Wasn’t it designed to meet a perceived requirement for a transport capable of delivering Pegasus engines/spares to Harrier Squadrons operating off rough strips near the front line?

Hence max all up weight may well have been relatively low compared to the C130 or Belfast?

Though why they couldn’t use Andovers to carry spare Pegasus’ is perhaps beyond me…I thought they were designed for rough-field operations, and were fairly STOL. Limited size of the fuselage perhaps?

….Or was the AW681 perhaps actually supposed to offer true VTOL capability, rather than just a STOL capability?

Paul F

Y11F

Check your PM’s – message now sent

Paul F

Hi Y11f

Had exactly the same dilemna myself, and I opted for the Canon EOS350D route (and my teenage son then gladly grabbed the S5000 and memory cards). As has been said, even very large and very fast CF cards are still cheaper than lenses – though having looked around, SLR lenses seem to have dropped in price since I last looked at them a few years ago.

Only had my new 350D a couple of weeks, so it’s not really fair to compare it to the S5000 yet, but my first ham-fisted attempts are Okay, though photo colours do not seem quite so vibrant as those taken on the Fuji, and images are not quite as pin-sharp either, I probably need time to work out how to get optimal results from the many user setting options available on the Canon, and sharpness may well be down to the lenses I’m using.

Canon EF-type lenses do indeed work with the EOS 350D/400D bodies, and you get the bonus of a 1.6x increase in focal length due to the way the digital sensor works, which might be useful for air to ground shots, as the 300mm lens will now give an effective length equivalent to a 450mm lens on a 35mm-film body, but you do nee dto check if it’s a Canon EF-type lens, older Canon lenses may not be fully compatible with the digi-bodies. Of course, the downside of the focal length multiplcation effect is that any indoor work now needs a very “short” lens, as your 35 – 80mm zoom will act like a 48 – 120 mm lens. Thus, you will probably want to get the EOS350D/400D with one of the new 18-55mm zoom lenses, which in effect gives same results as a 24 – 80mm lens on an old 35mm-film body.

Pls check your PM’s – I sent some info to another forumite on this thread on Monday which you may find useful, so I will copy it to you.

Paul F

Jamie,

If you know where to look you can pick up an “as new” EOS 350D kit with full 1 year manufacturers warranty for around £340 – £360. I did 😀 . PM me for details if you are interested.

Picked one up two weeks ago, and still getting used to it after a Fuji S5000. Good to get back to an SLR after a couple of years away – and all my old Canon EF-type lenses fit the 350D too. Once you’ve tried digital you’ll never go back to 35mm film.

Paul F

“I’m a free thinker, Get me out of Here!”

… i can foresee a time when i will want to leave for somewhere that less strongly resembles a police state.

You mean it hasn’t arrived already? 😮 😮 😮

Leave the decison too much longer JB and I fear you might find yourself a long way down the exit queue :diablo:

Paul F

It’s PC Madness (Again..)

Going back and editing something printed in 1939 sets a reather dangerous historical precedent I think. It

All too close to the scenario of Orwells’ “1984” novel – once you start changing history to make it more palatable then it’s the start of the end as far as I’m concerned. What’s next? – try and rewrite the whole of history so that it shows that no-one of any creed, race, religion or skin-colour has ever been offended by this contry or any of it’s residents?

Are those in power today really of the opinion that most rational people cannot appreciate the difference between what was considered acceptable language/behaviour/attitudes “then” and what is considered acceptable “now”. I am sure most people can appreciate how attitudes have changed, and anyone who cannot will probably be incapable of reading the damn thing in the first place 😉 .

These people who want to change the text must be the same do-gooders who overdub “Digger” for “N*gger” whenever the Dam Busters is shown 😮 !

“Political correctness” – how long before common sense previals, and extreme “PC”-ness itself is seen to be politically incorrect? :diablo:

Paul F