It might be Blue Thunder all over again
According to yesterdays papers, the SAS are taking delivery of four Eurocopter Daupin, which will be camoflaged in civilian markings, for surprise attacks on terrorists.
“Nobody will bat an eyelid when one of them in civvy colours turns up over a built-up area. It looks the same as a corporate ride.” one of the SAS told The Sun, even though the only known UK owner of one is the dwarfish footballist Michael Owen.
These helicopters, which come with state-of-the-art communications equipment and a quiet rotor system will provide an ideal platform for anti-terrorism.
Nice. Anti-terrorism is good. But…
Buying helicopters from the French isn’t so good, as anyone who ever owned a French car will tell you.
Still, at least they’ll tell you how to fly them and give you the keys, unlike the bloody Americans and the Chinook.
They probably fly for about 200 miles before slowly dissembling themselves into component parts, probably somewhere over Cheshire.
However, Eurocopter is the successor of Aérospatiale, the company who made the SA-341G Gazelle.
Now you may not recall the Gazelle. Here is a picture of one:
Hmm, that looks familiar…doesn’t it have the same tail section as…
Yup, its Blue Thunder.
In reality, the Blue Thunder helicopter was a cosmetic make-over of the Gazelle. It was intended to make it look scarier, unlike the current plan…
Looking back on the Blue Thunder film (not the TV series, never look back at that), Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response, THOR, was the “proposed use of military helicopters to quell disorder” during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Now I’m not drawing any parallels here, but by the time the 22 Regiment acually get their hands on these things the Olympics will be nigh on hand. But they probably won’t work properly, and will need to go back to the main dealer after a week. Being French.
I’m just thinking… and I think that is still legal.
Maaaan, you know there is such thing in the web like search engine, http://google.com if you don’t, go there to understand why this post is bullshit
Hello,
about cars:
of course we did some lame ducks like the R14, the Visa, the 605 or the Laguna 2, but perhaps you’ve allready listened some of the following:
“How can I get Jaguar parts?” – “Just follow one”
“Why do the front tires last very long with a Jaguar?”- “Because of the mileage done behind tow trucks”
LOTUS = Lot Of Troubles, Usually Serious
“Which bikers have the fewer accidents?” – “Triumph users: one hour the buttocks on, one week the hands in”.
now the problem is solved because you carmakers are owned by Germans or Americans
And we’ll never thank enought the Royal Navy for having offered us his brand new “Sheffield” battleship for the worldwide Exocet advertising “One shot, one ship”.
Helicopter’s MTBF: the American themselves discribe the Apache as the fixery’s queen. “Blue thunder” movie bought two used 10-years-old Gazelle for cutsomizing (they were looking for an helicopter model that most Americans didn’t know -despite they found it used by American compagnies!- but not too expensive: not too recent). They came by themselves, not on a truck.
Remake of “Blue Thunder”?
If a remake should be done, I think that the best choice would be the Russian Kamov Ka-50 “Black Shark”, with short-bladed coaxial contrarotating rotors: a very SF look (no need to customize!) and it’s the only attack helico to be single-maned: the coaxial double rotor is stable “by itself” and makes the one-hand piloting possible. All others (including the Tiger) need one pilote and one shooter. The single-maned feature was so new that they had glued false mirored windows aside the transmission block to let the American spies belvieve it has a second seat behing and higher. The coaxial rotor allows to use shorter blades (and without tail rotor, fenestron tail or blowing tail like the NOTAR’s one) making it very manoeuvrable, especially in a city: the other reason making it the best “actor” for a remake of “Blue thunder”. Some other Kamov helicopters are used by the Swiss rescue teams in mountains, for the same reason: they can go closer to a rock face than classical helicopters.
A+
GarkWrese – What the fuck are you on about?
kermario – What is the difference between the British car industry and the French car industry? There actually is a French car industry.
Could Jaguar become British again?
Hello Tony,
When I was young (I’m born after the CC40100 and a few months before the R16) a Jaguar (not only the “E”. The others too) had a marvellous glint of British distinction that no Mercedes could even approach. I’ve never been a Rolls-Royce’s fan but I had some admiration toward the Jags. Of course I had eard lot of jokes about them but the same had been said about the DS, at the beginning (I was not yet born): specially advanced or handsome cars needed special cares, else one should better buy a Lada or (now) a Dacia. Dacia cars have a long MTBF, but who’s dreaming about them? Jaguars were not reliable, Mercedes were, but Jaguars where “classy” while Mercedes weren’t. Perhaps because I never saw any Jaguar taxi (of course taxidrivers favored the 404-504-505 diesel or Mercedes 200D, half-million kilometers reliable and cheap-at-use [504D: "Africa's Queen"], but making those both brands “taximakers”: nothing to make me dream about). Some people (in France too) take their bravery at both hands and try to maintain some old Jaguars alive (yes: one hour the hands on the steering wheel, one week… you know the song) and are sometimes seen as masochists, but I undestand them. (I’m not masochist enough for buying an old Jag, but I admirate the ones who dare such an adventure, like the ones who try the same with the SM). But I think that no one will invest so much time and bravery to maintain alive an old Ford-Jaguar “X-type”: it will be disposed of and compressed to cube like a Mondeo.
But there came the hope: Ford is in bad financial state (not as bad as GM, but bad enough) and perhaps, they’ll have to sell back Jaguar. I hope that it will not be bought by VW-Audi (or Renault, or Mercedes or Fiat, or, worst of the worse: Toyota) but by some British investors who really love this brand (and will stop the prostitution of this name on the X-Type: a Mondeo-based forgery…).
The world needs to retrieve true British cars (not this [Bavarian]beer-bellied “Mini” [*] or else), even if they go more often in the fixery than a Dacia. It was so “dandy”. Like the black Raleigh bicycles with cableless brakes and Sturmey-Archer gearbox, the red call boxes, the red buses (I saw a true Londonnian bus this summer: here [with French plate 56 (Morbihan): not in London], I saw a perfectly restaured silver-grey E-Type: a dream on ray wheels, and I found such a “vintage” Raleigh bicycle in my town’s wastery. It works! Only the headlight is damaged)… Such things are not only British: they’re parts of the “not-everywhere-the-same” European culture.
About Jaguar, do you believe it would be possible?
[*] like the new beer-bellied Val Kilmer, did you see him? (we don’t need an Obélix-sized Val Kilmer: whe’ve allready Depardieu). But that would be another discussion…
Jaguar are currently owned by Tata Motors, and Indian company.
The X Type and current versio of the Mondeo share a problem: because of my freakish nature and their bloody awful seat adjustments it is almost impossible for my to fit behind the steering wheel. I have no problem fitting in an original Mini though.
My gripes about French cars are based solely on the piece of shit Xsara Picasso (another one that i’m too big to drive).
Jaguar owned by Tata? So Ford has allready sold it: thank you for the info (I has eard that Rover belong to China, I didn’t know for Jaguar)
To big to drive: yes, recent cars take allways more fat from outside but often offer less true space inside. I’ve an XM: it’s wide and confortable, but I had a bit more space for the legs (espiecially the left one) in the R16 (thanks to the better position of the engine: in center under the dashboard, like in the R4: another leg-friendly car) and the R16′s suspension was more quiet that the XM’s one, despite the hydropneumatic system. Where is the progress? (fuel consuption OK: whith the TD engine the XM is a trully “small drinker”)
I don’t know the Picasso (by inside, I want to say). The Laguna 2 (no longer produced) and the Vel-Satis were well known here as unreliable, but the worst car I’ve even had (in MTBF) was an Audi 100: German quality is not allways a truth, especially in the “lowest” versions of some models (people said to have had no problem with the 5-cylinders Audi 100, but the 4-cylindres ones where often unreliable)
In fact I use a lot more my bicycle (allmost everyday) than my car (about 1 ou 2 times per month), now. The Raleigh I found was a bit to short for me so I offered it to my mother: cableless brakes = no brakes problems.