Hurricane - Photo courtesy Arpingstone, released under Creative Commons licence.
A rare and world-first opportunity exists to purchase a piece of war-time history next month.
Auction house Bonhams & Goodman announced that it has consigned a fully restored 1940 Hawker Hurricane MkIIA, a former WWII fighter, for its Military and Aviation Collectables auction on 27 September 2009 in Melbourne.
One of only eleven airworthy examples worldwide, the Hurricane is a survivor of four major battle campaigns during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. She was damaged and repaired several times before being struck by a shell in the winter of 1943 over the Murmansk area of the Russian Tundra. She was recovered from this area in 1991 and Wanaka-based aviation enthusiast, Sir Tim Wallis, purchased the plane a year later.
It was Wallis’ desire that the Hurricane be restored to original airworthy condition and Air New Zealand offered to undertake the project. This presented Air New Zealand Engineering Services (ANZES) with a marvelous opportunity to display their capabilities and to restore a historically significant and rare aeroplane in New Zealand.
Continue reading Hurricane goes up for auction
Hail history! North East kids just love the Romans.
1066 and all that is high in north east youngster’s learning list.
New research shows that history isn’t so horrible and the kids of the North East love learning about times past.
The survey reveals that just
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Archaeologist for Historic Scotland - Jakob Kainz with his discovery of country's first known face.
Archaeology News…
When archaeologists carefully brushed away the mud from a small piece of Neolithic carved sandstone they found Scotland’s earliest human face staring back at them.
The human figurine from Historic Scotland’s excavation at the Links of Noltland on the Orkney island of Westray is a find of astonishing rarity.
Measuring just 3.5cm by 3cm it is the only known Neolithic carving of a human form to have been discovered in Scotland – with only two others in the whole of the British mainland.
The carving, discovered at the end of last week, is flat with a round head on top of a lozenge-shaped body. Careful examination reveals a face with heavy brows, two dots for eyes and an oblong for a nose. Other scratches on top of the skull could be hair.
A pair of circles on the chest are being interpreted as representing breasts, and arms have been etched at either side. A regular pattern of crossed markings on the reverse could suggest the fabric of the woman’s clothing. It bears some resemblance to the prehistoric carvings from elsewhere in Europe – often referred to as Venus figurines – which have rounded heads, large breasts and exaggerated hips.
Continue reading Earliest face unearthed after 5,000 years
