this new
wooden wonder required every barrel shaper, clog carver, and cabinet
finisher
in the realm to bend their oars in production of the Mosquito.


What a load of balsa.

Precisely.

The aeronautical connection nearly ended in Bristol in the twenties. See
http://www.pfabristol.flyer.co.uk/december02.htm and look at the Type
72. If that's not a barrel, I'd like to know what is.

Looks like a GB built by the hand-crafting gents over at Jaguar...

But what of the pickle barrel? Production in the UK ceased abruptly with the
first order to DH - an immediate vaccum was created, a wartime critical
shortage in pickle barrels. Just another damned inconvenience of the war.
Even with the required coupons, there was simply no guarantee a proper
pickle
barrel could be found.


Barnes Wallis came up with the Grand Slam, his Ten Tun Bomb, which was
described at the time as "firkin enormous".

Thread drift alert! You have now begun the process of leading us off on a
'metal cylinder of unusually great size, packed with explosives' thread...

Well, you all are familiar with the story by now. While touring the great
pickel barrel factories that once lined the Mississippi, Japanese
future-Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto could only marvel at America's pickle barrel
production capability. "We're doomed", he muttered. (In Japanese, of
course.)
Later he was able to use his acquired knowledge - one captured JN 25
message,
decoded in the days prior to Pearl Harbor, included the exact locations of
each
of the pickle barrels on board the Oklahoma and the Arizona - only luck and
a
Seaman named Mojo Nixon kept the Nevada from suffering a similar fate; he is
widely credited with having moved the Nevada's pickle barrel to the dock
alongside the battleship, so he could polish it on the early morning of
December 7th, 19 Fo-tee-won. Tragically... well.. you know.

All of this is pickle barrel history, known by most school children.

This wasn't taught at my school, unfortunately, at least not to me. I
gave up History and Latin to concentrate on the techy stuff.

I had a classic American education - the word "Latin" was mention on three
occasions during the twelve years I irregularly attended class.

Yes, of course they were lend-lease. What a ridiculous thing to say.

I was only trying to find out.

I suspect you're trying to make me the butt of your humour.

Never, sir. I reserve my butt-making humor for Michael and his Moon Landing
Hoax posts.

Bloody rude colonial. :-)

Redundant, sir.

G