That Thing – The Barracuda

Father Christmas gave me “The Poems We Wrote – An Anthology of Air Force Poems” (1997) compiled and edited by Eddy Coward ISBN 0953025500. It is a wonderful collection of poems, including famous ones like High Flight and For Johnny, but it seems one particular anonymous poem in this Air Force collection invaded the book from the Fleet Air Arm. It deserves to grace this thread, but it is doubtful DP872 will eventually be displayed as this anonymous poet suggests.

That Thing – The Barracuda

Why should the unoffending sky,
Be tainted and corrupted by
This product of a twisted brain,
That’s aeronautically insane,
This vile and hideous abortion,
Devoid of beauty and proportion,
That people call a Barracuda,
Whose form is infinitely cruder
Than any other scheme or plan
As yet conceived by mind of man.
To see it stagger into space
Would bring a blush upon the face,
Of the most hardened Pharisee
Within the aircraft industry.
But I suggest we don’t decry
This winged horror of the sky;
But keep it ’til the War is won,
And then we’ll all join in the fun.
Festoon the wings with fairy lights
And wheel it out on gala nights,
Thus so we’ll help dispel the rumour
That Britons have no sense of humour.

FAA Officer

WZ862

Charlie,

I know its not exactly what you asked for but it does have some fascinating asides. Alfred Price “Instruments of Darkness” has a history of airborne radar, Chain Home, the German Wurzberg, Freya, Wassermann, Jagdschloss etc, and ECM jamming etc. It contains stories such as the Chain Home detection of the German attempts with the Zeppelin before WW2 to find out whether or not Britain had CH.

In addition there is the autobiography of Air Commodore Roderick Chisholm “Cover of Darkness” chapters 19 and 20, which discuss his analysis, on behalf of 100 Group, of the German radar system in Denmark which he had reactivated after the surrender of Germany. He then arranged for the RAF to fly mock raids so he could see live in their control room exactly what they would have seen during the war, and how ECM countermeasures worked.

WZ862

Thanks for the answer. Cirrus Minor prop was sold in the programme. Sadly, I could not see all the markings in the shots broadcast.

WZ862

Safety in Pressure Testing

Try reading http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/gs4.pdf from HSE.

This is sound advice. Concentrate on assuming your pressure vessel will fail and provide safe testing containment, especially if doing testing pneumatically.

WX862

Congratulations on the good news.

Why not try talking to these folk below at RAF Upwood who have just done a major refurbishment of Nissen Huts? A gentle warning. If you apply spray foamed insulation you can get respiratory sensitisation problems with the fumes from some compounds. I do not know if the Upwood team had to face this.

http://www.rafupwood.co.uk/nissenhuts.html

WZ862

I suggest that if you go on Flight Global and use the historic page you can browse inputting Isle of Purbeck Flying Club which might give some background for your research.

WZ862