egypt as SU-KBD and returned to Nouvelair as TS-INP in Jul-11. It was wet-leased to Libyan Arab Airlines in Jan-12 painted in full livery and returned to Nouvelair in Jun-13.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Air Algerie, Algeria in Jun-15 and returned to Nouvelair in Sep-15. It was wet-leased to Travel Service Airlines, Czechia in Jun-16 and returned to Nouvelair in Oct-16.

 

It was withdrawn from service and stored at Monastir, Tunisia in Aug-23 and returned to service in May-24. The aircraft was permanently retired at Lourdes, France in Feb-26. Updated 23-Feb-26.

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 02-Oct-21 (De Noise AI). Taken through glass with some reflections.

 

First flown with the Fokker test registration PH-EZE, this aircraft was leased to BMA British Midland |Airways as G-BVJA in Apr-94.

 

It was sold to East Midlands Aircraft Finance BV in Dec-98 while the lease to British Midland continued. The airline was renamed 'bmi british midland' in Feb-01.

 

The aircraft was returned to the lessor and sold to Skywest Airlines (Australia) as VH-FNJ in Apr-04. Skywest was renamed Virgin Australia Regional in May-13. Current, updated 02-Oct-21.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 18-Jan-20.

 

With Aerolineas Argentinas tail logo (for a while both Air Plus Comet and Aerolineas Argentinas were owned by Grupo Marsans).

 

First flown with the test registration F-WWCU, this aircraft was delivered to Pan Am, Pan American World Airways as N818PA in Apr-88. It was sold to Wilmington Trust Company and leased back to Pan Am. As part of a rationalisation plan, some routes and the A310's were transferred to Delta Air Lines in Nov-91 (Pan Am ceased operations on 04-Dec-91). It was returned to the lessor in Mar-94. In Jun-94 the aircraft was leased to Globe Azur Airline Inc (Canada), trading as Air Club International, as C-GCIT. It was converted to an A310-324ER at Hamburg, Germany in Dec-94 with an additional fuel tank. The aircraft was returned to Airbus Industrie A300 Leasing in Oct-96 and stored at Marana, Az, USA. It was re-registered N572SW in Feb-97 and remained stored until it was leased to Air Plus Comet as EC-GOT in Jun-97. The 'Plus' was dropped in Jan-07 when it became just 'Air Comet'. The aircraft was wet-leased, short term, to RAM Royal Air Maroc in Nov/Dec-07. It was permanently retired at Lourdes, France in May-09 and was broken up in Oct-09. Updated (Jan-20)

replaced isle coaches 646/647 college service.

Replaced April 7, 2014 with a re-processed version that I think gives it more depth, so I'm placing it at the front of my Photostream. Some leaves were just beginning to change here in Portland, Oregon on this bright October day with the sun low in the sky.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 23-Aug-20.

 

Taken from the Templeton Bridge.

 

Fleet No: "3270".

 

This aircraft was first flown with the incorrectly applied test registration F-WWDY, it was corrected to F-WWYD six days later. It was delivered to Northwest Airlines as N370NW in Jul-99. The aircraft was sold to a lessor in Dec-99 and leased back to Northwest Airlines. Northwest was merged into Delta Air Lines in Oct-08. The aircraft was temporarily stored at Victorville, CA, USA in Apr-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Current, updated (Aug-20).

+++ 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 "Entwicklung" tank series (= "development"), more commonly known as the E-Series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardized series of tank designs. There were to be six standard designs in different weight classes, from which several specialized variants were to be developed. This intended to reverse the trend of extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.

 

The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors; however, their design offered only modest improvements in armor and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf.G or Tiger II. However, the resulting high degree of standardization of German armored vehicles would also have made logistics and maintenance easier. Indeed, nearly all of the E-series vehicles — up through and including the E-75 — were intended to use what were essentially the Tiger II's eighty centimeter diameter, steel-rimmed road wheels for their suspension, meant to overlap each other (as on the later production Tiger I-E and Panther designs that also used them), even though in a much simplified fashion.

 

Compared with the earlier designs, the amount of drilling and machining involved in producing the Standardpanzer designs was reduced drastically, which would have made them quicker, easier and cheaper to produce, as would the proposed conical spring system, replacing their predecessors' torsion bar system which required a special steel alloy.

 

Focus of initial chassis and combat vehicle development was the E-50/75 Standardpanzer, designed by Adler, both being mostly identical and only differing in armor thickness, overall weight and running gear design to cope with the different weights.

 

There were also lighter chassis variants, though, including the light E-5 and E-10 for armored, tracked reconnaissance vehicles and the E-25. The E-25 designs, in the 25-50 tonnes weight class, were to be the replacements of all Panzer III and Panzer IV based designs, with Alkett, Argus and Adler, with involvement of Porsche. This family would include medium reconnaissance vehicles, medium Jagdpanzer and heavy Waffenträger, using five Tiger II style road wheels per side, combined with "slack-track" design. Track propulsion was switched to a rear drive sprocket, as a consequence of mating the engine and the gearbox into a tail-mounted, single and very compact power pack that made the voluminous and heavy power train through the hull obsolete. This allowed the gun mount to be directly attached to the hull floor, which lowered the overall silhouette, and the gained space offered more room for the crew’s operations as well as for ammunition storage.

 

The medium tank hunter received high priority and the project was called Jagdpanzer E-25/88 and ran under the inventory ordnance number "SdKfz. 198"; . It was to replace various Panzer IV tank hunters and the light "Hetzer" from 1945 onwards, which all either suffered from insufficient firepower, lack of mobility, or armor. Another tank the E-25/88 would replace was the excellent but complex and expensive Jagdpanther with its 8.8 cm Pak 43/3 or 43/4 L/71 cannon.

 

The Jagdpanzer E-25/88 was to eradicate all problems of the Panzer IV tank hunter family and combine the benefits from all former types, including the powerful 8.8cm PaK, which could take down any Allied tank around late 1944 at considerably distances. Even though the E-25 tank hunter was initially to be outfitted with the proven 7.5 cm/L70 gun from the Jagdpanzer IV and the Panther battle tank, it was surmised that this armament would not be enough for the enemy's next generation tanks.

Beyond its heavy armament, the new tank hunter was to offer good protection through armor and hull shape alike, as well as high mobility, while keeping overall weight at around 30 tons (the Jagdpanzer IV weighed roundabout 25 tons, while the much bigger Jagdpanther weighed 45 tons) and overall size smaller than the Jagdpanther.

Heavier tank hunters than the E-25/88, based of the new E-50 and E-75 chassis were under development in parallel, but they were all to carry heavier guns, including the 12.8 cm PaK and newly developed 10.5 cm and 13 cm cannons. An E-100 SPG on the drawing board (called "Krokodil") was to carry a 15 cm or even a 17.5 cm anti tank gun.

 

In late 1944, with the Allied invasion in the West and rising pressure from the East, anti tank and assault SPGs were direly needed and the rejuvenation of the German tank force was sped up in a hurry. As a consequence the Jagdpanzer E-25/88 was prematurely ushered into production before the medium E-25 chassis development had been fully completed.

As a stopgap solution, initial production tanks were outfitted with a Henschel running gear that dated back to the canceled VK20 and VK30 tank program, and these vehicles were later re-designated SdKfz. 198/1 (while the vehicles with the new/standardized running gear became the SdKfz. 198/2). However, its overlapped and interleaved roadwheel-based suspension system (called “Schachtellaufwerk”) was a considerable improvement against the Panzer IV design, even though it was more complex than the final E-25 system. Around 80 vehicles were produced with the Henschel suspension until production was switched to the simplified Alkett suspension based on the unified wheels of the bigger Einheitspanzer types.

 

The upper hull remained basically the same throughout production, though, and was based on proven principles. To accommodate the heavy-calibre gun, much as on previous unturreted tank destroyers, the glacis plate and sloped hull sides of the Jagdpanzer E-25/88 were extended up into an integral, turretless fixed casemate as part of the main hull itself, providing a relatively roomy interior. The Jagdpanzer E-25/88 had side armour of up to 60 mm, frontal and gun mantlet armour was 80mm. The E-25's engine was a Maybach HL 101 with 550 PS (539 hp, 341 kW), another recognizable improvement in comparison with its frequently underpowered predecessors. Maximum speed was up to 52 km/h (32 mph) on level ground, and the interleafed running gear allowed a smooth ride and high speed even in rough terrain - even though the complex design meant that the wheels could clog up easily with heavy mud or snow.

 

The gun was mounted in a central "Saukopf" mantlet, similar to the Jagdpanzer IV, and had a limited traverse of 11° to each side, with an elevation of −8° to +15°. 50 rounds for the main gun could be stowed. A single 7.92 mm MG-34 machine gun for frontal defence and against soft ground targets was carried in a ball mount on the right side of the front glacis plate, operated by the wireless operator. Another MG-34 was mounted in a remotely controlled turret on top of the hull, operated by the commander who sat under a cupola with seven periscopes for a good field of view. This machine gun was, in later production tanks, to be replaced by a 30mm MK 108 (actually a compact, belt-fed aircraft machine gun), but this was never carried out since MK 103 production was completely allocated to the Luftwaffe. The driver sat on the left. The gunner had a visual rangefinder and a periscope telescopic sight. The periscope - linked to the gun mount - was under an armored housing on the roof.

 

In service the vehicle was, due to its crouched silhouette, unofficially called "Dachs" (Badger), a name that was quickly adopted in official circles, too. The first vehicles reached Western front line units along the Rhine in March 1945. They proved to be very successful and popular with its crews, because the tank was agile, easy to handle and less cramped than most of its predecessors. Total production reached 250 vehicles until the end of hostilities, and many of the E-25/88s design features were later incorporated into the post WWII “Jagdpanzer Kanone” for the German Bundeswehr.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, radio operator, driver)

Weight: 31 tonnes (34.5 short tons)

Length: 6.98 metres (22 ft 10 in) (hull only)

9.93 metres (32 ft 6 1/2 in) incl. gun

Width: 3.20 metres (10 ft 6 in)

Height 2.48 metres (8 ft 1 1/2 in)

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

Suspension: Torsion bar

Fuel capacity: 450 litres (120 US gal)

 

Armor:

10–80 mm (0.4 – 3.15 in)

 

Performance:

Speed

- Maximum, road: 52 km/h (32 mph)

- Sustained, road: 42 km/h (26 mph)

- Cross country: 16 to 25 km/h (9.5 to 15.5 mph)

Operational range: 210 km (130 mi)

Power/weight: 17,74 PS/tonne (16 hp/ton)

 

Engine:

V-12 Maybach Maybach HL 101 gasoline engine with 550 PS (539 hp, 341 kW)

 

Transmission:

ZF AK 7-200 with 7 forward 1 reverse gears

 

Armament:

1× 8.8 cm KwK 43/4 L/71 with 50 rounds

2× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine guns with a total of 5.200 rounds

(one in the casemate front and a remote-controlled gun on the commander's cupola)

  

The kit and its assembly:

It does not look spectacular, but this compact tank hunter is a major kitbashing, inspired by - but not necessarily an exact model of - the real but unrealized German E-25 Jagdpanzer project.

 

Things started with a leftover chassis from a Trumpeter "Sturer Emil" SPG with an early interleaf suspension design and a relatively long hull. I wanted to save it and incorporate it into a Heer '46 design, and soon the idea of a Jagdpanzer IV successor was born. Selling it as an E-25 design and incorporating a bigger gun was a logical step.

 

The build was very pragmatic. The lower hull with the wheel attachments was taken OOB, but it was shortened by 5mm. This was achieved by simply taking away a plug behind the last road wheel and in front of the sprocket wheel, which was moved from the front to the rear end.

While this sounds simple, the attachment points’ different diameters and the need for a sturdy construction (due to the kit’s vinyl tracks) posed quite a challenge. In the wake of this modification, the track’s support wheels were deleted, too, for the E-25’s simplified “slack track” layout. The tracks were shortened accordingly, and mounted/fixed with super glue (as one of the final steps after painting).

 

The upper hull comes basically from an Armorfast Jagdpanther, after several trials with a Jagdpanzer IV, a Brummbär and even a potentially scratched casemate. The Jagdpanther hull was reduced in height, though, and also slightly shortened, so that the new tank would be more compact than a Jagdpanther and also differ in the silhouette.

 

In order to change the look even more, the “Saukopf” gun mantlet from a Jagdpanzer IV/70 was implanted (even though with an 8,8cm barrel), as well as the vehicle’s protective shields for the motor deck. Overall hull width was adapted to the Sturer Emil tracks through mudguards.

 

The machine gun turret was scratched, and some other details changed or added, including some periscopes, a Panzer IV commander cupola and some equipment pieces on the mudguards.

  

Painting and markings:

This time, I wanted a disruptive scheme for this tank hunter, and adopted a rather simple livery for the E-25/88: a uniform RAL 6003 Olivgrün for the upper hull (appied with a rattle can, plus a hush with RAL 6011 on the upper surfaces), with a dense, irregular pattern of sand/yellow blotches - lighter than the authentic RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb, though (I have used Humbrol 103, Cream).

Wheels and the lower hull flanks (behind the running gear) were painted in RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb (RAL 8000, which comes pretty close, IMHO).

 

Similar schemes were, for instance, applied to some Ferdinand tank Hunters, operated in Italy and the Eastern Front, but also on Jagdpanthers at the Western front (e. g. in Belgium). The result reminds a bit of a Giraffe, or of the unique British "net" scheme applied to tanks on Malta.

 

On top of the basic paintwork, a dark brown washing was added and the edges further emphasized through dry-brushing with light grey and pale sand tones, plus some acrylic silver.

 

Once the wheels and tracks were fitted into place and the few decals applied, a coat of matt acrylic varnish was added. Finally, dust and dry mud were simulated with mixed pigments, applied with a soft brush onto wet stains of varnish.

  

This E-25 tank hunter model looks pretty conclusive, and at first glance it looks very German, because it incorporates many typical design features. But the more you look the more “unique” it looks, e. g. through the low Schachtellaufwerk, the lowered Jagdpanther upper hull and its combination with the Saukopf gun mantlet from the Jagdpanzer IV. It looks very purposeful, and the paint scheme appears to be very effective, too, blurring the outlines and details well.

C.J. Fitzgerald

c . 1942

16' x 40'

Glaze on Tile

420 Taylor Street, San Francisco, California.

 

This tile mural graces the entrance of what was once known as NBC's Radio City in San Francisco. While there is quite a bit of information about the building, I was unable to discover anything about the mural except the name of the artist and about a restoration project.

 

First, about Radio City:

 

NBC began to draw up plans for an elaborate new studio building in San Francisco to replace the outmoded facility at 111 Sutter Street and match the opulence of the new Hollywood facility. This was NBC's "Radio City," which drew national acclaim for both its architectural and broadcast features. And it was built by mistake.

 

Plans were drawn up and bids taken in 1940 for the construction of an ultra-modern four-story studio complex at Taylor and O'Farrell Streets. Meanwhile, NBC apparently changed its mind and decided to move all the remaining operations to Hollywood. According to one story, the ground breaking was set to begin when the West Coast vice president received a telegram from New York. It said a decision had been made to phase out the San Francisco operation, and that the new building must not be built. But, it was too late; the event, once set into motion, could not be reversed. The vice president himself officiated at the ground breaking ceremony that day, the telegram in his pocket.

 

The million-dollar facility was formally dedicated April 26, 1942. It was an impressive edifice, four stories of pink, windowless walls with layers of glass brick outlining each floor. Over the marquee, at the main entrance to the building, was a three-story mosaic mural designed by C. J. Fitzgerald which depicted different facets of the radio industry. Inside, facilities included a 41-by-72 foot main studio, two 24-by-44 secondary studios, and four smaller studios. In addition, a parking garage occupied practically the entire first floor.

 

One of the smaller studios, Studio G, was equipped with a false fireplace, fur rugs and comfortable furniture. It was reserved for V.I.P. guests exclusively, and Harry Truman, General Sarnoff and H.V. Kaltenborn were just a few of those who eventually used it. Another feature of NBC's radio palace was a roof garden where Sam Dickson, Dave Drummond, James Day and other staff writers would produce scripts in their swimsuits and work on their suntans at the same time.

 

The building was a magnificent tribute to the state of the art. It was also San Francisco's last great fling as a radio center, for less than a year after its completion the southward exodus had ended, and most of the facility stood unused except for an occasional network sustaining feature.

 

In the ensuing years much of the building was leased as office space, and the entire radio operation consisted of a disc jockey playing records in a third floor booth. KGO was moved to Golden Gate Avenue in the early 1950s, and KPO, by then known as KNBR, moved out in 1967. That was the year the building was sold to Kaiser Broadcasting Company, and it became the new home of KBHK Television. At last, it finally began to see extensive usage for the purpose for which it was built.

 

bayarearadio.org/schneider/nbcarch.shtml

 

The Mural:

 

A web site motivated by a NY Times article about the destruction and damage of public art in San Francisco (if the sorry state of the Native Sons Building seen earlier in my photostream is any indication, she has a point) has this to say:

 

Diane Winters is a tile restoration artist. She recently emailed me about this mural that she was instrumental in restoring. I had never seen it before, and was thrilled to get a chance to photograph it and learn a little bit of San Francisco history, I was completely unaware of.

 

The mural sits on the side of a parking garage, little did I know the building also housed Radio City. The NBC Radio City building in San Francisco was not owned by NBC. It was built for NBC and owned by a San Francisco investor, a dentist named Dr. Barrett. The basement and most of the ground floor were used as a public parking garage operated by Dr. Barrett. The upper four floors were used for broadcasting. Rumor has it that Dr. Barrett believed that radio was a passing fad, so he had the framework of his building designed to allow easy conversion of the rest of the building into a parking garage.

 

NBC moved into Radio City in 1942. It moved out when the twenty-five year lease expired in 1967. The building was a white elephant from the day NBC moved in. It contained ten studios, plus a news studio. Every studio except news had its own control room

 

The building is an Art Deco marvel and if you are interested in reading more of its architecture and history here is a great link.

 

The mural, which contains over 2,500 tiles, measures 16 X 40 feet and begins over the doorway, on the second floor making it very hard for me to bring you really terrific photos. Notice the hand on a radio dial.

 

Diane’s email had this to say “As a side note, 22 of the current tiles were made by me to replicate tiles damaged during renovations begun in 2000. Impact from the interior side of the facade wall caused a portion of the hand and adjacent radio waves to fall off the building, fortunately landing on that “canopy” over the entrance and not on pedestrians. I used the broken pieces and a photograph, plus glaze and blackline technique tests over the course of two years to recreate them. I had to match more than 18 glaze colors just in that small section. …there were 126 colors total (I don’t even want to try to imagine counting and keeping straight that many).”

 

I sadly, could find nothing about C.J. Fitzgerald the original designer of the mural.

 

www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/tenderloin-san-francisco-de...

Plumber replaced pipes

Replaced Mercerville Acme around a mile away

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 05-Jun-25.

 

Named: "Dufourspitze 4634m" later "Zurich" (Apr-07)

 

First flown in Jul-03 with the Airbus test registration F-WWJL, this aircraft was delivered to Swiss International Airlines as HB-JMB in Sep-03. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Amman, Jordan in Mar-21, returning to service in Aug-21. Current.