66847 and 66850 are seen with the RHTT based in Bristol passing Shockerwick after a trip up to Chippenham and return.Just a small part of the large route this particular duty has to cover including most of the lines in S-Wales.It doesn't finish until after 12:00 tomorrow afternoon having started at 14:47 this afternoon from Briston Barton Hill W.R.D. as '3S59'.Quite a long workload!

----7 october 2018----

DB Cargo - Lickey Banker pool locomotive - 66059, having just decended the Lickey Bank were most of its workload over the years has taken place, is seen passing Stoke Pound with the 6V92 Corby - Margam steel coil empties.

During a very low altitude flight in bad atmospheric conditions, the airplane struck the ground. The investigation will establish that the workload and the complexity of the mission certainly influenced the success of the mission. Both crew killed.

 

Photo (c) : Jean-Luc BRUNET

   

The F/A 53 can carry nearly all weapons required of it, although, for workload issues, the F/A-53 (as opposed to the A-53) is generally restricted to unguided weapons or basic fire and forget types. The aircraft was practically designed around its twin cannon and requirement for two heavy anti-shipping missiles, a common load for ANGs on the East Coast.

2007 Thomas C2: the EFXs seem to be crapping out left and right, the old veteran C2s have been activated to help deal with the workloads. This one was filling in for #60. A 2018 EFX

I had to share a photo representing one of the best weeks of my life :D Back during my six month stint at Auburn Council I drove truck #40 for a fortnight and on recycle week we were down a truck as a driver was unable to work. With the way things were done at the council, the other four side loader drivers all started on garbage in the morning and I was the only one who started on recycling, so I got to do all the busier roads I could get around to on the first load, kicking off on the first bin at 3:30am :P Bloody awesome! I also went into a third load each day inevitably, as the sixth truck meant to be out was the second fulltime recycler, meaning even after completing 2 loads, more than half of the recycle was still awaiting collection. Still only having just started working on the side loaders I was more than happy to be out there doing the extra load and any additional bins I could grab hold of, let alone working a few hours later than usual for some rare overtime. It was very different doing the workload and hours I was when such a job with a council is usually early start early finish and less work to be done. I took this photo of the bin counts at the end of the week to remind myself of that wonderful five day period. The first load I did on the Monday is readout 16, with the last load on the Friday readout 2, being three loads each day to make up the 15 individual counts shown. On the Friday I took on the shitty and slower dead ender work along the western border of the councils, thus the lower bin counts. I’d be hell keen to have a crack at it again now being more experienced at the job, could probably achieve three packed out loads on each day ;)

Quick camera phone shot while at 'work', recently repainted 08644 sits outside the main shed at Laira. The 08 received its retro livery during the closure of the mainline at Dawlish in February 2014 due to storm damage, leaving Laira with a lessened workload.

August 05, 2014

 

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness." - Charles Spurgeon

 

-----

 

Let me start off by saying WOW! Yesterday's photo has peaked at number 3 on Explore, that's just so unbelievable to me!

 

Otherwise, an uneventful "Monday" in the office; it seems the majority of people decided to extend their long weekend leaving the staff down to a skeleton crew and allowing for a reasonable workload.

 

After work, I came home, tried stalking some birds (I failed) and shot a few photos around the backyard. None were really catching my eye; and then I walked into a friend's house; and the light was perfect and Coco was posed perfectly so I disregarded all those floral shots and staged a photoshoot in the living room. I think I made the right choice.

 

Hope everyone has had a good day.

 

Click "L" for a larger view.

Stranger #36 – Ornella

 

I saw Ornella flanked by her friends, flying in tight formation, headed towards me. I set a course to intercept them. I hailed them and asked Ornella whether she’d like to take part in my project.

 

Ornella is in her 2nd year of prep school specialising in mathematics in order to work in aviation. When she was 6, Ornella went to the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, seeing all the planes made her passion for aviation take off. After a short refuel, her passion took off again when she was in high school and seems in cruise flight. Ornella doesn’t see her future in France, she’d like to be in Canada, in Toronto. As she said: “Why not visit elsewhere?” I asked her what was most challenging recently for her. “I have doubts sometimes, there’s an ongoing battle between the workload asked of me and my laziness.”

 

Thank you very much Ornella!

 

This picture is #36 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

 

This is my 31st submission to the Human Family Group. To view more street portraits and stories visit The Human Family Flickr Group page

  

J’ai vu Ornella, flanquée de ses amis, volant en formation serrée cap dans ma direction. J’ai calculé une trajectoire pour les intercepter. Je les ai hélé et j’ai demandé à Ornella si elle aimerait participer à mon projet.

 

Ornella est en deuxième année de prépa Maths spé dans le but de travailler dans l’aviation. Lorsqu’elle avait 6 ans, Ornella est allée au salon du Bourget et le fait de voir tout ces avions a fait décoller sa passion pour l’aviation. Après une escale, sa passion a redécollé quand elle était au lycée et semble être en vol de croisière. Ornella ne voit pas son futur en France, elle aimerait vivre au Canada, à Toronto. Comme elle l’a dit « Pourquoi pas visiter ailleurs ? » Je lui ai demandé ce qui lui posait le plus de difficultés en ce moment. « J’ai des doutes quelques fois, il y a une bataille entre le travail demandé et ma flemme. »

 

Merci beaucoup Ornella !

 

Cette photo est la #36 dans mon projet 100 strangers. Apprenez-en plus au sujet du projet et visionnez les photos prises par d’autres photographes sur la page Flickr du groupe 100 Strangers

 

C’est ma 31ème participation au groupe The Human Family. Pour voir plus de portraits de rue et d’histoires, visitez la page Flickr du groupe The Human Family

Stumbled upon this bunch of 'projects' in Livinhac-le-Haut. Some pictures from years ago can be found of some of these cars in a better shape. It seems the workload has grown over the owner's head.

The Prisoner

The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the United Kingdom from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968.[3] The premiere was 29 September 1967 on ATV Midlands and the last episode first aired on 1 February 1968 on Scottish Television. The world broadcast premiere was on the CTV Television Network in Canada on 5 September 1967. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory, and psychological drama.[

The series follows a British former secret agent who is abducted and held prisoner in a mysterious coastal village resort where his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job. Although sold as a thriller in the mould of the previous series starring McGoohan, Danger Man (1960–68) [retitled as "Secret Agent" in the US], the show's combination of 1960s countercultural themes and surreal setting had a far-reaching effect on science fiction/fantasy programming, and on popular culture in general.

 

A TV miniseries remake aired on the U.S. cable channel AMC 15–17 November 2009.

In 2009, Christopher Nolan was widely reported to be considering a film version.

 

Plot summary

 

See also: The Village (The Prisoner) and List of The Prisoner episodes

 

The series follows an unnamed British agent (played by Patrick McGoohan) who abruptly resigns his job, apparently preparing to go on a holiday. While packing his luggage, he is rendered unconscious by knockout gas in his apartment. When he wakes, he finds himself held captive in a mysterious seaside "village" that is isolated from the mainland by mountains and sea. The Village is further secured by numerous monitoring systems and security forces, including a mysterious balloon-like device called Rover that recaptures – or kills – those who attempt escape. The agent encounters the Village's population, hundreds of people from all walks of life and cultures, all seeming to be tranquilly living out their lives. They do not use names but instead are assigned numbers, which give no clue as to any person's status (prisoner or warder). Potential escapees therefore have no idea whom they can and cannot trust. The protagonist is assigned Number Six, but he repeatedly refuses the pretense of his new identity.

 

Number Six is monitored heavily by Number Two, the Village administrator acting as an agent for an unseen "Number One." A variety of techniques are used by Number Two to try to extract information from Number Six, including hallucinogenic drug experiences, identity theft, mind control, dream manipulation, and various forms of social indoctrination. All of these are employed not only to find out why Number Six resigned as an agent, but also to extract other dangerous information he gained as a spy. The position of Number Two is filled in on a rotating basis; in some cases, part of a larger plan to confuse Number Six, while other times as a result of failure in interrogating Number Six.

 

Number Six, distrusting of anyone involved with the Village, refuses to co-operate or provide answers. Alone, he struggles with various goals: determining for which side of the iron curtain the Village works if, indeed, it works for any at all, remaining defiant to its imposed authority, concocting his own plans for escape, learning all he can about the Village, and subverting its operation. His schemes lead to the dismissals of the incumbent Number Two on two occasions, despite their failure to facilitate his escape. By the end of the series the administration, becoming desperate for Number Six's knowledge and fearful of his growing influence in the Village, takes drastic measures that threaten the lives of Number Six, Number Two, and the rest of the Village. A major theme of the show is individualism versus collectivism, summarised in one of Number Six's defiant statements: "I will make no deals with you. I've RESIGNED. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, de-briefed, or numbered. My life is my own."

 

Origin

 

The show was created while Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein were working on Danger Man (known as Secret Agent in the U.S.), an espionage show produced by Incorporated Television Company (also called ITC Entertainment). The exact details of who created which aspects of the show are disputed; majority opinion credits McGoohan as the sole creator of the series. However, a disputed co-creator status later was ascribed to Markstein after a series of fan interviews published in the 1980s. The show itself bears no "created by" credit.

 

Some sources indicate McGoohan was the sole or primary creator of the show.[8][9][10] McGoohan stated in a 1977 interview (broadcast as part of a Canadian documentary about The Prisoner called The Prisoner Puzzle) that during the filming of the third season of Danger Man he told Lew Grade, managing director of ITC Entertainment, he wanted to quit working on Danger Man after the filming of the proposed fourth series.[11] Grade was unhappy with the decision, but when McGoohan insisted upon quitting, Grade asked if McGoohan had any other possible projects; McGoohan later pitched The Prisoner. However, in a 1988 article from British Telefantasy magazine Time Screen, McGoohan indicated that he had planned to pitch The Prisoner prior to speaking to Grade.[12] In both accounts, McGoohan pitched the idea orally, rather than having Grade read the proposal in detail, and the two made an oral agreement for the show to be produced by Everyman Films, the production company formed by McGoohan and David Tomblin. In the 1977 account, McGoohan said that Grade approved of the show despite not understanding it, while in the 1988 account Grade expressed clear support for the concept.

 

Other sources, however, credit Markstein, then a script editor for Danger Man, with a significant or even primary portion of the development of the show. For example, Dave Rogers, in the book The Prisoner and Danger Man, said that Markstein claimed to have created the concept first and McGoohan later attempted to take credit for it, though Rogers himself doubted that McGoohan would have wanted or needed to do that.[5] A four-page document, generally agreed to have been written by Markstein, setting out an overview of the series' themes, was published as part of an ITC/ATV press book in 1967. It has usually been accepted that this text originated earlier as a guide for the series' writers.[13] Further doubt has been cast on Markstein's version of events by author Rupert Booth in his biography of McGoohan, titled Not A Number. Booth points out that McGoohan had outlined the themes of The Prisoner in a 1965 interview, long before Markstein's tenure as script editor on the brief fourth season of Danger Man.

 

Part of Markstein's inspiration came from his research into World War II, where he found that some people had been incarcerated in a resort-like prison called Inverlair Lodge.[14] Markstein suggested that Danger Man lead, John Drake (played by McGoohan), could suddenly resign, and be kidnapped and sent to such a location.[14] McGoohan added Markstein's suggestion to material he had been working on, which later became The Prisoner. Furthermore, a 1960 episode of Danger Man, titled "View from the Villa," had exteriors filmed in Portmeirion, a Welsh resort village that struck McGoohan as a good location for future projects.

 

Further inspiration came from a Danger Man episode called "Colony Three," in which Drake infiltrates a spy school in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The school, in the middle of nowhere, is set up to look like a normal English town in which pupils and instructors mix as in any other normal city, but the instructors are virtual prisoners with little hope of ever leaving. McGoohan also stated that he was influenced by his experience from theatre, including his work in Orson Welles' 1955 play Moby Dick—Rehearsed and the 1962 BBC teleplay The Prisoner by Bridget Boland.[14] McGoohan wrote a forty-page show Bible, which included a "history of the Village, the sort of telephones they used, the sewerage system, what they ate, the transport, the boundaries, a description of the Village, every aspect of it...".[11] McGoohan wrote and directed several episodes, often under pseudonyms.[15]

 

In a 1966 interview for the Los Angeles Times by reporter Robert Musel, McGoohan stated that "John Drake of 'Secret Agent' is gone." Further, McGoohan stated in a 1985 interview that No. 6 is not the same character as John Drake, further adding that he had originally wanted another actor to portray the character.[16] However, other sources indicate that several of the crew members who continued on from Danger Man to work on The Prisoner considered it to be a continuation, and McGoohan was continuing to play the character of John Drake.[12] Furthermore, Rogers states Markstein had wanted the character to be a continuation of Drake, but by doing so would have meant paying royalties to Ralph Smart, creator of Danger Man.

 

The issue has been debated by fans and TV critics, with some stating the two characters are the same, based on similarities in the shows, the characters, a few repeating actors beyond McGoohan, and certain specific connections in various episodes.

 

McGoohan had originally wanted to produce only seven episodes of The Prisoner, but Grade argued more shows were necessary in order for him to successfully sell the series to CBS.[11] The exact number which was agreed to, along with how the series ended, is disputed by different sources.

 

In an August 1967 article, Dorothy Manners reported CBS had asked McGoohan to produce 36 segments but he would agree to produce only 17.[20] According to a 1977 interview, Grade requested 26 episodes, which McGoohan thought would spread the show too thin, but was able to come up with 17 episodes.[11] According to The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series, however, the series was originally supposed to run longer, but was cancelled, forcing McGoohan to write the final episode in only a few days.[14] Supposed to answer all the questions about the programme, it instead ended up answering none of them, and this kindled the wrath of viewers,[who?] who never forgave McGoohan for this.

 

Filming locations

Panoramic view of the central piazza, Portmeirion Village

The exteriors for the series were primarily filmed in Portmeirion village near Porthmadog, North Wales, the location that partially inspired the show,[21] and where McGoohan had previously filmed locations for Danger Man. At the request of Portmeirion's architect Clough Williams-Ellis, the main location for the series was not disclosed until the opening credits of the last episode.[citation needed] The Village setting was further augmented by liberal use of the backlot at MGM's Borehamwood Studios facility.

 

Additionally, filming of a key sequence of the opening credits, and exterior location filming for three episodes, took place at 1 Buckingham Place in London, which at the time was a private residence and doubled as No. 6's home.[22] The building still exists today as a highlight of Prisoner location tours and currently houses the headquarters of the Royal Warrant Holders Association.[23] The episodes "Many Happy Returns", "The Girl Who Was Death" (the cricket match for which was filmed at Meopham Green in Kent) and "Fall Out" also made use of extensive location shooting in London and other locations.

 

Crew

George Markstein ... Script Editor (13 episodes)

Don Chaffey … Director (4 episodes)

David Tomblin … Director (2 episodes)

Peter Graham Scott … Director (1 episode)

Eric Mival … Music Editor (13 episodes)

Albert Elms ... Musical Director and Composer (14 episodes)

Frank Maher - Fight/stunt coordinator.

 

Alternate ending

 

According to author James Follett, a protégé of Prisoner co-creator George Markstein, Markstein had mapped out an explanation for the Village.[24] In George Markstein's mind, a young John Drake, the lead character in the television series Danger Man, had once submitted a proposal for how to deal with retired secret agents who posed a security risk. Drake's idea was to create a comfortable retirement centre where former agents could live out their final years, enduring firm but unintrusive surveillance.

 

Years later, Drake discovered that his idea had been put into practice, and not as a benign means of retirement, but instead as an interrogation centre and a prison camp. Outraged, Drake staged his own resignation, knowing he would be brought to the Village. He hoped to learn everything he could of how his idea had been implemented, and find a way to destroy it. However, due to the range of nationalities and agents present in the Village, Drake realised he was not sure whose Village he was in – the one brought about by his own people, or by the other side. Drake's conception of the Village would have been the foundation of declaring him to be 'Number One.' However, Markstein's falling out with McGoohan resulted in Markstein's departure, and his story arc was discarded.

 

According to Markstein: "Well, 'Who is No.6?" is no mystery - he was a secret agent called Drake who quit." The "matter of conscience" which motivated his resignation could then easily be interpreted as Drake having had enough top-secret information in his mind--and at his disposal--to start a war, and that, coupled with his long-standing desire to keep the peace, would have meant that he could not even trust his own government with it any longer.

Markstein added: "The Prisoner was going to leave the Village and he was going to have adventures in many parts of the world, but ultimately he would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background...and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."[25]

 

Opening and closing sequences

 

Main article: Opening and closing sequences of The Prisoner

 

The opening and closing sequences of The Prisoner have become iconic. Cited as "one of the great set-ups of genre drama",[26] the opening sequence establishes the Orwellian and postmodern themes of the series;[27] its high production values have led the opening sequence to be described as more like film than television.

 

Cast

 

Main articles: List of The Prisoner cast members and Characters in The Prisoner

 

Actors who played the same role in more than one episode are:

Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner / Number Six (17 episodes)

Angelo Muscat as The Butler (14 episodes)

Peter Swanwick as Supervisor (8 episodes)

Leo McKern as Number Two (3 episodes)

Colin Gordon as Number Two (2 episodes)

Denis Shaw as The Shop Keeper (2 episodes)

Fenella Fielding as The Announcer/Telephone Operator (voice only; unseen and uncredited, 6 episodes)

Frank Maher as McGoohan's stand-in and stunt/fight double. (17 episodes—in particular)

 

Home video

 

The first home video editions of The Prisoner appeared in the 1980s. In North America, MPI Home Video released a series of 20 VHS tapes covering the series: one for each of the 17 episodes and three more containing "The Alternate Version of 'The Chimes of Big Ben'", a documentary, and a "best of" retrospective. In the 1990s the first DVD release of the series occurred in North America/Region 1, with A&E Home Video releasing the series in four-episode sets and a full 10-disc "megabox" edition in the early 2000s; A&E subsequently reissued the megabox in a 40th anniversary edition in 2007. The A&E issue included "The Alternate Version of 'The Chimes of Big Ben'" and the MPI-produced documentary (but not the redundant "best of" retrospective) among its limited special features.

 

Numerous editions of The Prisoner were, meanwhile, released in the UK/Region 2 by companies such as Carlton. These editions differed from the Region 1 release in their special features, including one release that included a recently discovered alternative version of "Arrival".

 

The Prisoner: The Complete Series was released on Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2009,[29] following in North America on 27 October.[30] The episodes were restored by Network DVD to create new high-definition masters,[31] of which standard-definition versions were used for The Prisoner: 40th Anniversary Special Edition DVD boxset released in 2007.[32] The US edition, once again by A&E Home Video, includes the first North American release of an alternative edit of "Arrival" (in high definition), as well as "The Alternate Version of 'The Chimes of Big Ben'" from the earlier DVD/VHS releases (in standard definition due to the degraded source material) and assorted documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage.

 

In other media

 

Main article: The Prisoner in other media

 

There have been several spin-offs of The Prisoner in other media, including novels, comic books, fan audios, games, theatre and several attempts to make a movie.

 

Theatrical Production: Magic Number Six

 

In October 2012 Magic Number Six, a one-act play portraying the behind-the-scenes relationship between Patrick McGoohan and Lew Grade before and during the production of The Prisoner debuted in Leicester as part of The Little Theatre's One-Act Festival, running for four performances.[33] Written by playwright Paul Gosling, a graduate of De Montfort University's Cinema and Television History Centre (C.A.T.H.) and directed by Carolos Dandolo, the play was set in Grade's office in 1966-67 and starred Rob Leeson as McGoohan, Colin Woods as Grade and Karen Gordon as Grade's fictional P.A., Miss Cartwright.[34] Following positive fan reaction,[35] the production was performed a further eight times in 2013, in Leicester, Portmeirion and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. At Edfringe the part of Miss Cartwright was shared between Karen Gordon and actress, Tracey Gee. A film screenplay of Magic Number Six is currently in development.

 

Documentaries

Six into One: The Prisoner File (1984, 45 minutes) docudrama presented by Channel 4 after a repeat of the series in the UK. With its central premise to establish a reason why Number 6 resigned, the presentation revolved around a new Number 2 communicating with staff (and Number 1). It reviewed scenes from Danger Man and The Prisoner, incorporated interviews with cast members (including McGoohan) and fans, and addressed the political environment giving rise to the series and McGoohan's heavy workload.

The Prisoner Video Companion (1990, 48 minutes) American production with clips, including a few from Danger Man, and voice-over narration discussing origins, interpretations, meaning, symbolism, etc., in a format modelled on the 1988 Warner book, The Official Prisoner Companion by Matthew White and Jaffer Ali.[37] It was released to DVD in the early 2000s as a bonus feature with A&E's release of The Prisoner series. MPI also issued The Best of The Prisoner, a video of series excerpts.

Don't Knock Yourself Out (2007, 95 minutes) documentary issued as part of Network's 40th Anniversary DVD set, featuring interviews with around 25 cast and crew members. The documentary received a separate DVD release, featuring an extended cut, in November 2007 accompanied by a featurette, "Make Sure It Fits", regarding Eric Mival's music editing for the series.

 

Main article: The Prisoner (2009 miniseries)

 

A remake miniseries, in the works since 2005,[38] premiered on 15 November 2009 on American cable TV channel AMC, made in cooperation with British broadcaster ITV after AMCs original production partner Sky1 had pulled out.[39][40][41] On 25 April 2008, ITV announced that the new series would go into production, and in June 2008, that American actor Jim Caviezel would star in the role of Number 6, with Ian McKellen taking on the role of Number 2 in all six episodes.[42][43][44] In May 2009 the shooting for the new series was completed with significant plot changes from the original television storyline. The new Village is located in a desert tropical area instead of Wales, with location filming taking place in Namibia and South Africa. The six part series premiered in the UK on 17 April 2010.

 

Festival

 

The main character of the series, Number Six, inspired the name of Festival N°6, an art and music festival which takes place each year since 2012 at Portmeirion.

 

Awards and honours

The final episode, "Fall Out", received a Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1969, but lost out to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In 2002, the series won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.

In 2004 and 2007, it was ranked No. 7 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.[45]

In 2001, TV Guide listed "Fall Out" as the 55th Greatest TV Episode of All Time.[46]

In 2005, readers of SFX magazine awarded the series fifth place in a poll of British fantasy and science fiction television programs.

A 2006 survey of leading rock and film stars by Uncut magazine ranking films, books, music or TV shows that changed the world, placed The Prisoner at No. 10, the highest for a TV show.

 

Gloster Meteor

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Gloster Meteor Centenary of Military Aviation 2014

The only F.8 in flying condition is operated by the RAAF’s Historic Flight

RoleFighter aircraft

National originUnited Kingdom

ManufacturerGloster Aircraft Company

First flight5 March 1943

Introduction27 July 1944

Produced1943–1955

Number built3,947

 

The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF. The Meteor was not a sophisticated aircraft in its aerodynamics, but proved to be a successful combat fighter. Gloster's 1946 civil Meteor F.4 demonstrator G-AIDC was the first civilian-registered jet aircraft in the world.[1] Several major variants of the Meteor incorporated technological advances during the 1940s and 1950s. Thousands of Meteors were built to fly with the RAF and other air forces and remained in use for several decades.

 

Slower and less heavily armed than its German counterpart, the jet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262,[2] the Meteor saw limited action in the Second World War. Meteors of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fought in the Korean War. Several other operators such as Argentina, Egypt and Israel flew Meteors in later regional conflicts. Specialised variants of the Meteor were developed for use in photographic aerial reconnaissance and as night fighters.

 

The Meteor was also used for research and development purposes and to break several aviation records. On 7 November 1945, the first official airspeed record by a jet aircraft was set by a Meteor F.3 at 606 miles per hour (975 km/h). In 1946, this record was broken when a Meteor F.4 reached a speed of 616 miles per hour (991 km/h). Other performance-related records were broken in categories including flight time endurance, rate of climb, and speed. On 20 September 1945, a heavily modified Meteor I, powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent turbine engines driving propellers, became the first turboprop aircraft to fly.[3] On 10 February 1954, a specially adapted Meteor F.8, the "Meteor Prone Pilot", which placed the pilot into a prone position to counteract inertial forces, took its first flight.[4]

 

In the 1950s, the Meteor became increasingly obsolete as more nations developed jet fighters, many of these newcomers having adopted a swept wing instead of the Meteor's conventional straight wing; in RAF service, the Meteor was replaced by newer types such as the Hawker Hunter and Gloster Javelin. As of 2018, two Meteors, G-JSMA and G-JWMA, remain in active service with the Martin-Baker company as ejection seat testbeds.[5] One further aircraft in the UK remains airworthy, as does another in Australia.

 

See also: Frank Whittle

The development of the turbojet-powered Gloster Meteor was a collaboration between the Gloster Aircraft Company and Frank Whittle's firm, Power Jets Ltd. Whittle formed Power Jets Ltd in March 1936 to develop his ideas of jet propulsion, Whittle himself serving as the company's chief engineer.[6] For several years, attracting financial backers and aviation firms prepared to take on Whittle's radical ideas was difficult; in 1931, Armstrong-Siddeley had evaluated and rejected Whittle's proposal, finding it to be technically sound but at the limits of engineering capability.[7] Securing funding was a persistently worrying issue throughout the early development of the engine.[8] The first Whittle prototype jet engine, the Power Jets WU, began running trials in early 1937; shortly afterwards, both Sir Henry Tizard, chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee, and the Air Ministry gave the project their support.[9]

 

On 28 April 1939, Whittle made a visit to the premises of the Gloster Aircraft Company, where he met several key figures, such as George Carter, Gloster's chief designer.[10] Carter took a keen interest in Whittle's project, particularly when he saw the operational Power Jets W.1 engine; Carter quickly made several rough proposals of various aircraft designs powered by the engine. Independently, Whittle had also been producing several proposals for a high-altitude jet-powered bomber; following the start of the Second World War and the Battle for France, a greater national emphasis on fighter aircraft arose.[11] Power Jets and Gloster quickly formed a mutual understanding around mid-1939.[12]

  

The Gloster E.28/39. The yellow undersides were standard for RAF training and prototype aircraft of the period.

In spite of ongoing infighting between Power Jets and several of its stakeholders, the Air Ministry contracted Gloster in late 1939 to manufacture a prototype aircraft powered by one of Whittle's new turbojet engines.[13] The single-engined proof-of-concept Gloster E28/39, the first British jet-powered aircraft, conducted its maiden flight on 15 May 1941, flown by Gloster's chief test pilot, Flight Lieutenant Philip "Gerry" Sayer.[14][15] The success of the E.28/39 proved the viability of jet propulsion, and Gloster pressed ahead with designs for a production fighter aircraft.[16] Due to the limited thrust available from early jet engines, it was decided that subsequent production aircraft would be powered by a pair of turbojet engines.[17]

 

In 1940, for a "military load" of 1,500 lb (680 kg), the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) had advised that work on an aircraft of 8,500 lb (3,900 kg) all-up weight, with a total static thrust of 3,200 lbf (14 kN) should be started, with an 11,000 lb (5,000 kg) design for the expected, more powerful, W.2 and axial engine designs. George Carter's calculations based on the RAE work and his own investigations were that a 8,700-to-9,000-pound (3,900-to-4,100-kilogram) aircraft with two or four 20 mm cannons and six 0.303 machine guns would have a top speed of 400–431 miles per hour (644–694 km/h) at sea level and 450–470 miles per hour (720–760 km/h) at 30,000 feet (9,100 m). In January 1941 Gloster were told by Lord Beaverbrook that the twin jet fighter was of "unique importance", and that the company was to stop work on a night-fighter development of their F.9/37 to Specification F.18/40.[18]

 

Prototypes

 

Prototype Meteor DG202/G on display at the Royal Air Force Museum London in 2011. The "/G" appended to the aircraft serial denoted that the aircraft was to have an armed guard at all times while it was on the ground.

In August 1940, Carter presented Gloster's initial proposals for a twin-engined jet fighter with a tricycle undercarriage.[Note 1] On 7 February 1941, Gloster received an order for twelve prototypes (later reduced to eight) under Specification F9/40.[20] A letter of intent for the production of 300 of the new fighter, initially to be named Thunderbolt, was issued on 21 June 1941; to avoid confusion with the USAAF Republic P-47 Thunderbolt which had been issued with the same name to the RAF in 1944, the aircraft's name was subsequently changed to Meteor.[21][22][Note 2] During the aircraft's secretive development, employees and officials made use of the codename Rampage to refer to the Meteor, as similarly the de Havilland Vampire would initially be referred to as the Spider Crab. Test locations and other key project information were also kept secret.[24]

 

Although taxiing trials were carried out in 1942, it was not until the following year that any flights took place due to production and approval holdups with the Power Jets W.2 engine powering the Meteor.[14][25] On 26 November 1942 production of the Meteor was ordered to stop due to the delays at subcontractor Rover, which was struggling to manufacture the W.2 engines on schedule[Note 3]; considerable interest was shown in Gloster's E.1/44 proposal for a single-engine fighter, unofficially named Ace.[27] Gloster continued development work on the Meteor and the production-stop order was overturned in favour of the construction of six (later increased to eight) F9/40 prototypes alongside three E.1/44 prototypes.[28] Rover's responsibilities for development and production of the W.2B engine were also transferred to Rolls-Royce that year.[29]

 

On 5 March 1943, the fifth prototype, serial DG206, powered by two substituted de Havilland Halford H.1 engines owing to problems with the intended W.2 engines, became the first Meteor to become airborne at RAF Cranwell, piloted by Michael Daunt.[14] On the initial flight, an uncontrollable yawing motion was discovered, which led to a redesigned larger rudder; however, no difficulties had been attributed to the groundbreaking turbojet propulsion.[30][31] Only two prototypes flew with de Havilland engines because of their low flight endurance.[32] Before the first prototype aircraft had even undertaken its first flight, an extended order for 100 production-standard aircraft had been placed by the RAF.[33]

 

The first Whittle-engined aircraft, DG205/G,[Note 4] flew on 12 June 1943 (later crashing during takeoff on 27 April 1944) and was followed by DG202/G on 24 July. DG202/G was later used for deck handling tests aboard aircraft carrier HMS Pretoria Castle.[35][36] DG203/G made its first flight on 9 November 1943, later becoming a ground instructional airframe. DG204/G, powered by Metrovick F.2 engines, first flew on 13 November 1943; DG204/G was lost in an accident on 4 January 1944, the cause believed to have been an engine compressor failure due to overspeed.[37] DG208/G made its début on 20 January 1944, by which time the majority of design problems had been overcome and a production design had been approved. DG209/G was used as an engine testbed by Rolls-Royce, first flying on 18 April 1944. DG207/G was intended to be the basis for the Meteor F.2 with de Havilland engines, but it did not fly until 24 July 1945, at which time the Meteor 3 was in full production and de Havilland's attention was being redirected to the upcoming de Havilland Vampire; consequently the F.2 was cancelled.[38][39][40][41]

 

Into production

 

Gloster Meteor being deployed in March 1945

On 12 January 1944, the first Meteor F.1, serial EE210/G, took to the air from Moreton Valence in Gloucestershire. It was essentially identical to the F9/40 prototypes except for the addition of four nose-mounted 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk V cannon and some changes to the canopy to improve all-round visibility.[42] Due to the F.1's similarity to the prototypes, they were frequently operated in the test program to progress British understanding of jet propulsion, and it took until July 1944 for the aircraft to enter squadron service.[43] EE210/G was later sent to the U.S. for evaluation in exchange for a pre-production Bell YP-59A Airacomet, the Meteor being flown first by John Grierson at Muroc Army Airfield on 15 April 1944.[44]

 

Originally 300 F.1s were ordered, but the total produced was reduced to 20 aircraft as the follow-on orders had been converted to the more advanced models.[45] Some of the last major refinements to the Meteor's early design were trialled using this first production batch, and what was to become the long-term design of the engine nacelles was introduced upon EE211.[46] The original nacelles had been discovered by the RAE to suffer from compressibility buffeting at higher speeds, causing increased drag; the re-designed longer nacelles eliminated this and provided an increase in the Meteor's maximum speed. The lengthened nacelles were introduced on the final fifteen Meteor IIIs.[3] EE215 was the first Meteor to be fitted with guns; EE215 was also used in engine reheat trials,[47] the addition of reheat increasing top speed from 420 mph to 460 mph.[3] and was later converted into the first two-seat Meteor.[48] Due to the radical differences between jet-powered aircraft and those that it replaced, a special Tactical Flight or T-Flight unit was established to prepare the Meteor for squadron service, led by Group Captain Hugh Joseph Wilson.[49] The Tactical Flight was formed at Farnborough in May 1944, the first Meteors arriving the following month, upon which both tactical applications and limitations were extensively explored.[50]

 

On 17 July 1944, the Meteor F.1 was cleared for service use. Shortly afterwards, elements of the Tactical Flight and their aircraft were transferred to operational RAF squadrons.[51] The first deliveries to No. 616 Squadron RAF, the first operational squadron to receive the Meteor, began in July 1944.[33] When the F.2 was cancelled, the Meteor F.3 became the immediate successor to the F.1 and alleviated some of the shortcomings of the F.1.[52] In August 1944, the first F.3 prototype flew; early F.3 production aircraft were still fitted with the Welland engine as the Derwent engine's production was just starting at this point. A total of 210 F.3 aircraft were produced before they were in turn superseded by production of the Meteor F.4 in 1945.[53]

 

Several Meteor F.3s were converted into navalised aircraft. The adaptations included a strengthened undercarriage and arrester hook. Operational trials of the type took place aboard HMS Implacable. The trials included carrier landings and takeoffs.[54] Performance of these naval prototype Meteors proved to be favourable, including takeoff performance, leading to further trials with a modified Meteor F.4 fitted with folding wings; a 'clipped wing' was also adopted.[55] The Meteor later entered service with the Royal Navy, but only as a land-based trainer, the Meteor T.7, to prepare pilots of the Fleet Air Arm for flying other jet aircraft such as the de Havilland Sea Vampire.[56]

 

While various marks of Meteor had been introduced by 1948, they had remained very similar to the prototypes of the Meteor; consequently, the performance of the Meteor F.4 was beginning to be eclipsed by new jet designs. Gloster therefore embarked on a redesign programme to produce a new version of the Meteor with better performance.[57] Designated 'Meteor F.8', this upgraded variant was a potent fighter aircraft, forming the bulk of RAF Fighter Command between 1950 and 1955. The Meteor continued to be operated in a military capacity by several nations into the 1960s.[58]

 

Night fighter

To replace the increasingly obsolete de Havilland Mosquito as a night fighter, the Meteor was adapted to serve in the role as an interim aircraft. Gloster had initially proposed a night fighter design to meet the Air Ministry specification for the Mosquito replacement, based on the two seater trainer variant of the Meteor, with the pilot in the front seat and the navigator in the rear.[59] Once accepted however, work on the project was swiftly transferred to Armstrong Whitworth to perform both the detailed design process and production of the type; the first prototype flew on 31 May 1950. Although based on the T.7 twin seater, it used the fuselage and tail of the F.8, and the longer wings of the F.3. An extended nose contained the AI Mk 10 (the 1940s Westinghouse SCR-720) Air Intercept radar. As a consequence the 20 mm cannons were moved into the wings, outboard of the engines. A ventral fuel tank and wing mounted drop tanks completed the Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11.[60][61]

  

Operational Meteor NF.14 of No. 264 Squadron RAF in 1955

As radar technology developed, a new Meteor night fighter was developed to use the improved US-built APS-21 system. The NF.12 first flew on 21 April 1953. It was similar to the NF.11 but had a nose section 17 inches (43 cm) longer;[62] the fin was enlarged to compensate for the greater keel area of the enlarged nose and to counter the airframe reaction to the sideways oscillating motion of the radar scanner which caused difficulty aiming the guns, an anti-tramp motor operating on the rudder was fitted midway up the front leading edge of the fin. The NF.12 also had the new Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engines and the wings were reinforced to handle the new engine.[63][64] Deliveries of the NF.12 started in 1953, with the type entering squadron service in early 1954,[65] equipping seven squadrons (Nos 85, 25, 152, 46, 72, 153 and 64);[66] the aircraft was replaced over 1958–1959.

 

The final Meteor night fighter was the NF.14. First flown on 23 October 1953, the NF.14 was based on the NF.12 but had an even longer nose, extended by a further 17 inches to accommodate new equipment, increasing the total length to 51 ft 4 in (15.65 m) and a larger bubble canopy to replace the framed T.7 version.[67] Just 100 NF.14s were built; they first entered service in February 1954 beginning with No. 25 Squadron and were being replaced as early as 1956 by the Gloster Javelin. Overseas, they remained in service a little longer, serving with No. 60 Squadron at Tengah, Singapore until 1961. As the NF.14 was replaced, some 14 were converted to training aircraft as the NF(T).14 and given to No. 2 Air Navigation School on RAF Thorney Island until transferring to No. 1 Air Navigation School at RAF Stradishall where they served until 1965.[68]

 

Design

 

Meteor F.8 in flight at RAF Greenham Common, May 1986

 

Gloster Meteor F.8 Cockpit

The first operational version of the Meteor, designated as the Meteor F.1, apart from the minor airframe refinements, was a straightforward 'militarisation' of the earlier F9/40 prototypes.[69] The dimensions of the standard Meteor F.1 were 41 ft 3 in (12.57 m) long with a span of 43 ft 0 in (13.11 m), with an empty weight of 8,140 lb (3,690 kg) and a maximum takeoff weight of 13,795 lb (6,257 kg).[42] Despite the revolutionary turbojet propulsion used,[70] the design of the Meteor was relatively orthodox and did not take advantage of many aerodynamic features used on other, later jet fighters, such as swept wings; the Meteor shared a broadly similar basic configuration to its German equivalent, the Messerschmitt Me 262, which was also aerodynamically conventional.[71]

 

It was an all-metal aircraft with a tricycle undercarriage and conventional low, straight wings with mid-mounted turbojet engines and a high-mounted tailplane clear of the jet exhaust.[Note 5][Note 6] The Meteor F.1 exhibited some problematic flying characteristics typical of early jet aircraft; it suffered from stability problems at high transonic speeds, large trim changes, high stick forces and self-sustained yaw instability (snaking) caused by airflow separation over the thick tail surfaces.[73] The longer fuselage of the Meteor T.7, a two-seater trainer, significantly reduced the aerodynamic instability that the early Meteors were known for.[74]

 

Later Meteor variants would see a large variety of changes from the initial Meteor F.1 introduced to service in 1944. Much attention was given to raising the aircraft's top speed, often by improving the airframe's aerodynamic qualities, incorporating the latest engine developments, and increasing the strength of the airframe.[69][75] The Meteor F.8, which emerged in the late 1940s, was considered to have substantially improved performance over prior variants;[76] the F.8 was reportedly the most powerful single-seat aircraft flying in 1947, capable of ascending to 40,000 feet (12,000 m) within five minutes.[77]

 

Construction

From the outset, each Meteor was constructed from several modular sections or separately produced units, a deliberate design choice to allow for production to be dispersed and for easy disassembly for transport.[78] Each aircraft comprised five main sections: nose, forward fuselage, central section, rear fuselage and tail units; the wings were also built out of lengthwise sections.[79] The forward section contained the pressure cabin, gun compartments, and forward undercarriage. The centre section incorporated much of the structural elements, including the inner wing, engine nacelles, fuel tank, ammunition drums, and main undercarriage. The rear fuselage was of a conventional semi-monocoque structure. Various aluminium alloys were the primary materials used throughout the structure of the Meteor, such as the stressed duralumin skin.[80]

 

Across the Meteor's production life, various different companies were subcontracted to manufacture aircraft sections and major components; due to the wartime workload on producing fighter aircraft such as the Hawker Hurricane and Hawker Typhoon, neither Gloster nor the wider Hawker Siddeley Group were able to internally meet the production demand of 80 aircraft per month.[23] Bristol Tramways produced the forward fuselage of the aircraft, the Standard Motor Company manufactured the central fuselage and inner wing sections, the Pressed Steel Company produced the rear fuselage, and Parnall Aircraft made the tail unit.[81] Other main subcontractors included Boulton Paul Aircraft, Excelsior Motor Radiator Company, Bell Punch, Turner Manufacturing Company, and Charlesworth Bodies; as many of these firms had little or no experience producing aircraft, both quality and interchangeability of components were maintained by contractually enforced adherence to Gloster's original drawings.[82]

 

From the Meteor F.4 onwards, Armstrong Whitworth began completing whole units at their Coventry facility in addition to Gloster's own production line.[83] Belgian aviation firm Avions Fairey also produced the Meteor F.8 under licence from Gloster for the Belgian Air Force; a similar licence manufacturing arrangement was made with Dutch company Fokker to meet the Royal Netherlands Air Force's order.[84]

 

Engines

 

Rolls-Royce Welland engine on display. The rear of the engine is at the left.

The Meteor F.1 was powered by two Rolls-Royce Welland turbojet engines, Britain's first production jet engines, which were built under licence from Whittle's designs.[29] The Meteor embodied the advent of practical jet propulsion; in the type's service life, both military and civil aviation manufacturers rapidly integrated turbine engines into their designs, favouring its advantages such as smoother running and greater power output.[85] The Meteor's engines were considerably more practical than those of the German Me 262 as, unlike the Me 262, the engines were embedded into the wing in nacelles between the front and rear spars rather than underslung, saving some weight due to shorter landing gear legs and less massive spars.[86][Note 7]

 

The W.2B/23C engines upon which the Welland was based produced 1,700 lbf (7.6 kN) of thrust each, giving the aircraft a maximum speed of 417 mph (671 km/h) at 9,800 feet (3,000 m) and a range of 1,000 miles (1,600 km).[42] It incorporated a hydraulically driven engine starter developed by Rolls-Royce, which was automated following the press of a starter button in the cockpit.[Note 8] The engines also drove hydraulic and vacuum pumps as well as a generator via a Rotol gearbox fixed on the forward wing spar;[29] the cockpit was also heated by bleed air from one of the engines.[80] The acceleration rate of the engines was manually controlled by the pilot; rapid engine acceleration would frequently induce compressor stalls early on; the likelihood of compressor stalls was effectively eliminated upon further design refinements of both the Welland engine and the Meteor itself.[88] At high speeds the Meteor had a tendency to lose directional stability, often during unfavourable weather conditions, leading to a 'snaking' motion; this could be easily resolved by throttling back to reduce speed.[89]

 

Based upon designs produced by Power Jets, Rolls-Royce produced more advanced and powerful turbojet engines. Beyond numerous improvements made to the Welland engine that powered the early Meteors, Rolls-Royce and Power Jets collaborated to develop the more capable Derwent engine, which as the Rover B.26 had undergone a radical re-design from the W.2B/500 while at Rover. The Derwent engine, and the re-designed Derwent V based on the Nene, was installed on many of the later production Meteors; the adoption of this new powerplant led to considerable performance increases.[29][86][Note 9] The Meteor often served as the basis for the development of other early turbojet designs; a pair of Meteor F.4s were sent to Rolls-Royce to aid in their experimental engine trials, RA435 being used for reheat testing, and RA491 being fitted with the Rolls-Royce Avon, an axial-flow engine.[29][91] From their involvement in the development of the Meteor's engines, Armstrong-Siddeley, Bristol Aircraft, Metropolitan-Vickers, and de Havilland also independently developed their own gas turbine engines.[92]

 

Performance

 

Meteor NF.11 (right) flying with a Hawker Hunter T7A at the Cotswold Air Show in 2009

During development, sceptical elements of the Air Ministry had expected mature piston-powered aircraft types to exceed the capabilities of the Meteor in all respects except that of speed; thus, the performance of early Meteors was considered favourable for the interceptor mission, being capable of out-diving the majority of enemy aircraft.[93] The conclusion of in-service trials conducted between the Meteor F.3. and the Hawker Tempest V was that the performance of the Meteor exceeded the Tempest in almost all respects and that, barring some manoeuvrability issues, the Meteor could be considered a capable all-round fighter.[94] Pilots formerly flying piston-engine aircraft often described the Meteor as being exciting to fly. British politician Norman Tebbit stated of his experience flying the Meteor in the RAF: "Get airborne, up with the wheels, hold it low until you were about 380 knots, pull it up and she would go up, well we thought then, like a rocket".[95]

 

Early jet engines consumed a lot more fuel than the piston engines they replaced so the Welland engines imposed considerable flight-time limitations on the Meteor F.1, leading to the type being used for local interception duties only. In the post-war environment, there was considerable pressure to increase the range of interceptors to counter the threat of bombers armed with nuclear weapons.[96] The long-term answer to this question was in-flight refuelling; several Meteors were provided to Flight Refuelling Limited for trials of the newly developed probe-and-drogue refuelling techniques. This capability was not incorporated in service Meteors, which had already been supplanted by more modern interceptor aircraft at this point.[97]

 

A total of 890 Meteors were lost in RAF service (145 of these crashes occurring in 1953 alone), resulting in the deaths of 450 pilots. Contributory factors in the number of crashes were the poor brakes, failure of the landing gear, the high fuel consumption and consequent short flight endurance (less than one hour) causing pilots to run out of fuel, and difficult handling with one engine out due to the widely set engines. The casualty rate was exacerbated by the lack of ejection seats in early series Meteors;[98] the much higher speed that the aircraft was capable of meant that to bail out pilots might have to overcome high g forces and fast-moving airflow past the cockpit; there was also a greater likelihood of the pilot striking the horizontal tailplane.[99] Ejection seats were fitted in the later F.8, FR.9, PR.10 and some experimental Meteors.[100][101][page needed] The difficulty of baling out of the Meteor had been noted by pilots during development, reporting several contributing design factors such as the limited size and relative position of the cockpit to the rest of the aircraft, and difficulty in using the two-lever jettisonable hood mechanism.[102]

 

Operational service

Second World War

 

Gloster Meteor F.1 of No. 616 Squadron

No. 616 Squadron RAF was the first to receive operational Meteors: a total of 14 aircraft were initially delivered. The squadron was based at RAF Culmhead, Somerset and had been equipped with the Spitfire VII.[103] The conversion to the Meteor was initially a matter of great secrecy.[104] Following a conversion course at Farnborough attended by the squadron's six leading pilots, the first aircraft was delivered to Culmhead on 12 July 1944.[14][Note 10] The squadron and its seven Meteors moved on 21 July 1944 to RAF Manston on the east Kent coast and, within a week, 32 pilots had been converted to the type.[105]

 

The Meteor was initially used to counter the V-1 flying bomb threat. 616 Squadron Meteors saw action for the first time on 27 July 1944, when three aircraft were active over Kent. These were the first operational jet combat missions for the Meteor and for the Royal Air Force. After some problems, especially with jamming guns, the first two V-1 "kills" were made on 4 August.[106] By war's end, Meteors had accounted for 14 flying bombs.[107] After the end of the V-1 threat, and the introduction of the ballistic V-2 rocket, the RAF was forbidden to fly the Meteor on combat missions over German-held territory for fear of an aircraft being shot down and salvaged by the Germans.

 

No. 616 Squadron briefly moved to RAF Debden to allow United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bomber crews to gain experience and create tactics in facing jet-engined foes before moving to Colerne, Wiltshire. For a week from 10 October 1944 a series of exercises were carried out in which a flight of Meteors made mock attacks on a formation of 100 B-24s and B-17s escorted by 40 Mustangs and Thunderbolts. These suggested that, if the jet fighter attacked the formation from above, it could take advantage of its superior speed in the dive to attack the bombers and then escape by diving through the formation before the escorts could react. The best tactic to counter this was to place a fighter screen 5,000 ft above the bombers and attempt to intercept the jets early in the dive.[108] The exercise was also useful from No. 616 Squadron's perspective, giving valuable practical experience in Meteor operations.[109]

  

Meteor F.3s with original short engine nacelles

No. 616 Squadron exchanged its F.1s for the first Meteor F.3s on 18 December 1944. These first 15 F.3s differed from the F.1 in having a sliding canopy in place of the sideways hinging canopy, increased fuel capacity and some airframe refinements. They were still powered by Welland I engines.[110] Later F.3s were equipped with the Derwent I engines. This was a substantial improvement over the earlier mark, although the basic design still had not reached its potential. Wind tunnel and flight tests demonstrated that the original short nacelles, which did not extend far fore and aft of the wing, contributed heavily to compressibility buffeting at high speed. New, longer nacelles not only cured some of the compressibility problems but added 75 miles per hour (120 km/h) at altitude, even without upgraded powerplants. The last batch of Meteor F.3s featured the longer nacelles; other F.3s were retrofitted in the field with the new nacelles. The F.3 also had the new Rolls-Royce Derwent engines, increased fuel capacity, and a new larger, more strongly raked bubble canopy.[53]

 

Judging the Meteor F.3s were ready for combat over Europe, the RAF finally decided to deploy them on the continent. On 20 January 1945, four Meteors from 616 Squadron were moved to Melsbroek in Belgium and attached to the Second Tactical Air Force,[111] just under three weeks after the Luftwaffe's surprise Unternehmen Bodenplatte attack on New Year's Day, in which Melsbroek's RAF base, designated as Allied Advanced Landing Ground "B.58", had been struck by piston-engined fighters of JG 27 and JG 54. The 616 Squadron Meteor F.3s' initial purpose was to provide air defence for the airfield, but their pilots hoped that their presence might provoke the Luftwaffe into sending Me 262 jets against them.[103] At this point the Meteor pilots were still forbidden to fly over German-occupied territory, or to go east of Eindhoven, to prevent a downed aircraft being captured by the Germans or the Soviets.[112]

  

Ground crew servicing a Meteor of 616 Squadron at Melsbroek, Belgium, 1945. The all-white finish used by the four F.3s sent to Belgium was to aid recognition by ground troops during familiarisation training before the operational F.3 aircraft arrived

In March, the entire squadron was moved to Gilze-Rijen Air Base and then in April, to Nijmegen. The Meteors flew armed reconnaissance and ground attack operations without encountering any German jet fighters. By late April, the squadron was based at Faßberg, Germany and suffered its first losses when two aircraft collided in poor visibility. The war ended with the Meteors having destroyed 46 German aircraft through ground attack.[citation needed] Friendly fire through misidentification as Messerschmitt Me 262s by Allied anti-aircraft gunners was more of a threat than the already-diminished forces of the Luftwaffe; to counter this, continental-based Meteors were given an all-white finish as a recognition aid.[109][111][113]

 

Post-war

The next-generation Meteor F.4 prototype first flew on 17 May 1945, and went into production in 1946 when 16 RAF squadrons were already operating Meteors.[113] Equipped with Rolls-Royce Derwent 5 engines, the smaller version of the Nene, the F.4 was 170 mph (270 km/h) faster than the F.1 at sea level (585 against 415), but the reduced wings impaired its rate of climb.[114][Note 11] The F.4 wingspan was 86.4 cm shorter than the F.3 and with blunter wing tips, derived from the world speed record prototypes. Improvements included a strengthened airframe, fully pressurised cockpit, lighter ailerons to improve manoeuvrability, and rudder trim adjustments to reduce snaking. The F.4 could be fitted with a drop tank under each wing, and experiments were carried out with carriage of underwing stores and also in lengthened fuselage models.

 

Because of increased demand, F.4 production was divided between Gloster and Armstrong Whitworth. The majority of early F.4s did not go to the RAF: 100 were exported to Argentina, seeing action on both sides in the 1955 revolution;[115] in 1947, only RAF Nos. 74 and 222 squadrons were fully equipped with the F.4. Nine further RAF squadrons converted from 1948 onwards. From 1948, 38 F.4s were exported to the Dutch, equipping four squadrons (322, 323, 326 and 327) split between bases in Soesterberg and Leeuwarden until the mid-1950s. In 1949, only two RAF squadrons were converted to the F.4, Belgium was sold 48 aircraft in the same year (going to 349 and 350 squadrons at Beauvechain) and Denmark received 20 over 1949–1950. In 1950, three more RAF squadrons were upgraded, including No. 616 and, in 1951, six more.

  

WA742, a two-seat Meteor T7 in 1961

A modified two-seater F.4 for jet-conversion and advanced training was tested in 1949 as the T.7. It was accepted by the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm and became a common addition to the various export packages (for example 43 to Belgium between 1948 and 1957, a similar number to the Netherlands over the same period, two to Syria in 1952, six to Israel in 1953, etc.). Despite its limitations – unpressurised cockpit, no armament, limited instructor instrumentation – more than 650 T.7s were manufactured.[116][117] The T.7 remained in RAF service into the 1970s.[118]

 

As improved jet fighters emerged, Gloster decided to modernise the F.4 while retaining as much of the manufacturing tooling as possible. The result was the definitive production model, the Meteor F.8 (G-41-K), serving as a major RAF fighter until the introduction of the Hawker Hunter and the Supermarine Swift. The first prototype F.8 was a modified F.4, followed by a true prototype, VT150, that flew on 12 October 1948 at Moreton Valence.[119] Flight testing of the F.8 prototype led to the discovery of an aerodynamic problem: after ammunition was expended, the aircraft became tail-heavy and unstable around the pitch axis due to the weight of fuel in fuselage tanks no longer being balanced by the ammunition. Gloster solved the problem by substituting the tail of the abortive G 42 single-engined jet fighter. The F.8 and other production variants successfully used the new tail design, giving the later Meteors a distinctive appearance, with taller straighter edges compared with the rounded tail of the F.4s and earlier marks.[120]

  

Meteor F.8 at the Danish Flight Museum, 2006

The F.8 also featured a fuselage stretch of 76 cm (30 in), intended to shift the aircraft's centre of gravity and also eliminate the use of ballast formerly necessary in earlier marks due to the subsequent elimination from the design of two of the originally designed six installed cannon. The F.8 incorporated uprated engines, Derwent 8s, with 3,600 lbf (16 kN) thrust each combined with structural strengthening, a Martin Baker ejection seat and a "blown" teardrop cockpit canopy that provided improved pilot visibility.[121] Between 1950 and 1955, the Meteor F.8 was the mainstay of RAF Fighter Command, and served with distinction in combat in Korea with the RAAF as well as operating with many air forces worldwide, although it was clear that the original design was obsolete compared with contemporary swept-wing fighters such as the North American F-86 Sabre and the Soviet MiG-15.[122]

 

Initial deliveries of the F.8 to the RAF were in August 1949, with the first squadron receiving its fighters in late 1950. Like the F.4, there were strong export sales of the F.8. Belgium ordered 240 aircraft, the majority assembled in The Netherlands by Fokker. The Netherlands had 160 F.8s, equipping seven squadrons until 1955. Denmark had 20, ordered in 1951, the last F.8s in front-line service in Europe. The RAAF ordered 94 F.8s, which served in the Korean War. Despite arms embargoes, both Syria and Egypt received F.8s from 1952, as did Israel, each using their Meteors during the Suez Crisis. Brazil ordered 60 new Meteor F.8s and 10 T.7 trainers in October 1952, paying with 15,000 tons of raw cotton.[123]

 

In the 1950s, Meteors were developed into effective photo-reconnaissance, training and night fighter versions. The fighter reconnaissance (FR) versions were the first to be built, replacing the ageing Spitfires and Mosquitos then in use. Two FR.5s were built on the F.4 body; one was used for nose section camera tests, the other broke up in midair while in testing over Moreton Valence. On 23 March 1950, the first FR.9 flew. Based on the F.8, it was 20 cm longer with a new nose incorporating a remote control camera and window and was also fitted with additional external ventral and wing fuel tanks. Production of the FR.9 began in July. No. 208 Squadron, then based at Fayid, Egypt was the first to be upgraded followed by the 2nd Tactical Air Force in West Germany, No. 2 Squadron RAF at Bückeburg and No. 79 Squadron RAF at RAF Gutersloh flew the FR.9 from 1951 until 1956. In Aden, No. 8 Squadron RAF was given FR.9s in November 1958 and used them until 1961.[124] Ecuador (12), Israel (7) and Syria (2) were foreign customers for the FR.9.[125]

 

In 1951, 29, 141, 85 and 264 squadrons each received a number of NF.11 aircraft, the first of the Meteor night fighters.[126] It was rolled out across the RAF until the final deliveries in 1954.[127] A "tropicalised" version of the NF.11 for the Middle East was developed; first flying on 23 December 1952 as the NF.13. The aircraft equipped No. 219 Squadron RAF at Kabrit and No. 39 Squadron at Fayid, both in Egypt. The aircraft served during the Suez crisis and remained with No. 39 Squadron after they were withdrawn to Malta until 1958. Several problems were encountered: the heavily framed T.7 canopy made landings tricky due to limited visibility, the under-wing external fuel tanks tended to break up when the wing cannons were fired, and gun harmonisation, normally set to about 400 yards, was poor due to the wings flexing in flight. Belgium (24), Denmark (20) and France (41) were foreign customers for the NF.11.[128] Ex-RAF NF.13s were sold to France (two), Syria (six), Egypt (six) and Israel (six).[129]

 

In addition to the armed, low altitude operation, tactical FR.9 variant, Gloster also developed the PR.10 for high altitude missions.[130] The first prototype flew on 29 March 1950 and was actually converted into the first production aircraft. Based on the F.4, it had the F.4-style tail and the longer wings of the earlier variant. All the cannons were removed and a single camera placed in the nose with two more in the rear fuselage; the canopy was also changed. The PR.10 was delivered to the RAF in December 1950 and were given to No. 2 and No. 541 squadrons in Germany and No. 13 Squadron RAF in Cyprus. The PR.10 was rapidly phased out from 1956; rapid improvements in surface-to-air missile technology and the introduction of newer aircraft capable of flying at greater altitudes and speeds had rendered the aircraft obsolete.

WEEK 18 – Columbia Ave. BI-LO, Lexington, SC (II)

 

While we’re here, here’s a close-up of one of the many “Walter’s Way” signs here in the produce department. For those of you asking “Who the heck is Walter?”, unfortunately I don’t have a good answer for you! All I know is that he’s a fake, invisible spokesperson* who BI-LO brands its produce departments after, with the slogan “Our produce is better because of Walter.” The gimmick is that Walter selectively picks each and every item in the BI-LO produce department for maximum freshness.

 

The concept seems pointless in a way, but BI-LO adamantly keeps using it to this day; this isn’t just outdated décor here. I don’t know the full history behind Walter, but as a matter of fact it would seem he had an even larger workload in the past, since this post from Acme Style shows he used to “work” for Giant-PA, too.

 

* – Unless he is real, and I’ve just offended him XD

 

(c) 2020 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

Great Rocks Junction 23-11-93 It was unusual working on a farm to have Monday or Friday off in winter when the workload is so high and you are either getting ready for the week-end when half the staff are off or recovering from the week-end but on Monday I'm back in the hills. At the same time as the 37s yesterday 60082 heads for Manchester from Buxton light-engine in sun but the snow is gone!

Headland is a civil parish in the Borough of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The parish covers the old part of Hartlepool and nearby villages.

 

History

The Heugh Battery, one of three constructed to protect the port of Hartlepool in 1860, is located in the area along with a museum.

 

The area made national headlines in July 1994 in connection with the murder of Rosie Palmer, a local toddler.

 

On 19 March 2002 the Time Team searched for an Anglo-Saxon monastery.

 

Hartlepool is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area. With an estimated population of 87,995, it is the second-largest settlement (after Darlington) in County Durham.

 

The old town was founded in the 7th century, around the monastery of Hartlepool Abbey on a headland. As the village grew into a town in the Middle Ages, its harbour served as the County Palatine of Durham's official port. The new town of West Hartlepool was created in 1835 after a new port was built and railway links from the South Durham coal fields (to the west) and from Stockton-on-Tees (to the south) were created. A parliamentary constituency covering both the old town and West Hartlepool was created in 1867 called The Hartlepools. The two towns were formally merged into a single borough called Hartlepool in 1967. Following the merger, the name of the constituency was changed from The Hartlepools to just Hartlepool in 1974. The modern town centre and main railway station are both at what was West Hartlepool; the old town is now generally known as the Headland.

 

Industrialisation in northern England and the start of a shipbuilding industry in the later part of the 19th century meant it was a target for the Imperial German Navy at the beginning of the First World War. A bombardment of 1,150 shells on 16 December 1914 resulted in the death of 117 people in the town. A severe decline in heavy industries and shipbuilding following the Second World War caused periods of high unemployment until the 1990s when major investment projects and the redevelopment of the docks area into a marina saw a rise in the town's prospects. The town also has a seaside resort called Seaton Carew.

 

History

The place name derives from Old English heort ("hart"), referring to stags seen, and pōl (pool), a pool of drinking water which they were known to use. Records of the place-name from early sources confirm this:

 

649: Heretu, or Hereteu.

1017: Herterpol, or Hertelpolle.

1182: Hierdepol.

 

Town on the heugh

A Northumbrian settlement developed in the 7th century around an abbey founded in 640 by Saint Aidan (an Irish and Christian priest) upon a headland overlooking a natural harbour and the North Sea. The monastery became powerful under St Hilda, who served as its abbess from 649 to 657. The 8th-century Northumbrian chronicler Bede referred to the spot on which today's town is sited as "the place where deer come to drink", and in this period the Headland was named by the Angles as Heruteu (Stag Island). Archaeological evidence has been found below the current high tide mark that indicates that an ancient post-glacial forest by the sea existed in the area at the time.

 

The Abbey fell into decline in the early 8th century, and it was probably destroyed during a sea raid by Vikings on the settlement in the 9th century. In March 2000, the archaeological investigation television programme Time Team located the foundations of the lost monastery in the grounds of St Hilda's Church. In the early 11th century, the name had evolved into Herterpol.

 

Hartness

Normans and for centuries known as the Jewel of Herterpol.

During the Norman Conquest, the De Brus family gained over-lordship of the land surrounding Hartlepool. William the Conqueror subsequently ordered the construction of Durham Castle, and the villages under their rule were mentioned in records in 1153 when Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale became Lord of Hartness. The town's first charter was received before 1185, for which it gained its first mayor, an annual two-week fair and a weekly market. The Norman Conquest affected the settlement's name to form the Middle English Hart-le-pool ("The Pool of the Stags").

 

By the Middle Ages, Hartlepool was growing into an important (though still small) market town. One of the reasons for its escalating wealth was that its harbour was serving as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. The main industry of the town at this time was fishing, and Hartlepool in this period established itself as one of the primary ports upon England's Eastern coast.

 

In 1306, Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland, and became the last Lord of Hartness. Angered, King Edward I confiscated the title to Hartlepool, and began to improve the town's military defences in expectation of war. In 1315, before they were completed, a Scottish army under Sir James Douglas attacked, captured and looted the town.

 

In the late 15th century, a pier was constructed to assist in the harbour's workload.

 

Garrison

Hartlepool was once again militarily occupied by a Scottish incursion, this time in alliance with the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War, which after 18 months was relieved by an English Parliamentarian garrison.

 

In 1795, Hartlepool artillery emplacements and defences were constructed in the town as a defensive measure against the threat of French attack from seaborne Napoleonic forces. During the Crimean War, two coastal batteries were constructed close together in the town to guard against the threat of seaborne attacks from the Imperial Russian Navy. They were entitled the Lighthouse Battery (1855) and the Heugh Battery (1859).

 

Hartlepool in the 18th century became known as a town with medicinal springs, particularly the Chalybeate Spa near the Westgate. The poet Thomas Gray visited the town in July 1765 to "take the waters", and wrote to his friend William Mason:

 

I have been for two days to taste the water, and do assure you that nothing could be salter and bitterer and nastier and better for you... I am delighted with the place; there are the finest walks and rocks and caverns.

 

A few weeks later, he wrote in greater detail to James Brown:

 

The rocks, the sea and the weather there more than made up to me the want of bread and the want of water, two capital defects, but of which I learned from the inhabitants not to be sensible. They live on the refuse of their own fish-market, with a few potatoes, and a reasonable quantity of Geneva [gin] six days in the week, and I have nowhere seen a taller, more robust or healthy race: every house full of ruddy broad-faced children. Nobody dies but of drowning or old-age: nobody poor but from drunkenness or mere laziness.

 

Town by the strand

By the early nineteenth century, Hartlepool was still a small town of around 900 people, with a declining port. In 1823, the council and Board of Trade decided that the town needed new industry, so the decision was made to propose a new railway to make Hartlepool a coal port, shipping out minerals from the Durham coalfield. It was in this endeavour that Isambard Kingdom Brunel visited the town in December 1831, and wrote: "A curiously isolated old fishing town – a remarkably fine race of men. Went to the top of the church tower for a view."

 

But the plan faced local competition from new docks. 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the north, the Marquis of Londonderry had approved the creation of the new Seaham Harbour (opened 31 July 1831), while to the south the Clarence Railway connected Stockton-on-Tees and Billingham to a new port at Port Clarence (opened 1833). Further south again, in 1831 the Stockton and Darlington Railway had extended into the new port of Middlesbrough.

 

The council agreed the formation of the Hartlepool Dock and Railway Company (HD&RCo) to extend the existing port by developing new docks, and link to both local collieries and the developing railway network in the south. In 1833, it was agreed that Christopher Tennant of Yarm establish the HD&RCo, having previously opened the Clarence Railway (CR). Tennant's plan was that the HD&RCo would fund the creation of a new railway, the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway, which would take over the loss-making CR and extended it north to the new dock, thereby linking to the Durham coalfield.

 

After Tennant died, in 1839, the running of the HD&RCo was taken over by Stockton-on-Tees solicitor, Ralph Ward Jackson. But Jackson became frustrated at the planning restrictions placed on the old Hartlepool dock and surrounding area for access, so bought land which was mainly sand dunes to the south-west, and established West Hartlepool. Because Jackson was so successful at shipping coal from West Hartlepool through his West Hartlepool Dock and Railway Company and, as technology developed, ships grew in size and scale, the new town would eventually dwarf the old town.

 

The 8-acre (3.2-hectare) West Hartlepool Harbour and Dock opened on 1 June 1847. On 1 June 1852, the 14-acre (5.7-hectare) Jackson Dock opened on the same day that a railway opened connecting West Hartlepool to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. This allowed the shipping of coal and wool products eastwards, and the shipping of fresh fish and raw fleeces westwards, enabling another growth spurt in the town. This in turn resulted in the opening of the Swainson Dock on 3 June 1856, named after Ward Jackson's father-in-law. In 1878, the William Gray & Co shipyard in West Hartlepool achieved the distinction of launching the largest tonnage of any shipyard in the world, a feat to be repeated on a number of occasions. By 1881, old Hartlepool's population had grown from 993 to 12,361, but West Hartlepool had a population of 28,000.

 

Ward Jackson Park

Ward Jackson helped to plan the layout of West Hartlepool and was responsible for the first public buildings. He was also involved in the education and the welfare of the inhabitants. In the end, he was a victim of his own ambition to promote the town: accusations of shady financial dealings, and years of legal battles, left him in near-poverty. He spent the last few years of his life in London, far away from the town he had created.

 

World Wars

In Hartlepool near Heugh Battery, a plaque in Redheugh Gardens War Memorial "marks the place where the first ...(German shell) struck... (and) the first soldier was killed on British soil by enemy action in the Great War 1914–1918."

The area became heavily industrialised with an ironworks (established in 1838) and shipyards in the docks (established in the 1870s). By 1913, no fewer than 43 ship-owning companies were located in the town, with the responsibility for 236 ships. This made it a key target for Germany in the First World War. One of the first German offensives against Britain was a raid and bombardment by the Imperial German Navy on the morning of 16 December 1914,

 

Hartlepool was hit with a total of 1150 shells, killing 117 people. Two coastal defence batteries at Hartlepool returned fire, launching 143 shells, and damaging three German ships: SMS Seydlitz, SMS Moltke and SMS Blücher. The Hartlepool engagement lasted roughly 50 minutes, and the coastal artillery defence was supported by the Royal Navy in the form of four destroyers, two light cruisers and a submarine, none of which had any significant impact on the German attackers.

 

Private Theophilus Jones of the 18th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, who fell as a result of this bombardment, is sometimes described as the first military casualty on British soil by enemy fire. This event (the death of the first soldiers on British soil) is commemorated by the 1921 Redheugh Gardens War Memorial together with a plaque unveiled on the same day (seven years and one day after the East Coast Raid) at the spot on the Headland (the memorial by Philip Bennison illustrates four soldiers on one of four cartouches and the plaque, donated by a member of the public, refers to the 'first soldier' but gives no name). A living history group, the Hartlepool Military Heritage Memorial Society, portray men of that unit for educational and memorial purposes.

 

Hartlepudlians voluntarily subscribed more money per head to the war effort than any other town in Britain.

 

On 4 January 1922, a fire starting in a timber yard left 80 people homeless and caused over £1,000,000 of damage. Hartlepool suffered badly in the Great Depression of the 1930s and endured high unemployment.

 

Unemployment decreased during the Second World War, with shipbuilding and steel-making industries enjoying a renaissance. Most of its output for the war effort were "Empire Ships". German bombers raided the town 43 times, though, compared to the previous war, civilian losses were lighter with 26 deaths recorded by Hartlepool Municipal Borough[19] and 49 by West Hartlepool Borough. During the Second World War, RAF Greatham (also known as RAF West Hartlepool) was located on the South British Steel Corporation Works.

 

The merge

In 1891, the two towns had a combined population of 64,000. By 1900, the two Hartlepools were, together, one of the three busiest ports in England.

 

The modern town represents a joining of "Old Hartlepool", locally known as the "Headland", and West Hartlepool. As already mentioned, what was West Hartlepool became the larger town and both were formally unified in 1967. Today the term "West Hartlepool" is rarely heard outside the context of sport, but one of the town's Rugby Union teams still retains the name.

 

The name of the town's professional football club reflected both boroughs; when it was formed in 1908, following the success of West Hartlepool in winning the FA Amateur Cup in 1905, it was called "Hartlepools United" in the hope of attracting support from both towns. When the boroughs combined in 1967, the club renamed itself "Hartlepool" before re-renaming itself Hartlepool United in the 1970s. Many fans of the club still refer to the team as "Pools"

 

Fall out

After the war, industry went into a severe decline. Blanchland, the last ship to be constructed in Hartlepool, left the slips in 1961. In 1967, Betty James wrote how "if I had the luck to live anywhere in the North East [of England]...I would live near Hartlepool. If I had the luck". There was a boost to the retail sector in 1970 when Middleton Grange Shopping Centre was opened by Princess Anne, with over 130 new shops including Marks & Spencer and Woolworths.

 

Before the shopping centre was opened, the old town centre was located around Lynn Street, but most of the shops and the market had moved to a new shopping centre by 1974. Most of Lynn Street had by then been demolished to make way for a new housing estate. Only the north end of the street remains, now called Lynn Street North. This is where the Hartlepool Borough Council depot was based (alongside the Focus DIY store) until it moved to the marina in August 2006.

 

In 1977, the British Steel Corporation announced the closure of its Hartlepool steelworks with the loss of 1500 jobs. In the 1980s, the area was afflicted with extremely high levels of unemployment, at its peak consisting of 30 per cent of the town's working-age population, the highest in the United Kingdom. 630 jobs at British Steel were lost in 1983, and a total of 10,000 jobs were lost from the town in the economic de-industrialization of England's former Northern manufacturing heartlands. Between 1983 and 1999, the town lacked a cinema and areas of it became afflicted with the societal hallmarks of endemic economic poverty: urban decay, high crime levels, drug and alcohol dependency being prevalent.

 

Rise and the future

Docks near the centre were redeveloped and reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 as a marina with the accompanying National Museum of the Royal Navy opened in 1994, then known as the Hartlepool Historic Quay.

 

A development corporation is under consultation until August 2022 to organise projects, with the town's fund given to the town and other funds. Plans would be (if the corporation is formed) focused on the railway station, waterfront (including the Royal Navy Museum and a new leisure centre) and Church Street. Northern School of Art also has funds for a TV and film studios.

 

Governance

There is one main tier of local government covering Hartlepool, at unitary authority level: Hartlepool Borough Council. There is a civil parish covering Headland, which forms an additional tier of local government for that area; most of the rest of the urban area is an unparished area. The borough council is a constituent member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, led by the directly elected Tees Valley Mayor. The borough council is based at the Civic Centre on Victoria Road.

 

Hartlepool was historically a township in the ancient parish of Hart. Hartlepool was also an ancient borough, having been granted a charter by King John in 1200. The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1850. The council built Hartlepool Borough Hall to serve as its headquarters, being completed in 1866.

 

West Hartlepool was laid out on land outside Hartlepool's historic borough boundaries, in the neighbouring parish of Stranton. A body of improvement commissioners was established to administer the new town in 1854. The commissioners were superseded in 1887, when West Hartlepool was also incorporated as a municipal borough. The new borough council built itself a headquarters at the Municipal Buildings on Church Square, which was completed in 1889. An events venue and public hall on Raby Road called West Hartlepool Town Hall was subsequently completed in 1897. In 1902 West Hartlepool was elevated to become a county borough, making it independent from Durham County Council. The old Hartlepool Borough Council amalgamated with West Hartlepool Borough Council in 1967 to form a county borough called Hartlepool.

 

In 1974 the borough was enlarged to take in eight neighbouring parishes, and was transferred to the new county of Cleveland. Cleveland was abolished in 1996 following the Banham Review, which gave unitary authority status to its four districts, including Hartlepool. The borough was restored to County Durham for ceremonial purposes under the Lieutenancies Act 1997, but as a unitary authority it is independent from Durham County Council.

 

Emergency services

Hartlepool falls within the jurisdiction of Cleveland Fire Brigade and Cleveland Police. Before 1974, it was under the jurisdiction of the Durham Constabulary and Durham Fire Brigade. Hartlepool has two fire stations: a full-time station at Stranton and a retained station on the Headland.

 

Economy

Hartlepool's economy has historically been linked with the maritime industry, something which is still at the heart of local business. Hartlepool Dock is owned and run by PD Ports. Engineering related jobs employ around 1700 people. Tata Steel Europe employ around 350 people in the manufacture of steel tubes, predominantly for the oil industry. South of the town on the banks of the Tees, Able UK operates the Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre (TERRC), a large scale marine recycling facility and dry dock. Adjacent to the east of TERRC is the Hartlepool nuclear power station, an advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) type nuclear power plant opened in the 1980s. It is the single largest employer in the town, employing 1 per cent of the town's working age people.

 

The chemicals industry is important to the local economy. Companies include Huntsman Corporation, who produce titanium dioxide for use in paints, Omya, Baker Hughes and Frutarom.

 

Tourism was worth £48 million to the town in 2009; this figure excludes the impact of the Tall Ships 2010. Hartlepool's historic links to the maritime industry are centred on the Maritime Experience, and the supporting exhibits PS Wingfield Castle and HMS Trincomalee.

 

Camerons Brewery was founded in 1852 and currently employs around 145 people. It is one of the largest breweries in the UK. Following a series of take-overs, it came under the control of the Castle Eden Brewery in 2001 who merged the two breweries, closing down the Castle Eden plant. It brews a range of cask and bottled beers, including Strongarm, a 4% abv bitter. The brewery is heavily engaged in contract brewing such beers as Kronenbourg 1664, John Smith's and Foster's.

 

Orchid Drinks of Hartlepool were formed in 1992 after a management buy out of the soft drinks arm of Camerons. They manufactured Purdey's and Amé. Following a £67 million takeover by Britvic, the site was closed down in 2009.

 

Middleton Grange Shopping Centre is the main shopping location. 2800 people are employed in retail. The ten major retail companies in the town are Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Next, Argos, Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Boots and Matalan. Aside from the local sports clubs, other local entertainment venues include a VUE Cinema and Mecca Bingo.

 

Companies that have moved operations to the town for the offshore wind farm include Siemens and Van Oord.

 

Culture and community

Festivals and Fairs

Since November 2014 the Headland has hosted the annual Wintertide Festival, which is a weekend long event that starts with a community parade on the Friday and culminating in a finale performance and fireworks display on the Sunday.

 

Tall Ships' Races

On 28 June 2006 Hartlepool celebrated after winning its bid to host The Tall Ships' Races. The town welcomed up to 125 tall ships in 2010, after being chosen by race organiser Sail Training International to be the finishing point for the race. Hartlepool greeted the ships, which sailed from Kristiansand in Norway on the second and final leg of the race. Hartlepool also hosted the race in July 2023.

 

Museums, art galleries and libraries

Hartlepool Art Gallery is located in Church Square within Christ Church, a restored Victorian church, built in 1854 and designed by the architect Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869). The gallery's temporary exhibitions change frequently and feature works from local artists and the permanent Fine Art Collection, which was established by Sir William Gray. The gallery also houses the Hartlepool tourist information centre.

 

The Heugh Battery Museum is located on the Headland. It was one of three batteries erected to protect Hartlepool's port in 1860. The battery was closed in 1956 and is now in the care of the Heugh Gun Battery Trust and home to an artillery collection.

 

Hartlepool is home to a National Museum of the Royal Navy (more specifically the NMRN Hartlepool). Previously known simply as The Historic Quay and Hartlepool's Maritime Experience, the museum is a re-creation of an 18th-century seaport with the exhibition centre-piece being a sailing frigate, HMS Trincomalee. The complex also includes the Museum of Hartlepool.

 

Willows was the Hartlepool mansion of the influential Sir William Gray of William Gray & Company and he gifted it to the town in 1920, after which it was converted to be the town's first museum and art gallery. Fondly known locally as "The Gray" it was closed as a museum in 1994 and now houses the local authority's culture department.

 

There are six libraries in Hartlepool, the primary one being the Community Hub Central Library. Others are Throston Grange Library, Community Hub North Library, Seaton Carew Library, Owton Manor Library and Headland Branch Library.

 

Sea

Hartlepool has been a major seaport virtually since it was founded, and has a long fishing heritage. During the industrial revolution massive new docks were created on the southern side of the channel running below the Headland, which gave rise to the town of West Hartlepool.

 

Now owned by PD Ports, the docks are still in use today and still capable of handling large vessels. However, a large portion of the former dockland was converted into a marina capable of berthing 500 vessels. Hartlepool Marina is home to a wide variety of pleasure and working craft, with passage to and from the sea through a lock.

 

Hartlepool also has a permanent RNLI lifeboat station.

 

Education

Secondary

Hartlepool has five secondary schools:

 

Dyke House Academy

English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College

High Tunstall College of Science

Manor Community Academy

St Hild's Church of England School

The town had planned to receive funding from central government to improve school buildings and facilities as a part of the Building Schools for the Future programme, but this was cancelled because of government spending cuts.

 

College

Hartlepool College of Further Education is an educational establishment located in the centre of the town, and existed in various forms for over a century. Its former 1960s campus was replaced by a £52million custom-designed building, it was approved in principle in July 2008, opened in September 2011.

 

Hartlepool also has Hartlepool Sixth Form College. It was a former grammar and comprehensive school, the college provides a number of AS and A2 Level student courses. The English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College also offers AS, A2 and other BTEC qualification to 16- to 18-year-olds from Hartlepool and beyond.

 

A campus of The Northern School of Art is a specialist art and design college and higher education, located adjacent to the art gallery on Church Square. The college has a further site in Middlesbrough that facilitates further education.

 

Territorial Army

Situated in the New Armoury Centre, Easington Road are the following units.

 

Royal Marines Reserve

90 (North Riding) Signal Squadron

 

Religion

They are multiple Church of England and Roman Catholic Churches in the town. St Hilda's Church is a notable church of the town, it was built on Hartlepool Abbey and sits upon a high point of the Headland. The churches of the Church of England's St Paul and Roman Catholic's St Joseph are next to each other on St Paul's Road. Nasir Mosque on Brougham Terrace is the sole purpose-built mosque in the town.

 

Sport

Football

Hartlepool United is the town's professional football club and they play at Victoria Park. The club's most notable moment was in 2005 when, with 8 minutes left in the 2005 Football League One play-off final, the team conceded a penalty, allowing Sheffield Wednesday to equalise and eventually beat Hartlepool to a place in the Championship. The club currently play in the National League.

 

Supporters of the club bear the nickname of Monkey Hangers. This is based upon a legend that during the Napoleonic wars a monkey, which had been a ship's mascot, was taken for a French spy and hanged. Hartlepool has also produced football presenter Jeff Stelling, who has a renowned partnership with Chris Kamara who was born in nearby Middlesbrough. Jeff Stelling is a keen supporter of Hartlepool and often refers to them when presenting Sky Sports News. It is also the birthplace and childhood home of Pete Donaldson, one of the co-hosts of the Football Ramble podcast as well as co-host of the Abroad in Japan podcast, and a prominent radio DJ.

 

The town also has a semi-professional football club called FC Hartlepool who play in Northern League Division Two.

 

Rugby union

Hartlepool is something of an anomaly in England having historically maintained a disproportionate number of clubs in a town of only c.90,000 inhabitants. These include(d) West Hartlepool, Hartlepool Rovers, Hartlepool Athletic RFC, Hartlepool Boys Brigade Old Boys RFC (BBOB), Seaton Carew RUFC (formerly Hartlepool Grammar School Old Boys), West Hartlepool Technical Day School Old Boys RUFC (TDSOB or Tech) and Hartlepool Old Boys' RFC (Hartlepool). Starting in 1904 clubs within eight miles (thirteen kilometres) of the headland were eligible to compete for the Pyman Cup which has been contested regularly since and that the Hartlepool & District Union continue to organise.

 

Perhaps the best known club outside the town is West Hartlepool R.F.C. who in 1992 achieved promotion to what is now the Premiership competing in 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons. This success came at a price as soon after West was then hit by bankruptcy and controversially sold their Brierton Lane stadium and pitch to former sponsor Yuills Homes. There then followed a succession of relegations before the club stabilised in the Durham/Northumberland leagues. West and Rovers continue to play one another in a popular Boxing Day fixture which traditionally draws a large crowd.

 

Hartlepool Rovers, formed in 1879, who played at the Old Friarage in the Headland area of Hartlepool before moving to West View Road. In the 1890s Rovers supplied numerous county, divisional and international players. The club itself hosted many high-profile matches including the inaugural Barbarians F.C. match in 1890, the New Zealand Maoris in 1888 and the legendary All Blacks who played against a combined Hartlepool Club team in 1905. In the 1911–12 season, Hartlepool Rovers broke the world record for the number of points scored in a season racking up 860 points including 122 tries, 87 conversions, five penalties and eleven drop goals.

 

Although they ceased competing in the RFU leagues in 2008–09, West Hartlepool TDSOB (Tech) continues to support town and County rugby with several of the town's other clubs having played at Grayfields when their own pitches were unavailable. Grayfields has also hosted a number of Durham County cup finals as well as County Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20 age group games.

 

Olympics

Boxing

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, 21-year-old Savannah Marshall, who attended English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College in the town of Hartlepool, competed in the Women's boxing tournament of the 2012 Olympic Games. She was defeated 12–6 by Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan in her opening, quarter-final bout. Savannah Marshall is now a professional boxer, currently unbeaten as a pro and on 31 October 2020 in her 9th professional fight Marshall became the WBO female middleweight champion with a TKO victory over opponent Hannah Rankin at Wembley Arena.

 

Swimming

In August 2012 Jemma Lowe, a British record holder who attended High Tunstall College of Science in the town of Hartlepool, competed in the 2012 Olympic Games. She finished sixth in the 200-metre butterfly final with a time of 58.06 seconds. She was also a member of the eighth-place British team in the 400m Medley relay.

 

Monkeys

Hartlepool is known for allegedly executing a monkey during the Napoleonic Wars. According to legend, fishermen from Hartlepool watched a French warship founder off the coast, and the only survivor was a monkey, which was dressed in French military uniform, presumably to amuse the officers on the ship. The fishermen assumed that this must be what Frenchmen looked like and, after a brief trial, summarily executed the monkey.

 

Historians have pointed to the prior existence of a Scottish folk song called "And the Boddamers hung the Monkey-O". It describes how a monkey survived a shipwreck off the village of Boddam near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. Because the villagers could only claim salvage rights if there were no survivors from the wreck, they allegedly hanged the monkey. There is also an English folk song detailing the later event called, appropriately enough, "The Hartlepool Monkey". In the English version the monkey is hanged as a French spy.

 

"Monkey hanger" and Chimp Choker are common terms of (semi-friendly) abuse aimed at "Poolies", often from footballing rivals Darlington. The mascot of Hartlepool United F.C. is H'Angus the monkey. The man in the monkey costume, Stuart Drummond, stood for the post of mayor in 2002 as H'angus the monkey, and campaigned on a platform which included free bananas for schoolchildren. To widespread surprise, he won, becoming the first directly elected mayor of Hartlepool, winning 7,400 votes with a 52% share of the vote and a turnout of 30%. He was re-elected by a landslide in 2005, winning 16,912 on a turnout of 51% – 10,000 votes more than his nearest rival, the Labour Party candidate.

 

The monkey legend is also linked with two of the town's sports clubs, Hartlepool Rovers RFC, which uses the hanging monkey as the club logo. Hartlepool (Old Boys) RFC use a hanging monkey kicking a rugby ball as their tie crest.

 

Notable residents

Michael Brown, former Premier League footballer

Edward Clarke, artist

Brian Clough, football manager who lived in the Fens estate in town while manager of Hartlepools United

John Darwin, convicted fraudster who faked his own death

Pete Donaldson, London radio DJ and podcast host

Janick Gers, guitarist from British heavy metal band Iron Maiden

Courtney Hadwin, singer

Jack Howe, former England international footballer

Liam Howe, music producer and songwriter for several artists and member of the band Sneaker Pimps

Saxon Huxley, WWE NXT UK wrestler

Andy Linighan, former Arsenal footballer who scored the winning goal in the 1993 FA Cup Final

Savannah Marshall, professional boxer

Stephanie Aird, comedian and television personality

Jim Parker, composer

Guy Pearce, film actor who lived in the town when he was younger as his mother was from the town

Narbi Price, artist

Jack Rowell, coached the England international rugby team and led them to the semi-final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup

Wayne Sleep, dancer and actor who spent his childhood in the town.

Reg Smythe, cartoonist who created Andy Capp

Jeremy Spencer, guitarist who was in the original Fleetwood Mac line-up

Jeff Stelling, TV presenter, famous for hosting Gillette Soccer Saturday

David Eagle, Folk singer and stand-up comedian,

Local media

Hartlepool Life - local free newspaper

Hartlepool Mail – local newspaper

BBC Radio Tees – BBC local radio station

Radio Hartlepool – Community radio station serving the town

Hartlepool Post – on-line publication

Local television news programmes are BBC Look North and ITV News Tyne Tees.

 

Town twinning

Hartlepool is twinned with:

France Sète, France

Germany Hückelhoven, Germany (since 1973)

United States Muskegon, Michigan

Malta Sliema, Malta

The doctors and other medical staff across the country are going through tough time during the fight against coronavirus outbreak. In the national capital many doctors haven't gone back home for many days. They are spending their off-duty hours in a five star hotel room arranged by the Delhi government.

Doctors of the LNJP Hospital in Delhi, tasked with treating coronavirus-infected patients, have been provided accommodation in 5-star Lalit Hotel. It is a luxurious accommodation but not a substitute for home and family. Away from their families, these doctors are fighting at multiple fronts like warriors.

India Today met with a team of doctors from the LNJP Hospital who are staying at the Lalit Hotel. They shared their experience of dealing with coronavirus pandemic and emotional struggle of not being able to see their families.

At the Lalit Hotel, the every batch of doctors gets a rousing reception by the hotel staff as they arrive here for rest. Vivek Shukla, the general manager of the hotel, told India Today, "The Delhi government has taken 100 rooms and asked us to prepare 150 rooms for these doctors and other health professionals. We offer them special welcome upon their arrival not only as a gesture but out of respect and honour for their duty."

Anupriya, one of the doctors treating Covid-19 patients at LNJP Hospital, has not gone home for five days. She told India Today that her video-call with her husband becomes a very emotional exchange. "My family is concerned about me but they all are very supportive. My husband has learnt cooking," said Dr Anupriya.

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Dr Anupriya and her husband will be celebrating their wedding anniversary in an unusual way. "My husband told me that we would cut the cake online to celebrate out wedding anniversary coming in few days," she said battling her emotions.

"It is my duty to take care of my patients and also keep myself and my family safe. By not going home, I am ensuring that my family is not infected through me," Dr Anupriya said.

Dr Kapil, whose family stays in Maharashtra, said, "My parents call me up from Nagpur several times. But I am not able to take their calls. Covered in personal protective equipment, I cannot attend their calls while on duty. Family is worried about us but our duty is supreme and beyond any fear."

Another doctor, Dr Manish too has not gone home for days. He said his parents have been very cooperative encouraging him to perform his duty well during this pandemic.

There have been reports that some of the coronavirus patients have behaved unruly with doctors in the LNJP Hospital. Responding to such reports, Dr Anupriya said, "The Covid-19 patients are facing difficult situation. We appeal to them to co-operate with the doctors as we are trying to save their lives."

On reports of unruly behaviour by some of the Covid-19 patients, Dr Manish said, "Many patients spit on doctors, come out of the ward naked and abuse medical staff. We try them to convince them that all of us are here for their safety and security."

"This is a difficult time. We are also facing aggressive reaction from the patients but we empathize with them. We cannot meet anyone, nor can they. We try to pacify them. This is difficult time for everyone," said Dr Anushruthi, a Delhi resident but has not been able to see her family members for days.

Dr Sarwari's parents stay in Noida and are in their old age with some critical medical conditions. "My parents are at home and have chronic lung conditions. They are above 60 years of age. I love doing my work. And, at least at I have mental peace that I am not taking any infection back home. The support and accommodation provided by the government is very helpful. We don't want this infection to take home and spread to our family," she said.

Dr Sarvari said she has never stayed away from her family but this is an extraordinary situation. "When I was coming for Covid-19 duty, my family was treating me as I was going for a war and I might never come back home. They are scared but also really proud of what I am doing to fight this pandemic," she said.

Explaining the mental trauma of Covid-19 patients kept in isolation, she said, "We are alone because we have to be with the patients. They are alone because they are the patients. It is hard but you have to empathize with them. It is our duty and we understand where they are coming from."

 

The COVID-19 or the new Corona Virus is different. In this virus we have an enemy which is invisible and sometimes deadly, and the task is harder.

 

About a century ago the Spanish flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people, more than the combined total casualties of World Wars I and II. Our understanding of disease transmission and treatments is far ahead of our position in 1918, but this new coronavirus has shown the limits of our ability to deal with major disease outbreaks.

 

Advice to protect ourselves is clear: wash your hands well and often, self-isolate if you feel unwell, maintain social distance by avoiding crowded and public spaces and, if your symptoms worsen, contact medical services. Only by following this advice rigorously can we hope to stem the tide of new infections.

  

For now, however, the virus is spreading and, on the frontline between a nervous public and those responsible for directing national responses, the healthcare workers on whom we all depend can easily be forgotten.

 

During the Ebola outbreak six years ago, the World Health Organisation estimated that health workers were between 21 and 32 times more likely to be infected with Ebola than people in the general adult population. In West Africa more than 350 health care workers died while battling Ebola.

 

Doctors, nurses, carers and paramedics around the world are facing an unprecedented workload in overstretched health facilities, and with no end in sight. They are working in stressful and frightening work environments, not just because the virus is little understood, but because in most settings they are under-protected, overworked and themselves vulnerable to infection.

 

The risk to doctors, nurses and others on the front lines has become plain: Italy has seen at least 18 doctors with coronavirus die. Spain reported that more than 3,900 health care workers have become infected,

 

We need a whole-of-society resolve that we will not let our frontline soldiers become patients. We must do everything to support health workers who, despite their own well-founded fears, are stepping directly into COVID-19’s path to aid the afflicted and help halt the virus’s spread.

 

In sub-Saharan Africa as elsewhere, pressure on the healthcare workforce will intensify in the coming months. A recent survey of National Nurses United (NNU) members in the US, revealed that only 30% believed their healthcare organization had sufficient inventory of personal protective equipment (PPE) for responding to a surge event. In some parts of France and Italy, hospitals have run out of masks, forcing doctors to examine and treat coronavirus patients without adequate protection.

 

www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/corona-warriors/st...

 

www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/corona-warriors/st...

 

The situation in poorer countries will be worse. Demand has far outstripped supplies. In Kenya to enable health workers to do their jobs safely we will dedicate resources to providing gowns, gloves, and medical grade face masks, and also arm them with the latest knowledge and information on the virus. As partners the Government of Kenya, the United Nations and the international community are determined to explore every avenue to ensure all the possible support for the health workers.

 

Evidence indicates that coronavirus can survive on some hard surfaces for up to three days, but it is also easily killed by simple disinfectants. Health workers need the back-up of ancillary staff to increase the frequency and rigour of cleaning light switches, countertops, handrails, elevator buttons and doorknobs. Such measures can give much-needed reassurance to stressed care givers and protect the public too.

 

Like soldiers, health workers also face considerable mental stress. It is often forgotten that as humans, they feel the sorrow of loss when their patients succumb to the virus. They too have families, and so will also naturally be fearful that the virus might reach those they love most.

 

Whenever possible we will ensure that healthcare workers have access to counselling services so they can recharge before moving on again, given that this could be a long, drawn out battle.

 

We need to also use accurate information as a means of defence. Misinformation can cause public panic, suspicion and unrest; it can disrupt the availability of food and vital supplies and divert resources - such as face masks - away from health workers and other frontline workers whose need is greatest.

 

COVID-19 will not be the last dangerous microbe we see. The heroism, dedication and selflessness of medical staff allow the rest of us a degree of reassurance that we will overcome this virus.

 

We must give these health workers all the support they need to do their jobs, be safe and stay alive. We will need them when the next pandemic strikes.

 

www.un.org/africarenewal/web-features/coronavirus/health-...

   

Overwhelmed, mostly under-resourced and risking their lives in the seemingly unending battle against a virulent virus. That’s the state of the global army today that’s taking on a pandemic which has already claimed more than 12,000 lives and affected more than 284,000 people around the world. And the sleep-deprived heroes of that army come armed with stethoscopes and thermometers. The hospital is their theatre and the ventilator often the weapon of last resort.

 

In the global war against coronavirus, they are our true heroes. Doctors, nurses, pathologists and paramedics. Ambulance drivers, medical cleaners and administrators. Hospital managers and other pillars of the desperately-strained public health system around the world. And medical researchers racing against all odds in the quest to develop a cure.

 

Some have stared at desperate faces stricken with the virus and healed them, brought them back to safety. Some of them have stared at battles lost. And many have laid down their lives in the line of duty.

A 29-year-old doctor in Wuhan — the epicentre of the outbreak in China — who postponed his planned Lunar New Year marriage to save hundreds of lives hit by the killer virus. But he never made it — he died after contracting the virus from one of the patients. A 67-year-old physician in Italy — the new global epicentre of the virus — who continued to treat dozens of patients even after all his protective gear ran out, and sacrificed his life in the process. An 80-year-old lung specialist who came out of retirement to attend to the surging cases of COVID-19 positive patients in West Jakarta. A nurse in the northern Italian town of Cremona, whose face with her mask on has come to symbolise the exhausting efforts of those fighting COVID-19.

 

They are our true heroes.

 

In most cases, these selfless warriors have had to cut themselves off from their own families and loved one to prevent infecting them. Their extraordinary sacrifice for the sake of humanity has come at a great personal cost and deserves our unending gratitude.

 

But gratitude alone is not sufficient. When this crisis is over, there must be a reassessment of who we value most in society and how we treat them. We need to find ways of robustly investing in what matters the most — in higher wages and better conditions for the medical fraternity, in advancing medical research and technology, in acknowledging that they are the last frontier of our modern battles.

 

That will be the best tribute we can pay to our heroes and the true saviours of the 21st century.

 

gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/coronavirus-heroes-deserv...

I love the light on an early morning river, especially when the seasons change, the grasses seem to glow yellow and the water is quieter, less tempestuous than in summer or winter. The tree in the foreground is a Cape chestnut. This is the view from my deck. Lucky me. From my bed I saw this heron stalking its prey, balance perfect and patient. I have NEVER been successful at photographing this most beautiful goliath heron, to my great disappointment but here he is anyway.

 

My workload should be decreasing from this week onward. My apologies for my very sporadic visits to your beautiful sites.

Gladstone alumina refinery. Construction of the refinery at an estimated £52 million began in September 1964. Around 70 firms were awarded contracts for the supply of materials and erection of the refinery, which was expected to produce 600,000 tons of alumina annually. The refinery covers 80 hectares of a 3050 hectare site on the south-east outskirts of the city of Gladstone. Adjacent to the plant is a wharf and storage facility on South Trees Island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway bridge. QAL operates with an average workforce of 1050 employees, and some 300 plus contractors which varies with workload and added 18 new apprentices in 2012. (Source: QAL)

  

Catherine Zeta-Jones, (born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Born and raised in Swansea, Zeta-Jones aspired to be an actress from a young age. Zeta-Jones initially established herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal such as in the action film The Mask of Zorro (1998) and the heist film Entrapment (1999). Critics praised her portrayal of a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic (2000) and a murderous singer in the musical Chicago (2002). The latter won her Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress, among other accolades. She starred in high-profile films for much of the decade, including the black comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003), the heist film Ocean's Twelve (2004), the comedy The Terminal (2004), and the romantic comedy No Reservations (2007). Parts in smaller-scale features were followed by a decrease in workload, during which she returned to stage and portrayed an ageing actress in A Little Night Music (2009), winning a Tony Award. Zeta-Jones continued to work intermittently in the 2010s, starring in the psychological thriller Side Effects (2013) and the action film Red 2 (2013).

The work continues on the Avengers: Endgame project once again with Pepper Potts’ Rescue armor. MK 49 is complete ✅ youtu.be/_qqbJTMTq7k

 

Still hyped to work on these projects no matter how many years pass. Infinity Saga is still what inspires me most. MCU has otherwise been mostly in disarray up until 2025 anyway.

 

Got this prepped soon after Wolverine earlier this summer and have been painting it on/off ever since. Even got to work on Pepper here a little bit while visiting the AV Figures crew in CA too ✈️

 

Entire figure of course would not have been possible without the outstanding work of Tuminio. This actually uses parts from the V1 kit from way back. Despite some inaccuracies here/there, I still thought the V1 looked great. You have to really study it to spot the differences anyway.

 

All fully painted by me, including the magnetically attached Energy Displacer Sentries. Added a good chunk of time to the figure—so worth it though. Arms and legs were pretty challenging design-wise.

 

Arealight curved torso, face is an extra Pepper head from 2013, and the hair is a modded Leyile Brick piece just chopped up to accommodate the armor and repainted ️

 

Metallic paint work was easier here, but still a long workload. Had to sculpt the shoulders on myself during prep too. Didn’t really feel like painting hand armor—too much handling on them anyway when swapping the sentries.

 

Would love to hear what you guys think. Unintentionally ended being the best suit I’ve ever painted—oops

 

Definitely a thrill to take all the shots in-camera. Started feeling like I’d never do some of these scenes

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, today celebrated the first Connecticut-built CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter that will be delivered to the U.S. Marine Corps. This helicopter, which moves more troops and cargo more rapidly from ship to shore, was the first all digitally designed helicopter.

 

The CH-53K’s digital thread runs from design through production, maintenance, and sustainment, increasing mission availability while reducing pilot and crew workload.

 

This King Stallion™ helicopter will be stationed at Marine Corps Aviation Station New River in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Marines will conduct training flights and support the fleet with heavy-lift missions with the aircraft in preparation for the CH-53K’s first deployment in 2024. This heavy-lift helicopter is part of a 200 aircraft Program of Record for the Marine Corps with a total of 33 aircraft currently on contract and an additional nine on contract for long lead parts.

 

The CH-53K is the only sea-based, long range, heavy-lift helicopter in production and will immediately provide three times the lift capability of its predecessor.

 

The CH-53K will further support the U.S. Marine Corps in its mission to conduct expeditionary heavy-lift assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland from a sea-based center of operations, critical in the Indo-Pacific region.

 

The new CH-53K has heavy-lift capabilities that exceed all other DoD rotary wing-platforms, and it is the only heavy-lifter that will remain in production through 2032 and beyond.

 

Additional information: www.lockheedmartin.com/ch53k.

T129 ATAK is a new generation, tandem two-seat, twin engine helicopter specifically designed for attack and reconnaissance purposes. T129 ATAK, developed from the combat proven AgustaWestland A129CBT, incorporates totally new system philosophy with new engines (LHTEC CTS 800-4A), new avionics, visionics and weapons, modified airframe, uprated drive train and new tail rotor.

 

The T129 ATAK is the helicopter selected in 2007 by the Government of Turkey for the Turkish Land Forces; development and production will be assured by the "ATAK Team", a Joint Partnership of Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) and AgustaWestland. The first TAI-manufactured helicopter was delivered to Turkish Land Forces by the end of April 2014.

 

T129 ATAK has been optimized to meet and exceed the "high and hot" performance requirements for harsh geographical and environmental conditions while providing the following key characteristics;

•Day & night all environment capability; effective, precise weapon systems that provide combat superiority while low visual, aural, radar and IR signatures, high level of crashworthiness and ballistic tolerance provide high battlefield survivability.

•Excellent situational awareness through good visibility arcs and fully integrated mission and communication systems.

•Eased crew workloads through superior performance, agility and platform stability and handling qualities.

•Reduced Preparation Time augmented by off-board Mission Planning System and reduced take-off time.

•Low operating cost through effective design and on-condition maintenance.

 

T129 ATAK could be provided with MIZRAK ATGMs, and CIRIT (70 mm. Guided Rockets) designed for Turkish Armed Forces. Further armament options include Hellfire and Spike ATGMs, Stinger A/A missiles. A new FLIR system increases image quality and range performance with real-time image processing and multiple target tracking with high resolution thermal camera, laser rangefinder, designator and spot tracker. The relatively small radar cross section and state of the art systems counter measure systems help to provide high battlefield survivability, low visual, aural, radar and IR signatures.

 

Technical Specifications:

•Powerplant: LHTEC CTS-800 4A, 2 x 1014kW (2 x 1361shp).

•Max Design Gross Weight: 5000 kg (11,023 lb).

•Dimensions: Length: 13.64 m Main Rotor Diameter: 11.90 m Overall Height: 3.96 m.

•Crew: 2, Tandem.

•Cruise Speed: 269 km/h, 145 kts.

•Range: 561 km.

•HIGE: 3993 m.

•HOGE: 3048 m.

•Service Ceiling: 6096 m.

•Endurance: 3 hrs (std tank).

•Armaments: 2x4 UMTAS ATGM Missile (or Hellfire or Spike), 4x19 70 mm (2.75”) Unguided Rockets, 4x2-4 70 mm (2.75”) Guided CİRİT Rockets, 2x2 ATAM Stinger.

 

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The AH-1 Cobra was developed in the mid-1960s as an interim gunship for the U.S. Army for use during the Vietnam War. The Cobra shared the proven transmission, rotor system, and the T53 turboshaft engine of the UH-1 "Huey". By June 1967, the first AH-1G HueyCobras had been delivered. Bell built 1,116 AH-1Gs for the U.S. Army between 1967 and 1973, and the Cobras chalked up over a million operational hours in Vietnam.

The U.S. Marine Corps was very interested in the AH-1G Cobra, too, but it preferred a twin-engine version for improved safety in over-water operations, and also wanted a more potent turret-mounted weapon. At first, the Department of Defense had balked at providing the Marines with a twin-engine version of the Cobra, in the belief that commonality with Army AH-1Gs outweighed the advantages of a different engine fit. However, the Marines won out and awarded Bell a contract for 49 twin-engine AH-1J SeaCobras in May 1968. As an interim measure the U.S. Army passed on thirty-eight AH-1Gs to the Marines in 1969. The AH-1J also received a more powerful gun turret with a three-barrel 20 mm XM197 cannon based on the six-barrel M61 Vulcan cannon.

 

During the 1990s, the US forces gradually phased out its Cobra fleet. The withdrawn AH-1s were typically offered to other potential operators, usually NATO allies. Some were also given to the USDA's Forest Service for fire surveillance, and a handful AH-1s went into private hands, including the NASA. Among these airframes were some USMC AH-1Js, which had in part been mothballed in the Mojave Desert since their replacement through more powerful and modern AH-1 variants and the AH-64.

About twenty airframes were, after having been de-militarized, bought by the Kaman Corporation in 2003, in a bold move to quickly respond to more than 20 inquiries for the company’s K-1200 ‘K-Max’ crane synchropter since the type’s end of production in 2001 from firefighting, logging and industry transport requirements. While not such a dedicated medium lift helicopter as the K-1200, which had from the outset been optimized for external cargo load operations, the twin-engine AH-1J promised to be a very effective alternative and a powerful basis for a conversion into a crane helicopter.

 

The result of this conversion program was the Kaman K-1300, also known as the “K-Cobra” or “Crane Cobra”. While the basic airframe of the AH-1J was retained, extensive detail modifications were made. To reduce weight and compensate for the extensive hardware changes, the SeaCobra lost its armor, the chin turret, and the stub wings. Beyond that, many invisible changes were made; the internal structure between the engine mounts was beefed up with an additional cage structure and a cargo hook was installed under the fuselage in the helicopter’s center of lift.

 

To further optimize the K-Cobra’s performance, the dynamic components were modified and improved, too. While the engine remained the same, its oil cooler was enlarged and the original output limit to 1.500 shp was removed and the gearbox was strengthened to fully exploit the twin-engine’s available power of 1,800 shp (1,342 kW). The rotor system was also modified and optimized for the transport of underslung loads: the original UH-1 dual-blade rotors were replaced with new four-blade rotors. The new main rotor with rugged heavy-duty blades offered more lift at less rotor speed, and the blades’ lift sections were moved away from the hub so that downwash and turbulences directly under the helicopter’s CoG and man hook were reduced to keep the cargo load more stable. Due to the main rotor’s slightly bigger diameter the tail rotor was changed into a slightly smaller four-blade rotor, too. This new arrangement made the K-1300 more stable while hovering or during slow speed maneuvers and more responsive to steering input.

 

The Cobra’s crew of two was retained, but the cockpit was re-arranged and split into two compartments: the pilot retained the original rear position in the tandem cockpit under the original glazing, but the gunner’s station in front of him, together with the secondary dashboard, was omitted and replaced by a new, fully glazed cabin under the former gunner position. This cabin occupied the former gun station and its ammunition supply and contained a rearward-facing workstation for a second pilot with full controls. It was accessible via a separate door or a ladder from above, through a trap door in the former gunner’s station floor, where a simple foldable bench was available for a third person. This arrangement was chosen due to almost complete lack of oversight of the slung load from the normal cockpit position, despite a CCTV (closed circuit television) system with two cameras intended for observation of slung loads. The second pilot would control the helicopter during delicate load-handling maneuvers, while the primary pilot “above” would fly the helicopter during transfer flights, both sharing the workload.

 

To accommodate the cabin under the fuselage and improve ground handling, the AH-1J’s skids were replaced by a stalky, fixed four-wheel landing gear that considerably increased ground clearance (almost 7 feet), making the attachment of loads on the ground to the main ventral hook easier, as the K-1300 could be “rolled over” the cargo on the ground and did not have to hover above it to connect. However, an external ladder had to be added so that the pilot could reach his/her workstation almost 10 feet above the ground.

 

The bulky ventral cabin, the draggy landing gear and the new lift-optimized rotor system reduced the CraneCobra’s top speed by a third to just 124 mph (200 km/h), but the helicopter’s load-carrying capacity became 35% higher and the Cobra’s performance under “hot & high” conditions was markedly improved, too.

For transfer flights, a pair of external auxiliary tanks could be mounted to the lower fuselage flanks, which could also be replaced with cargo boxes of similar size and shape.

 

K-1300 buyers primarily came from the United States and Canada, but there were foreign operators, too. A major operator in Europe became Heliswiss, the oldest helicopter company in Switzerland. The company was founded as „Heliswiss Schweizerische Helikopter AG“, with headquarters in Berne-Belp on April 17, 1953, what also marked the beginning of commercial helicopter flying in Switzerland. During the following years Heliswiss expanded in Switzerland and formed a network with bases in Belp BE, Samedan GR, Domat Ems GR, Locarno TI, Erstfeld UR, Gampel VS, Gstaad BE and Gruyères FR. During the build-up of the rescue-company Schweizerische Rettungsflugwacht (REGA) as an independent network, Heliswiss carried out rescue missions on their behalf.

 

Heliswiss carried out operations all over the world, e. g. in Greenland, Suriname, North Africa and South America. The first helicopter was a Bell 47 G-1, registered as HB-XAG on September 23, 1953. From 1963 Heliswiss started to expand and began to operate with medium helicopters like the Agusta Bell 204B with a turbine power of 1050 HP and an external load of up to 1500 kg. From 1979 Heliswiss operated a Bell 214 (external load up to 2.8 t).

Since 1991 Heliswiss operated a Russian Kamov 32A12 (a civil crane version of the Ka-27 “Helix”), which was joined by two K-1300s in 2004. They were frequently used for construction of transmission towers for overhead power lines and pylons for railway catenary lines, for selective logging and also as fire bombers with underslung water bags, the latter managed by the German Helog company, operating out of Ainring and Küssnacht in Germany and Switzerland until 2008, when Helog changed its business focus into a helicopter flight training academy in Liberia with the support of Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

A second Kamov 32A12 joined the fleet in 2015, which replaced one of the K-1300s, and Heliswiss’ last K-1300 was retired in early 2022.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2, plus space for a passenger

Length: 54 ft 3 in (16,56 m) including rotors

44 ft 5 in (13.5 m) fuselage only

Main rotor diameter: 46 ft 2¾ in (14,11 m)

Main rotor area: 1,677.64 sq ft (156,37 m2)

Width (over landing gear): 12 ft 6 in (3.85 m)

Height: 17 ft 8¼ in (5,40 m)

Empty weight: 5,810 lb (2,635 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 9,500 lb (4,309 kg) without slung load

13,515 lb (6,145 kg) with slung load

 

Powerplant:

1× P&W Canada T400-CP-400 (PT6T-3 Twin-Pac) turboshaft engine, 1,800 shp (1,342 kW)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 124 mph (200 km/h, 110 kn)

Cruise speed: 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn)

Range: 270 mi (430 km, 230 nmi) with internal fuel only,

360 mi (570 km 310 nmi) with external auxiliary tanks

Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

Hovering ceiling out of ground effect: 3,000 m (9,840 ft)

Rate of climb: 2,500 ft/min (13 m/s) at Sea Level with flat-rated torque

 

External load capacity (at ISA +15 °C (59.0 °F):

6,000 lb (2,722 kg) at sea level

5,663 lb (2,569 kg) at 5,000 ft (1,524 m)

5,163 lb (2,342 kg) at 10,000 ft (3,048 m)

5,013 lb (2,274 kg) at 12,100 ft (3,688 m)

4,313 lb (1,956 kg) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

  

The kit and its assembly:

This is/was the second contribution to the late 2022 “Logistics” Group Build at whatifmodellers.com, a welcome occasion and motivation to tackle a what-if project that had been on my list for a long while. This crane helicopter conversion of a HueyCobra was inspired by the Mil Mi-10K helicopter – I had built a 1:100 VEB Plasticart kit MANY years ago and still remembered the helicopter’s unique ventral cabin under the nose with a rearward-facing second pilot. I always thought that the AH-1 might be a good crane helicopter, too, esp. the USMC’s twin-engine variant. And why not combine everything in a fictional model?

 

With this plan the basis became a Fujimi 1:72 AH-1J and lots of donor parts to modify the basic hull into “something else”. Things started with the removal of the chin turret and part of the lower front hull to make space for the ventral glass cabin. The openings for the stub wings were faired over and a different stabilizer (taken from a Revell EC 135, including the end plates) was implanted. The attachment points for the skids were filled and a styrene tube was inserted into the rotor mast opening to later hold the new four-blade rotor. Another styrene tube with bigger diameter was inserted into the lower fuselage as a display holder adapter for later flight scene pictures. Lead beads filled the nose section to make sure the CraneCobra would stand well on its new legs, with the nose down. The cockpit was basically taken OOB, just the front seat and the respective gunner dashboard was omitted.

 

One of the big challenges of this build followed next: the ventral cabin. Over the course of several months, I was not able to find a suitable donor, so I was forced to scratch the cabin from acrylic and styrene sheet. Size benchmark became the gunner’s seat from the Cobra kit, with one of the OOB pilots seated. Cabin width was less dictated through the fuselage, the rest of the cabin’s design became a rather simple, boxy thing – not pretty, but I think a real-life retrofitted cabin would not look much different? Some PSR was done to hide the edges of the rather thick all-clear walls and create a 3D frame - a delicate task. Attaching the completed thing with the second pilot and a dashboard under the roof to the Cobra’s lower hull and making it look more or less natural without major accidents was also a tricky and lengthy affair, because I ignored the Cobra’s narrowing nose above the former chin turret.

 

With the cabin defining the ground helicopter’s clearance, it was time for the next donors: the landing gear from an Airfix 1:72 Kamow Ka-25, which had to be modified further to achieve a proper stance. The long main struts were fixed to the hull, their supporting struts had to be scratched, in this case from steel wire. The front wheels were directly attached to the ventral cabin (which might contain in real life a rigid steel cage that not only protects the second crew member but could also take the front wheels’ loads?). Looks pretty stalky!

Under the hull, a massive hook and a fairing for the oil cooler were added. A PE brass ladder was mounted on the right side of the hull under the pilot’s cockpit, while a rear-view mirror was mounted for the ventral pilot on the left side.

 

The rotor system was created in parallel, I wanted “something different” from the UH-1 dual-blade rotors. The main rotor hub was taken from a Mistercraft 1:72 Westland Lynx (AFAIK a re-boxed ZTS Plastyk kit), which included the arms up to the blades. The hub was put onto a metal axis, with a spacer to make it sit well in the new styrene tube adapter inside of the hull, and some donor parts from the Revell EC 135. Deeper, tailored blades were glued to the Lynx hub, actually leftover parts from the aforementioned wrecked VEB Plasticart 1:100 Mi-10, even though their length had to be halved (what makes you aware how large a Mi-6/10 is compared with an AH-1!). The tail rotor was taken wholesale from the Lynx and stuck to the Cobra’s tail with a steel pin.

  

Painting and markings:

Another pushing factor for this build was the fact that I had a 1:72 Begemot aftermarket decal sheet for the Kamow Ka-27/32 in The Stash™, which features, among many military helicopters, (the) two civil Heliswiss machines – a perfect match!

Using the Swiss Helix’ as design benchmark I adapted their red-over-white paint scheme to the slender AH-1 and eventually ended up with a simple livery with a white belly (acrylic white from the rattle can, after extensive masking of the clear parts with Maskol/latex milk) and a red (Humbrol 19) upper section, with decorative counter-colored cheatlines along the medium waterline. A black anti-glare panel was added in front of the windscreen. The auxiliary tanks were painted white, too, but they were processed separately and mounted just before the final coat of varnish was applied. The PE ladder as well as the rotors were handled similarly.

 

The cockpit and rotor opening interior were painted in a very dark grey (tar black, Revell 06), while the interior of the air intakes was painted bright white (Revell 301). The rotor blades became light grey (Revell 75) with darker leading edges (Humbrol 140), dark grey (Humbrol 164) hubs and yellow tips.

 

For the “HELOG/Heliswiss” tagline the lower white section had to be raised to a medium position on the fuselage, so that they could be placed on the lower flanks under the cockpit. The white civil registration code could not be placed on the tail and ended up on the engine cowling, on red, but this does not look bad or wrong at all.

The cheatlines are also decals from the Ka-32 Begemot sheet, even though they had to be trimmed considerably to fit onto the Cobra’s fuselage – and unfortunately the turned out to be poorly printed and rather brittle, so that I had to improvise and correct the flaws with generic red and white decal lines from TL Modellbau. The white cross on the tail and most stencils came from the Begemot sheet, too. Black, engine soot-hiding areas on the Cobra’s tail were created with generic decal sheet material, too.

 

The rotor blades and the wheels received a black ink treatment to emphasize their details, but this was not done on the hull to avoid a dirty or worn look. After some final details like position lights the model was sealed with semi-matt acrylic varnish, while the rotors became matt.

  

A weird-looking what-if model, but somehow a crane-copter variant of the AH-1 looks quite natural – even more so in its attractive red-and-white civil livery. The stalky landing gear is odd, though, necessitated by the ventral cabin for the second pilot. I was skeptical, but scratching the latter was more successful than expected, and the cabin blend quite well into the AH-1 hull, despite its boxy shape.

 

What with the car in the garage, unpredictable weather, family committments and a heavy workload, I haven't managed to get out shooting much recently, and when I have the weather hasn't played ball. However, come the end of tomorrow, I am a free agent for the next 10 days.

 

This is a little something to remind me of the kind of skies I'm hoping for when I'm off. If anyone is fancying a sunrise or sunset shoot any time in the next week or so, drop me a line...

 

Taken a couple of weeks ago on a lovely baby blue / pink sunset.

 

EOS 1000D / Sigma 10-20mm / Hitech filters (can't remember!)

Please understand that I can't visit and comment as much as I'd like to because of workload demands.

 

I believe this plant is Xanthosoma (elephant ears), which, like taro, is also edible. However, since it's not from my garden, I cannot know for certain, although most local garden shops sell the plants as elephant ears, not taro.

 

© All rights reserved. No usage allowed in any form without the written consent of Mim Eisenberg.

 

'beneath' On Black

 

Reminder: Please do not post notes on my photo or any images in your comments unless they are germane to my shot and of thumbnail size. If you do, I will delete the comment. I welcome your input, but please express yourself in text only, or provide a link to your image. Thank you.

 

Nikolai Khabibulin - Nikolai Alexandrovich Khabibulin ( born January 13, 1973) is a Russian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Known by the nickname "The Bulin Wall", he spent the majority of his playing career in the National Hockey League with the Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Edmonton Oilers. Khabibulin excelled at the international level, winning two Olympic medals (gold and bronze) and was named Best Goaltender at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He was the first Russian goaltender to win the Stanley Cup, doing so with Tampa Bay in 2004; until 2020, he was also the only Russian goaltender to start in the Finals. He is also a four-time NHL All-Star.

 

Playing career - Winnipeg Jets / Phoenix Coyotes (1994–99)

Khabibulin was selected in the ninth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets. In the 1993–94 season, he played with the touring Russian Penguins and by the start of the NHL season in January 1995, was playing in the NHL. In 1996, he moved with the Jets to Phoenix, Arizona, where they became the Phoenix Coyotes. In five years with the Jets / Coyotes franchise, he started at least 60 games in three of those seasons (including two instances in which he played 70 games), a heavy workload for a goaltender. Although the team made the Stanley Cup playoffs each of these years, some claimed that their first-round exits were partly due to Khabibulin being fatigued from playing so many regular season games.

 

Tampa Bay Lightning (2001–2004) - On March 5, 2001, Khabibulin was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Mike Johnson, Paul Mara, Ruslan Zainullin and the New York Islanders' second-round choice (previously acquired; Phoenix selected Matthew Spiller). Khabibulin quickly signed a contract with Tampa Bay and by the next season, he re-emerged as a premier goaltender. At the 2002 NHL All-Star Game his flawless, 20-save third period allowed the World All-Stars to rally for a comeback 8–5 win. Though Éric Dazé of the Chicago Blackhawks was chosen as the All-Star MVP, Khabibulin's play was the talk of both locker rooms. Indeed, many players were surprised that Khabibulin wasn't named MVP, an honour they felt was deserved and obvious. MVP voting was allegedly conducted with about five minutes remaining in the game while the North American All-Stars still held the lead.

 

Chicago Blackhawks (2005–2009) - As the National Hockey League Players' Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement, Khabibulin became a free agent when play was set to resume. Coming off his Stanley Cup win the previous NHL season, the Chicago Blackhawks signed him to a four-year, $27 million deal, making him the highest paid goaltender in the League. Injuries and inconsistent play, however, plagued him during his tenure in Chicago. In his first season with the Blackhawks, he recorded a 3.35 goals against average — the highest of his career since his rookie season in Winnipeg — and Chicago finished second-to-last in the Western Conference. In July 2008, the Blackhawks signed goaltender Cristobal Huet, previously of the Washington Capitals. The signing of Huet was thought to have effectively displaced Khabibulin as the starting goaltender, especially given he was put on waivers on September 29, 2008, but cleared. In light of Huet and Khabibulin's combined salaries (Huet was signed to a contract averaging $5.6 million per season), it was speculated Khabibulin would be traded to provide cap space. However, he spent the entire season with the team, playing in 42 games, and by the start of the 2009 playoffs, he had retrenched himself as starting goaltender. Khabibulin and the Blackhawks defeated the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks to progress to the Western Conference Finals against the Detroit Red Wings. During the third game of the series, Khabibulin surrendered three goals in one period after shutting out the Red Wings in the previous period. He was replaced by Huet for the third period due to a lower body injury. Khabibulin missed the remaining three games of the series as a result of the injury.

 

Edmonton Oilers (2009–2013) On July 1, 2009, Khabibulin signed a four-year, $15 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers, replacing Dwayne Roloson as the Oilers' starting goaltender.

 

Return to Chicago (2013–14) - On July 5, 2013, Khabibulin signed a one-year, $2 million contract to play for the Blackhawks for the 2013–14 season. It was his second stint with Chicago after previously playing for them from 2005 to 2009. He served as the backup goaltender to Corey Crawford. Khabibulin suffered an injury in a loss to the Nashville Predators on November 16, 2013, and was placed on injured reserve the next day. As a result, goaltender Antti Raanta was recalled from the Blackhawks' American Hockey league affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. He never played another game in the NHL after sustaining the hip injury. Khabibulin announced his intentions to retire on November 13, 2015. He has expressed an interest in continuing his hockey career in management.

 

LINK to video - Nikolai Khabibulin was a WALL! - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk_C0nNyYXQ

 

LINK to video - Nikolai Khabibulin goes down but makes save - www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_1Su_8jZPY

 

LINK to video - Candid interview with Nikolai Khabibulin - CTV Edmonton (September 13, 2011) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fFvkmLIDyI

I have been away from Flickr for a while. the prime reason being tat had a couple of good American friends over for a visit and somehow had to try and balance my hectic workload with the need to spend some quality time with them on their holiday.

 

This picture was taken on a hike up the wonderful mountain of Slioch. This hill is situated on the shores of Loch Maree and rises very steeply for 3,200 feet. the summit is hidden in this view, however its lower defences can clearly be seen.

See this locomotive in the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0EB79rFKxc&feature=youtu.be

 

Bearing down on Teignmouth with the final Torbay Express of the year is preserved British Railways Standard Class 7, 70000 'Britannia'.

 

One of the last and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, the British Rail Standard Class 7 was BR's top express locomotive, and could have been utilised far better in its short lifespan, but ended up only serving the railways for 15 years, a blink of an eye compared to other mainline Pacifics of the time that had operated under the pre-nationalisation companies.

 

Designed by Robert Riddles, who had previously coined the design for the War Department Austerity 2-10-0 and 2-8-0 freight locomotives, the BR Standard Class 7's were conceived of as a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges, which were done to test the best and worst aspects of locomotive design within the Big Four railway companies that had existed before nationalisation. The research gained from operating the best designs of the GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern railways on different areas of the British Railways network paved the way for several new classes of standardised locomotives to be constructed, largely to replace many of the ageing Victorian era engines that even in the late 1940's continued to ply their merry trade.

 

The first design requested by the Railway Executive was for a new express passenger Pacific locomotive, designed specifically to reduce maintenance and using the latest available innovations in steam technology from home and abroad. Various labour-saving devices were utilised to produce a simple, standard and effective design, able to produce equivalent power to some of the Pacifics that were still available as legacies of the Big Four.

 

The basic design of the Standard 7's can be traced to LMS construction practices, largely owed to Riddles' previous career with that company, but complimented this with the boiler and trailing wheel design of the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Pacifics so as to follow the best design practice. The firebox was also similar in having a rocking grate, which allowed the fire to be rebuilt without stopping the locomotive, removing both ash and clinker on the move. A self-cleaning smokebox was used, which enabled ash to flow into the atmosphere, reducing the workload of the engine cleaner at the end of a working day. A single chimney was placed on top of the smokebox, which was unusual for a Pacific type of locomotive.

 

The Standard 7's were fitted with 6 ft 2 in driving wheels, allowing these engines greater capacity for use in mixed-traffic working, which made them available for both sustained fast running with heavy passenger trains, yet small enough to allow them to undertake more mundane tasks such as freight haulage.

 

55 of these engines were constructed between 1951 and 1954, with 70000 'Britannia' being the first and flagship of the fleet, with residual locomotives of the class being dubbed 'Britannia-Class'. Three batches were constructed at Crewe Works, before the publication of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

 

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. She was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951. The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed.

 

The Britannias took their names from great Britons, former Star Class locomotives, and Scottish firths, although one locomotive, 70047, was never named. The success of these first Standard Pacifics gave birth to two other Pacific classes over the BR years, including the unique BR Standard Class 8, number 71000 'Duke of Gloucester', which was built in 1954 to replace the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, lost in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952, and the fleet of 10 BR Standard Class 6 'Clan' Pacifics that were employed on services in the west of Scotland, but failed to gain a stellar reputation due to their employment on timetables for the more powerful Standard 7's they couldn't keep up to.

 

The class gained a warm response from locomotive crews across all British Railway Regions, with especially glowing reports from those operating them from Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where its lower weight and high power transformed motive power over the restricted East Anglian lines. However, negative feedback was received from various operating departments, most notably on the Western Region. The criticism was primarily out of partisan preference for GWR-designed locomotive stock among Western Region staff; in particular, the class was 'left-hand drive' in contrast to 'right-hand drive' GWR locomotive and signalling practice, a factor in the Milton rail crash of 1955.

 

For this reason, the Western Region locomotive depots at Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira declared that the class was surplus to requirements. However Cardiff Canton depot displayed its liking for the class (despite being part of the former GWR empire) and managed to obtain good results on South Wales passenger traffic.

 

The Midland Region also had favourable reports, but a marked consistency in losing time on the longer runs between Holyhead and Euston was recorded, although all complaints were down to the individual techniques of the operating crews. This was compounded by the irregular allocation of the class to depots all over the network, meaning that few crews ever had a great deal of experience in driving them. The Southern Region also had an allocation of seven in May 1953, when all Merchant Navy Class locomotives were temporarily withdrawn for inspection after 35020 "Bibby Line" sheared a crank axle on the central driving wheel.

 

Repairs to the class were undertaken at Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster Works until the financial constraints of the British Railways Modernisation Plan in terms of expenditure on steam began to preclude the regular overhaul of locomotives. During the mid-1960s overhauls were carried out exclusively at Crewe Works.

 

Britannia was initially based at Stratford in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe in January and March 1959 before spending the remainder of her career on the London Midland Region based at Willesden, Crewe North, Crewe South and finally Newton Heath.

 

The locomotive also had the distinction of hauling the funeral train for King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had her cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives. Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

 

However, as the locomotives entered the 1960's, the modernisation plan continued to gather pace, and diesel locomotives started to replace steam on most parts of the network. Very soon the Standard 7's placement on Top-Line expresses were demoted to the on-again-off-again work of freight and parcels, and cosmetic maintenance was reduced as their final years loomed. The lavish BR Brunswick Green soon faded to grey, and in some cases BR Lined Black was adopted for ease.

 

The first locomotive to be withdrawn from service was number 70007 Coeur-de-Lion in 1965, and the entire class was gradually transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor and Glasgow Polmadie depots. Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

 

A succession of bulk withdrawals began in 1967, culminating in the very last steam operation in British Railways service on August 11th, 1968, where Standard 7 number 70013 Oliver Cromwell, was chosen to assist in hauling the Fifteen Guinea Special, the last steam hauled British Railways passenger service from Liverpool to Carlisle via the S&C. 70013 was chosen as it was the last the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul at Crewe Works, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. The engine hauled the Manchester to Carlisle leg of the service via the Settle and Carlisle line, with LMS Class 5 45110, and LMS Stanier Class 5 locomotives, 44781 and 44871 double-heading the return working back to Manchester.

 

Upon withdrawal, 70000 was initially planned for preservation with the National Railway Museum due to it's cultural significance, but because of its prototypical nature, 70013 was instead chosen and bought up for preservation. 70000 would later be preserved by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

 

After moving from one home to another, the engine wound up on the Severn Valley Railway, where she remained for a number of years in operational but non-mainline condition. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997.

 

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to Pete Waterman in 2000. Stored at Waterman's workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre, after initial assessment the amount of work resulted in Waterman selling her to Jeremy Hosking. The locomotive underwent restoration at Crewe which involved a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

 

Transferred to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust, the locomotive was returned to main line operational condition in 2011, initially out shopped in its prototype black British Railways livery. After a running-in period, in 2012 the locomotive was repainted in British Railways Brunswick Green, but with an early BR crest. On 24 January 2012, the loco hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles on board to Wakefield Kirkgate, where he rededicated the locomotive. For the trip the loco again had a painted white cab roof, removed after the engine's appearance at the West Somerset Railway's Spring Gala.

Cafe Mônsant Aewol by G-Dragon, Aewol-eup, Jeju Island, South Korea

 

Ever since the beginning of your new career, the heavy and ceaseless workload in the current restless world has become an inevitable form of our urban lifestyle we living in.

 

In some certain time, we have not even seen each other although staying under the same roof. I wasn't aware our hectic life has left nothing but only few messages. I texted in the late night, you replied in the next early morning and likewise. Our verbal conversation has turned into text messages, we gradually and imperceptibly swallowed by it, bit by bit...

 

How long haven't I warming your hands?

How long haven't I listen to your clacks?

How long haven't we watching movie together?

How long haven't we chat about our daily's trifle?

How long haven't we felt each other's temperature?

 

Despite we have tried squeezing time out of our tight schedule, in cruel reality we acknowledged it is only temporary. But we both know I am one drink away if you desperately in need... there will be always one guy behind your back supporting you unconditionally...

 

YouTube Music

 

#d3s

#nikon

#jejuisland

#seogwipo

#nikkor50mmf14

#southkoreatravel

 

----

View On White and View On Black

Sirius Cyberdine GLB3 surface rover - a small personal transport for the spaceman who desires a vehicle meeting all the needs of an outpost inhabitant. With wonderful fuel economy, a tough exterior to withstand harsh solar radiation, and enough room inside for an extra passenger or loads of gear, the GLB3 is the perfect rover for those worlds where wheeled transport is desirable.

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

Febrovery 2018 is here. First, let me apologize to all my friends and followers for the lack of uploads over the past several months. I've been pulled away from the hobby for a myriad of reasons - some personal issues and family crises, as well as a vastly increased workload and other responsibilities. But I wanted to make sure I still made a contribution to my most favorite time of the lego year, Febrovery. I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't get at least one (and maybe one more??) rover uploaded this month. This little guy here was seeded by the rounded rear "windscreen" piece that I really like and used before in a spaceship build. The rest of the build followed easily. For the trans-yellow windscreens I used the yellow Sharpie marker on a set of clear pieces. I hope you all enjoy this little ball of fun and are having a wonderful and productive Febrovery.

Love,

-Tim

My friend Jason and I met for lunch in downtown Toronto and he suggested a nice Thai restaurant a couple of blocks east of the main drag. Sabai Sabai (www.sabaisabaito.ca/) is an unassuming little place in a somewhat seedy stretch of businesses but it serves great food.

 

The moment we entered I was aware of the great light in the front section by the bar and as our server greeted us and took us to the back she mentioned that we were the first lunch customers but that they had some large parties with reservations who would be arriving soon. She was both friendly and beautiful and my “Stranger sense” was immediately on alert. I quickly asked Jason if he would mind my taking a moment to approach her for a photo before the place started filling up and when he said “go for it” I changed lenses and made my request. Meet Alyssa.

 

“Me? Really? That’s a bit of a surprise. I’m really not very photogenic.” “Well, I know you will be photogenic and if you could stand behind the bar for a moment near the windows, I’d like to prove it. I can be quick.” A bit tickled by the prospect Alyssa was willing and I took a few quick photos, told her a bit more about the project, and gave her my contact card.

 

We ordered and a few minutes later the place started filling up and a line formed at the front door extending out onto the street. We had a delicious lunch and admired Alyssa’s calm efficiency as she rushed to keep up with the workload, never losing her composure - even when she had to deal with a disgruntled customer at another table who had a complaint about his wine.

 

Alyssa is 21 and grew up outside of Toronto in the town of Caledon. She is studying Marketing at the university and she likes being a server as a part-time job. She likes people and finds that serving allows more contact with customers than does retail where people often just want to find a product and leave.

 

I thanked her for a great lunch and for helping out with the project. She was glad to have taken part and said it was sure an unexpected and fun way to start her shift. We left as she took the next diners from line to fill the table we had just vacated.

 

Thank you Alyssa for serving us a great lunch and for participating in 100 Strangers. You are #806 in Round 9 of my project. Good luck with your studies!

 

Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.

 

Having worked the Cumbrian Mountaineer special to Carlisle via the Settle & Carlisle, preserved BR Standard Class 7 number 70000 'Britannia' is seen moving with its support coach around the complicated trackwork south of Carlisle station prior to being serviced.

 

One of the last and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, the British Rail Standard Class 7 was BR's top express locomotive, and could have been utilised far better in its short lifespan, but ended up only serving the railways for 15 years, a blink of an eye compared to other mainline Pacifics of the time that had operated under the pre-nationalisation companies.

 

Designed by Robert Riddles, who had previously coined the design for the War Department Austerity 2-10-0 and 2-8-0 freight locomotives, the BR Standard Class 7's were conceived of as a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges, which were done to test the best and worst aspects of locomotive design within the Big Four railway companies that had existed before nationalisation. The research gained from operating the best designs of the GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern railways on different areas of the British Railways network paved the way for several new classes of standardised locomotives to be constructed, largely to replace many of the ageing Victorian era engines that even in the late 1940's continued to ply their merry trade.

 

The first design requested by the Railway Executive was for a new express passenger Pacific locomotive, designed specifically to reduce maintenance and using the latest available innovations in steam technology from home and abroad. Various labour-saving devices were utilised to produce a simple, standard and effective design, able to produce equivalent power to some of the Pacifics that were still available as legacies of the Big Four.

 

The basic design of the Standard 7's can be traced to LMS construction practices, largely owed to Riddles' previous career with that company, but complimented this with the boiler and trailing wheel design of the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Pacifics so as to follow the best design practice. The firebox was also similar in having a rocking grate, which allowed the fire to be rebuilt without stopping the locomotive, removing both ash and clinker on the move. A self-cleaning smokebox was used, which enabled ash to flow into the atmosphere, reducing the workload of the engine cleaner at the end of a working day. A single chimney was placed on top of the smokebox, which was unusual for a Pacific type of locomotive.

 

The Standard 7's were fitted with 6 ft 2 in driving wheels, allowing these engines greater capacity for use in mixed-traffic working, which made them available for both sustained fast running with heavy passenger trains, yet small enough to allow them to undertake more mundane tasks such as freight haulage.

 

55 of these engines were constructed between 1951 and 1954, with 70000 'Britannia' being the first and flagship of the fleet, with residual locomotives of the class being dubbed 'Britannia-Class'. Three batches were constructed at Crewe Works, before the publication of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

 

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. She was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951. The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed.

 

The Britannias took their names from great Britons, former Star Class locomotives, and Scottish firths, although one locomotive, 70047, was never named. The success of these first Standard Pacifics gave birth to two other Pacific classes over the BR years, including the unique BR Standard Class 8, number 71000 'Duke of Gloucester', which was built in 1954 to replace the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, lost in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952, and the fleet of 10 BR Standard Class 6 'Clan' Pacifics that were employed on services in the west of Scotland, but failed to gain a stellar reputation due to their employment on timetables for the more powerful Standard 7's they couldn't keep up to.

 

The class gained a warm response from locomotive crews across all British Railway Regions, with especially glowing reports from those operating them from Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where its lower weight and high power transformed motive power over the restricted East Anglian lines. However, negative feedback was received from various operating departments, most notably on the Western Region. The criticism was primarily out of partisan preference for GWR-designed locomotive stock among Western Region staff; in particular, the class was 'left-hand drive' in contrast to 'right-hand drive' GWR locomotive and signalling practice, a factor in the Milton rail crash of 1955.

 

For this reason, the Western Region locomotive depots at Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira declared that the class was surplus to requirements. However Cardiff Canton depot displayed its liking for the class (despite being part of the former GWR empire) and managed to obtain good results on South Wales passenger traffic.

 

The Midland Region also had favourable reports, but a marked consistency in losing time on the longer runs between Holyhead and Euston was recorded, although all complaints were down to the individual techniques of the operating crews. This was compounded by the irregular allocation of the class to depots all over the network, meaning that few crews ever had a great deal of experience in driving them. The Southern Region also had an allocation of seven in May 1953, when all Merchant Navy Class locomotives were temporarily withdrawn for inspection after 35020 "Bibby Line" sheared a crank axle on the central driving wheel.

 

Repairs to the class were undertaken at Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster Works until the financial constraints of the British Railways Modernisation Plan in terms of expenditure on steam began to preclude the regular overhaul of locomotives. During the mid-1960s overhauls were carried out exclusively at Crewe Works.

 

Britannia was initially based at Stratford in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe in January and March 1959 before spending the remainder of her career on the London Midland Region based at Willesden, Crewe North, Crewe South and finally Newton Heath.

 

The locomotive also had the distinction of hauling the funeral train for King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had her cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives. Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

 

However, as the locomotives entered the 1960's, the modernisation plan continued to gather pace, and diesel locomotives started to replace steam on most parts of the network. Very soon the Standard 7's placement on Top-Line expresses were demoted to the on-again-off-again work of freight and parcels, and cosmetic maintenance was reduced as their final years loomed. The lavish BR Brunswick Green soon faded to grey, and in some cases BR Lined Black was adopted for ease.

 

The first locomotive to be withdrawn from service was number 70007 Coeur-de-Lion in 1965, and the entire class was gradually transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor and Glasgow Polmadie depots. Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

 

A succession of bulk withdrawals began in 1967, culminating in the very last steam operation in British Railways service on August 11th, 1968, where Standard 7 number 70013 Oliver Cromwell, was chosen to assist in hauling the Fifteen Guinea Special, the last steam hauled British Railways passenger service from Liverpool to Carlisle via the S&C. 70013 was chosen as it was the last the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul at Crewe Works, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. The engine hauled the Manchester to Carlisle leg of the service via the Settle and Carlisle line, with LMS Class 5 45110, and LMS Stanier Class 5 locomotives, 44781 and 44871 double-heading the return working back to Manchester.

 

Upon withdrawal, 70000 was initially planned for preservation with the National Railway Museum due to it's cultural significance, but because of its prototypical nature, 70013 was instead chosen and bought up for preservation. 70000 would later be preserved by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

 

After moving from one home to another, the engine wound up on the Severn Valley Railway, where she remained for a number of years in operational but non-mainline condition. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997.

 

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to Pete Waterman in 2000. Stored at Waterman's workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre, after initial assessment the amount of work resulted in Waterman selling her to Jeremy Hosking. The locomotive underwent restoration at Crewe which involved a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

 

Transferred to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust, the locomotive was returned to main line operational condition in 2011, initially out shopped in its prototype black British Railways livery. After a running-in period, in 2012 the locomotive was repainted in British Railways Brunswick Green, but with an early BR crest. On 24 January 2012, the loco hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles on board to Wakefield Kirkgate, where he rededicated the locomotive. For the trip the loco again had a painted white cab roof, removed after the engine's appearance at the West Somerset Railway's Spring Gala.

Ladies, Leaders, Lives Lived, Lives Led - IMRAN™

By Imran Anwar (Flickr cut off last minute)

The last day of March closes out Women's History Month. It is a perfect time to honor and salute at least some of the incredible women who have had an impact on my life since I was born. I know you will love the stories and will join me in honoring these ladies.

 

Family & Early Life

 

March 31 is also the birthday of my precious and incredible younger sister, Dr. Ambereen. A gold-medalist student since childhood, accomplished doctor, great professor, head of the department at the top medical school in Pakistan, devoted wife, incredible mother to a daughter (who just became a doctor), and a son getting a business and tech degree.... On top of that, she is the author of a brand new medical textbook. Not to mention that she manages to beat the combined 10,000 and 10,000 walking steps goals of our brother and me every day, often exceeding 20,000 steps daily! Yet, in all that she does, she insists, that she has not been able to do as much as our late mother was able to accomplish, whom we lost aged 50, thirty years ago.

Our mother, Nargis Anwar, whom people who even only knew her briefly still talk to us about decades after she was gone, gave up her master’s in economics in the final year when she got married and devoted her life to our amazing father, and our upbringing. My father outlived her by nearly two decades, but he never remarried, never even dated. He spent his remaining life talking about her and bringing fresh rose petals to her grave every weekend for the next 17 years.

He did that even during the last 7 years of his life when he was totally paralyzed by a massive stroke and had to be physically carried to her grave! That is how much we all considered her the soul of our family.

I was also triply blessed that I grew up with my late maternal grandmother, Shakila Khatoon. I moved to Karachi just past age 6. I was given the choice to leave home and stay with her for a better education than I would get in the remote locations my father was posted every three years early in his civil engineering career. People still can’t believe my parents let me make that life choice that early.

It was hardest for my mother to accept that decision, as I was her firstborn. But that choice forged my life and gave me the confidence to embark on any journey or take on life’s toughest challenges on my own.

My grandmother was a young orphan, and later a young widow. She could only read Urdu newspapers and the Holy Quran in Arabic. Despite that, she insisted on, and managed to have, all five of her daughters get master’s degrees -- from Economics to Chemistry to Education -- which was not very common in the 1950s in many parts of the world, and impossible even today in some countries.

She gave them the support to build careers in Pakistan in the 1960s. One of my aunts, Parveen Akhtar, still flies around the world as a consultant and speaker to NGOs and governmental organizations on promoting entrepreneurship and women's businesses. Another of my aunts, now-deceased, Ishrat Shirwany, launched a private school system in Pakistan, and then a line of fashion clothing.... for kids... in Pakistan... in the 1960s! Talk about multi-industry entrepreneurship. I was fortunate enough to see them all achieve these things even in a conservative Muslim country while I grew up with my grandmother.

If we Muslims had an equivalent system of sainthood, as was often mentioned in the catholic schools that I was lucky to be educated at in Karachi, my grandmother would have been declared a saint. She was one because of all the ways she continued to serve others, through her life, by example, and by guidance, attention, love, and even prayer, never asking anything in return, or once complaining about having lost her parents, her young husband, then losing a young son, a relatively young daughter, and many more losses.

These are people whom one will never read about in traditional history books, but to me, they are the history of anything I ever achieve in life or any good that I am able to do in my time on earth.

There are obviously many times in my personal life that I have been blessed to be loved with and have had female partners on the journey of life. These incredible, beautiful, smart, talented, and loving souls are part of my personal history as well, so this is a nod to them, but those are stories for another day, another book.

 

Education & Lifelong Learning

 

Going back to the subject of Education. That was something that my grandmother and my parents insisted were essential for me, and all of us, to excel in. It was another area where I shall always honor and cherish several lady-teachers who had the most incredible impact on my life.

The late Sister Mary Frances, who taught Cambridge University School Certificate English Grammar to dozens of us, students, at St. Paul's English High School, in Karachi, had a lot to do with the fact that I love to write so much.

I was eleven, growing up in a developing nation, with English (still) my third language. She could have ignored "'Chinku & Minku Get The Bananas’ by Imran Anwar" -- a short one-act play of imaginary dialog between two kid-monkeys at a zoo. The monkeys discussed how to fool a visitor boy to give them his bananas.

Sister Mary quietly took the paper I handed to her in addition to my actual homework. But more importantly, a few days later she brought it back. She called me over after class. Then she went over it with me…. line by line.... on how to make the dialog tighter, the story more engaging.

She told me, before I was even a teen, that I had a gift for writing. What more could a kid ask for! She did see me get published in the Pakistan Times at age 17, but later she passed away, and was buried in her native Ireland, but draped in a Pakistani flag! She did not get to read things like my Op-Ed pieces published by the Wall Street Journal and other global publications. But I salute her, and other great teachers like her, with every word I write even today.

 

Columbia And America

 

There is obviously not enough time to mention all the great lady-teachers, much less all the teachers, whom I am grateful to. But my lifelong journey of constant learning, even after starting a career, and becoming established in Pakistan, continued.

With the four concentrations full-scholarship MBA from Columbia Business School, Journalism School, as well as Engineering School, to some I may have proven that academic standards have fallen worldwide. But, kidding aside, even at that stage in life, in 1989-1990, when I began the American part of my life's journey, having great ladies as among the greatest teachers remained a great factor.

One of the toughest and most popular professors at Columbia Business School, Professor Dr. Kathryn Harrigan, taught two courses when I was there. Her courses were always oversubscribed. The final rosters of students were picked by lottery. Wanting to be in at least one of her two courses, regardless of how difficult the workload she was famous for, and how tough she was in intellectually challenging her students, I applied for both.

Being a Gemini, I often joke about wanting two of everything. Well, wouldn't you believe it, my name was picked in both lotteries. I would say that I was in two minds, but for a Gemini that is a base state of mind!

Living up to one of my two lifelong mottos, "If Anyone Can, 'I' Can!" yours truly decided to attend both courses... in the same semester. To this day I recall attending the first class of her first subject. You know me, I always have something to say, and something to ask. So, I did. And what an intellectually gratifying discussion it led to from the very first session. When she assigned work and an immense reading workload, I knew I was in for a tough but awesome course.

Later that same afternoon, in another filled classroom, I sat in the first session of Professor Harrigan's second subject. Not missing a beat, she noticed me in that room and was surprised that I had gotten into both classes by lottery.

Then she literally asked if I was a glutton for punishment. Was I sure I wanted to put myself through the grinding workload of two of her courses in the same semester because this course was even tougher than the one earlier that day?

I believe achieving Anything is possible. The Impossible just takes a little more effort. So, I said, "Yes, Professor. I can't wait!" She grinned and went on to teach a class full of successful professionals continuing our learning in awe of her sharp mind. She lived up to her expectation as one of the most incredible professors of anything anywhere, in both the courses we learned from her in.

Literally two decades later, as I was walking to my parked car outside a grocery store on the South shore of eastern Long Island, I saw Professor Harrigan walking out of the store next door. She said, “Aren’t you Imran? You were one of the most interesting students I had in my courses twenty years ago!” Talk about an incredible teacher and an incredibly sharp mind!

Today, Tomorrow, And Beyond

To this day the learnings from Professor Harrigan’s two courses at Columbia University, covering Corporate Strategy (strategic management, alliances, M&A, diversification) and Competitive Strategy (applicable to every aspect of life and business), and our classroom discussions, inspire me in my work. Those are surely at play in my never-ending proposals to leaders at client global giants, as well as to the topmost leaders at Microsoft.

As I write these lines, as midnight approaches the international dateline at the end of Women’s History Month, I must also acknowledge the incredible ladies and leaders within Microsoft.

This includes some of the most accomplished leaders I have worked under. I continue to be privileged to work with them since 2012. There would not be enough space to do justice to the accomplishments of each one of them. But some I must salute by name.

Amy Hood, the incredible Microsoft CFO, has appreciated and supported my new ideas with unassuming personal attention while successfully juggling the responsibilities of a trillion-dollar company. Kathleen Hogan, whose leadership I first joined Microsoft Consulting Services (Enterprise Strategy) and served under in 2012, and to whom to this day I am grateful for her continued support of my strategic proposals for business and personal growth at the company. Kate Johnson, the down-to-earth but top-flight President of Microsoft USA, continues to lead our success. Melanie Simpson, who heads Human Resources with an incredible emphasis on the Human element, does not cease to amaze me. Toni-Townes Whitley, who makes running the most complicated regulated industries businesses, and winning multi-billion dollar deals, seem easy. There are several others whom I honor and salute too, but the clock is about to strike.

Besides their historic successes, even more so on a personal level, I am indebted to these incredible ladies at the highest levels of leadership at Microsoft. I am grateful to them for always giving me time, attention, consideration, and support, in everything I have brought up to them. From expected technology or management ideas to unexpected new products, services, acquisitions, or social-impact proposals.

They have helped me continue to learn and grow, aspire to lead higher, and contribute at the highest levels of my experience and capabilities. They lead and inspire my colleagues and me to serve our clients, and people around the world, to drive Customer Success, for our greatest impact in helping every person and every organization on the planet achieve all they are capable of.

Thank you, ladies!

 

© 2021 IMRAN™

  

This undated picture of Phillips of Shiptonthorpe JBR100F was taken in the mid to late 1980s, probably in the roadside layby near Gilberdyke, where Phillips kept a selection of his fleet. When new to Sunderland Corporation in January 1968, it was one of ten Bristol RELL6Gs with Metro Cammell B47D+19 bodies, which formed part of a fleet of 80 similar buses, most of which were Strachan bodied Leyland Panthers. These 80 buses created quite a stir at the time and not only for their radically different appearance, with American style trapezoid windows. They accompanied the wholesale introduction of driver only operated services, with innovative fast fare payment systems. These comprised flat fares, discounted for pre-purchased tokens, and token operated automatic ticket machines to reduce the driver's workload and speed boarding times. JBR100F was one of eight of the ten, which later passed from Tyne & Wear PTE to Burnley & Pendle Transport as Seddon Pennine RU replacements. It was Burnley & Pendle that removed the centre door, making the bus a single door 50 seater.

Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

 

Believe it or not? I was told that she has free tickets to Singapore Flyer which gonna expire this end of July. This is the second time that we strike free ticket to Singapore Flyer. The first was the McDonald Monopoly game which held it while ago and we missed it (Due to the workload on both personal and office stuffs) That said, I bet we given the second chance NOT to miss this time round.

 

Refer from the shot above which self-explanatory, indeed, this shot taken inside one of the cabin, Singapore Flyer. I didn't expect that much from the outcome, plus i am not in the mood and not in the plan of taking any intended shots. Since she proudly invited, thus just give a try.

 

I been always wanted to visit Singapore Flyer just for shooting ever since the launching, it's been 3 years since the project completed, it was February 2008. She bought something in Best Denki and won a pair of tickets to Singapore Flyer. Personally, if you ask me, i think it is fated to be. Even we been drag until the end of the July (expiry date) and we really squeeze available time just NOT to waste the ride again...

 

The journey took 30 minutes and it was fun, especially for those who love photography, considered a bonus to it. I been lost touch in photography for quite sometime. Always think of brushing up my skills with D80 occasionally, soon hopefully could regain piece by piece progressively.

 

That marked the only trip to Singapore Flyer, i definitely will come again for the late evening shooting. Should be more stunning than what i having now.

   

You must see this on large View On Black and View On White

 

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P/s : This is new Camera Raw v6 editing, CS5 parts can be seen in the commentary too.

 

There are those moments, days, weeks when regardless of capacity we over do it. I've had a few such periods over the last couple of years, and am currently passing through the stress zone. Prioritization, simplification, sleep and sublimation will help me through... and as always a little help from friends and family.

 

Strobist: AB 800 at 1/16 power through medium PB octabox, shooting down on hand. Fired with Pocket Wizards.

Here's a little canal in Brigus.

 

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It's been a stressful past few weeks for me, mainly due to the demands of work. Assignments with conflicting demands on my time keep piling on, and I'm building resentments, despite the knowledge that resentments is what they are. Being a counsellor and working with other counsellors helps me to validate these feelings and understand that the situation is only temporary. But I haven't been keeping up with self-care to nearly the same extent as I had last year, when I had a more consistent schedule. And given that I'm still relatively young, I'm not sure if this is an unreasonable workload, or if this is just "what full-time work is supposed to look like". I don't have much of a frame of reference, but given that the full-timers are complaining about it too, that points to it being less of a problem with my interpretation and more of a problem of insufficient staffing, or perhaps a little too much ambition for the amount of staff we have available. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you've bitten off more than you can chew. Not everybody is a Type A personality, and that would be a horrible world to live in, anyway.

 

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IMG_1019800ps

Pinnacles Desert, Nambung National Park, Perth, Western Australia

 

Recently seeing quite numbers of friends going overseas, but one particular triggered my eagerness to have a trip of my own to do shooting. Seeing their photo works quite heart warming and astonishing too, it is all about family trip with lovely photo shooting by a full time photographer. Unfortunately, oversea trip only happen last quarter of the year. I hope I can do this in the very near future.

 

I recall I have too many photo buried and waiting to be uncovered. Scrolling one by one making sure picking one of the best to process further. And here I found one, pretty sweet.

 

I've to confess, been spending more time on road bike training recently and not really into photo editing, plus the busy workload also part of the reason.

 

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Every shuttle we take, making use of remote control to triggered the timer shuttle mode, so that we have time to do posing and hid the remote control. That's why after the triggered from the remote by aiming the camera, then we have to very quick hid the remote and ready to pose.

  

You must see this on large View On White and View On Black

Amazing sunset down the bay last night.

Owain

 

My recent absence is due to a ridiculous workload at uni. Hopefully I'll catch up with my contacts' streams soon!

 

EXPLORED - #150

 

In case anyone is interested in buying prints, I've set up an order form.

 

WEBSITE | TUMBLR | TWITTER

Dr Alia Crum arrived in the soft brightness that comes after a storm. The air outside Stanford’s Psychology Building was cool and clear, the kind of light that makes everything feel freshly washed. She settled into a comfortable chair in her office with an easy calm, as if the morning’s weather had cleared a little space around her too.

Crum is a psychologist who studies something deceptively simple. She examines how beliefs shape physiology. Not in the loose mystical way that phrase sometimes gets tossed around. Her work cuts closer to the bone. The body is not a passive machine. It responds to expectation. It listens to mindset. She has built a career showing that what we think about stress, food, exercise, illness and treatment can tilt the body’s response in measurable ways.

Her early work came out of a moment most of us would ignore. While studying stress at Yale she realized that stress itself was not always the enemy. The fear of stress could be worse. The belief that stress is damaging primes the body to show more harmful patterns. The belief that stress can sharpen performance nudges the system toward resilience. Not wishful thinking. Observable biology. Shifts in cortisol. Changes in blood vessel constriction. A different hormonal conversation between mind and body.

One of her most famous studies grew from that instinct to question the obvious. The milkshake experiment has been told and retold because of how blunt and beautiful it is. Crum and her team gave participants a milkshake. Same ingredients. Same calories. Same everything. But the label was switched. For one group it was described as a rich decadent indulgence. For the other it appeared as a restrained sensible shake. People drank it while their hunger hormones were measured. Ghrelin the hormone that pushes hunger up or down behaved as if the labels were real. The decadent shake triggered a steep drop in ghrelin as though the body believed satisfaction had arrived. The restrained shake left ghrelin high as though the body had been shortchanged. The stomach listened not just to what was swallowed but to the story around it.

Crum leans into these contradictions. The world is overflowing with advice about how to treat your body. She keeps asking how the body treats belief. Her research at the Mind and Body Lab explores placebos, treatment expectations, the power of framing and how subtle shifts in context can rewrite physiology. People heal faster when they think a treatment is potent even if the medication is identical. Housekeepers who were told their daily work counted as exercise showed improvements in weight and blood pressure without any change in actual workload. Mindset became part of the treatment itself.

Talking with her you sense someone who has not grown cynical despite years of studying human perception. She seems fascinated by how easily the mind can box itself in and how quickly it can step out again with the right nudge. During the shoot she often rested her hand on a notebook the way some people hold a compass. These experiments begin as questions scribbled on a page before they grow into protocols, measurements and data sets that surprise the field again and again.

There is a warmth to the way she listens. She gives every idea a moment to breathe before responding. It makes sense. Her whole scientific life is built on the idea that thoughts matter. Beliefs matter. Not in a magical way. In a biological way. You walk out of her lab with the unsettling and oddly hopeful sense that the stories we tell ourselves are not just background noise. They seep inward. They shape the body. They set the terms for how we cope with stress, how we move through illness and how we meet our own expectations.

Photographing her on that quiet afternoon at Stanford felt like brushing up against the edge of a much larger truth. The mind is not sealed off from the body. Crum has spent her career proving it. And she is only getting started.

In addition to my continuing workload, I am now hampered by a failed DSL modem and am operating on dialup, so my visiting will be even more drastically curtailed until my DSL connection is back.

 

© All rights reserved. No usage allowed in any form without the written consent of Mim Eisenberg.

(+1)

 

I migrated from Buffalo to State College today, thus concluding this most nomadic of weeks.

 

I anticipate cascading workloads to drench my reinvigorated spirit, but I'll attempt to remain afloat.

  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdVG02exVUU&feature=related

The workload this quarter is insane. I got four hours of sleep last night. I didn't really feel it and was actually quite energetic all day, until I got home and crashed. I now have a headache and have yet to do my homework. Ohh, the joys of high school.

To those perverts out there: YES, I am wearing shorts.

And to those confused people out there: I don't have a bad sense of fashion; this is my school uniform. ;)

 

So. Guess whaaattt? My photostream hit 1,000 views today!! :D

 

Currently listening to: Blah Blah Blah - Ke$ha

 

P.S. On a heavier note, RIP Yeardley Love, NDP Class of '06, who was murdered in her UVA dorm room this morning. :( Please pray for her family and all those who knew her.

 

Update: 500 views on this photo alone?!? Holy crap. That's a LOT for me! :) Thanks, you guys :)

Update: My first photo to reach 900 views! Wowww :) I don't understand why people keep viewing this...but whatever. :)

A shot of an iconic helicopter displaying at Old Warden , home of the Shuttleworth Collection .

The most widely used military helicopter, the Bell UH-1 series Iroquois, better known as the "Huey", began arriving in Vietnam in 1963. Before the end of the conflict, more than 5,000 of these versatile aircraft were introduced into Southeast Asia. "Hueys" were used for MedEvac, command and control, and air assault; to transport personnel and materiel; and as gun ships. Considered to be the most widely used helicopter in the world, with more than 9,000 produced from the 1950s to the present, the Huey is flown today by about 40 countries.

 

Bell (model 205) UH-1D (1963) had a longer fuselage than previous models, increased rotor diameter, increased range, and a more powerful Lycoming T53-L-11 1100 shp engine, with growth potential to the Lycoming T53-L-13 1400 shp engine. A distinguishing characteristic is the larger cargo doors, with twin cabin windows, on each side. The UH-1D, redesigned to carry up to 12 troops, with a crew of two, reached Vietnam in 1963. The UH-1D has a range of 293 miles (467km) and a speed of 127 mph (110 knots). UH-1Ds were build under license in Germany. UH-1D "Hueys" could be armed with M60D door guns, quad M60Cs on the M6 aircraft armament subsystem, 20mm cannon, 2.75 inch rocket launchers, 40mm grenade launcher in M5 helicopter chin-turret, and up to six NATO Standard AGM-22B (formerly SS-11B) wire-guided anti-tank missiles on the M11 or M22 guided missile launcher. The UH-1D could also be armed with M60D 7.62mm or M213 .50 Cal. pintle-mounted door guns on the M59 armament subsystem.

 

The MedEvac version UH-1V could carry six stretchers and one medical attendant.

 

Bell (model 205A-1) UH-1H (1967-1986) was identical to the UH-1D but was equipped with an upgraded engine that allowed transport of up to 13 troops. The UH-1H has a two-bladed semi-rigid seesaw bonded all metal main rotor and a two-bladed rigid delta hinge bonded all metal tail rotor. The UH-1H is powered by a single Lycoming T53-L-13B 1400 shp turboshaft engine. More UH-1H "Hueys" were built than any other model. The UH-1H was licensed for co-production in the Republic of China (Taiwan) and in Turkey. UH-1H "Nighthawk" was equipped with a landing light and a pintle mounted M134 7.62mm "minigun" for use during night interdiction missions. The AH-1G Cobra was often flown on night "Firefly" missions using the UH-1H "Nighthawk" to locate and illuminate targets.

The UH-1N is a twin-piloted, twin-engine helicopter used in command and control, resupply, casualty evacuation, liaison and troop transport. The Huey provides utility combat helicopter support to the landing force commander during ship-to-shore movement and in subsequent operations ashore.he aircraft can be outfitted to support operations such as command and control with a specialized communication package (ASC-26), supporting arms coordination, assault support, medical evacuation for up to six litter patients and one medical attendant, external cargo, search and rescue using a rescue hoist, reconnaissance and reconnaissance support, and special operations using a new navigational thermal imaging system mission kit.

 

The goal of the USMC H-1 Upgrades Program is to achieve a platform that meets the growing needs of the Marine Corps. The 4BW and 4BN will be an upgraded version of the current AH-1W and UH-1N Helicopters. The 4BW and 4BN will share a common engine, Auxiliary Power Unit, four-bladed main and tail rotor system, transmission, drive train, and tail boom. The purpose of these modifications is to achieve commonality in both aircraft, thereby reducing logistical support, maintenance workload, and training requirements. The replacement of the two bladed rotor system with a common four bladed rotor system will achieve improved performance, reliability, and maintainability. The addition of an infrared suppresser to the aircraft will improve survivability. The 4BW will also include a newly developed cockpit, which will result in nearly identical front and rear cockpits that simplify operator and maintainer training and maintenance.

 

A link to another view of the helicopter flying --

www.flickr.com/photos/149636765@N04/shares/59u55j

  

Now a link for Sight & Sound the only track possible

youtu.be/InRDF_0lfHk

  

French postcard in the World Collection, no. P.c. 956.

 

Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969) was typecast as the token pretty girl in British films, and therefore relocated to Los Angeles. She established herself in Hollywood with sexy action roles in The Mask of Zorro (1998), Entrapment (1999) and the black comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003).

 

Catherine Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea in 1969. Herr parents were David Jones, the owner of a candy factory, and his wife Patricia (née Fair), a seamstress. In the 1980s, her parents won £100.000 at the game of Bingo and moved to St. Andrews Drive in Mayals, uptown Swansea. Because Zeta-Jones was a hyperactive child, her mother sent her to the Hazel Johnson School of Dance when she was four years old. Zeta-Jones participated in school stage shows from a young age and gained local media attention when her rendition of a Shirley Bassey song won a Junior Star Trail talent competition. As a child, she played roles in the West End productions of the musicals Annie and Bugsy Malone. When she was 15, Zeta-Jones dropped out of school and decided to live in London to pursue a full-time acting career. She studied musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools, London. When she was 17 years old, she made her stage breakthrough with a leading role in a 1987 production of 42nd Street. Her next stage appearance was with the English National Opera at the London Coliseum in 1989 where she played Mae Jones in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. Her screen debut came in the unsuccessful French-Italian film 1001 Nights (Philippe de Broca, 1990), as Sheherezade opposite Thierry Lhermitte. She had greater success as a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993). Following a brief appearance as Beatriz Enríquez de Arana in the unsuccessful adventure film Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (John Glen, 1992), Zeta-Jones featured as a belly dancer in disguise in an episode of George Lucas' television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992). She next took on the part of an aspiring duchess in the farcical period drama Splitting Heirs (Robert Young, 1993), about two children (Eric Idle and Rick Moranis) who are separated at birth. She then starred as the pragmatic girlfriend of Sean Pertwee's character in the surf film Blue Juice (Carl Prechezer, 1995). Dismayed at being typecast as the token pretty girl in British films, Zeta-Jones relocated to Los Angeles.

 

Catherine Zeta-Jones initially established herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal such as in the action film The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998) opposite Antonio Banderas, and the heist film Entrapment (Jon Amiel, 1999), in which she starred opposite Sean Connery as a seductive insurance agent on the lookout for an art thief. Critics praised her portrayal of a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) and a murderous singer in the musical Chicago (Rob Marshall, 2002). For the first she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. The latter won her Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress, among other accolades. In 2003, Zeta-Jones played alongside George Clooney in the Coen Brothers' black comedy Intolerable Cruelty. It was a commercial success. She starred in high-profile films for much of the decade, including the heist film Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh, 2004), the comedy The Terminal (Steven Spielberg, 2004), and the romantic comedy No Reservations (Scott Hicks, 2007). Parts in smaller-scale features were followed by a decrease in workload, during which she returned to stage and portrayed an ageing actress in A Little Night Music (2009), winning a Tony Award. Zeta-Jones continued to work intermittently in the 2010s, starring in the psychological thriller Side Effects (Steven Soderbergh, 2013) and the action film Red 2 (Dean Parisot, 2013). Zeta-Jones is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award and a Tony Award, and in 2010 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her film and humanitarian endeavours. She supports various charities and causes, and is a prominent celebrity endorser of brands. Her struggle with depression and bipolar II disorder has been well documented by the media. She was married to American actor Michael Douglas with whom she has two children. Catherine Zeta-Jones was last seen in the cinemas with Toby Jones and Michael Gambon in the British comedy Dad's Army (Oliver Parker, 2016), based on the legendary TV series.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

The coming of the new academic year has seen major revisions to the Chesterfield College bus network. For the past few years, the demic TM Travel operation has provided eleven dedicated routes to the college from across Derbyshire, numbered in the 600 series, as well as a daytime link between the main campus and the site in Clowne. Rumoured as a consequence of their endemical reliability troubles, TM have now been ousted in favour of former operator Stagecoach Chesterfield who are covering much of the previous network through a smart card system allowing students free transport on their existing service routes. Duplicate runs or slight diversions have been added at appropriate times to routes X17, 77, 82 and the Alfreton services where the aforementioned arrangement would prove insufficient. Three dedicated college services - C1, C2 and C3 - have been registered to serve the routes to Castleton, Buxton and Allestree (600, 605 and 610 under TM) respectively where Stagecoach hold no stagecarriage presence.

 

Recently arrived Trident ALX400 1901HE (17008 - S808BWC until recently) was captured in a murky Bakewell Square this morning on the first C2 from Buxton to the college via Matlock. To cope with the additional workload, this was one of six from the SBWC/TKPU batches transferred from Stagecoach South West, reintroducing the type to Chesterfield depot following a three year absence. All gained cherished Tracky plates prior to being filtered into service late last week. The C workings to Castleton and Buxton have also returned a Stagecoach presence to the Peak District, something which had been lacking since the loss of the evening 215 to TM in October last year in spite of a once extensive network.

See this locomotive in the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHozMGsntFI

 

Seen steaming along the Teignmouth Sea Wall at Sprey Point is preserved British Railways Standard Class 7, 70000 'Britannia', operating the 1Z27 'Torbay Express' from Bristol Temple Meads to Kingswear.

 

One of the last and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, the British Rail Standard Class 7 was BR's top express locomotive, and could have been utilised far better in its short lifespan, but ended up only serving the railways for 15 years, a blink of an eye compared to other mainline Pacifics of the time that had operated under the pre-nationalisation companies.

 

Designed by Robert Riddles, who had previously coined the design for the War Department Austerity 2-10-0 and 2-8-0 freight locomotives, the BR Standard Class 7's were conceived of as a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges, which were done to test the best and worst aspects of locomotive design within the Big Four railway companies that had existed before nationalisation. The research gained from operating the best designs of the GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern railways on different areas of the British Railways network paved the way for several new classes of standardised locomotives to be constructed, largely to replace many of the ageing Victorian era engines that even in the late 1940's continued to ply their merry trade.

 

The first design requested by the Railway Executive was for a new express passenger Pacific locomotive, designed specifically to reduce maintenance and using the latest available innovations in steam technology from home and abroad. Various labour-saving devices were utilised to produce a simple, standard and effective design, able to produce equivalent power to some of the Pacifics that were still available as legacies of the Big Four.

 

The basic design of the Standard 7's can be traced to LMS construction practices, largely owed to Riddles' previous career with that company, but complimented this with the boiler and trailing wheel design of the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Pacifics so as to follow the best design practice. The firebox was also similar in having a rocking grate, which allowed the fire to be rebuilt without stopping the locomotive, removing both ash and clinker on the move. A self-cleaning smokebox was used, which enabled ash to flow into the atmosphere, reducing the workload of the engine cleaner at the end of a working day. A single chimney was placed on top of the smokebox, which was unusual for a Pacific type of locomotive.

 

The Standard 7's were fitted with 6 ft 2 in driving wheels, allowing these engines greater capacity for use in mixed-traffic working, which made them available for both sustained fast running with heavy passenger trains, yet small enough to allow them to undertake more mundane tasks such as freight haulage.

 

55 of these engines were constructed between 1951 and 1954, with 70000 'Britannia' being the first and flagship of the fleet, with residual locomotives of the class being dubbed 'Britannia-Class'. Three batches were constructed at Crewe Works, before the publication of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

 

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. She was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951. The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed.

 

The Britannias took their names from great Britons, former Star Class locomotives, and Scottish firths, although one locomotive, 70047, was never named. The success of these first Standard Pacifics gave birth to two other Pacific classes over the BR years, including the unique BR Standard Class 8, number 71000 'Duke of Gloucester', which was built in 1954 to replace the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, lost in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952, and the fleet of 10 BR Standard Class 6 'Clan' Pacifics that were employed on services in the west of Scotland, but failed to gain a stellar reputation due to their employment on timetables for the more powerful Standard 7's they couldn't keep up to.

 

The class gained a warm response from locomotive crews across all British Railway Regions, with especially glowing reports from those operating them from Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where its lower weight and high power transformed motive power over the restricted East Anglian lines. However, negative feedback was received from various operating departments, most notably on the Western Region. The criticism was primarily out of partisan preference for GWR-designed locomotive stock among Western Region staff; in particular, the class was 'left-hand drive' in contrast to 'right-hand drive' GWR locomotive and signalling practice, a factor in the Milton rail crash of 1955.

 

For this reason, the Western Region locomotive depots at Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira declared that the class was surplus to requirements. However Cardiff Canton depot displayed its liking for the class (despite being part of the former GWR empire) and managed to obtain good results on South Wales passenger traffic.

 

The Midland Region also had favourable reports, but a marked consistency in losing time on the longer runs between Holyhead and Euston was recorded, although all complaints were down to the individual techniques of the operating crews. This was compounded by the irregular allocation of the class to depots all over the network, meaning that few crews ever had a great deal of experience in driving them. The Southern Region also had an allocation of seven in May 1953, when all Merchant Navy Class locomotives were temporarily withdrawn for inspection after 35020 "Bibby Line" sheared a crank axle on the central driving wheel.

 

Repairs to the class were undertaken at Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster Works until the financial constraints of the British Railways Modernisation Plan in terms of expenditure on steam began to preclude the regular overhaul of locomotives. During the mid-1960s overhauls were carried out exclusively at Crewe Works.

 

Britannia was initially based at Stratford in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe in January and March 1959 before spending the remainder of her career on the London Midland Region based at Willesden, Crewe North, Crewe South and finally Newton Heath.

 

The locomotive also had the distinction of hauling the funeral train for King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had her cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives. Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

 

However, as the locomotives entered the 1960's, the modernisation plan continued to gather pace, and diesel locomotives started to replace steam on most parts of the network. Very soon the Standard 7's placement on Top-Line expresses were demoted to the on-again-off-again work of freight and parcels, and cosmetic maintenance was reduced as their final years loomed. The lavish BR Brunswick Green soon faded to grey, and in some cases BR Lined Black was adopted for ease.

 

The first locomotive to be withdrawn from service was number 70007 Coeur-de-Lion in 1965, and the entire class was gradually transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor and Glasgow Polmadie depots. Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

 

A succession of bulk withdrawals began in 1967, culminating in the very last steam operation in British Railways service on August 11th, 1968, where Standard 7 number 70013 Oliver Cromwell, was chosen to assist in hauling the Fifteen Guinea Special, the last steam hauled British Railways passenger service from Liverpool to Carlisle via the S&C. 70013 was chosen as it was the last the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul at Crewe Works, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. The engine hauled the Manchester to Carlisle leg of the service via the Settle and Carlisle line, with LMS Class 5 45110, and LMS Stanier Class 5 locomotives, 44781 and 44871 double-heading the return working back to Manchester.

 

Upon withdrawal, 70000 was initially planned for preservation with the National Railway Museum due to it's cultural significance, but because of its prototypical nature, 70013 was instead chosen and bought up for preservation. 70000 would later be preserved by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

 

After moving from one home to another, the engine wound up on the Severn Valley Railway, where she remained for a number of years in operational but non-mainline condition. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997.

 

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to Pete Waterman in 2000. Stored at Waterman's workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre, after initial assessment the amount of work resulted in Waterman selling her to Jeremy Hosking. The locomotive underwent restoration at Crewe which involved a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

 

Transferred to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust, the locomotive was returned to main line operational condition in 2011, initially out shopped in its prototype black British Railways livery. After a running-in period, in 2012 the locomotive was repainted in British Railways Brunswick Green, but with an early BR crest. On 24 January 2012, the loco hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles on board to Wakefield Kirkgate, where he rededicated the locomotive. For the trip the loco again had a painted white cab roof, removed after the engine's appearance at the West Somerset Railway's Spring Gala.

The Royal Air Force unveiled impressive images of a unique aircraft formation to celebrate the forty years of service of the Panavia "Tornado GR4" attack jet.

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Panavia "Tornado" is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. There are three primary "Tornado" variants: the "Tornado IDS" (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences "Tornado ECR" (electronic combat/reconnaissance) and the "Tornado ADV" (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft.

 

The "Tornado" was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its multirole design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) became the only export operator of the "Tornado" in addition to the three original partner nations. A tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, the Tri-National "Tornado" Training Establishment, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.

 

The "Tornado" was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), Italian Air Force, and RSAF during the Gulf War of 1991, in which the "Tornado" conducted many low-altitude penetrating strike missions. The "Tornado's" of various services were also used in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War and Kosovo War, the Iraq War, Libya during the Libyan civil war, as well as smaller roles in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Including all variants, 992 aircraft were built.

  

Development

 

Origins

 

During the 1960s, aeronautical designers looked to variable-geometry wing designs to gain the manoeuvrability and efficient cruise of straight wings with the speed of swept wing designs. The United Kingdom had cancelled the procurement of the TSR-2 and subsequent F-111K aircraft, and was still looking for a replacement for its Avro "Vulcan" and Blackburn "Buccaneer" strike aircraft. Britain and France had initiated the AFVG (Anglo French Variable Geometry) project in 1965, but this had ended with French withdrawal in 1967. Britain continued to develop a variable-geometry aircraft similar to the proposed AFVG, and sought new partners to achieve this. West German EWR had been developing the swing-wing EWR-Fairchild-Hiller "A400 AVS (Advanced Vertical Strike) (which has a similar configuration to the "Tornado").

 

In 1968, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Canada formed a working group to examine replacements for the Lockheed F-104 "Starfighter", initially called the Multi Role Aircraft (MRA), later renamed as the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). The participating nations all had ageing fleets that required replacing; but, as the requirements were so diverse, it was decided to develop a single aircraft that could perform a variety of missions that were previously undertaken by a fleet of different aircraft. Britain joined the MRCA group in 1968, represented by Air Vice-Marshal Michael Giddings, and a memorandum of agreement was drafted between Britain, West Germany, and Italy in May 1969.

 

By the end of 1968, the prospective purchases from the six countries amounted to 1,500 aircraft. Canada and Belgium had departed before any long-term commitments had been made to the programme; Canada had found the project politically unpalatable; there was a perception in political circles that much of the manufacturing and specifications were focused on Western Europe. France had made a favorable offer to Belgium on the Dassault "Mirage 5", which created doubt as to whether the MRCA would be worthwhile from Belgium's operational perspective.

 

Panavia Aircraft GmbH

 

On 26 March 1969, four partner nations – United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, agreed to form a multinational company, Panavia Aircraft GmbH, to develop and manufacture the MRCA. The project's aim was to produce an aircraft capable of undertaking missions in the tactical strike, reconnaissance, air defence, and maritime roles; thus allowing the MRCA to replace several different aircraft then in use by the partner nations. Various concepts, including alternative fixed-wing and single-engine designs, were studied while defining the aircraft. The Netherlands pulled out of the project in 1970, citing that the aircraft was too complicated and technical for the RNLAF's preferences, which had sought a simpler aircraft with outstanding manoeuvrability. An additional blow was struck by the German requirement reduced from an initial 600 aircraft to 324 in 1972. It has been suggested that Germany deliberately placed an unrealistically high initial order to secure the company headquarters and initial test flight in Germany rather than the UK, so as to have a bigger design influence.

 

When the agreement was finalised, the United Kingdom and West Germany each had a 42.5% stake of the workload, with the remaining 15% going to Italy; this division of the production work was heavily influenced by international political bargaining. The front fuselage and tail assembly was assigned to BAC (now BAE Systems) in the United Kingdom; the centre fuselage to MBB (now EADS) in West Germany; and the wings to Aeritalia (now Alenia Aeronautica) in Italy. Similarly, tri-national worksharing was used for engines, general and avionic equipment. A separate multinational company, Turbo-Union, was formed in June 1970 to develop and build the RB199 engines for the aircraft, with ownership similarly split 40% Rolls-Royce, 40% MTU, and 20% FIAT.

 

At the conclusion of the project definition phase in May 1970, the concepts were reduced to two designs; a single seat Panavia 100 which West Germany initially preferred, and the twin-seat Panavia 200 which the RAF preferred (this would become the "Tornado"). The aircraft was briefly called the Panavia "Panther", and the project soon coalesced towards the two-seat option. In September 1971, the three governments signed an Intention to Proceed (ITP) document, at which point the aircraft was intended solely for the low-level strike mission, where it was viewed as a viable threat to Soviet defences in that role. It was at this point that Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff announced "two-thirds of the fighting front line will be composed of this single, basic aircraft type".

  

Prototypes and testing

 

The first of more than a dozen "Tornado" prototypes took flight on 14 August 1974 at Manching, Germany; the pilot, Paul Millett described his experience: "Aircraft handling was delightful... the actual flight went so smoothly that I did begin to wonder whether this was not yet another simulation". Flight testing led to the need for minor modifications. Airflow disturbances were responded to by re-profiling the engine intakes and the fuselage to minimise surging and buffeting experienced at supersonic speeds.

 

According to Jim Quinn, programmer of the "Tornado" development simulation software and engineer on the "Tornado" engine and engine controls, the prototype was safely capable of reaching supercruise, but the engines had severe safety issues at high altitude while trying to decelerate. The triple shaft engine, designed for maximum power at low altitude, resulted in severe vibrations while attempting to decelerate at high altitude. At high altitude and low turbine speed the compressor did not provide enough pressure to hold back the combustion pressure and would result in a violent vibration as the combustion pressure backfired into the intake. To avoid this effect the engine controls would automatically increase the minimum idle setting as altitude increased, until at very high altitudes the idle setting was so high, however, that it was close to maximum dry thrust. This resulted in one of the test aircraft being stuck in a mach 1.2 supercruise at high altitude and having to reduce speed by turning the aircraft, because the idle setting at that altitude was so high that the aircraft could not decelerate.

 

The British Ministry of Supply ordered Chief Engineer Ted Talbot from the Concorde development team to provide intake design assistance to the "Tornado" development team in order to overcome these issues, which they hesitantly agreed to after noting that the "Concorde" intake data had apparently already been leaked to the Soviet Union. The German engineers working on the "Tornado" intake were unable to produce a functional "Concorde" style intake despite having data from the "Concorde" team. To make the problem worse, their management team incorrectly filed a patent on the "Concorde" design, and then tried to sue the British engineers who had provided the design to them. The German lawyers realized that the British had provided the designs to the German team, and requested further information to help their engineers overcome the problems with the "Tornado" intake, but Chief Engineer Talbot refused. According to Talbot, the "Concorde" engineers had determined the issue with the "Tornado" intake was that the engine did not respond to unexpected changes in the intake position, and therefore the engine was running at the wrong setting for a given position of the intake ramps. This was because the "Concorde" had similar issues due to control pressure not being high enough to maintain proper angles of the intake ramps. Aerodynamic forces could force the intakes into the improper position, and so they should have the ability to control the engines if this occurs. The "Tornado" intake system did not allow for this. Due to the behaviour of the German management team, the British engineers declined to share this information, and so the "Tornado" was not equipped with the more advanced intake design of the "Concorde".

 

Testing revealed that a nose-wheel steering augmentation system, connecting with the yaw damper, was necessary to counteract the destabilising effect produced by deploying the thrust reverser during landing rollouts.

 

From 1967 until 1984 Soviet KGB agents were provided details on the "Tornado" by the head of the West German Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Planning department, Manfred Rotsch.

 

Two prototypes were lost in accidents, both of which had been primarily caused by poor piloting decisions and errors leading to two ground collision incidents; a third "Tornado" prototype was seriously damaged by an incident involving pilot-induced pitch oscillation. During the type's development, aircraft designers of the era were beginning to incorporate features such as more sophisticated stability augmentation systems and autopilots. Aircraft such as the "Tornado" and the General Dynamics F-16 "Fighting Falcon" made use of these new technologies. Failure testing of the "Tornado's" triplex analogue command and stability augmentation system (CSAS) was conducted on a series of realistic flight control rigs; the variable-sweep wings in combination with varying, and frequently very heavy, payloads complicated the clearance process.

  

Production

 

The contract for the Batch 1 aircraft was signed on 29 July 1976. The first aircraft were delivered to the RAF and German Air Force on 5 and 6 June 1979 respectively. The first Italian "Tornado" was delivered on 25 September 1981. On 29 January 1981, the Tri-National "Tornado" Training Establishment (TTTE) officially opened at RAF Cottesmore, remaining active in training pilots from all operating nations until 31 March 1999. The 500th "Tornado" to be produced was delivered to West Germany on 19 December 1987.

 

Export customers were sought after West Germany withdrew its objections to exporting the aircraft; Saudi Arabia was the only export customer of the "Tornado". The agreement to purchase the "Tornado" was part of the controversial Al-Yamamah arms deal between British Aerospace and the Saudi government. Oman had committed to purchasing "Tornado's" and the equipment to operate them for a total value of £250 million in the late 1980s, but cancelled the order in 1990 due to financial difficulties.

 

During the 1970s, Australia considered joining the MRCA programme to find a replacement for their ageing Dassault "Mirage IIIs"; ultimately the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 "Hornet" was selected to meet the requirement. Canada similarly opted for the F/A-18 after considering the "Tornado". Japan considered the "Tornado" in the 1980s, along with the General Dynamics F-16 "Fighting Falcon" and F/A-18, before selecting the "Mitsubishi F-2", a domestically produced design based on the F-16. In the 1990s, both Taiwan and South Korea expressed interest in acquiring a small number of "Tornado ECR" aircraft. In 2001, EADS proposed a "Tornado ECR" variant with a greater electronic warfare capability for Australia.

 

Production came to an end in 1998; the last batch of aircraft being produced went to the Royal Saudi Air Force, who had ordered a total of 96 IDS "Tornado's". In June 2011, it was announced that the RAF's "Tornado" fleet had flown collectively over one million flying hours. Aviation author Jon Lake noted that "The Trinational Panavia Consortium produced just short of 1,000 Tornados, making it one of the most successful postwar bomber programs". In 2008, AirForces Monthly said of the "Tornado": "For more than a quarter of a century ... the most important military aircraft in Western Europe."

66747 has pulled up to a halt and is being refuelled as the containers are being unloaded. This is the area of the former reception sidings.

 

The front of the train will be unloaded from here and then drawn forward for the next section. At which point the loco will run around and back the remainder of the train for unloading. The train will them draw forward as it is loaded and off back to Felixstowe. Credit to GBRF at 747 has run since commencement of services.