Cymru/Wales Airshow 5th-6th July 2025.

 The annual Swansea Bay/Bai Abertawe 2025.

Its more of the same, but there will be what can make it and its free, drawing some 250,000 people to the city of Swansea and there is plenty more to see on the ground as well as food and a funfair I think?

The Rad Arrows will probably be the high point of the weekend, with many modern and classic aircraft also appearing, entertainment from the sky walkers and parachute team will be exciting too!

One hopes that the weather will be good and not to hot and that people keep their bags safe from light fingered folk, while not lighting and leaving barbecues on the beach, taking home rubbish and just having a good time?

Trump is shutting down Musk?

 Happy and a Peaceful New Year 2025!

Trump is not for Electric?

Wow it looks like all that money that Musk has invested in Trump is going nowhere and his dreams may be coming to naught with the gas guzzling new President and the automobile is to stay on for another while!

European reality is moving still for the electric future and perhaps Musk will open a European plant for his cars and trucks and take a piece of the market off the Chinese, but one has to wonder what Trump might make of that?

In recent weeks many electric powered projects have been cancelled in Europe in relation to flight and this may be in relation to U.S. sales of the types and heavy U.S. tariffs, but it might also be that conventional bio-fuels are more reliable than all electric?

Electric power flight!

 Still early days?

There are many designs and concepts out there and the few that are operating are still classed as very unstable and dangerous, but as time moves on better engines will be developed and some aircraft will make it to the civil market on the air taxi scale two-four passengers?

Embraer is leading the way with the possibility of commercial aircraft within the next ten years, while several others are moving into combination powered aircraft, just like hybrid automobiles, but the development of new lighter carbon materials is opening the door for some serious models to come to the fore?

Meanwhile the drone is now at its current height of being militeriesed, as seen in the Ukraine on both sides, but they have limited range still and one is only seeing old NATO models being used on the battlefield, rather than anything that is really new.

The future may see drones being used as AI driverless cars in the future and that will be something of a change?

A year on and Russia is winning!

 Ukrainian Bragging?

It is unlikely that the Ukraine will beat Russia in a war of any kind, since the deployment of the hypersonic Sukhoi SU-50 and its variant's will obliterate any western aircraft that might be deployed against it and what the west is providing Kiev in now old stock?

Russia has raced ahead in the field of hypersonic and the United States has lagged behind, due to financial crises that has plague the states since the end of the era of President George Bush.

These new types can our run and gun any other aircraft and if the U.S. and Europe were to deploy the good tech such as the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning and the Typhoon, Swedish JA-27, they still would be no match for this unique aircraft.

Worlds top five ever produced civil Aircraft

 DC-3/C-47, Boeing 727/737 series, Airbus A320 series and the Cessna -172.

These are the top five produced aircraft in the civil realm, the Douglas DC-3 was introduced in 1935 and over 20,000 were built as the C-47 between 1939-45 and under license in Russia and China were up to another twenty-thousand where also built?

This mostly wooden transport was used widely after 1945 up to the 1990's by some world air forces for parachute training and counter measures as in South-Africa and Israel respectively.

With the advent of the Jet age Boeing has held the market with the 7 series fleet, but only the 727 and 737 were the most ever built of any of their types, today possibly the 777-787 may catch up. Domestic flying was popular in the U.S. between 1960 and 1980 so both types met the need 1700 to 23,000 have been built, with many 727-200 today still flying as private jets!

The Airbus A320/218/19 and the new neo versions are now taking the market off Boeing for the 21st Century, these types have a wide range of seating to distance and they are being purchased at a tremendous rate by up and coming nations.

Last the Cessna-172 4 seat light aircraft has held its ground in the aviation world since it was introduced in 1947. Used in the liaison role it has succeeded where many similar types have failed, it is used both as a civil and military supply, postal, and air ambulance as well as missionary work in Africa and Indonesia!

No Air shows this Year!

COVID-19 cancels large Crowds?

This new crown virus is ending social interaction for us humans, unless one is ignorant and risks catching it or just does not believe that it is really real!

Sometimes one finds that over the years here in Swansea since 2007 the Wales National Air Show has become a bit boring with nearly the same aircraft and displays showing up or not?

But then it is free and when events are free, one does not get to see the best of aviation on the ground and in the air! Making these shows more of a recruiting ground for the armed forces wither you like that or not?

Warships? Part-Two.

Aircraft Carriers, Helicopter cruisers and Other.

The world of war shipping is very extensive in the last one hundred years we have moved from big guns to missiles defence systems and the role to mine the seas and have torpedo tubes have all been incorporated into several designs large and small!

The aircraft carrier one would like to think came with the arrival of the aeroplane, but new data has revealed that ships fitted with hot air balloons though limited were prevalent in the 19th Century.

Today there has been a need to save money and to multitask war ships with helicopters, jump jets and now drones both aircraft and rotor and as we move on this is much cheaper and safer in the long term with the microchip and satellite communications?

The U.S. perhaps leads the world in nuclear powered vessels followed by Russia, the U.K., France, China, Japan, Australia, India, Thailand, Italy, Spain and Brazil?

Aviation Zigzags?

Radon Scanning or map Making?

It perhaps will not be admitted by the governments, why aircraft are mapping for Radon leakage in the middle of a pandemic, but this is a fact that we are dealing with radioactivity in the atmosphere and the first thing that troubles that is radon gas leaking out of the ground!

Map making could be an added need especially over the populated areas of the country and the need to get accurate mapping in our times of high criminality and terrorist activity?

There are many areas of the world that have radon gas veins and in the event of a nuclear explosion, large amounts of this gas are released from the ground causing exposure to skin and body cancers!

Pollution levels have recently been discovered to effect this SASR-COV2/Covid-19 outbreak and the probability of ending fossil fuel burning is high on the agenda after this quarantine ends?

Russian Armour!

Upgrades and new Equipment?

Russia is advancing at an alarming rate with their armour, aircraft, ships and missiles far more advanced than the U.S. claims! Already Turkey, Saudi-Arabia and Iran with China have some of the best systems on the market in modern warfare and sadly the U.K. and NATO are getting left behind if there was an outbreak of hostilities?

We do not get to see as much as was claimed that we saw forty years ago during the so called, 'Cold War! But many upgrades have been made to armoured cars and APC's while missile and drones are much of a closed book to the west today?

Aviation on the other hand boast much new aircraft with hypersonic speeds, while the U.S. administration tells lies and Britain's 'Aurora has been a bit of a damp squib ie Novichok and the Salisbury business?

Electric Power!

Already Operational?

The electric engine is now well into progression to begin the replacement of the Diesel which has been very faithful both in locomotion and shipping and this is were some of the first replacements are being built, designed and are operational!

The world of Aviation is also seeing many new aircraft concepts and a great desire to have something up and running in the near future? Many experimental aircraft are on the cards, but this remains a limited to civil aviation while the military are still burning fossil fuels in both aircraft and helicopter fleets!

The automobile has also taken off from hybrid vehicles to battery and full electric and because bus and delivery fleets are coming into service, many ordinary folk want their own! It is not known yet how much all of this is reducing carbon emissions in towns and cities, since many young people and children are still dying from chronic respiratory failures from breathing in carbon monoxide?

Happy New Year to one and All!!

BBC 4 and Plane Spotting?

Three nights of Boredom!

One has to say thanks to my dad, who at age seven introduced me to aircraft spotting and identification, because after watching John Snow last week I would not bother taking up the hobby today!

Wither you film of photograph or just watch with binoculars and note with pencil and pad it is a great hobby to learn many things that might be one day invaluable, if we were in a war situation?

Apart from that its a worth while hobby and there is plenty to see, if you just take your time and look up? 

One was disappointed with the lack of types and no mention of the Dreamliner along with some of the new types, perhaps time was not on their side?

Getting good aircraft guides and registration books with tail colours and a good camera with easy access to You Tube, if not similar platforms is today's forte. 

There are many others aspects to this hobby and that of radio communications between the tower and the cockpit, something that can be developed as the hobby progresses since many transceivers are expensive and difficult to operate

But just sitting and looking up with binoculars is as pleasurable since not everyone is photographic?

New airports and Runways.

Heathrow third Runway?

Pollution and plastics are big news at the moment in the media and so is the plans to build new airports and a third runway at Heathrow in West-London to take new types of aircraft such as the Boeing 777X, while the governments claim that they will have cut carbon emissions by 2050?

There is some serious hypocrisy being carried out here, by the airlines and the governments and it is not limited to one or two nations, but is going on worldwide. Air travel is growing, because people want o fly and smaller aircraft feeding smaller airports at this time is popular!

We expect that by 2030 some of the new electric powered aircraft will be starting to make a large impact on aviation travel and aircraft such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 747-8 and other large types will be at an end?

Communities are being destroyed in London and maybe in Kent in the U.K., while in China locals get no choices to the expansion programmes of their governments!

China Rising!

Taking the world by Storm?

Our western media is not telling us the truth about China in that it is in decline, when actually it is rising! For a nation to get into Space on its own, while landscaping the Spratly Islands, taking the world market with its Huawai phones and has a strong aviation industry is not very weak and in decline?

The truth about China is that it has never really had a decline of empire or nation status, it is the oldest probably in the world and a lot of technology that we use today originated there in the first place! Rockets, fireworks, paper, porcelain, printing blocks and much more!

Today China has five aircraft carriers larger versions of the one Russia sold to it for a planned Casino, it has several stealth jets designs on the go and the MC-21 commercial airliner and other military hardware that can bee seen at the annual North-Korean military parades.

Despite the jealousy of Europe and the U.S. China has made it to the back of the Moon and the west in all their claims do not seem to be much of an issue in relation to the Uighur Concentration camps, despite seventy-four years of hypocrisy over the last Holocaust?

Christmas Appraoches!

Where is Rudolph?

It Santa upgrading as the adds for toys claim this year to something more mechanical?

I don't think so, Rudolf  would not be happy with that since all of them operate in the Spiritual realm and have no need of our self-achieving technology!

But on the serious side the sleigh remains and essential piece of kit for travel on the ice, in many polar regions, with both helicopters and aircraft being fitted with them! 

We have progressed from wood to steel and many newer metals to improve stability and speed, the skiing sports industry has helped along with military requirements! Much more has actually been developed in Antarctica than on our more populated North-Pole.

One last word for you boring people out there who don't believe in Santa or Christmas, nothing for you this year????

African Technology. One.

Arms, civilian and Space!

Republic of South-Africa is the leading military industry complex on the continent of Africa and has a well established arms industry in aviation and vehicles as well as small arms! Atlas was responsible for the conversion and adaption of many aircraft and helicopters to meet local conditions and requirements in the long wars in Namibia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and Botswana.

French Mirage jets to an Israeli co-opt development programme, Aloutte-II/III conversions for bush operations. Many trucks and jeeps along with former British armour went under prolonged development to meet the local requirement from ANC resistance to full out war.

Today BAE Systems has an extensive military component in the RSA with a huge range of vehicles on offer.

Kenya and Nigeria meantime have extensive experience in rocketry and the launching of western satellites, which has encouraged them to develop their own ideas about going into space. 

Meanwhile both have also over the years developed their own drones for battlefield operation, perhaps more so Nigeria than any other.

Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia also have their own successful similar industries and with the advent of more and more computer technology a bright future to move away from small fire arms and artillery?

Norways Determination?

To be all electric Soon!

One nation is now so determined to go all electric within the next few years, will be the worlds first! It has started with a Lithium powered light aircraft and believes that within less than ten years world aviation will be on the brink of this new revolution?

This is not actually any longer far fetched since most vehicles can be converted, small shipping is in the progress and soon Diesel is to be defunct, so all other fossil fuels may be cut back seriously?

One has to wonder will there be any side effects of electricity such as static and other problems, that some people say that they suffer from living near overhead power lines? Will nature be effected by the vibration and static from electricity in our machines, such as shipping and aviation?

Wales National Air Show 2018?

Prelude to it!

2018 promises to be something different with a tribute to the Royal Air forces 100th year and the end of World War-I (1914-18). Both German and British bi-planes historical aircraft of the 1918 period are to fly with many other new exhibits, such as the Catalina flying boat of World War-II?

Much of the same will be here again as last year in military equipment and aircraft, obviously my request was ignored since this event must be well planned ahead or the items are lacking due to operational and national security issues?

If the weather holds up it is expected to be another fantastic year for the everyone concerned, blue skies will produce some spectacular pictures and quality filming!

One would encourage everyone to have ago, even some of the basic digital cameras can still produce some not bad films and memories of the day?

Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey!

Aviation Breakthrough?

The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is one of the most unstable flying machines to master today in aviation and yet it is now leading to many new ideas in relation to both the helicopter and the airliner coming together in one machine which will perhaps in the next one-hundred years change aviation for ever?

To have an aircraft to fly medium distances and then land like a hovering helicopter, would cut out the need for long runways and open the possibility of landing on individual pads per building? This is a short term goal, but it would not for some time replace long haul travel or freighter work and the need for large aircraft and long runways?

Today the United States have developed a newer and more stable version of this long time original, initially like the Osprey this version is for the military? But civil concepts and ideas are flowing of the design pages and so we may see a different sky scape in fifty years from now?

Electric Vehicles. Part-Two.

Everything Electric?

There is now a great push into the development of electric, because it is cheaper and much cleaner than burning fossil fuels? Perhaps one could say that electric is the new Diesel without any long term effects, that we yet do not know of?

By 2020 Britain and the EU hope that they will be at least 90% electric, wither this will happen is really uncertain, but the big cities will see more electric battery powered vehicles for delivery and possibly even taxis?

It is the development of aircraft, were we will see the biggest changes many designs along the with the American X-57 will appear this year and there will be improved changes to pollution levels? It is still not clear what will happen to the petrol engine and aviation fuel or how the conversion to neo will happen?

First all electric Plane!

New Israeli Design.

This new aircraft will be the first all electric powered, some would say that this cannot be a new idea? Idea yes their are many, but it would seem that this is to be the first to get off the ground with one type already built and ready for testing?

The reason is simple, the price of crude oil is becoming unpredictable to purchase because of so much fluctuation on the world markets? The other that we need to change our mind set in relation to climate change and global warming and find another available power source?

If this design gets flying and works, we will have entered a new revolution in aviation, which will go on to replace perhaps the continued need for fossil fuels apart from uranium for the Nuclear industry and Space flight?