Cool pix!

You get most of Victoria…All ACT (Australian Capital Territory) and a sizeable chunk of New South Wales…!

 

Nice pictures

 

Interesting.....

Australian artist turned author Rebecca Wilson published a book on the life of Edward Kelly's sister, Catherine, or Kate as she was known.

The book was the result of ten years research, and the most surprising claim has been made by the author that Kate, when she was 14, had an affair that resulted in a pregnancy and birth of a daughter called Alice, who was then raised by Kate's mother, Ellen as her own.

And the father of the child according to Wilson?

None other than Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick, the same police officer that accused Ellen and two others of attempted murder in what has become known as the Fitzpatrick Incident.

It might well explain why Fitzpatrick was present at the homestead. Let in as a known element, given a meal, and then it depends on who you believe, whether he attempted a sexual assault that Dan Kelly objected to, or whether he simply tried to reignite his relationship with Kate, and failed.

Ned was accused of wounding Fitzpatrick as well, but whether he was present or not nobody will ever really know. After his capture and sentencing, Ned did admit to a journalist that he was present at the homestead for the Fitzpatrick Incident, and that he was responsible for the wound as well.

This may have been a last minute attempt to clear his mother and secure her release...

Or...

Fitzpatrick was wounded with a gun kept under the porch, with the letters K.K. on it. So, Kate may well have defended herself with her own pistol, and the brothers stepped in to save her from arrest...

Or...

Fitzpatrick, the father of Kate's child, was unwilling to blame Kate, and focussed on Ellen and the two other men imprisoned....

Or....

There is something called The Fitzpatrick Conspiracy, where Alexander was set up as the new station chief with the intention of getting him to attend the homestead and make up a story that would lead to a charge against Ned's mother that would in turn bring Ned out of hiding...

No one knows what really went on for sure. The Fitzpatrick Incident was the catalyst event that sent Ned, brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart into hiding and touched off a two year crime spree and subsequent manhunt that ended at Glenrowen with Ned as the only surviving gang member. Dan and Steve Hart's bodies, badly burnt, were found together in a rear room of the Glenrowen Inn where the siege had taken place. The Inn had been set on fire by the police officers from the train that should have been derailed. Joe Byrne was shot in the groin whilst taking a whiskey at the bar, and his body, unburnt, was strung up for the camera in a grotesque standing position.

The rewards offered in two states totalling 8000 pounds were the largest ever made public up to that point in time, and the equivalent in 1880 of 1.2 million Australian dollars...

Bolshevik...

PS: I haven't read the book, but it sounds like Rebecca Wilson may have more than done her homework for this publication. At any rate it should be a good read for those interested in the subject matter.

Alice was only two days old at the time of the Fitzpatrick Incident.
And of course, if Alexander was her father, this may have been the very thing that got Alexander Fitzpatrick through the door in the first instance, ostensibly to view the baby for the first time.

Alice accompanied Ellen Kelly to prison.
Ellen's daughter, Maggie, took Alice home when she was ten months old.

And just to round off...

The "wanted" poster seen above and posted by CAC is a modern item. The reward is a thousand pounds short, and the photo is the final one taken of Edward Kelly whilst in prison and before he was hung as a keepsake for his family.

Ellen Kelly visited her son just before his execution, reportedly telling him to "...die like a Kelly", though some have questioned this.

His last words depend on who you believe...

Some reports say it was..." Ah well, I suppose it has come to this..."
Others say it was"Such is life", which has become part of Australia's folklore surrounding Edward.

Still others say it was a combination of the two phrases, the first uttered as he was lead to the noose, and "Such is life" just before the trap door opened.

Bolshevik

 

South Korea…

 

That's what you gotta do if you live 14 miles (23.8km) from a batshit crazy dictasters country. I'm speaking of YOU, Kim Jong-un. There is no distance buffer for the almost ten million citizens of Seoul.

 

‘Useful in a dog fight…’

 

Two stealth bombers with a couple of Aussie buddies (RAAF 35s) - Exercise Koolendong held in the Kimberley (South west of Darwin) -
"You don't send your advanced, stealthy aircraft ... into an unknown area; it can only operate outside of the United States [or] in the territory ... which is closely aligned with you.
"We're not gearing ourselves for an open confrontation with China, but we try to send them a really powerful signal that there are some red lines that exist."

 

RAAF 127 Hawks

 

Some pictures I took last year at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale, New York.

 

A Grumman Widgeon J4F-2 BuNo 30151 at USN Floyd Bennett Field 1943.

I never heard of such an aircraft.

Nice Cushman scooter too.

 

A Boeing 314 Clipper. Not sure of the date.

Boeing 314 Clipper - Wikipedia

 

A P-51B of the 335th Fighter Group Nuthampstead in England 1944.

I thought that the B models were all pulled from active service by then.

 

NAKAJIMA KI-43 HAYABUSA JAPANESE PRODUCED FIGHTER, showing it serving with the Chinese Nationalist Air Force.

 

Venice, Italy 1945.




Same place sometime in 2020.