Ops-Normal.org

A quite usual practice of an over-talkative mother-in-law is to frequently point out the shortcomings of her son-in-law to all within earshot. The solution is to keep out of audible range. (Based on hard experience over many years ...)

One of my desires is to spent a day by the banks of river Aliakmonas the larger river in Greece.

If you aspire to visit the banks of the river Aliakmonas, then perhaps you will. There is also a fine long and high bridge over its Polyfytos lake to admire ... (In the opinion of this retired civil engineer!)

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

Reach For The Sky! is one of my old-time movie faves.

Chevalieux du ciel a nice French film with strong aviation content

Uxbridge RAF Station was the important headquarters of No.11 Group, responsible for the aerial defence of London and the south east during the Battle of Britain:

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

German invasion imminent.

In August 1990 during a 5 day overnight in London (back in the days when airline flying was fun) I wended my way to Dover and stood on the beach looking across the Channel. I was all alone, and imagined it was actually August 1940. It is August 1940 right now I told myself. All of a sudden it hit me what it felt like to know there were a million Nazis over the other side waiting to come over and kill you one way or another. I looked upward half expecting to see a few Spit and Hurri contrails and huge dark clouds of Luftwaffe formations crossing the coast. It was almost terrifying and it took a 727 inbound to LHR to bump me back to 1990.

Going to a place and imagining oneself back in time helps one to appteciate the era, why people did what they did and why things were done the way they were done.

Here's another aviation-linked anecdote about Dover, Slasher:

On 25th July 1909 Louis Bleriot landed in a clifftop field near the castle, having completed the very first Channel crossing by an aircraft. Exactly 80 years later, just over a year before your visit, there was an anniversary mass crossing by microlights to commemorate his historic achievement. By sheer coincidence I was working there on that day, carrying out a close inspection by climbing one of the four original 360 foot Chain Home radar towers, to gather data for a structural analysis by our firm of consulting engineers. The large formation of microlights (both French and English) arrived while I was still up on the tower, and began to circle, below my height! It was weird, like being buzzed by a swarm of giant hornets.

This link gives a lot of info about the towers, which played a vital part in the B of B:

https://doverhistorian.com/2015/02/07/s ... he-towers/

O Tempora, o global surveillance!

Radar - a palindromic signal from M*A*S*H

argolid area in the Eastern Peloponnese including Mycenae.

The fruit that identifies that area FOX are citrus (orange mainly). However it is more famous for its archaeological significance and Nafplion the first capital of Greece. And a place I met a member of TOP who made a short appearance here. And if we include an aviation content a bomb on a TWA 727 blew over that place in 1988.

Escamillo - a young stallion

Iota - the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, taken to mean a very small amount of something, in English.

Nice to see you here again, probes!

Tarantula a hairy scary spider.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula

Landing phase - where one transitions from complex whizzbang automation to actually being a pilot. Terrifying for some, a joy to others.

Seamanship - airmanship on the big, blue wobbly thing.

IPA India Pale Ale.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_pale_ale

PAN PAN PAN for the site.

It's been "Pan pan...pan pan...pan pan" for some time now RiS, not that anyone has waffled on with that in practice. Usually it's "We are declaring Pan."