To kick off:

Taken at St. James Park in London in front of Buckingham Palace, one of my favorite parks.

1.
2.
3. Cute

What great shots, especially as they are at 1600 or 800 ISO. 50D, what a camera!

I think the beauty of the “Harrier” quote is that it perfectly captured the tense, uncertain feeling we all had early in the Falklands campaign, for so many of us the first time we saw our country really go to war. As a memorable soundbite, I’d have to put it in my top 3 alongside “One small step for a man…” and “Some people are on the pitch…” Sad loss.

Nods in agreement.

I remember it on TV live. The full quote was “I’m not allowed to say how many Harriers were involved, but I counted them……etc.

…and to each one of you all too.

BB. World Peace?
In the words of Murray, Pub Landlord……”Men need war to get out of the house, take present World conflict as it stands – or us at home in the way whilst you’re trying to Hoover”.

What was it in the pre-digital days?

Now your talking.
Whitehall 1212!!!

Scotland Yard Casebook, starring Edgar Lustgarten and a host of excellent aeroplanes like Viscounts, Clippers, Connies and Pistons all over the place. Flown from early LHR or maybe even Croydon??? They reversed the film to indicate flying back home! Even Viscounts were used for transatlantics!
They crammed a 3 hour film into 25 mins. I distinctly remember one episode where he flew to Jamaica on a Connie, checked in the hotel, came immediately downstairs (Still in Inspector black mac garb), goes to the bar and approaches the only man in the room. (Takes picture from pocket) “Have you seen this man?”…..”Yes”. Classic.

….your sober enough to post on here, this late?
Surely (Don’t call me Shirley) you had a tipple for medicinal reasons re. the cold?

Well, it’s the day after now, so you are well into your 43rd year. Happy belated Bidet.

I have an open mind regarding the possibility that the a/c struck and damaged the stumps. The severance of the stumps at their mid point would be consistent with the leading edge height and the attitude of the a/c during the terminal stages of its ground run. At 50+ mph there is a high probability that both sets of stumps would have been struck given the uniformity of the three dents i.e. hitting the stumps perpendicular! Striking them at an angle would likely have resulted in a single dent.

Given that the stumps were severed I would not expect the vertical elements of the damage to the leading edge to be so regular in appearance. There would have been a greater depth of dent at the mid point lessening towards the extremities. It is just too neat in all respects.

Are there any photos taken at the time, showing the leading edge and also the location of the a/c in relation to the cricket crease?

We can hypothesize for eternity but there will be a report somewhere giving detailed information of the length of the ground run, and possibly the distance from the stumps to the resting place.

Perhaps someone with AAIB experience would like to contribute.

Maybe James May would like to investigate this incident using the resources of a TV company and a research lab such as BSI in Hemel Hempstead, or academic bodies such as Loughborough or Cranfield.

It would make a great show I think.
Either way, the story is excellent. The dents happened at the accident or they were put in afterwards as part of a jolly good wheeze in the Officers mess. Both sides have credibility. I can just imagine the latter happening though, a Vice Marshal no less, probably of public school and stock…..crashing on the Cricket pitch…..just how Jeeves-Wooster is that!

Yep. After the testcard and before total digital, there was a spell with hand-held oscilliscopes (sp?).

Can you ruin a modern telly with a magnet?
This takes me back…..you could have warped fun with a B&W telly and a magnet, by moving the magnet near the screen. This left a large black circle near the magnet and distorted an area around it to much amusement of us 9 year olds.
However, if you did this to an original Colour set, it ruined the RGB guns or something, and could not be repaired. Resulting in no spends for 2 months and no treats.