A little Christmas photo quiz...

[airboatr]

.. the first prize was nothing less than a green Renault Laguna !
( the second prize was two of them )

You love us too much...

[FlyTexas]

Okay spill the beans Paul, what was the glittering prize you've managed to hold on to? ☺

Brace yourself, Chris...cue drum roll and Michael Miles voice... the first prize was nothing less than a green Renault Laguna ! ( the second prize was two of them ).

I withdraw my 'Boka Kotorska, Yugoslavia' guess.

Brian

[ChrisHunt]

A green Renault Laguna! I did have one of those - an estate with the rear seats facing backwards; universally hated by the kids. I'm quite thankful I failed to win the first (or second) prize!

Re the naval architecture, managed to find out quite a bit about the sister ship HMS Furious but very little about Courageous. Given the curious arrangement of flight decks Furious must have been quite an odd beast at various times. Anyway the side bulge armour of Furious was deepened twice to address stability issues. It's likely that Courageous would have had similar issues but I can't find any information on her general handling after conversion.

Regards,
Chris

[Paul K]

Don't be downhearted, gentlemen - it'll be on offer next year, when I post a picture of Spitfire MkIX MH434 which I took at Duxford on August 23rd 2007. All you'll have to do is come up with what type of aircraft it is, when and where the picture was taken - and that fabulous Renault Laguna ( with enough petrol to get it out of my sight ) will be yours !

On the subject of warship design and construction; if anyone has an interest in the Imperial Japanese Navy, as I do, I thoroughly recommend Kaigun by Mark R Peattie and David C Evans, and Mr Peattie's subsequent book Sunburst. I must have spent a fortune collecting books on the history of the IJN over the years, and these two are amongst the most important ones to have appeared outside Japan.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kaigun-Strategy ... 159114244X

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunburst-Japane ... gy_b_img_y

The second book, which deals with the development of Japanese naval airpower, offers an alternative perspective on why the carriers Akagi and Hiryu had their island superstructures on the port side as opposed to the conventional starboard side. If anyone can guess the reason...they win a lovely green Renault Laguna !

[Nick M]

Boka Kotorska, Yugoslavia eh? It was that obvious! Although I'm disappointed to have missed out on the quality French automotive engineering, I'll wait until next year. I'm sure those thing only ever increase in value!

Anyway, I stuck the aforementioned location and 'HMS Courageous' into Google and came up with the same picture that Paul posted. Judging by the winky face and whistling, I think Brian may have stumbled on the same link (either that or he really is an expert on small trees!) ... MaritimeQuest.com.

Cheers,
Nick

[Garry Russell]

Ah compromise

I'll go for HMS Curious

[airboatr]

Outrageous !

[FlyTexas]

Judging by the winky face and whistling, I think Brian may have stumbled on the same link (either that or he really is an expert on small trees!) ... MaritimeQuest.com.

Cheers,
Nick

You got me. That link definitely looks familiar.

Brian