Here’s a bit of a potpourri of stuff that I’ve accumulated over the last few days. In no particular order or significance.
1. Restored de Havilland Mosquito.
A group of aviation enthusiasts in New Zealand have recently finished a multi-year restoration of a a former RNZAF de Havilland Mosquito. The plane, famous for its fighter/bombing/reconnaissance/night fighting/tank busting/pathfinding exploits during WWII was and still is, one of the few warplanes of the modern era constructed primarily of timber, giving rise to its nickname, “The Wooden Wonder.” I do recommend that you read Edward Bishop’s story of the plane. Follow the link below.
“The Wooden Wonder” by Edward Bishop
A couple of weekends ago the plane flew for the first time in many years at Ardmore air force base in NZ. Co-incidentally, the same venue was, for many years, a road racing circuit and saw events such as the Tasman Series run at it until well into the 70’s. Here is the official video of that maiden flight.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-I4hZah_Pc&feature=g-all-u[/youtube]
There is an axiom in design that says that, if something looks right, then it probably is right, and, if ever a plane looked just “right” the Mosquito was it. I have a family connection to the Mosquito as well. Apart from being fascinated with all things relating to WWII aviation, my fascination with the Mosquito stems from the fact that my uncle Peter, my dad’s elder brother, worked at de Havilland at Bankstown Aerodrome during WWII and was responsible for sourcing and supplying the spare parts necessary to keep the planes flying against the Japanese in the Pacific theatre.
2. Be careful of Facebook scams
I inhabit the nether world of Facebook as you know. It is a fascinating place and on it have have made many wonderful friends, reconnected with many with whom I have lost touch, and derived hours of pleasure. One thing that does irk me, though, is the posting of ridiculous stuff for no apparent reason. Well, it seems that the people responsible for posting this pap have more than spare time on their hands. There is a more sinister and avaricious motive than simply posting stuff to annoy people. My thanks to one of my FB friends, Ian Anthony-Huntly for sharing this one. Worth reading.
Why “Liking” Facebook virals make criminals rich.
3. A ZX-10-powered Mini. Says it all really. Thanks to the fun people at visordown for this one.
4. From the “You could cut the atmosphere with a knife” department. Maverick Vinales, after spectacularly spitting the 17 year old dummy and walking out of his team at Sepang, has been persuaded that it probably wasn’t the best idea, career-wise and has issued a heartfelt apology to all concerned and pledged himself to working hard for the next two races with his Moto3 team to get the best result that they can before season’s end. The fact that he already has a two-year contract with the same team to run in Moto2 for 2013-2014 probably had a lot to do with his change of heart. There’s nothing that messes with your career path more than having to sit out two years while your lawyers spend the time staving off lawsuits. I do think that Maverick (an highly appropriate name in the circumstances) will have to do some crawling before they forgive and forget this one. Incidentally, he was named Maverick by his mum who was, apparently, a big fan of the Tom Cruise movie, “Top Gun.” There, that’s your trivia fix for today.
4. Closer to home, it’s the Australian Grand Prix this weekend. I was hoping to be covering the event for Motopod but Jules wanted to come to the meeting himself so I missed out 🙁 . Needless to say, I’ll be watching as a rampant Casey Stoner tries to win his 6th straight Aussie GP. He’ll have the added incentive of having had Turn 3 at Phillip Island circuit named after him during the week and also the patriotic crowd cheering him on in his 2nd last ever GP event. Southern Cross 10 will show extensive coverage (just turn the sound down except for when Steve Parrish is talking). 1130-1700 on Saturday and 1300-1700 on Sunday (AEDST) I’ll be watching. As Norm used to say in the “Life – be in it” ads, “Warm the set and cool the tinnies.”
5. Shadowfax T Shirts. As you can see from the banner at the top of the page, commemorative Shadowfax T shirts have been designed and produced. The first order has arrived, but, if you missed out, don’t fret. Message me with your preferences, size, number of shirts, etc, and I will include your details in the next order, yes there will be one.
6. Humour. Thanks to my good FB friend from Cleveland in Qld, this…