What a wonderful example of a PPRuNe Forum at its best ! You start with a Sad story, that brings forth another Sad strory that in turn has relevance to a Strange Story I have "on the stocks" and will presently launch.
And then a passing Press reference to a wayward crocodile leads naturally to a Snake, which leads naturally to a Kukri, which leads......
And all this due to the kindly forbearance of our wise Moderators, who are clearly imbued with the ancient Tao principle of "
wu wei", which may be expressed as "
masterly inactivity", or "
knowing when not to act". And so have allowed this Best of All Threads to flourish as it does.
Back at the Ranch...
smujsmith,
It would have made an interesting entry in the 700, wouldn't it ? You did well to leave the beast alone for the expert to deal with. As for snake battles on the Flight Deck (
harrym); at least
his chap had a Handling Pilot to fly the thing while the hero dealt with the reptile. I would be doing battle with one hand while attempting to keep S&L with the other !...D.
DHfan,
You may recall what I said about kukris a couple of years ago:
"India has many small-gauge railways to places like Darjeeling, Dehra Dun (not sure), Chakrata - certainly ! While there I was told that the local kukri-smiths found rail steel just the job - it would take a lovely edge. Driver of 8.15 gets a shock when his loco drops on to the sleepers, (a length of line having been lifted during the night !")
Sounds like your Grandfather's kind of specimen - even if it was bought (like mine) from a bazaar. Can't remember what it cost, but it wasn't much.
I'm surprised you had such trouble disposing of yours. As for mine:
"The kukri was a most imposing piece of hardware, with its silver-banded grip, and the kit of two small skinning knives fitted into a silver-mounted scabbard. It came home with me, and on my return I ran into "Bert" Andrews, my pre-war line manager (and an ex-Captain in the RFC, flying Sopwith Camels).He'd climbed two rungs on the Civil Service ladder while I'd been away, and was now an S.E.O. in another Department."
"
Before the war, he'd kept me spellbound with tales of his adventures, and when I went into the RAF gave me one of his old RFC tunic buttons for good luck. This has the same crown and eagle as an RAF button but with a "rope" design round the rim. I kept it for long enough, but somewhere it had got lost. Never mind, I'd had all the luck I could reasonably hope for."
"Bert had a teenage son who was an avid collector of exotic swords and knives. I passed the kukri on to him. There wasn't much call for them in Southport then. (Nowadays we'd have the Armed Response Squad round within the hour!)" AFAIK, neither the local Plod nor anyone else bothered about it (ah, the Good Old Days - '46).....D.
Fareastdriver,
The idea of a five-foot kukri makes my blood run cold (the RSM should have been able to cut the bull in half with that, if he got a good swing at it ! - and he would need two hands for the job, as the thing would weigh as much as a Crusader's broadsword). The standard blade would (from memory) be about 15 in long.
The secret of the kukri is in its shape, the blade starts narrow (and mine had a neat little double notch at the top to stop the blood running back and making your grip slippery), then broadens out into a wide curve before coming to the tip. In this way the greater part of the weight is out at the end (like a golf driver).
As the blade is kept sharp enough to shave with, your Gurkha has no trouble in whacking the head off anyone who displeases him with a single blow to the nape of the neck. A Gurkha attack is therefore, swift, silent and very effective as they enjoy their work; they are very good people to have on
your side when push turns to shove: a bonus being that the morale of your enemy tends to plummet when they learn who they will shortly be facing.
I was told that, in the old days, a Gurkha youth was not rated as a man until he made his first human kill (and came back with the evidence). They practised on full grown goats (there was no wastage, as the goat would go into the curry. The goat skin might find its way to Europe, where it is made into highly prized, and hideously expensive, pilot's flying jackets).
I would suppose the bull carriage as external cargo
would be extemely hazardous. I know the Army routinely carried mules in the Dakotas, and would think a mule quite capable of kicking the side out of the aircraft: only glad it wasn't me up front (
Chugalug ?
harrym ?
Anybody ?).....D.
Madbob,
Here we have a perfect example of the Carlstrom Syndrome in action. I have not the slightest memory of an ejection before the crash, nor does the information from your reference awake the slightest glimmer of recollection. Having said that, I didn't think that JP IIIs had ejection seats - wrong again ! - YLSNED !) But why would the "summary" content itself with simply saying:
"The cause was put down to over-rotation on take off leading to loss of control....." That's perfectly obvious ! What about the take-off abandoned, then suddenly resumed ? That's the crux of the mystery. What does it say about that ?
I didn't dream this - everyone was talking about it for weeks after ! I call in support
exmudmover (a QFI there '67-'70), who must remember the accident well.
("According to OD's excellent book "Category 5"), you can help me with a query on my next Post,
Madbob, if you will. Btw, I had heard the story of the "missing" casualty before, but never knew it was at Linton.....D.
Goodnight, all. Danny.