Meanwhile back at XM603…..

What part of “Aircraft Preservation” are you having a problem with? The Canadian Halifax was an “eyesore” when she came out of the Norwegian Lake, now look at her. Dauntless dive bombers were “eyesores” when they came out of Lake Michigan, some of them are now FLYING.
Thank heavens you’re not a doctor…

I’m not having a problem with aircraft preservation at all. Why would you want to preserve XM603 anyway? XM603 It has been sitting outside for over 20 years, slowly corroding away. It is in a poor condition and efforts to save it have come to nothing. There are 15(?) Vulcans in the UK. Most in better condition than XM603 and anway nobody is interested enough to want to save it. The Halifax was unique and worth saving – it is not even worthy of comparison.

I would be obliged if you could use a little less confrontational language in future.

So what are the rumours then?

Its future hasn’t been good for about 5 years. I’m surprised it’s still there. I’m not sure why the company didn’t break it up when the Nimrods were being broken up. Frankly it is an eyesore now and needs removing.

F1 costs somewhere in the region of £40-45 million per year where as BBC Three costs over £100 million per year to run, according to recent reports.

So an entire TV channel with programing 10 hours a day, 7 days a week costs £100m.
F1 with say 19 races and maybe 8 hours per race costs £45m?

I know which one sounds the better value!

That’s the problem with these things; F1 fans will be outraged that they have to pay to watch their favorite sport, the vast majority of the population don’t care either way.
As a some time F1 watcher and an occasional BBC3 watcher, I’ll be disappointed if F1 is no longer on the telly but isn’t the end of the world.

Books with an aviation theme

Try
Joint Force Harrier—- Harrier ops in Afghanistan
Spitfire by Leo McKinstry—-pretty obvious subject
Empire of The Clouds by James Hamilton-Paterson—Bit of a nostalgia fest for those of us not quite as young as we were, the only problem with the book it does arouse a certain urge to go out and look for politicians to shoot.

I’d agree with Joint Force Harrier and Spitfire but I found Empire of the Clouds very contradictory and rather selective.

Currently reading (re-reading) Paul Brickhill’s The Great Escape

Rant mode: ON

Let’s face it, the energy suppliers in the UK and possibly the rest of Europe are in a massive cartel to screw customers out of as much money as possible but knowing it is essential that people need heat and power they get away with it. We all have a duty to save as much power as possiboe and there are many things you can do. Insulation, timer switches etc. etc. anything to avoid handing over money to Eon or whatever they’re called today.

Rant mode: OFF