United Express BAE 146

British Airways Concorde 102 at Fairford

MiG-21 with Jaguar

Cold War Classic by Treflyn Lloyd-Roberts Via Flickr: Harrier GR.3 XV779 poses on the ramp at RAF Wittering under threatening skies during a COAP photo shoot. Aircraft: Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3 XV779. Location: RAF Wittering, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Lovejoy, The Twisted New British Boy Band

Wilbur is mentioned in this article!

It was a December night, and as finals’ hush fell across campus, we fled north to the Aragon Ballroom for their Twisted Xmas. Little did we know just how sick and twisted it would be. (Although there was no punk-Christmas music played, thank God). We went for Lovejoy, an up-and-coming band in the pop-punk scene whom we had found by misremembering the name of Grouplove.

Under the Ballroom’s eaves, nestled in a crowd of teenage girls and their mothers, we caught sight of a woman’s lock screen next to me: “I’m nothing without you” scrawled in gothic handwriting. We weren’t sure what we had gotten ourselves into. Were we joining some kind of cult? Something that might continue to fill us with stories and motivation long after the concert, long after the holidays, through this winter and into the coming years? Then, lead singer Wilbur Soot, a teenage girl’s dream, stepped on stage with tousled hair. His toothy smile put me at ease and his mellifluous British accent calmed and enthralled us as the music came on.

While Soot was the center of the show, what’s a boy band without its boys? Bassist Ash Kabosu stood to Soot’s left, rocking shoulder-length hair and dark shades, in front of drummer Mark Boardman. Lead guitarist Joe Goldsmith flanked Soot to his right, performing in front of Alan Osmundson, the band’s touring trumpeter and keyboard player (who’s also an MIT Aerospace Engineering grad).

Lovejoy opened with a rolling drum beat, a groovy bass line, and an upbeat guitar melody. “Concrete” displayed all their charms. Soot counted his friends into the jam session before recalling a perhaps-fictional night out at 3 a.m. Someone, barely described, is making quite a commotion over Soot’s late-night kiss, enough that both our charming British boy and the bar’s bouncer is upset. Is this just a jealous fan? A long-term girlfriend? Someone a little too invested in that lovely accent? Soot recommends they “sleep on the concrete.” This tall, lanky boy, thin enough to be blown over by a small gust of wind, has a naughty streak in him! Soot’s music plays into emo and punk tendencies, writing about the dark sides of relationships and fighting the system, yet nastiness also comes from within him, giving him power and control.

And yet, somehow all the twisting only adds to this British boy’s allure. Soot’s songwriting is unconventional. It does not hold individual lines of lyrics like many other artists but instead rambles like prose, where one line is only understood by the context of the three lines before and after. With every song, the band publishes a short story. These short stories are just as much musical and emotional as they are lyrical. You would be forgiven for not knowing the names of “Concrete” or “It’s Golden Hour Somewhere” while they played. The refrains are so much less punctuated in his style, and it is hard to hear Soot sing those words over the sound of the entire crowd. Those of us at the concert experienced his stories collectively, uniting in these twisted and tousled emotions. Maybe this is a cult. We chose to join it by buying a hoodie, and they rewarded us with a trading card. What a great souvenir for my night with Wilbur the Hero.

British Aerospace Harrier II

Supermarine Spitfire

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka

According to research by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), the UK has licensed more than £472 million in arms exports to Israel since 2015. This includes tank components, armour-piercing ammunition and small arms, but, in keeping with the structure of the British weapons industry, aerospace components for fighters and drones predominate. It’s difficult to get clear numbers from the arms industry. The headline figure is taken from the value of standard licences, but the UK also operates a system of open licences that permit transfers of unlimited – and unspecified – quantities of particular military goods. Since 2015, 57 such licences have been granted for export to Israel, ten of those in 2022. They include British components for the American-designed F-35 aircraft, which campaigners estimate have been worth £336 million to the companies (primarily BAE Systems) producing them. Because the quantities of goods issued under open licences are not made public, groups such as CAAT have to back-engineer their value. In recent years the government has become increasingly hostile to Freedom of Information requests on arms, but there is enough publicly available data to be certain that the planes currently flattening apartment blocks and refugee camps in Gaza rely on components engineered and manufactured in Britain. There is little appetite in Westminster for reform of the domestic arms industry. For one thing, it is a rare economic success story. The UK is the second largest exporter of defence items in the world and, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Initiative, the sixth largest exporter of major conventional weapons (which means everything short of weapons of mass destruction), primarily aircraft. The total value of standard licences issued in 2021 was £10.7 billion, and the industry depends on its aerospace sector, which accounts for 72 per cent of export business. More than half of all British defence exports go to the Middle East – but to Saudi Arabia rather than Israel. Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, accuse BAE Systems of being party to Saudi war crimes in Yemen, where BAE-supplied (and serviced) fighters have bombed schools and hospitals.

James Butler, Up in Arms

Weapons, ammunition and equipment are in strong demand as Western countries continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, while growing instability in the Middle East and tensions with China are also boosting orders. Many governments are issuing major contracts to begin rebuilding ammunition stockpiles after sending huge amounts of hardware to Kyiv, at a time when the Israel-Gaza conflict and attacks by Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea are creating more uncertainty. Meanwhile, Britain has partnered with Japan and Italy to develop a next-generation fighter jet, and with the US and Australia to develop a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS pact.

BAE, which is the UK’s biggest manufacturer and largest defence contractor, revealed in November that it had booked £10bn of orders since June alone, including £3.9bn related to AUKUS. The company has also secured ammo-restocking contracts worth around £410m in Britain and another $8.8bn (£6.9bn) contract to continue running an ammunition plant on behalf of the US Army.

Babcock has been awarded contracts to support the Ukrainian navy, maintaining two minehunter ships that were previously part of British forces. The rally of defence and aerospace companies has also been boosted by a burgeoning turnaround at engineering giant Rolls-Royce, which maintains fighter jet and boat engines for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, including the reactor cores for Britain’s Vanguard nuclear deterrent submarines.

2 Jan 24

A British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS.1 undertakes a verticle landing onto the flight deck of HMS INVINCIBLE. Already landed and placed are at least two other British Aerospace Sea Harriers and four Westland Sea King HAS.5s.

credit Peter Lord

@CcibChris via X

Past vs Present

Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion carrying a British Aerospace Sea Harrier

Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion carrying a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lighting II

Night Operations at Quonset State Airport

COC Day 02 ▪︎ Alternate Universe

“Aeroplanes don’t stop being aeroplanes when they’re on the ground.”

– Wayward Son, @rainbowrowell

Some Planes AU thoughts, because why not:

Simon is an experimental RAF aircraft based on the Panavia Tornado

He’s made for bombing and interception, but his shit goes haywire often, messing with the radios and instruments of everything around him

Simon has variable-sweep wings, meaning he can fold them in!!!

Penny is a forklift and Simon’s engineer dread companion

Baz is from a long line of luxury jets

He’s based on the British Aerospace 125, which was initially designated as the DH. 125 Jet Dragon, and that’s cool as hell

British Aerospace’s acronym is BAe - yes, that is important information for you all to know

Baz requires special fuel because no matter what, his fuel inexplicably ices over…

The fuel is called A positive (the positive meaning it has an anti-ice additive), which sounds like a blood type and boy I love that

Simon insists Baz is siphoning off fuel from forklifts and fuel trucks when everyone’s asleep…

Baz's plane should not have a droop nose - Simon broke it, and now it just looks like that

Fiona only dates planes she meets at air shows

I have more thoughts, but I’ll spare you (for now)

(Slowly pushes my Walker kids ocs toward you)

1. Julian •Three years older than David. •6 foot 3. •Black hair, brown (hickory) eyes. •Has a Tibetan Mastiff named Sparta (she's a good girl - Julian, after Sparta rips a man's leg off). •Marine Lieutenant. •Callsign: Ares. •He has a wife (Izabel) and three kids ( Luke and Leia (twins) and Mary, 5 and 3 years old, respectively). • Has a degree in neuroscience.

2. Olivia •Two years older than David. •6 foot 0. •Blonde hair, green (juniper) eyes. •Has a male rottweiler named Ricky. •Army Lieutenant (Elias definitely cried at her promotion). •Callsign: Valkyrie. •Slept with a british guy named Simon once. ;) •She now has a 4 year old daughter named Willow. •Went to college for aerospace engineering, came home with a degree in art history somehow.

3. Sylvie •One year older than David. •6 foot 0. •Named after Elias's mom, Sylvia. •Blonde hair, brown (gingerbread) eyes. •Fur baby in the form of a Giant Schnauzer, Lady Bug (the ONLY grandchild Elias will ever get out of her) •Army Lieutenant (Elias also cried at her promotion) •Callsign: Dove. •Degrees in thermodynamics and engineering.

4. Felix •Born in between David and Logan. •6 foot 1. •Jasmines twin. •Black hair, grey (flint) eyes. •Marine Sargeant. •Callsign: Wraith •Mortiary Science Degree.

5. Jasmine •Born in between David and Logan. •6 foot 1. •Felixs twin. •Black hair, grey (silver) eyes. •Marine Sargeant. •Callsign: Banshee •Mortiary Science Degree.

6. Vivian •One year younger than Logan. • 6 foot 2. •Red hair, green (moss) eyes. •Marine Corpal. •Callsign: Phoenix. •Degrees in Astrobiology and Astronomy.

7. Lucy •Two years younger than Logan. •5 foot 10. •Blonde hair, brown (cinnamon) eyes. •Army Corpal. •Callsign: Bugs. (As in 'bugs bunny' do to all the wacky hijinks she gets away with.) •Psychology degree.

Lore;

•Elias has had two wives.

•The first one, Grace, is the mother to Julian, Olivia, Slyvie, and David. She and Elias had a very neutral divorce while she was pregnant with David (who was an unsuccessful attempt at rekindling the romance). Elias and Grace simply just fell out of love with each other.

•In-between marriages, Elias ends up falling into bed for a one night stand with a fellow soldier, a trans man named Damian.

•Damian and Elias were both under the impression that T works like birth control.

•They were mistaken.

•Damian did not want kids, but the pregnancy was too far along to abort it by the time he found out.

•Damian, of course, goes looking for Elias, who at this point is planning his second wedding with an old flame, Jane.

•Elias suggests that he take primary custody of the twins, Damian agrees, and the rest is history.

•Damian sticks around as a "fun uncle" of sorts

•Damian is the birth giver of Felix and Jasmine.

•Elias’s second wife is the mother of Logan, Vivian, and Lucy. She got pregnant before the wedding.

•Gabriel Rorke, who Elias is friends with at this point, is the best man at the wedding.He also unds up being the Godfather to Elias kids at this point.

•Rorke almost got fired from this due to the fact he started his best man speech with "To Elias’s side of the family, welcom back."

•Jane ends up dying from cancer when Lucy is 7.

•Three years later, Elias and Grace end up getting back together, and they pull Gabriel into the relationship.

🐺

DAMN Julian, you're as tall as Rorke! Fucking hell. Sparta a lil badass cutie pie. Wife and kids plus a degree in neuroscience, bro is killing it.

Olivia also tall as hell, good lord. Their parents gotta have some dutch in them cus this is ludicrous. (Context; Dutch people are pretty tall.) Ricky, when I catch you Ricky, when I catch you. SIMON? HEY. YOU GET BACK HERE MF. Single mom or did she get his ass locked in?

Aw Sylvie got her grandma's name. Cute. Love how all of them have dogs lmao. They're just a dog family! Love them. Lady Bug, the most spoiled only child. Dove is a cute ass call sign.

Ooo, Felix is a twin! Cool. Moriarty science degree, little emo. Would get along with Grim I feel like. Adore that he and Jasmine are up to the same shit lol. And the call signs; Banshee and Wraith, those kinda match. Very cool.

VIVIAN GINGER! Astrobiology degree cool as fuck. Second tallest at 6'2, only beat out by Julian at 6'3, WHERE are these kids getting all this Tall from??

Lucy being "Bugs Bunny" lmao. Mischievous one. Also the shortest! Hah! And the Psyce degree, I respect the grind.

Oooo, ex wife... interesting. Fun fact, I hc Mama Walker's name as Grace, or I just write it as such seeing as we don't know her canon name.

Damian and Elias did NOT get taught good sex ed lmfao.

Elias's bisexuality gets him in more pickles than he can count but hey, he got more kids out of it so he can count that as a win.

Shotgun wedding

"To Elias’s side of the family, welcome back." The way I CHOKED oh my god. Outta pocket Gabe.

Oh poor Jane. You know fun fact I have Logan (Dani) marry a chick named Jane in Repentance. She's pretty important to the plot.

Return of the ex wife! And a poly throuple endgame, nice.

Elias has FOUR separate romantic partners that we know of this man is a WHORE! /J

The lore go wild, you should do like a fic with these guys I think. You've basically done so already putting the lore in my inbox but like details I like details in story format... I am a sucker for it. Or you should draw them. Just do SOMETHING. Even just creating random ass scenarios for them.

"Canadian history is boring" yeah you're right but also what if you were wrong. Let me tell a tale, friends, about a conspiracy theory that only Canadians over the age of 50 really know or care about. Let me tell a tale, friends, of the Avro Arrow and the tragic death of Canadian aerospace engineering.

The year was 1953. The production company was A.V. Roe Canada. At the time, Canada had only produced one commercial interceptor aircraft: the Avro CF-100 Canuck (lovingly referred to as the Clunk). It was...fine, I guess. It worked. But Canada was in the process of joining NORAD, and it was the geographic shield between the US and USSR: any bombers carrying nukes would cross Canadian airspace. The RCAF needed a bombing interceptor.

Enter the AVRO CF-105 Arrow.

You guys don't understand how awesome the Arrow was. It was SLEEK, it was MODERN, it was the PRIDE of a booming Canadian aerospace industry. It was the prototype fighter jet of its time, able to outcompete with American and British interceptors, and set to break both altitude and speed records. Canada was so proud of its aircraft that when the first prototype was ready, they expected a crowd of 13,000 to watch the first test (too bad Sputnik launched the same day). In 1955, even America wanted in (this was unheard of, since America prioritized its own aerospace above all, and rarely purchased planes it didn't make itself).

So where did the Arrow go?

We got rid of it. Sorry, not just got rid of it. We destroyed everything to do with it.

Now, what a lot of the public didn't understand was that the Arrow was expensive, and while it could have outcompeted the American Convair Delta Dart released in 1959, the plane would have been mid at best and defunct at worst by the time America improved on its own Mach 2 interceptor. What's more, ICBMs were becoming a thing, rendering interceptors in general relatively moot. The general consensus was clear: it wasn't worth the money to produce and improve. That was the excuse Prime Minister Diefenbaker (aka Dief the Chief, the anti-Kennedy, of Diefenbunker fame) used to order the end of the Avro Arrow program. This was understandable, generally.

What wasn't understandable was the death of everything to do with it. After unsuccessful attempts to sell the program to America and Britain, Diefenbaker ordered not only the closure of the program, but the complete scrapping of assembly lines, prototypes, classified documents, schematics: everything was destroyed. Only one Arrow went unaccounted for (some people think an air marshal stole it), but the rest were trashed. Allegedly, not a single intact prototype remains, only pieces and replicas on display.

Why would Diefenbaker do this? The conspiracies are endless. Some think a Soviet mole compromised the program and Diefenbaker ordered the complete destruction to prevent the Soviets from gaining this technology. Some people think the US manipulated intelligence to prevent Canadian aerospace from overtaking American aerospace. Sane people think that Canadian intelligence recognized a Soviet transition away from bomber planes, and acted sensibly, if a bit to the extreme.

What we do know is after the death of the Arrow, the Canadian aerospace industry basically collapsed overnight. About 15,000 engineers were now out of work, and many fled to the US to work for Boeing, Convair, NASA, and basically any other aerospace industry job they could find. Diefenbaker went on to have seriously funny beef with JFK, and the Avro Arrow was lost to the annals of aviation history. Rest in pieces, Avro Arrow.

🇬🇧 Embark on a journey through the captivating history of the MG F, a beloved roadster that epitomizes British motoring heritage and sports car excitement!

🚘 The MG F, unveiled in 1995, heralded a resurgence of the iconic MG brand under Rover Group (formerly British Leyland). This mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, two-seater convertible roadster encapsulated the essence of classic British sports cars while embracing contemporary design and engineering.

🏭 The MG F was the first new model crafted exclusively as an MG since the MGB, which was produced from 1962 to 1980. Throughout the 1980s, the marque was used to signify performance models under the parentage of Austin Rover Group, briefly reappearing on the MG RV8—a limited edition revival of the MG MGB sold between 1993 and 1995.

📑 The MG F was conceived during Rover Group's ownership by British Aerospace and launched after the company was acquired by German car manufacturer BMW in 1995. BMW later disassembled Rover Group in 2000, divesting the Rover and MG passenger car businesses to a management buy-out that formed the independent MG Rover business.

🛞 Beneath its sleek exterior, the MG F boasted cutting-edge technology for its era. Notably, it featured Hydragas suspension, derived from the Mini, which struck a balance between sporty handling and ride comfort, enhancing the MG F's nimble and responsive driving dynamics.

⚙️ The MG F was propelled by a range of spirited engines, including a 1.8-liter inline-four with variants offering up to 158 horsepower. Coupled with a lightweight chassis, the MG F delivered exhilarating performance, making it a delight to drive on twisty roads and expansive highways.

🏁 Swiftly embraced by enthusiasts, the MG F charmed with its sleek lines, pop-up headlights, and distinctive rear glass panel—a timeless aesthetic that continues to captivate today.

💡 Over time, the MG F underwent several updates and transformations, culminating in the debut of the MG TF in 2002, which carried forward the F's legacy with refinements and enhancements.

💔 MG Rover entered administration in 2005, halting production of the MG TF model. The remnants of MG Rover were acquired by Nanjing Automobile, and production of the MG TF resumed under the Nanjing-owned MG Motor in 2007. Despite its dated design, the model struggled to find commercial success and ceased production for a final time in 2011.

🌟 Despite the eventual discontinuation of the MG F and TF, these roadsters endure as cherished classics, embodying the essence of British motoring. Their affordability, engaging driving dynamics, and distinctive design secure their place in automotive history as iconic representatives of the MG brand.