Possibly the longer U/C was to make servicing the A/C easier i.e removal of gun packs ,attachment of missiles, fuel aux fuel tanks; many military Jets were designed with the Navy in mind as well as Airforce , they have longer travel oleos for obvious reasons. I read somewhere (doesn’t everybody) that the Vampire suffered from ground effect with the aux fuel tanks fitted, and the U/c needed to be retracted almost imediately to stop the vortices (?) adversly affecting the handling.

Pete, re stearman, I would have thought that it was possible to injure yourself more than KST just climbing into one!! there wasn’t even a speck of blood ,and she had a white dress on! I think the Pheonix was built to look flimsy but did have an FAA certificate; I certainly wouldn’t want to be in the front cockpit of one (stearman) when it was put down like that! (I half expected the pilot to spring out of the rear cockpit shouting woof! woof!, Treat your womam like yer kite etc etc. Good to hear your son’s ok Re mis diagnosis,if you want a second opinion don’t ask another doctor, and no we don’t “do” medical dramas I don’t need reminding how fragile life is , or her constant criticism ,of something I have no specialist knowledge in -actually thats almost everything really!!

JDK, you might be repeating yourself ,but those of us that haven’t got as far as 4855 posts, probably haven’t covered this (and many other subjects); there seems to be a school of thought here that if you weren’t registered and active on this forum by a certain date ,that you cannot discuss anything previously “done to death” and must content yourselves with reading other peoples thoughts on a subject, near to your own heart. (thanks for the link)

Nick, if you think that the lever is from the wing area, might it be a gun c*cking lever , and the wear on the end, from that operation, or else an U/C indicator, that protruded through the top of the wing. only guesses I’m afraid.

I’d say the bit where the Arizona leaps out of the water like a wounded croc is my least favorite; I know every action has an equal and opposite reaction an’ all, but I would have thought blowing all to £”$* would have been enough opposite reaction. Yes I too marvelled at the amount of stick movement a chap can make without affecting the A/C at all ,initially I thought it might be a hand pump for the U/C!
“Just get me into a godamn plane”

If you read my post again you will see that it is the engine that has changed hands ;The engine was “traded” for a DB601 and the prop hub and blade were in the same container in High halden, I understand that one of your group was the “owner” of the engine at this time. The owner of the property (who we both know) said that the vendor of the hub and blade (you) was after £1800- for the hub and blade. Now if that is incorrect then I too will apoogise, however this is not a rumour or a myth it is “first hand”. Trading items with someone who is going to “move them on” (be it in another trade or else for cash) is the same as selling them as far as I am concerned; especially if items that were received (as trades) for the original ones are then sold. I got a PM from xtangomike (whoever they are) last week explaining the world of Tangmere to me; as I said in my reply they should post their comments on this thread so that a balance might be achieved. I have no issue with ownership ,and as you know I have purchased several items from you without cause for concern. Digging things out of the ground is another matter altogether ,and I feel strongly that something should be given back, (especially if said items are sold ) you have done your bit and I applauded you for that

Alright ,so I’m “ploughing a lonely furrow” with this one, as I said it should be viewed as a film not an oportunity to remake a classic or an educational treatise ; the cgi is all I expect from that “art form” its only realistic when cut from shot to shot quickly ,which is fine for building excitement but not so good when A/C move around like a wasp with a sore ar$e ! Far worse I think would be to take real people that experienced the raid first hand ,and put them in a dyslexic ex pat love triangle having fought in all the major theatres of the war, There is a stark warning here for the Dambusters remake, almost certainly Guy Gibson isn’t exciting enough a person to suit modern film making, its dark throughout the raid (so you can’t see anything) and the backing will almost certainly come from the US ,and most of them haven’t even heard of the BoB let alone the dams raid ;so I ‘m sure that the Canadians will become Americans, if not Gibson himself. “lets go do some business”

Thank heavens for that ,I would hate to think that any of my posts could be misconstrued as an endorsement of multiculturalism; soya dumplings anyone?