Dave

I droped into Ohakea on way back from AKL in December. There was no C47 there, as Panther says 3 jets and I’m with him in not remembering what the 3rd was. I actually got there a little after the Museum closing time and just prowled around outside, it was deserted, sort of like a ghost town. In fact, literally flapping and banging in the wind was the vertical tail off some jet, attached to a pole and gently swaying about here and there. It looked like a F4 Phantom tail – is that at all possible or likely?

Richard

Nice photo – in fact I followed that “wallpaper” link and you’ve got some very nice stuff in there – took a copy of Diamond Lil for my wallpaper, trust you don’t mind.

cheers, D

Lancaster – in the tail – to reflect on what my uncle and thousands of others like him did.

the UK one … seemed a bit melodramatic to me (the 15 or so minutes I watched anyway). Breathless announcer “oh no, they’re talking to the locals, they’re not alowed to do that” Good grief! Sorry Chris, not with you on this one.

… it is so boring she might as well be competing with Formula 1 in the lack of interest stakes …

Mr Flood. Initially I couldn’t give a toss about this deed, if that’s what it is. In fact I agree with you – a pointless exercise if ever there were one. But, BUT, to compare it with Formula 1 to allege that F1 is boring. Hold your tongue still sir while I cut it out !!!

It’s less than a month till the first race in my old hometown Melbourne and I’m trembling with excitement. The questions and wonders are innumerable. Will Ferrarri triumph? Will Rubens beat Michael? Will anyone finish behind one of Paul’s or Eddie’s (that’s Stoddart and Jordan to the uninitiated) cars? Will the Hondas explode into smoky bits? Will Kimi say anything multi-syllabic? Will Juan seem fast and then retire? Is Jenson really GB’s golden boy (gbgb) or will Taku show him a clean pair of heels? Will Qantas fly the Connie over? It’s breathtaking !!!!!!!!

Any further info re. the picture attachment problemo?

Without a doubt, has to be Smith.

Yep. There are many references to this (but I’m at work and can’t access). Bear in mind a handful of factors …
The majority of air combats were (and still are) hit and run, the old “dive from out of the sun” held true often enough. The majority of airmen shot down (forget the data, but it’s high 70/80%) never saw their opponent. And the head-on attacks of bomber formations were similar, one pass through and dive away.
This sort of environment makes it relatively easy to have a leader and wingman fighting unit. The German’s emploiyed the schwarm, a loose structure of 4 aircraft, 2 x leaders and 2 x wingmen. The allied airforces borrowed this after meeting it in action!
As mentioned above, German philosophy was to let the experten have the first chance, not only because of the logic of better liklehood of a favourable outcome but also because the experten became big deals (and got deferred to) – the night fighter experten in particular were the “pop stars” of 1940’s Germany.
Just re. night fighters – the experten got the best boxes (in the early system) and as the wild boar environment became the norm, got to work with the best ground controllers.
This all added up to the best getting the best opportunity. To become one of the best you needed luck or above average flying and markmanship ability (that would bring you though over time).