The Night Mail

[laurenceb]

Please please pretty please Andy can we have the groan button back please

[PhilJ W]

28 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

No rabbits are involved, but don't forget that a Sidewinder is..

Wait for it....

 

Hare to Hare.

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Dave Hunt]

 

it's not always air to air. Whether it's an apocryphal story or not I don't really know but it's a good one so here goes. During the 6 day war when enemy tanks appearing over the Golan Heights at night were giving the Israelis some grief, a group of Israeli gunners, having been informed that the success of said tanks was because they were fitted with IR searchlights, contacted the air force and scrounged some AIM-9Bs and launchers that they then fitted onto their SPGs. Next appearance of IR searchlight equipped tanks - lock on and whoosh - a good chance of no more searchlight. The tale was told to me by an Israeli pilot.

 

Dave  

[Happy Hippo]

27 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

it's not always air to air. Whether it's an apocryphal story or not I don't really know but it's a good one so here goes. During the 6 day war when enemy tanks appearing over the Golan Heights at night were giving the Israelis some grief, a group of Israeli gunners, having been informed that the success of said tanks was because they were fitted with IR searchlights, contacted the air force and scrounged some AIM-9Bs and launchers that they then fitted onto their SPGs. Next appearance of IR searchlight equipped tanks - lock on and whoosh - a good chance of no more searchlight. The tale was told to me by an Israeli pilot.

 

Dave  

Funnily enough we used to have a bloody big infra red  lamp on Chieftain.  We never used it...

 

I wonder why?

 

On a smaller scale, we were using something called a Starlight scope, which was a very early bit of night passive night vision.  It made the SLR, not in itself a lightweight bit of kit, a damned sight heavier.  Everything was green and prone to a bit of interference, but it's claim to fame, as  is the case with all passive night vision is it can pick up light on the infra red spectrum.

 

You could sit in an OP and clearly see, anyone using infra red as the beam of light was readily visible.

 

At the time all Warsaw Pact troops were using infra red, as Dave has mentioned for tank gunnery, but also attached to the rifles of their infantry marksmen and snipers. 

 

From a sniping point of view, using passive NV, all you had to do was aim at the source of the light and shoot.

 

Of course in those days we were using 7.62mm (.30 cal) as a universal round, so even with a telescopic sight, we were only engaging out to about 800 metres. (And at night shooting at that range would have been a miraculous hit!!)

 

The evolution of extended ranges using the likes of Lapua Magnum came about in the 1980's, and since then we have seen the requirement for ever increasing ranges, especially in mountainous or desert terrain.  This requirement has also seen a parallel development of specialised rifles for long range shooting in ever increasing calibres.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Funnily enough we used to have a bloody big infra red  lamp on Chieftain.  We never used it...

 

I wonder why?

 

On a smaller scale, we were using something called a Starlight scope, which was a very early bit of night passive night vision.  It made the SLR, not in itself a lightweight bit of kit, a damned sight heavier.  Everything was green and prone to a bit of interference, but it's claim to fame, as  is the case with all passive night vision is it can pick up light on the infra red spectrum.

 

You could sit in an OP and clearly see, anyone using infra red as the beam of light was readily visible.

 

At the time all Warsaw Pact troops were using infra red, as Dave has mentioned for tank gunnery, but also attached to the rifles of their infantry marksmen and snipers. 

 

From a sniping point of view, using passive NV, all you had to do was aim at the source of the light and shoot.

 

Of course in those days we were using 7.62mm (.30 cal) as a universal round, so even with a telescopic sight, we were only engaging out to about 800 metres. (And at night shooting at that range would have been a miraculous hit!!)

 

The evolution of extended ranges using the likes of Lapua Magnum came about in the 1980's, and since then we have seen the requirement for ever increasing ranges, especially in mountainous or desert terrain.  This requirement has also seen a parallel development of specialised rifles for long range shooting in ever increasing calibres.

That brings back a memory of having to source such a piece of kit for a colleague who was having some  problems with scrotes climbing over the railings into a locked park. Quite what he was going to do with the individuals when he appended them I thought best not to ask as he was ex-army, but as my boss had okayed the purchase I figured it would be he who had the finger pointed at if or when the bodies were found.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Winslow Boy
Fingers don't type as good as they once did.

[Happy Hippo]

13 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

That brings back a memory of having to source such a piece of kit for a colleague who was having some  problems with scrotes climbing over the railings into a locked park. Quite what he was going to do with the individuals when he appended them I thought best not to ask as he was ex-army, but as my boss had okayed the purchase I figured it would be he who had the finger pointed at if or when the bodies were found.

The two gentle folk who crept onto Sennybridge training area for nefarious purposes had a trouser filling experience when they got tangled up in a night time field firing exercise.

 

 Since live ammunition is used on such extravaganza, you have to be extremely diligent with the planning:  Confirming numbers at various locations/no go zones/emergency protocols etc.

 

These two cause the exercise to stop after they were illuminated by flare, running like hell across the moor, at a point which was out of bounds to participants, being pursued by tracer from a support weapons team.

[PhilJ W]

13 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The two gentle folk who crept onto Sennybridge training area for nefarious purposes had a trouser filling experience when they got tangled up in a night time field firing exercise.

 

 Since live ammunition is used on such extravaganza, you have to be extremely diligent with the planning:  Confirming numbers at various locations/no go zones/emergency protocols etc.

 

These two cause the exercise to stop after they were illuminated by flare, running like hell across the moor, at a point which was out of bounds to participants, being pursued by tracer from a support weapons team.

I take it that they never came back.

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

I take it that they never came back.

Well, not on that evening.

[jamie92208]

That reminds me of an incident in Castleford. There was an explosion at a chemical works in the early hours of one morning when a unit that loaded hydrogen at 200 bar into tankers, went boom. There was a bit of concern as the same plant had phosgene in the system as an intermediary.  After being greeted by the on call duty manager, who turned out to be the accountant, I was told that he didn't know what had gone wrong as hydrogen didn't explode. It turned out to be a broken union in the loading pipe that allowed the hydrogen to fill the blast pens and then access the switchgear, now nicely mixed with oxygen. Fortunately there were no casualties apart from the blast pens, or so we thought. A couple of hours later, two neer do wells turned up at casualty in Pontefract, 4 miles away, with shock and cuts and bruises. It turned out that they had been up to no good on the riverbank at the rear of the blast pens, allegedly night fishing, though I wouldn't want to eat anything from that stretch of the Aire. Their dinghy was also a write off, having been hit by several bricks.

 

Afterwards I submitted a rather scathing report to the health and safety and emergency planning authorities. 

 

Jamie

Edited January 11, 2021 by jamie92208

[simontaylor484]

You wouldnt believe the number of folk i have seen fishing that stretch of river certainly from the bridge going towards allerton bywater. There must be fish in there now as we often used to see cormorants drying their wings on rocks near the new waste of money er i mean that lovely footbridge 

[Happy Hippo]

Monday's medical story!

 

When I collected my repeat prescription on Friday evening, it was missing some stuff.

 

This was not a big issue as I apply in good time for replenishment, plus I have a War Reserve in case of emergencies.

 

But trying to get through to the surgery on a Monday morning is nigh on impossible.

 

To be on the safe side, I looked at the Patient Access website to check I had placed the proper order in for the repeat, and noticed I had an appointment to see the nurse at 1220. Not a telephone consultation, but a face to face.

 

This was convenient as I then had an excuse to go to the surgery and find out what happened to my prescription rather than wait of hours in a phone queue.

 

I booked in on the computer, then went and spoke to the reception staff who resolved the prescription issue, so I then went and sat down to await my appointment with the lovely Penny.

 

Lo and behold at 1226 my phone goes: It's Penny for the telephone consultation. 

 

'Would it be better if we could meet face to face'?

 

'Oh Yes it would be helpful'

 

'Well I'm sitting outside your door!'

 

Lord only knows what happened but the computer decided face to face, and every one else was working on the idea of a booked telephone consultation.

 

So for once:  Computer says 'Yes!'

 

I now have a Flow meter and instructions to breath heavily into it twice a day to record what my lungs are doing, and whether the inhaler is helping.

 

I do an update consultation in a fortnight which will coincide with the chest x-ray and then continue to monitor the breathing until the x-ray results have come back and have been analysed.

 

Still not allowed to 'overstretch' myself, which meant I was able to sneak off for a nap this afternoon instead of brushing the kitchen floor.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Florence Locomotive Works]

More on this later.....

 

 

Douglas

[J. S. Bach]

Marklin HO? Or maybe O scale stud contact?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

30 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Marklin HO? Or maybe O scale stud contact?

Märklín HO indeed, I’ve embarked on a quest to restore my fully sceniced Märklín layout back to its former glory, after nearly two years of abuse by the cats. 
 

I may post about here, or it may get its own topic, I haven’t decided yet.

 

 

It’s just a simple roundy round, but was great fun before the cats were moved in the same room. 
 

More later,

 

Douglas

Edited January 11, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Happy Hippo]

I used the flow meter for the first time this morning.

 

Having read the instructions first, having been briefed on what to do yesterday, I'm not quite sure if the medical profession understand what Hippo lungs are capable of!

 

The chart I have to fill in reads up to 700 (whatever the unit are).

 

Best of three puffs is required, and I'm pushing 690.

 

However, such effort does bring on a coughing bout

 

Once the chest infection is cleared up I'll probably be off the chart.

 

Still it will keep me amused for the next fortnight.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

However, such effort does bring on a coughing bout

I was told I wasn’t coughing properly. The chest consultant said he thought I would benefit from seeing a respiratory physiotherapist but this was just before Covid 19 became a pandemic. He demonstrated a couple of techniques to use in the meantime. Then other hospital visits revealed that the main reason for my breathlessness was my heart not my damaged (probably due to pneumonia a couple of years ago) lungs. 

[Happy Hippo]

I had a more productive day today with all the timber cut for the ballista manufacturing and the BMW got a good clean.

 

I also discovered the floor was rather wet in the rear lhs passenger footwell.

 

I shall investigate further tomorrow.

 

When cutting the timber I used the proper twin filtered face mask and a full face visor to protect my eyes.  It was a success as there was no coughing from dust inhalation.  What did induce a fit of the coughs was sucking an Everton Mint.

 

The evening flow test has been done.  I'm now recording in excess of 700......  The highest the chart reads is 700, so it's going to be pretty pointless!

 

Still, I shall persevere.

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

I also discovered the floor was rather wet in the rear lhs passenger footwell.

 

 

Probably squirrels...

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

The evening flow test has been done.  I'm now recording in excess of 700......  The highest the chart reads is 700, so it's going to be pretty pointless

 

There are those who would make some cheap crack about the Army being full of windbags but I, of course, shall refrain from such............

 

Nothing of any real interest to report so I'll just settle for goodnight and sweet dreams.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

10 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The evening flow test has been done.  I'm now recording in excess of 700......  The highest the chart reads is 700, so it's going to be pretty pointless!

 

Still, I shall persevere.

At least the flow  is from the front end rather than the rear.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

There are those who would make some cheap crack about the Army being full of windbags but I, of course, shall refrain from such............

 

Nothing of any real interest to report so I'll just settle for goodnight and sweet dreams.

 

Dave

 

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

At least the flow  is from the front end rather than the rear.

 

Jamie

Such cheap blows....

[Happy Hippo]

 

'Hey chaps, It's a pannier!'

 

But not as we know it!'

[New Haven Neil]

Just now, Happy Hippo said:

 

'Hey chaps, It's a pannier!'

 

But not as we know it!'

 

 

Absolutely.

 

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

At least the flow  is from the front end rather than the rear.

 

Jamie

Just as well if its 700+.

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

Just as well if its 700+.

I think the Big H might have been mistaken for a J H.- Junior Hippo hence the 700 cut off on the chart.