DD_Arthur

Blimey. It does look a bit North Korean.

Debrief thread already? Have I missed it? Did I drink much? Did I enjoy my curry? Did I get sun burnt? Do I have a case for sexual harassment against the Priory of St. Oleg? Post a picture of our luxury accommodation Jabo. Setting out at lunchtime tomorrow. Should be there around six-ish. Make mine a cold one.

Which way are you going Mick? Last time I went I took A303 - M3 - M25 - M11 - Duxford. Wonderin' whether to come off the M25 earlier and go up the M1 this time. Any advice?

Every time he gets in a car I crap myself. He's just much too over confident.

Ooops, I forgot all about this thread! Since some of you may or may not be visiting Yeovilton in the very near future........... Now I did mention earlier how the museum suffers from a slight lack of space. Welllllllllllllll...after the Korean war exhibits you go onto the "Carrier Experience" which involves entering a Wessex Mk. 5 to fly through a bumpy western approaches gale and do a night landing on the deck of an Ark Royal type fleet carrier in the nineteen seventies. Basically, you board the chopper, the lights go down, an industrial strength butt-kicker starts up and everyone laughs nervously. After a couple of minutes the vibration stops, the lights go up, the opposite door opens and you're let out down a ramp onto the "flight deck." Now when this exhibit first opened it must have been pretty exciting - although in my opinion they should make you jump out the chopper into the path of a wind machine, into which buckets of salt water mixed with small quantities of brake fluid and paraffin should be thrown to give you the full effect. Arranged around the deck are most of the musuem's large collection of dusty postwar heavy metal. You can then enter the island structure for a tour of the interior and some idea of how the navy lived and worked forty years ago. Personally, I think this whole part of the museum needs a drastic makeover. Part of the tour involves a deafening projection onto an end wall of a Buccaneer landing and then the Phantom "takes off" - reheat is simulated by the use of orange lightbulbs up the jet pipes . The facsimile of the carrier structure and it's internals has been done really well but I can't help feeling - in the age of Youtube - that this whole exhibit has been overtaken by technology. Infact, a very quick search found me this; I can't help feeling that if they took this exhibit down there'd be much more space to display more of the museum's aircraft collection in all their unfolded glory. After this exhibition you are funnelled past the museums restoration shop where they are currently working on a Wildcat. Oh yeah, from a previous visit - the Westland Wyvern - now in the museums reserve collection (you can't get to see it) due to lack of space but what a symphony in aluminium! So, the Fleet AirArm Museum, Yeovilton. All in all, a good day out.

Why don't you take a trip around historic Portsmouth Dockyard FT? Lots and lots to see and do* http://www.hms-victory.com/ http://www.submarine-museum.co.uk/ http://www.maryrose.org/ *All fairly close to Painless's dispersal hut and no Tanks or Monkeys, guaranteed!

I want one!

Been following it closely and today I think they dropped their first bollock with this upgrade business. Pity.

Well double blast-pipe me! Have a great time. Looking forward to piccies. Edit; in the "if money was no object" category. I'd really, really like to drive 9F 'Evening Star' from Plymouth to Exeter. Cor!

Mick, it looks bloody fantastic!!

Here you go SkyPup; this is a real advert for a house share. I am the Wulrus!! Lodger Required pm Brighton SaveSaved Get email alerts Share Report ad Request details Room type Double Available to couples No Date available 11/06/13 Property type House Seller type Private Hello, I am looking for a lodger in my house. I have had a long and interesting life and have now chosen Brighton as a location for my retirement. Among the many things I have done in my life is to spend three years alone on St. Lawrence Island. These were perhaps the most intense and fascinating years of my life, and I was kept in companionship with a walrus whom I named Gregory. Never have I had such a fulfilling friendship with anyone, human or otherwise, and upon leaving the island I was heartbroken for months. I now find myself in a large house over looking Queens Park and am keen to get a lodger. This is a position I am prepared to offer for free (eg: no rent payable) on the fulfillment of some conditions. I have, over the last few months, been constructing a realistic walrus costume, which should fit most people of average proportions, and allow for full and easy movement in character. To take on the position as my lodger you must be prepared to wear the walrus suit for approximately two hours each day (in practice, this is not two hours every day - I merely state it here so you are able to have a clear idea of the workload). Whilst in the walrus costume you must be a walrus - there must be no speaking in a human voice, and any communication must entail making utterances in the voice of a walrus - I believe there aer recordings available on the web - to me, the voice is the most natural thing I have ever heard. Other duties will involve catching and eating the fish and crabs that I will occasionally throw to you whilst you are being the walrus. With the exception of this, you will be free to do whatever you choose, and will have a spacious double room, complete run of the house (with the exception of my bedroom and my workshop), and use of all facilities within. I am a considerate person to share a house with, and other than playing the accordion my tastes are easy to accomodate. Due to the nature of this position I will need to audition all applicants before agreeing to take the chosen candidate on as a lodger. Please contact me if you have any questions. Update: I would like to thank everyone who has responded to this advert - I was not expecting such an overwhelming response, and I am sorry that I could not respond to everyone. The auditions that I have held were successful and I have now found myself a lodger. Thank you again for all your messages and expressions of interest, and I hope those who did not get the room are not too disappointed and find somewhere to live very soon. Wishing you all the best in any of your future endeavors. http://www.gumtree.com/p/flats-houses/lodger-required/1021568193

Did I.....did I...... really just see what I thought I saw? I don't mean the Shark. That was an advert!!!!!

The picture of him being carried up the stairs made me cry.

Lets see; he's been retired for two or is it three months now? He's built a dispersal hut. At this rate of progress the hanger and runway will be finished this time next year. He'll be digging up his first Spitfire the following Fall and it'll make it's Duxford debut at Leg Ends 2018. Just in time to publish the autobiography; "Painless - The Viagra Years."

@Sid; not a hijack, exactly the sort of discussion I'm trying to stimulate! Found this interesting little quote from a school trip to remember; On June 21st 1919, a party of schoolchildren from the town of Stromness were being taken on a trip around Scapa Flow to view the German Fleet. Little did they know when they left home that day what they were to witness. The following is a piece written by one of the children, James Taylor, one of the pupils who witnessed the scuttling: "On Saturday June 21st 1919, I rose very early, as it would never do to be late for a school treat which was to take the form of a cruise on the Flying Kestrel to visit the surrendered German Fleet. The though of sailing up to them made us boys almost sick with excitement! At long last we came face to face with the Fleet. Their decks were lined with German sailors who....did not seem too pleased to see us. Suddenly without any warning and almost simultaneously these huge vessels began to list over to port or starboard; some heeled over and plunged headlong, their sterns lifted high out of the water. Out of the vents rushed steam and oil and air with a dreadful roaring hiss. And as we watched, awestruck and silent, the sea became littered for miles round with boats and hammocks, lifebelts and chests....and among it all hundreds of men struggling for their lives. As we drew away from this nightmare scene we watched the last great battleship slide down with keel upturned like some monstrous whale." I'm pretty sure some of the crews did drown when the fleet went down. The High Seas Fleet had spent months sitting in Scapa waiting for their fate to be decided by the peace conference in Paris. During this time Germany was riven by civil strife and the sailors holed up on these ships were starting to mutiny. They wanted to return to their homes in Germany. The officers planned the scuttling in great secrecy and many crew members tried to prevent it when they realised what was happening. Years ago I came across this book about the operation to raise these ships; http://www.oimages.co.uk/books.htm FT and Friar; I came across this site after reading about these two Dutch divers bodies being recovered yesterday. Absolutely tragic. Colin, your Dad ever talk much about the Arctic convoys? These were the most arduous and hazardous operations the Royal Navy ever attempted and were dangerous right up to the end of the war. I note the surviving veterans are only now going to be awarded a campaign medal for their efforts.

About the history and wrecks of Scapa Flow. http://www.scapaflowwrecks.com/ Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, off the north-east coast of Scotland became the base of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet around the turn of the twentieth century when it became evident that the Kaiser's Germany was becoming the major threat to Great Britain and peace in Europe rather than France who'd played this role for most of the last millenium. It was also where the German High Seas fleet was interned at the armistice in 1918. The following summer the officers of this fleet decided to scuttle their ships without warning and some seventy vessels - nearly the entire fleet! - sank into the shallow waters of the anchorage. Most remarkably, in the early 'twenties a scrap metal merchant - Cox and Danks I think - bought the entire fleet on the seabed and proceeded to raise most of the capital ships during the following decade and have them towed to Rosythe dock yard where they were broken up for their enormous high-grade steel content. Well worth an explore.

Fantastic!

Do you mean the Wellington and Beaufort will have 'pits in the next release of HSFX?

This week we 'ave mostly bin' flyin' the 'Urricane. Oo-arr! A.P. Hill makes his first online kill in CoD

AP, I recently got myself an EVGA 660ti 3gb and it's fine. One of the things that swayed me was the 3 year warranty.

If only I knew my way around Kent and how to put up high res screenies...............................................

From last weeks tales of the unexpected;

Come and join us for a spot of CoD tomorrow and I'll talk you through it BA

Really? Thats' going to involve a great deal of rehearsing at short notice, isn't it?