F-ZeroOne

The new season has been a little bit of a mixed bag (please note that doesn't mean anythings been bad, just a little bit off the mark set by the first season in a couple of areas). I think Tennants now generally settled into the role. There hasn't quite been an episode of the quality of "Dalek" just yet, and the Cyberman two-parter was a bit disappointing, but having said that theres been an excellent two parter ("The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit") which fans of Doom will absolutely love, some very strong stand-alone episodes (including an enjoyable romp in 50s Britain featuring the famous British actress Marueen Lipman doing a delightfully evil turn... ) and then theres been the latest episode, "Love & Monsters", which... ...which... ...which... ...lets just say "Macross 7" for the diversity of feelings I expect it will generate, okay...?

I've met UK humorous fantasy author Terry Pratchett a couple of times, though as the man himself would no doubt point out, so has just about everyone in the UK. He does a lot of book signings...! Oh, and Tom Baker. What a wonderful grin that man has! My brothers met Richard Ashcroft (formerly of UK band The Verve) and Noel Gallagher from Oasis. And my parents have met the entire England rugby team...

Here is a slightly long shot of my collection. Please note that the "F-ZeroOne holding camera" is not part of the collection but the result of the mirror backing.

When I saw that - and my apologies to those MWers whose childhood did not include UK SF comic 2000AD - my first thought was "Unleash the Sun Legions!".

Well done, that man!

0.55 Boys Anti Tank Rifle! Where is my drink?!? 405546[/snapback] Well done that man! Your drink will be arriving as soon as we hear back from the colony fleet Hikaru Ichijo and Misa Hayase are on. Should be any day now...

And finally, what can one say about this picture other than - "SCRAMBLE!"

While I was there, Duxford was holding a World War II day. Another round of Yoshinol to whoever can tell me what the weapon between the Vickers machine-gun and the Lewis gun is in this shot.

"The ugliest aircraft ever built, bar none". The unfortunate Fairey Gannet.

Another uncommon bird, a Soviet Polikarpov I-15/153 biplane, which fought Me-109s over the Eastern Front until at least 1943!

Of course, Duxford isn't all about the aircraft. During the Battle of Britain, it was a fighter base belonging to "12" Group, defending targets North of London. This is Duxfords all-important operations room.

The Hunchback of the USSR, the Mil-24 Hind-D, in a somewhat tatty state.

Send a bolt of Lightning, very very frightening!

Heres a bird you probably don't see that often - a Royal Navy Javelin, in an unusual and attractive read and white scheme.

Now, an aircraft that always makes me feel like crying - the legendary TSR 2, which would have got through the defenses of the Soviet Union in much better shape than it ended up in at the hands of the politicians...

Okay, a crate of Yohinol to whoever can tell me which aircrafts cockpit this is. A few clues - this is the interior of one of the prototypes, so the picture may not match an in-service model, and only a small number were ever built...

From the other side of the Iron Curtain, comes the MiG-21, the Cold War warrior now entering the twilight ofs its 40 years service. I believe this one was a donation from the Hungarian Air Force.

Of course, no trip to Duxford would be complete without a shot - or several dozen - of the best fighter aircraft ever made. This one, though, is quite special - its the two seat Spitfire featured in the UK TV series "Spitfire Ace"! Owner/operator Caroline Grace can be seen just in front of the wing, her "bob" just poking up above it.

Okay, time to add some images from my recent trip to Duxford - lets see if we can find a few things that don't appear here often. First up, though, lets pander to the crowd with a shot of a Macross World favourite - and from an angle not many have lived to report seeing...

That guy in South Africa also has what I think is the only flying privately owned English Electric Lightning in the World. I bet he has fun with fuel bills...

Oh, so you lot prefer "Atlanta" instead of "Lightning" for the P-38 after all, then? The Sea Fury, as far as I can tell, would count as the III - there was the biplane, then much later the monoplane, oriiginally an advanced development of the Tempest...

Fury III, in fact - you're forgetting the biplane Hawker Fury.

Well thats me screwed then. Vermillion21, if you're still confused, then the original Gundam series is probably the best place to start, as that gives you a grounding for everything that comes after. There are plenty of Gundam websites that should give you a lot of background information. SEED and Destiny are pretty good series (I've seen worse anime), but once you see the original you'll probably understand why people get a bit grumpy about them - the "homages" are rather blatant...

Fury wouldn't be tyoo bad; after all the Hawker Sea Fury was one of the best (and last) prop-driven carrier fighters. You'd just have to put up with a few years of muttered Brit grumbles about those bloomin' yanks nicking our proud aircraft heritage yet again...

Jetfire. I didn't know about its origins at the time. A TIE fighter - for some reason, the only version available in the UK when I was growing up was the Darth Vader version, but I always wanted the "normal" one. X-Wing pilot - I asked for this figure several times. I only ended up with B-Wing pilots. Again, it would seem at the time these were like gold dust in the UK. Edit: completely forgot, a Dai-X and X-Bomber toy. It wasn't until much, much later that I found out these actually existed. I now own three Dai-Xs of various types.