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Odessa Rae
Film Producer, "Navalny"
Maria Snegovaya
Senior Fellow, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Andrew Weiss
Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Gillian Tett
Chair of the Editorial Board and Editor-at-Large, US, Financial Times
A tense dog barks while tied to a designated post outside a pharmacy. The contrast between the bright green background and the dog's alert posture captures a moment of urban agitation and loyalty as it waits for its owner.
Detail of Baltic Quay, Boat Lifter Way, Surrey Quays. The building was designed by architects Lister, Drew, Haines, Barrow and completed in 1989.
i've added half the weight i lost last year
i have a consult on my left leg next week
(which i see now is thicker than the other one - hmmm?)
my legs could not be whiter as i haven't worn shorts in a decade
my far-off wife likes the hat & bought it for me
this is probably the last shot of me i'll inflict on anyone
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) was formed on 2 March 1951 with RAF officers and other personnel seconded to the RCyAF. Ceylonese were recruited to the new RCyAF and several Ceylonese who had served with the RAF during WWII were absorbed in the force. Initial objective was to train local pilots and ground crew, early administration and training was carried out by exclusively by RAF officers and other personnel on secondment. The first aircraft of the RCyAF were de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks used as basic trainers to train the first batches of pilots locally while several cadets were sent to Royal Air Force College Cranwell. These were followed by Boulton Paul Balliol T.Mk.2s and Airspeed Oxford Mk.1s for advanced training of pilots and aircrew along with de Havilland Doves and de Havilland Herons for transport use, all provided by the British. By 1955 the RCyAF was operating two flying squadrons based at RAF Negombo. The first helicopter type to be added to the service was the Westland Dragonfly.
Following Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's negotiated the closure of British air and naval bases in Ceylon in 1956, the RCyAF took over the former RAF stations; Katunayake and China Bay, becoming RCyAF operational stations while ancillary functions were carried out at Diyatalawa and Ekala. The RAF headquarters, Air HQ Ceylon, was disbanded on 1 November 1957. However, RAF officers remained with the RCyAF till 1962.
In 1959 de Havilland Vampire jet aircraft were acquired, five fighter bombers and five trainers. The Vampire was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company and its development as an experimental aircraft began in 1941 during the Second World War, to exploit the revolutionary innovation of jet propulsion. From the company's design studies, it was decided to use a single-engine, twin-boom aircraft, powered by the Halford H.1 turbojet (later produced as the Goblin). Aside from its propulsion system and twin-boom configuration, it was a relatively conventional aircraft. In May 1944 it was decided to produce the aircraft as an interceptor for the Royal Air Force (RAF), but it came too late for operati9onal use in the war. It was eventually the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by a single jet engine. In 1946 the Vampire entered operational service with the RAF, only months after the war had ended.
The Vampire quickly proved to be effective and was adopted as a replacement of wartime piston-engined fighter aircraft. During its early service it accomplished several aviation firsts and achieved various records, such as being the first jet aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The Vampire remained in front-line RAF service until 1953 when its transfer began to secondary roles such as ground attack and pilot training, for which specialist variants were produced. Many of these aircraft were sold to foreign air forces. The RAF retired the Vampire in 1966 when its final role of advanced trainer was filled by the Folland Gnat. The Royal Navy had also adapted the type as the Sea Vampire, a navalised variant suitable for operations from aircraft carriers. It was the service's first jet fighter.
The Vampire was exported to many nations and was operated worldwide in numerous theatres and climates. Several countries used the type in combat including the Suez Crisis, the Malayan Emergency and the Rhodesian Bush War. By the end of production, almost 3,300 Vampires had been manufactured, a quarter of these having been manufactured under licence abroad.
The Ceylonese Vampires received the official export designation FB.56, but they were in fact refurbished Fairey-built ex-RAF FB.9 fighter bombers, the last single seater fighter bomber variant to be produced. As such, they were tropicalised Goblin-3 powered F.5 fighter-bombers with air conditioning and retrofitted with ejection seats. They had the ability to carry bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber under each wing, drop tanks or up to eight unguided 3-inch "60 lb" rockets againts ground targets. The trainers were newly-built T.55 export machines with ejection seats.
Following a RCyAF superstition, the machines were allocated tactical codes that the single numerals did not sum up to "13" or a multiple of it, a "tradition" that has been kept up until today. Even more weird: codes that openly sported a "13" were and are used - as long as the whole code number conforms to the cross total rule!
This small fleet formed the 'Jet Squadron' was soon supplemented with five Hunting Jet Provosts obtained from the British, and ten more Vampire FB.56 fighter bombers in 1959. In the 1960s, various other aircraft were procured, most notably American Bell JetRanger helicopters and a Hindustan HUL-26 Pushpak given by India. The force had grown gradually during its early years, reaching a little over 1,000 officers and recruits in the 1960s.
The Vampires' service did not last long, though. The trainers were replaced by the more modern and economic Jet Provosts and mothballed by 1963. In 1968, the Royal Ceylon Air Force started to look out for a more capable multi-role aircraft to replace the Vampire FB.56s and evaluated foreign types like the F-86 Sabre, the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, the Hawker Hunter and AMD's Mystère IV as well as the SMB.2. The decision fell on the supersonic Super Mystère, which was offered as a bargain from French surplus stock since the fighter was at that time in the process of being gradually replaced by the 3rd generation Mirage III. A total of eight revamped SMB.2s were procured, which conformed to the Armée de l’Air’s standard. The machines arrived in early 1971 and were allocated to the newly established No. 3 Squadron, even though it took some months to make them fully operational, and the Vampires (eleven FB.56s were still operational at that time) soldiered on as a stopgap measure, due to innerpolitical tensions.
These got more and more tense and the Ceylonese Vampires were eventually deployed in a hot conflict in 1971. Together with the Jet Provosts, which had been mothballed since 1970 and quickly revamped, they were used in COIN missions during the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrection, since the new SMB.2s were not ready yet and deemed too valuable and unsuited to be deployed in guerilla warfare. The JVP insurrection was the first of two unsuccessful armed revolts conducted by the communist JVP against the socialist United Front Government of Ceylon under Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The revolt began on 5 April 1971, and lasted until June of that year. The insurgents held towns and rural areas for several weeks, until the regions were recaptured by the armed forces, following strong support from friendly nations that sent men and material. Vampires and Jet Provosts flew from RCyAF Chinabay to RCyAF Katunayake, attacking rebel locations en route, and on the 12 April following a bombing run on a target in Polonnaruwa, one Jet Provost lost power and crashed on its approach to RCyAF Chinabay killing its pilot. Several weeks later, the Jet Provosts were joined by the Bell 47-G2 in ground attacks. After three weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas. In most cases, the government regained control of townships; insurgent groups melted away into the jungle and continued to operate, with some groups operating into early 1972.
With Ceylon becoming a republic in 1972, the Royal Ceylon Air Force changed its name to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), along with all insignia, and the last RCyAF Vampire was retired in summer 1972.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 30 ft 9 in (9.37 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft (12 m)
Height: 8 ft 10 in (2.69 m)
Wing area: 262 sq ft (24.3 m²)
Airfoil: root: EC1240/0640 (14%); tip: EC1240/0640 (9%)
Empty weight: 7,283 lb (3,304 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 12,390 lb (5,620 kg)
Powerplant:
1× de Havilland Goblin 3 centrifugal-flow turbojet engine, 3,350 lbf (14.9 kN) thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 548 mph (882 km/h, 476 kn)
Range: 1,220 mi (1,960 km, 1,060 nmi)
Service ceiling: 42,800 ft (13,000 m)
Rate of climb: 4,800 ft/min (24 m/s)
Wing loading: 39.4 lb/sq ft (192 kg/m²)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (0.79 in) Hispano Mk.V cannon with 600 rounds total (150 rounds per gun)
8× 3-inch "60 lb" rockets or 2× 1.000 lb (454 kg) bombs or two drop-tanks
The kit and its assembly:
A subtle what-if model, and despite the xotic markings the CeyloneseVampire is closer to reality than one might think. In fact, Ceylon actually received Vampire fighter bombers and trainer from the RAF when the country became independent and the RCyAF was founded, but they were never put into service. So, this whif depicts what might have been, and the type's use until the early Seventies is purely fictional.
The kit is the venerable Heller Vampire FB.5, which has been released under various brand labels (including Airfix and Revell) through the years. While it is a very simple model kit, the level of detail is not bad. You get a decent cockpit with a nice dashboard, separated canopy sections and even the landing gear wells feature details. You can hardly ask for more, even though the fit is rather mediocre - but this might be blamed on the molds' age. PSR was necessary on almost any major seam, and the fit of the tail booms to their adapters on the wings was really poor - the kit's engineers could have copme up with a better and more stable solution for the tail assembly. Another issue is the cockpit: while it's detailed, everything is much too small and tight - it turned out to be impossible to insert a pilot figure for the flight scenes, even just a torso!
Since I wanted to build a standard export Vampire fighter bomber, the kit was built OOB. I just added a gunsight behind the windscreen, replaced the rather massive pitot on the left fin and added some ordnance for the machine's COIN missions using the JVP insurrection. These comsist of a pair of vintage 500 lb iron bombs (from a Monogram F8F Bearcat) on pylons which probably come from an Academy P-47 Thunderbolt, plus four unguided 60 lb rockets and their launch rails from a Pioneer/Airfix Hawker Sea Fury.
Painting and markings:
Conservative. A real RCyAF Vampire would during the late Sixties probably have been painted overall silver, but I found this rather boring and thought that the role as s strike aircraft would justify camouflage. With its origins in the RAF I gave the Vampire consequently the British standard paint scheme in Dark Green/Dark Sea Grey from above, using Humbrol 163 and 156 (Dark Camouflage Grey BS381C/629, the latter on purpose as a lighter alternative to 164, for more contrast). For a slightly odd look I painted the undersides in RAF Azure Blue (Humbrol 157), what also makes a good contrast to the colorful RCyAF roundels.
The cockpit interior was painted in very dark grey (Anthracite, Revell 09) while the landing gear and the respective wells were painted in Humbrol 56 (Aluminum Dope), a metallic grey.
The kit received a lioght black ink washing and some panel shading, especuially from above to simulate sun-bleached paint - after all, the model depicts an aircraft that would soon be retired.
The roundels come from an Xtradecal aftermarket sheet for Jet Provosts, the fictional serial number was created with 3 and 10mm letters in black from TL Modellbau. A personal addition are the RAF-style white individual aircraft code letters on the fin and the front wheel cover. Due to their size, the fuselage roundels had to be placed under the cockpit, but that does not look bad or out of place at all - early Swedish Vampires used a similar solution. Unfortunately, the kit came without decal sheet, so that other details had to be procured elsewhere - but the decal heap provided ample material. The few stencils and the "No step" warnings were taken from a Model decal Vampire sheet; the ejection seat markings came from an Xtradecal Vampire trainer sheet.
After some light traces with dry-brushed silver on the wings' leading edges the model was eventually sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
Simple but exotic, and like the whiffy Sri Lankan SM2.B I built some time ago a very plausible result. I really like the fact that the model is, despite the camouflage and the subdued colors, quite colorful. outcome a lot. The paint scheme already looks unusual, even though it has been patterned after a real world benchmark. But together with the colorful SLAF markings and some serious weathering, the whole package looks pretty weird but also believable. A classic what-if model! 😉
► Concept car dévoilé par la marque DS le 26 février 2016.
► Modèle présenté au public lors du salon international de l'automobile de Genève 2016.
Année du modèle présenté : 2016
Couleur : Vert Amétrine métallisé
Designer pour l'extérieur : Bob Romkes
Designer pour l'intérieur : Pascal Grappey
This road, so much the same, so different at once is like memory lane, and a history lesson; all in one.
Behind me is a great avenue of English elms on the frontage of "The Briars", surely a reference to "The Old Country". Across the road is "Sharrow"; South Yorkshire, not.
To my left is a great line of untended hawthorn. They remind me of my mother's country, the dirt tracks and lanes to my grandparents place —clinging to the edge of nowhere — cold as in winter, baking in summer, and as warm as a hug from Nanna anytime. I was the one who knocked out the bricks that brought down the chimney — the last built thing — before we moved them into town.
I don't remember any evidence that the hedges on this side of the world were ever properly laid. I'm always sad to see those in the homeland of these ones grubbed out. But the road goes ever on. My sentiments aren't ever consulted ahead of these actions.
Monochrome? Yes, well it was back then. The road threw up clouds of dust and by this time of year the once green hawthorns were a uniform dun colour. It was so fine that you'd choke on the stuff. The sky was like this — bigger — but without the contrails despite being within cooee of the aerodrome. They still cut the wheat the old fashioned way, with a machine that bound the sheaves that those walking behind raised into stooks; even before the Sunshine Harvester. I was on the edge, between the uncertain past and the inevitable future.
Not so long ago, this road was a dirt track. Progress? Why do we need to hurry? There's a new future I discussed with The Painter, and one of the attendees for tea on ANZAC Day. The Painter swapped the big petrol Mercedes for a little EV, not a hybrid. Their pace has changed. Now a road trip is from charger to charger, and a break with a cuppa every so often; like when I was young and the journey that takes just over two hours now once took six. The company for tea came in a diesel van. They're a bit younger than The Painter. But the last words we exchanged as they left was how they were keenly watching the EV van market for the diesel's replacement. The same topic arose. They were actually looking forward to lowering the pace; punctuating the journey, relaxing about the destination, restoring the past; being less tense.
On Friday, the dreamed of photovoltaic revolution of the 1970s will arrive. In the 50s/60s I was promised a nuclear powered flying car. I've given up waiting; that's passed into the past. I'll get a big three-phase battery, and electrons for free. As I watched TV coverage of La Doyenne — the Liege-Bastogne-Liege cycling race — I couldn't help but notice how even in NE Belgium the roofs are bedecked with solar panels. I'm clearly behind the game. But the momentum is overtaking the past, the competition is tense, and change, it seems, has its own ideas.
Meanwhile, the past just pootles along as a reminder of why the bits of it that survive weren't bad ideas after all.
One of a number of ballpoint sketches I created for our Scaling of Everest Interactive. Full thing can be seen here. www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/scaling-everest/
Tense escrito moito sobre o carácter defensivo e de avisos da torre de San Sadurniño, dentro dunha serie que achegaría a alarma a Compostela, a base de prenderen lume sucesivamente para daren aviso da chegada dos temidos drakkar normandos ou mesmo das embarcacións procedentes do mundo musulmán, que tanto temeron os habitantes das comarcas costeiras galegas durante varios séculos. Esta imaxe tan plástica resultou moi atractiva para unha historiografía máis atenta a un relato noveleiro que a unha investigación rigorosa dos feitos do pasado e nesa liña andaba José Caamaño Bournacell, cronista e historiador de Cambados e máximo difusor deste mito, despois seguido por moitos outros. O caso é que relatos deste tipo teñen aparecido na literatura en diferentes ocasións, sendo o máis coñecido o que narra Tolkien nun momento chave da súa saga, cando as tropas de Sauron ameazan Minas Tirith e hai que dar aviso con ese sistema de lumes sucesivos para solicitaren a axuda dos aliados, maxistralmente levada a escena a imaxes na fita de Peter Jackson. Lembro aínda como, nunha conversa sobre o tema con Jose Vaamonde, técnico de cultura de Cambados, alá polo 2010, lle facía notar o paralelo de ambos relatos e o carácter de ficción dos dous. Algún tempo despois, nun curso de verán da UIMP, escoitei as mesmas razóns e o mesmo exemplo na voz dunha historiadora que trataba o tema. Supoño que ninguén dos que acreditaban nesta idea se parou a pensar na dificultade (por non dicir o imposible) de comunicación visual entre as torres da Lanzada, Cedofeita, San Sadurniño, Cálogo (realmente o sineiro non anterior ao s. XVI do vello mosteiro medieval), Lobeira, Oeste e todas as demais que se lles ocorreran.
Hai que sinalar que o bispo Sisnando I de Iria vai acometer unha política de defensa dos intereses da sé iriense e compostelá nas terras do Salnés, onde os sucesivos reis de Asturias e Galicia foran facendo cuantiosas doazóns de salinas, terras, aldeas, vasalos e illas (concretamente Ons, Arousa, Sálvora, Tambo, Cíes, Framio e “Ocobre”, tal como se chamaba Ogrobe daquela) desde o 880 en diante. Nesta relación non falta máis que Cortegada nas grandes illas das Rías Baixas, que será propiedade do bispo Sisnando II, quen tiña, xunto coa súa familia, cuantiosos intereses nesta zona. Buscábase desde a coroa incentivar o poboamento e explotación dunha zona de grande riqueza potencial, daquela practicamente deserta como boa parte da costa galega ata o século XII. Ao longo do século X as doazóns deste tipo serán continuas por parte dos sucesivos reis e agora tamén amosan o seu interese os mosteiros máis poderosos de Galicia así como as grandes casas nobiliarias, en vista do lucrativo das salinas e outros negocios do mar. O señorío da sé iriense ten que defender estes intereses diante de tal presión e das novas acometidas vikingas de mediados do século X, un momento de debilidade do poder real que deben substituír os señoríos laicos e eclesiásticos. Así Sisnando II fortifica a xoia da coroa, a cidade de Compostela, e levanta as fortalezas da Lanzada e Cedofeita (Lérez), tal como se pode coñecer por un documento do 1005. Non hai ningunha referencia en ningún lado a outra fortaleza que non sexan estas dúas. Posteriormente, neste século XI, nos tempos de Afonso V e os bispos Cresconio e Xelmírez, faranse obras para ergueren o gran complexo defensivo das Torres de Oeste, primeiro de iniciativa real e despois doado á sé iriense-compostelá no 1024, vital para a defensa de Compostela ante incursións polo Ulla.
A primeira referencia que temos da construción da torre é a que fai Jerónimo del Hoyo no 1607, asegurando que foi o mariscal Pedro Pardo quen a fixo, cando seguramente se refería a outro autotitulado mariscal, Sueiro Gomes de Soutomaior, señor da xurisdición de San Tomé do Mar que incluía, xunto con esta vila, a de Portonovo, e á vez señor de Lantañón, de Rianxo, de Vea e outros lugares, nacido arredor do 1417 e morto arredor do 1490. O caso é que non hai referencia desta torre en ningunha documentación coñecida a día de hoxe, incluíndo a cuantiosa que se derivou das guerras irmandiñas, especialmente o preito Tabera-Fonseca de 1525-34, fonte fundamental para esa época. As “Memorias” de Jerónimo del Hoyo deixan claro que na illa da Figueira estaba situado o primitivo núcleo de San Tomé do Mar, chamado daquela Vila Vella, unha pequena aldea rodeada por unha muralla e enmarcada por un pazo-fortaleza e unha capela con dedicación a San Tomé e San Sadurniño. Outro documento interesante para sabermos como era ese núcleo é un croquis que serve para delimitar graficamente os lindes das xurisdicións de San Tomé do Mar e Cambados, dado a coñecer por Héitor Picallo, que completa o documento de apeo destas xurisdicións de 1670 que se publicou no xornal “El Umia” de Cambados hai un século. Certamente a fasquía da torre lévanos moi claramente a este tempo final da Idade Media polo corte da pedra e a decoración de bólas na imposta superior e, non habendo noticias da súa destrución no conflito da Gran Guerra Irmandiña do 1465-69, é de supoñer que sería posterior, o que pode indicar tamén a noticia que dá o testamento de Sueiro Gomes de Soutomaior de 1485 onde destina un marco de prata para dotar á ermida de San Tomé do Mar cun cáliz de prata, algo que pode facer pensar que aínda non estaba dotada suficientemente nesa altura, quizais pola novidade da construción, aínda que isto xa é especular un pouco, xa que un par de canzorros, moi probablemente procedentes desta capela, e reutilizados nunha casa próxima á ponte que dá acceso á illa, semellan anteriores a este momento. En canto á decoración de bólas, é sabido que se introduce en Galicia na arquitectura románica no século XII (San Pedro da Mezquita, por exemplo), aínda que o seu uso como liñas seriadas en impostas e arcos vai ter un desenvolvemento considerable no gótico do século XV e aínda do XVI, como se pode ver nas igrexas de Santa Mariña de Ozo, Solveira, Sandiás, Pazo de Láncara (A Mezquita) ou o magnífico exemplo de Santo Tomás de Ávila (1482-93).
Para rematar hai que indicar que este conxunto, do que hoxe apenas se pode albiscar a torre arruinada, está levantado enriba dun pequeno castro costeiro do que se podían ver algúns muros das casas tras os temporais dos últimos anos, e do que dan testemuña tamén numerosos anacos de cerámica cos característicos tons escuros, formas globulosas e bordos exvasados, que se complementan con outras cerámicas de época romana (algúns anacos tamén de terra sigillata) e posterior. Probablemente haberá no lugar un pequeno castro costeiro do estilo dos de Neixón, Baroña, Toralla, ou o posible do Bico da Ran en Castrelo, e seguramente estaría en relación cos próximos Castro de Santa Mariña e o posible do Castriño. Está claro que neste pequeno lugar o potencial arqueolóxico é enorme e quizais algún día lle chegue o momento antes de que o leve o mar definitivamente como o está a facer con outro xacemento arqueolóxico próximo, o do Guidoiro Areoso, unha espectacular necrópole do Megalitismo nunha illa pertencente á Illa de Arousa sentenciada a desaparecer baixo o mar ante a desidia xeral.
MÚSICA: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Soundtrack - 03. Minas Tirith