Gallipoli Tribute

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Braid
At this stage I am afraid I am as much in the dark as you on that!
I only went down to see the Anzac but took a Pic of a few Others whilst there!
Will possibly ask one of the Girls when I see them again!
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

There are two similar here in Melbourne being fitted out, why the take off bow, no one is saying!

[Ivan Cloherty]

As far as I understand it, they were also designed to accommodate VTO (harrier type) also which depending upon bomb load do sometimes need a run at it, but as usual I stand to be corrected

[j.sabourn]

Most people think that it is always the case for helicopters to ascend vertically, this is not always the case, there is a large fuel saving for a helicopter to take off with a short run like a fixed wing aircraft. JS

[Braid Anderson]

John, many helicopters nowadays have short stub wings, usually for mounting weapons, but they also supply lift. In order to supply lift they must be travelling in a forward direction to cause airflow over the stub wings. To gain forward speed quickly it is necessary to tilt the whole machine forward, in which tricky attitude the helicopter stays close to the ground, which gives the impression of a ground roll. In fact the rotors are already carrying the weight of the machine. The sudden upward jump on a ski jump would probably then be more of a hindrance than a help, as it would produce downward air pressure on the rotors. This is all just my personal speculation, not a technical treatise!

[Braid Anderson]

Back to HMAS Canberra, which strongly reminds me of a slightly smaller version of a command ship I designed while in the army(!) But mine also had cruise missile silos flanking the after dock, and was specifically designed to take Harriers. At that time the Hawker P1127 was called the Kestrel, and had just made its first cross country flight to Boscombe Down for testing, but I had great faith in it. I actually had the cheek to submit my detailed drawings and specification to the Admiralty. A couple of weeks later I received a visit in my married quarter at Tidworth from the men in trenchcoats - they really were wearing trench coats! They reminded me that I was bound by the Official Secrets Act; confiscated my spare drawings, spec etc; and finally informed me that my design had been allocated an official Admiralty Study Number.
PS I was originally supposed to be a fighter pilot in the Navy. Four of us, out of the 50 selected candidates who entered, emerged successful at the other end two weeks later, after exhaustive testing at RAF Hornchurch and HMS Sultan. I received orders to report to Devonport on 5th January 1958. Just before Christmas I received a letter from their Lordships stating that due to a change in Defence policy my services would no longer be required. This was Duncan Sandys' notorious Defence White Paper which said there were to be no more manned fighter planes for the RAF or Navy. Besides me, the Saunders Roe rocket plane, naval version of which I had been destined to fly, was also cancelled. Along with the P1154, which was the P1127's (Harrier) big brother, twice the size, twice the speed, and twice the range (2 x 27 = 54!). That was when I ran off to the Merchant Navy. Now, more than half a century later, what do we have? Manned fighter jets and a ship that looks like mine. Talk about deja vu!

[j.sabourn]

During the working period of my life in the offshore Industry in Oz, used helicopter transport like most people used to use the 49 or whatever bus in the UK. Nearly always taking off from an airfield or in the middle of a field with a couple of 40 gallons of fuel being the only thing there to make it recognizable as a heli staging post, was always a running take off to get airborne. I asked a pilot about this and that was his answer , it was better to take off that way as saved on fuel and also less wear and tear on the aircraft itself. This was also on different types of helicopter. Although also worked with the RN with naval transfers their access to ship was by harness as ship during my time did not have the facilities for landing aircraft. Most seamen nowadays have to do courses re helicopter landings and taking off as they are the ground crew on the ship as be it for the transfer of passengers to and from. Most the same as self had to go for Helicopter landing officer, and had to converse with pilot, giving a red or green deck, give weights of all luggage and weight of each passenger, so he could work out his fuel burnout re taking off and on passage. The wind direction and force Course and speed of ship, heli pad was always examined before landing etc etc etc. In the offshore Industry the pilots of such aircraft to keep their licences up to date have to make so many landings at night per month as well as by day. If there are any on site holding a Pilots licence for such aircraft would be very able to tell one the regulations as they live by the Safety Code. Maybe the curved overhang on the bow on these new ships may have something to do with weather factors, viz. the wind for example. When the bulbous bows on ships first came out there were all sorts of theories about the same, now it is common knowledge, and is more rare to see a ship without a bulbous bow. Cheers JS

[Doc Vernon]

Just a short News snippet on HMAS Canberra yesterday in Sydney!

https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/video/...ended-mission/

Capture 12.JPG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruiY-RUXtWM#t=16 For info on that Front of her!

[Braid Anderson]

I'd love to know Doc, but my computer has no sound card. Can be quite frustrating.

[Braid Anderson]

Back to Kemal. Kemal was somewhat of an enigma. A century ago, in a Moo Slim environment, he strongly believed in a secular State. He actually had fair hair and blue eyes, and was born in Macedonia. His biographer described him as ‘a democrat by conviction and a dictator by temperament.’