The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

8 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Didn't a certain HRH write off a Queens Flight 146 with a heavy landing? 

 

I'm not sure whether it was written off but it was certainly badly bent.

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

12 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Didn't a certain HRH write off a Queens Flight 146 with a heavy landing? 

No I don't think the Big H has been on a Queens Flight. However there were those couple ' of no questions asked' excursions which we're not supposed to know about. Somewhere in central Europe I believe. Oops may have said to much as I've heard what appears to be Arghhhhhh..........

Edited January 4, 2021 by Winslow Boy

[Happy Hippo]

It is my understanding of the incident involving the Prince of Wales having read the report some years ago, that the  overrun at Benbecula could have been prevented if the aircraft had executed a go round when it was obvious that they were too far down the runway when they touched down. 

 

Since that time, no member of the RF has been at the controls of a Queen's Flight aircraft during landing or takeoff.

 

I believe it is something to do with pilot currency on the airframe in question.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Re VC10s: I believe my dad took three (probably more like 10 overall) during the early years of his life when my grandfathers family was moving roughly every five years from Liverpool to Auckland NZ. They would board the plane somewhere in the UK, it would then fly to Mumbai, then on to Singapore or Hong Kong. Then on to Auckland. 
 

That’s far more interesting than the old route we used to take to NZ, which was a United Airlines flight to Dallas (1 hour, with a good wind 45), then a United three hour hop to LAX John Bradley Terminal, the biggest waiting room in the world you’ll see without seats. But if they let you check in early it’s very nice. After a 7 hour stop in LA, we would normally get on Air New Zealand flight NZ 10, or on rare occasions 11. Off to Auckland overnight, 14 hours with a good wind, which normally happens going to. 15 on the way back though. However, now Air NZ offers flights direct to Houston, which eliminates much waiting. Good Mexican food in Houston airport to. 
 

Douglas

Edited January 5, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[J. S. Bach]

19 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

With production dates of 1956-to date, the Sidewinder is no doubt the longest serving and most produced missile in any military aviation inventory.

 

I suppose the aircraft equivalent has got to be the Lockheed C130.

And"Heineman's Hotroad", the Douglass A-4 Skyhawk. The US Marines kept buying them for many years after the Navy replaced them; the Harrier replaced the A-4.

[J. S. Bach]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Welcome aboard, you'll find us friendly and some are even slightly bonkers, so if you'd looked through from page 1 you'll see the threads switching from technical discussion via general chat to ludicrous tales of PB, HH and cake. ...snip...

Some??

[jamie92208]

Yes Douglas, the VC10's did go out to NZ with several stops for fuel and crew change. My brother, when hecwas single, used to bid that route as it was a 3 week slot. 1 week to get to Aukland, with stops in various places that sometimes invluded The Seychelles  and Sidney.  Then a week in Aukland, taking the aircraft to Fiji and back each night.  I believe that they had rest days as well.  One Christmas his plane sufferred a fault and they were grounded in the Seychelles for a week till spares could be flown out. My poor mother couldn't understand why no one at chapel was showing her much sympathy about poor John being stuck there and not being home in a cold grey Yorkshire.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Aditi went to India and back a few times on VC10s when she was a child. She said BOAC were very good at looking after unaccompanied children. When she had flown with MEA they had just been given vouchers and told to go and get refreshments at stopovers.  Not sure now that a couple of children would be sent off to wander about Beirut or Tehran airport. 

Edited January 5, 2021 by Tony_S

[Dave Hunt]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

And"Heineman's Hotroad", the Douglass A-4 Skyhawk. The US Marines kept buying them for many years after the Navy replaced them; the Harrier replaced the A-4.

 

Heinemann's Hotrod is another example of something that although similar in appearance externally had become a different machine by the time the late models were put in service.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

I thought Heinemann's Hotrod was one of the earlier locos in the Midland Railway repertoire of  little quick locos.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Canal Digger]

19 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Welcome to the fun Canal digger hope you like cake 

I loovvvee cake (& biscuits), no nuts or cream for me though, not allergic etc, both are wasted on me. Every tried Curry Cake? A lot better than I thought it would be  

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

Back at school today, and currently on lunch break. Not much to report, other than this morning I woke up being unable to move my head more than a few centimeters either side without a searing pain. It shall be looked into

when I get home. 

 

Douglas

Edited January 5, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Canal Digger said:

I loovvvee cake (& biscuits), no nuts or cream for me though, not allergic etc, both are wasted on me. Every tried Curry Cake? A lot better than I thought it would be  

 

You're singin' Bear's song

Please don't spoil it by telling me you like coffee cake though.....

Curry Cake?  Hmmm....maybe....   Does it give you an ar5se like a Japanese Flag next morning though?

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Canal Digger said:

tried Curry Cake?

I haven’t tried curry cake or to be honest heard of it. I looked up a few recipes and they often included coconut.  I really don’t like coconut, taste or texture.  When we were first married every time we went up to Nottingham to see Aditi’s parents MiL made a coconut cake for me. Each time she was told that it wasn’t my favourite, I really, really disliked coconut. Everyone else liked it though. 
We all like matar paneer which is a cheese and pea curry. My nephew told me last night he had made a matar paneer pie. He said it was “interesting”. 

[simontaylor484]

Curry cake no thats just wrong i think 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

You're singin' Bear's song

Please don't spoil it by telling me you like coffee cake though.....

Curry Cake?  Hmmm....maybe....   Does it give you an ar5se like a Japanese Flag next morning though?

Didn't Johnny Cash  sing a song about that. Ring of Fire.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Japanese Flag

Their national flag or their navy one?

[Tony_S]

35 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Didn't Johnny Cash  sing a song about that. Ring of Fire.

 

Jamie

He did, but after he died his family prevented use of the song to promote haemorrhoid ointment. 

[PhilJ W]

8 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Their national flag or their navy one?

Depends on how much curry powder you use.

[jamie92208]

Really must get off to bed but got disteacted watching and listening to music videos on Youtube.  For some very strange reason Andrea Corr keeps telling me she's breathless.

 

Goodnight all.

 

Jamie

[figworthy]

14 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Yes Douglas, the VC10's did go out to NZ with several stops for fuel and crew change. My brother, when hecwas single, used to bid that route as it was a 3 week slot. 1 week to get to Aukland, with stops in various places that sometimes invluded The Seychelles  and Sidney.  Then a week in Aukland, taking the aircraft to Fiji and back each night.  I believe that they had rest days as well.  One Christmas his plane sufferred a fault and they were grounded in the Seychelles for a week till spares could be flown out. My poor mother couldn't understand why no one at chapel was showing her much sympathy about poor John being stuck there and not being home in a cold grey Yorkshire.

 

Jamie

 

Reminds me of some one (sadly no longer with us) I used to know who was a RAF navigator, often on the regular run from Brize Norton to the states.  On one occasion the east coast of the states was weather bound, so they had to put into Bermuda instead.  They were stuck there for several days.

 

Adrian

[simontaylor484]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

He did, but after he died his family prevented use of the song to promote haemorrhoid ointment. 

Better than putting ralgex on them like one of my former collegues did by accident

[PhilJ W]

49 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Better than putting ralgex on them like one of my former collegues did by accident

Bet that made his eyes water.

[Happy Hippo]

Earlier this evening I was asked for my opinion on how the Ranger unit that Nyda runs would best make a Trebuchet.

 

They had thought about using bamboo poles lashed together:  engineering with knots.

 

Foolishly I suggested square section timber would probably be better as it was easier to drill than round stuff if they wanted to thread through the length of timber or use pins to hold it together.

 

Even more foolishly I volunteered the information that I had plenty of timber that could be run off into suitable lengths for such use.

 

Guess what I'm doing later on this morning.

 

Next time I open my big mouth, I'll stuff it with cake!

[Dave Hunt]

The mind boggles at the thought of Nyda and a bunch of Rangers being let loose with a trebuchet. Is it for supporting raids on outlying cake stores or what? And what comes next - screaming mimi rocket launchers?

 

'Night all.

 

Dave