Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
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"The Canadian Vickers Velos was essentially designed by Canada’s Department of National Defence, reminding one of the maxim “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.” (HistoryNet archives)
CANADIAN VICKERS VELOS
The Velos was at least awarded one accolade: It is generally agreed to have been the worst airplane ever made in Canada. Resembling a winged breakfast nook or perhaps a flying trolley car, the Velos was designed to be a photo-survey airplane, presumably with the shooter standing in the glassed-in front porch and snapping away with a big Speed Graphic on a tripod.
The Velos was essentially designed by Canada’s Department of National Defence, reminding one of the maxim “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.” The only Velos ever built flew so badly that Vickers company pilots referred to it as the “Deadloss.”
Despite its test pilot’s report that the Velos was “most unsuitable for any operations carried out by the Royal Canadian Air Force,” it spent exactly one year flying for the RCAF before sinking at its moorings during a November 1928 storm. Had Canadian Gordon Lightfoot been alive, he might have written a song about it." Hmm, possibly fraged by it's pilot?
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/05/18/the-13-all-time-ugliest-airplanes/
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HMS Dreadnaught and HMS Victory.
HMS Dreadnought seen here at her homeport of Portsmouth in 1907.She became so popular with visitors,authorities constructed a special widened walkway (to accommodate bustle wearing female guests) from her gundeck to her bridge roof.
HMS Dreadnought seen here at her homeport of Portsmouth in 1907.She became so popular with visitors,authorities constructed a special widened walkway (to accommodate bustle wearing female guests) from her gundeck to her bridge roof.
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The Ansaldo MIAS... Too small to be a Tankette. Maybe a Tankini?
Two prototypes made in 1935. One with paired MG's, one with a light mortar. A single operator was expect to drive it, as well as load, aim, and fire the weapons, while shuffling along behind it in a crouch at the whopping top speed of 5mph forward, 3mph in reverse.
The Italian High Command politely declined, and it never went past prototype.
Two prototypes made in 1935. One with paired MG's, one with a light mortar. A single operator was expect to drive it, as well as load, aim, and fire the weapons, while shuffling along behind it in a crouch at the whopping top speed of 5mph forward, 3mph in reverse.
The Italian High Command politely declined, and it never went past prototype.
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HMS Dreadnaught and HMS Victory.
"Ships of oak, men of iron".
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The Ansaldo MIAS... Too small to be a Tankette. Maybe a Tankini?
Two prototypes made in 1935. One with paired MG's, one with a light mortar. A single operator was expect to drive it, as well as load, aim, and fire the weapons, while shuffling along behind it in a crouch at the whopping top speed of 5mph forward, 3mph in reverse.
The Italian High Command politely declined, and it never went past prototype.
Only the Italians, and perhaps the French, would attempt to militarize Chuck Berry's duckwalk technique.
HMS Dreadnaught and HMS Victory.
Thats a really cool comparison!
"HMS Dreadnought seen here at her homeport of Portsmouth in 1907.She became so popular with visitors,authorities constructed a special widened walkway (to accommodate bustle wearing female guests) from her gundeck to her bridge roof."
I updated original post #20383 on page 2039 with the caption.
The sub appears to be a B class sub. B1 to B11. Most likely B1 as she was stationed at Portsmouth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_B-class_submarine
Home waters
By the beginning of World War I, B3, B4, and B5 were at Dover and were deployed on a line between Calais and the Goodwin Sands to protect the passage of the British Expeditionary Force to France. Each submarine would sail from Dover before dawn to be secured at the buoy marking their billet at dawn, the idea being that they would be able to slip from the buoy when they spotted an enemy ship and manoeuvre to attack. That this was not a good tactic was proved when B3 narrowly avoided a torpedo from a German U-boat on the morning of 2 October. Nonetheless the scheme was successful and the BEF crossed to France without loss.[9]
B1 remained at Portsmouth for local defence and training duties through 1916 before being paid off. B3 and B4 were transferred to Ardrossan by the end of 1915 to relieve two even more obsolescent A-class boats on local defence duties in the Firth of Clyde. B3 was transferred to Leith during mid-1916 where she was fitted with an experimental hull-mounted directional hydrophone system and later sent to Rosyth in 1917 where she was used as either a target to train anti-submarine forces or experimental work for the rest of the war. B4 was paid off before the end of 1916. B5 moved to Portsmouth during 1915 where she too was paid off before the end of 1916.[10][11]
B6 in the Solent; note the compass binnacle mounted on the quarterdeck. A canvas screen has been rigged on her small conning tower platform.
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Fat girls on the beach, Ireland, 1943:
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Naval gun on a SP mount.
USS Stout after 215 days of self isolation at sea during COVID19. Looks like the Flying Dutchman.
Viewed from a distance, I'd bet our country would look about the same.
Grizz
