{"id":59895,"date":"2018-07-01T17:53:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T17:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=59895"},"modified":"2018-07-01T18:07:25","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T18:07:25","slug":"their-own-private-farnborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=59895","title":{"rendered":"Their own private Farnboroughs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[ by <strong>Charles Cameron<\/strong> &#8212; one vivid memory, two breathtaking photos, one for war-watchers, one for poets ]<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IHj0FOkcE94\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are very few days in my life where I know where I was, but on 6 September 1952, I was at the <strong>Farnborough Air Show<\/strong>, when <strong>John Derry<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>De Havilland 110<\/strong> fell apart at Mach 1, the body of the aircraft falling safely away from the crowd, but one jet ploughing into the hillside I was perched on &#8212; literally, on my dad&#8217;s shoulders &#8212; a few dozen yards behind us.<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/F-15-observers-in-Wales.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"603\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-59896\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/F-15-observers-in-Wales.png 603w, https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/F-15-observers-in-Wales-300x191.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px\" \/><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I was reminded of John Derry and his memorable death by this photo, captioned:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Military aircraft enthusiasts watch as a United States Air Force F-15 fighter jet travels at low altitude through the &#8220;Mach Loop&#8221; series of valleys near Dolgellau, Wales, on June 26, 2018. The Mach Loop valleys are regularly used by the military for operational low-flying training, which can take place as low as 250 feet (76 meters) from the nearest terrain. Oli Scarff \/ AFP \/ Getty<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The aircraft, as shown above, is certainly striking &#8212; but no lesss striking at the tiny observers on the crest of the hillock, who no doubtt had an exhausting hike to get there, to see that remarkable aerial display. &#8220;Ooh, look!&#8221; These guys have their own private Farnboroughs &#8212; and thank God, nobody dies on this occasion.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m posting this here because I think the urge to see, I suppose one might call it the voyeuristic urge, is close cousin ttom the urge to game play. And <strong>game play<\/strong>, in military affairs, is a significant matter , from <strong>kriegspiel <\/strong>to the rcecently aborted exercises in S Korea.<\/p>\n<p>Thoughts?<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>OMG &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>and I just can&#8217;t resist adding one more image from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/photo\/2018\/06\/photos-of-the-week-wild-horses-scarlet-sails-sun-god\/564164\/\">the same page where I found the one above<\/a> &#8212; for its sheer drama:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/moon-fire-circle.png\" alt=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/assets\/media\/img\/photo\/2018\/06\/photos-of-the-week-3\/w02_984690316\/main_900.jpg?1530296833\" width=\"600\" height=\"388\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-59901\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/moon-fire-circle.png 600w, https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/moon-fire-circle-300x194.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The full moon rises behind burning moorland as a large wildfire sweeps across the moors between Dovestones and Buckton Vale in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, on June 26, 2018, in Stalybridge, England. Anthony Devlin \/ Getty<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Er, Wow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ by Charles Cameron &#8212; one vivid memory, two breathtaking photos, one for war-watchers, one for poets ] . There are very few days in my life where I know where I was, but on 6 September 1952, I was at the Farnborough Air Show, when John Derry&#8216;s De Havilland 110 fell apart at Mach [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556,526,39,1214,778,741,298,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-force","category-charles-cameron","category-military","category-moon","category-photography","category-poetry","category-the-atlantic","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59895"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59907,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59895\/revisions\/59907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}