www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

U.S. Army Medical Research Unit – Kenya: Improving malaria diagnosis, one lab at a time

 

By U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his finding on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab workers work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

A recent review of the course’s effectiveness showed that microscopy students went back to labs lacking organization and equipment. In some cases, the training was not having the desired impact on local people facing malaria.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late- April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

The visit marked the initial visit of the center’s supervision support project – monthly visits to six local district hospitals – to implement tools that increase efficient oversight of malaria diagnosis. The yearlong $300,000 initiative – funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative, a USAID sponsored program – is designed to help translate school learning into field practices, Ochola said.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staff must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Africa Command’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyans military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica

 

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit – Kenya: Improving malaria diagnosis, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his finding on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab workers work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

A recent review of the course’s effectiveness showed that microscopy students went back to labs lacking organization and equipment. In some cases, the training was not having the desired impact on local people facing malaria.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late- April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

The visit marked the initial visit of the center’s supervision support project – monthly visits to six local district hospitals – to implement tools that increase efficient oversight of malaria diagnosis. The yearlong $300,000 initiative – funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative, a USAID sponsored program – is designed to help translate school learning into field practices, Ochola said.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staff must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Africa Command’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyans military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

Latil was a French automaker specializing in heavy duty vehicles, such as trucks, tractors and buses. Beyond the design and production of vehicles for civil use, Latil also built after World War I a number of military vehicles. For instance, in 1911, Latil designed and built its first four-wheel drive vehicle. This type of vehicle interested the French Army in 1913 for its ability to tow heavy artillery on every field and the TAR (Tracteur d'Artillerie Roulante) was built.

 

Beyond a number of field tractors, Latil also designed and built an armed combat vehicle for the French Army, the armored AMD-37 scout car. The origins of this design can be traced back until December 1931, when the French Cavalry conceived a plan for the future production of armored fighting vehicles. One of the classes foreseen was that of an Automitrailleuse de Découverte (AMD), a specialized long range reconnaissance vehicle. The specifications were formulated on 22 December 1931, changed again on 18 November 1932 and finally approved on 9 December 1932. They called for a weight of 4 metric tons (4.0 t), a range of 400 kilometers (250 mi), a road speed of 70 km/h, a cruising speed of 40 km/h, a turning circle of 12 meters (39 ft), 5–8 mm armor, a 20 mm gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun.

 

In 1933, several competing companies responded (including Latil, Renault, Panhard and Berliet) with their proposals. Being rooted in rather heavy machinery, Latil proposed two designs: one was a 4x4 vehicle which would meet the required specification profile, but it was eventually rejected due to poor off-road performance in favor of the Panhard design, which would become the highly successful Panhard 178.

The other proposal fell outside of the specification limits. It was a bigger and much heavier 8x8 design, certainly influenced by the German SdKfz. 232 heavy scout car family. However, despite falling outside of the requirements, the Commission de Vincennes was impressed enough to order a prototype of this vehicle.

 

The Latil prototype had basically a conservative layout and was ready in October 1933. It was presented to the Commission de Vincennes in January 1934 under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1934 (AMD-34). The AMD-34 was, despite its 8x8 chassis and tank-like silhouette, based on modified Latil truck elements. Onto the ladder frame chassis, a hull made of screwed cast armor elements with a maximum thickness of 25 mm was mounted. The leaf spring suspension as well as the all-wheel drive were based on components of Latil’s heavy duty trucks. The eight large and steerable wheels were spaced apart as far as possible, with almost no overhang at the front and at the rear for a very good off-road performance and climbing capability. The crew consisted of three men: a driver and a radio operator, who both sat in the front of the hull, plus the commander, who, beyond directing the vehicle, also had to operate the weapons. The radio operator also had to support the commander as loader in the event of combat.

 

Power came from a water-cooled V8 petrol engine, an uprated version of Latil’s own V3 truck engine from 1933, with an output of 180 hp (132 kW). The engine was in the rear of the hull, separated from the fighting compartment at the front by a firewall bulkhead, and flanked side-by-side with two self-sealing fuel tanks with the large capacity of 80 and 320 liters capacity (the smaller tank fueled the engine and was constantly replenished from the bigger tank). A novel feature was an automatic fire extinguishing system, which used several tanks placed at critical spots of the vehicle, containing methyl bromide. The vehicle’s armament was mounted in a standardized, cast APX-R turret (which was also used on several light tanks like the Renault R-35) and consisted of a short-barreled Puteaux 37mm/L21 SA 18 gun as well as a coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun. 42 armor-piercing and 58 high explosive rounds were typically carried, plus 2.500 rounds for the machine gun.

 

The hexagonal turret had a 30 mm thick, domed rotatable cupola with vertical vision slits. It had to be either hand cranked or moved about by the weight of the commander. The rear of the turret had a hatch that hinged down which could be used as a seat to improve observation. Driver and radio operator (who had an ER 54 radio set available) had no hatches on their own. They entered the vehicle through a relatively large door on the vehicle’s left side.

 

After testing between 9 January and 2 February 1934 and comparison with the lighter 4 ton types, the AMR-34 was, despite its weight of almost 10 tons, accepted by the commission on 15 February under the condition some small modifications were carried out. In the autumn, the improved prototype was tested by the Cavalry and in late 1934 the type was accepted under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1935, better known under its handle “AMD-35”. Production started on a small scale in 1935 and by the end of the year the first AMD-35’s reached the Cavalry units. After complaints about reliability, such as cracking gun sights, and overheating, between 29 June and 2 December 1936 a new test program took place, resulting in many more detail modifications, including the fitting of a silencer, a ventilator on the turret and in the main cabin and a small, round hatch for the driver which allowed a better field of view when the crew did not have to work under armor cover.

The main weapon was also changed into a SA 38 37mm cannon with a longer (L33) barrel, since the original Puteaux cannon had only a very poor armor penetration of 12 mm at 500 meters. In this form, the vehicle was re-designated AMD-37. Several older vehicles were updated with this weapon, too, or they received a 25mm (0.98 in) SA35 L47.2 or L52 autocannon.

 

Overall, the AMD-37 proved to be an effective design. The eight-wheel armored car with all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering had a very good performance on- and off-road, even though with certain limits due to the vehicle’s weight and resulting ground pressure. The cabin was relatively spacious and comfortable, so that long range missions of 500 km (319 ml) and more could be endured well by the crews.

 

However, several inherent flaws persisted. One problem (which the AMD-37 shared with almost every French combat vehicle from the pre-WWII era) was that the commander was overburdened with tasks, especially under stressful combat conditions. The French Cavalry did not see this as a major flaw: A commander was supposed to acquire such a degree of dexterity that his workload did not negate the lack of need to coordinate the actions of two or even three men in a larger turret crew or the advantage of a quicker reaction because of a superior rotation speed. At first, a two-man-turret was required, but when it transpired that this would reduce the armor protection, it was abandoned in favor of thicker steel casts. However, the AMD-37’s armor level was generally relatively low, and hull’s seams offered attackers who knew where to aim several weak points that allowed even light hand weapons to penetrate the armor. Another tactical flaw associated with the turret was the hatchless cupola, forcing the commander to fight buttoned-up or leave the vehicle’s armor protection for a better field of view.

 

Operationally, though, the AMD-37 suffered from poor mechanical reliability: the suspension units were complicated and, since they were based on existing civil truck elements, too weak for heavy off-road operations under military conditions. The AMD-37’s weight of almost 10 tons (the comparable German SdKfz 231 was bigger but weighed only 8.3 tons) did not help, either. In consequence, the AMD-37 demanded enormous maintenance efforts, especially since the cast armor modules did not allow an easy access to the suspension and engine.

 

On 10 May 1940, on the eve of the German invasion in mainland France, the AMD-37 was part of 14 Divisions Légères Mécaniques (Mechanized Light Divisions; "light" meaning here "mobile", they were not light in the sense of being lightly equipped) battalions, each fielding dedicated reconnaissance groups with four to ten vehicles, which also comprised light Panhard 178 scout cars.

45 French AMD-37s were in Syria, a mandate territory, and 30 more were based in Morocco. The tanks in Syria would fight during the allied invasion of that mandate territory in 1941 and then partly be taken over by the Free French 1e CCC, those in North Africa during Operation Torch in November 1942.

The majority of AMD-37s in Western Europe fell into German hands, though: 78 were used as “Panzerkampfwagen 37R(f)” and mainly used in second line units for policy and security duties or for driver training. A small number of these German vehicles were sent to Finland, fighting on the Eastern Front, where they were outclassed by Soviet KV-1s and T-34s and quickly destroyed or abandoned.

 

Plans to augment the AMD-35’s armament with a bigger turret and a more powerful 47mm SA 35 gun (basically the same turret fitted to the SOMUA S-35 medium tank and the heavy Char B1bis) or an additional machine in the front bow for the radio operator were, due to the German invasion, never carried out.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, radio operator/loader, driver)

Weight: 9,600 kg (21,145 lb)

Length: 5.29 m (17 ft 4 in)

Width: 2.52 m (8 ft 3 in)

Height: 2.44 metres (8 ft ½ in)

Suspension: Wheeled (Tires: 270–20, bulletproof), with leaf springs

Wading depth: 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)

Trench crossing capability: 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)

Ground clearance: 350 mm (13 3/4 in)

Climbing capability: 30°

Fuel capacity: 400 l

 

Armor:

9-30 mm (.35-1.18 in) cast steel

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 75 km/h (47 mph) on road, 55 km/h (34 mph) off-road

Operational range: 600 km (375 mi) on road

Power/weight: 18,7 PS/t

 

Engine:

Water-cooled Latil V8 gasoline engine with 7.336 cm³ displacement and 180 hp (132 kW) output

Transmission:

Latil gearbox with 4 forward and 1 reverse gears, eight-wheel drive and steering

 

Armament:

1× Puteaux 37mm/L33 SA 18 gun with 100 rounds

1× coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun with 2.500 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This build was inspired by a drawing that I came across at DeviantArt a while ago, created by someone called MedJoe:

www.deviantart.com/medjoe/art/Autoblinde-SOMUA-S35bis-679...

The picture showed a Somua S-35 tank, set on eight wheels that heavily resembled those of the SdKfz. 234/2 “Puma”, in French colors and markings and designated S-35bis. I found the idea weird (since a full-fledged S-35 would certainly have at 20 tons been too heavy for a wheeled chassis), but the overall look of this combo was very convincing to me. I kept the idea in the back of my mind, until I came across a cheap Heller Somua S-35 in 1:72 scale and decided to take the concept to the (model) hardware stage and offer a personal interpretation.

 

Work started when I was able to acquire a sprue from a Plastic Soldier SdKfz. 231 kit, which provided a total of nine wheels in a suitable size and style, as well as suspension elements.

 

Building the hull was a straightforward affair: The Heller S-35 was built OOB, just the parts for the tracked suspension were left away. Some details and attachment points in the lower hull sections had to be removed, too. From the SdKfz. 232 I took the leaf spring suspension parts (these came as two frames for four wheels each, rather crude and solid parts) and cut the outer leaf spring packs off, so that their depth was reduced but the attachment points for the wheels were still there. These were simply glued into the space for the former tracks, similar to the drawing. This resulted in a slightly wide track, but narrowing the lower hull for a better look would have been a complicated affair, so I stuck with the simple solution. It does not look bad, though.

 

In order to make the vehicle’s role as a scout car more plausible and to avoid a head-heavy look, I decided to replace the original S-35 turret with a smaller APX turret from a Renault R-35. I found a suitable resin donor at ModelTrans, which was easily integrated to the S-35 hull. I perfectly fits into the S-35’s rounded cast armor style, which is so typical for many early French WWII tanks. Unfortunately, the resin R-35 turret had an air bubble at the rear, which had to be filled with putty. In order to differentiate the turret a little and modernize it, I added a longer gun barrel – in this case a piece from a hollow steel needle.

 

Other small mods include a pair of scratched rear-view mirrors for the driver, the spare wheel at the front (certainly not the best position, but the only place that was available and practical, and other armored vehicles of the time like the British Humber scout car also carried a spare wheel at the front) and an antenna at the rear, made from heated black sprue material.

  

Painting and markings:

This was not easy and it took a while to settle on a design. There were rather gaudy camouflage designs in the French army, but due to the model’s small scale I did not want a too complex design. I eventually decided to apply a rather simple scheme, inspired by the painting suggestions from the Heller kit: a disruptive two-tone scheme in a pale beige tone and a rather bluish dark green, which was confirmed through museum tanks. An odd quirk of the Heller kit is that the instructions and the box art show the same camouflage, but in inverted colors!?

 

I stuck to Heller’s suggestions and decided to follow the box art camouflage, which uses dark green (Humbrol 30) as basic color with light sand blotches (Humbrol 103) on top, which I found more appropriate for the middle European theatre of operations. I assume that these two tones were in real life separated by very narrow black or dark brown lines for more contrast – but I did not try this stunt on the small 1:72 scale model, it would IMHO have looked rather awkward. And there are French vehicles of the era that show these colors without any additional lines, too.

 

Markings/decals were mostly puzzled together from the scrap box, since the Heller decals turned out to be rather stiff and lack any adhesion to the model. I only used the “license plates”, which were fixed to the model with acrylic varnish, the rest are spares.

 

The kit received an overall washing with dark brown and a careful dry-brushing treatment with light grey.

After the final coat of matt varnish had been applied and all parts assembled, I dusted the lower areas with a dull grey-brown mix of artist pigments, simulating dust.

  

An experimental build, since drawing a whif is easier than actually building it, where parts have to fit somehow and you cannot change the size of them. Even though the resulting 8x8 scout car looks a little weird with its minimal overhang at the front and the rear, I like the result a lot – it looks very plausible to me. I also think that the smaller turret underlines the vehicle’s role as a rather lightly armed reconnaissance vehicle. It lowers the size and the silhouette, and subdues the S-35 origin – but without neglecting the typical French cast armor look. Certainly not a 1:1 copy of the inspiring drawing, but true to the original idea.

 

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit – Kenya: Improving malaria diagnosis, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his finding on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab workers work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

A recent review of the course’s effectiveness showed that microscopy students went back to labs lacking organization and equipment. In some cases, the training was not having the desired impact on local people facing malaria.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late- April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

The visit marked the initial visit of the center’s supervision support project – monthly visits to six local district hospitals – to implement tools that increase efficient oversight of malaria diagnosis. The yearlong $300,000 initiative – funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative, a USAID sponsored program – is designed to help translate school learning into field practices, Ochola said.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staff must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Africa Command’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyans military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

✈Eurofighter Typhoon T.1 (reg. 30+04, c/n GT0004 of the German Air Force.der deutschen Luftwaffe (Bundeswehr)

Air Force: More: Germany - Air Force

Aircraft: More: Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon T.1

Registration: 30+04 (cn GT0004)

Location: RAF Waddington,Lincolnshire,England,UK

Photo Date: 05.07.14

Photographer: Tony Gartshore @ RAF Waddington

 

Eurofighter Typhoon is the world’s most advanced swing-role combat aircraft providing simultaneously deployable Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface capabilities.

 

It is in service with 6 customers across 20 operational units and has been ordered by a seventh. The aircraft has demonstrated, and continues to demonstrate, high reliability across the globe in all climates. It has been combat proven during operations in Libya.

 

Features of the aircraft Max speed - mach 2.0

 

Thrust - 90 kN from each of the two Eurojet EJ200 engines

 

Max altitude - Above 55,000 ft

 

Length - 15.96 m

 

Span - 10.95 m

 

Eurofighter Typhoon delivers an enviable level of flexibility and efficiency. Only Eurofighter Typhoon possesses both adequate weapon availability (up to 6 bombs whilst also carrying six missiles, a cannon and a targeting pod) and sufficient processing power to simultaneously support missile in-flight updates and bomb in-flight targeting. True swing-role capability.

  

Aircraft diagram

 

The aircraft is designed to be upgraded and extended to provide decades of effective use. Combining a proven, agile airframe built from stealth materials with the latest sensor, control and weapons systems delivers the optimum combat capability – both beyond visual range (BVR) and in close combat.

 

The weapons systems, navigation technologies and control infrastructure are all designed to be upgraded, to continue to enhance the overall performance of the aircraft.

 

The Airframe

 

Plane Aircraft

 

The aircraft is built with advanced composite materials to deliver a low radar profile and strong airframe. Only 15% of the aircraft’s surface is metal, delivering stealth operation and protection from radar-based systems. Pilots were included in design from the earliest stages to develop a deliberately unstable airframe that can still be flown effectively. This delivers both superior manoeuvrability at subsonic speeds and efficient supersonic capability to support the widest range of combat scenarios.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon specifications

 

Max speed Mach 2.0

 

Thrust 90kN from each of the two Eurojet EJ200 turbojets

 

Length 15.96M

 

Max altitude Above 55,000FT

 

Wingspan 10.95M

 

The Materials

Carbon Fibre Composites

 

Aluminium Lithium

Titanium

Glass Reinforced Plastic

Aluminium Casting

  

Aluminium Titanium

Strong, lightweight composite materials were key to the design of Eurofighter Typhoon to give it deliberate instability. Using them means the weight of the airframe is 30% less than for traditional materials, boosting the range and performance as well as reducing the radar signature.

 

General Materials Carbon Fibre Composites 70%

Metals 15%

Glass Reinforced Plastics (GRP) 12%

Other Materials 3%

 

Production

Ultrasound materials

Eurofighter Typhoon foreplane

  

The innovative production techniques developed for Eurofighter Typhoon have created a whole new industry for the most effective use of advanced composite materials. These provide greater tensile strength and more aerodynamic performance with less weight and more reliability than traditional materials.

 

The Eurojet EJ200 engine

Developing leading-edge engine technology has been a key part of the Eurofighter Typhoon project from the start. Four global companies have jointly developed the high performance EJ200 power plants that each provide 90kN of thrust from a small lightweight engine with high strength and high temperature capability.

 

The two-spool design with single-stage turbines drives the three-stage fan and five-stage HP compressor with annular combustion with vaporising burners. This allows Eurofighter Typhoon to cruise at supersonic speeds without the use of reheat for extended periods. The engines deliver 1,000 flying hours without needing unscheduled maintenance through the use of advanced integrated Health Monitoring for class-leading reliability, maintainability and Through Life Cost.

 

Did you know?

After a 1,400 hour flight simulation, the Eurojet engine produces the same operating performance as a brand new engine.

 

Sensor fusion is key to Eurofighter Typhoon's effective infrared sensor

  

Eurofighter Typhoon is at the forefront of sensor fusion technology and the sensor suite continues to be upgraded to deliver enhanced detection and decision-making. Combining the data from key sensors gives the pilot an autonomous ability to rapidly assess the overall tactical situation and respond efficiently to identified threats.

 

Infrared Search and Track (IRST)

 

The PIRATE infrared sensor provides passive Air-to-Air target detection and tracking performance in the IRST mode for covert tracking and Air-to-Surface operations in the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) mode.

 

Graphic Radar

 

The Captor-M mechanically scanned radar is a best-in-class radar, offering an extensive suite of modes to meet customers’ operational requirements, as well as providing a very competitive field of regard.

 

Captor-E is the future primary sensor on Eurofighter Typhoon and has a full suite of Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface modes. The capacious front fuselage of the Eurofighter Typhoon allows the installation of Captor-E’s optimised array whose Field of Regard is some 50 per cent wider than traditional fixed plate systems.

 

This wide field of regard offers significant benefits in both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface engagements and given the large power and aperture available provides the pilot with much enhanced angular coverage compared to fixed plate systems.

 

Air-to-Air Features

 

Air-to-air features

•Search Modes - Range While Search (RWS), Velocity Search (VS) and multiple target Track While Scan (TWS)

•Lock-Follow Modes, which are tailored for long range tracking and short range tracking for use in visual identification or gun attacks

•Air Combat Acquisition Modes allowing a choice of boresight, vertical scan HUD field of view or slaved acquisition

  

Air-to-Surface Features

 

Air-to-surface features

•Search Modes - Ground Map, High Resolution Map, Ground Moving Target Identification and Sea Surface Search and Track While Scan

•Track Modes - Fixed Target Track and Moving Target Track

•Air-to-Surface Ranging

 

Throughout the design of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the needs of the single seat pilot have been paramount. This has meant high levels of attention to the control and information interfaces throughout the unique glass cockpit, from the head-up, head-down and head-out systems to all-round vision. High workload situations were analysed to establish information priorities and automate tasks.

 

The advanced cockpit design and layout is based on an extensive series of formal assessments in a rapid prototype facility, undertaken by operational pilots from air forces flying the Eurofighter Typhoon. Using and upgrading the advanced digital technology not only enhances operation and survivability, but also simplifies aircraft maintenance.

 

Other features such as Direct Voice Input (DVI) and Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) control functions have been implemented on the Eurofighter Typhoon to drastically reduce the pilot’s workload. Voice + Throttle And Stick (VTAS) enables single pilot operations even in the most demanding Air-to-Air, Air-to-Surface and swing-role missions.

 

Head up Display (HUD)

 

The Eurofighter Typhoon’s wide angle head up display (HUD) provides the pilot with stable, accurate, high integrity, low latency eyes-out guidance in a compact package. The fully digital HUD offers high performance that is compatible with night vision and laser protection goggles.

 

Head down display systems (MHDD)

 

Three full colour multi-function head down displays (MHDD) are used for the overall tactical situation, presenting the attack situation, attack formats, map displays and air traffic procedures, in addition to system status and checklists.

 

Helmet mounted symbology system (HMSS)

 

Eurofighter Typhoon utilises a unique Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS), alongside six other pilot display surfaces. HMSS provides flight reference and weapon data aiming through the visor. It is fully compatible with night vision aids using light intensification and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imagery. It offers pilots a significant competitive advantage.

 

The helmet is composed of an outer helmet, inner helmet, optics blast/display visor, oxygen mask, night vision enhancement camera and head position tracking system.

 

Navigation sensors

 

Hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS) controls

  

The latest sensor technology supports automated and inherently covert operation down to 100ft. Eurofighter Typhoon’s navigation aids include a global positioning system (GPS) for full digital interface with individual satellite tracking channels and improved anti-jam capabilities. The package also includes an inertial navigation system with GPS. In addition, the navigation system features integrated lateral cueing and vertical commands, ensuring safe manoeuvre with 3D situational awareness.

 

Flight Control

 

The flight control system (FCS) is a full authority and quadruplex digital system which allows carefree handling and manoeuvring in all situations. Its intuitive operation is designed to enable the pilot to concentrate on the tactical tasks and to fly the aircraft 'head-up' in combination with the HOTAS (Hand-on-Throttle-and-Stick) concept applied to cockpit design. Automated Emergency recovery features have also been embodied in the system design to ensure maximum safety of operation.

 

Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)

 

Eurofighter cockpit MIDS

The Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)

 

The MIDS high capacity digital information distribution system allows secure exchange of real-time data between a wide variety of users, including all the components of a tactical air force and, where appropriate, land and naval forces.

 

Defensive Aids Sub System (DASS)

 

The DASS suite comprises wingtip Electronic Support Measures and Electronic Counter Measures pods (ESM/ECM), missile warners, chaff and flare dispenser and an optional laser warner.

 

Upgrades in computing power will support continuous protection from future threats, to enhance Eurofighter Typhoon’s survivability and greatly increase overall mission effectiveness.

 

Eurofighter Weapons system

Supporting multiple weapon configurations

  

As well as Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (SRAAM’s) and the 27mm Mauser Canon the Eurofighter Typhoon carries the latest beyond-visual-range (BVR) Air-to-Air missile technology. Soon the METEOR advanced long-range missile will provide the largest No Escape Zone of any Air-to-Air weapon, resulting in a long stand-off range and high probability of interception to ensure air superiority and pilot survivability. Guidance is provided by an active radar seeker with mid-course updates via data link.

 

The Laser Designator Pod (LDP) enables precise location of targets and guidance of Air-to-Surface weapons.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon has also been upgraded with Paveway IV to provide high levels of operational flexibility. The combat proven dual-mode guidance system, coupled with height of burst and penetrating capability, enable the decision of target engagement to be made right up to the point of release.

  

Eurofighter Typhoon will see the constant integration of new, smart weapons in accordance with the demands of current and future customers.

 

Storm Shadow, Taurus, Small Diametre Bombs, Brimstone, Anti-Shipping Missiles are just some of the upgrades planned.

  

Multiple Weapons

Eurofighter Typhoon can remain on task for long periods of time with large, flexible weapons loads including METEOR, AMRAAM, ASRAAM or IRIS-T

  

Multiple Weapons

Eurofighter Typhoon can carry a vast range of Air-to-Surface weapons, including the new Storm Shadow conventionally armed stand-off missile, the Brimstone anti-armour weapon and future Precision Guided Weapons

 

Life Support Systems

 

Fully equipped pilot

A fully equipped pilot before a flight , The Life Support System & Aircrew Equipment Assembly (AEA) is unique to Eurofighter Typhoon and includes full-cover anti-G trousers (FCAGT), a chest counter-pressure garment (CCPG) and a liquid conditioning garment, as well as nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) protection.

The helmet incorporates the latest Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS) and optical protection. For pilot comfort and optimum performance capability, Eurofighter Typhoon uses computer controlled anti-G and breathing support technology.

  

Ejection Seat

  

The Mk 16A ejection seat on the Eurofighter Typhoon is 30% lighter than equivalent ejection seats. This is achieved by combining the twin ejection gun outer cylinder tubes as both the propulsion system and the seat’s primary structure. The narrow head box also contributes to Eurofighter Typhoon’s excellent rear vision.

The seat integrates an on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS) and communication systems. The simplified combined harness allows unassisted strap-in, and the passive leg restraint system avoids the need for the pilot to wear restraining garters. A second generation electronic sequencer is also incorporated. Reliability and maintainability are key elements of the design, with full access to in-cockpit components.

  

Cockpit Access

  

Eurofighter pilot entering cockpit

A pilot entering the Eurofighter Typhoon cockpit Normal access to the cockpit is through either a telescopic integral ladder or an external version. The integral ladder is stowed in the port side of the fuselage below the cockpit.

 

Fuel system - Forward transfer tank

 

Throughout the aircraft flexible couplings connect the fuel pipework built into the three main fuselage sections and wings. These provide a simple method to connect the fuel tanks, which all have fuel-flow proportioners to maintain the centre of gravity alongside relief valves to maintain air and fuel pressures. The intelligent computer-controlled fuel system ensures long-range, flexibility and safety.

   

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

Latil was a French automaker specializing in heavy duty vehicles, such as trucks, tractors and buses. Beyond the design and production of vehicles for civil use, Latil also built after World War I a number of military vehicles. For instance, in 1911, Latil designed and built its first four-wheel drive vehicle. This type of vehicle interested the French Army in 1913 for its ability to tow heavy artillery on every field and the TAR (Tracteur d'Artillerie Roulante) was built.

 

Beyond a number of field tractors, Latil also designed and built an armed combat vehicle for the French Army, the armored AMD-37 scout car. The origins of this design can be traced back until December 1931, when the French Cavalry conceived a plan for the future production of armored fighting vehicles. One of the classes foreseen was that of an Automitrailleuse de Découverte (AMD), a specialized long range reconnaissance vehicle. The specifications were formulated on 22 December 1931, changed again on 18 November 1932 and finally approved on 9 December 1932. They called for a weight of 4 metric tons (4.0 t), a range of 400 kilometers (250 mi), a road speed of 70 km/h, a cruising speed of 40 km/h, a turning circle of 12 meters (39 ft), 5–8 mm armor, a 20 mm gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun.

 

In 1933, several competing companies responded (including Latil, Renault, Panhard and Berliet) with their proposals. Being rooted in rather heavy machinery, Latil proposed two designs: one was a 4x4 vehicle which would meet the required specification profile, but it was eventually rejected due to poor off-road performance in favor of the Panhard design, which would become the highly successful Panhard 178.

The other proposal fell outside of the specification limits. It was a bigger and much heavier 8x8 design, certainly influenced by the German SdKfz. 232 heavy scout car family. However, despite falling outside of the requirements, the Commission de Vincennes was impressed enough to order a prototype of this vehicle.

 

The Latil prototype had basically a conservative layout and was ready in October 1933. It was presented to the Commission de Vincennes in January 1934 under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1934 (AMD-34). The AMD-34 was, despite its 8x8 chassis and tank-like silhouette, based on modified Latil truck elements. Onto the ladder frame chassis, a hull made of screwed cast armor elements with a maximum thickness of 25 mm was mounted. The leaf spring suspension as well as the all-wheel drive were based on components of Latil’s heavy duty trucks. The eight large and steerable wheels were spaced apart as far as possible, with almost no overhang at the front and at the rear for a very good off-road performance and climbing capability. The crew consisted of three men: a driver and a radio operator, who both sat in the front of the hull, plus the commander, who, beyond directing the vehicle, also had to operate the weapons. The radio operator also had to support the commander as loader in the event of combat.

 

Power came from a water-cooled V8 petrol engine, an uprated version of Latil’s own V3 truck engine from 1933, with an output of 180 hp (132 kW). The engine was in the rear of the hull, separated from the fighting compartment at the front by a firewall bulkhead, and flanked side-by-side with two self-sealing fuel tanks with the large capacity of 80 and 320 liters capacity (the smaller tank fueled the engine and was constantly replenished from the bigger tank). A novel feature was an automatic fire extinguishing system, which used several tanks placed at critical spots of the vehicle, containing methyl bromide. The vehicle’s armament was mounted in a standardized, cast APX-R turret (which was also used on several light tanks like the Renault R-35) and consisted of a short-barreled Puteaux 37mm/L21 SA 18 gun as well as a coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun. 42 armor-piercing and 58 high explosive rounds were typically carried, plus 2.500 rounds for the machine gun.

 

The hexagonal turret had a 30 mm thick, domed rotatable cupola with vertical vision slits. It had to be either hand cranked or moved about by the weight of the commander. The rear of the turret had a hatch that hinged down which could be used as a seat to improve observation. Driver and radio operator (who had an ER 54 radio set available) had no hatches on their own. They entered the vehicle through a relatively large door on the vehicle’s left side.

 

After testing between 9 January and 2 February 1934 and comparison with the lighter 4 ton types, the AMR-34 was, despite its weight of almost 10 tons, accepted by the commission on 15 February under the condition some small modifications were carried out. In the autumn, the improved prototype was tested by the Cavalry and in late 1934 the type was accepted under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1935, better known under its handle “AMD-35”. Production started on a small scale in 1935 and by the end of the year the first AMD-35’s reached the Cavalry units. After complaints about reliability, such as cracking gun sights, and overheating, between 29 June and 2 December 1936 a new test program took place, resulting in many more detail modifications, including the fitting of a silencer, a ventilator on the turret and in the main cabin and a small, round hatch for the driver which allowed a better field of view when the crew did not have to work under armor cover.

The main weapon was also changed into a SA 38 37mm cannon with a longer (L33) barrel, since the original Puteaux cannon had only a very poor armor penetration of 12 mm at 500 meters. In this form, the vehicle was re-designated AMD-37. Several older vehicles were updated with this weapon, too, or they received a 25mm (0.98 in) SA35 L47.2 or L52 autocannon.

 

Overall, the AMD-37 proved to be an effective design. The eight-wheel armored car with all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering had a very good performance on- and off-road, even though with certain limits due to the vehicle’s weight and resulting ground pressure. The cabin was relatively spacious and comfortable, so that long range missions of 500 km (319 ml) and more could be endured well by the crews.

 

However, several inherent flaws persisted. One problem (which the AMD-37 shared with almost every French combat vehicle from the pre-WWII era) was that the commander was overburdened with tasks, especially under stressful combat conditions. The French Cavalry did not see this as a major flaw: A commander was supposed to acquire such a degree of dexterity that his workload did not negate the lack of need to coordinate the actions of two or even three men in a larger turret crew or the advantage of a quicker reaction because of a superior rotation speed. At first, a two-man-turret was required, but when it transpired that this would reduce the armor protection, it was abandoned in favor of thicker steel casts. However, the AMD-37’s armor level was generally relatively low, and hull’s seams offered attackers who knew where to aim several weak points that allowed even light hand weapons to penetrate the armor. Another tactical flaw associated with the turret was the hatchless cupola, forcing the commander to fight buttoned-up or leave the vehicle’s armor protection for a better field of view.

 

Operationally, though, the AMD-37 suffered from poor mechanical reliability: the suspension units were complicated and, since they were based on existing civil truck elements, too weak for heavy off-road operations under military conditions. The AMD-37’s weight of almost 10 tons (the comparable German SdKfz 231 was bigger but weighed only 8.3 tons) did not help, either. In consequence, the AMD-37 demanded enormous maintenance efforts, especially since the cast armor modules did not allow an easy access to the suspension and engine.

 

On 10 May 1940, on the eve of the German invasion in mainland France, the AMD-37 was part of 14 Divisions Légères Mécaniques (Mechanized Light Divisions; "light" meaning here "mobile", they were not light in the sense of being lightly equipped) battalions, each fielding dedicated reconnaissance groups with four to ten vehicles, which also comprised light Panhard 178 scout cars.

45 French AMD-37s were in Syria, a mandate territory, and 30 more were based in Morocco. The tanks in Syria would fight during the allied invasion of that mandate territory in 1941 and then partly be taken over by the Free French 1e CCC, those in North Africa during Operation Torch in November 1942.

The majority of AMD-37s in Western Europe fell into German hands, though: 78 were used as “Panzerkampfwagen 37R(f)” and mainly used in second line units for policy and security duties or for driver training. A small number of these German vehicles were sent to Finland, fighting on the Eastern Front, where they were outclassed by Soviet KV-1s and T-34s and quickly destroyed or abandoned.

 

Plans to augment the AMD-35’s armament with a bigger turret and a more powerful 47mm SA 35 gun (basically the same turret fitted to the SOMUA S-35 medium tank and the heavy Char B1bis) or an additional machine in the front bow for the radio operator were, due to the German invasion, never carried out.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, radio operator/loader, driver)

Weight: 9,600 kg (21,145 lb)

Length: 5.29 m (17 ft 4 in)

Width: 2.52 m (8 ft 3 in)

Height: 2.44 metres (8 ft ½ in)

Suspension: Wheeled (Tires: 270–20, bulletproof), with leaf springs

Wading depth: 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)

Trench crossing capability: 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)

Ground clearance: 350 mm (13 3/4 in)

Climbing capability: 30°

Fuel capacity: 400 l

 

Armor:

9-30 mm (.35-1.18 in) cast steel

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 75 km/h (47 mph) on road, 55 km/h (34 mph) off-road

Operational range: 600 km (375 mi) on road

Power/weight: 18,7 PS/t

 

Engine:

Water-cooled Latil V8 gasoline engine with 7.336 cm³ displacement and 180 hp (132 kW) output

Transmission:

Latil gearbox with 4 forward and 1 reverse gears, eight-wheel drive and steering

 

Armament:

1× Puteaux 37mm/L33 SA 18 gun with 100 rounds

1× coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun with 2.500 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This build was inspired by a drawing that I came across at DeviantArt a while ago, created by someone called MedJoe:

www.deviantart.com/medjoe/art/Autoblinde-SOMUA-S35bis-679...

The picture showed a Somua S-35 tank, set on eight wheels that heavily resembled those of the SdKfz. 234/2 “Puma”, in French colors and markings and designated S-35bis. I found the idea weird (since a full-fledged S-35 would certainly have at 20 tons been too heavy for a wheeled chassis), but the overall look of this combo was very convincing to me. I kept the idea in the back of my mind, until I came across a cheap Heller Somua S-35 in 1:72 scale and decided to take the concept to the (model) hardware stage and offer a personal interpretation.

 

Work started when I was able to acquire a sprue from a Plastic Soldier SdKfz. 231 kit, which provided a total of nine wheels in a suitable size and style, as well as suspension elements.

 

Building the hull was a straightforward affair: The Heller S-35 was built OOB, just the parts for the tracked suspension were left away. Some details and attachment points in the lower hull sections had to be removed, too. From the SdKfz. 232 I took the leaf spring suspension parts (these came as two frames for four wheels each, rather crude and solid parts) and cut the outer leaf spring packs off, so that their depth was reduced but the attachment points for the wheels were still there. These were simply glued into the space for the former tracks, similar to the drawing. This resulted in a slightly wide track, but narrowing the lower hull for a better look would have been a complicated affair, so I stuck with the simple solution. It does not look bad, though.

 

In order to make the vehicle’s role as a scout car more plausible and to avoid a head-heavy look, I decided to replace the original S-35 turret with a smaller APX turret from a Renault R-35. I found a suitable resin donor at ModelTrans, which was easily integrated to the S-35 hull. I perfectly fits into the S-35’s rounded cast armor style, which is so typical for many early French WWII tanks. Unfortunately, the resin R-35 turret had an air bubble at the rear, which had to be filled with putty. In order to differentiate the turret a little and modernize it, I added a longer gun barrel – in this case a piece from a hollow steel needle.

 

Other small mods include a pair of scratched rear-view mirrors for the driver, the spare wheel at the front (certainly not the best position, but the only place that was available and practical, and other armored vehicles of the time like the British Humber scout car also carried a spare wheel at the front) and an antenna at the rear, made from heated black sprue material.

  

Painting and markings:

This was not easy and it took a while to settle on a design. There were rather gaudy camouflage designs in the French army, but due to the model’s small scale I did not want a too complex design. I eventually decided to apply a rather simple scheme, inspired by the painting suggestions from the Heller kit: a disruptive two-tone scheme in a pale beige tone and a rather bluish dark green, which was confirmed through museum tanks. An odd quirk of the Heller kit is that the instructions and the box art show the same camouflage, but in inverted colors!?

 

I stuck to Heller’s suggestions and decided to follow the box art camouflage, which uses dark green (Humbrol 30) as basic color with light sand blotches (Humbrol 103) on top, which I found more appropriate for the middle European theatre of operations. I assume that these two tones were in real life separated by very narrow black or dark brown lines for more contrast – but I did not try this stunt on the small 1:72 scale model, it would IMHO have looked rather awkward. And there are French vehicles of the era that show these colors without any additional lines, too.

 

Markings/decals were mostly puzzled together from the scrap box, since the Heller decals turned out to be rather stiff and lack any adhesion to the model. I only used the “license plates”, which were fixed to the model with acrylic varnish, the rest are spares.

 

The kit received an overall washing with dark brown and a careful dry-brushing treatment with light grey.

After the final coat of matt varnish had been applied and all parts assembled, I dusted the lower areas with a dull grey-brown mix of artist pigments, simulating dust.

  

An experimental build, since drawing a whif is easier than actually building it, where parts have to fit somehow and you cannot change the size of them. Even though the resulting 8x8 scout car looks a little weird with its minimal overhang at the front and the rear, I like the result a lot – it looks very plausible to me. I also think that the smaller turret underlines the vehicle’s role as a rather lightly armed reconnaissance vehicle. It lowers the size and the silhouette, and subdues the S-35 origin – but without neglecting the typical French cast armor look. Certainly not a 1:1 copy of the inspiring drawing, but true to the original idea.

 

40x50cm

 

Stenciled spraypaint on canvas.

 

Robots are all seperate two layer stencils. The 'coffee cup' rings were done by just spraying the bottom of a can.

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

Latil was a French automaker specializing in heavy duty vehicles, such as trucks, tractors and buses. Beyond the design and production of vehicles for civil use, Latil also built after World War I a number of military vehicles. For instance, in 1911, Latil designed and built its first four-wheel drive vehicle. This type of vehicle interested the French Army in 1913 for its ability to tow heavy artillery on every field and the TAR (Tracteur d'Artillerie Roulante) was built.

 

Beyond a number of field tractors, Latil also designed and built an armed combat vehicle for the French Army, the armored AMD-37 scout car. The origins of this design can be traced back until December 1931, when the French Cavalry conceived a plan for the future production of armored fighting vehicles. One of the classes foreseen was that of an Automitrailleuse de Découverte (AMD), a specialized long range reconnaissance vehicle. The specifications were formulated on 22 December 1931, changed again on 18 November 1932 and finally approved on 9 December 1932. They called for a weight of 4 metric tons (4.0 t), a range of 400 kilometers (250 mi), a road speed of 70 km/h, a cruising speed of 40 km/h, a turning circle of 12 meters (39 ft), 5–8 mm armor, a 20 mm gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun.

 

In 1933, several competing companies responded (including Latil, Renault, Panhard and Berliet) with their proposals. Being rooted in rather heavy machinery, Latil proposed two designs: one was a 4x4 vehicle which would meet the required specification profile, but it was eventually rejected due to poor off-road performance in favor of the Panhard design, which would become the highly successful Panhard 178.

The other proposal fell outside of the specification limits. It was a bigger and much heavier 8x8 design, certainly influenced by the German SdKfz. 232 heavy scout car family. However, despite falling outside of the requirements, the Commission de Vincennes was impressed enough to order a prototype of this vehicle.

 

The Latil prototype had basically a conservative layout and was ready in October 1933. It was presented to the Commission de Vincennes in January 1934 under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1934 (AMD-34). The AMD-34 was, despite its 8x8 chassis and tank-like silhouette, based on modified Latil truck elements. Onto the ladder frame chassis, a hull made of screwed cast armor elements with a maximum thickness of 25 mm was mounted. The leaf spring suspension as well as the all-wheel drive were based on components of Latil’s heavy duty trucks. The eight large and steerable wheels were spaced apart as far as possible, with almost no overhang at the front and at the rear for a very good off-road performance and climbing capability. The crew consisted of three men: a driver and a radio operator, who both sat in the front of the hull, plus the commander, who, beyond directing the vehicle, also had to operate the weapons. The radio operator also had to support the commander as loader in the event of combat.

 

Power came from a water-cooled V8 petrol engine, an uprated version of Latil’s own V3 truck engine from 1933, with an output of 180 hp (132 kW). The engine was in the rear of the hull, separated from the fighting compartment at the front by a firewall bulkhead, and flanked side-by-side with two self-sealing fuel tanks with the large capacity of 80 and 320 liters capacity (the smaller tank fueled the engine and was constantly replenished from the bigger tank). A novel feature was an automatic fire extinguishing system, which used several tanks placed at critical spots of the vehicle, containing methyl bromide. The vehicle’s armament was mounted in a standardized, cast APX-R turret (which was also used on several light tanks like the Renault R-35) and consisted of a short-barreled Puteaux 37mm/L21 SA 18 gun as well as a coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun. 42 armor-piercing and 58 high explosive rounds were typically carried, plus 2.500 rounds for the machine gun.

 

The hexagonal turret had a 30 mm thick, domed rotatable cupola with vertical vision slits. It had to be either hand cranked or moved about by the weight of the commander. The rear of the turret had a hatch that hinged down which could be used as a seat to improve observation. Driver and radio operator (who had an ER 54 radio set available) had no hatches on their own. They entered the vehicle through a relatively large door on the vehicle’s left side.

 

After testing between 9 January and 2 February 1934 and comparison with the lighter 4 ton types, the AMR-34 was, despite its weight of almost 10 tons, accepted by the commission on 15 February under the condition some small modifications were carried out. In the autumn, the improved prototype was tested by the Cavalry and in late 1934 the type was accepted under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1935, better known under its handle “AMD-35”. Production started on a small scale in 1935 and by the end of the year the first AMD-35’s reached the Cavalry units. After complaints about reliability, such as cracking gun sights, and overheating, between 29 June and 2 December 1936 a new test program took place, resulting in many more detail modifications, including the fitting of a silencer, a ventilator on the turret and in the main cabin and a small, round hatch for the driver which allowed a better field of view when the crew did not have to work under armor cover.

The main weapon was also changed into a SA 38 37mm cannon with a longer (L33) barrel, since the original Puteaux cannon had only a very poor armor penetration of 12 mm at 500 meters. In this form, the vehicle was re-designated AMD-37. Several older vehicles were updated with this weapon, too, or they received a 25mm (0.98 in) SA35 L47.2 or L52 autocannon.

 

Overall, the AMD-37 proved to be an effective design. The eight-wheel armored car with all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering had a very good performance on- and off-road, even though with certain limits due to the vehicle’s weight and resulting ground pressure. The cabin was relatively spacious and comfortable, so that long range missions of 500 km (319 ml) and more could be endured well by the crews.

 

However, several inherent flaws persisted. One problem (which the AMD-37 shared with almost every French combat vehicle from the pre-WWII era) was that the commander was overburdened with tasks, especially under stressful combat conditions. The French Cavalry did not see this as a major flaw: A commander was supposed to acquire such a degree of dexterity that his workload did not negate the lack of need to coordinate the actions of two or even three men in a larger turret crew or the advantage of a quicker reaction because of a superior rotation speed. At first, a two-man-turret was required, but when it transpired that this would reduce the armor protection, it was abandoned in favor of thicker steel casts. However, the AMD-37’s armor level was generally relatively low, and hull’s seams offered attackers who knew where to aim several weak points that allowed even light hand weapons to penetrate the armor. Another tactical flaw associated with the turret was the hatchless cupola, forcing the commander to fight buttoned-up or leave the vehicle’s armor protection for a better field of view.

 

Operationally, though, the AMD-37 suffered from poor mechanical reliability: the suspension units were complicated and, since they were based on existing civil truck elements, too weak for heavy off-road operations under military conditions. The AMD-37’s weight of almost 10 tons (the comparable German SdKfz 231 was bigger but weighed only 8.3 tons) did not help, either. In consequence, the AMD-37 demanded enormous maintenance efforts, especially since the cast armor modules did not allow an easy access to the suspension and engine.

 

On 10 May 1940, on the eve of the German invasion in mainland France, the AMD-37 was part of 14 Divisions Légères Mécaniques (Mechanized Light Divisions; "light" meaning here "mobile", they were not light in the sense of being lightly equipped) battalions, each fielding dedicated reconnaissance groups with four to ten vehicles, which also comprised light Panhard 178 scout cars.

45 French AMD-37s were in Syria, a mandate territory, and 30 more were based in Morocco. The tanks in Syria would fight during the allied invasion of that mandate territory in 1941 and then partly be taken over by the Free French 1e CCC, those in North Africa during Operation Torch in November 1942.

The majority of AMD-37s in Western Europe fell into German hands, though: 78 were used as “Panzerkampfwagen 37R(f)” and mainly used in second line units for policy and security duties or for driver training. A small number of these German vehicles were sent to Finland, fighting on the Eastern Front, where they were outclassed by Soviet KV-1s and T-34s and quickly destroyed or abandoned.

 

Plans to augment the AMD-35’s armament with a bigger turret and a more powerful 47mm SA 35 gun (basically the same turret fitted to the SOMUA S-35 medium tank and the heavy Char B1bis) or an additional machine in the front bow for the radio operator were, due to the German invasion, never carried out.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, radio operator/loader, driver)

Weight: 9,600 kg (21,145 lb)

Length: 5.29 m (17 ft 4 in)

Width: 2.52 m (8 ft 3 in)

Height: 2.44 metres (8 ft ½ in)

Suspension: Wheeled (Tires: 270–20, bulletproof), with leaf springs

Wading depth: 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)

Trench crossing capability: 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)

Ground clearance: 350 mm (13 3/4 in)

Climbing capability: 30°

Fuel capacity: 400 l

 

Armor:

9-30 mm (.35-1.18 in) cast steel

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 75 km/h (47 mph) on road, 55 km/h (34 mph) off-road

Operational range: 600 km (375 mi) on road

Power/weight: 18,7 PS/t

 

Engine:

Water-cooled Latil V8 gasoline engine with 7.336 cm³ displacement and 180 hp (132 kW) output

Transmission:

Latil gearbox with 4 forward and 1 reverse gears, eight-wheel drive and steering

 

Armament:

1× Puteaux 37mm/L33 SA 18 gun with 100 rounds

1× coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun with 2.500 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This build was inspired by a drawing that I came across at DeviantArt a while ago, created by someone called MedJoe:

www.deviantart.com/medjoe/art/Autoblinde-SOMUA-S35bis-679...

The picture showed a Somua S-35 tank, set on eight wheels that heavily resembled those of the SdKfz. 234/2 “Puma”, in French colors and markings and designated S-35bis. I found the idea weird (since a full-fledged S-35 would certainly have at 20 tons been too heavy for a wheeled chassis), but the overall look of this combo was very convincing to me. I kept the idea in the back of my mind, until I came across a cheap Heller Somua S-35 in 1:72 scale and decided to take the concept to the (model) hardware stage and offer a personal interpretation.

 

Work started when I was able to acquire a sprue from a Plastic Soldier SdKfz. 231 kit, which provided a total of nine wheels in a suitable size and style, as well as suspension elements.

 

Building the hull was a straightforward affair: The Heller S-35 was built OOB, just the parts for the tracked suspension were left away. Some details and attachment points in the lower hull sections had to be removed, too. From the SdKfz. 232 I took the leaf spring suspension parts (these came as two frames for four wheels each, rather crude and solid parts) and cut the outer leaf spring packs off, so that their depth was reduced but the attachment points for the wheels were still there. These were simply glued into the space for the former tracks, similar to the drawing. This resulted in a slightly wide track, but narrowing the lower hull for a better look would have been a complicated affair, so I stuck with the simple solution. It does not look bad, though.

 

In order to make the vehicle’s role as a scout car more plausible and to avoid a head-heavy look, I decided to replace the original S-35 turret with a smaller APX turret from a Renault R-35. I found a suitable resin donor at ModelTrans, which was easily integrated to the S-35 hull. I perfectly fits into the S-35’s rounded cast armor style, which is so typical for many early French WWII tanks. Unfortunately, the resin R-35 turret had an air bubble at the rear, which had to be filled with putty. In order to differentiate the turret a little and modernize it, I added a longer gun barrel – in this case a piece from a hollow steel needle.

 

Other small mods include a pair of scratched rear-view mirrors for the driver, the spare wheel at the front (certainly not the best position, but the only place that was available and practical, and other armored vehicles of the time like the British Humber scout car also carried a spare wheel at the front) and an antenna at the rear, made from heated black sprue material.

  

Painting and markings:

This was not easy and it took a while to settle on a design. There were rather gaudy camouflage designs in the French army, but due to the model’s small scale I did not want a too complex design. I eventually decided to apply a rather simple scheme, inspired by the painting suggestions from the Heller kit: a disruptive two-tone scheme in a pale beige tone and a rather bluish dark green, which was confirmed through museum tanks. An odd quirk of the Heller kit is that the instructions and the box art show the same camouflage, but in inverted colors!?

 

I stuck to Heller’s suggestions and decided to follow the box art camouflage, which uses dark green (Humbrol 30) as basic color with light sand blotches (Humbrol 103) on top, which I found more appropriate for the middle European theatre of operations. I assume that these two tones were in real life separated by very narrow black or dark brown lines for more contrast – but I did not try this stunt on the small 1:72 scale model, it would IMHO have looked rather awkward. And there are French vehicles of the era that show these colors without any additional lines, too.

 

Markings/decals were mostly puzzled together from the scrap box, since the Heller decals turned out to be rather stiff and lack any adhesion to the model. I only used the “license plates”, which were fixed to the model with acrylic varnish, the rest are spares.

 

The kit received an overall washing with dark brown and a careful dry-brushing treatment with light grey.

After the final coat of matt varnish had been applied and all parts assembled, I dusted the lower areas with a dull grey-brown mix of artist pigments, simulating dust.

  

An experimental build, since drawing a whif is easier than actually building it, where parts have to fit somehow and you cannot change the size of them. Even though the resulting 8x8 scout car looks a little weird with its minimal overhang at the front and the rear, I like the result a lot – it looks very plausible to me. I also think that the smaller turret underlines the vehicle’s role as a rather lightly armed reconnaissance vehicle. It lowers the size and the silhouette, and subdues the S-35 origin – but without neglecting the typical French cast armor look. Certainly not a 1:1 copy of the inspiring drawing, but true to the original idea.

 

via Instagram ift.tt/2iPzua6

Hill Aerospace Museum

 

History of the OV-10A "Bronco"

The OV-10A is a turboprop, light attack aircraft developed under a U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps tri-service program to create a versatile counter- insurgency airplane. After these aircraft first took flight in 1967, some of their missions included observation, forward air control, armed reconnaissance, interdiction missions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and limited ground attack during the Vietnam War.

 

The OV-10A "Bronco" at Hill Air Force Base

The first OV-10 arrived at Hill Air Force Base in 1988 for structural refurbishment, rewiring, and installation of a secure voice radio. Personnel at Hill performed work on 48 OV-10s within five years. After the main workload for OV-10s at Hill ended in 1990, the Mature and Proven Aircraft Division on base continued to manage this airframe. The OV-10A on display was manufactured in 1968 and was assigned to the Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, the following year, in 1991, after several base transfers, the aircraft was sent to and modified by the Ogden Air Logistics Center to support a United States State Department drug-interdiction project for the Colombian Air Force. In 2006, the aircraft was put on display here at the Hill Aerospace Museum.

 

Interesting Fact

The aircraft is painted to closely resemble its appearance while serving with the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron in Thailand.

 

Specifications

S/N 67-14675

Manufacturer: North American Aviation

Crew: One

Engines: Two Garrett-AiResearch T76-G turboprops: 715 horsepower each

Wingspan: 40 ft

Length: 41 ft 7 in

Height: 15 ft 1 in

Weight: 7,190 pounds (empty): 14,444 pounds (maximum)

Speed: 281 mph (maximum); 223 mph (cruising)

Range: 1,240 miles Ceiling: 26,000 ft

Armaments Centerline station for 20 mm gun pod, or stores; four 7.62 mm M60 machine guns in sponsons; four sponson stations for rockets, mini guns or stores; two wing stations for rockets or missiles

Laurie Anderson Presents Lou Reed’s Drones With Stewart Hurwood @ Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC on Friday, June 3, 2022

  

For one night only, Grammy award-winning musician and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson presents a drone-based sonic experience as part of the yearlong celebration of Lou Reed’s 80th birthday. Anderson and special guests will perform live throughout the afternoon alongside an installation of guitars from her late husband’s collection that will be curated by Reed’s former guitar technician Stewart Hurwood. Reed’s instruments are arranged with a group of amplifiers to create an enveloping drone of harmonics that shifts as the sound waves and the audience move through the space.

 

About The Performers

 

As A Grammy Award-Winning Musician, Performer, Writer, And Artist, Laurie Anderson Has An International Reputation As An Artist Who Combines The Traditions Of The Avant-Garde With Popular Culture. Anderson’s Theatrical Works Combine A Variety Of Media, Including Performance, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, Opera, Anthropological Investigations, And Linguistic Games, To Elicit Emotional Reactions. As A Visual Artist, Anderson Has Been Shown At The Guggenheim Museum, Soho, And Extensively In Europe, Including The Centre Georges Pompidou In Paris. She Has Also Released Seven Albums For Warner Brothers, Including Big Science, Featuring The Song “O Superman,” Which Rose To No. 2 On The British Pop Charts. She Is Currently Charles Eliot Norton Professor Of Poetry At Harvard University.

 

Guitar Technician Stewart Hurwood Started Experimenting With Sounds And Building Elaborate Guitar Rigs Early In His Life. After Moving From London To New York City, He Took A Position At A Prominent New York Music Studio. Hurwood’s Technical Skills Were Quickly Noticed And He Began To Work In Many New York Venues And Pretty Soon Found Himself On Tour With Duran Duran. It Wasn’t Long After His Return Home, Hurwood Received The Call To Work With Lou Reed. Reed Too Noticed Hurwood’s Skills And Started To Rely More Upon His Sound Judgement. With Studio Work, One-Off Gigs And A Few Tours Under His Belt, Hurwood Finally Won The Trust Of Mr. Reed And Was Elevated To The Position Of Lou Reed’s Right Hand Man. Over Time, And With An Increasing Workload, Their Relationship Went From Strength To Strength. Much Of Their Work Was Musically Diverse And Included Collaborations With The Killers, Renée Fleming And The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, The Strokes, The Gorillaz, Laurie Anderson, Metal Machine Trio, Metallica And Various Benefit Gigs With Pete Townsend, Martha And Rufus Wainwright, Yoko Ono And Sean Lennon, Jimmy Fallon, Hal Willner, And The List Goes On! Hurwood Worked With Lou Reed Until Lou’s Death On October 27, 2013. Hurwood Continues To Carry The Baton For Reed By Promoting “The Drones.” Initially, The Idea Was The Backbone For Mr. Reed’s 1975 Album “Metal Machine Music.” However, The Idea Was Expanded In Preproduction For “The Metal Machine Trio Live Tour.” Hurwood’s Clientele Reads Like A Veritable Who’s Who In Rock And Roll. This Long, Distinguished List Includes: Duran Duran, Lou Reed, The Cult, Coldplay, Scissor Sisters, Steely Dan And Numerous Others. He Continues To Thrive And Is Sought After By Prominent Private And Public Artists Who Have A Desire To Own Unparalleled Musical Rigs And Explore Their Sonic Palette. Stewart Hurwood Currently Resides In New York City.

 

Featuring

 

Acclaimed Composer And Instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe’s Melodic, Authentic And Engaging Music Focuses On Points Of Connection: The Joints Between Western Jazz And Eastern Traditional, Japanese Theater And Political Action, The Ancient And The All-Too-Contemporary. Born Into A Musical Family, Watanabe Began His Training At A Young Age, Eventually Graduating From The Manhattan School Of Music, Then Devoting A Decade Overseas Performing With And Ultimately Leading The World-Renowned Taiko Drum Performance Group Kodo. His Ten Years In Japan Deeply Influenced Watanabe’s Practice And His Signature Skill Of Infusing Japanese Culture To Disparate Styles Has Made Him A Much In-Demand Collaborator. Watanabe’s Impressive List Of Creative Work Across Different Media Reflects His Ever-Curious Ear And Wandering Eye. He Advised And Contributed To Film Director Wes Anderson’s Oscar-Nominated Score For Isle Of Dogs; Tours Regularly With Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad; Has Supported Numerous Dance Companies And Movement Artists, Including Mikhail Baryshnikov; And Has Composed With And Performed Alongside Jason And Alicia Hall Moran, Eva Yerbabuena, Bando Tamasaburo, Sydney Symphony Orchestra And Zakir Hussain, Among Many Others. As A Composer, Watanabe Writes For Various, Often Unconventional Instrumentation, Utilizing A Wide Variety Of Techniques. Thematically, He Regularly Explores Issues Of Social Justice, History, And Heritage. Watanabe’s Newest Pandemic-Era Creation, Incense, Uses Live-Recorded Sample Loops Of Flute, Drums And Vocals, Providing Him The Technical Means To Perform Ensemble Compositions As A Solo Artist.

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

Steetley Pier

Landmark In Hartlepool, County Durham

 

A 2,000 foot long pier built in the 1960's to pipe sea water for the magnesia treatment works.

 

Steetley Pier is just off the North Sands near Hartlepool and was built in the 1960's to pipe sea water for the magnesia treatment works.

 

As demand grew, Steetley Pier was built in the 1960's to pump salty sea water into large round water holding tanks. By reacting Dolomite with the salty sea water, magnesia was produced, Dah da!

 

Steetley became the biggest plant of this nature in the world. Business continued under a few different companies such as Steeley Magesia, Pallister Works and Redland Magnesia until the works closed in 2005 after a couple of takeovers, one can surmise due to the decline of the Steel industries.

 

This 2,000 foot long pier was not built for perambulation. The pier was probably made from pitch pine and like any wood or concrete it suffers from the effects of the sea. There is a fisherman's forum where someone suggests parts of the pier are being washed away and landed on a beach further along the coast.

 

Despite the decay, this did not stop people accessing it to walk on. Some liked to go fishing. One fisherman refers to how he would hide from the security guide, and then catch huge amounts of cod off the end of the pier. After it became redundant in 2005 a section was removed to stop people walking or fishing as there are holes which (in the dark) people can and did fall through!

 

In the 1930s, industrial works alongside this part of the coastline, extracted magnesia (magnesium carbonate), used in the lining of kilns and incinerators, from dolomitic lime and seawater. Today, all that remains of this industrial site are some derelict buildings, old pipes and the dangerous, magnificent remains of Steetley Pier, a long, derelict structure, which stretches out into the sea here.

 

In the 1930s, industrial works alongside this part of the coastline, extracted magnesia (magnesium carbonate), used in the lining of kilns and incinerators, from dolomitic lime and seawater. Today, all that remains of this industrial site are some derelict buildings, old pipes and the dangerous, magnificent remains of Steetley Pier, a long, derelict structure, which stretches out into the sea here.

 

To get the most from this beach, check tidal tables and time your visit to coincide with low tide, when a vast amount of golden sand, interspersed with pipes is exposed. The beach is often deserted, and has no restrictions on dog walking.

 

The sands can be accessed by parking at West View Road and walking through the tunnel which passes under the railway line. Then walk towards the sea, past the former industrial buildings, and turn right, towards the old pier. The beach is backed by a cemetery and further north, by Hartlepool Golf Course, beyond which lies the Durham Coast Nature Reserve. Hartlepool Marina lies to the south of the beach.

 

There is a fish and chip shop nearby, and more places to eat and shops can be found in Hartlepool.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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).

Had a run out to Woodlesford this morning to see Tornado at Woodlesford. Sue came along with me and with the extra workload taking the wheelchair, blue badge and various other items which are so necessary these days plus the fact that I'm now in my 80s and probably loosing it a bit I forgot to put the most important item in the car (the camera) so as I had my phone with me a video was my best option.

 

60163 Tornado departs from Woodlesford with 1Z42 the 0928 York to Carlisle with 47826 on the rear.

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

FELLOWS

 

Jamila Abass – MFarm

As CEO of MFarm, Jamila Abass uses mobile technology to help farmers increase their incomes. MFarm provides farmers in Kenya with real-time market price information and a group selling platform where they can connect with other farmers to jointly market their crops in greater volumes. By giving rural farmers more direct and powerful access to buyers, MFarm is positioned to improve hundreds of thousands - and potentially millions - of lives.

www.mfarm.co.ke/

 

Lukas Biewald – CrowdFlower

Lukas Biewald is CEO and founder of CrowdFlower, a crowdsourcing internet company that breaks large digital projects into small microtasks and distributes them to workers around the world. CrowdFlower engages a workforce of nearly 3.5 million people to complete more than 2 million tasks every day. In a key example, Biewald helped PopTech Science Fellow Sarah Fortune find new ways to study the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. By sharing the workload, making it fun and insisting on quality results, CrowdFlower provides incomes while speeding the path toward more accurate and scalable results.

crowdflower.com/

 

Rachel Brown – Sisi ni Amani - Kenya

Rachel Brown founded Sisi ni Amani - Kenya ("We are Peace - Kenya" in Swahili) to pioneer the use of mobile technology to get the right communication capacity into the hands of local peacebuilders, enabling communities to participate in democratic processes and prevent violence. Through civic education, engagement and dialogue, SNA-K leverages SMS text messaging to support the peace efforts of community leaders. As a key partner in the collaborative PeaceTXT project, SNA-K is working to make locally effective tools that can be replicated globally in stopping violence and building peace.

sisiniamani.org/

 

Bryan Doerries – Outside the Wire

Bryan Doerries is the founder of Theater of War, a project that presents readings of ancient Greek plays to service members, veterans, caregivers and families to help them start talking about the challenges faced by military communities today. He is also the co-founder of Outside the Wire, LLC, a social impact company that uses theater and a variety of other media to address pressing public health issues, such as combat-related psychological injury, end of life care, prison reform, political violence and torture, and the de-stigmatization of the treatment of substance abuse and addiction. A self-described evangelist for classical literature and its relevance to our lives today, Doerries uses age-old approaches to help heal very modern wounds.

www.outsidethewirellc.com/

 

Toure McCluskey – OkCopay

Toure McCluskey is the founder of OkCopay, a unique search engine for medical procedures that helps Americans with inadequate insurance find affordable local health care. At OkCopay, people can quickly search for the procedure they need, compare local providers, and view actual provider prices and details on the appropriate health clinic. By bringing transparency to healthcare costs, OkCopay is ensuring that those most in need can find effective and reasonable health services.

www.okcopay.com/

 

Nicholas Merrill – Calyx Institute

Nicholas Merrill created the Calyx Institute to help launch a telecommunications and Internet service provider focused on the right to privacy and freedom of expression. Merrill has personally fought intrusive government demands for private customer information, and he aims to develop, document and publicly release technology to enable private communications that even the service provider cannot decode or eavesdrop upon. Merrill’s goal is to inhibit mass surveillance and to protect the privacy and security of users everywhere.

www.facebook.com/calyxinstitute

 

Jacobo Quintanilla – Internews

Jacobo Quintanilla joined Internews to bring news and information resources to people in humanitarian crises. As Director of Humanitarian Information Projects, Quintanilla has helped create a two-way dialogue between aid workers and affected communities in countries such as Haiti, Central African Republic and Kenya. Building on Internews' core mission, Quintanilla's projects empower local media in crisis situations to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect, and the means to make their voices heard.

internews.org/

 

Andreas Raptopoulos – Matternet

Andreas Raptopoulos is the founder and CEO of Matternet, building a network of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to transport medicine and goods in places with poor road infrastructure. Matternet's "drones for good" use small, electric UAVs to transport packages weighing up to 2 kilos and containing items like vaccines, medicines or blood samples, over distances of 10 kilometers at a time. By creating a new paradigm for transportation that leapfrogs roads, Matternet is helping to revolutionize transportation in the developing world.

matternet.us/

 

Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan – Global Financial Inclusion Initiative

As director of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative at Yale University and Innovations for Poverty Action, Aishwarya Ratan focuses on the design and delivery of effective financial services for the poor. GFII seeks to test, evaluate and replicate interventions to improve products, delivery channels and tools ranging from savings products to mobile money and financial literacy programs. The initiative's rigorous approach to testing and measuring the impact of such innovations aims to ensure that the financial services available to the poor to manage and grow their money are affordable, efficient, secure and welfare-enhancing.

www.poverty-action.org/financialinclusion

 

Eric Stowe – A Child’s Right / Splash

Eric Stowe believes that every child has a right to clean water—and he has built an innovative, scalable approach to act on that belief. Since founding A Child's Right (soon to be Splash) in 2006, Stowe has developed a highly effective model to ensure safe water for urban children living at the intersection of these two streets: “greatest degrees of poverty” and “worst water quality conditions.” Leveraging world-class water purification technology, sustainable monitoring and maintenance, excellent people, and a rigorous commitment to transparency, A Child's Right will soon announce that every orphanage in China has safe drinking water. Stowe's team will then demonstrate how they are customizing their approach for 15 more countries in Asia and East Africa, using their "Proving It" platform to share both successes and failures at all of their project sites.

achildsright.org/

 

Eric Woods – Switchboard

Eric Woods is the CEO and founder of Switchboard, which uses mobile phones to create nationwide networks of health workers in developing countries. Switchboard partners with mobile operators to provide health workers with free nationwide calling, a nationwide registry and access to information via bulk text messaging. Having already linked all doctors in both Ghana and Liberia, Switchboard will next connect health workers at all levels throughout Tanzania, working toward the vision of a collaborative network of health advice, referrals and improved care in places where access is most challenging.

www.switchboard.org/

 

Daniel Zoughbie – Microclinic International

Daniel Zoughbie created Microclinic International to help leverage the power of social network relationships to spread healthy behaviors throughout under-resourced communities. Working in Jordan, India, Kenya, the West Bank and the United States, Microclinic International has begun to show that working through existing social groups of friends and family can significantly help people improve their outcomes in the fight against such diseases as diabetes and HIV/AIDS. The effectiveness of their approach is attracting attention from governments and other large-scale health providers, opening the door to large-scale replication and the broader use of this "contagious health" approach.

microclinics.org/

This memoir published in 1968 was the inspiration for the British TV series Upstairs, Downstairs and subsequently Downton Abbey. It is a standard chronological memoir of vignettes pertaining to being "in service", but it is by no means dry. I could tell by the first paragraph that the author would satisfy my curiosity for detail and perspective and she soon reveals that she is filled with opinions about what is fair or not fair. So it is safe to say that this is an insightful critique of that world where one class of people serves another. A world I have some familiarity with.

 

My leftist friends who have an aversion to this world of servants have looked upon Downton Abbey with disgust because if you can't abide a system that enables the rich it appears to be nothing but a soap opera that glorifies the lives of the entitled and further excuses them through the aristocratic hierarchy of an institutionalized feudal system. Indeed Maureen Dowd in a New York Times article quotes another writer's point that Downton Abbey is to Gone With the Wind what 12 Years A Slave is to reality. And she has her own grandma—an Irish immigrant to America—to speak to the workload of servants. Here I might point out that the American slave owners in 12 Years A Slave were depicted as backwoods hicks trying to ape European aristocracy. So based on these two references I would have to conclude that colonial America and turn of the century America was just as much about the putting on airs of the newly rich as is the case today. But then that would be to paint a broad brush over a complex subject.

 

In this memoir one finds both depictions of tremendous amounts of work as experienced by the lowest position of kitchen maid and astute observations of the institution of service. The author complains quite a bit about the snobbery of both upstairs and downstairs towards her, as she is on the lowest rung when she enters service at the age of 15. (Her parents simply can't afford to keep her with their 7 children. And her mother, who was also a house maid, assures her that things had improved since she worked as a maid.) The work load is indeed severe requiring getting up at 4 a.m., scrubbing the copper pots and the front steps which she found humiliating because young men passing by would comment on her behind. When she finally tells her employer she wants to quit, she is asked why. So she complains about the workload and to keep her from leaving they hire an odd job man to do the steps and the doorknob. A servant initiated improvement! And granted the snobbery and put downs make asking for anything a daunting prospect for a young person.

 

In Downton Abbey the kitchen maid is fully fleshed out as a character in this low status position. She is harangued by the cook and her workload is a heavy one. She does not, however, have the opinions that this author does. A writer so astute in her observations is obviously not your usual service person. It is clear from the start that she is different because she startles everyone both above stairs and below by her desire to read. It is so clear that she is cut out to be more than her position in service that I am quite willing to believe that writers are born for the purpose of illuminating others where a light needs to be shone.

 

She stays a bit longer due to the odds job man and the empowerment of having changed her own situation, but her ambition is to be a cook and later secure a husband. So she moves on and gathers both experience and considerable knowledge of her trade and the difficulties of executing dishes on old stoves that are a bear to work with. She also gives quick sketches of all the variation in employers from the stingy and snobbish to the standard expectations of the day which she observes is changing as more opportunities open up for women. And she describes the exemplary behavior of those who honor their servants and take care of them as family. And yes those people she notes are the true aristocracy. This is the model for Downton Abbey, but even at the Abbey they do not treat their servants nearly as affectionately as she describes or there would be no drama between the classes. And no issues below stairs by those voicing similar opinions to hers.

 

Unfortunately she cannot stay at this desirable work place because they only needed a temporary cook while theirs was out getting hospital care and recuperating—on their dime it was noted. In the end she does find a husband and she describes the housekeeping work she does as a wife raising children on so little money she must suffer asking for state assistance. Once her children are grown she starts going back to school and filling her brain with all the literature, history and philosophy she can squeeze in until presumably she comes to write her own book (which likely made her rich beyond her wildest dreams). She does not envy the rich for she has seen how the loss of their money leaves them in worse shape than the poor who have acquired some street smarts.

 

Having myself worked for the rich and having been raised with live-in servants I find just as much variety as she does in the way servants are treated. And it is a work environment of the times much like being a coder in a cubicle is a work environment of today. Of course the coder is paid more relatively speaking and I am not justifying the lowly wages of servants but the issue is more than money. It is the lowly status given the kitchen maid. Still I do not think that it is a fair comparison to cast such a job in the same light as slavery. It is a job that reflects the mores, class lines and misogyny of the times just as the treatment of women as sex objects is so carefully depicted in MadMen, that eye candy show of style and manipulative advertising. Part of the appeal of Downton Abbey is that things are changing—the old feudal system giving way to a new socialism. All the characters are at one time or another made aware that this life cannot last.

 

In the context of feudalism the grand mansions of the day were a community effort which included the village around it. Everyone in the house and village did their part to uphold this way of life though not all believed it was right. It was a handmade life that required human labor; there was no other way to manage it. It bears more similarity to a corporation than a cotton field. A corporation is after all a hierarchy that is not democratic. A hotel was a similar experience of service without the family drama. In the aristocratic home described in this book a job in such a home was something worth having and servants were treated well. For those with an aversion to such attendance by maids and footmen I ask why are you denigrating such work?

 

It is, of course, about class and an aversion to class differences is a given in America so it is masked here, gone underground. The rich may bend over backwards to speak to a serving person as though they are equals, but they go on being just as rich and intend to be richer. And in the States we believe in this. We enlist the support of the masses with visions of self made riches, but refuse to help meet basic needs of food and shelter. Unless of course you are a leftie—a socialist—as most in my circle are.

 

For myself and my fellow "in service" colleagues who arrange the socks and ties of the rich or dig the relatively poor out of their accumulated hoards this is a show that values the services of domestic stewardship that other shows are busy blowing up with endless displays of violence. I love watching such a well run house. It makes me feel good about what I do both as a service and at home.

 

The question I would ask is why is a show like Downton Abbey so popular now especially in America? (I would not speak for the British who may have an entirely different take on this history. Nor will I speak for those fans who are snobs themselves as Maureen Dowd claims for I don't know of such people.) One answer appeals to me. The show is about an opulence the characters are aware cannot be sustained just as our own opulent petroleum fed culture is unsustainable. Every modern person who can buy clothing made cheaply by underpaid invisible workers overseas and get in a car or board a plane is living a life that is only possible due to huge draws on declining supplies of fossil fuels. Some know this.

 

A more likely reason for the shows popularity is that this is a time in America that the difference between rich and poor has become so noticeably extreme that the middle class is beginning to feel the pinch. So alongside the Sopranos and Breaking Bad—shows that depict how to hold on to what you think is rightly yours, we can watch the gentler decline of the titled in Downton Abbey. They are at least trying to put forth their best effort to live according to what they believe is right in the face of change rather than justifying what they must get away with and know to be wrong.

 

And for pure entertainment there is the English scenery and a bonafide real life castle, the clothing (often vintage), the manners, the English language with all its appropriate accents and the protocol of the old ways all studiously consulted for accuracy with a script that takes on the cliches with alacrity supported by fine acting. Plus there's the historical background used as plot points. While the changes afoot are opening doors for the women, who despite their privilege, seek a life with more meaning than just marriage and providing an heir to continue this feudal charade. This interests me from a feminist perspective. The fun in following this family and their servants is that they reflect these changes and because we have fallen in love with them we care what happens to them. So in that sense it is a soap opera in every sense of the genre with every season a good potboiler—full of the hopes of love, the tragedy of loss. It's just good fun people, but if your tolerance for the rich and privileged is thin you will likely avoid it for it may make your skin crawl.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

Latil was a French automaker specializing in heavy duty vehicles, such as trucks, tractors and buses. Beyond the design and production of vehicles for civil use, Latil also built after World War I a number of military vehicles. For instance, in 1911, Latil designed and built its first four-wheel drive vehicle. This type of vehicle interested the French Army in 1913 for its ability to tow heavy artillery on every field and the TAR (Tracteur d'Artillerie Roulante) was built.

 

Beyond a number of field tractors, Latil also designed and built an armed combat vehicle for the French Army, the armored AMD-37 scout car. The origins of this design can be traced back until December 1931, when the French Cavalry conceived a plan for the future production of armored fighting vehicles. One of the classes foreseen was that of an Automitrailleuse de Découverte (AMD), a specialized long range reconnaissance vehicle. The specifications were formulated on 22 December 1931, changed again on 18 November 1932 and finally approved on 9 December 1932. They called for a weight of 4 metric tons (4.0 t), a range of 400 kilometers (250 mi), a road speed of 70 km/h, a cruising speed of 40 km/h, a turning circle of 12 meters (39 ft), 5–8 mm armor, a 20 mm gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun.

 

In 1933, several competing companies responded (including Latil, Renault, Panhard and Berliet) with their proposals. Being rooted in rather heavy machinery, Latil proposed two designs: one was a 4x4 vehicle which would meet the required specification profile, but it was eventually rejected due to poor off-road performance in favor of the Panhard design, which would become the highly successful Panhard 178.

The other proposal fell outside of the specification limits. It was a bigger and much heavier 8x8 design, certainly influenced by the German SdKfz. 232 heavy scout car family. However, despite falling outside of the requirements, the Commission de Vincennes was impressed enough to order a prototype of this vehicle.

 

The Latil prototype had basically a conservative layout and was ready in October 1933. It was presented to the Commission de Vincennes in January 1934 under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1934 (AMD-34). The AMD-34 was, despite its 8x8 chassis and tank-like silhouette, based on modified Latil truck elements. Onto the ladder frame chassis, a hull made of screwed cast armor elements with a maximum thickness of 25 mm was mounted. The leaf spring suspension as well as the all-wheel drive were based on components of Latil’s heavy duty trucks. The eight large and steerable wheels were spaced apart as far as possible, with almost no overhang at the front and at the rear for a very good off-road performance and climbing capability. The crew consisted of three men: a driver and a radio operator, who both sat in the front of the hull, plus the commander, who, beyond directing the vehicle, also had to operate the weapons. The radio operator also had to support the commander as loader in the event of combat.

 

Power came from a water-cooled V8 petrol engine, an uprated version of Latil’s own V3 truck engine from 1933, with an output of 180 hp (132 kW). The engine was in the rear of the hull, separated from the fighting compartment at the front by a firewall bulkhead, and flanked side-by-side with two self-sealing fuel tanks with the large capacity of 80 and 320 liters capacity (the smaller tank fueled the engine and was constantly replenished from the bigger tank). A novel feature was an automatic fire extinguishing system, which used several tanks placed at critical spots of the vehicle, containing methyl bromide. The vehicle’s armament was mounted in a standardized, cast APX-R turret (which was also used on several light tanks like the Renault R-35) and consisted of a short-barreled Puteaux 37mm/L21 SA 18 gun as well as a coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun. 42 armor-piercing and 58 high explosive rounds were typically carried, plus 2.500 rounds for the machine gun.

 

The hexagonal turret had a 30 mm thick, domed rotatable cupola with vertical vision slits. It had to be either hand cranked or moved about by the weight of the commander. The rear of the turret had a hatch that hinged down which could be used as a seat to improve observation. Driver and radio operator (who had an ER 54 radio set available) had no hatches on their own. They entered the vehicle through a relatively large door on the vehicle’s left side.

 

After testing between 9 January and 2 February 1934 and comparison with the lighter 4 ton types, the AMR-34 was, despite its weight of almost 10 tons, accepted by the commission on 15 February under the condition some small modifications were carried out. In the autumn, the improved prototype was tested by the Cavalry and in late 1934 the type was accepted under the name Latil Automitrailleuse de Découverte, Modèle 1935, better known under its handle “AMD-35”. Production started on a small scale in 1935 and by the end of the year the first AMD-35’s reached the Cavalry units. After complaints about reliability, such as cracking gun sights, and overheating, between 29 June and 2 December 1936 a new test program took place, resulting in many more detail modifications, including the fitting of a silencer, a ventilator on the turret and in the main cabin and a small, round hatch for the driver which allowed a better field of view when the crew did not have to work under armor cover.

The main weapon was also changed into a SA 38 37mm cannon with a longer (L33) barrel, since the original Puteaux cannon had only a very poor armor penetration of 12 mm at 500 meters. In this form, the vehicle was re-designated AMD-37. Several older vehicles were updated with this weapon, too, or they received a 25mm (0.98 in) SA35 L47.2 or L52 autocannon.

 

Overall, the AMD-37 proved to be an effective design. The eight-wheel armored car with all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering had a very good performance on- and off-road, even though with certain limits due to the vehicle’s weight and resulting ground pressure. The cabin was relatively spacious and comfortable, so that long range missions of 500 km (319 ml) and more could be endured well by the crews.

 

However, several inherent flaws persisted. One problem (which the AMD-37 shared with almost every French combat vehicle from the pre-WWII era) was that the commander was overburdened with tasks, especially under stressful combat conditions. The French Cavalry did not see this as a major flaw: A commander was supposed to acquire such a degree of dexterity that his workload did not negate the lack of need to coordinate the actions of two or even three men in a larger turret crew or the advantage of a quicker reaction because of a superior rotation speed. At first, a two-man-turret was required, but when it transpired that this would reduce the armor protection, it was abandoned in favor of thicker steel casts. However, the AMD-37’s armor level was generally relatively low, and hull’s seams offered attackers who knew where to aim several weak points that allowed even light hand weapons to penetrate the armor. Another tactical flaw associated with the turret was the hatchless cupola, forcing the commander to fight buttoned-up or leave the vehicle’s armor protection for a better field of view.

 

Operationally, though, the AMD-37 suffered from poor mechanical reliability: the suspension units were complicated and, since they were based on existing civil truck elements, too weak for heavy off-road operations under military conditions. The AMD-37’s weight of almost 10 tons (the comparable German SdKfz 231 was bigger but weighed only 8.3 tons) did not help, either. In consequence, the AMD-37 demanded enormous maintenance efforts, especially since the cast armor modules did not allow an easy access to the suspension and engine.

 

On 10 May 1940, on the eve of the German invasion in mainland France, the AMD-37 was part of 14 Divisions Légères Mécaniques (Mechanized Light Divisions; "light" meaning here "mobile", they were not light in the sense of being lightly equipped) battalions, each fielding dedicated reconnaissance groups with four to ten vehicles, which also comprised light Panhard 178 scout cars.

45 French AMD-37s were in Syria, a mandate territory, and 30 more were based in Morocco. The tanks in Syria would fight during the allied invasion of that mandate territory in 1941 and then partly be taken over by the Free French 1e CCC, those in North Africa during Operation Torch in November 1942.

The majority of AMD-37s in Western Europe fell into German hands, though: 78 were used as “Panzerkampfwagen 37R(f)” and mainly used in second line units for policy and security duties or for driver training. A small number of these German vehicles were sent to Finland, fighting on the Eastern Front, where they were outclassed by Soviet KV-1s and T-34s and quickly destroyed or abandoned.

 

Plans to augment the AMD-35’s armament with a bigger turret and a more powerful 47mm SA 35 gun (basically the same turret fitted to the SOMUA S-35 medium tank and the heavy Char B1bis) or an additional machine in the front bow for the radio operator were, due to the German invasion, never carried out.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, radio operator/loader, driver)

Weight: 9,600 kg (21,145 lb)

Length: 5.29 m (17 ft 4 in)

Width: 2.52 m (8 ft 3 in)

Height: 2.44 metres (8 ft ½ in)

Suspension: Wheeled (Tires: 270–20, bulletproof), with leaf springs

Wading depth: 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)

Trench crossing capability: 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)

Ground clearance: 350 mm (13 3/4 in)

Climbing capability: 30°

Fuel capacity: 400 l

 

Armor:

9-30 mm (.35-1.18 in) cast steel

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 75 km/h (47 mph) on road, 55 km/h (34 mph) off-road

Operational range: 600 km (375 mi) on road

Power/weight: 18,7 PS/t

 

Engine:

Water-cooled Latil V8 gasoline engine with 7.336 cm³ displacement and 180 hp (132 kW) output

Transmission:

Latil gearbox with 4 forward and 1 reverse gears, eight-wheel drive and steering

 

Armament:

1× Puteaux 37mm/L33 SA 18 gun with 100 rounds

1× coaxial 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun with 2.500 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This build was inspired by a drawing that I came across at DeviantArt a while ago, created by someone called MedJoe:

www.deviantart.com/medjoe/art/Autoblinde-SOMUA-S35bis-679...

The picture showed a Somua S-35 tank, set on eight wheels that heavily resembled those of the SdKfz. 234/2 “Puma”, in French colors and markings and designated S-35bis. I found the idea weird (since a full-fledged S-35 would certainly have at 20 tons been too heavy for a wheeled chassis), but the overall look of this combo was very convincing to me. I kept the idea in the back of my mind, until I came across a cheap Heller Somua S-35 in 1:72 scale and decided to take the concept to the (model) hardware stage and offer a personal interpretation.

 

Work started when I was able to acquire a sprue from a Plastic Soldier SdKfz. 231 kit, which provided a total of nine wheels in a suitable size and style, as well as suspension elements.

 

Building the hull was a straightforward affair: The Heller S-35 was built OOB, just the parts for the tracked suspension were left away. Some details and attachment points in the lower hull sections had to be removed, too. From the SdKfz. 232 I took the leaf spring suspension parts (these came as two frames for four wheels each, rather crude and solid parts) and cut the outer leaf spring packs off, so that their depth was reduced but the attachment points for the wheels were still there. These were simply glued into the space for the former tracks, similar to the drawing. This resulted in a slightly wide track, but narrowing the lower hull for a better look would have been a complicated affair, so I stuck with the simple solution. It does not look bad, though.

 

In order to make the vehicle’s role as a scout car more plausible and to avoid a head-heavy look, I decided to replace the original S-35 turret with a smaller APX turret from a Renault R-35. I found a suitable resin donor at ModelTrans, which was easily integrated to the S-35 hull. I perfectly fits into the S-35’s rounded cast armor style, which is so typical for many early French WWII tanks. Unfortunately, the resin R-35 turret had an air bubble at the rear, which had to be filled with putty. In order to differentiate the turret a little and modernize it, I added a longer gun barrel – in this case a piece from a hollow steel needle.

 

Other small mods include a pair of scratched rear-view mirrors for the driver, the spare wheel at the front (certainly not the best position, but the only place that was available and practical, and other armored vehicles of the time like the British Humber scout car also carried a spare wheel at the front) and an antenna at the rear, made from heated black sprue material.

  

Painting and markings:

This was not easy and it took a while to settle on a design. There were rather gaudy camouflage designs in the French army, but due to the model’s small scale I did not want a too complex design. I eventually decided to apply a rather simple scheme, inspired by the painting suggestions from the Heller kit: a disruptive two-tone scheme in a pale beige tone and a rather bluish dark green, which was confirmed through museum tanks. An odd quirk of the Heller kit is that the instructions and the box art show the same camouflage, but in inverted colors!?

 

I stuck to Heller’s suggestions and decided to follow the box art camouflage, which uses dark green (Humbrol 30) as basic color with light sand blotches (Humbrol 103) on top, which I found more appropriate for the middle European theatre of operations. I assume that these two tones were in real life separated by very narrow black or dark brown lines for more contrast – but I did not try this stunt on the small 1:72 scale model, it would IMHO have looked rather awkward. And there are French vehicles of the era that show these colors without any additional lines, too.

 

Markings/decals were mostly puzzled together from the scrap box, since the Heller decals turned out to be rather stiff and lack any adhesion to the model. I only used the “license plates”, which were fixed to the model with acrylic varnish, the rest are spares.

 

The kit received an overall washing with dark brown and a careful dry-brushing treatment with light grey.

After the final coat of matt varnish had been applied and all parts assembled, I dusted the lower areas with a dull grey-brown mix of artist pigments, simulating dust.

  

An experimental build, since drawing a whif is easier than actually building it, where parts have to fit somehow and you cannot change the size of them. Even though the resulting 8x8 scout car looks a little weird with its minimal overhang at the front and the rear, I like the result a lot – it looks very plausible to me. I also think that the smaller turret underlines the vehicle’s role as a rather lightly armed reconnaissance vehicle. It lowers the size and the silhouette, and subdues the S-35 origin – but without neglecting the typical French cast armor look. Certainly not a 1:1 copy of the inspiring drawing, but true to the original idea.

 

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit – Kenya: Improving malaria diagnosis, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his finding on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab workers work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

A recent review of the course’s effectiveness showed that microscopy students went back to labs lacking organization and equipment. In some cases, the training was not having the desired impact on local people facing malaria.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late- April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

The visit marked the initial visit of the center’s supervision support project – monthly visits to six local district hospitals – to implement tools that increase efficient oversight of malaria diagnosis. The yearlong $300,000 initiative – funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative, a USAID sponsored program – is designed to help translate school learning into field practices, Ochola said.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staff must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Africa Command’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyans military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

This is one of the shots I did for an internal project for our student magazin, Under Dusken. The theme for the project was movies. I ended up shooting 10 photos with a total workload of somewhere between 50 and 70 hours. Tons of work but tons of fun as well!

 

We were lucky to get in touch with some people with Star Wars props, great success :)

 

Stay tuned, more to come! :)

   

Please press "L".

 

Comments of all sorts are - as always - highly appreciated!

   

Lighting info

- Key: Quadra A Head | Rotalux 135cm Octa | front, above

- Fill: Nikon SB-26 | medium-sized shoot through umbrella | front, below

- Rim: Canon 580EXII | medium-sized silver reflective umbrella | behind, above

- Detail: Nikon SB-26 | red gelled | to mimic the light saber glow

all triggered with Elinchrom Skyports

 

Gear info

- 5D II

- 50mm ƒ/1.2L

 

Processing

- Lightroom 3

- Photoshop CS5

more info

   

© 2011 by Severin Sadjina | www.sesaphoto.com

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.freemoviescinema.com/science-fiction/video/latest/con... Full Feature

See more photos in set.

 

Starring Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy, Phil Foster, William Redfield, William Hopper, Benson Fong, Ross Martin, Vito Scotti. Directed by Byron Haskin. Producer George Pal gave us the sci-fi landmark Destination Moon in 1950. He then gave us the timeless classic War of the Worlds in '53. This, his third epic, was a grand effort, but fell shy of his earlier triumphs. On paper, it should have been another mega-classic. The team members from the earlier hits were reassembled. Pal as producer, Haskin directing, Lydon on screenplay, O'Hanlon writing. Conquest was also based on a popular book. Yet, despite all this pedigree, something fell short. Conquest would not go on to be remembered as one of the 50s mega-classics. Some of this obscurity may be due to Conquest being in the "serious" science fiction sub-genre, like Destination Moon and Riders to the Stars which tried to depict a plausible space-traveling future. Audiences were becoming much more entranced with saucers and weird aliens.

 

In some ways,Conquest is a remake of the basic story line from Destination Moon -- a crew are the first to land on a celestial body. They struggle to survive and yet courageously return. This time, instead of the moon, it's Mars. As a remake goes, however, it's worthy. The Technicolor is rich and the sets well done. This is an A-level production which at its release was the 2001: A Space Odyssey of its day. All the melodrama, however, starts to get in the way of the techno-gee-whiz.

Synopsis

Based aboard a rotating wheel space station, workmen prepare a big flying wing of a rocket ship. A group of potential crewmen train for what they think will be a moon landing mission. As the work nears completion, they find out that the real mission will be a landing on Mars instead. While aboard "The Wheel", we're introduced to the phenomenon of "space sickness" -- a mental breakdown due to workload and confinement for long periods. One of the crew candidates is scrubbed because of one such breakdown. Nonetheless, the multinational crew are chosen and embark for the long journey to Mars. After departure, it's found that General Merritt's old friend, Sergeant Mahoney, stowed away. On the way to Mars, a communications antenna is damaged and must be fixed via spacewalking crewmen. Just as the repairs are completed, the customary meteor arrives, threatening to hit the ship. General Merritt manages to fly the ship out of the way, but one of the crewmen on EVA is hit with micrometeoroids (like bullets) and killed. The General is also starting to show odd behavior, doubting whether their mission is proper or is an affront to God. Their evasive action puts them behind schedule, but they arrive at Mars. While attempting to land on Mars, the General has another bout of delusion and tries to abort the landing. His son, Captain Merritt, manages to take control and brings in the flying-wing lander to a rough but successful landing. The others go out to explore, but the General, now fully delusional, is venting rocket fuel in an attempt to blow up the ship. His son discovers this and the two struggle. The General's pistol discharges, killing him. Mahoney comes on the scene just then and accuses Captain Merritt of murdering the General. The rest explore a bit more, but pronounce Mars a dead planet. Despite this, Imoto discovers that his earth flower seed sprouted in martian soil. Earthquakes cause the escape rocket to shift off of perpendicular. They get it righted and blast off. On the way home, Mahoney and Captain Merritt make up and declare that the dead General was a hero, the man who conquered space. The End.

The color, the sets, models and background paintings are very visually rich. The whole image is a great snapshot of the future as people in the mid-50s imagined it would be. More tidbits in the Notes section below.

There is actually a subtle anti-war tone to the movie. No overt talk of nuclear dangers or menacing enemies. It is notable, however, that among the conspicuously international crew candidates, there is no Russian. Americans would "conquer" space with a few other nationals along for the ride, but NO Russians. There is also a poorly explained urgency to the mission. What's the hurry? Back in the Cold War, it was pretty common that WE had to get something before THEY did.

In 1949, Willy Ley wrote the book "The Conquest of Space," which speculated about how mankind might travel to other planets. This book was illustrated by space artist Chesley Bonestell. This book would become the inspiration for the movie.

 

From 1952 to 1954, Collier's magazine ran a series of stories about mankind conquering space. These were repeats by Ley and Bonestell of their 1949 book, but this time Collier's added material from "rocket scientist" Werner von Braun. Bonestell's new illustrations were clearly the prototype for the look of Conquest. People felt that mankind was on the verge of taking to the stars. The Collier's series expressed that giddy optimism.

The screenplay for Conquest added weak human interest sub-plots which almost negate the gee-whiz optimism that the visuals convey. The screenwriters were all experienced in their craft, so it's puzzling why such amateurish characterizations are so prominent. The comic relief moments are almost cartoonish. The whole leader-gone-mad sub-plot seems out of place.

A possible "message" to Conquest is that man is a fragile creature who may not be ready for the rigors of space travel. Certainly, people wondered about this, and other movies touched on the theme too, such as Riders to the Stars ('54). Our not being mentally ready yet was cited by the aliens in It Came From Outer Space ('53). General Merritt's dementia was foreshadowed in the breakdown of Roy early in the movie.

One thing that strikes the viewer is how much life aboard the space station is presumed to duplicate life aboard a navy ship. It's not overtly stated that the military should (or will) be the agency which "conquers" space, but from the ranks and uniforms and the navy-life scenes, that message comes through. Space ships will be like earthly ships.

On the surface, it seems like Conquest is blasting Christians as dangerous religious fanatics. This notion, that anyone who believes in God simply MUST be wacko, would be much more popular in later decades, but it was uncommon in the 50s. For that reason, the General's dementia deserves a closer look.

Actually, General Merritt was not the stereotypic religious fanatic. His son comments that he had never seen him carrying around and reading the Bible before. Instead of headaches or paralysis, the General's "space sickness" took a paranoid turn. He had rational misgivings about the Mars mission from the start, pre-dementia. His repressed misgivings are expressed in Bible verses dealing with sinners being punished by God. He once quotes from Psalm 38, then later from Psalm 62.

Throughout all this, God is not mocked. Indeed, only the "religious" man had the courage to go outside and give the dead Fodor a proper burial. The other non-relgious crewmen were at a loss for what to do.

The notion of impudent mankind trying to meddle in God's domain, is treated as a credible issue. In this, the pattern of the Tower of Babel is drawn. Prideful mankind thinks they can build their way into God's realm. God foils that plan. General Merritt's dementia seems motivated by a fear that this divine retribution could be coming again.

The writers of Conquest imagine a multinationalism in space. Most notable are two former enemy nations: Imoto is from Japan and Fodor is a German-accented Austrian, (as a stand-in for Germany). Imoto gets to make a little speech about why Japan went to war (lack of resources). Fodor gets to be seen as the cherished son of a classic "mama". By 1955, it was starting to become okay to look beyond World War 2.

At one point, the crew of The Wheel are watching a movie with many scantily clad dancing girls (much like sailors aboard a ship). The movie is a lavish musical number with many gold bikini clad pseudo-harem girls dancing while Rosemary Clooney sings about love "...in the desert sand." This clip is total non-sequetor to the high-tech space environment. What's interesting, is that it's NOT stock footage recycled. Clooney had not done any such movie. This dance number must have been staged and shot just for this scene in Conquest. Random act of musical. Gotta love 'em.

 

Bottom line? Conquest is an almost-epic. It's definitely an A-grade sci-fi movie, so it's well worth watching. The human story part gets in the way sometimes, but the visuals more than make up for it.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon T.1 (reg. 30+04, c/n GT0004 of the German Air Force.der deutschen Luftwaffe (Bundeswehr)

Air Force: More: Germany - Air Force

Aircraft: More: Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon T.1

Registration: 30+04 (cn GT0004)

Location: RAF Waddington,Lincolnshire,England,UK

Photo Date: 05.07.14

Photographer: Tony Gartshore @ RAF Waddington

 

Eurofighter Typhoon is the world’s most advanced swing-role combat aircraft providing simultaneously deployable Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface capabilities.

 

It is in service with 6 customers across 20 operational units and has been ordered by a seventh. The aircraft has demonstrated, and continues to demonstrate, high reliability across the globe in all climates. It has been combat proven during operations in Libya.

 

Features of the aircraft Max speed - mach 2.0

 

Thrust - 90 kN from each of the two Eurojet EJ200 engines

 

Max altitude - Above 55,000 ft

 

Length - 15.96 m

 

Span - 10.95 m

 

Eurofighter Typhoon delivers an enviable level of flexibility and efficiency. Only Eurofighter Typhoon possesses both adequate weapon availability (up to 6 bombs whilst also carrying six missiles, a cannon and a targeting pod) and sufficient processing power to simultaneously support missile in-flight updates and bomb in-flight targeting. True swing-role capability.

  

Aircraft diagram

 

The aircraft is designed to be upgraded and extended to provide decades of effective use. Combining a proven, agile airframe built from stealth materials with the latest sensor, control and weapons systems delivers the optimum combat capability – both beyond visual range (BVR) and in close combat.

 

The weapons systems, navigation technologies and control infrastructure are all designed to be upgraded, to continue to enhance the overall performance of the aircraft.

 

The Airframe

 

Plane Aircraft

 

The aircraft is built with advanced composite materials to deliver a low radar profile and strong airframe. Only 15% of the aircraft’s surface is metal, delivering stealth operation and protection from radar-based systems. Pilots were included in design from the earliest stages to develop a deliberately unstable airframe that can still be flown effectively. This delivers both superior manoeuvrability at subsonic speeds and efficient supersonic capability to support the widest range of combat scenarios.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon specifications

 

Max speed Mach 2.0

 

Thrust 90kN from each of the two Eurojet EJ200 turbojets

 

Length 15.96M

 

Max altitude Above 55,000FT

 

Wingspan 10.95M

 

The Materials

Carbon Fibre Composites

 

Aluminium Lithium

Titanium

Glass Reinforced Plastic

Aluminium Casting

  

Aluminium Titanium

Strong, lightweight composite materials were key to the design of Eurofighter Typhoon to give it deliberate instability. Using them means the weight of the airframe is 30% less than for traditional materials, boosting the range and performance as well as reducing the radar signature.

 

General Materials Carbon Fibre Composites 70%

Metals 15%

Glass Reinforced Plastics (GRP) 12%

Other Materials 3%

 

Production

Ultrasound materials

Eurofighter Typhoon foreplane

  

The innovative production techniques developed for Eurofighter Typhoon have created a whole new industry for the most effective use of advanced composite materials. These provide greater tensile strength and more aerodynamic performance with less weight and more reliability than traditional materials.

 

The Eurojet EJ200 engine

Developing leading-edge engine technology has been a key part of the Eurofighter Typhoon project from the start. Four global companies have jointly developed the high performance EJ200 power plants that each provide 90kN of thrust from a small lightweight engine with high strength and high temperature capability.

 

The two-spool design with single-stage turbines drives the three-stage fan and five-stage HP compressor with annular combustion with vaporising burners. This allows Eurofighter Typhoon to cruise at supersonic speeds without the use of reheat for extended periods. The engines deliver 1,000 flying hours without needing unscheduled maintenance through the use of advanced integrated Health Monitoring for class-leading reliability, maintainability and Through Life Cost.

 

Did you know?

After a 1,400 hour flight simulation, the Eurojet engine produces the same operating performance as a brand new engine.

 

Sensor fusion is key to Eurofighter Typhoon's effective infrared sensor

  

Eurofighter Typhoon is at the forefront of sensor fusion technology and the sensor suite continues to be upgraded to deliver enhanced detection and decision-making. Combining the data from key sensors gives the pilot an autonomous ability to rapidly assess the overall tactical situation and respond efficiently to identified threats.

 

Infrared Search and Track (IRST)

 

The PIRATE infrared sensor provides passive Air-to-Air target detection and tracking performance in the IRST mode for covert tracking and Air-to-Surface operations in the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) mode.

 

Graphic Radar

 

The Captor-M mechanically scanned radar is a best-in-class radar, offering an extensive suite of modes to meet customers’ operational requirements, as well as providing a very competitive field of regard.

 

Captor-E is the future primary sensor on Eurofighter Typhoon and has a full suite of Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface modes. The capacious front fuselage of the Eurofighter Typhoon allows the installation of Captor-E’s optimised array whose Field of Regard is some 50 per cent wider than traditional fixed plate systems.

 

This wide field of regard offers significant benefits in both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface engagements and given the large power and aperture available provides the pilot with much enhanced angular coverage compared to fixed plate systems.

 

Air-to-Air Features

 

Air-to-air features

•Search Modes - Range While Search (RWS), Velocity Search (VS) and multiple target Track While Scan (TWS)

•Lock-Follow Modes, which are tailored for long range tracking and short range tracking for use in visual identification or gun attacks

•Air Combat Acquisition Modes allowing a choice of boresight, vertical scan HUD field of view or slaved acquisition

  

Air-to-Surface Features

 

Air-to-surface features

•Search Modes - Ground Map, High Resolution Map, Ground Moving Target Identification and Sea Surface Search and Track While Scan

•Track Modes - Fixed Target Track and Moving Target Track

•Air-to-Surface Ranging

 

Throughout the design of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the needs of the single seat pilot have been paramount. This has meant high levels of attention to the control and information interfaces throughout the unique glass cockpit, from the head-up, head-down and head-out systems to all-round vision. High workload situations were analysed to establish information priorities and automate tasks.

 

The advanced cockpit design and layout is based on an extensive series of formal assessments in a rapid prototype facility, undertaken by operational pilots from air forces flying the Eurofighter Typhoon. Using and upgrading the advanced digital technology not only enhances operation and survivability, but also simplifies aircraft maintenance.

 

Other features such as Direct Voice Input (DVI) and Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) control functions have been implemented on the Eurofighter Typhoon to drastically reduce the pilot’s workload. Voice + Throttle And Stick (VTAS) enables single pilot operations even in the most demanding Air-to-Air, Air-to-Surface and swing-role missions.

 

Head up Display (HUD)

 

The Eurofighter Typhoon’s wide angle head up display (HUD) provides the pilot with stable, accurate, high integrity, low latency eyes-out guidance in a compact package. The fully digital HUD offers high performance that is compatible with night vision and laser protection goggles.

 

Head down display systems (MHDD)

 

Three full colour multi-function head down displays (MHDD) are used for the overall tactical situation, presenting the attack situation, attack formats, map displays and air traffic procedures, in addition to system status and checklists.

 

Helmet mounted symbology system (HMSS)

 

Eurofighter Typhoon utilises a unique Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS), alongside six other pilot display surfaces. HMSS provides flight reference and weapon data aiming through the visor. It is fully compatible with night vision aids using light intensification and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imagery. It offers pilots a significant competitive advantage.

 

The helmet is composed of an outer helmet, inner helmet, optics blast/display visor, oxygen mask, night vision enhancement camera and head position tracking system.

 

Navigation sensors

 

Hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS) controls

  

The latest sensor technology supports automated and inherently covert operation down to 100ft. Eurofighter Typhoon’s navigation aids include a global positioning system (GPS) for full digital interface with individual satellite tracking channels and improved anti-jam capabilities. The package also includes an inertial navigation system with GPS. In addition, the navigation system features integrated lateral cueing and vertical commands, ensuring safe manoeuvre with 3D situational awareness.

 

Flight Control

 

The flight control system (FCS) is a full authority and quadruplex digital system which allows carefree handling and manoeuvring in all situations. Its intuitive operation is designed to enable the pilot to concentrate on the tactical tasks and to fly the aircraft 'head-up' in combination with the HOTAS (Hand-on-Throttle-and-Stick) concept applied to cockpit design. Automated Emergency recovery features have also been embodied in the system design to ensure maximum safety of operation.

 

Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)

 

Eurofighter cockpit MIDS

The Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)

 

The MIDS high capacity digital information distribution system allows secure exchange of real-time data between a wide variety of users, including all the components of a tactical air force and, where appropriate, land and naval forces.

 

Defensive Aids Sub System (DASS)

 

The DASS suite comprises wingtip Electronic Support Measures and Electronic Counter Measures pods (ESM/ECM), missile warners, chaff and flare dispenser and an optional laser warner.

 

Upgrades in computing power will support continuous protection from future threats, to enhance Eurofighter Typhoon’s survivability and greatly increase overall mission effectiveness.

 

Eurofighter Weapons system

Supporting multiple weapon configurations

  

As well as Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (SRAAM’s) and the 27mm Mauser Canon the Eurofighter Typhoon carries the latest beyond-visual-range (BVR) Air-to-Air missile technology. Soon the METEOR advanced long-range missile will provide the largest No Escape Zone of any Air-to-Air weapon, resulting in a long stand-off range and high probability of interception to ensure air superiority and pilot survivability. Guidance is provided by an active radar seeker with mid-course updates via data link.

 

The Laser Designator Pod (LDP) enables precise location of targets and guidance of Air-to-Surface weapons.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon has also been upgraded with Paveway IV to provide high levels of operational flexibility. The combat proven dual-mode guidance system, coupled with height of burst and penetrating capability, enable the decision of target engagement to be made right up to the point of release.

  

Eurofighter Typhoon will see the constant integration of new, smart weapons in accordance with the demands of current and future customers.

 

Storm Shadow, Taurus, Small Diametre Bombs, Brimstone, Anti-Shipping Missiles are just some of the upgrades planned.

  

Multiple Weapons

Eurofighter Typhoon can remain on task for long periods of time with large, flexible weapons loads including METEOR, AMRAAM, ASRAAM or IRIS-T

  

Multiple Weapons

Eurofighter Typhoon can carry a vast range of Air-to-Surface weapons, including the new Storm Shadow conventionally armed stand-off missile, the Brimstone anti-armour weapon and future Precision Guided Weapons

 

Life Support Systems

 

Fully equipped pilot

A fully equipped pilot before a flight , The Life Support System & Aircrew Equipment Assembly (AEA) is unique to Eurofighter Typhoon and includes full-cover anti-G trousers (FCAGT), a chest counter-pressure garment (CCPG) and a liquid conditioning garment, as well as nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) protection.

The helmet incorporates the latest Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS) and optical protection. For pilot comfort and optimum performance capability, Eurofighter Typhoon uses computer controlled anti-G and breathing support technology.

  

Ejection Seat

  

The Mk 16A ejection seat on the Eurofighter Typhoon is 30% lighter than equivalent ejection seats. This is achieved by combining the twin ejection gun outer cylinder tubes as both the propulsion system and the seat’s primary structure. The narrow head box also contributes to Eurofighter Typhoon’s excellent rear vision.

The seat integrates an on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS) and communication systems. The simplified combined harness allows unassisted strap-in, and the passive leg restraint system avoids the need for the pilot to wear restraining garters. A second generation electronic sequencer is also incorporated. Reliability and maintainability are key elements of the design, with full access to in-cockpit components.

  

Cockpit Access

  

Eurofighter pilot entering cockpit

A pilot entering the Eurofighter Typhoon cockpit Normal access to the cockpit is through either a telescopic integral ladder or an external version. The integral ladder is stowed in the port side of the fuselage below the cockpit.

 

Fuel system - Forward transfer tank

 

Throughout the aircraft flexible couplings connect the fuel pipework built into the three main fuselage sections and wings. These provide a simple method to connect the fuel tanks, which all have fuel-flow proportioners to maintain the centre of gravity alongside relief valves to maintain air and fuel pressures. The intelligent computer-controlled fuel system ensures long-range, flexibility and safety.

The Airbus A320 family consists of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The family includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321, as well as the ACJ business jet. The A320s are also named A320ceo (current engine option) after the introduction of the A320neo. Final assembly of the family takes place in Toulouse, France, and Hamburg, Germany. A plant in Tianjin, China, has also been producing aircraft for Chinese airlines since 2009, while a final assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama, United States, delivered its first A321 in April 2016. The aircraft family can accommodate up to 220 passengers and has a range of 3,100 to 12,000 km, depending on model.

 

The first member of the A320 family—the A320—was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was first delivered in March 1988 to launch customer Air France. The family was extended to include the A321 (first delivered 1994), the A319 (1996), and the A318 (2003). The A320 family pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control systems, as well as side-stick controls, in commercial aircraft. There has been a continuous improvement process since introduction.

 

As of 31 August 2017, a total of 7,731 Airbus A320-family aircraft have been delivered, of which 7,397 are in service. In addition, another 5,520 airliners are on firm order. It ranked as the world's fastest-selling jet airliner family according to records from 2005 to 2007, and as the best-selling single-generation aircraft programme. The A320 family has proved popular with airlines including low-cost carriers such as EasyJet, which purchased A319s and A320s to replace its 737 fleet. As of 31 August 2017, American Airlines was the largest operator of the Airbus A320 family aircraft, operating 392 aircraft. The aircraft family competes directly with the 737 and has competed with the 717, 757, and the MD-80/MD-90.

 

In December 2010, Airbus announced a new generation of the A320 family, the A320neo (new engine option). The A320neo offers new, more efficient engines, combined with airframe improvements and the addition of winglets, named Sharklets by Airbus. The aircraft will deliver fuel savings of up to 15%. As of August 2017, a total of 5,168 A320neo family aircraft had been ordered by more than 70 airlines, making it the fastest ever selling commercial aircraft. The first A320neo was delivered to Lufthansa on 20 January 2016 and it entered service on 25 January 2016.

 

DEVELOPMENT

ORIGINS

When Airbus designed the Airbus A300 during the late 1960s and early 1970s, it envisaged a broad family of airliners with which to compete against Boeing and Douglas, two established US aerospace manufacturers. From the moment of formation, Airbus had begun studies into derivatives of the Airbus A300B in support of this long-term goal. Prior to the service introduction of the first Airbus airliners, engineers within Airbus had identified nine possible variations of the A300 known as A300B1 to B9. A 10th variation, conceived in 1973, later the first to be constructed, was designated the A300B10. It was a smaller aircraft which would be developed into the long-range Airbus A310. Airbus then focused its efforts on the single-aisle market, which was dominated by the 737 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9.

 

Plans from a number of European aircraft manufacturers called for a successor to the relatively successful BAC One-Eleven, and to replace the 737–200 and DC-9. Germany's MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm), British Aircraft Corporation, Sweden's Saab and Spain's CASA worked on the EUROPLANE, a 180- to 200-seat aircraft. It was abandoned after intruding on A310 specifications. VFW-Fokker, Dornier and Hawker Siddeley worked on a number of 150-seat designs.

 

Alongside BAe (which at the time was not part of Airbus) were MBB, Fokker-VFW and Aérospatiale. The design within the JET study that was carried forward was the JET2 (163 passengers), which then became the Airbus S.A1/2/3 series (Single Aisle), before settling on the A320 name for its launch in 1984. Previously, Hawker Siddeley had produced a design called the HS.134 "Airbus" in 1965, an evolution of the HS.121 (formerly DH.121) Trident, which shared much of the general arrangement of the later JET3 study design. The name "Airbus" at the time referred to a BEA requirement, rather than to the later international programme.

 

DESIGN EFFORT

A new programme was initiated subsequently, called Joint European Transport (JET). This was set up in June 1977, and was based at the then British Aerospace (formerly Vickers) site in Weybridge, Surrey, UK. Although the members were all of Airbus' partners, they regarded the project as a separate collaboration from Airbus. This project was considered the forerunner of Airbus A320, encompassing the 130- to 188-seat market, powered by two CFM56s. It would have a cruise speed of Mach 0.84 (faster than Boeing 737). The programme was later transferred to Airbus, leading up to the creation of the Single-Aisle (SA) studies in 1980, led by former leader of JET programme, Derek Brown. The group looked at three different variants, covering the 125- to 180-seat market, called SA1, SA2 and SA3. Although unaware at the time, the consortium was producing the blueprints for the A319, A320 and A321, respectively. The single-aisle programme created divisions within Airbus about whether to design a shorter-range twinjet than a longer-range quadjet wanted by the West Germans, particularly Lufthansa. However, works proceeded, and the German carrier would eventually order the twinjet.

 

In February 1981, the project was re-designated A320, with efforts focused on the former SA2. During the year, Airbus worked with Delta Air Lines on a 150-seat aircraft envisioned and required by the airline. The A320 would carry 150 passengers 3,440 km using fuel from wing fuel tanks only. The Dash 200 had more fuel through the activation of centre fuel tank, increasing fuel capacity from 15,590 litres to 23,430 L, enabling flights with a distance of 5,280 km. The aircraft would measure 36.04 m and 39.24 m, respectively. Airbus then had to decide on a cross-section for the A320. It considered a fuselage diameter of "the Boeing 707 and 727, or do something better". It eventually settled on a wider diameter, with the internal width at 3.7 m,compared to 3.45 m of the Boeing aircraft. Although heavier, this specification allowed the aircraft to compete more effectively with the 737. The A320 wing went through several stages of design, finally settling on 33.91 m. It is long and thin, offering better aerodynamic efficiency because of the higher aspect ratio than the competition, namely the 737 and MD-80.

 

After the oil price rises of the 1970s, Airbus needed to minimise the trip fuel costs of the A320. To that end, it adopted composite primary structures, centre-of-gravity control using fuel, glass cockpit (EFIS) and a two-crew flight deck. The end result was that the A320 consumed 50% less fuel than the 727. According to a study cited by the Stockholm Environmental Institute, the A320 burns 11,608 kilograms of jet fuel flying between Los Angeles and New York City, which is about 77.4 kilograms per passenger in an A320 with 150 seats.

 

FLY-BY-WIRE FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM

The A320 is the world’s first airliner with digital fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system: input commands through the side-stick are interpreted by flight control computers and transmitted to flight control surfaces within the flight envelope protection; in the 1980s the computer-controlled dynamic system of the Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter cross-fertilised the Airbus team which tested FBW on an A300.

 

The A320 retained the dark cockpit where an indicator is off when its system is running to draw attention on dysfunctions from the A310, the first widebody designed to be operated without a flight engineer and influenced by Bernard Ziegler, first Airbus CEO Henri Ziegler's son. All following Airbuses have similar human/machine interface and systems control philosophy to facilitate cross-type qualification with minimal training; for Roger Béteille, former Airbus president, this choice was one of the most difficult he had ever made.

 

ENGINE

During the A320 development programme, Airbus considered propfan technology, backed by Lufthansa. At the time unproven, it was essentially a fan placed outside the engine nacelle, offering speed of a turbofan at turboprops economics; eventually, Airbus stuck with turbofans.

 

Power on the A320 would be supplied by two CFM56-5-A1s rated at 25,000 lbf (112.5 kN). It was the only available engine at launch until the IAE V2500, offered by International Aero Engines, a group composed of Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Japanese Aero Engine Corporation, Fiat and MTU Aero Engines (MTU). The first V2500 variant, the V2500-A1, has a thrust output of 25,000 pounds-force (110 kN), hence the name. It is 4% more efficient than the CFM56, with cruise thrust specific fuel consumption at 0.574 lb/lbf/h (16.3 g/kN/s) for the -A5, compared to 0.596 lb/lbf/h (16.9 g/kN/s) for the CFM56-5A1.

 

PRODUCTION AND INTRODUCTION

The UK, France and West Germany wanted the responsibility of final assembly and the associated duties, known as "work-share arguments". The Germans requested an increased work-share of 40%, while the British wanted the major responsibilities to be swapped around to give partners production and research and development experience. In the end, British work-share was increased from that of the two previous Airbuses.

 

France was willing to commit to a launch aid, or subsidies, while the Germans were more cautious. The UK government was unwilling to provide funding for the tooling requested by British Aerospace (BAe) and estimated at ₤250 million, it was postponed for three years. On 1 March 1984 the government and the manufacturer agreed that ₤50 million would be paid whether the A320 would fly or not, while the rest would be paid as a levy on each aircraft sold.

 

The programme was launched on 2 March 1984. At this time, Airbus had 96 orders. Air France was its first customer with a "letter of intent" for 25 A320s and an option for 25 more at the 1981 Paris air show. In October 1983, British Caledonian placed seven firm order, bringing total orders to more than Cyprus Airways became the first to place order for V2500-powered A320s in November 1984, followed by Pan Am with 16 firm orders and 34 options in January 1985, then Inex Adria. One of the most significant order was when Northwest Airlines placed an order for 100 A320s in October 1986, later confirmed at the 1990 Farnborough Airshow, powered by CFM56 engines.

 

In presence of then French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and the Prince and Princess of Wales, the first A320 was rolled out of the final assembly line on 14 February 1987 and made its maiden flight on 22 February in 3 hours and 23 minutes from Toulouse. The flight test programme took 1,200 hours on 530 flights, European Joint Aviation Authorities certification was delivered on 26 February 1988. The first A320 was delivered to Air France on 28 March 1988.

 

On 26 June 1988, Air France Flight 296 crashed into trees at the end of runway at Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport, three out of 130 passengers were killed. In February 1990 another A320, Indian Airlines Flight 605, crash landed short of the airport runway in Bangalore, the ensuing fire contributed to the casualty count of ninety-two, out of 146 on board. The press and media later questioned the fly-by-wire flight control system but subsequent investigations by commission of inquiry found "no malfunction of the aircraft or its equipment which could have contributed towards a reduction in safety or an increase in the crew's workload during the final flight phase ... the response of the engines was normal and in compliance with certification requirement".

 

The Toulouse Blagnac final assembly line builds A320s, whereas the Hamburg Finkenwerder final assembly line builds A318s, A319s, and A321s. The Airbus factory in Tianjin, China assembles A319s, A320s, and A319s; A320s and A321s are also assembled at the Airbus Americas factory in Mobile, Alabama. Airbus produced 42 A320 per month in 2015, and expects to increase to 50 per month in 2017.

 

As Airbus targets a 60 monthly global production rate by mid-2019, the Tianjin line delivered 51 in 2016 and it could assemble six per month from four as it starts producing A320neos in 2017; 147 Airbus were delivered in 2016 in China, 20% of its production, mostly A320-family, a 47% market share as the country should become the world’s largest market ahead of the USA before 2027.

Stretching the A320: A321

 

The first derivative of the A320 was the Airbus A321, also known as the Stretched A320, A320-500 and A325. Its launch came on 24 November 1988 after commitments for 183 aircraft from 10 customers were secured. The aircraft would be a minimum-changed derivative, apart from a number of minor modifications to the wing, and the fuselage stretch itself. The wing would incorporate double-slotted flaps and minor trailing edge modifications, increasing the wing area from 124 m2 to 128 m2. The fuselage was lengthened by four plugs (two ahead and two behind the wings), giving the A321 an overall length of 6.94 metres longer than the A320. The length increase required the overwing exits of the A320 to be enlarged and repositioned in front of and behind the wings. The centre fuselage and undercarriage were reinforced to accommodate the increase in maximum takeoff weight of 9,600 kg, taking it to 83,000 kg.Final assembly for the A321 would be, as a first for any Airbus, carried out in Germany (then West Germany). This came after a dispute between the French, who claimed the move would incur €135 million in unnecessary expenditure associated with the new plant, and the Germans, arguing it would be more productive for Airbus in the long run. The second production line was located at Hamburg, which would also subsequently produce the smaller Airbus A319 and A318. For the first time, Airbus entered the bond market, through which it raised €475 million to finance development costs. An additional €175 million was borrowed from European Investment Bank and private investors.

 

The maiden flight of the Airbus A321 came on 11 March 1993, when the prototype, registration F-WWIA, flew with IAE V2500 engines; the second prototype, equipped with CFM56-5B turbofans, flew in May. Lufthansa and Alitalia were the first to order the stretched Airbuses, with 20 and 40 aircraft requested, respectively. The first of Lufthansa's V2500-A5-powered A321s arrived on 27 January 1994, while Alitalia received its first CFM56-5B-powered aircraft on 22 March.

 

A320

The A320 series has two variants, the A320-100 and A320-200.

 

Only 21 A320-100s were produced. These aircraft, the first to be manufactured, were delivered to Air Inter - later acquired by Air France - and British Airways as a result of an order from British Caledonian Airways made prior to its acquisition.

 

The primary changes of the -200 over the -100 are wingtip fences and increased fuel capacity for increased range. Indian Airlines used its first 31 A320-200s with double-bogie main landing gear for airfields with poor runway condition which a single-bogie main gear could not manage.

 

Powered by two CFM International CFM56-5s or IAE V2500s with thrust ratings of 98–120 kN, its typical range with 150 passengers is 6,100 km. A total of 4,498 of the A320ceo model have been delivered, with 230 remaining on order as of 31 August 2017. The closest Boeing competitor is the 737-800.

 

WIKIPEDIA

NASA Deputy Administrator Dava J. Newman visits the STS-42 mission patch during a tour through Heros Way. Dr. Newman was a Co-Investigator on the Mental Workload and Performance Experiment (MWPE) that flew to space on STS-42 to measure astronaut mental workload and fine motor control in microgravity.

Back before there was an American League, the Cubs were called the White Stockings and the Pennant was the World Series. Lawrence J. Corcoran took the team to Championships in 1880, 1881, and 1882! A THREE-PEAT! This beat the Chicago Bulls two three-peats by 110 years.

 

Little Larry was perhaps 5' 3" and 120 pounds, but he threw serious heat. They called him the "Indian Pony" because of his endurance. He's a real forgotten hero of the early Cubs. This photo is from 1887 with the Indianapolis Hoosiers. Here's a longer bio from "Bleed Cubbie Blue"...

 

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

 

He was a right-handed fireballer who led the National League in strikeouts as a 20 year old rookie. He also finished second in the league in wins as he led the Chicago National League team to first place. Sadly, after a few years of promise, a heavy workload resulted in repeated arm injuries and a sad end to what was once a promising career.

 

Of course I'm not talking about Kerry Wood. The Cubs only won the wild card in 1998.

 

No, the young phenom described here is none other than Larry Corcoran, who may have the dubious distinction of being the first Chicago player to fail to live up to his early promise. Had any trace of the 19th Century telegram log "Bleed White Stocking White" survived, I'm sure we could find one of the cranks (which is what they called fans in those days) complaining about poor Larry and how Cap Anson was abusing his arm. On the other hand, someone else would have pointed out that pitchers used to be able to pitch every day and go a full nine innings and that young Larry was just soft.

 

Larry Corcoran was born in Brooklyn in 1859. He pitched as a teenager for the local semipro teams in Brooklyn. On one of those teams in the 1877, he learned to throw a curve ball. In fact, some would later claim that he and his teammates, fellow Brooklynites and future major leaguers Mickey Welch and Terry Larkin, were the first players to ever throw a curve ball. Usually Candy Cummings gets the credit for inventing the curve, but there is some dispute, and Corcoran was certainly one of the first players to ever throw one.

 

Whoever invented the curveball, it wasn't Corcoran's out pitch. He threw hard heat most of the time, and that heat got him noticed by a professional team in Buffalo, where he was discovered and signed by Cap Anson of the mighty Chicago White Stockings in time for the 1880 season.

 

The White Stockings had been struggling to find a pitcher since Al Spalding decided he'd rather own the team and sell the equipment than play in 1877. Corcoran, along with backup pitcher and curveball specialist Fred Goldsmith, pitched the White Stockings to a record of 35-3 to start the season. The White Stockings easily won the pennant that season, finishing with an astonishing 67-17 record. Corcoran won 43 games, which is a rookie record. (Assuming one doesn't consider every player in 1876 a rookie)

 

But Corcoran wore down as the season went on and it was little wonder why. He threw 536 innings that season. He struck out 268 batters and walked 99, which is quite a workload in a year where it took 9 balls to walk a batter. On top of that, Larry Corcoran was a tiny man. While his actual height seems to be lost to history, it was often noted that little Larry only weighed 120 pounds. For comparison, David Eckstein is listed (maybe a little generously) at 170. For those of you old enough to remember Fred Patek, he topped the scales at 148. Larry Corcoran was a full 28 pounds smaller than Fred Patek. Today, a scout would take one look at him and laugh. Even in a time where Americans were a lot smaller than they are today, Larry was a tiny man.

 

The next season, Anson came up with a solution to Corcoran's stamina problem. Taking an idea from the Buffalo team, Anson began to alternate pitching Corcoran and Goldsmith to save wear and tear on Corcoran's arm in 1881. In addition, Goldsmith's crafty curve was a perfect compliment to Corcoran's heat. While Corcoran and Goldsmith weren't baseball's first pitching rotation, their success in pitching on alternate days was what caused the idea to be adopted by the rest of baseball.

 

As with any new idea, there was criticism. Certainly the cranks called Corcoran and Goldsmith weak sissies for not pitching every day. Owners of other teams criticized the idea because it meant having to pay a salary to two pitchers instead of one. But the idea was a good one, and Corcoran and Goldsmith pitched the White Stockings to three straight pennants.

 

Additionally, Corcoran and the White Stockings' catcher, Silver Flint, have been credited with creating the first set of signs between a pitcher and catcher. The side of Flint's mouth that his chewing tobacco was on determined whether Corcoran would throw a fastball or a curve.

 

The modern day pitcher whom Corcoran probably most resembles is Jennie Finch, except Jennie is a lot bigger and could probably easily kick little Larry's rear if he got out of line. She's also a lot prettier. This is the era of baseball pitchers throwing underhanded and from 50 feet from home plate. Batters could still call for a high strike or a low strike. The rules would seemingly change every year as to how many balls were a walk, whether a foul counted as a strike and what a pitcher was permitted to do in the "pitcher's box." (The mound and the rubber would come later) Because of the rotation with Goldsmith, Corcoran didn't lead the league in a lot of statistical categories, but he was the best pitcher on the best team in baseball from 1880 and 1883.

 

But in 1883, Corcoran began to experience arm problems. Boston would win 15 of 16 games down the stretch (including a four game sweep of the White Stockings) and deny the Chicagoans their fourth straight pennant.

 

Corcoran was tempted to jump to the Union Association in 1884, but thought better of it when he was threatened with being blacklisted. Lucky for him he didn't, since the Union Association fell apart very quickly. But in every other sense, 1884 was a disaster for Corcoran and the White Stockings. Goldsmith lost his effectiveness and was sold to Baltimore in the American Association. Corcoran was expected to shoulder even more of the pitching burden in Goldsmith's absence, but his arm wasn't holding up well either. In at least one game, his right arm hurt so badly that he tried to pitch left-handed. He would play games at shortstop to stay on the field. Despite the pain, he managed to throw his third career no-hitter in 1884. Still, the collapse of the White Stockings' pitching rotation meant a fifth place finish in 1884.

 

Corcoran started out 1885 successfully, but soon the pain came back and he was unable to pitch at all. Overhand pitching was allowed by this time, but it seems unlikely that Corcoran would have been able to even lift his arm enough to try it. Anson released Corcoran midway through the 1885 season. He signed with New York, but his arm wouldn't come back. He would spend the next four years bouncing from team to team (majors and minors, although there wasn't that big a difference between the two at the time) trying to find the magic again. He never would.

 

Corcoran's story ends even more tragically. He tried to stay in the game as an umpire, but his kidneys were failing him. Larry Corcoran would die on October 14, 1891. He was only 32 years old and left behind a wife and four children.

 

The 19th Century was full of people who would achieve great success very quickly, only to see it disappear just as fast. Larry Corcoran's whole short life epitomized that aspect of that capricious era.

 

Profile by BCB reader JoshinLA.

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

By PETER S. GOODMAN

September 27, 2009.

 

Despite signs that the economy has resumed growing, unemployed Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse.

 

Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. According to the Labor Department’s latest numbers, from July, only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed.

 

And even though the pace of layoffs is slowing, many companies remain anxious about growth prospects in the months ahead, making them reluctant to add to their payrolls.

 

“There’s too much uncertainty out there,” said Thomas A. Kochan, a labor economist at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management. “There’s not going to be an upsurge in job openings for quite a while, not until employers feel confident the economy is really growing.”

 

The dearth of jobs reflects the caution of many American businesses when no one knows what will emerge to propel the economy. With unemployment at 9.7 percent nationwide, the shortage of paychecks is both a cause and an effect of weak hiring.

 

In Milwaukee, Debbie Kransky has been without work since February, when she was laid off from a medical billing position — her second job loss in two years. She has exhausted her unemployment benefits, because her last job lasted for only a month.

 

Indeed, in a perverse quirk of the unemployment system, she would have qualified for continued benefits had she stayed jobless the whole two years, rather than taking a new position this year. But since her latest unemployment claim stemmed from a job that lasted mere weeks, she recently drew her final check of $340.

 

Ms. Kransky, 51, has run through her life savings of roughly $10,000. Her job search has garnered little besides anxiety.

 

“I’ve worked my entire life,” said Ms. Kransky, who lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment. “I’ve got October rent. After that, I don’t know. I’ve never lived month to month my entire life. I’m just so scared, I can’t even put it into words.”

 

Last week, Ms. Kransky was invited to an interview for a clerical job with a health insurance company. She drove her Jeep truck downtown and waited in the lobby of an office building for nearly an hour, but no one showed. Despondent, she drove home, down $10 in gasoline.

 

For years, the economy has been powered by consumers, who borrowed exuberantly against real estate and tapped burgeoning stock portfolios to spend in excess of their incomes. Those sources of easy money have mostly dried up. Consumption is now tempered by saving; optimism has been eclipsed by worry.

 

Meanwhile, some businesses are in a holding pattern as they await the financial consequences of the health care reforms being debated in Washington.

 

Even after companies regain an inclination to expand, they will probably not hire aggressively anytime soon. Experts say that so many businesses have pared back working hours for people on their payrolls, while eliminating temporary workers, that many can increase output simply by increasing the workload on existing employees.

 

“They have tons of room to increase work without hiring a single person,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute Economist. “For people who are out of work, we do not see signs of light at the end of the tunnel.”

 

Even typically hard-charging companies are showing caution.

 

During the technology bubble of the late 1990s and again this decade, Cisco Systems — which makes Internet equipment — expanded rapidly. As the sense takes hold that the recession has passed, Cisco is again envisioning double-digit rates of sales growth, with plans to move aggressively into new markets, like the business of operating large scale computer data servers.

 

Yet even as Cisco pursues such designs, the company’s chief executive, John T. Chambers, said in an interview Friday that he anticipated “slow hiring,” given concerns about the vigor of growth ahead. “We’ll be doing it selectively,” he said.

 

Two recent surveys of newspaper help-wanted advertisements and of employers’ inclinations to add workers were at their lowest levels on record, noted Andrew Tilton, a Goldman Sachs economist.

 

Job placement companies say their customers are not yet wiling to hire large numbers of temporary workers, usually a precursor to hiring full-timers.

 

“It’s going to take quite some time before we see robust job growth,” said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of Adecco North America, a major job placement and staffing company.

 

During the last recession, in 2001, the number of jobless people reached little more than double the number of full-time job openings, according to the Labor Department data. By the beginning of this year, job seekers outnumbered jobs four-to-one, with the ratio growing ever more lopsided in recent months.

 

Though layoffs have been both severe and prominent, the greatest source of distress is a predilection against hiring by many American businesses. From the beginning of the recession in December 2007 through July of this year, job openings declined 45 percent in the West and the South, 36 percent in the Midwest and 23 percent in the Northeast.

 

Shrinking job opportunities have assailed virtually every industry this year. Since the end of 2008, job openings have diminished 47 percent in manufacturing, 37 percent in construction and 22 percent in retail. Even in education and health services — faster-growing areas in which many unemployed people have trained for new careers — job openings have dropped 21 percent this year. Despite the passage of a stimulus spending package aimed at shoring up state and local coffers, government job openings have diminished 17 percent this year.

 

In the suburbs of Chicago, Vicki Redican, 52, has been unemployed for almost two years, since she lost her $75,000-a-year job as a sales and marketing manager at a plastics company. College-educated, Ms. Redican first sought another management job. More recently, she has tried and failed to land a cashier’s position at a local grocery store, and a barista slot at a Starbucks coffee shop.

 

Substitute teaching assignments once helped her pay the bills. “Now, there are so many people substitute teaching that I can no longer get assignments,” she said.

 

“I’ve learned that I can’t look to tomorrow,” she said. “Every day, I try to do the best I can. I say to myself, ‘I don’t control this process.’ That’s the only way you can look at it. Otherwise, you’d have to go up on the roof and crack your head open.”

 

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

 

The New York Times

www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/economy/27jobs.html

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www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S Army Medical Research Unit: Improving malaria diagnosis in Africa, one lab at a time

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

OYUGIS, Kenya – Inside Rachuonyo district hospital, Simba Mobagi peers through his laboratory’s only microscope at a sick woman’s blood sample.

 

The 33-year-old laboratory technologist’s goal – rapidly identifying malaria parasites.

Dozens more samples await his eyes. Each represents a patient suffering outside on wooden benches.

 

Mogabi takes little time to ponder his workload. He quickly finds malaria parasites, marks his findings on a pink patient record and moves to the next slide. Much to his surprise, a U.S. Army officer arrives, removes his black beret and sets down a large box.

 

Inside Maj. Eric Wagar’s box is a new microscope – a small gesture within U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s larger efforts to improve malaria diagnostics in Africa.

 

For more than 40 years, USAMRU-K – known locally as the Walter Reed Project – has studied diseases in East Africa through a partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

 

Wagar heads USAMRU-K’s Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence in Kisumu, a unique establishment begun in 2004 that’s since trained more than 650 laboratory specialist to better their malaria microscopy skills.

 

“Working with the Walter Reed Project is so good for the community, as it benefits the patient,” Mobagi said, who is looking forward to attending the center’s malaria diagnostics course. “Plus, having a new microscope improves our work environment. Work will be easier and we will have better outcomes.”

 

Back in Kisumu, wall maps mark the center’s success, with hundreds of trained lab technicians from more than a dozen countries across the African continent. International students have come from Ireland, the U.S. and Thailand.

Many students are sponsored through U.S. government aid programs aimed at reducing disease in Africa or by nongovernmental organizations. Most of the center’s $450,000 annual budget comes from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Other funding is from the U.S. Defense Department, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.

 

For students to practice malaria identification, five Kenyan lab technicians work tirelessly to create a variety of blood specimens. Slides may show one or more of malaria’s several species – others are free of parasites. The majority of malaria cases are the falciparum species, but many people are co-infected with other species and it’s important for students to recognize that, Wagar said.

 

“At our course, lab students learn skills and habits that increase their ability to accurately detect malaria on blood slides. Yet, when they return to their local laboratories, they face the challenge of changing habits and procedures,” Wagar said. “Changing behavior is hard to do.”

 

In late-April, Wagar accompanied Jew Ochola, 28, the center’s daily operations manager to Oyugis, the district center of Rachuonyo that lies roughly 30 miles south of Kisumu in Kenya’s Nyanza province.

 

“First I do an assessment of the hospital’s lab, what procedures they have, the number of people on staff and the equipment they use,” Ochola said. “By partnering with laboratory managers, we hope to increase standards and improve efficient and effective diagnosis.

 

The goal is to lessen the burden of malaria on the local people.”

 

To mark progress, lab staffs must collect 20 slides each month that show properly handled blood samples. Monthly visits will mark performance improvement.

 

Through quality malaria diagnosis, USAMRU-K is part of a larger public health effort to reduce malaria’s impacts on Kenyan’s lives. Illness means paying for treatment and less wages earned, creating an impact on the economy.

 

“By mitigating a public health burden, people should have more time to grow food and have money for things other than medical care,” Wagar said. “We can’t expect to see change right away, but hopefully things will be a little bit better every month.”

 

Working with the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and other DoD agencies, the center recently offered microscopy courses through U.S. military partnership events in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The effort supports U.S. Army Africa’s strategic engagement goal of increasing capabilities and strengthening capacity with the militaries of African nations, Wagar said.

 

“To date, that includes eight Kenyan military lab techs, 17 from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and 30 Nigerians,” Wagar said.

 

Accurate diagnosis is also a key factor for military readiness, Wagar said. For example, a Kenyan soldier stationed in Nairobi – where malaria is less prevalent – is susceptible to the disease if posted elsewhere in the country.

 

“Improving malaria diagnosis within African military laboratories sets conditions for healthier troops,” Wagar said. “When forces are healthy, they are more capable to support their government and regional security.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

See this locomotive in the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3oxDV2lg1s

 

Having just worked the "Cumbrian Mountaineer" over Shap, preserved London, Midland & Scottish Railway Princess Royal 6201 'Princess Elizabeth' readies itself for departure with empty stock bound for the adjacent sidings on what was her last railtour before overhaul.

 

The Princess Royal class were a set of 13 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives designed by William Stanier and built at Crewe Works between 1933 and 1935 to be the prime motive power on the West Coast Mainline between London Euston, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, including the famous Royal Scot premier express service. At first, two prototypical locomotives were built in 1933, followed by 11 production locomotives in 1935. These were later complimented by a fleet of 38 Coronation Pacific locomotives built between 1937 and 1948, which later went on to be arguably the most power steam locomotives ever built for the British Railway network.

 

One of the original prototypes however was retained for use as a testbed for a new Turbine Locomotive project to help improve the efficiency of the engines, later being unofficially dubbed 'Turbomotive'. The engine was fitted with turbines instead of cylinders, with the forward turbine containing 18 rows of blading, resulting in an output of 2,400hp, corresponding to running at 62 mph (100 km/h). The turbine was designed to operate into a maximum back-pressure of 2 psi, allowing a conventional double blast-pipe to provide the boiler draught, and eliminating draught fans, which always seemed to give a disproportionate amount of trouble.

 

The reverse turbine had 4 rows of blades. It was engaged by a dog clutch, activated when the reverser lever being set to "0". This was originally steam-operated by a small piston and cylinder. This locomotive was later rebuilt as a conventional classmate in 1952, using new mainframes and a spare set of cylinders from one of the Coronation Pacifics, and was numbered 46202, later to be named 'Princess Anne'.

 

6201, LMS lot number 99, was built at Crewe for the sum of £11,675 (£685,000 today) and named Princess Elizabeth, after the then Duke of York’s eldest daughter, currently our Queen Elizabeth II, leaving the works on 3rd November 1933.

 

Throughout the years the Princess Royal's continued to ply their trade on the West Coast services, but the years of World War II took their toll on the fleet. The beautiful Crimson Lake was replaced by Wartime Black, and the prestige manner that these locomotives had been accustomed to was stripped away as the railways were rationalised as part of the war effort. Work hours increased, and maintenance turns reduced, meaning these engines were being forced to the very limit of their design to keep Britain moving.

 

With the end of the war in 1945 the workload began to decrease, but the railways had paid the price. The beauty and lavish luxury of the pre-war companies had been stripped and would never return, with all of Britain's main railway companies now almost bankrupt and working a fleet of very tired engines on a poorly maintained railway network. In 1948 the Labour Government nationalised these companies to create British Railways, hoping to modernise the network and rebuild the overworked system.

 

The Princess Royals and their more powerful sisters the Coronation Pacifics continued to work hard as the implementation of diesels gathered pace. Early diesels however were underpowered and suffered heavily from reliability issues, meaning on many occasions the steam locomotives that they intended to replace actually came to their rescue!

 

It was not all plain sailing though for the Princess Royals in the 1950's, as this decade was littered with many fatal accidents. On 21 September 1951, locomotive No.46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught was hauling an express passenger train that was derailed at Weedon, Northamptonshire due to a defective front bogie on the locomotive, resulting in the deaths of 15 people and the injury of 35.

 

This was followed a year later by what would turn out to be the worst rail accident in the whole of British history. On 8 October 1952, an express passenger train hauled by Coronation Class, 46242 'City of Glasgow' overran signals on a train from Perth to London Euston, striking the rear of a stopped Tring to Euston commuter train at Harrow and Wealdstone station in North London. The ensuing wreckage was then struck by a northbound Liverpool express, hauled by Jubilee Class 45637 'Windward Islands', and recently rebuilt ex-Turbomotive Princess Royal 46202 'Princess Anne', which had only entered service two months earlier. In the chaos that followed, a total of 112 people were killed and 340 were injured, with 46202 obliterated in the accident, the first and only member of the class to be lost in an accident.

 

The late 50's however began to see the end of these engines as good, reliable diesels began to be introduced to replace them, followed closely by electric traction on the West Coast Mainline out of Euston. In 1961 the first members of the class were withdrawn from service, including 6201, which was placed in store in March 1961, but returned to service in May of that year due to poor diesel reliability.

 

As more diesels were delivered, in October of the same year 6201 was again placed into storage at Carlisle Kingmoor. However, again in January 1962 6201 was returned to traffic to cover for diesel failures and continued to work until September 1962 where it was once again placed into storage. It was subsequently withdrawn by BR in October 1962 and purchased by Roger Bell. The last of the locomotives to be withdrawn was class premier and original prototype number 62000 'The Princess Royal', which was withdrawn in November 1962 and subsequently scrapped. In all, only two locomotives were preserved, number 6203 'Princess Margaret Rose' and 6201 'Princess Elizabeth'.

 

46201 was bought by the then Princess Elizabeth Locomotive Society straight from BR service when withdrawn in 1962. Initially kept at the Dowty Railway Preservation Society's premises at Ashchurch in Gloucestershire, and then subsequently at the Bulmers Railway Centre in Hereford. When the Bulmers Centre closed in the 1990s, the loco moved to the East Lancashire Railway. Since April 2009 it has been based at the Crewe Heritage Centre. On 3 June 2012, Princess Elizabeth's whistle signalled the start of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant while the locomotive was standing on Battersea Railway Bridge. The Queen was made aware of the locomotive and waved to the crew on the footplate. On 11 July 2012 Princess Elizabeth hauled the Royal Train from Newport to Hereford and again from Worcester to Oxford as part of the Diamond Jubilee Tour. 6201 was withdrawn from service in July 2012 for a piston and valve examination at the Tyseley Locomotive Works and after repairs, she returned to service on 17 November hauling the "Cumbrian Mountaineer" from Carnforth to Carlisle. She was withdrawn for overhaul at the end of December 2012 having completed her longest period of operation in preservation.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Latvian Air Force was first founded during the Latvian War of Independence in 1919. In 1939, the Aviation Regiment consisted of three fighter squadrons, armed with 24 Gloster Gladiator and 6 Bristol Bulldog (a fourth squadron was in organization), three reconnaissance squadrons, armed with up to 12 Letov Š-16LS, 2 Hawker Hind and 10 Stampe SV.5, and a naval reconnaissance squadron with 4 Fairey Seal and two other planes. The Soviet occupation in 1940 ended the activities of the Air Force. At that time there were almost 130 aircraft in service.

 

The post-Soviet Latvian Air Force was formed on 24 February 1992 at Spilve Airport. In August 1994, the air force moved to an ex-soviet Lielvārde Air Base. In the beginning of the new century two new and more heavy Mi-8MTV Hip helicopters were bought for search and rescue equipment duties, but they were also used for transportation of troops, evacuation and support of the Special Forces. In March 2004 Latvia joined NATO and the Ministry of Defense made the decision to improve the small country’s air defense with a dedicated fighter squadron. The country also bought two more Mi-8MTV's at the Russian Ulan Ude helicopter (rework) factory that year, augmenting the SAR fleet.

 

In 2005, soldiers of the Air Force Air Defense Wing started a training course in order to prepare an upgraded air defense. At the same time, the Latvian Air Force commenced the modernization of the surface air defense capabilities by signing a contract regarding procurement of RBS-70 manpads missiles from Sweden and negotiated the purchase or leasing of 2nd hand Saab JAS 39 Gripen. Coming from a neutral country, the Gripen was the LAF’s wish candidate for the new interceptor aircraft, but eventually Latvia could be convinced (primarily through the USA and with generous financial support thorugh the “Baltic Peace II” program) to buy eight F-5E fighters and two F-5F trainers with relatively low flying hours and in good overall condition from Switzerland. Besides the financial support, the type’s ruggedness and relatively low maintenance costs led to this choice.

 

The Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II itself was part of a highly successful supersonic light fighter family, initially designed in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. Being smaller and simpler than contemporaries such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the F-5 cost less to both procure and operate, making it a popular export aircraft. The F-5 started life as a privately funded light fighter program by Northrop in the 1950s. The design team wrapped a small, highly aerodynamic fighter around two compact and high-thrust General Electric J85 engines, focusing on performance and low cost of maintenance. Though primarily designed for the day air superiority role, the aircraft was also a capable ground-attack platform.

After winning the International Fighter Aircraft competition in 1970, a program aimed at providing effective low-cost fighters to American allies, Northrop introduced the second-generation F-5E Tiger II in 1972. This upgrade included more powerful engines, higher fuel capacity, greater wing area and improved leading edge extensions for a better turn rate, optional air-to-air refueling, and improved avionics including air-to-air radar. A total of 1,400 Tiger IIs were built before production ended in 1987, and the type is still in operational use in many countries round the world.

 

The Swiss F-5E airframes for Latvia were overhauled and the avionics suite modernized in 2006 and 2007 by SAI in Italy. Elbit Systems from Israel became the sub-contractor responsible for systems integration. Upgrades for the fighters included an Italian FIAR Grifo-F X band multi-mode radar with BVR (beyond-visual-range) missile and Look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the modernized F-5E capable of deploying AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, which were, together with AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs, part of the Baltic Peace II support for Latvia. The new radar necessitated an enlarged radome for its scanner antenna, resulting in a duckbill shape. The fighters’ port side M39 20 mm cannon was removed to make way for the additional avionics.

 

All machines received a revamped cockpit with new MIL-STD-1553R databuses, a GEC/Ferranti 4510 Head-up display/weapons delivery system, two BAE Systems MED-2067 Multi-function displays, Litton LN-93 inertial navigation system and Hands On Throttle-And-Stick controls (HOTAS) to reduce pilot workload. Reportedly, the Elisra SPS2000 radar warning receiver and countermeasure system was also installed.

 

The modernization process was completed by early 2007 and the machines were re-designated F-5L/M. By late 2007, the Latvian air defense had become operational and worked closely together with its Baltic neighbors and the NATO forces that were frequently deployed to the Baltic NATO countries.

The small Latvian F-5 fleet is expected to remain in service until 2024, even tough, if there is sufficient funding, the machines will certainly be replaced beforehand by more capable models. The Saab Gripen is still a favored candidate, but F-16C/Ds from USAF stocks are a potential option, too.

By end of 2009, the LAF’s Fighter Squadron moved to Lielvārde Air Base, in an attempt to ensure centralization of Air Force units and to establish an efficient command and control system, which will result in a reduction of the Air Force units’ maintenance costs. With the Fighter Squadron the Air Force carries out Latvian airspace surveillance, control and defense and provides air defense support to the Land Forces units.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 47 ft 4¾ in (14.45 m)

Wingspan: 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m)

Height: 13 ft 4½ in (4.08 m)

Wing area: 186 ft² (17.28 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 65A004.8 root, NACA 64A004.8 tip

Empty weight: 9,558 lb (4,349 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,745 lb (7,157 kg)

Max. take-off weight: 24,722 lb (11,214 kg)

Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.02

Drag area: 3.4 ft² (0.32 m²)

Aspect ratio: 3.82

Internal fuel: 677 U.S. gal (2,563 L)

External fuel: up to 3× 275 U.S. gal (1,040 L) drop tanks

 

Powerplant:

2× General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet with 3,500 lbf (15.5 kN) dry thrust

and 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) thrust with afterburner each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 917 kn (Mach 1.6, 1,060 mph, 1,700 km/h) at altitude

Range: 760 nmi (870 mi, 1,405 km)

Ferry range: 2,010 nmi (2,310 mi, 3,700 km)

Service ceiling: 51,800 ft (15,800 m)

Rate of climb: 34,400 ft/min (175 m/s)

Lift-to-drag ratio: 10.0

 

Armament:

1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M39A2 Revolver cannon in the nose with 280 rounds

7 hardpoints (2× wing-tip AAM launch rails, 4× under-wing & 1× under-fuselage pylon stations,

only pylon stations 3, 4 and 5 are wet-plumbed) with a capacity of 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg)

  

The kit and its assembly:

A relatively simple build, originally inspired by a Blue Rider decal sheet for Latvian Air Force aircraft that I had bought some time ago, as part of a vague plan to build a modern what-if aircraft for each of the young and small Baltic states’ air forces. The first one had been a Lithuanian MiG-21, Estonia is still pending (even though there’s a vague idea), and the Lithuanian interceptor was recently spawned when I bought an Italeri F-5E as part of a kit lot, even though it lacked box, decals and instructions and had a slight damage.

 

The Tiger II was built mostly OOB, the only changes I made are replaced wing tip launch rails (they were damaged beyond repair), I omitted port side cannon and created a modified “shark nose” radome, which was sculpted with putty; in real life, the enlarged radome for the upgraded radar is 33cm deeper than the original F-5E radome, even though the aircraft’s overall length remained the same, as well as the nose profile. In order to make the model look a little less static I slightly lowered the slats and the flaps – easy to realize on this model. The leftover cannon received a better barrel, made from a hollow steel needle. The pair of AIM-120s and their respective launch rails come from a Hasegawa air-to-air weapons set. The ventral drop tank came from the kit.

 

The Italeri F-5E is a simple affair and goes together well, even though the section ahead of the air intakes called for considerable PSR work – not certain if that’s my fault or an innate flaw of the kit (which comes with an upper and lower fuselage half)? The raised panel lines are another weak point – the kit cannot conceal its age, and there are certainly better options today (e .g. from Hobby Boss).

  

Painting and markings:

I wanted something that would neither look too Western, nor a typical Soviet-style livery. The resulting paint scheme is purely fictional and was inspired by a grey North Korean MiG-21 and USAF aggressor schemes for F-5Es – both reminiscent of the Soviet “Pumpkin” paint scheme for export MiG-21s. For the choice of colors, the complex “Norm 81” scheme from German Luftwaffe F-4Fs had an influence.

 

The result became a primarily grey air superiority scheme with uniform light grey undersides (FS 36495, Humbrol 147) and light Ghost Grey (FS 36375, Humbrol 127) fuselage and fin. The wings’ upper surfaces became mostly Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231, Testors 1740) and patches of the same tone were applied to the fuselage and the fin, too. On the wings’ upper surfaces, some patches in a dull, greenish grey (Humbrol 111, Uniform Grey) were finally added in order to break the aircraft’s outlines from above. The result somewhat reminds of German WWII camouflage, even though unintentionally.

 

The radome was painted in Revell 75 (Light Grey, with a brownish hue) to set it apart from the rest of the aircraft. Humbrol 140 was used for the cockpit interior. The landing gear became classic glossy white, while the air intake interior was painted in Humbrol 127, matching the aircraft’s flanks. Only subtle post-shading and weathering was done.

 

As mentioned above, the Latvian air force markings came from a Blue Rider decal sheet. The tactical codes and the matching serial number come from a Begemot MiG-21sheet. Other fictional elements are the NATO emblem on the fin and a small squadron emblem on the nose, which is a vintage Polish air force motif.

Most stencils had to be salvaged from secondary sources, since the kit came without a decal sheet. Fortunately, I had a spare F-5E sheet left over from a Hobby Boss kit. As a final step, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A rather simple project, but re-sculpting the nose was a tedious task. However, I am happy with the outcome and how the fictional paint scheme works. Together with the exotic Latvian roundels, this creates an interesting, if not plausible, look.

 

The Local 5 Year Anniversary!

 

Unlike the employment market today, ten years ago there were very few jobs available and the competition was fierce. What was available was government funding for self-employment. Having previously been a business owner, I enrolled

in a self-employment course at Community Futures and set myself up as Montgomery Promotions that handled various publishing ventures over the years. In 2003, I was encouraged by the business community to start a newspaper. Modeled on

an “advertiser format,” I published the first The Local on the third week of June that year. In the first issue, I felt compelled to write a little bit about myself, who I was, where I was coming from. I wanted to introduce myself to anyone who did not

already know me. We printed 12,000 copies of an eight-page flyer and sent them out by Canada Post to every mailbox on the Sunshine Coast. In the next issue there was only advertising. To me it felt like a hollow shell. So started my publisher’s

message, which I have written every week since.

 

In those early days, The Local office was one room and a bathroom. We had three desks crammed in the room that was made bigger with a huge mirror that was given to me as a gift by my dear friend Dan McCormick. Dan also supplied an assortment of fabulous photos to use wherever necessary. There was one fulltime reception person, one graphic artist, a delivery boy/truck driver and myself. In a very short period of time The Local prospered and outgrew the small space, necessitating a move to our current location on Cowrie Street. I would like to thank Shirley and Tania Hall for being awesome landlords in those early days. They even allowed me to throw an open house Christmas Party in their Hostel facility The Upper Deck. Our graphic artist was Jason Silverthorne who went on the produce the Sunshine Coast Super Map. I am eternally grateful to Jason for his support then and since.

 

It wasn’t long before all sorts of people approached me to ask if I wanted articles or photos for the paper. 2004 proved to be a very exciting year. Doug Hockley wrote

some interesting historical articles and Ron Dinsdale started ‘Coast Facts,’ an interactive column about a myriad of Coast facts and questions that came from our readers.Four significant persons contacted The Local that year. Retired UBC physics professor, Garth Jones contacted me and asked if I was interested in a weekly article about astronomy. I am particularly proud that I accepted Garth’s proposal. Garth’s weekly article brought people together who loved to watch the stars. From this the Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club was born. Recently the club was accepted as a member of the Royal Astronomical Society.

 

Coast residents were showing a keen interest in The Local and submitting articles, photos, kudos and comments. One day after a long stint of rain, a photo was

submitted of a family enjoying the first day of Sunshine on Roberts Creek Beach. I thought, “Now here is a person who understands what The Local is all about.” That

person was Duane Burnett. Duane continued to send in photos capturing Coast life and the beauty that surrounds us. Before long, we asked Duane to become our official photographer. Duane has brought the essence of the Sunshine Coast to The Local. Through his fabulous photos he has documented community, people and scenery. He is an invaluable source of encouragement, enlightenment and entertainment. Duane has recently delved into journalism covering events with his photos, research and writing.

 

Our weekly cartoonist Matt Evans joined us that year as well. Matt is an amazingly talented artist with a quirky sense of humour. He possesses the irony that a cartoonist

needs to make a point. His drawings are sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes straight to the point and often laugh out loud hilarious. Michael O’Connor also called

The Local that year. He is a syndicated columnist throughout British Columbia and Alberta. I will never regret accepting Michael’s proposal to supply The Local with his

Astrology column every week. Michael’s inspirational column is very popular with our readers.

 

As time went by, the paper grew and so did my workload in the editorial department. In 2006, I decided to get some help. Linda White France was hired to assist me

in processing submissions, researching, editing and reporting. It wasn’t long before I grew to respect Linda’s straightforward approach, her excellent editing and writing

skills and her ability to be impartial. Before long I asked her to become our editor and she accepted. It was around that same time that I realized that we had become a

“newspaper.” By provincial government standards a publication must have 20% editorial content on a consistent basis in order to call itself a newspaper. I applied to the government for a ruling and submitted the supporting documentation. Not only did we receive a healthy PST refund going back to 2005, but also most treasured, we were declared a newspaper. I am proud to say that The Local far exceeds government standards by carrying an average of 35% editorial content.

 

We did not get to our five-year anniversary without a lot of help. The Local is the largest Canada Post account on the Sunshine Coast. Every week the post office and rural

route drivers deliver 12,200 newspapers to mail boxes from Egmont to Port Mellon, including Gambier Island. Post Masters Maureen Matkin in Sechelt and Suzanne Leslie in Gibsons have been a constant source of support. My sincere gratitude goes out to all Canada Post staff for their part in delivering The Local to your mailbox throughout the year. Our printer, Horizon Publications, has never let us down. They constantly strive to improve systems and quality. Printing is not an exact science and can sometimes be fraught with problems. By working together there has not been anything we could not solve and improve upon. So many, many people have helped, supported and encouraged The Local over the years. Notably I would like to thank Ron Howes of Community Futures, Mary Degan former office manager extraordinaire, Jan Brinton, Linda Williams and Tom and Dean of Tom’s Signs.

 

Running a successful newspaper allows us to give back to the community in which we live. I am very proud of the support we have been able to give to many groups

clubs, organizations and societies by way of editorial support, free advertising, discounted advertising and financial support. Happy Cat Haven, Renaissance Rescue, Back the CAT, Sunshine Coast Schizophrenia Society, Habitat for Humanity and Crime Stoppers are only a few of the many good causes The Local has been happy and proud to support. All this could not be done without our valued advertisers to whom I am eternally grateful.

 

I am inspired and encouraged by what the next five years will bring to The Local and this exceptional community we live in. From cream cakes to kudos, you, our

readers encourage us to continue with our work and to strive to help support and report on this community in all the right ways. To my staff, I thank you from the bottom

of my heart for all your hard work and the heart that you put into this paper. On this page, I am proud to showcase the wonderful people who make The Local happen every week. No acknowledgement would be complete without recognizing the unending support of my family. Thank you for everything you have done over the years, I am truly blessed.

 

Pauline Montgomery

Publisher

 

The Local - Staff and Contributors

 

Duane Burnett - Photographer

Duane was born in Vancouver General Hospital, but spent many summers on the Sunshine Coast as he has extensive family here. He has lived on the Coast fulltime for over fourteen years. Taking photos of the community was an early pastime for Duane. He even has photos of the Beachcombers’ film set that he took at the age of thirteen. In his teens and early twenties, Duane became energetically involved in the environmental movement. He

helped co-found an award winning wetlands education society called The Fraser for Life and Friends of Boundary Bay, and also got involved in the Don’t Dump on Delta campaign, Ban the leg hold traps Society, Burns Bog Society, West Coast Wilderness Society where he helped write a paper about Burns Bog. He then moved into print media, radio and community television. Duane contacted The Local in August

2004 when he sent a photo of families enjoying a sunny day on Roberts Creek Beach. Soon after The Local asked him to become their official photographer. He is currently a free-lance photographer who accepts contract work from groups, clubs and organizations, as well as the work he does for The Local. To view thousands of Duane’s Sunshine Coast photos go to duaneburnett.com or view his YouTube tribute to the Coast at Sunshine Coast YouTube Music Video. Duane’s work is a highly prized component of The Local and he is very much loved and respected by the community.

 

Linda White France – Editor

Linda was born and raised in Montreal. After they married, her partner’s work took them to Frobisher Bay/Iqaluit, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Terrace, Courtenay and finally to Sechelt where they have lived with their three children for almost eight years. Linda joined The Local in March 2006 as editorial assistant to the Publisher. Her education in photo-technology, graphic design and fine arts lent themselves well

to the position. Before too long, Linda was asked to become our editor and has succeeded in bringing the editorial content of the paper to today’s level. Linda’s signature article ‘Go Green’ has run for over a year now and is very popular with our readers. As one reader commented about Linda’s reporting, “It was nice to read something accurate without any assumptions or inferences.” As well as being a

talented writer, Linda is also a gifted potter. Her Serendipity pottery is available at the Sechelt Farmers’ Market every Saturday and she frequents most of the larger craft fairs on the Coast.

 

Ken Philps – Production Manager

Ken was born in New Westminster, grew up in the

lower mainland and then moved to Montreal. Prior to

moving the Sunshine Coast and joining The Local, he

worked in Chilliwack for ten years. He brings a wealth

of experience in print media, design, publishing and

web development. Ken revamped production systems

at The Local making production fl ow smoother, which

has brought about a significant reduction in mistakes. Ken is

currently working on a website for The Local, which we are very excited about.

 

Gosia – Production Assistant

Gosia was raised on the Sunshine Coast and graduated

from Elphinestone Secondary. After high school she

moved to Vancouver to attend design school. Her

love of the Coast brought her back and she currently

manages her own accounts, works one long day at

The Local and three full days at a new design company

in Gibsons. Gosia brings enormous talent to The Local

and is responsible for some of the beautiful collages and

layouts you see in our pages.

 

Adrianna – Reception

Adrianna is the friendly voice answering the phone

and the smiling face that greets you when you walk

in the office. She was born in Kelowna, grew up in

Port Coquitlam and moved to the Coast with her

family last summer. She started with The Local in

August and has mastered her department. Adrianna is

extremely organized and a quick learner. Taking care of

the classified advertisements including final layout is just

one of the many administrative duties for which she is responsible.

 

Nicole – Production Assistant

Nicole is a recent addition to The Local and a new

graduate of design school. She commutes from

Vancouver for her work at The Local and visits with

her mother who lives in Gibsons while she is here.

Nicole said, “I really like the Sunshine Coast. It is a

beautiful community and I don’t mind making the trip.

I love what I am learning at The Local.”

 

Katie – Girl Friday

Katie was born and raised on the Sunshine Coast and came to

work for The Local three years ago as an after school student.

Katie has learnt many areas of work within the office including

archiving, post office procedures, reception, research and

invoice processing. Katie currently delivers papers to over

one hundred newsstands and high profile locations in Pender

Harbour, Sechelt, Roberts Creek and Gibsons. She is an invaluable

asset to the company.

 

Garth Jones

Astronomy

 

Matt Evans

Cartoonist

 

Linda Williams

Guest Writer and

Photographer

 

Tricia Rife

Part-time Receptionist

 

Michael O’Connor

Astrologer

 

Jan Brinton

Guest Writer and

Photographer

  

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

www.duaneburnett.com

Seen at Heston Services is T321 SYM, an ex-National Express Scania K410EB6/Caetano Levante III coach acquired by Airsym, Colnbrook, Berkshire for Megabus contract work in May 2024. It was new to West Midlands as BF68 LDA in October 2018 and was given its current registration in June 2024. I'm sure it will receive all-over blue livery when workload permits, but meanwhile looks a little strange in a hybrid colour scheme of white with blue front and rear.

 

Want to find out more? Join The PSV Circle - Details at www.psvcircle.org.uk

 

Copyright © P.J. Cook, all rights reserved. It is an offence to copy, use or post this image anywhere else without my permission.

RAF Typhoon

 

It’s been 20 years since the Eurofighter Typhoon’s first flight, and the 2014 Air Show display was performed by Flt Lt Noel Rees of 29(R) Squadron from RAF Coningsby.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon is the world’s most advanced swing-role combat aircraft providing simultaneously deployable Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface capabilities.

 

It is in service with 6 customers across 20 operational units and has been ordered by a seventh. The aircraft has demonstrated, and continues to demonstrate, high reliability across the globe in all climates. It has been combat proven during operations in Libya.

 

Features of the aircraft Max speed - mach 2.0

 

Thrust - 90 kN from each of the two Eurojet EJ200 engines

 

Max altitude - Above 55,000 ft

 

Length - 15.96 m

 

Span - 10.95 m

 

Eurofighter Typhoon delivers an enviable level of flexibility and efficiency. Only Eurofighter Typhoon possesses both adequate weapon availability (up to 6 bombs whilst also carrying six missiles, a cannon and a targeting pod) and sufficient processing power to simultaneously support missile in-flight updates and bomb in-flight targeting. True swing-role capability.

  

Aircraft diagram

 

The aircraft is designed to be upgraded and extended to provide decades of effective use. Combining a proven, agile airframe built from stealth materials with the latest sensor, control and weapons systems delivers the optimum combat capability – both beyond visual range (BVR) and in close combat.

 

The weapons systems, navigation technologies and control infrastructure are all designed to be upgraded, to continue to enhance the overall performance of the aircraft.

 

The Airframe

 

Plane Aircraft

 

The aircraft is built with advanced composite materials to deliver a low radar profile and strong airframe. Only 15% of the aircraft’s surface is metal, delivering stealth operation and protection from radar-based systems. Pilots were included in design from the earliest stages to develop a deliberately unstable airframe that can still be flown effectively. This delivers both superior manoeuvrability at subsonic speeds and efficient supersonic capability to support the widest range of combat scenarios.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon specifications

 

Max speed Mach 2.0

 

Thrust 90kN from each of the two Eurojet EJ200 turbojets

 

Length 15.96M

 

Max altitude Above 55,000FT

 

Wingspan 10.95M

 

The Materials

Carbon Fibre Composites

 

Aluminium Lithium

Titanium

Glass Reinforced Plastic

Aluminium Casting

  

Aluminium Titanium

Strong, lightweight composite materials were key to the design of Eurofighter Typhoon to give it deliberate instability. Using them means the weight of the airframe is 30% less than for traditional materials, boosting the range and performance as well as reducing the radar signature.

 

General Materials Carbon Fibre Composites 70%

Metals 15%

Glass Reinforced Plastics (GRP) 12%

Other Materials 3%

 

Production

Ultrasound materials

Eurofighter Typhoon foreplane

  

The innovative production techniques developed for Eurofighter Typhoon have created a whole new industry for the most effective use of advanced composite materials. These provide greater tensile strength and more aerodynamic performance with less weight and more reliability than traditional materials.

 

The Eurojet EJ200 engine

Developing leading-edge engine technology has been a key part of the Eurofighter Typhoon project from the start. Four global companies have jointly developed the high performance EJ200 power plants that each provide 90kN of thrust from a small lightweight engine with high strength and high temperature capability.

 

The two-spool design with single-stage turbines drives the three-stage fan and five-stage HP compressor with annular combustion with vaporising burners. This allows Eurofighter Typhoon to cruise at supersonic speeds without the use of reheat for extended periods. The engines deliver 1,000 flying hours without needing unscheduled maintenance through the use of advanced integrated Health Monitoring for class-leading reliability, maintainability and Through Life Cost.

 

Did you know?

After a 1,400 hour flight simulation, the Eurojet engine produces the same operating performance as a brand new engine.

 

Sensor fusion is key to Eurofighter Typhoon's effective infrared sensor

  

Eurofighter Typhoon is at the forefront of sensor fusion technology and the sensor suite continues to be upgraded to deliver enhanced detection and decision-making. Combining the data from key sensors gives the pilot an autonomous ability to rapidly assess the overall tactical situation and respond efficiently to identified threats.

 

Infrared Search and Track (IRST)

 

The PIRATE infrared sensor provides passive Air-to-Air target detection and tracking performance in the IRST mode for covert tracking and Air-to-Surface operations in the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) mode.

 

Graphic Radar

 

The Captor-M mechanically scanned radar is a best-in-class radar, offering an extensive suite of modes to meet customers’ operational requirements, as well as providing a very competitive field of regard.

 

Captor-E is the future primary sensor on Eurofighter Typhoon and has a full suite of Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface modes. The capacious front fuselage of the Eurofighter Typhoon allows the installation of Captor-E’s optimised array whose Field of Regard is some 50 per cent wider than traditional fixed plate systems.

 

This wide field of regard offers significant benefits in both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface engagements and given the large power and aperture available provides the pilot with much enhanced angular coverage compared to fixed plate systems.

 

Air-to-Air Features

 

Air-to-air features

•Search Modes - Range While Search (RWS), Velocity Search (VS) and multiple target Track While Scan (TWS)

•Lock-Follow Modes, which are tailored for long range tracking and short range tracking for use in visual identification or gun attacks

•Air Combat Acquisition Modes allowing a choice of boresight, vertical scan HUD field of view or slaved acquisition

  

Air-to-Surface Features

 

Air-to-surface features

•Search Modes - Ground Map, High Resolution Map, Ground Moving Target Identification and Sea Surface Search and Track While Scan

•Track Modes - Fixed Target Track and Moving Target Track

•Air-to-Surface Ranging

 

Throughout the design of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the needs of the single seat pilot have been paramount. This has meant high levels of attention to the control and information interfaces throughout the unique glass cockpit, from the head-up, head-down and head-out systems to all-round vision. High workload situations were analysed to establish information priorities and automate tasks.

 

The advanced cockpit design and layout is based on an extensive series of formal assessments in a rapid prototype facility, undertaken by operational pilots from air forces flying the Eurofighter Typhoon. Using and upgrading the advanced digital technology not only enhances operation and survivability, but also simplifies aircraft maintenance.

 

Other features such as Direct Voice Input (DVI) and Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) control functions have been implemented on the Eurofighter Typhoon to drastically reduce the pilot’s workload. Voice + Throttle And Stick (VTAS) enables single pilot operations even in the most demanding Air-to-Air, Air-to-Surface and swing-role missions.

 

Head up Display (HUD)

 

The Eurofighter Typhoon’s wide angle head up display (HUD) provides the pilot with stable, accurate, high integrity, low latency eyes-out guidance in a compact package. The fully digital HUD offers high performance that is compatible with night vision and laser protection goggles.

 

Head down display systems (MHDD)

 

Three full colour multi-function head down displays (MHDD) are used for the overall tactical situation, presenting the attack situation, attack formats, map displays and air traffic procedures, in addition to system status and checklists.

 

Helmet mounted symbology system (HMSS)

 

Eurofighter Typhoon utilises a unique Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS), alongside six other pilot display surfaces. HMSS provides flight reference and weapon data aiming through the visor. It is fully compatible with night vision aids using light intensification and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imagery. It offers pilots a significant competitive advantage.

 

The helmet is composed of an outer helmet, inner helmet, optics blast/display visor, oxygen mask, night vision enhancement camera and head position tracking system.

 

Navigation sensors

 

Hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS) controls

  

The latest sensor technology supports automated and inherently covert operation down to 100ft. Eurofighter Typhoon’s navigation aids include a global positioning system (GPS) for full digital interface with individual satellite tracking channels and improved anti-jam capabilities. The package also includes an inertial navigation system with GPS. In addition, the navigation system features integrated lateral cueing and vertical commands, ensuring safe manoeuvre with 3D situational awareness.

 

Flight Control

 

The flight control system (FCS) is a full authority and quadruplex digital system which allows carefree handling and manoeuvring in all situations. Its intuitive operation is designed to enable the pilot to concentrate on the tactical tasks and to fly the aircraft 'head-up' in combination with the HOTAS (Hand-on-Throttle-and-Stick) concept applied to cockpit design. Automated Emergency recovery features have also been embodied in the system design to ensure maximum safety of operation.

 

Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)

 

Eurofighter cockpit MIDS

The Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)

 

The MIDS high capacity digital information distribution system allows secure exchange of real-time data between a wide variety of users, including all the components of a tactical air force and, where appropriate, land and naval forces.

 

Defensive Aids Sub System (DASS)

 

The DASS suite comprises wingtip Electronic Support Measures and Electronic Counter Measures pods (ESM/ECM), missile warners, chaff and flare dispenser and an optional laser warner.

 

Upgrades in computing power will support continuous protection from future threats, to enhance Eurofighter Typhoon’s survivability and greatly increase overall mission effectiveness.

 

Eurofighter Weapons system

Supporting multiple weapon configurations

  

As well as Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (SRAAM’s) and the 27mm Mauser Canon the Eurofighter Typhoon carries the latest beyond-visual-range (BVR) Air-to-Air missile technology. Soon the METEOR advanced long-range missile will provide the largest No Escape Zone of any Air-to-Air weapon, resulting in a long stand-off range and high probability of interception to ensure air superiority and pilot survivability. Guidance is provided by an active radar seeker with mid-course updates via data link.

 

The Laser Designator Pod (LDP) enables precise location of targets and guidance of Air-to-Surface weapons.

 

Eurofighter Typhoon has also been upgraded with Paveway IV to provide high levels of operational flexibility. The combat proven dual-mode guidance system, coupled with height of burst and penetrating capability, enable the decision of target engagement to be made right up to the point of release.

  

Eurofighter Typhoon will see the constant integration of new, smart weapons in accordance with the demands of current and future customers.

 

Storm Shadow, Taurus, Small Diametre Bombs, Brimstone, Anti-Shipping Missiles are just some of the upgrades planned.

  

Multiple Weapons

Eurofighter Typhoon can remain on task for long periods of time with large, flexible weapons loads including METEOR, AMRAAM, ASRAAM or IRIS-T

  

Multiple Weapons

Eurofighter Typhoon can carry a vast range of Air-to-Surface weapons, including the new Storm Shadow conventionally armed stand-off missile, the Brimstone anti-armour weapon and future Precision Guided Weapons

 

Life Support Systems

 

Fully equipped pilot

A fully equipped pilot before a flight , The Life Support System & Aircrew Equipment Assembly (AEA) is unique to Eurofighter Typhoon and includes full-cover anti-G trousers (FCAGT), a chest counter-pressure garment (CCPG) and a liquid conditioning garment, as well as nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) protection.

The helmet incorporates the latest Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS) and optical protection. For pilot comfort and optimum performance capability, Eurofighter Typhoon uses computer controlled anti-G and breathing support technology.

  

Ejection Seat

  

The Mk 16A ejection seat on the Eurofighter Typhoon is 30% lighter than equivalent ejection seats. This is achieved by combining the twin ejection gun outer cylinder tubes as both the propulsion system and the seat’s primary structure. The narrow head box also contributes to Eurofighter Typhoon’s excellent rear vision.

The seat integrates an on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS) and communication systems. The simplified combined harness allows unassisted strap-in, and the passive leg restraint system avoids the need for the pilot to wear restraining garters. A second generation electronic sequencer is also incorporated. Reliability and maintainability are key elements of the design, with full access to in-cockpit components.

  

Cockpit Access

  

Eurofighter pilot entering cockpit

A pilot entering the Eurofighter Typhoon cockpit Normal access to the cockpit is through either a telescopic integral ladder or an external version. The integral ladder is stowed in the port side of the fuselage below the cockpit.

 

Fuel system - Forward transfer tank

 

Throughout the aircraft flexible couplings connect the fuel pipework built into the three main fuselage sections and wings. These provide a simple method to connect the fuel tanks, which all have fuel-flow proportioners to maintain the centre of gravity alongside relief valves to maintain air and fuel pressures. The intelligent computer-controlled fuel system ensures long-range, flexibility and safety.

Hill Aerospace Museum

 

History of the OV-10A "Bronco"

The OV-10A is a turboprop, light attack aircraft developed under a U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps tri-service program to create a versatile counter- insurgency airplane. After these aircraft first took flight in 1967, some of their missions included observation, forward air control, armed reconnaissance, interdiction missions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and limited ground attack during the Vietnam War.

 

The OV-10A "Bronco" at Hill Air Force Base

The first OV-10 arrived at Hill Air Force Base in 1988 for structural refurbishment, rewiring, and installation of a secure voice radio. Personnel at Hill performed work on 48 OV-10s within five years. After the main workload for OV-10s at Hill ended in 1990, the Mature and Proven Aircraft Division on base continued to manage this airframe. The OV-10A on display was manufactured in 1968 and was assigned to the Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, the following year, in 1991, after several base transfers, the aircraft was sent to and modified by the Ogden Air Logistics Center to support a United States State Department drug-interdiction project for the Colombian Air Force. In 2006, the aircraft was put on display here at the Hill Aerospace Museum.

 

Interesting Fact

The aircraft is painted to closely resemble its appearance while serving with the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron in Thailand.

 

Specifications

S/N 67-14675

Manufacturer: North American Aviation

Crew: One

Engines: Two Garrett-AiResearch T76-G turboprops: 715 horsepower each

Wingspan: 40 ft

Length: 41 ft 7 in

Height: 15 ft 1 in

Weight: 7,190 pounds (empty): 14,444 pounds (maximum)

Speed: 281 mph (maximum); 223 mph (cruising)

Range: 1,240 miles Ceiling: 26,000 ft

Armaments Centerline station for 20 mm gun pod, or stores; four 7.62 mm M60 machine guns in sponsons; four sponson stations for rockets, mini guns or stores; two wing stations for rockets or missiles

Stevan DOHANOS • American

* 18 May 1907 in Lorain, Ohio.

✝︎ 4 July 1994 in Westport, Connecticut.

 

Lighthouse Keeper

The Saturday Evening Post — September 22, 1945.

 

The Saturday Evening Post note ↓

The lighthouse on the cover is the West Quoddy Light, Lubec Maine, but the lighthouse keeper is pruning the grass at Sankaty Light, Nantucket, a neat trick that can happen only in the world of art. What happened was that Artist Stevan Dohanos made his preliminary sketches of the West Quoddy Light last summer. This year, to freshen his memory on lighthouse detail, he journeyed up to the Sankaty Light. It turned out the Sankaty Light had "a very strong personality of its own," and wasn't much good as a source of information on the situation in West Quoddy.

 

However, they were cutting the grass at Sankaty Light, and Dohanos liked that touch of domesticity or agriculture or whatever it is, so he included it.

 

About Dohanos ↓

Stevan Dohanos grew up as a great admirer of Norman Rockwell, going so far as to copy his Saturday Evening Post cover illustrations in crayon that he sold to friends, relatives, and co-workers. Little did Stevan know, he would develop a close personal friendship with Rockwell as his own art graced the Post’s cover 123 times over the course of his lifetime.

 

Dohanos was the third of nine children born to Hungarian immigrants Elizabeth and Andras Dohanos. His upbringing in a midwestern steel town would later influence the cultivation of his artistic style showing the normalcy and realism of American life. While inspired by Rockwell’s talent, Dohanos became an “American Realist” who depicted everyday life as it was. He was most heavily influenced by the work of Edward Hopper, and chose not to idealize American life the way Rockwell did.

 

Dohanos realized his love of art fairly early in life, selling calendars and illustration copies for $1.00 to $3.00 apiece while he worked in a grocery store and later at an office job. He began his formal education by taking correspondence classes through the International Correspondence School. Soon after, the artist took night classes at the Cleveland School of Art where he received a scholarship to complete his formal art studies.

 

During and after art school, the young Dohanos worked in a Cleveland advertising firm, then travelled around the country painting wall murals before heading to New York City to work as a commercial artist. He eventually moved to the artist colony of Westport, Connecticut where he found inspiration in the everyday lives of his neighbors.

 

While working in the city, Dohanos picked up advertising work from clients such as Four Roses Whiskey, Maxwell House Coffee, Pan Am Airlines, Cannon Towels, Olin Industries, and John Hancock Insurance. His work was featured in Esquire, Medical Times, McCall’s, and Colliers prior to his first successful submission to The Saturday Evening Post. In September of 1938, he married his longtime sweetheart, Margit Kovacs, and had two children, Peter and Paul.

 

His first Post cover, the March 7, 1942 issue, was a well-received wartime image of air raid searchlights from an artillery battery. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the artist’s workload for The Post increased, garnering a contract for roughly a dozen covers a year.

 

During World War II, Dohanos aided the war effort by painting recruitment posters and wall murals for federal buildings. He also designed stamps for the federal government, starting during the Roosevelt administration, and staying in the profession the rest of his life.

 

As magazine covers turned toward photography and away from illustration, Dohanos quickly changed careers. He did film art for such classics as White Christmas and was the chairman of the National Stamp Advisory Committee where he oversaw the art design for over 300 stamps. He held the position throughout the administrations of 7 presidents and 9 Postmaster Generals. His depictions include presidential portraits, the now collectible NATO commemorative stamps from 1959, and the 1967 John F. Kennedy commemorative stamp.

 

Stevan Dohanos found beauty in everyday life, choosing to focus on “the location and trappings of the American dream, not those who populated it.” Elevated to lofty status as a famous Saturday Evening Post illustrator, Dohanos’s works now garner the walls, halls, and galleries of The Cleveland Museum, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Dartmouth College, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and various federal post offices across the United States. He died July 4th, 1994 at the age of 87.

Coachwork by Pininfarina

Chassis n° 1625GT

 

Bonhams : the Zoute Sale

Estimated : € 600.000 - 800.000

Sold for € 989.000

 

Zoute Grand Prix 2018

Knokke - Zoute

België - Belgium

October 2018

 

By the early 1960s, road car production had ceased to be a sideline for Ferrari and was seen as vitally important to the company's future stability. Thus the 250, Ferrari's first volume-produced model, can be seen as critically important, though production of the first of the line - the 250 Europa, built from 1953 to '54 - amounted to fewer than 20. Before the advent of the Europa, Ferrari had built road-going coupés and convertibles in small numbers, usually to special customer order using a sports-racing chassis as the basis. Ghia and Vignale of Turin and Touring of Milan were responsible for bodying many of these but there was no attempt at standardisation for series production and no two cars were alike.

 

The introduction of the 250 Europa heralded a significant change in Ferrari's preferred coachbuilder; whereas previously Vignale had been the most popular carrozzeria among Maranello's customers, from now on Pinin Farina (later 'Pininfarina') would be Ferrari's number one choice, bodying no fewer than 48 out of the 53 Europa/Europa GTs built. Pinin Farina's experiments eventually crystallised in a new Ferrari 250 GT road car that was first displayed publicly at the Geneva Salon in March 1956. However, the Torinese carrozzeria was not yet in a position to cope with the increased workload, resulting in production being entrusted to Carrozzeria Boano after Pinin Farina had completed a handful of prototypes.

 

True series production began with the arrival of Pininfarina's 'notchback' Coupé on the 250 GT chassis, some 353 of which were built between 1958 and 1960 within the sequence '0841' to '2081'. However, the relatively small scale of production meant that cars could still be ordered with subtle variations according to customer's choice, as well as enabling a handful of show cars and 'specials' to be constructed on the 250 GT chassis.

 

A number of important developments occurred during 250 GT production: the original 128C 3.0-litre engine being superseded by the twin-distributor 128D, which in turn was supplanted in 1960 by the outside-plug 128F engine which did away with its predecessor's Siamesed inlets in favour of six separate ports. On the chassis side, four-wheel disc brakes arrived late in 1959 and a four-speeds-plus-overdrive gearbox the following year, the former at last providing the 250 GT with stopping power to match its speed. More refined and practical than any previous road-going Ferrari, yet retaining the sporting heritage of its predecessors, the 250 GT is a landmark model of immense historical significance.

 

The example offered here, chassis number 1625', left the factory in January 1960 destined for California, USA but was actually delivered to Jacques Swaters' Garage Francorchamps in Belgium. It is a rare 2nd Series example, the most sought after series in the 250 GT Pininfarina coupé range. first owner was Mr Theo de Montpellier, who purchased the car on 4th February 1960, subsequently passing to Mr Louis Galand. The third owner is not known.

 

According to a registration document on file, fourth owner Mr Jean-Marie Cap acquired the Ferrari on 24th December 1976. From 15th May 1978, the car was owned by Ferrari collector Mr Ennio Gianarolli, who kept it on display as part of his collection but did not register it. The current owner purchased '1625' on 7th February 2005.

 

In March 2005, the Ferrari was despatched to Carrozzeria Nova Rinascente in Vigonza, Italy to be restored by the internationally renowned Dino Cognolato and his team of specialist craftsmen. The Ferrari received an exemplary restoration of the chassis, body, and all brightwork including the bumpers, front grille, window surrounds, door plates, etc, and the multiple Ferrari and Pininfarina badges.

 

The mechanical side of the rebuild was entrusted to Corrado Patella's Omega Officina, another recognised specialist in the restoration of Ferrari of road and competition cars. Corrado Patella carried out a full mechanical restoration, which included the engine, carburettors, gearbox, overdrive, axle, suspension, brakes, radiator, etc. The electrical system was overhauled by Elettrauto Franco, which also restored and the refurbished all the dashboard instruments. Luppi of Modena re-trimmed the interior, while the carpets and headlining were renewed by Dino Cognolato. Equipped with new 16" Borrani wire wheels, the fully restored Ferrari left Cognolato's workshop in March 2009, since when it has won the Prix d'Élégance at the Zoute Concours (in 2014). Accompanying documentation consists of the all-important Ferrari Classiche 'Red Book', restoration invoices, and Belgian Carte Grise, and the car also comes with its tool kit and jack.

 

Lastly, the owner has kindly provided us with his driving impressions: 'Once the driver is comfortably installed behind the Nardi steering wheel, he or she is afforded an unobstructed view of the dashboard in a perfect combination of ergonomics and aesthetics. Once started, the engine emits an evocative yet subdued growl, and is supremely flexible on the road. The clutch is not heavy and the gearbox is a delight, its synchromesh beyond reproach, while the overdrive facilitates fast cruising without having to overtax the engine. Handling is excellent, and the four-wheel disc brakes mean that the limits of the car's performance can be explored safely.'

These many attributes and the presence of a generously sized luggage compartment simply invite one to travel; this Ferrari 250 is not designated a Gran Turismo without good reason. Possessing a rare elegance, this beautiful Pininfarina-style Ferrari will appeal to the connoisseur of aesthetics every bit as much as to the enthusiast driver.

Porsche 917-001

Chassis 001, assembled in early March 1969, was the first of the twenty-five 917s completed for homologation. This chassis was used for a multitude of events, though never raced. Its workload consisted of testing at the Nürburgring and display duty in places such as the Geneva Motor Show in 1969 or Frankfurt International Auto Show in 1970.

By October 1970, 917-001 was part of the Press Department of Porsche and painted in the now famous Salzburg paint scheme of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.

 

Festival Automobile International 2017, Paris