DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, but that's still CH related.

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jhopgood
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by jhopgood »

Avon wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:42 am In the RN section I didn’t get a gun and could smoke too, when Chief Bradley wasn’t looking.
After proficiency I spent my CCF time in the RE's, pretending to build an assault course in the Bird sanctuary. Also a haven for smokers.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by Avon »

jhopgood wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:25 pm
Avon wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:42 am In the RN section I didn’t get a gun and could smoke too, when Chief Bradley wasn’t looking.
After proficiency I spent my CCF time in the RE's, pretending to build an assault course in the Bird sanctuary. Also a haven for smokers.
I think the RE did the same too in my time - a week of building a course, a bit of a hurrah as the CCF duly did it, condemned by H&S a few months later.
alterblau
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by alterblau »

As for the Pub Quiz question the following comment by Katherine reinforces a suspicion that I have concerning the nakedness of Mercury. Is that the reason for the difference?

“As to your pub quiz question, are girls nowadays still protected from such obscene (!) sights? Are the current plates identical? Now the school is coed, presumably girls don't have to be protected from the realities of life, as we were! Does that answer your question?”

Incidentally the earliest copy of the Bayeux Tapestry, was made by Victorians in 1885 and now is in the Reading, Berks Museum. It contains only one difference from the original. An unclothed man is pictured falling off a boat into the English Channel. In the Victorian copy he wears underpants. In this sense Miss West was presumably a Victorian, if that’s the difference.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by Katharine »

Quite right, the girls' badges had him veiled, can't remember the details.

Hmm, my niece was one of the last to wear such a badge as she was at CH at the time of the merger. I must ask her whether she was allowed to keep the badge. I wonder whether she even noticed the difference when she got a plate instead?
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by Phil »

Although it doesn’t add much to the thread, this extract from Miss DR West’s autobiography [1] describes her impressions of the Dam Busters premiere.

“On 15 May 1955 I took the first RAF Scholars, a party of three boys and Diana [2], to see the premiere of the film The Dam Busters. I was surprised at how small the boys were in comparison to Diana [2], who at sixteen was full grown and quite a big girl. There would be no difficulty at fitting them into my car, for the boys were spending the night in our infirmary. The four scholars had the honour of being presented to Princess Margaret before going into the Cinema to see the film. I went up to London again when Elizabeth [2] was chosen to present the bouquet to Princess Marina, the President of the RAF Benevolent Fund at a concert in St James’ Palace, given by the RAF Military Band. We returned to Hertford laden with flowers, as we had we had been given all the table decorations.”

[1] “Half to Remember,” DR West, page 54. Publisher and date unmentioned, but probably CH and about 1987.
[2] When reference is made to girl pupils, no surnames are given.
Last edited by Phil on Sun Dec 31, 2017 11:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by michael scuffil »

Re the PSG, which I was in for a short while: it was preceded by something called 'the Pioneers', which was - I think - officially part of the CCF but did nothing that could be construed as 'combative'. A prominent member was Anthony Arblaster (ThB).
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by gneuss »

I've always really appreciated the fact that I was awarded one of the RAF Benevolent Fund scholarships and still have the plate I wore. I also met pilots and crew from 617 squadron when they visited the school and they gave me a 617 lapel badge. By the time I arrived at CH (1959) fathers of RAF scholars had obviously survived the war and the award of the scholarship was based partly on their service record and how we performed at interview. I was in the CCF just for less than a year (I have a great photo of Arthur Parker and I in full uniform with old Lee Enfield rifles!) then transferred to the Public Service programme which we affectionately called the SS (sh*t shovellers).
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by davidtaplin »

BBC World Service had a Hardtalk Interview with Dambuster Johnny Johnston which could be now accessed on the BBC website I believe.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by rockfreak »

We in the Coleridge houses in the 1950s always knew when the illustrious BW had turned up to visit because he would be standing there at lunch parade chatting with Clarence on the HM's front lawn. But the rest of them knew it only when the band struck up the Dambusters march. He must have got terribly fed up with it and perhaps fancied a change. A medley from Salad Days perhaps.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by AMP »

I came across this very nice old documentary on Barnes Wallis.

A moderator may like to try saving it somewhere in case the link dies.

I've always been in awe of Concorde and the great british engineering that went into it.

But Barnes Wallis was dismissive:
"Where do you think the Concorde is going to get us?"
"Nowhere"

He had wanted to build a plane with variable geometry which would fly at 275,000 feet and 14,000 mph!!

https://youtu.be/_Te2xSXnO1g
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by Ajarn Philip »

^^ Very interesting, thanks for posting it.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by AMP »

Ajarn Philip wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:59 pm ^^ Very interesting, thanks for posting it.
My pleasure

He discusses the school's heuristic method of teaching.
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by AMP »

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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by sejintenej »

AMP wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:55 pme across this very nice old documentary on Barnes Wallis.

He had wanted to build a plane with variable geometry which would fly at 275,000 feet and 14,000 mph!!
To revert to the original theme - BW thinking outside the box and compared to daily chapel.

I suspect that the name Carl Sagan, the scientist and more is well known. In his book The Demon-Haunted World he points out how religion has fu**ed science and progress

He points out that Copernicus was threatened by the Roman Catholic church with excommunication for saying the world goes around the sun and about half of modern day Americans think Copernicus was wrong..
"In 1993 the supreme religious authority in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa declaring that the world is flat; anyone of the round persuasion does not believe in God and should be punished"
Many/most of us took a little bit of trig at CH and might be surprised that under several US states teaching rules Phi is 3 and not 3.14159..... How in tarnation do they calculate the volume of a round can????????????/ (Oh, and he gets far far damninge about US teaching)
75% of Americans do not know that antibiotics kill bacteria and not viruses.
Strict Jews apparently believe that the earth was created under 6000 years ago and cannot understand the concept of evolution.

Those are some modern thoughts and pressures (he also goes back to ancient Greece) which prevent thinking outside the box as BW did. Perhaps CH should stop teaching religion of any nature?

and, of course the Houses of Parliament are beset with daily religious prayers - perhaps we should do away with their inherent negativity and encourage thought?

As an example the world is suffused with thrown away plastic bags. They are being used in building roads in England, even a UK airport runway but can I get my local council to try doing it? take a guess at the answer.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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Re: DAMBUSTERS AND C.H.

Post by loringa »

sejintenej wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:41 pm
"In 1993 the supreme religious authority in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa declaring that the world is flat; anyone of the round persuasion does not believe in God and should be punished"
Many/most of us took a little bit of trig at CH and might be surprised that under several US states teaching rules Phi is 3 and not 3.14159..... How in tarnation do they calculate the volume of a round can????????????/ (Oh, and he gets far far damning about US teaching)
75% of Americans do not know that antibiotics kill bacteria and not viruses.
Strict Jews apparently believe that the earth was created under 6000 years ago and cannot understand the concept of evolution.
David, David, David - this is the problem with the Internet isn't it: a mixture of facts, falsehoods and half truths? A senior religious scholar in Saudi Arabia did indeed issue the said fatwa but he was not the supreme religious authority as such; as far as I know, there are no supreme (earthly) authorities in Sunni Islam. As for the Pi (not phi) equals 3 nonsense, the Indiana Pi bill did indeed try to legislate that Pi equalled 3 but that was in about 1897 and, whilst it was passed in the House of Representatives, it didn't pass in the State Senate. The Alabama Pi bill was just an April fool's day joke. This is a nation that put the man on the moon for goodness sake!

I can't comment on the number of Americans that do not know that antibiotics only kill bacteria but I doubt it is that much different from the number of Brits; educated people know this, the less well educated might not.

As for 'strict Jews', fundamentalist Jews and fundamentalist Christians believe that the earth was created 6000 years' ago and plenty of Muslims do not believe in evolution. This is despite all the evidence to the contrary and is thus an article of faith and therefore, to them, unquestionable.

We have flat earthers, fundamentalists, climate-change deniers and people who believe that Covid-19 was a Government plot in this country, in the United States and elsewhere. There are stupid people and ill-educated people in this world along with a great number who are easily led. We need neither to join them nor tar entire nations, or religions, with the same brush.

BTW I rather doubt Hazza Al Mansouri thinks the world is flat!
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