History Challenge & Journal

[pharvey]

Apologies - 3rd photo uploaded twice for some reason, cannot delete. Don't panic, you're not seeing double!!

[richard]

A Brunell project?

[STEVE G]

The second gentleman is obviously Louis Mountbatten but I haven't got much further than that yet.

[pharvey]

A Brunell project?

A little early....

The second gentleman is obviously Louis Mountbatten.

Indeed it is.

[dtaai-maai]

Christopher Cotterill (?) - the hovercarft chap?

EDIT (post google): Cockerell - and apparently Lord Louis was an avid supporter of the hovercraft.

[pharvey]

Christopher Cotterill (?) - the hovercarft chap?

EDIT (post google): Cockerell - and apparently Lord Louis was an avid supporter of the hovercraft.

No on both counts unfortunately.

[PeteC]

Mountbatten was a Navy man of course. Maybe something dealing with ship building. Those are fans or perhaps heater fans and the men are carrying buckets of liquid. Perhaps drying something......a first attempt at a fiberglass hull? Pete

[pharvey]

You're heading in the right direction Pete. Not fibreglass though - this was however not long after fibreglass was first produced.....

[Jimbob]

Fair shout DM - it seems it is: -

The Great Redoubt at Sobral, also known as Alqueidão Fort, military building nr. 14, was one of the most important military fortifications of the first line. Its garrison consisted of approximately 1,600 men and was equipped with 25 pieces of artillery, of calibre 12 in their majority. The construction of the Fort started on November 4th, 1809, under the supervision of Captain Williams.
Due to its privileged location it is a fantastic belvedere over the region.

Taken from http://itinerante.pt/poi/forte-alqueidao?lang=en

Yes its the Great Redoubt no doubt. Well done team

[sandman67]

That is Geoffrey PYKE and that is Louis Mountbatten

Pyke came up with a combinaton of wood pulp and water that when frozen forms a substance called Pykrete. It floats and is stronger than steel.

Now, when metal became a scarce resource in WW2 Prof Pyke came up with the idea of building massive iceberg sized ships out of Pykerete. Mountbatten was all for the idea, and on paper it looked a winner. Mountbatten, head of the Admiralty and short on ships thanks to the sodding U boat fleet, demonstrated another quality of Pykrete at a war cabnet meeting - the fact it is bulletproof. He fired hs webley at a block and it was unscarred. Unfortunately the richochet nearly hit Churchill. Still...all were impressed and the project went ahead. Then it hit a brck wall....the refrigeraton would require more valuable metal (mainly copper tubng) than a ship would...so we stayed with ships.

Pykrete has been shown to be effective on episodes of several shows including a Mythbusters episode where they actually made a proper working boat out of it.

The photo is probably one of the early tests of making a full sized sheet of Pykrete from smaller blocks.

[sandman67]

Now for a bit of crossover fun with the Film 4X4 Challenge thread

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1) Name the four historical sites - what and where
2) Each is linked to a famous film. Name the films
3) One is the odd one out. Which one and why.

BONUS BALL.... there are at least three different answers to Q3. One very obvious, two less so. A glazed donut of love to whoever can get at least three answers.

Tally Ho!

[PeteC]

My battery is about dead but I'll try....

1) Angkor Wat cambodia
2) Petra, Jordan
3) Valley of the Kings, Egypt
4) I want to say Acropolis...BEEP...wrong....unless it's a digital rendering of what was.....Pondering. Pete

[sandman67]

1) Nope...rght country, wrong site.
2) Almost there....be more specific
3) Nope...right country, wrong site
4) Its real...not a digital rendering.

[pharvey]

That is Geoffrey PYKE and that is Louis Mountbatten

Pyke came up with a combinaton of wood pulp and water that when frozen forms a substance called Pykrete. It floats and is stronger than steel.

Now, when metal became a scarce resource in WW2 Prof Pyke came up with the idea of building massive iceberg sized ships out of Pykerete. Mountbatten was all for the idea, and on paper it looked a winner. Mountbatten, head of the Admiralty and short on ships thanks to the sodding U boat fleet, demonstrated another quality of Pykrete at a war cabnet meeting - the fact it is bulletproof. He fired hs webley at a block and it was unscarred. Unfortunately the richochet nearly hit Churchill. Still...all were impressed and the project went ahead. Then it hit a brck wall....the refrigeraton would require more valuable metal (mainly copper tubng) than a ship would...so we stayed with ships.

Pykrete has been shown to be effective on episodes of several shows including a Mythbusters episode where they actually made a proper working boat out of it.

The photo is probably one of the early tests of making a full sized sheet of Pykrete from smaller blocks.

Well BUGGER!! I was hoping to have lasted a bit longer with that one.......

Anyways, correct on all counts SM

[dtaai-maai]

1. Yes, Angkor Wat, Cambodia - Ta Prohm, used in Tomb Raider

2 Petra - Khasneh - Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade

3. Temple of hatsepshut, Luxor

4. Parthenon - must have featured in 100s of films!