I like that bit about the Shorts Sealand. I did a search and the first thing was Warbirds of India - [Naval Aviation Museum, Dabolim, Goa]
Wonwings Diary-a blog with a difference.
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Wonwings diary-The Miles Magister ( Hawk Trainer 3 )Training aircraft.
The Small Air Force
MILES MAGISTER (HAWK TRAINER 3)
Made from the Frog kit but modified with new wheel spats made from milliput,the markings are for a pre-war Iraqi trainer aircraft seen here in more peaceful skies.
The Magister is one of those aeroplanes that looks better in some angles than others,for example this one.
Purring overhead over a desert airstrip,Miles Magister YI-GFH as supplied pre-war to Iraq.
"Magister" is Latin for "Teacher", "Tutor", or "Mentor", and represents a whole line of aircraft built by the Miles Aircraft company
The offices and factory were set up for wartime production of training aeroplanes at Woodley Aerodrome. This small airfield was the hub of operations for Miles Aircraft Ltd. between 1934 and 1947. One of their most successful products was the M.14 Magister, a single-engined basic trainer for the Royal Air Force.
Miles Aircraft Ltd. were known as a highly innovative company, with extensive research interests, including involvement in the British project to break the sound barrier in 1946. The company was granted over 100 patents during its short life.
A few examples survive today in flying condition including two at Old Warden aerodrome,Biggleswade in Bedfordshire.
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Wonwings diary-The Luftwaffe 46 Heinkel He.162 Projects.
The Small Air Force
LUFTWAFFE 46-WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN,THE SALAMANDER PROJECTS.
This is not fiction but historical fact,hard pressed to maintain a balance between performance and wing loading the Heinkel company sought to further develope the He.162 into a far superior aircraft,the straight wings were replaced with forward sweep examples thus giving far greater latitude to the centre of gravity,the clumsy double tail fins were replaced with an all moving 'V' tail,the fuselage and undercarriage remained the same,this particular project was one of many projected by Heinkel under the pressure of the demands of the Luftwaffe.
When the Americans occupied Germany they discovered underground factories usually hidden in forests producing a wide variety of aircraft,amongst these were examples of mock-ups and component parts used experimentally,if it had not been for the termination of war and the lack of vital oil resources then these projects would have been further developed into lethal weapons of exceptional performance for their day.
My scratch built projects of these important milestones by the Germans serve as a reminder of what things could have looked like if and when completed into a complete aircraft.
The sharply swept forward wing which would enable a larger and heavier engine to be fitted on the developed He.162
On approach the sweep forward looks quite pronounced giving a false optical effect of excessive dihedral
The larger wing planform can be seen here as the aircraft climbs out from Penermunde on a test flight
About the model-
Basic Revell kit fuselage and undercarriage,the wings and tail were made from laminated plastikard sheet,the enlarged engine assembly was made from balsawood treated with dope and talcum powder,rubbed down and painted.
To attain the slim aerofoil shape the plastikard was laid onto the bench and scraped until the desired effect took shapeComment
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Wonwings diary-A new addition to the fleet,the Extra 300 aerobatic aircraft
A neat little package arrived today at Wonwing towers from China,soon after opening the contents and after a few hours work she was all ready to get her into the air,but that will have to wait for the time being as it is blowing a gale outside and this little bird needs calm blue skies,so what do you get for just under a £100 ? well quite a lot actually and hardly worth buying the bits as separate units,I will fly her and fly her then one day strip everything out and put the gear into something else,you get a 5 channel mini receiver with mini crystal,3 sub mini servos,ESC and a powerful in-runner motor,4 channel transmitter with matching crystal,a 3-cell Lipo battery with its own charger with power cut-off,a spare propeller,spare gearbox for the motor,screwdriver,spare screws and a spare wing bolt, and the foam airframe which is not bad either.
The only mods that I made were to place some washers under the screwheads,re-adjusted the quicklinks and freed off one stiff wheel.
EXTRA 300 by Sapac
Extra 300 being rigged.
Note the massive ailerons for 3-D flying
Cannot wait to wring this one out
In-runner brushless motor provides the power with a massive 13 inch propeller
So there you have it a delightful well designed model, ready to loop,roll and prop hang and provide me with hours of quiet,clean flying fun,all that I need now is some calm weather.Comment
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Guest
That's a pretty impressive package for under 100.00 quid.
I have had a play with my foam Cessna since I got new batteries for it and I don't hold out much hope. When I operate the control surfaces the motor slows down!!
I will give it a blast when the weather improves and if it buries itself I won't have lost a fortune. Back to the Flying Styro 109 then! The trouble is that is going to take a bit of putting together and I am seriously short of time for that.Comment
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I have got another one on the way as well Richard,a Pitts Special biplane,getting ready for the spring and revamping my electric fleet for more aerobatic fun.
Have never heard of the motor slow down problem before ?
That's a pretty impressive package for under 100.00 quid.I have had a play with my foam Cessna since I got new batteries for it and I don't hold out much hope. When I operate the control surfaces the motor slows down!!
I will give it a blast when the weather improves and if it buries itself I won't have lost a fortune. Back to the Flying Styro 109 then! The trouble is that is going to take a bit of putting together and I am seriously short of time for that.
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Wonwings diary-R.A.F's elite under attack regarding training time allowed.
Air training for front line: 16 hours. For Red Arrows: 132
Pilots from the RAF's elite Red Arrows aerobatic team are allowed eight times as much flight training time as their frontline colleagues serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While Harrier, Tornado and Jaguar combat crews are limited to 16 hours a month in the cockpit on cost grounds, the nine pilots on the display circuit enjoy an average of 132 hours in the air and a further three in simulators.
Those hours do not include time spent by the Red Arrows flying at air shows in the UK and abroad.
The figures emerged from parliamentary questions asked by Mike Hancock,LibDem MP for Portsmouth South, and were confirmed by Adam Ingram, the ArmedForces Minister.
One RAF source said: "How can we claim to be stretched operationally when we can commit nine Red Arrows jets to the Sunderland air show and yet deploy only seven Harriers in support of our troops in Afghanistan?
While the display team are first-class pilots and great for PR, many of them wonder what the public thinks of a service which appears to put more effort into showboating than committing aircraft to the sharp end.
Since 1965, the Red Arrows have performed more than 4000 displays in 52 countries, including 90 in the UK and Europe this year.
The 12 Hawk jets used by the pilots are maintained by a 70-strong dedicated ground crew which travels with the squadron.
An RAF spokesman said: It would be unfair to compare the training needs of a display team flying in tight formation at high speed only a few feet apart with the hours needed to keep a Harrier or Tornado pilot up to scratch in retaining essential skills.
We would send more Harriers to Afghanistan if it was felt there was a need for more to support the ground forces there.
The bottom line is that the pilots all come from operational squadrons to begin with and will take the skills they learn back to the front line when their tour with the Red Arrows ends.
The 15 RAF Harrier pilots based in Afghanistan - two per aircraft and one reserve - flew 1188 sorties between January and September, including 513 in direct bomb or rocket attacks to help the Paras win pitched battles against Taliban insurgents last summer.
The aircraft remain at Kandahar military airfield while crews from the UK's two operational Harrier squadrons are rotated on tours lasting about four or five months. The seven Harriers represent almost 30% of the available jets.
Meanwhile, the Nato alliance is spending £30m a year to import bottled water for British, American, Canadian, Dutch and German troops battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan when it would cost less than £500,000 a time to set up local bottling plants.
According to the Afghan government, which is facing drought, crop failure and the need for international aid to feed more than three million of its citizens this winter, the expensive importation of drinking water is a symbol of the lack of international co-ordination in restoring the country's shattered economy.Comment
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Wonwings diary-How exactly do you capture enemy aircraft ?
Getting hold of Enemy Aircraft over the years.
The Department of Defense recently declassified details of an aggressor squadron run by the Air Force, that used real Russian planes. Why did they wait for nearly fifteen years after the end of the Cold War to do so? The answer - as always, was making sure it could do little harm. Getting possession of enemy aircraft is a delicate business, and can have a decisive effect. The recovery of a Japanese Zero fighter, lost in the Aleutians in 1942, enabled the United States to figure out how to defeat the plane that had been the scourge of the skies over the Pacific.
The current program primarily involved MiG-21s and MiG-23s, most of which were acquired through irregular means. Often they were acquired from defectors (like the MiG-15 acquired shortly after the Korean War and the MiG-25 flown to Japan in 1976). Other times, they were probably acquired via the black market.
Why get these when the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy already had programs like Red Flag and Top Gun? The answer lies in the aircraft themselves. Top Gun and Red Flag used American aircraft to simulate MiGs, and the approach worked, but they used planes like the A-4 Skyhawk and F-5E Tiger. While they were good at providing dissimilar air combat training, they had shortcomings. For instance, the A-4 was subsonic, and the F-5E was a full 835 kilometers per hour slower than a MiG-21. That's a lot.
Now, why keep the fact you have them secret? The answer is that airplanes, starting around the early 1960s, began to be much more than just engines and weapons. They began to rely much more on electronic equipment like radar, electronic countermeasures, and other systems. These are highly-classified systems - and knowing how a MiG's radar works makes it easier to jam.
This was why the fact we had these planes was kept secret. By getting information on the radars of these MiGs, the United States was able to ensure victories against countries that used these in the 1980s and 1990s, including Libya, Iraq, and Yugoslavia. This is still going on. In 1998, the United States bought 21 MiG-29s from Moldova. Ostensibly, it was to keep them from unfriendly hands. This force is roughly the size of one squadron.
Some of these were taken to the National Air Intelligence Center, where they will be dissected and the gear examined. This will give the United States an edge against countries that use the MiG-29, including Iran and North Korea.
The United States of America, though, has also been on the wrong end of this. After the fall of the Shah of Iran, several American-designed planes sold to Iran (including an F-14) found their way to Russia. At least one Pakistani F-16 has found its way to China as well. Countries have been acquiring each others' equipment in this manner for a long time. They will continue to do so, looking for an edge in the next war.Comment
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Wonwings diary-A Jaguar aircraft for preservation in Norfolk ?
Efforts are being made to keep one of RAF Coltishall's key pieces of heritage in Norfolk and prevent it being sold at auction.
The future of the non-operational Jaguar standing as gate guard by the main entrance is uncertain, but RAF bosses have pledged to do all they can to help keep it in the county.
No final decisions have been made about whether or not the aircraft will be put up for public sale, but officials are wrestling with a red tape quandary of justifying what they do with equipment bought with taxpayers money.
The aircraft stands as a permanent memorial to those members of the Jaguar force, both air and ground crew, who have lost their lives during the course of their duties.
Sqn Ldr Jason Hughes, station commander at RAF Coltishall, said yesterday-
My intention is to try and find a suitable location in Norfolk for this Jaguar, somewhere it will be cared for.
But this has to be done within the strict procedures which must be followed in terms of disposal of such equipment.
I am always optimistic and I will try my very hardest. What I want to avoid is a general sale.
There was also reluctance to leave the aircraft where it was because of concerns for its future, and the potential for vandalism.
Whatever decision is made, it is clear there is no immediate hurry. Although the site will close as an RAF base on Thursday, a small contingent will remain and it is not until February 16 the site could pass into new hands.
It is understood there are a number of potential parties in Norfolk who have been or still are interested in acquiring the aircraft.
Mark Fixter, chairman of the radar museum at RAF Neatishead, said: It would be nice to see it kept in this county as part of RAF Coltishall's heritage.
The radar museum has considered the possibility of displaying the aircraft.
However as our own long-term future remains subject to the success of the business case requesting gifting of our award-winning museum, we are simply not in the position to commit to a project of this scale at this time.
The Jaguar, which is a GR1 model and carries the number XW563, was one of eight prototype aircraft developed by the British Aircraft Corporation and Breguet of France, making its first flight in June 1970.
It acted as gate guard at RAF Bruggen in Germany from 1985 to 2001 before being moved to RAF Coltishall.Comment
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Wonwings diary-Guests and Friends models.
GUEST ALBUM
Below is the fine workmanship of my friends Roy & Rita Boyle from Warwick,Rita makes these super little miniatures in 'N' gauge utilising any type of material that she can get her hands on,the photographs hardly do justice to the amount of fine detail incorporated into these tiny dioramas.
The models measure only a few inches across and incorporate a lot of fine detail,the models show lots of imagination and skill.
Rita is well known on the model dolls house scene,and travels to America giving workshops
to those prepared to listen and watch how she creates these little miniatures and works of art,and that is what they are.
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Guest
Barry, please pass on our praise to Rita. Lovely models and beautifully made.
Does the train operate?Comment
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Wonwings diary-Back to school as we look at how the Jet Engine works
Wonwing recommends-A virtual journey though the innerds of a jet engine showing temperature,rpm,type of metals and the function of each second of air drawn into the engine,as it says in the sequence 'A second draws in enough air to fill a squash court'
Go take a look and educate yourself,you will enjoy this one,simply pull the red slider to the right and look at the visuals at the same time.Comment
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Guest
A fascinaing insight but what i'm unsure about is why the RPM varies.
Surely with all the blades attached to the same shaft the revs are constant throughout the unit.
I can see the linear velocity of the gas varying as it contracts and expands but not the RPM.Comment
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