"Laurie & Jacques" wrote in message
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"Canuck" wrote in message
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"Laurie & Jacques" wrote in message
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In my own opinion, one of the best aircaraft ever made, along with the
C130. (both models)

Jacques

I really loved it. My most memorable flight on an Air Canada L-1011 was
coming back from London (Heathrow) to Winnipeg. In those days, if you asked
nicely, they would let you go up and visit the cockpit and have a look
around. The crew were very nice to me and let me sit in the jump seat
through the approach and landing into Winnipeg. The conditions were quite
rough. Strong winds and lots of snow...as near to a blizzard as can be. It
was fantastic to see the runway lights just appear out of the gloom. It was
the strangest trip. I left Zagreb in a blizzard, arrived in London where it
was relatively warm and quite humid, and then arrived in a blizzard again.
It was fantastic to be back in Canada. I wish I'd gotten some pictures of
the magnificent sky over Greenland. It was quite amazing. Although I'd been
back and forth over Greenland several times, I'd never seen anything quite
like this. It was twilight and bitterly cold and lots of ice crystals in
the clouds below. The Sun's rays produced a spectacular prismatic effect in
the clouds. Absolutely unforgettable and I wish I had some way to film it.
The very cheap camera I had and the film I had in it just did not do it
justice.

Lockheed makes great aircraft. I love everything they have ever made. Some
of my other favourites are the F-104, the SR-71, the U-2 and of course the
new F-22. I have yet to see a F-22 in person but look forward to it. The
video that has made its way around the Internet is quite spectacular. It is
an amazing aircraft and I wish Canada had bought it instead of the F-35. I
guess it came down to money.

You are right! $$ rules! Canada, I believe has only two to three
operational squadrons of CF-18s. Another for Training new pilots. the rest
are spar parts, or if you wish, spares. Just the same, they will be buying
new planes. They have to. No way getting around it.

Don't bet on it. They are likely counting on keeping CF-188s flying until the
Canadian version of the F-35 is available. I don't think they have to buy
anything but spares, just as they did with the Starfighter.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)