DOCSLIB.ORG

Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 Free

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 Free FREE BUSH WAR RHODESIA 1966-1980 PDF Peter Baxter | 72 pages | 19 Jul 2014 | Helion & Company | 9781909982376 | English | Solihull, United Kingdom Bush War Rhodesia | i-go-books Lancaster House Agreement. The war and its subsequent Internal Settlementsigned in by Smith and Muzorewa, led to the implementation of universal suffrage in June and the end of white minority rule in Rhodesia, which was renamed Zimbabwe Rhodesia under a black majority government. However, this new order failed to win international recognition and the war continued. Neither side achieved a military victory and a compromise was later reached. The country returned temporarily to British control and new elections were held under British and Commonwealth supervision in March ZANU won the election and Mugabe became the first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on 18 Aprilwhen the country achieved internationally recognised independence. The origin of Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 war in Rhodesia can be traced to the conquest of the region by the British South Africa Company in the late 19th century, and the dissent of native leaders who opposed foreign rule. Britain's unwillingness to compromise led to Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence UDI on 11 November Although Rhodesia had the private support of neighbouring South Africa and Portugalwhich still owned Mozambiqueit never gained formal diplomatic recognition from any country. Although the vote in Rhodesia was constitutionally open to all, regardless of race, property requirements left many blacks unable to participate. Amidst this backdrop, African nationalists advocated armed struggle to bring about black rule, primarily denouncing the wealth disparity between the races. Cold War politics played into the conflict. Each group fought a separate war against the Rhodesian security forces, Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 the two groups sometimes fought against each other as well. Ian Smith further expounded this by portraying the conflict as primarily anti-communist in nature. Having previously witnessed the communist redistribution of resources after the Mau Mau RebellionRhodesians refused to allow the majority-rule policy to come into effect. In ignoring other contributing factors to the conflict, Smith and the RF were able to strengthen ties with the West, however, Britain remained neutral. The division between the communists and anti-communists caused the fighting to spill over the Rhodesian borders. Neighboring African nations, supported primarily by North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union, utilized communist material support to begin launching guerrilla attacks on the RF. The United States took the official position that it would not recognize Rhodesia as an independent sovereign. However, many American soldiers who had seen combat in Vietnam quickly joined into the Rhodesian Front. The RF created advertising campaigns in order to attract soldiers from Western countries, and the RF amassed a force of nearly 1, soldiers that were highly trained in special forces and guerrilla warfare, bringing the total RF military force to over 10, men. Many of the professional American soldiers entering the RF directly into the force became de facto members of the Rhodesian government. This was jointly in efforts to combat the push from the anti-communist West and to challenge the Chinese presence in the region. While the Soviets were large suppliers of munitions and training, they refused to directly enter the conflict. Chinese influence throughout the conflict was primarily focused on small scale sabotage efforts and anti-western propaganda. Inevitably, the Bush War occurred within the context of regional Cold War in Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980, and became embroiled in conflicts in several neighbouring countries. The conflict was seen by the nationalist groups and the UK Government of the time as a war of national and racial liberation. The Rhodesian government saw the conflict as a fight between one part of Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 country's population the Whites on behalf Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 the whole population including the Black majority against several externally financed parties made up of predominantly Black radicals and communists. The Nationalists considered their country occupied and dominated by a foreign power, namely Britain, since The British government, in the person of the governorhad indirectly ruled the country fromwhen it took over from the British South Africa Company and granted self-governing status to a locally elected government, made up predominantly of Whites. Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front party was elected to power in and unilaterally declared independence on 11 November to preserve what it saw as the self-government it had possessed since The Rhodesian government contended that it was defending Western values, Christianity, the rule of law and democracy by fighting Communists, but it was unwilling to compromise on most political, economic and social inequalities. The Smith administration claimed that the legitimate voice of the black Shona and Ndebele population were the traditional chiefs, not the ZANU and ZAPU nationalists, whom it regarded as dangerous, violent usurpers. In —, the Smith administration tried to blunt the power of the nationalist cause by acceding to an "Internal Settlement" which ended minority rule, changed the name of the country to Zimbabwe-Rhodesiaand arranged multiracial elections, which were held in and won by Bishop Abel Muzorewawho became the country's first Black head of government. Unsatisfied with this and spurred on by Britain's refusal to recognise the new order, the nationalist forces persisted. The war ended when, at the behest of both South Africa its major supporter and the United States, the Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government ceded power to Britain in the Lancaster House Agreement in December The UK Government held another election in to form a new government. The election was won by ZANU. The new government, headed by Robert Mugabewas recognised internationally, and the country was renamed Zimbabwe. Despite the effect of economic and diplomatic sanctions, Rhodesia developed and maintained a powerful and professional military. Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 army was always relatively small, just 3, regular troops in While the regular army consisted of a professional core of white soldiers and some units, such as the Rhodesian SAS and the Rhodesian Light Infantrywere all-whiteby — the rest was majority black. By contrast, army reserves were largely white, and toward the end of the war were increasingly called up to deal with the growing insurgency. The regular army was supported by the para-military British South Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 Police of about 8, to 11, men the majority of whom were black and 19, to 35, police reservists which, like their army Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980, were largely white. The police reserves acted as a type of home guard. The Rhodesian Army fought bitterly against the black nationalist guerrillas. As the war went on, the frequent call-up of reservists was increasingly used to supplement the professional soldiers and the many volunteers from overseas. Byall white men up to the age of 60 were subject to periodic Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 to the army; younger men Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 to 35 might expect to spend alternating blocks of six weeks in the army and at home. Considering the arms embargothe Rhodesian Army was well-equipped. Other weapons included the Bren LMG in both. After UDIRhodesia was heavily reliant on South African and domestically produced weapons and equipment, as well as international smuggling operations, commonly referred to as "sanction-busting". The Rhodesian Air Force RhAF operated a variety of equipment and carried out numerous roles, with air power providing the Rhodesians with a significant advantage over their guerrilla enemy. The arms embargo caused a lack of spare parts from external suppliers and RhAF had to find alternative means to keep its aircraft flying. At the beginning of the war, much of Rhodesia's military hardware was of British and Commonwealth origin, but during the course of the conflict, new equipment such as Eland armoured cars were procured from South Africa. During the course of the war, most white citizens carried personal weapons, and it was not unusual to see white housewives carrying submachine guns. A siege mentality set in and all civilian transport had to be escorted in convoys for safety against ambushes. Farms and villages in rural areas were frequently attacked by guerrillas. The fighting was Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 rural, as the two rival movements tried to win peasant support and to recruit fighters while harassing the administration and the white civilians. ZANLA, in the end, was present on a more or less permanent basis in over half the country, as evidenced by the location of the demobilisation bases at the end of the war, which were in every province except Matabeleland North. ZANLA concentrated on the politicisation of the rural areas using Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980, persuasion, ties of kinship and collaboration with spirit mediums. From to there were 2, vehicle detonations of land mines mainly Soviet TM46skilling people and injuring 4, Mining of roads increased In response, the Rhodesians co-operated with the South Africans to develop a range of mine protected vehicles. They began by replacing air in tyres with water which absorbed some of the blast and reduced the heat of Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 explosion. Initially, they protected the bodies with steel deflector plates, sandbags and mine conveyor belting. Later, purpose built vehicles with V shaped blast hulls dispersed the blast and Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 in such vehicles became unusual events. Using SA-7 surface-to-air missilesthe guerrillas shot down each plane during its ascent from Kariba Airport. About 1, Soviets, East German and Cuban instructors were deployed to the area. On the advice of the Soviets, ZIPRA built up its conventional forces, and Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980 with Soviet armoured vehicles and a number of small aeroplanes, [61] in Zambia.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dealing with the Crisis in Zimbabwe: the Role of Economics, Diplomacy, and Regionalism
    SMALL WARS JOURNAL smallwarsjournal.com Dealing with the Crisis in Zimbabwe: The Role of Economics, Diplomacy, and Regionalism Logan Cox and David A. Anderson Introduction Zimbabwe (formerly known as Rhodesia) shares a history common to most of Africa: years of colonization by a European power, followed by a war for independence and subsequent autocratic rule by a leader in that fight for independence. Zimbabwe is, however, unique in that it was once the most diverse and promising economy on the continent. In spite of its historical potential, today Zimbabwe ranks third worst in the world in “Indicators of Instability” leading the world in Human Flight, Uneven Development, and Economy, while ranking high in each of the remaining eight categories tracked (see figure below)1. Zimbabwe is experiencing a “brain drain” with the emigration of doctors, engineers, and agricultural experts, the professionals that are crucial to revitalizing the Zimbabwean economy2. If this was not enough, 2008 inflation was running at an annual rate of 231 million percent, with 80% of the population lives below the poverty line.3 Figure 1: Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4350&page=0 1 Foreign Policy, “The Failed States Index 2008”, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4350&page=0, (accessed August 29, 2008). 2 The Fund for Peace, “Zimbabwe 2007.” The Fund for Peace. http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=280&Itemid=432 (accessed September 30, 2008). 3 BBC News, “Zimbabwean bank issues new notes,” British Broadcasting Company. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7642046.stm (accessed October 3, 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Title of Thesis: ABSTRACT CLASSIFYING BIAS
    ABSTRACT Title of Thesis: CLASSIFYING BIAS IN LARGE MULTILINGUAL CORPORA VIA CROWDSOURCING AND TOPIC MODELING Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang Thesis Directed By: Dr. David Zajic, Ph.D. Our project extends previous algorithmic approaches to finding bias in large text corpora. We used multilingual topic modeling to examine language-specific bias in the English, Spanish, and Russian versions of Wikipedia. In particular, we placed Spanish articles discussing the Cold War on a Russian-English viewpoint spectrum based on similarity in topic distribution. We then crowdsourced human annotations of Spanish Wikipedia articles for comparison to the topic model. Our hypothesis was that human annotators and topic modeling algorithms would provide correlated results for bias. However, that was not the case. Our annotators indicated that humans were more perceptive of sentiment in article text than topic distribution, which suggests that our classifier provides a different perspective on a text’s bias. CLASSIFYING BIAS IN LARGE MULTILINGUAL CORPORA VIA CROWDSOURCING AND TOPIC MODELING by Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Gemstone Honors Program, University of Maryland, 2018 Advisory Committee: Dr. David Zajic, Chair Dr. Brian Butler Dr. Marine Carpuat Dr. Melanie Kill Dr. Philip Resnik Mr. Ed Summers © Copyright by Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang 2018 Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to our mentor, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • “The Sitrep”. a Final Edition, for 2019, Is Planned for December – Perhaps to Include a Bit More Humour and News Before the “Silly Season” Reaches Its Conclusion
    A collection of some of the Rolls of Honour from various Rhodesian High Schools Welcome to “THE SITREP” – your RLI RA-Africa newsletter – Volume 9, November 2019. Salutation Greetings all ouens and crows, from various Africa branches, to another edition of “The Sitrep”. A final edition, for 2019, is planned for December – perhaps to include a bit more humour and news before the “silly season” reaches its conclusion Rhodesian Forces Memorial Service – Sunday 10 November 2019 Hearty congratulations must be poured upon the Rhodesian Forces Memorial Committee who organised, and ran, an outstanding show at Dickie Fritz the day before Independence. This was not the first of such gatherings and particular attention had been paid to ironing-out past “niggles”. It was the third invitation for Rhodesian High Schools to lay a wreath on behalf of their school, in honour of those fallen during the war years. Twenty-seven schools were represented this year, whereas, only 17 were present at the 2017 ceremony – a sure sign of the increasing popularity of the event. Wing Cdr Bruce Harrison, Alan Strachan and Padre Bill Beer. MC for the day was none other than Wing Cdr Bruce Harrison whose sense of presence never fails to instil an atmosphere of relaxation and family unity, despite the formalities about to unfold. The Rhodesian Forces Memorial Committee is chaired by Alan Strachan who delivered the welcome – followed by prayers, led Lt Col Bill Dodgen, lesson delivered by Alf Herbst and the sermon conducted by Padre Bill Beer. Steve Prophet (RhAF) showed us how to sing “Amazing Grace” – properly, before Marcus Main-Baillie (RhAF) “turned the pages” to read random snippets of those who fell, whilst serving with various units, during the bush-war – not forgetting members of the general Rhodesian population and the animals that perished in the conflict.
    [Show full text]
  • The Isaian November December Issue
    NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 CONTENTS Message from the Clergy 2-3 Annual Giving Appeal 4-5 VP of Community Affairs 8 Shabbat Schedule 15 Each lifetime is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. For some there are more pieces. For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble. Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle. And so it goes. Souls going this way and that, Trying to assemble the myriad parts. But know this. No one has within themselves All the pieces to their puzzle. Like before the days when they used to seal Jigsaw puzzles in cellophane, insuring that All the pieces were there. Everyone carries with them at least one and probably Many pieces to someone else’s puzzle. Sometimes they know it. Sometimes they don’t. And when you present your piece Which is worthless to you, To another, whether you know it or not, Whether they know it or not, You are a messenger from the Most High. -- Rabbi Lawrence Kushner 2 | THE ISAIAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 In his book, “Honey From the Rock,” Rabbi Larry Kushner uses the imagery of puzzle pieces to illustrate our capacity to connect, to encourage, to strengthen and to support one another. “There must have been a time when you entered a room and met someone and after a while you understood that unknown to either of you there was a reason you had met. You had changed the other and he had changed you.” At Temple Isaiah, our commitment to you is that we create space for these precious moments of connection and transformation.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with Peter Godwin by John Noonan
    SMALL WARS JOURNAL smallwarsjournal.com An Interview with Peter Godwin by John Noonan Sometimes the most effective COIN lessons are found in the strangest of places. Some time ago, while researching Zimbabwe’s staggering collapse under the Robert Mugabe regime, I stumbled upon When a Crocodile Eats the Sun – a deeply moving memoir of Zimbabwe’s corrosive rot, told by native Zimbabwean reporter, Mr. Peter Godwin. Godwin spun his tale with an enviably smooth narration, blending microcosmic personal tragedies with macrocosmic political and economic failures into a sad, powerful account of a functional nation-state’s collapse. When I finished reading, I wanted more. Digging into Godwin’s Amazon.com author history, I came across Mukiwa, the fascinating autobiography of a white boy growing up in colonial Africa (and winner of the Orwell Prize for political writing). Mukiwa spans multiple governments in a single country, as Godwin’s wonderfully interesting experiences stretch from Rhodesia as a British Crown Colony, to an international pariah, to an undeclared Republic, an unrecognized hybrid state in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, and finally to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. While Mukiwa isn’t necessarily a war memoir (though Godwin did spend much of his career as a war correspondent), several chapters are dedicated to his time serving with the British South Africa Police during the Rhodesian Bush War. So poignant were the stories from Godwin’s tour, I sent a copy to a close friend serving in Afghanistan. He too was taken with how simply and effectively Godwin laid out basic COIN principles, so much so that he had his NCOs read the chapters that I had bookmarked.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Capstone Project-Conflict Dynamics
    Author: Willem Verdaasdonk Co-Authors: Wessel van Beelen and Ricardo Neefjes S1223194 Alister Reed Wednesday 24th August 2016 Total Word Count: 50025 Page Count: 152 Joint work Pages: 1-43, 112-152 Masters Thesis conflict Analysis Thesis capstone project-conflict dynamics 1 Abstract This capstone thesis aims to study what factors play a role before and during a conflict and how conflicts move from one conflict phase to the next. This particular thesis uses the case study of the Rhodesian Bush War a conflict waged from 1965 to 1980 in the now know republic of Zimbabwe. This thesis starts by giving a general overview of the entire conflict by looking at the role of the Rhodesian government, military as well as the political and military developments of both guerrilla movements (ZAPU/ZANU). After which an analysis will be done based on the criteria of the capstone project (context, state, and non-state) focusing on the factors that influenced the conflict, and coming to a general conclusion. After which a joint analysis and conclusion will be presented to see the similarities in two other case studies conducted for this capstone project, these being the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Sendero in Peru. 2 Content 1. Joint introduction……………………………….……5 2. Literature review……………………………….…….7 • 2.1 Underlying theories……………………….…….7 • 2.2 General definitions…………………….………..8 • 2.3 Latent conflict…………………………………..12 • 2.4 Conflict emergence……………………….…….14 • 2.5 Conflict escalation……………………….……..19 • 2.6 Stalemate………………………………….…….20 • 2.7 Conflict De-escalation……………………….….22 • 2.8 Dispute settlement………………………………25 • 2.9 Peace building…………………………………..28 3. Research methodology……………………………….….31 • 3.1 Central research question……………………….31 • 3.2 Quantiative vs qualitative……………………….31 • 3.3 Historical research analysis……………………..32 • 3.4 Analytical Framework………………………..…33 • 3.5 Method of Data-gathering………………………40 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Report, Volume 9
    Report West Point Undergraduate Historical Review Volume 9 Spring 2019 Report West Point Undergraduate Historical Review Volume 9 Spring 2019 Report, 1 Report West Point Undergraduate Historical Review Volume 9, Spring 2019 Editors Daniel Berardino (2020) Editor-in-Chief Military History Helen Burleigh (2019) Assistant Editor International History Morgan Conrow (2019) American History Gregory Brookover (2020) Military History Andrew Carter (2020) Military History Mike Avallone (2020) American History Collin Keogh (2021) American History Brandi Braggs (2021) American History Cameron Hay (2021) American History Report, 2 Copyright and photocopying © 2019 Department of History United States Military Academy West Point, New York 10996 Acknowledgments The Editorial Board would like to thank the faculty of the History Department for their submission recommendations, all the students who submitted papers, and Captain Alexander Humes for his advice and guidance on historical scholarship. Without their help, Report would not have been possible. About The Review Report is a non-profit publication produced by undergraduate cadets at the United States Military Academy. It accepts and encourages submissions from undergraduates in the fall and spring. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. On The Internet https://www.usma.edu/academics/academic- departments/history/history-journal Disclaimer The contents of Report, including words, images, and opinions, are unofficial and are not to be considered as the official views of the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, or the Department of Defense. Readers accept and agree to this disclaimer in the use of any information obtained from Report. Report, 3 Letter from The Editor Dear Reader, This year the Report editorial staff is pleased to present the spring edition of our journal.
    [Show full text]
  • British Government Policy and Diplomacy in Southern Rhodesia, 1979-1980
    British government policy and diplomacy in Southern Rhodesia, 1979-1980 Jack Brailsford MA by Research University of York History December 2016 Abstract This thesis focuses on the use of policy and diplomacy by the British government in Southern Rhodesia during 1979-1980. In particular, the necessity of combining short- term flexibility and contingency alongside long-term policy planning during this period will be explored. In order to do so, this thesis uses documents from the British National Archives, in particular files from the Prime Minister's Office (PREM) and the Cabinet Office (CAB). These documents, released in 2011, allow for a close examination of the issues faced by the British government in achieving long term goals whilst circumventing short term crises. This is due to their thorough documentation of high- level political decisions within the British government and their chronological approach, which offers an insight into the ways in which priorities and alliances shifted over time. This work will contribute to the existing material and knowledge on the subject due to its ability to use these recently released documents, which provide a more in-depth insight into high level British government political decisions on Rhodesia than had previously been available. By utilising these within a chronological approach, this work aims to show the development of long-term British government policy in Rhodesia and the ways in which emerging crises and changing relationships affected this. 2 Contents Abstract: Page 2 Contents: Page
    [Show full text]
  • Diplomacy in Black and White: America and the Search For
    DIPLOMACY IN BLACK AND WHITE: AMERICA AND THE SEARCH FOR ZIMBABWEAN INDEPENDENCE, 1965-1980 By William L. Bishop Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History August, 2012 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Thomas A. Schwartz Professor Gary Gerstle Professor Moses Ochonu Professor Michael Bess Professor James L. Ray i Copyright © 2012 by William Lowrey Bishop All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people assume that writing a dissertation is a solitary endeavor. As I have come to discover over the past six years, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Throughout the course of writing this dissertation, I have incurred many debts. Although I will probably never be able to repay them, I would like to acknowledge several individuals and institutions who have helped to make this project possible. I would first and foremost like to thank Professor Thomas Schwartz. I could not have asked for a more engaged and supportive adviser. There is no way I would have completed this project if not for his guidance, support, and good humor. I also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my other committee members: Professors Gary Gerstle, Moses Ochonu, Michael Bess, and James Ray. Each of them has provided extensive personal and professional guidance for which I am extremely grateful. My work and my thinking have benefited greatly from their input and suggestions. I am also indebted to Professors Andy DeRoche and Phil Muehlenbeck, both of whom helped me to navigate my way through Africa and through graduate school.
    [Show full text]
  • THE WHITE HOUSE and WHITE AFRICA: PRESIDENTIAL POLICY on RHODESIA 1965-79 By
    THE WHITE HOUSE AND WHITE AFRICA: PRESIDENTIAL POLICY ON RHODESIA 1965-79 by EDWARD R. MICHEL A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham April 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT My thesis offers an examination of U.S. policy towards Rhodesia as viewed through the lens of the respective Presidential administrations. The aim of my research is to demonstrate the changing American perspective on the Rhodesian question and how this directly affected the ultimate emergence of an independent Zimbabwe. I discuss the transformation in U.S. policy from the cautious approach of the Johnson White House, the shift towards ‘white Africa’ during the Nixon years as anti-communism and economic interests took centre stage and the subsequent attempt of the Ford Administration to achieve a peace settlement to prevent further communist expansion into southern Africa. Finally, I will analyse the critical role played by President Carter in bringing an end to UDI.
    [Show full text]
  • FA-Ac-Academy-Hawker Hunter F6 Conv to GA.11, 1.48
    Short Feature Article Academy Hawker Hunter F6 conv to GA.11 1:48 scale by Benjamin Belben (July 2017) Copyright www.scalemodellingnow.com 2017 I decided to build this Hunter after seeing this very aircraft at my local airfield Bruntingthorpe at the May bank holiday. I'd purchased this kit some weeks previous to the event and being stood next to the real aircraft my mind started to think of what could be, I'd already hatched a plan of how I would convert this into the GA11 model and luckily it seemed to all work fairly well. Here’s a bit of background on the Hawker Hunter - in case you need a steer! The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls- Royce Avon turbojet engine and the swept wing, and was the first jet-powered aircraft produced by Hawker to be procured by the RAF. On 7 September 1953, the modified first prototype broke the world air speed record for jet-powered aircraft, achieving a speed of 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h; 632.29 kn). The single-seat Hunter was introduced to service in 1954 as a manoeuvrable day interceptor aircraft, quickly succeeding first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Venom. The all-weather/ night fighter role was filled by the Gloster Javelin. Successively improved variants of the type were produced, adopting increasingly more capable engine models and expanding its fuel capacity amongst other modifications being implemented.
    [Show full text]
  • Bush Tracking and Warfare in Late Twentieth-Century East and Southern Africa
    Historia 59, 2, November 2014, pp 229-251 Bush tracking and warfare in late twentieth-century east and southern Africa Tim Stapleton* Introduction Tracking is the ability to pursue and close with an animal or human by following signs, commonly called spoor which is an Afrikaans word, left behind in the environment. These include footprints, disturbed vegetation, evidence of feeding, biological waste, sounds and smells. Experienced trackers use the appearance of these signs to determine the direction of their subject’s movement and the approximate age of spoor which indicates how far ahead in time and space the subject is. Tracking requires a thorough familiarity of the geography, climate and ecology of a specific locale. It also involves a great deal of informed speculation that allows a tracker who loses a trail to imagine the most likely path of the subject and attempt to pick up further signs in that direction. Anthropologists tell us that tracking was crucial in the evolution of early humans as part of persistence hunting; man’s ability to regulate body temperature by sweating and to hydrate by carrying water, which allowed him to run down animal prey.1 The literature on tracking consists of some books advocating its practise as a form of therapy for modern people to re-establish connection with the natural environment and others that represent technical “how to” manuals for hunting animals and/or humans some of which are military or law enforcement oriented.2 During Africa’s late twentieth century decolonisation wars, tracking became an important skill mobilised by both state security forces and insurgents.
    [Show full text]