20th Century
The Spitfire, of course, Part 2
A couple of years ago I wrote an article here concerning the design of the Spitfire and questioned its status as the best fighter of WWII. I mentioned in that article a follow up piece [more…]
RAF
Fiction
War Crimes Chapter 5 – Edge, This Sporting Life
War Crimes Chapter 5 The Regiment moved from Northern Ireland to Cyprus in 1991 and in the September, an extremely promising fly-half, Lance-Corporal Edge was selected to play for the 3rd Infantry Brigades rugby tour [more…]
Fiction
The Rendezvous
It had been dicey over the Big City. The flak had been murderous on the run-in and the radar predicted, master searchlights seemed to have had an unnerving accuracy that night. You could tell the [more…]
Human Interest
20th Century
Address to Legion lunch 5th June 1994 at the Jameson Hotel
-1.- Thanks for introduction. Originally suggested review of OVERLORD. Broad coverage of the operation is not feasible in a talk of this sort so I won’t attempt it, except to quote something that was said at [more…]
America
Iran Seizes British Flagged Tanker
I write this at 2015 on Friday 19th July, so by the time you read this things may have developed further. Right now the breaking news is a few hours ago the British flagged tanker [more…]
20th Century
The Spitfire, of course
Ask anyone from the general public to name a great aeroplane or a great British fighter of WWII, and chances are they will say, without hesitation, “The Spitfire of course.” If you ask why you [more…]
Peace
It’s time to take a couple of minutes for quiet contemplation
Dedicated to all the men & women of the British Armed Services, especially those killed in the line of duty since WW1 and the countless numbers injured and disabled defending our country and way of [more…]
Engineering
Development of the Merlin Engine
The Rolls Royce Merlin was a V12, 27 litre engine and originally was a private venture so was financed entirely by Rolls Royce and its backers. Designated the PV12 it followed the Rolls Royce trend [more…]