Gliders!

 They were at their hey day during World War-II (1939-45).

During the D-Day landings these enginless birds, if they made it safely down were a God send to the operations to crush the Nazis in Northern France, carrying in weapons, men and essential equipment?

Both the American Jeep and the British Bren carrier with light artillery were the importance of the day, allowing troops to move fast ahead of the main divisions and their heavier armor

But many did fail and many lives were lost, but after all is said they did have their respective successes, as in comparison today the glider is more of a sporting craft, towed up and glides back down again allowing many people to experience real flight!

It is unlikely that the transport gliders will ever be used again, technology has moved to helicopters and now to drones and their aircraft equivalents?

Liaison Aircraft.

 Developed in 1945.

The four seat aircraft came too late at the end of world war-II, since the helicopter would replace it as was then thought, but this was proved untrue, when in the 1950's many nations developed their own and Cessna came to the fore with a series of types that met the role required.

Today the survivor of the class lays in the Cessna 172 and its variants around the world that fulfills many roles both military and civil and despite it being replaced by drones pr the larger Cessna Caravan-II it remains very popular?

Many poorer or small nations have maintained the type for civilian usage, police and training before moving on to more complicated aircraft.

Wales-Swansea Bay Air Show 2024. Part-Two.

 Westland Wasp.

The second vintage visitor to the Swansea Bay Airshow was the Westland Helicopter, the Wasp was the naval version of the British Army Scout and was used initially for general purpose duties and introduced in 1962, while entering service in 1963, since the potential in naval operations was much needed during the Cold War years!

She could be fitted with two Mk44 torpedoes, but trials following were to upgrade from HAS.1 to more of anti-submarine warfare and the first sixty machines were deployed on various frigates and other shipping across the Royal Navy,

Later over one-hundred machines were fitted with the French AS.11/12 missile systems and other equipment, forty were sold to South-Africa and eleven to its navy, another seventeen went to Brazil.

By 1978 in British service, they were being replaced by the Lynx helicopters and despite this these three to six manned machines remained in service into the 1980;s when they were withdrawn.

Queens of the Oceans!

Cruise Ships still popular?

It is perhaps the fate of the Titanic that has made the cruise ship popular, travelling in luxury more today holidaying in a self-contained environment? Cruising is a growing market that is popular world-wide despite accidents and losses and more new ships are coming on line for western operations!

But many other nations also operate their own versions, not all as big as these new queens but just as comfortable and suited for their own clientele? River and canal boats, along with great lakes are just as popular, some people want the peace and tranquillity while other want the fun, musicals and the casinos that mark these holiday vessels for what they are!

Adventures, despite the many incidents remains very attractive, Antarctica, volcanoes, sea-life and on-off shore short trips are all popular with all age groups! The vessels themselves are usually kept to a high standard and staff try their best to deal with difficult people? 

The future will see the introduction of electrical powered vessels and one doubts that the cruise ships of today will be replaced by space flight for some time still to come?

Oil and Gas Platforms. Part-One.

Steel Islands to New types of Ships!

There is a massive change on the way in this area of sea work from the static rigs to a ship built like a catamaran to replace some of the test platforms! This is now one of the largest ships in the world and if proved to be a success we will see more of them built and put into service?

The rig or steel Island has been around for some time, these structures are in their own right floating vessels but they have to be towed from construction to the drill sites. There they are chained to the sea bottom, as in the Gulf of Mexico, North-Sea and the Persian Gulf!

These shallows are ideal for rigs and over the years many designs have come and gone with three to four legged ones being common, but their some with five legs. Four seems to be the best for stability, while these steel islands are more than just drilling platforms they are also accommodation blocks and are serviced by helicopters.

Over the years safety has been improved, after many serious fires in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. But the dangerous part of working on these today remains the journey to and from, with there being several fatalities because of bad weather, poor maintenance of machines?