Departed during 2020
Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:50 am
A Convivial Aviation Discussion Forum for Aviators, Aviatrices and for those who think Flying Machines are Magic.
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The latter piece of intervention by the British being covert and leading to actions such as this one...The coup was supported by the British, having been "planned in London by MI6 and by civil servants at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office" and sanctioned by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
The first pressing problem that Qaboos bin Said faced as Sultan was an armed communist insurgency from South Yemen, the Dhofar Rebellion (1962–1976). The sultanate eventually defeated the incursion with help from the Shah of Iran, Jordanian troops sent from his friend King Hussein of Jordan, British Special Forces and the Royal Air Force
Rest in Peace.Colonel Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare has passed away in a Durban care facility today. He died peacefully in his sleep, aged 100.
His fascinating career started as an enlisted soldier with the London Rifles at the outbreak of war. He'd quickly commission into the 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment . As a young officer, he would serve during some of the fight during the Arakan Campaign and the Battle of Kohima in the Far East.
His skills as a military leader found him later employment during the Congo Crisis in the 1960s. He was employed by the breakaway state of Katanga to lead a mercenary unit known as 4 Commando against Congolese and UN forces.
After the collapse of Katanga, the Congolese National Army incorporated Hoare and his mercenaries as 5 Commando, nicknamed the "Wild Geese" after the Irish mercenaries of the thre 17th ad 18th centuries.
5 Commando would be responsible for saving untold scores of civilians during murderous Simbas. Under Hoare's leadership, they also assisted Belgian paratroopers, CIA mercenaries, and Cuban exile pilots during Operation Dragon Rouge, where successfully rescued 1,600 civilians from Stanleyville.
In his own words, the goal of 5 Commando was to "strike a blow to rid the Congo of the greatest cancer the world has ever known—the creeping, insidious disease of communism."
Hoare's mercenary career ended with the dramatic failure of a coup attempt against the socialist government of Seychelles. He was released after 33 months in prison before his release. In his latter years, he become a movie consultant and prolific writer. He had a notable production credit as an advisor in the legendary 1978 film "The Wild Geese".
In life, he was a yachtsman, motorcyclist, safari guide, hiker soldier, mercenary commander and a chartered accountant to boot. He was one of the last adventurers and gentleman mercenaries still alive today.
Nothing with a steering wheel!sidevalve wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2020 12:41 pmAir Chief Marshal Sir David Evans RIP..
He flew the Spifire, Typhoon, Tempest, Venom, Hunter, Javelin, Lightning and the Vulcan.
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes!
Albert UderzoWoody wrote: ↑Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:08 pmCacophonix has left us, again
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52016721
<<what a loss to schoolboys and everybody else that would have been>>At this point, Albert did not yet aim to become a professional artist later in life and instead dreamt about a career as a clown and, after dropping that aspiration, aimed to follow Bruno into the craft of aircraft engineering.
<<point this out to your AME when you next see him>>Goscinny died at 51, in Paris of cardiac arrest on 5 November 1977, during a routine stress test at his doctor's office.
Never did Latin, never found Geography boring. Retained such odd and useless trivia that when 214 were told that we would be in Karachi, Pakistan for 3 weeks; my response was, 'They grow Flax there!'TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:02 amBut their spirit is still being channeled under many half open desks during boring Latin and Geography classes and elsewhere as well!
Latin was useful when reading Asterix mind, not least because of the many witty asides and aphorisms the Romans in the cartoons used to make in Latin.ian16th wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:16 amNever did Latin, never found Geography boring. Retained such odd and useless trivia that when 214 were told that we would be in Karachi, Pakistan for 3 weeks; my response was, 'They grow Flax there!'TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:02 amBut their spirit is still being channeled under many half open desks during boring Latin and Geography classes and elsewhere as well!
Being nerdish isn't new.
Constand ViljoenGeneral Constand Viljoen, a former commander of the South African Defence Force (SADF) and the founding leader of the Freedom Front Plus, has died at the age of 86.
"I can confirm that General Viljoen has died on his farm in Ohrigstad (in Mpumalanga) surrounded by most of his five children at around 13:00 on Friday. He died of natural causes," said Pieter Groenewald, leader of the Freedom Front Plus.
Viljoen, who was chief of the army during the so-called Bush or Angolan War in the 1970s, rose to become chief of the defence force under then president PW Botha
Ironically he did support universal sufferage - his famous broederbond speech - "as hulle kan veg vir Suid Afrika, kan hulle stem vir suid afrika" - talking about his black troopsIn March 1994, Viljoen led an effort by several thousand Volksfront militia to protect the bantustan president, Lucas Mangope, in Bophuthatswana against a coup d'état. Despite being requested not to participate in the action because of extremist views, militants of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging also advanced into Bophuthatswana, sparking clashes with the security forces.
Immediately after the incident, Viljoen split from the Volksfront and initiated a legitimate election campaign,[14] co-founding and becoming leader of the Freedom Front (Vryheidsfront), a new political party representing white conservatives. His decision to take part in the elections is believed to have prevented armed resistance by the far right and on the occasion of his retirement from politics, the South African government recognised him for preventing bloodshed.
Viljoen's decision was at least partly influenced by the mediation of his identical twin brother, Abraham Viljoen (Braam), who was an anti-apartheid activist while his brother led the military