Thanks Arquebus!

Lewis Carol would love it – wealth depends of the absence of wealth. We are wealthy because we are in debt. Just please nobody ask who to.

The beast is not only out of control, it is also quite mad.

Hi Stu

To be fair, Cooper never did say she would. She said, when asked at the time ‘um.. if it came to it a lot of people would’, which I took as meaning ‘No’.

So what we have is a combination of incompetence and Daily Mail ‘Journalism’ (not to be confused with real journalism). The story has been made up – but it’s a bit like kicking a puppy, she is an idiot and probably couldn’t remember what she’d said before.

Anyone worthy of her position would have said during the Ferrari interview ‘this is made up as I didn’t say that’. Instead she has allowed the Telegraph, the Mail. the Spectator and the usual suspects join in the braying and baying about her going back on this promise (that she never in fact made) as if it was fact.

A sad indictment all round – we have both the politicians, and the press, that we deserve!

Democracy in (in)action right there. Amanda Milling must assume that other people cannot understand a CAA press release and it needs explaining by a clever MP.

But back to the question, which is about the incident – three were confirmed, not five. The five, based on one radio message, seems to include Squadron Leaders from three different squadrons, in the Pakistani version. Surely this must raise doubts, upon sober (and independent) analysis? The Defence Journal article looks more like that than the somewhat colourful ‘Badass’ piece!.

Maybe then, just maybe, if you hit a hollow Curtiss-type blade centrally, the edges which are essentially two steel ‘angles’ will be rigid enough to hold the thing together while the centre ‘explodes’ spectacularly? Of course we may not be seeing the hundreds of non-central strikes, with blade outers twisted off and a subsequent catastrophic effect? Just the three lucky ones that caught the blade centrally? And I guess it might only work like this with these Curtiss hollow blades – forged alloy solid blades might well react differently – hence the predominance of P-47 examples? Maybe I was too cynical initially.

For me the doubt is about ‘target acquisition’.. and I am speaking from absolutely no experience whatsoever. They’d need to me more or less lined up like ducks in a row even to get into a firing position on each one in time, surely? Also, the version on Wikipedia seems to show three of the five Hunters being flown by Squadron Leaders. Of three different Squadrons (one of them a Mystere squadron). In line astern in the middle of a dogfight.

I’m not sure the doubt was ever about capability or lack of it due to the race or nationality of the pilot, Bill. 🙂

..and another one – from here – http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID%3Asiris_arc_370855&repo=DPLA – but apparently taken by Curtiss Wright themselves (the blade manufacturer)…

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Slight roughness, my xrse.