Flyby PC

The charge of the Light Brigade was a result of leadership / communication failures rather than cavalry being obsolete, but a more telling encounter comes from the same war, when the 93rd Highland Regiment routed a full on charge of over 2,500 Russian cavalry while deployed in line formation two men deep. The line held, and prevented the Russians from sacking the poorly defended port of Balaklava, which was in no position to defend itself.This was the origin of the expression the The Thin Red Line, which became an unofficial title for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. I am certain that when the respective commanders observed the results of the engagement, which on paper should never have happened, there must have been questions about the capacity of horsemen to overcome modern firepower in a frontal assault. However, while frontal assault may have been outdated, cavalry troops remained much more mobile than infantry, and weren't yet obsolete. As Bullethead says, Dragoons were not intended to carry out frontal assaults, but exploit breakthroughs, and chase down and destroy a fleeing enemy. If you watch Mel Gibson's film the Patriot, it demonstrates all you need to know about Dragoons. To go all Sci-fi on you for a moment, all it would take is a tactical EMP weapon system on the battlefield to shut down electrical devices like vehicles and aircraft, and who knows, we perhaps haven't seen the last of cavalry units yet. . "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.“ Albert Einstein (1947) .... and probably cavalry too.

Now Mike's pic might be on to something. If that's confirmed as a British aircraft, then that's good enough as adequate proof for me. Please remember, I first only asked if we were sure the plane was British. I thought perhaps the difficulty in identifying the plane might have been because it wasn't British. I didn't mean to imply anything more than that. I do know about reds in black and white pictures, (try photocopying something written on red paper), but I have seen enough pictures of French aircraft to know it's not easy to be positive if there's no context for the picture. I might cast your minds back to my dads picture of the eastern front DC-3 Dakota with a jungle paint scheme which was actually a DC2 in Gibraltar in Spanish Republican colours. Once you know the context, it's blindingly obvious, but until you know the context, the colours are shades of grey. Red white and blue looks just the same as red yellow and purple, and lets not even think about greens...

I hasten to add, he could be British, and if the text says he is, then who am I to argue? But the colours could be French, and I've never seen any British aircraft with that type of livery. I'm guessing the picture is early WW1, when the French had a lot more aircraft than the RFC. It's not so much that I think he's French as that I doubt he's British.

It's all in the light... Even better -

It's all in the light. I still think he's French, and I'm almost positive.

Hmmmm. Stewards enquiry I think. I think that's a Frenchman.

Are we sure those roundals aren't French?

It's a SAAB B17 dive bomber, contemporary with WW2, but Swedish, so with Sweden being neutral, it wasn't very busy. I don't know the story with the clumbsy looking landing gear, but it could take skis, which may or may not be relevant. I don't know if it was any good or not, but it was probably built like a tank and had heated seats ... being a SAAB. Here's Wiki on it - but I think the one you posted on Youtube aircraft has the Mercury engine, like a Blenheim or a Gladiator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_17 Edit - actually maybe it doesn't. The intakes are different, it looks more like a Hercules, but I'm already wishing i hadn't been such a smarty pants... It actually looks like the american engine of a DC-3.

That Bristol M1 was a decent aircraft I believe, a good little fighter, but the Air Ministry frowned on monoplane designs. A frame of mind which survived the war, and was still around when the Hawker Hurricane made it's appearance....

Stay out of debt Themightysrc, that's the best single bit of advice I can give you. Soon as you owe money to a bank, THEY have a massive input into how you run your business, but their number one priority is definitely not the welfare of your business. Don't believe the hype and assume they're trying to help, - that's just the sugar on the bitter pill. Improvise with your money, be patient, think creatively, and solve your problems with income, not borrowing unless you absolutely cannot avoid it, and even then think twice. Income is not the same as profit, and if you've no income, then your business isn't a business but a personal indulgence, and it will quickly evolve into a slow lingering death for your hopes and ambitions. If you get the correct mindset early on, you'll find self employment rewarding, but you must make your business pay it's way, and the quicker the better. Income is oxygen for businesses, and there are no substitutes for it. If you want to invest money in your business, invest profit, because that's the only money which belongs to you.

That hypnotist I mentioned? First thing he did with all 6 of us was sit us all down and look at us going yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup. He reckoned we were all ok. All too often, people were referred to him by hospitals as a last chance option to get them to stop smoking, but he could tell when it was already too late for them. My rant is that the government allowed itself to be lobbied by the Nicotine companies with these daft nicotine patches being available on the NHS, when the Allen Carr method delivered an instant and lasting 96% success rate for getting people to stop. I've not smoked for 15+ years now. Not withstanding the health benefits, I reckon that's about £30,000 I've saved, based on 1990 prices.

Not my favourite aircraft but one of the most important, somebody should at least mention the Wright Brothers Flyer.

I suspect the war might have been prolonged, but have doubts about whether this would have made a difference to the outcome. The allies endured the shock of new and superior weapons, like the Tiger, like the 262, like the FW190, V1, V2 etc- but kept their heads, found it's weaknesses and how to nullify it's threat. The only weapon which could perhaps have turned the tide in favour of the Nazi's was a nuclear bomb, and even then, they'd still have had the US and their bomb to contend with. When I see some of these bizarre machines the Nazis were developing, I don't see inspired war winning machines, but one-of prototypes without any lineage to their design. They seemed revolutionary concepts for the sake of revolution, not evolution. To me, they look like design cul-de-sacs, (dead ends), or working models to built to test theories in practice. They are not holistic aircraft designs if you understand me. There are exceptions, yes, the V2, and the Me 262 to an extent, but when I look at the Me 163 Komet, or the Gotha HO 229, Me 334's, Focke-Wulf Triebfluegel,etc, to my eye, on the one hand they are desperate improvisations and living proof there are crippling constraints on the designers, or on the other hand, they look like prototypes built to test and confirm whether a particular theory does or doesn't work. For example, the Triebfluegel is dismissed as a complete failure as a wonder weapon. But who said it was meant to be a wonder weapon? To my eye, it looks like what you get when you 'want' a helicopter but you just don't have an engine with enough power to drive the rotor. The power isn't the end of the story, you also need a lot more research and data about 'rotored' flight, so putting rockets or jets at the end of the rotors on a prototype aircraft is one way to prove the theory of lift with a helicopter's rotor is sound - once it does have sufficient power turning the rotors. I believe that's the extent to which the Triebfluegel was only intended to demonstrate a concept, - it was never intended to be the solution, merely one step on the way to a functional helicopter. By all accounts, the Triebfluegel was good for lifting itself off the ground, and just about landing itself under control. Useless as an aircraft, but a gold mine of information in the early days about using a rotor for lift, - but still a design cul-de-sac. A clever VTOL bomber interceptor designed to launch from the woods because your runways are all bombed? ... Yeah, right. - I really don't think so.

I think you're correct Olham. Believe it or not, I'd never noticed the nozzle. The real picture is quite small, and while I've looked at that loads of times, when I look at the scan taken of it, my eyes don't actually 'look' at it properly. It does indeed look like a grease gun, which raises just as many questions... I wonder if my dad forgot to grease something now ... Biggest regret/wish with my dad is being just 11 when he died. I was just a kid and didn't really 'know' him at all. Still, 11 years is more than some folks get, and they were good years too, so I mustn't grumble.... If he was still alive, he'd be 95 by now. I only recently discovered he was in the 1933 RAF Physical Training Display Team at the Royal Tournament, Olympia. Nobody told me that! But apologies to Hauksbee for hijacking his flat spin thread... But I reckon Old Navy qualifies for his veteran avatar though...

My father was RAF from 1933 to 1945, and trained as a wireless operator. He was only aircrew for a couple of years 1937 - 39, but he flew in biplanes, - Fairely Swordfish from Hal Far on Malta, but also in float Swordfish from Gibraltar in 1938. Unfortunately my dad died 35 years ago, but I'm sure you'd have had a lot to talk about. The Swordfish actually tranferred into the Navy in 1939, as part of the Fleet Air Arm, serving with distinction on carriers, but they were still RAF planes when my dad was in them, and he stayed in the RAF. This is my Dad in the middle, but I have no idea what the trophy/coffee pot thing is...

Hey there Old Navy! Please tell us more of your flying history. It's always a pleasure and an honour to speak to a new veteran. Apart from anything else it sounds like you need the "Honoured Veteran" added to you avatar.

From what I gathered, these fellas grew very attached to their dogs, naturally so in my opinion. By all accounts, they did save a lot of lives, warning of ambushes, trip wires, mines, finding tunnels etc. In the TV program, one of the PFC handlers got promoted, but NCO's did not have dogs, so after a couple of days he handed back his stripe. Better a private with a dog than a lance corporal without one. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Positive in a lot of ways, but then again a battlefield is no place for an animal. I'm sure you've heard about the soviets feeding their war dogs under vehicles, so that they would run under enemy trucks with mines strapped to their backs. From a couple of books I've read, worse than the actual mines exploding was the effect on German morale to have to shoot any dog they encountered. It's a toughie. If the dogs knew they were going to war, I reckon they'd still be up for it, but if I went off to war, I'd sleep easier know my two lads were sitting at home waiting for me. Same goes for horses. I forget the number, but a horrific number of them were killed in WW1, and I'm sure many of them near the action were in a state of perpetual terror.

These are War dog pics UKW. I'm sure these are US dogs attached to Marine and Infantry units fighting the Japanese. There was actually a program on TV about them a while ago. Initially, they were met with the scepticism you'd expect, but once the troops realised the dogs WOULD find any japs whatever the cover, the troops were extremely grateful for the support, and the other side of the coin being the Japs made them priority targets. Most if not all the dogs were donated by the public, and once finished their service, they were de-trained to be sociable again, and those that could be went back to their owners, or were bought by the handler if the family agreed.

Not sure about a driving job. Freedom yes, but lots of stress in traffic and pressure to be places on time, finding addresses, and paying for the fuel .... I like driving, but enjoy it best when it's my choice to do it. Got to admit I love sat nav. Tells me where to go and when I'll be there.

Been a few threads moved to the pub too... But, having lost a day this week, (I was convinced this was Saturday) I must confess you might have a point. Medic! Medic! Of all the days to lose, I lose a Saturday!!! Deeesaster.

Ha ha ha! Yesterday at work I tidied up all the cables where I'm working in case I tripped. Today, I did trip, and pulled the extension reel, the 110V transformer, and the boiling kettle off the window sill, and the 110V halogen light, (yes, the last bulb too!!) slowly tipped over to hit the deck and knackered the bulb. There's a message in that - If you trip on a messy cable, you will only kill your appliances one at a time. Trip up on some tidy cables and you and everybody else gets to go home early.

Thing about NASA is that it's the biggest waste of money which a cynic like myself has never once considered to be a waste of money.... To me it typifies what we can achieve when we don't leave the bean counters in control.As a UK citizen, I'd be quite happy to see my taxes going towards NASA instead of watching it circle around the plughole on it's way to line some greedy ineffective fat cat's pocket.

Sure it's been posted before, but have you seen the clips on Youtube about the stage version of Warhorse? Incredible puppetry... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFupJ8JqAw

Just to repeat fellas, with the hypnotist, there were No withdrawals, No cravings, No mental torture. I was a heavy heavy smoker, and it was easy and permanent. It simply flicked a switch in my head, and I was suddenly a non-smoker again. No will power involved. Why torture yourselves fighting against something you want to do? Switch off the 'want' instead. It IS that easy.

It's all relative. Most I ever spent on a PC was £2,100, some 14 years ago now, which if I remember had 200Mb memory and a key to wind it up. Be lucky if I spend a quarter of that now on a machine which does so much more, and that quartered pricetag is in real terms not counting inflation etc... I've never really liked laptops, nothing wrong in principle, but just not for me. They are just too delicate to survive very long in the yard or on the road, not unlike mobile phones, so I've never actually been tempted to buy a good one. We did have an IBM thing, I forget what it was called, but the buttons kept falling off. Didn't matter because we just got a permanent marker and wrote the letter on the plastic bit below and carried on regardless. Didn't look very pretty, but it hung in there for a couple of years. Towards the end it was more of a docking station for the Ipod, but then one day the hard drive was kaputski. Maybe get another one some day when I've been in the sun too long, but I'm a bit nervous somebody will appear at the gate one day and threaten to prosecute me for cruelty to my laptops.