It pretty interesting that the folks being “non-clique”, or theres not any clique here are part of ………ahhhh well screw it.

What?? :confused:

By that partial statement are you implying that I am part of this so-called clique now too, huh? Why? Because I post often? Is that it?

I mean, I don’t ever go to the functions in the UK that are ‘apparently’ only for the clique. I don’t carry on personal in-joke conversations in my threads that no-one else understands. I don’t call Snapper a Goatboy. I don’t even own a stepladder!! … How can I be in the ‘clique’?

Believe me mate, I am a total individual. There is no-one like me, as many have discovered. I don’t need to be in some clicky group. And no clicky group would ever have me!! 😉

I just think a few people here have developed the wrong attitude towards the forum, for whatever reason, and quite frankly I think it is a little childish and daft to say certain people are ‘the in crowd’ and others are left out. Virtually every post gets an answer, usually friendly and helpful, unless they deserved otherwise.

All you need to do is contribute more. If you sit on the sidelines, no-one will know you’re there and it is only because of this that they won’t talk to you. Everyone has the right and ability to contribute in their own way. Every genuine opinion is valid so long s you can support it, as JDK says. There may be a few heated discussions but so long as you’re not talking rubbish, you’ll get along well on this forum when they get to know you. Even a few of those who do talk constant rubbish get on well here.

Being a member of this forum is all advantages – what can you lose? You hide behind a handle so you cannot even lose any face in the real world, can you?

I still have not been able to fathom how anyone, not just you O.P. but a few others too, have come to the conclusion that there is a clique. Every forum I have ever frequented or lurked on has a core of posters who regularly post, and a number of occassionals and lurkers. This one is no different. Even the beloved WIX is exactly the same, except their core number of posters seems smaller – does that make them more clicky?

You get out of life what you put in, and the same applies to this forum. If you make the effort and make some friends here you’ll enjoy the forum much more. If you decide however it’s not for you, just find somewhere else that does meet your interests and approval. Simple, ain’t it? It is not compulsory to visit the Flypast forum, after all.

And, yes, I would say that to your face. Calmly and rationally, over a beer, and try to explain why I feel this way. And I’d hope you’d take the time to explain your side of things too.

Works fine for me Mark. Perhaps it is a firewall problem on your PC. I had to disengage the best protection I ever found for my PC to see pictures on some forums.

Good to see you back by the way. Your Indian museum photos are smashing.

Why is there constant whinging and moaning from a small minority of people about the forum? I think this forum is a very friendly, welcoming and most helpful place. It provides news, great leads in research, answers, entertainment, and is a meeting place for a lot of friendly, interesting and knowlegable people – many of whom work in the historic aviation arena and can tell you news or answers first hand.

I am sick of reading about this supposed ‘clique’. I looked the word up to be sure and it said in the Oxford dictionary “Small exclusive group.” I think that the core members of this forum (the many hundreds of us) are the opposite, we are a large inclusive group, who welcome input from all and sundry from across the world. I feel very welcome among the forum members despite being 18,000 Kms from most of the other posters. The forum is not just poms, I find it great that we have people posting here from France, Switzerland, India, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Malaysia, Holland, all over the globe.

I greatly value the time I have spent on this forum over the past year since I found it. I have learned much. I have come into contact with many wonderful people who have done me personal favours, and I have been able to reciprocate in some cases. I also try to respect others opinions – one a few occasions this is not easy. We all have our ups and downs in life, and sometimes that comes through in the forum – hey, we’re all human.

But honestly, and this is directed at no one person specifically – just those who often bring up the same lame tale that they’re not allowed inside the imaginary clique – if you really think this place is unwelcoming and unhelpful and has too many threads on Spitfires, and that the forum is just here for an exclusive goup of ten people who don’t want anyone involved that’s not a pom, then I have to ask – why do you come back here?

Why bother? Can you not just walk away, switch off? Are you one of those people who writes to TV stations to complain about a show when you could have simply switched off or changed channels? There’s much more to life. You get what you back put in, and if you’re not prepared to put in, you have the choice to leave.

Take a look at yourself, not the rest of the people who genuinely enjoy this forum that Key Publishing kindly provides. The vast majority of us (many thousands) around the world who visit the forum regularly enjoy it, and are sick of seeing it knocked for no good reason!

So, solution, if you qualify as a whinger who knocks this forum for no reason at all but your own lack of fulfillment because it isn’t exactly what you wanted, please do one of two things – get more involved, contribute more positively and things might pick up for you. Or – just switch off, don’t come back, see your shrink, get a life, find some friends, have a drink, and most especially, buy the latest Flypast magazine for the news that you’ll be missing out on (but I guess that has too many Spitfires in it for you too?).

Wow. I’ve just read through this long, drawn out and interesting thread. I haven’t seen an argument like this on here for a while.

XH558 is something I’ve never seen, and would never go out of my way to see, even if it was flying. I have no stance either way in this debate. So I’m not taking any sides in this argument when I say I find it amusing that this project is based around a large group of people who decided to part with their hard-earned cash in return for the slightest glimour of hope that the odds will be beaten and their dream will come true. I don’t refer to the people supporting the restoration to flight, I mean the lottery players – hmmm, or are they one in the same?

This is an interesting question. For me, living in New Zealand, even with a strong interest in military history, I have found that I didn’t get to know much about the First World War at all growing up. Every Kiwi gets to hear about and know the story of Gallipoli, that is a story of national pride, national mourning, and nationhood in itself for us. Our annual national day of Remembrance focuses around that, and predates Remembrance Day in November.

But other than that, we never see much on WWI, few films, few books to speak of. It was a long time before I learnedthe New Zealanders also fought on other fronts such as France and Belgium, and in Palestine, etc. I also learned that Gallipoli was not our first battle in WWI as everyone thinks – in 1914 New Zealand successfully invaded and captured Samoa from the Germans. We still ‘own’ it today. And in the past five years, thanks to the wonderful Armistace Day commemorations we’ve been having here in Cambridge each year since 2001, I have learned about NZ’s last battle, the storming of Le Quesnoy in France. In that the British were planning to bombard the town, but a Kiwi commander, Curly Blythe, decided his men could scale the walls of the town and take it without destroying the medieval structures. They did, and today the people of that town remain ever grateful. Cambridge, my town, is twinned with Le Quesnoy and every Kiwi who visits is apparently even today given royal treatment there.

I have a great respect for the men and women who fought in WWI. They do need to be remembered. The same goes for our soldiers, sailors and airmen who risked and lost their lives in places since like Korea, Vietnam, Borneo, Malaya, the Gulf War etc. But I think there is a huge difference between all these wars and World War Two.

WWII was a war that had to be fought to preserve life, to save the world from evil. It had a very just and noble cause, and made a huge difference to how the world itself was shaped. I don’t believe the other wars were as important. They were all political – the wars started because politicians disagreed. Even World War One. But WWII was much more, it was a struglle against tyranny, oppression, genocide, a cult regime lead by a powerful madman.

After WWI the world was not a better place, it was in fact worse than bfore the war in many ways. It never proved anything. After the other wars I mentioned I doubt it would have mattered much to the rest of the world if certain coutries had won or lost. I mean the Commies won the Vietnam war, but we are no better or worse off for it, so it was futile. Korea is in almost as much mess now as it was in the 1950’s. The Gulf War made things worse.

But WWII was a war that clearly the good guys won, for good reasons. That is why it is so revered I feel. And yes, not only in Britain but across the world it was a national event of a war. Even here in NZ the war was felt by every person. My research into Cambridge’s war shows that almost every man and woman of this town was somehow involved in the war effort. If they were not in the Army, WAAC, RAF, RNZAF, WAAF, Navy or WRENs, they were at home involved in war production like farming, and also members of the likes of WVS, VADs, WWSC, Home Gaurd, EPS, Red Cross, Air Force Relations and the many other voluntary but vital organisations that shaped the course of the war.

Long may we remember them all, no matter what they did and no matter which war. I just wonder though sometimes whether the world that the WWII chaps fought to preserve, the better place they gave us, has not been eroded and changed so much that they would probably have been quite horrified if they’d known that this is what they were fighting for.

Four Typhoons rescued from Russia?? What’s the story behind them? Did the Russians use Typhoons? Or were they RAF? Any info?

Are they jpegs? If not, I think they need to be.

I’ll try to get it next time I’m in town then. If I see the DVD before, I’ll get it instead.