Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

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TheGreenGoblin
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Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#1 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Jul 31, 2020 7:52 am

Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Ex-Ascot
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Re: Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#2 Post by Ex-Ascot » Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:07 am

Interesting GG. Poses the question: which other aircraft that were designed as civilian pax aircraft that have been converted for military use.

VC10 tanker and pax/freight versions
Comet Nimrod
B707 AWAC
BN2T Reconisance

Many choppers.

Must be loads more, thinking.
'Yes, Madam, I am drunk, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly.' Sir Winston Churchill.

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Re: Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#3 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:10 am

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:07 am
Interesting GG. Poses the question: which other aircraft that were designed as civilian pax aircraft that have been converted for military use.

VC10 tanker and pax/freight versions
Comet Nimrod
B707 AWAC
BN2T Reconisance

Many choppers.

Must be loads more, thinking.
In the wars in Rhodesia, Namibia and Angola some very innocuous civilian types from all nations were pressed into service...

The ubiquitous C-47 (militarised Douglas DC-3 airliner)

The Reims 337G (the French license build of the American lightweight multipurpose Cessna Super Skymaster 337).

And even the PA28!
PA28.JPG
PA28.JPG (35.5 KiB) Viewed 236 times
Famous characters of the Border War – Major Helmuth Adolf (Tikli) Kessler, who flew a PA28 Cherokee which he converted to have fire power and bombing capability in support of operations.

Major Kessler from the SWATF (South West Africa Territorial Force) – 1 SWA Squadron used the PA28 primarily as a spotter and also engaged combatants with his improvised weapons system. He was tragically killed whist supporting ground operations in 1982.

Major Kessler had a ” tube” which he used to drop grenades from between the seats and the two RPK’s (each with two 40 round RPK magazines welded together) under the wings.

He experienced an engine failure (attributed to a bent valve) whilst in support of ground operations and called in a forced landing. On landing the plane up-ended and the grenades in the tube fell out and exploded.

Major Kessler was regarded as a bush war a legend with a larger than life personality and he is sorely missed by all who knew him.
More about Major Kessler...
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#4 Post by Ex-Ascot » Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:46 pm

Brilliant GG. Thinking of putting a grenade tube out of the back of the Land Cruiser to sort out the Maun taxis hard on my bumper.
'Yes, Madam, I am drunk, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly.' Sir Winston Churchill.

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Re: Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Jul 31, 2020 5:28 pm

Do you have a reliable grenade supplier?
If so, please pass along my contacts, as I too think that would work for tailgaters and others. :-bd :))

pp

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Re: Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#6 Post by G-CPTN » Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:40 pm

Operating the screenwash can be effective.

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Re: Lord Rothemere's Personal Carriage - Bristol Blenhem

#7 Post by Pontius Navigator » Fri Jul 31, 2020 7:08 pm

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:46 pm
Brilliant GG. Thinking of putting a grenade tube out of the back of the Land Cruiser to sort out the Maun taxis hard on my bumper.
A company that provided the software to calculate bomb impact points on the bombing ranges had just what you wanted.

They developed and tried to market a Gunfire simulator to fit to vehicles in Iraq. The idea was to light it off if you were being chased by gunmen. I guess it might have been useful for journalists but I thought a towed grenade and command detonation would have been better.

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