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but it all goes back the the story about NASA spending millions researching a pen that could write
in space whereas those damn Ruskies gave their lads a pencil.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
but it all goes back the the story about NASA spending millions researching a pen that could write
in space whereas those damn Ruskies gave their lads a pencil.
The problem with pencils was that the nib could snap off and float into something.
I take your point though that you always need a backup for when the batteries run out.
from wiki:
Uses in the U.S. and Russian space programs
Russian cosmonauts used pencils, and grease pencils on plastic slates until also adopting a space pen in 1969 with a purchase of 100 units for use on all future missions. [1] NASA programs previously used pencils (for example a 1965 order of mechanical pencils[2]) but because of the danger that a broken-off pencil tip poses in zero gravity and the flammable nature of the wood present in pencils[2] a better solution was needed. NASA never approached Paul Fisher to develop a pen, nor did Fisher receive any government funding for the pen's development. Fisher invented it independently, and then asked NASA to try it. After the introduction of the AG7 Space Pen, both the American and Soviet (later Russian) space agencies adopted it.
and I thought we agreed at committee level that the only ones who use Wiki as a source of
reference on here are ladyboys or lads with faces like Harry Rednap after a session in Galway
with ****n C***n
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Mate you have way to much time on your hands;
and I thought we agreed at committee level that the only ones who use Wiki as a source of reference on here are ladyboys or lads with faces like Harry Rednap after a session in Galway with ****n C***n
Ahh, I obviously missed the memo while on the session,
(I'm the one on the left in the second pic)
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
"Well, stone me! We've had cocaine, bribery and Arsenal scoring two goals at home. But just when you thought there were truly no surprises left in football, Vinnie Jones turns out to be an international player!" (Jimmy Greaves)!"
I am not an experienced military man like yourself Paul but as a civilian observer it appears to me from the smoke in the picture that there has been some kind of discharge from that tripod thingy....
there certainly is 'some kind of discharge' when you fire a mortar LordJJ:
British Soldiers firing the 81mm Mortar in Afghanistan.
as they say - "...there's no smoke without fire..."
RGJ
...Once a Rifleman - Always a Rifleman...Celer et Audax
hi all,
I remember wondering why we all had black faces after firing the old Brandt 81mm in the FCA.Scarcely ducking after sending the bomb down the tube! Good fun, though.
regards
GttC
RGJ those photos are brilliant by the way. Were you involved in that action yourself?
no LordJJ unfortunately i only saw action in Iraq so these are not my pics, although i have fired a few bombs from the 81 in my time, but never in anger.
it is, as anyone who has fired a mortar will tell you - quite a shocking and exciting experience with a shockwave that penetrates your inner core.
what the US soldiers are doing in supporting the bi-pod legs is not something i have seen our lads do as our mortars are normally very well bedded in with the prior firing of smoke and illume before going to HE, but i guess it's necessary sometimes and particularly in the instance of that original pic as they may have had to fire on a different target.
RGJ
...Once a Rifleman - Always a Rifleman...Celer et Audax
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