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!

Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle

The ARV combined Vehicle?

It is strange how in modern warfare the Main battle tanks are being replaced by a newer battlefield multirole vehicle that combines the armoured car, and armoured personnel carrier with a smaller fire power than the tank and on at least six wheels.

The U.S. LAV and the Swiss MOWAG with the Finnish SISU are the bases of a new range of ARV, they being more an APC with addons?  Experience worldwide has seen the demise of the armoured car and the APC apart from para-military security operations and some UN work.

The ARV will not fully replace the MBT as yet, but robotic and drone vehicles of various types under development and secret trials probably will?

What this new generation of armour provides is the transportation of specialised troops, light artillery and rocket power combined with speed and maneuverability and much computerised and military satellite software for more accurate aiming of moving as well as static targets! 

The Peoples Republic of China, N-Korea and Russia have also developed their own versions along side their traditional fleets and newer versions of their mobile missile sytems?

Rumbling MARS?

Something Different!

Two recordings of so called Mars quakes have been released by NASA from their static probe, but both give the impression of trains running deep under the surface of what appears to be a dead dry cold world!

But it is reported that some scientists are now in discussion to find a way to explain the possibility that life has been found on another world in our Solar system and this may not be revealed for at least two years?

Meanwhile China claims that it has been successful in growing a root vegetable on the Moon designed to deal with the conditions of 1/6th gravity and if this proves true the possibilities for Mars is very high!

What humanity is after with both the Moon and Mars and further afield is minerals that are rare if not totally new to the Earth, so that we can replace plastic which remains an essential part of all robotic craft and spaceships?

PBY Consolidated Catalina

Best flying boat ever Built?

The Catalina was designed in the mid 1930's for the US Navy, but it came to its fore during World-War II (1939-45) when many thousands were built for operations in the maritime role in both the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific! Many were also deployed in the far-east, and Mediterranean in the main role as an anti-submarine hunter and with unrivalled success.

This flying boat was also used to transport special forces, medical evacuation and many needed gaps in aviation during the war years! It is not clear if any were ever used as commercial airliners during or after the war, but they continued mainly in the maritime and later fishery protections role. They were easy to fly and versatile and like by the pilots who flew them and this also applied to around the world?

After the war the over 7000 built found a new role with many nations outside the U.S. and these boats remained in that role right up to the 1990's? The Catalina does not surpass the Antonov An-2/4 in age and operational use, but it is the nearest to that target along with the Douglas DC-3/C-47!

Electric Locomotion!

Lack of investment?

Electricity costs and the infrastructure needed to build and maintain is not affordable to many countries around the world, in some cases even in the U.K. money is being held back in Wales to undercut the future of business and trade for unknown reasons?

Meanwhile the Diesel engine continues to rule the roost in the haulage of freight world-wide, because it is cheap and easy to work. Locomotive engines are improving all the time and the data on pollution varies from region to region worldwide, leaving one to wonder what is the real truth to the whole global warming situation!

Perhaps the taking off the road of trucks on to rail might cut the burning of fuel and relieve road traffic in towns and cities, but it is unknown if this is viable as it would logically seem to be?

95% Undiscovered!

Earth's Oceans?

We know more about Space than we know what is under the seas of Earth, only 5% has so far been explored by private civil scientific research and despite the more programming of the underwater most subs can only travel to a depth of 300 to 600 metres into the dark cold world of fluorescent fishes!

What the military know on the other hand remains mostly top secret, but what is known is that the Ocean floors are not flat and there are many mountain ridges that never break the surface of the waters? Some of these plate plateaus are the size of Australia, while others continue from the land masses into the depths!

New discoveries are being made everyday and we now know that many wales, and sharks can dive to great depths into this dark world. What lies below remains a mystery, apart from some strange stories of giant electric creatures heard and registered by Nuclear submarines miles down?

Fracking!

Is it Dangerous?

We moan a lot here in the U.K. about Fracking and the consequences of it causing minor Earthquakes or damaging the water table? Yet the same machinery is used across the United States and is bringing in millions of dollars to the U.S. economy meaning that they are no longer at the mercy of OPEC and the Middle-East oil reserves?

Russia does the same thing, using the same drilling machines, but it has the advantage of being the largest landmass in the world and has many resources! It to has the largest of everything now, oil, coal, petroleum and gas at least for the next 3-400 years and trade with China will insure a reliable customer!

Environmentalists do not always have the best intentions on the cards for the general population of Britain over they wanting to live in their idyllic world?

Happy New Year 2019!

Britain takes a lead in Electric Aircraft?

It would seem that the world is in a rush now to develop the electric engine in aviation and we here in the U.K. are making some leaps and bounds of our own? Norway, Poland, Israel and the U.S. have several of their own projects that we are hearing mush about, but so far they are limited in their viability!

Battery power has been around since the 19th Century, despite advances in Solar power cells and their adaption, the battery still remains the same in power outage and range! Space will perhaps help us replace the diesel engine, which has turned out to be more polluting than was once thought?

Yet about 85% of the worlds power is based on this engine alone, trains, trucks, farm machinery, construction and shipping! The task may look daunting but once electric engines are built on an industrial scale perhaps the world will be a cleaner place? 

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?

Gunboats to Fast Attack. Part-One.

The Smaller Navy?

One would like to think so, because big nations that have access to the seas or large lakes have Frigates, Corvettes and Minesweepers? But this is not so, the development of the Gunboat has matured into the FAC (Fast Attack Craft), these newer vessels are now usually armed with the latest missiles, radar and sonar. 

The orgins of the FAC comes from the Cold War years, when the Soviet navy required their patrol boats to work against mini-subs in shallower waters and also to intercept at speed unidentified targets. The patrol boats of World War II were good up to a point, but they were limited compared to what is available today. Many countries initially received these new FAC Soviet boats, such as Angola, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, North-Korea and Cuba and from their on they made their own adaptions to meet their own requirements.

It was the rich Persian Gulf nations in the middle-east that preferred the FAC ability to change platforms and this opened the door to both the United States and Great Britain, with a few other countries to provide the latest versions.

Military Trucks. Part-Two.

Ever Changing World.

Most of the trucks that we looked at in Part-One of this series of articles have all over the years been in the process of standardisation for their compatibility to fit the NATO Lockheed Hercules C-130 transport aircraft.

But now we will take a look as what is available around the world and how they have either been exported or licensed built in other nations since, the break up of the old Soviet Warsaw Pact block in the 1990's. 

The Czech Tatra T815 Kolos has been exported to India, while the 6X6 Tatrapan Armoured car was developed for the Slovak army.

Brazil is to soon replace its ageing Engesa EE-50 truck and variants, while it is still in Service in Angola. Western Star is the main producer for the Canadian armed forces, while the Austrian Styr is built in Canada under licence.

Construction Vehicles. Part-One.

Roads, Rails and Homes.

Where ever you live in the world today, you will come across some form of vehicle or machine being employed to help, support and construct. The construction machine has existed since the days of moving large stone blocks to developing cranes, these machines where not motorised as today. 

But then we had to start some were to progress forward to today. Mechanical diggers, JCB types, Tractors in all sizes, cement mixers, Tarmac rollers, Bulldozers. Before you start to lay a railway line, the area has to be cleared by these conventional machines. Track laying is now done as a one piece pre-assembled unit, but it still needs to be joined.

The good old engineering vehicles, which are bi-passed by many railway film makers are perhaps more interesting than the locomotives and worth further study.

Animal Power.

'Two Ways.

Just becuase we live in the age of the machine, does not mean that our animals have become redundant so soon. The majority of what is termed 'the second and third world' continue to rely on horses, donkeys and oxen to do the work of expensive machine alternatives.

Romania and Bulgaria are in the news at the moment, because Europe is worried of an immigration influx. But in these countries animals are seen pulling and hauling loads, yet every home has their own car. People want to travel far, for entertainment and travel.

The future also holds the concept of mechanical animals, which are under development for various military forces world-wide. Many people are using animal waste to power vehicles and generation, as an cheaper alternative energy source.

London Transport.

The Route Master Replacement.

They have called it the Boris bus, after the Mayor of Greater London Boris Johnson. Some have called  it 'the toy town bus, apart from other things. London Transport did replace 'Old Faithful' with the Mercedez bendy bus, but over time it has had teething problems in traffic and taking corners.

Every city, wither in the UK or in any country needs a iconic symbol for their respective transport networks. We had the famous red bus, the route master, now we may have just a longer version of it.

The glass stairwell was designed in such a way as any assaults on passengers by others would be seen from the outside. This part of the bus was always a problematic area.