I’ve searched through the archives for many years, and in this 1943 shot above, taken over occupied France from a high altitude Spitfire XI you can plainly can see it there, it’s sleek rounded shape clearly visible under the black mesh fabric of it’s temporary field housing.
Unknown at the time, its smooth surface was combining with it’s heavy but precious contents to break the grip of the single elastic retention cord and allow its passage to freedom. A freedom which would quickly result in a cold and lonely fate. It would lie unseen and undiscovered, and despite a thorough search from a nearby outpost, its circumstances would remain unknown.
Photographic evidence narrowed down its point of ejection to the east of the shot above, but no tracks were seen on the ground and further aerial passes were deemed too hazardous, would interfere with lunch plans, and it felt best to let the matter drop. Like a hot potato. Although I think that a hot boiled egg would be much more painful to hold, and if you dropped it there would be more mess (depending on how long it had been boiled of course), so the saying should probably be “Dropped like a boiled egg”. Mind you, catching a hot rivet in your bare hands would trump both of those, to the point of rendering you unconscious. But I suppose not so many folk know what the hell rivets are other than seeing them on footage of the Titanic wreck, so that’s maybe not the best reference. Like me and 1950’s films, nobody gets my ancient movie quotes, but I kinda like that. Oddly enough I’ve riveted a steam locomotive’s boiler in my time as well.
But I digress. Amazon had the purple Nalgene bottle listed, so some button pushing with funds supplied by the Bank of NeverNeverLand has resulted in a new bottle sitting in front of me as we speak.
It’s awfy new looking though, the other one was all scraped to hell. See, it’s not just Sigg’s that get beat up and “tell a story”, or it could be that the Tritan they’re using now instead of the apparently toxic polycarbonate is piss poor and will wear out really quick. I guess if I just intermittently throw them off mountains I’ll never know, never get disappointed and just keep buying new ones.
Now, I don’t think I’ve still got it in this shot…
I didn’t realise Spitfires went up to XI?
Ach, but doesn’t it still hurt when you put the first dint or scratch on a new one…?
Das, it should really be PRXI for any pedants listening. But all Spitfires go up to eleven…
You cab buy volume controls for your guitar that have 11 on them which is kinda fun :o)
It does Matt, but the second one is easy!
My flask fell out of a side-pocket of my rucksack on a river crossing a fortnight ago. I grabbed it before it got swept downstream, but it acquired quite an impressive dent in the cup top bit. It lost its ‘as new’ perfect sheen years ago but that’s its first major dent. I’m equally upset and proud that it has acquired a battle scar.
Spitfires go up to Mk24 which is *much* louder than 11 (and sound wonderful at any level), but mostly I’m impressed that someone’s still riveting boilers out there.
Kate, well prompted, a new flask is on the agenda.
But, Santa or shopping… ?
Thinkerer, I had a Mk24 hanging from my ceiling many years ago. My dad said that the teardrop canopy spoiled the Spitfire, but I dunno, I kinda liked it.
Riveting? It’s like using a jackhammer shrunk to the size of a hand-drill, but with no loss of power, “invigorating” :o)