Loading Up

In Two Senses
You may recall that, yesterday, I was banging on about that enormous South Canadian fighter aircraft of the Second Unpleasantness, the P47 Thunderbolt.  This particular brute was nicknamed the "Jug" and I have seen two different explanations of why - either an abbreviation of "Juggernaut" in reference to it's sheer size, or because in profile it looked like a milk jug.  Conrad suspects neither is true.*  Let us stimulate Art with a cattle prod -

No, those are not go-faster stripes!

     Stop whining, Art, they'll stop smoking in a few seconds.
     Now, to say this thing was robustly built is like saying it gets a bit damp in the Pond of Eden's North West.  One idiot managed to fly his plane into a factory, coming to rest inside it without any wings left, and yet he still walked away.
     Of course, the photograph I wanted to post was nowhere to be seen on the internet, and as I was in work yesterday whilst composing my words of wonder, so I couldn't exactly cruise Youtube for it.  However, I did take a snapshot yesteryon, and here it is, loaded up.  Art?

Erk

     As mentioned yesterday, a 500 pound bomb this plane was carrying fell off on landing and exploded, removing everything behind the cockpit and shattering the wings apart.  Thanks to sitting in a bathtub of armour, the pilot walked away.
     Nor is that all.  Oh no.  Take Robert Johnson's P47, which was badly damaged by cannon fire when intercepted over France.  Smoking badly, the Luftwaffe probably left it alone because they thought it was done for.  Not so.  After the smoke stopped, Ol' Bob found the cockpit canopy was jammed, so he couldn't bale out.  Then - Oopsie! - up turns a Teuton fighter, which gradually gets into position astern and blasts the stuffing out of the P47.  Which is still flying, with Ol' Bob still unpunctured.  The Teuton pilot then flies alongside, shaking his head in disbelief, then gets back into position and continues firing.  Various bits fly off the Jug, except nothing vital is hit.  The Teuton pilot keeps on firing until he runs out of ammunition - the Jug still keeps flying.  Aware that his guns are now empty but the Jug's are not, the Teuton pilot flies alongside again and, still shaking his head, flies off.

"One hole, two holes, three holes -"

     The P47 got Ol' Bob back to the Pond of Eden, where he managed to land it.  Once his canopy had been levered open, he rather morbidly counted the holes in his aerial steed, giving up when he reached 200.
     A very tough bird indeed.
     Well, that's one example of loading up.  Let us only pause to throw chopped bait into the ocean as we tow the motley behind us on a surfboard in a circle!

The Other Example
Plus a bit of a caution.  Your Humble Scribe has been packing a small suitcase with various essentials, because he is off to Barcelona on Tuesday, staying there until late Friday.  Since I am not taking my laptop, there will be no BOOJUM! for those days, so you'll just have to make do in my absence.  Of course, this risks losing audience interest -
     Tough! 
     It will be my first time abroad in at least five years, so you'd better not bear me any ill-will.
     The up-side, of course, is that there will be LOTS of catching up to do from the Saturday onwards.  Yes, you will vicariously live my holiday.**  

Barca, as they call it

   
Meanwhile, Back On The Moon ...
Your Modest Artisan is watching an MST3K version of "Moon Zero Two", which is a tad bizarre, since there's no Youtube version of the original.  I don't know if this makes me sad or determined.  
     Anyway, I did spot a spelling mistake in the animated title credits - another bizarre touch as they completely go against the spirit of the film itself - because I am the original Spelling Pedant From Hell.  Art?

See?  How egregious!
(Those silhouettes are the MST3K crew)

     "CAPERNICUS" they say - when we all - what's that?  Oh, sorry, I thought you knew.  It stands for "Mystery Science Theatre 3000", which was (and is again, I believe) a show that spoofed and skitted various films by having a bunch of robots and a space-station bound prisoner review it.
     Where were we?  Oh yes - COPERNICUS is how it ought to be spelled.  How embarrassing, eh?  Almost as bad as in "Fiend Without A Face", where they highlight a book whose title reads "Sibonetics", when it ought to be "Cybernetics".  Go on, check it out.
     I took another animation shot of a miscellany of spaceships that appear to stand in for having to depict the colonisation of the Moon.  Miles cheaper to have a few seconds of cheap cartoons, eh chaps?  Art!

There were more.  But this is all you're getting.

Spelling AND Plot Pedant
Conrad is currently watching the Netflix thriller "Triple Frontier", about some ex-special forces chaps going to Brazil in order to steal tens of millions in cash from a hidden drug lord.  Art?

Cue Captain Kirk jokes right now-

     SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!

     Are we sufficiently forewarned?  I shall still apply a little header space just in case  -



     Okay, a crucial plot point is that they abscond with £156 millions in dollars, which is beyond what their rickety old helicopter can manage thanks to the sheer bulk and weight of the loot; they fail to make it over the Andes and their Mil crashes.  Their plan having gone to poop, they have another 40 minutes of troubles and travails to endure.
     Conrad has a suggestion.  They land before attempting to cross the Andes, off-load two-thirds of the money, fly over the Andes, land and off-load that third of the money, and repeat the process twice.  No need to overstress either the engines or airframe.

The Andes

     Simples!

     Right, time for lunch.  Ta ta.

*  Code for "And I can't be bothered to go find out, either" <the hideous truth courtesy Mister Hand>
**  Good idea?  Bad idea?  Only you can tell  of course it's a good idea, I thought of it.