RE: Bases in Europe!!

Hi Benjamin – I thought you lived in Belgium, not Disneyland! This “Supranational” Government of yours is a bit of EU wishful thinking. The EU parliament has some powers, but they do not have the power to base the military forces of one member state within the borders of another. All current basing of non-national military forces within the borders of member states is authorised by NATO status of forces agreements, not by the EU Parliament. There is no EU Army, Navy or Air Force, and whilever the various member states remain sovereign with their own foreign policy it will remain that way.

I don’t want to get into a political debate, it’s not my thing, but having been a serving member of a NATO military force for nearly 40 years, and having served in Germany, with close contacts with French, Belgian, Danish, Norwegen and Dutch Forces, I do know from first hand why I was where I was, and who authorised me to be there!

KeithMac.

RE: Bases in Europe!!

Being a member of the EU which is an economic alliance gives no rights or priveleges on Military basing. All basing of military units in another country is by standing NATO agreement. The British Base in Cyprus is different again. Akrotiri is a Soverign Base Area, which like an Embassy is British Territory and is not subject to either NATO or EU agreements. Confusing is’nt it! The UK also has a base at Gibralter which is also British Territory, although the Spanish would like it to be theirs.

KeithMac

RE: Avenger pic

Hi Merlin, Not the prettiest aircraft in the world, but anything with a big 24 Cylinder, 1,700 hp radial can’t be all bad! They certainly sorted out the opposition at Midway!

KeithMac

RE: Another one for Uncle Keith – Pitch & Torque?

Hi Neilly. What you’re doing with a prop is converting your engine power into thrust. Your engines power output (and torque) is dependent on it’s efficiency and how far you open it up. For a given power a coarser pitch will lower the rev’s. When your talking the number of blades, your talking about “Solidity” this is the ratio of blade to air in the disc area of the prop. The number of blades you need is dependent on how much power you have to convert. A 3 bladed prop on a course pitch can convert as much power as a 4 bladed prop on a finer pitch. Really big engines require lots of blades, or even counter rotating co axial props. But all these bit’s of info can get a bit confusing if you don’t really know the basics. The pitch you choose is more about how you want to fly your aircraft. Having a fixed pitch prop is a bit like having a car with one gear! A course pitch is like driving in top gear all the time, great on a motorway, but a bugger if your in traffic. Fine pitch is like 1st or 2nd, great for a good take off, but no good for the high speed dash!

I’ll put a few drawings together and do a mini series on the propeller, might bore the pants off a few people, but they can ignore them if they don’t want the info.

KeithMac.