LCP: Thanks for filling-in the gaps, great stuff!
500 Fan: That is a great shot of VH-BAG, well done. Both BAG and PPRuNer Palma's G-BDFP have featured on the thread in pages past.
Its been a 'Hughesy' sort of day on Nostalgia so I shall continue the theme below.
Zis: I am one of those who is unable to view images hosted by Imageshack .. I still don't know why but .. here is something to compliment your contribution:
More Cousteau ..
Cousteau's first research vessel, the RV Calypso, went through a string of 300's. Those we know of include: N9672F, N102CS and N6129E and I think there were a further two craft (also 300's) which served aboard the vessel:
N102CS about to depart the Calypso in Nassau, the Bahamas, in 1975
All of the Cousteau 300's were given the name .. Félix!
The RV Calypso passes in front of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco where Cousteau was a member
The RV Calypso was a BYMS (British Yard Minesweeper) Mark 1 Class Motor Minesweeper, laid down on 12 August 1941 with the yard designation BYMS-26 and launched on 21 March 1942. It was commissioned into the Royal Navy in February 1943 as HMS J-826 and assigned to active service in the Mediterranean Sea, reclassified as BYMS-2026 in 1944, laid up at Malta and finally struck from the Naval Register in 1947.
The Irish millionaire and former MP, Thomas "Loel" Guinness bought Calypso in 1950 and leased it to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc a year. He had two conditions, that Cousteau never ask him for money and that he never reveal his identity, which only came out after Cousteau's death. Cousteau restructured and transformed it into an expedition vessel and support base for diving, filming and oceanographic research.Calypso carried advanced equipment, including one- and two-man mini submarines developed by Cousteau, diving saucers, and underwater scooters. The ship was also fitted with a see-through "nose", an observation chamber three meters below the waterline, and was modified to house scientific equipment and a helicopter pad. The Calypso underwater camera is named after this ship.
Old man Cousteau aboard Félix
N102CS rests aboard the RV Calypso
Cousteau looks out from Calypso's wheelhouse over an Arctic scene with N9672F resting on the helideck
Félix's helicopter pilot Bob Braunbeck aboard the Calypso in 1975
Bob Braunbeck doesn't sound like an especially French name but he sure dresses (if that's the right word) like a Frenchman. I always felt one had to have balls to wear those briefs back in the 70's!
