Unipower Commander.
This has been the replacement to the Thornycroft Antars of the heavey lift transports such as the Challenger Mk-I and II Main Battle Tanks.
The Unipower started life as a Scammel in concept from 1976, but has changed over to the present with main production starting in 1983, with an order for 125 vehicles.
Two types of Diesel engines are available the Cummins KTA 600 and the Perkins Rolls-Royce CV12.
As time has moved on and Britian being part of N.A.T.O. there is a wider choice of heavey transportation available with civil haulage types such as the Germany Mercedez and Swedish Scania trucks. I think that both of these types where unloading and uploading before and after the Wales National Air Show WNAS16 in Swansea.
Apart from the acceptance and procurement of the German MAN trucks the U.S may be providing some of its Oshkosh MTVR units for the movement of heavy weight requirments of tracked armour and refulling tankers.
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Tuesday, 19 July 2016
Engineering, Maintenance and Building. Part-one.
Railways need cared For!
Every railroad or way around the world has a dedicated fleet of rolling stock to cater for all engineering types work, from general maintenance to rebuilding sections that are outdated.
Millions is spent each year on the upgrading of rail track, signals and preventing flooding? Every country has many different situations in realtion to climate from ice and snow to desert!
Much humour is made about wet leaves on the lines in the fall, but to some systems this is serious in relation to wheel slippage. Older trains are more prone to this problem, but it is hoped that the newer types of rail alignment and layout of the track sleepers willin the future not happen again.
Engineering trains were once the speciality of each company or country meeting the local needs or costs, but now that a standard fleet is available such as Bombardiers and Plieser's track machines and they can be exported around the world.
Every railroad or way around the world has a dedicated fleet of rolling stock to cater for all engineering types work, from general maintenance to rebuilding sections that are outdated.
Millions is spent each year on the upgrading of rail track, signals and preventing flooding? Every country has many different situations in realtion to climate from ice and snow to desert!
Much humour is made about wet leaves on the lines in the fall, but to some systems this is serious in relation to wheel slippage. Older trains are more prone to this problem, but it is hoped that the newer types of rail alignment and layout of the track sleepers willin the future not happen again.
Engineering trains were once the speciality of each company or country meeting the local needs or costs, but now that a standard fleet is available such as Bombardiers and Plieser's track machines and they can be exported around the world.
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
WNAS16. Part-Two.
Ground vehicles and other Equiptment.
Unfortnutaly this year they were mostly up beyond the War Memorial and I missed quite a few Army vehicles arriving and leaving.
One can go by what was on show last year, but I saw nothing tracked this time around. Most of the MAN trucks looked like they had to do with the RAF, Royal Engineers and Radio Communications, various Landrovers and a lone fuel tanker.
Many of the vehicles that were seen rushing by, are shown on various films that have been put up in connection to the Queens Royal Hussars Regiment.
The show is a great event for military recruiting and if the Governemnt listens to Prince Harry, we may soon see the re-introduction of compulsary military service or Conscription. Something that will help to cut youth crime across the United Kingdom?
'As many of my older relatives would say, 'It never hurt them and gave them much more than sitting around doing nothing!
Unfortnutaly this year they were mostly up beyond the War Memorial and I missed quite a few Army vehicles arriving and leaving.
One can go by what was on show last year, but I saw nothing tracked this time around. Most of the MAN trucks looked like they had to do with the RAF, Royal Engineers and Radio Communications, various Landrovers and a lone fuel tanker.
Many of the vehicles that were seen rushing by, are shown on various films that have been put up in connection to the Queens Royal Hussars Regiment.
The show is a great event for military recruiting and if the Governemnt listens to Prince Harry, we may soon see the re-introduction of compulsary military service or Conscription. Something that will help to cut youth crime across the United Kingdom?
'As many of my older relatives would say, 'It never hurt them and gave them much more than sitting around doing nothing!
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
WNAS16. Part-One.
Wales National Air Show 2016.
Thousands came out for this two day event on the Swansea Bay seafront to enjoy a mixture of aircraft types.
New to the show were the North American-Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-15UTI, HM Coast Guard Augusta-Westland AW-139 SAR Helicopter G-CILP and G-CILN, Jet Provost Mk5 and the World War-II (1939-45) American USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, restored and based at Duxford.
Apart from that everything was about the same, The Red Arrows BAE Hawks T.1, Boeing Vertol Chinook CH-47H, RAF Eurofighter Typhoon, Battle of Britain Hawker Hurricane and Super marine Spitfire, Team Raven (formerly Ospreys), with there Vans RV-4/8's, two Augusta-Westland AW-159 Wildcats of the Black cats Royal Navy display team. The Auto-Gyro, Gerald Cooper completion flyer in his Xtreme Air Sbach 300 G-IIRI, racing aeroplane, Team Yakovlev with two Yakovlev YAK-18 aircraft and the DHFS AS-350BB ZJ-260 Squirrel from RAF Shawbury.
The HM Coast Guard Augusta-Westland AW-139 SAR helicopters and interacted with the local Mumbles RNLI Lifeboat 16-27 Roy Harvey.
Was it worth it? Yes it was free and good entertainment for two sunny days, after a winter of Bristol Channel murk.
Ground displays were limited, I did not get the chance to film more than a few Army/RAF MAN trucks. There was a funfair and loads of other, with stalls and food.
The Rockwell OV-10 Bronco proved to put on an impressive display, showing off its STOL (Short Take-Off Landing) capabilities and manoeuvrability for its service in the Vietnam war in 1968. This was the first YOV-10A that first flew on 16th July 1965 version, on display of the US Marine Corps and US Navy, but was painted in the colours of the German Air Force.
Thousands came out for this two day event on the Swansea Bay seafront to enjoy a mixture of aircraft types.
New to the show were the North American-Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-15UTI, HM Coast Guard Augusta-Westland AW-139 SAR Helicopter G-CILP and G-CILN, Jet Provost Mk5 and the World War-II (1939-45) American USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, restored and based at Duxford.
Apart from that everything was about the same, The Red Arrows BAE Hawks T.1, Boeing Vertol Chinook CH-47H, RAF Eurofighter Typhoon, Battle of Britain Hawker Hurricane and Super marine Spitfire, Team Raven (formerly Ospreys), with there Vans RV-4/8's, two Augusta-Westland AW-159 Wildcats of the Black cats Royal Navy display team. The Auto-Gyro, Gerald Cooper completion flyer in his Xtreme Air Sbach 300 G-IIRI, racing aeroplane, Team Yakovlev with two Yakovlev YAK-18 aircraft and the DHFS AS-350BB ZJ-260 Squirrel from RAF Shawbury.
The HM Coast Guard Augusta-Westland AW-139 SAR helicopters and interacted with the local Mumbles RNLI Lifeboat 16-27 Roy Harvey.
Was it worth it? Yes it was free and good entertainment for two sunny days, after a winter of Bristol Channel murk.
Ground displays were limited, I did not get the chance to film more than a few Army/RAF MAN trucks. There was a funfair and loads of other, with stalls and food.
The Rockwell OV-10 Bronco proved to put on an impressive display, showing off its STOL (Short Take-Off Landing) capabilities and manoeuvrability for its service in the Vietnam war in 1968. This was the first YOV-10A that first flew on 16th July 1965 version, on display of the US Marine Corps and US Navy, but was painted in the colours of the German Air Force.
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Pilatus Britten-Norman Islander/Defender. Part-Two.
Military Versions.
The first military version of this one plus nine passenger aircraft appeared in 1971. Capable of carrying an assortment of bombs and MATRA 68-mm rocket pods along with two 7.62mm guns in the Counter Insurgency role on four wing pods. It was closely followed by the Maritime Defender , which was modified to house a search radar in its nose.
It also carried a parachute dingy rescue pack, loud speakers, flares and alternative weapons points. Both the speed and range of the aircraft remained similar to its civil version, the Islander. Range was increased with the options of two fuel tanks in place of the two inner 750Ib (317.5Kg) bombs to 1,723 miles (2, 772Km's).
Sales and exports were world-wide Angola, Ghana, Guyana, Israel, Jamaica, Malagasy Republic, Malawi, Mauritania, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Thailand and Turkey.
The first military version of this one plus nine passenger aircraft appeared in 1971. Capable of carrying an assortment of bombs and MATRA 68-mm rocket pods along with two 7.62mm guns in the Counter Insurgency role on four wing pods. It was closely followed by the Maritime Defender , which was modified to house a search radar in its nose.
It also carried a parachute dingy rescue pack, loud speakers, flares and alternative weapons points. Both the speed and range of the aircraft remained similar to its civil version, the Islander. Range was increased with the options of two fuel tanks in place of the two inner 750Ib (317.5Kg) bombs to 1,723 miles (2, 772Km's).
Sales and exports were world-wide Angola, Ghana, Guyana, Israel, Jamaica, Malagasy Republic, Malawi, Mauritania, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Thailand and Turkey.
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
HMS Sentinel Plus.
Patrolling the English/French Channel.
We have a problem that has mushroomed and will continue to exist wither we Brexit or not, that of smuggling people from France to the southern-England. The English Channel is one of the busiest in the world, with one ship every eleven miles apart east to west and mostly Ferries every five miles north to south, this does not include fishing boats, yachts and other military vessels.
One only has to go to Marine traffic to see the complexities and congestion of this sea! Meanwhile the French navy has dedicated 30-40 ships to patrol their waters and the British Royal Navy 3-4 of the HMS Sentinel type cutters.
We have not heard much in relation to France intercepting these migrant smuggling boats? But it has mostly been the general public on this side of the Channel who see these flimsy craft sinking, if not the smugglers themselves.
Serious cut backs in the armed forces have over the last few years been pointed out by the U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, as having a potential on N.A.T.O. deployment capability of lack.
These boats are fast and very manoeuvrable at sea and they are effective in use as Customs Cutters, the problem of just twelve for the U.K.'s waters is a serious lack and by the time more vessels are built and commissioned we may be swamped, as Nigel Farage is pointing out to the E.U. open borders policy?
We have a problem that has mushroomed and will continue to exist wither we Brexit or not, that of smuggling people from France to the southern-England. The English Channel is one of the busiest in the world, with one ship every eleven miles apart east to west and mostly Ferries every five miles north to south, this does not include fishing boats, yachts and other military vessels.
One only has to go to Marine traffic to see the complexities and congestion of this sea! Meanwhile the French navy has dedicated 30-40 ships to patrol their waters and the British Royal Navy 3-4 of the HMS Sentinel type cutters.
We have not heard much in relation to France intercepting these migrant smuggling boats? But it has mostly been the general public on this side of the Channel who see these flimsy craft sinking, if not the smugglers themselves.
Serious cut backs in the armed forces have over the last few years been pointed out by the U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, as having a potential on N.A.T.O. deployment capability of lack.
These boats are fast and very manoeuvrable at sea and they are effective in use as Customs Cutters, the problem of just twelve for the U.K.'s waters is a serious lack and by the time more vessels are built and commissioned we may be swamped, as Nigel Farage is pointing out to the E.U. open borders policy?
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Bus and Coaches. Part-One.
IRIZAR.
This is one of the latest types of coach on the roads of the U.K and Ireland today, it is a luxury vehicle designed for comfort and speed. Built in Spain from 1979-1983 as the first generation, by 1993 the Swedish Scania K-series chassis was adopted.
The Irizar body was introduced from 2002, but in 2005 the redesign and current body type with a 3.3 metre extention was added. The two types are the K and the S, which is sold in the U.K with a 70 seat layout.
The two main operators in the United Kingdom are Red Arrow of Trent Barton and National Express. The Wales RugbyTeam coach is also of the same type.
This is one of the latest types of coach on the roads of the U.K and Ireland today, it is a luxury vehicle designed for comfort and speed. Built in Spain from 1979-1983 as the first generation, by 1993 the Swedish Scania K-series chassis was adopted.
The Irizar body was introduced from 2002, but in 2005 the redesign and current body type with a 3.3 metre extention was added. The two types are the K and the S, which is sold in the U.K with a 70 seat layout.
The two main operators in the United Kingdom are Red Arrow of Trent Barton and National Express. The Wales RugbyTeam coach is also of the same type.
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