The Luftwaffe used to have a plastic Alpha Jet as a travelling display item, which at some point was painted as 40+01 while the real 40+01 was serving with the test unit (WTD61) for test, of course wearing a 98+.. number.

According to the Scramble database, 40+01 is now an instructional airframe at Manching. As for wrecks and relics books here on the continent, nothing currently beats Otger v/d Kooij’s EW&R part II. Of course, a lot has happened since it went to print but that’s inevitable.

Anything else interesting at Speyer – I haven’t been there for years – but they have an An-22 now? It will probably be painted in some weird Jägermeister-scheme or so.

So it’s not that the French buy American guns which won’t work for soldiers who won’t fight?

It does seem like an unbeatable combo though…

Is there an expression in English for being nummed by stupidity?

I am.

Awww…. those people are stupid.
Hilarious, TJ!

Originally posted by TJ

What these [unidentifiable] hooded men are guarding is a very rare Russian aircraft known as the Mig 25-PU. Known generically to the world as the Mig 25 “Foxbat”, this version is a two-seat interceptor trainer produced in numbers so small that every aviation buff in the world knows where they all are.

Give me some contact information for every aviation buff in the world then, because i have been looking for that info for quite some time :rolleyes:

Who are these people? So it’s impossible for spotters and researchers to keep track of B-2s, German Tornados and B-52H’s while we do know where each and every MiG-25PU is? I honestly wish it was true…

As a matter of fact, since quite a few MiG-25PU’s were rebuilt to MiG-25RU to comply with CFE issues, the clue is completely lost on me.

Originally posted by Moggy C
In a frantic attempt to drag it back on course, hands-up all those who want Sally B to display as a French Geo-physical survey aircraft from the 1960s?

[timid voice] I would. [/timid voice]

I fully understand that Sally B’s paintjob makes it far more attractive and emotionally significant for a vast majority of the people watching and admiring it. But i respect it firstly as an aircraft with a history independent of it’s 17.000-something brethren. Just like a Skyraider with Chad Police markings will do much more to me than one with some kind of USNavy paintjob.

I know i am a bit weird about this, but in my case i have to say i am more interested in an insignificant aircraft type in it’s original colours. A long time ago, at Bretigny-sur-Orges airshow, Sally B in it’s then-guise (it was 1991 i think) was put on the flightline next to a Hurel-Dubois HD34. Neither is particularly interesting for me in the number-crunching context, but i do remember being far more interested in seeing that HD34 fly than that B-17 (although the latter sounded far better).

Don’t worry Moggy, i’m sure i am a minuscule minority in this respect.

The Holiday Rap.

Take a crap song which was a worldwide succes, have Dutch rappers MC Miker G and DJ Sven act stupid over it, and get an even crappier yet bigger succes.

Originally posted by alex
Didn’t Darth Vader have an English accent? :confused:

Nope, his voice was James Earl Jones. C3PO however had an English accent – so either the Brits are the bad guys, or they’re a bunch of queers.

Any intelligence agency will find what it’s superiors want it to find, or at least suggestions to it. The US has a good track record of this.

The Soviets are evil, so the intelligence services invented the Bomber Gap.
The Soviets are still evil, so the intelligence services invented the Missile Gap.
The Iraqis are evil, so the intelligence communities come with ‘evidence’ supporting the existance of WMD’s (…ready to be used operationally within 45 minuts… great one, Tony!) and Saddam’s links with Al Qaida.

During the running-up to the war, the CIA in fact stated that the ‘evidence’ against Iraq was not as strong as the Bush administration presented it, but George Tenet was whistled back from the White House… He should of course keep his intelligence nicely in line with the ideas of those in the Oval Office :rolleyes: