AVRO

We'll Get To That In A Minute
First of all, because lots of people who do not hail from the Allotment of Eden are reading this, perhaps I can cement my impeccably British credentials by introducing the Britannia Coconut Dancers.

I don't see any coconuts.  What a swizz!

     Since you ask, your humble scribe saw this on the back of a van, a phrase odd enough to resonate and ensure I looked them up.  They hail from Bacup (pronounced "Bake-up") and they do, indeed, dance, in funny costumes and with blacked-up faces.
     No, only their faces.  The reason for this is obscure and may refer to their Moorish (?) roots, or it may be used as a means to hide from the Devil.
     Personally, were I seeking to avoid attention from Hom. Sap. let along the legions of Lucifer, the very last thing I would do is dress up and go cavorting in the street.  Just a minor hint, chaps.


Let's Talk of Hypergolic Rocket Fuel!
As you should know by now, and this might come as a horrid revelation if you are new here, Conrad has an unhealthy interest in things that go BANG.  Essentially the bigger the bang, the more he is interested, which logical conclusion leads to thermonuclear weapons - don't worry, we'll get to those in a bit, too.  And don't worry about AVRO, my memory's not that deficient, either.
     Rocket fuels in liquid form are desperately dangerous stuff, ever-ready to explode at the drop of a hat, or a mote of dust depending on which variety we are talking about.

A whole factory of rocket fuel exploding

  "Hypergolic" rocket fuels are the most deadly form, because they don't need an ignition source.  Naked flame?  Get out of here!  These fuels EXPLODE with enormous enthusiasm if simply mixed together.  Of course when used in rockets or missiles they are mixed in a controlled manner, as you want to propel your vehicle, not turn it into metal and plastic confetti.
     I now move onto Hydrazine and Nitric Acid, which I mentioned in passing yesterday.  The Nitric Acid is not merely Nitric Acid but fuming Nitric Acid*.  This hellish brew is known to the Ruffians as "Devil's Venom" and they're not wrong.  It was the fuel behind the terrifying Nedelin disaster at Baikonur in 1960, where those who were not vapourised by the exploding rocket were either roasted by the flames or poisoned by the toxic exhaust gases.

Remnants the morning after

     Hypergolics.  To be treated VERY carefully!

Back To Bombers And Balls
"Thunderball"s, that is.  And once more Conrad is banging on about the Vulcan bomber, the AVRO Vulcan I'll have you know, which is entirely permissible because one features prominently in the film.  

The fantastically adaptable AVRO Vulcan is also able to serve as a submarine

     Given my limited aeronautical experience, I cannot speak with authority on how to crash-land a strategic bomber on the ocean, yet I cannot help but feel that "Angelo" came in rather fast.  Now, were it up to me, I would have kept the nose up and gone in for a low-speed stall, thus ensuring that the tail took most of the impact, and not jarring the fuselage too much.

The Big Smiley Face of Terror from the Skies

     Nor is that all.  O No!  You didn't think with subject matter of nuclear weapons AND V-bombers you'd get away with a single paragraph, did you?  Foolish humans.
     Please note that the script describes the weapons that SPECTRE steals as "Atom Bombs" although these, by 1965, would be the colloquially-known Hydrogen bombs.  As for their description as "MOS" type, British nukes - what a terrifying concept, the country that gave football hooliganism to the world with it's very own thermonuclear arsenal - were normally given a colour-coded name, e.g. Blue Steel, Yellow Sun, Black Death - no, joking about that last one.  But it makes the point well.

A Yellow Sun

I had more on this, yet I feel we don't want to beat you over the head with nuclear weapons, so to speak.  Let us instead prate about the world's greatest documentary maker, John Carpenter, and the top 10 of these fact-filled classics.

"Vampires"
Ah yes, a film that takes possibly the most intense person to grace the screen, James Woods, who is called (copyright issues, I fear) "Jack Crow".  

Team Crow.  Rough, tough and gruff.

Jack hunts vampires, and the modern-day vampire is nothing like the legend, let me tell you.  They aren't romantic twinkly emo-pixies but horrid undead leeches and the only way to deal with them is to RAM A STAKE INTO THEIR HEART AND DRAG THEM INTO THE SUNLIGHT.

JC risked life and soul to get this shot.  I hope you appreciate that.

     That fries them alive.  Perhaps they ought to take a tip from the Britannia Coconut Dancers and wear sun-proof make-up.
     Which is where we came in ...



* I know how it feels.