Red Sky At Dawn

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Tony Heller

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning”

Sunrise in Boulder this morning

About Tony Heller

Just having fun
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29 Responses to Red Sky At Dawn

  2. Hifast says:
    November 16, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  3. gator69 says:
    November 16, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    The Celtic Woman concerts are wonderful. Having been involved in music and theater in my younger days, I have a great appreciation for the talent and production it takes to pull off these fine performances. Plus they soothe my Highlander Warrior soul.

    Reply
      • rah says:
        November 17, 2015 at 9:53 pm

        I like pipes and drums. They truly are warriors instruments.

        Reply
        • Gail Combs says:
          November 17, 2015 at 10:27 pm

          Was it you RAH, who mentioned the problems the Polish airmen had trying to get the Brits to let them fly?
          This has a bit about their battle to get into the air.
          http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/the-polish-air-force-in-world-war-2/303-squadron.aspx

          Pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, Leconfield, 1940. During the Battle of Britain No. 303 Squadron was the most successful Fighter Command unit, destroying 126 enemy aircraft.

          ………….

          As for the pipes and drums, they ARE weapons.

          If you want to see a horse go nuts play a snare drum near him. My equines are trained to gun fire but they still hated the snare drums. They aren’t very fond of the pipes either.

        • Colorado Wellington says:
          November 17, 2015 at 11:05 pm

          First Polish pilots started reaching England in December 1939, following the British agreement to accept a contingent of 300 Polish aircrew and 2,000 of support personnel. The British were at first reluctant to use them for operational duties, but after the German invasion of France, in view of her imminent collapse, the Air Ministry agreed to form two Polish bomber squadrons, as part of the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve. Sir Hugh Dowding strongly opposed forming Polish fighter squadrons – for which the Polish government in exile pressed very hard – but in view of rapidly deteriorating military situation, with Britain’s very survival depending on the few fighter pilots it could muster, an agreement was finally reached on August 5, 1940. Four bomber and two fighter squadrons would be formed. These would formally constitute an independent Polish Air Force, operationally however they would be under British command.

          In the meantime, even more Polish pilots had reached England following the collapse of France, and in July several of them had already been posted to British squadrons in the ranks of RAF Voluntary Reserve.

          British reluctance to accept Polish aircrew into RAF was understandable, even though in the end it proved unfounded. John Kent, a Canadian posted in August 1940 as a flight commander to 303 Squadron later remarked, All I knew about the Polish Air Force was that it had resisted the Luftwaffe for about three days. While it wasn’t exactly the truth, it was generally thought that after two lost campaigns (Polish and French) the pilots’ morale must have been low, and their skills remained largely an unknown. Another important factor was that few of them knew English, so they would be difficult to incorporate into the British defensive network which relied heavily on radio communications. But the ever increasing casualties and insufficient supply of new pilots finally forced the RAF to accept into service foreigners, of whose Poles were the largest group.

          http://avstop.com/History/AroundTheWorld/Poland/index1.html

        • Gail Combs says:
          November 17, 2015 at 11:16 pm

          Thanks Colorado. I though I had read that here.

        • rah says:
          November 17, 2015 at 11:57 pm

          ‘Fly For Your Life’ is the story of Robert Stanford Tucker who was one of greatest combat pilots and leaders to ever strap on an airplane. (And yes I mean “strap on” because the great fighter pilots don’t really climb into their aircraft, they wear them and fly them as if they are an extension of their body and not a machine they were controlling)

          Tommy Tuck as his friends knew him was in the thick of it from combat over the beaches at Dunkirk through the Battle of Britain advancing from flight leader to squadron commander to wing commander. He was senior to Douglas Bader and the those two strong willed legends mixed like oil and water. Both ended up in Stalag Luft III at the time the “Great escape” tunnels were being dug though both missed the chance to go through tunnel Harry to try and escape. And both were lucky they did miss it because if they had they almost certainly would have been caught and murdered like some of the rest because of their records of defiance of their German captors.

          When Tommy became a wing commander one of his squadrons was Polish. He had one hell of a time trying to control them. Their hate of the Germans turned them into mad men when they saw the enemy aircraft. Tommy finally started grounding the Poles that would go off hunting on their own or initiate an attack without waiting for his orders to do so. The subject of the grounding would actually cry when Tommy did that. A couple of doses of that medicine and the Polish squadron became more malleable and a very effective part of the team.

        • Gail Combs says:
          November 18, 2015 at 12:04 am

          I think know I have learned more history here from you guys, than I ever did in my history classes.

          Thanks for the additional info RAH.

        • rah says:
          November 18, 2015 at 1:11 am

          Thanks Gail but I don’t have the breath of knowlege of world history that I think CW does though when it comes to war history that may be a different matter.

          Here is another little piece of war history having to do with the pipes.
          I’m sure you’ve see the movie ‘The Longest Day’. And you probably remember the depiction of Major Howards men crash landing in Horsa gliders to take control of the Pegasus bridges during the initial action of D-day.

          And you probably remember Lord Lovat leading his commandos coming to relieve Howards unit being led by a Piper wearing a kilt. Well that is all accurate pretty much to a tee.

          The pipers name was Mr. Milan and he was probably the ONLY man wearing a kilt that assualted a beach that day. Here is a picture of him as he about to debark from the landing craft at Sword beach that day and nice story on it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304179/D-Day-piper-Bill-Millin-played-Allied-troops-landed-beaches-dies.html

          BTW the man shown in the water to the right of the column is Lord Lovat. He would seriously injured a few days later by a short round from British artillery.

        • rah says:
          November 19, 2015 at 4:47 pm

          Oh, I forgot to mention that Tuck was raised by a Russian born nanny and thus spoke Russian. Thus he could understand the Poles very well and they could understand him. That is how he knew who the ringleaders in the Polish squadron were that were leading them without orders so he could ground them to punish them.

        • Colorado Wellington says:
          November 19, 2015 at 5:46 pm

          Thank you, rah. I think I heard part of Tuck’s story long time ago. The book just went on my Christmas buy list. I enjoy and highly value your history contributions, especially since so much of your understanding is guided by your own service experience.

        • Gail Combs says:
          November 19, 2015 at 5:56 pm

          I should add that when ever we see a serviceman or a vet we always thank them for their service to our country. I want to extend that thanks to you guys too.

    • Shawn Marshall says:
      November 17, 2015 at 12:34 am

      Saw them once in Roanoke Va. They were great but the acoustics weren’t so good. Their Christmas CD will make any Christian momma very happy. I played their music for my mother-in-law as she lay dying, could no longer speak, my wife thought she was comatose. When asked if she liked the pretty music she nodded her head – her last communication. It is angelic – too bad Ireland has voted itself into hell.

      Reply
      • Gail Combs says:
        November 19, 2015 at 5:42 pm

        Nothing like good Celtic music especially live! That was the only good thing about living in Boston.

        And thanks for the additional info RAH.

        Reply
  4. gator69 says:
    November 16, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    Look at all that red hot CO2 from the Valmont Power Plant!

    Reply
  5. Steve Case says:
    November 16, 2015 at 7:03 pm

    As sunrise/sunset photos go, that was top notch.

    Reply
  7. Colorado Wellington says:
    November 16, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    Sayyid Qutb must have seen such images when studying in 1950s Greeley. He also witnessed the brutish barbarism of the American soul: salting watermelons, drinking unsweetened tea and watering lawns. And football and jazz! He was disturbed by the seductiveness of the girls with their “round breasts, the full buttocks, … shapely thighs, sleek legs” and such as they were showing.

    So to fix things up in Greeley, he returned to Egypt to wage jihad against America.

    https://coloradowellington.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/converted-greeley-girls.png

    Reply
  8. omanuel says:
    November 16, 2015 at 10:59 pm

    Thanks, Steven, for reminding us of the reality of sunset and sunrise.

    Reply
  9. rah says:
    November 29, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    Thought I would resurrect this recent thread to show a great shot of Red Skies in the Morning:
    Reagan Morning
    http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/images/uss-reagan-1-2015.jpg
    Posted 11/28/2015

    WATERS SOUTH OF JAPAN (Nov. 23, 2015) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) transits the ocean after completion of Annual Exercise (AE) 16. AE16 is an annual event to increase interoperability between Japanese and American forces through training in air and sea operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Raymond D. Diaz III)

    Reply

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