TACOMA, Wash. -- The police log entry said it all: "Deceased fawn was dressed up like an infant and abandoned at the Pantages" Theater.
Why would anyone dress up a dead newborn deer, lay it in a basket and leave it outside an ornate downtown landmark? "Your guess is as good as mine," said Tom Sayre, a spokesman of The Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County.
The outfit included an infant sleeper and a bib that read, "You think I'm cute? You should see my aunt," Sayre added.
An officer found the fawn Tuesday night, said police spokesman Mark Fulghum. It was unclear how the animal died but the odor indicated it had been dead for awhile, he said.
A Humane Society vet thought it might have been stillborn. "It's just bizarre," Fulghum said.
When it avoided gunfire over Aksai Chin in 1962 to collect the first evidence of Chinese intrusions, few would have thought that the hardy Canberra aircraft would carry on to serve till the end of the century and even return with a Stinger missile embedded in its fuselage during operations in Kargil.
After 50 years of service and participation in all post-Independence conflicts, the British Electric Canberra aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) retired from service on Friday. India was the last country to have the aircraft in an operational role.
Summing up the mood in an emotional phasing out ceremony at the Agra Air Force Station, Air Chief Marshal F H Major observed that the aircraft had been the eyes of the nation and of those who flew it, many are now legends.
The aircraft has the distinction of participating in all conflicts right from the (1961) Congo UN operations and the Goa conflict to Operation Safed Sagar in Kargil. It is a sad moment, but the aircraft have to go, the Air Chief said.
The aircraft, inducted in 1957 as Indias first tactical jet bombers, carried on to serve a variety of roles including electronic warfare, maritime strike, strategic reconnaissance and target towing. The highest decorated living officer of the Indian Air Force, Wing Commander (retd) J M Nath, awarded the Maha Vir Chakra twice during the 1962 and 1965 wars, was among the legends present at the phasing out ceremony. It was an absolute delight to fly. In 1962, I flew the aircraft 50 meters off the ground in Aksai Chin to get an estimation of the Chinese army positions. If only we had been allowed to use air power during the war, each and every soldier and military target could have been taken out by the aircraft, he said. Nehru prevented the IAF from bombing Chinese troops
After being taken off frontline duties like bombing and deep reconnaissance missions, some of the aircraft formed part of Indias first top-secret electronic warfare unit. It was a very hush-hush project to create an electronic warfare (EW) squadron. We used to go deep into Pakistan and would jam enemy radars and collect information about their systems, former Air Chief S Krishnaswamy, who commanded Indias EW squadron consisting of modified Canberra and MiG 21 aircraft, said. The twin-engined high-altitude bomber played a crucial role during the Kargil conflict and brought the first aerial photographs of enemy entrenchments.
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/12/2007 06:51 ||
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...IIRC though the RAF still has one or two as research and test aircraft.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/12/2007 12:10 Comments ||
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A good airplane with many years honorable service. Unfortunately the US variant was shot out of service in Vietnam. When I graduated from Nav school in 72, we had about 12 left and were losing about 3 every two months. Not only were they flying hazardous missions in VietNam, but they had a tendency to lose an engine on takeoff, roll inverted, and fly into the ground.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2007 15:45 Comments ||
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In the mid to late 60's both the standard and long wing version of the B57 flew out of Hill AFB, Utah. When the long wing birds took off their thunderous roar left no doubt of their departure. And those suckers could climb. I think they were the RB57F models, but could they have been the D models. RB-57F High-altitude reconnaissance version developed by General Dynamics, TF33-P-11A turbofan engines with provision for auxiliary J60-P-9 turbojets, first flight 23 June 1963; 21 built (3 converted from RB-57As, 4 from RB-57Ds, the rest from B-57Bs). Picture
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M Yusuf Khan
Friday, 11 May 2007
Hindustan Times
The incident that will be foremost in my mind when I attend the function at Air Force Station Agra when the Canberra aircraft will be ceremoniously phased out on Friday, May 11, relates to the 1971 war. On the second day of the war, I was rostered to fly a bombing mission to a heavily defended Pakistani airfield. We flew by night at very low heights. Soon after crossing the border, we picked up radar signals indicating that we were being pursued. Luckily, it turned out to be a false alarm.
We reached the target and disgorged eight 1,000-pound bombs through the barrage of anti-aircraft shells. All we could see was the runway in the flashes of explosions. Our prime concern now was to shake off the interceptor aircraft lurking in the vicinity. We used every ounce of the jet energy to make a quick exit. The airfield where we intended to land was under attack forcing us to divert to Hindon. We landed there with the fuel warning light blinking, not knowing when the engines would quit. We barely spotted the dimly-lit runway and touched down. It was exhilarating.
We filled our tanks and headed for Agra, our home base. Robin, returning from a mission, was low on fuel. I made an extra orbit so that he could land first, then I came in for landing. As we hurtled down the runway, I saw flashes ahead of us. It took me a while to realise that they were exploding bombs dropped by Pakistani aircraft. I felt so utterly hopeless. There was no evasive action we could take. Mohanty, my navigator, was yelling to stop the aircraft but I could not and went through the shrapnel, mud and debris kicked up by the Pakistani bombs.
In the forthcoming get-together I am hoping to meet both Mohanty and Robin at Agra. I have to make a mention of the Pakistani pilot whose inaccurate aim made it possible for this story to be told.
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/12/2007 18:45 Comments ||
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M Yusuf Khan, kool customer, ..thanks John..
btw why the hell did Nehru restrict the Indian Air-force from using the Canberra as a weapon system against the invading Chinese in 1962..
Edited for brevity.
Right now, 1.5 percent of all cars sold in the U.S. are hybrids, and in three years that number is expected to be six times higher. At some local dealerships they even have waiting lists for customers who want to purchase a hybrid vehicle.
But what makes these cars so desirable, is also creating an extra danger. The problem starts right under the hood, where most hybrids have bright orange cables carrying high-voltage electricity between the batteries and engine. Those cables can be a hot zone for firefighters responding to collisions involving hybrids.
Emergency responders have an inherently hazardous job, but the proliferation of hybrid vehicles is adding to the potential dangers they face on a daily basis. The risk of electrocution is very real. The combination gas-electric vehicles have up to 500 volts running through them, and can also pose a danger to passengers in a crash.
When firefighters are called to high-speed collisions, they often have to cut drivers and passengers out of the mangled vehicles. But cut in the wrong place on a hybrid car before the battery is disconnected, and it could result in a lethal shock.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/12/2007 12:00 ||
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Wait for the blue flame explosions from the hydrogen cars of the future.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
