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As visually complicated as the ABANDONED CADILLAC photo might appear, it really was a fairly simple setup, right on my kitchen table.
[ here's the finished photo:]
www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/7028272255/in/photostr...
I've had that bridge model for some time and wanted to use it in a different way.
After I placed it on the "road surface" the whole scene fell into place because the piers of the structure seemed to make a stronger statement than the iron works.
After that decision, It was a just a question of what era to represent.
When lighting the set, it was immediately clear that a dramatic over head source was the way to go. The pattern of the girders falling on the automobiles defined the story.
An interesting aspect of that lighting was it created an odd flattening of the background; there was no sense depth, even though the backdrop was over 3 feet away.
This Saturday may 9, VICE Nights Club takes a bold leap forward. We're unveiling "The New Visually Intoxicating Vibe", and it's about to redefine what our venue even means. 🌀
DJ Roux and DJ Night will be on the decks from 1:00 PM SLT, spinning their finest deep house selections 🎧. DJ Kastor will then seal the night with his signature hypnotic techno.
I sat down on the curb on Main Street to watch the Disney parade come by. Normally, frankly, I don't like parades. I am very easily bored, and I need to be extremely visually or mentally stimulated or else I just zone out... But the Disney parade was great... they throw everything at you, and then some. Once these ghostly dancers started moving down the street, I felt like I was in some kind of a dream sequence...
from the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
Commentary.
Hever Castle began as a country house in 1270.
Later, in the 15th. Century, whilst in need of repair,
it was converted to a Manor House owned by Geoffery Boleyn.
He had a Tudor House built within its walls.
His grandson inherited the estate from his brother in 1505.
One of his children was Anne Boleyn, future wife of Henry V111.
When Anne’s father died the property came into the possession of the King.
In subsequent centuries the estate was owned by wealthy family after wealthy family.
With its connections to Royal History the venue attracts huge numbers of visitors, all year, from all over the world.
The grounds are truly splendid. There is a Yew Maze and Water Maze, gardens and lakes, as well as the moat around the castle itself.
In summer, jousting and archery displays entertain the visitors.
There is a children’s Adventure Playground, an Italianate Garden, rose gardens, herb garden, and fine examples of hedge and bush topiary, as well as three restaurants.
The setting is adorned by a plethora of superb mature trees,
both coniferous and deciduous.
I would bargain that few visitors would be disappointed
by so many visually inspiring sights.
Every year, 15th October is celebrated around the world as White Cane Safety Day. The day celebrates all the achievements of blind and visually impaired people. It also raises awareness about blindness and vision loss among people.
Description of the photo:
The photo depicts a drawing of a foldable white cane with the words "White Cane Safety Day" written above the cane in Braille.
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Ah, the visually amazing El Camino.
Truly one of the "Love It or Hate It" body styles of the late 50's.
A veritable buffet of Show Car, Space Age and Surreal automotive design.
What's not to like?
This photo is an out take from the promotional images I did for West Coast Precision Diecasts.
The buildings, way in the background, are part of the MIT campus, here in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This AI-generated image is a perfect example of what architects call "starchitecture" - a building so visually dramatic it becomes a landmark before the first brick is even laid. While a Santiago Calatrava-inspired mall would undoubtedly be a "bionic" masterpiece of white steel and soaring ribs, the question of its sensibility is a complicated one. In the current 2026 retail climate, we aren’t seeing the "death of the mall" so much as a great bifurcation. The middle-market malls you grew up with are indeed shuttering at record rates, but high-end, "destination" malls are actually seeing a resurgence.
The financial viability of such a project hinges on the fact that retail has shifted from a commodity business to an experience economy. People no longer drive to a physical location just to buy a pair of jeans they could order via an AI concierge in three seconds; they go for the "theatrical" environment. A Calatrava-style structure - much like his Oculus in New York or the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia - functions more like a secular cathedral or a museum than a store. In 2026, premier "Class A" malls that lean into this immersive, high-art aesthetic are reporting visit gains, while "zombie malls" with generic designs are being converted into medical offices or apartments.
However, the "built anywhere" part of your premise is where the sensibility starts to crumble. A state-of-the-art, neofuturistic mall is incredibly expensive to build and maintain. The skeletal, organic forms Calatrava is known for require specialized engineering and high-grade materials that drive up the "rent-per-square-foot" to levels only ultra-luxury brands can afford. If you drop this masterpiece in a mid-sized suburb with average household incomes, it becomes a "white elephant" - a beautiful structure that can't generate enough revenue to cover its own air conditioning and debt service.
There is also the "anywhere" fallacy regarding cultural context. Part of the reason malls are struggling globally is that consumers are craving authenticity and local connection. A "spaceship" mall that looks the same in Dubai as it does in Dallas often fails to build a long-term community bond. The most successful new developments in 2026 are moving away from the "sealed box" model and toward biophilic, open-air designs that integrate with the local environment. A Calatrava design is stunning, but if it feels like an alien vessel landed in a parking lot, it risks becoming a tourist curiosity rather than a functional piece of the city's social fabric.
Ultimately, building a mall like this is only sensible if it isn't just a mall. To survive today’s financial headwinds, such a project must be a mixed-use hub - integrating luxury housing, high-end dining, and perhaps a transit link. If the goal is purely to sell clothes, it’s a financial ghost ship in the making. But if the goal is to create a cultural destination where "shopping" is just a side effect of "being there," it might just be one of the few types of physical retail that still makes sense.
While visually, you might find this jarring, to me this is actually what I saw today. Not the blown out sky I got from a tradional shot.
What reads at first glance as repetition reveals itself, on closer inspection, as a carefully modulated composition. This mid-rise residential block in the Mission District deploys a curtain-wall logic more commonly associated with commercial office towers, transplanted here into the housing typology with mixed but visually compelling results. The façade is organized into four primary bays, each stepping slightly proud of the datum plane, creating shallow vertical fins that catch light differently throughout the day. The blue-grey color treatment — whether original or photographic — suits the building well, emphasizing the cool aluminum framing against the recessed spandrel panels. What distinguishes this elevation is the penthouse treatment: each bay terminates in a glazed volume that breaks the roofline with a modest flourish, a nod to articulation in a design that otherwise prizes discipline. The window grid within each bay is genuinely sophisticated — fixed lites paired with operable sash in an irregular but balanced Mondrian-esque arrangement that avoids the deadening uniformity of cheaper multifamily construction. The dark vertical slots separating the bays provide essential shadow relief, preventing the whole from flattening into wallpaper. In a neighborhood that has absorbed decades of development pressure, this building holds the street with a certain cold confidence.
I got out of bed a half-hour before this morning's totality to get myself ready for the great orange globe. I went back to bed an hour and a half later.
While up, I took about five dozen pictures of the eclipse. Out of that I have about a half-dozen favourites. This is one of them.
This picture is worked from the raw file, trying to retain the actual colour and brightness of the fully eclipsed moon while showing as many tree branches as possible, and not losing the stars in the background. I'm happy with the result. I expect that if I had used one of the camera's "computational modes" I would have ended up with something more visually satisfying. But I like using the camera as a camera. And I like this picture.
The cemetery has been much enlarged. Contains two listed monuments - memorial to Thomas Ramsay (d. 1873) and a war memorial. In the cemetery there is also a granite vault marking the resting place of the last of a long line of Claverings - "SIR HENRY AUGUSTUS CLAVERING, of Axwell Park, Tenth and last Baronet, Born 30th August 1824, died 9th November 1893; aged 69 years". STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Blaydon Cemetery was established in 1873 in response to the growing demand for burial space outside town centres, as there was great concern over the health risks involving proximity to areas of dense population. The site chosen was to the east of the town,at Shibdon, called The Close or Blunt’s Close, bought from Colonel Towneley, who owned a great deal of land in the area. It was an ideal site for a cemetery – on sloping land, from which good views could be gained across the river valley and which also enabled the sometimes elaborate memorials to be shown off to the best advantage. The committee minutes record that the land was surveyed, the cemetery laid out, and the buildings designed by Matthew Thompson, but as yet no plans have been found showing his original design concept. The executed design only covered a relatively small area, with a main entrance to the northwest corner, with the buildings (a lodge and chapel) placed along serpentine paths that were becoming a rare feature by this period. The consecrated section was to the east, and the unconsecrated to the west, with separate plots for Roman Catholics and other non-conformists (most likely to be Methodists). Visually striking, the grave markers in the upper part of the cemetery are set out in clear rows, which strangely mirror the streets in the area, ascending the hill on a north-south axis. To the lower, earlier section of the land, however, the monuments are more informally arranged, harmonising with the different path systems from each time period. The entrance was clearly designed to make an impression, with monumental gate piers topped by simple pyramid caps set on an arc, thus allowing for gathering space. The railings are simple in iron, with double rows of uprights at the base (adding to security) and arced decorative elements towards the top. This enclosure method of low plinth walls with ‘palisading’ was employed for part of the cemetery (to allow for views), but the remainder was enclosed by high stone boundary walls, mainly rubble in character, with chamfered copings. The lodge included office space for the management of the cemetery and the burial board meetings. The composite chapel with a central porte-cochere (covered carriage entrance) was a typical solution to the requirements for both Church of England and Non-Conformist worship space. This example is particularly fine, and offers an appropriately stately entrance point to the main cemetery (see Information Sheet X20/LL/228), and now forms a wonderful linear set piece with the war memorial to the north of it, and the monument to Thomas Ramsay situated along the winding path ascending the hill to the south. The war memorial can be seen through the arch from the opposite side as an attractive framed view. The layout of cemeteries was often strongly influenced by the views of J C Loudon, with weeping and fastigiate (erect and tapering) trees, as well as the traditional yews and dark foliaged evergreens planted along paths, providing a framework (although this was usually on a grid pattern not favoured here). In this cemetery, the tree cover within the cemetery is scattered fairy randomly. In general it is more densely covered to the south and east of the chapel, with the dominant mature species being sycamore. Other species present in les
Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winlaton ward had a population in 2011 of 13,896.
Between 1894 and 1974, Blaydon was an urban district which extended inland from the Tyne along the River Derwent for ten miles (16 km), and included the mining communities of Chopwell and High Spen, the villages of Rowlands Gill, Blackhall Mill, Barlow, Winlaton Mill and Stella, as well as Blaydon and Winlaton. During its existence, the Urban District's fourteen and a half square miles constituted the second largest administrative district by area, on Tyneside, after Newcastle upon Tyne.
History
The town of Blaydon is essentially an industrial area and is not more than two centuries old. Indeed, in the 1760s there was little here but a few farms and cottages. In the latter part of the same century a smelting works was set up from which sprang the industrial growth of the area.
Though the town itself has a relatively short history there has been activity in the area for many centuries.
Early history
The earliest recorded evidence of human activity at Blaydon is a Neolithic polished stone axe found in the early 20th century. Finds and structures from later prehistoric periods include a bronze spearhead and log-boat, both recovered from the River Tyne in the 19th century. A number of Bronze Age cists[citation needed] are recorded from Summerhill and several others from Bewes Hill.
Little is recorded of medieval Blaydon, which appears to have been based upon the modern farm sites of High and Low Shibdon. The Blaydon Burn Belts Corn Mill, part of a row of 5 or 6 water corn mills stretching from Brockwell Wood to the River Tyne is known to have been present by the early 17th century, suggesting a healthy population at that time. It is likely that, as well as farming, many industrial activities such as mining and quarrying had begun in the medieval and post-medieval periods, well before the industrial period of the 18th to 20th centuries when Blaydon became an important industrial centre.
Battle of Stella Ford
Also known as the Battle of Newburn or Newburn Ford, this relatively unknown battle has recently been elevated in importance by English Heritage. On 28 August 1640, 20,000 Scots defeated 5,500 English soldiers who were defending the ford over the Tyne four miles (6 km) west of Newcastle.[6] The Scots had been provoked by Charles I, who had imposed bishops and a foreign prayer book on their church. The Scots army, led by Alexander Leslie, fought its way to Newcastle and occupied the city for almost a year before Charles I paid it £200,000 to depart. The battle brought to an end the so-called 'Eleven Years of Tyranny' by forcing Charles to recall Parliament.
The 18th century and the Industrial Revolution
The stimulus for industry at Blaydon and Blaydon burn, as elsewhere in the region, was the growth in coal mining and the coal trade, particularly from the early 18th century, when the Hazard and Speculation pits were established at Low Shibdon linked to the Tyne by wagonways. The 18th century Blaydon Main Colliery was reopened in the mid-19th century and worked until 1921. Other pits and associated features included Blaydon Burn Colliery, Freehold pit and the Blaydonburn wagonway. Industries supported by the coal trade included chemical works, bottle works, sanitary pipe works, lampblack works, an ironworks, a smithy and brickworks - Cowen's Upper and Lower Brickworks were established in 1730 and were associated with a variety of features including a clay drift mine and coal/clay drops. The Lower works remains in operation. Blaydon Burn Coke Ovens, also of 19th-century origin, were replaced in the 1930s by Priestman Ottovale Coke and Tar Works which was the first in the world to produce petrol from coal[citation needed] known as Blaydon Benzole.
In addition to the workers' housing developments associated with industrialisation, a number of grand residences were constructed for industrialists in the area, such as Blaydon Burn House, home of Joseph Cowen, owner of the brickworks. Ironically, the remains of Old Dockendale Hall, an earlier grand residence (or perhaps a superior farmhouse) of 17th century or earlier construction, was destroyed when the coke and tar works was built at Blaydon Burn.
Blaydon School Press
In the 1930s, pupils at the now demolished Blaydon Intermediate School, under the leadership of English teacher Mr Elliott and art teacher Mr Boyce, gradually developed a technique for producing hardback books. Their productions were highly respected and favourably compared to other successful private printing presses of the time. In one volume produced by the school in 1935, entitled "Songs of Enchantment", the pupils were successful in convincing the famous poet Walter de la Mare to write a foreword in which he praised their enterprise and efforts.
Stella South Power Station
The post war era of the late 40s and 50s saw a rapid rise in demand for electricity and, in the North East, the extension of existing and construction of a number of new power stations was seen as a key part of the solution. For the Blaydon area, this meant the arrival of a new power station at Stella Haugh, known as the South Stella Power Station, which helped to meet the energy demands of the North East until its closure in 1991. It was demolished in 1992.
Governance
Blaydon ward elects three councillors to Gateshead Council. In the House of Commons, the Blaydon constituency has been held by Liz Twist for the Labour Party since 2017. The area has traditionally been a Labour stronghold and the seat has been held by them since 1935.
Geography
Modern Blaydon stands close to the Tyne with the A695, a key road from Gateshead to Hexham, passing through the town centre. Between this main road and the river is the railway and beyond it, on a bend of the Tyne, is the industrial district of Blaydon Haughs. The main part of the town lies south of the railway.
Despite being a largely urban and industrial area, there are various rural aspects to Blaydon and the surrounding area. The area has many acres of open countryside, mostly at 500 feet (150 m) or more above sea level, and numerous farms and similar holdings. Between High Spen and Chopwell are large Forestry Commission woods, and these and other forested areas extend westward down the hillside to the River Derwent, which forms most of the metropolitan district boundary.
Shibdon Pond, on the eastern edge of the town at the former site of Blaydon Main colliery, is a nature reserve with many species of waterfowl. English Nature has designated Shibdon Pond as one of Tyne and Wear's Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The subject of a regeneration campaign, Shibdon Dene (sometimes inaccurately called 'Blaydon Dene') is another recreational area consisting of a pathway between a great number of fine trees.
There is also a nature reserve north-west of Blaydon at Blaydon Burn, on the route of a wagon-way which carried coal to the riverside. The track, roughly a mile-and-a-half long, is used by walkers and cyclists and ends near the Path Head Watermill.
Demography
Blaydon had a population of 15,155 in the 2011 census, which increased from 14,648 a decade earlier.
Economy
Once the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Gateshead, Blaydon's traditional industry was coal mining. However, since the decline of mining in the 1950s and 1960s, the economy has diversified. As well as a small number of commuting professionals, residents of Blaydon are often involved in engineering and manufacturing with many businesses operating from premises in Blaydon Haughs (or 'The Spike'), on the banks of the River Tyne.
Blaydon was for a time the head office of Associated Cooperative Creameries (later renamed ACC then ACC Milk). ACC Milk was sold to Dairy Farmers of Britain in 2004. On 3 June 2009, Dairy Farmers of Britain went into receivership and the dairy in Chainbridge Road closed shortly afterwards with the loss of 300 jobs. In 2010 the dairy was acquired by Medina Dairies and reopened, but closed again just a year later.
Blaydon has a shopping centre, known locally as the precinct. A brutalist 1970s creation, it contains the town's major shops including newsagents, Greggs, Costa, Iceland (supermarket), B & M, Blaydon Carpets and Furnishings, Ladbrokes, Superdrug, Boots (chemist), Boyes and, at the nearby car park, a McDonald's. There are also several food and grocery outlets. The precinct underwent redevelopment in 2012–2014, with the installation of a lift, and the demolition of the Geordie Ridley pub to make way for a new Morrison's supermarket, a new day-centre and doctors' surgery, and roof-top parking. There is also a Co-op Funeralcare just outside the precinct on Bridge street. Blaydon Car Boot Sale takes place every Wednesday between March and October at Blaydon RFC.
The area underwent a significant programme of housing regeneration between 2009 and 2014 with new developments in progress at High View on the Winlaton-Blaydon border, by the riverside on the site of the former Stella South power station and at Axwell Gardens, near to the existing Axwell Park estate.
Landmarks
On the west of the town and a mile inland from the Tyne is Axwell Park, once the home of the Clavering family. Axwell Hall (also Axwell House) is a Grade II* listed mansion, built for Sir Thomas Clavering by the noted architect James Paine and completed in 1761. The last (10th) baronet died in 1893 and Axwell Hall later found use as a prisoner-of-war camp during the second world war and later as an approved school. Much of the park has been developed for residential purposes and the hall itself was, after two decades of decay, restored. There are plans to convert it to residential apartments.
Stella Hall
Up-river from Blaydon and outside the town boundary, Stella Hall was a 17th-century mansion set in a park. The house was built by the Tempest family, and in the next century passed by marriage to Lord Widdrington and then into the Towneley family. From 1850 it was owned by Joseph Cowen, owner of the local brickworks and MP for Newcastle, who was followed by his son, also Joseph, again an MP and also the owner of the Newcastle Chronicle. The house was demolished in 1955 to make way for housing.
Education
Blaydon is part of the Gateshead Local Education Authority. It is home to a number of primary schools (both faith and secular schools) including Blaydon West primary and St Joseph's, a Roman Catholic primary school. It also has St Thomas More Catholic School, a high achieving Roman Catholic secondary school which serves the Roman Catholic population of the western part of Gateshead borough.
Religious sites
Blaydon has several churches. In the town centre, St Cuthbert's (Church of England, opened in 1845) and St Joseph's (Roman Catholic, opened in 1905 on the site of an earlier church) are opposite each other, on either side of Shibdon Road. Both are impressive structures, and the interiors still reflect the style of architecture used in their construction. Also on Shibdon Road, at the corner with Lucy Street and opposite the entrance to the roof-top car park above Morrisons, is Trinity Methodist Church.
There is also a Catholic church in Stella (St Mary and Thomas Aquinas, opened 1835) .
A brand new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was opened in 2013, near Cowen Road. This was built by voluntary labour as Witnesses from all over the North-East donned hard hats and work gear, working under the supervision of professional builders.
In Winlaton, the parish church of Winlaton opened in 1828, the Congregational church in 1829, and the Wesleyan Chapel in 1868. The latter two united to form Winlaton United Reformed-Methodist Church, but this closed in August 2015, with some members moving to join Trinity Methodist Church in Blaydon. The Primitive Methodists had opened a building in 1850, which was extended in 1895, and was later to become the Blaydon Corps of the Salvation Army; this corps closed in September 2012. St Anne's Catholic Church in Winlaton was opened in 1962.
Sports
The Blaydon area is the origin of the well-known traditional song "Blaydon Races", written by local musician and showman George 'Geordie' Ridley in 1862. The town's athletic club – the Blaydon Harriers – organise a road running race (called the Blaydon Race) every year on 9 June. The route of the race follows the route outlined by Ridley in his song. The traditional starting point lies outside Balmbra's pub in Newcastle's Bigg Market, and the race follows a course along Scotswood Road before crossing the River Tyne and ultimately finishing in Blaydon town centre. Local councillors, societies and notaries have in recent years organised an annual Blaydon Festival with music, sport and arts events that coincides with the week of race day.
As well as the Blaydon races, The Blaydon Harriers organise regular race meetings on the Shibdon Pond fields (and other venues) throughout the year. These are usually well-attended both by participants and spectators. The Harriers' colours are orange and black.
The rugby union club, Blaydon RFC play in the English National League 2 North, the fourth tier of the English rugby union system and a high level considering the size of the town. The Crow Trees rugby ground is situated to the east of the town, in neighbouring Swalwell. Blaydon RFC play in red shirts and white shorts. The former England international Mick Skinner played for Blaydon. Their smaller but no less illustrious neighbours, Winlaton Vulcans RFC play in Durham and Northumberland Division 2 and number Ken Goodall, the former Ireland and British Lion International, as one of their former players. They play in black shirts, shorts and socks with the club badge of an arm gripping a hammer over an anvil depicting their heritage being formed from the steelworking heritage of the area.
Since 2013 Blaydon has also been host to Blaydon Cycle Club, meeting weekly and throughout the week catering from novice cyclists right through to having a race team competing in local and national events.
Notable people
Alun Armstrong, former professional footballer with Ipswich Town F.C. and Middlesbrough FC
Peter Armstrong, the poet and psychotherapist, was born in Blaydon
Sir Thomas Clavering, 7th Baronet, owner of Axwell Hall
Joseph Cowen, 19th century politician and journalist
Graham Onions, Durham and England cricketer
Bert Tulloch, former professional footballer with Blackpool
Gavin Webster, stand-up comedian
William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington, owner of Stella Hall
Culture
Live jazz and rock music is regularly performed at the Black Bull pub near Blaydon Bridge. Although many pubs were demolished during the refurbishment of the town in the 1970s, a number of pubs still exist in and around the precinct, along with the Staffs (formerly the Railway Staff Club). The Blaydon and District Social Club – a former working men's club – and the Blaydon House Sports and Social Club (formerly the Conservative Club), which occupied the house of the nineteenth-century Doctor Morrison, and was reputedly the oldest building in Blaydon, were both demolished in 2020–2021 to make way for housing. The façade of Blaydon House was incorporated into a new building. The Masonic Hall on Blaydon Bank was closed in 2015, with Lodge meetings transferring to Ryton Masonic Hall.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_whale
The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres (39–52 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. An acrobatic animal known for breaching and slapping the water with its tail and pectorals, it is popular with whale watchers off Australia, New Zealand, South America, Canada, and the United States.
Males produce a complex song lasting 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours at a time. Its purpose is not clear, though it may have a role in mating.
Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres (16,000 mi) each year. Humpbacks feed only in summer, in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter. During the winter, humpbacks fast and live off their fat reserves. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net feeding technique.
Like other large whales, the humpback was and is a target for the whaling industry. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a moratorium was introduced in 1966. While stocks have since partially recovered, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution continue to impact the 80,000 humpbacks worldwide.
Taxonomy
Humpback whales are rorquals (family Balaenopteridae), a family that includes the blue whale, the fin whale, the Bryde's whale, the sei whale and the minke whale. The rorquals are believed to have diverged from the other families of the suborder Mysticeti as long ago as the middle Miocene.[3] However, it is not known when the members of these families diverged from each other.
Though clearly related to the giant whales of the genus Balaenoptera, the humpback has been the sole member of its genus since Gray's work in 1846. More recently, though, DNA sequencing analysis has indicated the humpback is more closely related to certain rorquals, particularly the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), and possibly to the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), than it is to rorquals such as the minke whales.[4][5] If further research confirms these relationships, it will be necessary to reclassify the rorquals.
The humpback whale was first identified as baleine de la Nouvelle Angleterre by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Regnum Animale of 1756. In 1781, Georg Heinrich Borowski described the species, converting Brisson's name to its Latin equivalent, Balaena novaeangliae. In 1804, Lacépède shifted the humpback from the Balaenidae family, renaming it Balaenoptera jubartes. In 1846, John Edward Gray created the genus Megaptera, classifying the humpback as Megaptera longipinna, but in 1932, Remington Kellogg reverted the species names to use Borowski's novaeangliae.[6] The common name is derived from the curving of their backs when diving. The generic name Megaptera from the Greek mega-/μεγα- "giant" and ptera/πτερα "wing",[7] refers to their large front flippers. The specific name means "New Englander" and was probably given by Brisson due the regular sightings of humpbacks off the coast of New England.
Description
A humpback whale can easily be identified by its stocky body with an obvious hump and black dorsal coloring. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, which are hair follicles, and are characteristic of the species. The fluked tail, which it lifts above the surface in some dive sequences, has wavy trailing edges.[8] The four global populations, all under study, are: North Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean humpbacks, which have distinct populations which complete a migratory round-trip each year, and the Indian Ocean population, which does not migrate, prevented by that ocean's northern coastline.
The long black and white tail fin, which can be up to a third of body length, and the pectoral fins have unique patterns, which make individual whales identifiable.[9][10] Several hypotheses attempt to explain the humpback's pectoral fins, which are proportionally the longest fins of any cetacean. The two most enduring mention the higher maneuverability afforded by long fins, and the usefulness of the increased surface area for temperature control when migrating between warm and cold climates.
Humpbacks have 270 to 400 darkly coloured baleen plates on each side of their mouths.[11] The plates measure from a mere 18 inches (46 cm) in the front to approximately 3 feet (0.91 m) long in the back, behind the hinge. Ventral grooves run from the lower jaw to the umbilicus about halfway along the underside of the whale. These grooves are less numerous (usually 14–22) than in other rorquals but are fairly wide.[11]
The stubby dorsal fin is visible soon after the blow when the whale surfaces, but disappears by the time the flukes emerge. Humpbacks have a 3 metres (9.8 ft), heart-shaped to bushy blow, or exhalation of water through the blowholes. Because humpback whales breathe voluntarily, the whales possibly shut off only half of their brains when sleeping.[12] Early whalers also noted blows from humpback adults to be 10–20 feet (3.0–6.1 m) high.
Newborn calves are roughly the length of their mother's head. At birth, calves measure 20 feet (6.1 m) at 2 short tons (1.8 t) The mother, by comparison, is about 50 feet (15 m). They nurse for approximately six months, then mix nursing and independent feeding for possibly six months more. Humpback milk is 50% fat and pink in color.
Females reach sexual maturity at the age of five, achieving full adult size a little later. Males reach sexual maturity at approximately seven years of age. Humpback whale lifespans range from 45–100 years.[13] Fully grown, the males average 13–14 m (43–46 ft). Females are slightly larger at 15–16 m (49–52 ft); the largest recorded specimen was 19 metres (62 ft) long and had pectoral fins measuring 6 metres (20 ft) each.[14] Body mass typically is in the range of 25–30 metric tons (28–33 short tons), with large specimens weighing over 40 metric tons (44 short tons).[15] The female has a hemispherical lobe about 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in diameter in its genital region. This visually distinguishes males and females.[11] The male's penis usually remains hidden in the genital slit.
Identifying individuals
The varying patterns on the tail flukes are sufficient to identify individuals. A study using data from 1973 to 1998 on whales in the North Atlantic gave researchers detailed information on gestation times, growth rates, and calving periods, as well as allowing more accurate population predictions by simulating the mark-release-recapture technique (Katona and Beard 1982). A photographic catalogue of all known North Atlantic whales was developed over this period and is currently maintained by College of the Atlantic.[16] Similar photographic identification projects have begun in the North Pacific by Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks, and around the world.
Life history
Social structure
The humpback social structure is loose-knit. Typically, individuals live alone or in small, transient groups that disband after a few hours. These whales are not excessively social in most cases. Groups may stay together a little longer in summer to forage and feed cooperatively. Longer-term relationships between pairs or small groups, lasting months or even years, have rarely been observed. Some females possibly retain bonds created via cooperative feeding for a lifetime. The humpback's range overlaps considerably with other whale and dolphin species—for instance, the minke whale. However, humpbacks rarely interact socially with them, though one individual was observed playing with a bottlenose dolphin in Hawaiian waters.[17]
Courtship and reproduction
Courtship rituals take place during the winter months, following migration toward the equator from summer feeding grounds closer to the poles. Competition is usually fierce, and unrelated males, dubbed escorts by researcher Louis Herman, frequently trail females, as well as mother-calf dyads. Male gather into "competitive groups" and fight for females.[18] Group size ebbs and flows as unsuccessful males retreat and others arrive to try their luck. Behaviors include breaching, spyhopping, lob-tailing, tail-slapping, fin-slapping, peduncle throws, charging and parrying. Whale songs are assumed to have an important role in mate selection; however, they may also be used between males to establish dominance.[19]
Females typically breed every two or three years. The gestation period is 11.5 months, yet some individuals have been known to breed in two consecutive years. The peak months for birth are January, February, July, and August, with usually a one- to two–year period between humpback births. They can live up to 48 years. Recent research on humpback mitochondrial DNA reveals groups living in proximity to each other may represent distinct breeding pools.[20]
Song
Both male and female humpback whales vocalize, but only males produce the long, loud, complex "songs" for which the species is famous. Each song consists of several sounds in a low register, varying in amplitude and frequency, and typically lasting from 10 to 20 minutes.[21] Humpbacks may sing continuously for more than 24 hours. Cetaceans have no vocal cords, so whales generate their songs by forcing air through their massive nasal cavities.
Whales within a large area sing the same song. All North Atlantic humpbacks sing the same song, and those of the North Pacific sing a different song. Each population's song changes slowly over a period of years without repeating.[21]
Scientists are unsure of the purpose of whale songs. Only males sing, suggesting one purpose is to attract females. However, many of the whales observed to approach a singer are other males, often resulting in conflict. Singing may, therefore, be a challenge to other males.[22] Some scientists have hypothesized the song may serve an echolocative function.[23] During the feeding season, humpbacks make altogether different vocalizations for herding fish into their bubble nets.[24]
Humpback whales have also been found to make a range of other social sounds to communicate, such as "grunts", "groans", "thwops", "snorts" and "barks".[
Ecology
Feeding and predation
Humpbacks feed primarily in summer and live off fat reserves during winter.[26] They feed only rarely and opportunistically in their wintering waters. The humpback is an energetic hunter, taking krill and small schooling fish such as Atlantic herring, Atlantic salmon, capelin, and American sand lance, as well as Atlantic mackerel, pollock, and haddock in the North Atlantic.[27][28][29] Krill and copepods have been recorded as prey species in Australian and Antarctic waters.[30] Humpbacks hunt by direct attack or by stunning prey by hitting the water with pectoral fins or flukes.
The humpback has the most diverse feeding repertoire of all baleen whales.[31] Its most inventive technique is known as bubble net feeding; a group of whales swims in a shrinking circle blowing bubbles below a school of prey. The shrinking ring of bubbles encircles the school and confines it in an ever-smaller cylinder. This ring can begin at up to 30 metres (98 ft) in diameter and involve the cooperation of a dozen animals. Using a crittercam attached to a whale's back, some whales were found to blow the bubbles, some dive deeper to drive fish toward the surface, and others herd prey into the net by vocalizing.[32] The whales then suddenly swim upward through the "net", mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp. Plated grooves in the whale's mouth allow the creature to easily drain all the water initially taken in.
Given scarring records, killer whales are thought to prey upon juvenile humpbacks, though this has never been witnessed. The result of these attacks is generally nothing more serious than some scarring of the skin, but young calves likely are sometimes killed.
Range and habitat
Humpbacks inhabit all major oceans, in a wide band running from the Antarctic ice edge to 77° N latitude, though not in the eastern Mediterranean or the Baltic Sea.They are migratory, spending summers in cooler, high-latitude waters and mating and calving in tropical and subtropical waters.[21] An exception to this rule is a population in the Arabian Sea, which remains in these tropical waters year-round.[21] Annual migrations of up to 25,000 kilometres (16,000 mi) are typical, making it one of the mammals' best-traveled species.
A large population spreads across the Hawaiian Islands every winter, ranging from the island of Hawaii in the south to Kure Atoll in the north.[34] A 2007 study identified seven individuals wintering off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica as having traveled from the Antarctic—around 8,300 kilometres (5,200 mi). Identified by their unique tail patterns, these animals made the longest documented mammalian migration.[35] In Australia, two main migratory populations have been identified, off the west and east coasts, respectively. These two populations are distinct, with only a few females in each generation crossing between the two groups
Whaling
Humpback whales were hunted as early as the 18th century, but distinguished by whalers as early as the first decades of the 17th century. By the 19th century, many nations (the United States in particular), were hunting the animal heavily in the Atlantic Ocean, and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The late-19th-century introduction of the explosive harpoon, though, allowed whalers to accelerate their take. This, along with hunting in the Antarctic Ocean beginning in 1904, sharply reduced whale populations. During the 20th century, over 200,000 humpbacks were estimated to have been taken, reducing the global population by over 90%, with North Atlantic populations estimated to have dropped to as low as 700 individuals.[37] In 1946, the International Whaling Commission was founded to oversee the whaling industry. They imposed rules and regulations for hunting whales and set open and closed hunting seasons. To prevent extinction, the International Whaling Commission banned commercial humpback whaling in 1966. By then, the population had been reduced to around 5,000.[38] That ban is still in force.
Prior to commercial whaling, populations could have reached 125,000. North Pacific kills alone are estimated at 28,000.[8] The full toll is much higher. It is now known that the Soviet Union was deliberately under-recording its catches; the Soviet catch was reported at 2,820, whereas the true number is now believed to be over 48,000.[39]
As of 2004, hunting of humpback whales was restricted to a few animals each year off the Caribbean island Bequia in the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.[31] The take is not believed to threaten the local population. Japan had planned to kill 50 humpbacks in the 2007/08 season under its JARPA II research program, starting in November 2007. The announcement sparked global protests.[40] After a visit to Tokyo by the chairman of the IWC, asking the Japanese for their co-operation in sorting out the differences between pro- and antiwhaling nations on the Commission, the Japanese whaling fleet agreed no humpback whales would be caught for the two years it would take for the IWC to reach a formal agreement.[41]
In 2010, the International Whaling Commission authorized Greenland’s native population to hunt a few humpback whales for the next three years.[
Conservation
The worldwide population is at least 80,000 humpback whales, with 18,000-20,000 in the North Pacific,[43] about 12,000 in the North Atlantic,[44] and over 50,000 in the Southern Hemisphere,[45] down from a prewhaling population of 125,000.[8]
This species is considered "least concern" from a conservation standpoint, as of 2008. This is an improvement from vulnerable in the prior assessment. Most monitored stocks of humpback whales have rebounded well since the end of commercial whaling,[2][46] such as the North Atlantic, where stocks are now believed to be approaching levels similar to those before hunting began. However, the species is considered endangered in some countries, including the United States.[47][48] The United States initiated a status review of the species on August 12, 2009, and is seeking public comment on potential changes to the species listing under the Endangered Species Act.[49] Areas where population data are limited and the species may be at higher risk include the Arabian Sea, the western North Pacific Ocean, the west coast of Africa and parts of Oceania.[2]
Today, individuals are vulnerable to collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing gear, and noise pollution.[2] Like other cetaceans, humpbacks can be injured by excessive noise. In the 19th century, two humpback whales were found dead near sites of repeated oceanic sub-bottom blasting, with traumatic injuries and fractures in the ears.[50]
Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the humpback has made a dramatic comeback in the North Pacific. A 2008 study estimated the humpback population, which hit a low of 1,500 whales before hunting was banned worldwide, has made a comeback to a population of between 18,000 and 20,000.[51] Saxitoxin, a paralytic shellfish poisoning from contaminated mackerel has been implicated in humpback whale deaths.[52]
The United Kingdom, among other countries, designated the humpback as a priority species under the national Biodiversity Action Plan. The sanctuary provided by US National Parks, such as Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, among others, have also become major factors in sustaining populations.[53]
Although much was learned about humpbacks from whaling, migratory patterns and social interactions were not well understood until two studies by R. Chittleborough and W. H. Dawbin in the 1960s.[54] Roger Payne and Scott McVay made further studies of the species in 1971.[55] Their analysis of whale songs led to worldwide media interest and convinced the public that whales were highly intelligent, aiding the antiwhaling advocates.
In August 2008, the IUCN changed humpback's status from Vulnerable to Least Concern, although two subpopulations remain endangered.[56] The United States is considering listing separate humpback populations, so smaller groups, such as North Pacific humpbacks, which are estimated to number 18,000-20,000 animals, might be delisted. This is made difficult by humpback's extraordinary migrations, which can extend the 5,157 miles (8,299 km) from Antarctica to Costa Rica.[
Whale-watching
Humpback whales are generally curious about objects in their environments. Some individuals, referred to as "friendlies", approach whale-watching boats closely, often staying under or near the boat for many minutes. Because humpbacks are often easily approachable, curious, easily identifiable as individuals, and display many behaviors, they have become the mainstay of whale-watching tourism in many locations around the world. Hawaii has used the concept of "ecotourism" to use the species without killing them. This whale-watching business brings in a revenue of $20 million per year for the state's economy.[57]
North AtlanticNorth PacificSouthern Hemisphere
SummerNew England, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the northern St. Lawrence River, the Snaefellsnes peninsula in the west of Iceland
California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia
Antarctica, Bahía Solano and Nuquí in Colombia
WinterSamaná Province of the Dominican Republic, the Bay of Biscay France,
Hawaii, Baja, the Bahía de Banderas off Puerto Vallarta
Sydney, Byron Bay north of Sydney, Hervey Bay north of Brisbane, North and East of Cape Town, New Zealand, the Tongan islands,
Famous humpbacks
In December 1883, a male humpback swam up the Firth of Tay in Scotland, past what was then the whaling port of Dundee. The whale was exhibited to the public by a local entrepreneur, John Woods, both locally and then as a touring exhibition which travelled to Edinburgh and London. The whale was dissected by professor John Struthers, who wrote seven papers on its anatomy, and then in 1889, a monograph on the humpback.[58][59][60][61]
Migaloo
A presumably albino humpback whale that travels up and down the east coast of Australia became famous in the local media on account of its extremely rare, all-white appearance. Migaloo is the only known all-white humpback whale.[62] First sighted in 1991, and believed to be three to five years old at that time, Migaloo was named for an indigenous Australian word for "white fella". Migaloo was shown to be male in 2004 by analysis of sloughed skin samples. Because of the intense interest, environmentalists feared he was becoming distressed by the number of boats following him each day. In response, the Queensland and New South Wales governments introduce legislation each year to create a 500-m (1600-ft) exclusion zone around the whale. Recent closeup pictures have shown Migaloo to have skin cancer and/or skin cysts as a result of his lack of protection from the sun.[63]
In 2006, a white calf was spotted with a normal humpback mother in Byron Bay, New South Wales.[64]
Humphrey
Humphrey the Whale was twice rescued by The Marine Mammal Center and other concerned groups in California.[65][66] In 1985, Humphrey swam into San Francisco Bay and then up the Sacramento River towards Rio Vista.[67] Five years later, Humphrey returned and became stuck on a mudflat in San Francisco Bay immediately north of Sierra Point below the view of onlookers from the upper floors of the Dakin Building. He was pulled off the mudflat with a large cargo net and the help of the Coast Guard. Both times, he was successfully guided back to the Pacific Ocean using a "sound net" in which people in a flotilla of boats made unpleasant noises behind the whale by banging on steel pipes, a Japanese fishing technique known as oikami. At the same time, the attractive sounds of humpback whales preparing to feed were broadcast from a boat headed towards the open ocean.[68] After leaving San Francisco Bay in 1990, Humphrey was seen only once, at the Farallon Islands in 1991.
A visually appealing shot down the cell block of an abandoned maximum security prison. The fate of this facility in unknown as it was recently put up for sale. In all likelihood majority of it will be demolished & the facade saved for due it its historical value/status. That said, everything about this photo makes me very happy. The only thing that would be better is if I was back again exploring/hanging out!
A full moon at perigee is visually larger up to 14% in diameter and shines 30% more light than one at its farthest point, or apogee.
A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a New moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.[3] The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth–Moon–Sun system.[a] The term "supermoon" is not astronomical, but originated in modern astrology.[4] The association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but this effect is very slight.
Taken from Wikipedia.
A visually pleasing and creative charcuterie platter, that I was lucky to share with friends while visiting the Liquidity Bistro in the Okanagan on the May long weekend.
©Maria Janicki. All rights reserved. Image may not be used or reproduced without permission. Contact me for further information.
RAZOR HIGHWAY • Rambo Blood Hangeki (Shinjuku Wildside, Tokyo 14.05.2022)
Long time no live action! But it seems I still got the blues... like Gary Moore would say. I think it was more than six month I did not shoot a gig. And honestly, I wasn't that looking forward, but...
Wildside Tokyo's Rambo Blood is a long-standing metal event that boasts on its stage on each edition kick-ass acts that know very well what a metal bangers wants. I have known by name Razor Highway since a while and also knew some of their tunes, but I never worked with them. And since I was explicitly summoned to shot them, 'cause they love my pics’ - they said - of course I couldn't refuse. What to say? Images speak for themselves. Powerful, grinding and visually entertaining. And Aki's voice is so cool!
Unfortunately I still can't enjoy going to live events around here yet, since there are still some nonsense mask, fixed places, no yelling, bla, bla... fake-pandemic mumbojumbos going on - which I do not follow of course... but, well... it makes everything unnatural. It is just no fun for me being among mummies outside museums boxes. If I want to listen silently, I get a CD or go the theater not a live house. So, for now, I will keep shooting there only on direct engagement.
“Visually Warm”
Susquehanna Sunset January 29, 2025
Strong winds and lake affect snow but,still was able to capture a visually warm moment.
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.
As seen by a Meyer-Gorlitz 100/2.8 Trioplan and extention tube. It was -30c at one point yesterday. My desire to shoot has forced my lenses into action as both hunter and prey as I entertain the urge indoors. Of all the lenses I've used I always get the most enjoyment visually from the wide aperture teles. The Planar for example looks like a metal rimmed pool of glass.
Visually a descendent of the SP1 Striker, but sized more like the Galactic Peacekeeper.
I'm still not totally sure about that cagelike take on the prisoner transport pod, but it mostly works.
And I actually managed semi-retractable undercarriage.
Greccio was the place where, in December 1223, St. Francis devised the first living crib (in Italian: presepe). The idea was to discourage would-be pilgrims to go to Bethlehem, as it was a risky adventure, the Holy Land being then under the control of the Turks. The tradition continues there to this day, and a memorial of St. Francis, the Santuario di S. Francesco, may be visited.
For the week I will be posting some works of my good friend Patrick Cheah who went on a journey to witness the ceremony of the beatification of John Paul II, the biggest event in Vatican City since his death six years ago. His journey starts from Milan.
A selection of Patrick's images will appear on my stream this week while I take a short break. You will surely find them interesting and compelling as much as I do. Hope you will enjoy my selection as I post them in stages. Mr Cheah has graciously allowed me to showcase some of his shots for public viewing at my discretion.
Thank you all again for following my stream and I apologise that I am unable to keep up with so many kind comments.
Photographer: Patrick Cheah
Camera: Sony DSC-WX1
Digital editing: William Cho
Software: "Topazlab Adjust" with Photoshop
pp: The top image was enhanced from a single image with "Topazlab Adjust", a photoshop filter plug-in. Blended in the sky from my archives. Sky on layer "Multiply" mode 70% overlapping some of the trees with feathering. Finish off correcting barrel distortion of building visually. Thank you all for visiting!
Captured under a flood of neon green beams and fiery LED visuals, this image documents New Order’s electrifying performance at Chase Center in San Francisco, one of the most visually immersive stops on their North American tour. The Manchester-born post-punk legends brought their signature blend of synths, guitars, and nostalgia to the Bay Area, and this wide-angle shot from the mezzanine perfectly encapsulates the energy of the night.
Chase Center, located in the city’s Mission Bay neighborhood, is San Francisco’s largest indoor arena, home to the Golden State Warriors and a major hub for touring acts. For a band like New Order, with their rich legacy of innovation in music and stage production, it was the ideal venue to merge sound and spectacle.
Frontman Bernard Sumner appears on the overhead video screen, his voice carrying through the arena as the band cycles through a setlist that bridges generations—from Joy Division classics like “Love Will Tear Us Apart” to timeless New Order tracks like “Blue Monday,” “Bizarre Love Triangle,” and “Temptation.” Behind the band, towering LED walls pulse with glitch art, 3D animations, and bursts of digital fire—visually echoing the band’s layered sound.
The crowd below is a sea of movement and light, with heads bobbing, phones raised, and glow from the stage dancing across the faces of fans young and old. New Order’s ability to draw multi-generational audiences is part of what keeps their live shows magnetic. Even in a space as large as Chase Center, the intimacy of a shared chorus still cuts through.
Photographically, this moment is framed with dramatic tension. The contrast between deep shadows and bright beams creates a sense of depth, while the converging lines of green lasers draw the eye directly to the band. The LED backdrop adds a jolt of color and complexity, pushing the frame beyond documentation into something more cinematic.
New Order’s concerts aren’t just musical performances—they’re multimedia experiences, tightly choreographed and always evolving. For decades, the band has incorporated visual art, avant-garde film, and graphic design into their shows, echoing their Factory Records roots and long-standing collaborations with artists like Peter Saville.
For fans of concert photography, 80s synth music, or the ongoing story of post-punk’s evolution, this image delivers a high-voltage glimpse into a night when music, memory, and technology collided. Whether you're a lifelong fan or just discovering their sound, seeing New Order live at the Chase Center is proof that legacy acts can still redefine what a live show feels like.
The photo shows the Braille letters BRL - short for the word Braille.
4th January is celebrated as World Braille Day every year. The whole month of January is Braille Literacy Month.
Many people say that in the era of modern technology Braille is outdated. However, that is absolutely not true. Just like sighted people must know how to read and write, blind and visually impaired people must be able to use a system for reading and writing, too. In fact, it is even more important for blind and visually impaired people to be able to read and write. Being literate is a basic skill that everybody must master. Sure, screen readers are great and make life a lot easier if you can't use a phone or a computer screen. But still - these apps and programs are not a substitute for the basic ability of reading and writing. So, if you are visually impaired or blind, I encourage you to learn Braille! As a Braille user I can tell you from experience that it will open up a whole world of new possibilities for you just as it has for me!
Keep the comment clean! No banners, awards or invitations, please!
See more photos of this, and the Wikipedia article.
Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed P-38J-10-LO Lightning
In the P-38 Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his team of designers created one of the most successful twin-engine fighters ever flown by any nation. From 1942 to 1945, U. S. Army Air Forces pilots flew P-38s over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, and from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Lightning pilots in the Pacific theater downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Allied warplane.
Maj. Richard I. Bong, America's leading fighter ace, flew this P-38J-10-LO on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field, Ohio, to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. However, his right engine exploded in flight before he could conduct the experiment.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Date:
1943
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 390 x 1170cm, 6345kg, 1580cm (12ft 9 9/16in. x 38ft 4 5/8in., 13988.2lb., 51ft 10 1/16in.)
Materials:
All-metal
Physical Description:
Twin-tail boom and twin-engine fighter; tricycle landing gear.
Long Description:
From 1942 to 1945, the thunder of P-38 Lightnings was heard around the world. U. S. Army pilots flew the P-38 over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Measured by success in combat, Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and a team of designers created the most successful twin-engine fighter ever flown by any nation. In the Pacific Theater, Lightning pilots downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Army Air Forces warplane.
Johnson and his team conceived this twin-engine, single-pilot fighter airplane in 1936 and the Army Air Corps authorized the firm to build it in June 1937. Lockheed finished constructing the prototype XP-38 and delivered it to the Air Corps on New Year's Day, 1939. Air Corps test pilot and P-38 project officer, Lt. Benjamin S. Kelsey, first flew the aircraft on January 27. Losing this prototype in a crash at Mitchel Field, New York, with Kelsey at the controls, did not deter the Air Corps from ordering 13 YP-38s for service testing on April 27. Kelsey survived the crash and remained an important part of the Lightning program. Before the airplane could be declared ready for combat, Lockheed had to block the effects of high-speed aerodynamic compressibility and tail buffeting, and solve other problems discovered during the service tests.
The most vexing difficulty was the loss of control in a dive caused by aerodynamic compressibility. During late spring 1941, Air Corps Major Signa A. Gilke encountered serious trouble while diving his Lightning at high-speed from an altitude of 9,120 m (30,000 ft). When he reached an indicated airspeed of about 515 kph (320 mph), the airplane's tail began to shake violently and the nose dropped until the dive was almost vertical. Signa recovered and landed safely and the tail buffet problem was soon resolved after Lockheed installed new fillets to improve airflow where the cockpit gondola joined the wing center section. Seventeen months passed before engineers began to determine what caused the Lightning's nose to drop. They tested a scale model P-38 in the Ames Laboratory wind tunnel operated by the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and found that shock waves formed when airflow over the wing leading edges reached transonic speeds. The nose drop and loss of control was never fully remedied but Lockheed installed dive recovery flaps under each wing in 1944. These devices slowed the P-38 enough to allow the pilot to maintain control when diving at high-speed.
Just as the development of the North American P-51 Mustang, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and the Vought F4U Corsair (see NASM collection for these aircraft) pushed the limits of aircraft performance into unexplored territory, so too did P-38 development. The type of aircraft envisioned by the Lockheed design team and Air Corps strategists in 1937 did not appear until June 1944. This protracted shakedown period mirrors the tribulations suffered by Vought in sorting out the many technical problems that kept F4U Corsairs off U. S. Navy carrier decks until the end of 1944.
Lockheed's efforts to trouble-shoot various problems with the design also delayed high-rate, mass production. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the company had delivered only 69 Lightnings to the Army. Production steadily increased and at its peak in 1944, 22 sub-contractors built various Lightning components and shipped them to Burbank, California, for final assembly. Consolidated-Vultee (Convair) subcontracted to build the wing center section and the firm later became prime manufacturer for 2,000 P-38Ls but that company's Nashville plant completed only 113 examples of this Lightning model before war's end. Lockheed and Convair finished 10,038 P-38 aircraft including 500 photo-reconnaissance models. They built more L models, 3,923, than any other version.
To ease control and improve stability, particularly at low speeds, Lockheed equipped all Lightnings, except a batch ordered by Britain, with propellers that counter-rotated. The propeller to the pilot's left turned counter-clockwise and the propeller to his right turned clockwise, so that one propeller countered the torque and airflow effects generated by the other. The airplane also performed well at high speeds and the definitive P-38L model could make better than 676 kph (420 mph) between 7,600 and 9,120 m (25,000 and 30,000 ft). The design was versatile enough to carry various combinations of bombs, air-to-ground rockets, and external fuel tanks. The multi-engine configuration reduced the Lightning loss-rate to anti-aircraft gunfire during ground attack missions. Single-engine airplanes equipped with power plants cooled by pressurized liquid, such as the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection), were particularly vulnerable. Even a small nick in one coolant line could cause the engine to seize in a matter of minutes.
The first P-38s to reach the Pacific combat theater arrived on April 4, 1942, when a version of the Lightning that carried reconnaissance cameras (designated the F-4), joined the 8th Photographic Squadron based in Australia. This unit launched the first P-38 combat missions over New Guinea and New Britain during April. By May 29, the first 25 P-38s had arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 9, pilots of the 343rd Fighter Group, Eleventh Air Force, flying the P-38E, shot down a pair of Japanese flying boats.
Back in the United States, Army Air Forces leaders tried to control a rumor that Lightnings killed their own pilots. On August 10, 1942, Col. Arthur I. Ennis, Chief of U. S. Army Air Forces Public Relations in Washington, told a fellow officer "… Here's what the 4th Fighter [training] Command is up against… common rumor out there that the whole West Coast was filled with headless bodies of men who jumped out of P-38s and had their heads cut off by the propellers." Novice Lightning pilots unfamiliar with the correct bailout procedures actually had more to fear from the twin-boom tail, if an emergency dictated taking to the parachute but properly executed, Lightning bailouts were as safe as parachuting from any other high-performance fighter of the day. Misinformation and wild speculation about many new aircraft was rampant during the early War period.
Along with U. S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats (see NASM collection) and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks (see NASM collection), Lightnings were the first American fighter airplanes capable of consistently defeating Japanese fighter aircraft. On November 18, men of the 339th Fighter Squadron became the first Lightning pilots to attack Japanese fighters. Flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, they claimed three during a mission to escort Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers (see NASM collection).
On April 18, 1943, fourteen P-38 pilots from the 70th and the 339th Fighter Squadrons, 347th Fighter Group, accomplished one of the most important Lightning missions of the war. American ULTRA cryptanalysts had decoded Japanese messages that revealed the timetable for a visit to the front by the commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. This charismatic leader had crafted the plan to attack Pearl Harbor and Allied strategists believed his loss would severely cripple Japanese morale. The P-38 pilots flew 700 km (435 miles) at heights from 3-15 m (10-50 feet) above the ocean to avoid detection. Over the coast of Bougainville, they intercepted a formation of two Mitsubishi G4M BETTY bombers (see NASM collection) carrying the Admiral and his staff, and six Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters (see NASM collection) providing escort. The Lightning pilots downed both bombers but lost Lt. Ray Hine to a Zero.
In Europe, the first Americans to down a Luftwaffe aircraft were Lt. Elza E. Shahan flying a 27th Fighter Squadron P-38E, and Lt. J. K. Shaffer flying a Curtiss P-40 (see NASM collection) in the 33rd Fighter Squadron. The two flyers shared the destruction of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 Condor maritime strike aircraft over Iceland on August 14, 1942. Later that month, the 1st fighter group accepted Lightnings and began combat operations from bases in England but this unit soon moved to fight in North Africa. More than a year passed before the P-38 reappeared over Western Europe. While the Lightning was absent, U. S. Army Air Forces strategists had relearned a painful lesson: unescorted bombers cannot operate successfully in the face of determined opposition from enemy fighters. When P-38s returned to England, the primary mission had become long-range bomber escort at ranges of about 805 kms (500 miles) and at altitudes above 6,080 m (20,000 ft).
On October 15, 1943, P-38H pilots in the 55th Fighter Group flew their first combat mission over Europe at a time when the need for long-range escorts was acute. Just the day before, German fighter pilots had destroyed 60 of 291 Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses (see NASM collection) during a mission to bomb five ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. No air force could sustain a loss-rate of nearly 20 percent for more than a few missions but these targets lay well beyond the range of available escort fighters (Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, see NASM collection). American war planners hoped the long-range capabilities of the P-38 Lightning could halt this deadly trend, but the very high and very cold environment peculiar to the European air war caused severe power plant and cockpit heating difficulties for the Lightning pilots. The long-range escort problem was not completely solved until the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) began to arrive in large numbers early in 1944.
Poor cockpit heating in the H and J model Lightnings made flying and fighting at altitudes that frequently approached 12,320 m (40,000 ft) nearly impossible. This was a fundamental design flaw that Kelly Johnson and his team never anticipated when they designed the airplane six years earlier. In his seminal work on the Allison V-1710 engine, Daniel Whitney analyzed in detail other factors that made the P-38 a disappointing airplane in combat over Western Europe.
• Many new and inexperienced pilots arrived in England during December 1943, along with the new J model P-38 Lightning.
• J model rated at 1,600 horsepower vs. 1,425 for earlier H model Lightnings. This power setting required better maintenance between flights. It appears this work was not done in many cases.
• During stateside training, Lightning pilots were taught to fly at high rpm settings and low engine manifold pressure during cruise flight. This was very hard on the engines, and not in keeping with technical directives issued by Allison and Lockheed.
• The quality of fuel in England may have been poor, TEL (tetraethyl lead) fuel additive appeared to condense inside engine induction manifolds, causing detonation (destructive explosion of fuel mixture rather than controlled burning).
• Improved turbo supercharger intercoolers appeared on the J model P-38. These devices greatly reduced manifold temperatures but this encouraged TEL condensation in manifolds during cruise flight and increased spark plug fouling.
Using water injection to minimize detonation might have reduced these engine problems. Both the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) were fitted with water injection systems but not the P-38. Lightning pilots continued to fly, despite these handicaps.
During November 1942, two all-Lightning fighter groups, the 1st and the 14th, began operating in North Africa. In the Mediterranean Theater, P-38 pilots flew more sorties than Allied pilots flying any other type of fighter. They claimed 608 enemy a/c destroyed in the air, 123 probably destroyed and 343 damaged, against the loss of 131 Lightnings.
In the war against Japan, the P-38 truly excelled. Combat rarely occurred above 6,080 m (20,000 ft) and the engine and cockpit comfort problems common in Europe never plagued pilots in the Pacific Theater. The Lightning's excellent range was used to full advantage above the vast expanses of water. In early 1945, Lightning pilots of the 12th Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, flew a mission that lasted 10 ½ hours and covered more than 3,220 km (2,000 miles). In August, P-38 pilots established the world's long-distance record for a World War II combat fighter when they flew from the Philippines to the Netherlands East Indies, a distance of 3,703 km (2,300 miles). During early 1944, Lightning pilots in the 475th Fighter Group began the 'race of aces.' By March, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Lynch had scored 21 victories before he fell to antiaircraft gunfire while strafing enemy ships. Major Thomas B. McGuire downed 38 Japanese aircraft before he was killed when his P-38 crashed at low altitude in early January 1945. Major Richard I. Bong became America's highest scoring fighter ace (40 victories) but died in the crash of a Lockheed P-80 (see NASM collection) on August 6, 1945.
Museum records show that Lockheed assigned the construction number 422-2273 to the National Air and Space Museum's P-38. The Army Air Forces accepted this Lightning as a P-38J-l0-LO on November 6, 1943, and the service identified the airplane with the serial number 42-67762. Recent investigations conducted by a team of specialists at the Paul E. Garber Facility, and Herb Brownstein, a volunteer in the Aeronautics Division at the National Air and Space Museum, have revealed many hitherto unknown aspects to the history of this aircraft.
Brownstein examined NASM files and documents at the National Archives. He discovered that a few days after the Army Air Forces (AAF) accepted this airplane, the Engineering Division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, granted Lockheed permission to convert this P-38 into a two-seat trainer. The firm added a seat behind the pilot to accommodate an instructor who would train civilian pilots in instrument flying techniques. Once trained, these test pilots evaluated new Lightnings fresh off the assembly line.
In a teletype sent by the Engineering Division on March 2, 1944, Brownstein also discovered that this P-38 was released to Colonel Benjamin S. Kelsey from March 3 to April 10, 1944, to conduct special tests. This action was confirmed the following day in a cable from the War Department. This same pilot, then a Lieutenant, flew the XP-38 across the United States in 1939 and survived the crash that destroyed this Lightning at Mitchel Field, New York. In early 1944, Kelsey was assigned to the Eighth Air Force in England and he apparently traveled to the Lockheed factory at Burbank to pick up the P-38. Further information about these tests and Kelsey's involvement remain an intriguing question.
One of Brownstein's most important discoveries was a small file rich with information about the NASM Lightning. This file contained a cryptic reference to a "Major Bong" who flew the NASM P-38 on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field. Bong had planned to fly for an hour to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. His flight ended after twenty-minutes when "the right engine blew up before I had a chance [to conduct the test]." The curator at the Richard I. Bong Heritage Center confirmed that America's highest scoring ace made this flight in the NASM P-38 Lightning.
Working in Building 10 at the Paul E. Garber Facility, Rob Mawhinney, Dave Wilson, Wil Lee, Bob Weihrauch, Jim Purton, and Heather Hutton spent several months during the spring and summer of 2001 carefully disassembling, inspecting, and cleaning the NASM Lightning. They found every hardware modification consistent with a model J-25 airplane, not the model J-10 painted in the data block beneath the artifact's left nose. This fact dovetails perfectly with knowledge uncovered by Brownstein. On April 10, the Engineering Division again cabled Lockheed asking the company to prepare 42-67762 for transfer to Wright Field "in standard configuration." The standard P-38 configuration at that time was the P-38J-25. The work took several weeks and the fighter does not appear on Wright Field records until May 15, 1944. On June 9, the Flight Test Section at Wright Field released the fighter for flight trials aimed at collecting pilot comments on how the airplane handled.
Wright Field's Aeromedical Laboratory was the next organization involved with this P-38. That unit installed a kit on July 26 that probably measured the force required to move the control wheel left and right to actuate the power-boosted ailerons installed in all Lightnings beginning with version J-25. From August 12-16, the Power Plant Laboratory carried out tests to measure the hydraulic pump temperatures on this Lightning. Then beginning September 16 and lasting about ten days, the Bombing Branch, Armament Laboratory, tested type R-3 fragmentation bomb racks. The work appears to have ended early in December. On June 20, 1945, the AAF Aircraft Distribution Office asked that the Air Technical Service Command transfer the Lightning from Wright Field to Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, a temporary holding area for Air Force museum aircraft. The P-38 arrived at the Oklahoma City Air Depot on June 27, 1945, and mechanics prepared the fighter for flyable storage.
Airplane Flight Reports for this Lightning also describe the following activities and movements:
6-21-45 Wright Field, Ohio, 5.15 hours of flying.
6-22-45Wright Field, Ohio, .35 minutes of flying by Lt. Col. Wendel [?] J. Kelley and P. Shannon.
6-25-45Altus, Oklahoma, .55 hours flown, pilot P. Shannon.
6-27-45Altus, Oklahoma, #2 engine changed, 1.05 hours flown by Air Corps F/O Ralph F. Coady.
10-5-45 OCATSC-GCAAF (Garden City Army Air Field, Garden City, Kansas), guns removed and ballast added.
10-8-45Adams Field, Little Rock, Arkansas.
10-9-45Nashville, Tennessee,
5-28-46Freeman Field, Indiana, maintenance check by Air Corps Capt. H. M. Chadhowere [sp]?
7-24-46Freeman Field, Indiana, 1 hour local flight by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
7-31-46 Freeman Field, Indiana, 4120th AAF Base Unit, ferry flight to Orchard Place [Illinois] by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
On August 5, 1946, the AAF moved the aircraft to another storage site at the former Consolidated B-24 bomber assembly plant at Park Ridge, Illinois. A short time later, the AAF transferred custody of the Lightning and more than sixty other World War II-era airplanes to the Smithsonian National Air Museum. During the early 1950s, the Air Force moved these airplanes from Park Ridge to the Smithsonian storage site at Suitland, Maryland.
• • •
Quoting from Wikipedia | Lockheed P-38 Lightning:
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese, the P-38 was used in a number of roles, including dive bombing, level bombing, ground-attack, photo reconnaissance missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings.
The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as the mount of America's top aces, Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs toward the end of the war. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving, and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll was too slow for it to excel as a dogfighter. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.
Variants: Lightning in maturity: P-38J
The P-38J was introduced in August 1943. The turbo-supercharger intercooler system on previous variants had been housed in the leading edges of the wings and had proven vulnerable to combat damage and could burst if the wrong series of controls were mistakenly activated. In the P-38J model, the streamlined engine nacelles of previous Lightnings were changed to fit the intercooler radiator between the oil coolers, forming a "chin" that visually distinguished the J model from its predecessors. While the P-38J used the same V-1710-89/91 engines as the H model, the new core-type intercooler more efficiently lowered intake manifold temperatures and permitted a substantial increase in rated power. The leading edge of the outer wing was fitted with 55 gal (208 l) fuel tanks, filling the space formerly occupied by intercooler tunnels, but these were omitted on early P-38J blocks due to limited availability.
The final 210 J models, designated P-38J-25-LO, alleviated the compressibility problem through the addition of a set of electrically-actuated dive recovery flaps just outboard of the engines on the bottom centerline of the wings. With these improvements, a USAAF pilot reported a dive speed of almost 600 mph (970 km/h), although the indicated air speed was later corrected for compressibility error, and the actual dive speed was lower. Lockheed manufactured over 200 retrofit modification kits to be installed on P-38J-10-LO and J-20-LO already in Europe, but the USAAF C-54 carrying them was shot down by an RAF pilot who mistook the Douglas transport for a German Focke-Wulf Condor. Unfortunately the loss of the kits came during Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier's four-month morale-boosting tour of P-38 bases. Flying a new Lightning named "Snafuperman" modified to full P-38J-25-LO specs at Lockheed's modification center near Belfast, LeVier captured the pilots' full attention by routinely performing maneuvers during March 1944 that common Eighth Air Force wisdom held to be suicidal. It proved too little too late because the decision had already been made to re-equip with Mustangs.
The P-38J-25-LO production block also introduced hydraulically-boosted ailerons, one of the first times such a system was fitted to a fighter. This significantly improved the Lightning's rate of roll and reduced control forces for the pilot. This production block and the following P-38L model are considered the definitive Lightnings, and Lockheed ramped up production, working with subcontractors across the country to produce hundreds of Lightnings each month.
Noted P-38 pilots
Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire
The American ace of aces and his closest competitor both flew Lightnings as they tallied 40 and 38 victories respectively. Majors Richard I. "Dick" Bong and Thomas J. "Tommy" McGuire of the USAAF competed for the top position. Both men were awarded the Medal of Honor.
McGuire was killed in air combat in January 1945 over the Philippines, after racking up 38 confirmed kills, making him the second-ranking American ace. Bong was rotated back to the United States as America's ace of aces, after making 40 kills, becoming a test pilot. He was killed on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, when his P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter flamed out on takeoff.
Charles Lindbergh
The famed aviator Charles Lindbergh toured the South Pacific as a civilian contractor for United Aircraft Corporation, comparing and evaluating performance of single- and twin-engined fighters for Vought. He worked to improve range and load limits of the F4U Corsair, flying both routine and combat strafing missions in Corsairs alongside Marine pilots. In Hollandia, he attached himself to the 475th FG flying P-38s so that he could investigate the twin-engine fighter. Though new to the machine, he was instrumental in extending the range of the P-38 through improved throttle settings, or engine-leaning techniques, notably by reducing engine speed to 1,600 rpm, setting the carburetors for auto-lean and flying at 185 mph (298 km/h) indicated airspeed which reduced fuel consumption to 70 gal/h, about 2.6 mpg. This combination of settings had been considered dangerous; it was thought it would upset the fuel mixture and cause an explosion. Everywhere Lindbergh went in the South Pacific, he was accorded the normal preferential treatment of a visiting colonel, though he had resigned his Air Corps Reserve colonel's commission three years before. While with the 475th, he held training classes and took part in a number of Army Air Corps combat missions. On 28 July 1944, Lindbergh shot down a Mitsubishi Ki-51 "Sonia" flown expertly by the veteran commander of 73rd Independent Flying Chutai, Imperial Japanese Army Captain Saburo Shimada. In an extended, twisting dogfight in which many of the participants ran out of ammunition, Shimada turned his aircraft directly toward Lindbergh who was just approaching the combat area. Lindbergh fired in a defensive reaction brought on by Shimada's apparent head-on ramming attack. Hit by cannon and machine gun fire, the "Sonia's" propeller visibly slowed, but Shimada held his course. Lindbergh pulled up at the last moment to avoid collision as the damaged "Sonia" went into a steep dive, hit the ocean and sank. Lindbergh's wingman, ace Joseph E. "Fishkiller" Miller, Jr., had also scored hits on the "Sonia" after it had begun its fatal dive, but Miller was certain the kill credit was Lindbergh's. The unofficial kill was not entered in the 475th's war record. On 12 August 1944 Lindbergh left Hollandia to return to the United States.
Charles MacDonald
The seventh-ranking American ace, Charles H. MacDonald, flew a Lightning against the Japanese, scoring 27 kills in his famous aircraft, the Putt Putt Maru.
Robin Olds
Main article: Robin Olds
Robin Olds was the last P-38 ace in the Eighth Air Force and the last in the ETO. Flying a P-38J, he downed five German fighters on two separate missions over France and Germany. He subsequently transitioned to P-51s to make seven more kills. After World War II, he flew F-4 Phantom IIs in Vietnam, ending his career as brigadier general with 16 kills.
Clay Tice
A P-38 piloted by Clay Tice was the first American aircraft to land in Japan after VJ-Day, when he and his wingman set down on Nitagahara because his wingman was low on fuel.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Noted aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry vanished in a F-5B-1-LO, 42-68223, c/n 2734, of Groupe de Chasse II/33, out of Borgo-Porreta, Bastia, Corsica, a reconnaissance variant of the P-38, while on a flight over the Mediterranean, from Corsica to mainland France, on 31 July 1944. His health, both physical and mental (he was said to be intermittently subject to depression), had been deteriorating and there had been talk of taking him off flight status. There have been suggestions (although no proof to date) that this was a suicide rather than an aircraft failure or combat loss. In 2000, a French scuba diver found the wreckage of a Lightning in the Mediterranean off the coast of Marseille, and it was confirmed in April 2004 as Saint-Exupéry's F-5B. No evidence of air combat was found. In March 2008, a former Luftwaffe pilot, Horst Rippert from Jagdgruppe 200, claimed to have shot down Saint-Exupéry.
Adrian Warburton
The RAF's legendary photo-recon "ace", Wing Commander Adrian Warburton DSO DFC, was the pilot of a Lockheed P-38 borrowed from the USAAF that took off on 12 April 1944 to photograph targets in Germany. W/C Warburton failed to arrive at the rendezvous point and was never seen again. In 2003, his remains were recovered in Germany from his wrecked USAAF P-38 Lightning.
• • • • •
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Date:
1945
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Materials:
Polished overall aluminum finish
Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish overall, standard late-World War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin; 509th Composite Group markings painted in black; "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on lower left nose.
Is this ensemble that visually compelling that you must stare?
I hope your answer is "yes!"
I created this ensemble around a very clingy Baltogs wet look white lycra spandex leotard from nydancewear.com and matching wet look white lycra spandex miniskirt from coquetryclothing.com (which I've… discarded) and embellished it with my white satin under bust corset from canalboat.com, sheer white lycra mesh elbow length gloves and white fully fashioned Premier French Heel stockings, both from secretsinlace.com and finished off with my white stiletto pumps with 5" heels from electriqueboutique.com
To see more pix of me in other tight, sexy and revealing outfits click this link:www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157623668202157/
To see more pix of me in my body hugging leotards & bodysuits click this link: www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157622755507602/
To see more pix of me in my Baltogs lycra spandex dancewear click this link: www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157617535517907/
To see more pix of me in clothes from Coquetry Clothing click this link: www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157626739774869/
DSC_1602-12
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image (I ran it through a haze reduction filter) of NGC 3314, two spiral galaxies that are visually overlapping from our perspective.
My first attempts with a black mirror. I'm quite pleased with the result, actually :-)
While I initially started out with different combinations of coloured pencils, I decided to post this photo here on my Flickr. Why? Well, I decided to use it as a way of explaining the question that I got the other day about my white cane: "Do the colours on your cane mean anything?" And the answer is yes!
While today white canes can be colourful, too (different colours of grips, tips, etc), there is a kind of an international "code" about white canes, too.
1) A white cane that is completely white indicates that the user is completely blind.
2) A white cane with a red bottom part (like the one I have) indicates that the user is visually impaired and still has some usable vision left.
3) A striped red and white cane indicates that the user is deafblind.
So, next time you see someone with a white cane, pay attention to the colours of the cane. This way, you'll know how to act around them and perhaps help them if they ask for help.
Keep the comments clean! No banners,a wards or invitations, please!
The late, Doris Duke, had left a wonderful legacy in converting her magnificent estate into a Natural Wildlife Preserve for the public’s education and enjoyment. The paths throughout the estate offer such splendid scenery. One is forever exploring, always seeing something subtly beautiful. There are always pleasant surprises, from the general scenery to the world of the wildlife, even tiny insects and flowers are enjoyable to observe. The bucolic nature of the preserve is so relaxing—akin to meditating while experiencing the landscape. The beauty of visiting Duke Farms is that so many incredible views are there simply by observing all of the surroundings. Besides the wonderful diversity of nature’s jewels, Doris Duke has left a part of her legacy through her passion for art—well situated throughout the preserve is a collection of glorious sculptures and fabulous examples of supreme stonework and design in the bridges and other structures. So, spotting new and fascinating wildlife (both animals and plants) and art never ceases to add to the experience.
Winter walks, especially during or after snow, can be quite breathtaking, both visually and literally (depending on the temperature). For us, it’s a special time to visit. Many animals are hibernating or simply less visible, and the variety of birds tends not to be as vocal—lots of silent flight from tree to tree. The effects of ice on the water, combined with temperature level and wind, can create some very interesting patterns and textures to the landscape.
The parting scene for us, with practically every visit, is one we can consistently count on for dramatics. This day, too, shared a captivating winterscape of the glorious tones as the sun had already descended beyond the horizon and the residual, haunting colors would make the final curtain call before nightfall.
Well, first off I wanted to thank all of you that played and commented on the picture! I really had a lot of fun setting this up and hearing all of your thoughts! Even though it took me ages, I'm about ready to post a new hidden object game fairly soon. In the link below you will find the solution key for the game posted all the way in November. You all did a fantastic job and wanted to especially thank those individuals that turned in a response. Below are the rankings of your guesses, this was based on how fast you emailed me with the correct answers.
WINNER: Cupcakasaurus-Rex
2nd place: Plastic Beauty ( Anthony)
3rd place: Cat
4th place: debbiejones (Debbie)
5th place: toomanypictures1 ( Susan)
6th place: onemom526 ( Phyllis)
7th place: Michaela Unbehau Photography
8th place: Wandy in Pensacola
9th place: Bogostick ( Leslie)
Special Acknowledgments:
Tidiest List: Wandy in Pensacola
Most Visually Appealing Guess: Cat ( She edited her own guess list in pic monkey, pretty cool =-D)
The Izapa Ruins are historically significant but visually lacking the impact other sites. This shot shows about 50% of what has been uncovered to date which a mere fraction of the ruins.
The HAL tour spent about 90 minutes here, 30 would have been sufficient.
From Mundo Maya:
Founded around the year 1,500 B.C., Izapa was the most important ceremonial, political, and religious center of the Pacific coast for almost a thousand years. Its importance was due to commercial factors, as well as for being the region’s religious center. Its position favored migrations and the trade of jade, cocoa, and obsidian, however its ruins do not house spectacular structures or famous paintings like other sites, as it lost a great deal of importance during the Mayan Classic period.
Izapa, originally inhabited by Mize-zoque people, began its development around 600 B.C. and reached its peak as a regional center toward the upper Preclassic period, due mostly to the climactic characteristics of where it is located, with its fertile soil and high humidity, which allowed the creation of an intensive agricultural system and surplus stock.
The location and planning of its ceremonial center is full of astronomical references, to the point that many archaeologists believe that Izapa had a key role in the construction of Mesoamerican calendars and the Mayan calendar in particular. Its orientation, on a slightly askew angle from the geographical north and its alignment with the Tacaná volcano, have led to the conclusion that its best structures and pyramids for astronomical observation match the dusk of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.
The ancient city of Izapa was explored by Matthew Stirling in 1935; by Philip Drucker, from the Smithsonian Institution in 1947 and 1948; and was inspected by Eulalia Guzmán in 1935 and 1944.
Various stelae narrate some of the myths collected in the Popol Vuh.
The archaeological zone is quite wide, it has an area of two kilometers and is comprised of groups of mounds.
Today, it is only possible to visit Group F, north of the highway to Talismán, it is the most restored area, which groups together most of the stelae and stone sculptures. Groups A and B, to the south, are accessible through dirt roads, but the area is covered in vegetation. Most of the stelae are in Groups A and B, which correspond to the site’s Preclassic occupation.
A visually intense, dense collage from the late 20th Century. Something about Donkey Party Game and Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers and more, much more. High Art/Low Art. The Beatles from their second album and a Girly Bird screaming upside down at them is in here too. The battleship Texas pennant hangs. A lady at a political convention drapes a Flowers bumper sticker across her forehead. And donkey tales. Poor VV Gogh's 19th century masterpiece gets reduced to background and cultural reference.
What a visually stunning first encounter this handsome Hawk Moth caterpillar was... we found two older instars as well, one green and one so brown it was almost black! They will be posted tomorrow...
Some photos around today with some new lens filters. Four and six pointed starburst effect, striped fractal, and kaleidoscope lens filters. These are so visually satisfying to look at for me. Just delicious.
Not as dramatic visually, but this image blows me away. As well as the colourful version of the Crab Nebula I shared a few days ago, I also collected some data without a filter - the upshot is the stars are more visible in post processing including the star that powers the whole thing. I didn't think I could capture it with equipment I had, but checking my image against several others with better resolution - I'm pretty confident I got it. That diminutive black dot shining at around 16th magnitude is only 20-30 km across, a neutron star, smaller than the island of Montreal, and yet we can see it here on Earth, 6000 light years or about 60 quadrillion km away.
This is a calibrated stack of 60 two minute sub frames.
Astrotech AT102ED Refractor
0.8X Reducer/Flatenner
UV/IR Cut Filter Filter
ZWO ASI533MC Pro Camera
Submitted by: Raj K Raj
Country: India
Organisation: Special Photo journalist with Hindustan Times New Delhi
Category: Professional
Caption: Bibekananda Tripathi, 42, first met his wife Sasmita, 35, at school in their hometown Bhubhaneshwar in Odisha. It was a bond born out of love and empathy. They were both visually impaired and became close friends while learning how to negotiate a dark world at Bhima Bhoi School for the Blind. Twenty-five years later, Bibekananda’s job as a stenographer with the Central government led them to Delhi, where they live in a two-room government accommodation in RK Puram in South Delhi. On busy Delhi streets, most people help Bibekananda and his wife negotiate the traffic and people, but he gets more help from people from poorer sections than from the busy middle-classes. “We rarely step out at night because of drunk-driving. People who drink and drive are even more blind than the two of us,” laughs Sasmita.
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Photo uploaded from the #StrongerTogether Photo Competition website (photocomp.iapb.org)
"Constructed circa 1865, Upton is a coursed gray ashlar two-storey residence located in the east end of the central residential core of Sault Ste. Marie. It visually provides a well proportioned, dignified elevation to a quiet dead end street.
Upton has been recognized for its heritage value by the City of Sault Ste. Marie, By-law 83-266.
Thought to have been constructed in 1865, Upton, as it was originally named, is one of the oldest residences in Sault Ste. Marie, second only to the Ermatinger Old Stone House (built in 1812). It was built as the home of Wemyss Mackenzie Simpson. Simpson had come to Canada in 1840, serving with the Hudson's Bay Company in various capacities, including that of chief factor of the Sault post from 1862 until its closure in 1865. Following the closure of the post, Simpson was elected as the first Member of Parliament for Algoma. He served in that capacity from 1867 to 1872, at which time he resigned to accept the post of Indian Commissioner.
One of the most important examples of Sault Ste. Marie's earliest residential buildings, Upton displays a Georgian style of architecture with Regency influences. It is similar in design to Bishophurst, built in 1874 as the home of Bishop Frederick Dawson Fauquier, the first Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Algoma. Similarities can be seen in the verandahs, the box-like structure of the main house and the low-hipped roofs with smaller projecting wings.
In the mid-1980's Upton was in danger of being lost to the community through neglect and abuse. It was saved by the efforts of Heritage Sault Ste. Marie, a local non-profit corporation that purchased Upton in 1987 and restored its exterior while converting the interior into three luxury condominiums. Now owned by private individuals, this important heritage building is secure in its future.
Key character defining elements that reflect Upton's heritage value include its:
- symmetrical fenestration and layout
- low, truncated hip roof
- coursed ashlar stone
- stone lintels, keystones and quoins
- six over six sash windows
- french doors
- Regency style wood verandah" - info from Historic Places Canada.
"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)
To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 20th century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.
French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.
Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.
Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.
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The red shoes were visually striking on the screen. They had Technicolor and, by golly, they were going to use it.
-- Anne Phillips, Oz scholar
Sometimes presenting something on the outside can help work its way to the inside. I've been feeling bad this week, so today i decided to wear red. Bold red, bright red, audacious red. And yes, that includes my red shoes. I love my Speedwell shoes. (I actually have two pairs; not the same color.) They're made for racecar drivers, so they're incredibly lightweight and flexible.
And red.
I'm feeling better already....