Not directly aviation-related, but you need to visit USS Texas… the only preserved WW1-era dreadnaught in the world.

http://www.usstexasbb35.com/

Not bad looking for a 94 year-old ship!

The bit about using it for training is a distortion of the reality… they removed the catapult (some reports also say the arresting gear) and installed it at a land air base, where they used that part for testing & development.

The rest of the ship certainly was scrapped,

The amusement park-carriers are the ex-Russian “aircraft-carrying Cruiser” Kiev & Minsk.

The military-connected Chinese carrier is Varyag (some debate on the actual status of the latter).

In 1996 Kiev was sold to a Chinese company, and has been part of the military theme park in Tianjin since 1 May 2004.

In 1995 Minsk was sold to a South Korean businessman, and later resold to Shenzhen Minsk Aircraft Carrier Industry Co Ltd, China. Until 2006, when the company went bankrupt, Minsk was part of a military theme park in Shatoujiao (沙头角) district, Shenzhen called “Minsk World”. The aircraft carrier was put up for auction on 22 March 2006. No bids at the starting price of 128 million RMB (approx. 16 million U.S. dollars) were received, so the carrier was withdrawn from sale. On 31 May 2006, the Soviet aircraft carrier was finally auctioned off in Shenzhen for 128 million RMB. Minsk theme park was evaluated to be worth 160 million yuan (20 million U. S. dollars) and a new round of auctioning will be held soon, according to the Guangdong-based Xuda auctioneers, which has been commissioned to handle the sale of the ship.

In early 1998 a Macau-based tourist and amusement company bought the unfinished (70%) 67,500t ex-Soviet Navy Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier Varyag for US$20 million. The company claimed that the ship would be converted into a floating amusement park and Casino in Macau, and the contract with Ukraine stipulated that the buyer can’t use the carrier for military purposes. Before handing the ship over, the Ukrainians removed the ship’s electronic equipment and powerplant to prevent it from being turned into a commissionable warship. In March 2002, following a three-year delay by Turkish authorities who denied the carrier passage through the Bosporus Strait, the Varyag finally arrived in Dalian Shiyard in northern China for refurbishment.

Varyag has been in Dalian Shipyard since 2002 and it became clear that the ship would not become an amusement park. Instead the ship was handed to the PLA Navy for research and restoration. It was speculated that following extensive studies the ship would be finally converted into a fully operational aircraft carrier for training purpose. This was partially confirmed when the ship emerged from a Dalian Shipyard dry dock painted in PLAN grey in 2005.

The afterburning J48 (Tay, not Nene) was installed in the F-94C Starfire… the earlier versions of the Starfire had an afterburning J33 (inproved/enlarged Derwent).

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f94.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_J33

Note the Wiki article on the Tay is wrong… the J48 was produced in both afterburning and non-afterburning engines, with most being non. It was improved from the Nene, producing between 25% and 45% more thrust without water injection (USN favorite) or afterburner (USAF favorite).

Thank you, Sens!!!

Finally, someone remembered that the US was not the only source of aid to Israel.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2848/invent.htm

From 1948 until the US aid started coming in the mid 1960s, most of Israel’s weapons (aircraft included) came from the UK and France.

Start with Czech versions of the Me-109 (Avia S.199), then UK Spitfires in 1948; US P-51s (most purchased from Sweden and Italy, the rest from civilian sources in the US), UK Meteors, French Ouragans, Mystere IVs, and surplus Mosquitos (from the French air force) in 1956, French Super Mystere 2Bs, Mirages, & Vautours in 1967.

Note where these came from… it is likely that the prime agent of Israeli survival was the UK and France… until after the 1967 war. Only then did the US take over as supplier.

Even then, however, Israeli-produced Mirage (Nesher, Kfir) and Super Mystere (Sa’ar) variants were still important parts of the Israeli air force in 1973.

The first US government-supplied warplanes in service were Sikorsky S-56 helicopters in the 1967 war… followed by the A-4 Skyhawk & F-4 Phantom shortly after the war.

And now loading just fine…when the Brits are mostly asleep.

Its all you-all’s fault.

😀

Thanks, Ja… I did mean the full-length top/side drawing to a similar scale as your stern section posting.

While aside his political ambitions Huge C. cannot evade the fact that the USA is much closer than China and hence his profit would be much better (especially as his whole spendy policy is linked to the crude oil profits).

Additionally, he might find out that China is not much a better ally than the USA. China is not likely to commit to Venezuela because they have such an affinity to Chavez but rather because they see advantages for their country, which translates into USD saved for crude oil.
In the end, the political visions will not be prioritized over the naked economic facts.

By the way: between the China and Venezuela is the Panama canal, which is officially controlled by Panama, but guess what China’s leadership would bet on this in times of crisis.

Three points:

1. China has operational control over the Panama Canal.

The Torrijos-Carter treaty* gave full Panamanian control of the Canal effective at noon on December 31, 1999, when control of the canal was handed over to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).

Before this handover, the government of Panama held an international bid to negotiate a 25-year contract for operation of the canal’s container shipping ports (chiefly two facilities at the Atlantic and Pacific outlets), which was won by the firm Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong-based shipping concern whose owner, Li Ka Shing, is the wealthiest man in China.

2. Virtually none of the world’s crude oil tankers can fit through the Panama Canal, so all Chinese-purchased Chavez-crude will sail through the Caribbean, south-east across the Atlantic, around Africa, through the Indian Ocean, and finally up the coast of SE Asia to get to China.

3. None of the US’ most powerful warships (carriers) can pass through the Canal, but all other USN warships can. Thus, the US remains strongly concerned over matters dealing with the Canal.

*The Torrijos-Carter treaty is actually 2 treaties.
The first treaty is officially titled The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal and is commonly known as the Neutrality Treaty. Under this treaty, the U.S. retains the permanent right to defend the canal from any threat that might interfere with its continued neutral service to ships of all nations.
The second treaty is titled The Panama Canal Treaty, and provides that as from 12:00 on December 31, 1999, Panama will assume full control of canal operations and become primarily responsible for its defense.