Yep, you got a few different planes mixed up there o sung wu. As Jayb says it was the Gannet an anti submarine bomber, carrying depth charges or torpedoes that had the contra rotating props. Dreadful things, they frightened the daylights out of me.

No fighters had rear gunners after about 1942, although we were still 2 man fighters. Our rather agricultural radar needed a full time operator into the 60s.

The Sea Fury was the last great piston engined fighter, the fastest piston engined fighter ever. We & the Pommy navy used them in Korea, where it flew rings around the Mustangs, inheritors of the Spitfire tradition. It was a bit of a bugger to land on a carrier, [like the Yankee Corsair], with it's huge radial engine eliminating forward vision at low, [nose up] speeds.

By my time we had replaced them with Venoms, not much of an improvement really, but a lot easier to handle. I was hugely privileged to get to fly them a few times, but never anywhere near a carrier.

My model Sea Fury is a thing of great beauty, as are a couple of my cars. This is just as well, as I could become very depressed looking at the garbage we are being offered to chose from in this election, without these beautiful things to raise my spirits.

Shadow, since you are exposing politicians dodgy investments, what is your take on Malcolm Turnbull's dodgy investments in the Cayman Islands, described by US President Barack Obama as "the biggest tax scam on record".
According to Parliament's register of members' interests, Mr Turnbull has invested in two hedge funds since July last year – Zebedee Growth Fund and MSD Torchlight Partners – and both list their address as Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman.

Paul,

There is nothing dodgy about Turnbull's investments, and if Labor couldn't find anything, neither can you. All the Labor MPs have far more dodgy stuff to answer for, and so too apparently does Nick Xenophobe.

Shadow,

Does this indicate Malcolm has more confidence in the economic managers in the Cayman Islands than he does in the Aussie managers, particularly, Scotty and himself.
If Malcolm was honest his economic message to the Aussie battlers, the mum and dad investors would be "Get your dosh out of Aussie, take it out of CBA, NAB ANZ Westpac etc and open an account with The Bank of Cayman, and invest in the Cayman Islands, I did, and I'mm making a squillion!"

Paul,

Your economic Knous is zero, but I suppose that is a requirement to follow the economic ignoramuses in the greens.

FYI,
Putting your savings in a bank is the lowest return you can expect,
Yes the financial planners in the Caymans are amongst the best in the world,
There is nothing illegal about having investments in the Caymans as long as the profits are declared.
Most super funds have investments in the Caymans, probably even yours.

So while the greens might think being a good businessman and making money is a sin it isn't illegal.

However, running slum is illegal.

Hi there HASBEEN...

JAYB kindly gave me the 'heads-up' on the contra-rotating props. It was the Gannet by all accounts, but I suppose I could be excused, for not being a military aviator.

You mentioned the abundance of detritus that's being served up to the electorate day after day, and how it really gets you down, save for your beautifully crafted Sea Fury A/C ? I couldn't agree with you more, I'm heartily sick of it all.

Night after night - lie after lie - nausea after nausea, 'til one so urgently needs to completely purge one's guts, in order to get rid of the foul retching and infuriating gagging caused by hearing, mendacious politicians voices with their dreary pontificating and postulating about absolutely nothing.

It's enough to bring about 'sensorial deafness', an ailment common to military 'drop shorts' involved in heavy and prolonged artillery combat operations.