onetrack

Many Americans are known for their gung-ho approach to risky operations. In many cases, it can be viewed as simply outstanding bravery, in other cases, it can be viewed as downright foolhardiness. It's simply calculated risk.

How many VC winners would have been regarded as complete fools for the risks they took? Pte. Tom Starcevich took on two Jap machine gun posts by standing up and walking straight towards them, firing a Bren Gun from his hip!

He wiped out both MG posts, one after the other, using the same technique. He got a VC for his efforts. But a lot of blokes reckoned Tom was already a bit of a mad b*****d, anyway.

In WW1, the green, newly-arrived Doughboys on the French front, were placed with Australian Diggers, to learn infantry tactics and strategies - against the wishes of the American General Pershing.

Pershing wanted the American troops to go straight into battle with the Germans, with no combat experience.

When the Doughboys were placed with the Aussie Diggers (who already had 3 years of combat experience against the Germans, and who had perfected the tactics and strategies to ensure battle wins with minimal casualties), the gung-ho Doughboys would jump up out of the trenches, wanting to engage with any Germans they could find, on the spot.

The Diggers had to grab and haul the Doughboys back in to the trenches, and explain to them, that caution was the order of the day, and being gung-ho in the circumstances they were in, got you killed very quickly.

The Doughboys, to their credit were fast learners, and were soon operating on their own. But the infantry tactics and strategies devised by the Diggers still stand today, as SOP for all armies.

Just don't try to tell the Yanks, that the Aussies taught them infantry tactics, from Day One.

Comments on that FB page are interesting. A lot of angry punters there. Clay Marks comment is on the mark, the raffle organisers have broken every raffle law in the book, and someone is going to get ripped a new cloaca over those legal failures.

I hope you won't be offended when I say that it has a charming 1950s soviet era look to it......

Well .. it is coming straight out of the world's greatest Communist country, isn't it??

My money is on a retention clip of some kind. But did it actually drop out of the aircraft? - or was it flung under there, when it was thrown off some other device? (lawn and garden equipment?).

Just what I like to see - a no-name bender, performing as well as a brand name bender (sounds of clapping) ...

....pull back on the stick, to bring up the.....

The Bren Gun Carrier (or Universal Carrier) drivetrain is simply the Ford V8 truck drivetrain of the day (with the "big" 95HP flathead Mercury engine), dropped into a steel hull.

They used the truck radiator, engine, 4 speed gearbox, tailshaft, and rear axle from the truck, and steered them using the truck brakes on the rear axle, to slow the track on the side you wanted to turn to.

There were three models, the LP1, the LP2 and the LP2A. The LP1 was a shocker, they overheated and cooked the occupants, they threw tracks for the slightest reason - and they were deadly to steer at speed.

The Bren Carrier only did 50kmh flat out (30mph), but if you tried to do gentle corrective turns at road speed with the LP1, it was impossible.

It would jerk wildly to the side you braked on, at speed, because there was no ability to gently "feather" the braking action. The truck brakes were good for sharp turns at low speed, but dreadful at high speed.

So the experts redesigned the steering system on the LP2, to allow the front track idlers to "cant" (tilt) a little.

This meant that at higher speeds, when you turned the wheel, it canted the front track idlers first, which caused the track to run in a slight curve ("track warp").

Further movement of the steering wheel applied the rear brakes, which then caused a sharper turn. So at road speeds, you only made small movements of the steering wheel, which caused only small amounts of turning action.

When you came to a 90° corner, you then turned the steering wheel more sharply (as you would in a car or truck), and the rear brakes applied to steer the Carrier sharply around the corner.

The LP2 and LP2A also had improved cooling systems and a lower rear axle ratio for improved driving - as well as host of other improvements that made them more driveable.

Unfortunately, our blokes got thrown into major battle with Bren Gun Carriers, particularly in the Middle East. As you could well imagine, they were no match for any German tank, nor the 88mm field gun.

A lot of our brave blokes met a horrible death in this little machines, which were only designed to carry troops forward into battle against infantry armed only with rifles and machine guns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Carrier#/media/File:Australians_driving_Bren_Carriers_towards_Bardia,_Libya,_January_1941_(24667819900).jpg

.... which reminds one of the description of a well-known WogWogistan identity, who has been affectionately described as a bloke who, "can't walk and chew gum at the same time".

However, there was also a hidden feature to the Antique Extra chewing gum made from the Euc-A trees. It had incredible adhesive properties, better than any commercially produced adhesive.

It was kept aboard the Drifters by their pilots, so they could fix major airframe fractures, anywhere, anytime - from Antarctic conditions, right through to the searing Outback heat, and the breathless humidity of the North of Australia.

But it had to be masticated carefully and thoroughly to produce maximum adhesion. Failure to follow the mastication instructions would inevitably lead to a disaster, as the optimum adhesiveness levels would never be reached.

However, the Captain, always one for poor reading and comprehension skills, was one of those individuals who failed to read the Antique Extra gum instructions properly.

He misread "mastication" as "masturbation", and as a result, the stickyness of the end result was poor, to say the least. "Well, at least you can say I tried", said Cappy, as he.....

We may have been behind the 8-ball in the high-tech, big-dollar aircraft design stakes - but we punched pretty well above our weight in many other areas.

Few people realise we had our own home-grown tank (the AC1 Sentinel) - built with a fully-cast, one-piece hull - a fact which astounded the Americans, and they had to come and investigate it.

Never before in the history of tank making had anyone achieved the construction of a one-piece, cast hull for a tank.

Previously they were all riveted (whereupon they would split open like a tin can under a shell impact - but the Americans thought they were particularly clever, by welding the hull of their tanks together in sections.

Then there were the developments such as the Owen gun - a superbly simple piece of weaponry that the Aussies loved.

Known as the "Diggers Darling", it was more reliable than any other firearm produced, and it was the only weapon that kept on firing in "severe service" testing (which involved being immersed in mud, and covered in sand).

In addition, it only cost AU£15 ($30) to manufacture! (1940's money). We produced a total of 45,000 Owen guns.

And GMH just happened to have the largest manufacturing facilities in the Southern Hemisphere during WW2. GMH turned its factories over to War production and produced such a massive range of products, it's difficult to list them all.

The optical lenses production of Australia during WW2 was astounding. We needed good lenses for everything from gunsights to binoculars, and we initiated our own glass lens making and grinding from a base of virtually nothing at the start of WW2, until within about 18 mths, we were capable of supplying not only all our own lenses needs, but we could supply them to our Allies as well.

https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/BRG+213/121/9

The "Optical Munitions" of WW2 - 'Optical Munitions' [Part 1], D.P. Mellor

Ian, thank goodness you only made a programming error. I thought the hackers had locked up the site and were holding you to ransom!

I notice that the Manheim auction site was hit badly last week, they have utterly destroyed Manheim's auction operations.

Can't help but think it's Karma, because Manheim are the about the greediest auction operators out there, charging fees like $110 just to bid online!

I trust the hackers put a substantial buyers premium on the charge to unlock their site - just like Manheim shafts their buyers!

The Jacky Winter is a small brown bird belonging to the Robin family. Some people appear to believe that they are most prevalently sighted and heard in Autumn, although that is the common mating season for most birds.

One thing is for sure - during WW2, regulatory hindrances were not even part of the equation. What was needed, got done - fast.

The spares problem is simply because bean counters rule at all times, in peacetime. The "Overheads" cost of "Major Inventory" and the associated warehousing, fills multiple books on economics.

But the several areas where the Nazis set themselves up to fail in their air war strategies, was -

1. Both Hitler and Goering insisted on every aircraft part that was produced, being used to build aircraft. They failed to understand the need to keep around 10% of production in stock as spares.

As a result, when the pressure really came on the Nazis in the attack on Russia, a sizeable percentage of the Luftwaffe aircraft were grounded for a lack of spares.

This then meant the ground crews started to cannibalise working aircraft that were grounded due to easily repairable damage, to keep other aircraft airborne, that had suffered mechanical failures.

2. Hitler in particular, was not really interested in aircraft, or air wars. He was an Army man who believed Wars were won by men on the ground with tanks, artillery and powerful ground-based weapons. He failed to understand the major importance of air warfare.

3. The Nazis War Planning and Armaments Production Planning was initially erratic and lacked cohesion. It was not until Albert Speer was placed in charge of Industrial Production, that Nazi armaments output ran efficiently and effectively.

Speer was a superb manager, and the Nazi regime would have collapsed much earlier without his brilliant industrial production strategies.

It's interesting to see the figures for Nazi war production. There's talk of the "lost years" of Nazi armaments production between 1939 and 1941. But there were two factors at play there. One was, German industry was still fragmented and operating on a basically peacetime basis, and it wasn't until Speer was appointed Minister for Armaments and Arms Production in Feb 1942, that armaments and industrial production started to soar.

Secondly, German industry produced ammunition and explosives on a huge scale between 1939 and 1941, and by 1942, the Nazis had mind-boggling amounts of ammunition and explosives on hand - so ammunition output was curtailed in 1942, in favour of increased armaments production.

Interestingly, in the 1939-1940 period, German tank production increased by 120%, naval construction (mostly U-boats) increased by 170% - yet aircraft production only increased by 8%.

The problem with Nazi aircraft production was that, even after Speer was appointed, he had no direct control over aircraft production - as compared to the many other production facilities he administered.

This problem was compounded by the Nazis deciding to continue and increase production of proven aircraft designs from 1942 - thus leading to bigger numbers of available aircraft - but at the expense of the development of improved and faster aircraft designs - which was where the Allies concentrated their efforts.

Thirdly, German industry spent a lot of the 1939-1941 period on construction works for the Wermacht - increased and improved housing for troops, POW and concentration camp facilities, and bunkers and other major Wermacht projects - as well as substantial amounts of civilian construction work.

This construction activity impinged on armaments production in that period, and it wasn't until 1942 that Nazi construction activities were reduced, in favour of greatly increased armaments production.

Along with Speers organisation, this made for a substantial surge in armaments production. This was also helped by conquered countries facilities, and forced labour, being added to the output of Germany itself.

One interesting factor, although not likely to be of major importance in the Nazi armaments story, is that the cost of German military aircraft and armaments continued to fall substantially, all through the War, with an 18% cost reduction in military aircraft purchase prices, in the period from 1939 to 1942. This is somewhat academic, I guess, as Govts at war simply create money to produce armaments, and worry about the economic impact later.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40186123?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

.....Turbo in a hooded outfit, skulking in through the back door of the BoB, whilst security was ejecting his Somali mate out the front.

Turbo always kept the hooded outfit handy, because it was on more than one occasion, he chose not to be identified. In this case, he wanted to get inside the BoB, to talk with a "person of interest" to CASA.

There was method in his modus operandi, though, even as it appeared he'd lost his marbles. But as he approached the bar with his hood pulled forward, he was spotted by..........

There's no record of any coronial finding involving Fentanyl, in any aircraft crash in Australia, that I can find.

There have only been four recorded Bristell crashes where the ATSB has become involved, one in Ireland and three in Australia, and only two of these crashes are recorded as being suspected as a result of a flat spin.

The most recent Bristell crash (the first listed), with just the pilot on board, is a crash with a currently undetermined reason.

Australia - Kanangra-Boyd NP, NSW - Investigation: AE-2020-008 - Technical Assistance to RAAus - Collision with terrain involving BRM Aero Bristell, 24-8555, Kanangra-Boyd National Park, NSW, on 16 December 2019

Australia - Moorabbin, VIC - Investigation: AO-2019-071 - Collision with terrain involving Bristell S-LSA aircraft, VH-YVF, Moorabbin Airport, 12 December 2019

Ireland - Investigation: AE-2019-036 - Accredited representative to the AAIU Ireland investigation into an impact with terrain involving a BRM Aero Bristell NG5, registered G-OJCS, near Belan, Co. Kildare, Ireland, on 13 June 2019

Australia - Stawell, VIC - Investigation: AO-2018-066 - Collision with terrain involving BRM Aero s.r.o. Bristell S-LSA, VH-YVX, near Stawell, Victoria, on 5 October 2018

The number of major, earth-shattering technological inventions, that make for great leaps forward in design and cheaper/smoother/faster operation, are continually reducing.

I put this down to the limits on available money and the lack of pressure for new inventions. In WW2, money was thrown at inventions, improvements, testing, research, and new materials - and the pressure to find them, to win WW2, was intense.

But today, the improvements are only incremental, money in large quantities for research, development and new materials is in short supply, and there is no pressure to improve on what is already regarded as being satisfactory and "cutting edge".

..... inclined towards ruthless thuggery towards anyone that offended him. In his nightmares, he was in his Drifter, when he was attacked with high velocity rifle fire from the ground, from an opposing Moorabbistan street gang.

But the nightmare ended with him diving the Drifter (avref) towards the gang, and scattering them as he fired from the cockpit (avref) with his trusty .40 cal S&W, recently stolen from a bashed VicPol officer.

At that point, he woke up sweating and crying out Turbos name. Turbo convinced him it was all a dream, and that no-one was going to shoot him out of the sky once he got the Drifter (avref) fully operational.

But Benny had real-life dreams - big real-life dreams. He saw himself as a leader in the African RA field, with an aviation degree specialising in aerodynamics.

He saw himself leading those cheerfully willing, backyard African RA homebuilders, into new designs that didn't rely on parts scrounged from 1962 model Toyota Tiaras, nor engines scrounged from cement mixers, and antique portable gensets.

He saw himself as leading the wave of new African kit-built designs, which would take the world by storm, with advanced aerodynamics, and advanced engines, and advanced airframe designs, made from new lightweight materials, all of Somali origin.

But the main problem Benny had, one of adequate money. As a result, to fast track his career, he had started up various clever scams (because you can't get anywhere as a Somali without a scam generating cash), and a profitable drug importation business, which he ran at arms length from an office in the Cook Islands, staffed by a corrupt accountant.

He had perfected a number of profitable phone scams and phishing scams, all relying on the fact that people love easy money in large quantities - or they're fearful of the ATO.

The ATO scam was exceptionally successful, particularly when he concentrated on those driving expensive new cars, when they were reportedly on the dole.

But amongst all this fast-tracking of his life aims, something was still missing from Bennys life. The one thing he greatly desired, was.......

One has to be careful when making future predictions, because when one is doing so, one can be completely blindsided by technological advances that come out of left field, which technological advances can be quite revolutionary.

I have a copy of the (American) Peoples Almanac from 1975, and it has an entire chapter devoted to future predictions (going past year 2000) by acclaimed seers, scientists, engineers, religious leaders, and many industry leaders.

It's quite amusing to read now, how the vast majority of these "experts" got all their predictions seriously wrong. Only one person predicted something similar to the Internet, to be in operation by year 2000.

Not one of them foresaw the collapse of Eastern Bloc Communism, none predicted or foresaw the pulling down of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of Germany.

Many forecast personal flight vehicles, none of which has come to pass. Numerous predictions saw world wars between China and the U.S., or Russia and the U.S. in the 1990's and early 2000's.

Only one forecaster predicted Chinas rapid rise to a global power in the 1990's to early 2000's period. Not one predicted the rise of battery power for energy, and not one predicted the invention and universal use of smartphones.

Shades of the 1964 film, "Fate is the Hunter"!

Ernest K. Gann was reported as being so disappointed with the film based on his book, that he demanded his name be removed from the credits.

But he failed to realise the film would go on to be played repeatedly on TV, and the removal of his name deprived him of substantial income from the TV re-runs.

The rather unbelievable design of the aircraft in the film was apparently because no aircraft manufacturer would co-operate with the making of the film, and no manufacturer wanted any of their designs to be displayed in the film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate_Is_the_Hunter_(film)

I cannot believe, no-one has noticed, or said anything yet, about what is wrong with the entire picture!!!

You NEVER stand on any part of the Landrover panels or bodywork! These are Aluminium panels, and they will buckle, just with a stray tennis ball landing on them!!

Those men should be charged with neglect and wilful damage to MOD property!!

The wiggly centre line is designed to match your track, as you swerve viciously from side to side up the runway in the permanently savage crosswinds.

Red - Here's one Easy Raider crash story (in the U.K.) you may be able to take something home from.

https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aaib-investigation-to-creasey-rj-easy-raider-j2-2-2-g-cbkf

CASA wrote up a report on MAC's in Australia in May 2004. The study was based on the timeline 1961 to 2003. It appears no other CASA study on MAC's in Australia has been done since 2004.

Note that 78% of the recorded MAC's, occurred "in or near the circuit area".

https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/36828/Review_of_midair_col.pdf

LtF - I was only going on the information provided on the website below. It may be out of date.

https://www.myskills.gov.au/RegisteredTrainers/Details?rtocode=22488

.... the same oncoming appearance as a B767, right after touchdown (avref). However, despite this, the size differences ensured that there was rarely a time when an oncoming Mk IV Cortina was mistaken for an oncoming B767.

However, the exception to this, was when Cappy went driving in the Jag, and forgot his driving glasses.

In a case of severely mistaken identity, plus some mind fogginess (reportedly due to early-onset dementia) on Cappys behalf - he forgot where he was, thought he was at the controls of his Jab on takeoff (avref) - and mistook the oncoming Cortina with oblate spheroid wheels, for a B767 landing (avref) in front of him.

He screamed out some fruity epithets, grabbed futilely for a non-existent microphone, and swerved off the road into a ditch - as the Cortina driver roared blithely past.

"You XXXXXXX XXXX!" screamed Cappy to no-one in particular. "What are you doing on MY runway?? I've already .....