RE: American Bashing!

Scooter – If you get fed up of the ‘America bashing’ why bother to post? Or is it that you like defending the perceived ‘underdog’ in the world’s opinion. I think that the U.S.A has always aimed to further it’s own interest’s abroad in much the same way as any other country. The facts on people like Saddam however are that if the U.S or indeed the European nation’s really wanted him out of power they could have by now – after all although Iraq is a dangerous country it’s also stable and has been for many years. Could you imagine suicide bombers with nuclear weapons – Iraq could come to that if it didn’t have a firm leader. The current state of play in the region is that the west can use the airspace of Iraq and neighbouring countries
for very effective training . Regarding Israel – they have always been perceived as under threat but in reality their forces are so strong that they could quickly become an ofensive power if they pleased.
The point’s that most European ‘posters’ seem to miss are that
I believe George Bush would have pulled his forces out of many foreign commitment’s if September 11th hadn’t happened .
America has been at war for a great number of years – the fighting has been mostly covert but this has been to ‘buffer’ the mainland from act’s of terrorism . The problem George has is that he is trying to make this seem almost a crusade in the war against terrorism when in reality the U.S and most European nation’s have been fighting it for many years. The patriotism side is great but in reality the people who get Bin Laden eventually will live in the shadow’s and not necessarily be American’s .

RE: Celebrities and their machines

Did you see the last show he did for the BBC !!!

RE: Dubai Jet Provost

Steve – The Jp is T.3A XN470 ex G-BXBJ which was exported by Global
from Binbrook in 1999.

RE: How Stupid is David Blaine?

Hard to tell really ! – I seem to remember that people used to go over Niagra Falls in barrels and other people nowadays jump off crane’s on pieces of elastic so maybe Mr Blaine isn’t quite that daft.
I guess he is doing okay finacially out of it!

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

Spot on Damien – you did make the right decision ! Having said that
the FlyPast marquee was well positioned and in some respects the commentary wasn’t that audible so it did have it’s plus points.
The helicopter display at the beginning was good but I think the R.A.F might be under the mistaken belief that they operated Puma’s in the Falklands war – they didn’t ! The Argentinian’s did so maybe it was a tribute to them!
Maybe I was spoilt as a kid but judging from what is available now in the airshow world and the what they could do – they cannot top
a Great Warbirds West Malling show circa 80’s in terms of enjoyment.
Formation aerobatics with warbirds is good but the reality of war
was that these aircraft came in fast and low as a pair or ‘finger four’ and generally straffed and bombed – what better sight could the be that Ray Hanna in MH434 with the ‘enermy’ in his sights!

RE: GREEK SPOTTERS

Kev – I think the nature of this case is that the group had permission to be at the open day on the base and as such activities
like ‘plane spotting’ would be thought natural – after all if you don’t want everyone to see your secret aircraft the best thing is not to invite the public round. It’s a bit like leaving your front door wide open at night and then being surprised when all your jewel’s have gone in the morning.
Regards the other legal point’s – the group if they decide not to return to Greece for the appeal will loose their bail money and then face the posibility of the Greek authorities applying for extradition. If it’s a case that this were to happen the extradition appeal would then be heard in the respective countries – it’s would be up to a court in the U.K hear the evidence and if they deem necessary order the arrest and deportation of the person to stand trial in Greece. I am of the opinion that it would be unlikely for a U.K court to deport judging by the amount of evidence or indeed the lack of it.
I would be interested to know what IAT and various other shows have in mind that host Greek Air Force aircraft – I for one would find it extremely distasteful if they get an invite this year.

RE: Lanc and the 12,000lb bomb

I think you are refering to the attack on the Tirpitz in Tromso Fiord. This happened on the 12th of November 1944 in a combined operation of Nos.9 and 617 Squadron. I believe from memory that the ‘Tallboy’ bomb went in alongside her which caused her to ‘turn turtle’ into the trough opened up below her.