Honestly the whole contest has gone beyond a joke now, And the only reason anybody seems to watch it in the UK is for Terry Wogan’s commentary, The guy is a national treasure.

But i think its high time Uk takes a leaf from Italy’s songbook and pull out of this farce, We are one of the main backers of this competition and i am sure this money can be diverted elsewhere.

We have no chance of winning this again nor have any Western European countries, It has no value as a talent contest and even less value in promoting a nation.

I wonder if it should be changed so all acts sing in English and there nationalities are kept secret until voting has ended, Admittedly in this day and age that maybe difficult but at least the songs would be judged on there own merit and not on politics.

I think its virtually impossible to save this competition now unless somebody is brave enough to totally change the way it is run.

That’s how Brass Band contests are judged. Each band plays behind a white cloth screen, the judges have no clue who is playing. (Unless bribed or othe skullduggery is involved of course)
Do they still have Brass Band contests, now the Pits have all gone?

It really is an impressive piece of work. The book about it is a good read too, with lots of detail photos. I read on the net somewhere that the Brewster plant was so badly organised there was a machine at the end of the production line to turn the Corsairs over and shake the loose bits out. Sounds too bad to be true. They certainly lost the contract. It is true that the yanks gave most of the Brewster builds to us though.

Well, that’s the net for you.
It is totally normal to have a “Turnover fixture” on a production line of small aircraft. A simple idea that works perfectly, if there is a loose nut or bolt in there, known as FOD, it makes a hell of a rattle. You can even hear a clipping off the end of a cable/wire tinkle about. A far quicker way than to search every single nook & cranny…..which is what has to be done on big stuff like an airliner. The one at Dunsfold for the Harrier 1 has been moved (I assume) to Warton. The Turnovers are still done every time there is a deep strip maintenance, or an engine-out.
The fixtures I have seen on small A/c production lines are all aimed at revolving a fuselage only, and if there was a nose engine….it isn’t fitted when spun. The RPM is probably only 10.
I have also heard of a Turnover fixture with a Laser system picking up small FOD inside a fuselage, sensing it as it falls.
Furthermore, branching out a little but still on FOD hunting, with todays CAD/CAM, one can feed the 3D design image to a camera and that camera scans the area…if it doesn’t look the same, it lets you know. This is more used in the car manufacturing lark, but is presently used in a few A/c areas. I’m sure that will expand.

This picture is 3 years old, before the real one flew again.

Surely you meant phifty phabulous phyears. 😀

Yep, she’s a stunner. 2nd most beautiful man-made object. Concorde being #1. IMHO. Maybe Vulcan #2 putting the Phant to #3.
The ugliest man-made object is a little easier. The Fiat Multipla. 🙂

Shame about the P-38. Repairable?

I’ve seen the Comet a few times now, hope to see these again at the Southport Model Rally in August.
It was only a few years ago that the jet models came onto the show, before that, the “Jet” models had pusher props. Even the Vulcan did, he converted it.
Was that Vulcan there too? Although that is no longer on the wish list to fly again. 🙂

I don’t even like the real stuff along with Amstel, Stella Artois and Beck’s. Call me fussy if you wish but I knows wot I likes:D Whilst I have nothing against a decent lager type beer I much prefer a decent pint of bitter. The other reason I don’t like Grolsch, Amstel and Stella is the fact that one bottle of any of those three is sufficient to give me a headache and I just don’t like the taste of Beck’s.

Hear hear!
Well, I don’t get a headache unless I’ve had a shedfull of it, it’s chemical kosh after all. and it leaves the taste of gorilla shi* in your mouth next day.
Timothy Taylors Landlord is the finest ale in the world IMO.
As for stuff like Stella, it is marketed at the gullible and dumb, they fall for it, and then it’s rubbed in their face and they still don’t wake up!!!
“Reassuringly expensive”
Got to hand it to the marketing team, that is a gem! For something that cost pennies to make, they make that gem in order to hike the price. And mugs STILL buy it!!!

The Coroner will probably be correct.
The RAF and MoD will not agree with that because (a) It’s the only A/c to do that role (b) To agree would mean an immediate grounding of the fleet because there are still men flying them, and families worried about them etc.
It would also mean an admssion of guilt in certain eyes.
(c) Spineless gutless desk jockies do not know how to admit they are wrong.

MoD controlled means out of control and relentlessly wrong. I’m sick of working with such incompetant pencildi**s.

You have a very understanding Mrs!