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jonstump

@jonstump.bsky.social

190 followers 330 following 820 posts

Cycling round Wiltshire and feeding the ducks (and playing records and building little aeroplanes).

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jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 10h

What else is an acoustics nerd going to get up to on holiday?

On a drizzly, windswept clifftop footpath, the concrete Abbot's Cliff Sound Mirror faces out into the channel listening for aeroplanes that were already too high and too fast by the time this system had been implemented. RDF was on the way, too.

A closer view of the sound mirror from the front. I'd have taken a few steps back to get a fuller picture but, you know...

Another view of the mirror, with some more cliffs on the distance. There is some graffiti on the side of the concrete.

By way of a sense of scale, a man (hello, it is me, I am the man) stands in front of the mirror, reaching around a quarter of the way up the bowl.

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 11h

"Atmospheric" conditions today.

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 13h

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 17h

And of course, if you know where to look...

A tweet from Science Museum Group Research showing the plans for the memorial

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 1d

Cheers! We did Dover Castle too, but there's no photography in the Secret Tunnels. Did get a pic of the Chain Home masts from the tower roof, though.

Two Chain Home RDF masts at Swingate, taken from the roof of the Great Tower at Dover Castle. The Blériot memorial is hidden in the trees in the middle distance, slightly right of centre.

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks!
(Sponsoring the original and 80th anniversary plaques is just showing off, isn't it?)

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jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 2d

It's my birthday and I'll visit the Blériot memorial if I want to.

The Blériot memorial, tucked round the back of Dover castle, where the chap himself landed in 1909 after crossing the channel

A stone plaque.
"By aeroplane
LOUIS BLÉRIOT
Landed at this spot
On Sunday 25th July 1909
This memorial to was presented to the Aero Club of the United Kingdom by Alexander Duckham"

Another stone plaque.
"To commemorate the eightieth anniversary of Louis Blériot's first flight across the channel 24th July 1989
Laid by his great grandsons Louis, Clement, Edmund and Constantin.
Presentes by Duckhams Oils"

A wider view of the stone memorial, in the shape of a 1909 monoplane

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jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 3d

Stopped off at Headcorn for a cup of tea.

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jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 3d

Do it!

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 3d

A proper rabbit hole!

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 3d

Don't threaten me with a good time.
#PigeonSky

A view from a hotel window overlooking a harbour. There is a sticker.
"Beware of pigeon entering room"

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Reposted by jonstump

Neal Gibson @nealteamgibson.bsky.social · 3d

Ethereal weather for a day at the British ploughing championship

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jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 3d

It was tidy, as was this one.

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jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 4d

I liked the speed record Lynx, partly because we've seen the real one in Weston-super-Mare. And I got rumbled checking the accuracy of my steering arm.

A model of the speed record Lynx helicopter

The real speed record Lynx helicopter at the Helicopter museum in Weston super Mare

Somebody peering underneath a Scammell Pioneer to look at the steering arm.

jonstump @jonstump.bsky.social · 4d

REME Museum model show today. I was quite taken by the Typhoon restoration layout, with 1/24 box files on the 1/24 shelves. Plenty of Scammells, too, and a Quatermass rocket.
#HistScaleModels