old man emu

Sorry,. I'll stop trying to make a contribution. Seems no one want anything I post.

I often wonder how many soldiers from both sides were drowned when a troopship went down. Here is the story of a POW ship.

On 22 June 1942, some weeks after the fall of Rabaul to the Japanese, many Australian prisoners were embarked from Rabaul's port onto Montevideo Maru. Unmarked as a POW ship, she was proceeding without escort to the Chinese island of Hainan when she was sighted by the American submarine Sturgeon near the northern Philippine coast on 30 June.

Sturgeon pursued, but was unable to fire, as the target was traveling at 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph).[2] However, it slowed to about 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) at midnight; according to crewman Yoshiaki Yamaji, a crewman on the  Montevideo Maru, it was to rendezvous with an escort of two destroyers.

Unaware that it was carrying Allied prisoners of war and civilians, Sturgeon fired four torpedoes at Montevideo Maru before dawn of 1 July, causing the vessel to sink in only 11 minutes. According to Yamaji, Australians in the water sang "Auld Lang Syne" to their trapped mates as the ship sank beneath the waves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Montevideo_Maru

The effectiveness of glues of all types has improved significantly in the past 25 years or so, just like most other chemical based products. I wonder if anyone nowadays would consider using Resorcinol in light of the wide variety of epoxy glues now available.

One thing that Resorcinol has in its favour is that it is not gap-filling. That means that things have to be clamped firmly together during the curing process. That can be a PITA in tight corners. I wonder if the expanding polyethylene glues would make as strong a bond.

Didn't know this:

As a consequence of the end of the war, production in Canada was halted after only a single aircraft had been constructed. Production in Australia went ahead: the Lincolns that were manufactured there were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force. Code A73, there happened to be 73 of these aircraft in RAAF service.

 http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a73.htm

From late 1946, Australian-built Lincolns were phased into No. 82 Wing, based at RAAF Base Amberley, Ipswich, Queensland. The type quickly replaced the Liberator bombers that had been operated by 12, 21 and 23 Squadrons. In February 1948, these units were renumbered 1, 2 and 6 Squadrons respectively; a fourth RAAF Lincoln squadron, No. 10 was formed on 17 March 1949 at RAAF Townsville as a reconnaissance unit.

During the 1950s, RAAF Lincolns participated in combat operations in Malaya, operating alongside RAF examples. The RAAF based the B.Mk 30s of No.1 Squadron at Tengah, for the duration of operations in Malaya.

These Lincolns served with 10 Squadron RAAF at RAAF Base Townsville, Garbutt, Queensland; the discovery of corrosion in the wing spars led to the type's premature retirement in 1961. The Lincoln MR.Mk 31 was the final variant to see service in Australia.

Casein-based glues, formulated from casein, water, hydrated lime and sodium hydroxide were popular for woodworking, including for aircraft, as late as the de Havilland Albatross airliner. The de Havilland DH.91 Albatross was a four-engine British transport aircraft in the 1930s. A total of seven aircraft were built in 1938–39.

The casein glue, being made from a naturally occurring protein, is subject to microbial attack, which would destroy its ability to keep things stuck together. Also it is water soluble. That's probably why they had trouble with aircraft in the Tropics.. I believe that many mid-air break ups of Tiger Moths were a result of the glue failing.

de Haviland were covering airframes with plywood early in the 30s, so come wartime they had the process down pat so lost no time in development.  

Ceratopetalum apetalum, the coachwood, scented satinwood or tarwood, is a medium-sized hardwood tree, straight-growing with smooth, fragrant, greyish bark. It is native to eastern Australia in the central and northern coastal rainforests of New South Wales and southern Queensland, where is often found on poorer quality soils in gullies and creeks and often occurs in almost pure stands.

Its timber is light and easily worked. It is used for flooring, furniture and cabinetwork, interior fittings, turnery, gun stocks, wood carving, veneers as well as spars and masts for boats. Courtroom number three of The High Court of Australia is beautifully and completely furnished with coachwood timber.

The Genus Ceratopetalum includes  C. gummiferum, the New South Wales Christmas bush. (I love that bloody tree.)

On 18th March 1952 the RAAF got its second Canberra bomber, and my parents got me!

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18249403/1050605

Those pictures show a pilot and person sitting in the right hand seat. The first one suggests a pilot undergoing instruction, going by the clothing. The last one is indeterminate. I'd guess that it shows two people wearing similar polo-neck shirts

As strong as a Malley bull. Able to fly through storm, tempest and Coca Cola billboards. But then, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Here's the pilot for that product placement sequence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Tallman

A couple of interesting points. The wings were plywood covered. I wonder if this was where our skills were born to be used later in the manufacture of Mosquitos. Welded steel fuselage might have been innovative for aircraft manufacturers working under the British aeronautical culture. 

An aircraft manufacturing company in Australia with 50 employees in the mid-1930s was a big operation. No doubt these employees formed the experienced core of construction staff when Tugan was incorporated into the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Aircraft_Corporation

A four-engined biplane with a cruise speed of 100 kts as Britain's aerial flagship. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, all-metal twin engined commercial passenger aircraft were whizzing along at 170 kts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_247

Overnighting on the Persian Gulf 1937

Is DG a country's code, and if so which country? Also VT

MTOW: VTO: 47,500 lb (21,546 kg)

Empty Weight: 31,818 lb (14,432 kg)

Operationally, that's about 6000 kg, or 6000 litres of water or fire retardant. They'd make great fire bombers.

Fire retardant = 1.5 kg/litre.

Off we go, into the wild blue yonder....

This will interest you:

https://www.adriansmodelaeroengines.com/catalog/main.php?cat_id=59

35 minutes ago, planedriver said:

 l just realised mine was a Frog kit

You'll like this

Interesting that it has a crew of two, with 40 - 48 pax. You'd think that "crew" would include cabin safety personnel (cabin crew), but I suppose that in the specs, "crew" refers to how many people are required to actually fly the thing. A crew of two could be used on strictly freight operations.

The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is probably the closest descendant of the Rotodyne.

The Airfix kit was re-released in 1996.

http://www.modelingmadness.com/review/civil/pietrotodyne.htm