Monday 29 June 2015

The Boys Are Back In Town





The male Marbled Whites have arrived in Toft Wood to mark out their turf before the females arrive, but they seem happy enough to share the same stems to roost on.  Some lovely cirrus clouds way up high.

Sunday 28 June 2015

Warm Enough for Butterflies




At last flamin' June is hot enough to bring out the butterflies:  a Ringlet and a Small Heath, and a bee in Toft Wood today. 

Thursday 25 June 2015

Long Melford





A visit to Melford Hall, which was very dark.  The Banqueting Hall (top) was interesting.  The church was enormous and had a Lady Chapel tacked onto the end - 'the only church in England that was not an abbey to have a lady chapel' said the notice.  

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Fleet Air Arm Museum 5





Concorde and a Bristol Scout, built in the south-west.  A Buccaneer with its nose-cone folded and the flight deck of Concorde G-BSST (002, the first British Concorde to fly) which is well laid-out by the standards of some 1960's cockpits.  

Monday 22 June 2015

Fleet Air Arm Museum 4





The Fairey Delta 2 is a mini-Concorde.  With a completely triangular wing, it was the first aircraft to exceed 1000 mph, doing 1132 mph on 10th March 1956.  Then it was fitted with Concorde's 'ogival' (wine glass) wing shape, narrow with sharp edges, and a droop snoot.  It also had the tall undercarriage Concorde used. 

Sunday 21 June 2015

Fleet Air Arm Museum 3





Research for the future Supersonic Transport (Concorde) in the 1950s was done in two halves: slow speed flight with a delta wing was explored with the Handley Page 115, so no one bothered to file down the rivets!  The black things on the wing leading edges are smoke machines, so that airflow can be studied.  The fast bit was done by the Fairey Delta 2, which is very smooth.

Saturday 20 June 2015

Fleet Air Arm Museum 2





Engines.  Bristol Centaurus 18 cyl. two-row radial with sleeve valves; production Bristol Siddeley Pegasus Harrier engine; chromed oil tank on this engine and a prototype Pegasus, which was tested upside down, as displayed. 

Friday 19 June 2015

Fleet Air Arm Museum 1





Some unique aircraft in this excellent museum.  MiG 15 (top); Fairey Delta 2; Handley Page HP.115 and Blackburn Buccaneer.

Thursday 18 June 2015

Boscombe Down Aviation Collection





With Martin, Lionel and Trevor to the West Country, the BDAC in a hangar at Old Sarum Airfield, two miles from Salisbury.  They have more than a dozen cockpits into which twelve year-old boys of any age may climb.  From top: Hawker Hunter F.6; Bristol Sycamore helicopter; Westland Wasp helicopter and BAC 1-11 airliner.

Salisbury





In the evening we walked into the city along the Avon (which had swans in it) and saw the Magna Carta barons (with attendant parking ticket machines) and the statue of The Walking Madonna in front  of the cathedral, which took only 38 years to build.  

Tuesday 16 June 2015

Soft Day at Home


You get home from a hard day's work and sit down with a cup of tea.  You nod off, and when you wake you're covered in soft toys.  

Monday 15 June 2015

More Racers




A red Alfa Romeo and an Austin Healey 100, the 2660cc engined model.

Sunday 14 June 2015

Snetterton





The middle of June and the circuit is still the coldest place in England.  The facilities are much more civilised than they used to be, and that makes a difference. 

Saturday 13 June 2015

Lakenheath Fen







An RPS visit to the Fen.  It was a misty day with rain and drizzle and not much avian action.  We had good views of the kingfishers at New Fen and the gull about to catch a fly.