Book Review - Phoenix Squadron

Phoenix Squadron: HMS Ark Royal, Britain s last Topguns and the untold story of their most dramatic mission by Rowland White

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
First of all, this introduces an era of British Naval (and colonial and military) history of which I was only vaguely aware. Of course, I knew we had a military presence in Belize post-independence, but this book sets this in its historical context.

As a book, I found this to be a bit unfulfilling. It came across more as an eulogy to the passing of the great Royal Navy aircraft carrier fleet, than just the flight to Belize and back. In that way, I found the book to be less satisfactory than Vulcan 607, which did have me on the edge of my seat.

Interesting though.

View all my reviews.

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

oh wow!



"In this tightly cropped image, the NASA space shuttle Atlantis is seen in silhouette during solar transit, Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from Florida. This image was made before Atlantis and the crew of STS-125 had grappled the Hubble Space Telescope.

The photographer made this image using a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera.

Image Credit: NASA/Thierry Legault"

And yes, the music nerd in me was instantly reminded of this.....

Blowin in the wind

"How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind."

Bob Dylan