Or if you want the really bad one the “Shackelton”unsurpassed for noise and seating!!Or possibly the AW Argosy which had an awful whistling whine!!

It’s funny how people’s impressions differ! I was going to cite the Shackleton as being one of my most enjoyable flights ever – sitting up in the nose position, with an old-fashioned flying helmet on, droning over Norwich during a bomber’s moon, heading out towards the Dutch coast. I was almost looking out those for damned FW190s!
I was a frequent passenger, so maybe it was totally different for the poor crews, who were reading paperbacks as every galley door in the aircraft swung back and forth in monotonous unison.
One of the most painful for me was flying in one of Harvestair’s DC3s. They had two huge detergent tanks on board (for dispersing oil slicks), so there were no passenger seats. As a result, I had to kneel between the pilot’s seats for the entire flight, which mainly consisted of flying over very rough seas at less than 100 feet, enough to lift me bodily up in the air at times, only for my knees to be slammed down hard on the cockpit floor again! I was in absolute agony by the time we landed, but I wouldn’t have missed it, all the same…

I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. According to that map Paul, we are talking about totally different issues. It doesn’t cover the Falkland Islands.

They aren’t different issues – if the UK has to defend future oil rights in Antarctica, the Falklands will become extremely important strategically. It might not happen for decades, but if there are large quantities of oil in Antarctica, it will certainly be exploited by someone, as the rest of the world’s oil runs out.
Al

Let’s face it, whatever government is in power, Labour or Conservative, they don’t care a damn about the Falkland islanders. If they are intent on keeping the Falklands British, it’s because of other factors like its strategic location, future mineral deposits, or as an international bargaining lever.
For example, the UK and US invaded Iraq under the pretence of ridding the world of potential ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’, but does nothing about North Korea, a beligerant country known to be developing the most destructive kind. Why? Because North Korea isn’t awash with oil!

It’s worrying that Argentina still has at least 3 submarines, and as from 31st March this year the UK will have no Nimrod long-range anti-submarine aircraft in service…

Unfortunately, we’ve seen what the nutters this side of the pond do with them aswell. Dunblane, Hungerford; those are the reasons we’re no longer alowed to own pistols and rifles.

It all started at the end of WW1 – after the revolutionaries in Russia topped the Czar and his family, relatives of Queen Victoria. Up to then, Russia was run on very similar lines to Britain, and the British government were petrified that disgruntled armed soldiers returning from the trenches would do the same. They had a firearm amnesty, and over a million ex-service revolvers and rifles were handed in, then came restrictions on who could own them…

Growing up between Kinloss and Lossiemouth, aircraft feature heavily in the earliest memories of my friends and I. This is my first aviation photo, taken around 1968, of two Keflavik-based Convair F-102A Delta Daggers (56-1447 and 56-1419) of the 57th Fighter (Interceptor) Sqn, frequent visitors to RNAS Lossiemouth…

I can judge the character of a man by the strength of his handshake – if it’s a sweaty, limp, Civil Servant type handshake, I know I’m not going to like them, or have much in common.
The social graces are considered totally irrelevant by youngsters today, along with spelling, grammar, arithmetic, elegance, and general knowledge about anything more than five years old…