Departed during 2020

Lost forever.
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CharlieOneSix
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Departed during 2020

#1 Post by CharlieOneSix » Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:50 am

Medium and psychic Derek Acorah has died

Never heard of him but I bet he didn't see that coming...
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Re: Departed during 2020

#2 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:20 am

The Sultan of Oman...

Sultan of Oman - 18 November 1940–10 January 2020

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

Supported by the UK in a bloodless coup against his father.
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
The latter piece of intervention by the British being covert and leading to actions such as this one...

The Battle of Mirbat
Though you remain
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"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Departed during 2020

#3 Post by Ex-Ascot » Sat Jan 11, 2020 8:21 am

Not departed the planet but the UK; HRH Prince Harry and that American woman.
'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: Departed during 2020

#4 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:11 pm

Dave Olney checked out on the stage this week. One of the best singer, poet, lyricists I can think of.

Dave Olney checks out



71, too soon man. RIP

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

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Departed during 2020 - "Mad" Mike Hoare

#5 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Feb 03, 2020 10:52 am

Mike Hoare
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.
Rest in Peace.

I knew somebody involved in the Seychelles debacle... not his finest hour.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Departed during 2020

#6 Post by Fliegenmong » Mon Feb 03, 2020 11:10 am

Coupla hundred coronvirus victims (so far)
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... Oscar Wilde

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I am Spartacus

#7 Post by CharlieOneSix » Thu Feb 06, 2020 1:03 am

Kirk Douglas has died at 103.
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Re: Departed during 2020

#8 Post by llondel » Thu Feb 06, 2020 1:28 am

I bet he was cross.

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Re: Departed during 2020

#9 Post by sidevalve » Mon Mar 02, 2020 12:41 pm

Air Chief Marshal Sir David Evans RIP..

Image

After presenting me with my brevet in 19woppity-wop, he went on to have a glittering career! He was also the guest of honour at an infamous Dining In Night at Lossie ~1980-ish.

He flew the Spifire, Typhoon, Tempest, Venom, Hunter, Javelin, Lightning and the Vulcan.

From the "Delhi Telegraph":

Air Chief Marshal Sir David Evans, who has died aged 95, flew fighter ground-attack missions in the latter stages of the Second World War and held senior operational commands during the Cold War.

After flying Spitfires in the Middle East, Evans joined No 137 Squadron to fly Typhoons from an advanced airfield in Holland. In March and April 1945 he attacked railways and road transports with rockets.

Anti-aircraft fire was still intense and casualties were high. Shortly after his squadron arrived at Lüneburg he recorded in his logbook: “Bags of Panzer flak, got a railway engine and clobbered a strong point. Good show and Army very pleased.”

Soon afterwards he was one of the first RAF officers to enter the Belsen concentration camp – an experience that affected him profoundly.

As the war came to an end, his squadron was one of the first to arrive in newly liberated Copenhagen. On July 1 he took part in the victory air show in front of the Danish Royal Family and a crowd of 300,000 people. He also participated in a demonstration of a rocket attack, a sortie he described as “a wizard prang”.

David George Evans was born in Windsor, Ontario, on July 14 1924 and educated at Hodgson School, Toronto, and the North Toronto Collegiate. He joined the RAF in 1943, trained as a pilot in Canada and was commissioned in April 1944.

For two years after the war he flew Tempests in Germany, then in 1947 he became a tactics instructor at the RAF’s Central Fighter Establishment. In 1948 he was appointed staff officer to the RAF Inspector General. While serving in London he formed a very successful RAF ice hockey team which enjoyed three successful years competing against teams in Europe.

After completing a course at the Central Flying School, he became an instructor, and in 1951 he returned as a squadron commander training future instructors. At the end of his tour he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.

In 1955 he returned to Germany to take command of No 11 Squadron, flying the Venom in the ground-attack role. Subsequently he was appointed personal staff officer to the Commander-in-Chief RAF Germany, Air Marshal Sir Humphrey Edwardes-Jones, at Rheindahlen.

On promotion to wing commander in 1959 he commanded the Flying Wing at Coltishall, operating Hunters and Javelins, with the RAF’s first Lightning squadron, No 74, arriving in August 1960.

In 1962 he joined the Directorate of Air Plans in the MoD, where he was responsible for the RAF’s Nato operations. Two years later, promoted group captain, he became the station commander at Gütersloh, the home of two Hunter fighter reconnaissance squadrons and a helicopter squadron, with a Lightning squadron arriving during the latter stages of his tour.

Evans was a popular station commander who flew regularly. He recognised that his young pilots were skilful in the air – and high-spirited on the ground – but his firm and fair handling won him the respect of all his personnel. Equally refreshing was the latitude he gave his unit commanders. One retired air chief marshal said: “One thing I learnt from Sir David Evans was how to calmly and effectively administer a rocket – I had been on the receiving end of one.”

After attending the Imperial Defence College Evans was promoted to air commodore and given the task of forming the Central Trials & Tactics Organisation, responsible for reviewing and developing airborne tactics for the new generation of operational aircraft. This was followed by a tour as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) in the MoD.

In 1973 he became the Air Officer Commanding No 1 (Bomber) Group, and in 1974 he led a team of four Vulcans to compete in the annual USAF Strategic Air Command Bombing competition in the US, winning three of the four major awards, the first time the RAF had beaten the USAF on its home ground.

He flew himself in a Vulcan on his annual inspections of his unit at Goose Bay in Labrador and his detachment at Offutt in Nebraska.

In 1976 he was appointed Vice Chief of the Air Staff in the MoD. A year later he became Air Officer Commander-in-Chief of Strike Command, with the additional Nato appointment of Commander-in-Chief UK Air Forces – the only airman among the Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s major commanders.

During his time at Strike Command the UK air defence organisation was undergoing an extensive upgrade and his squadrons regularly encountered Soviet air incursions while his maritime forces tracked their powerful Northern Fleet.

During bilateral talks with his US counterpart General Dixon in 1976, Evans was invited to send RAF aircraft to participate in Exercise Red Flag in Nevada – a valuable “war fighting” exercise. A squadron of Buccaneers was selected as the first non-US squadron to participate. The event was a resounding success and RAF squadrons have participated every year since.

Evans’s final appointment was as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel and Logistics), He retired from the RAF in 1983.

Evans was appointed OBE in 1962, advanced to CBE in 1967. He was knighted KCB in 1977, advanced to GCB in 1979. In 1985 he was made King of Arms of the Order of the Bath, a post he relinquished in 1999.

For nine years he was a non-executive director of British Aerospace and director of several BAE subsidiaries. He was Chairman of BAE Canada for five years and Chairman of the Officer’s Pension Society where he fought tenaciously for improved pension rights for service personnel.

In his younger days he represented the RAF at rugby and winter sports. He was the pilot of the GB bobsleigh team for the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the 1964 Olympic Games. On another occasion he represented Canada in the Commonwealth Winter Games and won two bronze medals. He was President of the RAF Winter Sports Association and the Combined Services Winter Sports Association.

Evans never lost his Canadian accent, retained his Canadian passport and made many visits to his native land. He was made an honorary citizen of four North American cities and a number of airport buildings were named in his honour.

David Evans married Denise Williamson-Noble in 1949. She died in 2009 and he is survived by their two daughters and two sons.

Sir David Evans, born July 14 1924, died February 21 2020

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Re: Departed during 2020

#10 Post by ian16th » Mon Mar 02, 2020 1:43 pm

sidevalve wrote:
Mon Mar 02, 2020 12:41 pm
Air Chief Marshal Sir David Evans RIP..

Image
He flew the Spifire, Typhoon, Tempest, Venom, Hunter, Javelin, Lightning and the Vulcan.
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Re: Departed during 2020

#11 Post by ian16th » Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:07 am

Stuart Whitman

It appears to have been missed that he was The American in
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes!
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Re: Departed during 2020

#12 Post by Karearea » Wed Mar 18, 2020 5:58 pm

^ Aww.

I had rather a crush on him back then ;;)
And with the morn, those angel faces smile...

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Re: Departed during 2020

#13 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sat Mar 21, 2020 12:25 pm

Kenny Rogers....RIP

Variety Obituary - Kenny Rogers

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

ribrash

Re: Departed during 2020

#14 Post by ribrash » Sat Mar 21, 2020 12:54 pm

You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel.

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Re: Departed during 2020

#15 Post by Woody » Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:08 pm

When all else fails, read the instructions.

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Re: Departed during 2020

#16 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:02 am

Woody wrote:
Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:08 pm
Cacophonix has left us, again :D

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52016721
Albert Uderzo
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.
<<what a loss to schoolboys and everybody else that would have been>>

And Goscinny has gone too...
Goscinny died at 51, in Paris of cardiac arrest on 5 November 1977, during a routine stress test at his doctor's office.
<<point this out to your AME when you next see him>>

René Goscinny

But their spirit is still being channeled under many half open desks during boring Latin and Geography classes and elsewhere as well! :)
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Departed during 2020

#17 Post by ian16th » Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:16 am

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:02 am
But their spirit is still being channeled under many half open desks during boring Latin and Geography classes and elsewhere as well! :)
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!'

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Re: Departed during 2020

#18 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:24 am

ian16th wrote:
Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:16 am
TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:02 am
But their spirit is still being channeled under many half open desks during boring Latin and Geography classes and elsewhere as well! :)
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!'

Being nerdish isn't new.
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. :)
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Departed during 2020

#19 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:44 pm

Jack Schofield... RIP

Nerds of a slightly left of centre reading persuasion will remember his excellent tech. columns with great affection.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Departed during 2020

#20 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:12 pm

Constant Viljoen RIP
General 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
Constand Viljoen
In 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
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 troops
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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