lmisbtnA friend of a friend got their brolly back from Aer Lingus after it had spent a year languishing in lost property in Cork. I wasn’t present at the reunion but I understand it was a joyous occasion.
lmisbtnIntroduction of the A380 would be a good opportunity for BA to introduce a new colour scheme… it’s been going down-hill since Negus
lmisbtnNot sure Ryanair will disappear any time soon and not sure they quite deserve all the scathing remarks…
To me it’s the final figure on the CC bill and not the way in which it is charged that counts. If Ryanair really charged only the advertised air fare they certainly would be out of business PDQ.
I’m not an O’Leary apologist but he, at least, pays taxes in Ireland unlike some other ‘stay away’ Celtic-Tiger millionaires.
I’m not a Ryanair fanatic either but I haven’t had the same poor experiences and downright rudeness from them as I have had from say, Air France, with whom I now dread to fly (although fair dues, they did turn up to get me out of Guinea when the bullets started flying).
I’ve flown with Ryanair what seems like countless times and I’ve had a delay here and there but nothing I’m going to take to the EU Court of Human Rights. They are what they are and, flying cattle class all over the globe as I have done, they’re not much worse than anyone else I can think of for a flight that lasts an hour or less.
They’re the only option for me DUB-LPL since Aer Lingus quit that route (again) and being fairly tall I’m glad that the seats now do not recline – thus preventing the inevitable midget in front of me from slamming his seat back into my kneecaps so he can stretch his wee tootsies that bit further on that 25 minute flight.
Incidentally, I just paid for my beloved to visit me in the open prison that is Johannesburg and that KLM flight cost 510 Euro (DUB-AMS-JHB). Over half of which were taxes – no explanation as to what they were – just ‘taxes’
Someone once said taxes are inevitable – it’s just that Ryanair give them ridiculous names – personally, I’m always glad enough to arrive safely at my destination with my veins and loved ones intact.
lmisbtn1. Vickers
2. Vickers
3. Vickers
(VC-10, Vanguard, Viscount)
lmisbtnThanks for the answers guys.
lmisbtnI’m confused by the title of this thread :confused:
Just an indication that the Germans were generally considered to be the bad guys (wolves) – putting nasty swastikas on our stray sheep 😉
lmisbtnYou need that hefty book ‘Falklands-the air War’ which I no longer have. From what I remember the P2’s tended to turn tail as soon as they got within Sea Harrier CAP range(200miles IIRC). Several 707’s were intercepted during the voyage from Asencision Is but not fired on until Argentina was warned they would now be. IIRC the Learjets were used as navigation escorts for some of the bombers but turned away before coming in Sea Harrier range. I dont think the Trackers operated from land as they didn’t have the range?
…from what I read (sorry – long time ago can’t remember source) the task force finally got the ok to shoot down the 707. The thing duly reappeared on the radar screen the next day, SHARs were scrambled and they came very close to shooting it down until someone realised, on this occasion, it was a commercial airliner en-route to Brazil.
Makes a good story but can anyone confirm or rubbish it? Lots of questions spring to mind:
Surely a SHAR pilot would have closed to confirm the identity of the target or were they operating BVR or in foul weather?
Or would a Sea Wolf be the preferred vector for this mission? A USS Vincennes type calamity could have been on the cards if this were so.
I seem to remember that the mission was scrubbed when the task force controllers checked the transponder code emanating from the mystery jet – is this how they’d have ID’ed it?
How were civilian aircraft dissuaded from overflying the task force – warned off by radio on an ad hoc basis or were the commercial airlines told to steer clear of huge stretches of the South Atlantic on certain dates?
I also seem to remember that there were attempts to spy on the task force, launched from a West African country, at the behest of the Soviets. Does anyone know anything of those ops?
And finally, bear with me 😉 … I was also once told by a serving member of HM armed forces that the task force engaged and sank a shadowing Soviet sub on the journey down – and that is was hushed up to save embarrassment and awkward silences all round. Sounds preposterous I know, but is there even a kernel of truth in this story – a near miss, accidental collision, any shenanigans between the task force and their shadows? I feel certain someone would have blabbed by now – USSR ceasing to exist and all that.
lmisbtnIn my opinion, for what it is worth, the Wilson book is a far better read. His “Men of Air” is also great. As to the best BC book, probably Nuremburg Raid by Middlebrook?;)
I’ve read both ‘Bomber Boys’ too and the Wilson book gets my vote too…
just the front cover with the photo of the young aircrew and the subtitle ‘the doomed youth of bomber command’ is painfully poignant in itself.
It paints a broad picture at strategic level and then illustrates each phase of Bomber Command’s war with the stories of individual crews…
‘Bomber Boys’ the first isn’t bad at all but cherry picks individual stories and is thus less concerned with placing them in the overall context of the conflict….
just my two cents worth…
lmisbtnNot to mention they fact they don’t even have enough seats, so I had to stand whilst eating my lunch!
The Opel was used by British Intelligence and fitted with cameras, armour, etc, it was used in the Cold War for travelling on a road (in east Berlin I believe) on which the British were allowed to travel, so these cars were used to photograph Russian military vehicles etc
I believe this BRIXMIS car (or one like it) used to be in the army museum at Chelsea Barracks…
I don’t think BRIXMIS ops were confined to East Berlin – they ranged further afield in the GDR and often got into trouble (the Russkis took a pot shot at an overflying RAF Chipmunk on at least one occasion and their French and US counterparts sustained fatalities as the result of traffic ‘accidents’ involving their cars and huge Russian army trucks).
The British, US and French teams collected invaluable intel, while risking their own balls, to verify Warsaw Pact exercises for exactly what they were rather than NATO misinterpreting them as preparations for war – hats off to them!
Tony Geraghty wrote a fascinating book on these ops that includes pics of UK BRIXMIS servicemen doing filthy leggers away from Soviet vehicles and an unforgettable one of a huge moustachioed Soviet soldier, having been rudely awoken from his slumber by a BRIXMIS team, standing there in his y-fronts about to shoulder his AK-47.
More info here…
lmisbtnI can’t believe you guys, for a nation as historically acute as the Brits are, you seem to resent anyone making a film about anyone other than Tommies and the RAF fighting the war.
Some people here have even complained about Saving Private Ryan not including UK forces!Are you so insecure that you can’t accept anyone else did fighting?
I think what grates the most is wilful inaccuracies to satisfy Hollywood casting directors – eg: tosh like U-547. The real stories are so much more heroic… but would the mundanities of long, cold, boring days at sea interspersed with a bit of terror put arses on seat – that’s another debate. If we’re talking about the Battle of the Atlantic let’s have a movie about Captain F J Walker – a man who literally worked himself to death on convoy duties.
That fact is that the vast majority of war movies made in the twentieth century ‘had to’ feature an American actor to sell it to American audiences. (a ‘rule’ that surely must be more debateable these days now that even non-American/British movies can make it big eg: Slumdog Millionaire).
eg: 633 Squadron. Certainly Americans served with the RAF (before the advent of the USAAF at least) but a Brit or a Kiwi, Aussie or a Canuck would have been a more representative and plausible Wing Commander. And my own personal favourite bit of miscasting – Brad Pitt as the anguished ‘Oirishman’ in The Devil’s Own – I always cry buckets during that movie – it’s hilarious.
Some movies are very representative – the Battle of Britain was largely a British affair as was the movie – justifiably a significant minority of the screen time was devoted to telling the tale of the Polish Squadrons… other participant nations (fewer pilots in number) got credits at the end of the movie.
I understand the story of the Eagle Squadron (US pilots in the RAF) was partially told in, erm, ‘Pearl Harbour’ – but I haven’t seen that epic!
‘The Longest Day’ got it right too – even with clunky acting and dubious authenticity in places there are lots of Brits, Germans, French & Americans and it covers Pegasus Bridge, Omaha, Point du Hoc and most of the other big D-Day events without reverting to snide remarks… just seems a bit more dignified somehow.
Band of Brothers and SPR are excellent but, let’s be honest, they both contain snide remarks about the Brits – doubtless ‘designed’ for American audiences. No surprises – Stephen Ambrose rightly acknowledges the huge American involvement in 44/45 but seems more ambivalent towards the British contribution and Steven Spielberg is quite right to acknowledge his Jewish roots and the large numbers of American Jews who fought but I’d like to see a Commonwealth director tackle the subject for a bit of balance – Peter Jackson to make a movie about Merville perhaps – analagous to the BoB episode where they take out the 155s.
Anyone who has read up a bit on the war knows all about inter-service and inter-ally tensions and so snide remarks must have been flying back and forth all the time but, and here’s the thing, put it in a movie and your average ‘dumb-ass’, non-reading, theatre-goer takes away the impression that the Brits were cowardly/inept/lazy and that WWII was won by Cuba Gooding Junior or Ted Danson or Tom Hanks – and yes that should grate.
Try finding a movie about the Battle of the Bulge that features a Brit – let alone any mention of British casualties (Saints & Sinners does not count – it is appalling.)
lmisbtnSaw 633 Squadron again last weekend…
there’s a sequence near the beginning when the Mossies land and line up on the pan and I spotted a Land Rover in amongst all the jeeps and other ground equipment – priceless!!
lmisbtnBell Jet-ranger – does that count?
Otherwise Monarch A-300 to Crete 1995 I think.
My Mum’s first flight sounded much more exciting – Hornet Moth or similar off the beach at Southport – she was terrified.
The next time she flew (many years later) was on a 747 to the States – a good illustration of aeronautical progress
lmisbtnGood bit of brain-training for Monday morning, completely off the cuff and from memory….
Monarch
Easyjet
Ryanair
BMI
BA
Aer Lingus
US Airways
United
Continental
AA
Lufthansa
LOT
Gulf Air
Qantas
Virgin
China Airlines
KLM
Air France
SAA
SAS
Muk Air (best name ever. Inflight meal was salted peanuts – highly recommended)
European Executive Express
TACA
British Mediterranean Airways
Sterling
Braathens
Continental Express
Skyways
lmisbtnAvoiding test planes and non-military…
Yak 25, not pretty. Nowhere close to pretty.
lmisbtnI fly DUB-LPL on a fairly regular basis (25 minutes airborne if the wind is behind you) and I think the aircraft normally cruises at approx 17,000 feet – for all of a couple of minutes before descent – no more turbulence than any other average flight and the Irish Sea isn’t especially renowned for it’s clement weather.
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