Heath Ledger the 28 year old star of Brokeback Mountain has been found dead beside an empty bottle of sleeping pills in Manhattan

Have you forgotten what you said about that film in the Western thread!!!!!!

I heard Michael Caine talking about Ledgers role as the Joker in the Batman movie, he reckoned that despite Jack Nicholsons original role being an impossible act to follow, Ledger excelled that, luvvy talk I know, but Nicholson is naturally unhinged, maybe trying to beat that sent him over the edge, who knows.
Surely we’ve all had our moments of black despair, for whatever reason, I certainly have, sometimes even people at the top have no-one to talk to at the critical moment, we’re an odd tribe.

I was interested to read that those religious nutters hoped that 1m of us Brits would die in the 2005 tube bombings, why?, which million, is that their calculation of the number of gays in this country, or Catholics, or what, aviation enthusiasts more like, as we think we’re closer to ‘God’ no doubt.

Best fans in the world :rolleyes:

Really, you wouldn’t have said that if you had been an unfortunate Forest fan at that infamous FA Cup match in the early 70’s, a classic case of the team and fans bullying their way to the FA final and fortunately being shown up and stuffed by Liverpool at the end of it. Not only that but the animosity spilled over into our attempted night out in ‘The friendliest city in the North’, we had to be rescued from instant death by an extremely large group of Sunderland fans while waiting for a taxi outside the station, bless em, never been back since.
Hopefully, the ‘Charismatic’ Mr Keegan will lead the team to the depths of despair while the ‘Tricky Reds’ go the other way, and hopefully never meet on the way.

Those were the halcyon days of television..i dare say you and i Pete are the only ones old enough to remember great westerns like Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Wagon train, The Texas Rangers, The Cisco Kid and Have Gun Will Travel..all great shows that the whole family could enjoy when television was free from profanities and sex

‘Hey Pancho, Hey Cisco’, I remember it well.

Why was ‘Sugarfoot’ called ‘Tenderfoot’ when it was switched to BBC, even the words of the title song got changed.

What intrigues me is that after so many years, individual episodes of these Westerns still stick out in my mind.
I recall the very first episode of ‘The Lone Ranger’, shown on a Saturday night after the football results, Clayton Moore being seriously injured in an ambush, the rest of his Texas Rangers mates being killed. Jay Silver Heels as Tonto found him barely alive in a gulley and nursed him back to life, that was the only episode where he appeared without his mask.

I recall an epic episode of ‘Wells Fargo’ when our hero, played by Dale Robertson?, I’m not looking up these names up by the way, was faced with the fastest gun in the west. Dale had an intrigueing solution to this, being left handed and only having one gun, he converted his holster so it swivelled, and he didn’t have to draw, therefore removing the fastest draw problem. How could we still love our hero after he cheated and shot the baddie through the heart.
Well, I removed the rivets from my holster so I could do the same thing, it worked too, I became the deadliest oponent in the Firbeck School Playground.

The coolest hero was Bronco Layne, played by Ty Hardin, we thought that was the best TV Western, what happened to him, he appeared as a spy/SS US army implant in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’, then dissapeared.

Kev 35
Thank you for those interesting comments on Rourkes Drift.
My great great great Uncle George took part in the battle, I still have a Zulu knife that he liberated during the conflict, the cloth sheath is stained with blood, the family used to have a shield and assegai also from that event, but they have been shamefully lost.
I’ve tried to track him down without success.
The story goes that during a lull in the battle, he was drinking from a stream, saw the reflection in the water of the warrior sneaking up on him, and shot the Zulu with his rifle, how true this is I don’t know, but I shall continue to track him down.

Definately Cottesmore

Agreed, scene of many of my early airshow visits.
What is odd, is the way that the hedgerows are picked out so clearly, then it dawned on me, it must be the remnants of a good snowfall, which could date the picture to 1957, which for all you old gits like me was a memorable winter of heavy snowfalls.

How about ‘Dances with Wolves’, and it has to be the directors cut, I know Kevin Costner isn’t everyones favourite, but a great film, and so was his version of ‘Wyatt Earp’, and his early appearance in ‘Silverado’, along with possibly John Cleese’s only Western appearance.
The ultimate cowboy, the awesome Mr Wayne, ‘Rooster Cogburn’, ‘Eldorado’, ‘The Alamo’, ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’, etc etc etc.
Richard Harris in ‘A Man Called Horse’.
The ultimate one, ‘High Noon’, what a film.

If you think about it, it’s very strange how Westerns have had such an impact on films, how did they come about, why should we really have any interest in Europe about the story, or lack of it, about the destruction of an indeginous people, the American Indians, and the destruction of the habitat of such a fantastic country, though a country that was alien to Europeans. Was it the only thing in American history that could be worthy of saturating the media, no offence meant to our American pals.
I remember in the 50’s, our black and white telly was constantally putting out Westerns, ‘Wells Fargo’, ‘The Lone Ranger’, etc I won’t fill the page, but we all loved it, my request for my 6th birthday was for a cowboy suit and I duly got it, red trousers and top, lots of frilly bits, black hat and best of all, a real leather belt and twin holsters with an ammo pouch for the caps which went with the 2 Colt 45 cap guns, one silver, one gold, as an addition, I later recieved an Indian headress and a very lethal bow and arrow.
But why, it should have all been about Rourkes Drift and the Zulus, but that came later.
Thats the power of Hollywood I suppose, but we loved it.

What about ‘Shane’, it has to be the greatest Western of all time, it has everything going for it, fantastic colour, landscapes, story, a great kid, tearful story line, the most cynical baddie, and let us not forget, a momentous performance from Alan Ladd, anyone who hasn’t seen it must watch, I’m not the worlds greatest Western lover, but this film has to be one of THE greatest films ever made.
Another missing off the list is ‘The Searchers’ starring John Wayne, and let us not forget his immortal film ‘The Shootist’.
Crap list, I could go on but I have work to do.

What a find. Does certainly look very like a Halton pannier although I am a bit unhappy about the profile of the ends, where it mated with the belly of the aircraft. The Halifax/Halton had a flat bottomed fuselage but the item in the image looks more rounded, like a Lancasters.
That said the door looks a perfect match for the one in this image http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?mid=3421141&epmid=1&partner=Google
In this image their appears to be a second entry door at the rear of the pannier which isnt visible on the one Consul has posted, is it just out of shot?
I can only think of Warwicks, Hastings and those meat carrying Lincolns as other pannier equiped types.

Richard

If you search ‘Tollerton Lincoln’ on here and look at my picture of a meat carrier, it isn’t equiped with a pannier, there were 2 converted at Tollerton
and neither were so fitted when I saw them, if you look at the underside of the fuselage, it’s much wider and flatter, besides, had any been constructed, they probably would have been burnt on site along with the a/c.

What was the point of these panniers, they don’t seem to provide much additional load accomodation, were the bomb bay doors removed and the greater space accessed through those doors.
How were the Hastings panniers attached without the benefit of a bomb bay.
Did any ever fall off in flight.
How much additional drag did they produce.
Questions, questions, questions.
I wonder whether those trees have grown within the pannier, or right through it, silver birches have pretty shallow root systems.