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The Night Mail


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11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

At one time we had a Saudi Training Flight as part of the F3 Operational Conversion Unit at Coningsby and I'm afraid that I have to say that what Q reports above I don't find particularly surprising. Trying to chop Saudi crews from the course was virtually impossible, particularly the number of princes and skeik's sons etc. who came through.

 

 

Two or three years back, I got talking to someone who had been ground crew out in Saudi, and he reckoned that they had a similar problem with the ground crew.  In practical terms, the Brits did all the work whilst the locals amused themselves.

 

Adrian

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15 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

Two or three years back, I got talking to someone who had been ground crew out in Saudi, and he reckoned that they had a similar problem with the ground crew.  In practical terms, the Brits did all the work whilst the locals amused themselves.

 

Adrian

I've heard the same from a friend who instructed out there. I've also heard similar comments from a friend who had to instruct Iranian officers (pre revolution) on Chieftan tanks. 

 

Jamie

Edited by jamie92208
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Evening,

 

Last day of school this week for me, as the rest is Fall Break. When I got home I found myself not quite ready to go and tackle the signal rods on the signal posted last night, so went outside and did some soon to be needed wood splitting. I did this the old fashioned way with hammer and hatchet, not the most efficient way but fun, I think :biggrin_mini2:.

 

After that frivolity I went upstairs to tackle the signal. And it was surprisingly successful. The signals are made from card and the rods are plated copper wire. A video will be below in a short while.

 

Douglas 

 

2BFD3B37-9BA1-4407-A5CF-F9E8C79C96B8.jpeg
 

 

Edited by Florence Locomotive Works
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Removing the architraves from around the door frame in order to give the frame a good rub down and repaint prior to rehanging the door, I found the architraves had been put on with air nails and no nails glue.  Bit of an oxymoron if the glue needed nails to hold the timber in place whilst it set, but I digress.

 

I now have to make better the damage to the surrounding plaster.  That in itself is not a difficult job, but getting the area properly prepared will be very messy due to dust.

 

The problem is going to be that Nyda will decide that if I'm doing this work, then the rest of the room can be redecorated as well!

 

I might as well start clearing the room in anticipation... Which includes dismantling the double bed as there is no spare space to store it elsewhere upstairs.

 

 

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13 hours ago, figworthy said:

 

Two or three years back, I got talking to someone who had been ground crew out in Saudi, and he reckoned that they had a similar problem with the ground crew.  In practical terms, the Brits did all the work whilst the locals amused themselves.

 

Adrian

yep, though towards my end out there, they were being pushed to take over.. However when we moved to Tabook (top left Saudi) we inherited some trainees on the previous aircraft there, When the last yank left the paperwork had stopped.. But the aircraft were, sort of, still flying till we moved in 4 years later..

 

We asked a warrant office to change a fuse.. answer "what is a fuse"!!!

 

The ones we inherited first asked "where are the equipments that have the red and green lights to say what is wrong" as that had been their rumour . When we told them there weren't any they  told us we were liars and searched around for that equipement, what they found was spectrum analysers, oscilloscopes and lots of technical stuff.. 

 

Within a week that bunch of trainees had moved off to a cushier job, as they had " the wasta".. the connections to do that, and then we got some lesser tribally ranked trainees in..

 

Who you got as a trainee depended on their rank in Saudi, cleaners were Shia Muslims, as they were the wrong variety of Islam. Then it moved up through the tribes through to royalty. We generally got the senior commanders (but not as high as a prince) sons or the police chiefs sons.

Once you had trained them on every little bit you had to get their signature they had done it, because the next week they would forget and totally deny they had been trained..

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Don't get me started on the overseas students at Sandhurst.

 

To give credit , a few were excellent, but most were there because they were connected and their government was paying big bucks to send them there.

 

The cruel joke was they were always first in the dinner queue!

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We had Iranians at RAF Locking, all had the rank of Sergeant even though their trade level was lower than a SAC. Their pay was such the first week they arrived they bought a new car had it containered and sent home (they could only buy the old Hillman hunter locally produced there)..

Their monthly pay was about 6 months worth of ours...

 

They used to get prostitutes phoning up the Sgts mess asking for them!!! They were convinced they were going out with normal "English girls" not prozzies... 

Edited by TheQ
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I have just found a box of brass bits.

 

It just so happens to be a  7 mm scale GWR Dean Goods.

 

Sadly this loco is really outside of my time scale, as the last of them 2538 only lasted until 1957, so I think I might have to let her go.

 

I think I got the kit when I was considering doing something more along the Cambrian coast rather than South Wales.

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Even in the Merch at college we had the same sort of gentlemen, one in particular was Libyan, and had been there for years - he failed finals every time, and just did the year again. And again. ad infinitum.  He had an X 1/9 when they were brand new and cool (in the six months before it turned in to cornflakes) and so on - money no object.  The Iraqis weren't much better, but the Kuwaitis were quite diligent - most odd.  One Kuwaiti became my 'oppo' for a while in the heavy workshop, he was a good lad. 

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10 hours ago, TheQ said:

yep, though towards my end out there, they were being pushed to take over.. However when we moved to Tabook (top left Saudi) we inherited some trainees on the previous aircraft there, When the last yank left the paperwork had stopped.. But the aircraft were, sort of, still flying till we moved in 4 years later..

 

We asked a warrant office to change a fuse.. answer "what is a fuse"!!!

 

The ones we inherited first asked "where are the equipments that have the red and green lights to say what is wrong" as that had been their rumour . When we told them there weren't any they  told us we were liars and searched around for that equipement, what they found was spectrum analysers, oscilloscopes and lots of technical stuff.. 

 

Within a week that bunch of trainees had moved off to a cushier job, as they had " the wasta".. the connections to do that, and then we got some lesser tribally ranked trainees in..

 

Who you got as a trainee depended on their rank in Saudi, cleaners were Shia Muslims, as they were the wrong variety of Islam. Then it moved up through the tribes through to royalty. We generally got the senior commanders (but not as high as a prince) sons or the police chiefs sons.

Once you had trained them on every little bit you had to get their signature they had done it, because the next week they would forget and totally deny they had been trained..

 

I worked on Sea Kings in India for a few weeks - the state of the aircraft was scary beyond belief.  Open an aircraft toolkit and there's plenty of shadows and hardly any tools; the leadlamp we were using had no plug - the bare wires were held in the socket with matchsticks; the lead itself had so many taped up joints it was amazing it actually worked - just.....

I heard a rumour that Westland Heli's went out there to survey the aircraft before giving a price for upgrading them.  They lifted the avionics bay floor panel in the rear cabin to discover the boys had been using it as a bog.....

 

Kuwait?  The guys disappear around 1pm for the rest of the day, leaving us with some very serious and expensive kit to carry on as we pleased.  Mind you, they pretty much did that in the mornings too. 

Another of the middle eastern countries (Saudi might do the same) insisted on gold plated buckles on their fast jet seat harnesses, as all aircrew were royalty.

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8 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

A couple more Mustangs. The front one is a B or C but with the later Malcolm hood while in the background is a Uruguayan  D with teardrop canopy. The Malcolm hood doesn’t look too convincing to me and I may change it to an aftermarket replacement.82B50A45-E958-4582-B5F6-7DAF8CA5186E.jpeg.a4c4dc0d577b8923bdec3b5f87ef657b.jpeg

Another 'fact' that has resurfaced from the back on my brain.

 

Many years ago I read that at the end of WWII, the USA was so flush with Mustangs that they were selling them off at 1 USD each!  If only my father could have invested 50 USD then, I'd have been sitting on a fortune now.  Most were scrapped:  Some, such as the B17G aircraft were going from the Boeing assembly line straight to storage and scrapping!

Edited by Happy Hippo
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The scroll saw I bought on a special offer yesterday arrived first thing this morning.

 

It's a lot bigger than I remember when I was last using one.

 

However, I can see much fun being had this morning at playtime.

 

The phrase 'like a kid with a new toy' springs to mind!

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I seem to remember a pile of Spitfires? on the up side of Gatwick when I was a kid. This would have been 1961- ish. 

 

Talking of old aircraft, I remember a pair of Lightning fuselages in a hanger, nose up, at Biggin Hill in 1967. How did they come to be there? 

 

There is a new film being released in time for Christmas. Star Trek :- The Millennials.  I can't say too much, but here's a line from the script.

 

Lt. Worf :-    'Wassup?

 

Cmdr Ryker:- 'Wassup?

 

Captain Pickard :-    'Ensign Crusher, set a course for the Delta Quadrant!

 

Ensign Crusher :-   ' Yeah, whatever.  Stop hassling me. I know my rights!

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Sorry, been awol for a while.  Busy with duties at Waterloo and curating a photographic collection of railway stations for the SWC.  Another member digitalised the images and I'm changing them from alphabetic to route.

 

Had my flu jab on Tuesday, so I have a sore arm and still feel a little bit under the weather.

 

Keep well all,  Bill

 

 

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We had a graduate 'engineer' from the eastern shores.  I knew something was up when he tried to measure a 15" coated roller, with a 6" rule....  Jules Vernier was a book he'd read. And no, I'm not kidding....

 

"When you were in university, when did you do your granulation?  " I granulated in Portsmouth University.." 

 

A while later... " I'm trying to study English humour, what books should I read?  "Oh, you like humour, do you? I'll write you a list..."

 

All of the Tom Sharpe books,

Jeeves & Wooster books, 

Bill Bryson

 

And the last one.. Zeus.. "It's a bit heavy going, but look for the sines (signs)..."

 

Later still... " These signs. Are they in the Highway code?"

 

When I left, our 'engineer' took over, and within a fortnight managed to scrap £5 million of pre-impregnated fibreglass. When I see videos of wind turbines breaking up, I'm so glad it's not me..... 

 

Granulated Engineer? Yeah, right.....  I know this post sounds a bit harsh, but my mortgage was more important.

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1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

 

 

Granulated Engineer? Yeah, right.....

When I drilled two holes, one each end of a crack and then said in a loud voice not to get any longer, people laughed,  told me I was stupid (and mad).

 

They should have told the crack it was stupid, because it was scared to go beyond the holes in case I got cross.

 

 

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8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Another 'fact' that has resurfaced from the back on my brain.

 

Many years ago I read that at the end of WWII, the USA was so flush with Mustangs that they were selling them off at 1 USD each!  If only my father could have invested 50 USD then, I'd have been sitting on a fortune now.  Most were scrapped:  Some, such as the B17G aircraft were going from the Boeing assembly line straight to storage and scrapping!

 

In the late 80's?/early 90's BAe Warton (home of the Tornado, and now Eurofighter) had a shed load of airworthy Lightning aircraft from Saudi (I believe they were "trade in's" for the Tornado deal....).  The word was they were being sold off at a grand each, on the understanding they weren't scrapped off (the scrap value was more than a grand, apparently).

Great for waking the next door neighbours on a sunday morning.

 

2 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

We had a graduate 'engineer' from the eastern shores.  I knew something was up when he tried to measure a 15" coated roller, with a 6" rule....  Jules Vernier was a book he'd read. And no, I'm not kidding....

 

 

 

I sent one to the tool stores once, for a metric adjustable allen key, range 0 to 1 inch..... :lol:

 

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40 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

In the late 80's?/early 90's BAe Warton (home of the Tornado, and now Eurofighter) had a shed load of airworthy Lightning aircraft from Saudi (I believe they were "trade in's" for the Tornado deal....).  The word was they were being sold off at a grand each, on the understanding they weren't scrapped off (the scrap value was more than a grand, apparently).

Gre

 

 

I

 

I remember seeing them on my many visits to warton, they had above wing fuel tanks. 

 

 

Lightning-MK53-ZF592.jpg

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