richard wrote:I've deleted the F18 photo - it was far too big, the wrong kind of aircraft and not really relevant to the thread in general - and LNER specifically.
At the current rate of growth, I will be completely over quota by Easter - that includes the margin I usually try to keep (we broke that margin during the end of last year). EVERYONE PLEASE use restraint when posting attachments and images. Keep them small, keep them relevant (at least the Tornado image above is much smaller - although it could be smaller still). From this point onwards I am going to be much more ruthless in handling large images. I shall delete them without warning (and hard luck if it appears arbitrary - I have other more important things to do). I may restrict attachment sizes even further and if the problem continues, I may ban attachments completely.
Sorry Richard - just realised I was the guilty party. I received the story by e-mail, and at this family time of year, thought of the servicemen overseas, and decided to share sentiments with other members. Clearly not LNER but the general thread by it's definition appeared to be the place for non-LNER stuff. As far as image size is concerned I didn't realise it was too big - it seemed comparable with other images posted. I will definitely take your comments on board for the future.
Yes you posted the post in the right place - the problem was the image size. I would allow more leeway on an LNER image - especially if the size was necessary (e.g. a station plan).
Apologies once again Richard - I have now read your Forum Announcements post too. As very much a "user" rather than "understander" of IT matters, I recognise that I do not always realise the implications of what I do - not sure how to overcome that, other than to curb my "enthusiasm for the cause" which dominated this particular post.
Regarding image sizes and photos of my modelling efforts, these are usually taken on my digital SLR camera which produces images of around 5MB. The default software my system opens when selecting a photo is Microsoft Picture Manager. I have used the edit option to crop photos down to minimum size, and then the edit compress option with the "documents" criteria which tends to reduce the 5MB down to say 350KB. This is probably still too big?
The next option is for "web pages" but this reduces the typical image down to say 60KB. I have not used this for fear of reducing the image to something too small for purpose. What would you advise?
The web option could well be a good option. A computer's screen resolution is a lot less than that of a photograph (or what a modern digital camera can do). Actually it is only about 100 pixels per inch. The ship images I've been putting on the main site have a maximum width of 600 pixels. So that should give you an idea. They have moderate compression and typically come in at under 100K - they also go on a separate site (as suggested by others) which helps with my quota problem. Unfortunately I can't do that automatically with the forums - as this would be a good solution to the problem.
So yes try the web option. It will probably be good enough for photos. You may find it loses too much quality when used with things like line drawings.
Also save photographs as "JPG" (JPEG) rather than PNG (which I think the F18 image was). Jpeg is a "lossy" format that compresses very well but loses detail. This works well for photographs where the eye does not notice the loss of detail. It can be a problem for line drawings - hence my recommendation of using PNG (or GIF) for line drawings.
blackout60800 wrote:Sure is a brilliant read and I have no doubt that someone is thinking 'but the SR71 is a stealth aircraft, how could the ground controller know his location and speed if it's invisible to radar?'
Radio transponders chaps, that's how
They are not that stealthy. One regular mission was to fly along near the coast of Vietnam to goad the air defence radar and coax them to fire their SA2's, then outrun them.
When you can do Mach 0.9 and the missiles can do around Mach 3.5, you start hoping the reports of maximum range have been carefully measured...
Some more bon mots from the services:
'If the enemy is in range, so are you.'
- Infantry Journal-
'It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.'
- US.Air Force Manual -
'Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword, obviously never encountered automatic weapons.'
- General MacArthur -
'You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me.'
- Infantry Sgt.-
'Tracers work both ways.'
- Army Ordnance Manual-
'Five second fuses last about three seconds.'
- Infantry Journal -
The three most useless things in aviation are: Fuel in the bowser; Runway behind you; and Air above you.
-Basic Flight Training Manual-
'Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once.'
- Naval Ops Manual -
'Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.'
- Unknown Infantry Recruit-
'If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up to him.'
- Infantry Journal-
'Yea, Though I Fly Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 50,000 Feet and Climbing.'
- Sign over SR71 Wing Ops-
'You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.'
- Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)-
'The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.'
-Unknown Author-
'If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.'
- Fixed Wing Pilot-
'When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.'
-Multi-Engine Training Manual-
'Without ammunition, the Air Force is just an expensive flying club.'
-Unknown Author-
'If you hear me yell;"Eject, Eject, Eject!", the last two will be echos.'
If you stop to ask "Why?", you'll be talking to yourself, because by then you'll be the pilot.'
-Pre-flight Briefing from a Canadian F104 Pilot-
'What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots?
If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies.'
-Sign over Control Tower Door-
'Never trade luck for skill.'
-Author Unknown-
The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in military aviation are:'Did you feel that?' 'What's that noise?' and'Oh S...!'
-Authors Unknown-
'Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.'
-Basic Flight Training Manual-
'Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.'
- Emergency Checklist-
'The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you.'
- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot) -
'There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.'
-Sign over Squadron Ops Desk at Davis-Montham AFB, AZ-
'You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.' - Lead-in Fighter Training Manual -
Back in the day I was in the RAF. During a Cold War North Sea air defence exercise in the early '80s, we were vectored to attack one. It was doing M2.5 at 60000ft. I decided not to manouevre for a stern attack and went solely head-on. It was steaming along and we were never going to get up there with it, let alone at that speed.
The wing panels etc were designed to expand under the thermal effects of high speed flight. On the ground they leaked fuel everywhere. The jokey crew chief at Mildenhall came out with "what do you call an SR71 that ain't leaking?" "Empty."
I have not met the SR71 but did have an encounter at RAF Leeming with the U2.
Probably about 1995 when there in the TA
It didn't half get the spotters jumping up and down in the playpen on the West side of the base.
On the airshow front, and with aircraft that have an 'overwhelming presence', the Vulcan is a stunner.
Especially at Waddington, even when XH558 is on the ground with her engines idling you can still hear her, no-matter where you are on the base. It is a truly amazing aircraft that is up there with the SR71, Lancaster and Concorde.
Last edited by 60800 on Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
blackout60800 wrote:On the airshow front, and with aircraft that have an 'overwhelming presance', the Vulcan is a stunner.
Especially at Waddington, even when XH558 is on the ground with her engines idling you can still hear her, no-matter where you are on the base. It is a truly amazing aircraft that is up there with the SR71, Lancaster and Concorde.
While I was doing my initial RAF training in 1977 we got shipped across to Waddington for a day trip. The cadets were sent off to different parts according to their planned future employment. As a trainee navigator I was sent to one of the Vulcan squadrons and duly taken out to see the aircraft. We climbed up the ladder and into the cockpit. I took one look in the black hole at the escape set up - 2 pilot ejection seats, 3 rear crew with clip-on parachutes. I thought "they'll not get me one of these" and they didn't. Two guys were posted from my course though - one radar and one plotter. I wanted to see out of the window and have a bang seat.
