+++ 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 Fiat G.91Y was an Italian ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in 1966. Resembling its predecessor, the Fiat G.91, the aircraft was a complete redesign, a major difference being its twin-turbojet engines for a considerably increased performance.

 

Funded by the Italian government, the G.91Y prototype was based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant with a single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine. This was replaced with two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60%. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats.

 

The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being license-manufactured in Italy.

 

Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.

 

An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes.

 

Like the G.91 before, the G.91Y attained much interest as it was a versatile light fighter bomber. One of the countries that ahd an eye on the upgraded Gina was Switzerland, looking for a dedicated support or even replacement for the Hawker Hunters, which were primarily used in the interceptor role, as well as the outdated D. H. Venom fighter bombers.

 

Fiat's answer was the G.91YS, a version tailored to Swiss needs. A first prototype with enhanced avionics, a strengthened structure for higher external loads as well as for typical operations on short runways with steep climbs and extra hardpoints to carry AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for evaluation by Switzerland.

The first G.91YS flew on 16 October 1970, but at that time it was already clear that the machine was to carry smart weapons, primarily the AGM-65 'Maverick', which was also earmarked as new, additional Hawker Hunter ordnance.

 

In order to get things moving the Swiss Air Force ordered in 1972 an initial batch of 22 G.91YS, knowing that an upgrade would become necessary soon. It was a kind of stopgap purchase, though, because the original types for that role, Vought A-7 or the Mirage III derivative Milan S, were rejected after long negotiations. The G.91YS was a more simple and cost effective option, and also as a better option than a short-notice offer for second hand A-4Bs in late 1972.

 

The new machines were delivered until summer 1974 and allocated to Fliegerstaffel 22 which exclusively operated the fighter bomber. This came just in time because by 1975 plans were laid to replace the Hunter in the air-to-air role with a more modern fighter aircraft, the Northrop F-5E Tiger II (which became operational in 1978). The Hunter remained in a key role within the Swiss Air Force, though. Like the RAF's Hunter fleet, the type transitioned to become the country's primary ground attack platform, completely replacing the Venom, while the G.91YS was regarded as more sophisticated attack aircraft against small, single targets, including tanks (with Soviet mobile tactical missile launch platforms in mind), relying on the AGM-65 as its main armament. Four of these missiles could be carried under the wings, plus a pair of AIM-9 for self-defense. Alternative loads included unguided missiles of various sizes (incl. podded launchers), iron bombs or napalm tanks of up to 1.000 lb caliber, or drop tanks on the inner pylons.

 

The G.91YS’s primary mission as precision strike aircraft was further emphasized through a massive upgrade program in 1982, including improved sensors, a modernized radio system, a nose-mounted laser tracker/range finder (replacing the former Vinten cameras and greatly improving single pass attack capability and accuracy) and the integration of electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems. The upgraded machines were easily recognizable through their more rounded nose shape with a pitot tube mounted on top, a characteristic spine fairing and a radar warning system housing at the top of the fin.

 

In this form the G.91YS was kept in operational service until 1994, when it was retired together with the Swiss Hunter fleet. Six aircraft had been lost through accidents during the type’s career. Author Fiona Lombardi stated of the retirement of the Hunter and the G.91YS, the Swiss Air Force "definitively lost the capability to carry out air-to-ground operations". With the retirement of the G.91YS fleet Fliegerstaffel 22 was disbanded, too.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length (incl. pitot): 12.29 m (40 ft 11 in)

Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)

Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)

Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)

Empty weight: 4.000 kg (8.810 lb)

Loaded weight: 8.000 kg (17.621 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 9.000 kg (19.825 lb)

Powerplant:

2× General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets with afterburners, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1.110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph,

Mach 0.95 at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)

Range: 3,400 km (ferry range with droptanks) (2,110 mls)

Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)

Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)

Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons

6× under-wing pylon stations holding up to maximum of 2.270 kg (5.000 lb) of payload.

 

The kit and its assembly:

A classic whif – the G.91YS for the Swiss Air Force actually existed, and I just spun the idea further. The compact fighter would have been a suitable addition to the small nation’s air force, and I interpreted it as an addition to the big Hawker Hunter fleet with a dedicated role and with suitable special equipment.

 

The basis is the Matchbox G.91Y kit with some minor changes:

• A new nose from a Fujimi Harrier GR.3

• The jet exhausts were opened and some interior added

• Flaps were lowered

• Some added detail to the ejection seat

• The spine extension, a simple piece of sprue

• The radar warning fairing is a square piece of styrene sheet

• Replacement of the cast-on guns with hollow steel needles

• The Sidewinder hardpoints come from a Revell F-16A

• The AGM-65s and their launch rails come from a Hasegawa weapon set

  

Painting and markings:

The bigger challenge, because I did not want to use the typical “Hunter livery” in Extra Dark Sea Grey/SlateGrey/Aluminum – even if it would have been the natural choice for a Swiss aircraft. Choice for alternative yet authentic schemes is narrow, though – late Mirage III or the F-5Es carry a two-tone grey air superiority scheme, and I found this rather unsuitable for an attack aircraft.

 

So I developed my own design: a mix of the original Italian grey/green scheme and a two-tone pattern that late Turkish RF-4E/TMs carried - but with different colors and all mashed up into a modern, disruptive scheme. Experimental schemes of the German Luftwaffe in the late 70ies for their Alpha Jets and the F-4F fleet (leading to the complex Norm ’81 patterns) also had an influence.

 

As basic tones I used RAL 6007 (Grüngrau, Revell 67) and Dark Gull Grey (FS36231, Modelmaster, turned out to be a bit too pale for what I wanted to achieve), with added fields of RAL 7000 (Fehgrau, Revell 57) on the upper surfaces and on the mid-waterline flanks – lighter and softer than the original NATO tones and with disruptive lighter blotches that break up the silhouette.

 

The underside was simply painted in uniform FS36375 (Humbrol 127), which was also carried onto the fin. After a thin black ink wash panels were lightened through dry-brushing.

 

Cockpit interior was painted with Humbrol 140, the landing gear with a mix of White and Aluminum, trying to emulate look of real aircraft. In order not to make them stand out too much I painted the AGM-65s in olive drab, even though I think all Swiss missiles of that type were white. Artistic freedom…

 

Decals were puzzled together, e. g. from a Mirage III Carpena sheet and an Italieri Bae Hawk sheet, most stencils come from the OOB sheet (despite being slightly yellowed...).

  

A simple whif, done in a week, and based on an obscure real-life project. And the G.91 bears more whiffing potential, at least one more is to come!

Superb Vera Apollo! I love everything about this puzzle: the cutout, the colors, and the subject. The number of pieces suits me perfectly.

We redid a piece that had been chewed up. I kept the wood, changed the paper, and recolored it; it's almost invisible (except on the back).

 

According to Denis Charveriat, this box design was produced in 1971 and 1972.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some Background:

The Lockheed F-94 Starfire was a first-generation jet aircraft of the United States Air Force. It was developed from the twin-seat Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star in the late 1940s as an all-weather, day/night interceptor, replacing the propeller-driven North American F-82 Twin Mustang in this role. The system was designed to overtake the F-80 in terms of performance, but more so to intercept the new high-level Soviet bombers capable of nuclear attacks on America and her Allies - in particular, the new Tupelov Tu-4. The F-94 was furthermore the first operational USAF fighter equipped with an afterburner and was the first jet-powered all-weather fighter to enter combat during the Korean War in January 1953.

 

The initial production model, the F-94A, entered operational service in May 1950. Its armament consisted of four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M3 Browning machine guns mounted in the fuselage with the muzzles exiting under the radome for the APG-33 radar, a derivative from the AN/APG-3, which directed the Convair B-36's tail guns and had a range of up to 20 miles (32 km). Two 165 US Gallon (1,204 litre) drop tanks, as carried by the F-80 and T-33, were carried on the wingtips. Alternatively, these could be replaced by a pair of 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs under the wings, giving the aircraft a secondary fighter bomber capability. 109 were produced.

 

The subsequent F-94B, which entered service in January 1951, was outwardly virtually identical to the F-94A. Its Allison J33 turbojet had a number of modifications made, though, which made it a very reliable engine. The pilot was provided with a roomier cockpit and the canopy received a bow frame in the center between the two crew members. A new Instrument Landing System (ILS) was fitted, too, which made operations at night and/or in bad weather much safer. However, this new variant’s punch with just four machine guns remained weak, and, to improve the load of fire, wing-mounted pods with two additional pairs of 0.5” machine guns were introduced – but these hardly improved the interceptor’s effectiveness. 356 of the F-94B were nevertheless built.

 

The following F-94C was extensively modified and initially designated F-97, but it was ultimately decided just to treat it as a new version of the F-94. USAF interest was lukewarm since aircraft technology had already developed at a fast pace – supersonic performance had already become standard. Lockheed funded development themselves, converting two F-94B airframes to YF-94C prototypes for evaluation with a completely new, much thinner wing, a swept tail surface and a more powerful Pratt & Whitney J48. This was a license-built version of the afterburning Rolls-Royce Tay, which produced a dry thrust of 6,350 pounds-force (28.2 kN) and approximately 8,750 pounds-force (38.9 kN) with afterburning. Instead of machine guns, the proposed new variant was exclusively armed with unguided air-to-air missiles.

Tests were positive and eventually the F-94C was adopted for USAF service, since it was the best interim solution for an all-weather fighter at that time. It still had to rely on Ground Control Interception Radar (GCI) sites to vector the interceptor to intruding aircraft, though.

 

The F-94C's introduction and the availability of the more effective Northrop F-89C/D Scorpion and the North American F-86D Sabre interceptors led to a quick relegation of the earlier F-94 variants from mid-1954 onwards to second line units and to Air National Guards. By 1955 most of them had already been phased out of USAF service, and some of these relatively young surplus machines were subsequently exported or handed over to friendly nations, too. When sent to the ANG, the F-94As were modified by Lockheed to F-94B standards and then returned to the ANG as B models. They primarily replaced outdated F-80C Shooting Stars and F-51D/H Mustangs.

 

At that time the USAF was looking for a tactical reconnaissance aircraft, a more effective successor for the RF-80A which had shown its worth and weaknesses during the Korea War. For instance, the plane could not fly at low altitude long enough to perform suitable visual reconnaissance, and its camera equipment was still based on WWII standards. Lockheed saw the opportunity to fill this operational gap with conversions of existing F-94A/B airframes, which had, in most cases, only had clocked few flying hours, primarily at high altitudes where Soviet bombers were expected to lurk, and still a lot of airframe life to offer. This led to another private venture, the RF-94B, auspiciously christened “Stargazer”.

 

The RF-94B was based on the F-94B interceptor with its J33 engine and the original unswept tail. The F-94B’s wings were retained but received a different leading-edge profile to better cope with operations at low altitude. The interceptor’s nose with the radome and the machine guns underneath was replaced by a new all-metal nose cone, which was more than 3 feet longer than the former radar nose, with windows for several sets of cameras; the wedge-shaped nose cone quickly earned the aircraft the unofficial nickname “Crocodile”.

One camera was looking ahead into flight direction and could be mounted at different angled downward (but not moved during flight), followed by two oblique cameras, looking to the left and the right, and a vertical camera as well as a long-range camera focussed on the horizon, which was behind a round window at port side. An additional, spacious compartment in front of the landing gear well held an innovative Tri-Metrogen horizon-to-horizon view system that consisted of three synchronized cameras. Coupled with a computerized control system based on light, speed, and altitude, it adjusted camera settings to produce pictures with greater delineation.

All cameras could be triggered individually by pilot or a dedicated observer/camera systems operator in the 2nd seat. Talking into a wire recorder, the crew could describe ground movements that might not have appeared in still pictures. A vertical view finder with a periscopic presentation on the cockpit panel was added for the pilot to enhance visual reconnaissance and target identification directly under the aircraft. Using magnesium flares carried under its wings in flash-ejector cartridges, the RF-94B was furthermore able to fly night missions.

The RF-94B was supposed to operate unarmed, but it could still carry a pair of 1.000 lb bombs under its wings or, thanks to added plumbings, an extra pair of drop tanks for ferry flights. The F-94A/B’s machine gun pods as well as the F-94C’s unguided missile launchers could be mounted to the wings, too, making it a viable attack aircraft in a secondary role.

 

The USAF was highly interested in this update proposal for the outdated interceptors (almost 500 F-94A/Bs had been built) and ordered 100 RF-94B conversions with an option for 100 more – just when a severe (and superior) competitor entered the stage after a lot of development troubles: Republic’s RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance version. The first YRF-84F had already been completed in February 1952 and it had an overall slightly better performance than the RF-94B. However, it offered more internal space for reconnaissance systems and was able to carry up to fifteen cameras with the support of many automatized systems, so that it was a single seater. Being largely identical to the F-84F and sharing its technical and logistical infrastructures, the USAF decided on short notice to change its procurement decision and rather adopt the more modern and promising Thunderflash as its standard tactical reconnaissance aircraft. The RF-94B conversion order was reduced to the initial 100 aircraft, and to avoid operational complexity these aircraft were exclusively delivered to Air National Guardss that had experience with the F-94A/B to replace their obsolete RF-80As.

 

Gradual replacement lasted until 1958, and while the RF-94B’s performance was overall better than the RF-80A’s, it was still disappointing and not the expected tactical intelligence gathering leap forward. The airframe did not cope well with constant low-level operations, and the aircraft’s marginal speed and handling did not ensure its survivability. However, unlike the RF-84F, which suffered from frequent engine problems, the Stargazers’ J33 made them highly reliable platforms – even though the complex Tri-Metrogen device turned out to be capricious, so that it was soon replaced with up to three standard cameras.

 

For better handling and less drag esp. at low altitude, the F-94B’s large Fletcher type wingtip tanks were frequently replaced with smaller ones with about half capacity. It also became common practice to operate the RF-94Bs with only a crew of one, and from 1960 on the RF-94B was, thanks to its second seat, more and more used as a trainer before pilots mounted more potent reconnaissance aircraft like the RF-101 Voodoo, which eventually replaced the RF-94B in ANG service. The last RF-94B was phased out in 1968, and, unlike the RF-84F, it was not operated by any foreign air force.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (but frequently operated by a single pilot)

Length: 43 ft 4 3/4 in (13.25 m)

Wingspan (with tip tanks): 40 ft 9 1/2 in (12.45 m)

Height: 12 ft. 2 (3.73 m)

Wing area: 234' 8" sq ft (29.11 m²)

Empty weight: 10,064 lb (4,570 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,330 lb (6,960 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 24,184 lb (10,970 kg)

 

Powerplant:

1× Allison J33-A-33 turbojet, rated at 4,600 lbf (20.4 kN) continuous thrust,

5,400 lbf (24 kN) with water injection and 6,000 lbf (26.6 kN) thrust with afterburner

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 630 mph (1,014 km/h) at height and in level flight

Range: 930 mi (813 nmi, 1,500 km) in combat configuration with two drop tanks

Ferry range: 1,457 mi (1,275 nmi, 2,345 km)

Service ceiling: 42,750 ft (14,000 m)

Rate of climb: 6,858 ft/min (34.9 m/s)

Wing loading: 57.4 lb/ft² (384 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.48

 

Armament:

No internal guns; 2x 165 US Gallon (1,204 liter) drop tanks on the wing tips and…

2x underwing hardpoints for two additional 165 US Gallon (1,204 liter) ferry tanks

or bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber each, plus…

2x optional (rarely fitted) pods on the wings’ leading edges with either a pair of 0.5" (12.7 mm)

machine guns or twelve 2.75” (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets each

  

The kit and its assembly:

This project was originally earmarked as a submission for the 2021 “Reconnaissance & Surveillance” group build at whatifmodellers.com, in the form of a Heller F-94B with a new nose section. The inspiration behind this build was the real-world EF-94C (s/n 50-963): a solitary conversion with a bulbous camera nose. However, the EF-94C was not a reconnaissance aircraft but rather a chase plane/camera ship for the Air Research and Development Command, hence its unusual designation with the suffix “E”, standing for “Exempt” instead of the more appropriate “R” for a dedicated recce aircraft. There also was another EF-94C, but this was a totally different kind of aircraft: an ejection seat testbed.

 

I had a surplus Heller F-94B kit in The Stash™ and it was built almost completely OOB and did – except for some sinkholes and standard PSR work – not pose any problem. In fact, the old Heller Starfire model is IMHO a pretty good representation of the aircraft. O.K., its age might show, but almost anything you could ask for at 1:72 scale is there, including a decent, detailed cockpit.

 

The biggest change was the new camera nose, and it was scratched from an unlikely donor part: it consists of a Matchbox B-17G tail gunner station, slimmed down by the gunner station glazing's width at the seam in the middle, and this "sandwich" was furthermore turned upside down. Getting the transitional sections right took lots of PSR, though, and I added some styrene profiles to integrate the new nose into the rest of the hull. It was unintentional, but the new nose profile reminds a lot of a RF-101 recce Voodoo, and there's, with the straight wings, a very F-89ish look to the aircraft now? There's also something F2H-2ish about the outlines?

 

The large original wing tip tanks were cut off and replaced with smaller alternatives from a Hasegawa A-37. Because it was easy to realize on this kit I lowered the flaps, together with open ventral air brakes. The cockpit was taken OOB, I just modified the work station on the rear seat and replaced the rubber sight protector for the WSO with two screens for a camera operator. Finally, the one-piece cockpit glazing was cut into two parts to present the model with an open canopy.

  

Painting and markings:

This was a tough decision: either an NMF finish (the natural first choice), an overall light grey anti-corrosive coat of paint, both with relatively colorful unit markings, or camouflage. The USAF’s earlier RF-80As carried a unique scheme in olive drab/neutral grey with a medium waterline, but that would look rather vintage on the F-94. I decided that some tactical camouflage would make most sense on this kind of aircraft and eventually settled for the USAF’s SEA scheme with reduced tactical markings, which – after some field tests and improvisations in Vietnam – became standardized and was officially introduced to USAF aircraft around 1965 as well as to ANG units.

 

Even though I had already built a camouflaged F-94 some time ago (a Hellenic aircraft in worn SEA colors), I settled for this route. The basic colors (FS 30219, 34227, 34279 and 36622) all came from Humbrol (118, 117, 116 and 28, respectively), and for the pattern I adapted the paint scheme of the USAF’s probably only T-33 in SEA colors: a trainer based on Iceland during the Seventies and available as a markings option in one of the Special Hobby 1:32 T-33 kits. The low waterline received a wavy shape, inspired by an early ANG RF-101 in SEA camouflage I came across in a book. The new SEA scheme was apparently applied with a lot of enthusiasm and properness when it was brand new, but this quickly vaned. As an extra, the wing tip tanks received black anti-glare sections on their inner faces and a black anti-glare panel was added in front of the windscreen - a decal from a T-33 aftermarket sheet. Beyond a black ink wash the model received some subtle panel post-shading, but rather to emphasize surface details than for serious weathering.

 

The cockpit became very dark grey (Revell 06) while the landing gear wells were kept in zinc chromate green primer (Humbrol 80, Grass Green), with bright red (Humbrol 60, Matt Red) cover interiors and struts and wheels in aluminum (Humbrol 56). The interior of the flaps and the ventral air brakes became red, too.

 

The decals/markings came from a Special Hobby 1:72 F-86H; there’s a dedicated ANG boxing of the kit that comes with an optional camouflaged aircraft of the NY ANG, the least unit to operate the “Sabre Hog” during the Seventies. Since this 138th TFS formerly operated the F-94A/B, it was a perfect option for the RF-94B! I just used a different Bu. No. code on the fin, taken from a PrintScale A/T-37 set, and most stencils were perocured from the scrap box.

After a final light treatment with graphite around the afterburner for a more metallic shine of the iron metallic (Revell 97) underneath, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A camouflaged F-94 is an unusual sight, but it works very well. The new/longer nose considerably changes the aircraft's profile, and even though the change is massive, the "Crocodile" looks surprisingly plausible, if not believable! And, despite the long nose, the aircraft looks pretty sleek, especially in the air.

Replacing your old full bed headboard with the new model may be part of your house renovation. This is common, as people sometimes can be bored of their home decoration or interior design look. It is not so difficult to design your new full bed headboard, or you can even utilize your used doors...

 

midcityeast.com/what-is-your-favorite-full-bed-headboard/

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

In the late 1970s the Mikoyan OKB began development of a hypersonic high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Designated "Izdeliye 301" (also known as 3.01), the machine had an unusual design, combining a tailless layout with variable geometry wings. The two engines fueled by kerosene were located side by side above the rear fuselage, with the single vertical fin raising above them, not unlike the Tu-22 “Blinder” bomber of that time, but also reminiscent of the US-American SR-71 Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft.

 

Only few and rather corny information leaked into the West, and the 301 was believed not only to act as a reconnaissance plane , it was also believed to have (nuclear) bombing capabilities. Despite wind tunnel testing with models, no hardware of the 301 was ever produced - aven though the aircraft could have become a basis for a long-range interceptor that would replace by time the PVO's Tupolew Tu-28P (ASCC code "Fiddler"), a large aircraft armed solely with missiles.

 

Despite limitations, the Tu-28P served well in its role, but the concept of a very fast interceptor aircraft, lingered on, since the Soviet Union had large areas to defend against aerial intruders, esp. from the North and the East. High speed, coupled with long range and the ability to intercept an incoming target at long distances independently from ground guidance had high priority for the Soviet Air Defence Forces. Even though no official requirement was issued, the concept of Izdeliye 301 from the Seventies was eventually developed further into the fixed-wing "Izdeliye 701" ultra-long-range high-altitude interceptor in the 1980ies.

 

The impulse for this new approach came when Oleg S. Samoylovich joined the Mikoyan OKB after having worked at Suchoi OKB on the T-60S missile carrier project. Similar in overall design to the former 301, the 701 was primarily intended as a kind of successor for the MiG-31 Foxhound for the 21st century, which just had completed flight tests and was about to enter PVO's front line units.

 

Being based on a long range cruise missile carrier, the 701 would have been a huge plane, featuring a length of 30-31m, a wing span of 19m (featuring a highly swept double delta wing) and having a maximum TOW of 70 tons! Target performance figures included a top speed of 2.500km/h, a cruising speed of 2.100km/h at 17.000m and an effective range of 7.000km in supersonic or 11.000km in subsonic mode. Eventually, the 701 program was mothballed, too, being too ambitious and expensive for a specialized development that could also have been a fighter version of the Tu-22 bomber!

 

Anyway, while the MiG-31 was successfully introduced in 1979 and had evolved in into a capable long-range interceptor with a top speed of more than Mach 3 (limited to Mach 2.8 in order to protect the aircraft's structural integrity), MiG OKB decided in 1984 to take further action and to develop a next-generation technology demonstrator, knowing that even the formidable "Foxhound" was only an interim solution on the way to a true "Four plus" of even a 6th generation fighter. Other new threats like low-flying cruise missiles, the USAF's "Project Pluto" or the assumed SR-71 Mach 5 successor “Aurora” kept Soviet military officials on the edge of their seats, too.

 

Main objective was to expand the Foxhound's state-of the-art performance, and coiple it with modern features like aerodynamic instability, supercruise, stealth features and further development potential.

 

The aircraft's core mission objectives comprised:

- Provide strategic air defense and surveillance in areas not covered by ground-based air defense systems (incl. guidance of other aircraft with less sophisticated avionics)

- Top speed of Mach 3.2 or more in a dash and cruise at Mach 3.0 for prolonged periods

- Long range/high speed interception of airspace intruders of any kind, including low flying cruise missiles, UAVs and helicopters

- Intercept cruise missiles and their launch aircraft from sea level up to 30.000m altitude by reaching missile launch range in the lowest possible time after departing the loiter area

 

Because funding was scarce and no official GOR had been issued, the project was taken on as a private venture. The new project was internally known as "Izdeliye 710" or "71.0". It was based on both 301 and 701 layout ideas and the wind tunnel experiences with their unusual layouts, as well as Oleg Samoylovich's experience with the Suchoi T-4 Mach 3 bomber project and the T-60S.

 

"Izdeliye 710" was from the start intended only as a proof-of-concept prototype, yet fully functional. It would also incorporate new technologies like heat-resistant ceramics against kinetic heating at prolonged high speeds (the airframe had to resist temperatures of 300°C/570°F and more for considerable periods), but with potential for future development into a full-fledged interceptor, penetrator and reconnaissance aircraft.

 

Overall, “Izdeliye 710" looked like a shrinked version of a mix of both former MiG OKB 301 and 701 designs, limited to the MiG-31's weight class of about 40 tons TOW. Compared with the former designs, the airframe received an aerodynamically more refined, partly blended, slender fuselage that also incorporated mild stealth features like a “clean” underside, softened contours and partly shielded air intakes. Structurally, the airframe's speed limit was set at Mach 3.8.

 

From the earlier 301 design,the plane retained the variable geometry wing. Despite the system's complexity and weight, this solution was deemed to be the best approach for a combination of a high continuous top speed, extended loiter time in the mission’s patrol areas and good performance on improvised airfields. Minimum sweep was a mere 10°, while, fully swept at 68°, the wings blended into the LERXes. Additional lift was created through the fuselage shape itself, so that aerodynamic surfaces and therefore drag could be reduced.

 

Pilot and radar operator sat in tandem under a common canopy with rather limited sight. The cockpit was equipped with a modern glass cockpit with LCD screens. The aircraft’s two engines were, again, placed in a large, mutual nacelle on the upper rear fuselage, fed by large air intakes with two-dimensional vertical ramps and a carefully modulated airflow over the aircraft’s dorsal area.

 

Initially, the 71.0 was to be powered by a pair of Soloviev D-30F6 afterburning turbofans with a dry thrust of 93 kN (20,900 lbf) each, and with 152 kN (34,172 lbf) with full afterburner. These were the same engines that powered the MiG-31, but there were high hopes for the Kolesov NK-101 engine: a variable bypass engine with a maximum thrust in the 200kN range, at the time of the 71.0's design undergoing bench tests and originally developed for the advanced Suchoj T-4MS strike aircraft.

With the D-30F6, the 71.0 was expected to reach Mach 3.2 (making the aircraft capable of effectively intercepting the SR-71), but the NK-101 would offer in pure jet mode a top speed in excess of Mach 3.5 and also improve range and especially loiter time when running as a subsonic turbofan engine.

 

A single fin with an all-moving top and an additional deep rudder at its base was placed on top of the engine nacelle. Additional maneuverability at lower speed was achieved by retractable, all-moving foreplanes, stowed in narrow slits under the cockpit. Longitudinal stability at high speed was improved through deflectable stabilizers: these were kept horizontal for take-off and added to the overall lift, but they could be folded down by up to 60° in flight, acting additionally as stabilizer strakes.

 

Due to the aircraft’s slender shape and unique proportions, the 71.0 quickly received the unofficial nickname "жура́вль" (‘Zhurávl' = Crane). The aircaft’s stalky impression was emphasized even more through its unusual landing gear arrangement: Due to the limited internal space for the main landing gear wells between the weapons bay, the wing folding mechanisms and the engine nacelle, MiG OKB decided to incorporate a bicycle landing gear, normally a trademark of Yakovlew OKB designs, but a conventional landing gear could simply not be mounted, or its construction would have become much too heavy and complex.

 

In order to facilitate operations from improvised airfields and on snow the landing gear featured twin front wheels on a conventional strut and a single four wheel bogie as main wheels. Smaller, single stabilizer wheels were mounted on outriggers that retracted into slender fairings at the wings’ fixed section trailing edge, reminiscent of early Tupolev designs.

 

All standard air-to-air weaponry, as well as fuel, was to be carried internally. Main armament would be the K-100 missile (in service eventually designated R-100), stored in a large weapons bay behind the cockpit on a rotary mount. The K-100 had been under development at that time at NPO Novator, internally coded ‘Izdeliye 172’. The K-100 missile was an impressive weapon, and specifically designed to attack vital and heavily defended aerial targets like NATO’s AWACS aircraft at BVR distance.

 

Being 15’ (4.57 m) long and weighing 1.370 lb (620 kg), this huge ultra-long-range weapon had a maximum range of 250 mi (400 km) in a cruise/glide profile and attained a speed of Mach 6 with its solid rocket engine. This range could be boosted even further with a pair of jettisonable ramjets in tubular pods on the missile’s flanks for another 60 mi (100 km). The missile could attack targets ranging in altitude between 15 – 25,000 meters.

 

The weapon would initially be allocated to a specified target through the launch aircraft’s on-board radar and sent via inertial guidance into the target’s direction. Closing in, the K-100’s Agat 9B-1388 active seeker would identify the target, lock on, and independently attack it, also in coordination with other K-100’s shot at the same target, so that the attack would be coordinated in time and approach directions in order to overload defense and ensure a hit.

 

The 71.0’s internal mount could hold four of these large missiles, or, alternatively, the same number of the MiG-31’s R-33 AAMs. The mount also had a slot for the storage of additional mid- and short-range missiles for self-defense, e .g. three R-60 or two R-73 AAMs. An internal gun was not considered to be necessary, since the 71.0 or potential derivatives would fight their targets at very long distances and rather rely on a "hit-and-run" tactic, sacrificing dogfight capabilities for long loitering time in stand-by mode, high approach speed and outstanding acceleration and altitude performance.

 

Anyway, provisions were made to carry a Gsh-301-250 gun pod on a retractable hardpoint in the weapons bay instead of a K-100. Alternatively, such pods could be carried externally on four optional wing root pylons, which were primarily intended for PTB-1500 or PTB-3000 drop tanks, or further missiles - theoretically, a maximum of ten K-100 missiles could be carried, plus a pair of short-range AAMs.

 

Additionally, a "buddy-to-buffy" IFR set with a retractable drogue (probably the same system as used on the Su-24) was tested (71.2 was outfitted with a retractable refuelling probe in front of the cockpit), as well as the carriage of simple iron bombs or nuclear stores, to be delivered from very high altitudes. Several pallets with cameras and sensors (e .g. a high resolution SLAR) were also envisioned, which could easily replace the missile mounts and the folding weapon bay covers for recce missions.

 

Since there had been little official support for the project, work on the 710 up to the hardware stage made only little progress, since the MiG-31 already filled the long-range interceptor role in a sufficient fashion and offered further development potential.

A wooden mockup of the cockpit section was presented to PVO and VVS officials in 1989, and airframe work (including tests with composite materials on structural parts, including ceramic tiles for leading edges) were undertaken throughout 1990 and 1991, including test rigs for the engine nacelle and the swing wing mechanism.

 

Eventually, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 suddenly stopped most of the project work, after two prototype airframes had been completed. Their internal designations were Izdeliye 71.1 and 71.2, respectively. It took a while until the political situation as well as the ex-Soviet Air Force’s status were settled, and work on Izdeliye 710 resumed at a slow pace.

 

After taking two years to be completed, 71.1 eventually made its roll-out and maiden flight in summer 1994, just when MiG-31 production had ended. MiG OKB still had high hopes in this aircraft, since the MiG-31 would have to be replaced in the next couple of years and "Izdeliye 710" was just in time for the potential procurement process. The first prototype wore a striking all-white livery, with dark grey ceramic tiles on the wings’ leading edges standing out prominently – in this guise and with its futuristic lines the slender aircraft reminded a lot of the American Space Shuttle.

 

71.1 was primarily intended for engine and flight tests (esp. for the eagerly awaited NK-101 engines), as well as for the development of the envisioned ramjet propulsion system for full-scale production and further development of Izdeliye 710 into a Mach 3+ interceptor. No mission avionics were initially fitted to this plane, but it carried a comprehensive test equipment suite and ballast.

 

Its sister ship 71.2 flew for the first time in late 1994, wearing a more unpretentious grey/bare metal livery. This plane was earmarked for avionics development and weapons integration, especially as a test bed for the K-100 missile, which shared Izdeliye 710’s fate of being a leftover Soviet project with an uncertain future and an even more corny funding outlook.

 

Anyway, aircraft 71.2 was from the start equipped with a complete RP-31 ('Zaslon-M') weapon control system, which had been under development at that time as an upgrade for the Russian MiG-31 fleet being part of the radar’s development program secured financial support from the government and allowed the flight tests to continue. The RP-31 possessed a maximum detection range of 400 km (250 mi) against airliner-sized targets at high altitude or 200 km against fighter-sized targets; the typical width of detection along the front was given as 225 km. The system could track 24 airborne targets at one time at a range of 120 km, 6 of which could be simultaneously attacked with missiles.

 

With these capabilities the RP-31 suite could, coupled with an appropriate carrier airframe, fulfil the originally intended airspace control function and would render a dedicated and highly vulnerable airspace control aircraft (like the Beriev A-50 derivative of the Il-76 transport) more or less obsolete. A group of four aircraft equipped with the 'Zaslon-M' suite would be able to permanently control an area of airspace across a total length of 800–900 km, while having ultra-long range weapons at hand to counter any intrusion into airspace with a quicker reaction time than any ground-based fighter on QRA duty. The 71.0, outfitted with the RP-31/K-100 system, would have posed a serious threat to any aggressor.

 

In March 1995 both prototypes were eventually transferred to the Kerchenskaya Guards Air Base at Savasleyka in the Oblast Vladimir, 300 km east of Mocsow, where they received tactical codes of '11 Blue' and '12 Blue'. Besides the basic test program and the RP-31/K-100 system tests, both machines were directly evaluated against the MiG-31 and Su-27 fighters by the Air Force's 4th TsBPi PLS, based at the same site.

 

Both aircraft exceeded expectations, but also fell short in certain aspects. The 71.0’s calculated top speed of Mach 3.2 was achieved during the tests with a top speed of 3,394 km/h (2.108 mph) at 21,000 m (69.000 ft). Top speed at sea level was confirmed at 1.200 km/h (745 mph) indicated airspeed.

Combat radius with full weapon load and internal fuel only was limited to 1,450 km (900 mi) at Mach 0.8 and at an altitude of 10,000 m (33,000 ft), though, and it sank to a mere 720 km (450 mi) at Mach 2.35 and at an altitude of 18,000 m (59,000 ft). Combat range with 4x K-100 internally and 2 drop tanks was settled at 3,000 km (1,860 mi), rising to 5,400 km (3,360 mi) with one in-flight refueling, tested with the 71.2. Endurance at altitude was only slightly above 3 hours, though. Service ceiling was 22,800 m (74,680 ft), 2.000 m higher than the MiG-31.

 

While these figures were impressive, Soviet officials were not truly convinced: they did not show a significant improvement over the simpler MiG-31. MiG OKB tried to persuade the government into more flight tests and begged for access to the NK-101, but the Soviet Union's collapse halted this project, too, so that both Izdeliye 710 had to keep the Soloviev D-30F6.

 

Little is known about the Izdeliye 710 project’s progress or further developments. The initial tests lasted until at least 1997, and obviously the updated MiG-31M received official favor instead of a completely new aircraft. The K-100 was also dropped, since the R-33 missile and later its R-37 derivative sufficiently performed in the long-range aerial strike role.

 

Development on the aircraft as such seemed to have stopped with the advent of modernized Su-27 derivatives and the PAK FA project, resulting in the Suchoi T-50 prototype. Unconfirmed reports suggest that one of the prototypes (probably 71.1) was used in the development of the N014 Pulse-Doppler radar with a passive electronically scanned array antenna in the wake of the MFI program. The N014 was designed with a range of 420 km, detection target of 250km to 1m and able to track 40 targets while able to shoot against 20.

 

Most interestingly, Izdeliye 710 was never officially presented to the public, but NATO became aware of its development through satellite pictures in the early Nineties and the aircraft consequently received the ASCC reporting codename "Fastback".

 

Until today, only the two prototypes have been known to exist, and it is assumed – had the type entered service – that the long-range fighter had received the official designation "MiG-41".

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (Pilot, weapon system officer)

Length (incl. pitot): 93 ft 10 in (28.66 m)

Wingspan:

- minimum 10° sweep: 69 ft 4 in (21.16 m)

- maximum 68° sweep: 48 ft 9 in (14,88 m)

Height: 23 ft 1 1/2 in (7,06 m )

Wing area: 1008.9 ft² (90.8 m²)

Weight: 88.151 lbs (39.986 kg)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed:

- Mach 3.2 (2.050 mph (3.300 km/h) at height

- 995 mph (1.600 km/h) supercruise speed at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

- 915 mph (1.470 km/h) at sea level

Range: 3.705 miles (5.955 km) with internal fuel

Service ceiling: 75.000 ft (22.500 m)

Rate of climb: 31.000 ft/min (155 m/s)

 

Engine:

2x Soloviev D-30F6 afterburning turbofans with a dry thrust of 93 kN (20,900 lbf) each

and with 152 kN (34,172 lbf) with full afterburner.

 

Armament:

Internal weapons bay, main armament comprises a flexible missile load; basic ordnance of 4x K-100 ultra long range AAMs plus 2x R-73 short-range AAMs: other types like the R-27, R-33, R-60 and R-77 have been carried and tested, too, as well as podded guns on internal and external mounts. Alternatively, the weapon bay can hold various sensor pallets.

Four hardpoints under the wing roots, the outer pair “wet” for drop tanks of up to 3.000 l capacity, ECM pods or a buddy-buddy refueling drogue system. Maximum payload mass is 9000 kg.

  

The kit and its assembly

The second entry for the 2017 “Soviet” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com – a true Frankenstein creation, based on the scarce information about the real (but never realized) MiG 301 and 701 projects, the Suchoj T-60S, as well as some vague design sketches you can find online and in literature.

This one had been on my project list for years and I already had donor kits stashed away – but the sheer size (where will I leave it once done…?) and potential complexity kept me from tackling it.

 

The whole thing was an ambitious project and just the unique layout with a massive engine nacelle on top of the slender fuselage instead of an all-in-one design makes these aircraft an interesting topic to build. The GB was a good motivator.

 

“My” fictional interpretation of the MiG concepts is mainly based on a Dragon B-1B in 1:144 scale (fuselage, wings), a PM Model Su-15 two seater (donating the nose section and the cockpit, as well as wing parts for the fin) and a Kangnam MiG-31 (for the engine pod and some small parts). Another major ingredient is a pair of horizontal stabilizers from a 1:72 Hasegawa A-5 Vigilante.

 

Fitting the cockpit section took some major surgery and even more putty to blend the parts smoothly together. Another major surgical area was the tail; the "engine box" came to be rather straightforward, using the complete rear fuselage section from the MiG-31 and adding the intakes form the same kit, but mounted horizontally with a vertical splitter.

 

Blending the thing to the cut-away tail section of the B-1 was quite a task, though, since I not only wanted to add the element to the fuselage, but rather make it look a bit 'organic'. More than putty was necessary, I also had to made some cuts and transplantations. And after six PSR rounds I stopped counting…

 

The landing gear was built from scratch – the front wheel comes mostly from the MiG-31 kit. The central bogie and its massive leg come from a VEB Plasticart 1:100 Tu-20/95 bomber, plus some additional struts. The outriggers are leftover landing gear struts from a Hobby Boss Fw 190, mated with wheels which I believe come from a 1:200 VEB Plasticart kit, an An-24. Not certain, though. The fairings are slender MiG-21 drop tanks blended into the wing training edge. For the whole landing gear, the covers were improvised with styrene sheet, parts from a plastic straw(!) or leftover bits from the B-1B.

 

The main landing gear well was well as the weapons’ bay themselves were cut into the B-1B underside and an interior scratched from sheet and various leftover materials – I tried to maximize their space while still leaving enough room for the B-1B kit’s internal VG mechanism.

The large missiles (two were visible fitted and the rotary launcher just visibly hinted at) are, in fact, AGM-78 ‘Standard’ ARMs in a fantasy guise. They look pretty Soviet, though, like big brothers of the already not small R-33 missiles from the MiG-31.

 

While not in the focus of attention, the cockpit interior is completely new, too – OOB, the Su-15 cockpit only has a floor and rather stubby seats, under a massive single piece canopy. On top of the front wheel well (from a Hasegawa F-4) I added a new floor and added side consoles, scratched from styrene sheet. F-4 dashboards improve the decoration, and I added a pair of Soviet election seats from the scrap box – IIRC left over from two KP MiG-19 kits.

The canopy was taken OOB, I just cut it into five parts for open display. The material’s thickness does not look too bad on this aircraft – after all, it would need a rather sturdy construction when flying at Mach 3+ and withstanding the respective pressures and temperatures.

  

Painting

As a pure whif, I was free to use a weirdo design - but I rejected this idea quickly. I did not want a garish splinter scheme or a bright “Greenbottle Fly” Su-27 finish.

With the strange layout of the aircraft, the prototype idea was soon settled – and Soviet prototypes tend to look very utilitarian and lusterless, might even be left in grey. Consequently, I adapted a kind of bare look for this one, inspired by the rather shaggy Soviet Tu-22 “Blinder” bombers which carried a mix of bare metal and white and grey panels. With additional black leading edges on the aerodynamic surfaces, this would create a special/provisional but still purposeful look.

 

For the painting, I used a mix of several metallizer tones from ModelMaster and Humbrol (including Steel, Magnesium, Titanium, as well as matt and polished aluminum, and some Gun Metal and Exhaust around the engine nozzles, partly mixed with a bit of blue) and opaque tones (Humbrol 147 and 127). The “scheme” evolved panel-wise and step by step. The black leading edges were an interim addition, coming as things evolved, and they were painted first with black acrylic paint as a rough foundation and later trimmed with generic black decal stripes (from TL Modellbau). A very convenient and clean solution!

 

The radomes on nose and tail and other di-electric panels became dark grey (Humbrol 125). The cockpit tub was painted with Soviet Cockpit Teal (from ModelMaster), while the cockpit opening and canopy frames were kept in a more modest medium grey (Revell 57). On the outside of the cabin windows, a fat, deep yellow sealant frame (Humbrol 93, actually “Sand”) was added.

 

The weapon bay was painted in a yellow-ish primer tone (seen on pics of Tu-160 bombers) while the landing gear wells received a mix of gold and sand; the struts were painted in a mixed color, too, made of Humbrol 56 (Aluminum) and 34 (Flat White). The green wheel discs (Humbrol 131), a typical Soviet detail, stand out well from the rather subdued but not boring aircraft, and they make a nice contrast to the red Stars and the blue tactical code – the only major markings, besides a pair of MiG OKB logos under the cockpit.

 

Decals were puzzled together from various sheets, and I also added a lot of stencils for a more technical look. In order to enhance the prototype look further I added some photo calibration markings on the nose and the tail, made from scratch.

  

A massive kitbashing project that I had pushed away for years - but I am happy that I finally tackled it, and the result looks spectacular. The "Firefox" similarity was not intended, but this beast really looks like a movie prop - and who knwos if the Firefox was not inspired by the same projects (the MiG 301 and 701) as my kitbash model?

The background info is a bit lengthy, but there's some good background info concerning the aforementioned projects, and this aircraft - as a weapon system - would have played a very special and complex role, so a lot of explanations are worthwhile - also in order to emphasize that I di not simply try to glue some model parts together, but rather try to spin real world ideas further.

 

Mighty bird!

When WSDOT replaces concrete panels on a freeway, one of the challenges is that while the concrete is curing, people on the highway see lanes closed with no work happening. We do our best to message this part of the work, including signs in the work zone.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 10-Apr-14.

 

Another weather diversion from the southern UK. What looks like a 'dent' in the upper fuselage just behind the flight deck is actually a shadow from one of the ramp lighting towers!

 

Originally delivered to QANTAS Australia as VH-ECA in Oct-77. Sold to a leasing company and leased to Air Canada in Jul-87, it was sub-leased back to QANTAS until Jan-88 when it joined Air Canada as C-GAGC. It was retired at Marana, AZ, USA, in Jan-99 and was still stored there awaiting the breakers axe in Mar-11.

The Cambria Depot was built in 1868 to replace the original depot burned by the Union Army in 1864. The design is one of only two wooden Tuscan Italiante Virginia-Tennessee Railroad depots left in the State of Virginia. From 1868 to 1908, the depot served as both the passenger and freight station. In 1908, the Norfolk & Western Railroad built a new passenger station and converted the existing station to a freight depot. The station was finally closed and sold as warehouse space to Cash Lumber in 1960.

 

The Cambria Depot was hit by a train in 1981 which caused extensive damage to the freight-house. At the time of its purchase by Dorsett Publications in 1982, the depot had a raze order on the front door. After nearly two and half years of privately funded restoration work, the Cambria Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December of 1985. (from New River Heritage Coalition)

Buick revived the Roadmaster name for a B-body station wagon in 1991, replacing the Estate Wagon in the lineup. Using the 115.9-inch (2,940 mm) wheelbase that was introduced for the 1977 model year, the wagon was called the Roadmaster Estate Wagon. A sedan joined the wagon for 1992, with its own distinct sheet metal, although it shared parts with other full-size GM models. The Roadmaster Estate was a badge engineered Chevrolet Caprice Estate (also sold as the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser) the three variants differing mainly in grille design and trim. It was slightly larger than the all-new Buick Park Avenue in 1991.

 

Simulated woodgrain side and back panels (made of vinyl) were standard on the Roadmaster Estate, although a delete option (WB4 wood delete) was available for credit. The "Vista Roof", a fixed sunroof over the second-row seats that was not available on the Caprice, was standard as well. The Roadmaster Estate could seat up to eight with an optional third-row seat. All these wagons initially used Chevrolet's 5.0 L small-block V8, but both Buicks used the larger 5.7 L version from 1992.

 

From 1994–1996, the Roadmaster, like all B-Body variants, began utilizing the iron head version of the Gen II LT1 V8, its 350 c.i/5.7 liters producing 260 hp (194 kW) and 335 lb·ft (454 N·m) of torque. The switch from the Gen I TBI 5.7L V8 was due to increasing standards for emissions and fuel economy that the aging Gen I could no longer meet. This motor was shared with the Impala SS of the same era and was related to the 4.3 L/265 c.i. L99 V8 that was the base motor for the Chevrolet Caprice, and varied mainly from the F body and Corvette applications by:

 

A) using iron heads rather than aluminum (specified by police departments for durability and utilized throughout the B-Body line) B) a milder cam that produced a better torque curve for the heavy B-Bodies. C) various intake silencers used to make the engine more palatable to the luxury market and/or pass drive-by noise standards. D) Two bolt main journal bearing caps (also true with the F-body LT1 engines, but not the Corvette).

 

The Roadmaster was only delivered with the 5.7 L LT1, however, and such cars can be detected visually by a factory-installed stainless steel dual exhaust. The interior of the LT1 cars are distinguished by utilizing analog gauges rather than digital. However, unlike its stablemates, the 9C1 Caprice and Impala SS the Roadmaster was limited to 108 mph (174 km/h) due to the factory-fitted tires not being rated to run the 140 mph (230 km/h) plus the 9C1 and SS were capable of. The engine returns 17 mpg-US (14 L/100 km; 20 mpg-imp) city/25 mpg-US (9.4 L/100 km; 30 mpg-imp) highway for a 4,200 lb (1,900 kg) full-sized car (4500 lb for the wagon), up 1 mpg-US city from the previous version.

 

The transmission from 1994–96 was changed from the 'analog' 700R4/4L60 to the electronically controlled version of the same, the 4L60E.

 

Ordered with the towing package, the 94-96 Roadmaster was advertised to tow up to 5000 pounds, although the Estate Wagon owner's manual extended that to 7,000 lbs when using a weight distributing hitch, dual sway controls, increasing the rear tire pressure to 35 psi and disabling the Electronic Level Control. The tow package added 2.93 gears and a limited slip differential, heavy duty cooling system including oil and transmission coolers, and a factory installed self leveling rear suspension consisting of air shocks, a height sensor between the rear axle and body and an on-board air compressor. The most distinctive feature was the combination of one conventional fan driven mechanically from the engine alongside of one electric fan, offset to the left (non-towpack cars came with two electric fans).

 

GM discontinued both the Roadmaster sedan and the Roadmaster Estate in 1996, ending production on December 13 of that year. This was blamed on the smaller but more expensive and luxurious Park Avenue growing in size; the Roadmaster trim levels never exceeded that of the smaller but still full-sized Buick LeSabre, as this enabled the Park Avenue to remain as Buick's flagship car. Interestingly, both the Park Avenue and LaSabre were front-engine front-wheel drive cars, in contrast to the Roadmaster's front-engine rear-wheel drive layout. Another reason was largely a response to the SUV craze, as the Arlington, Texas factory where the assembly line that specialized in RWD cars were built was converted to truck and SUV production. Along with the discontinuation of the related Cadillac Fleetwood and Chevrolet Caprice, this signalled the end of General Motors' production of rear-wheel drive, full-size cars. When discontinued, the Roadmaster Estate and the similar Chevrolet Caprice wagon brought up the end of the era of the full-size family station wagon.

 

Canada's prime minister from 1993–2003, the Right Honourable Jean Chretien, was driven in armoured Buick Roadmasters during his term of office

 

[Text from Wikipedia]

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_Roadmaster

 

This Lego miniland scale 1992 Buick Roadmaster Estate has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 96th Build Challenge - The 8th Birthday, titled - 'Happy Crazy Eight Birthday, LUGNuts' - where all previous build challenges are available to build to. This model is built to the LUGNuts 81st Build Challenge, - "Generation Gap" - a challenge to build a vehicle or group of vehicles which represent a car line that has existed in more than one generation.This model complements the 1950 Buick Roadmaster Estate posted recently.

 

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some Background:

The Lockheed F-94 Starfire was a first-generation jet aircraft of the United States Air Force. It was developed from the twin-seat Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star in the late 1940s as an all-weather, day/night interceptor, replacing the propeller-driven North American F-82 Twin Mustang in this role. The system was designed to overtake the F-80 in terms of performance, but more so to intercept the new high-level Soviet bombers capable of nuclear attacks on America and her Allies - in particular, the new Tupelov Tu-4. The F-94 was furthermore the first operational USAF fighter equipped with an afterburner and was the first jet-powered all-weather fighter to enter combat during the Korean War in January 1953.

 

The initial production model, the F-94A, entered operational service in May 1950. Its armament consisted of four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M3 Browning machine guns mounted in the fuselage with the muzzles exiting under the radome for the APG-33 radar, a derivative from the AN/APG-3, which directed the Convair B-36's tail guns and had a range of up to 20 miles (32 km). Two 165 US Gallon (1,204 litre) drop tanks, as carried by the F-80 and T-33, were carried on the wingtips. Alternatively, these could be replaced by a pair of 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs under the wings, giving the aircraft a secondary fighter bomber capability. 109 were produced.

 

The subsequent F-94B, which entered service in January 1951, was outwardly virtually identical to the F-94A. Its Allison J33 turbojet had a number of modifications made, though, which made it a very reliable engine. The pilot was provided with a roomier cockpit and the canopy received a bow frame in the center between the two crew members. A new Instrument Landing System (ILS) was fitted, too, which made operations at night and/or in bad weather much safer. However, this new variant’s punch with just four machine guns remained weak, and, to improve the load of fire, wing-mounted pods with two additional pairs of 0.5” machine guns were introduced – but these hardly improved the interceptor’s effectiveness. 356 of the F-94B were nevertheless built.

 

The following F-94C was extensively modified and initially designated F-97, but it was ultimately decided just to treat it as a new version of the F-94. USAF interest was lukewarm since aircraft technology had already developed at a fast pace – supersonic performance had already become standard. Lockheed funded development themselves, converting two F-94B airframes to YF-94C prototypes for evaluation with a completely new, much thinner wing, a swept tail surface and a more powerful Pratt & Whitney J48. This was a license-built version of the afterburning Rolls-Royce Tay, which produced a dry thrust of 6,350 pounds-force (28.2 kN) and approximately 8,750 pounds-force (38.9 kN) with afterburning. Instead of machine guns, the proposed new variant was exclusively armed with unguided air-to-air missiles.

Tests were positive and eventually the F-94C was adopted for USAF service, since it was the best interim solution for an all-weather fighter at that time. It still had to rely on Ground Control Interception Radar (GCI) sites to vector the interceptor to intruding aircraft, though.

 

The F-94C's introduction and the availability of the more effective Northrop F-89C/D Scorpion and the North American F-86D Sabre interceptors led to a quick relegation of the earlier F-94 variants from mid-1954 onwards to second line units and to Air National Guards. By 1955 most of them had already been phased out of USAF service, and some of these relatively young surplus machines were subsequently exported or handed over to friendly nations, too. When sent to the ANG, the F-94As were modified by Lockheed to F-94B standards and then returned to the ANG as B models. They primarily replaced outdated F-80C Shooting Stars and F-51D/H Mustangs.

 

At that time the USAF was looking for a tactical reconnaissance aircraft, a more effective successor for the RF-80A which had shown its worth and weaknesses during the Korea War. For instance, the plane could not fly at low altitude long enough to perform suitable visual reconnaissance, and its camera equipment was still based on WWII standards. Lockheed saw the opportunity to fill this operational gap with conversions of existing F-94A/B airframes, which had, in most cases, only had clocked few flying hours, primarily at high altitudes where Soviet bombers were expected to lurk, and still a lot of airframe life to offer. This led to another private venture, the RF-94B, auspiciously christened “Stargazer”.

 

The RF-94B was based on the F-94B interceptor with its J33 engine and the original unswept tail. The F-94B’s wings were retained but received a different leading-edge profile to better cope with operations at low altitude. The interceptor’s nose with the radome and the machine guns underneath was replaced by a new all-metal nose cone, which was more than 3 feet longer than the former radar nose, with windows for several sets of cameras; the wedge-shaped nose cone quickly earned the aircraft the unofficial nickname “Crocodile”.

One camera was looking ahead into flight direction and could be mounted at different angled downward (but not moved during flight), followed by two oblique cameras, looking to the left and the right, and a vertical camera as well as a long-range camera focussed on the horizon, which was behind a round window at port side. An additional, spacious compartment in front of the landing gear well held an innovative Tri-Metrogen horizon-to-horizon view system that consisted of three synchronized cameras. Coupled with a computerized control system based on light, speed, and altitude, it adjusted camera settings to produce pictures with greater delineation.

All cameras could be triggered individually by pilot or a dedicated observer/camera systems operator in the 2nd seat. Talking into a wire recorder, the crew could describe ground movements that might not have appeared in still pictures. A vertical view finder with a periscopic presentation on the cockpit panel was added for the pilot to enhance visual reconnaissance and target identification directly under the aircraft. Using magnesium flares carried under its wings in flash-ejector cartridges, the RF-94B was furthermore able to fly night missions.

The RF-94B was supposed to operate unarmed, but it could still carry a pair of 1.000 lb bombs under its wings or, thanks to added plumbings, an extra pair of drop tanks for ferry flights. The F-94A/B’s machine gun pods as well as the F-94C’s unguided missile launchers could be mounted to the wings, too, making it a viable attack aircraft in a secondary role.

 

The USAF was highly interested in this update proposal for the outdated interceptors (almost 500 F-94A/Bs had been built) and ordered 100 RF-94B conversions with an option for 100 more – just when a severe (and superior) competitor entered the stage after a lot of development troubles: Republic’s RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance version. The first YRF-84F had already been completed in February 1952 and it had an overall slightly better performance than the RF-94B. However, it offered more internal space for reconnaissance systems and was able to carry up to fifteen cameras with the support of many automatized systems, so that it was a single seater. Being largely identical to the F-84F and sharing its technical and logistical infrastructures, the USAF decided on short notice to change its procurement decision and rather adopt the more modern and promising Thunderflash as its standard tactical reconnaissance aircraft. The RF-94B conversion order was reduced to the initial 100 aircraft, and to avoid operational complexity these aircraft were exclusively delivered to Air National Guardss that had experience with the F-94A/B to replace their obsolete RF-80As.

 

Gradual replacement lasted until 1958, and while the RF-94B’s performance was overall better than the RF-80A’s, it was still disappointing and not the expected tactical intelligence gathering leap forward. The airframe did not cope well with constant low-level operations, and the aircraft’s marginal speed and handling did not ensure its survivability. However, unlike the RF-84F, which suffered from frequent engine problems, the Stargazers’ J33 made them highly reliable platforms – even though the complex Tri-Metrogen device turned out to be capricious, so that it was soon replaced with up to three standard cameras.

 

For better handling and less drag esp. at low altitude, the F-94B’s large Fletcher type wingtip tanks were frequently replaced with smaller ones with about half capacity. It also became common practice to operate the RF-94Bs with only a crew of one, and from 1960 on the RF-94B was, thanks to its second seat, more and more used as a trainer before pilots mounted more potent reconnaissance aircraft like the RF-101 Voodoo, which eventually replaced the RF-94B in ANG service. The last RF-94B was phased out in 1968, and, unlike the RF-84F, it was not operated by any foreign air force.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (but frequently operated by a single pilot)

Length: 43 ft 4 3/4 in (13.25 m)

Wingspan (with tip tanks): 40 ft 9 1/2 in (12.45 m)

Height: 12 ft. 2 (3.73 m)

Wing area: 234' 8" sq ft (29.11 m²)

Empty weight: 10,064 lb (4,570 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,330 lb (6,960 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 24,184 lb (10,970 kg)

 

Powerplant:

1× Allison J33-A-33 turbojet, rated at 4,600 lbf (20.4 kN) continuous thrust,

5,400 lbf (24 kN) with water injection and 6,000 lbf (26.6 kN) thrust with afterburner

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 630 mph (1,014 km/h) at height and in level flight

Range: 930 mi (813 nmi, 1,500 km) in combat configuration with two drop tanks

Ferry range: 1,457 mi (1,275 nmi, 2,345 km)

Service ceiling: 42,750 ft (14,000 m)

Rate of climb: 6,858 ft/min (34.9 m/s)

Wing loading: 57.4 lb/ft² (384 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.48

 

Armament:

No internal guns; 2x 165 US Gallon (1,204 liter) drop tanks on the wing tips and…

2x underwing hardpoints for two additional 165 US Gallon (1,204 liter) ferry tanks

or bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber each, plus…

2x optional (rarely fitted) pods on the wings’ leading edges with either a pair of 0.5" (12.7 mm)

machine guns or twelve 2.75” (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets each

  

The kit and its assembly:

This project was originally earmarked as a submission for the 2021 “Reconnaissance & Surveillance” group build at whatifmodellers.com, in the form of a Heller F-94B with a new nose section. The inspiration behind this build was the real-world EF-94C (s/n 50-963): a solitary conversion with a bulbous camera nose. However, the EF-94C was not a reconnaissance aircraft but rather a chase plane/camera ship for the Air Research and Development Command, hence its unusual designation with the suffix “E”, standing for “Exempt” instead of the more appropriate “R” for a dedicated recce aircraft. There also was another EF-94C, but this was a totally different kind of aircraft: an ejection seat testbed.

 

I had a surplus Heller F-94B kit in The Stash™ and it was built almost completely OOB and did – except for some sinkholes and standard PSR work – not pose any problem. In fact, the old Heller Starfire model is IMHO a pretty good representation of the aircraft. O.K., its age might show, but almost anything you could ask for at 1:72 scale is there, including a decent, detailed cockpit.

 

The biggest change was the new camera nose, and it was scratched from an unlikely donor part: it consists of a Matchbox B-17G tail gunner station, slimmed down by the gunner station glazing's width at the seam in the middle, and this "sandwich" was furthermore turned upside down. Getting the transitional sections right took lots of PSR, though, and I added some styrene profiles to integrate the new nose into the rest of the hull. It was unintentional, but the new nose profile reminds a lot of a RF-101 recce Voodoo, and there's, with the straight wings, a very F-89ish look to the aircraft now? There's also something F2H-2ish about the outlines?

 

The large original wing tip tanks were cut off and replaced with smaller alternatives from a Hasegawa A-37. Because it was easy to realize on this kit I lowered the flaps, together with open ventral air brakes. The cockpit was taken OOB, I just modified the work station on the rear seat and replaced the rubber sight protector for the WSO with two screens for a camera operator. Finally, the one-piece cockpit glazing was cut into two parts to present the model with an open canopy.

  

Painting and markings:

This was a tough decision: either an NMF finish (the natural first choice), an overall light grey anti-corrosive coat of paint, both with relatively colorful unit markings, or camouflage. The USAF’s earlier RF-80As carried a unique scheme in olive drab/neutral grey with a medium waterline, but that would look rather vintage on the F-94. I decided that some tactical camouflage would make most sense on this kind of aircraft and eventually settled for the USAF’s SEA scheme with reduced tactical markings, which – after some field tests and improvisations in Vietnam – became standardized and was officially introduced to USAF aircraft around 1965 as well as to ANG units.

 

Even though I had already built a camouflaged F-94 some time ago (a Hellenic aircraft in worn SEA colors), I settled for this route. The basic colors (FS 30219, 34227, 34279 and 36622) all came from Humbrol (118, 117, 116 and 28, respectively), and for the pattern I adapted the paint scheme of the USAF’s probably only T-33 in SEA colors: a trainer based on Iceland during the Seventies and available as a markings option in one of the Special Hobby 1:32 T-33 kits. The low waterline received a wavy shape, inspired by an early ANG RF-101 in SEA camouflage I came across in a book. The new SEA scheme was apparently applied with a lot of enthusiasm and properness when it was brand new, but this quickly vaned. As an extra, the wing tip tanks received black anti-glare sections on their inner faces and a black anti-glare panel was added in front of the windscreen - a decal from a T-33 aftermarket sheet. Beyond a black ink wash the model received some subtle panel post-shading, but rather to emphasize surface details than for serious weathering.

 

The cockpit became very dark grey (Revell 06) while the landing gear wells were kept in zinc chromate green primer (Humbrol 80, Grass Green), with bright red (Humbrol 60, Matt Red) cover interiors and struts and wheels in aluminum (Humbrol 56). The interior of the flaps and the ventral air brakes became red, too.

 

The decals/markings came from a Special Hobby 1:72 F-86H; there’s a dedicated ANG boxing of the kit that comes with an optional camouflaged aircraft of the NY ANG, the least unit to operate the “Sabre Hog” during the Seventies. Since this 138th TFS formerly operated the F-94A/B, it was a perfect option for the RF-94B! I just used a different Bu. No. code on the fin, taken from a PrintScale A/T-37 set, and most stencils were perocured from the scrap box.

After a final light treatment with graphite around the afterburner for a more metallic shine of the iron metallic (Revell 97) underneath, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A camouflaged F-94 is an unusual sight, but it works very well. The new/longer nose considerably changes the aircraft's profile, and even though the change is massive, the "Crocodile" looks surprisingly plausible, if not believable! And, despite the long nose, the aircraft looks pretty sleek, especially in the air.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 17-Jul-23.

 

First flown in Aug-96 with the Airbus test registration D-AVZD, this aircraft was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to BWIA International (West Indies) as 9Y-BWB in Oct-96.

 

It was wet-leased to Air Alfa (Turkiye) in Apr-97. The wet-lease became a dry-lease in Jun-97 when it became TC-ALO. The aircraft was returned to BWIA and the lessor as N511LF in Mar-01. It was stored at Singapore.

 

In Aug-01 it was leased to Region Air as S7-RGK (Seychelles) and immediately wet-leased to Myanmar Airways International. The 'International' was dropped when it was merged into Myanmar Airways in Sep-01.

 

The aircraft was returned to Region Air in Oct-01 and sub-leased to Pacific Airlines (Vietnam) the following day. It was returned to Region Air in Jan-05 and to the lessor as N761LF in Apr-05.

 

In Jun-05 it was leased to Onur Air (Turkiye) as TC-OAR, returning to the lessor in Mar-07. It was leased to Best Air (Turkiye) as TC-TUC a few days later. The aircraft was wet-leased to Ariana Afghan Airlines in Dec-07 and returned to Best Air in Jun-07.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to AtlasJet International Airlines in Mar-09. Best Air returned it to the lessor in May-10 when it was leased direct to AtlasJet International and re-registered TC-ETN. It was permanently retired at St. Athan, Wales, UK in Dec-18. Updated 13-Jul-23.

Posted via email from drspina's posterous

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 22-Oct-18.

 

First flown with the British Aerospace test registration G-5-075, this aircraft was delivered to PSA Pacific Southwest Airlines as N369PS in Jun-87. PSA was merged into US Air in Apr-88 and the registration N193US was assigned but not used as the aircraft was returned to British Aerospace in late Mar-88. It was sold to Atlantic Airways (Faeroe Islands) as OY-CRG a few days later. It continued to operate with Atlantic Airways until it was written off while operating a charter flight to Stord-Sørstokken Airport in Norway on 10-Oct-06. The aircraft landed with a light tailwind, however the spoilers failed to deploy and emergency braking caused it to aquaplane on the damp runway. It overran the runway into rough terrain and caught fire. Because of the damage the crew were unable to open the forward cabin doors. Of the 4 crew and 16 passengers on board, 1 crew and 4 passengers died in the resulting fire.

One of the last handful of London Transport's RF-type ...strictly speaking an AEC Regal Mk IV 9821LT with Metro-Cammell body... seen alongside its nemesis, an ECW-bodied Bristol LH ...a most unLT-like vehicle. Taken at Kingston Bus Station on Friday 13th October 1978. Kingston was the last hang-out of the RF. I always liked the indicators ...should one write "trafficators"? ...on little stalks, like the wing mirrors. I think the contemporary RT had them too.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 12-Sep-20.

 

Named: "Rosalia de Castro".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWJR,this aircraft was delivered to Iberia with the temporary registration EC-155 in May-96. It was re-registered EC-GHX in Nov-96. The aircraft was stored at Madrid, Spain in Oct-13 and returned to service in Aug-14. It was permanently retired and stored at Madrid in Mar-16. Updated (Sep-20).

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 21-Jul-24.

 

Sabre Airways was later renamed Excel Airways and then XL Airways UK.

 

An early B737NG (Line No: 77), this aircraft was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to Sabre Airways (UK) as G-OKDN in Jul-98.

 

It was sub-leased to GEC Marconi Avionics in Nov-98 for avionics system testing and returned to Sabre in Apr-99. In Oct-99 the aircraft was wet-leased to Air Berlin, returning to Sabre in Apr-00.

 

In Jan-01 Sabre Airways was renamed Excel Airways. The aircraft was re-registered G-XLAA in Mar-01. In Nov-06 Excel Airways became XL Airways UK. It was transferred to XL Airways Germany as D-AXLG in Apr-08 (XL Airways UK ceased operations on 12-Nov-08).

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Jet4you (Morocco) in Jul-08 and returned to XL Airways Germany in Nov-08. It was wet-leased to Condor Flugdienst in May-12 and returned to XL Germany in Aug-12.

 

XL Airways Germany ceased operations on 14-Dec-12. The aircraft was returned to the lessor and ferried to Shannon, Ireland for storage a few days later. It was re-registered EI-EZP in Jan-13.

 

In Mar-13 the aircraft was leased to UTAir Ukraine as UR-UTP. The lease was transferred to Azur Air Ukraine in Nov-15. It was transferred to Azur Air Russia as VQ-BAL in Mar-18.

 

In Feb-22 Russia invaded Ukraine and sanctions were placed on Russia by many western countries and the insurance for western leased aircraft was cancelled. Russia then 'seized' all western registered aircraft and re-registered them in Russia.

 

This aircraft became RA-73475 in May-22. However, it was withdrawn from service and stored at Moscow-Domodedovo in Jun-22. Possibly permanently retired. Updated 20-Jul-24.

Ride and Stride, and Heritage Day. Along with the first day of mourning for Elizabeth II, meant that all 14 churches visited were open, 13 had people waiting and greeting.

 

I had a great day.

 

Many churches visited and recorded inside for the first time, including West and East Farleigh.

 

This is West, which features a fine Norman chancel arch.

 

I was delighted by both churches, and the warm welcomes I received at both.

 

All Saints is situated down a dead end lane which ends at the church, a couple of houses and the village cricket pitch. Thankfully there was no match on, so I was able to park.

 

I was greeted by a lady sitting outside the porch, and all over the churchyard was a cloud of Ivy Bees, not burrowing bees as she suggested.

 

The warden had grown up using the church, and although the church is the same, she laments the loss of pews, which I understand, making it feel less churchy. I like a good pew, too.

 

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In a charming position on the south slope of the narrow Medway Valley, this church is a very early Norman survivor. The east window is made up of a set of three single lights, the central one being original Norman work, the other two having Early English lancets which replaced the Norman openings. The amazing chancel arch is constructed entirely of tufa, and is one of the best tufa constructions to be seen in south-east England. To the south is a thirteenth-century piscina that served a side altar. There is a large Royal Arms of George III on the west wall.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Farleigh

 

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WEST FARLEIGH.

SOUTHWARD from Teston, on the opposite side of the river Medway, lies the parish of West Farleigh, so called to distinguish it from the adjoining one of East Farleigh.

 

It is called in Domesday, FERLAGA, and in the Textus Roffensis, FEARNLEGA, and most probably took its name from the passage over the river Medway at one, or both of these parishes, Fare in Saxon signifying a journey or passage, and lega, a place, i e. the place of the way or passage.

 

The borsholder of the borough of West Farleigh is chosen at the court leet of that manor, and does not owe service to the court leet of the hundred; nor do the inhabitants of that borough owe any service to that court; but at that court there may be chosen a constable of that hundred out of this borough.

 

Part of the parish of West Farleigh is held of the manor of Newington near Sittingborne, in free socage tenure, by certain freeholders, at different yearly rents.

 

THIS PARISH is pleasantly situated on the southern side of the Medway, on the side of a hill declining towards the river; its northern boundary, the meadows, on the bank of which, abounding with large and spreading oaks, as does the whole parish, contributing greatly to the grandeur and beauty of the scene. The soil of it is much the same as that of the adjoining parish of East Farleigh, and is equally fertile in corn, fruit, and hops, of which there are many plantations. The high road across the Medway over I eston bridge, ascends East Farleigh, and is equally sertile in corn, fruit, and hops, of which there are many plantations. The high road across the Medway over 1 eston bridge, ascends the hill through the village, in which is Smith's hall, a handsome well-built seat, and the vicarage, both of them having a fine view of the valley and river, Mereworth, and Teston-house and park, on the opposite hill. About a quarter of a mile eastward is the small hamlet of Farleigh-green, and at the lower edge of the hill, not far from the river the church and the courtlodge, Mr. Stephen Amhurst's, where there is a pretty steep descent of grass and meadow lands to the bank of the river, and the bridge across it to Barmjet. On the opposite side of the village, at no great distance, are the ruins of the mansion of Tutsham, which was pleasantly situated on a rise above the river, and encircled with stately oaks, and its canals plentifully supplied by a small swisftly running brook, called the Ewell, from its rising near the manor of that name, in the eastern part of this parish, and which here falls into the Medway. The house was pulled down a few years ago, when the improvements were made at Teston-house, and the ruins left as an object in the prospect from it. From the village of Farleigh, the high road continues down to Yalding, and thence to the Weald and Sussex. Another road from the village, the ground still rising, leads to Cocks-heath, and the summit of the quarryhill above Burston, where the district of the Weald begins. In the south east part of the parish there is much coppice wood.

 

IN THE WOODS in this neighbourhood there grows Cyclamen Europæum, sowbread, although Gerarde says, he could not learn that this plant grew any where in England, and Mr. Raye and Mr. Hudson have entirely omitted it in their catalogue of British plants. (fn. 1)

 

Aristolochia Clematitis, climbing birthwort, grows in the woods between this place and Maidstone. (fn. 2)

 

THIS PLACE, soon after the conquest, was given by William the Conqueror to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half-brother, under the general title of whose lands, it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, taken in that king's reign:

 

Ranulf de Columbels bolds of the bishop (of Baieux) Ferlaga. It was taxed at one suling, The arable land is four carucates. Rannulf does not hold more than three yokes, and he has there in demesne one carucate, and ten villeins, with four cottagers, having three carucates. There is a church, and seven servants, and one mill of five shillings, and ten acres of meadow, Wood for the pannage of fifteen hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, and now it is worth seven pounds. Alnod held it of king Edward.

 

Of this suling, Rayner holds one yoke of the bishop in the manor of Pimpe, and he has there one carucate, with nine servants and three acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of four bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty shillings, now forty shillings. Alnod Cilt held it of king Edward.

 

On the disgrace of the bishop of Baieux, about the year 1084, this manor, with the rest of his possessions, became confiscated to the crown; whence it seems to have been granted by the Conqueror to Robert, son of Hamon de Crevequer, whose descendant, Robert de Crevequer afterwards held it as a member of the manor of Chatham. He took part with the rebellious barons against the king; upon which this manor was seized, among the rest of his estates; and through it appears that he was afterwards restored to the king's favor, yet he never regained possession of the manor of West Farleigh, which seems to have remained in the hands of the crown, till king Edward I. gave it to Eleanor his queen, who, in the 18th year of that reign, made a gift of it, with other premises, to the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, in exchange for the port of Sandwich. (fn. 3)

 

King Edward II. in his 10th year, granted to the prior of Christ-church, free-warren in all their demesne lands, which he possessed here in the time of his grandfather, or at any time since. (fn. 4)

 

This manor continued part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church till its dissolution, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, who that year granted this manor, among other premises, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite, but his son of the same name having raised a rebellion in the 1st year of queen Mary, was attainted, and his estates were forfeited to the crown; (fn. 5) and the queen, by her letters patent, in her second year, granted this manor to Sir John Baker, her attorney-general, (fn. 6) to hold by the like service. In his descendants it continued down to Sir John Baker, bart. of Sisinghurst, who alienated it soon after the death of Charles I. to Mr. Robert Newton, grocer, of London, who conveyed it to Augustine Hodges, gent. and he sold it in the reign of king Charles II. to John Amhurst, esq. of East Farleigh court lodge, who by will in 1711 devised it to his brother, Nicholas Amhurst, gent. of West Barming, and his grandson, Stephen Amhurst, esq. is the present proprietor of it, and resides in the manor-house.

 

SMITH'S-HALL is a seat in this parish, to which the Brewers, a family who had resided at Brewer's place, in Mereworth, for many generations, removed in the reign of king Henry VI. and which afterwards branched off to Boxley and Ditton, both in this neighbourhood. (fn. 7) They bore for their arms, Gules, three bends wavy or, a canton vaire, argent and azure.

 

Of this family was Wm. de Brewer, who was lieutenant of Dover-castle under king John, as appears by the special præcipe directed to him from that king, to deliver this then important fortress to Hubert de Burgh, lord warden of the cinque ports. (fn. 8)

 

This feat continued the residence of this family to Thomas Brewer, esq. who died possessed of it in 1690, and was buried in this church, whose second wife Anne, was daughter of Richard Kilburne, esq. of Hawkhurst, the Kentish topographer, by whom he had several children. His eldest son, John Brewer, esq. of Smith's hall, died in 1724, leaving by Jane his wife, an only daughter and heir, Jane, who was twice married; first to John Carney, esq. and secondly to John Shrimpton, esq. both of whom she survived, and again possessed this seat, where she resided in her own right. She died here s.p. in 1762, having by her will devised this feat, with the rest of her estates, to her kinsman John Davis, D. D. rector of Hamsey, in Sussex, whose mother was daughter of Thomas Brewer, esq. above-mentioned, by his second wife, daughter of Richard Kilburne, of Hawkhurst, and he died possessed of it in 1766, and was buried in Canterbury cathedral, of which church he was a prebendary. He left issue one son John and three daughters, of whom Elizabeth the eldest, married Henry Pratt, esq. late of Harbledown, Jane the second, died unmarried in 1768, and Anne, the youngest, married Robert Knipe, esq. of London. John Davis, esq. the son, was afterwards knighted, and married the second daughter of Dr. Tattersal, rector of Streatham, in Surry. He sold this feat in 1774 to William Perrin, esq. who resided at Smith's hall, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1776, bearing for his arms, Gules, three crescents argent, and he is the present owner, and at times resides in it.

 

THE MANOR OF TOTESHAM-HALL, usually called Tutsham, in this parish, was antiently the residence of a family, who assumed their surname from it.

 

John de Totesham was one of the recognitores magnæ assisæ, or judges of the great assize in the reign of king John, as appears by the pipe rolls of that reign, and bore for his arms, Gules, within a bordure a cross argent, between twelve billets of the last; as appears by his seal appendant to a deed in the Dering library.

 

From him this manor and estate descended in a direct line to Anthony Totesham, esq. who about the latter end of the reign of king Henry VIII. alienated Totesham, with an appendage to it, called Henhurst, (fn. 9) to Thomas Chapman, gent. one of the grooms of the king's chamber, in whose name they staid till the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when they were sold to John Laurence, esq. captain of Tilbury fort, who by Anne, one of the two daughters and coheirs of Robert Gidding, esq. left a son and heir, Edward Laurence, esq. who was of Totesham-hall, and died in 1605. His heirs joined in the sale of this manor, to Augustine Skynner, esq. of Devonshire, the younger brother of Richard, of Columpton, in that county, of a family who bore for their arms, Ermine, three lozenges sable, in each a fleur de lis or. (fn. 10) He, on this purchase, removed into Kent, and resided at Totesham-hall.

 

Augustine Skynner, his eldest son, resided likewise at Totesham-hall, where he died in 1672, without surviving issue, and was buried here. Sometime after his decease, his heirs alienated this manor and feat, with the manor of Ewell in this parish, and other estates in the adjoining parishes, to Edward Goulston, esq. who afterwards resided at Tutsham, and bore for his arms, Barry, nebulee of six argent and gules, over all a bend sable, charged with three plates. He died in 1720, s.p. and was buried in this church, having by his will given them after his wife's death to her nephew, Francis Goulston, son and heir apparent of Richard Goulston, esq. of Widdial, in Hertfordshire. This family, of Widdial, was descended from Thomas Goulston; of Wimondham, in Leicestershire, whose grandson John, son of William, was one of the prothonotaries of the common pleas in the reign of king James I.

 

James Goulston, esq. his eldest son, was of Widdial, and was father of Richard, and of Anne, the wife of Edward Goulston, of Tutsham, as above mentioned. They bore the same coat of arms as those of this county.

 

She resided at Tutsham after the death of her husband, and dying in 1724, the property of these manors and estates became vested in Francis Goulston esq. before-mentioned, of Widdial, who on his marriage in 1722, had settled the reversion of them on Sarah his intended wife, and on their issue in tail male, with a power of revocation on his settling other estates, of as great value, in lieu of them. After which, in the 13th year of king George I. anno 1726, having contracted for the sale of them with Sir Philip Boteler, bart. and the expressions in the above settlement being doubtful and ambiguous, an act of parliament was procured to enforce them, and the fee of them was conveyed to Sir Philip Boteler, bart. He died in 1772, s.p. and by will bequeathed one moiety of his estates to Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, of Chart Sutton; and the other moiety to the viscountess dowager Folkestone, and William Bouverie, earl of Radnor, both since deceased; and on a partition of his estates, these abovementioned were, among others, allotted to Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, now of Teston, the present possessor of them.

 

Charities.

MRS. ANNE GOULSTON, in 1724, gave by will certain lands, the produce to be distributed yearly to the poor not receiving alms, vested in the churchwardens and overseers, and now, excepting repairs, of the annual produce of 14l.

 

THE REV. OLIVER NORTH, vicar, gave by will in 1725, to be distributed in like manner, land vested in the vicar and parish officers. and now, excepting land-tax and repairs, of the annual produce of 81.

 

WEST FARLEIGH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.

 

The church, which stands near the court lodge, consists of one isle, and has a low pointed steeple. It is dedicated to All Saints. In it are monuments for the Brewers, Skinners, and Goulstons, and in the south wall there is an antient tomb fixed in a recess, and over it an arch engrailed, having at each corner a coat of arms; that towards the east is obliterated, but the western one, a cross within a bordure engrailed, is still visible.

 

Robert de Crevequer, at the time of his founding the priory of Leeds in 1119, gave all the churches of his estates, among which was this of West Farleigh, with all their customs, goods, liberties, and privileges, to that priory. (fn. 11)

 

William Corboil, archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of king Henry I. soon after the above-mentioned gift, granted that the canons there should possess this church, and should take the tithes of corn yearly, appropriated to them, and two parcels of land of the possessions of this church, (duas culturas de tenemento) of which, nevertheless, he decreed, that the vicar of it should take the tithes yearly, when they should be cultivated, saving, nevertheless, a third parcel, and all other appurtenances belonging to it, to the vicar serving in it, who should be presented by the prior of Leeds to the bishop, saving to him episcopal right in all things.

 

This church, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the priory, till the dissolution of it in the reign of Henry VIII. when it was confirmed to that king and his heirs, among the other estates of the priory, by the general words of the act passed in the 31st year of that reign. After which the king, by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both the parsonage, and advowson of the vicarage, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they now remain.

 

The lessee of the parsonage is Mr. John Savage; but the dean and chapter reserve the presentation of the vicarage to themselves.

 

The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 6l. 10s. 5d. and the yearly tenths at 13s. 0½d.

 

¶On the intended dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. the possessions of the dean and chapter of Rochester in this parish, were surveyed in 1649, by order of the state; by which it appeared that this parsonage consisted of all the tithes, &c. with a house, barns, &c. and gardens containing one rood, of the improved rent of seventy-four pounds, and also another barn and premises belonging to it, containing three roods and three perches, of the improved rent of five pounds per annum. All which were let anno 11 Charles I. to Thomas and John Wood, by the late dean and chapter, at the rent of 10l. 11s. 4d. so there remained clear the rent of 68l. 8s. 8d. per annum; that the vicarage was excepted out of the lease, and was worth thirty-five pounds per annum, and that the lessee covenanted to repair the chancel, and to pay the accustomed pension of 3l. 6s. 8d. to the vicar.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp136-145

Replacing an earlier motte-and-bailey fortification, Mulgrave Castle acted as an administrative centre for the vast Yorkshire estates of its owners. In the seventeenth century it found a new role as a hunting lodge. It was re-fortified during the Civil War and then slighted on the orders of Parliament in 1647.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 11-Jul-19.

 

Transitional livery. The 'british midland' titles were later discarded and it was just 'bmi'

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWDQ, this aircraft was delivered to BMA British Midland Airways as G-MIDY in Jun-99. BMA was re-named 'bmi british midland' in Feb-01. 'bmi' was merged into British Airways in Aug-12. Current, updated (Jul-19).

Someone at a coffee shop accidentally pushed Jersey Shore Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ring’s iPad off of the counter and shattered the screen. (Technically, it’s called the digitizer. The actual display is inside the iPad and doesn’t typically break.)

 

The next generation of iPads will be coming out next year so Aggie Ring didn’t want me to buy a replacement with new models coming out soon. Aggie Ring’s current iPad is about 3 years old, so it was out of warranty.

 

There’s a place near us that fixes broken phones and other devices. They wanted $125.00 to repair the iPad.

 

“Hell no!” said Aggie Ring.

 

“What do you want me to do?” I replied.

 

“You’re going to fix it like a God Damned man.” said Aggie Ring. “Any man that can’t do something as simple as changing out the screen of his iPad should have to wear a dress and have everyone call him Nancy!”

 

“Well,” I thought to myself. “If that’s the way he really feels about it, I suppose I will just have to man up and fix the iPad myself.”

 

Aggie Ring went on Ebay and ordered a replacement digitizer screen. It cost him $20.00 plus about $5.00 for shipping. It came from NYC so it arrived two days later.

 

When the replacement screen arrived, Aggie Ring supervised while he had me get a heat gun and use it on the broken screen to soften the adhesive so the screen could be removed. It took a little care and I had to use a guitar pick and some cut up old credit cards to stick between the screen and the case so as I worked the guitar pick around the screen parts of it that I had separated from the case didn’t stick again.

 

Once the screen was freed from the case, Aggie Ring had me remove the four screws that hold the display down. There’s a cable under the display that has three screws connecting it to the logic board. You have to hold the display at a 90 degree angle to the logic board while you are removing the three screws or you will rip the delicate cable. Aggie Ring used his trumpet to hold up the display screen while I was removing the three screws. “I knew that trumpet would be good for something.” said Aggie Ring.

 

After Aggie Ring had me disconnect the display screen, he had me remove the two cables that connect the logic board to the digitizer and the cable that connects to the function button to the logic board.

 

Aggie Ring instructed me to take a craft knife and go around the edge of the case to remove any excess adhesive and broken glass.

 

Once the lip of the case was clean and passed Aggie Ring’s inspection. Aggie Ring had me remove the new digitizer screen from the protective bag. Using his trumpet to hold the screen up, Aggie Ring had me carefully reconnect the three cables to the logic board. “Careful!” Yelled Aggie Ring. “This isn’t rocket science, but you have fat fingers. Be gentle!”

 

When the digitizer was connected, Aggie Ring had me connect the display to the logic board. Again, using the trumpet to hold it steady while I connected it.

 

As I was about to begin to put the digitizer back on the case Aggie Ring said, “Did you get your fat greasy fingerprints on the display screen?” I looked and I had indeed. Aggie Ring made me get a microfiber cloth and clean the screen so that when the digitizer was put back on the case, he wouldn’t have to look at my fat, greasy fingerprints under the glass.

 

After the cleanup and final inspection, Aggie Ring had me remove the protective plastic on both sides of the digitizer and the little strips that covered the new adhesive.

 

“Gently!” said Aggie Ring as I set the new digitizer into the lip of the case and ran my “fat” fingers all around the edges to seal it in. Aggie Ring turned on the iPad and it was as good as new.

 

“That took what, fifteen minutes?” asked Aggie Ring. “I don’t know how any Aggie who can’t do something as easy as replacing a screen on an iPad could call himself a man!”

 

“Now.” said Aggie Ring. “Why don’t you take that $100.00 you saved by not being a Nancy Boy in a dress and having to have someone else fix your iPad up to the store and get me some Shiner?”

 

#AggieRing

Someone replaced a stone in the pavement with a home made heart stone. Then someone else wrote "Love in the world".

 

(#11 Mischievous - MSH September 2006)

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 22-Nov-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

This aircraft was delivered new to Channel Airways in Mar-69 as G-AWKJ. It was leased to BUA British United Airways in Apr-69 and returned to Channel Airways at the end of the summer season in Oct-69.

 

At the end of Feb-72, Channel Airways ceased trading and the aircraft was returned to the British Aircraft Corporation and stored. In Jan-74 it was re-registered G-BIII and sold to Air Hanson Helicopters who fitted it out for their VIP Charter operation.

 

Obviously it wasn't terribly lucrative and in Jul-74 it was sold to the Philippine Government as RP-C1. In May-85 it was sold to Bryan Aviation and returned to the UK as G-NIII. It was stored at Manchester, UK, and remained there.

 

In Nov-86 it was sold to Okada Air, Nigeria, however it remained stored until Sep-87 when it became 5N-AYV. It operated for Okada Air for another 10 years until it was retired and stored at Benin City, Nigeria in Dec-97. It was eventually broken up.

 

I also have a photo of this aircraft with British United as G-AWKJ taken in May-69, see...

www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding/6785559629

+++ 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 Lockheed F-94 Starfire was a first-generation jet aircraft of the United States Air Force. It was developed from the twin-seat Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star in the late 1940s as an all-weather, day/night interceptor.

The aircraft reached operational service in May 1950 with Air Defense Command, replacing the propeller-driven North American F-82 Twin Mustang in the all-weather interceptor role. The F-94 was the first operational USAF fighter equipped with an afterburner and was the first jet-powered all-weather fighter to enter combat during the Korean War in January 1953.

 

The initial production model was the F-94A, which entered operational service in May 1950. Its armament consisted of four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M3 Browning machine guns mounted in the fuselage with the muzzles exiting under the radome. Two 165 US Gallon (1,204 litre) drop tanks, as carried by the F-80 and T-33, were carried on the wingtips. Alternatively, these could be replaced by a pair of 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs under the wings, giving the aircraft a secondary fighter bomber capability. 109 were produced.

 

The subsequent F-94B, which entered service in January 1951, was outwardly virtually identical to the F-94A. The Allison J33 turbojet had a number of modifications made, though, which made it a very reliable engine. The pilot was provided with a more roomy cockpit and the canopy was replaced by a canopy with a bow frame in the center between the two crew members, as well as a new Instrument Landing System (ILS). 356 of these were built.

 

The following F-94C was extensively modified and initially designated F-97, but it was ultimately decided to treat it as a new version of the F-94. USAF interest was lukewarm, since aircraft technology developed at a fast pace in the Fifties, so Lockheed funded development themselves, converting two F-94B airframes to YF-94C prototypes for evaluation.

 

To improve performance, a completely new, much thinner wing was fitted, along with a swept tail surface. The J33 engine was replaced with a more powerful Pratt & Whitney J48, a license-built version of the afterburning Rolls-Royce Tay, which produced a dry thrust of 6,350 pounds-force (28.2 kN) and approximately 8,750 pounds-force (38.9 kN) with afterburning.

 

The fire control system was upgraded to the Hughes E-5 with an AN/APG-40 radar in a modified nose with an enlarged radome. The guns were removed and replaced with an all-rocket armament, which was – at that time – regarded as more effective against high-flying, subsonic bomber formations. The internal armament consisted of four flip-up panels in a ring around the nose, each containing six rockets. External pods on the wings augmented the offensive ordnance to 48 projectiles. Operational service began with six squadrons by May 1954.

 

According to test pilot Tony LeVier, the F-94C was capable of supersonic flight, but Lockheed felt that the straight wing limited the airframe's potential, esp. with the uprated engine. Besides, the earlier F-94 variants already saw the end of their relatively brief operational life, already being replaced in the mid-1950s by the Northrop F-89 Scorpion and North American F-86D Sabre interceptor aircraft in front-line service and relegated to National Guard service. Therefore, Lockheed launched another update program for the F-94 in 1953, again as a private venture.

 

The resulting F-94E (the F-94D was a proposed fighter bomber variant which made it to prototype staus) was another, evolutionary modification of the basic concept, which, in the meantime, had almost nothing left in common with its F-80/T-33 ancestry.

It was based on the F-94C, most obvious change was the introduction of swept wings for supersonic capability in level flight. This change also necessitated other aerodynamic adjustments, including a new, deeper fin with increased area and a modified landing gear that would better cope with the increased AUW.

 

Under the hood, the F-94E was constructed around the new Hughes MG-3 fire control system, similar to the early F-102, but kept the AN/APG-40, even though it was coupled with an enlarged antenna. The respective new radome now covered the complete nose cross section. Furthermore, the F-94 E introduced innovations like a Texas Instruments infrared search/tracking system (IRST), which allowed passive tracking of heat emissions, mounted in a canoe fairing under the nose, passive radar warning receivers, transponders as well as backup artificial horizons.

 

With this improved equipment the interceptor was now able to deploy semi-active radar homing GAR-1s and/or infrared GAR-2s (later re-designated AIM-4A/B Falcon), operating at day and night as well as under harsh weather conditions.

 

All missiles were carried externally on underwing pylons. Beside the original main wet hardpoints outside the landing gear (typically a pair of 165 US Gallon (1,204 litre) drop tank, that were carried on the wing tips on the former versions), two additional pairs of lighter pylons were added under the wing roots and the outer wings.

 

Typically, a pair of SARH- and IR-guided AIM-4s were carried, one per pylon, plus a pair of drop tanks. Alternatively, the F-94E could carry up to 4.000 lb (1,816 kg) of ordnance, including up to six streamlined pods, each holding nineteen 2 ¾” in (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets. Any internal armament was deleted.

 

The F-94E's new wings allowed a top speed of 687mph at sea level and a top speed of 693 mph (1,115 km/h) at height – compared with the F-94C’s 640 mph (556 kn, 1,030 km/h) a rather mild improvement. But the enlarged wing area resulted in a considerably improved rate of climb as well as good maneuverability at height. The F-94E's performance was overall on par with the F-86D, with the benefit of a second crew member, while its weapon capability was comparable with the much bigger (but slower) F-89.

 

Both of these types were already introduced, so the Air Force's interest was, once more, less than enthusiastic. Eventually the F-94's proven resilience to harsh climate conditions, esp. in the Far North, earned Lockheed in 1955 a production contract for 72 F-94Es for interceptor squadrons based in Alaska, New Foundland, Greenland and Iceland.

 

These production machines arrived to the Northern theatre of operations in summer 1956 and featured an improved weapon capability: on the wet wing hardpoints, a pair of MB-1 Genie (formerly known as ‘Ding Dong’ missile, later re-coded AIR-2) nuclear unguided rockets could be carried.

 

For the missile pylons under the wing roots, twin launch rails were introduced so that the F-94E could theoretically carry a total of up to eight AIM-4 missiles, even though the wet pylons were typically occupied with the drop tanks and only two pairs of AIM-4A and B were carried under the wing roots. The J48 engine was slightly uprated, too: the F-94E’s P-9 variant delivered now 6,650 lbf (29.5 kN) dry thrust and 10,640 lbf (47.3 kN) at full afterburner.

 

Keflavik Airport, Iceland, although controlled by Military Air Transport Service (MATS), was the first base to be equipped with F-94Es as part of the 82d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in early 1957, where the machines replaced F-94Bs and F-89Cs.

 

The type was popular among the crews, because it coupled a relatively high agility (compared with the F-89 Scorpion) with the psychological benefit of a two men crew, not to be underestimated during operations in the Far North as well as over open water.

 

The F-94's career didn't last long, though, the aircraft soon became outdated. The last F-94E was already retired from USAF front-line service in November 1962, only three years after the last F-94C Starfires were phased out of ANG service. Eventually, the fighters were replaced by the F-101, F-102 and the F-106.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2

Length: 44 ft 11 in (13.71 m)

Wingspan: 39 ft 10 in (12.16 m)

Height: 14 ft 6 in (4.43 m)

Wing area: 313.4 sq ft (29.11 m²)

Empty weight: 12,708 lb (5,764 kg)

Loaded weight: 18,300 lb (8,300 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 24,184 lb (10,970 kg)

 

Powerplant:

1× Pratt & Whitney J48-P-9 turbojet, rated at 6,650 lbf (29.5 kN) dry thrust

and 10,640 lbf (47.3 kN) at full afterburner.

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 693 mph (1,115 km/h) at height and in level flight

Range: 805 mi (700 nmi, 1,300 km) in combat configuration with four AAMs and two drop tanks

Ferry range: 1,275 mi (1,100 nmi, 2,050 km)

Service ceiling: 51,400 ft (15,670 m)

Rate of climb: 12,150 ft/min (61.7 m/s)

Wing loading: 78.6 lb/ft² (384 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.48

 

Armament:

Six underwing pylons for a mix of AIM-4 Falcon AAMs (IR- and SARH-guided),

pods with unguided 19× 2.75” (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets,

a pair of 165 gal. drop tanks or a pair of unguided nuclear MB-1 Genie air-to-air missiles

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the Cold War GB at whatifmodelers.com. This build was originally inspired by profiles of a P-80/F-86 hybrid, and respective kitbashings from other modelers. An elegant, though fictional, aircraft! Nevertheless, I wanted to build one, too, and take the original idea a step further. So I chose the F-94 as an ingredient for the kit mix – a rather overlooked aircraft, and getting hands on a donation kit took some time, since there are not many options.

 

I wanted to use the F-94C as starting point, which is already considerably different from the F-80/T-33. Adding swept wings (from a Hobby Boss F-86F, with larger “6-3” wings) changed this look even more. So much that I decided to modify the fin, which did not look appropriate anymore.

 

The fin and the spine’s rear end was replaced with the fin of a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38. In order to unify shapes and make the donation less obvious, the Yak-38 fin’s characteristic, pointed tip was clipped and replaced by a more conventional design, scratched from a piece of 1.5mm styrene sheet. In the wake of this modification, the round elevator tips were clipped, too.

 

Using the F-94’s landing gear wells as benchmarks, the F-86 wings (which had to be cut off of the Hobby Boss kit’s integral, lower fuselage part) were sanded into shape and simply glued into a proper position.

 

This worked so well that a completely new and plausible main landing gear installation was created. As a consequence, I used the F-86’s landing gear struts - they are much better detailed than the Emhar F-94C’s parts. The front wheel strut (it’s a single piece) was transplanted too, even though the suspension was switched 180°.

 

The Emhar F-94C’s cockpit is pretty good (esp. the seats) and were taken OOB. I just covered some gaps in the cockpit walls and under the windscreen with paper tissue, soaked with white glue.

 

The nose was replaced by a bigger radome, taken from an Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.14 (Matchbox kit). Its diameter and shape fit almost perfectly onto the F-94C’s front end, and the result reminds a lot of the EF-94C photo reconnaissance test aircraft! Under the nose, a shallow fairing for the IR sensor was added, and all four air brakes were mounted in open position.

 

The underwing pylons come from the scrap box (one pair from an Airfix A-1 Skyraider, another from an ESCI Kamow Ka-34 ‘Hokum’ which also provide the launch rails for the ordnance). The drop tanks come probably from an Italeri F-16 (not certain) while the four AIM-4s come from a Hasegawa USAF air-to-air weapons set.

  

Painting and markings:

This was supposed to become a classic USAF aircraft of the late Fifties, since the F-94 had never been exported. I was actually tempted to add Red Stars, though, because the overall shape has a certain Soviet look to it - esp. the nose, which reminds a lot of the contemporary Yak-25 interceptor?

 

But the original USAF idea won, with an all-metal finish. In order to brighten things up I chose a squadron that served with the Northeast or Alaskan Air Command, which added orange-red high-viz markings to wings and fuselage.

 

The NMF sections were primed with a base coat of Revell’s acrylic Aluminum. On top of that, single panels and details were painted with Alu Plate and Steel Metallizer from Modelmaster.

The International Orange markings were created with Humbrol 132, slightly shaded with orange (Humbrol 18).

 

Part of the nose section and the spine were painted in ADC Grey (FS 16473, Modelmaster), just for some diversity. Cockpit interior and landing gear wells received a coat of US Cockpit Green (Humbrol 226), while the interior of the air brakes was painted in Zinc Primer (Humbrol 81), according to pictures of operational F-94s.

 

The landing gear struts and the inside of their covers became Aluminum (Humbrol 56). The anti glare panel in front of the cockpit was done with dark olive drab (Humbrol 66), the radome flat black and weathered with wet-in-wet streaks of sand brown.

Operational F-94s show serious weathering on their di-electric noses, so this detail was taken over to the kit. Other weathering with paint, beyond a basic black ink wash and some shading on the orange areas, was not done.

 

The drop tanks were painted with Steel Metallizer, for a different metallic shade from the fuselage, and the AIM-4’s received a typical outfit in white and bright red with different seeker heads.

 

Primary decals come from a Heller F-94B kit, which have the benefit of a silver background – even though this does not match 100% with the paint. Squadron markings come from an Xtradecal F-102 sheet, tailored to the kit. Most stencils come from the Emhar OOB sheet, plus some more from the aforementioned F-102 sheet.

 

After some soot stains around the exhaust were added with graphite, the kit was sealed under a coat of semi-glossy acrylic varnish. The anti glare panel and the radome were kept matt, though.

  

A pretty result. Mixing parts from a Shooting Star and a Sabre (a Shooting Sabre, perhaps?) results in a very elegant aircraft. And while the F-94 lost much of its original, elegant appeal, the combo still works with this later interceptor variant of the F-80. Very plausible, IMHO.

Replaced the other table with a wider and shorter one. I like it better! Stronger, more space to spread out, and more room for two if I ever have company or husband wants to work there too.

I recently broke my Class of 1984 Texas A&M Aggie Ring and had to have it replaced with a new one. The new one is still a Class of ’84 ring, but it is of the newer one-piece cast design specification that all Texas Aggie Rings have been manufactured to since 1998. So, in effect, it is a 2014 ring with my old class year on it. (I’ll refer to it as the 2014 ring throughout this text).

 

While enjoying a wonderful Mason Jar full of Maker’s Mark at my favorite dive bar on the Jersey Shore, I was looking at my new ring (she’s a beautiful thing) and a Class of 1942 A&M College of Texas ring that I purchased from an estate sale a couple of years ago. The Class of ’42 ring apparently was never worn by the Texas Aggie who purchased it. I did the research on him (his name is inside the ring) and he won some very distinguished awards during WW II. He survived the war in Europe and died an old man in the early 2000s. The old ring is way too small for ANY of my fingers so I wear it occasionally on a leather cord around my neck.

 

While examining my new (2014) model Aggie Ring and the “experienced” 1942 Aggie Ring, I was taken back by the vast number of differences there are in the design of the two rings. There are many!!! I then went online and found out a few facts that helped to explain why the rings are so different:

 

1) My original Class of 1984 Aggie Ring (and the new 2014 replacement for it) were manufactured by Balfour Corporation of Austin, Texas which has been the sole manufacturer of Aggie rings since 1949.

 

2) My older Aggie decorated combat veteran’s ring from the Class of 1942 was manufactured by Josten’s Ring Division headquartered in Owatonna, Minnesota which was the sole manufacturer of Texas A&M Rings from 1940 to 1948.

 

As the two companies aren’t connected, it stands to reason that when Balfour Corporation was awarded the contract, their designer would have had to make new patterns for the A&M ring. Over the years, Balfour has continued to modify the “patterns” that are used to cast the Aggie rings.

 

While I’m sure I’m missing some of the differences in the two Aggie rings, here are some things that immediately jumped out at me while I was casually observing the two rings next to each other.

 

Beginning with the ring crest:

 

1) The large oval around the eagle and inner art is much more prominent on the Balfour 2014 model than the older Jostens one. In fact it’s almost sharp to the touch and stands up way above the crest content. The oval on the 1942 Jostens model is much lower (almost even with the eagle) and smoother. The only way I can explain the tactile feel of the difference between the two would be that the 2014 oval band feels like the top of a beer can while the band on the 1942 ring feels like the smooth bottom of a beer can. The 2014 ring is more of a long oval while the 1942 oval is more round as typical of most older college class rings. If I were to need to punch anyone in the face with one of these rings on, I’d definitely wear the Balfour model as that sharp edge on the oval could definitely do more damage to a human skull than the smooth edge on the older ring.

 

2) The text font on the two rings are totally different. While both rings use a serif font, the font on the 1942 ring is easier to read and not as harsh as the font on the 2014 ring. The font on the 2014 ring almost seems to be cast in a “false perspective” as if it were designed on a computer. The ampersand “&” on the 1942 ring is clearly distinguishable as such while the ampersand on the 2014 ring in the “A&M” is almost unrecognizable as that character and looks more like the cousin of a “6” or a “B.”

 

3) The class year on the 1942 ring is set in a font that is low and wide and blends into the background of the crest quite well. The 2014 ring class year is a bit harsh and tall. It almost looks like a sans-serif font and is so set apart from the art on the rest of the crest that it looks like the class year was added as an afterthought.

 

4) The shield in front of the eagle on both of the rings are very different. While both have 13 stripes in the shield that refer to the 13 original states and symbolize the intense patriotism of graduates and undergraduates of A&M and five stars in the shield refer to phases of development of the student; mind or intellect, body, spiritual attainment, emotional poise, and integrity of character, the aspect ratio and size of the two shields are completely different. The shield on the 1942 ring is much smaller and looks how a shield was depicted in artwork I have seen from the 1800s and early 1900s. The shield on the 1942 ring has five stars with the center of the five stars larger than the two stars on either side of it. The 2014 ring has a much taller and larger shield which unfortunately, obscures much more of the body of the eagle. Also, the stars on the newer ring are all of the same size and are almost distinguishable as stars. They almost look like “dots.”

 

5) The eagle which stands for agility and power is vastly different on the two different rings. The 1942 ring eagle’s head, while smaller than the one on the 2014 ring rises much higher in the crest and is more easily identifiable as an eagle than the one on the 2014 ring. The eagle’s wings on the 1942 ring are much higher on the crest and show distinctly three layers of the eagle’s wings while the wings on the 2014 ring are almost two dimensional at the bottom of the crest and an observer really has to look hard to distinguish any detail. The eagle on the 1942 ring is clearly perched on a rock and you can quite easily see its feet and talons. On the 2014 ring, I can’t really make out the eagle’s feet because of the size of the class year font and the larger shield. It “might” be perched on a branch, but I can’t really tell. It definitely isn’t on a large rock like it is on the 1942 ring. You can even seek the belly of the eagle on the 1942 ring. [Look at the photos of the two crests and note how significant the difference is between the two eagles and shields on the different rings!]

 

Moving on to the side of the ring with the Great Seal of the Republic (State) of Texas which includes the five-pointed star surrounded by a wreath of olive or laurel leaves symbolizing the strength to fight joined at the bottom by a circled ribbon indicating the necessity of joining the two traits to accomplish one’s ambition to serve [the military and the Republic of Texas.]:

 

1) The two “Lone Stars of Texas” on both rings are virtually identical. The olive / laurel leaves on the 1942 ring are more defined and not as obscured with other embellishment as the 2014 ring. The background behind the “Lone Star” on the 1942 ring is plain and simple which makes the star stand out more than on the 2014 ring where there are all sorts of indeterminate lines behind the star which tend to detract from it.

 

2) The ribbon tying the two pieces of vegetation on the 1942 ring is more “three dimensional” where the one on the 2014 ring looks just like a series of lines.

 

3) The American flag on the left of the wreath of the 1942 ring is much easier to identify. While you can only see three stars on the flag and even though they are much smaller on the older ring, they are much sharper than the ones on the 2014 ring which look more like three “dots” or even a raised triangle.

 

4) The “chevrons” at the bottom of the crest are of different proportions on the two rings. The 1942 ring having proportions more like one would have seen on military rank back in the 1800s/1900s.

 

The other side of the ring includes an artillery cannon, a saber, and an infantry rifle which allow us to remember that the men of the Republic of Texas fought for their land and are determined to defend the Republic.

 

1) This side of the ring is were both the 1942 ring and the 2014 ring are the most similar with only minor variations. One of note is that the 2014 ring correctly shows the opening on the cannon where the fuze would have been inserted while the 1942 ring omits this detail.

 

2) The cannon on the 1942 ring is in better proportion to a real cannon and looks slightly better than the cannon on the 2014 ring.

 

3) The “Lone Star” on the Texas flag is bigger on the 2014 ring which I like better than the smaller one on the 1942 ring while the stars on the 1942 ring US flag are more recognizable as stars than their counterparts on the 2014 ring.

 

4) There are minor differences between the rifle and saber on both rings, but they are trivial in nature.

 

The “holes” or pits on the bottom of the ring which any Aggie can tell you stand for “certain individuals who went to Texas University” are effectively identical.

 

Finally, the inside of the ring:

 

1) Both rings contain a mark indicating the gold content of the ring and the manufacturer’s symbol. The Balfour ring has “Balfour” spelled out and some additional letters and numbers that have no meaning to myself.

 

2) The inscribed name of the owner is in different places on the two rings. On the 1942 ring, the name inscription starts at the area that is effectively directly behind the top of the cannon and continues down towards the bottom of the left side of the ring. The 2014 ring inscribed owner’s name is centered underneath the crest so that the owner’s middle initial is effectively underneath the shield. The font on the 2014 ring is much larger than the font on the 1942 ring and a bit “rough.” The font on the 1942 ring is very smooth and formal. Almost reminiscent of old calling cards.

 

Either way, both rings work their “Aggie Magic” and I consider myself lucky to have more than one!!!

Great Sampford, Essex

 

The beautiful church of St Michael the Archangel at Great Sampford is not the first church to stand on the rising ground at the centre of the village overlooking the cornfields along the valley of the river Pant. It is possibly sited on an ancient place of cult or religious significance. The proximity of the Stow farm may be of some importance, for the word ‘Stow’ in Old English can mean a ‘holy place’ or ‘place of assembly’. A pre-Conquest church, presumably of timber and thatch construction, followed perhaps, by a simple stone-built church, was replaced by the 13c on the same site by a major church building of which one of the transepts remains as the vestry of the present church which was built between 1320 and 1350. The original dedication of the church, if different, is not known as the first documentary reference to St Michael occurs as late as 1540 in a Sampford will. Dedications were sometimes changed and the use of the proper style, St. Michael the Archangel, is in fact quite rare. However, dedications to St. Michael or St. Michael and All Angels are numerous and were popular as the Archangel is an important figure in Christian tradition and art, symbolising the victory of God over evil, as an intercessor for the sick and as a leader of the Church militant. Churches dedicated to him, as at Great Sampford, are often found on hill—top sites or on high ground .a possible allusion to St. Michael’s pre-eminence in the Angelic Host of Christian belief. His Feast Day is 29th September.

 

Knowledge of the origins of the Christian Church in Essex relies largely on the fragile but growing evidence of archaeology and landscape interpretation. An ill-defined and mobile pattern of contemporaneous pagan and early Christian practices in the Roman era comes into historical focus with the missionary endeavours of the Roman and Celtic Churches when such names as Augustine, Mellitus and Cedd are prominent in Essex history. Within that tradition there are various, as yet unproven, theories about the establishment of a church at Great Sampford.

 

On entering the church the first impression that the visitor receives is of its elegant dignity; the next, the incongruence of its scale in such a tiny rural community. An interesting aspect of this enigma is the search for a convincing explanation of its status, from the mid-13c until 1907, as a deanery church serving twenty-one surrounding parishes in the Freshwell Hundred and in part of Uttlesford. It may have been a consequence of an early ‘minster’ (i.e.: missionary) role or as the result of a parochial compromise in an area with more important communities such as (Saffron) Walden. We do not know. However, it is a fact that the missionary work of the early minsters often extended to and beyond the boundaries of the administrative hundreds and became the sites of the hundredal centres themselves. There may well be historic linkages, not yet understood, between the Freshwell and Uttlesford Hundreds and the Sampford Deanery that relate to the early status of the church at Great Sampford.

 

The earliest historical fact about St. Michael’s is the grant by William Rufus, son and successor of William the Conqueror, of the church at Sampford along with the subordinate chapel at Hempstead with their lands and tithes to Battle Abbey in 1094. According to Philip Morant, the most famous of Essex historians, this was a formal confirmation of the Conqueror's original royal grant. This act of confirmation was a necessary and regular practice in regard to the efficacy of grants and early charters which were frequently forged. The church at Hempstead was within the jurisdiction of the vicar of Great Sampford until as late as 1979. Great Sampford remained in the hands of Battle Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 when it was transferred to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. In 1836 it passed to the newly-established Church Commissioners. In 1982 Great Sampford was combined with the parish of Little Sampford.

 

For perhaps a thousand years, even more, the Church at Sampford pursued its mission and, like others of medieval foundation, did not escape the consequences of religious, political and parochial events or circumstances. An astonishing flowering of spiritual faith and social commitment led to the building and re-building of these lovely churches. This phase was followed by the painful disruption of the Reformation, the Commonwealth and the Restoration, all of which led to anxious change and despoliation. In the course of these events much of the magnificence of the church at Great Sampford and its furnishings was lost or abandoned. All his was compounded by periods of neglect and the chronic problems of maintaining a great building in a small village bereft of wealthy resident patrons.

 

The loss, confiscation or sale of the rood, images, church plate and "such other goods as could be spared" was mirrored by decay of the fabric as is evident from the Parochial Inventories and Visitations of the l6c and l7c. The l7c saw the introduction of new arrangements for the railing of the Lord’s Table and seating for the congregation, a school was held in the south transept and the village musicians performed in a gallery under the tower. The inevitable ‘restorations’ by the Victorians led to the removal of furnishings, the installation of new pews, patterned floor tiling and the stripping of the stucco from the exterior walls of the church to expose the original flint and rubble surfaces. In more recent times the spiral staircase in the tower was removed and the roof structure of the south aisle replaced. We are, fortunately, left with a church of beauty and distinction.

 

It is hoped that the following brief notes on the architectural features and minor objects and details of interest in the church will help visitors to enjoy their visit.

  

The significance of St. Michael the Archangel in the village scene is apparent from the scale of the building, its strong profiles and conspicuous English Gothic idiom of the Decorated period. Internally, the major architectural theme is that of a restrained, uncomplicated elegance that is enhanced by the ample light admitted by plain glass windows. A dominant feature is the fine range of trefoiled, cinquefoiled and sexfoiled lights of the nave, chancel and aisle windows all dating from the period c. 1320-50. The cusped tracery of the windows is complemented by the symmetrical refinement of the arcading which is only lightly embellished by mouldings and carved capitals, typical of the period, and among the best in the county. Although not devoid of interesting detail, there is nothing to detract from the simple elegance and spatial qualities with which the fenestration and graceful arcading endow this fine building.

 

In 1769 Peter Muilman referred to the church at Great Sampford which "stands pleasantly on a small eminence by the roadside". Pleasantly indeed, the church is handsomely set in the Essex cornfields and seen to advantage from the high ground on the opposite side of the river. Close to, the sturdy profiles and somewhat severe external textures, relieved by some decorative areas of knapped flint flushwork, offer little hint of the quality of its Gothic interior. The main structure is built with random-faced flint and rubble set in lime mortar with limestone and clunch dressings. The roof is tiled and slated. The prominent west tower was built in the mid-l4c and, like the south aisle, has an embattled parapet. The south porch is of the same period. Unhappily, the window tracery of the 13c transept has been lost and is now disfigured by brickwork of two phases which seem to date from the late-18c to early-19c. Conspicuous in the churchyard are the fine lime trees planted in about 1835. The only monument of significance is the obelisk near the east wall of the churchyard which commemorates members of the Watson Family of Sampford. Colonel Jonas Watson was a distinguished soldier who was killed in action at the siege of Cartagena in 1741. But spare a moment to look at the adjacent grave stone of William Ruffle who died in 1881, a village worthy who served Great Sampford as shopkeeper, constable, clerk and in other public offices for over half a century.

 

External details of note are a rare series of consecration crosses of varying designs around the church, an early scratch dial, now displaced and seen on a doorstep in the north wall, a benchmark and the slot for the surveyor’s bench on the south-west buttress of the tower and miscellaneous graffiti mainly in the porch. Other details of interest include the rainwater heads, the vigorous carvings on the label of the south transept and niches in the south transept and the north and west walls. The clock on the church tower was installed in l9ll to mark the coronation of King George V.

 

On entering, visitors will appreciate the impressive dimensions and architectural refinement of this handsome village church. Standing in the centre of the nave the dominant curvilinear idiom of the Gothic styling will be apparent. The nave is flanked by north and south arcaded aisles with plain two-centred arches datable to the l4c. The piers of the north arcade are quatrefoil in plan with slender engaged shafting; those of the south arcade are octagonal in plan. All of the piers have moulded bases and capitals.

 

The 14c west tower is constructed in four stages. Internally it is open to the nave under a two-centred moulded arch. There is access to the belfry but, sadly, the brick-built circular Tudor staircase was removed about fifty years ago. The carved head of a woman recovered from this staircase, although it presumably originated from elsewhere in the church, can be seen in the vestry. But the finest aspects of this church are to be seen in the early chancel which is remarkable for its size and the splendour of its architectural expression. It dates from the first decades of the l4c. This fine chancel is framed by an exceptionally large east window of five cinquefoiled lights, the curvilinear bar tracery and verticality of which enhance the powerful impact of this aspect of the building. Most interesting, and presumably deriving from the deanery status of the church, there is a series on the north and south walls of twenty-one stalls recessed under a canopied arcade with mouldings and cusping. At the east end of the south arcade there are the piscina and sedilia. The chancel arch, of the same period and sprung from the capitals of clustered shafts, shows residual traces, near the base on either side of the step, of a former stone screen which is possibly significant in view of the rare stone screens in the nearby churches of Stebbing and Great Bardfield. Note also the small blocked low window by the north side of the arch. The panels behind the altar on which the Creed, Lords Prayer and Commandments are painted were made in 1837 for the church at Danbury and brought to Great Sampford in 1894.

 

The vestry, formerly a chapel, is of great interest as a surviving major element of the previous church of the late - 13c (however when I visited this was locked). In the east wall there are good coupled windows of two trefoiled lights with two quatrefoil and sexfoil circular openings, interesting examples of pierced plate-tracery. The large brick-filled window in the south wall is of the mid-13c with good mouldings and the surviving arch and shafting in the splays. Below this window, fragments of medieval glass were found buried in the ground outside. The contemporary archway in the west wall has some intriguing carved capitals richly adorned with robust oak-leaf foliage and vibrant figures including an owl, snail, pig and a human face in a good state of preservation. One is assumed to be a representation of a ‘Green Man’ a symbolic figure of English folklore. The north wall has four quatrefoil openings. There is, under the south window, a triple gabled recess with crockets and linear moulding, pinnacles and a neat acanthus motif which was probably once a fine tomb of an important local family, perhaps a member of the de Kemesek family. It is said to have served as a fireplace in the time when the vestry housed the village school! The battened and studded oak door leading into the chancel is 16c.

 

The open church roof structures are well worth close study. The best is in the vestry which is roofed with twelve pairs of collared scissor-braced trusses supporting the steep-pitched rafters on moulded wall plates. The chancel roof is also of trussed-rafter construction of seven cants, as is that of the nave roof which also has three tie-beams which may have been installed at a later date, perhaps when, as we know from church records, the roof was repaired in the 16c. The lean-to roof of the north aisle is attractively braced with graceful curved members sprung from a good moulded wall-plate. Unfortunately, the original roof of the south aisle has been replaced by a modern structure, but three of the amusing stone corbels which supported it remain. The trussed-rafter roof of the south porch with seven cants should be noted as it rests on extremely fine early moulded plates. Visitors should not miss the intriguing carved medieval wooden head which is fastened onto the wall above the chancel arch at the north-west corner facing the nave. This appears to have been repositioned, perhaps from a figure that was once part of church statuary. On the south side in the clerestory will be seen an attractive 15c Perpendicular style rectilinear and cinquefoiled window of three ogee lights which was devised to throw light onto the former rood.

 

Originally the church would have been resplendent with a comprehensive range of wall paintings for visual instruction depicting scenes of biblical or religious significance. A few fragments survive, having been discovered during restoration work in 1979, above the arches on the walls of the north arcade. Although faint and incomplete the two remaining paintings are of interest. One represents the seven deadly sins in the form of a diagrammatic tree which is comparatively rare. The other may be of St. Christopher, a saintly figure normally positioned, as possibly here, opposite the church entrance as a reassuring gesture to the worshippers. There are traces, too, possibly of another period, that suggest a dragon was depicted which would imply an association with St. Michael to whom the church is dedicated or, possibly, St. Margaret. Traces of colour in the wall plaster of the vestry may eventually yield further paintings.

 

Worthy of note are some special features beginning with the door at the church entrance. This is thought to be contemporary with the building of the church in the early l4c and, although damaged at the base, is still a fine example and retains the original wrought iron strap-work and studding. According to expert opinion it is the most elaborate of all saltire-braced doors in Essex. The boards of which it is constructed are pegged together. The font in the south aisle has a plain moulded octagonal bowl of the 15c. Its stem is earlier and has complex decoration which combines ogee-headed panels with intricate tracery on a chamfered 14c plinth. The Victorian pews were recently detached and the nave flooring paved. The beautiful series of kneelers worked with flower motifs were recently embroidered by local people. The lovely embroidered runner on the step of the sanctuary was made in 1990 and is an exact copy of the Victorian runner it replaced.

 

It is valid to observe that St. Michael’s benefits aesthetically from the absence of monumental clutter which, although sometimes historically useful, can be detrimental to the architectural purity of the building as a whole. The only remaining monuments of antiquity in the church are the tomb slabs (Calthorp and Burrows) of the 17c and 18c in the chance]. They commemorate a family whose name persists at a local farm and another of textile merchants who lived opposite the church. There is another (Gretton) in the south aisle. The pulpit, the provenance of which is unknown, is Victorian. There are also a few notable pieces of furniture. These include a 17c desk with a writing slope and cupboard which once served the school in the church. There is also a standing cupboard or hutch of the late 16c and a 16c church chest, iron-banded with strap hinges and an interior ‘till’ which may have been built-in as a response to a Parochial Visitation of 1686 which ordered it to be provided and lockable. The modern portable altar at the east end of the north aisle was given to the church by an anonymous donor in 1991. The small bronze of the Madonna and Child is of German provenance.

 

The five church bells which were once rung for church services as well as for special village occasions like harvest and gleaning can no longer be pealed. This is because of structural weaknesses in the belfry though they are still hung on the original stocks. Nowadays one is chimed for church services, as a Sanctus bell and used to ring the hours for the clock. The first, third and fourth bells were cast by William Land in 1624; the second (which bears the Royal Arms and a medallion with a bust of Charles II) by Henry Yaxley in 1684; the fifth by John Hodson in 1664. The church plate includes an interesting early Elizabethan silver cup of 1562 with a paten cover of c1567 and another paten dated 1630. None of these is inscribed although they carry makers' marks. An electro-plated flagon of 1854 was purchased by the vicar for five guineas in 1856. The organ, installed in 1976, is said to have come from a nonconformist chapel and to have been built in c1830 by G.M. Holdich. The eagle lectern in the south aisle was placed in the church in 1909 as a tribute to the incumbency of the Rev. Robert Eustace, vicar from 1850 to 1905.

 

Almost every ancient church has a range, most of which cannot be satisfactorily explained, of markings and graffiti, ostensibly symbolic figuring, idle scratchings and numerous initials and dates. Great Sampford has a generous quota of such. Of genuine interest is a 3-men’s (or 9-men's) Morris cut into the second stall on the north side of the chancel inside the altar rail. These are gaming boards of some antiquity, the play having affinities with ludo and allegedly used to relieve the boredom of long sermons or tedious ritual. On the opposite side one of the sedilia has a set of unexplained grooves, possibly another game.

 

This guide has so far been concerned mostly with events, architecture and objects of beauty or interest. More important are the people, clergy, church officers and villagers who have worked for and worshipped in the church. They all emerge from the obscurity of the past through the church records and the village archives as personalities or in human situations which help us to share their hopes, commitment or despair. The clergy, ever since Thomas de Sampford, dean in 1163, have served the church and ministered to the people throughout the ages and struggled with the traumas of turbulent and anxious times. The churchwardens, like Richard Petytt and John Mylner in the l6c and their successors, have striven to preserve the church from decay and neglect and carried out their onerous and multifarious duties with devotion if not always with alacrity. There have been too the countless parishioners whose recurring family names fill the registers recording the joy of marriage and birth and the sadness of illness and death. They are all part of the story and the reality of the church and its life in the village. They too were familiar with the building we admire. They sat in the pews and looked upon the beauty that is now our heritage. Their responsibility has passed to successive generations, and now to us. We hope that they would have approved of this little booklet and that it will play its part in safeguarding the continuity of that inheritance.

via WordPress bit.ly/2WWtl13

 

I’ve recently finished replacing the wiring harness on my P5B Coupe with a ‘New Old Stock’ harness, so it seems a good time to cover this in some detail in an article. I also plan to write a series of articles explaining how each of the main circuits of the Rover P5 electrical system works, but that’s for the (near) future.

 

Why???

 

Before we begin, it’s worth mentioning why I took this drastic step. My car, like many classics of the period, had numerous places where the insulation on the old harness was fraying and cracked. This is obviously a fire hazard and needed repairing. My original plan was to re-terminate wires and/or splice-in new sections. That would be the simplest thing, and if done properly would have been fine.

 

However, my car had suffered a small engine fire a few years before I bought it. The fire had damaged the engine and ancillaries, but had been extinguished before doing too much damage, although the wiring in the engine had been damaged. The repairers had cut the old harness at the 4 places it passes through the firewall, and connected parts of another harness in the engine bay.

 

Unfortunately not only had they used the wrong harness with inconsistent wire colours (and hadn’t removed redundant wires), but they spliced the two harnesses together using about 60 bullet connectors, which are not the most reliable electrical connectors. Again, I could have crimped and soldered these properly, or replaced the engine wiring with the correct wires, but the whole thing would have been a patchwork and a definite weak point.

 

There was also the related issue that the engine-bay was looking very tired and dirty, and there was a lot of surface-rust in places, so sorting that was important as well.

 

As I contemplated my options, a New Old Stock (NOS) harness for a P5B Coupe popped-up on eBay. I also could have ordered a new harness from Autosparks, but the eBay harness was ¼ of the price, so I ordered it. This could have been a mistake, as old wiring will still degrade with age even if not fitted to a car, but when it arrived the harness was almost as new. It was slightly the wrong year, so a couple of wires were wrong, but as I wanted to fit some additional components anyway, I could easily fix this. I’d then have a period-correct harness, adapted to exactly how I want it.

 

I’ll talk more about how I adapted the harness a little later.

 

Recommended Reading

 

Whilst re-wiring my car and researching this topic I’ve found the following book invaluable, and thoroughly recommend you obtain a copy:

 

Classic British Car Electrical Systems

 

“Your guide to understanding, repairing and improving the electrical components and systems that were typical … from 1950 to 1980.”

 

An Invaluable guide for any classic car electrical system, taking the reader from basics of car electrical theory to a complete understanding. What makes this especially good for us is that it covers many of the Lucas components that the P5 uses, so is very relevant. Its well written, detailed, and logically laid-out.

 

Classic British Car Electrical Systems

   

Classic British Car Electrical Systems: Your guide to understanding, repairing and improving the electrical components and systems that were typical ... from 1950 to 1980 (Essential Manual Series)

 

by Rick Astley [Veloce Publishing Ltd.]

Price: £26.00

 

Wiring Diagram

 

A good wiring diagram is an absolute necessity. The diagram in the Workshop manual is quite poor as it’s small, has errors and isn’t in colour. There is a free PDF available from the Rover P5 Club for members, but as I wanted to make some changes I decided to create my own full-colour circuit diagrams of the complete P5B electrical system. This was rather time-consuming, but invaluable in understanding the wiring and planning the changes I wanted.

 

The overall layout I used is somewhat similar to the free PDF version as that seems the most logical layout, so thanks are due for inspiration to the Club Member who created that version. My version is quite different in detail, and has lots of additional information as well. It’s 3-pages in total, and is correct for a 1968 P5B (both Saloon and Coupe), although Rover sometimes made running changes, so I can’t guarantee everything is correct for your car.

 

To make things easier, I’ve had the standard version of my diagram professionally printed at A3 size, and these are available to buy in the website Shop and also below here, in full colour, both on plain-paper and also laminated. A3 is a great size as there is so much information packed-in, and they look really smart (I may be biased). The A3 laminated prints look great on the garage wall as well!

 

RoverP5.com Wiring Diagram

 

Rover P5B Saloon and Coupe Wiring Diagram (A3, Plain Paper)

 

£8.00

 

Rover P5B Saloon and Coupe Wiring Diagram (A3, Laminated)

 

£20.00

 

Recommended Tools and Consumables

 

In order to work on Rover P5 and P5B electrics to a standard similar to original, whether replacing the harness or re-terminating a wire, there are a few general tools you’ll need, plus a few specialised tools that I strongly recommend you buy – they will transform the quality of the final result.

 

General Tools

 

Wire Cutters

 

Wire Strippers

 

Knife

 

Soldering Iron (I tend to use a propane gas iron, which saves the need for a power connection, but that’s a personal preference. Any soldering iron of about 30W upwards should be fine).

 

Specialised Tools

 

Multi-Meter

 

I recommend a pen-type meter, as they allow you to see the display next to where you’re probing – much less chance of the probe slipping as you turn to look at the display. You want a meter with at least D.C. voltage measurement and an audible continuity check. I bought and used this one – I recommend it: amzn.to/2BhmYvR

 

It’s also very useful if one lead is extra-long (I’d suggest 3 metres), with a clip rather than a probe. This allows you to, for example, clip the meter to a wire in the engine bay, then take the meter inside the car to probe for continuity behind the dashboard. I made my own using a crocodile clip, some flexible wire and 4mm banana plug.

 

Lucar-type Crimp Tool

 

You can get cheap crimping tools, but often the jaws don’t align properly and the quality of the crimp will be poor. I recommend this one – the crimped connectors look as good as the factory:

 

www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/269/ratchet-cr...

 

Bullet Crimp Tool

 

These aren’t as widely available as the above, but they are vital and well worth buying if you’re doing any work on a Rover P5 or P5B electrical system, which uses a great may Bullet connectors:

 

www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/272/bullet-cri...

 

Bullet Closing Tool

 

These aren’t essential, but they do make inserting bullet connectors into connection blocks much easier, especially in confined areas, and you won’t damage the crimp or the cable (which pushing on the cable often does):

 

www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/336/bullet-clo...

 

Consumables

 

I recommend buying a selection of ‘Lucar’ (6.3mm) crimp connectors and Bullet crimp connectors for different wire sizes. These come either plain brass and tinned brass – tinned brass are probably the most durable. Don’t use the pre-insulated Lucar terminals – they look terrible and don’t crimp or support the wire insulation properly. Vehicle Wiring Products can supply the right ones.

 

I also recommend that if you need to replace any wiring, try to source the correct colour-coded wire of the same or larger conductor size. Vehicle Wiring Products supply every colour cable in PVC insulation, and Autosparks can supply the correct coloured braided cable. Most modern PVC cable is ‘thin-wall’ type so it takes-up less space in the harness – this is perfectly OK for classic cars as long as the conductor rating is correct.

 

You might also need a selection of bullet connector blocks. These are made for 1, 2, 3 and 5 cables. Just be aware that the 2 and 3 cable types are for connecting all 3 wires together – they aren’t multi-pole. The 5 cable version is multi-pole. Again, available from Vehicle Wiring Products and Autosparks.

 

Re-usable ‘Velcro’ Cable Ties: These are really handy if you need to unwrap any of the harness to get to wires – you can keep the harness together using these, and can easily move and re-use them as needed. H&S 100 Reusable Cable Ties: amzn.to/2Df7iJJ

 

Harness Tape. Whatever you do, don’t use insulation tape to re-wrap the harness! The adhesive degrades rapidly and you end-up with a horrible, sticky mess. You should use proper harness tape that doesn’t have any adhesive and can be removed easily if needed. I recommend Tesa H5160803 Wiring Harness Harness Tape 19 mm x 15 m Roll: amzn.to/2D8aPtA

 

The P5 Wiring Harness

 

Over the years numerous changes occurred to the P5 wiring and electrical components – too many to list. The number of fuses and general complexity increased over time. Most changes happened at the major model changeovers between Mark I / IA / II / III / P5B, but between these there were lots of running changes, not all documented in the Workshop Manual.

 

This series of articles focuses on an early P5B from 1968 with a ballasted coil and an alternator rather than dynamo, but earlier and later P5B’s are broadly similar with only relatively minor incremental changes each year.

 

The biggest change to be aware of was the change from positive to negative earth in 1965 – its really important you know whether your P5 is positive or negative earth. P5B’s are simple in this regard – all were negative earth, and all P5B’s used an alternator, not a dynamo.

 

Most P5 and P5B harnesses seem to use a combination of braided wire and PVC-insulated wire. The braided wire was mainly used on the ‘supply’ side of the fusebox. Perhaps Rover used this as an extra layer of protection against wire damage on the unfused supply wires? I’m not sure as it seems like a significant complication, but Rover were very-much engineering-led at this time, so that may be the case. To maintain originality I recommend getting the correct braided wire from Autosparks if your car had this originally – little details like this are an interesting part of the cars history.

 

Crimp or Solder?

 

Terminals on the standard Rover harness were mainly both crimped and soldered, and that’s what I’d recommend if you replace any terminals. Crimping (done correctly) should give the best electrical connection, but there is a chance for water to get into the joint through capillary action. That will increase resistance over time. Soldering is watertight, but will normally have a slightly higher resistance than a crimped joint. Doing both is best – crimp first, then solder.

 

Replacing the Wiring Harness

 

Now, finally we can cover the process of replacing the harness.

 

Step 1: Label the New Harness

 

It may be tempting to jump-in and start ripping wires out of your car, but I strongly advise taking your time and doing Step 1 first. It makes fitting the new harness much easier and less error-prone. This is what I did, and at the same time I made a number of modifications to the harness (see later). My car started first-time after connecting the last wire of the harness – even I was surprised by that.

 

The main reason I recommend labelling the harness first is that if there are things you’re unsure of at this stage, either in the wiring diagram or new harness, you still have a functioning harness in your car that you can refer to. This can be invaluable, and save you a great deal of heartache later.

 

I worked through every wire in the harness checking against the wiring diagram, checking it with the continuity tester on my multimeter, and making sure the wire colour-code matched the diagram. Any discrepancies were noted on the diagram, and checked against my car. I found a couple of wires in the NOS harness that were different to the diagram – perhaps some of Rover’s undocumented running changes, or expediency by the harness supplier.

 

To make this easier, and since it was Summer, I hung the harness on nails hammered into the garden fence! Obviously any wall would do, although a fence makes this very easy. I hung the harness in the approximate layout it would sit in the car. This made things much easier, and I got a sun tan at the same time.

 

As I checked each wire, I labelled the end with a flag of PVC insulation tape. In permanent market I wrote the component it was connecting to with the terminal number if appropriate. Underneath that, in brackets, I wrote what was as the other end of the cable. So one of the tape tabs on a cable might look like this:

 

HEADLAMP MAIN LHS

 

(FUSEBOX F14)

 

At a glance I could then see this wire was to be connected to the Headlamp Main Beam on the left-hand-side (nearside). In case of problems, I can also see the other end connects to the Fusebox terminal 14. This made troubleshooting much easier, and once tested in the car I removed most of the flags (I left a few that were hidden – you never know if they may be useful in the future).

 

Not only does this step check your harness against the wiring digram, it makes re-connecting the harness quite simple and familiarises you with the harness itself. And you’re not upside down under the dashboard when doing this, but standing comfortably getting a suntan in your garden.

 

OK, I think this part is long enough. Here’s a video I’ve posted about the whole re-wiring – well worth a watch (and a subscribe!), and you’ll get a sneak-peak of what will be covered next.

 

In Part 2 I’ll cover in some detail the process to actually replace the harness in a Rover P5B. This should be published on the website in a few days.

 

[Picture replaced]

Replaced the large BR Arrow with a Fox Transfers one

 

The Sherry-Netherland

781 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10022

 

The 59th Street side of the hotel.

-----------------

 

The Early Years

 

The hotel site at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 59th Street in Manhattan had been occupied by the New Netherland, built by William Waldorf Astor. The chateau like apartment tower facing Fifth Avenue was designed by William H. Hume. Its name came from New Netherland - the name given to a portion of the East Coast of North America by the Dutch Republic. The New Netherland's provincial capital was New Amsterdam which was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan.

 

The New Netherland was completed in 1892. The neo-Romanesque steel-framed building was 17 stories (234 feet) and claimed to be the "tallest hotel structure in the world" when it opened.

 

Developer Samuel Keller Jacobs began demolition of the New Netherland in 1926. Replacing it was a new tower apartment hotel occupying the same footprint and frontage on Fifth Avenue. Jacobs contracted with the architect firm Schultze & Weaver to work with high-rise specialist Buchman & Kahn.

 

Originally it was to be a 36-story transient hotel to have the same name - New Netherland. The Grand Army Plaza area was becoming a fashionable area. The Fifth Avenue mansions were giving way to high rise apartment hotels. It was decided to have Schultze & Weaver design a building to insure the wealthy residents of the area could continue their grand life style - but in a high rise apartment. During the construction Jacobs sold the hotel to Louis Sherry, Inc., a subsidiary of Boomer-duPont Properties Corporation. Lucius Boomer was a noted hotel operator and was also affiliated with the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel. Boomer was one of the early endowers to the Cornell Hotel School who made its establishment possible.

 

Louis Sherry (1855-1926) owned Sherry's an extremely successful and regaled restaurant and caterer located at Forty Third Street and Fifth Avenue. Sherry thought it best to close his restaurant business due to prohibition (which commenced in 1920) and what Sherry described as "war-born Bolshevism". The NY Times quoted Sherry "I am not at the point where I cannot increase my staff of waiters without admitting Bolsheviki, but I will not submit my patrons to have their food thrown at them."

 

Sherry and Lucius M. Boomer formed a new corporation (Louis Sherry, Inc.) with the intent to continue the ice cream, candy and catering business and also provide catering services for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Boomer was the chairman of the board for the original Waldorf-Astoria at Fifth Avenue and was also the original owner of Boston's Lenox Hotel.

 

Lucius Boomer renamed the hotel - The Sherry-Netherland - in anticipation of cashing in on the Sherry name known for its high standards of food and service. Louis Sherry died shortly before his name became associated with the new venture. An early brochure for the hotel states: "The Sherry tradition of perfection is drilled into every member of the personnel."

 

Also taking its name from Louis Sherry is the Sherry-Lehmann Wine and Spirits company. Their first store was in the Louis Sherry Building on Madison at 62nd. The store took its name from the name of the building - not the fortified wine of Spain.

 

During construction the hotel's upper floors suffered a fire that was visible from as far away as Long Island. The $10 million 165 apartment hotel was finished in 1927 and at 38-storys was known for a while as the tallest apartment hotel in New York City and the world.

 

At the time of the hotel's construction, the Vanderbilt mansion on Fifth Avenue (now the site of Bergdorf Goodman) was being demolished. Two limestone reliefs from that mansion were installed in the Sherry's entrance vestibule. The ornamental friezes by sculptor Karl Bitter depict a group of girls.

 

Because of Prohibition, the Sherry was designed with smaller public restaurant square footage than other pre-War hotels. Its lobby also designed small - which allowed for maximum street side store rentals. It was reported by the NY Times that a single apartment in 1927 at the Sherry-Netherland rented for a low of $1,600 per month and up to $6,500 per month.

 

The Architects: Schultz & Weaver together with Buchman and Kahn

 

Schultz & Weaver were best known for design work on hotels, including the Hotel Lexington, Hotel Pierre and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The firm’s first completed hotel was the Los Angeles Biltmore now known as the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles.

 

The hotel's design is noted for its high peaked roof topped with an elaborate Gothic minaret, or fleche. The spire top houses the water tank and even has an observation balcony. Gargoyles protrude from its crown.

 

According to the 1981 Upper East Side Historic District Designation Report the architecture style contains elements of neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic styles. It is a 38-story hotel with stone and dark brown brick facing. The first four floors are travertine marble with three two-story monumental arched windows facing Fifth Avenue. The cornice and balustrade sit over the third floor. The building setbacks begin on the seventeenth leading to a slender tower crowned with a fleche. The setbacks allowed for spacious outdoor private terraces beginning on the eighteenth floor. Single apartments occupied the entire floors from the 24th floor to the 37th floor.

 

The minaret distinguishes the building as one of the most recognized hotel profiles in New York City.

 

Little of the building's architecture has changed since the Sherry-Netherland opened its doors in 1927. The canopy entrance, adorned with the hotel's famous landmark clock and four Italianate lanterns, is guarded by gargoyles on the 37-story Baroque tower. The recently restored vaulted lobby was modeled after the Vatican library. Striking features include sculptured panels from the Vanderbilt Mansion, Louis XV chairs, lavish chandeliers and elaborately designed marble floors with French carpets.

 

The Sherry Netherland’s frontage is elegant, adorned with griffins holding four hanging lanterns on the façade and a sidewalk clock that is gilded in genuine gold leaf.

 

Two Big Hotel Hold-ups - 1974 and 1977

 

On December 9, 1974 a team of five bandits took over the Sherry Netherland hotel for two hours and looted safety deposit boxes of more than $900,000 in cash and valuables. The robbers entered the hotel at 3.25AM and handcuffed 11 employees and 2 hotel guests. General Manager Philip Landau described the heist as "a gentlemen's robbery". The robbers used crowbars and screwdrivers to force open about 40 safe deposit boxes. The police reported the robbers seemed to know which drawers would contain the most bounty.

 

On October 10, 1977 four men walked into the Sherry Netherland's lobby, pulled guns, handcuffed four employees and made off with cash and gems (some belonging to super star Diana Ross) from the hotel' vaults. The haul could have been worth up to $1 million. The robbery was the second in less than three years at the Sherry Netherland.

 

No one was injured in the holdup before dawn Monday at the Fifth Avenue hotel, which was the scene of a similar stickup in 1974 that netted some $900,000 from the safe deposit boxes containing valuables of the hotel's wealthy clientele.

 

According to police reports the hotel lobby was empty when the four heavyset men, dressed in business suits and wearing wigs and false mustaches, entered about 4:30 a.m. They walked up to the desk, pulled handguns and herded night manager Robert Clancey and three other employees into a storage room where they were handcuffed and left inside. As the night security man was "making his rounds on the upper floors, the bandits spent the next 45 minutes prying open more than 100 of the 154 small safety deposit boxes in the vault room.

 

Hotel general manager Philip Landau said after the robbers finished, they went back to the storage room where Clancey, bellman Steve McPartland, night auditor William Farragher and porter Jay Morton were handcuffed and told them not to move for 10 minutes.

 

Professional burglars Samuel Nalo and Robert Comfort were the significant ring leaders for several New York City hotel heists in the 1970's.

 

The Later Years

 

In 1949 The Sherry Netherland was offered to two financiers, Floyd Odlum and Boyd Hatch at an attractive price. They named Serge Obolensky president of the holding company, hiring him away from Hilton which operated the Plaza across the street at that time.

 

During the early 1950's Serge Obolensky focused on the Sherry's profitability and the Carnaval Room- the hotel's supper club. As the talent buyer he contracted with night club performers such as Helene Francis and James Symington (a future U.S Senator from Missouri).

 

Childs Restaurants acquired 90% of the stock in Louis Sherry, Inc. (but not the hotel) from Mrs. Lucius M. Boomer in 1950 for more than $2,000,000.

 

In 1954 the Sherry Netherland's 165 apartments were converted to cooperatives. Today the hotel has approximately 97 co-op residences and 53 hotel room/suites. Co-op owners have the option of putting their apartment in the hotel rental pool while not in use or, “opt out” and use as full-time home. According to hausfitzgerald.com residents of the Sherry-Netherland over the years include Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers, Claire Boothe Luce, Diana Ross, Francis Ford Coppola and more recently Judith Sheindlin (Judge Judy).

 

The Sherry Netherland shares the block with the luxury cooperative apartment building, Park V at 785 Fifth Avenue. Usually called the Park Cinq, the eighteen-story building was constructed by the Fisher Brothers developers in 1960.

 

From 1965 to 1972 Jerry Brody (Club Caterers) operated the L’Etoile and the Cafe Bar at the Sherry-Netherland. Jerry Brody was Restaurant Associates founding president and recruited Joe Baum in 1953 to work the Newarker, the white table cloth restaurant at the Newark Airport.

 

In October 1968, the exclusive disco Raffles opened in the basement of the Sherry-Netherland. Jerry Brody was the club's owner and Earl Blackwell managed the membership. Raffles occupied the space known as the Carnaval Room where Sere Obolensky had presided.

 

In 1975 real estate developer Joe Norban (a co-op owner) took over the nightclub hidden away in the belly of the Sherry-Netherland hotel. He named it Doubles and envisioned a private club - with backgammon games, dining and dancing. Daughter Wendy Carduner took over in 1982 and has sustained her father’s vision and grown the non-profit private club to 2,500 members. Doubles' longevity is attributed to being consistent, never being snobbish, and having all kinds of members. Doubles' Executive Chef is Steven Mellina who previously served at The Manhattan Ocean Club and The Helmsley Palace Hotel.

 

In 1985, Lord Charles Forte, with Trusthouse Forte wanted to open a restaurant on the ground floor of New York’s Sherry-Netherland Hotel. Forte and his son, Rocco, thought a Harry’s Bar–style restaurant in the building would persuade the owners to let their company, Trusthouse Forte, take over the management of the hotel. The Fortes flew Arrigo Cipriani to New York to check out the Fifth Avenue location. As soon as Arrigo saw the existing restaurant, called Le Petit Café, with its windows facing Central Park, he knew it was the perfect spot for what would be called Harry Cipriani.

 

So, at the former site of Le Petit Cafe, Giuseppe Cipriani, who founded Harry's Bar in Venice in 1931, opened the street side Harry's Bar at the Sherry Netherland in 1985. Following a brief eviction the family returned to the hotel in 1987 with the restaurant - Harry Cipriani. This restaurant is almost an exact duplicate of the original Harry's Bar in Venice. It’s the sky-high prices that keep this jet setter’s restaurant so exclusive. In 2011 its house drink, The Bellini, costs $19.95. In 2007 the NY Times food critic Frank Bruni said the only thing compelling about Harry Cipriani's is the prices.

 

Philip Landau was the general manager of the Sherry Netherland for 35 years - 1957 to 1982.

 

Louis N. Ventresca was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Sherry Netherland for over 20 years. He died at the age of 58 in 2003. He joined the Sherry Netherland Hotel in 1980 following stints at with PKF and Princess Hotels International.

 

In February, 2004 Michael Littler was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Sherry-Netherland. Littler was the General Manager of the Four Seasons Philadelphia and for eleven year the general manager at the Millennium Broadway.

 

Michael Ullman was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Sherry Netherland Hotel in April, 2010. Previously he was the Managing Director of the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, California from 1995 to 2008. Ullman has served as General Manager at the Ihilani in Hawaii and the Beverly Hills Hotel.

 

Theresa Nocerino has been the Sherry Netherland's Managing Director and Licensed Real Estate Agent from 1985 to present.

 

Text and photos compiled by Dick Johnson

December 2011

richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com

 

18Megapixel SLR from Canon, announced in February 2011.

 

This one replaced a 1000D, although I still use the 1000D occasionally.

 

The 600D (a.k.a. Rebel T3i) does HD video (the 1000D does not do video at all), has more pixels (18 v 10Mpx), wireless flash control through the pop-up gun, pop-out/swivelling screen and a few more hardware buttons, RAW files, faster sensor (6400ISO with option of 12800, vs 1600) and (annoyingly) has a slightly different battery. I bought the 600D mostly for the better flash control and higher ISO.

 

The 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens seems the same, but the new one is the mk.II, which, externally, has a few styling differences; I have seen a mk.III on a 60D. I'm not sure if the new lens is any better; the old one seems optically fairly good, but a little horrid to operate, particularly for manual focus. The new one seems just as bad to use, and is reputedly the same optical design, so the difference must be cheaper manufacturing. I looked hard to find a reasonably-priced alternative, but couldn't find one that suggested I should not buy the kit lens as well. Initial results show a lot of chromatic aberration on high contrast images (e.g. the edges of sunlit swans with a dark water background) - but this may be just that there are more pixels to show more fringing.

 

camera-wiki.org/wiki/Canon_EOS_600D

Railway Gazette reported on the 16th December 2016 that the leaders of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority had givene the go-ahead for a £460m project to replace the Merseyrail suburban electric multiple-unit fleet. This includes the selection of Stadler to supply a fleet of 52 trainsets for entry into service from the end of 2020. Contracts are expected to be signed in early 2017.

‘This is a once in a generation opportunity for custom-built trains that will be safer and carry more people more quickly’, said Chair of the combined authority and Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson. ‘Unusually, these trains will be owned by us locally, meaning we can make sure the trains are exactly what passengers want and that they are ready for our future plans.’

The project is being financed from a reserve fund which had been established for the purpose, as well as loans which the combined authority is to secure from sources including the European Investment Bank. Transport authority Merseytravel will own the trains and lease them to the operating concessionaire, which will be paid a lower operating fee to account for the expected increase in revenue and lower running costs.

The fleet renewal programme also includes power supply, track, and station upgrades and refurbishment of the Kirkdale and Birkenhead North depots. The reduced journey times and better reliability means the decision has been made to order 52 EMUs to replace the current fleet of 59 trains.

The first EMU is scheduled to be delivered in summer 2019 for several months of testing ahead of the delivery of series-built trains by the end of 2020. A new timetable will be introduced in 2021 once the existing Class 507 and 508 units dating from the 1970s have been withdrawn; the new trains’ better acceleration and braking is expected to enable Hunt’s Cross – Southport journey times to be reduced by 9 min.

The 65 m long four-car EMUs will have the same number of seats as the existing three-car sets, but will be 4 m longer with wide through gangways to provide an increase in standing space. This will increase total capacity per EMU from 303 to 486 passengers.

There will be a mix of airline and facing seats, with more space for bicycles, pushchairs and persons with reduced mobility. The train body will be designed specifically for the Merseyrail network, with lower floors and a sliding step to provide near-level access.

There will be a passenger intercom and CCTV linked to the driver and control room. The doors will be illuminated red, amber and green inside and out to show when they are opening or closing and when it is safe to board and alight.

At 99 tonnes, the EMUs will be lighter than the current 105 tonne trains, and energy consumption is expected to be 20% lower, including regenerative braking; options for energy storage are to be studied.

The 750 V DC third-rail EMUs will be capable of conversion to dual-voltage operation for use on 25 kV 50 Hz lines with a view to serving Skelmersdale, Warrington and Wrexham in the longer term.

The trains will be equipped for driver controlled operation, which the combined authority said was ‘put forward by all bidders’ as way to meet the requirements of a report into a fatal incident in 2011. The driver will be responsible for opening and closing the doors and for train dispatch, eliminating the need for guards. Roving customer service roles will be created, with staff available to assist passengers ‘at key locations and times’. There will be fewer customer service roles than guards positions, and while the combined authority envisages there will be natural wastage over the next four years, it has endorsed proposal to guarantee continued employment for all guards currently permanently employed.

‘In an ideal world we’d like to have a second member of staff on every train to ensure the highest level of customer service, but there aren’t the resources to do that’, said Councillor Liam Robinson, Chair of the Merseytravel Committee. ‘Some guards will have the opportunity to be employed in a new on-board customer service role and others will be able to take advantage of other redeployment opportunities, all on the same terms and conditions as now.’

 

The contract came in slightly over budget (£460m vs target of £400m)

52 units, slightly over the tender requirement of 50 but a reduction from current fleet of 59 (increased reliability and faster journey speeds anticipated to compensate)

65m versus tender specification of 60m to allow doubling up, though that wasn't expected to be normal operating practise just for event strengthening (3m longer than current 62m fleet) and they have significantly higher capacity (60%) from being a wide aisle articulated design.

No mention of earlier proposed fleet extension options, the tender called for 60 options on top of original 50

99 tonnes, 6 tonnes lighter than existing trains and 20% more energy efficient.

DOO but with driver aides such as radar to detect obstructions and people standing too close.

The single doors in the end cars appear to be to allow them to work in multiples without having to extend the platforms. By having a single door in the middle of the car the front and or back could potentially overhang the platform ends to provide a capacity uplift without the additional infrastructure costs.

 

Images- Merseytravel/Stadler.

 

Cherry Blossom. Washington, DC. USA. Mar/2016

 

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).

Cherry blossom is speculated to be native to the Himalayas.[4] Currently it is widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of theNorthern Hemisphere including Europe, West Siberia, India, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.

Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first ladyHelen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin. The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring

 

Todos os anos o Festival Nacional das Cerejeiras celebra a floração das cerejeiras dadas à cidade de Washington, em 1912, pelo prefeito de Tóquio. O presente foi uma homenagem do prefeito à longa história de amizade entre Estados Unidos e Japão. As cerejeiras floridas marcam a chegada da primavera na cidade e proporcionam uma das vistas mais apreciadas da região. Um dos lugares mais bonitos para observação é ao redor do Tidal Basin, espelho d’água no centro de Washington próximo ao Washington Monument, ao Lincoln Memorial, ao Jefferson Memorial e ao Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. O pico da florada é definido como o dia em que 70% das flores do Tidal Basin estão abertas

 

Houve a coordenação de muitas pessoas para assegurar a chegada das cerejeiras. Um primeiro lote de 2.000 árvores chegou doente em 1910, mas isso não impediu as partes envolvidas de envidarem todos os esforços para a concretização do intento. Entre os governos dos dois países, com as coordenações do Dr. Jokichi Takamine, um químico famoso mundialmente e fundador da Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hoje conhecida como Daiichi Sankyo), Dr. David Fairchild, do Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos, de Eliza Scidmore, primeiro membro da diretoria feminina da National Geographic Society e da primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft, mais de 3.000 árvores chegaram a Washington, D.C. em 1912. Em uma cerimônia simples, em 27 de março de 1912, a primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft e a Viscondessa Chinda, esposa do embaixador do Japão, plantaram as duas primeiras árvores do Japão na margem norte do Tidal Basin em West Potomac Park. Ao longo dos anos, os presentes foram trocados entre os dois países. Em 1915, o Governo dos Estados Unidos retribuiu com um presente de árvores chamadas “dogwood” (que também tem belas florações) para o povo do Japão. (tradução:nationalcherryblossom)

  

Cherry Blossom. Washington, DC. USA. Mar/2016

 

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).

Cherry blossom is speculated to be native to the Himalayas.[4] Currently it is widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of theNorthern Hemisphere including Europe, West Siberia, India, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.

Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first ladyHelen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin. The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring

 

Todos os anos o Festival Nacional das Cerejeiras celebra a floração das cerejeiras dadas à cidade de Washington, em 1912, pelo prefeito de Tóquio. O presente foi uma homenagem do prefeito à longa história de amizade entre Estados Unidos e Japão. As cerejeiras floridas marcam a chegada da primavera na cidade e proporcionam uma das vistas mais apreciadas da região. Um dos lugares mais bonitos para observação é ao redor do Tidal Basin, espelho d’água no centro de Washington próximo ao Washington Monument, ao Lincoln Memorial, ao Jefferson Memorial e ao Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. O pico da florada é definido como o dia em que 70% das flores do Tidal Basin estão abertas

 

Houve a coordenação de muitas pessoas para assegurar a chegada das cerejeiras. Um primeiro lote de 2.000 árvores chegou doente em 1910, mas isso não impediu as partes envolvidas de envidarem todos os esforços para a concretização do intento. Entre os governos dos dois países, com as coordenações do Dr. Jokichi Takamine, um químico famoso mundialmente e fundador da Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hoje conhecida como Daiichi Sankyo), Dr. David Fairchild, do Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos, de Eliza Scidmore, primeiro membro da diretoria feminina da National Geographic Society e da primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft, mais de 3.000 árvores chegaram a Washington, D.C. em 1912. Em uma cerimônia simples, em 27 de março de 1912, a primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft e a Viscondessa Chinda, esposa do embaixador do Japão, plantaram as duas primeiras árvores do Japão na margem norte do Tidal Basin em West Potomac Park. Ao longo dos anos, os presentes foram trocados entre os dois países. Em 1915, o Governo dos Estados Unidos retribuiu com um presente de árvores chamadas “dogwood” (que também tem belas florações) para o povo do Japão. (tradução:nationalcherryblossom)

I've been agonizing about posting one of these pics all week. Aaaarrrr, can easily be replaced by Aaaargh! If you knew what I had to do to make it come out even this well, you wouldn't believe it!

 

I've recently lost about 37 pounds. It was not an easy task and required me to use a lot of discipline to get there. Still being quite a ways from my goal, I had a choice of ordering a costume for my friends' vow renewal service in regular sizes or in plus sizes. Afraid that it would be much too small, as many made in China clothes are, I opted for the plus size. Well, the white chemise underneath was big enough to stuff an elephant in, while the outside, red overlay did fit, mostly because they went by sizes with measurements, (they were ordered separately) but because of the huge bulky white thingy, made me look like a pregnant rhinocerous.

 

Another problem was hair. Though I wear it long and that works well for the medieval theme, I wear bangs and don't pull it back, which hides numerous flaws, like the kind of jowl fullness a nearly 60 year old woman has, compounded by the lovely turkey waddle neck- a family trait. You could say the hair-do looked great, but did nothing for me, just like the costume that made me look as big as I was before I lost the weight, even AFTER I edited it to make myself look smaller! Not one of my favorite pics for that reason, but I like the aesthetics of it, anyway.

 

Since I will be doing these up for my friends, I needed something of myself to put in there, and the pics taken with the entire bridal party are horrendous, to say the least.

 

In any case, the little girl was adorable, and this gave me some more practice in salvaging horrible photos!

REPLACING 1998 THOMAS MINOTOUR

Replaces the 737 Service

Cherry Blossom. Washington, DC. USA. Mar/2016

 

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).

Cherry blossom is speculated to be native to the Himalayas.[4] Currently it is widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of theNorthern Hemisphere including Europe, West Siberia, India, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.

Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first ladyHelen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin. The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring

 

Todos os anos o Festival Nacional das Cerejeiras celebra a floração das cerejeiras dadas à cidade de Washington, em 1912, pelo prefeito de Tóquio. O presente foi uma homenagem do prefeito à longa história de amizade entre Estados Unidos e Japão. As cerejeiras floridas marcam a chegada da primavera na cidade e proporcionam uma das vistas mais apreciadas da região. Um dos lugares mais bonitos para observação é ao redor do Tidal Basin, espelho d’água no centro de Washington próximo ao Washington Monument, ao Lincoln Memorial, ao Jefferson Memorial e ao Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. O pico da florada é definido como o dia em que 70% das flores do Tidal Basin estão abertas

 

Houve a coordenação de muitas pessoas para assegurar a chegada das cerejeiras. Um primeiro lote de 2.000 árvores chegou doente em 1910, mas isso não impediu as partes envolvidas de envidarem todos os esforços para a concretização do intento. Entre os governos dos dois países, com as coordenações do Dr. Jokichi Takamine, um químico famoso mundialmente e fundador da Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hoje conhecida como Daiichi Sankyo), Dr. David Fairchild, do Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos, de Eliza Scidmore, primeiro membro da diretoria feminina da National Geographic Society e da primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft, mais de 3.000 árvores chegaram a Washington, D.C. em 1912. Em uma cerimônia simples, em 27 de março de 1912, a primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft e a Viscondessa Chinda, esposa do embaixador do Japão, plantaram as duas primeiras árvores do Japão na margem norte do Tidal Basin em West Potomac Park. Ao longo dos anos, os presentes foram trocados entre os dois países. Em 1915, o Governo dos Estados Unidos retribuiu com um presente de árvores chamadas “dogwood” (que também tem belas florações) para o povo do Japão. (tradução:nationalcherryblossom)

  

Cherry Blossom. Washington, DC. USA. Mar/2016

 

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).

Cherry blossom is speculated to be native to the Himalayas.[4] Currently it is widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of theNorthern Hemisphere including Europe, West Siberia, India, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.

Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first ladyHelen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin. The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring

 

Todos os anos o Festival Nacional das Cerejeiras celebra a floração das cerejeiras dadas à cidade de Washington, em 1912, pelo prefeito de Tóquio. O presente foi uma homenagem do prefeito à longa história de amizade entre Estados Unidos e Japão. As cerejeiras floridas marcam a chegada da primavera na cidade e proporcionam uma das vistas mais apreciadas da região. Um dos lugares mais bonitos para observação é ao redor do Tidal Basin, espelho d’água no centro de Washington próximo ao Washington Monument, ao Lincoln Memorial, ao Jefferson Memorial e ao Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. O pico da florada é definido como o dia em que 70% das flores do Tidal Basin estão abertas

 

Houve a coordenação de muitas pessoas para assegurar a chegada das cerejeiras. Um primeiro lote de 2.000 árvores chegou doente em 1910, mas isso não impediu as partes envolvidas de envidarem todos os esforços para a concretização do intento. Entre os governos dos dois países, com as coordenações do Dr. Jokichi Takamine, um químico famoso mundialmente e fundador da Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hoje conhecida como Daiichi Sankyo), Dr. David Fairchild, do Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos, de Eliza Scidmore, primeiro membro da diretoria feminina da National Geographic Society e da primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft, mais de 3.000 árvores chegaram a Washington, D.C. em 1912. Em uma cerimônia simples, em 27 de março de 1912, a primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft e a Viscondessa Chinda, esposa do embaixador do Japão, plantaram as duas primeiras árvores do Japão na margem norte do Tidal Basin em West Potomac Park. Ao longo dos anos, os presentes foram trocados entre os dois países. Em 1915, o Governo dos Estados Unidos retribuiu com um presente de árvores chamadas “dogwood” (que também tem belas florações) para o povo do Japão. (tradução:nationalcherryblossom)

Replaced the chrome side scuttles with the low profile R50 side scuttles.

 

Originally, they come with orange/amber side indicators, but decided to upgrade them with dynamic side indicators which look awesome!

WSDOT has marked a major milestone in its effort to replace the aging and vulnerable State Route 520 floating bridge. After 13 years of thorough analysis and input from thousands of people, the state has announced a preferred alternative for the I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project.

 

Major safety, transit and environmental improvements are in store for the SR 520 corridor from I-5 in Seattle across Lake Washington to Medina. The SR 520 preferred alternative takes key steps to get ready for future light rail, help manage traffic in the Arboretum and transform the future highway with a landscaped lid and median for a parkway experience.

 

The new floating bridge and highway will have six lanes, including two general-purpose lanes and a new transit/HOV lane in each direction. Adding transit/HOV lanes makes travel in the corridor faster and more reliable for buses and carpools and supports regional plans for completing the HOV system to reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles.

 

Details are on our website, including images of what a new, larger landscaped lid at Montlake Boulevard would look like. The preferred SR 520 alternative directly responds to input we received from the public, the City of Seattle, the University of Washington and environmental regulatory agencies. Work continues on design refinements for the Montlake area with those groups as well as transit agencies.

 

Highlights include:

 

Room for future light rail: The bridge deck will accommodate future light rail trains and the west end of the floating bridge will have room for trains to leave the corridor and head to the University of Washington area. Pontoons could be added to the floating bridge in the future to carry the weight of the trains.

 

Less traffic in the Arboretum: The project removes the ramps that currently carry traffic directly to Lake Washington Boulevard and the Washington Park Arboretum. Westbound off-ramps instead will carry buses and general purpose traffic to 24th Avenue E. and continue on to Montlake Boulevard.

 

Buses and a lid at Montlake: New direct-access ramps will carry buses to a new landscaped park lid at the Montlake Boulevard interchange. The open space will extend from Montlake Boulevard into the Arboretum.

 

Parkway on Portage Bay: A slimmed-down Portage Bay Bridge will be built as a 45-mph landscaped parkway with a 6-foot-wide planted median. The 105-foot-wide bridge is narrower than the 154 feet previously planned in the 2006 draft environmental impact statement.

 

Identifying a preferred design keeps us on track for opening a new bridge to traffic in 2014.

 

www.wsdot.wa.gov/Communications/ExpressLane/2010/05_07.htm

 

www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520Bridge/I5ToMedina/Default....

 

SR 520 - I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project

 

Status

February 2011

 

ESSB 6392 reports now available

  

We've sent two final reports to the governor and state legislators (High Capacity Transit Planning and Financing and the Washington Park Arboretum Mitigation Plan). This completes the requirements of Senate Bill 6392.

Floating bridge construction

  

Three teams have until spring to submit their bids and proposals for the new SR 520 floating bridge. Construction starts in 2012 and the bridge opens in 2014.

Overview

 

The I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project will replace the interchanges and roadway between I-5 in Seattle and the eastern end of the floating bridge.

   

Why is WSDOT pursuing this project?

About 115,000 vehicles and more than 190,000 people cross Lake Washington every day on the SR 520 floating bridge. It’s a key regional route for commuters and freight.

 

After floating for nearly 50 years, the four-lane bridge is often clogged by traffic and is showing its age.

 

The floating bridge pontoons are vulnerable to windstorms, and bridge support columns are vulnerable to earthquakes.

  

The End Result

  

The I-5 to Medina Bridge Replacement and HOV Project includes a new floating bridge and highway with six lanes, including two general-purpose lanes and one new transit/HOV lane in each direction.

 

The project also takes key steps to get ready for future light rail, help manage traffic in the Arboretum and transform the future corridor from Montlake to I-5 into a city parkway with landscaped lids and medians.

  

Project Benefits

  

The new SR 520 corridor through Seattle will:

 

Provide transit connections and priority.

Create a pedestrian-friendly urban interchange at Montlake Boulevard.

Restore park area and connections next to the Washington Park Arboretum.

Reduce noise levels from the Portage Bay Bridge.

Be ready for light rail if the region chooses to fund it in the future.

 

What is the project timeline?

  

Spring 2011: Publish final environmental impact statement

Mid-2011: Select contractor team for new SR 520 floating bridge

2012: Begin construction of floating bridge

2014: Open new floating bridge to drivers

The schedule for constructing the segments of the corridor west of Lake Washington is pending additional funding.

  

Financial Information

 

We are moving forward with construction on a new SR 520 floating bridge, which is fully funded by a variety of state and federal sources, including SR 520 tolling that is set to begin in spring 2011.

 

We are continuining to work with the Legislature to fund the elements of the project from I-5 to the floating bridge.

 

Visit the SR 520 Costs, Funding and Tolling page for additional information.

  

How can I get more information?

Contact:

E-mail: SR520bridge@wsdot.wa.gov

 

Phone: 206-770-3500

 

Infoline: 1-888-520-NEWS (6397)

 

Mail: I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project

SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program

600 Stewart Street, Suite 520

Seattle, WA 98101

Some background:

The Bentley 4½ Litre was a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 L (270 cu in).

Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles, mostly saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley's cars.

 

At the time, noted car manufacturers such as Bugatti and Lorraine-Dietrich focused on designing cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a popular automotive endurance course established only a few years earlier. A victory in this competition quickly elevated any car maker's reputation.

A total of 720 4½ Litre cars were produced between 1927 and 1931, including 55 cars with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. A 4½ Litre Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928. Though the supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley's competitive performance was not outstanding, it set several speed records, most famously the Bentley Blower No.1 Monoposto in 1932 at Brooklands with a recorded speed of 222.03 km/h (138 mph).

 

Although the Bentley 4½ Litre was heavy, weighing 1,625 kg (3,583 lb), and spacious, with a length of 4,380 mm (172 in) and a wheelbase of 3,302 mm (130.0 in), it remained well-balanced and steered nimbly. The manual transmission, however, required skill, as its four gears were unsynchronised.

 

The robustness of the 4½ Litre's lattice chassis, made of steel and reinforced with ties, was needed to support the heavy cast iron inline-four engine. The engine was "resolutely modern" for the time. The displacement was 4,398 cc (268.4 cu in): 100 mm (3.9 in) bore and 140 mm (5.5 in) stroke. Two SU carburetters and dual ignition with Bosch magnetos were fitted. The engine produced 110 hp (82 kW) for the touring model and 130 hp (97 kW) for the racing model. The engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm.

A single overhead camshaft actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees. This was a technically advanced design at a time where most cars used only two valves per cylinder. The camshaft was driven by bevel gears on a vertical shaft at the front of the engine, as on the 3 Litre engine.

 

The Bentley's tanks - radiator, oil and petrol - had quick release filler caps that opened with one stroke of a lever. This saved time during pit stops. The 4½ was equipped with a canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann body. The hood structure was very light but with high wind resistance (24 Hours Le Mans rules between 1924 and 1928 dictated a certain number of laps for which the hood had to be closed). The steering wheel measured about 45 cm (18 in) in diameter and was wrapped with solid braided rope for improved grip. Brakes were conventional, consisting of 17-inch (430 mm) drum brakes finned for improved cooling and operated by rod. Semi-elliptic leaf springs were used at front and rear.

  

Building the kit and its display box:

I normally do not build large scale kits, except for some anime character figures, and I especially stay away from car models because I find it very hard to come close to the impression of the real thing. But this one was a personal thing, and I got motivated enough to tackle this challenge that caused some sweat and shivers. Another reason for the tension was the fact that it was intended as a present - and I normally do not build models for others, be it as a gift or on a contract work basis.

 

The background is that a colleage of mine will retire soon, an illustrator and a big oldtimer enthusiast at the same time. I was not able to hunt down a model of the vintage car he actually owns, but I remembered that he frequently takes part with his club at a local car exhibition, called the "Classic Days" at a location called Schloss Dyck. There he had had the opportunity some time ago to take a ride in a Bentley 4.5 litre "Blower", and I saw the fascinationn in his eyes when he recounted the events. We also talked about car models, and I mentioned the 1:24 Heller kit of the car. So, as a "farewell" gift, I decided to tackle this souvenir project, since the Bentley drive obviously meant a lot to him, and it's a quite personal gift, for a highly respected, artistic person.

 

Since this was to be a gift for a non-modeler, I also had to make sure that the car model could later be safely stored, transported and displayed, so some kind of base or display bon on top was a must - and I think I found a nice solution, even with integrated lighting!

 

As already mentioned, the model is the 1:24 Heller kit from 1978, in this case the more recent Revell re-boxing. While the kit remained unchanged (even the Heller brand is still part of the molds!), the benefit of this version is a very nice and thin decal sheet which covers some of the more delicate detail areas like gauges on the dashboard or the protective wire mesh for the headlights.

 

I had huge respect for the kit - I have actually built less than 10 car models in my 40+ years of kit building. So the work started with detail picture research, esp. of the engine and from the cockpit, and I organized appropriate paints (see below).

Work started slowly with the wheels, then the engine followed, the steerable front suspension, the chassis, the cabin section and finally the engine cowling and the mudguards with the finished wheels. Since I lack experience with cars I stuck close to the instructions and really took my time, because the whole thing went together only step by step, with painting and esp. drying intermissions. Much less quickly than my normal tempo with more familiar topics.

 

The kit remained basically OOB, and I must say that I am impressed how well it went together. The car kits I remember were less cooperative - but the Heller Bentley was actually a pleasant, yet challenging, build. Some issues I had were the chrome parts, which had to be attached with superglue, and their attachment points to the sprues (the same green plastic is used for the chrome parts, too - a different materiallike silver or light grey would have made life easier!) could only hardly be hidden with paint.

 

The plastic itself turned out to be relatively soft, too - while it made cleaning easy, this caused in the end some directional issues which had to be "professionally hidden": Once the cabin had been mounted to the frame and work on the cowling started, I recognized that the frame in front of the cabin was not straight anymore - I guess due to the engine block which sits deep between the front beams. While this was not really recognizable, the engine covers would not fit anymore, leaving small but unpleasant gaps.

The engine is OOB not über-detailed, and I actually only wanted to open the left half of the cocling for the diorama. However, with this flaw I eventually decided to open both sides, what resulted in having the cowling covers sawn into two parts each and arranging them in open positions. Quite fiddly, and I also replaced the OOB leather straps that normally hold the cowling covers closed with textured adhesive tape, for a more voluminous look. The engine also received some additional cables and hoses - nothing fancy, though, but better than the quite bleak OOB offering.

 

Some minor details were added in the cabin: a floor mat (made from paper, it looks like being made from cocos fibre) covers the area in front of the seats and the steering wheel was wrapped with cord - a detail that many Bentleys with race history shared, for a better grip for the driver.

 

Overall, the car model was painted with pure Humbrol 239 (British Racing Green) enamel paint, except for the passenger section. Here I found Revell's instructions to be a bit contradictive, because I do not believe in a fully painted car, esp. on this specific Le Mans race car. I even found a picture of the real car as an exhibition piece, and it rather shows a faux leather or vinyl cladding of the passenger compartment - in a similar dark green tone, but rather matt, with only a little shine, and with a lighter color due to the rougher surface. So I rather tried to emulate this look, which would also make the model IMHO look more interesting.

As a fopundation I used a mix of Humbrol 239 and 75 (Bronze Green), on top of which I later dry-brushed Revell 363 (Dark Green). The effect and the gloss level looked better than expected - I feared a rather worn/used look - and I eventually did not apply and clear varnish to this area. In fact, no varnish was applied to the whole model because the finish looked quite convincing!

 

The frame and the engine were slightly weathered with a black ink wash, and once the model was assembled I added some oil stains to the engine and the lower hull, and applied dust and dirt through mineral artist pigments to the wheels with their soft vinyl tires and the whole lower car body. I wanted the car to look basically clean and in good shape, just like a museum piece, but having been driven enthusiastically along some dusty country roads (see below). And this worked out quite well!

  

Since I wanted a safe store for the model I tried to find a suitable display box and found an almost perfect solution in SYNAS from Ikea. The sturdy SYNAS box (it's actually sold as a toy/Children's lamp!?) had very good dimensions for what I had in mind. Unfortunately it is only available in white, but for its price I would not argue. As a bonus it even comes with integrated LED lighting in the floor, as a rim of lights along the side walls. I tried to exploit this through a display base that would leave a 1cm gap all around, so that light could be reflected upwards and from the clear side walls and the lid onto the model.

 

The base was created with old school methods: a piece of MDF wood, on top of which I added a piece of cobblestone street and grass embankment, trying to capture the rural atmosphere around Schloss Dyck. Due to the large scale of the model I sculpted a light side slope under the pavement (a Tamiya print with a light 3D effect), created with plaster and fine carpenter putty. The embankment was sculpted with plaster, too.

The cobblestone cardboard was simply glued to the surface, trimmed down, and then a fairing of the base's sides was added, thin balsa wood.

Next came the grass - again classic methods. First, the surface was soaked with a mix of water, white glue and brown dispersion paint, and fine sand rinsed over the surfaces. Once dry, another mix of water, white glue and more paint was applied, into which foamed plastic turf of different colors and sizes was dusted. After anothetr drying period this area was sprayed with contact glue and grass fibres were applied - unfortunately a little more than expected. However, the result still looks good.

 

At the border to the street, the area was covered with mineral pigments, simulating mud and dust, and on the right side I tried to add a puddle, made from Humbrol Clearfix and glue. For some more ambiance I scratched a typical German "local sight" roadsign from cardboard and wood, and I also added a pair of "Classic Days" posters to the mast. Once in place I finally added some higher grass bushels (brush fibres) and sticks (dried moss), sealing everything in place with acralic varnish from the rattle can.

 

In order to motivate the Bentley's open cowling, I tried to set an engine failure into scene: with the car abandoned during the Classic Days' demo races along the local country roads, parked at the side of the street, and with a puddle of engine below and a small trail of oil behind the car (created with Tamiya "Smoke", perfect stuff for this task!). A hay bale, actually accessory stuff for toy tractors and in fact a square piece of wood, covered with straw chips, subtly hint at this occasion.

 

Finally, for safe transport, the model was attached to the base with thin wire, the base glued to the light box' floor with double-sided adhesive tape and finally enclosed.

  

Quite a lot of work, the car model alone took four patient weeks to fully materialize, and the base in the SYNAS box took another two weeks, even though work proceeded partly in parallel. However, I am positively surprised how well this build turned out - the Heller kit was better/easier to assemble than expected, and many problems along the way could be solved with patience and creative solutions.

 

Fiat Chrysler Replaces Its Iconic Moneymaker, The Jeep Wrangler

 

Dec.18.17 | About: Fiat Chrysler (FCAU)

Anton Wahlman

Anton Wahlman

Long/short equity

MARKETPLACEAuto Insight For Wall St.

 

(2,852 followers)

Summary

 

FCA brings to market the all-new Jeep Wrangler in January 2018. I drove a pre-production unit, and it’s a quantum leap over its predecessor.

 

The Jeep Wrangler is a 250,000-a-year franchise globally and widely believed to be FCA’s most profitable product line.

 

In addition to the “regular” Wrangler, the pickup truck version arrives one year later, and could add another 200,000 - 250,000 per year in most profitable unit sales.

 

This Jeep pickup launches FCA into the midsize pickup truck segment, which Ford also is expected to enter in 2019 with the Ranger.

 

Both versions of the all-new Jeep Wrangler should immensely help FCA’s gross margin dollars, gross margin percentage, and net profits.

 

Of all the car designs in the world today, the Jeep (Fiat Chrysler)(FCAU) Wrangler may be the most iconic. It launched the Jeep brand as a military vehicle in 1941. It got doors (!) in 1983, and is made in Toledo, Ohio, from where it is exported to 150 countries.

 

An all-new Jeep Wrangler doesn’t come often. They’ve been spaced about a decade apart. So when the all-new Wrangler hits U.S. dealerships in January 2018, it’s a very big deal. I got the chance to drive an early production version for a day in early December.

 

Actually, I got to drive a few different versions of this all-new Jeep Wrangler, but more on that in a moment. When approaching this all-new iteration of the iconic American product for the first time, I put my hand on my heart, said The Pledge of Allegiance and sang America The Beautiful. I looked up into the sky and saw the clouds form in the images of General Patton and General Macarthur. I felt as if I was going to land on a foreign beach in the middle of World War 2.

 

The first impression of the all-new Jeep Wrangler is that it looks almost exactly like the old one. That’s a feature, not a bug. It would be no more appropriate to make changes to the American flag, than to the Jeep Wrangler’s basic looks.

 

However, this first impression is deceiving. The all-new Jeep Wrangler is indeed all-new, from the ground up. It’s just meant to look like the old one, at first glance.

 

Actually, the angle from which you can best see that this is an all-new Jeep, is from the rear. I drove behind someone in the new Wrangler for a few minutes, and it’s clear that it’s all-new. It’s a lot more square, including the rear lights, and the rear glass is much larger. It looks like it has shed weight, which it has: A couple of hundred pounds, to be approximate.

 

The interior is not to be confused with the old Wrangler. From the inside of the doors, to the instrument panel, to what’s between the seats, the Jeep Wrangler is now fully modern. It’s got all the features and creature comforts that you expect from the most modern cars.

 

Unlike, say, Tesla (TSLA), the all-new Jeep Wrangler has Android (GOOGL) Auto and Apple (AAPL) CarPlay. It’s also got one of the cleverest things I have seen in any car interior - two entirely new ways to store your smartphones. One is in a very clever gap to the side of the hand brake. The other one is in a slot between the center cup holders, where you can also opt to place your key.

 

Each of these two additional smartphone slots are rubber lined, so that the phones won’t slide around or rattle. In total, this now means you can put in four smartphones, also utilizing the two cup holders. This is genius, and I hope every car copies it. Or does FCA have a patent on it?

 

One more thing in the realm of FCA’s technology leadership: The new Wrangler also may be the very first vehicle to have not just USB ports, but also USB-C, which is the way you charge most higher-end Android smartphones as well as Chromebooks.

 

On the whole, the new Wrangler’s interior is just about flawless. The seating position was very good, and it’s now also easier to step in and out of the vehicle. It simply shouldn’t be compared to the old Wrangler at all. It’s like night and day - 100% of it for the better. Much better.

 

How does the new Wrangler drive?

 

I have a confession to make. I did not like driving the old Wrangler, other than in extreme off-road situations. The car was just too old and didn’t handle well on-road. I wouldn’t want to use it as a daily driver.

 

The all-new Jeep Wrangler? It’s the complete opposite! The only minor complaint I had was that the steering is very, very light, and too imprecise for my taste. However, not devastatingly so.

 

Think about what this does to the addressable market for the Jeep Wrangler. Until now, the Wrangler was a severe penalty box compared to most other SUVs on the market. It was not a competitive daily driver.

 

Now, in contrast, the Jeep Wrangler can compete for a far larger share of the SUV market because it is very pleasant to drive on-road, not just for its off-road prowess. No longer does it feel like much of a compromise.

 

The engine? The base engine will be FCA’s 3.6 liter gasoline V6 that sits in a long list of FCA products from Jeep to Dodge to Chrysler to RAM. It’s got a good character, and works well with the new eight-speed automatic transmission (I did not drive the manual one).

 

However, the major surprise was the four-cylinder engine, which will be available closer to June 2018 for a $1,000 upcharge. This engine is built in Italy and has its origins with FCA’s heritage as the owner of Alfa Romeo and Maserati. You also may recall that FCA was the owner of Ferrari (RACE) until a couple of years ago.

 

FCA would protest loudly and claim it’s technically inaccurate, but I’ll say it anyway: One might argue that this Italian four-cylinder engine has a heritage that traces first to Alfa Romeo, and then more distantly to Maserati, finally culminating at Ferrari as its family patriarch. No, this isn’t a Ferrari engine - but you cannot be blamed for imagining traces of a family lineage.

 

As good as the V6 was to drive - and I had no complaints - the Italian four-cylinder engine is simply better. You should spend the extra $1,000 for it. It spooled up quickly and simply behaved extremely well.

 

There will be two additional powertrains as well: Diesel in 2019 and plug-in hybrid in 2020. I imagine the plug-in hybrid won’t be paired with the V6 or the diesel, but rather with a four-cylinder gasoline engine. I also imagine a 11-14 kWh battery located immediately behind the rear seats, on top of the rear axle.

 

The new engines and transmissions, combined with the lighter body and improved aerodynamics, mean that fuel economy is greatly improved over the outgoing Wrangler. Jeep has yet to release final EPA-certified numbers, but it estimates that the V6 versions should see a 3 MPG improvement over the 2017 Wrangler. That Italian four-cylinder? Probably even better.

 

The Wrangler has been famous for offering ways to fold the front windshield, removing the doors, and various open-top abilities. The problem was always that it could take literally hours to do all of those things.

 

In the new Wrangler, all of those voluntary tasks have been made dramatically faster. I don’t mean cutting the time by half. I mean cutting the time in some cases 90% or 99%.

 

The extreme off-road versions of the Wrangler will continue to be called the Rubicon, and it is now even more off-road capable than before. You can fit larger wheels with greater ease, and the various drivetrain components are more off-road worthy.

 

This is the new Wrangler price list, exclusive of $1,195 delivery charge:

 

2-door base: $26,995

 

2-door Rubicon: $36,995

 

4-door base: $30,495

 

4-door Sahara: $37,345

 

4-door Rubicon: $40,495

 

There will of course be numerous ways to add to these prices with a long list of optional equipment. If you want to pay more than $50,000 for your next-generation tricked-out Jeep Wrangler starting in January 2018, you should have no problem doing so. But I would recommend waiting a few months until 2Q 2018 when the Italian-built engine becomes available.

 

What does this mean for the FCA shareholder?

 

FCA has been making approximately 250,000 Jeep Wranglers per year in its Toledo, Ohio, factory. Actually, the Toledo factory is divided into two separate factories. One of these factories will continue to make the old Wrangler for another few months, probably until April 2018. The reason for this is to avoid a gap in supply.

 

The new Wrangler is made in the other Toledo factory, which was making the Jeep Cherokee until April 2017. The Cherokee production was moved to a factory in Michigan instead.

 

So what will happen to the other Wrangler factory, where the old one continues to be made until April 2018? It will be re-tooled thereafter, to start making the pickup truck version of the Jeep Wrangler, starting perhaps as early as the fourth quarter of 2018, with U.S. retail sales beginning perhaps around January 2019.

 

This is a big deal for the FCA shareholder. Unlike General Motors (GM), Toyota (TM) and Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY), FCA does not currently sell a midsize pickup truck. The U.S. midsize pickup truck market grew a whopping 25% in 2016, although the growth rate slowed to a mere 1% for the first eleven months of 2017.

 

It is the midsize pickup truck business that makes GM larger than Ford, for the first 11 months of 2017, in terms of U.S. pickup truck unit sales. Without it, Ford’s F-series now handily outsells the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra combined.

 

What could the Jeep pickup truck mean in terms of sales for FCA? The RAM full-size pickup truck now is on a path to end 2017 with 500,000 sales in the U.S. alone. Canada is on track to just exceed 100,000 RAM pickup truck unit sales in 2017. So that’s over 600,000 for these two countries alone.

 

The part of the Toledo factory making the Jeep pickup truck should have an annual output that could potentially reach 250,000 units. If you add 250,000 to RAM’s full-size truck sales, FCA’s pickup truck business starts to approach the total size of the GM and Ford equivalent businesses.

 

If FCA can pull this off, that would be huge.

 

Then again, every step along the way from zero to 250,000 of these additional trucks will bring incremental profits for FCA. Why such leverage from even a small volume? That’s because the incremental development cost from the “regular” Wrangler to the pickup truck version should be relatively minimal, for as far as these things go. Obviously you are still down a billion dollars or whatever for the factory retooling and the incremental development, but for the potential of selling up to 250,000 of the highest-margin product, that is a very good deal.

 

Let’s take a look at the current Jeep Wrangler and RAM pickup sales in the U.S. and Canada, and assume that FCA can achieve a “steady-state” sales of the Wrangler pickup truck that would be only 20% smaller than the non-pickup Wrangler:

 

FCA Jan-Nov

 

USA

 

Canada

 

total

 

RAM pickup

 

455816

 

93192

 

549008

 

Jeep Wrangler

 

176822

 

16249

 

193071

 

Jeep "pickup"

 

141458

 

12999

 

154457

 

TOTAL

 

774096

 

122440

 

896536

  

As you can see in the table above, for 11 months alone, this “pro-formas” to almost exactly 900,000 sales in only two countries. Considering that December is usually a large month, it could basically be a million for the full year. Some of these products also will be sold in almost 150 countries worldwide, not just North America. Fellow real and would-be investors, this could be a huge business starting in 2019 and certainly in 2020! And these are FCA’s highest-margin products to boot.

 

Conclusion: FCA shareholders, rejoice!

 

What have we learned in this article? Four main things:

 

FCA’s most iconic product, the Jeep Wrangler, arrives in all-new format in January 2018 and it is nothing short of spectacular. It’s a quantum leap better than the old one, which already was a sales and margin success. Given that it’s now a great product not only off-road, but also on-road (for the first time in its history), it also greatly expands its addressable market.

 

The pickup truck version of the all-new Jeep Wrangler could arrive one year after the “regular” one, and it could have a capacity of 250,000 units per year, just like the regular Wrangler. So that's half a million units in total for the Wrangler family.

 

The pickup truck version of the Jeep Wrangler effectively throws FCA into the U.S. midsize truck segment with a highly differentiated product. When combined with the regular Wrangler and the RAM pickup truck, it is realistically a 1 million unit per year business in the U.S. plus Canada combined, not even counting all the other countries around the world.

 

This will do wonders for FCA’s gross margin dollars, gross margin percentage, and net profit. Small wonder FCAU stock now trades right near its highs, over $18 per share.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 07-Apr-18, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 12-Apr-24.

 

Still in basic Lufthansa livery with Air Malta titles (Air Malta ceased operations 31-Mar-24 and restarted the following day as 'KM Malta Airlines').

 

This aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa ad D-ABKD in Jul-92. It was sold to a lessor as EI-COK in Nov-97 and stored until it was leased to Air One (Italy) in Feb-98.

 

It was returned to the lessor in Apr-99 and immediately leased to Air Malta as 9H-ADO. The aircraft was sub-leased to Macedonian Airlines between Jul / Nov-99 and continued with Air Malta until it was returned to the lessor as F-GRNZ in Mar-00.

 

The aircraft was leased to Euralair International 10 days later and returned to the lessor in Nov-01 when it was stored at Paris-Le Bourget. The aircraft was leased to Air One as EI-COK again in Apr-02 and returned to the lessor in Feb-10.

 

It was leased to Air Italy the following month and returned to the lessor in Jul-11 when it was leased to FireFly (Malaysia) as 9M-FZB.

 

In Nov-14 it was returned to the lessor as G-CIHK and stored at St. Athan, Wales, UK. Now 22 years old it was throught to be permanently retired but was leased to Valorfly (Malta) as 9H-VLA and subleased to Alba Star Airlines (Spain) in Jun-15. It returned to Valorfly in Nov-15 and was again stored at St. Athan.

 

In Jun-16 it was re-registered 9H-HUE and leased to Air Horizont. It was wet-leased to Blue Panorama Airlines (Italy) in Mar-17 and returned to Air Horizont in Nov-17 when it was placed in winter storage at Bucharest-Baneasa.. The aircraft returned to service in Mar-18.

 

The aircraft was stored at Zaragoza, Spain in Feb-21 and moved to Bucharest-Baneasa again in Mar-21. It was stored at Baneasa until Jan-22 when it moved to Naples, Italy for more storage.

 

In May-22 it was sold to GP Aviation (Bulgaria) as LZ-GPA and delivered in Jun-22. It's based at Pristina, Serbia & Montenegro. Current, updated 12-Apr-24.

Corduroy (Nelvana TV series) season 2-present, Timothy Goes to School More Disney Snow White and Pinocchio contents, and early classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Yogi Bear, and Huckleberry Hound will all replace Arthur and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends because Arthur's younger sister D.W. always scream and throw temper tantrums and she is evil and she is also even worse than Caillou in season 1 of Caillou. Caillou became mature but D.W. didn't so the PBS Kids TV series Arthur MUST BE BANNED and get replaced by Corduroy the Bear which is the friendly TV show I am writing and producing at Nelvana and Timothy Goes to School. So I agree with Tbone Animate for this one. Arthur's younger sister D.W. screaming and throwing temper tantrums is why Arthur Gets Grounded on Vyond is way better than the PBS Kids TV series Arthur. And the reason why I am banning Arthur is because in one episode Arthur punched D.W. which is one of the reasons why D.W. always screams and throws temper tantrums and this goes for the same thing as that Frankie Foster yells, screams, makes freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes when she gets mad which is not okay to do when you get mad whereas Corduroy (Nelvana TV series), Timothy Goes to School, Walt Disney's animated films Snow White and Pinocchio, and early classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Yogi Bear, and Huckleberry Hound are are entirely kind-spirited (school appropriate) and especially a lot of the underscore music in Walt Disney's animated films Snow White and Pinocchio are kind-spirited (School appropriate). Frankie Foster MUST BE BANNED Frankie Foster yells, screams, makes freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes replicating that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and meanly gnashing her teeth when she gets mad which is mean-spirited because it is okay to get mad but it is not okay to yell, scream, make freaky spikey eyelashes triangular eyes, aim guns, destroy people's toys and belongings or any other mean spirited things when getting mad whereas Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy MUST BE KEPT FOREVER because Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy are kind-hearted, caring, respectful, helpful and other kind-spirited stuff just like the Disney Character Pinocchio which makes Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, and the Disney Character Pinocchio extremely school appropriate because media does have to be kind-spirited like Walt Disney's animated films Snow White and Pinocchio, Corduroy The Bear with two buttons on his overalls, Blue's Clues, and Raggedy Ann and Andy and other kind-spirited media in order for it to be school appropriate not with mean inappropriate anger with freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes etc replicating that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends like Frankie Foster does in Forster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Mean teachers getting students arrested for having autism or other disabilities MUST BE BANNED because that is very mean and hurtful and causes trauma to students with autism and other disabilities especially in modern Simpsons (The Simpsons seasons 19 and later) Chief Wiggums was getting people arrested for having autism and other disabilities is why modern Simpsons MUST END IMMEDIATELLY and that Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear MUST BE REVIVED with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever IMMEDIATELY and a lot of big schools with Bogen Multicom 2000 also have mean teachers getting students arrested for having autism or other disabilities is another reason why Bogen Multicom 2000 is a very mean-spirited PA System along their bell tones not sounding like a bell at all especially the in this picture of a mean teacher getting a boy arrested for having autism is in a school with a Bogen Multicom 2000 and allowing mean spirited stuff and allowing an ice cream truck to keep the bad old outdated red trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word IF-SAFE STOP THEN-GO is why I am dead furious with Bogen Communications and Fox Broadcasting and getting students arrested for having autism or other disabilities is one of the extremely bad impact modern Simpsons (The Simpsons seasons 19 and later) has gave us along with reusing bad things they used to make in the past and how to be mean and scary which are extremely bad. So this is why all broadcasts of The Simpsons MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be ONLY reruns of classic Simpsons (first 18 seasons of The Simpsons). This is why all schools MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be set up like Middleborough, Hilltop School from Timothy Goes to School, and or my DeVry building in North Brunswick, NJ and all with green chalkboards, electric mechanical wall bells, and Corbeil school buses and other school buses with electric stop arms, and only kind-spirited stuff like Disney Snow White and Pinocchio stuff and Corduroy the Bear with two buttons on his green corduroy overalls and Steve Notebooks etc, and no mean-spirited stuff like Bogen Multicom 2000 and that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and no processed foods in the school lunches. This is why McDonald's restaurants MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be McEyebrows with the yellow and orange striped awnings, arch wedge the new aluminum exterior I have created, or the original 1970s version of the iconic double sloped mansard roof and better and safe updated indoor PlayPlaces with low and safe steps and slides and green chalkboards and or just the dining room option (no playplace), This is why all ice cream trucks MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be all updated to the current updated yellow trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word CHILDREN SLOW CROSSING and or school bus stop signs and that all ice cream trucks MUST BE BY LAW MANDEDTED TO GET RID of the bad old outdated red trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word IF-SAFE STOP THEN-GO for good, This is why Crayola Crayon boxes MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be new modern 1997 boxes. This is why school PA systems MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be Rauland Telecenter or PA systems with no bell tones. And this is why Nelvana and Hanna-Barbera MUST TAKE OVER Warner Bros. Animation and Fuzzy Door Productions. And from now on the only childrens' books from the McDonald's double-sloped mansard era people MUST reuse in schools, republish, restore, reprint, and re-create are ONLY little golden books with the classic character train back cover template with Tootle pulling the long train of characters and Donald duck waving the flag saying "The World of Little Golden Books" not any of those old Thomas books with pictures from the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends so we will never ever have to deal with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends ever again. That mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes, triangular eyes, and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends is the worst mean spirited anger imagery because the way how that face is modeled was depicting Gordon the Big engine about to kill people by running over them and about to come out of the TV and kill the viewers of the show by running over them which is very bad and murding is the worst crime. Original photo credited to TrustaMann on Deviantart.com. Parents and Teachers being mean to them and destroying their kid's toys and belongings and yelling "GOD DAM HELL" and "GOD IN HELL" as a punishments MUST BE BANNED AND ILLEGAL EVERYWHERE FOREVER!!!!!!!! because Parents and Teachers taking away and destroying kid's toys and stuff as a punishment is being mean to kids and hurts their feelings real bad and cry which is extremely bad and parents and teachers use scary inappropriate behaviors like yelling "GOD DAM HELL" and meanly yell I'm so god dam cross with you whey they take away kid's toys and stuff needs to stop forever. And at Holly Springs school in my 5th grade school year there were mean teachers that got mean and super mad at me and took away my Steve notebook and forced me to see the freaky spikey eyelashes, razor blade forehead wrinkles, and triangular eyes they used to had on Gordon's grumpy face in the old model version of Thomas and Friends which scared me and other kids real bad when they meanly called me bad just because I made one bad choice and I am a good boy and always try to be kind and respectful. And in the old model version of Thomas and Friends, Gordon looked like an evil man with a gun when he gets grumpy is why I hate the old model version of Thomas and Friends and say that the old model version of Thomas and Friends MUST BE BANNED and good thing I the kind and respectful teachers gave me back my Steve Notebook. Also in my 5th grade year at Holly Springs there was a preschool class with a secondary teachers being mean and got super mad at the little kid and took away his toys and stuff and destroyed them and made the little kid sit in the hallway and and forced and made the little kid to see the freaky spikey eyelashes, razor blade forehead wrinkles, and triangular eyes they used to had on Gordon's grumpy face in the old model version of Thomas and Friends and the little kid cried real hard and I felt bad for the little kid but at least Santa mended the little kids destroyed toys back together at his workshop and gave the toys back to the little kid and at also it is a good thing Thomas and Friends moved to from live action models to CGI animations which is better and friendlier and made Gordon have a more accurate grumpy face similar to Homer Simpson in classic Simpsons episodes. This is why Bogen Multicom 2000 systems MUST BE BANNED from schools and that Bogen Communications MUST SHUT DOWN FOREVER. Especially, that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes, triangular eyes, and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends is the worst mean spirited anger imagery because the way how that face is modeled was depicting Gordon the Big engine about to kill people by running over them and about to come out of the TV and kill the viewers of the show by running over them which is very bad and murding is the worst crime. Eventhough I am not worried about the mean teachers at Holly Springs school anymore, I still occasionally have nightmares about the mean teachers at Holly Springs school, one night I had 2 nightmares of the mean teachers at Holly Springs school and the first nightmare was in Mrs. Monic's room with the mean teachers at Holly Springs threatening to give me a punishment day by destroying my Steve notebook and forcing me to see that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and the mean then the mean teachers told me to shut up in a slow monster voice with teeth sticking together and then I woke up and realized it was only a dream and the second nightmare with the mean teachers at Holly Springs school the mean teachers were forbidding me to revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good and the mean teachers then were calling me a bad boy and then destroyed my Steve notebook and had Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends kill me by running me over with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and sending my soul to where the devil lives but good thing God came and angrily confronted the mean teachers at Holly Springs school and angrily destroyed that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and angrily put a grinning smile face on the live action model version of Gordon the Big engine and made the live action model version of Gordon the Big engine inanimate forever as his punishment and revived me and mended my Steve notebook back together and God told me that I am not a bad boy and then allowed me to revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. Especially when I was in 5th grade at Holly Springs, my anxiety had in my head of the mean teachers making evil magic giant steel crates to lock kids in with slamming lift doors forcing kids to see that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and the mean teachers having live action model version of Gordon the Big engine shoot a gun at the kids in the steel crate with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and the mean teachers having the live action model version of Gordon the Big engine kill the kids in the steel crate by running them over with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and I had been having this scary thought since 5th grade at Holly Springs when the mean secondary teachers from Mrs. Monic's room was giving a little kid a punishment day in the hall and was giving me the idea of killing myself by setting my own body on fire I had this bottled up since 5th grade at Holly Springs school. This is why I am collaborating to make everything great again as when I revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good by showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. This is why Bogen Multicom 2000 systems MUST BE BANNED from schools and that Bogen Communications MUST SHUT DOWN FOREVER. Especially, that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes, triangular eyes, and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends is the worst mean spirited anger imagery because the way how that face is modeled was depicting Gordon the Big engine about to kill people by running over them and about to come out of the TV and kill the viewers of the show by running over them which is very bad and murding is the worst crime. And parents and teachers being mean to kids and destroying their kid's toys and belongings as punishments was giving me the idea of killing myself by setting my own body on fire. And schools with a Bogen Multicom 2000 even recommend the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy and the goofs Mickey Mouse's iconic red short overalls with yellow buttons and no shoulder straps being low waisted and looking like a loincloth they used to make Before Blue's Clues was ever created they used to make minor goofs of Mickey Mouse's iconic red short overalls with yellow buttons and no shoulder straps occasionally being low waisted and looking like a loincloth and having the buttons marking the human penises referencing the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy is extremely vulgar and reminds me of when Corduroy's button was in a storm drain at the end of Cute as a Button which made me extremely upset but good thing I am working for Nelvana reviving Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good by showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. They MUST CENSOR the inappropriate phrases about body parts in ALL future American Dad and Family Guy broadcasts because the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy are so gross and inappropriate and so annoying and cringy like Dee Dee's laugh from Dexter's Laboratory and the inappropriate phrases about body parts from Family Guy are making me worried for Corduroy's button and the author of the Corduroy (Nelvana TV series) episode Betty Quan was also watching Dexter's Laboratory and having on DeeDee laughing in the episode of Dexter's Laboratory she was watching while writing the Corduroy episode Cute as a Button is why the Corduroy episode Cute as a Button does have an upsetting ending where Corduroy's button fell in a storm drain across the street from Lisa and Corduroy's apartment Building and forgot to show that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and that Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever and in that storm drain, right after when the button fell in DeeDee from Dexter's Laboratory made Mowgli from Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book fall on Corduroy's button and lay his stomach on the bottom of the storm drain and Corduroy's button was going on the front of Mowgli's bright red cotton fabric loincloth shorts and DeeDee was laughing about it which made me super upset which caused me to have guilt of Corduroy the Bear on December 2009 and what made my guilt of Corduroy the Bear worse was that a student at my middle school Dean Rusk in Canton Georgia named Jessie Burris told me a mean lie that an alligator ate Corduroy's button, yelled out the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy at me, and then she punched me in the shoulder, then she told me to move on from my golden nostalgic toddler stuff like riding on school buses and bring back the bad things from the early 90s such as pear-shaped wrecking balls and ice cream trucks with the bad old outdated red trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word IF-SAFE STOP THEN-GO (which are extremely confusing to people who are deaf, color blind, can't read, or don't speak English and we need to help out those people out too) and then she told me that she liked DeeDee's annoying idiotic laugh from Dexter's Laboratory and the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy which made me even more upset and worried for Corduroy and his button causing me to have anxiety with my guilt of Corduroy the Bear and all of that I was overeating so much food on December 2009 by making my bowl of Fruity Pebbles super big, munching giant stacks of salt and Vinegar Pringles Potato ships, and having a lot of extra school lunches and I was eating all of these foods all at once nervously for Corduroy and his button and then on exams week on my 8th grade school year on December 2009, I was having a sick stomach with green spots from overeating and then I had to rush to the restroom at my middle school Dean Rusk in Canton, Georgia and I was puking in the restroom bin at my middle school Dean Rusk in Canton Georgia and they had to send me home and skip the exam eventhough I wanted to take the exam and succeed in school. But good thing I am fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake by reviving the Nelvana TV show Corduroy with the premiere of an entirely new episode titled Two Buttons again and Forever which is the sequel to Cute as a Button showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and that Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever and that I am writing and producing a lot more entirely new Corduroy episodes with Corduroy the Bear having two buttons on his green corduroy overalls instead of one and I am re-editing all season 1 episodes with Corduroy the Bear having two buttons on his green corduroy overalls instead of one and re-editing Betty Quan's Cute as a Button with the beginning of Two Buttons again and Forever as the alternative ending. Good thing I have decided to give up Family Guy because the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy are making me worried for Corduroy's button and the other reason why I have decided to give up Family Guy is because I will have kids of my own when I live in Toronto reviving Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good by showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy The Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. And my own kids will be a son named Pinocchio William Joseph Rich and a daughter named Pollyanna Wendy Lisa Rich. Good thing Disney now always have the waist of Mickey Mouse's iconic red short overalls with yellow buttons and no shoulder straps have the waist going all the way up to the chest and no longer having minor goofs of the overalls being low waisted and looking like a loincloth and I know for a fact all pants with two buttons going horizontally up in the front are overalls no matter if they have shoulder straps or not because pants always have the waist going all the way up to the chest if they have two buttons going horizontally up in the front no matter if they have shoulder straps or not. As one of my collaborations when I revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever Fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good I will censor these stupid minor goofs of Mickey Mouse's overalls.

Replaced the rocker cover gasket as I noticed traces of oil underneath the car and at the back of the rocker cover.

 

Not too bad of a job and worth it in the end. Also replaced the rusty bolts with new stainless hex bolts & new rubber washers.

“Cherry blossom stone” (9 mm across) - pinite (= muscovite mica replacing intergrown cordierite-indialite) from Kameoka, west of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, southwestern Honshu Island, southern Japan. The small, central, hexagonal structure represents where indialite used to be. The “petals” of the cherry blossom flower (= the 6 wedge-shaped masses surrounding the center hexagon) represent where cordierite used to be.

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One of the most famous & visually intriguing geologic materials collected in Japan is the cherry blossom stone. These interesting structures have a complex geologic history.

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What are they now?

Cherry blossom stones are relatively small, subhexagonal-shaped masses of fine-grained muscovite mica that show a flower-like pattern in transverse cross-section.

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What did they used to be?

The muscovite mica is not the original material making up these structures. Before the growth of muscovite mica, these were complex intergrowths of six cordierite crystals and one indialite crystal. So, cherry blossom stones represent muscovite mica replacing cordierite-indialite (muscovite pseudomorphs after cordierite-indialite). Such complex pseudomorphs have been referred to as pinite.

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What is the host rock?

Cherry blossom stones are hosted in a matrix of hornfels, a fine-grained, contact metamorphic rock. Hornfels form by intense alteration (heating & chemical alteration) of shales by nearby lava or magma.

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How did they form?

The hornfels host rocks were originally fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks (shales) of the Tamba Group (Triassic-Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous). In the mid-Cretaceous (early Cenomanian Stage, ~98 m.y.), underground igneous activity resulted in granites and granodiorite intrusions altering the shales into hornfels by contact metamorphism. These hornfels had decent-sized masses of intergrown cordierite-indialite.

 

Indialite is a magnesium aluminosilicate mineral (Mg2Al4Si5O18). Cordierite is an iron magnesium aluminosilicate mineral ((Fe,Mg)2Al4Si5O18). The subhexagonal-shaped masses of cordierite-indialite in the hornfels consist of seven individual crystals. At the center of each mass is a dumbbell-shaped indialite crystal - very narrow at the center, and relatively wide at the ends (look at the varying sizes of the center hexagon in the cherry blossom stones in this photo album). Surrounding the indialite crystal are six prism-shaped cordierite crystals. They are widest at the center of each cherry blossom stone and narrowest at the ends.

 

A second metamorphic event altered the cordierite-indialite masses. Hydrothermal metamorphism resulted in fine-grained muscovite mica replacing the original minerals.

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Much info. from:

 

Rakovan et al. (2006) - Sakura Ishi (cherry blossom stones): mica pseudomorphs of complex cordierite-indialite intergrowths from Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. in Minerals from Japan. Rocks & Minerals Reprint 2006: 31-39.

 

Replacing rail ties and spikes. www.dailydieseldose.com for more!

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 08-Jan-21.

 

First flown in Aug-00 with the Boeing test registration N1786B, it was re-registered N1015B two days later for Boeing test flights.

 

The aircraft was delivered to Hapag-Lloyd Airlines as D-AHFT in Dec-00. It was fitted with blended winglets in Apr-01. The aircraft was sold to a lessor in Dec-03 and leased back to Hapag-Lloyd.

 

Hapag-Lloyd was renamed Hapagfly.com in Nov-05 and renamed again in Nov-06 as TUIfly.com. It was wet-leased to CanJet Airlines (Canada) in Dec-08, returning to TUIfly in May-09.

 

In Nov-10 the aircraft was wet-leased to TUIfly Nordic for the winter, returning to TUIfly.com in Apr-11. TUIfly.com was renamed TUI Airlines Germany at the end of Oct-17. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Hanover, Germany in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

It returned to service in early Jul-20. The aircraft was withdrawn from service in Nov-21 and parked at Hannover, Germany. It was ferried to Roswell, NM, USA in Dec-21, returned to the lessor as EI-GYO and stored.

 

The aircraft was ferried to Vilnius, Lithuania in Jul-22 for further storage. In Apr-23 it was leased to Go2Sky Airlines (Slovak Republic) as OM-GTJ and wet-leased to TUI Airlines Germany three days later.

 

At various times during the 2023 summer season it also operated for TUI Nordic, TUI Netherlands, TUI Belgium and TUI UK, returning to Go2Sky in Sep-23. During the 2023/24 winter season the aircraft was wet-leased to JetTime (Denmark), TUI Germany, Seven Air (Denmark) and Air Explore (Czechia).

 

In Apr-24 the aircraft was leased to TUI Airways UK for the 2024 summer season. Current, updated 11-Aug-24.

Charles Bridge

Most Karlův

 

Inseparable from the image of Prague, Charles Bridge, built from the fourteenth century, is like a symbol of the city. Built in the Gothic period, it was later decorated with a unique gallery of sculptures, true guard of honor triumphal symbolically linking the two sides of the city.

 

From the tenth century, a wooden bridge crossing the Vltava river more or less at that location, replaced in the twelfth century by the first stone bridge in the capital, the Judith Bridge , some remains are still visible today (including Instead of boarding cruises Prague Venice , Old Town side). In February 1342, a violent melting ice destroyed the bridge to two-thirds, and the Emperor Charles IV decided to build a new bridge that will bear his name, slightly curved against the current. His strong pillars rest on oak stilts. The work is partly led by the great architect and sculptor of the imperial court Petr Parler , who also illustrated in St. Vitus Cathedral . Despite successive floods in the history and partial renovations, it is still on this old medieval bridge as you move from one bank to another of the historical center ...

 

Side Old Town, Gothic tower which solemnly marks the entrance of the bridge is adorned with beautiful sculptures, masterpieces from the hand of Peter Parler: we find the emperor Charles and his son Wenceslas IV and Guy Saints Adalbert and Sigismund, patron of the kingdom of Bohemia. On the other side, the bridge is closed by two towers of unequal height: the oldest, Judith tower dates back to the Roman era (twelfth century), the highest date of the fifteenth century and offers a beautiful panorama the city.

 

The gallery of sculptures adorning the deck is equally exceptional. We know that early on a wooden Calvary adorned the bridge, followed by the legendary figure of the knight BruncvÃ-k the sixteenth century. But it is especially at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that the bridge gradually people of religious sculptures modeled on the bridge Sant'Angelo in Rome, forming an extraordinary triumphal alley linking the two sides of the city, land and sky . The best artists of the time epitomized by in a climate of emulation and particularly fruitful artistic competition (see the finest works in the photo gallery). In the nineteenth century, other more academic works complete the package, which had been partially damaged by floods or artillery fire. Today, the original statues were often replaced by copies.

 

It is sometimes difficult to break through on the Charles Bridge, where tourists processions succeed continuously: if you can prefer the snowy winter months, the first light of dawn or late at night under the sky star ... the charm of the place operates again ...

 

History

Through the 19th century

 

Old Town bridge tower during 1848 revolution

Throughout its history, the Charles Bridge suffered several disasters and witnessed many historic events. Czech legend has it that construction began on Charles Bridge at 5:31am on 9 July 1357 with the first stone being laid by Charles IV himself. This exact time was very important to the Holy Roman Emperor because he was a strong believer of numerology and this specific time, which formed a numerical bridge (1357 9, 7 5:31), would imbue Charle's Bridge with additional strength. Given the bridge's long life perhaps the Emperor's belief holds some weight, though the bridge has seen its fair share of tragedy. A flood in 1432 damaged three pillars. In 1496 the third arch (counting from the Old Town side) broke down after one of the pillars lowered, being undermined by the water (repairs were finished in 1503). A year after the Battle of White Mountain, when the 27 leaders of the anti-Habsburg revolt were executed on 21 June 1621, the Old Town bridge tower served as a deterrent display of the severed heads of the victims to stop Czechs from further resistance. During the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the Swedes occupied the west bank of the Vltava, and as they tried to advance into the Old Town the heaviest fighting took place right on the bridge. During the fighting, they severely damaged one side of the Old Town bridge tower (the side facing the river) and the remnants of almost all gothic decorations had to be removed from it afterward. During the late 17th century and early 18th century the bridge gained its typical appearance when an alley of baroque statues was installed on the pillars. During a great flood in 1784, five pillars were severely damaged and although the arches did not break down, the traffic on the bridge had to be greatly restricted for some time.

 

Charles Bridge during 1872 flood

The original stairway to Kampa Island was replaced by a new one in 1844. The next year, another great flood threatened the bridge, but the bridge escaped major damage. In 1848, during the revolutionary days, the bridge escaped unharmed from the cannonade, but some of the statues were damaged. In 1866, pseudo-gothic gas lights were erected on the balustrade; they were later replaced with electric lighting. In the 1870s, the first regular public-transport (omnibus) line went over the bridge (officially called "Charles Bridge" after 1870), later replaced by a horse tram. The bridge towers underwent a thorough reconstruction between 1874 and 1883.

On 2â5 September 1890, another disastrous flood struck Prague and severely damaged the Charles Bridge. Thousands of rafts, logs and other floating materials that escaped from places upstream gradually formed a huge barrier leaning against the bridge. Three arches were torn down by the great pressure and two pillars collapsed from being undermined by the water, while others were partly damaged. With the fifth pillar, two statues â St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Xavier, both by Ferdinand Brokoff â also fell into the river. The former statue was replaced by a statuary of Saints Cyril and Methodius by Karel DvoÅák; the latter was replaced by a replica of the original. Repair works lasted for two years (the bridge was reopened on 19 November 1892) and cost 665,000 crowns.

 

The statue of John of Nepomuk. On 20 March 1393 he was thrown into the river Vltava from the Charles Bridge at the behest of Wenceslaus, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia.

20th century to present

 

The eastern tower of the Charles Bridge in 1903. Note the horsecar tracks

In the beginning of the 20th century, the Charles Bridge saw a steep rise of heavy traffic. The last day of the horse line on the bridge was 15 May 1905, when it was replaced with an electric tram and later, in 1908, with buses. At the end of World War II, a barricade was built in the Old Town bridge tower gateway. A capital repair of the bridge took place between 1965 and 1978, based on a collaboration among various scientific and cultural institutes. The stability of the pillars was reassured, all broken stone blocks were replaced, and the asphalt top was removed. All vehicular traffic has been excluded from the Charles Bridge since then, making it accessible by pedestrians only. The repair cost 50 million crowns.

During the 1990s, some people started criticizing the previous reconstruction of the bridge and proposing further work. As of the beginning of the new millennium, most of the experts appeared to agree that the previous reconstruction had not been flawless but disputed the need for further interference with the bridge. However, after the disastrous floods of 2002 (which themselves caused only minor harm to the bridge), support for an overall bridge reconstruction grew. It was decided that repair and stabilization of the two pillars (numbers 8 and 9) on the Malá Strana side of the bridge would be done. These are the only river pillars that were not repaired after the 1890 floods. The reconstruction was a gradual process that closed off parts of the bridge without closing the span entirely. Performed from 2008 to 2010, the work included bolstering the pillars and building a new hydroisolation system protecting the bridge. It also encompassed the replacement of many of the stones in the bridge walls, a matter which was controversial due to a heavy-handed approach adopted by the restoration team. The result has been criticised by conservation professionals all over Europe (see photos on external links). Dozens of new replacement "stones" do not match the historical ones they are next to.

 

Statues on the bridge

Main article: List of statues on Charles Bridge

The avenue of 30 mostly baroque statues and statuaries situated on the balustrade forms a unique connection of artistic styles with the underlying gothic bridge. Most sculptures were erected between 1683 and 1714.They depict various saints and patron saints venerated at that time. The most prominent Bohemian sculptors of the time took part in decorating the bridge, such as Matthias Braun, Jan Brokoff, and his sons Michael Joseph and Ferdinand Maxmilian.

 

Charles Bridge and the Holy Crucifix, c. 1935

Among the most notable sculptures, one can find the statuaries of St. Luthgard, the Holy Crucifix and Calvary, and St. John of Nepomuk. Well known also is the statue of the knight BruncvÃ-k, although it was erected some 200 years later and does not belong to the main avenue.

Beginning in 1965, all of the statues have been systematically replaced by replicas, and the originals have been exhibited in the lapidarium of the National Museum.

Southbound I-5 between the Convention Center and I-90 was reduced to one lane over President’s Day weekend to replace several aging expansion joints. Replacing the old joints helps prevent emergency repairs in the future, which are costly and can cause unplanned backups during rush hour.