A was for Austin, but now B is for Bedford

Spotted this on facebook .Never seen a boggie J .Not my photo Credit toBedford,sent in by Paul Fogden.

They were purportedly "not available" Morris. Owners of the caravan park said they actually belong to a local with an interest in old vehicles. The spare rear guards were possibly from the later model as the rear on that was very homebuilt in appearance. They looked much the same as the ones on the utility, so maybe that was what the later model had been originally?

I wasn't 100% sure when the later model LC was introduced but had guessed about '54, so with the correct date and some other little facts will be able to add further info into my memory banks. Thanks.

ALSO It seems my title to this post attracts the odd Bedford from time to time, like ianoz's J Type (not that it bothers me any ). Unusual combination, and like my tanker/service vehicle/camper creation would be a lot easier to build using photo-shop. :lol: (NB I am not suggesting that is the case with the J Type at all!)

The Greenwich business comes from the location of the Royal Observatory which several centuries ago had the worlds best time piece. (Back then it was 6 miles from London but has since become a suburb.) This was important for marine navigation for determining longitude and by extension Britain's dominance of the oceans. Before radio, ships could set their chronometers by observing a large white ball, visible from the Thames, falling at 12 noon on the dot. And so Greenwich is 0 degrees longitude.

The chronometer was England's secret weapon . . .

PDU wrote: The chronometer was England's secret weapon . . .

And when paired with an astronomical almanac and a sextant was the world's first GPS!

Yes, exactly

Call in at The Map Shop, Adelaide anytime (my brother's shop) he's always on about this.

He is heavily into GPS's also, lectures about them occasionally and writing a programme that led to him acting as navigator in one of the Australian Balloons involved in International competitions for a while. :dry:

I'm just the dumb member of the family . . . :blink:

PDU wrote: The chronometer was England's secret weapon . . .

Then us Criminals started using daylight saving just to confuse matters.

I believe the poms started daylight saving as a war (1st) time measure to get the most out of munitions workers.

PDU wrote: Yes, exactly

Call in at The Map Shop, Adelaide anytime (my brother's shop) he's always on about this.

He is heavily into GPS's also, lectures about them occasionally and writing a programme that led to him acting as navigator in one of the Australian Balloons involved in International competitions for a while. :dry:

I'm just the dumb member of the family . . . :blink:

A Navigator in a Balloon..???

That's a classic Oxymoron, In my opinion...

Indeed hayseed, the navigator does actually serve a purpose and can be a most important person. The balloons are not just blown hither and yon as simply as first might seem . . . they can select alternative airstreams by moving up or down, sometimes even in the opposite direction(!?) . . . once this has been done calculations are necessary to determine how they might reach the required way points/target.

Sounds easy, BUT, location is obtained using GPS satellites, which will tell you where they assume you are at ground level (often kilometres away when you are several hundred metres off the ground) which error is compounded when several other satellites tell you are some place else! Hmmm? You are somewhere within a very wide area!? Big Bother's programme covers this error relative to the current altitude.

But for the navigator the problem is then increased as wind shifts require a need to change altitude to locate another favourable air flow in the direction the balloon needs to go. :blink: :ohmy: :

Add to all the problems already mentioned one has to be conscious of the fact that there may be a lot more balloons than normally found together, and all trying to go the same way without coming to grief getting tangled together!



Enough on this, but as you can see it is not just a case of going up and waiting for the wind to blow the balloon to the desired location. The navigator is one busy individual and the calculations are far more involved than calculating varying tyre sizes and gear ratios of transmission/drive systems. :whistle:

Personally I'm having enough problems with my Bedford and I'll leave the ballooning jaunts to Big Bother. (NB I have referred to my older brother in this way for many years now - the pun is intended :lol: ).