F-ZeroOne

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.

ZZ is perhaps a touch under-rated - most peoples impressions of it are probably based on seeing a few episodes right at the start. It improves considerably after about ep. 22 when Tomino finally regains his senses. Its not perfect, and still has moments of silliness (and can't quite shake off the legacy of those first episodes), but the later half is much better. Turn-A classification is a bit odd - Tomino makes it very clear that all Gundams are part of the Turn-A universe (with the exception of SEED/Destiny, which were produced later), and after all, he did create the franchise in the first place. However, Turn-A is an excellent series in its own right and possibly the one most in keeping with the spirit of the original Gundam series. Recommended!

Pac-Man Begins!

I think they should diversify a bit. Experiment with new game concepts in the Ace Combat setting. Like... Ace Combat: Ace of Aces Volleyball! Extreme! With superb 3D sweat-on-skin-in-the-sun textures! Realistic muscle tone! 500 different collectable dog tags and sunglasses! Custom trunks sizes - from "Baggy" to "Speedos"! 30 playable ace pilots - all male! Its just like the beach volleyball scenes in Top Gun! Coming soon!

Heh. You've got to love quotes like: "It has been seen as a bit of a white elephant and Cold War relic but we have never had an aircraft that has performed like this. Best thing since the Spitfire." Now thats praise!

Oh, okay - sorry, I hadn't seen coasters like that before.

Does this mean... ...we have the TOUCH? We have the... POWER?