Replaced the original BW version with this one in desaturated color to better show the discoloration and age. The dolls looked very dingy and forlorn to me.

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

The Tay Rail Bridge

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

The Tay Bridge (sometimes unoffically the Tay Rail Bridge) is a railway bridge approximately 2.75 miles (3.5 kilometers) long that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland,between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife.

 

As with the Forth Bridge,the Tay Bridge has als been called the Tay Bridge since the construction of the road bridge over the Firth of Tay,the Tay Road Bridge.The rail bridge replaced an earl train ferry.

 

"Tay Bridge" was also the codename for the funeral plans for Queen Elizabeth,The Queen Mother.

 

The First Tay Bridge

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

The original Tay Bridge was designed by noted railway engineer Sir Thomas Bouch,who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion.It was a lttice-grid design,combining cast and wrought iron.The design was well known,having been used first by Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858,following the innovative use of cast iron in Crystal Palace of London England.However,the Crystal Palace was not as heavil loaded as a railway bridge.A previous cast iron desing,the Dee Bridge in Chester,England which collapsed in 1847,failed due to poor use of cast-iron cirders.Later,Alexander Gustave Eiffel used a similar design to create several large viaducts in the Massif Central ,France (1867).

 

Proposal for constructing a bridge across the River Tay date back to at least 1854.The North Britsh Railway (Tay Bridge) Act receiving the Royal Assent on July 15,1870 and the foundation stone was laid on July 22,1871.

 

The Bridge Design -The Basic Concept

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

The original design was for lattice griders supported by brick piers resting on bedrock shown by trail borings to lie at no great depth under the river.At either end of the bridge the single track rail ran on top of the bridge girder,most of which therefore lay below the pier tops.However,in the center section of the bridge,(the "high girder") the railway ran inside the bridge,which could then run above the pier tops to give the required clearance to allow passage of sailing ships upriver(e.g. to Perth).To accommodate thermal expansion there were few rigid connectiions between girders and piers.

 

However as the bridge extended out into the river,it became clear (December 1873) that the bedrock really much deeper,to act as a foundation for the bridge piers.Sir Thomas Bouch had to redesign the bridge.

 

He reduced the number of piers and correspondingly increased the span of the girders.The pier foundations were no longer taken down to bedrock,instead they were constructed by sinking brick-lind wrought-iron caissons onto the riverbed,removing sand until the caissons rested upon the consoildated gravel layer which had been misreported as rock,and then filling the caissons with concrete.To reduce the weight the ground under the caissons would have to support the brick piers were replaced by lattice iron skeleton piers(each pier had multiple cast-iron columns taking the weight of the bridge girder,with wrought iron horizontal braces and diagonal tiebars lining the columns of the pier to give rigidity and stability). the basic concept was well known,having been used first by Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858;Sir Thomas Bouch had used it for Viaducts (notable the Beelah Viaducts (1860) on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway line over Stainmore,England,but for the Tay Bridge,even with the largest praticale caissons pier dimensions were significantly constrained by the caissons in a hexagon; this maximsed the pier widtgh but not the amount of diagononal bracing directly resiting sidewalk forces.

 

The Bridge Design -- Design Details

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

The engineering details on the Tay Bridge was considerably simpler,lighter,and cheaper then on earlier Viaducts.On these the machined based of each column section docked securely into a machine enlarged section of the top of the section below.The joint was then secured by bolts through matching holes on lugs (Crumlin) or flanges (Belah) on the two sections.This 'spigot and faucet' configuration was used (apparently without machining) on some Tay Bridge pier columns,but on some the bolts were relied upon to ensure correct alignment.(In the event,the joint were using undersized bolts.This give greater tolerances when assembling the column,but the less positive alignment of the column joints as initially assembled and after any subsequent 'working' of the joint would have weakened the column).

 

On the Tay Bridge the diagonal bracing was by means of flat bars running from one lug at the column section top (and integral part of the column casting) to two sling plates bolted to the diagonally opposite lug.Bar and sling plates all had a matching longditudinal slot in them; the tie bar was placed between the sling plates with all three slots aligned and overlapping and a gib driven through all three slots and secured.Two cotters (medal wedges) were then positioned to fill the rest of the slot overlap,and driven in hard to put the tie under tension.Horizontal Bracing was provided by (wrought iron) channel iron.The various bolt head were too close to each other,and to the column for easy tightening up with spanners;this coupled with lack of precision in the preparation of the channeliron braces led to various on the site fitting expedients (one of them described by a witness to the enquirey as "about' as alovently a piece of work as ever i saw in my life').

 

On the Crumin Viaduct and Belah Viaduct,however,horizontal bracing was provided by substantial fitting cast-iron girders securely attached to the columns with the diagonal braces the girders.The Chairman of the court of Inquiry quoted at length from a contemporary book praising the detailed engineering of the belah Viaduct pier (and describing the Viaduct as one of the lightest and cheapest of the kind that had ever beenerected.)

 

...it is a distinguished feature in the Viaduct that the cross,or distance girders of the piers encircle the columns,which are turned up at that point,the girder being bored oput to fit the turned part with great accuracy.No cement of any kind was used in the whole structure,and the piers when completed,and the vertical horizontal wrought-iron bracing keyed up,are nearly as riged as though they were one solid piece...

 

...The fitting was all done by machines,which were specially designed for the purposed,finshed the work with mathematical accuracy.The flanges of the column were all faced up and their edges turned,and ever column was stepper into the one below it with a lip of about 5/8 of an inch (1.5 centimeters) in depth,the lip and socket for it being actualyly turned and bored,That portion of the column against which the cross girders rested was also turned.The whole operations were performed at one time,the column being centered in a hollow mandriil lathe.After being turned the column passed on to a drilling machine,in which all the holes in each flange were drilled out the solid simultaneously.And as this was done with them all in the same machine,the holes of couse,perfectly coincided when the columns were placed on the other in the progress of erection.Similar care was taken with the cross-girders,which were bored out at the ends by machines designed for the purpose.Thus,when the pieces of the Viaduct had to be put together at the place of erction these was literally not a tool required,and neither chipping or filing to retard the program to work.

 

Either,said the Chairman,the Belah Viaduct had been over-engineered.

 

Bridge Construction

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

Whilst Sir Thomas Bouch was revising his design,A Grothe C.E.G,manage of the Tay Bridge contract,the company which had the contract for construction went out of business and the contract passed (June 1874) to Hopkins Gilkes and Company,successors to the Middlesbrough Company which had made the ironwork for the Belah Viaduct Hopkin Gilkes and Company originally intended to produce all the bridge ironwork on Teesside,but in the event continued to use a foundry at Wormit to oroduce the cast-iron components,and carry out limited post-casting machine operations.

 

The change in design increased cast and necessitated dalay,intensified after two of the high girders fell when being lifted into place (Fedruary 1877).

 

The fallengirders had to be removed and new ones built.One of the fallen griders was recovered and reused and piers to be earcted again;and this threatened seirously to interfere with the expection of having the bridge finshed passage of a train by September.Only eight months were now available for the erection and floating out of six,and the lifting of ten 245 feet (74.6 meters) spans.Five andseven respectively of the 145 feet (44.1 meters) spans had yet to go through the same process.Seven large piers and three small piers had to be built.The weight of the iron which to be put in its place was 2,700 tons,and it seemed incredible that all could he done in eight months.A good deal would depend on the weather but this was far from favourable.

 

Dispite this,the first enging crossed the bridge on September 22,1877,and upon its completion in early 1878 the Tay Bridge was the longest in the world.While visiting the city former United States Presidend Ulysses Simpon "SAM" Grant commented that was "a big bridge for a small city".

 

Inspection and opening

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

Like all rail lines,the Tay Bridge was subject to a Board of Trade inspection before it could carry passenger trains.The inspection was conducted Febuary 25,1878 -- February 27,1878 by Major General Charles Scrope Hutchinson Corps of Royal Engineers Companions of the Order of Bath of the Railway Inspectorate,who measured the deflection of the 245 feet (774.6 meters) bridge girder under a distributed load of 1.5 tons per foot (5 T/M) due to heavy locomotives (travelling at up to 40 miles per hour (65 kilometers per hour) as less then 2 inchs 50 milimeters).He reported that "these results are in my opinion to be satisfactory.The lateral oscillation,as observed by the theodolite ehen the engines ran over at speed,was very slight and the stucture overall showed great stiffness.He required some minor remedial work and 'recommended' a 25 miles per hour speed limit over the bridge.(Major General Charles Scrope Hutchinson Corps of Royal Engineers Comanions of the Order of Bath subsequently explained to the Inquire that he had suggested the speed limit because of minimal taper on the piers.) The inspection report added '... when again visiting the sport should whish,if possible,to have an opportunity of observing the effects of high wind when a train of carriages is running over the bridge...'.

 

The bridge was opened for passenger traffic on June 1,1878,formal opening cememonies having taking place the previous day,in the couse of which Sior Thomas Bouch was made a Burgess of Dundee "in respect of his meritorious service as engineer of the bridge...".

 

The following year (une 20,1879)Her Majesty Queen Victoria of Great Britain crossed the bridge to return south from Balmoral Castle;Sir Thomas Bouch was presented to Her Majesty before she did so,on June 26,1879 he was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria of Great Britain at Windsor Castle.

 

The Tay Bridge Disaster

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

On the night of December 28,1879 at 7:15 pm,the first bridge collapsed after its central span gave way during high winter gales.A train with six carriages carry seventy-five passengers and crew,crossing at the time of the collapse,plunged into the icy waters of the River Tay.All seventy-five were lost.The disaster stunned the whole contry and sent shock waves through the Victorian engineering community.The ensuring enquiry revealed that the bridge did not allow for high winds.At the time gale estimated at force ten or eleven (Tropical Storm force winds: 55 miles per hour -- 75 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour -- 117 kilometers per hour0 had been blowing down the River Tay estury at right angles to the bridge.The engine itself was salvaged from the river and restored to the railway service.The collapsed of the bridge,opened only nineteen months earlier and passed as safe by the Board of Trade,is still the most famous bridge disaster of the British Isles.The disaster was commenorated in "The Tay Bridge Disaster",one of the best-known verse efforts of William Topaz McGonagall.German pote Theodor Fontane within 10 days of the disaster wrote his famous poem Die Bruck'am Tay.

 

The stumps of the original bridge piers are still visible above the surface on the River Tay even at high tide.

 

The Second Tay Bridge

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

A new double-track bridge was designed by William Henry Borlow and built by Sir William Arrol & Company 18 meters (59 feet) upstream of ,and parallel to the original bridge.The bridge proposal was formally incorported in July 1881 and the foundation stone laid on July 6,1883.Contruction involed 25,000 metric tons (28,000 short tons) of iron and steel,70,000 metric tons 77,000 short tons) of concrete ten million bricks (weighing 37,500 metric tons (41,300 short tons) and three million rivets.Fourteen men lost their lives during construction,most by browning.

 

The second bridge opened on July 13,1887 and remain's in use.A $33,516,60.00 million strenghtening and refurbishment project ($32,976,480.00 million),on the bridge won the Bridge Construction Industy Civil Engineering Award,in consideration of the staggering scale logistics involed.More than 1,000 metric tons (1,100 short tons) of bird broppings were scraped off the bridge ironwork lattice of the bridge using hand tools,and bagged into 25 kllogram (55 pound) sacks.Hundeds of thousands of riviets were removed and replaced,all work being done in very exposed conditions high over a Firth of Tay with fast -running tides.

 

Double-heading of locomotives is prophibited across the bridge;consecutive locomotives must be separated by at 60 feet (18 meters) using barrie or reach wagons.

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.

 

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.

 

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!

Going to be a bigger job, thought I could get away with replacing the fronts but three rotten posts means starting again. Wore my Nora Dolomits sockless all day, 16,244 steps, 11 hours!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

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

 

The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors. But, on the other side, their design offered only modest improvements in armor and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf.G or Tiger II. However, the resulting high degree of standardization of German armored vehicles would also have made production, logistics and maintenance easier. Indeed, nearly all of the E-series vehicles — up through and including the E-75 — were intended to use what were essentially the Tiger II's eighty centimeter diameter, steel-rimmed road wheels for their suspension, meant to overlap each other. An innovative conical spring system, replacing their predecessors' torsion bar system which required a special steel alloy, simplified production and required less internal space.

 

Focus of initial chassis and combat vehicle development was the E-50/75 Standardpanzer, designed by Adler, both being mostly identical and only differing in armor thickness, overall weight and running gear design to cope with the different weights. But there were lighter chassis variants, too, including the light E-5 and E-10 for armored, tracked reconnaissance vehicles, and the medium E-25.

 

The E-25 designs, in the 25-50 tonnes weight class, were to be replacements for all Panzer III and Panzer IV based designs still in service, as well as for the early variants of the Panzer V (the Panther). This chassis' main designers were Alkett, Argus and Adler, with the involvement of Porsche. The proposed vehicle family would include medium reconnaissance vehicles, a medium Jagdpanzer and a heavy Waffenträger, but the chassis was also considered for other armed vehicles.

 

The original E-25 chassis used five Tiger II style road wheels per side, combined with "slack-track" design. Track propulsion was switched to a rear drive sprocket, as a consequence of mating the engine and the gearbox into a single tail-mounted, very compact power pack that made the voluminous and heavy power train all through the hull obsolete. This allowed the tank’s body to be lowered, and the gained space offered more room for the crew’s operations, heavier guns and ammunition storage.

The first member of the E-25 family that entered production was the medium tank hunter. It received highest priority and the project was called “Jagdpanzer E-25/88”, running under the inventory ordnance number "SdKfZ. 194". However, at the time of its introduction the E-25 chassis was also considered for a medium battle tank in the 35 ton class, since it had become clear that the E-50/75 battle tanks were rather large and resource-consuming. A lighter, more agile vehicle was needed, and it was to be armed with either the highly effective 75mm L/70 cannon (used in the Panther and the late Jagdpanzer IV) or the more powerful 8.8 cm L/56 gun, used in the Tiger I and the Jagdpanther.

 

Porsche was tasked with the adaptation of the E-25 chassis for a turret for both heavy guns. The work was in close collaboration with Henschel and the Oberschlesische Gusswerke Beuthen who were both working on a new, unified cast steel turret for the 88mm gun for a wide range of medium tanks like the Panther, the E-50/75 family and the heavy Tiger II. Alternatively, the new E-25 battle tank was to accept the so-called Schmalturm, which could carry both cannon types, too.

 

After the Allied invasion in the Normandy in 1944 and with ever-rising pressure through the Red Army from the East, the E-25 MBT project eventually gained more and more priority and momentum. As a consequence, Porsche was assigned by the Heeresleitung to build a running prototype as quickly as possible, ideally until early 1945.

 

Porsche was certain that the original E-25 chassis was too short and light for the adaptation of the cast turret. In order to keep the tight timeline, Porsche decided to develop a new welded steel hull while using as many Einheitspanzer components as possible. The resulting vehicle had little in common with the original Adler E-25 chassis and rather resembled the bigger and heavier E-50/75 family. Overall dimensions ended up close to the Panther hull, as a result of a certain minimum width that was necessary to mount the new turret’s bearings and balance its weight. However, the new tank's overall silhouette was considerably lower than the Panther’s or the E-50/75 family MBT’s.

The Porsche design also made full use of several new technical solutions for the engine and the new, space-saving E-50/75 suspension. For instance, thanks to the rear-mounted power unit with the gearbox and the driving sprocket wheels, the front armor could be optimized to offer very good ballistic protection (achieving a very shallow 30°angle) despite a maximum thickness of only 70 mm. The thickest armor, the cast steel gun mantlet, was 80 mm.

 

The tank’s running gear consisted of six steel-rimmed wheels per side, mounted in three staggered pairs, similar to the heavier E-50 tank. Thanks to the lower overall weight, a new Niresit track with less width could be used. The so-called “Beuthen Turm” offered excellent ballistic protection, a very low profile and featured a commander cupola with a full 360° view through periscopes as well as a 200cm width stereoscopic optical rangefinder for the gunner. A few vehicles were additionally equipped with FG1250/1251 infrared illuminators, too, allowing night operations in coordination with special versions of the Sd.Kfz.251 with long-range infrared illuminators, and complemented by assault troops using Vampir-modified Sturmgewehr guns.

 

Savings in material and complexity were achieved through simplified shapes and the use of stock components from other or older tanks, as well as the reduction of the crew to only four: the traditional radio operator in the hull, next to the driver, as well as a hull-mounted machine gun, were completely omitted. The driver was furthermore moved to the right side, a result of the secondary ammunition bunker in the hull being placed in front of the loader in the turret for easy access.

 

In this form, the tank was tested in early 1945 and hastily pushed into production, receiving the designation Sonderkraftfahrzeug 194 and officially christened ”Fuchs”. In order to reflect Porsche's involvement in this new tank's design and to differentiate it from the standard E-25 tank, the vehicle and its chassis variant was called E-25(P).

The resulting medium battle tank received, depending on its main weapon, the suffix 'A' for the 75mm cannon (SdKfz. 194/1) and 'B' for the 88mm gun (SdKfz. 194/1). The Schmalturm did not find its way on the production vehicles, and both variants had an operational weight of roundabout 38 tons. This was considerably less than any German contemporary MBT from the E-50/75 family, and even lighter than the late Panther variants. For its weight, the powerful main weapons made the vehicle a highly mobile and deadly enemy, enabling the crews to execute “hit and run” tactics which were impossible with the bigger and slower tanks.

 

The first production vehicles were deployed to independent units at the Western front line along the lower Rhine in May 1945, but due to the lack of thorough tests, sufficient crew training and lack of combat experience with the new vehicle, the initial results were poor. The majority of tank losses was not through enemy fire, though - many tanks had to be abandoned and were destroyed by their crews after technical failures.

 

The Fuchs MBT was popular among the crews, though, since it offered a much higher mobility than its heavier Einheitspanzer brethren. The relatively large and spacious turret was another point that found much appraise – but its poor technical reliability was its biggest Achilles heel.

Due to the ever-worsening situation, less than 100 E-25(P) hulls were completed and probably less than 50 combat-worthy vehicles arrived at front line units and were involved in battle until the end of hostilities. But the design work, with many radical and innovative ideas, did not get lost – many of the Fuchs’ design features like its hull layout and armor design or the Beuthen turret found their way into the highly successful German Leopard I MBT in the early 1960ies, which entered service with the German Bundeswehr in 1965 and still serves with several armies until today.

  

Specifications:

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

Weight: 38 tonnes (41.9 short tons)

Length: 7,02 metres (23 ft), hull only

9.77 metres (32 ft) overall, with the gun forward

Width: 3.96 metres (12 ft 11 1/2 in)

Height: 2.34 metres (7 ft 8 in)

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

Suspension: Conical spring

Fuel capacity: 450 litres (120 US gal)

 

Armor:

10–80 mm (0.4 – 3.15 in)

 

Performance:

Speed

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

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

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

Operational range: 210 km (130 mi)

Power/weight: 14,47 PS/tonne (12,86 hp/ton)

 

Engine:

V12 Maybach HL 101 gasoline engine with 550 PS (539 hp, 341 kW)

 

Transmission:

ZF AK 7-200 with 7 forward 1 reverse gears

 

Armament:

1× 8.8 cm KwK 43/4 L/56 with 48 rounds

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

(one co-axial with the main weapon, one manually operated on the commander's cupola)

  

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional Heer '46 is based on the fact that the famous German post-WWII MBT Leopard 1 – at least the Porsche prototype – was based on designs from the WWII era. So, why not spin this story further and retro-grade a Leopard 1 into a Heer ’46 tank, as a kind of grandfather design with then-state-of-the-art technologies…?

 

Well, that job could be easily done with a Leopard 1 kit built more or less OOB and just painted in typical WWII colors – I have actually seen such things in simulation games like World of Tanks, and it did not look bad at all. But for the ambitious modelers, this would be a bit too simple, wouldn’t it?

For instance, there are some features like the running gear on the Leopard that are very modern and would IMHO not fit into the late WWII timeframe. The general lack of high quality materials and design simplifications everywhere would certainly also take their toll. As a consequence the starting basis for this whiffy tank model actually became an 1:72 Leopard 1 (to be exact, it’s Revell’s Leopard 1A5 kit), but from this basis only a few parts were actually taken over.

 

Work started with the upper hull, which received the transplantation of the complete upper rear deck from a leftover Hasegawa Panther, including the turret’s attachment ring. Internally the whole affair was reinforced with styrene profiles along the seams. The basic idea behind this move was to get rid of the rather modernistic, raised engine cover of the Leopard, and the Panther’s armored cooling fan covers would add a very familiar, German touch. Furthermore, the Panther turret is set relatively further back than on the Leopard, resulting IMHO in a positive side effect for the vehicle’s proportions. The front with the driver’s hatch and the side walls of the Leopard hull were taken over, just the glacis plate was cleaned from the moulded snow claws for the modern Leopard track.

 

While I could have used the original, casted Leopard 1 turret without any extra armor, I rather reverted to a donor part: an aftermarket resin turret from the German short run producer Modell Trans. What spoke for this aftermarket piece is that this Heer ’46 turret piece was exactly that kind of add-on this kit would need: a retrograded Leopard 1 turret, with a simplified shape, a simple commander cupola, typical bulges for a late-war optical rangefinder in the turret sides and even a 8.8cm KwK barrel! The resin turret, which also comes with an AA machine gun, was taken OOB. Only the original resin gun barrel came slightly bent – this could have been corrected easily, but I replaced it with a more delicate white metal and brass piece, anyway. Additionally, an adapter for the hull opening had to be scratched.

 

So far, so good - but the running gear became the biggest challenge. The Leopard 1’s advanced torsion bar running gear with rubber-rimmed wheels would not make sense anymore, due to the special high quality materials needed for its construction. Since the Einheitspanzer family was to share as many components as possible, I decided to implant an E-50-style running gear with its typical cast standard wheels.

This sounds easy, but scratching a running gear is a real stunt! Work started with the attachment points for the driving and guide wheels at the hull’s ends, which were cut off of the Revell kit’s parts and glued into their respective places. The drive wheel was taken over from the Leopard, but the guide wheel at the front end was replaced by a simpler and smaller pair of wheels from a Russian IS-3 tank.

Using the E-50 as benchmark for the running wheels, I gathered twelve of them from the scrap box and from several Modellcollect kits in the stash (The 1:72 E-50 kits from Modelcollect and Trumpeter all come with the option to build an E-75, too, so that each kit offers two pairs of excess parts). Mounting these wheels to the hull, in a staggered fashion, became the kit’s true challenge, though, because I did not have a sufficient number of original wheel carriers/suspension packs. Improvisation resulted in the adaptation of twelve leftover suspension arms from a Modelcollect E-100 kit, even though they had to be tailored in depth and length to fit under the Leopard’s hull. It took some trial and error to find a proper position that would produce a plausible stance, but I think the effort of this transplantation really changes the tank’s look into something Heer ’46-ish?

 

The track was taken OOB from the Leopard 1 kit, and it is of the segmented IP type. It was mounted after most painting was done, starting with single track segments on the drive and guiding wheels, and then the gaps were filled with other track elements. A bit of a gamble, but the theory, that the track parts should match, was confirmed. Phew…

  

Painting and markings:

For some subtlety, the model received a classic German paint scheme with “Hinterhalt” colors (Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün and Rotbraun). Once the kit’s components were finished (hull, turret and the separate wheels), everything received an overall coat with matt RAL 7028 (Modelmaster Authentics).

On top of that, a dense pattern of red brown (Humbrol 160) and finally green (RAL 6003 from Modelmaster Authentics) mottles in 1 1:2 ratio was applied with a flat, narrow brush, for a somewhat square shape of the blotches. Pretty straightforward, seen on a late war Panther - and suitable for a summertime scenario as well as in line with common field practice, even though at the time where the model is placed, tanks might have looked more extraordinary or improvised due to the general material shortages.

 

Once the basic painting was done, the kit received a thin, water-based wash with dark brown, carefully swabbed with a soft cotton cloth in order to leave just a thin and cloudy film on the surfaces and more of the wash in recesses and corners. There were only a few decals to apply, namely three small German crosses and the tactical code on the turret’s flanks. Later some dry-brushing with light grey and hemp was done, emphasizing the edges and highlighting surface details.

 

The track segments were primed with a mix of acrylic iron, black and dark brown and received a final paint treatment after mounting them onto the wheels, hiding some glue stains and other blemishes.

 

Artist pigments (a mix of ochre, grey and brown) were dusted with a soft brush onto the lower kit areas, after having sealed the model with matt acrylic varnish beforehand.

  

Well, what could have been a simple paint job in order to achieve a time-warped Leopard 1 became a massive kitbashing project. However, I think this extra effort, esp. the adaptation of the E-50 running gear, and all the potential risks of mixing parts from different kits, was worthwhile? The paint scheme certainly suggest the WWII era, too. The resulting “new” tank looks IMHO pretty plausible, and both hull and turret shape remind of the Leopard 1 without looking like the real thing behind this build. In fact, from certain angles this one appears like the missing link between the Panther and the Leopard 1, and a lot like an inspiration for the Soviet T-54/55 or even the T-72?

During 1916 the British born Australian architect Walter Richmond Butler (1864 – 1949) designed a new Anglican Mission to Seamen to be built on an oddly shaped triangular block of land at 717 Flinders Street on the outskirts of the Melbourne central city grid, to replace smaller premises located in adjoining Siddeley Street, which had been resumed by the Harbour Trust during wharf extensions.

 

The Missions to Seamen buildings, built on reinforced concrete footings, are in rendered brick with tiled roofs. Walter Butler designed the complex using an eclectic mixture of styles, one of which was the Spanish Mission Revival which had become a prevalent style on the west coast of America, especially in California and New Mexico during the 1890s. The style revived the architectural legacy of Spanish colonialism of the Eighteenth Century and the associated Franciscan missions. The revival of the style is explicit in the Mission’s small, yet charming chapel with its rough-hewn timber trusses, in the bell tower with its pinnacles and turret surmounted by a rustic cross and in the monastic-like courtyard, which today still provides a peaceful retreat from the noisy world just beyond the Missions to Seamen’s doorstep. The chapel also features many gifts donated by members of the Harbour Trust and Ladies’ Harbour Lights Guild, including an appropriately themed pulpit in the shape of a ship's prow and two sanctuary chairs decorated with carved Australian floral motifs. Some of the stained glass windows in the chapel depict stories and scenes associated with the sea intermixed with those Biblical scenes more commonly found in such places of worship.

 

The adjoining Mission to Seamen’s administration, residential and recreational building shows the influence of English domestic Arts and Crafts architecture, with its projecting gable, pepper pot chimneys and three adjoining oriel windows. The lobby, with its appropriately nautically inspired stained glass windows, features a large mariner's compass inlaid in the terrazzo floor. Built-in timber cupboards, wardrobes, paneling and studded doors throughout the buildings evoke a ship's cabin.

 

Walter Butler, architect to the Anglican Diocese in Melbourne, had come to Australia with an intimate knowledge and experience of the Arts and Crafts movement and continued to use the style in his residential designs of the 1920s. The main hall has a reinforced concrete vaulted ceiling. Lady Stanley, wife of the Mission's patron, Governor Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley, laid the foundation stone of the complex in November 1916. The buildings were financed partly by a compensation payment from the Harbour Trust of £8,500.00 and £3,000.00 from local merchants and shipping firms. The Ladies' Harbour Lights Guild raised over £800.00 for the chapel. Most of the complex was completed by late 1917 whilst the Pantheon-like gymnasium with oculus was finished soon afterwards. The substantially intact interiors, including extensive use of wall paneling in Tasmanian hardwood, form an integral part of the overall design.

 

The Missions to Seamen buildings are architecturally significant as a milestone in the early introduction of the Spanish Mission style to Melbourne. The style was to later find widespread popularity in the suburbs of Melbourne. The choice of Spanish Mission directly refers to the Christian purpose of the complex. The Missions to Seamen buildings are unusual for combining two distinct architectural styles, for they also reflect the imitation of English domestic architecture, the Arts and Crafts movement. Walter Butler was one of the most prominent and progressive architects of the period and the complex is one of his most unusual and distinctive works.

 

The Missions to Seamen buildings have historical and social significance as tangible evidence of prevailing concerns for the religious, moral, and social welfare of seafarers throughout most of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The complex has a long association with the Missions to Seamen, an organisation formed to look after the welfare of seafarers, both officers and sailors, men "of all nationalities". It had its origins in Bristol, England when a Seamen's Mission was formed in 1837. The first Australian branch was started in 1856 by the Reverend Kerr Johnston, a Church of England clergyman, and operated from a hulk moored in Hobsons Bay; later the Mission occupied buildings in Williamstown and Port Melbourne. In 1905 the Reverend Alfred Gurney Goldsmith arrived at the behest of the London Seamen's Mission to establish a city mission for sailors working on the river wharves and docks. The building reflects the diverse role played by the Mission with its chapel, hall and stage, billiards room, reading room, dining room, officers' and men’s quarters, chaplain's residence, and gymnasium. It is still in use to this day under the jurisdiction of a small, but passionate group of workers, providing a welcome place of refuge to seamen visiting the Port of Melbourne.

 

Walter Butler was considered an architect of great talent, and many of his clients were wealthy pastoralists and businessmen. His country-house designs are numerous and include “Blackwood” (1891) near Penshurst, for R. B. Ritchie, “Wangarella” (1894) near Deniliquin, New South Wales, for Thomas Millear, and “Newminster Park” (1901) near Camperdown, for A. S. Chirnside. Equally distinguished large houses were designed for the newly established Melbourne suburbs: “Warrawee” (1906) in Toorak, for A. Rutter Clark; “Thanes” (1907) in Kooyong, for F. Wallach; “Kamillaroi” (1907) for Baron Clive Baillieu, and extensions to “Edzell” (1917) for George Russell, both in St Georges Road, Toorak. These are all fine examples of picturesque gabled houses in the domestic Queen Anne Revival genre. Walter Butler was also involved with domestic designs using a modified classical vocabulary, as in his remodelling of “Billilla” (1905) in Brighton, for W. Weatherley, which incorporates panels of flat-leafed foliage. Walter Butler also regarded himself as a garden architect.

 

As architect to the diocese of Melbourne from 1895, he designed the extensions to “Bishopscourt” (1902) in East Melbourne. His other church work includes St Albans (1899) in Armadale, the Wangaratta Cathedral (1907), and the colourful porch and tower to Christ Church (c.1910) in Benalla. For the Union Bank of Australia he designed many branch banks and was also associated with several tall city buildings in the heart of Melbourne’s central business district such as Collins House (1910) and the exceptionally fine Queensland Insurance Building (1911). For Dame Nellie Melba Butler designed the Italianate lodge and gatehouse at “Coombe Cottage” (1925) at Coldstream.

 

+++ 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 T-34, a Soviet medium tank, had a profound and lasting effect on the field of tank design. At its introduction in 1940, the T-34 possessed an unprecedented combination of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Its 76.2 mm high-velocity tank gun provided a substantial increase in firepower over any of its contemporaries while its well-sloped armour was difficult to penetrate by most contemporary anti-tank weapons. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has often been credited as the most effective, efficient and influential tank design of the Second World War.

 

The T-34 was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout the Second World War. Its design allowed it to be continuously refined to meet the constantly evolving needs of the Eastern Front: as the war went on it became more capable, but also quicker and cheaper to produce. Soviet industry would eventually produce over 80,000 T-34s of all variants, allowing steadily greater numbers to be fielded as the war progressed despite the loss of tens of thousands in combat against the German Wehrmacht. Replacing many light and medium tanks in Red Army service, it was the most-produced tank of the war, as well as the second most produced tank of all time (after its successor, the T-54/55 series). T-34 variants were widely exported after World War II, and even as recently as 2010, the tank has seen limited front-line service with several developing countries

 

One of the unusual and rather unknown operators of the T-34 was Austria. 25 tanks (some sources claim 27 or even 37) of the late T-34/85 variant came as a gift from (well, they were actually left behind by) the Soviet Union in 1955 when the Red Army left the country, meaning that the Austrian Bundesheer was re-established. These vehicles became the young army's initial backbone, until more modern equipment (e. g. M41 and M47 tanks procured from the USA and AMX-13/75 tanks from France) replaced them in frontline service. Due to their ruggedness and simplicity, they were kept in service, though - primarily for training, and some vehicles were in the 1970s integrated into hidden bunkers, defending strategically vital "security space zones".

 

A revival of the Austrian T-34/85 fleet came in the late Sixties, though, when the Austrian Army recognized a lack in long range attack capabilities (at 1.000 m range and more) against hardened targets like enemy tanks, paired with high mobility and low costs, similar to the German Jagdpanzer profile from WWII. At that time, Austria operated roundabout 50 Charioteer tanks with 83.4 mm guns in this role, but these British vehicles were outdated and needed a timely replacement.

Another limiting factor were severe budget restrictions. The eventual solution came from the Austrian company Saurer: a relatively simple conversion of the indigenous Saurer APC, armed with a version of the French AMX-13's FL-12 oscillating turret, armed with a powerful 105mm cannon, which had just become available in an export version. However, in order to bridge the new tank hunter's development time and quickly fill the defense gap, the Austrian T-34/85s were checked whether it was possible to modernize them with the new turret, too.

 

The first conversion was carried out by Saurer in 1963 and proved to be successful. Since the light FL-12 turret had a smaller bearing diameter than the old T-34/85 turret, the integration into the hull went straightforward with the help of a simple adapter ring. What made the conversion even simpler was the fact that the FL-12, with its integrated cannon and an automated loading system, was a complete, self-sufficient unit.

The French turret was only lightly armoured, since the tank was not supposed to engage heavily-armed enemies at close range. The turret's front armour protected the crew from 20mm armour-piercing rounds over its frontal arc, while all-round protection was against small arms bullets only. The commander was seated on the left of the turret and the gunner on the right. The commander was provided with seven periscopes and a periscopic sight. The commander's infrared night sight had a magnification of x6. The gunner had two observation periscopes, a telescopic sight and a one-piece lifting and swiveling hatch cover. Due to the design of the oscillating turret, all sights were always linked to the main and secondary armament (a standard NATO machine gun). For engaging targets at night, an infrared periscopic sight was provided for the commander. In order to simplify and lighten the tank, the T-34’s bow machine gun in the hull was deleted and its opening faired over and the crew was reduced to three.

The 105 mm gun could penetrate 360 mm of armour, and the internal magazines of 2x 6 shots allowed a very high rate of fire (up to 12 shots per minute), even though a crew member had to leave the tank in order to fill the magazines up again from the outside. Once the gun had been fired the empty cartridge cases were ejected out of the rear of the turret through a trapdoor hinged on the left. Beyond the 12 rounds in the turret, a further 42 rounds were stored in the tank's hull, primarily in a stowage rack for 30 shots where the former second crew member in the front hull had been placed, and a further twelve rounds in magazines at the turret’s base.

 

The T-34/85’s engine and transmission were not changed, since an update was beyond the conversion budget limit, but lighter “skeleton” wheels from Czech T-34 post-war production were introduced, so that the modified tank weighed roundabout 30 tons, 2 less than the standard T-35/85.

 

After highly successful field tests with the prototype in the course of 1963 and 1964, a further conversion program for 16 tanks was approved and carried out until early 1965. The modified tanks received the official designation T-34/105Ö and allocated to two tank battalions. Most of the time these tanks were only used for training purposes, though, in preparation of the arrival of the "real" tank hunter, the SK-105 "Kürassier" (Cuirassier) with almost identical weapon systems. The SK-105’s first prototype was eventually ready in 1967 and delivery of pre-production vehicles commenced in 1971, but teething troubles and many detail problems delayed the type's quick and widespread introduction. Lighter and much more agile than the vintage T-34s, it became a big success and was produced in more than 700 specimen, almost 300 of them for the Austrian Army and the rest for export (Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Morocco and Tunisia). In consequence, the small T-34/105Ö fleet was soon retired and by 1976, when the Kürassier was in service and other, heavy tanks had become available, none of the converted tanks was still active anymore. Nevertheless, a few Austrian T-34s that had become part of the hidden bunker installations soldiered secretly on, the last ones were dug out of their positions and scrapped in 2007(!).

  

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, gunner, driver)

Weight: 29.7 t combat load

Length: 8.21 m (26 ft 10 ½ in) with turret forward

6.10 m (19 ft 11 ¾ in) hull only

Width: 3.00 m (9 ft 10 in)

Height: 2,74 m (8 ft 11 ½ in)

Suspension: Christie

Ground clearance: 0.4 m (16 in)

Fuel capacity: eight internal tanks, total capacity of 545 l (145 U.S. gal; 118 imp gal),

plus up to four external fuel drums à 90 l each (24 U.S. gal; 19.5 imp gal)

 

Engine:

Model V-2-34M 38.8 l V12 Diesel engine with 520 hp (370 kW) at 1.800 rpm

 

Transmission:

5 forward and 1 reverse gears

 

Armor:

16 - 45 mm steel (plus composite armour in the turret)

 

Performance:

Speed:

- Maximum, road: 58 km/h (36 mph)

- Cross country: up to 40 km/h (28 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (155) on streets with internal fuel only,

up to 330 km (250 mi) with four additional fuel drums

Power/weight: 17.5 hp/t

 

Armament:

1× 105 mm CN 105-57 rifled gun with a total 54 rounds, 12 of them ready in the turret's magazines

1× 7.62mm (0.3") co-axial NATO machine gun with 2.000 rounds

2× 2 smoke grenade dischargers

 

The kit and its assembly:

This weird, fictional combo was originally spawned by an Israeli idea: some vintage M4 Sherman tanks had been outfitted with the AMX-13's swiveling turrets and armed with French CN-75-50 75mm a cannon, creating the so-called "Isherman". I kept this concept in the back of my mind for a long time, with the plan to build one some day.

Then I came a couple of weeks ago across a picture on FlickR that showed a T-34/85 with Austrian markings. At first I thought that it had been a fictional museum piece in fake markings, but upon some legwork I found out that Austria had actually operated the T-34!

 

So, why not combine both ideas into a new and fictional one...? The rest was straightforward kitbashing: the FL-12 turret with a 105 mm cannon came from a Heller AMX-13 (a shaggy thing with dubious fit, but it was cheap) and for the chassis I tried the relatively new Zvezda T-35/85. The latter is actually a very crisp snap-fit kit, just some light flash here and there. Detail and proportions are very good, though, as well as fit. I was only surprised by the construction of the tracks, because it is a different approach from both of the traditional vinyl tracks or IP track segments. Instead, you get complete, rather thin and delicate IP tracks, and Zvezda expects the builder to bend them around the wheels and stick them between the wheels' halves during the construction process. You actually have to mount the “inner” half of the wheels first, then the track is attached to a locator pin on one of the main wheels, bent into shape, and finally the wheels' “outer” halves are added. Sounds complicated, and it actually is, and it also makes painting the whole running gear quite difficult, but it works – even though the result is IMHO not better than the traditional solutions.

 

The AMX-13 turret’s integration was easier than expected. Building the turret was a little complicated, because all side walls are separate and there are no locator pins or other aides for orientation. Some PSR became necessary to fill some minor gaps, but nothing dramatic. Mounting the AMX-13 turret to the T-34 hull was made easy through a very convenient design detail of the Zvezda kit: the T-34 comes with a separate turret ring that could be used as an adapter for the Heller turret. Three ejection/sprue residues inside of the ring could be used as a foundation for the AMX-13 turret, and the turret’s lower half/ring was, after some sanding to reduce the gap between the turret and the hull, was also glued onto the adapter. Worked like a charm, and the resulting combo looks very natural!

In order to improve the turret’s look I added a cloth seal between the lower and the upper, oscillating turret section, simulated with paper tissue drenched in thinned white glue (OOB the turret cannot be moved vertically at all). A similar seal was added at the barrel’s base.

 

Other changes were only minimal: the machine gun port in the front hull was sanded away and faired over, and I omitted the spare track links attached to the front hull. For a modernized look I gave the tank an additional pair of front lights as well as stoplights at the rear, scratched from styrene bits.

  

Painting and markings:

Basically a very simple affair, because there is ONLY one possible livery and color that suits an Austrian Bundesheer vehicle or item from the Seventies: RAL 7013 (Braungrau). This is a very ugly tone, though, "greenish, fresh mud" describes it well: a dull, brownish olive drab, but definitively not a green (like the omnipresent NATO tone Gelboliv RAL 6014, which was used by the German Bundeswehr until the standardized NATO three-tone camouflage was introduced around 1984). I organized a rattle can of this special color, since the tank model would receive a simple, uniform livery.

 

Due to the kit's , err, unique running gear construction, painting became a little complicated. I had to paint the hull and the (still) separate wheel parts in advance, so that the pre-painted elements could be assembled around the tracks (see above). The tracks themselves were painted with a cloudy mix of iron metallic, black and leather brown (Revell 99, 8 and 84). The turret was painted separately.

 

After the kit’s major sections had been assembled they received a light wash with a mix of highly thinned black with some red brown added, and the washing was immediately dabbed off of the surfaces so that most of the pigments ended up in recesses and around details, while the rest received an blurry, light dirt filter.

Once dry, I applied the decals. The tiny Austrian roundels come from a generic TL Modellbau sheet (never expected to find any use for them!), the tactical code comes from another tank kit sheet. In order to add some more highlights I also added some small, white markings on the fenders.

Then I gave the model an overall dry-brushing treatment with olive drab, medium grey and finally some ochre, just emphasizing details and edges.

 

Since the uniform livery appeared a bit dull to me, I decided to add a few camouflage nets to the hull, which also hide some weak points of the Zvezda kit, e.g. the missing rails along the hull. The nets were created from gauze bandages: small pieces (~1”x1”) of the material were dipped into a mix of white glue and olive drab acrylic paint and then carefully placed on hull, turret and barrel. Once dry, they were also dry-brushed.

 

As final steps, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (rattle can again) and I dusted the lower areas with a greyish-brown pigment mix, simulating dust and some mud crusts.

  

What started as a weird idea turned into a very conclusive what-if project – in fact, the T-34 with the French FL-12/44 turret does not look bad at all, and the Austrian colors and markings make this piece of fiction IMHO very convincing. Adding the camouflage nets was also a good move. They hide some of the details (e.g. the omitted bow machine gun station), but they liven up the rather clean and bleak exterior of the tank. I am positively surprised how good the T-34/105Ö looks!

 

I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.

 

St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.

 

We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.

 

Dead on time the warden arrived, and was very welcoming indeed. They loved to have visitors she said. Now I know how to contact them, I can see that.

 

She was clearly proud of the church, and rightly so, most impressive was the south chapel with a pair of kneeling couples on top of chest tombs, staring at each other for all eternity.

 

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St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.

 

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.

 

This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.

 

The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.

 

In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).

 

The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.

 

www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx

 

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TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY

ROAD

(west side)

4/181

Church of

St. Michael

and All

24.1.67 Angels

 

GV I

 

Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15

nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and

plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and

aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with

attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on

circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and

alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,

with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle

with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and

C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square

south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround

sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical

symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with

rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround

with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof

with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.

North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,

with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east

window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,

double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single

arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed

and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.

Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself

with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south

chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered

arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and

single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.

Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in

chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar

rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in

south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15

with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,

with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped

flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,

Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.

Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,

Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with

achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of

knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,

carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and

identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2

infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced

scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of

those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.

Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped

sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male

bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).

North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with

shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16

tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,

with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3

panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,

Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white

background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with

palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord

Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot

plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen

Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated

sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.

(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)

  

Listing NGR: TQ9883454254

 

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...

 

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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.

 

THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)

 

There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.

 

About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.

 

THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.

 

The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.

 

In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.

 

MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.

 

THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

 

Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.

 

After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.

 

In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.

 

William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.

 

His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.

 

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.

 

Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.

 

Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.

 

The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.

 

WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.

 

On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.

 

On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.

 

BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)

 

John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.

 

IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.

 

There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.

 

The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)

 

In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.

 

The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)

 

This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.

 

The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.

 

THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.

 

The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.

 

Charities.

 

CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.

 

THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.

 

THROWLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.

 

There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.

 

In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.

 

It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.

 

An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.

 

¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.

 

A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)

 

It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.

 

In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp445-461

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 16-Jan-21.

 

'Rendesvous', China World Tail c/scheme. The only example of this tail scheme to have a cream/yellow background. Most were either white or partial pink.

 

This aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-BMRG in May-88. It was sold to Barclays Mercantile Finance (as trustee) in Feb-02 and sold on to EAT European Air Transport the same day. The aircraft was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door, sold to Boeing Capital and leased back to EAT as OO-DPI in Jul-02. It was operated on behalf of DHL Air. The aircraft was transferred to Blue Dart Aviation (India) in early Apr-06. It became VT-BDJ three weeks later, still operating on behalf of DHL. In Mar-14 it was transferred to DHL Aviation Services (Middle East) as A9C-DHF (Bahrain). The aircraft returned to the UK register as G-BMRG (again) with DHL Air Ltd in Apr-15. After 28.5 years in service, it was permanently retired at Madrid in Jan-18. It was broken up at Madrid in Jul-18. Updated Jan-21.

replaced.

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.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 04-Apr-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

An early B777-200ER (line No:78), this aircraft was delivered to Malaysia Airlines as 9M-MRC in Jun-97. It was sold to GECAS in Jun-99 and leased back to Malaysia Airlines. It was returned to the lessor as N284CG in Nov-15 and stored at San Bernardino, CA, USA.

 

It was thought to have been permanently retired (not many ageing aircraft come back out of San Bernardino!) but it was ferried to Shanghai-PVG in Jun-16 for further storage. It was re-registered VP-BDX in Dec-16 to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest (owner trustee) and leased to VIM Airlines (Russia) in Mar-17.

 

VIM ceased operations in Oct-17. The aircraft was returned to the lessor and stored at Teruel, Spain in Nov-17. In Jan-18 it was re-registered N821JT and remained stored at Teruel until it was moved to Goodyear, AZ, USA in Mar-18.

 

It was stored at Goodyear until Nov-18 when it was ferried to Kansas City, MO, USA and stored again. The aircraft was sold to Avolon Aerospace in Jan-19 and remained stored. It was sold to Eastern Airlines in Oct-20, still in full VIM livery.

 

It's now 25 years old and has been in storage for the last 5 years. I can't see it returning to service, although with Eastern Airlines you never know! More likely that it's being used for spares. Updated 04-Apr-22.

At Wembley 66067 was replaced by two class 90s numbers 037 and 021 the wagons continuing on to Daventry under headcode 6B41.

 

DB Schenker Rail (UK) Ltd's class 66 (JT42CWR) number 66067 in English, Welsh and Scottish Railway maroon livery with zigzag gold band, large number and EWS logo works 6B20 from Dollands Moor to Wembley European Freight Operations Centre on 20 January 2015 hauling 27 Tonne (tare du wagon) G.E. Rail Services owned IZA (GE117CT Hfirrs 3) semi-perminantly coupled 4-wheeled CARGOWAGGON vans with shared running numbers built by Duewag. Having started out in France and passed through the channel tunnel each pair of vans is used to transport approximately 59,000 litters (59 Tonnes) of Danone bottled mineral water (eau minerale) in crates of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles such as Evian imported from Évian-les-Bains in the French Alps and Volvic from the Massif Central. Evian bottled at the SAEME plant Post is transported by train (for a map of the route click here) from Évian-les-Bains to the UK via Publier, (Bellegarde Longeray or Annemasse?), Culoz, Ambérieu-en-Bugey, Bourg-en-Bresse, Louhans, Gevrey-Chambertin, Dijon-Perrigny, Chalons-en-Champagne, Reims, Longueau and Calais-Frethun. For Volvic the route is thought to be from the SEV bottling plant in Riom to the UK via Gannat, Saincaize, Vierzon, Valenton (Paris), Longueau and Calais Frethun. From Wembley this train continues on route to Crick under headcode 6B41 and is ultimately unloaded at a distribution warehouse at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT).

 

A similar set of cargowaggon vans was photographed by Nicolas Villenave on 9 May 2014 returning empty passing through Écaillon (department Nord) on their way from Calais Frethun to Culoz railway junction in the Ain department in the Rhône-Alpes region of France, by Mattias Catry at Boisleux-au-Mont on 9 September 2012 and by Laurent Knop at Béthisy-St.-Pierre, Picardie in the Oise department on 12 March 2014. 66067 (works number 968702-067) was built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, London, Ontario, Canada in 1998 and unloaded from the Heavy Lift Ship MV "Fairlift" at Newport Docks on 5 February 1999.

 

According to Realtime Trains the route and timings for 6B20 were;

Dollands Moor Sidings .........0707.........0727..........20L

Ashford International UML...0723.........0746 3/4..23L

Maidstone East [MDE] 1.........0750 1/2..0814 1/4....23L

Otford Junction[XOT]............0817 1/2....0839 1/2...22L

Swanley [SAY] 1.......................0829 1/2..0851...........21L

St Mary Cray Junction...........0835.........0856 1/4....21L

Bickley Junction[XLY]............0836 1/2..0859 1/4...22L

Bromley South [BMS].............0840.........0904 1/2...24L

Shortlands [SRT].....................0842.........0907.........24L

Shortlands Junction...............0843.........0909 1/2...26L

Voltaire Road Junction.........0906 1/2..0922..........15L

Latchmere Junction...............0911 1/2....0931 1/2....20L

Imperial Wharf [IMW] 2..........0915 1/2...0934 1/4....18L

West Brompton [WBP] 4.......0918..........0936 1/4....18L

Kensington Olympia .............0922........0938 3/4...16L

Shepherds Bush [SPB] 2.......0923.........0942..........19L

North Pole Signal Vc813.......0924 1/2..0944..........19L

North Pole Junction...............0925........0943 1/2....18L

Mitre Bridge Junction............0926 1/2..0946..........19L

Willesden West Londn Jn.....0928.........0947 1/2....19L

Wembley Eur Frt Ops Ctr.....0939.........0952..........13L

 

At Wembley 66067 was replaced by two class 90s numbers 037 and 021 the wagons continuing on to Daventry under headcode 6B41.

Wembley Eur Frt Ops Ctr................1143..........1308...........85L

Wembley Central [WMB] 5..............1148 1/2...1312 1/2......84L

Harrow & Wealdstone 5..................1154 1/2...1317 1/2......83L

Watford Junction [WFJ] 8................1202........1323 1/2......81L

Apsley [APS] 3....................................1209 1/2..1329 1/2.....79L

Hemel Hempstead [HML] 3............1211 1/2....1331.............79L

Bourne End Junction(Herts) ...........1213..........1332............79L

Berkhamsted [BKM] 3.......................1216 1/2...1335............78L

Tring [TRI] 3.........................................1222........1340 1/4.....78L

Ledburn Junction[XOD]...................1228.........1347............79L

Leighton Buzzard [LBZ] 3................1230.........1351 3/4......81L

Bletchley [BLY] 3...............................1237.........1400...........83L

Denbigh Hall South Junction.........1238 1/2..1401 1/4......82L

Denbigh Hall North Junction..........1240.........1402 1/4.....82L

Milton Keynes Central 3..................1242.........1403 3/4.....81L

Hanslope Junction[XHN].................1248.........1410 1/4......82L

Northampton [NMP] 1.......................1259........1428 1/2.....89L

Northampton Mill Lane Junction...1300 1/2..1501 1/4....120L

Long Buckby [LBK]............................1311...........1511 3/4....120L

Daventry South Junction.................1318..........1520 3/4..122L

  

+++ 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 Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 171, was a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war. The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower, protection, and mobility although its reliability in early times were less impressive.

The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (700 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armor, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.

 

The Panther was far cheaper to produce than the heavy Tiger I. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armor, transmission, and final drive, were simplifications made to improve production rates and address raw material shortages. Despite this the overall design remain described by some as "overengineered". The Panther was rushed into combat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 despite numerous unresolved technical problems, leading to high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design flaws were rectified by late 1943 and early 1944, though the bombing of production plants, increasing shortages of high-quality alloys for critical components, shortage of fuel and training space, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the tank's effectiveness.

 

Though officially classified as a medium tank, at 44.8 metric tons the Panther was closer to a heavy tank weight and the same category as the American M26 Pershing (41.7 tons), British Churchill (40.7 tons) and the Soviet IS-2 (46 tons) heavy tanks. The Panther's weight caused logistical problems, such as an inability to cross certain bridges, otherwise the tank had a very high power-to-weight ratio which made it highly mobile.

 

The Panther was only used marginally outside of Germany, mostly captured or recovered vehicles, some even after the war. Japan already received in 1943 a specimen for evaluation. During March–April 1945, Bulgaria received 15 Panthers of various makes (D, A, and G variants) from captured and overhauled Soviet stocks; they only saw limited (training) service use. In May 1946, Romania received 13 Panther tanks from the USSR, too.

After the war, France was able to recover enough operable vehicles and components to equip its army and offer vehicles for sale. The French Army's 503e Régiment de Chars de Combat was equipped with a force of 50 Panthers from 1944 to 1947, in the 501st and 503rd Tank Regiments. These remained in service until they were replaced by French-built ARL 44 heavy tanks.

In 1946, Sweden sent a delegation to France to examine surviving specimens of German military vehicles. During their visit, the delegates found a few surviving Panthers and had one shipped to Sweden for further testing and evaluation, which continued until 1961.

 

However, this was not the Panther’s end of service. The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled a surprisingly wide collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe. This fleet consisted primarily of late production Panzer V, StuGIII and Jagdpanzer IVs, plus some Hummel SPAAGs and a handful Panthers. The tanks were procured from France, Spain, and Czechoslovakia, partly revamped before delivery.

 

All of the Panthers Syria came from Czechoslovakia. Immediately after Germany’s collapse in May 1945, the Soviet army established a staging area for surrendered German tanks at a former Wehrmacht barracks at Milovice, about 24 miles north of Prague, Czechoslovakia. By January 1946, a total of roughly 200 operational Panzer IVs and Panthers of varying versions were at this facility. Joining them was a huge cache of spare parts found at a former German tank repair depot in Teplice, along with ammunition collected from all over Czechoslovakia and the southern extremity of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. Throughout 1946, the Czechoslovak government’s clean-up of WWII battlefields recovered more than one hundred further tank wrecks, of which 80 were pieced back together to operational status and handed over to the Czechoslovakian Army,

 

In early 1948, the now-nationalized CKD Works began a limited upkeep of the tanks, many of which had not had depot-level overhauls since the war. A few were rebuilt with a Czechoslovak-designed steering system, but this effort was halted due to cost. These tanks remained operational in the Czechoslovak army until the end of 1954, when sufficient T-34s were available to phase them out.

 

A Syrian military delegation visited Prague from 8 April – 22 April 1955. An agreement was struck for the sale, amongst other items, of 45 Panzer IVs and 15 Panthers. Despite their obsolescence the Czechoslovaks were not about to just give the tanks away and demanded payment in a ‘hard’ western currency, namely British pounds. The cost was £4,500 each (£86,000 or $112,850 in 2016 money), far above what they were probably worth militarily, especially considering the limited amount of foreign currency reserves available to the Damascus government. The deal included refurbishment, a full ammunition loadout for each, and a limited number of spare parts. Nonetheless, the deal was closed, and the tanks’ delivery started in early November 1955.

 

The Syrians were by that time already having dire problems keeping their French-sourced panzers operational, and in 1958, a second contract was signed with CKD Works for 15 additional Panzer IVs and 10 more Panthers, these being in lesser condition or non-operational, for use as spare parts hulks. An additional 16 refurbished Maybach engines for both types were also included in this contract, as well as more ammunition.

 

The refurbished Panthers for Syria had their original 7.5 cm KwK 42 L70 replaced with the less powerful Rheinmetall 7.5 cm KwK 40 L48 gun – dictated by the fact that this gun was already installed in almost all other Syrian tanks of German origin and rounds for the KwK 42 L70 were not available anymore. and the Panther’s full ammo load was 87 rounds. The KwK 40 L48 fired a standard APCBC shell at 750 m/s and could penetrate 109 mm (4.3 in) hardened steel at 1.000 m range. This was enough to take out an M4 Sherman at this range from any angle under ideal circumstances. With an APCR shell the gun was even able to penetrate 130 mm (5.1 in) of hardened steel at the same distance.

 

Outwardly, the gun switch was only recognizable through the shorter barrel with a muzzle brake, the German WWII-era TZF.5f gunsight was retained by the Syrians. Additionally, there were two secondary machine guns, either MG-34s or MG-42s, one coaxial with the main gun and a flexible one in a ball mount in the tank’s front glacis plate.

A few incomplete Panther hulls without turret were also outfitted with surplus Panzer IV turrets that carried the same weapon, but the exact share of them among the Syrian tanks is unknown – most probably less than five, and they were among the batch delivered in the course of the second contract from 1958.

 

As they had been lumped all together in Czechoslovak army service, the Syrians received a mixed bag of Panzer IV and Panther versions, many of them “half-breeds” or “Frankensteins”. Many had the bow machine gun removed, either already upon delivery or as a later field modification, and in some cases the machine gun in the turret was omitted as well.

An obvious modification of the refurbished Czech export Panthers for Syria was the installation of new, lighter road wheels. These were in fact adapted T-54 wheels from Czechoslovakian license production that had just started in 1957 - instead of revamping the Panthers’ original solid steel wheels, especially their rubberized tread surfaces, it was easier to replace them altogether, what also made spare parts logistics easier. The new wheels had almost the same diameter as the original German road wheels from WWII, and they were simply adapted to the Panther’s attachment points of the torsion bar suspension’s swing arms. Together with the lighter main gun and some other simplifications, the Syrian Panthers’ empty weight was reduced by more than 3 tonnes.

 

The Czechoslovaks furthermore delivered an adapter kit to mount a Soviet-made AA DShK 12.7mm machine gun to the commander cupola. This AA mount had originally been developed after WWII for the T-34 tank, and these kits were fitted to all initial tanks of the 1955 order. Enough were delivered that some could be installed on a few of the Spanish- / French-sourced tanks, too.

 

It doesn’t appear that the Czechoslovaks updated the radio fit on any of the ex-German tanks, and it’s unclear if the Syrians installed modern Soviet radios. The WWII German Fu 5 radio required a dedicated operator (who also manned the bow machine gun); if a more modern system was installed not requiring a dedicated operator, this crew position could be eliminated altogether, what favored the deletion of the bow machine gun on many ex-German Syrian tanks. However, due to their more spacious hull and turret, many Panthers were apparently outfitted with a second radio set and used as command tanks – visible through a second whip antenna on the hull.

 

A frequent domestic Panther upgrade were side skirts to suppress dust clouds while moving and to prevent dust ingestion into the engines and clogged dust filters. There was no standardized solution, though, and solutions ranged from simple makeshift rubber skirts bolted to the tanks’ flanks to wholesale transplants from other vehicles, primarily Soviet tanks. Some Panthers also had external auxiliary fuel tanks added to their rear, in the form of two 200 l barrels on metal racks of Soviet origin. These barrels were not directly connected with the Panther’s fuel system, though, but a pump-and-hose kit was available to re-fuel the internal tanks from this on-board source in the field. When empty or in an emergency - the barrels were placed on top of the engine bay and leaking fuel quite hazardous - the barrels/tanks could be jettisoned by the crew from the inside.

 

Inclusive of the cannibalization hulks, Syria received a total of roughly 80 former German tanks from Czechoslovakia. However, at no time were all simultaneously operational and by 1960, usually only two or three dozen were combat-ready.

Before the Six Day War, the Syrian army was surprisingly unorganized, considering the amount of money being pumped into it. There was no unit larger than a brigade, and the whole Syrian army had a sort of “hub & spokes” system originating in Damascus, with every individual formation answering directly to the GHQ rather than a chain of command. The Panthers, Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs were in three independent tank battalions, grossly understrength, supporting the normal tank battalions of three infantry brigades (the 8th, 11th, and 19th) in the Golan Heights. The Jagdpanzer IVs were in a separate independent platoon attached to a tank battalion operating T-34s and SU-100s. How the Hummel SPGs were assigned is unknown.

 

The first active participation of ex-German tanks in Syrian service was the so-called “Water War”. This was not really a war but rather a series of skirmishes between Israel and Syria during the mid-1960s. With increasing frequency starting in 1964, Syria emplaced tanks on the western slope of the Golan Heights, almost directly on the border, to fire down on Israeli irrigation workers and farmers in the Galilee region. Surprisingly (considering the small number available) Syria chose the Panzer IV for this task. It had no feature making it better or worse than any other tank; most likely the Syrians felt they were the most expendable tanks in their inventory as Israeli counterfire was expected. The panzers were in defilade (dug in) and not easy to shoot back at; due to their altitude advantage.

 

In 1964, Syria announced plans to divert 35% of the Jordan River’s flow away from Israel, to deprive the country of drinking water. The Israelis responded that they would consider this an act of war and, true to their word, engaged the project’s workers with artillery and sniper fire. Things escalated quickly; in 1965, Israeli M4 Shermans on Israeli soil exchanged fire with the Syrian Panzer IVs above inconclusively. A United Nations peacekeeping team ordered both sides to disengage from the border for a set period of time to “cool off”, but the UN “Blue Berets” were detested and considered useless by both the Israelis and Syrians, and both sides used the lull to prepare their next move. When the cooling-off period ended, the Syrians moved Panzer IVs and now some Panthers, too, back into position. However, the IDF had now Centurion tanks waiting for them, with their fire arcs pre-planned out. The Cold War-era Centurion had heavy armor, a high-velocity 105mm gun, and modern British-made optics. It outclassed the WWII panzers in any imaginable way and almost immediately, two Syrian Panzer IVs and a Panther were destroyed. Others were abandoned by their crews and that was the end of the situation.

 

Syria’s participation in the Six Say War that soon followed in 1967 war was sloppy and ultimately disastrous. Israel initially intended the conflict to be limited to a preemptive strike against Egypt to forestall an imminent attack by that country, with the possibility of having to fight Syria and Jordan defensively if they responded to the operations against Egypt. The war against Egypt started on 5 June 1967. Because of the poor organization of the Syrian army, news passed down from Damascus on the fighting in the Sinai was scarce and usually outdated by the time it reached the brigade level. Many Syrian units (including the GHQ) were using civilian shortwave radios to monitor Radio Cairo which was spouting off outlandish claims of imaginary Egyptian victories, even as Israeli divisions were steamrolling towards the Suez Canal.

 

Syrian vehicles of German origin during the Six Day War were either painted overall in beige or in a dark olive drab green. Almost all had, instead of tactical number codes, the name of a Syrian soldier killed in a previous war painted on the turret in white. During the Six Day War, no national roundel was typically carried, even though the Syrian flag was sometimes painted to the turret flanks. However just as the conflict was starting, white circles were often painted onto the top sides of tanks as quick ID markings for aircraft, and some tanks had red recognition triangles added to the side areas: Syrian soldiers were notoriously trigger-happy, and the decreased camouflage effect was likely cancelled out by the reduced odds of being blasted by a comrade!

 

During the evening of 5 June, Syrian generals in Damascus urged the government to take advantage of the situation and mount an immediate invasion of Israel. Planning and preparation were literally limited to a few hours after midnight, and shortly after daybreak on 6 June, Syrian commanders woke up with orders to invade Israel. The three infantry brigades in the Golan, backed up by several independent battalions, were to spearhead the attack as the rest of the Syrian army mobilized.

There was no cohesion at all: Separate battalions began their advance whenever they happened to be ready to go, and brigades went forward, missing subunits that lagged behind. A platoon attempting a southern outflank maneuver tried to ford the Jordan River in the wrong spot and was washed away. According to a KGB report, at least one Syrian unit “exhibited cowardice” and ignored its orders altogether.

 

On 7 June, 24 hours into their attack, Syrian forces had only advanced 2 miles into Israel. On 8 June, the IDF pushed the Syrians back to the prewar border and that afternoon, Israeli units eliminated the last Egyptian forces in the Sinai and began a fast redeployment of units back into Israel. Now the Syrians were facing serious problems.

On 9 June, Israeli forces crossed into the Golan Heights. They came by the route the Syrians least expected, an arc hugging the Lebanese border. Now for the first time, Syria’s panzers (considered too slow and fragile for the attack) were encountered. The next day, 10 June 1967, was an absolute rout as the Syrians were being attacked from behind by IDF units arcing southwards from the initial advance, plus Israel’s second wave coming from the west. It was later estimated that Syria lost between 20-25% of its total military vehicle inventory in a 15-hour span on 10 June, including eight Panthers. A ceasefire was announced at midnight, ending Syria’s misadventure. Syria permanently lost the Golan Heights to Israel.

 

By best estimate, Syria had just five Panthers and twenty-five Panzer IVs fully operational on 6 June 1967, with maybe another ten or so tanks partially operational or at least functional enough to take into combat. Most – if not all – of the ex-French tanks were probably already out of service by 1967, conversely the entire ex-Spanish lot was in use, along with some of the ex-Czechoslovak vehicles. The conflict’s last kill was on 10 June 1967 when a Panzer IV was destroyed by an Israeli M50 Super Sherman (an M4 Sherman hull fitted with a new American engine, and a modified turret housing Israeli electronics and a high-velocity French-made 75mm gun firing HEAT rounds). Like the Centurion, the Super Sherman outclassed the Panzer IV, and the Panther only fared marginally better.

 

Between 1964-1973 the USSR rebuilt the entire Syrian military from the ground up, reorganizing it along Warsaw Pact lines and equipping it with gear strictly of Soviet origin. There was no place for ex-Wehrmacht tanks and in any case, Czechoslovakia had ended spares & ammo support for the Panzer IV and the Panthers, so the types had no future. The surviving tanks were scrapped in Syria, except for a single Panzer IV survivor sold to a collector in Jordan.

  

Specifications:

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

Weight: 50 tonnes (55.1 long tons; 45.5 short tons)

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only

7.52 m (24 ft 7¾ in) overall with gun facing forward

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

3,70 m (12 ft 1¾ in) with retrofitted side skirts

Height: 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)’

Ground clearance: 56 cm (22 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal),

some Syrian Panthers carried two additional external 200 l fuel drums

 

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)

 

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi) on roads; 450 km (280 mi)with auxiliary fuel tanks

100 km (62 mi) cross-country

Power/weight: 14 PS (10.1 kW)/tonne (12.7 hp/ton)

 

Engine & transmission:

Maybach HL230 V-12 gasoline engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gearbox with 7 forward 1 reverse gear

 

Armament:

1× 7,5 cm KwK 40 (L/48) with 87 rounds

2× 7.92 mm MG 34 or 42, or similar machine guns;

one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate

with a total of 5.100 rounds (not always mounted)

Provision for a 12.7 mm DShK or Breda anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola

  

The kit and its assembly:

A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?

 

I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).

 

For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.

 

For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).

To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.

 

As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.

Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!

  

Painting and markings:

Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.

 

On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.

The rubber side skirts were painted with an anthracite base and the dry-brushed with light grey and beige.

 

The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.

 

The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).

 

Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.

  

The idea of a modernized WWII Panther: a simple idea that turned into a major conversion. With the resin DShK machine gun and T-54/55 wheel set the costs of this project escalated a little, but in hindsight I find that the different look and the mix of vintage German and modern Soviet elements provide this Panther with that odd touch that sets it apart from a simple paint/marking variation? I really like the outcome, and I think that the effort was worthwhile - this fictional Panther shoehorns well into its intended historical framework. :-D

 

Replacing an an earlier digital photo (taken just 4 days earlier) 31-Oct-23.

 

Operated on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional by Emerald Airlines UK.

 

Named: "St. Murghal / Murghal".

 

History to follow

Pegaso was an established company noted for its trucks and motor coaches, but also produced sports cars for seven years. Pegaso chief technical manager was Wifredo Ricart, former designer of the Alfa Romeo 512, and fellow rival of Enzo Ferrari, who at the time had also worked for Alfa Romeo. The Z-102 employed racing-car technology in its chassis and alloy body. Everything was produced in-house at Barcelona, where the Pegaso cars factory was, with the exception of the external coachworking, either by Touring, Serra or Saoutchik (there were also a number of special Pegaso-made bodies). A four-cam all-alloy V8 engine, dry-sump lubrication, and a 5-speed non-synchromesh gearbox mounted with the differential as a unit were within a pressed steel chassis. The Z-102 started life as two prototypes in 1951 as a coupe and a drophead. The coupe and convertible had dumpy steel bodies, and weight was an issue to the extent that Pegaso made the decision to revert to alloy for the coachwork. Coachbuilder Touring then ‘beautified’ the design, replacing the grille with a two-piece cross, lowering the car, repositioning the foglights, and simplifying various details to give it a clean profile, similar to the contemporary Aston Martin DB2 and the Lancia Aurelia. The Z102 entered production with a 2.5 litre engine as used in the prototypes, though later there were variants with 2.8, and 3.2 litre DOHC desmodromic 32-valve V8 360 hp engines with multiple carburetors or optional supercharger. Horsepower ranged from 175 to 360, and, transferred through a five-speed gearbox and gear-driven camshaft, the fastest could reach 160 mph, exceeding Ferrari, thus making it the world’s fastest production car at the time. The base car had a 120 mph top speed. However, the cars were heavy and brutish to drive and competition success was virtually nonexistent. Because the cars were built on a cost-no-object basis, this caused financial difficulty in the company. A simplified and cheaper version, the Z-103 with 3.9, 4.5 and 4.7 litre engines, was put into production, but to no avail, and the Z-102 was discontinued after 1958. Production figures for the Z-102 ranges from 84 to 125 cars being built. 1951 Pegaso Z-102 For SaleDetails: Seller Fiskens does not disclose the asking price. Car is located in England. Seller Comments: “Despite the obvious post-war austerity, Ricart set about producing a dry sump, quad cam engine complete with a five speed transaxle coupled with a De Dion rear axle. An astonishing achievement at the time! Originally conceived as Prototype BE 1 and was completed in 1951 and stunned the audience at the Salon de Paris later that year. Between 1953 and 1955, 0202 competed at Montjuich and Barajas circuits near Barcelona before being uprated and renumbered by the factory in 1955 to the current specification. The present owner bought the car in the late Sixties and it is to this day one of the earliest and most original prototypical Pegasos in existence.”

www.sportscardigest.com/car-profile-–-pegaso-z-102/

That Spanish truck manufacturer ENASA should have built one of the most exotic sports grand touring cars of the early 1950s seems rather improbable. However, it becomes somewhat more understandable when you learn that the company’s chief technical manager’s last position was Chief Engineer, Special Projects, for Alfa Romeo from 1936 to 1944. Wifredo Ricart was often criticized for the complexity of the vehicles he designed, but in the case of the Pegaso sports car, that attribute was very much the aim. To showcase the skills of the company’s engineers and workers and to establish a level of credibility for the heavy-truck products, the sophistication of the Pegaso Z-102 would demonstrate to the world that Spain could produce a high-performance car with advanced features to match any other such vehicles in the world — and surpass most, especially the cars from up-and-coming manufacturer Ferrari. The engine was an alloy 4-cam, dry sump, desmodromic-valve V8 — connected to a 5-speed transaxle — so it was clear that this was no ordinary car of the time. The chassis were wrapped in hand-built coachwork from leading Italian and French firms, including Carrozzeria Touring and Saoutchik, as well as some designed and built in-house by ENASA. Beginning at a displacement of 2.5 liters, the engine was developed into 2.8- and 3.2-liter versions during the production life of the Z-102. The most powerful of these was a supercharged 3.2-liter unit which produced a prodigious 360 horsepower. Top speeds ranging from 120 to 160 mph were possible — depending on the engine. The Pegaso Z-102 handily outperformed almost any other road-going GT car of the early to mid-1950s.

The car we offer, chassis 0136, is a very dramatic Z-102 cabriolet bodied by Saoutchik of Paris. It is thought to be the only Series II cabriolet built; however, in the preparation of the newly released exhaustive history of Saoutchik by historians Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erikson, it is suggested that this vehicle is actually one of the somewhat more attractive Series III cars due to various details of the body shape and trim. In any event, it would also be the sole Series III cabriolet as well. It is said that the original owner of chassis 0136 felt the open car was a bit too flexible for the type of driving he enjoyed on the less-than-perfect roads of 1950s Spain. He therefore had his Pegaso made into a coupe in 1958. The bodywork remained in this style until the early 1990s, when it was restored as the cabriolet it had been at creation.It appeared at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, CA, as part of the 2011 “Supercars — When Too Much is Almost Enough” exhibition and was purchased by the vendor in 2013. While the Pegaso was still very attractively presented, the vendor felt the need to give the car a thorough new restoration to meet his particular high standards. The exacting work was carried out by noted Automotive Restorations Inc. of Stamford, CT, overseen by Kent Bain and Charlie Weber with historian Peter Larsen providing consultation as well.SCM Analysis Detailing Vehicle:1954 Pegaso Z-102 Cabriolet Years Produced:1951–58 Number Produced:28 Original List Price:$29,500 SCM Valuation:$500,000–$970,000 Tune Up Cost:$1,050 Distributor Caps:Chassis Number Location:Engine bulkhead, stamped into metal Engine Number Location:Intake side of block Club Info:None Website:Alternatives:1954 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT, 1953 Maserati A6G/2000, 1953 Fiat 8VInvestment Grade:A This car, Lot 28, sold for $990,000, including buyer’s premium, at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance sale on August 16, 2014. The Pegaso is arguably the most exotic car of the 1950s. It had an alloy, dry-sump, 4-cam V8 engine with desmodromic valves that produced a healthy 240 horsepower. This car is also fitted with rack-and-pinion steering, dual-circuit brake system, torsion-bar front, De Dion rear suspension and a limited-slip rear axle underneath bodywork from Carrozzeria Touring and Saoutchik.Dodging war and designing cars These were certainly not everyday cars. Wifredo Ricart’s departure from newly democratic Italy for the more-familiar comforts of fascist Spain at the end of World War II could have meant that one of the greatest and most creative minds in technical design might not have been able to continue to work in the automotive business. Ricart originally fled Spain for Italy during the late 1930s because of the Spanish Civil War. He found a welcome home at Alfa Romeo, where the full-on push for armaments construction had created the need for a sure, firm hand over the aeronautical, truck and auto engineering staffs. At Alfa, he soon indulged his passion for complex, high-performance engines with the development of the 16-cylinder supercharged Alfa Tipo 162 grand prix car — his answer to the all-conquering Silver Arrows from Germany.Ricart also oversaw the creation of the heroic Tipo 1101 radial aircraft engine. This 28-cylinder, 50-liter beast developed over 2,000 horsepower and came just in time for the Alfa factory at Portello to be bombed during World War II. At the same time, he was busy developing what was hoped to be Alfa’s first new post-war car, the 6C 2000, a very modern small car with a new twin-cam, 6-cylinder engine and a 4-speed transaxle like the one that would be seen in Lancia’s Aurelia in 1950, but with a pre-selector control. After Ricart’s departure from Alfa at the end of World War II, time and money were in short supply for tooling up for a completely new car, so the Alfa 6C 2000 sank without a trace.

A welcoming return The opportunity to realize his creative fantasies with the deep pockets of the Spanish government-owned ENASA truck firm must have seemed like a gift from heaven to Ricart. That he also got the opportunity to create the world’s most sophisticated and capable GT and race car — and to show the Italians exactly how it should be done — was doubtlessly very pleasant as well.In any event, the Pegaso Z-102 was a bit too complex, too heavy and too expensive to be the world beater it might have been. But Pegaso spurred Lancia, Ferrari and Maserati to advance their products a bit faster than at least the latter two were inclined to do.From cabriolet to coupe to cabriolet Turning to our lovely Pegaso Z-102, it’s often said that you should never buy a car with stories. That’s not strictly true, as it depends on the tale being told, when and by whom. Our subject car started life as a cabriolet, became a coupe, then a cabriolet again. And I do love the story of why it was converted. Chassis flex? The idea of driving this car at any speed over undeveloped roads is a bizarre one indeed.However, if you want to be practical and have a Pegaso as well, compromises must be made. Nevertheless, this car has never been abandoned, crashed, burned or otherwise maltreated during its life.That counts for a great deal in my book.The sum of its parts equals magic I find all Pegaso cars fascinating. Any car that has an example named “Thrill” has got to be pretty special. “Thrill’ is the moniker for a swoopy coupe bodied by Carrozzeria Touring in 1954, which, like many Pegasos, features styling that has many awkward details that somehow still combine to create something truly magical — even if not conventionally beautiful. And I think every one of the 86 or so built, even those with the ugly-duckling in-house design, have an aura and feel that sets them apart from their very stellar competition. Well-traveled and well sold When this car appeared at the 2013 RM Auctions Amelia Island sale, it carried an estimate of $1.25m–$1.75m. It failed to sell at a high bid of $700k.It then appeared in Paris at Artcurial’s Rétromobile sale on February 7, 2014, where it was reported sold at $970,812.In between Amelia Island and Paris, the Pegaso had been treated to another cosmetic restoration which brought it back to the correct original light-blue shade it carried when first delivered. It seemed as if this most flamboyant of road cars had found its place not far from where it was first bodied. But that Paris sale apparently unwound, and here it was at Pebble Beach on offer again for the third time in 2½ years.Okay, I will have to admit that this car is much more a park-and-shine than drive-and-thrash, but nevertheless it’s pretty neat to imagine blasting with your very significant other through the roads in the Bois de Boulogne on an otherwise quiet Sunday morning before driving up the Champs-Élysées for breakfast at the Ledoyen restaurant in the shadow of the Grand Palais. Why worry about the dirt and stone chips inside the open fenders — that’s what your chauffeur and an open account at Saoutchik was for.Given that BMW 507s, Mercedes-Benz Gullwings and Lancia Aurelia Spider Americas sell for many hundreds of thousands more than this car, you could be pretty sure you’d never run into another Saoutchik Pegaso cabriolet on your drive.

www.sportscarmarket.com/columns/profiles/etceterini/6246-...

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

In July 1967, the first Swedish Air Force student pilots started training on the Saab 105, a Swedish high-wing, twin-engine trainer aircraft developed in the early sixties as a private venture by Saab AB. The Swedish Air Force procured the type for various roles and issued the aircraft with the designation Sk 60.

 

The Sk 60 entered service in 1967, replacing the aging De Havilland Vampire fleet, and had a long-lasting career. But in the late Eighties, by which point the existing engines of the Swedish Air Force's Sk 60 fleet were considered to be towards the end of their technical and economic lifespan and the airframes started to show their age and wear of constant use, the Swedish Air Force started to think about a successor and/or a modernization program.

 

Saab suggested to replace the Saab 105’s Turbomeca Aubisque engines with newly-built Williams International FJ44 engines, which were lighter and less costly to operate, but this was only regarded as a stop-gap solution. In parallel, Saab also started work for a dedicated new jet trainer that would prepare pilots for the Saab 39 Gripen – also on the drawing boards at the time – and as a less sophisticated alternative to the promising but stillborn Saab 38.

 

The Saab 38 (also known as B3LA or A 38/Sk 38) was a single-engine jet trainer and attack aircraft planned by Saab during the 1970s and actually a collaboration between Saab and the Italian aircraft manufacturer Aermacchi (the aircraft resembled the AMX a lot). It was to replace the older Saab 105 jet trainer in the Swedish Air Force, too, but the aircraft never got past the drawing board and was canceled in 1979 in favor of the more advanced Saab JAS 39 Gripen multi-role fighter.

Anyway, this decision left Sweden without a replacement for the Sk 60 as transitional trainer and as a light attack and reconnaissance aircraft.

 

In 1991, Saab presented its new trainer design, internally called "FSK900", to the Swedish Air Force. The aircraft was a conservative design, with such a configurational resemblance to the Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet that it is hard to believe Saab engineers didn't see the Alpha Jet as a model for what they wanted to do. However, even if that was the case, the FSK900 was by no means a copy of the Alpha Jet, and the two machines can be told apart at a glance. FSK900 had a muscular, rather massive appearance, while the Alpha Jet was more wasp-like and very sleek. The FSK900 was also bigger in length and span and had an empty weight about 10% greater.

 

The FSK900 was mostly made of aircraft aluminum alloys, with some control surfaces made of carbon-fiber / epoxy composite, plus very selective use of titanium. It had high-mounted swept wings, with a supercritical airfoil section and a leading-edge dogtooth; a conventional swept tail assembly; tricycle landing gear; twin engines, one mounted in a pod along each side of the fuselage; and a tandem-seat cockpit with dual controls.

 

The wings had a sweep of 27.5°, an anhedral droop of 7°, and featured ailerons for roll control as well as double slotted flaps. The tailplanes were all-moving, and also featured an anhedral of 7°. An airbrake was mounted on each side of the rear fuselage. Flight controls were hydraulic, and hydraulic systems were dual redundant.

 

The instructor and cadet sat in tandem, both on zero-zero ejection seats, with the instructor's seat in the rear raised 27 centimeters (10.6 inches) to give a good forward view. The cockpit was pressurized and featured a one-piece canopy, hinged open to the right, that provided excellent visibility.

 

The landing gear assemblies all featured single wheels, with the nose gear retracting forward and the main gear retracting forward and into the fuselage, featuring an antiskid braking system. The twin engines were two Williams International FJ44-4M turbofans without reheat, each rated at 16.89 kN (3,790 lbst). These were the same engines, that Saab had also proposed for Saab’s Sk 60 modernization program, even though a less powerful variant for the lighter aircraft.

 

The FSK900 could be fitted with two pylons under each wing and under the fuselage centerline, for a total of five hardpoint. The inner wing pylons were wet and could be used to carry 450 liter (119 US gallon) external tanks, a total external payload of 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) could be carried.

External stores included a centerline target winch for the target tug role, an air-sampling pod for detection of fallout or other atmospheric pollutants, jammer or chaff pods for electronic warfare training, a camera/sensor pod and a baggage pod for use in the liaison role. The aircraft also featured a baggage compartment in the center fuselage, which also offered space for other special equipment or future updates.

 

Potential armament comprised a conformal underfuselage pod with a single 27 mm Mauser BK-27 revolver cannon with 120 rounds (the same weapon that eventually went into the Saab Gripen).

Other weapons included various iron and cluster bombs of up to 454 kg (1.000 lb) caliber, unguided missiles of various calibers and the Rb.74 (AIM-9L Sidewinder) AAM. A radar was not mounted, but the FSK900’s nose section offered enough space for a radome.

 

The Swedish Air Force accepted the Saab design, leading to a contract for two nonflying static-test airframes and four flying prototypes. Detail design was complete by the end of 1993 and prototype construction began in the spring of 1994, leading to first flight of the initial prototype on 29 July 1994. The first production "Sk 90 A", how the basic trainer type was officially dubbed, was delivered to the Swedish Air Force in 1996.

 

In parallel, a contract was signed for the re-engining of 115 Saab Sk 60 aircraft in 1993; the number of aircraft to be upgraded was subsequently reduced as a result of cuts to the defense budget and the advent of the FSK900, of which 60 were ordered initially.

 

The Sk 90 was regarded as strong, agile, and pleasant to fly, while being cheap to operate. Sk 90 As flying in the training role typically painted in the unique “Fields & Meadows” splinter camouflage, although decorative paint jobs showed up on occasion and many aircraft received additional dayglow markings.

Some of the few aircraft given to operational squadrons, which used them for keeping up flight hours and as hacks, had apparently been painted in all-grey camouflage to match the combat aircraft they shared the flight line with.

 

With the Sk 90 S a new variant was soon introduced, replacing the Sk 60 C, two-seat ground attack/reconnaissance version for the Swedish Air Force with an extended camera nose. It featured a similar camera arrangement to the Sk 60 C with a panoramic camera, plus an avionics palet in the baggage compartment for a modular DICAST (Digital Camera And Sensor Tray) pod under the fuselage. Unlike the Sk 60 C, which was converted from existing Sk 60 A trainers, the Sk 90 S was an original design. 20 were delivered until 1997, together with the standard trainers, which were kept on the production lines at slow pace until 1999.

 

A total of 108 production Sk 90s were built, and the Swedish Air Force has no further requirement for new Sk 90s at present. Upgrades are in planning, including fit of at least some Sk 90s with a modern "glass cockpit" to provide advanced training for the Saab Gripen (which had entered service in June 1992), and a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) for the FJ44-4M turbofans. Integration of the Rb.75 (the AGM-65A/B Maverick in Swedish service) together with a pod-mounted FLIR camera system was also suggested, improving the Sk 90’s attack capability dramatically. These updates were started in 2000. The modified aircraft received the designation Sk 90 B and Sk 90 SB, respectively, and until 2006 the whole fleet was updated.

 

Tests were also made with reinforced underwing pylons that would allow the carriage of the RBS-15 anti-ship missile. Even though the Sk 90 did not carry a radar, the missile-armed trainers were considered as a linked multiplicators for Saab 39s with the appropriate avionics, so that salvoes of multiple missiles could be launched in order to overload ship defences and improve hit probability. While the latter assumption was proved as correct during field trials with two modified Sk 90s, the missiles’ extra drag and the consequent loss in agility, speed and range made the concept unpractical, since the armed Sk 90 could not keep up with the Saab 39, limit reaction time and would offer an easy target.

 

Another plan was the Sk 90 C, a two-seater with enhanced attack capabilities. Its most distict feature was a simplified PS-05/A pulse-Doppler X band multi-mode radar, developed by Ericsson and GEC-Marconi for the JAS 39 Gripen.

The system was based on the Blue Vixen radar for the Sea Harrier that also served as the basis for the Eurofighter's CAPTOR radar, and it would allow a highly improved air-to-air and air-to-ground capability, also in better concunction with the Saab Gripen as lead aircraft. Two technology demonstrators were converted from Sk 90 A trainers, but the project was shelved - due to budget restrictions and simply through the fact that the JAS 39 Gripen offered anything the Swedish Air Force had called for in just one, single weapon system, so that the Sk 90 remained in its advanced trainer and tactical recce role. The technology package was offered to foreign customers, though.

 

Despite its qualities and development potential, the Sk 90 did not attain much foreign interest. It suffered from bad timing and from the focus on domestic demands. It came effectively 10 years too late to be serious export success, and the Sk 90 was very similar to the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet (even though it was cheaper to operate) - at a time when the German Luftwaffe started to prematurely phaze out its attack variant and flooded the market with cheap second hand aircraft in excellent condition. Besides, the Saab Sk 90 had, with the BAe Hawk, another proven competitor with a long operational track record all over the world.

 

Modest foreign sales could be secured, though: Austria procured 36 Sk 90 Ö in 2002 (basically comparable with the updated Sk 90 B), replacing its Saab 105 fleet and keeping up its close connection with Saab since the Seventies. Malaysia showed interest, too, as well as Singapore, Myanmar, Finland, Poland and Hungary.

 

The latest interest came from the Republic of Scotland in late 2017 – after the country’s separation from the United Kingdom and building an independent air force with a supplier from a neutral country.

The Republic of Scotland’s Air Corps (RoScAC) started negotiations with Saab and the Swedish government over either eight newly built or refurbished, older Sk 90 As that were updated to C standard with the PS-05/A radar.

Scotland additionally showed interest in a small fleet of 1st generation Saab 39 interceptors that would replace the RAF fighters based on Scottish ground.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: two pilots in tandem

Length incl. pitot: 13.0 m (42 ft 8 in) for the A trainer, 13.68 m (44 ft 10 in) for the S variant

Wingspan: 9.94 m (32 ft 7 in)

Height: 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)

Empty weight: 3,790 kg (8,360 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 7,500 kg (16,530 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Williams International FJ44-4M turbofans without reheat, rated at 16.89 kN (3,790 lbst) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,038 km/h (645 mph)

Range: 1,670 km (900 nm)

 

Armament:

No internal gun; five hardpoints for 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) of payload and a variety of ordnance

  

The kit and its assembly:

A simple kit travesty! This is basically the 1:72 Kawasaki T-4 from Hasegawa, with little modifications.

Originally, I wondered what an overdue Saab 105 replacement could or would look like? The interesting Saab 38 never saw the light, as mentioned above, there was also an A-10-style light attack aircraft (maybe to be built as a kitbashing some day...) and I assume that neutral Sweden would rather develop its own aircraft than procure a foreign product.

 

Consideration of the BAe Hawk, Alpha Jet and the L-39 Albatros as inspirations for this project, I eventually came across the modern but rather overlooked Japanese Kawasaki T-4 trainer – and found that it had a certain Swedish look about it? Hmm... And coupled with a very characteristic paint scheme, like “Fields & Meadows”, maybe…?

 

I wanted to keep things simple, though, so the T-4 was mostly built OOB. A pleasant experience. The kit is relatively simple and fit is very good, with only minimal PSR necessary.

 

The only changes are the underwings hardpoints, which come from a Heller SEPECAT Jaguar, the pair of drop tanks (from an Academy F-5E, IIRC), a scratched recce pod for the ventral hardpoint and a modified bow section. This camera nose is a transplant from a Marivox Saab 105, assuming that the new trainer would be employed in similar roles as the Sk 60. The respective Swedish kit comes with a lot of optional parts, including the extended Sk 60 C’s camera nose - and it fits very well onto the T-4's rounded nose.

  

Painting and markings:

Well, when building a kit is not a true challenge, maybe the paint job is? The T-4 in a "Fields & Meadows" livery was the initial inspiration for this build, so I tried to stick with the concept as far as possible, even though I'd assume that Swedish aircraft in the kit's time frame would rather be grey with subdued markings. But there's hardly anything as Swedish and spectacular as "Fields & Meadows", and this scheme would also be perfect for the tactical recce role of this build.

 

The pattern was loosely inspired by the Saab Viggens’ scheme (I found pictures of Sk 60 in Fields & Meadows, but could not puzzle together a complete view) as benchmark.

 

Painting was done with a fine brush (size 2), free-handedly. Even the waterline was created without masking tape - a clean, bigger brush (size 6) was enough to create the sharp edge. This sounds bizarre and maybe suggest a masochistic touch, but it actually worked better than expected - and I was in the lucky situation that I did not have to slavishly copy and recreate the splinter pattern on a real-world model. ;-)

 

Finding proper tones for the famous and very characteristic Swedish paint scheme was not easy, though. Pictures of real aircraft vary largely, light conditions and weathering make a proper identification difficult, to say the least. Since I wanted a simple solution (a lot of corrections during the painting process was expected), I settled upon the following enamel tones:

• Modelmaster 2060, RAF Dark Green

• Humbrol 150, Forest Green FS 34127

• Humbrol 72, Khaki Drill, for the earth tone

• A 1:1 mix of Humbrol 33 (Flat Black) + Modelmaster 2094 (RAL 7021) for a very dark grey

• Humbrol 247 (RLM 76) for the undersides

 

Painting was done from black (starting here because it was the only mixed tone), then the earth tone, light green and finally the dark green - a slow (2 full days) but rather uncomplicated process. But I think that the effort paid out, and helps selling the fictional Sk 90 idea.

 

The cockpit was painted in neutral grey, while the landing gear and the air intakes became white. A very Swedish touch are the bright green headrests - seen on Saab 37.

 

The markings were kept simple, puzzled together from various sources. Tactical codes come from a Heller Saab 37 Viggen sheet, while the roundels come from an RBD Models sheet (great stuff!) from Sweden - they actually belong to a Saab 32, but since the roundel sizes are normed the transplant onto the smaller aircraft here was easy and even plausible.

 

Some stencils were taken from the T-4 OOB sheet or gathered together from the scrap box, e .g. the "FARA" warnings.

The silver trim at the flaps and the fin rudder were made with generic 0.5mm decal stripes in silver. Similar strips in black were used to create the de-icers on the wings' leading edges.

 

Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

Not tough to build, but still a challenge to paint. But the result is spectacular, and the T-4 under foreign flag looks disturbingly plausible. How could Sweden hide this aircraft from the public for so long...?

And it's certainly not the last T-4 I will build. A Scottish aircraft, as mentioned in the background, is a hot candidate - but the aircraft has a lot of OOB whiffing potential...

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.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 10-Feb-25.

 

Named: "Paraguay".

 

This aircraft was delivered to Iberia, Spain as EC-HDS in Dec-99. It was sold to BBAM Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management on delivery and leased back to Iberia.

 

It was returned to the lessor in early Jul-07 and leased to Privilege Style, Spain the following week. Privilege Style are a Spanish AMCI operator who leases aircraft to other airlines on short or long term leases.

 

The Aircraft was wet-leased to PAL Principal Airlines, Chile in Dec-10 and returned to Privilege Style in Apr-11. It was wet-leased to Jet2,com, UK in Jul-13 and returned to Privilege Style in Oct-13.

 

It was wet-leased to NAS Air - National Air Services, Saudi Arabia in Aug-15 and returned in Oct-15. It was wet-leased to TUI Airways UK in May-22 for the summer season. It was based in Manchester, UK and returned to Privilege Style at the end of Oct-22.

 

In Jun-23 the aircraft was wet-leased to Aer Lingus and returned to Privilege Style at the beginning of Oct-23. It was permanently retired and stored at Knock, Ireland in Oct-23 and broken up there in 2024.

Amid the brightly coloured non-figurative windows on the southern side of Saint George's Presbyterian Church stands one figurative window. Created by Melbourne stained glass manufacturer Brooks Robinson and Company, the Samuel Lyons McKenzie memorial stained glass window is a fine late example of post-war Art Deco design, still being used commonly in Australia in the period immediately following the Second World War. Installed in 1949 to honour the memory of the congregation’s beloved minister who served from 1930 to 1948, the window is the only one in the church not made by Melbourne manufacturer Ferguson and Urie. Replacing one of the non-figurative stained glass windows by Ferguson and Urie, when this window was made the Victorian powerhouse of stained glass manufacturing had gone out of business. Several businesses filled the gap they left, including Brooks Robinson and Company.

 

The window depicts a more modern, multicultural, Twentieth Century interpretation of Jesus with the children. Jesus with the children comes from the Book of Matthew, where Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." One window depicts Jesus with a young child sitting upon each of his knees, whilst a dark skinned islander child with flowers in their hair sitting at Jesus' feet. On the other window, other children, some in nationalistic costumes, gather to hear Jesus preach including one of Arabic descent, another of Chinese ancestry and two European children. The latter two wear contemporary costumes of children in 1940s Australia. The top round ventilator window emulates the Ferguson and Urie depiction of the Burning Bush; perhaps paying homage to what came before this new window.

 

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church, which stands on busy Chapel Street in St Kilda East, is a well known and loved local landmark, not least of all because of its strikingly tall (33.5 metre or 110 foot) banded bell tower which can be spotted from far away. In the Nineteenth Century when it was built, it would have been even more striking for its great height and domineering presence. Designed by architect Albert Purchas, the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is often referred to as his ecclesiastical tour-de-force, and it is most certainly one of his most dramatic and memorable churches.

 

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was constructed on a plot of land reserved in Chapel Street for the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1866. Initially services were held in a small hall whilst fundraising efforts advanced the erection of a church. The architect Albert Purchas was commissioned to design the church and the foundation stone for the western portion of the nave was finally laid in April 1877 by Sir James McCulloch. The first service was held in the church on the 1st of October 1877. The first clergyman of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was the Reverend John Laurence Rentoul (father to world renown and much loved Australian children's book illustrator Ida Rentoul Outhwaite). However, the swelling Presbyterian congregation of St Kilda and its surrounding districts quickly outgrew the initial Saint George's Presbyterian Church building, so Albert Purchas was obliged to re-design and enlarge the church to allow a doubling in capacity. Robert S. Ekins was the contractor and his tender was £3000.00. It is this imposing church building, reopened in 1880, that we see today. The "Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil" noted that the total length of the building was 118 feet and 6 inches (36 metres), by 40 foot (12 metres) wide and that the striking octagonal tower to the north-west was 110ft 6 in high. It perhaps reflected better the wealth and aspirations of the congregation.

 

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is constructed on bluestone foundations and is built in an ornate polychromatic Gothic Revival style in the tradition of English designers like William Butterfield and John L. Pearson. Built of red brick building, it is decorated in contrasting cream bricks and Waurn Ponds freestone dressings. It features a slate roof with prominent roof vents, iron ridge cresting and fleche at the intersection of the nave and transepts. The front facade of the church is dominated by the slender, banded octagonal tower topped by a narrow spire. The entrance features a double arched portal portico. The facade also features a dominant triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window. The church, like its bluestone neighbour All Saints Church of England, is built to a T-shaped plan, with an aisleless nave, broad transepts and internal walls of cream brick, relieved with coloured brickwork. The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was one of the first major church design in Melbourne in which polychrome brickwork was lavishly employed both externally and internally.

 

The inside of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is equally as grand as the exterior, with ornamental Gothic Revival polychromatic brickwork, a lofty vaulted ceiling, deal and kauri pine joinery and pulpit and reredos of Keene's cement. The building originally contained a complete set of Victorian stained glass windows by well known and successful Melbourne manufacturers Ferguson and Urie, all of which remain intact today except for one of the non-figurative windows which was replaced by a memorial window to Samuel Lyons McKenzie, the congregation’s beloved minister, who served from 1930 to 1948, in 1949. The earliest of the Ferguson and Urie windows are non-figurative windows which feature the distinctive diaper pattern and floral motifs of Fergus and Urie's work, and are often argued to be amongst the finest of their non-figurative designs. The large triple window in the chancel was presented by Lady McCulloch in memory of the ‘loved and dead’. Another, in memory of John Kane Smyth, the Vice-Consul for the United States of America in Melbourne, has the American Stars and Stripes on the top ventilator above it. An organ by Thomas C. Lewis of London, one of the leading 19th century English organ builders, was installed in the south transept in 1882. It was designed to blend with its architectural setting, with pipework styled to avoid the obstruction of windows. The action of this organ was altered in 1935, but the pipework, and the original sound, have been retained.

 

Over the years many spiritual and social activities were instituted at Saint George’s, Presbyterian Church some of short duration such as the Ladies’ Reading Club which operated between 1888 and 1893. There were segregated Bible classes for young men and women, the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, formed in 1892, a cricket club and a floral guild. Guilds teaching physical culture for girls, boys and young men began in 1904. They were entirely financed by John Maclellan and the idea extended to other denominations throughout Victoria. John Maclellan died in 1936 and the guilds ceased at Saint George’s Presbyterian church through lack of funds although in 1977 the members of the girls’ guild were still holding bi-annual reunions and raising money for charity. Sadly, the Presbyterian congregations may have been large in the Nineteenth Century, but by St George's Presbyterian Church's 110th centenary, its doors had already closed during the week due to dwindling numbers and an ageing congregation as a result of the general decline in church attendances after the Second World War exacerbated by the changing nature of St Kilda and the decrease in numbers of residents living in the vicinity of the church. So it stood, forlorn and empty and seemingly nothing more than a relic of a glorious but bygone religious past. However in 1990, Saint Michael's Grammar School across the road leased the Victorian Heritage listed building during weekdays, and it was eventually sold to them in 2015. It now forms part of the school's performing-arts complex, and it has a wonderful new lease of life.

 

St George's Presbyterian Church is sometimes hired out for performances, and I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to hear Handel's Messiah performed there in 2009. The ecclesiastical acoustics made the performance all the more magnificent. I remember as I sat on one of the original (hard) kauri pine pews, I looked around me and admired the stained glass and ornamental brickwork. I tried without success over several subsequent years to gain access to the church's interior, settling for photographs of the exterior instead, but it wasn't until 2018 that I was fortunate enough to gain entry to photograph the church's interior. The former St George's Presbyterian Church was opened up to the public for one Sunday morning only as part of Open House Melbourne in July 2018. It was a fantastic morning, and I am very grateful to the staff who manned the church for the day and watched bemused as I photographed the stained glass extensively and in such detail.

 

Albert Purchas, born in 1825 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a prominent Nineteenth Century architect who achieved great success for himself in Melbourne. Born to parents Robert Whittlesey Purchas and Marianne Guyon, he migrated to Australia in 1851 to establish himself in the then quickly expanding city of Melbourne, where he set up a small architect's firm in Little Collins Street. He also offered surveying services. His first major building was constructing the mansion "Berkeley Hall" in St Kilda on Princes Street in 1854. The house still exists today. Two years after migrating, Albert designed the layout of the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. It was the first "garden cemetery" in Victoria, and his curvilinear design is still in existence, unaltered, today. In 1854, Albert married Eliza Anne Sawyer (1825 - 1869) in St Kilda. The couple had ten children over their marriage, including a son, Robert, who followed in his father's footsteps as an architect. Albert's brother-in-law, Charles Sawyer joined him in the partnership of Purchas and Sawyer, which existed from 1856 until 1862 in Queens Street. The firm produced more than 140 houses, churches, offices and cemetery buildings including: the nave and transepts of Christ Church St Kilda between 1854 and 1857, "Glenara Homestead"in Bulla in 1857, the Melbourne Savings Bank on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street (now demolished) between 1857 and 1858, the Geelong branch of the Bank of Australasia in Malop Street between 1859 and 1860, and Beck's Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine in 1861. When the firm broke up, Albert returned to Little Collins Street, and the best known building he designed during this period was Saint. George's Presbyterian Church in St Kilda East between 1877 and 1880. The church's tall polychomatic brick bell tower is still a local landmark, even in the times of high rise architecture and development, and Saint, George's itself is said to be one of his most striking church designs. Socially, Albert was vice president of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects for many years, before becoming president in 1887. He was also an inventor and philanthropist. Albert died in 1909 at his home in Kew, a wealthy widower and much loved father.

 

Conrails red class marker lights are alight on the 8753 as a west bound freight waits at SEPTA's Cheltenham Station, for the SEPTA' dispatchers permission to proceed.

Peugeot replaced the popular 405 line with the gorgeous and sleek looking 406 saloon, estate and coupé in the Fall of 1995. The 406 enjoyed a long career with its replacement, the 407, not showing at the door until 2004. The Coupé, which appeared in 1997 and received two mild updates, one in 2001 and the second in 2003.

 

Most 406s were powered by four-cylinder petrol or diesel engines (88 - 158 PS), though a 3.0-litre 24V V6 with either 190 or 207 PS was available as the range topper.

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.

Rathfarnham Castle.

 

Origins:

 

The earlier Anglo-Norman castle which was replaced by the present building was built on lands which were confiscated from the Eustace family of Baltinglass because of their involvement in the Second Desmond Rebellion. It defended the Pale from the Irish clans in the nearby Wicklow Mountains. It is believed the present castle was built around 1583 for Yorkshireman, Adam Loftus, then Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Protestant Archbishop of Dublin. Originally a semi-fortified and battlemented structure, extensive alterations in the 18th century give it the appearance of a Georgian house.

 

The castle consisted of a square building four stories high with a projecting tower at each corner, the walls of which were an average of 5 feet (1.5 m) thick. On the ground level are two vaulted apartments divided by a wall nearly 10 feet (3.0 m) thick which rises to the full height of the castle. On a level with the entrance hall are the 18th century reception rooms and above this floor the former ballroom, later converted into a chapel.

 

Rathfarnham was described as a "waste village" when Loftus bought it. His new castle was not long built when in 1600 it had to withstand an attack by the Wicklow clans during the Nine Years War (Ireland).

 

Civil war:

 

Archbishop Loftus left the castle to his son, Dudley and it then passed to his son Adam in 1616. During Adam's ownership, the castle came under siege in the 1641 rebellion. It was able to hold out against the Confederate army when the surrounding country was overrun. Adam Loftus opposed the treaty of cessation in order the stop the fighting between the Irish Confederates and the English Royalists. Consequently, he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle.

 

During the subsequent Irish Confederate Wars (1641-53), the castle changed hands several times. From 1641 to 1647, it was garrisoned by English Royalist troops. In 1647, Ormonde, commander of the Royalists in Ireland, surrendered Dublin to the English Parliament and Parliamentary troops were stationed at the castle until 1649 when a few days before the Battle of Rathmines, the castle was stormed and taken without a fight by the Royalists. However, the Roundheads re-occupied it after their victory at the Battle of Rathmines. It has also been reported that Oliver Cromwell held council there during his campaign in Ireland before going south to besiege Wexford. Adam Loftus, who recovered his castle and lands under Cromwell, sided with the Parliamentarians and was killed at the Siege of Limerick in 1651.

 

After the English Civil War, the Loftus family retained ownership of the castle. In 1659, Dr. Dudley Loftus, great grandson of Archbishop Loftus, took over the castle. During his lifetime, Dudley held the posts of Commissioner of Revenue, Judge Admiralty, Master in Chancery, MP for Kildare and Wicklow and MP for Bannow and Fethard. His body is interred at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

 

The eighteenth century:

 

The property then passed by marriage to Philip Wharton. The young man lost his money in the South Sea Bubble and in 1723 the castle was sold to the Right Hon. William Connolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons for £62,000. In 1742, the castle was sold to Dr. Hoadly, Archbishop of Armagh, and on his death four years later it passed to his son-in-law Bellingham Boyle. In 1767, he sold the property to Nicholas Hume-Loftus, second Earl of Ely, a descendant of Adam Loftus, the original builder of the castle.

The castle in 1774

 

Nicholas died within a few years, probably as an indirect result of great hardships which he had suffered in his youth, and the estate passed to his uncle, Hon. Henry Loftus, who was created Earl of Ely in 1771. In commemoration of regaining ownership, the Loftus family constructed another entrance for the castle in the form of a Roman Triumphal Arch. The arch can still be viewed from nearby Dodder Park Road. Henry Loftus, Earl of Ely was responsible for much of the conversion of the medieval fortress into a Georgian mansion and employed renowned architects Sir William Chambers and James 'Athenian' Stuart to carry out these works. The mullioned windows were enlarged and the battlements replaced by a coping with ornamental urns. A semi-circular extension was added to the east side and an entrance porch approached by steps, on the north. The interior was decorated in accordance with the tastes of the period and leading artists, including Angelica Kauffmann were employed in the work. Writers of the period who visited the house have left extravagant descriptions of its splendour.

 

Henry died in 1783 and was succeeded by his nephew Charles Tottenham. He subsequently became Marquess of Ely as a reward for his vote at the time of the Union.

 

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries:

 

In 1812, the family leased the estate to the Ropers and removed their valuable possessions to Loftus Hall in Wexford. The lands and castle were then used for dairy farming and fell into disrepair. To quote a contemporary account from 1838: "Crossing the Dodder by a ford, and proceeding along its southern bank towards Rathfarnham, a splendid gateway at left, accounted among the best productions of that species of architecture in Ireland, invites the tourist to explore the once beautiful grounds of Rathfarnham Castle, but they are now all eloquently waste, the undulating hills covered with rank herbage, the rivulet stagnant and sedgy, the walks scarce traceable, the ice-houses open to the prying sun, the fish-pond clogged with weeds, while the mouldering architecture of the castle, and the crumbling, unsightly offices in its immediate vicinity,…The castle, so long the residence of the Loftus family, and still the property of the Marquis of Ely, subject, however, to a small chief rent to Mr. Conolly, is an extensive fabric,.....The great hall is entered from a terrace, by a portico of eight Doric columns, which support a dome, painted in fresco with the signs of the Zodiac and other devices. This room was ornamented with antique and modern busts, placed on pedestals of variegated marble, and has three windows of stained gloss, in one of which is an escutcheon of the Loftus arms, with quarterings finely executed. Several other apartments exhibited considerable splendour of arrangement, and contained, until lately, numerous family portraits, and a valuable collection of paintings by ancient masters. But, when it is mentioned, that this structure has been for years a public dairy, and the grounds to the extent of 300 acres (1.2 km2) converted to its uses, some notion may be formed of their altered condition.

 

In 1852 it was bought by the Lord Chancellor, Francis Blackburne whose family resided there for three generations. The property developers Bailey & Gibson acquired the castle in 1912 and divided up the estate. The eastern part became the Castle Golf Club, the castle and the southwestern portion were bought in 1913 by the Jesuit Order and the northwestern part was devoted to housing.

 

The Jesuits are an order renowned for their education and one of them; Father O'Leary S.J. constructed a seismograph. This machine could detect earth tremors and earthquakes from anywhere in the world and for a time, Rathfarnham Castle became a source of earthquake information for the national media.

 

To the north of the castle was a long vaulted chamber formerly known as Cromwell’s Court or Fort. This was apparently a barn or storehouse erected as part of the castle farm and had narrow loopholes in its 5-foot (1.5 m) thick walls. In 1922, it was incorporated into the new retreat house, to which it formed the ground story and its character concealed from the outside by a uniform covering of cement plaster.

 

Not far from the Golf Club House was an attractive little temple built of stone and brick, another relic of Lord Ely’s occupation of Rathfarnham. Although rather out of repair, if restored, it would have added much to the charm of this part of the links. Unfortunately, by decision of the committee, it was demolished in 1979.

 

In 1986, the Jesuits sold Rathfarnham Castle but before leaving, they removed the stained glass windows, made in the famous Harry Clarke studios, from the chapel and donated them to Tullamore Catholic Church which had been destroyed by fire in 1983. The other windows were donated to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross and Temple Street Children's Hospital, Dublin.

 

Preservation:

 

The castle was sold to Delaware Properties in 1985 and it was feared that it was facing demolition. After immense public pressure to save the building, it was purchased by the state in 1987 and was declared a National Monument. Currently, by the Office of Public Works, there is an extensive refurbishment going through the castle but it is still open to the public during the summer months (5th May - 12th October). The Castle is presented as a castle undergoing active conservation, where visitors can see, at first hand, tantalising glimpses of layers of its earlier existence uncovered during research.

JD Classics Mayfair London

 

www.jdclassics.com/showrooms/Porsche-Carrera-GT/12510.htm

 

The Porsche Carrera GT can trace its roots back to a stillborn racing program in the late 1990s, when Porsche sought to produce a new Le Mans prototype to replace the GT1. Originally intended to be powered by a 5.5-liter V-10, a change in FIA rules shelved Porsche’s racing plans while the model was in development. Porsche believed it could adapt the platform for use on the road if the car could not be used for racing.

 

The Carrera GT was first seen in concept form on Porsche’s stand at the Paris Motor show in 2000. The concept received a massive amount of attention. With additional revenue thanks to the then new Cayenne SUV, Porsche decided to proceed with production going head-to-head with the Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, and even the Ford GT.

 

Notable technology includes a full carbon fibre monocoque and subframe produced by ATR Composites of Colonna, Italy. The Carrera GT was also fitted with a racing-derived suspension with upper and lower wishbones and inboard, rocker-arm suspension at all four corners. Ventilated and cross-drilled carbon-ceramic brakes are surrounded by forged magnesium alloy center-lock wheels.

 

While Porsche planned a 1,500-unit production run, only 1,270 examples were delivered beginning in 2004 and ending on May 6, 2006. A total of 644 units were sold in the United States, 31 units in Canada and 49 units in the UK.

 

This 2005 constructed Carrera GT was ordered as a USA Specification car and delivered via Porsche Canada on 31st April 2005 in GT Silver Metallic with Ascot Brown and Natural Black Leather trim. Factory options were a Carrera GT Car cover, manually adjustable air conditioning system, Ascot Brown and Black luggage set and Porsche Online Pro CD Radio with BOSE sound system.

 

This outstanding Carrera GT has covered just 981 miles from new with only two owners. Complete with all books and owner's manuals, Service history, Tools, Porsche Heritage Certificate, Porsche correspondence and spare key set.

 

A major service at 916 miles in November 2015 was carried out by an Official Porsche Centre and included the installation of a new clutch.

 

An Outstanding low mileage Carrera GT in superb order throughout. Please contact us for further details.

Replacing a Plaxton Centro on the 7:45am Burnley to Bury journey!

The factory premium sound system was buggered. My friend Will donated this old Pioneer in dash and I reworked the original faceplate to hold it.

By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.

 

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

 

A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.

 

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

 

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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.

 

It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.

 

The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.

 

THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.

 

From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.

 

Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.

 

In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.

 

The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.

 

Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.

 

About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.

 

Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.

 

Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)

 

THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.

 

This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)

 

In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:

 

The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.

 

Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.

 

In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.

 

By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)

 

In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.

 

There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.

 

In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.

 

A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.

 

In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)

 

This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.

 

After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.

 

These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.

 

The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.

 

CHARITIES.

 

THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.

 

FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.

 

SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.

 

TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.

 

The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.

 

At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.

 

The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.

 

It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.

 

In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)

 

The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.

 

¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.

 

This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.

 

The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp518-533

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 to 30) 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 to 30) 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.

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.

 

The Palace of Versailles is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about 19 kilometers (12 mi) west of Paris, France.

 

The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, under the direction of the French Ministry of Culture, by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. About 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.

 

Louis XIII built a simple hunting lodge on the site of the Palace of Versailles in 1623. With his death came Louis XIV who expanded the château into the beginnings of a palace that went through several changes and phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favorite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the de facto capital of France. This state of affairs was continued by Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, who primarily made interior alterations to the palace, but in 1789 the royal family and capital of France returned to Paris. For the rest of the French Revolution, the Palace of Versailles was largely abandoned and emptied of its contents, and the population of the surrounding city plummeted.

 

Napoleon, following his coronation as Emperor, used Versailles as a summer residence from 1810 to 1814, but did not restore it. Following the Bourbon Restoration, when the king was returned to the throne, he resided in Paris and it was not until the 1830s that meaningful repairs were made to the palace. A museum of French history was installed within it, replacing the apartments of the southern wing.

 

The palace and park were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979 for its importance as the center of power, art, and science in France during the 17th and 18th centuries. The French Ministry of Culture has placed the palace, its gardens, and some of its subsidiary structures on its list of culturally significant monuments.

 

History

Main article: History of the Palace of Versailles

An engraving of Louis XIII's château as it appeared in 1652

Versailles around 1652, engraving by Jacques Gomboust [fr]

In 1623, Louis XIII, King of France, built a hunting lodge on a hill in a favorite hunting ground, 19 kilometers (12 mi) west of Paris and 16 kilometers (10 mi) from his primary residence, the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The site, near a village named Versailles, was a wooded wetland that Louis XIII's court scorned as being generally unworthy of a king; one of his courtiers, François de Bassompierre, wrote that the lodge "would not inspire vanity in even the simplest gentleman". From 1631 to 1634, architect Philibert Le Roy replaced the lodge with a château for Louis XIII, who forbade his queen, Anne of Austria, from staying there overnight, even when an outbreak of smallpox at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1641 forced Louis XIII to relocate to Versailles with his three-year-old heir, the future Louis XIV.

 

When Louis XIII died in 1643, Anne became Louis XIV's regent, and Louis XIII's château was abandoned for the next decade. She moved the court back to Paris, where Anne and her chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, continued Louis XIII's unpopular monetary practices. This led to the Fronde, a series of revolts against royal authority from 1648 to 1653 that masked a struggle between Mazarin and the princes of the blood, Louis XIV's extended family, for influence over him. In the aftermath of the Fronde, Louis XIV became determined to rule alone. Following Mazarin's death in 1661, Louis XIV reformed his government to exclude his mother and the princes of the blood, moved the court back to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and ordered the expansion of his father's château at Versailles into a palace.

 

Louis XIV had hunted at Versailles in the 1650s, but did not take any special interest in Versailles until 1661. On 17 August 1661, Louis XIV was a guest at a sumptuous festival hosted by Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances, at his palatial residence, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. Louis XIV was impressed by the château and its gardens, which were the work of Louis Le Vau, the court architect since 1654, André Le Nôtre, the royal gardener since 1657, and Charles Le Brun, a painter in royal service since 1647. Vaux-le-Vicomte's scale and opulence inspired Louis XIV's aesthetic sense, but also led him to imprison Fouquet that September, as he had also built an island fortress and a private army. Louis XIV was also inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte, and he recruited its authors for his own projects. Louis XIV replaced Fouquet with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a protégé of Mazarin and enemy of Fouquet, and charged him with managing the corps of artisans in royal employment. Colbert acted as the intermediary between them and Louis XIV, who personally directed and inspected the planning and construction of Versailles.

 

Construction

Work at Versailles was at first concentrated on gardens, and through the 1660s, Le Vau only added two detached service wings and a forecourt to the château. But in 1668–69, as a response to the growth of the gardens, and victory over Spain in the War of Devolution, Louis XIV decided to turn Versailles into a full-scale royal residence. He vacillated between replacing or incorporating his father's château, but settled on the latter by the end of the decade, and from 1668 to 1671, Louis XIII's château was encased on three sides in a feature dubbed the enveloppe. This gave the château a new, Italianate façade overlooking the gardens, but preserved the courtyard façade, resulting in a mix of styles and materials that dismayed Louis XIV and that Colbert described as a "patchwork". Attempts to homogenize the two façades failed, and in 1670 Le Vau died, leaving the post of First Architect to the King vacant for the next seven years.

 

Le Vau was succeeded at Versailles by his assistant, architect François d'Orbay. Work at the palace during the 1670s focused on its interiors, as the palace was then nearing completion, though d'Orbay expanded Le Vau's service wings and connected them to the château, and built a pair of pavilions for government employees in the forecourt. In 1670, d'Orbay was tasked by Louis XIV with designing a city, also called Versailles, to house and service Louis XIV's growing government and court. The granting of land to courtiers for the construction of townhouses that resembled the palace began in 1671. The next year, the Franco-Dutch War began and funding for Versailles was cut until 1674, when Louis XIV had work begun on the Ambassadors' Staircase , a grand staircase for the reception of guests, and demolished the last of the village of Versailles.

 

Following the end of the Franco-Dutch War with French victory in 1678, Louis XIV appointed as First Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, an experienced architect in Louis XIV's confidence, who would benefit from a restored budget and large workforce of former soldiers. Mansart began his tenure with the addition from 1678 to 1681 of the Hall of Mirrors, a renovation of the courtyard façade of Louis XIII's château, and the expansion of d'Orbay's pavilions to create the Ministers' Wings in 1678–79. Adjacent to the palace, Mansart built a pair of stables called the Grande and Petite Écuries from 1679 to 1682 and the Grand Commun, which housed the palace's servants and general kitchens, from 1682 to 1684. Mansart also added two entirely new wings in Le Vau's Italianate style to house the court, first at the south end of the palace from 1679 to 1681 and then at its north end from 1685 to 1689.

 

War and the resulting diminished funding slowed construction at Versailles for the rest of the 17th century. The Nine Years' War, which began in 1688, stopped work altogether until 1698. Three years later, however, the even more expensive War of the Spanish Succession began and, combined with poor harvests in 1693–94 and 1709–10, plunged France into crisis. Louis XIV thus slashed funding and canceled some of the work Mansart had planned in the 1680s, such as the remodeling of the courtyard façade in the Italianate style. Louis XIV and Mansart focused on a permanent palace chapel, the construction of which lasted from 1699 to 1710.

 

Louis XIV's successors, Louis XV and Louis XVI, largely left Versailles as they inherited it and focused on the palace's interiors. Louis XV's modifications began in the 1730s, with the completion of the Salon d'Hercule, a ballroom in the north wing, and the expansion of the king's private apartment, which required the demolition of the Ambassadors' Staircase In 1748, Louis XV began construction of a palace theater, the Royal Opera of Versailles at the northernmost end of the palace, but completion was delayed until 1770; construction was interrupted in the 1740s by the War of the Austrian Succession and then again in 1756 with the start of the Seven Years' War. These wars emptied the royal treasury and thereafter construction was mostly funded by Madame du Barry, Louis XV's favorite mistress. In 1771, Louis XV had the northern Ministers' Wing rebuilt in Neoclassical style by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, his court architect, as it was in the process of falling down. That work was also stopped by financial constraints, and it remained incomplete when Louis XV died in 1774. In 1784, Louis XVI briefly moved the royal family to the Château de Saint-Cloud ahead of more renovations to the Palace of Versailles, but construction could not begin because of financial difficulty and political crisis. In 1789, the French Revolution swept the royal family and government out of Versailles forever.

 

Role in politics and culture

The Palace of Versailles was key to Louis XIV's politics, as an expression and concentration of French art and culture, and for the centralization of royal power. Louis XIV first used Versailles to promote himself with a series of nighttime festivals in its gardens in 1664, 1668, and 1674, the events of which were disseminated throughout Europe by print and engravings. As early as 1669, but especially from 1678, Louis XIV sought to make Versailles his seat of government, and he expanded the palace so as to fit the court within it. The moving of the court to Versailles did not come until 1682, however, and not officially, as opinion on Versailles was mixed among the nobility of France.

 

By 1687, however, it was evident to all that Versailles was the de facto capital of France, and Louis XIV succeeded in attracting the nobility to Versailles to pursue prestige and royal patronage within a strict court etiquette, thus eroding their traditional provincial power bases. It was at the Palace of Versailles that Louis XIV received the Doge of Genoa, Francesco Maria Imperiale Lercari in 1685, an embassy from the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1686, and an embassy from Safavid Iran in 1715.[

 

Louis XIV died at Versailles on 1 September 1715 and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV, then the duke of Anjou, who was moved to Vincennes and then to Paris by Louis XV's regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. Versailles was neglected until 1722, when Philippe II removed the court to Versailles to escape the unpopularity of his regency, and when Louis XV began his majority. The 1722 move, however, broke the cultural power of Versailles, and during the reign of Louis XVI, courtiers spent their leisure in Paris, not Versailles.

 

During Christmas 1763, Mozart and his family visited Versailles and dined with the kings. The 7-year-old Mozart played several works during his stay and later dedicated his first two harpsichord sonatas, published in 1764 in Paris, to Madame Victoria, daughter of Louis XV.

 

In 1783, the palace was the site of the signing of the last two of the three treaties of the Peace of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War. On September 3, British and American delegates, led by Benjamin Franklin, signed the Treaty of Paris at the Hôtel d'York (now 56 Rue Jacob) in Paris, granting the United States independence. On September 4, Spain and France signed separate treaties with England at the Palace of Versailles, formally ending the war.

 

The King and Queen learned of the Storming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July 1789, while they were at the palace, and remained isolated there as the Revolution in Paris spread. The growing anger in Paris led to the Women's March on Versailles on 5 October 1789. A crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the high price and scarcity of bread, marched from the markets of Paris to Versailles. They took weapons from the city armory, besieged the palace, and compelled the King and royal family and the members of the National Assembly to return with them to Paris the following day.

 

As soon as the royal family departed, the palace was closed. In 1792, the National Convention, the new revolutionary government, ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the palace to the Louvre. In 1793, the Convention declared the abolition of the monarchy and ordered all of the royal property in the palace to be sold at auction. The auction took place between 25 August 1793 and 11 August 1794. The furnishings and art of the palace, including the furniture, mirrors, baths, and kitchen equipment, were sold in seventeen thousand lots. All fleurs-de-lys and royal emblems on the buildings were chambered or chiseled off. The empty buildings were turned into a storehouse for furnishings, art and libraries confiscated from the nobility. The empty grand apartments were opened for tours beginning in 1793, and a small museum of French paintings and art school was opened in some of the empty rooms.

 

By virtue of an order issued by the Versailles district directorate in August 1794, the Royal Gate was destroyed, the Cour Royale was cleared and the Cour de Marbre lost its precious floor.

 

19th century – history museum and government venue

When Napoleon became Emperor of the French in 1804, he considered making Versailles his residence but abandoned the idea because of the cost of the renovation. Prior to his marriage with Marie-Louise in 1810, he had the Grand Trianon restored and refurnished as a springtime residence for himself and his family, in the style of furnishing that it is seen today.

 

In 1815, with the final downfall of Napoleon, Louis XVIII, the younger brother of Louis XVI, became King, and considered returning the royal residence to Versailles, where he had been born. He ordered the restoration of the royal apartments, but the task and cost was too great. Louis XVIII had the far end of the south wing of the Cour Royale demolished and rebuilt (1814–1824) to match the Gabriel wing of 1780 opposite, which gave greater uniformity of appearance to the front entrance. Neither he nor his successor Charles X lived at Versailles.

 

The French Revolution of 1830 brought a new monarch, Louis-Philippe to power, and a new ambition for Versailles. He did not reside at Versailles but began the creation of the Museum of the History of France, dedicated to "all the glories of France", which had been used to house some members of the royal family. The museum was begun in 1833 and inaugurated on 30 June 1837. Its most famous room is the Galerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles), which lies on most of the length of the second floor of the south wing. The museum project largely came to a halt when Louis Philippe was overthrown in 1848, though the paintings of French heroes and great battles still remain in the south wing.

 

Emperor Napoleon III used the palace on occasion as a stage for grand ceremonies. One of the most lavish was the banquet that he hosted for Queen Victoria in the Royal Opera of Versailles on 25 August 1855.

 

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the palace was occupied by the general staff of the victorious German Army. Parts of the château, including the Gallery of Mirrors, were turned into a military hospital. The creation of the German Empire, combining Prussia and the surrounding German states under William I, was formally proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors on 18 January 1871. The Germans remained in the palace until the signing of the armistice in March 1871. In that month, the government of the new Third French Republic, which had departed Paris during the War for Tours and then Bordeaux, moved into the palace. The National Assembly held its meetings in the Opera House.

 

The uprising of the Paris Commune in March 1871, prevented the French government, under Adolphe Thiers, from returning immediately to Paris. The military operation which suppressed the Commune at the end of May was directed from Versailles, and the prisoners of the Commune were marched there and put on trial in military courts. In 1875 a second parliamentary body, the French Senate, was created and held its meetings for the election of a President of the Republic in a new hall created in 1876 in the south wing of the palace. The French Senate continues to meet in the palace on special occasions, such as the amendment of the French Constitution.

 

20th century

The end of the 19th and the early 20th century saw the beginning of restoration efforts at the palace, first led by Pierre de Nolhac, poet and scholar and the first conservator, who began his work in 1892. The conservation and restoration were interrupted by two world wars but have continued until the present day.

 

The palace returned to the world stage in June 1919, when, after six months of negotiations, the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the First World War, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. Between 1925 and 1928, the American philanthropist and multi-millionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr. gave $2,166,000, the equivalent of about thirty million dollars today, to restore and refurbish the palace.

 

More work took place after World War II, with the restoration of the Royal Opera of Versailles. The theater was reopened in 1957, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

 

In 1978, parts of the palace were heavily damaged in a bombing committed by Breton terrorists.

 

Starting in the 1950s, when the museum of Versailles was under the directorship of Gérald van der Kemp, the objective was to restore the palace to its state – or as close to it as possible – in 1789 when the royal family left the palace. Among the early projects was the repair of the roof over the Hall of Mirrors; the publicity campaign brought international attention to the plight of post-war Versailles and garnered much foreign money including a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

 

One of the more costly endeavors for the museum and France's Fifth Republic has been to repurchase as much of the original furnishings as possible. Consequently, because furniture with a royal provenance – and especially furniture that was made for Versailles – is a highly sought-after commodity on the international market, the museum has spent considerable funds on retrieving much of the palace's original furnishings.

 

21st century

In 2003, a new restoration initiative – the "Grand Versailles" project – was started, which began with the replanting of the gardens, which had lost over 10,000 trees during Cyclone Lothar on 26 December 1999. One part of the initiative, the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors, was completed in 2006. Another major project was the further restoration of the backstage areas of the Royal Opera of Versailles in 2007 to 2009.

 

The Palace of Versailles is currently owned by the French state. Its formal title is the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. Since 1995, it has been run as a Public Establishment, with an independent administration and management supervised by the French Ministry of Culture.

 

The grounds of the palace will host the equestrian competition during the 2024 Summer Olympics.

 

Architecture and plan

The Palace of Versailles is a visual history of French architecture from the 1630s to the 1780s. Its earliest portion, the corps de logis, was built for Louis XIII in the style of his reign with brick, marble, and slate, which Le Vau surrounded in the 1660s with Enveloppe, an edifice that was inspired by Renaissance-era Italian villas. When Mansart made further expansions to the palace in the 1680s, he used the Enveloppe as the model for his work. Neoclassical additions were made to the palace with the remodeling of the Ministers' Wings in the 1770s, by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, and after the Bourbon Restoration.

 

The palace was largely completed by the death of Louis XIV in 1715. The eastern facing palace has a U-shaped layout, with the corps de logis and symmetrical advancing secondary wings terminating with the Dufour Pavilion on the south and the Gabriel Pavilion to the north, creating an expansive cour d'honneur known as the Royal Court (Cour Royale). Flanking the Royal Court are two enormous asymmetrical wings that result in a façade of 402 metres (1,319 ft) in length. Covered by around a million square feet (10 hectares) of roof, the palace has 2,143 windows, 1,252 chimneys, and 67 staircases.[

 

The palace and its grounds have had a great influence on architecture and horticulture from the mid-17th century to the end of the 18th century. Examples of works influenced by Versailles include Christopher Wren's work at Hampton Court Palace, Berlin Palace, the Palace of La Granja, Stockholm Palace, Ludwigsburg Palace, Karlsruhe Palace, Rastatt Palace, Nymphenburg Palace, Schleissheim Palace, and Esterházy Palace.

 

Royal Apartments

The construction in 1668–1671 of Le Vau's enveloppe around the outside of Louis XIII's red brick and white stone château added state apartments for the king and the queen. The addition was known at the time as the château neuf (new château). The grands appartements (Grand Apartments, also referred to as the State Apartments[141][142]) include the grand appartement du roi and the grand appartement de la reine. They occupied the main or principal floor of the château neuf, with three rooms in each apartment facing the garden to the west and four facing the garden parterres to the north and south, respectively. The private apartments of the king (the appartement du roi and the petit appartement du roi) and those of the queen (the petit appartement de la reine) remained in the château vieux (old château). Le Vau's design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, including the placement of the apartments on the main floor (the piano nobile, the next floor up from the ground level), a convention the architect borrowed from Italian palace design.

 

The king's State Apartment consisted of an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. The queen's apartment formed a parallel enfilade with that of the grand appartement du roi. After the addition of the Hall of Mirrors (1678–1684) the king's apartment was reduced to five rooms (until the reign of Louis XV, when two more rooms were added) and the queen's to four.

 

The queen's apartments served as the residence of three queens of France – Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, wife of Louis XIV, Marie Leczinska, wife of Louis XV, and Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. Additionally, Louis XIV's granddaughter-in-law, Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, wife of the Petit Dauphin, occupied these rooms from 1697 (the year of her marriage) to her death in 1712.

 

Ambassador's Staircase

The Ambassadors' Staircase (Escalier des Ambassadeurs) was an imperial staircase built from 1674 to 1680 by d'Orbay. Until Louis XV had it demolished in 1752 to create a courtyard for his private apartments, the staircase was the primary entrance into the Palace of Versailles and the royal apartments especially. It was entered from the courtyard via a vestibule that, cramped and dark, contrasted greatly with the tall, open space of the staircase – famously lit naturally with a skylight – so as to overawe visitors.

 

The staircase and walls of the room that contained it were clad in polychrome marble and gilded bronze, with decor in the Ionic order. Le Brun and painted the walls and ceiling of the room according to a festive theme to celebrate Louis XIV's victory in the Franco-Dutch War. On the wall immediately above the staircase were trompe-l'œil paintings of people from the Four Parts of the World looking into the staircase over a balustrade, a motif repeated on the ceiling fresco. There they were joined by allegorical figures for the twelve months of the year and various Classical Greek figures such as the Muses. A marble bust of Louis XIV, sculpted by Jean Warin in 1665–66, was placed in a niche above the first landing of the staircase.

 

The State Apartments of the King

The construction of the Hall of Mirrors between 1678 and 1686 coincided with a major alteration to the State Apartments. They were originally intended as his residence, but the King transformed them into galleries for his finest paintings, and venues for his many receptions for courtiers. During the season from All-Saints Day in November until Easter, these were usually held three times a week, from six to ten in the evening, with various entertainments.

 

The Salon of Hercules

This was originally a chapel. It was rebuilt beginning in 1712 under the supervision of the First Architect of the King, Robert de Cotte, to showcase two paintings by Paolo Veronese, Eleazar and Rebecca and Meal at the House of Simon the Pharisee, which was a gift to Louis XIV from the Republic of Venice in 1664. The painting on the ceiling, The Apotheosis of Hercules, by François Lemoyne, was completed in 1736, and gave the room its name.

 

The Salon of Abundance

The Salon of Abundance was the antechamber to the Cabinet of Curios (now the Games Room), which displayed Louis XIV's collection of precious jewels and rare objects. Some of the objects in the collection are depicted in René-Antoine Houasse's painting Abundance and Liberality (1683), located on the ceiling over the door opposite the windows.

 

The Salon of Venus

This salon was used for serving light meals during evening receptions. The principal feature in this room is Jean Warin's life-size statue of Louis XIV in the costume of a Roman emperor. On the ceiling in a gilded oval frame is another painting by Houasse, Venus subjugating the Gods and Powers (1672–1681). Trompe-l'œil paintings and sculpture around the ceiling illustrate mythological themes.

 

The Salon of Mercury

The Salon of Mercury was the original State Bedchamber when Louis XIV officially moved the court and government to the palace in 1682. The bed is a replica of the original commissioned by King Louis-Philippe in the 19th century when he turned the palace into a museum. The ceiling paintings by the Flemish artist Jean Baptiste de Champaigne depict the god Mercury in his chariot, drawn by a rooster, and Alexander the Great and Ptolemy surrounded by scholars and philosophers. The Automaton Clock was made for the King by the royal clockmaker Antoine Morand in 1706. When it chimes the hour, figures of Louis XIV and Fame descend from a cloud.

 

The Salon of Mars

The Salon of Mars was used by the royal guards until 1782, and was decorated on a military theme with helmets and trophies. It was turned into a concert room between 1684 and 1750, with galleries for musicians on either side. Portraits of Louis XV and his Queen, Marie Leszczinska, by the Flemish artist Carle Van Loo decorate the room today.

 

The Salon of Apollo

The Salon of Apollo was the royal throne room under Louis XIV, and was the setting for formal audiences. The eight-foot-high silver throne was melted down in 1689 to help pay the costs of an expensive war, and was replaced by a more modest throne of gilded wood. The central painting on the ceiling, by Charles de la Fosse, depicts the Sun Chariot of Apollo, the King's favorite emblem, pulled by four horses and surrounded by the four seasons.

 

The Salon of Diana

The Salon of Diana was used by Louis XIV as a billiards room, and had galleries from which courtiers could watch him play. The decoration of the walls and ceiling depicts scenes from the life of the goddess Diana. The celebrated bust of Louis XIV by Bernini made during the famous sculptor's visit to France in 1665 is on display here.

 

Private apartments of the King and Queen

The apartments of the King were the heart of the château; they were in the same location as the rooms of Louis XIII, the creator of the château, on the first floor (second floor US style). They were set aside for the personal use of Louis XIV in 1683. He and his successors Louis XV and Louis XVI used these rooms for official functions, such as the ceremonial lever ("waking up") and the coucher ("going to bed") of the monarch, which was attended by a crowd of courtiers.

 

The King's apartment was accessed from the Hall of Mirrors from the Oeil de Boeuf antechamber or from the Guardroom and the Grand Couvert, the ceremonial room where Louis XIV often took his evening meals, seated alone at a table in front of the fireplace. His spoon, fork, and knife were brought to him in a golden box. The courtiers could watch as he dined.

 

The King's bedchamber had originally been a Drawing Room before Louis XIV transformed it into his own bedroom in 1701. He died there on 1 September 1715. Both Louis XV and Louis XVI continued to use the bedroom for their official awakening and going to bed. On 6 October 1789, from the balcony of this room Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, joined by the Marquis de Lafayette, looked down on the hostile crowd in the courtyard, shortly before the King was forced to return to Paris.

 

The bed of the King is placed beneath a carved relief by Nicolas Coustou entitled France watching over the sleeping King. The decoration includes several paintings set into the paneling, including a self-portrait of Antony van Dyck.

 

Private apartments of The Queen

The petit appartement de la reine is a suite of rooms that were reserved for the personal use of the queen. Originally arranged for the use of the Marie-Thérèse, consort of Louis XIV, the rooms were later modified for use by Marie Leszczyńska and finally for Marie-Antoinette. The Queen's apartments and the King's Apartments were laid out on the same design, each suite having seven rooms. Both suites had ceilings painted with scenes from mythology; the King's ceilings featured male figures, the Queen's featured females.

 

Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors is a long gallery at the westernmost part of the palace that looks out onto the gardens. The hall was built from 1678 to 1681 on the site of a terrace Le Vau built between the king and queen's suites. The hall is clad in marble and decorated in a modified version of the Corinthian order, with 578 mirrors facing 17 windows and reflecting the light provided by them. The ceiling fresco, painted by Le Brun over the next four years, embellishes the first 18 years of Louis XIV's reign in 30 scenes, 17 of which are military victories over the Dutch. The fresco depicts Louis XIV himself alongside Classical figures in the scenes celebrating moments in his reign such as the beginning of personal rule in 1661, breaking from earlier frescoes at Versailles that used allegories derived from Classical and mythological scenes.

 

The Salon of War and the Salon of Peace bookend the Hall of Mirrors on its northern and southern ends respectively. The Salon of War, constructed and decorated from 1678 to 1686, celebrates French victories in the Franco-Dutch War with marble panels, gilded bronze trophies of arms, and a stucco bas-relief of Louis XIV on horsebask riding over his enemies. The Salon of Peace is decorated in the same fashion but according to its eponymous theme.

 

Royal Chapel

The Royal Chapel of Versailles is located at the southern end of the north wing. The building stands 40-meter (130 ft) high, and measures 42 meters (138 ft) long and 24 meters (79 ft) wide. The chapel is rectangular with a semicircular apse, combining traditional, Gothic royal French church architecture with the French Baroque style of Versailles. The ceiling of the chapel is constituted by an unbroken vault, divided into three frescos by Antoine Coypel, Charles de La Fosse, and Jean Jouvenet. The palette of motifs beneath the frescoes glorify the deeds of Louis IX, and include images of David, Constantine, Charlemagne, and Louis IX, fleur de lis, and Louis XIV's monogram. The organ of the chapel was built by Robert Clicquot and Julien Tribuot in 1709–1710.

 

Louis XIV commissioned the chapel, its sixth, from Mansart and Le Brun in 1683–84. It was the last building constructed at Versailles during Louis XIV's reign. Construction was delayed until 1699, however, and it was not completed until 1710. The only major modification to the chapel since its completion was the removal of a lantern from its roof in 1765. A full restoration of the chapel began in late 2017 and lasted into early 2021.

 

Royal Opera

The Royal Opera of Versailles was originally commissioned by Louis XIV in 1682 and was to be built at the end of the North Wing with a design by Mansart and Vigarani. However, due to the expense of the King's continental wars, the project was put aside. The idea was revived by Louis XV with a new design by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1748, but this was also temporarily put aside. The project was revived and rushed ahead for the planned celebration of the marriage of the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and Marie-Antoinette. For economy and speed, the new opera was built almost entirely of wood, which also gave it very high quality acoustics. The wood was painted to resemble marble, and the ceiling was decorated with a painting of the Apollo, the god of the arts, preparing crowns for illustrious artists, by Louis Jean-Jacques Durameau. The sculptor Augustin Pajou added statuary and reliefs to complete the decoration. The new Opera was inaugurated on 16 May 1770, as part of the celebration of the royal wedding.

 

In October 1789, early in the French Revolution, the last banquet for the royal guardsmen was hosted by the King in the opera, before he departed for Paris. Following the Franco-German War in 1871 and then the Paris Commune until 1875, the French National Assembly met in the opera, until the proclamation of the Third French Republic and the return of the government to Paris.

 

Museum of the History of France

Shortly after becoming King in 1830, Louis Philippe I decided to transform the palace into a museum devoted to "All the Glories of France," with paintings and sculpture depicting famous French victories and heroes. Most of the apartments of the palace were entirely demolished (in the main building, practically all of the apartments were annihilated, with only the apartments of the king and queen remaining almost intact), and turned into a series of several large rooms and galleries: the Coronation Room (whose original volume was left untouched by Louis-Philippe), which displays the celebrated painting of the coronation of Napoleon I by Jacques-Louis David; the Hall of Battles; commemorating French victories with large-scale paintings; and the 1830 room, which celebrated Louis-Philippe's own coming to power in the French Revolution of 1830. Some paintings were brought from the Louvre, including works depicting events in French history by Philippe de Champaigne, Pierre Mignard, Laurent de La Hyre, Charles Le Brun, Adam Frans van der Meulen, Nicolas de Largillière, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Jean-Marc Nattier, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Hubert Robert, Thomas Lawrence, Jacques-Louis David, and Antoine-Jean Gros. Others were commissioned especially for the museum by prominent artists of the early 19th century, including Eugène Delacroix, who painted Saint Louis at the French victory over the British in the Battle of Taillebourg in 1242. Other painters featured include Horace Vernet and François Gérard. A monumental painting by Vernet features Louis Philippe himself, with his sons, posing in front of the gates of the palace.

 

The overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848 put an end to his grand plans for the museum, but the Gallery of Battles is still as it was, and is passed through by many visitors to the royal apartments and grand salons. Another set of rooms on the first floor has been made into galleries on Louis XIV and his court, displaying furniture, paintings, and sculptures. In recent years, eleven rooms on the ground floor between the Chapel and the Opera have been turned into a history of the palace, with audiovisual displays and models.

 

Estate of Versailles

The estate of Versailles consists of the palace, the subsidiary buildings around it, and its park and gardens. As of June 2021, the estate altogether covers an area of 800 hectares (8.0 km2; 2,000 acres), with the park and gardens laid out to the south, west, and north of the palace. The palace is approached from the east by the Avenue de Paris, measuring 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to a gate between the Grande and Petite Écuries. Beyond these stables is the Place d'Armes, where the Avenue de Paris meets the Avenue de Sceaux and Avenue de Saint-Cloud (see map), the three roads that formed the main arteries of the city of Versailles. Exactly where the three roads meet is a gate leading into the cour d'honneur. hemmed in by the Ministers' Wings. Beyond is the Royal Gate and the main palace, which wraps around the Royal and finally Marble Courts

 

The estate was established by Louis XIII as a hunting retreat, with a park just to the west of his château. From 1661, Louis XIV expanded the estate until, at its greatest extent, the estate was made up by the Grand Parc , a hunting ground of 15,000 hectares (150 km2; 37,000 acres), and the gardens, called the Petit Parc, which covered 1,700 hectares (17 km2; 4,200 acres). A 25-mile (40 km) long, 10-foot (3.0 m) high wall with 24 gateways enclosed the estate.

 

The landscape of the estate had to be created from the bog that surrounded Louis XIII's château using landscape architecture usually employed in fortress building. The approach to the palace and the gardens were carefully laid out via the moving of earth and construction of terraces. The water from the marsh was marshalled into a series of lakes and ponds around Versailles, but these reservoirs were not sufficient for the palace, city, or gardens. Great lengths were taken to supply Versailles with water, such as the damming of the river Bièvre to create an inflow in the 1660s, the construction of an enormous pumping station at the river Seine near Marly-le-Roi in 1681, and an attempt to divert water from the river Eure with a canal in the later 1680s.

 

Gardens

The gardens of Versailles, as they have existed since the reign of Louis XIV, are the work of André Le Nôtre. Le Nôtre's gardens were preceded by a simple garden laid out in the 1630s by landscape architects Jacques Boyceau and Jacques de Nemours, which he rearranged along an east–west axis that, because of Louis XIV's land purchases and the clearing of woodland, were expanded literally as far as could be seen. The resulting gardens were a collaboration between Le Nôtre, Le Brun, Colbert, and Louis XIV, marked by rigid order, discipline, and open space, with axial paths, flowerbeds, hedges, and ponds and lakes as motifs. They became the epitome of the French formal garden style, and have been very influential and widely imitated or reproduced.

 

Subsidiary structures

The first of the subsidiary structures of the Palace of Versailles was the Versailles Menagerie [fr],[199][200] built by Le Vau between the years 1662 and 1664, at the southern end of the Grand Canal. The apartments, overlooking the pens, were renovated by Mansart from 1698 to 1700, but the Menagerie fell into disuse in 1712. After a long period of decay, it was demolished in 1801. The Versailles Orangery, just to the south of the palace, was first built by Le Vau in 1663, originally as part of the general moving of earth to create the Estate.[191] It was also modified by Mansart, who, from 1681 to 1685, totally rebuilt it and doubled its size.

 

In late 1679, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to build the Château de Marly, a retreat at the edge of Versailles's estate, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the palace. The château consisted of a primary residential building and twelve pavilions, in Palladian style placed in two rows on either side of the main building. Construction was completed in 1686, when Louis XIV spent his first night there. The château was nationalized and sold in 1799, and subsequently demolished and replaced with industrial buildings. These were themselves demolished in 1805, and then in 1811 the estate was purchased by Napoleon. On 1 June 2009, the grounds of the Château de Marly were ceded to the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles.

 

La Lanterne, is a hunting lodge named after the lantern that topped the nearby Menagerie that was built in 1787 by Philippe Louis de Noailles, then the palace governor. It has since 1960 been a state residence.

 

Petit Trianon

The Petit Trianon, whose construction from 1762 to 1768 led to the advent of the names "Grand" and "Petit Trianon", was constructed for Louis XV and the Madame du Barry in the Neoclassical style by Gabriel. The building has a piano nobile, basement, and attic, with five windows on each floor. On becoming king, Louis XVI gave the Petit Trianon to Marie Antoinette, who remodeled it, relaid its gardens in the then-current English and Oriental styles, and formed her own court there.

 

In 1668, Louis XIV purchased and demolished the hamlet of Trianon, near the northern tip of the Grand Canal, and in its place, he commissioned Le Vau to construct a retreat from court, remembered as the Porcelain Trianon. Designed and built by Le Vau in 1670, it was the first example of Chinoiserie (faux Chinese) architecture in Europe, though it was largely designed in French style. The roof was clad not with porcelain but with delftware, and was thus prone to leaks, so in 1687 Louis XIV ordered it demolished. Nevertheless, the Porcelain Trianon was itself influential and copycats were built across Europe.

 

The Grand Trianon

The Grand Trianon with courtyard and gardens. The wing at left is a residence of the President of France.

The Grand Trianon with courtyard and gardens. The wing at left is a residence of the President of France.

 

To replace the Porcelain Trianon, Louis XIV tasked Mansart with the construction in 1687 of the Grand Trianon, built from marble in three months. The Grand Trianon has a single story, except for its attached service wing, which was modified by Mansart in 1705–06. The east façade has a courtyard while the west faces the gardens of the Grand Trianon, and between them a peristyle. The interiors are mostly original,[214] and housed Louis XIV, the Madame de Maintenon, Marie Leszczynska, and Napoleon, who ordered restorations to the building. Under de Gaulle, the north wing of the Grand Trianon became a residence of the President of France.

 

The Queen's hamlet and Theater

Near the Trianons are the French pavilion, built by Gabriel in 1750 between the two residences, and the Queen's Theater and Queen's Hamlet, built by architect Richard Mique in 1780 and from 1783 to 1785 respectively. These were both built at the behest of Marie Antoinette; the theater, hidden in the gardens, indulged her appreciation of opera and is absolutely original, and the hamlet to extend her gardens with rustic amenities. The building scheme of the Queen's Hamlet includes a farmhouse (the farm was to produce milk and eggs for the queen), a dairy, a dovecote, a boudoir, a barn that burned down during the French Revolution, a mill and a tower in the form of a lighthouse.

 

Modern political and ceremonial functions

The palace still serves political functions. Heads of state are regaled in the Hall of Mirrors; the bicameral French Parliament—consisting of the Senate (Sénat) and the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale)—meet in joint session (a congress of the French Parliament) in Versailles to revise or otherwise amend the French Constitution, a tradition that came into effect with the promulgation of the 1875 Constitution. For example, the Parliament met in joint session at Versailles to pass constitutional amendments in June 1999 (for domestic applicability of International Criminal Court decisions and for gender equality in candidate lists), in January 2000 (ratifying the Treaty of Amsterdam), and in March 2003 (specifying the "decentralized organization" of the French Republic).

 

In 2009, President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the global financial crisis before a congress in Versailles, the first time that this had been done since 1848, when Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte gave an address before the French Second Republic. Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, President François Hollande gave a speech before a rare joint session of parliament at the Palace of Versailles. This was the third time since 1848 that a French president addressed a joint session of the French Parliament at Versailles. The president of the National Assembly has an official apartment at the Palace of Versailles. In 2023 a state visit by Charles III to France included a state banquet at the Palace.

White-bellied Sea Eagle - Panorama

 

The white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's sea eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies. A distinctive bird, the adult white-bellied sea eagle has a white head, breast, under-wing coverts and tail. The upper parts are grey and the black under-wing flight feathers contrast with the white coverts. The tail is short and wedge-shaped as in all Haliaeetus species. Like many raptors, the female is slightly larger than the male, and can measure up to 90 cm (35 in) long with a wingspan of up to 2.2 m (7.2 ft), and weigh 4.5 kg (9.9 lb). Immature birds have brown plumage, which is gradually replaced by white until the age of five or six years. The call is a loud goose-like honking.

 

Resident from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to Australia on coasts and major waterways, the white-bellied sea eagle breeds and hunts near water, and fish form around half of its diet. Opportunistic, it consumes carrion and a wide variety of animals. Although rated as Least Concern globally, it has declined in parts of southeast Asia such as Thailand, and southeastern Australia. It is ranked as Threatened in Victoria and Vulnerable in South Australia and Tasmania. Human disturbance to its habitat is the main threat, both from direct human activity near nests which impacts on breeding success, and from removal of suitable trees for nesting. The white-bellied sea eagle is revered by indigenous people in many parts of Australia, and is the subject of various folk tales throughout its range.

 

The white-bellied sea eagle has a white head, rump and underparts, and dark or slate-grey back and wings. In flight, the black flight feathers on the wings are easily seen when the bird is viewed from below. The large, hooked bill is a leaden blue-grey with a darker tip, and the irides are dark brown. The cere is also lead grey. The legs and feet are yellow or grey, with long black talons (claws). Unlike those of eagles of the genus Aquila, the legs are not feathered. The sexes are similar. Males are 66–80 cm (26–31 in) long and weigh 1.8–3 kg (4.0–6.6 lb). Females are slightly larger, at 80–90 cm (31–35 in) and 2.5–4.5 kg (5.5–9.9 lb). The wingspan ranges from 1.78 to 2.2 m (5.8 to 7.2 ft). A 2004 study on 37 birds from Australia and Papua New Guinea (3 °S to 50 °S) found that birds could be sexed reliably on size, and that birds from latitudes further south were larger than those from the north. There is no seasonal variation in plumage. The moulting pattern of the white-bellied sea eagle is poorly known. It appears to take longer than a year to complete, and can be interrupted and later resumed from the point of interruption.

 

The wings are modified when gliding so that they rise from the body at an angle, but are closer to horizontal further along the wingspan. In silhouette, the comparatively long neck, head and beak stick out from the front almost as far as the tail does behind. For active flight, the white-bellied sea eagle alternates strong deep wing-beats with short periods of gliding.

 

A young white-bellied sea eagle in its first year is predominantly brown, with pale cream-streaked plumage on their head, neck, nape and rump areas. The plumage becomes more infiltrated with white until it acquires the complete adult plumage by the fourth or fifth year. The species breeds from around six years of age onwards. The lifespan is thought to be around 30 years.

 

The loud goose-like honking call is a familiar sound, particularly during the breeding season; pairs often honk in unison, and often carry on for some time when perched. The male's call is higher-pitched and more rapid than that of the female. Australian naturalist David Fleay observed that the call is among the loudest and furthest-carrying of all Australian bird calls, in stark contrast to the relatively quiet calls of the wedge-tailed eagle.

 

Adult white-bellied sea eagles are unmistakable and unlikely to be confused with any other bird. Immature birds can be confused with wedge-tailed eagles. However, the plumage of the latter is darker, the tail longer, and the legs feathered. They might also be confused with the black-breasted buzzard (Hamirostra melanosternon), but this species is much smaller, has white patches on the wings, and has a more undulating flight. In India, the Egyptian vulture has white plumage, but is smaller and has a whiter back and wings. The white tail of the white-bellied sea eagle in flight distinguishes it from other species of large eagles. In the Philippines, it can be confused with the Philippine eagle, which can be distinguished by its crest; immature white-bellied sea eagles resemble immature grey-headed fish eagles, but can be identified by their more wholly dark brown underparts and flight feathers, and wedge-shaped tail.

 

The white-bellied sea eagle is found regularly from Mumbai (sometimes north to Gujarat, and in the past in the Lakshadweep Islands) eastwards in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in southern Asia, through all of coastal Southeast Asia including Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Indochina, the main and offshore islands of the Philippines, and southern China including Hong Kong, Hainan and Fuzhou, eastwards through New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, and Australia. In the northern Solomons it is restricted to Nissan Island, and replaced elsewhere by Sanford's sea eagle. In Victoria, where it is otherwise scarce, it is locally more common at Corner Inlet and Gippsland Lakes. Similarly in South Australia, it is most abundant along the north coast of Kangaroo Island. The range extends to the islands of Bass Strait and Tasmania, and it is thought able to move between the islands and the mainland. There is one unconfirmed record from Lord Howe Island and several from New Zealand.

 

They are a common sight in coastal areas, but may also be seen well inland (It is reportedly seen at the Panna Tiger Reserve in central India, nearly 1,000 km (621 mi) away from the sea shore) The white-bellied sea eagle is generally sedentary and territorial, although it may travel long distances. They have been reported travelling upriver to hunt for flying foxes (Pteropus). Populations in inland Australia move around as inland bodies of water appear and then dry up. In one instance, a pair came to breed at Lake Albacutya in northwestern Victoria after the lake had been empty for 30 years. The species is easily disturbed by humans, especially when nesting, and may desert nesting sites as a result. It is found in greater numbers in areas with little or no human impact or interference.

 

The white-bellied sea eagle is an opportunistic carnivore and consumes a wide variety of animal prey, including carrion. It often catches a fish by flying low over the water and grasping it in its talons. It prepares for the strike by holding its feet far forward (almost under its chin) and then strikes backwards while simultaneously beating its wings to lift upwards. Generally only one foot is used to seize prey. The white-bellied sea eagle may also dive at a 45 degree angle from its perch and briefly submerge to catch fish near the water surface. While hunting over water on sunny days, it often flies directly into the sun or at right angles to it, seemingly to avoid casting shadows over the water and hence alerting potential prey.

 

The white-bellied sea eagle was important to different tribes of indigenous people across Australia. The guardian animal of the Wreck Bay aboriginal community, it is also the official emblem of the Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens in the Jervis Bay Territory. The community considered localities around Booderee National Park to be connected with it. A local Sydney name was gulbi, and the bird was the totem of Colebee, the late 18th century indigenous leader of the Cadigal people. The white-bellied sea eagle is important to the Mak Mak people of the floodplains to the southwest of Darwin in the northern Territory, who recognised its connection with "good country". It is their totem and integrally connected to their land. The term Mak Mak is their name for both the species and themselves. The Umbrawarra Gorge Nature Park was a Dreaming site of the bird, in this area known as Kuna-ngarrk-ngarrk. It was similarly symbolic to the Tasmanian indigenous people—Nairanaa was one name used there.

 

Known as Manulab to the people of Nissan Island, the white-bellied sea eagle is considered special and killing it is forbidden. Its calls at night are said to foretell danger, and seeing a group of calling eagles flying overhead is a sign that someone has died. Local Malay folk tales tell of the white-bellied sea eagle screaming to warn the shellfish of the turning of tides, and a local name burung hamba siput translates as "slave of the shellfish". Called Kaulo in the recently extinct Aka-Bo language, the white-bellied sea eagle was held to be the ancestor of all birds in one Andaman Islands folk tale. On the Maharashtra coast, their name is kakan and its call is said to indicate the presence of fish in the sea. They sometimes nest on coconut trees. Owners of the trees destroy the nest to avoid attacks when harvesting the coconuts.

. . . sadly Non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple complex

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The Jagannath Temple of Puri (Odia: ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ ମନ୍ଦିର) is a famous, sacred Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath and located on the eastern coast of India, at Puri in the state of Odisha.

 

The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of god Krishna and god Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime.

 

Even though most Hindu deities that are worshiped are made out of stone or metal, the image of Jagannath is wooden. Every twelve or nineteen years these wooden figures are ceremoniously replaced by using sacred trees, that have to be carved as an exact replica. The reason behind this ceremonial tradition is the highly secret Navakalevara ('New Body' or 'New Embodiment') ceremony, an intricate set of rituals that accompany the renewal of the wooden statues.

 

The temple was built in the 12th century atop its ruins by the progenitor of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva. The temple is famous for its annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three main temple deities are hauled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars. Since medieval times, it is also associated with intense religious fervour.

 

The temple is sacred to the Vaishnava traditions and saint Ramananda who was closely associated with the temple. It is also of particular significance to the followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism whose founder, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was attracted to the deity, Jagannath, and lived in Puri for many years.

 

DEITIES

The central forms of Jagannath, Balabhadra and the goddess Subhadra constitute the trinity of deities sitting on the bejewelled platform or the Ratnabedi in the inner sanctum. The Sudarshan Chakra, deities of Madanmohan, Sridevi and Vishwadhatri are also placed on the Ratnavedi. The deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan Chakra are made from sacred Neem logs known as Daru Brahma. Depending on the season the deities are adorned in different garbs and jewels. Worship of the deities pre-date the temple structure and may have originated in an ancient tribal shrine.

 

ORIGINS OF THE TEMPLE

According to the recently discovered copper plates from the Ganga dynasty, the construction of the current Jagannath temple was initiated by the ruler of Kalinga, Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev. The Jaga mohan and the Vimana portions of the temple were built during his reign (1078 - 1148 CE). However, it was only in the year 1174 CE that the Oriya ruler Ananga Bhima Deva rebuilt the temple to give a shape in which it stands today.

 

Jagannath worship in the temple continued until 1558, when Odisha was attacked by the Afghan general Kalapahad. Subsequently, when Ramachandra Deb established an independent kingdom at Khurda in Orissa, the temple was consecrated and the deities reinstalled.

 

LEGENDS

Legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later Oriya works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Lord Neela Madhaba by a Savar king (tribal chief) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretly in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita. At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Lord Neela Madhaba was worshipped.

 

Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days, which enabled him to find out the cave later on. On hearing from him, King Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha Orissa on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared. The king was disappointed. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, Then a celestial voice cried 'thou shalt see him.' Afterwards the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificent temple for Vishnu. Sri Narasimha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. Also an astral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make idols out of it. Accordingly, the king got the image of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan made out of the wood of the divine tree and installed them in the temple.

 

INDRADYUMNA´S PRAYER TO LORD BRAHMA

King Indradyumna put up for Jagannath the tallest monument of the world. It was 1,000 cubits high. He invited Lord Brahma, the cosmic creator, consecrate the temple and the images. Brahma came all the way from Heaven for this purpose. Seeing the temple he was immensely pleased with him. Brahma asked Indradyumna as to in what way can he (Brahma) fulfill the king's desire, since was very much pleased with him for his having put the most beautiful Temple for Lord Vishnu. With folded hands, Indradyumna said, "My Lord if you are really pleased with me, kindly bless me with one thing, and it is that I should be issueless and that I should be the last member of my family." In case anybody left alive after him, he would only take pride as the owner of the temple and would not work for the society.

 

THE EPISODE OF THE LORD´S GRACE DURING A WAR WITH KANCHI

At one time, a king of Kanchi in the down south remarked that the king of Orissa was a chandala (a man of very low caste or status) because, he performs the duties of a sweeper during the Car Festival. When this news reached the ears of the king of Orissa, he led an expedition to Kanchi. Before that, he implored the mercy of Lord Jagannath. The soldiers of Orissa marched towards Kanchi from Cuttack (earlier capital city of Orissa, located on the banks of Mahanadi, at a distance of 30 km from Bhubaneswar. It so happened that when the soldiers, headed by the king Purusottam Dev, reached a place near the Chilika lake, a lady, who was selling curd (yogurt) met him (the king) and presented a golden ring studded with precious gems and submitted. "My Lord, kindly listen to me. A little earlier, two soldiers riding over two horses (white and black in colour), approached me and said we are thirsty give us curds to drink.' I gave them curds. Instead of giving me money, they gave me this ring and said,'the king of Orissa will come here, after some time, on his way to Kanchi. You present it to him and he will pay you the money.' So my Lord, you take it and give me my dues.

 

It took no time for the king to know that the ring belongs to Lord Jagannath. He was convinced that Jagannath and Balabhadra were proceeding to the battle field ahead of him to help him there. To perpetuate the memory of this great incident, the king founded a village in the Chilika lake area. As the name of the lady was Manika, the name given to the village was Manika Patana. Even to this day, the curds of this village are famous.

 

LEGEND SURROUNDING THE TEMPLE ORIGIN

The traditional story concerning the origins of the Lord Jagannath temple is that here the original image of Jagannath (a deity form of Vishnu) at the end of Treta yuga manifested near a banyan tree, near seashore in the form of an Indranila nilamani or the Blue Jewel. It was so dazzling that it could grant instant moksha, so the god Dharma or Yama wanted to hide it in the earth, and was successful. In Dvapara Yuga King Indradyumna of Malwa wanted to find that mysterious image and to do so he performed harsh penances to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.

 

The King found the log of wood. He did a yajna from which god Yajna Nrisimha appeared and instructed that Narayana should be made as fourfold expansion, i.e. Paramatma as Vasudeva, his Vyuha as Samkarshana, Yogamaya as Subhadra, and his Vibhava asSudarsana. Vishwakarma appeared in the form of artist and prepared images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra from the tree. When this log, radiant with light was seen floating in the sea, Narada told the king to make three idols out of it and place them in a pavilion. Indradyumna got Visvakarma, the architect of Gods, to build a magnificent temple to house the idols and Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the idols on condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.

 

But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She took the carpenter to be dead as no sound came from the temple. Therefore, she requested the king to open the door. Thus, they went to see Vishnu at work at which the latter abandoned his work leaving the idols unfinished. The idol was devoid of any hands. But a divine voice told Indradyumana to install them in the temple. It has also been widely believed that in spite of the idol being without hands, it can watch over the world and be its lord. Thus the idiom.

 

INVASIONS AND DESECRATIONS OF THE TEMPLE

The temple annals, the Madala Panji records that the Jagannath temple at Puri has been invaded and plundered eighteen times. The invasion by Raktabahu has been considered the first invasion on the temple by the Madalapanji.

 

RANJIT SINGH´S WILL

Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had donated massive amounts of gold to the Jagannath temple. In his last will, he also ordered that Koh-i-noor, the most precious and greatest diamond in the world, to be donated to this temple, but the diamond could never actually make its way to the temple because the British, by that time, had annexed the Punjab and all its royal possessions. Thus, claiming that the Koh-i-noor was theirs. It is currently a part of British crown jewels and is located in the Tower of London.

 

ENTRY AND DARSHAN

Temple has 4 entrances in all directions.Temple security is selective regarding who is allowed entry. Practicing Hindus of non-Indian descent are excluded from premises, as are Hindus of non-Indian origin. Visitors not allowed entry may view the precincts from the roof of the nearby Raghunandan Library and pay their respects to the image of God Jagannath known as Patitapavana at the main entrance to the temple. There is some evidence that this came into force following a series of invasions by foreigners into the temple and surrounding area. Buddhist, and Jain groups are allowed into the temple compound if they are able to prove their Indian ancestry. The temple has slowly started allowing Hindus of non-Indian origin into the area, after an incident in which 3 Balinese Hindus were denied entry, even though Bali is 90% Hindu.

 

The temple remains open from 5 am to 12 midnight. Unlike many other temples devotees can go behind the idols(go round the idols).All devotees are allowed to go right up to the deities during the Sahana Mela without paying any fees . The Sahana mela or the public darshan is usually following the abakasha puja between around 7 to 8 am in the morning. Special darshan or Parimanik darshan is when devotees on paying 50 Rupees are allowed right up to the deities. Parimanik darshan happens after the dhupa pujas at around 10 am, 1 pm and 8 pm . At all other times devotees can view the deities from some distance for free. The rathyatra occurs every year some time in the month of July. 2 or 6 weeks before Rathyatra (depending upon the year) there is a ritual of Lord undergoing "Bhukaar" (sick) hence the idols are not on "Darshan". Devotees to make a note of this before they plan to visit the lord.

 

CULTURAL INTEGRITY

Shrikshetra of Puri Jagannath, as is commonly known, can verily be said to be a truthful replica of Indian culture. To understand this culture, one has to have some idea of the history of this land, which again is different from that of other countries of the world.

 

Starting from Lord Jagannath himself, history has it that he was a tribal deity, adorned by the Sabar people, as a symbol of Narayan. Another legend claims him to be Nilamadhava, an image of Narayana made of blue stone and worshipped by the aboriginals. He was brought to Nilagiri (blue mountain) or Nilachala and installed there as Shri Jagannath in company with Balabhadra and Subhadra. The images made of wood are also claimed to have their distant linkage with the aboriginal system of worshipping wooden poles. To cap it all the Daitapatis, who have a fair share of responsibilities to perform rituals of the Temple, are claimed to be descendants of the aboriginals or hill tribes of Orissa. So we may safely claim that the beginning of the cultural history of Shrikshetra is found in the fusion of Hindu and Tribal Cultures. This has been accepted as a facet of our proud heritage. The three deities came to be claimed as the symbols of Samyak Darshan, Samyak Jnana and Samyak Charita usually regarded as Triratha (of the Jain cult), an assimilation of which leads to Moksha (salvation) or the ultimate bliss...

 

Jagannath is worshipped as Vishnu or Narayana or Krishna and Lord Balabhadra as Shesha. Simultaneously, the deities are regarded as the bhairava with Vimala (the devi or the consort of Shiva) installed in the campus of the temple. So ultimately we find a fusion of Saivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism of the Hindu religion with Jainism and up to an extent Buddhism in the culture of Jagannath and the cultural tradition so reverently held together in Shrikshetra.

 

ACHARYAS AND JAGANNATHA PURI

All of the renowned acharyas including Madhvacharya have been known to visit this kshetra. Adi Shankara established his Govardhana matha here. There is also evidence that Guru Nanak, Kabir, Tulsidas, Ramanujacharya, and Nimbarkacharya had visited this place. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Gaudiya Vaishnavism stayed here for 24 years, establishing that the love of god can be spread by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Srimad Vallabhacharya visited Jagannath Puri and performed a 7-day recitation of Srimad Bhagvat. His sitting place is still famous as "baithakji." It confirms his visit to Puri. A famous incident took place when Vallabhachrya visited. There was a discourse being held between the Brahmins and 4 questions were asked. Who is the highest of Gods, What is the highest of mantras, What is the highest scripture and What is the highest service. The discourse went on for many days with many schools of thought. Finally Shri Vallabh said to ask Lord Jagannath to confirm Shri Vallabh's answers. A pen and paper were left in the inner sanctum. After some time, the doors were opened and 4 answers were written. 1) The Son of Devaki (Krishna) is the God of Gods 2) His name is the highest of mantras 3) His song is the highest scripture (Bhagavat Geeta) 4) Service to Him is the Highest service. The king was shocked and declared Shri Vallabh the winner of the discourse. Some of the pandits who participated became jealous of Shri Vallabh and wanted to test Him. The next day was Ekadashi, a fasting day where one must fast from grains. The pandits gave Shri Vallabh rice Prasad of Shri Jagannathji (The temple is famous for this). If Shri Vallabh ate it, He would break His vow of fasting but if He did not take it, He would disrespect Lord Jagannath. Shri Vallabh accepted the prasad in his hand and spent the rest of the day and night explaining slokas of the greatness of Prasad and ate the rice the next morning.

 

CHAR DHAM

The temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dham (four divine sites) sites comprising Rameswaram, Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka. Though the origins are not clearly known, the Advaita school of Hinduism propagated by Sankaracharya, who created Hindu monastic institutions across India, attributes the origin of Char Dham to the seer. The four monasteries lie across the four corners of India and their attendant temples are Badrinath Temple at Badrinath in the North, Jagannath Temple at Puri in the East, Dwarakadheesh Temple at Dwarka in the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram in the South. Though ideologically the temples are divided between the sects of Hinduism, namely Saivism and Vaishnavism, the Char Dham pilgrimage is an all Hindu affair. There are four abodes in Himalayas called Chota Char Dham (Chota meaning small): Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - all of these lie at the foot hills of Himalayas The name Chota was added during the mid of 20th century to differentiate the original Char Dhams. The journey across the four cardinal points in India is considered sacred by Hindus who aspire to visit these temples once in their lifetime. Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri, proceeding in clockwise direction in a manner typically followed for circumambulation in Hindu temples.

 

STRUCTURE

The huge temple complex covers an area of over 37,000 m2, and is surrounded by a high fortified wall. This 6.1 m high wall is known as Meghanada Pacheri. Another wall known as kurma bedha surrounds the main temple. It contains at least 120 temples and shrines. With its sculptural richness and fluidity of the Oriya style of temple architecture, it is one of the most magnificent monuments of India. The temple has four distinct sectional structures, namely -

 

- Deula, Vimana or Garba griha (Sanctum sanctorum) where the triad deities are lodged on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls). In Rekha Deula style;

- Mukhashala (Frontal porch);

- Nata mandir/Natamandapa, which is also known as the Jagamohan (Audience Hall/Dancing Hall), and

- Bhoga Mandapa (Offerings Hall).

 

The main temple is a curvilinear temple and crowning the top is the 'srichakra' (an eight spoked wheel) of Vishnu. Also known as the "Nilachakra", it is made out of Ashtadhatu and is considered sacrosanct. Among the existing temples in Orissa, the temple of Shri Jagannath is the highest. The temple tower was built on a raised platform of stone and, rising to 65 m above the inner sanctum where the deities reside, dominates the surrounding landscape. The pyramidal roofs of the surrounding temples and adjoining halls, or mandapas, rise in steps toward the tower like a ridge of mountain peaks.

 

NILA CHAKRA

The Nila Chakra (Blue Discus) is the discus mounted on the top shikhar of the Jagannath Temple. As per custom, everyday a different flag is waved on the Nila Chakra. The flag hoisted on the Nila Cakra is called the Patita Pavana (Purifier of the Fallen) and is equivalent to the image of the deities placed in the sanctum sanctorum .

 

The Nila Chakra is a disc with eight Navagunjaras carved on the outer circumference, with all facing towards the flagpost above. It is made of alloy of eight metals (Asta-dhatu) and is 3.5 Metres high with a circumference of about 11 metres. During the year 2010, the Nila Chakra was repaired and restored by the Archaeological Survey of India.

 

The Nila Chakra is distinct from the Sudarshana chakra which has been placed with the deities in the inner sanctorum.

 

Nila Chakra is the most revered iconic symbol in the Jagannath cult. The Nila Chakra is the only physical object whose markings are used as sacrament and considered sacred in Jagannath worship. It symbolizes protection by Shri Jagannath.

 

THE SINGHADWARA

The Singahdwara, which in Sanskrit means The Lion Gate, is one of the four gates to the temple and forms the Main entrance. The Singhadwara is so named because two huge statues of crouching lions exist on either side of the entrance. The gate faces east opening on to the Bada Danda or the Grand Road. The Baisi Pahacha or the flight of twenty two steps leads into the temple complex. An idol of Jagannath known as Patitapavana, which in Sanskrit, means the "Saviour of the downtrodden and the fallen" is painted on the right side of the entrance. In ancient times when untouchables were not allowed inside the temple, they could pray to Patita Pavana. The statues of the two guards to the temple Jaya and Vijaya stand on either side of the doorway. Just before the commencement of the Rath Yatra the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are taken out of the temple through this gate. On their return from the Gundicha Temple they have to ceremonially placate Goddess Mahalakshmi, whose statue is carved atop the door, for neglecting to take her with them on the Yatra. Only then the Goddess allows them permission to enter the temple. A magnificent sixteen-sided monolithic pillar known as the Arun stambha stands in front of the main gate. This pillar has an idol of Arun, the charioteer of the Sun God Surya, on its top. One significant thing about Arun stambha is that prior it was located in the Konark Sun temple, later, the Maratha guru Brahmachari Gosain brought this pillar from Konark. The Puri Jagannath Temple was also saved by Maratha emperor Shivaji from being plundered at his times from the Mughals.

 

OTHER ENTRANCES

Apart from the Singhadwara, which is the main entrance to the temple, there are three other entrances facing north, south and west. They are named after the sculptures of animals guarding them. The other entrances are the Hathidwara or the Elephant Gate, the Vyaghradwara or the Tiger Gate and the Ashwadwara or the Horse Gate.

 

MINOR TEMPLES

There are numerous smaller temples and shrines within the Temple complex where active worship is regularly conducted. The Vimala Temple (Bimala Temple) is considered one of the most important of the Shaktipeeths marks the spot where the goddess Sati's feet fell. It is located near Rohini Kund in the temple complex. Until food offered to Jagannath is offered to Goddess Vimala it is not considered Mahaprasad.

 

The temple of Mahalakshmi has an important role in rituals of the main temple. It is said that preparation of naivedya as offering for Jagannath is supervised by Mahalakshmi. The Kanchi Ganesh Temple is dedicated to Uchchhishta Ganapati. Tradition says the King of Kanchipuram (Kanchi) in ancient times gifted the idol, when Gajapati Purushottama Deva married Padmavati, the kanchi princess. There are other shrines namely Muktimandap, Surya, Saraswati, Bhuvaneshwari, Narasimha, Rama, Hanuman and Eshaneshwara.

 

THE MANDAPAS

There are many Mandapas or Pillared halls on raised platforms within the temple complex meant for religious congregations. The most prominent is the Mukti Mandapa the congregation hall of the holy seat of selected learned brahmins. Here important decisions regarding conduct of daily worship and festivals are taken. The Dola Mandapa is noteworthy for a beautifully carved stone Torana or arch which is used for constructing a swing for the annual Dol Yatra festival. During the festival the idol of Dologobinda is placed on the swing. The Snana Bedi is a rectangular stone platform where idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are placed for ceremonial bathing during the annual Snana Yatra

 

DAILY FOOD OFFERINGS

Daily offerings are made to the Lord six times a day. These include:

 

- The offering to the Lord in the morning that forms his breakfast and is called Gopala Vallabha Bhoga. Breakfast consists of seven items i.e. Khua, Lahuni, Sweetened coconut grating, Coconut water, and popcorn sweetened with sugar known as Khai, Curd and Ripe bananas.

- The Sakala Dhupa forms his next offering at about 10 AM. This generally consists of 13 items including the Enduri cake & Mantha puli.

- Bada Sankhudi Bhoga forms the next repast & the offering consists of Pakhala with curd and Kanji payas. The offerings are made in the Bhog Mandapa, about 200 feet from the Ratnabedi. This is called Chatra Bhog and was introduced by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century to help pilgrims share the temple food.

- The Madhyanha dhupa forms the next offering at the noon.

- The next offering to the Lord is made in the evening at around 8 PM it is Sandhya Dhupa.

- The last offering to the Lord is called the Bada Simhara Bhoga.

 

The Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath are distributed amongst the devotees near the Ratnavedi inside the frame of Phokaria, which is being drawn by the Puja pandas using Muruj, except for the Gopal Ballav Bhog and Bhog Mandap Bhoga which are distributed in the Anabsar Pindi & Bhoga Mandap respectively.

 

ROSAGHARA

The temple's kitchen is considered as the largest kitchen in the world. Tradition maintains that all food cooked in the temple kitchens are supervised by the Goddess Mahalakshmi, the empress of Srimandir herself. It is said that if the food prepared has any fault in it, a shadow dog appears near the temple kitchen. The temple cooks, or Mahasuaras, take this as a sign of displeasure of Mahalakshmi with the food, which is, then, promptly buried and a new batch cooked. All food is cooked following rules as prescribed by Hindu religious texts, the food cooked is pure vegetarian without using onions and garlic. Cooking is done only in earthen pots with water drawn from two special wells near the kitchen called Ganga and Yamuna. There are a total of 56 varieties of naivedhyas offered to the deities, near Ratnabedi as well as in Bhoga Mandap on five particular Muhurta. The most awaited Prasad is Kotho Bhoga or Abadha, offered at mid-day at around 1 pm, depending upon temple rituals. The food after being offered to Jagannath is distributed in reasonable portions as Mahaprasad, which is considered to be divine by the devotees in the Ananda Bazar (an open market, located to the North-east of the Singhadwara inside the Temple complex).

 

FESTIVALS

There are elaborate daily worship services. There are many festivals each year attended by millions of people. The most important festival is the Rath Yatra or the Chariot festival in June. This spectacular festival includes a procession of three huge chariots bearing the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra through the Bada Danda meaning the Grand Avenue of Puri till their final destination the Gundicha Temple. Early European observers told tales of devotees being crushed under the wheels of these chariots, whether by accident or even as a form of meritorious suicide akin to suttee. These reports gave rise to the loan word juggernaut suggesting an immense, unstoppable, threatening entity or process operated by fanatics. Many festivals like Dol Yatra in spring and Jhulan Yatra in monsoon are celebrated by temple every year.Pavitrotsava and Damanaka utsava are celebrated as per panchanga or panjika.There are special ceremonies in the month of Kartika and Pausha.

 

The annual shodasha dinatmaka or 16 day puja beginning 8 days prior to Mahalaya of Ashwin month for goddess Vimala and ending on Vijayadashami, is of great importance, in which both the utsava murty of lord Madanmohan and Vimala take part.

 

- Pana Sankranti: Also known or Vishuva Sankranti and Mesha Sankranti: Special rituals are performed at the temple.

 

RATH YATRA AT PURI

The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel (3 km) to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darśana (Holy view). This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is approximately 45 feet high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra.

 

The most significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra is the chhera pahara." During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee.

 

Chera pahara is held on two days, on the first day of the Ratha Yatra, when the deities are taken to garden house at Mausi Maa Temple and again on the last day of the festival, when the deities are ceremoniously brought back to the Shri Mandir.

 

As per another ritual, when the deities are taken out from the Shri Mandir to the Chariots in Pahandi vijay.

 

In the Ratha Yatra, the three deities are taken from the Jagannath Temple in the chariots to the Gundicha Temple, where they stay for nine days. Thereafter, the deities again ride the chariots back to Shri Mandir in bahuda yatra. On the way back, the three chariots halt at the Mausi Maa Temple and the deities are offered Poda Pitha, a kind of baked cake which are generally consumed by the Odisha people only.

 

The observance of the Rath Yatra of Jagannath dates back to the period of the Puranas. Vivid descriptions of this festival are found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana. Kapila Samhita also refers to Rath Yatra. In Moghul period also, King Ramsingh of Jaipur, Rajasthan has been described as organizing the Rath Yatra in the 18th Century. In Orissa, Kings of Mayurbhanj and Parlakhemundi were organizing the Rath Yatra, though the most grand festival in terms of scale and popularity takes place at Puri.

 

Moreover, Starza notes that the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. Friar Odoric of Pordenone visited India in 1316-1318, some 20 years after Marco Polo had dictated the account of his travels while in a Genoese prison. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.

 

CHANDAN YATRA

In Akshaya Tritiya every year the Chandan Yatra festival marks the commencement of the construction of the Chariots of the Rath Yatra.

 

SNANA PURNIMA

On the Purnima of the month of Jyestha the Gods are ceremonially bathed and decorated every year on the occasion of Snana Yatra.

 

ANAVASARA OR ANASARA

Literally means vacation. Every year, the main idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra & Sudarshan after the holy Snana Yatra on the jyestha purnima, go to a secret altar named Anavasara Ghar where they remain for the next dark fortnight (Krishna paksha). Hence devotees are not allowed to view them. Instead of this devotees go to nearby place Brahmagiri to see their beloved lord in the form of four handed form Alarnath a form of Vishnu. Then people get the first glimpse of lord on the day before Rath Yatra, which is called 'Navayouvana. It is said that the gods fall in fever after taking a huge bath and they are treated by the special servants named, Daitapatis for 15 days. During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.

 

NAVA KALEBARA

One of the most grandiloquent events associated with the Lord Jagannath, Naba Kalabera takes place when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha. This can take place in 8, 12 or even 18 years. Literally meaning the “New Body” (Nava = New, Kalevar = Body), the festival is witnessed by as millions of people and the budget for this event exceeds $500,000. The event involves installation of new images in the temple and burial of the old ones in the temple premises at Koili Vaikuntha. The idols that are currently being worshipped in the temple premises were installed in the year 1996. Next ceremony will be held on 2015. More than 3 million devotees are expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalevara of 2015 making it one of the most visited festivals in the world.

 

NILADRI BIJE

Celebrated on Asadha Trayodashi. Niladri Bije is the concluding day of Ratha yatra. On this day deities return to the ratna bedi. Lord Jagannath offers Rasgulla to goddess Laxmi to enter in to the temple.

 

GUPTA GUNDICHA

Celebrated for 16 days from Ashwina Krushna dwitiya to Vijayadashami. As per tradition, the idol of Madhaba, along with the idol of Goddess Durga (known as Durgamadhaba), is taken on a tour of the temple premises. The tour within the temple is observed for the first eight days. For the next eight days, the idols are taken outside the temple on a palanquin to the nearby Narayani temple situated in the Dolamandapa lane. After their worship, they are brought back to the temple.

 

THE NAME PURUSHOTTAMA KSHETRA AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

Lord Jagannath is the Purushottama as per the scripture, Skanda Purana. In order to teach human beings how to lead a life full of virtue, he has taken the form of Saguna Brahman or Darubrahman. He is the best brother to his siblings, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. He is the best husband to goddess Shri. The most noteworthy aspect is still in the month of Margashirsha, on three consecutive days during amavasya he does Shraddha to his parents (Kashyapa-Aditi, Dasharatha-Kaushalya, Vasudeva-Devaki, Nanda-Yashoda), along with the king Indradyumna and queen Gundicha. As a master he enjoys every comfort daily and in various festivals. He grants all wishes to his subjects, and those who surrender before him he takes the utmost care of.

 

CULTURE AND TRADITION OF PURI

Puri is one of the fascinating littoral districts of Orissa. The Cultural heritage of Puri with its long recorded history has its beginnings in the third century B.C. The monuments, religious sanctity, and way of life of the people with their rich tradition is the cultural heart of Orissa. Indeed, Puri is considered the cultural capital of Orissa. The culture here flourished with its manifold activities.

 

The District has the happy conglomerate of different religions, sects and faith. In the course of history, Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina, Muslim, Christian, and Sikh are found here in the District.

 

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an incarnation of Lord Krishna, appeared 500 years ago, in the mood of a devotee to taste the sublime emotions of ecstasy by chanting the holy name of Krishna. Stalwart scholars of Puri like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya (a priest & great Sanskrit pandit) and others followed His teachings. Even kings and ministers of His period became His disciples. Especially King Prataparudra became His great admirer and ardent follower. Thus all cultures and religion became one in Puri after his teachings were given to all with no consideration of caste and creed.

 

MANAGEMENT

After independence, the State Government, with a view to getting better administrative system, passed " The Puri Shri Jagannath Temple (Administration) Act, 1952. It contained provisions to prepare the Record of Rights and duties of Sevayats and such other persons connected with the system of worship and management of the temple. Subsequently Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 " was enacted to reorganize the management system of the affair of the temple and its properties.

 

SECURITY

The security at the 12th century Jagannath Temple is increased ahead of Ratha Yatra, the homecoming festival of the deities of Jagannath temple. In the wake of terror alert on 27 June 2012, the security forces were increased to ensure smooth functioning of the crowded Ratha Yatra and Suna Besha.

 

WIKIPEDIA

+++ 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:

Uruguay, like several other countries in South America, has been a traditional customer of US military hardware. In Uruguay’s case, this first example were 40 M3A1 Stuart light tanks delivered in 1944-1945. In the years following the Second World War and the Korean War, obsolete armored vehicles which were no longer deemed as required for the current situation of the US military were given as military aid to US allies, particularly in Latin America. It was in this context that Uruguay would receive 17 M24 Chaffee light tanks and 12 M4A3E8 Sherman medium tanks in 1957-1958 from American surplus stock.

 

Deliveries were completed on September 30th, 1958. This was part of the American Military Assistance Program (MAP), under which the US provided military equipment to aligned nations within the context of the Cold War. These tanks did not come from the mainland US but were instead delivered from US Army stocks in Japan and Korea. A considerable number of spare parts were likely delivered along with these, too, as well as in the coming years. Along with the Chaffees and Shermans, Uruguay furthermore received a single Sherman-based M74 Armored Recovery Vehicle.

 

By the time of the Korean War, the M4 series had evolved into its final form, often referred to as the M4A3E8, and this was the Sherman version that was also delivered to Uruguay. To the Marines in Korea, they were known as the “Old Reliables”. Entering service late in the Second World War, this model featured an improved Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension (HVSS) that replaced the iconic Vertical Volute Spring Suspension (VVSS) of earlier models. This suspension allowed for a wider track, improving grip and lower ground pressure on softer ground.

Propulsion was provided by the Ford GAA all-aluminum 32-valve DOHC 60-degree, 500 hp, V8 gasoline/petrol engine. This could propel the tank to a top speed of 40 – 48 km/h (25 – 30 mph). Armor on the vehicle was up to 76 mm (3 in) thick. The tank had a crew of five, consisting of a commander, driver, co-driver/bow machine gunner, gunner, and loader.

 

Even though a large number of newer 90mm gun armed M26 Pershings and M46 Pattons were dispatched to the Korean Peninsula, multiple variants of the HVSS Sherman were also used in the Korean War. These included the regular M4A3(76)W HVSS, which was armed with the 76mm Tank Gun M1A1 or M1A2, the M4A3(105) HVSS, armed with the 105mm Howitzer M4, and finally, the POA-CWS-H5, a specialist version armed with both a 105mm Howitzer and a coaxial flamethrower.

 

The ex-American tanks were delivered to Uruguay’s Batallón de Infantería Nº 13 (13th Infantry Battalion), founded in 1904, and with the arrival of the new equipment at the Durazno Arsenal in central Uruguay the regiment was aptly renamed Batallón de Infantería Blindado Nº 13 (13th Armored Infantry Battalion). The tanks formed two Compañías Blindada de Tanques (Armored Tanks Companies), formally created on 12 July 1958. In each company, two tanks formed a command section while the remaining were divided into platoons of five. Each platoon was coded with an individual color and the command tanks received colored shields as background to their tactical codes. Additionally, the command tanks received individual names, beginning with letters corresponding to their respective commanded platoons, e. g. “Ceasar” for one of the 3rd platoon’s commanding M4s, which carried the tactical code "2" on a green background, the 3rd platoon’s color.

 

The tanks were delivered in a unicolor camouflage, likely U.S. Army olive drab. They received prominent Uruguayan army roundels on the turret flanks, comprising a blue roundel in the center, circled by white and then further circled by blue again, with a red bar going through the roundel diagonally. Later, likely in the 1960s, the tanks were given a disruptive four-color scheme, comprising medium green, dark green, tan and a dark brown bordering on black.

 

The first months of the new tanks’ service were marked by several instances of ceremonial use in foreign presidential visits to Uruguay, during which the tanks would perform a parade in the streets of Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital – often in the company of the vintage M3A1 Stuarts which were still retained in service by this point for training.

 

The 1960s were a decade of turmoil in Uruguay, with an economic crisis caused by struggling Uruguayan exports causing significant unrest and political uproar. This led to the rise of an armed revolutionary left-wing movement known as the Tupamaros or MLN-T (Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros, Tupamaros National Liberation Movement) which would progressively grow more violent. In 1968, the Uruguayan president, Jorge Pachero, declared a state of emergency that would see the military largely deployed in the streets. The following president, Juan María Bordaberry, would continue authoritarian policies and suspend civil liberties. In June 1973, he dissolved the Uruguayan congress and became a de facto dictator sponsored by the Uruguayan military.

 

During this time, the Tupamaros fought in an urban guerilla war against the Uruguayan military. The Uruguayan tanks, especially the compact M24s, were regularly employed in the streets as a show of force, being a very intimidating presence to potential insurgents. For this mission, a few M4s and M24s, primarily command tanks, were outfitted with locally developed hydraulic dozer blades. These were detachable, though, and the tanks should retain the installations for the rest of their career.

 

By mid-1972, the Tupamaros had largely been defeated, killed, captured, or forced into exile, as many other Uruguayans had been. The Uruguayan dictatorship would maintain itself all the way to 1985 however, engaging in repressive policies which, while often overshadowed by some employed by other regimes, such as Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, would see many Uruguayans exiled, and many assassinations performed against political opponents, even though most of which took place outside of Uruguay’s borders. The M4s and M24s would continue to regularly be used for intimidation purposes during this era, though Uruguay would also purchase more modern tanks in 1982, including twenty-two M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks from Belgium. These didn’t replace the vintage WWII vehicles, though.

 

In 1984, elections were finally held, seeing Uruguay return to civilian rule from this point onward. Though amnesty for human rights abusers would be declared, Uruguay would move back towards being one of the more democratic and stable countries in South America in the next decades, which would culminate in a former Tupamaros, who had spent fifteen years in prison, José Mujica, being elected president in 2009.

At the same time as Uruguay was transitioning back to democracy, the M4s and M24s the country had now operated for about thirty years were becoming increasingly obsolete. The tanks’ engines were worn out after 30 years of constant use and useful ammunition for the M4s 76 mm gun was not available anymore. Funds for new/more modern tanks were not available at that time, therefore, it was decided to modernize the powerplants and drivetrains of the tanks and outfit the Shermans with a modern, bigger main gun.

 

For this purpose, the Brazilian company Bernardini was contracted. The Bernardini S/A Industria e Comercio (Bernardini Industrial and Commerce Company), based at São Paulo, was originally a safe manufacturer which operated from 1912, but during its later years it branched out into vehicle production, too, and created several conversions and indigenous tanks for the Brazilian Army.

Bernardini outfitted the light M24s with a Saab-Scania DN11 220-230 hp engine, a Swedish industrial truck engine manufactured in Brazil. This was a commercially available engine for which parts could be very easily sourced, and it was coupled with a new GAV 762 automatic gearbox. Mounting these totally different engines called for considerable modifications, including a completely new raised engine deck with integrated coolers.

The Shermans received new Continental AOS-895-3 six-cylinder air-cooled petrol engines, which had been procured together with the Belgian M41s as part of a spares deal and directly delivered to Brazil for the conversions. This engine delivered 500 bhp (370 kW), the same as the former Ford GAA V8, but provided more torque, was lighter and more compact, and had a considerably lower fuel consumption. It was coupled with a new gearbox, an Allison CD-500-3, with 2 ranges forward, 1 reverse.

 

For the planned armament upgrade, the modern 90 mm Cockerill Mk. 7 gun was chosen, another item procured from Belgium. Weighing less than ¾ of a ton and with a length of 4.365 m, the 90 mm Cockerill operated at a pressure of just 310 MPa and produced a recoil stroke of only 350 to 370 mm. Ammunition for the Cockerill gun was made by MECAR (another Belgian arms company) and included a potent Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot – Tracer (APFSDS-T) round with a muzzle velocity of 1,500 m/s, able to defeat even heavy targets. Furthermore, there were High Explosive Plastic rounds (HEP) to defeat bunkers, structures, light armor and also for indirect fire use, smoke, canister, High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT), and training rounds.

 

However, the plan to simply exchange the old 76 mm gun in the original M4A3 turret turned out to be impossible, so that Bernardini offered to adapt one of the company’s own turret designs, a cast turret for an upgrade for the indigenous CCL X1A2 “Carcará” tank that never materialized due to low Brazilian funds, to the M4’s very similar hull. The Uruguayan government agreed and the deal for the conversion of all M4s left in service was closed in late 1982. Some sources refer to this modernization as having occurred in 1983, while some others mention 1987.

 

The new Bernardini turret resembled the earlier Sherman turret, but it was overall larger and featured a long, characteristic jutty as a counterweight for the bigger and longer gun. It also offered ample space for a radio set and ammunition. The turret had a maximum armor strength of 114 mm (4.5 in) at the front, instead of the former 76 mm (3 in); traverse was full 360° (manual and electric-hydraulic) at a rate of 36°/sec. The turret’s higher overall weight was compensated for by the relatively light gun and the lighter engine – even though this raised the tank’s center of gravity and somewhat reduced its handling quality. The commander and gunner sat in the turret on the right side, with the commander provided with a domed U.S.-style cupola. The gunner did not have a hatch and was seated forward of the commander. A loading assistant was placed on the left side of the gun, with a separate hatch that was also used to board the tank by the crew and to load ammunition. A tool storage box was normally mounted externally on the rear of the already long bustle, and smoke grenade launchers could be mounted on each side of the turret – even though this never happened, and Uruguay apparently never procured such devices. A large radio antenna was mounted to the turret roof and at the rear of the jutty, command tanks had a second antenna for a dedicated inter-tank communication radio set next to the cupola.

 

The 90 mm Cockerill Mk. 7 gun had a rifled L/52 barrel and was outfitted with a light T-shaped muzzle brake and a smoke ejector. The secondary armament was changed to two 7.62 mm Browning M1919 machine guns (which were able to fire 7.62×51 mm NATO standard ammunition), one coaxial with the main gun and the other in the hull. A manually operated 12.7 mm Browning M2HB machine gun was mounted in an anti-aircraft position on the turret roof, in front of the commander cupola. A total of 55 rounds for the 90 mm gun were carried, plus 4,750 rounds for the 7.62 mm machine guns and 600 rounds for the 12.7 mm gun. This ammunition was mostly stored in the hull, the turret jutty held a new ammunition-ready rack with 11 rounds.

 

At some point following their modernization, during the late Eighties, all Uruguayan tanks were given a new, more subdued camouflage scheme, vaguely resembling the American woodland scheme, consisting of a very dark brown/black, light brown, and dark green. The prominent roundel was removed, too, an the vehicles’ tactical code was now either retained in a dark color on the turret side or completely omitted.

 

The 1990s saw the 13th Armored Infantry Battalion receive a fleet of fifteen BVP-1s purchased from the Czech Republic; ten more were delivered in 1996, with a further five in 1998, plus three vehicles for spare parts in 1999. These more modern infantry fighting vehicles would be operated alongside the M4s and M24s within the battalion’s fleet during the coming decades. Other purchases from the 1990s included, for example, Tiran-5Sh main battle tanks (revamped captured T-55s from Israel) and 2S1 self-propelled artillery pieces.

 

Uruguay retired its M4 fleet around 2012, but the light M24s soldiered on until 2019, when the last WWII type in Uruguayan service was eventually sorted out, after a long process that was delayed by a lack of an export permission for M41s as replacement from the United States for no less than six years.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator/hull machine gun operator)

Weight: 33.7 tons combat loaded

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only

8.21 m (26 ft 10 1/2 in) overall with gun forward

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

Height: 3,45 m (11 ft 3 3/4 in) w/o AA machine gun

Tread: 89 in

Ground clearance: 17 in (0.43 m)

Fire Height: 90 in (2.29 m)

Suspension: Horizontal volute spring

Fuel capacity: 168 gallons 80 Octane gasoline

 

Armor:

0.5 – 4.5 in (13 – 114 mm)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 30 mph (48 km/h) in a dash

26 mph (42 km/h) sustained on road

Operational range: 120 mi (193 km) on roads

Maximum grade: 60 percent

Maximum trench: 7.5 feet

Maximum vertical Wall: 24 inches

Maximum fording depth: 36 inches

Minimum turning circle: (diameter) 62 feet

Power/weight: 13.5 hp/ton

Ground pressure: Zero penetration 11.0 psi

 

Engine & transmission:

Continental AOS-895-3 six-cylinder air-cooled petrol engine with 500 bhp (370 kW),

coupled with an Allison CD-500-3 gearbox with 2 ranges forward, 1 reverse

 

Armament:

1× 90 mm (L/52) Cockerill Mk. 7 gun with 55 rounds

2× 7.62 mm Browning M1919 machine guns with a total of 4,750 rounds,

one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate

1× 12.7 mm Browning M2HB anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola with 600 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This whiffy M4 Sherman was inspired by two things: one was that I have so far never built a fictional M4 before, despite the type’s large number in WWII and thereafter. And I had a surplus turret from a Japanese 1:72 Type 61 tank (Trumpeter kit) in the donor bank, which frequently grinned at me – but I never had a proper idea how to use it.

 

This changed when I combined both, and the idea of a post-WWII M4 conversion/modernization was born, inspired by the successful Israeli M50/51 upgrades. I also settled for an M4A3E8 chassis, because I wanted a relatively modern Sherman with a welded hull and the new running gear as the basis – and the choice fell on the respective Hasegawa kit (which has its fundamental scale and proportions flaws, but it was cheap and readily available). Using an alternative Trumpeter kit might have been a better choice from a detail point of view, but I think that the Hasegawa kit’s weaknesses are negligible – and this here is whifworld, after all.

 

The next conceptual problem arose quickly, though: who’d be the operator of this tank? A natural choice was Japan’s JGSDF, because they received M4A3E8s from the USA (the Hasegawa kit even provides decals for such a vehicle), and the Type 61 was its successor. But the Sherman was not very popular in Japan – it was quite big, with logistics problems (tunnel sizes, train transport), and the interior was not suited to the smaller Japanese crews. The JGSDF was quite happy to get rid of the vintage Shermans.

The IDF was another candidate, but the M50/51s were “already there”. After long further research I went across Middle and South America. Chile, for instance, operated a highly modified M4A3E8 upgrade with a 60 mm high-velocity gun called “M-60”. And Paraguay decided to re-activate its M3 and M4 fleet in 2014, even though only for training purposes.

I eventually settled for a small and rather exotic operator: Uruguay! I found a very good article about the M24 Chaffee’s active duty in this country, which lasted from 1958 until 2019(!), and these Chaffees underwent massive conversions and upgrades during their long career – and some M4s would be a nice and plausible company. Another selling point was that the Uruguayan Army’s roundel was easy to replicate, and, as a bonus, the M24s carried a very attractive camouflage early in their career.

 

With this concept, the build was straightforward: The M4A3E8 was basically built OOB, it went together with no trouble, even though its details appear rather clumsy and almost toylike these days. A good thing about the kit is, though, that you can paint the small road wheels separately, while the HVSS suspension can be attached to the hull. This makes painting quite easy and convenient.

Trumpeter’s Type 61 turret was another matter, though, because its fit was rather dubious and called for some PSR. Furthermore, it was incomplete: some small parts of it had already been used in other projects, so that I had to improvise.

First, I had to create an adapter so that it could be combined with the Sherman hull – it was created from styrene sheet and profiles, together with a “floor” for the turret with 0.5 mm sheet. But now the turret can be mounted into the original opening, and it fits like a glove into the intended space. Even the low deflector walls that protect its base fit snuggly around it, it’s a very natural combo (at least on the Hasegawa hull!).

Biggest problem was the missing original commander cupola. The spare box did not yield a proper replacement, so I ordered M48/M60 cupolas from Bulgaria-based OKB Grigorovich – very crisp stuff, the set comes with four pieces and the cupolas are even made from clear resin so that the periscopes have a natural look on the model. As a lucky coincidence, the cupola’s diameter perfectly matched the respective hole in the turret, so that the implant looks very natural. Because the cupola came with a separate hatch, I fixed it in an open position and added a crew figure from the Hasegawa Sherman.

 

The dozer blade was a late addition, inspired by equipment carried by some real Uruguayan M24s. However, in this case the device was scratched from the remains of a dozer blade from a WWII Bergehetzer. Hydraulic rams to lift it and some hoses were scratched from steel wire and various bits and pieces. Improvised, but it looks the part, and it’s a nice detail that fits well into the model’s real world historic background.

  

Painting and markings:

The camouflage is based on a single-color picture I was able to find of a Uruguayan M24 wearing it, providing a guesstimate basis for the four tones, and a profile drawing of the same vehicle, just from the other side. I settled upon Humbrol 63, 75, and mix of 150 with 63 and 10 with 85 for the respective tan (which appears very yellow-ish), dark green, light green and the very dark brown tone. The pattern is a free interpretation of what could be discerned on the reference material, with guesstimates for front, back and upper surfaces. As it is a retrofitted piece, the dozer shield became all dark green.

 

The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of black and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl in the long run.

 

Markings are minimal; the Uruguayan Army roundel is an Argentinian cocarde from an Airfix Skyhawk (and a bit pale) with a separate red decal stripe placed over it – unfortunately it’s a bit obscured by the handles running along the turret. The tactical code number came from an Israeli tank, and it had to be placed quite high because of the handles/rails.

Uruguayan tanks from the Eighties and earlier seem to have carried additional registration numbers, too, and I gave the Sherman the fictional code "A 247" on the glacis plate and its flanks. The nickname "Caesar" is a personal twist.

 

Dry-brushing with earth brown to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish (Italeri) overall, and some very light extra dry-brushing with silver and light grey was done to simulate flaked paint, esp. on the dozer blade. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there. After final assembly (the vinyl tracks refused to stick to the road wheels!), the lower areas of the model were powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.

  

All in all, this fictional Uruguayan Sherman update looks very natural and convincing. The Type 61 turret matched the M4A3E8 hull in an almost unnatural fashion, and the dozer blade adds a certain twist to the tank, even though this detail is rooted in Uruguay’s tank operations history. The disruptive “tiger stripes” paint scheme is also very attractive, and together with the unusual roundels the whole thing has a very exotic look – but it’s not unbelievable. :D

My three-year old Regenyei Federschwert is in need of replacing the grip cord wrapping but it's good to check over the entire steel longsword trainer to check on its overall condition. Not counting the times I took breaks or used other simulators the total time used where there was impact is closer to a year and a half. That's anywhere from light contact to full force depending on what kind of exercise, drills, or sparring conditions.

 

It has been used mostly with Ensifers, Regenyeis, and a few Chlewbowskis. The most damage came from blunts such as Albion which have thinner edges and softer steel that knurl and create sharp edges that can produce notches. Potentially the most non-visual damage may probably be from old Angus Trim I-Beam with its shorter length and massively thicc edge.

 

Fortunately sparring against I-Beams is generally limited to people who have some very good control over power delivery. One-handed swords with bucklers, wooden shaft spears with rubber tips, and tires round out the remaining physical contacts.

 

Regenyei steel feders on average lasts two years. I've seen ones that break in about a year and others that are close to four years. Most reputable smiths will replace feders that break under a year when it's used reasonably.

 

Inspection

 

One of the insightful things pointed out by a Victorian practitioner in the club is that chips along the blade edges can over time act as points of stress such as the triangular cut outs of a potato chip bag. I use a green Scotch-Brite half-sponge to smooth these out while others use files.

 

The blade while clearly worn is smooth and one of the interesting things that happened to it was that I lent it to a Japanese sword practitioner early on. His tendency to parry was to use the flat of the sword instead of the edge which makes total sense for the system he was familiar with. Even now there is this interesting pattern of burning embers fanned by a breeze that slowly fades up along the lower blade flat.

 

The guards have a number of chips from attempts to control opposing blades that has been smoothed out. The pommel has a few dents and scratches mostly from bashing - lightly - against drill partners and opponent's faces in close distances but otherwise the peen at the bottom is still smooth. No monologues here when opponents are trying to push the blades into your face.

 

The grip on the other hand has dents. Our club's master at arms has experimented with 3D-printed handles and while I noted that these plastics cave in from grip strikes which is expected, the wood has that as well. It seems to be two to three times more resilient from cave-ins and there's no cracks or rot so and that's very good news.

 

I'm glad that I choose a cord wrapping instead of leather. Cords are easily treated and fixed using bees wax and can be done as field repairs. Eventually there was more wax than cord and the cords exploded out spectacularly during a Swordsquatch sparring session while twisting the grip into a Zwerchau. The cord on the grip needs to be entirely replaced.

 

General Maintenance

 

Always keep in mind that I'm just another random voice on the internet so while I make an effort to verify things it's best to ask those who are much more knowledgeable. It's best to considered what's said here as a starting point to ask questions rather than an infallible instructional. Anyway this is what works for me, other people will have different suggestions that will work too. I mentioned most of this previously in other places except now it's been informed by real-world use and time.

 

Safety - Personal Protective Equipment

 

During sanding I wear a 3M Ultimate FX FF-402 full-face respirator with olive-coded 3M multi gas vapor cartridges that are NIOSH P100 rated. I recommend cheaper full-face respirators if lightness and the ability to speak are not as important. This isn't a test to be used for proper equipment check but after putting on the respirator I cup the cartridge intakes with my hands and breathe in and out to check for leaks. I do this facing forward and once again looking down to see if the straps are loose.

 

I had conversations with a surprising number of people outside of the martial art community saying that a full face respirator is a waste of money because they know metal smiths don't use them. Fair enough they do what they want. I sometimes wear a Petzl headlamp and during cleaning see lots of Scothc-Brite strands and metal dust in the air and am used to wearing full-faced respirators. Your health is more important than convenience and that's all I have to say on that.

 

Wearing a full-face respirator is sweaty even when it's cold so for cleaning I put isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel and wipe down anything that came into contact with my face and fair. This includes the straps too because it's not good to have things growing while the respirator is sitting in a bag for a week or more. I have a sacrificial plastic face shield over the respirator face but unless there's paint or an accident then it probably doesn't need to be replaced for years. I still use the original removable shield.

 

Disposable gloves are also useful to avoid chemicals, rubbing metal particulates into eyes, or ingesting metal while eating.

 

Preparation and Sanding

 

If a file is being use make sure it's for steel and not wood and I've seen sandpaper used just fine too. Low grit number is rougher, higher grit number is smoother.

 

For corrosion and notches I use a green Scotch-Brite half-sponge while others use files. The 3M Scotch-Brite pads have grit ratings classified by color. Green pads are about 600 grit and the blue pad I sometimes use for light anti-corrosion work that is equivalent to a 3M white pad is a finer 1000 grit. It's important to keep in mind that unless the federschwert's purpose is to be hung on a wall or non-contact solo drills then the blade is going to get marred so I wouldn't bother with immaculate polishing with Metal Glo. This is a workhorse, each mark tells a story.

 

All metal surfaces are wiped down with isopropyl alcohol with a towel to remove oil before Scotch-Brite is used. It seems strange to say this but it's best not to ever get a Scotch-Brite sponge wet because they get less pliable and can crack after drying.

 

The feder has a blunt edge so it's fine to go back and forth over the entire blade with a Scotch-Brite linearly along the blade length. The only time I spot clean is if I know I'll be going over the entire blade anyway. I admit avoiding noticeable scuff spots is partly for aesthetic reasons although a blade that has a predictable pattern will make looking for problems so much easier.

 

I place the tip down on cardboard and clean the guards, pommel, and the flared schilt at the base of the blade easily this way. The blade can be cleaned like this although I find it easier to just run it horizontally like a fiddle. I occasionally let it cool down which gives me an excuse to take a break.

 

Red is active rust while black marks tend to be inactive. Dents and what not along the edges should be sanded smooth. A good rule of thumb is if you still don't want the blade edge or other surfaces to drag across your skin or clothing then it needs more smoothing. This applies to the guards as I and many others have had forearms shredded during grappling.

 

A very noticeable sign for the need for sanding the blade is during sparring or heavy contact drills that have blades sparking. While extremely cool looking those are pieces of metal burned off form impact and friction leaving a jagged edge behind.

 

Cleaning and Corrosion Prevention

 

All surfaces are then wiped with isopropyl alcohol towel to remove as much of the steel dust. Dust increases surface area, attracts more dust and moisture, and breaks the protective barrier of the thin film of oil that prevents corrosion. Usually I find that a followup with a separate oily rag will fully wipe off metal particulates.

 

I use food grade mineral oil that's also good for knives and wooden butcher blocks. This is absolutely not corn oil or olive oil as they will eventually go rancid. Regular mineral oil will work fine as well as gun oil. Choji sword oil as far as I can tell is basically expensive scented mineral oil.

 

WD-40 is primarily for water displacement so that oils intended for corrosion prevention can be used. For short durations of a few days WD-40 is better than nothing but it evaporates too quickly for long term corrosion prevention.

 

Once applied the oil should add a glossy effect on metal surfaces but it shouldn't be thick to reduce attracting dust. An hour or two after applying oil if there's a sweating effect on the surfaces then there's too much oil and a simple wipe should fix it.

 

Optionally I use a cotton swap with a little bit of oil to wipe the inside of the feder's back-folded tip, the top and bottom gaps between the blade schilt and the guard, the depressed ring at the base of the pommel, and the flattened peen.

 

I often wipe down the feder with oil after class. If there is skin contact such as during blade grabs then I will wipe down surfaces with isopropyl alcohol before applying oil. This is because there's a chance that salt and moisture can get trapped between the surface the fresh application of oil causing corrosion and ultimately pitting. I've seen this out at sea with tools where the environment has a high salt content in the moisture but it has happened with my feder.

 

Once oiled there's no issues with storing the feder out in the open for a month. Once there's dust then it needs to be wiped down with oil again as one time I've actually seen the beginnings of pitting from where the oil film barrier was compromised by the dust. That took an hour to slowly sand without leaving a noticeable sanding spot mark. Corrosion prevention done consistently will save tons of time down the road.

 

I knew someone who used floor wax to good effect giving the blade a slightly duller matte look. Unfortunately edges and strikes along the flat easily removes the protection. The best bet is to wipe down everything after practice. It's probably a good idea to avoid storing the feder in scabbard for long periods. If placed on a sword hangar or display make sure to research if galvanic corrosion will occur with any metal in contact with the steel.

 

Corded Wrap Grip Maintenance

 

I really liked the look and feel of leather wraps but even before finding out that one of things we drill for is hand strikes from other's experiences that leather gets damaged easily and is a pain to repair compared to cord. I wear leather gloves anyway. After a month of using the corded grip I noticed that there were very small fibers starting to appear almost like a fuzz. The cord was very slowly coming apart from use so a few people suggested I use bees wax and work it into the cord with heat to prevent fraying.

 

For melting bees wax I use a Xikar Tech 525BK Lighter refillable with butane. It's a cigar lighter with an adjustable flame dial at the bottom. I also have a Zippo lighter using traditional lighter fluid and one with a Thunderbird butane insert and neither has a flame as predictable as a jet flame. I've use double jets and it was annoying trying to figure out where the sweet spot is for melting things without under or overcooking especially with shock cords so single flame is the way to go.

 

The wax will darken the color of the cord so mine went from an almost cherry brown to a chocolate brown. The cord will be a little grippier too which is a nice bonus. Some people use epoxy or other kinds of shellac-like covering for the grip and they work quite well up until they crack from a hand strike. The wax does very well with keeping cut cords onto the grip and using a finger nail it can be shaped with thread lines that will hide the repair at first glance.

 

Epilogue

 

Everything seems to have held up well and the cord is the only thing that is in need of replacement. Thanks for reading this far and I hope this is a useful starting point to ask others about basic maintenance for your federschwert.

+++ 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 1964 the Royal Air Force specified a requirement (Air Staff Target (AST) 362) for a new fast jet trainer to replace the Folland Gnat. The SEPECAT Jaguar was originally intended for this role, but it was soon realized that it would be too complex an aircraft for fast jet training and only a small number of two-seat versions were purchased. Accordingly, in 1968, Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) began studies for a simpler aircraft, initially as special project (SP) 117. The design team was led by Ralph Hooper.

 

This project was funded by the company as a private venture, in anticipation of possible RAF interest. The design was conceived of as having tandem seating and a combat capability in addition to training, as it was felt the latter would improve export sales potential. By the end of the year HSA had submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Defense based on the design concept, and in early 1970 the RAF issued Air Staff Target (AST) 397 which formalized the requirement for new trainers of this type. The RAF selected the HS.1182 for their requirement on 1 October 1971 and the principal contract, for 175 aircraft, was signed in March 1972.

 

Design of the Hawk was conventional by any approach. The two-seat crew - made up of an instructor in the rear cockpit and his student pilot in the front - sat in tandem under a wide field-of-view canopy. Controls at each position were redundant with the instructor having the ability to override student functions as needed. The cockpit was situated well-forward in the design behind a pointed, sloped-down nose assembly. Intakes to aspirate the single engine mounting came in the form of two half-circle openings to either side of the rear cockpit. The turbofan engine was buried deep within the short fuselage which was streamlined with a certain engineering elegance common to British military aircraft.

 

The intake ducts bulged out at the fuselage sides but were absorbed into the fuselage proper to continue the aircraft's smooth design layout. Wings were fitted amidships and sported modest sweep along the leading edge and lesser sweep along the trailing edge. They were also low-mounted assemblies along the fuselage to help increased expediency for ground operation. The empennage was traditional with a single vertical tail fin flanked by a pair of downward-canted horizontal tail planes. The tail planes were all-moving surfaces to add to the Hawk's agility. Small ventral strakes were noted along the empennage base. The undercarriage was conventional in layout and consisted of two main single-wheeled landing gear legs and a single-wheeled nose leg. The main legs retracted inwards towards centerline while the nose leg retracted forwards.

 

Standard armament for the Hawk was an optional gun pod commonly fitted to the centerline hard point under the fuselage (there were, in effect, five total hard points). The gun pod housed a 30mm ADEN series cannon for close-in work but remained an optional fixture. There were originally two underwing hard points (later expanded to four) cleared for the carrying of external munitions including guided/homing missiles, rocket pods and conventional drop bombs with the two inner-most hard points plumbed to accept fuel from external drop tanks. Up to 6,800lbs of external stores could be lifted by the Hawk airframe.

 

The prototype aircraft first flew on 21 August 1974. All development aircraft were built on production jigs; the program remained on time and to budget throughout. The Hawk T1 entered RAF service in late 1976. The first export Hawk 50 flew on 17 May 1976. This variant had been specifically designed for the dual-role of lightweight fighter and advanced trainer. It had a greater weapons capacity than the T.1, featured a total of five hard points, avionics improvements, the ability to carry larger drop tanks of 590 liter (156 US gallon) capacity, and an uprated engine which made the Hawk 50 qualified for 30% greater takeoff weight than the RAF's Hawk T.1.

 

One of the initial foreign customers was the Finnish Air Force (Suomen Ilmavoimat). In January 1978, Britain and Finland announced a deal to in which the Finnish Air Force was to receive 50 Hawk Mk. 51s in 1980. The Finnish Hawk 51s had a unique avionics fit, used a Saab RS-2 gunsight, and were fitted with a VKT 12.7 millimeter gun pod instead of the 30 millimeter Aden cannon pod provided with the T.1. Interestingly, Finnish Hawks are in some cases fitted with the Russian R-60 (AA-8) AAM, and they are also used for reconnaissance, carrying Vinten optical-infrared camera pods. The first four Hawks in the Finnish order were built in the UK, with the other 46 assembled from kits by Valmet of Finland.

 

These aircraft were built in Finland under licence by Valtion lentokonetehdas. At that time. the Finnish Air Force was still limited to 60 first-line fighter aircraft by the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. But by acquiring Hawks, which counted as trainers rather than fighters, capacity could be increased while continuing treaty compliance. These conditions were nullified during the 1990s by the break-up of the Soviet Union, though.

 

Seven additional Mk. 51As were delivered in 1993–94 to make up for losses, and due to rising levels of metal fatigue, a major structural reinforcement program was carried out to extend the operational life of Finland's Hawks during the 1990s.

 

More variants of the Hawk followed and common improvements to the base design typically include increased range, more powerful engines, redesigned wing and undercarriage, the addition of radar and forward-looking infrared (FLIR), GPS navigation, and night vision compatibility. Later models were manufactured with a great variety in terms of avionics and system compatibility to suit the individual customer nation. Cockpit functionality was often rearranged and programmed, too, in order to be common to an operator's main fighter fleet to increase the Hawk's training value.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2: student, instructor

Length: 12.43 m (40 ft 9 in)

Wingspan: 9.94 m (32 ft 7 in)

Height: 3.98 m (13 ft 1 in)

Wing area: 16.70 m2 (179.64 ft²)

Empty weight: 4,480 kg (9,880 lb)

Useful load: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 9,100 kg (20,000 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Rolls-Royce Adour Mk. 851 non-afterburning turbofan with 23,1 kN (5.200 lbf) static thrust

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 0.84 (1,028 km/h, 638 mph) at altitude

Range: 2,520 km (1,360 nmi, 1,565 mi)

Service ceiling: 13,565 m (44,500 ft)

Rate of climb: 47 m/s (9,300 ft/min)

Thrust/weight: 0.65

 

Armament:

No internal armament, but an optional VKT 12.7 millimeter gun in a centerline pod;

Up to 2.200 lb (1.000 kg) of weapons on four underwing hard points, including 4× AAMs like

AIM-9 Sidewinder or R-60 (AA-8 'Aphid'), bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber, unguided rocket

pods, drop tanks or reconnaissance pods with cameras

  

The kit and its assembly:

A simple build, sparked from a short-notice inspiration when I did online legwork for paint schemes. Then I stumbled upon profiles of fictional Finnish MiG-29 and Su-27, posted in 2011 by fellow member Wenzel from the CZ What if SIG a.k.a. PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, featuring interesting, fictional four-tone splinter schemes:

 

i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww303/PoorWhistler/Doodles/Su...

 

i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww303/PoorWhistler/Doodles/Mi...

 

These got me thinking, but instead of building one of the Russian fighters I wondered how this camouflage concept would look on a smaller aircraft already in Ilmavoimat service. This led directly to the Hawk 51!

 

Thankfully, there are several kits available for this aircraft, and I settled upon the relatively new Airfix kit from 2007. It's main selling point was that it actually contains parts and decals for a Finnish aircraft, esp. a set of the modern, very tiny roundels.

Good experience with recent Airfix offerings were confirmed. Effectively, the Airfix Hawk is a nice and simple build, done in just one and a half day. One of the kit’s positive features is the crew: there are actually two modern and well-sculpted pilot figures included, a rarity these days.

 

The kit was mostly built OOB, only mods are a cover inside of the ventral air brake (which can be built into open position, but this leaves an ugly seam visible) and some extra antennae. Fit is good (not perfect, though), and only little PSR was needed - biggest issue was the ventral wing/fuselage intersection, esp. its rear end.

 

One truly tricky feat is the mounting of the protective clear separating screen between the cockpit seats – the clear wall has (somehow) to be glued into the clear canopy, without any reference where to actually place it. Altogether a risky business, and I was lucky to get the wall into place with only a little white glue so that a total mess could be avoided. The positive thing about this construction is that you can mount the canopy in open position with the wall inside.

 

The engraved panel lines appear a little massive at first glance (far from Matchbox' trenches on the Hawk 200, though!), but once you add paint the kit this evens out and looks much better than on the sprues. A nice and literally simple kit!

  

Painting and markings:

The more challenging part of the build - and I stuck closely to the inspiring profiles and their color choice, choosing a pattern of diagonal "splinter stripes" in rather unique tones:

• FS 35042 (USN Sea Blue; Humbrol 181)

• FS 34227 (Intermediate Green; Humbrol 120)

• FS 30118 (US Field Drab; Humbrol 142)

• FS 35622 (IDF Pale Blue; Humbrol 122), which was also used for the undersides

 

Painting was done free-handedly, with brushes and some tape for masking, and I stuck to the original color suggestions except for the pure FS35622 on the upper surfaces: I toned it slightly down with a little RLM76 (Humbrol 247), but it is still very bright and the contrast between all colors is really harsh.

 

Anyway, painting the splinter scheme was easier than it seems, since the areas of each of the four upper side tones was rather small, so that the straight lines were rather short. Only the tight edges needed some corrections, but that was mostly mended during the washing/shading process.

 

As a design twist, the drop tanks (taken OOB, these are the bigger tanks for the Hawk's export versions) and their respective pylons received the colors of the standard Ilmavoimat Hawks: the pylons were painted in a light olive green (Humbrol 159) while the tanks were painted in a murky, dark brown (a mix of Humbrol 10 and 66) with pale grey (Humbrol 166) undersides.

 

The cockpit interior was painted in Gull Gray (FS 36231), while other interior surfaces and the landing gear were kept in lighter RAF Aircraft Grey.

 

For the markings I relied upon the OOB decal sheet; deviating from the inspiring profiles I stuck to the OOB tiny Finnish roundels that were introduced in the Nineties, and they go well with this experimental scheme. Otherwise, markings are rather minimal, just a lot of stencils were applied, the Airfix OOB sheet is pretty exhaustive (with a zillion of stencils, merely 1x1mm in size… There are even decals to be placed on landing gear joints!? Seriously?). As a side benefit, the OOB Finnish aircraft comes with low-viz stencils, placed on a green background. On the fictional splinter livery of my build they blend well into the overall look, the whole aircraft looks very natural (but still original).

 

In order to emphasize the engraved panel line the kit received a black ink wash and some panel shading through dry-brushing on the upper surfaces, with only slightly lighter tones (e. g. RAL 5008 on the dark blue and RAF Cockpit Green on the FS 34227). I just wanted a subtle effect. Finally, after the decals had been applied, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A quick and pleasant build, and it's actually a relaxing experience to build something OOB, without transplants, major, Frankenstein-ish surgery and endless PSR sessions. In fact, the Airfix Bae Hawk kit makes it easy for the builder to create a decent model with little effort. You see that some thought went into the moulds and the kit’s construction.

The fictional four-tone splinter scheme looks really weird, though, almost like an anniversary scheme? O.K., it is, according to its creator, actually based/inspired by a pre-WWII Fokker D.VII fighter in Finnish service, but this real life version was created from different and less “loud” colors! Anyway, this Hawk is colorful in a certain way, even though I have doubts concerning its camouflage’s effectiveness? However, it’s a nice, bright addition to the whif collection. :D

 

Replacing the front valve cover gasket is very easy. Simply

 

1. Remove the valve cover,

2. Clean it,

3. Insert a new gasket into the grove along the valve cover rim,

4. Apply RTV sealant at the corners of the gasket,

5. Reinstall the valve cover, making sure the gasket is seated properly.

 

The rear valve cover, however, requires several more steps for removal, which are described below.

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

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

 

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

 

FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

Linemen at work on the pole behind Staples Plaza. They are replacing the overhead service drops to each store with underground lines to a bank of grouped meters.

+++ 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 Short Tucano is a two-seat turboprop basic trainer built by Short Brothers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a licence-built version of the Brazilian Embraer EMB-312 Tucano. Development of the Tucano started in May 1984 after an agreement between Embraer and Short Brothers to meet a requirement to replace the BAC Jet Provost as a basic trainer with the Royal Air Force. The Royal Air Force issued Air Staff Target 412 to define the requirement for a high-performance turboprop trainer. A shortlist of designs competed for the contract; the other types considered were the Pilatus PC-9, the NDN-1T Turbo-Firecracker and the Australian Aircraft Consortium (AAC) A.20 Wamira II.

 

In 1984 Embraer sent Shorts the seventh EMB-312 airframe off the production line for modifications in order to meet AST-412 requirements. The type was displayed in September 1984 at the Farnborough Airshow featuring an uprated PT6A-25C2 engine and a ventral air brake to meet required stall speed of 60kt. However, tests undertaken at Boscombe Down later on that year indicated the need to re-engine the aircraft (to meet the RAF requirement for time to height) and the Garrett TPE331 was chosen.

 

On 21 March 1985, the Short Tucano proposal was declared the winner of the AST.412 contract worth £126 million for 130 aircraft and an option for a further 15, but the option was never taken up. The first flight of the prototype EMB-312G2 which featured a four-bladed Hartzell propeller with the Garrett TPE331-10 engine took place in Brazil on 14 February of the following year, the aircraft being then disassembled and airlifted back to Belfast on 29 March 1986 to fly again just ten days later. In June, the TPE331-10 engine was replaced by the TPE331-12B, a major difference being the integration of an Electronic Engine Controller (EEC) system.

 

In addition to the revised engine, the major differences of the Shorts Tucano are a strengthened airframe for an improved fatigue life, a cockpit layout similar to the Hawk advanced trainer, a revised oxygen system, a flight data recorder, a four-bladed propeller, ventral airbrake and restyled wingtips. Two Martin-Baker MB 8LC ejection seats are used and the canopy was modified to meet the RAF's bird strike requirements. During its production run, Shorts commonly promoted the airframe as being "100% British-built". In order to meet RAF requirements, the EMB-312 has some 900 modifications reducing commonality with the original aircraft to only 50%.

 

The first standard production model T.Mk 1 was flown on 30 December 1986 and the official rollout took place on 20 January 1987. First deliveries to the RAF took place in 1989, while the last delivery to RAF occurred 25 January 1993.

In addition to the primary order from the RAF, export customers emerged for the Shorts-produced Tucanos. The Kenyan Air Force ordered a total of 12 units and a further 16 Tucanos were exported to Kuwait. The Tucanos serving in the Kuwait Air Force were furnished to be armed and combat-capable for the purposes of weapons training and light attack duties; each aircraft features four pylons capable of mounting various rocket pods, cannons, bombs, and auxiliary fuel tanks.

 

In RAF service the Short Tucano replaced the Jet Provost as the basic trainer, preparing the student pilots for progression to BAe Hawk advanced flying training. The aircraft proved to be 70% cheaper to operate than its predecessor and the Tucano's accident record has also been remarkably better than other ab-initio training aircraft, with only five aircraft written off with no fatalities in over 20 years.

 

In March 2007, regarding experiences from the War in Afghanistan, the British Parliament was debating the idea of replacing Harriers and Tornados for armed Short Tucanos during close air support missions. This led to the Tucano TGR.2, an armed version with extensive modification, since the RAF aircraft were not fitted with wing hardpoints.

The Tucano TGR.2 was created from existing T.1 trainers in the course of standard overhaul procedures through the VT Group, which supported maintenance for the RAF. 22 aircraft were converted in the course of 2008-9, primarily through new, reinforced wings with four hardpoints that could carry up to 1.000 lb ordnance, similar to the Tucano export models. Under the hood, avionics were upgraded, too, so that the machine could carry podded sensors like FLIR pods for a limited all-weather capability or a laser target illuminator, so that smart weapons (including laser-guide bombs or the Brimstone missile) could be effectively deployed. Other external weapon loads include machine gun and cannon pods, unguided missiles and iron bombs of up to 500 lb caliber. Furthermore, up to eight Starstreak launch tubes for self-defense or against other aircraft or helicopters could be carried, too.

The full trainer capability was retained, so that the T.1's full mission spectrum remained covered, but armed training was now made possible, too. During attack missions the aircraft would be typically flown by single pilot only, even though surveillance and Forward Air Control missions would require a crew of two.

The Tucano T.1 trainer was scheduled to be withdrawn from service in 2015, and it will be replaced by the winner of the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) programme. The armed TGR.2 will be kept in service for some further years (probably 2020) and complement Operational Conversion Units, primarily for basic and weapon training, but also as aggressor aircraft in dissimilar training at low altitude.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: one–two

Length: 32 ft 4 in (9.85 m)

Wingspan: 37 ft 0 in (11.28 m)

Height: 11 ft 1¾ in (3.40 m)

Wing area: 208 ft² (19.3 m²)

Empty weight: 4,447 lb (2,017 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 7,220 lb (3,275 kg)

 

Powerplant:

1 Garrett TPE331-12B turboprop, 1,100 shp (820 kW)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 274 kn (315 mph, 507 km/h) (at 10,000–15,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 180/240 (low level) knots (253 mph, 407 km/h) (economy cruise)

Never exceed speed: 300 kts (322 mph, 555 km/h)

Stall speed: 69 kn (80 mph, 128 km/h) (flaps and gear down)

Range: 900 nmi (1,035 miles, 1,665 km)

Service ceiling: 34,000 ft (10,363 m)

Rate of climb: 3,510 ft/min (17.8 m/s)

Wing loading: 28.6 lb/ft² (140 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.152 hp/lb (0.250 kW/kg)

 

Armament:

No internal weapons, but 4× underwing hardpoints for 1,000 lb (454 kg) of stores

  

The kit and its assembly:

The relatively simple 7th contribution to the “RAF Centenary” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in 2018. I had this project on the agenda for a while, and the GB was a good occasion to tackle it.

The basic idea had been a camouflaged Short Tucano in RAF service, namely in the NATO Green/Lichen Green livery typical for the RAF’s Harrier GR.5.

 

I also had already a kit stashed away, a Tucano from Premiere. The model was built basically OOB, just with a few cosmetic additions. The kit itself is rather simple and reminds of a mediocre Matchbox kit: without “trenches”, and some nice details like the wheels or separate clear parts for the position lights. But nothing actually fits together well, PSR was necessary literall everywhere. Certainly not a kit for beginners.

 

Personal changes are:

- Ejection trigger handles and filled headrests for the seats; HUDs on the dashboards

- A metal axis for the propeller and a styrene tube adapter in the front fuselage

- Some additional blade antennae and radar warning bumps

- Flare/chaff dispensers under the stabilizers

- Four underwing hardpoints with ordnance (a pair of slightly pimped SUU-11 minigun pods from a Matchbox AH-1 and two pairs of missile launch tubes, IIRC these come from a H0 scale Bo 105 wreck and are actually TOW launch tubes)

 

Despite my attempts to add as much lead as possible to the nose, the kit still won’t rest on its front wheel and tip over…

  

Painting and markings:

As mentioned above, this is basically a livery whif – and the green/green paint scheme is rather simple, too. For the NATO Green I used Tamiya XF-67, which is supposed to be the authentic tone. In the past I have used other shades of Green (Humbrol 75, but it’s too dark and bluish, and 102, which lacks yellow), but with mixed results.

The undersides, Lichen Green, were painted with Xtracolors X024, which is supposed to be the authentic tone. At first I found it to look much too dark and murky – at least for a small 1:72 model – but in combination with the NATO Green it works well. To my surprise, the tone looks quite similar to RLM 02!

For some better contrast of the soft engravings, I gave the kit a light black ink wash and did some post-shading with FS 34096 (Modelmaster) on the upper surfaces and Revell’s 45 underneath.

The cockpit was painted in Dark Sea Grey (Tamiya XF-54), while the landing gear wells became Light Aircraft Grey (Humbrol 166) and the struts, as well as the wheel discs, white.

The propeller spinner and the blades’ back side became black, while the front was painted in light grey (Humbrol 64), with blade tips in red-white-red.

 

Decals came from various aftermarket sheets (Sky Models, XXX), primarily from Harrier GR.5 aircraft. Some stencils had to be replaced, since Premiere’s OOB decal sheet turned out to be highly brittle, and any decal without any color foundation disintegrated immediately upon contact.

The canopy frames, as well as the black walkways on the wing roots, were created with generic decal stripe material.

The fancy shark mouth was a spontaneous addition, since I found the all-green aircraft to look rather bleak – and its low-viz design in black and light grey blends well into the overall look. The decals originally come from an Academy AH-64, but the eyes were placed in a higher position and the area of the front landing gear well was improvised with paint.

Finally, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

Well, nothing spectacular, but I must say that I find the green/green livery rather attractive, and it works IMHO well with the modern Tucano.

 

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 23-Jan-19.

 

I love the cans hanging under each engine to catch the oil drips!

This is my first ever diorama, and although I certainly could of put more effort into the house, I think it looks nice.

In 1934 the British Mk II and Mk III collimators were modified to become the Mk IV collimator by replacing the base with a longer one in order to accept the Bino.Prism No. 5 7X50. A Mk IV collimator from another collection is shown above. It is not known if it was made by H. Hughes & Sons. Note that the Mk IV's "telescope unit" is screwed down at the far left end of the mounting plate for collimation of 7X50 binoculars but that the plate is recessed to allow the unit to be placed in a forward position for collimation of 6X No. 2, 3 and 4 binoculars as explained in the instructions pasted on the lid of the box. Also note that the "Long Binocular Support" which should be used when collimating a No. 5 7X50 binocular is stored in the upper right corner of box while a much shorter support (either a No. 1 or 2) for a smaller binocular is inappropriately installed in the middle of the collimator. A separate device was needed for clamping the binocular to the support which is either hidden from view or missing. If missing, it may have been stored in the compartment at the bottom right of box.