How the Soviets picked up a Sidewinder for under $80

And Deutsche Bundespost almost lost it…

The full story: War is Boring

That the Soviet-made R-3S air-to-air missile — better known in the West by its NATO-designation AA-2 Atoll — is a copy of the AIM-9B Sidewinder, originally developed and manufactured in the USA, is relatively well-known.

How it came to be … isn’t so well-known. It involved the mail.

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Air transportation services were making mistakes back then at least as often as they make them nowadays, and thus Ramminger’s parcel first traveled from Frankfurt via Paris to Copenhagen, then back to Düsseldorf, before finally reaching Moscow – 10 days late.

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Missing since September 3rd 1942

Via: Missing since September 3rd 1942 and Les souvenirs de guerre de Gérard Pelletier

Missing but never forgotten

Source https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=1535

Missing while on air to sea firing practice.
Fl/Sgt. Joseph Pelletier was classed as ‘missing, believed killed’ along with his pilot on the 03rd September 1942. Defiant N1804 had been on an air to sea firing practice which failed to return. The Royal Observer Corps reported the aircraft crossing the coast at the south end of Druridge Bay, Northumberland (south of Amble) at 15:53 hrs. A search was instigated but apart from a patch of oil on the sea no wreckage trace of the crew were found. Fl/Sgt. Joseph Alphonse Jean Gerard Pelletier R/53763 RCAF – air gunner and Polish pilot, 32 year old, F/O. Stanisław Józef Sowiński P-0151 from Nowy Sacz, Poland missing – believed killed.

 

Courtesy https://www.facebook.com/color.praeterita/

About the artist

Hi, I’m Harry and I’ve created this page to showcase my efforts in colouring old black/white photographs. Just for fun!

Biography
I’ve long been interested in history, especially that of WW2 aviation, so after coming across the likes of communities like Colourising History and a variety of very talented artists, I decided I’d like to try my hand at this.
I do this for fun: I get a sense of satisfaction when I finally complete an image, but what I really like is how a coloured image can make the history it shows somehow more real… or perhaps more ‘relevant’ would be a better term as I find it makes said history easier to connect with. A colourised photo can remind us that the portrayed person isn’t just some distant, long dead curiosity but was once a living, breathing human being just like you and I.

Collection Gérard Pelletier

 

Not so bonza Ghostrider, the pattern is full

The Australian counterparts to Maverick and Iceman.  Or would that be Icebloke?

Source: Melbourne hawks in review

Here we see a pair of McDonnell Douglas A4G Skyhawks of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm 805 Squadron (VF-805) coming in low and hot over the RAN’s only operable aircraft carrier of the time, HMAS Melbourne (R21) sometime in the 1970s.

While the RAN FAA traces its lineage back to the Great War, it was only after WWII that it was able to stand up fixed-wing carrier squadrons, flying Hawker Sea Fury’s in Korea. After a brief interlude in Sea Venoms, 805 Squadron picked up their Seahawks in 1968.

The two ‘Hawks shown above were part of 21 A-4s operated by the RAN between 1967-84 with #887 eventually transferring to New Zealand from where she was sold in 2012 to Draken International (where she still flies as a contract aggressor in Florida). As for #888, she crashed in 1979 but her pilot, a U.S. Navy aviator on exchange duty, was rescued.

The Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver

A semi-automatic revolver is something I’ve been fascinated by ever since I got a copy of Ian V Hogg’s Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World’s Firearms somewhere around 7th or 8th grade. 

I lugged that book around in my book bag for almost the entire school year and tried to read through it anytime I had a free moment.  This was in the mid-80s so no SWAT teams were called out because a kid had a gun book at school.  Considering the books and magazines I carried and read at school (no porn!) I can only imagine how many suspensions I would have racked up today but I digress…

As usual, Ian at Forgotten Weapons gets to play with the coolest things

 

But it’s a dry heat…

At 0700 it’s 80*F with humidity to match.  Today should top out around 97*F but we haven’t cracked 100*F yet this year.  Just another north Texas summer.

These guys didn’t have as much humidity to deal with but a dry heat is still hot.  Add in a little breeze and it’s like standing in front of a blow dryer or convection oven.

Crusader Mk II 14 July 1942, possibly around El Alamein

A Humber Mk II armoured car in the Western Desert, 14 July 1942.

Q: Why do the Brits drink warm beer?

A: Refrigeration by Lucas

Less than 24 hours before the 24 Hours!

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is nigh upon us!

The fine work of Andy Blackmore of http://www.spotterguides.com  You can download the latest version of the Dunlop 2017 Le Mans Spotter Guide HERE (three page PDF).

Full 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours entry list

Trying to watch it last year was frustrating because it seemed Fox looked for any excuse they could find to preempt the coverage.  I finally found a live stream on YouTube so I watched the race on he computer.  This year, if Fox tries any funny business I have a Fire Stick, the YouTube app and I’m not afraid to use them…

Per roadandtrack.com the broadcast schedule will be:

· June 17 – FS1 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM
· June 17 – FS2 1:00 PM to 1:00 AM (June 18)
· June 17 – FS1 1:00 AM to 9:30 AM (June 18)
· The entire race is streamed live on FOX Sports GO

I’ll keep an eye out for YouTube live streams just in case.  Once I find a good stream to follow, I’ll post that up as well.

UPDATE 1 –  From the Ford Performance Channel on YouTube: 2017 Le Mans 24 Hour – LIVE Ford GT Onboards and Garage Cam

UPDATE 2 – I finally figured out how to use the FOX Sports GO app on the Fire Stick.  That may be the only way to fly

Enjoy and happy racing!