replacing blades in a condenser fan

The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a twin boom, twin-engined 1950s–60s British two-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm designed by de Havilland at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Developed from an earlier first generation jet fighter, the Sea Vixen was a capable carrier-based fleet defence fighter that served into the 1970s. Initially produced by de Havilland it was later known as the Hawker Siddeley Sea Vixen after de Havilland became a part of the Hawker Siddeley Group in 1960. A single example remains airworthy today in the UK and is displayed regularly at airshows.

 

The aircraft was designated the DH.110 by de Havilland; a twin-engined all-weather fighter, development of which started in 1946 following discussions with the Admiralty of its requirements for jet all-weather fighters. De Havilland's design shared the twin-boom layout of the de Havilland Vampire, had an all-metal structure and featured swept wings. It was to be powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon engines, each capable of 7,500 lbf (33 kN) of thrust, which would allow the aircraft to be supersonic in a shallow dive. The DH 110 was the first British two seat combat aircraft to achieve supersonic speed. Armament was to be four 30 mm ADEN cannons. In January 1947, specifications N.40/46 and F.44/46 were issued by the British Air Ministry for similar night-fighters to equip the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and Royal Air Force (RAF), with nine prototypes being ordered for the RAF (together with four of the competing Gloster Javelin) and four prototypes for the Fleet Air Arm. In 1949, however, the Royal Navy decided to buy the de Havilland Sea Venom, which as a development of an existing type was cheaper and available quickly to meet its immediate needs for a jet-powered night fighter to replace its piston-engined de Havilland Sea Hornets, while the RAF cut its order back to two prototypes. Despite this, de Havilland continued with the project.

 

The first prototype was built and first flown at Hatfield Aerodrome on 26 September 1951 piloted by John Cunningham; the aircraft's performance exceeded expectations, and by the following year it was regularly flying faster than the speed of sound. However, tragedy struck while the aircraft was being demonstrated at the Farnborough Airshow on 6 September 1952. Following a demonstration of its ability to break the sound barrier, the aircraft disintegrated, killing 31 people, including the crew of two: test pilot and record breaker John Derry and Tony Richards. The failure was traced to faulty design of the end sections of the main spar, which resulted in the outer ends of the wings shearing off during a high-rate turn. The subsequent shift in the DH.110's centre of lift caused the aircraft to lurch violently, creating forces of over 12 g, resulting in the cockpit and tail sections breaking away and the engines being torn from the airframe. One of the engines hit an area crowded with spectators at the end of the runway, causing the majority of casualties. Other spectators were injured by debris from the cockpit landing close to the main spectator enclosures alongside the runway. This incident led to a major restructuring of the safety regulations for air shows in the UK.

Crafers.

The settlement here emerged in 1840 once traffic began moving through the hills to the Special Survey area of Mt Barker and the new settlement of Hahndorf. Inspector Tolmer the Police Commissioner said it 1840 that the Tiers, as the district was known, was a refuge for desperados, bushrangers, broken men, drunks and the lawless. David Crafers took out a license for a bush inn here in 1839 which he first of all called the Sawyers Arms because of the many tree fellers there. He built a new wooden hotel in 1840 which was replaced with a single stone structure in 1878 and then the upper floor was added some years later. But when David Crafers sold his inn in 1844 the new owner named it the Crafers Inn and it only became the Crafers Hotel in the 1930s. In the 1850s the settlement gained a Post Office and a blacksmiths and considerable traffic passed through Crafers. Over a four month period in 1857 some 700 bullock drays, 13,000 horse drays and 2,000 coaches passed through Crafers with some 20,000 people! But real development occurred in Crafers around 1880 with the imminent arrival of the railway to Mt Lofty. New subdivisions such as the one along Waverley Ridge were created at that time.

 

Crafers School began as a small private school in 1866. In 1868 the first school room was built then in 1871 the school moved to another site which was later called Paxlease House. It had 91 enrolments and the head teacher’s house was added to the school room. This school was used until the new state Crafers School opened down the Piccadilly Road in 1926. The old school was then converted into a house. Audrey Morphett the state Commissioner of Girl Guides got a lease on Paxlease House in 1935 when she changed the name to Paxlease. She then got her mother to purchase the house in 1945 and donate it to the Girl Guide movement. The Paxlease House is a private residence. The Crafers Institute was formed in 1867 but with no building. The foundation stone of this freestone building was laid in 1882 and the Institute opened in 1883. The old Post Office was built at Crafers in 1854 next to the historic Crafers Inn. The former Post office still has its original six pane windows. The architectural gem of Crafers is the Anglican Church of the Epiphany. A church was built in 1878 to be used by all denominations but this union church did not last long. In 1886 it was transferred from some local trustees to the Anglican Church whereupon it was enlarged in 1893 and again in 1898. The union rectory was also transferred to the Anglican Church in 1889. With the influx of wealthy new residents after 1883 the church received donations of a pipe organ, the carved wooden pulpit and several stained glass windows.

 

Mount Lofty Summit.

Captain Collet Barker came exploring here and along the Sturt River in 1831. A few weeks later he was killed near Lake Alexandrina. Earlier the summit had been sighted and named by Captain Matthew Flinders when he sailed up the Gulf in 1802. A cairn of stones was erected on the summit in 1865 with a table and chairs for picnickers and a wooden flagstaff. In 1885 the wooden flagstaff was replaced with a stone tower and trig station. 1901 for the centenary of the summit’s naming by Capt. Matthew Flinders the current obelisk was built to honour Flinders. It was unveiled by the Governor Lord Tennyson in March 1902. At 727 metres high the summit is the highest point near Adelaide but there are quite a many peaks higher than this in SA. The summit was purchased by the government in 1945 and added to Cleland Conservation Park. The old 1958 built tearooms at the summit were replaced with the new summit restaurant in 1997.

 

Replaced 18432 YN06LMJ On 19 To Rotherham Via Dinnington.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 23-Jan-23, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 30-Dec-23.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SPL in Jan-97. It was repainted in the 'Tropical Megatop / Raffles' special livery in 1998, however it was quickly returned to standard livery after sister-ship 9V-SPK (also in the 'Raffles' livery) was lost when it crashed on take-off at Taipei, Taiwan on 31-Oct-2000.

 

It was sold to Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo as B-HKX in Jan-09 and was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck side cargo door (SCD) in Jun-09.

 

The aircraft was transferred to Air Hong Kong in Jul-17 and returned to Cathay Pacific Cargo in Jun-18 when it was stored at Hong Kong.

 

It was sold to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest and leased to Atlas Air Cargo as N471MC in Aug-18. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Lleida, Spain between Feb/Apr-20. It returned to service on 09-Apr-20. Current, updated 28-Jul-22.

Replaced a Blue Bird / Chevy Micro Bird

In a photo caption 7 years ago I wrote "The boiler of Phil Wainwright's LMS Black 5 4-6-0 45491 is now out of the frames and in the shed yard. It has already had a complete overhaul of the bottom end & the firebox has been done but the boiler needs tubing and smokebox finishing".

 

It's still not finished!!

 

In fact the firebox hadn't been done to the boiler inspector's satisfaction and extensive patching was required (see one of them on the right) plus I believe at least one of the tubeplates has been replaced as has the whole smokebox. It's a long and expensive business owning and restoring a steam engine and Phil almost threw in the towel at one point. However he persevered and one day it will all come together.

It was easy to photograph Edgware buses at home as almost all of the allocation would be parked outside. But it wasn`t a location that held a lot of interest to me being devoid of Routemasters and I didn`t have a good camera until after the RF`s had gone. They were replaced by BL`s such as a rather scruffy BL 73 seen on 27 February 1980.

North Adelaide Hotel established 1850.

The current two storey hotel structure dates from 1881 when an earlier 1850 building was replaced using a design by architects Bayer & Withall. It retains its symmetrical front elevation and simple parapet, and the two level verandah with upper balcony and a decorative gable at the lower western end.

 

This hotel changed its name to the Daniel O'Connell Hotel in the late 1990s. Its former names were the Commercial Hotel and the North Adelaide Hotel. It was first licensed on 18 December 1850 as the Commercial Hotel.

 

Morris remained owner and publican until January 1852 when he sold the pub and grounds for £300 to J W Probyn. In 1862 German migrant, Frantz Heinrich Wilhelm Iben, together with his wife Margaret became the publicans and two years later in August 1864 were able to buy it. The Iben's association with the hotel lasted forty years. Indeed, following Wilhelm Iben's death in 1877, his wife rebuilt the hotel in 1881 and still continued as its publican until 1891.

 

In 1904 the hotel was sold to the South Australian Brewing Company who owned it for about ninety years.

Ref: Heritage of the City of Adelaide, ACC.

 

*The North Adelaide Hotel at Tynte Street, North Adelaide, is under new management.

 

Mr Eric Parsons who is well known in the liquor industry has taken over the hotel from Mr Frank Linegor.

 

Mr Parsons comes from a family of hoteliers and has been in the business all his working life.

 

Prior to taking over the "North Adelaide" he was in business at Victor Harbour.

 

With his wife and four children he is settling into his new surroundings at North Adelaide and talking enthusiastically of improvements to the premises.

 

If you are a football fan you'll have much in common with Eric who seldom misses a match. He is also a keen golf fan. "I am confident that North Adelaide is the logical area for further commercial development in S A" said Eric Parsons at the conclusion of the interview.

Ref: Standard (Port Adelaide SA) Wednesday 11 July 1962.

 

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The aircraft's core mission objectives comprised:

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (Pilot, weapon system officer)

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

Wingspan:

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

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

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

Wing area: 1008.9 ft² (90.8 m²)

Weight: 88.151 lbs (39.986 kg)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed:

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

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

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

Range: 3.705 miles (5.955 km) with internal fuel

Service ceiling: 75.000 ft (22.500 m)

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

 

Engine:

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

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

 

Armament:

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

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

  

The kit and its assembly

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

  

Painting

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

  

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

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

 

Mighty bird!

The original section of Springdale Farms Market. This was built in 1988 to replace the original market which was destroyed in a fire that year. When Springdale Road was widened in 1998-99 the front parking area was removed. The market was then expanded with a new entrance and parking lot on the side. This is Cherry Hill NJ's last working farm, fortunately for us the family that owns the farm resisted pressure to sell for developments. Passing through here on Springdale Road gives an idea how this entire area was like when agriculture was the main industry.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 14-Feb-20.

 

Operated on behalf of Air Alliance by Air Georgian.

 

Fleet No: "952".

 

First flown with the Beechcraft/Raytheon test registration N20707, this aircraft was delivered to Air Georgian as C-GVGA in Dec-97 and operated on behalf of Canadian Regional with 'Ontario Regional' titles. It was returned to Air Georgian in early May-00 and operated on behalf of Air Alliance operating on behalf of Air Canada. Operations continued with Air Canada Regional and Air Canada Express. It was returned to Air Georgian in late 2018 and was possibly stored at Winnipeg, Canada in Jan-19. It returned to operation with Air Georgian at some point, in basic Air Canada 'toothpaste' livery without titles or logo. Air Georgian ceased operations in May-20 and it's assets were sold to a new company, Pivot Airlines, which co-incidentally happens to have the same Management personnel as Air Georgian. Updated Feb-21.

Replaced by 50 of the oldest uploads

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 16-May-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 12-Oct-23.

 

Sneaky photo taken at Tripoli from behind a GPU.

 

Originally built as a B720-060B, ordered by Ethiopian Airlines as ET-AAG. The order was cancelled and the aircraft first flew using the Boeing registration N93136.

 

It was converted to B720-068B standard and delivered to Saudi Arabian Airlines as HZ-ACA in Dec-61. It was sold to Overseas International Distributors in Oct-79 and stored at Van Nuys, CA, USA.

 

It was re-registered N2628Y in Dec-81 and sold to Sonico Inc. They ferried it to Moses Lake, WA, USA, where it was stored again and used for spares. It was finally broken up there in Oct-82.

Replacing an earlier 6"x4" scanned print with a better version 29-Oct-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

I was just about to fly on this aircraft from Miami to Key West.

 

Fleet No: "931".

 

First flown with the deHavilland Canada test registration C-GFOD, this aircraft was delivered to Henson Airlines as N931HA in Jan-89. Henson Airlines was renamed (the new) Piedmont Airlines in Jul-93 and operated on behalf of US Air Express.

 

US Air was renamed US Airways in Feb-97 and US Air Express became US Airways Express. US Airways was officially merged into American Airlines in Apr-15 and US Airways Express became a part of American Eagle.

 

The aircraft was returned to Piedmont Airlines in Jan-17 after 28 years in service. It was initially stored at Salisbury, MD, USA and moved to Roswell, NM, USA at the end of May-17. Permanently retired. Updated 29-Oct-21.

 

Note: The original Piedmont Airlines was a US regional airline that was merged into US Air in Aug-89. US Air resurrected it when they took over Henson Airlines in Jul-93.

UP 7511, GE AC60CW, this photo is the original UP7511 which was replaced by GE with a second UP7511:2

This bus is one of 8 2019 Thomas C2's currently in the fleet. This bus replaced a 1997 Blue Bird International once in the fleet. The bus was waiting for a part to come in at the time of photography.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 02-Jan-23.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVWD, this aircraft was delivered to the CIT Leasing Corporation and leased to Independence Air (USA) as N805BR in Nov-04.

 

Independence Air ceased operations in Jan-06, it was returned to the lessor and stored at Mexico City. The aircraft was due to be leased to Volaris Mexico in Feb-06 but the lease wasn't taken up.

 

The aircraft was leased to Air-Berlin as D-ABGD in Jun-06 and returned to the lessor in May-09. It was parked at Dusseldorf (Germany). It was due for lease to Belle Air (Albania) as ZA-ARA but the registration wasn't used.

 

It was leased to Belle Air using the French Overseas registration F-OARF in Jul-09 (the registration was originally applied to the aircraft as F-OARA in error). The aircraft was transferred to an associate company, Belle Air Europe as EI-LIR in Mar-11.

 

Belle Air Europe ceased operations in Nov-13, he aircraft was repossessed by the lessor and stored at Ostrava, Czechia. it was leased to Air Serbia as YU-APD in Aug-14. Current, updated 03-Jan-23.

19 of these Scania N 250 UDs with Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City bodywork entered service with First Eastern Counties for its Excel services along the Norwich to Peterborough axis in early 2020. They replaced a batch of 63-plate Enviro400 integrals on a route where vehicles are turned over rapidly, no doubt due to the high mileages they cover. The newer buses are unquestionably eyecatching, and they are well specified inside. Here is 36913 (YN69 XZT) at the launch at Dereham station on the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 10-May-24.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Balair as HB-INR in Feb-85. Balair merged with CTA (Italy) in Jan-93 to form Balair/CTA. It was leased to Swissair between Feb-93/Mar-94 and again between Mar/Nov-95 although it remained in full Balair/CTA livery (as seen above).

 

The aircraft was transferred to Crossair in Dec-95. It was sold to Germania in Feb-99 and leased back to Crossair. The aircraft was wet-leased to Nordic Airlink in Feb-01 and sub-leased to Odette Airways in Dec-02 (still operated by Crossair).

 

It was returned to Nordic Airlink in Jan-03 and was sub-leased to Avione (France) in May-03 and returned to Nordic Airlink in Sep-03. The aircraft was returned to Crossair and transferred to Swiss International Airlines in Jan-04.

 

It was stored at Zurich, Switzerland the same month. It was sold to Bulgarian Air Charter as LZ-LDR in Apr-05 and wet-leased to Kish Air (Iran) the following month, returning to Bulgarian Air Charter around Sep-07.

 

The history gets a little hazy from this point. The aircraft appears to have been sold to Bukovyna Aviation Enterprise (Ukraine) as UR-CJA around Mar-10 and either leased or sold to Khors Aircompany at the end of Apr-10. After that all I've got is 'Stored in Ukraine', no place or date, and 'to be scrapped'. Updated (Aug-20).

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

 

The previous day, 1st April 1982, this aircraft was parked at Manchester, UK in full Laker Airways livery, Laker having ceased trading in Feb-82. During the day on the 1st, intense negotiations had been going on in London between the Laker liquidators and B.Cal for the purchase of Laker's four One-Elevens. Having worked a full day already (I was B.Cal's Station Manager at Manchester), I had to sit in the office until the sale was confirmed.

 

Just before midnight it was all confirmed and the liquidator's Representative was on his way to the airport with the aircraft log book (Yes, aircraft have log books very similar to the ones for a car in the UK, and no, I didn't know that either!). He arrived at the airport just after 1:00am and, having signed all the paperwork, I became the proud owner of a BAC One-Eleven (well, for a few hours at least!).

 

Before I went home I called Dan Air Engineering (who looked after our engineering at Manchester) and asked them to paint out the Laker name and put the new registration, G-BKAU, on the aircraft. When I came back next morning they had done the painting but were having problems with the lettering transfers. You'd think that an engineer could have at least put the new registration on straight!

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Delivered to Laker Airways in Feb-67 as G-AVBW, it was sub-leased to Air Congo between Feb/May-68. This aircraft was impounded and stored at Manchester, UK, when Laker Airways ceased operations in 05-Feb-82.

 

It was repossessed by Nordic Finance in Mar-82 and sold to British Caledonian Airways on 01-Apr-82 as G-BKAU. It didn't stay with B.Cal for long though and was sold to OBS Ltd in Nov-83.

 

It was immediately sold on to Okada Air, Nigeria, as 5N-AOZ. It was operated by Okada for another 13 years until it was retired at Benin City, Nigeria, in Dec-97 and was subsequently broken up.

Built in 1900, the Crossville Depot replaced a boxcar that was used temporarily until the building was complete. Medal of Honor winner Sergeant Alvin C. York departed and returned from the Crossville Depot during World War I, and later, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who was here to visit the Cumberland Homesteads "New Deal" project. The Depot was featured in a famous scene from the movie Sergeant York. The railroad stopped running and tracks were removed in Cumberland County in the early 1980s, and in 1996 the Depot was renovated as a community project by the Rotary Clubs of Cumberland County. Currently, the Depot is a gift and coffee shop, and meeting facility.

 

Information above taken from the Crossville, TN Chamber website:

www.crossville-chamber.com/visiting.php?pg=22

 

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D5200 and combined with Photomatix to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

The Flickr Lounge-Textures

 

A few years ago, when we replaced our living room couch and chair, they threw in the throw cushions.

  

It's not clear to me if this Kaiser is a Special Traveler or a DeLuxe Traveler. They share the same engine.

 

Note the subtle indentation in the top edge of the rear window. The windshield also had this novelty.

 

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was formed in July 1945 by two successful businessmen Henry J. Kaiser (1882-1967) and Joseph W. Frazer (1892-1971).

Immediately after the war their industrial activities changed to develop and produce cars.

In the first three years the Kaiser-Frazer Corp. was quite successful. The company offered cars simultaneously under two different brand names: Frazer and Kaiser. The sub-companies shared bodies and technics.

The first cars appeared in August 1946.

 

New for 1949 was the Traveller Utility Sedan. This was a combination of a kind of commercial hatchback with a station wagon. The car had a back door which opened in two parts. The backseat could easily folded down to create cargo space. Industrial designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin (USA, 1897-1982) had a main influence on the styling, but the designs were revised by Robert Cadwallader.

Alex Tremulis (USA, 1914-1991) joined the design team in 1950 (after the 1948 Tucker failure).

 

For model year 1951 Kaiser offered a restyled Special and DeLuxe range, with a very low belt-line.

Production of the Kaiser model year 1951 started already in March 1950. This was a half year ahead of other car brands.

For 1951 and 1952 the Traveler Utility Sedan was available as two and four door version.

The Deluxe Traveler Utility Sedan replaced the 1949-50 Vagabond Utility Sedan for model year 1951.

 

3707 cc L6 petrol engine.

112 bhp.

C. 1740 kg.

Production Kaiser Special/DeLuxe series 1st gen.: Aug. 1946-1951.

Production Kaiser Utility Sedan series: 1949-1953.

Production Kaiser Traveler Utility Sedan this version: March 1950-late 1951.

New US reg. number.

 

Image was found in:

James M. Flammang, Cars of the Fabulous '50s, a Decade of High Style and Good Times, Publications International LTD, Lincolnwood, 1995.

Original photographer, place and date unknown.

Book collection Sander Toonen (2018, present from Willem).

 

Halfweg, Dec. 23, 2024.

 

© 2024 Sander Toonen, Halfweg | All Rights Reserved

Morris Minor 1000 Convertible (1962-71) Engine 1098cc S4 OHV Production 303,443 (2nd Gen Minor 1000's)

 

Registration Number SOP 98 H (Birmingham)

 

MORRIS SET

 

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690377489...

 

The Minor 1000 (1956-62) was a direct descendant of the earlier Minor series II with a 948cc S4 OHV engine it had a revised front grille, a curved one piece windscreen, larger rear window, dished steering wheel, and painted 14inch wheels, flashing direction indicators replaced semaphore trafficators.

 

This (1962-71) version had a larger 1098cc S4 OHV engine boosting output to 48bhp and a top speed of 77 mph bracket. Differences were however slight a new dashboard layout with a lidded glove box on the passenger side and open cubby hole in front of the driver, and a different heater, externally the new car gained a new larger tail flasher and front side/flasher lights

 

Many thanks for a Marmalising

51,430,503 views

 

Shot 01.05.2016 Shot at Catton Hall, nr. Weston on Trent Derbs. REF 116-137

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Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 01-Oct-17 + DeNoise AI 11-Oct-22.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Air Malta as 9H-ABB in Mar-83. It was wet-leased to Sobelair (Belgium) between Jun/Oct-83. It was sold to British Aerospace in Nov-94 in part-exchange for B.Ae 146-RJ70's. British Aerospace immediately sold it to a leasing company who leased it to Air New Zealand as ZK-NAH later that month.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Air Malta between Mar/Oct-96 and sub-leased to Freedom Air (New Zealand) between Dec-96/Feb-97. It was wet-leased to Air Malta again in Apr-97 and on its return to Air New Zealand in Oct-97, it was returned to the lessor.

 

The aircraft was leased to Bouraq Indonesia Airlines as PK-IJL in Dec-97 and returned to the lessor in Apr-98 when it again became ZH-NAH. It was re-registered N921WA in Jun-98 and was leased to Winair the following month.

 

It was repossessed by the lessor in Jun-99. In Jul-99 the aircraft was leased to Frontier Airlines and returned to the lessor in Oct-03 and was stored. It was leased to Atlantic Airlines de Honduras as HR-ATM in May-04 and wet-leased to Magenta Air (Peru) in Jun-04.

 

The aircraft returned to Atlantic Airlines de Honduras in Apr-05. It was leased to Star Peru (Star Up) as OB-1794-P in Nov-05 and returned to Atlantic Airlines in Nov-08. It was permanently retired at Lima, Peru(?) in Mar-10.

Replaced to add back the EXIF data that Picasa dropped.

Gladstone Roman Catholic Church of St Peter, built to replace the former church of 1881.

 

NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH AT GLADSTONE

Foundation Stone Laid by Bishop Killian

The foundation stone of the new Catholic Church at Gladstone was solemnly blessed and laid by the Most Rev Andrew Killian, DD, Bishop of Port Augusta, at 3 pm on Sunday, April 22, in the presence of a large and representative assembly of Catholics. As well as members of the local congregation, many familiar faces from Georgetown, Laura, Caltowie, Crystal Brook, and the districts adjacent to those towns, were to be seen in attendance.

 

Mass was held in the existing building at 10 a.m., the celebrant being the Rev Father O'Rourke, of Port Pirie, while the local choir, under the leadership of Mr J Hillary, rendered Webb's Mass in G.

 

The dimensions are: body of Church, 60 feet by 30 feet; sanctuary, 18 feet by 18 feet, and vestry, 18 feet by 12 feet. The contractor expects to complete the work five or six months’ time. [Ref: Southern Cross 27-4-1928]

 

NEW ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Opened at Gladstone

Gladstone, October 22

On Sunday the new Roman Catholic Church at Gladstone, dedicated to St. Peter, was formally opened and blessed by the Right Rev Dr Killian Bishop of the R C Diocese of Port Augusta. The church, which is solidly built, of Gladstone cut stone, is of Gothic type, and will seat 300 people. It was completed to the drawings of Mr Smerdon, architect of Port Pirie, by the contractor (Mr G B Hinks), of Port Pirie, under the very efficient supervision of the clerk of works (Mr Frank Evans).

 

The main entrance is a roomy portico surmounted by choice coloured light windows, and the main building is lofty, very airy, and well lighted by several attractive leadlight windows, some of which were given by generous parishioners. The spacious sanctuary contains an exquisite altar, the work of Pimlott Limited, of Port Pirie. This part of the church contains also a series of beautiful windows which add beauty thereto and provide an abundance of light. The sanctuary is lighted at night by the installation of a floodlight effect. The building and furnishing are a credit to the pastor (Very Rev Monsignor Mulcahy), the parishioners, and the town.

[Ref: Register 24-10-1928]

 

Gladstone, December 19

The Roman Catholic Church here was consecrated and dedicated by the Bishop yesterday.

There were about 300 persons present including a large number of Protestants. The Bishop spoke of the increasing prosperity of the North, and the prosperous state of the Church, there being over seventy in the diocese.

At the close of the services a collection was made. There is a debt of £400 on the building.

[Ref: South Australian Register 20-12-1881]

   

The Green Bus are acquiring former London Enviro 400s, TP replace their ageing fleet of Dennis Tridents and Volvo B7TLs. So far there are 9 of these former Abellio examples in use, for now remaining in base red, and now with updated blindsets (featuring Rail Replacement destinations such as Leicester, Derby, Burton, Nuneaton, Tamworth, Coleshill and Birmingham). When time allows they will be repainted into a new identity for the company, and will receive new LED displays. When pictured on their debut weekend in the Midlands, none had any form of destination displays, and said blinds were fitted ready for the next weekend. Pictured here at Coleshill Parkway are three of them - 604 LJ09CDE, 603 LJ09CCZ, 608 LJ09CDO

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_State_Penitentiary

 

The Missouri State Penitentiary was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri, that operated from 1836 to 2004. Part of the Missouri Department of Corrections, it served as the state of Missouri's primary maximum security institution. Before it closed, it was the oldest operating penal facility west of the Mississippi River. It was replaced by the Jefferson City Correctional Center, which opened on September 15, 2004.

 

Source: www.missouripentours.com/history/

 

Still owned by State of Missouri, The Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP) opened in 1836 along the banks of the Missouri River in Jefferson City, Missouri, the state capital. The prison housed inmates for 168 years and was the oldest continually operating prison west of the Mississippi until it was decommissioned in 2004. Now the Jefferson City Convention & Visitors Bureau offers a wide variety of tours at the site, once named the “The bloodiest 47 acres in America” by Time Magazine.

 

In 1831 Jefferson City’s hold on the capital city status was a tenuous one. To ensure that it remained the seat of government, Governor John Miller suggested a prison be built in Jefferson City. Construction began in 1834 and the first inmate arrived in 1836. From then on the prison became famous for being one of the most efficient in the country…and infamous for its notorious inmates and the 1954 riot on its grounds.

 

A former Union General, the first train robber, 1930s gangsters, world champion athletes, and the assassin that killed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. all came through the gates of the Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP) as inmates. Some left MSP for successful careers in the arts, sports, and even state government; others chose a life of more crime.

 

In September of 1937, Governor Lloyd Crow Stark signed a bill calling for execution by lethal gas. No longer would the local sheriff be responsible for carrying out the death penalty for those convicted in his county. The days of public hangings in Missouri were to finally come to an end. Many members of the legislature were strongly opposed to the bill and argued that more death sentences would result. Nevertheless, Missouri was, on the whole, a state that supported the death penalty for serious crimes. The bill was changed to lethal gas instead of the electric chair, and passed. In total, 40 inmates were put to death in the gas chamber between 1937 and 1989 when MSP death row ended and all capital punishment inmates were moved to the new prison at Potosi.

 

In 1985, officials from the MSP, the Department of Corrections, and the Division of Adult Institutions unearthed an old cell block that predated the Civil War. The discovery happened after a court order was issued to put in a recreation yard for offenders that were on death row. When the construction between Housing Units 2 and 3 began, and the crews started digging, they realized they hit something solid. This finding led to an exploration of six cells built around 1848, which were part of the long-buried Centennial Hall. Based on research, this is now believed to be the oldest existing building on the MSP property.

 

From the earliest days there was a need to isolate the female convicts that came to the Missouri State Penitentiary. Unfortunately, there was little provision for their incarceration. A number of female federal prisoners were sent to MSP because there were no federal facilities for women at the time. Their crimes were, in many cases, violations of immigration, naturalization or conspiracy laws, which coincided with the heightened fears during WWI.

 

During the years of 1953 and 1954 there had been a rash of prison riots across the United States. Many feared the Missouri system was ripe for an outbreak as well. The potential for riot became a popular topic of conversation which the Missouri Highway Patrol took very seriously, drafting a plan and training officers how to respond to such an event. The advance preparation would come in handy before long.

 

Keeping desperate and restless people behind bars will always present challenges to corrections officials. Early in the Missouri State Penitentiary’s history escapes were commonplace. Between a lack of a secure perimeter and prisoners working in the community, many escapes were accomplished without much planning or ingenuity.

 

In conjunction with the Missouri State Penitentiary tours, the museum residing in the lower-level of the Col. Darwin W. Marmaduke House provides additional historical information about the famous prison that operated for 168 years. The museum houses MSP memorabilia as well as a replica cell that demonstrates the living conditions at the prison. Visitors can view the many displays that provide information on prison industries, contract labor/private industries, life inside the walls and control/counter-control as well as items on loan from former Deputy Warden Mark Schreiber.

It's the second year for the CPKC Holiday Train since the merger in 2023, and for the first time, the train's consist has been slightly altered to replace the "Canadian Pacific" script lettering on the boxcars with the new "CPKC" logo. Other than that, the trainset presses on as usual, holding its Christmas-themed concerts and canned food drives in communities across the CPKC system.

 

Here, darkness has fallen across Iowa and the train's Christmas lights are on full display as the train rolls through the dip under the Arsenal Bridge in downtown Davenport, IA, moments away from stopping next to the Quad Cities Bandits baseball field for its next show.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 29-Nov-23.

 

This photo was taken by a friend, Ted Marsland, and is reproduced here with his full permission.

 

I liked the Trans Canada livery & at the time I thought it was a great shame when it became Air Canada.

 

Fleet No: "913".

 

Delivered to TCA Trans Canada Airlines as CF-TKM in Apr-61, TCA became Air Canada in Jun-64. It only operated for 10 years and was stored at Montreal-Dorval in 1971.

 

It was sold to Compania Inter-Americana SA (Panama) in Aug-73 and was broken up for spares at Montreal the same month by Invicta International Airlines of the UK.

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

 

Air France by Brit Air. Original 'Brit Air' name style and logo on the engines.

 

First flown in Aug-97 with the Bombardier test registration C-GBFF, this aircraft was delivered to Brit Air, France as F-GRJJ at the end of Oct-97. It was sold to a lessor on delivery and leased back to Brit Air (Brittany Air International).

 

The aircraft was operated on behalf of Air France. It was returned to Brit Air and stored (where?) in Jul-12. At the end of Mar-13, all three of Air France's domestic subsidiary's, Brit Air, Region Air and Airlinair were merged into a new company, 'HOP! for Air France'

 

This aircraft was eventually broken up but I have no information as to where or when. The registration was cancelled in Jul-15.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 16-Mar-15, plus DeNoise AI 07-Jan-23.

 

"The aircraft now arriving at Gate 2.... " Cambrian Airways taxiing accident. Training will out! The first thing the ground crew did was straighten the props ( as they would on a normal turnround). Having demolished a couple of sets of British Eagle steps and a baggage truck, the two on the other wing needed a bit more attention! The aircraft demolished the wall at Gate 2 and you can see the broken nosewheel resting on it.

 

G-AMOE was a very early Viscount, delivered to BEA British European Airways in Jul-53. It was sold to Channel Airways in Mar-64 and leased to British Eagle International Airlines the same month. It returned to Channel Airways in Dec-64 and was sold to Cambrian Airways in Jan-65.

 

It survived its argument with Gate 2, the nose was rebuilt (as was Gate 2!) and it continued to operate with Cambrian until it was transferred to Northeast Airlines (formerly BKS) in Jan-72 for spares use. It was withdrawn from use at Newcastle, UK, in Jan-72 and used as a cabin crew trainer until Apr-77 when it was transferred to Lampton Pleasure Park, 'preserved'. It was finally broken up in Mar-93.

 

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 25-Nov-18 (also the date of the final British Airways Boeing 767 service).

 

In an hybrid livery, halfway between the old 'Landor' livery and the 'World Tails' livery.

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6005C, this aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-BNWH in Oct-90. After 24 years in service the aircraft was permanently retired at Victorville, CA, USA in Aug-14.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 06-Sep-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

Leased from / operated by Titan Airways.

 

First flown in Sep-90 with the British Aerospace (Avro) registration G-PRCS, this aircraft was converted to a -200QC (Quick Change) with the addition of a main cabin cargo door in Mar-91. It had been ordered by Princess Air (UK), however, they ceased operations in Feb-91.

 

The aircraft was leased to National Jet Systems (Australia) as VH-NJQ in Jul-91. It was returned to B.Ae Asset Management as G-BWLG in Jan-96. The aircraft was sold to Sterope Leasing and leased to Air Jet (France) as F-GMMP in Apr-96. It was operated on behalf of Air France between Jan/Jul-00 before being returned to Asset Management and to B.Ae Systems in Aug-00.

 

In Sep-00 the aircraft was leased to Titan Airways as G-ZAPO. It was wet-leased to Go Fly ('Just Go / Go Today') in May-01 and returned to Titan Airways in Sep-01. It was wet-leased to Aurigny Airlines (Guernsey CI, UK) between Aug-03/Feb-04, then to Scot Airways (Scotland, UK) between May/Jul-05.

 

The aircraft continued in operation for Titan until it was withdrawn from service and stored at Kemble, UK in May-11. It was returned to B.Ae Systems Asset Management five days later. B.Ae Systems returned it to Falco Regional Aircraft in Jul-11 when it was permanently retired. It was broken up at Kemble in Jul-16. Updated 06-Sep-22.

Woordfoto: fietsen

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

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVZG, this aircraft was delivered to SABENA Belgian World Airlines as OO-SUB in Apr-99. SABENA ceased trading in Nov-01 and the aircraft was stored at Brussels, Belgium.

 

It was stored at Brussels for more than 4 years until it was sold to Nouvelair Tunisie as TS-IQB in Mar-05. In Apr-14 the aircraft was sold to a lessor and was originally due to be leased to Onur Air as TC-OEB, however the lease wasn't taken up and it was leased to Germania as D-ASTV later that month.

 

It was painted in an Alltours (German Tour Operator) logojet livery in May-14 and repainted into Germania's standard livery in Mar-15. Germania ceased operations in Feb-19, the aircraft was returned to the lessor and initially stored at Dusseldorf before being flown to Castellon de la Plana - Costa Azahar, Spain in Mar-19 for further storage.

 

It was re-registered OE-IDK in May-19 and permanently retired. It was broken up at Castellon de la Plana in Jan-20

Mid West Road Trip USA 2012

Reprocessed image from original RAW file and replaced 7/9/23.

Seattle Washington - Not a single car on the Viaduct now shut down and about to be demolished. A new tunnel has been built under Seattle to replace this section of road. Its supposed to open in February 2019. Its strange to see it with no cars on it.

The largest and best specimen of agate replacing wood I have collected to date - collected over 20 years ago on a Live Oak County road.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 17-Jan-15.

 

Aer Lingus operated their Carvairs into Liverpool and initially the 'hi-lo' drivers had problems positioning correctly to load the cars. The simple answer was a few bit's of 2 x 4 nailed together and used as a 'chock' under the nosewheel (it was essentially a 'T' bar with two side bracing pieces and little chocks where the 'hi-lo wheels went). When the 'hi-lo' hit the buffers (so to speak), it was in the right place!

 

Named: "Iarfhlaith / St Jarlath".

 

Built as a Douglas C-54B, this aircraft was delivered to the USAAF United States Army Air Force in Nov-44 serialled 42-72343. The USAAF was renamed the USAF United States Air Force in Sep-47.

 

The aircraft was 'demobbed' in 1950 and sold to North American Airlines as N88819. It was bought by Resort Airlines in 1955. They leased it to World Airways in Jul-60 and it was returned to Resort Airlines in Jun-61.

 

Slick Airways bought it in early 1962 and they sold it to Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd in Oct-62, still as N88819. It was converted into an ATL.98 Carvair and sold to Aer Lingus in Apr-63 as EI-AMR. In May-68 it was sold to Eastern Provincial Airways, Canada, as CF-EPV.

 

It was sold to British Air Ferries in Sep-63 and stored at Southend, UK. At the end of May-74 the registration officially changed to C-FEPV when the Canadian Government introduced the C-Gxxx registration series, although it remained as CF-EPV on the stored aircraft.

 

Two attempts were made to buy it by a new Norwegian airline. Norwegian Overseas Airways, once as LN-NAB and once as LN-MDA. Both failed!

 

(Note: While researching Norwegian Overseas, I found that they tried to buy seven aircraft at different times, 2 Carvair's, 4 C-54's and a C-47. They only managed to acquire two, a Carvair and a C-54E and they had gone out of business by 1976!).

 

C-FEPV was sold to a 'J Jorgensen' in Sep-74 but it remained stored at Southend until it was broken up in Sep-78. The nose section was preserved at the '100th Bomb Group Museum' at Thorpe Abbots, UK. However, it now resides at Halesworth Airfield Museum, Suffolk, UK, (Updated Jan-17).

St Mary's Old Church is a roofless ruin in the hamlet of Kilmuir, just outside Dunvegan. The church was built in 1694 -- the date is inscribed on a stone over the north door -- to replace an older medieval church that served as the parish church for the Duirinish region of northern Skye.

 

The original building was a simple rectangle, but a north burial aisle was added in 1839. A 1735 burial enclosure with fine Renaissance carving stands against the west gable.

 

The church stands within a stone-walled burial ground enclosure. Within the burial ground are three medieval grave slabs carved with traditional claymore and foliage symbols. The largest of these stones measures 6'5" long and 20 inches across, tapering to 16.5" at the foot.

 

Interestingly, several chiefs of Clan Macleod are buried here, though the church at Rodel on the Isle of Harris was the principal burial place for clan chiefs. Also buried here are several generations of MacCrimmons, who served as hereditary pipers for Clan Macleod.

 

THE DUNVEGAN

TWO CHURCHES WALK

If you’re planning to explore the local area, Dunvegan village and perhaps the Giant MacAskill museum, then this walk will start you off on the right foot. As it’s only minutes from our doorstep, there’s plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast before you set off. Then head out along the road towards Dunvegan Castle to find the starting point.

 

Take a Hike

The relatively easy walk from the Duirinish Church of Scotland is 2 miles (3 km). It passes through woodland and open moor and can take between 45 minutes – 1 hour depending on how long you stop along the way.

 

The walk starts through the gate to the left of the church and there is an information board giving details of the route.

 

If you’re walking this woodland route in spring or summer then you will be treated to a display of wildflowers. You may miss them, however, if you are distracted by glimpses of Loch Dunvegan through the trees.

 

The walk will take you up to the Millennium Stone, a prominent viewpoint over Dunvegan village. From here there are views across Loch Dunvegan to Macleod’s Tables and The Cuillin Ridge in the distance. Then head downhill to the ruins of St Mary’s Church below.

 

More information about this walk can be found on the Walkhighlands website.

 

The Millennium Stone

This 15-foot (5 metre) high stone was brought up from south Skye. It was erected by the people of the Dunvegan community on 24th June 2000 (Midsummer’s Day) to commemorate the new millennium. This was an impressive feat, using only hand power and rope-techniques. A process that would have been used to build stone circles thousands of years ago.

 

The stone stands proudly on top of a low crag overlooking the village of Dunvegan.

 

St Mary’s Church & Burial Ground

The remains of this post-reformation parish church and burial ground are situated in Kilmuir on the outskirts of Dunvegan village. They have been recognised as a monument of national importance by Historic Environment Scotland.

 

The site has been the focus of religious worship over centuries and there are indications that the church was a medieval foundation. This is seen in the East-West alignment of the church and the existence of three medieval carved grave slabs. Although the parish itself dates to the post-reformation period. The north entrance shows a date of 1694 and the burial enclosure with its balustrade walls dates from 1735.

 

Once the parish church for Duirinish, it was the burial site for a number of the Chiefs of the Clan MacLeod. The most recent was John MacLeod of MacLeod in February 2007. In addition, generations of the MacCrimmons, hereditary pipers to the Clan, are at rest in the graveyard.

 

An early 18th-century ashlar obelisk memorial to Lord Thomas Frazer (father of 11th Lord Lovat, who was executed on Towerhill in 1747), dominates the graveyard. There are also two medieval grave slabs with claymore and leaf design and a third that is extremely worn with only the border visible.

 

Dunvegan is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chiefs of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, and Duirinish Parish Church is at Dunvegan. In 2011 it had a population of 386.

 

In The Norse Influence on Gaelic Scotland (1910), George Henderson suggests that the name Dùn Bheagain derives from Old Gaelic Dùn Bheccáin ([the] fort of Beccán), Beccán being a Gaelic personal name. Dùn Bheagain would not mean 'little fort' as this would be Dùn Beag in Gaelic.

 

Dunvegan sits on the shores of the large Loch Dunvegan, and the Old School Restaurant in the village is noted for its fish, caught freshly from the loch itself. Dunvegan is situated at the junction of the A850, and the A863. The B884 road also has a junction with the A863, at the eastern end of Dunvegan.

 

Dunvegan's permanent population is declining. However, numbers staying in the area during holidays have increased dramatically over the years since 2001.

 

Tourist information used to be situated in the parade of shops at Lochside, but is now available on a seasonal basis at Dunvegan Castle's St Kilda Shop. The Giant MacAskill Museum, which celebrates the life of Angus Mòr MacAskill was established in 1989 and is managed by Peter MacAskill, father of the street trials cycle rider Danny MacAskill.

 

The Isle of Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.

 

The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic period, and over its history has been occupied at various times by Celtic tribes including the Picts and the Gaels, Scandinavian Vikings, and most notably the powerful integrated Norse-Gaels clans of MacLeod and MacDonald. The island was considered to be under Norwegian suzerainty until the 1266 Treaty of Perth, which transferred control over to Scotland. The 18th-century Jacobite risings led to the breaking-up of the clan system and later clearances that replaced entire communities with sheep farms, some of which involved forced emigrations to distant lands. Resident numbers declined from over 20,000 in the early 19th century to just under 9,000 by the closing decade of the 20th century. Skye's population increased by 4% between 1991 and 2001. About a third of the residents were Gaelic speakers in 2001, and although their numbers are in decline, this aspect of island culture remains important.

 

The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing, and forestry. Skye is part of the Highland Council local government area. The island's largest settlement is Portree, which is also its capital, known for its picturesque harbour. Links to various nearby islands by ferry are available, and since 1995, to the mainland by a road bridge. The climate is mild, wet, and windy. The abundant wildlife includes the golden eagle, red deer, and Atlantic salmon. The local flora is dominated by heather moor, and nationally important invertebrate populations live on the surrounding sea bed. Skye has provided the locations for various novels and feature films, and is celebrated in poetry and song.

 

A Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site dating to the seventh millennium BC at An Corran in Staffin is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Scotland. Its occupation is probably linked to that of the rock shelter at Sand, Applecross, on the mainland coast of Wester Ross, where tools made of a mudstone from An Corran have been found. Surveys of the area between the two shores of the Inner Sound and Sound of Raasay have revealed 33 sites with potentially Mesolithic deposits. Finds of bloodstone microliths on the foreshore at Orbost on the west coast of the island near Dunvegan also suggest Mesolithic occupation. These tools probably originated from the nearby island of Rùm. Similarly, bloodstone from Rum, and baked mudstone, from the Staffin area, were found at the Mesolithic site of Camas Daraich, also from the seventh millennium BC, on the Point of Sleat, which has led archaeologists to believe that Mesolithic people on Skye would travel fairly significant distances, at least 70 km, both by land and sea.

 

Rubha an Dùnain, an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin, has a variety of archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic onwards. A second- or third-millennium BC chambered cairn, an Iron Age promontory fort, and the remains of another prehistoric settlement dating from the Bronze Age are nearby. Loch na h-Airde on the peninsula is linked to the sea by an artificial "Viking" canal that may date from the later period of Norse settlement. Dun Ringill is a ruined Iron Age hill fort on the Strathaird Peninsula, which was further fortified in the Middle Ages and may have become the seat of Clan MacKinnon.

 

The late Iron Age inhabitants of the northern and western Hebrides were probably Pictish, although the historical record is sparse. Three Pictish symbol stones have been found on Skye and a fourth on Raasay. More is known of the kingdom of Dál Riata to the south; Adomnán's life of Columba, written shortly before 697, portrays the saint visiting Skye (where he baptised a pagan leader using an interpreter) and Adomnán himself is thought to have been familiar with the island. The Irish annals record a number of events on Skye in the later seventh and early eighth centuries – mainly concerning the struggles between rival dynasties that formed the background to the Old Irish language romance Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin.

 

Legendary hero Cú Chulainn is said to have trained on the Isle of Skye with warrior woman Scáthach.

 

The Norse held sway throughout the Hebrides from the 9th century until after the Treaty of Perth in 1266. However, apart from placenames, little remains of their presence on Skye in the written or archaeological record. Apart from the name "Skye" itself, all pre-Norse placenames seem to have been obliterated by the Scandinavian settlers. Viking heritage, with Celtic heritage is claimed by Clan MacLeod. Norse tradition is celebrated in the winter fire festival at Dunvegan, during which a replica Viking long boat is set alight.

 

The most powerful clans on Skye in the post–Norse period were Clan MacLeod, originally based in Trotternish, and Clan Macdonald of Sleat. The isle was held by Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles’ half-brother, Godfrey, from 1389 until 1401, at which time Skye was declared part of Ross. When the Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, re-gained Ross after the battle of Harlaw in 1411, they added "Earl of Ross" to their lords' titles. Skye came with Ross.

 

Following the disintegration of the Lordship of the Isles, Clan Mackinnon also emerged as an independent clan, whose substantial landholdings in Skye were centred on Strathaird. Clan MacNeacail also have a long association with Trotternish, and in the 16th century many of the MacInnes clan moved to Sleat. The MacDonalds of South Uist were bitter rivals of the MacLeods, and an attempt by the former to murder church-goers at Trumpan in retaliation for a previous massacre on Eigg, resulted in the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke of 1578.

 

After the failure of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Flora MacDonald became famous for rescuing Prince Charles Edward Stuart from the Hanoverian troops. Although she was born on South Uist, her story is strongly associated with their escape via Skye, and she is buried at Kilmuir in Trotternish. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell's visit to Skye in 1773 and their meeting with Flora MacDonald in Kilmuir is recorded in Boswell's The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Boswell wrote, "To see Dr Samuel Johnson, the great champion of the English Tories, salute Miss Flora MacDonald in the isle of Sky, was a striking sight; for though somewhat congenial in their notions, it was very improbable they should meet here". Johnson's words that Flora MacDonald was "A name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour" are written on her gravestone. After this rebellion, the clan system was broken up and Skye became a series of landed estates.

 

Of the island in general, Johnson observed:

 

I never was in any house of the islands, where I did not find books in more languages than one, if I staid long enough to want them, except one from which the family was removed. Literature is not neglected by the higher rank of the Hebrideans. It need not, I suppose, be mentioned, that in countries so little frequented as the islands, there are no houses where travellers are entertained for money. He that wanders about these wilds, either procures recommendations to those whose habitations lie near his way, or, when night and weariness come upon him, takes the chance of general hospitality. If he finds only a cottage he can expect little more than shelter; for the cottagers have little more for themselves but if his good fortune brings him to the residence of a gentleman, he will be glad of a storm to prolong his stay. There is, however, one inn by the sea-side at Sconsor, in Sky, where the post-office is kept.

 

— Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.

 

Skye has a rich heritage of ancient monuments from this period. Dunvegan Castle has been the seat of Clan MacLeod since the 13th century. It contains the Fairy Flag and is reputed to have been inhabited by a single family for longer than any other house in Scotland. The 18th-century Armadale Castle, once home of Clan Donald of Sleat, was abandoned as a residence in 1925, but now hosts the Clan Donald Centre. Nearby are the ruins of two more MacDonald strongholds, Knock Castle, and Dunscaith Castle (called "Fortress of Shadows"), the legendary home of warrior woman, martial arts instructor (and, according to some sources, Queen) Scáthach. Caisteal Maol, a fortress built in the late 15th century near Kyleakin and once a seat of Clan MacKinnon, is another ruin.

 

In the late 18th century the harvesting of kelp became a significant activity, but from 1822 onward cheap imports led to a collapse of this industry throughout the Hebrides. During the 19th century, the inhabitants of Skye were also devastated by famine and Clearances. Thirty thousand people were evicted between 1840 and 1880 alone, many of them forced to emigrate to the New World. The "Battle of the Braes" involved a demonstration against a lack of access to land and the serving of eviction notices. The incident involved numerous crofters and about 50 police officers. This event was instrumental in the creation of the Napier Commission, which reported in 1884 on the situation in the Highlands. Disturbances continued until the passing of the 1886 Crofters' Act and on one occasion 400 marines were deployed on Skye to maintain order. The ruins of cleared villages can still be seen at Lorgill, Boreraig and Suisnish in Strath Swordale, and Tusdale on Minginish.

 

As with many Scottish islands, Skye's population peaked in the 19th century and then declined under the impact of the Clearances and the military losses in the First World War. From the 19th century until 1975 Skye was part of the county of Inverness-shire, but the crofting economy languished and according to Slesser, "Generations of UK governments have treated the island people contemptuously" --a charge that has been levelled at both Labour and Conservative administrations' policies in the Highlands and Islands. By 1971 the population was less than a third of its peak recorded figure in 1841. However, the number of residents then grew by over 28 percent in the thirty years to 2001. The changing relationship between the residents and the land is evidenced by Robert Carruthers's remark c. 1852, "There is now a village in Portree containing three hundred inhabitants." Even if this estimate is inexact the population of the island's largest settlement has probably increased sixfold or more since then. During the period the total number of island residents has declined by 50 percent or more. The island-wide population increase of 4 percent between 1991 and 2001 occurred against the background of an overall reduction in Scottish island populations of 3 percent for the same period. By 2011 the population had risen a further 8.4% to 10,008 with Scottish island populations as a whole growing by 4% to 103,702.

 

Historically, Skye was overwhelmingly Gaelic-speaking, but this changed between 1921 and 2001. In both the 1901 and 1921 censuses, all Skye parishes were more than 75 percent Gaelic-speaking. By 1971, only Kilmuir parish had more than three-quarters of Gaelic speakers while the rest of Skye ranged between 50 and 74 percent. At that time, Kilmuir was the only area outside the Western Isles that had such a high proportion of Gaelic speakers. In the 2001 census Kilmuir had just under half Gaelic speakers, and overall, Skye had 31 percent, distributed unevenly. The strongest Gaelic areas were in the north and southwest of the island, including Staffin at 61 percent. The weakest areas were in the west and east (e.g. Luib 23 percent and Kylerhea 19 percent). Other areas on Skye ranged between 48 percent and 25 percent.

 

In terms of local government, from 1975 to 1996, Skye, along with the neighbouring mainland area of Lochalsh, constituted a local government district within the Highland administrative area. In 1996 the district was included in the unitary Highland Council, (Comhairle na Gàidhealtachd) based in Inverness and formed one of the new council's area committees. Following the 2007 elections, Skye now forms a four-member ward called Eilean a' Cheò; it is currently represented by two independents, one Scottish National Party, and one Liberal Democrat councillor.

 

Skye is in the Highlands and Islands electoral region and comprises a part of the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency of the Scottish Parliament, which elects one member under the first past the post basis to represent it. Kate Forbes is the current MSP for the SNP. In addition, Skye forms part of the wider Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency, which elects one member to the House of Commons in Westminster. The present MP Member of Parliament is Ian Blackford of the Scottish National Party, who took office after the SNP's sweep in the General Election of 2015. Before this, Charles Kennedy, a Liberal Democrat, had represented the area since the 1983 general election.

 

The ruins of an old building sit on top of a prominent hillock that overlooks a pier attended by fishing boats.

Caisteal Maol and fishing boats in Kyleakin harbour

The largest employer on the island and its environs is the public sector, which accounts for about a third of the total workforce, principally in administration, education, and health. The second-largest employer in the area is the distribution, hotels, and restaurants sector, highlighting the importance of tourism. Key attractions include Dunvegan Castle, the Clan Donald Visitor Centre, and The Aros Experience arts and exhibition centre in Portree. There are about a dozen large landowners on Skye, the largest being the public sector, with the Scottish Government owning most of the northern part of the island. Glendale is a community-owned estate in Duirinish, and the Sleat Community Trust, the local development trust, is active in various regeneration projects.

 

Small firms dominate employment in the private sector. The Talisker Distillery, which produces a single malt whisky, is beside Loch Harport on the west coast of the island. Torabhaig distillery located in Teangue opened in 2017 and also produces whisky. Three other whiskies—Mac na Mara ("son of the sea"), Tè Bheag nan Eilean ("wee dram of the isles") and Poit Dhubh ("black pot")—are produced by blender Pràban na Linne ("smugglers den by the Sound of Sleat"), based at Eilean Iarmain. These are marketed using predominantly Gaelic-language labels. The blended whisky branded as "Isle of Skye" is produced not on the island but by the Glengoyne Distillery at Killearn north of Glasgow, though the website of the owners, Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd., boasts a "high proportion of Island malts" and contains advertisements for tourist businesses in the island. There is also an established software presence on Skye, with Portree-based Sitekit having expanded in recent years.

 

Some of the places important to the economy of Skye

Crofting is still important, but although there are about 2,000 crofts on Skye only 100 or so are large enough to enable a crofter to earn a livelihood entirely from the land. In recent years, families have complained about the increasing prices for land that make it difficult for young people to start their own crofts.

 

Cod and herring stocks have declined but commercial fishing remains important, especially fish farming of salmon and crustaceans such as scampi. The west coast of Scotland has a considerable renewable energy potential and the Isle of Skye Renewables Co-op has recently bought a stake in the Ben Aketil wind farm near Dunvegan. There is a thriving arts and crafts sector.

 

The unemployment rate in the area tends to be higher than in the Highlands as a whole, and is seasonal, in part due to the impact of tourism. The population is growing and in common with many other scenic rural areas in Scotland, significant increases are expected in the percentage of the population aged 45 to 64 years.

 

The restrictions required by the worldwide pandemic increased unemployment in the Highlands and Islands in the summer of 2020 to 5.7%; which was significantly higher than the 2.4 percent in 2019. The rates were said to be highest in "Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross and Argyll and the Islands". A December 2020 report stated that between March (just before the effects of pandemic were noted) and December, the unemployment rate in the region increased by "more than 97%" and suggested that the outlook was even worse for spring 2021.

 

A report published in mid-2020 indicated that visitors to Skye added £211 million in 2019 to the island's economy before travel restrictions were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report added that "Skye and Raasay attracted 650,000 visitors [in 2018] and supported 2,850 jobs". The government estimated that tourism in Scotland would decline by over 50% as a result of the pandemic. "Skye is highly vulnerable to the downturn in international visitors that will continue for much of 2020 and beyond", Professor John Lennon of Glasgow Caledonian University told a reporter in July 2020.

 

Tourism in the Highlands and Islands was negatively impacted by the pandemic, the effects of which continued into 2021. A September 2020 report stated that the region "has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to date when compared to Scotland and the UK as a whole". The industry required short-term support for "business survival and recovery" and that was expected to continue as the sector was "severely impacted for as long as physical distancing and travel restrictions". A scheme called Island Equivalent was introduced by the Scottish government in early 2021 to financially assist hospitality and retail businesses "affected by Level 3 coronavirus restrictions". Previous schemes in 2020 included the Strategic Framework Business Fund and the Coronavirus Business Support Fund.

 

Before the pandemic, during the summer of 2017, islanders complained about an excessive number of tourists, which was causing overcrowding in popular locations such as Glen Brittle, the Neist Point lighthouse, the Quiraing, and the Old Man of Storr. "Skye is buckling under the weight of increased tourism this year", said the operator of a self-catering cottage; the problem was most significant at "the key iconic destinations, like the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing", he added. Chris Taylor of VisitScotland sympathised with the concerns and said that the agency was working on a long-term solution. "But the benefits to Skye of bringing in international visitors and increased spending are huge," he added.

 

An article published in 2020 confirmed that (before the pandemic), the Talisker Distillery and Dunvegan Castle were still overcrowded in peak periods; other areas where parking was a problem due to large crowds included "the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, the Quiraing, the Fairy Pools, and Neist Point. This source also stated that Portree was "the busiest place on the island" during peak periods and suggested that some tourists might prefer accommodations in quieter areas such as "Dunvegan, Kyleakin and the Broadford and Breakish area".

 

Skye is linked to the mainland by the Skye Bridge, while ferries sail from Armadale on the island to Mallaig, and from Kylerhea to Glenelg, crossing the Kyle Rhea strait on the MV Glenachulish, the last turntable ferry in the world. Turntable ferries had been common on the west coast of Scotland because they do not require much infrastructure to operate, a boat ramp will suffice. Ferries also run from Uig to Tarbert on Harris and Lochmaddy on North Uist, and from Sconser to Raasay.

 

The Skye Bridge opened in 1995 under a private finance initiative and the high tolls charged (£5.70 each way for summer visitors) met with widespread opposition, spearheaded by the pressure group SKAT (Skye and Kyle Against Tolls). On 21 December 2004, it was announced that the Scottish Executive had purchased the bridge from its owners and the tolls were immediately removed.

 

Bus services run to Inverness and Glasgow, and there are local services on the island, mainly starting from Portree or Broadford. Train services run from Kyle of Lochalsh at the mainland end of the Skye Bridge to Inverness, as well as from Glasgow to Mallaig from where the ferry can be caught to Armadale.

 

The island's airfield at Ashaig, near Broadford, is used by private aircraft and occasionally by NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service for transferring patients to hospitals on the mainland.

 

The A87 trunk road traverses the island from the Skye Bridge to Uig, linking most of the major settlements. Many of the island's roads have been widened in the past forty years although there are still substantial sections of single-track road.

 

A modern 3 story building with a prominent frontage of numerous windows and constructed from a white material curves gently away from a green lawn in the foreground. In the background there is a tall white tower of a similar construction.

 

Students of Scottish Gaelic travel from all over the world to attend Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Scottish Gaelic college based near Kilmore in Sleat. In addition to members of the Church of Scotland and a smaller number of Roman Catholics, many residents of Skye belong to the Free Church of Scotland, known for its strict observance of the Sabbath.

 

Skye has a strong folk music tradition, although in recent years dance and rock music have been growing in popularity on the island. Gaelic folk rock band Runrig started in Skye and former singer Donnie Munro still works on the island. Runrig's second single and a concert staple is entitled Skye, the lyrics being partly in English and partly in Gaelic and they have released other songs such as "Nightfall on Marsco" that were inspired by the island. Ex-Runrig member Blair Douglas, a highly regarded accordionist, and composer in his own right was born on the island and is still based there to this day. Celtic fusion band the Peatbog Faeries are based on Skye. Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson owned an estate at Strathaird on Skye at one time. Several Tull songs are written about Skye, including Dun Ringil, Broadford Bazaar, and Acres Wild (which contains the lines "Come with me to the Winged Isle, / Northern father's western child..." about the island itself). The Isle of Skye Music Festival featured sets from The Fun Lovin' Criminals and Sparks, but collapsed in 2007. Electronic musician Mylo was born on Skye.

 

The poet Sorley MacLean, a native of the Isle of Raasay, which lies off the island's east coast, lived much of his life on Skye. The island has been immortalised in the traditional song "The Skye Boat Song" and is the notional setting for the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, although the Skye of the novel bears little relation to the real island. John Buchan's descriptions of Skye, as featured in his Richard Hannay novel Mr Standfast, are more true to life. I Diari di Rubha Hunis is a 2004 Italian language work of non-fiction by Davide Sapienza [it]. The international bestseller, The Ice Twins, by S K Tremayne, published around the world in 2015–2016, is set in southern Skye, especially around the settlement and islands of Isleornsay.

 

Skye has been used as a location for several feature films. The Ashaig aerodrome was used for the opening scenes of the 1980 film Flash Gordon. Stardust, released in 2007 and starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, featured scenes near Uig, Loch Coruisk and the Quiraing. Another 2007 film, Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle, was shot almost entirely in various locations on the island. The Justin Kurzel adaption of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender was also filmed on the Island. Some of the opening scenes in Ridley Scott's 2012 feature film Prometheus were shot and set at the Old Man of Storr. In 1973 The Highlands and Islands - a Royal Tour, a documentary about Prince Charles's visit to the Highlands and Islands, directed by Oscar Marzaroli, was shot partly on Skye. Scenes from the Scottish Gaelic-language BBC Alba television series Bannan were filmed on the island.

 

The West Highland Free Press is published at Broadford. This weekly newspaper takes as its motto An Tìr, an Cànan 's na Daoine ("The Land, the Language, and the People"), which reflects its radical, campaigning priorities. The Free Press was founded in 1972 and circulates in Skye, Wester Ross, and the Outer Hebrides. Shinty is a popular sport played throughout the island and Portree-based Skye Camanachd won the Camanachd Cup in 1990. The local radio station Radio Skye is a community based station that broadcast local news and entertainment to the Isle Of Skye and Loch Alsh on 106.2 FM and 102.7 FM.

 

Whilst Skye had unofficial flags in the past, including the popular "Bratach nan Daoine" (Flag of the People) design which represented the Cuillins in sky blue against a white sky symbolising the Gaelic language, land struggle, and the fairy flag of Dunvegan, the Island received its first official flag "Bratach an Eilein" (The Skye Flag) approved by the Lord Lyon after a public vote in August 2020. The design by Calum Alasdair Munro reflects the Island's Gaelic heritage, the Viking heritage, and the history of Flora MacDonald. The flag has a birlinn in the canton, and there are five oars representing the five areas of Skye, Trotternish, Waternish, Duirinish, Minginish, and Sleat. Yellow represents the MacLeods, and Blue the MacDonalds or the MacKinnons.

 

The Hebrides generally lack the biodiversity of mainland Britain, but like most of the larger islands, Skye still has a wide variety of species. Observing the abundance of game birds Martin wrote:

 

There is plenty of land and water fowl in this isle—as hawks, eagles of two kinds (the one grey and of a larger size, the other much less and black, but more destructive to young cattle), black cock, heath-hen, plovers, pigeons, wild geese, ptarmigan, and cranes. Of this latter sort I have seen sixty on the shore in a flock together. The sea fowls are malls of all kinds—coulterneb, guillemot, sea cormorant, &c. The natives observe that the latter, if perfectly black, makes no good broth, nor is its flesh worth eating; but that a cormorant, which hath any white feathers or down, makes good broth, and the flesh of it is good food; and the broth is usually drunk by nurses to increase their milk.

 

— Martin Martin, A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland.

 

Similarly, Samuel Johnson noted that:

 

At the tables where a stranger is received, neither plenty nor delicacy is wanting. A tract of land so thinly inhabited must have much wild-fowl; and I scarcely remember to have seen a dinner without them. The moor-game is every where to be had. That the sea abounds with fish, needs not be told, for it supplies a great part of Europe. The Isle of Sky has stags and roebucks, but no hares. They sell very numerous droves of oxen yearly to England, and therefore cannot be supposed to want beef at home. Sheep and goats are in great numbers, and they have the common domestic fowls."

 

— Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.

A black sea bird with a black beak, red feet and a prominent white flash on its wing sits on a shaped stone. The stone is partially covered with moss and grass and there is an indistinct outline of a grey stone wall and water body in the background.

 

In the modern era avian life includes the corncrake, red-throated diver, kittiwake, tystie, Atlantic puffin, goldeneye and golden eagle. The eggs of the last breeding pair of white-tailed sea eagle in the UK were taken by an egg collector on Skye in 1916 but the species has recently been re-introduced. The chough last bred on the island in 1900. Mountain hare (apparently absent in the 18th century) and rabbit are now abundant and preyed upon by wild cat and pine marten. The rich fresh water streams contain brown trout, Atlantic salmon and water shrew. Offshore the edible crab and edible oyster are also found, the latter especially in the Sound of Scalpay. There are nationally important horse mussel and brittlestar beds in the sea lochs and in 2012 a bed of 100 million flame shells was found during a survey of Loch Alsh. Grey Seals can be seen off the Southern coast.

 

Heather moor containing ling, bell heather, cross-leaved heath, bog myrtle and fescues is everywhere abundant. The high Black Cuillins weather too slowly to produce soil that sustains a rich plant life, but each of the main peninsulas has an individual flora. The basalt underpinnings of Trotternish produce a diversity of Arctic and alpine plants including alpine pearlwort and mossy cyphal. The low-lying fields of Waternish contain corn marigold and corn spurry. The sea cliffs of Duirinish boast mountain avens and fir clubmoss. Minginish produces fairy flax, cats-ear, and black bog rush. There is a fine example of Brachypodium-rich ash woodland at Tokavaig in Sleat incorporating silver birch, hazel, bird cherry, and hawthorn.

 

The local Biodiversity Action Plan recommends land management measures to control the spread of ragwort and bracken and identifies four non-native, invasive species as threatening native biodiversity: Japanese knotweed, rhododendron, New Zealand flatworm and mink. It also identifies problems of over-grazing resulting in the impoverishment of moorland and upland habitats and a loss of native woodland, caused by the large numbers of red deer and sheep.

 

In 2020 Clan MacLeod chief Hugh MacLeod announced a plan to reintroduce 370,000 native trees along with beaver and red squirrel populations to the clan estates on Skye, to restore a "wet desert" landscape which had depleted from years of overgrazing.

Replace the 2x4 white slopes with 2x2.

 

I shortened the tanker to 28 long. It needs alot more work on the top, but

this is mainly just a sketch.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a (slightly) better version 03-Dec-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

Very grainy, taken on a dark and murky day at LAX (but rescued by 'noise reduction' software).

 

An 'unlucky' aircraft which didn't stay long with any airline. First flown with the Boeing test registration N57008, this aircraft was an early standard B767-205 (Line No:81), delivered to Braathens S.A.F.E (Norway) as LN-SUV in Mar-84.

 

It was returned to the Boeing Equipment Holding Company as N767BE in Sep-85 and leased to TACA International Airlines in Oct-85. It returned to Boeing in May-86 and was leased to VARIG Brazil as PP-VNL the following month.

 

Boeing sold it to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation in Aug-86 while the lease to VARIG continued. It was returned to ILFC in May-87 and was leased to Britannia Airways as G-BNAX the following day, for the summer season.

 

Returning to ILFC in Oct-87 as N650TW, the aircraft was converted to a B767-205ER before being leased to TWA Trans World Airlines in Oct-87. It was sub-leased to Gulf Air between May/Sep-88.

 

In Mar-01 it was returned to ILFC and stored. In Oct-01 the aircraft was leased to Aero Continente (Peru) as OB-1758. It became OB-1758-P in Jun-03. It was returned to ILFC in Oct-04 as N371LF and stored at Dothan, AL, USA.

 

The aircraft was leased to MaxJet in Jan-06 and was re-registered N260MY the following month. MaxJet ceased operations in Dec-07 and it was impounded at New York-JFK. ILFC managed to retrieve it in Jan-08 and it was stored at Victorville, CA, USA.

 

It was leased to Air Seychelles (still as N260MY) in Aug-08 and was re-registered in S7-ILF in Sep-10. It was returned to ILFC in Nov-11 as N391LF and permanently retired at Goodyear, AZ, USA. The registration was cancelled in Mar-12. It was last noted still stored at Goodyear in Mar-13 and was subsequently broken up.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 26-Nov-18.

 

Built in 1972, ex CCCP-11526 Aeroflot, RA-11526, D2-FDB, LZ-VED Vega Airlines, UP-AN211, now 46 years old and still in service with Cavok Air as UR-CKM. Current (Nov-18).

Replaces Kool and Chaz that got buffed.

Boardman Local Schools 29 - 2012 Thomas Saf-T-Liner EF; Bus Yard - Boardman, Ohio. One of three 2012 Thomases bought-new in the fleet. Replaced a 1991 Carpenter International. Bus has the most miles of the 2012 models. It was receiving a new turbo at the time of photography.

Covent Garden (/ˈkɒvənt/) is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.

 

Though mainly fields until the 16th century, the area was briefly settled when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic. After the town was abandoned, part of the area was walled off by 1200 for use as arable land and orchards by Westminster Abbey, and was referred to as "the garden of the Abbey and Convent". The land, now called "the Covent Garden", was seized by Henry VIII, and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul's. The design of the square was new to London, and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as London grew. A small open-air fruit and vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square by 1654. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in. By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes. An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler's neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The area declined as a pleasure-ground as the market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall.

 

Covent Garden, with the postcode WC2, falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The area has been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is the shortest in London.

 

Early history

 

The route of the Strand on the southern boundary of what was to become Covent Garden was used during the Roman period as part of a route to Silchester, known as "Iter VII" on the Antonine Itinerary. Excavations in 2006 at St Martin-in-the-Fields revealed a Roman grave, suggesting the site had sacred significance. The area to the north of the Strand was long thought to have remained as unsettled fields until the 16th century, but theories by Alan Vince and Martin Biddle that there had been an Anglo-Saxon settlement to the west of the old Roman town of Londinium were borne out by excavations in 1985 and 2005. These revealed Covent Garden as the centre of a trading town called Lundenwic, developed around 600 AD, which stretched from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. Alfred the Great gradually shifted the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, and the site returned to fields.

 

Around 1200 the first mention of an abbey garden appears in a document mentioning a walled garden owned by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St. Peter, Westminster. A later document, dated between 1250 and 1283, refers to "the garden of the Abbot and Convent of Westminster". By the 13th century this had become a 40-acre (16 ha) quadrangle of mixed orchard, meadow, pasture and arable land, lying between modern-day St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane, and Floral Street and Maiden Lane. The use of the name "Covent"—an Anglo-French term for a religious community, equivalent to "monastery" or "convent" —appears in a document in 1515, when the Abbey, which had been letting out parcels of land along the north side of the Strand for inns and market gardens, granted a lease of the walled garden, referring to it as "a garden called Covent Garden". This is how it was recorded from then on.

 

The Bedford Estate (1552–1918)

 

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII took for himself the land belonging to Westminster Abbey, including the convent garden and seven acres to the north called Long Acre; and in 1552 his son, Edward VI, granted it to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford. The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in their peerage from Earl to Duke of Bedford, held the land from 1552 to 1918.

 

Russell had Bedford House and garden built on part of the land, with an entrance on the Strand, the large garden stretching back along the south side of the old walled-off convent garden. Apart from this, and allowing several poor-quality tenements to be erected, the Russells did little with the land until the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, an active and ambitious businessman, commissioned Inigo Jones in 1630 to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around a large square or piazza. The commission had been prompted by Charles I taking offence at the condition of the road and houses along Long Acre, which were the responsibility of Russell and Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth. Russell and Carey complained that under the 1625 Proclamation concerning Buildings, which restricted building in and around London, they could not build new houses; the King then granted Russell, for a fee of £2,000, a licence to build as many new houses on his land as he "shall thinke fitt and convenient". The church of St Paul's was the first building, begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637.

 

The houses initially attracted the wealthy, though when a market developed on the south side of the square around 1654, the aristocracy moved out and coffee houses, taverns, and prostitutes moved in. The Bedford Estate was expanded in 1669 to include Bloomsbury, when Lord Russell married Lady Rachel Vaughan, one of the daughters of the 4th Earl of Southampton.

 

By the 18th century, Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes such as Betty Careless and Jane Douglas. Descriptions of the prostitutes and where to find them were provided by Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, the "essential guide and accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure". In 1830 a market hall was built to provide a more permanent trading centre. In 1913, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000.

 

Modern changes

 

Charles Fowler's 1830 neo-classical building restored as a retail market.

The Covent Garden Estate was part of Beecham Estates and Pills Limited from 1924 to 1928, after which time it was managed by a successor company called Covent Garden Properties Company Limited, owned by the Beechams and other private investors. This new company sold some properties at Covent Garden, while becoming active in property investment in other parts of London. In 1962 the bulk of the remaining properties in the Covent Garden area, including the market, were sold to the newly established government-owned Covent Garden Authority for £3,925,000.

 

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion had reached such a level that the use of the square as a modern wholesale distribution market was becoming unsustainable, and significant redevelopment was planned. Following a public outcry, buildings around the square were protected in 1973, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market moved to a new site in south-west London. The square languished until its central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980. An action plan was drawn up by Westminster Council in 2004 in consultation with residents and businesses to improve the area while retaining its historic character. The market buildings, along with several other properties in Covent Garden, were bought by a property company in 2006.

 

Geography

 

Historically, the Bedford Estate defined the boundary of Covent Garden, with Drury Lane to the east, the Strand to the south, St. Martin's Lane to the west, and Long Acre to the north. However, over time the area has expanded northwards past Long Acre to High Holborn, and since 1971, with the creation of the Covent Garden Conservation Area which incorporated part of the area between St Martins Lane and Charring Cross Road, the Western boundary is sometimes considered to be Charring Cross Road. Shelton Street, running parallel to the north of Long Acre, marks the London borough boundary between Camden and Westminster. Long Acre is the main thoroughfare, running north-east from St Martin's Lane to Drury Lane.

 

The area to the south of Long Acre contains the Royal Opera House, the market and central square, and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum; while the area to the north of Long Acre is largely given over to independent retail units centred on Neal Street, Neal's Yard and Seven Dials; though this area also contains residential buildings such as Odhams Walk, built in 1981 on the site of the Odhams print works, and is home to over 6,000 residents.

 

Governance

The Covent Garden estate was originally under the control of Westminster Abbey and lay in the parish of St Margaret. During a reorganisation in 1542 it was transferred to St Martin in the Fields, and then in 1645 a new parish was created, splitting governance of the estate between the parishes of St Paul Covent Garden and St Martin, both still within the Liberty of Westminster. St Paul Covent Garden was completely surrounded by the parish of St Martin in the Fields. It was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works.

 

In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922. Since 1965 Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and is in the Parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. For local council elections it falls within the St James's ward for Westminster, and the Holborn and Covent Garden ward for Camden.

 

Economy

 

The area's historic association with the retail and entertainment economy continues. In 1979, Covent Garden Market reopened as a retail centre; in 2010, the largest Apple Store in the world opened in The Piazza. The central hall has shops, cafes and bars alongside the Apple Market stalls selling antiques, jewellery, clothing and gifts; there are additional casual stalls in the Jubilee Hall Market on the south side of the square. Long Acre has a range of clothes shops and boutiques, and Neal Street is noted for its large number of shoe shops. London Transport Museum and the side entrance to the Royal Opera House box office and other facilities are also located on the square. During the late 1970s and 1980s the Rock Garden music venue was popular with up and coming punk rock and New Wave artists.

 

The market halls and several other buildings in Covent Garden were bought by CapCo in partnership with GE Real Estate in August 2006 for £421 million, on a 150-year head lease. The buildings are let to the Covent Garden Area Trust, who pay an annual peppercorn rent of one red apple and a posy of flowers for each head lease, and the Trust protects the property from being redeveloped. In March 2007 CapCo also acquired the shops located under the Royal Opera House. The complete Covent Garden Estate owned by CapCo consists of 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2), and has a market value of £650 million.

 

Landmarks

 

The Royal Opera House, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", was constructed as the "Theatre Royal" in 1732 to a design by Edward Shepherd. During the first hundred years or so of its history, the theatre was primarily a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London. In 1734, the first ballet was presented; a year later Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premières here. It has been the home of The Royal Opera since 1945, and the Royal Ballet since 1946.

 

The current building is the third theatre on the site following destructive fires in 1808 and 1857. The façade, foyer and auditorium were designed by Edward Barry, and date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive £178 million reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The stage performance area is roughly 15 metres square. The main auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building. The inclusion of the adjacent old Floral Hall, previously a part of the old Covent Garden Market, created a new and extensive public gathering place. In 1779 the pavement outside the playhouse was the scene of the murder of Martha Ray, mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, by her admirer the Rev. James Hackman.

 

Covent Garden square

 

Balthazar Nebot's 1737 painting of the square before the 1830 market hall was constructed.

The central square in Covent Garden is simply called "Covent Garden", often marketed as "Covent Garden Piazza" to distinguish it from the eponymous surrounding area. Laid out in 1630, it was the first modern square in London, and was originally a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. A casual market started on the south side, and by 1830 the present market hall was built. The space is popular with street performers, who audition with the site's owners for an allocated slot. The square was originally laid out when the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, commissioned Inigo Jones to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around the site of a former walled garden belonging to Westminster Abbey. Jones's design was informed by his knowledge of modern town planning in Europe, particularly Piazza d'Arme, in Leghorn, Tuscany, Piazza San Marco in Venice, Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence, and the Place des Vosges in Paris. The centrepiece of the project was the large square, the concept of which was new to London, and this had a significant influence on modern town planning in the city,[56] acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as the metropolis grew. Isaac de Caus, the French Huguenot architect, designed the individual houses under Jones's overall design.

 

The church of St Paul's was the first building, and was begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637. Seventeen of the houses had arcaded portico walks organised in groups of four and six either side of James Street on the north side, and three and four either side of Russell Street. These arcades, rather than the square itself, took the name Piazza; the group from James Street to Russell Street became known as the "Great Piazza" and that to the south of Russell Street as the "Little Piazza". None of Inigo Jones's houses remain, though part of the north group was reconstructed in 1877–79 as Bedford Chambers by William Cubitt to a design by Henry Clutton.

 

Covent Garden market

 

The first record of a "new market in Covent Garden" is in 1654 when market traders set up stalls against the garden wall of Bedford House. The Earl of Bedford acquired a private charter from Charles II in 1670 for a fruit and vegetable market, permitting him and his heirs to hold a market every day except Sundays and Christmas Day. The original market, consisting of wooden stalls and sheds, became disorganised and disorderly, and the 6th Earl requested an Act of Parliament in 1813 to regulate it, then commissioned Charles Fowler in 1830 to design the neo-classical market building that is the heart of Covent Garden today. The contractor was William Cubitt and Company. Further buildings were added—the Floral hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market for foreign flowers was built by Cubitt and Howard.

 

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion was causing problems for the market, which required increasingly large lorries for deliveries and distribution. Redevelopment was considered, but protests from the Covent Garden Community Association in 1973 prompted the Home Secretary, Robert Carr, to give dozens of buildings around the square listed-building status, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market relocated to its new site, New Covent Garden Market, about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, with cafes, pubs, small shops and a craft market called the Apple Market. Another market, the Jubilee Market, is held in the Jubilee Hall on the south side of the square. The market halls and several other buildings in Covent Garden have been owned by the property company Capital & Counties Properties (CapCo) since 2006.

 

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

 

The current Theatre Royal on Drury Lane is the most recent of four incarnations, the Second of which opened in 1663, making it the oldest continuously used theatre in London. For much of its first two centuries, it was, along with the Royal Opera House, a patent theatre granted rights in London for the production of drama, and had a claim to be one of London's leading theatres. The first theatre, known as "Theatre Royal, Bridges Street", saw performances by Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart. After it was destroyed by fire in 1672, English dramatist and theatre manager Thomas Killigrew engaged Christopher Wren to build a larger theatre on the same spot, which opened in 1674. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under leadership including Colley Cibber, David Garrick, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1791, under Sheridan's management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794; but that survived only 15 years, burning down in 1809. The building that stands today opened in 1812. It has been home to actors as diverse as Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean, child actress Clara Fisher, comedian Dan Leno, the comedy troupe Monty Python (who recorded a concert album there), and musical composer and performer Ivor Novello. Since November 2008 the theatre has been owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and generally stages popular musical theatre. It is a Grade I listed building.

 

London Transport Museum

 

The London Transport Museum is in a Victorian iron and glass building on the east side of the market square. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers of William Cubitt and Company in 1871, and was first occupied by the museum in 1980. Previously the transport collection had been held at Syon Park and Clapham. The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) when it began to preserve buses being retired from service. After the LGOC was taken over by the London Electric Railway (LER), the collection was expanded to include rail vehicles. It continued to expand after the LER became part of the London Passenger Transport Board in the 1930s and as the organisation passed through various successor bodies up to TfL, London's transport authority since 2000. The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of buses, trams, trolleybuses and rail vehicles from 19th and 20th centuries as well as artefacts and exhibits related to the operation and marketing of passenger services and the impact that the developing transport network has had on the city and its population.

 

St Paul's Church

 

St Paul's, commonly known as the Actors' Church, was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission by Francis Russell in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fitt for the habitacons of Gentlemen and men of ability". Work on the church began that year and was completed in 1633, at a cost of £4,000, with it becoming consecrated in 1638. In 1645 Covent Garden was made a separate parish and the church was dedicated to St Paul. It is uncertain how much of Jones's original building is left, as the church was damaged by fire in 1795 during restoration work by Thomas Hardwick; though it is believed that the columns are original—the rest is mostly Georgian or Victorian reconstruction.

 

Culture

 

The Covent Garden area has long been associated with both entertainment and shopping, and this continues. Covent Garden has 13 theatres, and over 60 pubs and bars, with most south of Long Acre, around the main shopping area of the old market. The Seven Dials area in the north of Covent Garden was home to the punk rock club The Roxy in 1977, and the area remains focused on young people with its trendy mid-market retail outlets.

 

Street performance

 

Street entertainment at Covent Garden was noted in Samuel Pepys's diary in May 1662, when he recorded the first mention of a Punch and Judy show in Britain. Impromptu performances of song and swimming were given by local celebrity William Cussans in the eighteenth century. Covent Garden is licensed for street entertainment, and performers audition for timetabled slots in a number of venues around the market, including the North Hall, West Piazza, and South Hall Courtyard. The courtyard space is dedicated to classical music only. There are street performances at Covent Garden Market every day of the year, except Christmas Day. Shows run throughout the day and are about 30 minutes in length. In March 2008, the market owner, CapCo, proposed to reduce street performances to one 30-minute show each hour.

 

Pubs and bars

 

The Covent Garden area has over 60 pubs and bars; several of them are listed buildings, with some also on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors; some, such as The Harp in Chandos Place, have received consumer awards. The Harp's awards include London Pub of the Year in 2008 by the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood, and National Pub of the Year by CAMRA in 2011. It was at one time owned by the Charrington Brewery, when it was known as The Welsh Harp; in 1995 the name was abbreviated to just The Harp, before Charrington sold it to Punch Taverns in 1997. It has been owned by the landlady since 2010.

 

The Lamb and Flag in Rose Street has a reputation as the oldest pub in the area, though records are not clear. The first mention of a pub on the site is 1772 (when it was called the Cooper's Arms – the name changing to Lamb & Flag in 1833); the 1958 brick exterior conceals what may be an early 18th-century frame of a house replacing the original one built in 1638.[94] The pub acquired a reputation for staging bare-knuckle prize fights during the early 19th century when it earned the nickname "Bucket of Blood". The alleyway beside the pub was the scene of an attack on John Dryden in 1679 by thugs hired by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, with whom he had a long-standing conflict.

 

The Salisbury in St. Martin's Lane was built as part of a six-storey block around 1899 on the site of an earlier pub that had been known under several names, including the Coach & Horses and Ben Caunt's Head; it is both Grade II listed, and on CAMRA's National Inventory, due to the quality of the etched and polished glass and the carved woodwork, summed up as "good fin de siècle ensemble". The Freemasons Arms on Long Acre is linked with the founding of the Football Association in 1896; however, the meetings took place at The Freemasons Tavern on Great Queen Street, which was replaced in 1909 by the Connaught Rooms.

 

Other pubs that are Grade II listed are of minor interest, they are three 19th century rebuilds of 17th century/18th century houses, the Nell Gwynne Tavern in Bull Inn Court, the Nag's Head on James Street, and the White Swan on New Row; a Victorian pub built by lessees of the Marquis of Exeter, the Old Bell on the corner of Exeter Street and Wellington Street; and a late 18th or early 19th century pub the Angel and Crown on St. Martin's Lane.

 

Cultural connections

 

Covent Garden, and especially the market, have appeared in a number of works. Eliza Doolittle, the central character in George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, and the musical adaptation by Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady, is a Covent Garden flower seller. Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film Frenzy about a Covent Garden fruit vendor who becomes a serial sex killer, was set in the market where his father had been a wholesale greengrocer. The daily activity of the market was the topic of a 1957 Free Cinema documentary by Lindsay Anderson, Every Day Except Christmas, which won the Grand Prix at the Venice Festival of Shorts and Documentaries.

 

Transport

 

Covent Garden is served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station on the corner of Long Acre and James Street. The station was opened by Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 11 April 1907, four months after services on the rest of the line began operating on 15 December 1906. Platform access is only by lift or stairs; until improvements to the exit gates in 2007, due to high passenger numbers (16 million annually), London Underground had to advise travellers to get off at Leicester Square and walk the short distance (the tube journey at less than 300 yards is London's shortest) to avoid the congestion. Stations just outside the area include the Charing Cross tube station and Charing Cross railway station, Leicester Square tube station, and Holborn tube station. While there is only one bus route in Covent Garden itself—the RV1, which uses Catherine Street as a terminus, just to the east of Covent Garden square—there are over 30 routes which pass close by, mostly on the Strand or Kingsway.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covent_Garden