Nah Tony, I had let the glass accumulator run down, and forgot to get them re charged at the local leccy shop, (AND we did use to have to do that on a Friday, 2/6p, and that was for the valve radio).Otherwise there would have been no “Dick Barton” special agent to listen to. :highly_amused:
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Oh happy times. As a kid it was my job to get it done. That meant a 2 mile hike through the mud and snow of country Essex and that ‘accumulator’ got heavier with every step.

If we all lived forever we’d starve. Take a look at population growth and predictions for the future. Death is jusy nature’s way of culling the planet. The problem is is that the population is growing faster than the natural cull kills us off. Be careful what you wish for, it’s not inconceivable that your little corner of America could resemble Ethiopia or Somalia in a few hundred years time.

Regards,

kev35

Only just read this most interesting thread. I think the main issue is as to how we die. We just don’t want to know it at the time, particularly is it’s painful. Is there anything after that, your guess is as good as mine but I believe there is. Too many ‘reincarnation’ stories out there that prove it. You just need an open mind to accept it.
Getting back to kev35’s quote, if you haven’t read Dan Brown’s latest book, “Inferno”, I can recommend it as it deals with just this problem. there’s a nice twist at the end as well. Spend a few bucks/pounds and enjoy it.

A great new twist on soccer (that’s football by any other name folks)

http://www.wimp.com/bubblesports/

Seems almost sacriligeous to say it, but when you think about it the Lightning was a poor design for a fighter. A nose intake meaning a tiny little radar, a fuselage largely taken up by engine ducting, that awful fuel bulge underneath, and a mid-set wing meaning a long stalky undercarriage and little wing space for fuel or pylons. I know it was derived from the P.1 which was originally conceived purely for research, but maybe it would have been better in the long run to develop a dedicated fighter from scratch. Exciting and iconic it may be, but I can’t help thinking that if the Soviet Union had built it we’d all happilly deride it as crude and unsophisticated by Western standards.

Oh ye of little knowledge. Go back to your Sex and drugs and sausage rolls. What the hell does “tiny little radar” mean? It’s what it could do that’s important and in it’s day, it was as good as anything the yanks had. Later versions had a much increased range, without increasing the size of the Bullet. As to the other points you make, just remember, it still holds the climb to height record and it succeeded in reaching/stopping all Russian attempts to get anywhere need our shores. As for them deriding it’s design, they’d have loved to get their hands on one just for material studies. Their own aircraft of the time being extremely heavy in comparison.

EE Lightening, a single country plane, that had DSI (or something primitively similar) and yet no one’s frothing at the mouth because people brought it up.

On a side note, I did like the Lightening a lot, and used to read up all about it. Those where times when technology was changing rapidly so…

Wrong. The Lightning (note spelling) was used by 2 countries. The UK and Saudi Arabia. As for DSI, I can’t imagine what you’re talking about other than Data Link (remote control). Care to explain.

Sorry for the thread drift folks.

Beautiful piece of work Cees. As an aside, I was born in Hampden Road, Harrow Weald, and my father had his wartime call up deferred because he was building them.

Not sure if this comes under the ‘controversial’ tag but going by earlier comments, surely the E.E.Lightning should be here as the only 2 engines stacked config ever, the only plane ever to catch and pass Concorde and probably the most UNDER-armed “combat” plane ever. Don’t forget, it still holds the climb to height record as well. Hated by some but loved by many others.