Category: History
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It Is Hard To Sell A Poisoned Chalice
Especially if you have been killing off people’s enthusiasm with it for years. This sentiment applies to a lot of things; hobby publications, exhibition organisation, and box-scale kits come to mind. The magazines we loved to buy are slowly giving way to YouTube presentations that take up hours of our time for minutes of information.…
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Gloster Meteor F.8 – Part Two – IAF
And wasn’t that a clever idea, Great Britain? Selling Gloster Meteors to the Israelis and De Havilland Vampires to the Egyptians? Bit of export cash in the old exchequer, What? And a good leg in either bed, no matter who won, eh? Pip,Pip…! Looks like GB supplied Meteors to Egypt and Syria as well. Jordan…
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A Good Reason
Vs no reason at all. If you want a history of design you have no further to look than the RFC/RAF roundels. Airborne identification is very sensible indeed – people bent on murder need to positively identify their enemies. The roundel, cross, star, or other symbol on an aircraft wing lets you see it at…
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Records Show…
Apparently records show that the Frumatliakovovich FR 45 light attack transport bomber fighter interceptor was the most-produced aircraft of all time. The fact that these records were published in PRAVDA in 1962 should have no effect on their veracity. If you cannot trust grim people in fur hats, who can you trust? Consider that OBVOVKO…
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Seahawk HH-60H – Part Two – Crows Nest Pass
It’s about as close to the sea as Kalgoorlie… But when the military sell off their old aircraft, the local fire authorities get a chance to pick up some useful heavy lifters for the fire fighting role. Queensland has them – so to other states. Why not sell a few to Alberta and strip off…
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CAC Winjeel – Part One – The Native Name
Air forces all over the world have code name families for their aircraft. Thus you get fighter plane names that project power like the USAAF Thunderbolt and Lightning or training names like the RCAF Yale and Harvard. In Australia there is a tendency to apply aboriginal native names to aircraft Like Boomerang and Wirraway. The…
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Tupolev TB-3 – Part Five – An Ephemeral Chinese Bomber
Ephemeral? Well look at the guns, antennae and landing gear of this Soviet design. This model will be lucky to make it to my display shelf without these breaking off. The pictures you see in this post may be the last complete images of this ICM product ever shown. I am not unhappy with the…
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Tupolev TB-3 – Part One – The Flying Shed
Say what you like about Soviet bomber designers of the 1930’s, few could match them for the ability to hope. Hope that their designs would be accepted, Hope that they would fly. Hope that they would not be imprisoned or liquidated. This assembly of sheet metal and hubris seems to have made it through the…
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Fairey Firefly Mk V – Part Four – Preserved Fly
According to Skaarup, these Firefly aircraft flew with the Royal Canadian Navy from 1946 to 1952 – roughly about the same time they served with the Royal Australian Navy. The carriers they flew from were Royal Navy donations to the Commonwealth countries – the MAJESTIC, BONAVENTURE, SYDNEY, AND MELBOURNE. The decks were perfectly suited to…
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And Yet…Here We Are…
As a kid and teenager I took a serious interest in scale models – and was increasingly scorned for it as years went by. The climate of the country changed – people expected more serious behaviour – there was nothing cool about pursuing something that a child could do. I was expected to grow up,…
The Little World 