Derelict parts for ford mustang 1965

Halloha, my name's Gianluca. Nice to meet you!- is what I would say in a formal setting.
But hence you found me in my area of comfort, welcome to my humble abode. Would you like some tea? Maybe you fancy some Earl Grey.
Anyway anyway I'm starting to babble lol, if you're wondering what I'm here for, it's for talking to you, interesting person out there wherever may you be. Meeting new people and all it brings is something I love. Making friends this way is amazing so therefore I presented myself!
If details are something you're into hearing, i can give you lots:
-I have to refuel every day almost cuz I go through an entire tank in 2 days or less. Love driving around. (Had to get new shoes and take up running to reduce expenses)
-I'm a car mechanic, also a construction worker, carpenter and if patience blesses me on that day; a painter.
-What am I saving up for? Well it's big, pretty massive in fact. So massive i could write an entire letter about it... Huh... Would it be cheeky if I said you can ask about this in your message? Would be a good idea.
-Had to start running everywhere for transport which is fun, I also do cycling, practice jumps and tricks at the bike park and do motorcycle and karting races. (Other categories and car racing are a work in progress, will upgrade soon)
-Music taste: this is the part where you look at a bunch of hyperbabble about bands that don't make a lot of sense unless you heard them, but I'll just throw a buncha names and you can see if any of the following applies: Radiohead, Megadeth, Fishmans, Marillion, The Black Keys, Queens of The Stone Age, Buckethead, Alphaville, Dire Straits, Little River Band, David Bowie, XTC, UB40, Commodores, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Cure.
-Ultramegahyper car and motorcycles fan, but in the weirdest way possible. My dream cars are actually cheap french hot hatches like the 306 and a 90's Renault Clio. The car I'd get first no matter what is a 1998 Ford Focus. If possible the RS version. And as for motorcycles I want a Kawasaki ZXR, 80's style. Also love German cars, especially old BMW's, first one I'd get is an e32 with the M70 V12 engine. Also love old Volkswagens and Audis, without a doubt would own an 80's Audi with one of their 5 cylinder engines and turbocharge it. Also very fond of japanese cars and will own a Nissan in any form possible, especially the 350z
-Played almost every Need For Speed game that ever released, started my journey with the franchise through Underground, and played every release as they launched. (yes even Undercover, I actually enjoyed it). I listen to the soundtracks of old NFS games in my free time. Also played Midnight Club, Forza, Assetto Corsa, FlatOut, Burnout, BeamNG... I COULD KEEP GOING.
-Not everything in my life is about cars though, my day is dedicated to music too, especially playing piano. I'm also a guitar and bass player. And really want to get more sound gear and instruments in the future (Cars and music gear? I'll be broke all the time)
-I'm relatively organized, but living by myself has shown me that being the only person inside the house, I leave stuff around unless somebody visits. But while living with my parents I didn't make any mess anywhere so I'm not an absolute demon.
-Yes, living by myself also requires me to cook and I'm actually an amazing cook. I include lots of seasoning and veggies into the meals, even soy to balance things out and eggs for protein. Learned lots while being independent.
-Fun facts about me to end this: The amount of clothes I have in total is so small that i can wash them all in one washing machine load, the house machine size. I also have 3 different pillows around me at all times cuz I don't like laying on a flat surface. I listen to music even while showering. And I own a dog that requires me to feed her on a daily basis even though I beg her to feed off the sun.
Anyways that's about it from me! Hope you enjoyed this lil introduction that is the size of the Twilight prologue, but way better.

Halloha, my name's Gianluca. Nice to meet you!- is what I would say in a formal setting.
But hence you found me in my area of comfort, welcome to my humble abode. Would you like some tea? Maybe you fancy some Earl Grey.
Anyway anyway I'm starting to babble lol, if you're wondering what I'm here for, it's for talking to you, interesting person out there wherever may you be. Meeting new people and all it brings is something I love. Making friends this way is amazing so therefore I presented myself!
If details are something you're into hearing, i can give you lots:
-I have to refuel every day almost cuz I go through an entire tank in 2 days or less. Love driving around. (Had to get new shoes and take up running to reduce expenses)
-I'm a car mechanic, also a construction worker, carpenter and if patience blesses me on that day; a painter.
-What am I saving up for? Well it's big, pretty massive in fact. So massive i could write an entire letter about it... Huh... Would it be cheeky if I said you can ask about this in your message? Would be a good idea.
-Had to start running everywhere for transport which is fun, I also do cycling, practice jumps and tricks at the bike park and do motorcycle and karting races. (Other categories and car racing are a work in progress, will upgrade soon)
-Music taste: this is the part where you look at a bunch of hyperbabble about bands that don't make a lot of sense unless you heard them, but I'll just throw a buncha names and you can see if any of the following applies: Radiohead, Megadeth, Fishmans, Marillion, The Black Keys, Queens of The Stone Age, Buckethead, Alphaville, Dire Straits, Little River Band, David Bowie, XTC, UB40, Commodores, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Cure.
-Ultramegahyper car and motorcycles fan, but in the weirdest way possible. My dream cars are actually cheap french hot hatches like the 306 and a 90's Renault Clio. The car I'd get first no matter what is a 1998 Ford Focus. If possible the RS version. And as for motorcycles I want a Kawasaki ZXR, 80's style. Also love German cars, especially old BMW's, first one I'd get is an e32 with the M70 V12 engine. Also love old Volkswagens and Audis, without a doubt would own an 80's Audi with one of their 5 cylinder engines and turbocharge it. Also very fond of japanese cars and will own a Nissan in any form possible, especially the 350z
-Played almost every Need For Speed game that ever released, started my journey with the franchise through Underground, and played every release as they launched. (yes even Undercover, I actually enjoyed it). I listen to the soundtracks of old NFS games in my free time. Also played Midnight Club, Forza, Assetto Corsa, FlatOut, Burnout, BeamNG... I COULD KEEP GOING.
-Not everything in my life is about cars though, my day is dedicated to music too, especially playing piano. I'm also a guitar and bass player. And really want to get more sound gear and instruments in the future (Cars and music gear? I'll be broke all the time)
-I'm relatively organized, but living by myself has shown me that being the only person inside the house, I leave stuff around unless somebody visits. But while living with my parents I didn't make any mess anywhere so I'm not an absolute demon.
-Yes, living by myself also requires me to cook and I'm actually an amazing cook. I include lots of seasoning and veggies into the meals, even soy to balance things out and eggs for protein. Learned lots while being independent.
-Fun facts about me to end this: The amount of clothes I have in total is so small that i can wash them all in one washing machine load, the house machine size. I also have 3 different pillows around me at all times cuz I don't like laying on a flat surface. I listen to music even while showering. And I own a dog that requires me to feed her on a daily basis even though I beg her to feed off the sun.
Anyways that's about it from me! Hope you enjoyed this lil introduction that is the size of the Twilight prologue, but way better.

Hey everyone,
I'm thrilled to share that I just bought a brand new Ford Bronco! It's been a dream of mine to own one, and now that it's finally in my driveway, I'm excited to explore its capabilities.
I wanted to reach out to this fantastic community to seek your insight and expertise. As fellow Bronco enthusiasts, I value your experiences and knowledge. Whether it's tips for off-roading adventures, recommended accessories, or general maintenance advice, I'm eager to hear your thoughts.
If you have any recommendations, favorite modifications, or even anecdotes about your own Bronco journeys, please share them in the comments below. I believe that together, we can make the most of this iconic vehicle and create lasting memories.
Thank you in advance for your help, and I look forward to being a part of this wonderful community!
Best regards, SouthsideMollys

Which approach do you find useful and/or confusing in creating car models? European brands generally go with the numbering/lettering option to differentiate segments. As far as I can tell:

• BMW's 2, 3, 5, 7 for sedans in increasing order in size and X for SVUs.
• Mercedes' A, C, E, S for sedan classes while G denoting the SUV class.
• Audi's 3, 4, 5, 6 for sedans and Q for SUVs
• Porsche is a bit weird. 718 and 911 for sedans, but they name their SUV
• Ferrari... oh my god.
• Lamborghini... ay dios mío.

Models of Asian brands are generally based on words, which makes it a tiny bit difficult when it comes to differentiating size and segment, such as:

• Toyota's Corolla, Camry, Avalon, none of which designates any clue as to size neither does their SUV line-up Corolla Cross, RAV4, 4Runner, etc.
• Honda's Civic, Accord, HR-V, CR-V, Pilot, Passport, etc.
• Hyundai's Accent, Elantra, Sonata, Kona, Tucson, Palisade, etc.
• Kia's Rio, Forte, K5 (?), Soul, Seltos, Sportage, Telluride, etc.

American brands are mixed:

• Ford's flagship truck line-up follows the numbering F-150, F-250, etc., but then all the other models are named: Maverick, Focus, Fiesta, Mustang, etc.
• Chevy, similarly, has the C# designation for Corvette, but names all the other models: Bolt, Blazer, Camaro, Silverado, etc.
• Cadillac's CT-# is for sedans and XT-# for SUVs, but they've got also Lyric, Escalade, Celestiq, etc.
• Tesla's could be the most intriguing: S - 3 - X - Y.

If you had a car company, which option would you choose?

I live in Bahrain where insurance and gas are dirt cheap ($2/gallon for gas and $25 a month comprehensive insurance for a new driver). This, combined with the fact that g8s ( badged as Chevy luminas over here) regularly go for under USD $4k which is well within budget. Most of the cheap ones have the 4 speed auto from the v6 luminas which is why I'm also considering a caprice ppv ( badged as just a caprice) as it has the 6l80 6 speed. I could go for something with less power but I wanna take advantage of the cheap cost of ownership while I'm here. Alternatively for around the same price, manual 2005+ 4.6 mustangs are a dime a dozen and the parts support is a bit stronger. You don't need a manual lisence here either so it's also a tempting choice even though I'm a GM diehard and would much rather have an 6.0 LS. Miatas and the likes start at around double the price so 4 banger fun is out of the question.

If you are looking for an adventure in the Himalayas, #UpperMustangTrek should be on your list. Located in the north-central part of Nepal, Upper Mustang is a remote and isolated region that was once a part of the Tibetan Empire. The region was opened to outsiders only in 1992, and it still requires a special permit to visit. Visit us for a brief guide to the Upper Mustang Trek.

You have any of these, send me a message. i'm also willing to trade, for that i have:
Ferrari FXX Evo, Porsche Cayman 718, Honda CRX Mugen, Honda Prelude, Koenigsegg CCGT, Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Coupe 2017 and the Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5.
Thanks in advance! :)

Ok, so I'm a first time renter, and at the moment I have 2 apartments in the Cambridge area that me and my roommate really like. My roommate is my sister, and she agreed to pay up to one third in rent costs.
Apartment A is in a 100+ year old building (in a safe and historic part of town) at $3400/month for 2 beds 1 bath, with heat, at 900 sqft on the top floor. The broker even warned that it gets HOT in the summer (there is no AC). It has 4 large rooms, all of which are around 150 sqft. It has a very... derelict bathroom (which I guess is a given for an old building, but it looked absolutely apalling in person). There is also shared laundry and costs $2.25 per load. That isn't much of a concern.
It is less than a <10 minute walk to Porter, which is nice since I don't have a car. It is also closer to the center of town, so feasible to walk to it than to take just the subway. The downside is that my work commute would be longer by about 5-10 minutes one way. The neighborhood itself is very quiet and densely residential.
Apartment B is a luxury apartment for 2 bed 1 bath at $3500/month, at 800 sqft (not technically 2 bed, but has a 'den' that can act as one). It has in-unit laundry and better appliances (and a microwave) and is also close to Alewife station (also <10 minutes). The neighborhood honestly looks like a boring office park, full of similar (but more expensive) complexes.
Apartment B also has additional building amenities, typical of a luxury apartment (such as a gym, communal work and lounge space, etc.). My commute would also be shorter by a few minutes but is farther from Porter but nearby to Fresh Pond Mall within walking distance.
My roommate's room would also be smaller at around 85 sqft but can fit a queen size bed and dresser with some creativity. The other bedroom is 135 sqft and the living/dining at 160 sqft.
Another downside is that my sister wants to bring her car with her, and it has a whopping $250/month garage parking fee, which my sister can barely afford if she uses her car to get around (unless I pay more in rent).
I already got approved for apartment A. I would still have to apply for apartment B, but it requires an application deposit. Both apartments are within my roommate's and I's combined income budget, but she prefers apartment A and I prefer apartment B. If I were to choose apartment A I would have to also pay an additional broker's fee, costing another month of rent upfront, totaling 3 months. Apartment B only requires 2 months rent upfront.
Which is the better apartment to choose in this situation? I am also the one paying majority rent/signing the lease so I'm not really sure what to decide on. Is apartment A even worth it? Is apartment B worth it if I pay almost $100 more in rent each month? My monthly takehome pay alone is already 6k so does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?
TL;DR: Worse apartment in a better location or a better apartment in a worse location for $100 more?

TLDR: National Guard saved cows delivering hay by helicopter. Could it also save human lives delivering a temporary footbridge?
During this winter’s big snows, the California Air National Guard ferried bales of hay via helicopter to herds of cows stranded on Humboldt county hills and mountains. This was back in March.
Today, news of the the Woods Creek Bridge and the South Fork San Joaquin River Bridge damage is being widely reported - and quite frequently - in the mass media.
Those media reports not only talk about the dangers to human lives brought by fording dangerous fast moving water but also the very-highly-likely disinterest among thru-hikers to backtrack or take long re-routes. The thrust of this juxtaposition is that lives will be put at risk while fording the rivers.
The SF Chronicle summed up the “three disappointing options” as: backtrack and reroute; abandon the thru-hike altogether; or attempt to ford the streams on foot. And then in the next paragraph stating “Stream crossings are perhaps the most perilous hazard of those scenic trails — hikers have been swept off their feet and drowned in recent years — and this season these wild streams are flowing colder, higher and faster than normal.”
The article is pretty clearly foretelling outsized human toll this year. It’s not a happy thought but we are perhaps only days or weeks away from hearing the grim news of a tragedy brought about by a perilous crossing.
So I’m wondering what Cal National Guard resources (or perhaps Marine Mt Warfare unit resources) could be brought to bear as a temporary fix?
I’ve not served in any branch of the military and have limited knowledge of how this sort of stuff works. But I have followed news of various conflicts and seen images of temporary bridges installed for ground troops as well as armored vehicles during over land advances.
Couldn’t the Cal National Guard or Marines install temporary footbridges adjacent to the two impassable bridges in order to save lives? Do this bridges exist as items in inventory somewhere in a form that could be airlifted into place in whole or parts and secured in place to save lives?

I have a Santa Fe Sport that was part of a recall, ran into issues back in December that left me without a car for 2 months, and the check engine light regularly comes on despite it being constantly maintained.
I went to check out a Ford Dealer and they have a 60k mile warranty vs. Hyundai’s 150k warranty.
Makes me wonder if that’s the case because Hyundai’s have more issues.

Hey everyone, I needed to vent, I have a story and a question at the end, so let me know what you think. When I was a kid we were poor, and I never got anything. It was always cheapest pencil holder, cheapest school bag, bread with margarine for breakfast, never went on any school trip, never anything. I didn't even know it was normal to get lunch money from your parents, I'm still a little surprised whenever I hear 'lunch money' as an adult. We had food at home you see. My birthday/christmas presents were socks and cheap plastic toys, except I got one video game, throughout my entire childhood, as a birthday present, after incessant begging, doing chores and homework etc. all year, just to illustrate.
So, when I was around 13 yearsold, my buddies got into airsoft. You know, cheap chinese shotguns, playing in the apartment complex, getting chased away by city street cleaners and shouted at by grandmas leaning out of windows... We had one derelict building nearby in the forest where people played airsoft every weekend without fail. I would convince my dad to buy the cheap spring guns whenever we stopped at the china town market for vegetables, they were usually 20-25$, but my dad was buddy buddy with the sellers, and he'd talk them down to 13-15$, or they'd say 20$ but with one of those a big plastic bottles of shitty BBs where like 10% of them had a visible seam protruding through the middle. My parents said the real airsoft guns that I really wanted were too expensive. I did all I could to convince them how it's a sport, that I'll make new friends and that I'll get a workout... and they finally relented, I believe it was for good grades. I knew they would not buy me anything this expensive ever again, so when they told me the budget, I picked the only AEG that fit in it: a tokyo marui m4 made for children. I think it was the "M4A1 Boys edition" with a silly orange cap which is not required here in the EU. Anyway, the day came and we went to a shop to buy it. Except, when I said what I came to buy the shopkeeper immediately said the gun is not worth it, that it's a pea shooter, that I'll be quote "unhappy with it" and to buy a chinese aep instead. I knew also from the other airsoft players, that even these chinese electric guns broke often, and it was hard or not worth it to repair them. I also knew that TM is a quality brand, and that I don't care about range, I just wanted to have fun running around with my friends. We were only playing CQB essentially anyway. I said I wanted it anyway, but the shopkeeper said that I need BBs too which don't fit in the budget with the marui gun. I said I have tonnes of BBs at home (from the cheap chinese guns, plus I could just walk around for 1 minute around the apartment complex and find 30 bbs on the ground), but nobody listened to me. In the end, my dad was convinced by him, and he bought the cheapest AEP they had, a glock that was labelled as '"decoration only" meaning they didn't accept essentially any warranty returns on it if it got any use. My dad did notice I didn't like the choice, so he tried to appease me by saying that if I don't like it we can just return it. But I knew that if I wanted to return it, it'd be weeks before my dad would have time to go there again, and he'd be annoyed that he has to take me there just because I don't like it, and I didn't trust the seller would even honor the return policy given the "decoration only" warning. I pretended to be happy for the rest of the ride home.
I actually got excited when I tried it for the first time. It had metal parts, I've never held an airsoft gun with metal parts in my hands before. And then I shot it for the first time, and it felt so powerful to me. Of course, my mother was scared for me getting hurt after seeing how much damage the gun did to the furniture... and the sounds it made... And how fast it fired... anyway she forced my dad to buy me a bloody one piece full suit for skiing, and didn't allow me to leave to play airsoft without it. The suit cost more than the gun... and I had fun playing airsoft for a few weeks, but of course the guys at the field hated me, because the full suit was so god damn thick I couldn't feel their shots at all. So I grew to hate the suit quickly, and stopped going because of the comments I got accusing me of cheating. Also I didn't really know the guys there and even though my buddies always promised to go that weekend with me they never showed up. They were all older, smoked and drank beer and made crude jokes, I didn't like them when we were not playing is what I'm saying. My parents also bought me some super durable worker's safety sunglasses. I had a cheap pair of clear goggles which came with one of the 10$ chinese spring pistols, I used those instead at first, but they broke the first game they got hit a few times! So I had to wear the sunglasses my parents bought, which sucked because they were too dark, and also they somehow pinched my head or something which would make my vision go blurry over time, like what happens when you wake up having slept the wrong way, squishing your eyeballs. So I stopped going to the field, and buddies stopped playing in the apartment block, all for different reasons, one got his guns taken away for bad behaviour, one broke his gun, one moved away, and the rest mostly just lost interest because there was one guy which always showed up with his expensive shotgun and obliterated everyone. So I just shot paper at home from time to time dreaming of how one day I'll go back without the stupid ski suit. I'd even go there just to watch how the guys played, thinking I'll learn how to play and not get shot in the first minute of each round.
Of course, about 7 months later, the gun broke. I didn't even finish the bag of 2000 BBs, actually I don't think I got even halfway through. I tried to fix it, it had small jams or malfunctions before, and I was always able to fix those. After all, I had loads of experience fixing the spring loaded cheap chinese guns. But no, this time it broke completely, I think I remember one of the gears inside broke in half? Anyway of course my parents told me "I broke it" and that they won't pay for fixing it beacuse "I broke it". Even though I told them "it's a cheap chinese gun they break all the time and I wanted the tokyo marui which doesn't break and I didn't care about range!" It still gets my blood boiling just remembering. I tried to fix it for months, I remember tearfully throwing it out because it hurt too much knowing I'll never play again. The memory is still sitting with me clearly. It felt so completely unfair as a kid. I think I might have trauma from that... Anyway, 16 years later I'm getting into airsoft again, but something made me remember this story, so I tried to find the gun and I think I found it, as I wrote before it was probably the Tokyo Marui M4A1 Boys edition. It's hard to find any information about it, but I did find that it tested 130FPS or 40m/s. So my question is, what do you think, was the guy at the counter right to recommend the shitty chinese gun, or should I have made a fuss about it. I tried looking around, and I can't find a single shop specialising in airsoft which sells a gun below 200FPS. But it should've been plenty for a kid playing airsoft inside, right?

Turkomans and Arabians are mighty fine indeed, but I’m quite fond of the ‘mid-tier’ war and work horses. Appaloosas, Dutch Warmbloods, and Mustangs all get the job done superbly. And you can usually get them for free in your adventures. In practice, they don’t feel that much slower than racehorses.
I can’t really feel the difference among standard, race, and elite handling, but the heavy handling of the draft horses seem noticeably more sluggish, at least with my controller. The basic riding horses come in beautiful coats too, but the lower health and stamina can present problems in some Chapter 6 missions. That said, a loyal Kentacky Saddler was my main ride for a good part of Chapter 2.
Here are mine as of Chapter 6 in my replay: Turkoman (Braithwaite horse), Arabian (from the Saint Denis couple), Hungarian Halfbred (from story mode), Andalusian (from Brandywine Drop).

I saw this last night and it was a solid film. This is the second John Wayne movie I’ve seen (Stagecoach was my first) and it was a good way to get introduced to his body of work. The acting although a bit dated and of its time was decent and John Wayne did a good job as the hero. He was a flawed hero who you could tell went through a lot having fought in Civil War and now finding the scumbags who murdered his family and kidnapped his niece (who's funny enough played by Natalie Wood who I didn’t know was in the film until I saw the opening credits). He gets into a lot of conflict with his remaining family and family which shows how much he's been fighting his struggles and challenges. Jeremy Hunter also did a decent job playing a young lad who due to his inexperience he has compared to Ethan also kinda gets into his relationship with Ethan. He's a bit of a relatable character who’s trying to work on his own flaws and struggles which I thought added into the movie. The music was bombastic and was very old school and classic which also added to the film. It did have a decent song in the beginning and end although I wouldn’t preferred a nice orchestral epic score or something like that.
The movie has both a quirky and lighthearted tone in some scenes and a dark and ominous tone in others. When there’s tension, it’s done very well. It gets you invested into what’s going to happen and when something bad happens, it makes you feel a bit for the characters. When the Indians kill the family and take away Ethan's niece, it’s dark both literally and figuratively which adds to the tone and it’s entirely offscreen. You only see the aftermath with the burned up house and the small burials/funerals for the victims. It’s solid direction and leaves it all to your imagination. The pacing is slow and although I do feel it in some scenes is for the most part done well. The cinematography particularly the framing is very iconic and revoluntionary even for 1956 and it shows why John Ford remains a revolutionary and iconic filmmaker for a reason since he revolutionized a lot of aspects in movies that are still duplicated today. It sometimes zooms to the character either to show how scared or confused they are and the final shot perfectly establishes the journey we've traveled with the characters in showing that the job is finished and Ethan go off into the distance now.
Overall, The Searchers is a well directed, well shot, and well executed movie with a good story and good character development. It’s a movie that’s a well respected movie for a reason particularly in the Western genre and a film that cemented John Ford and John Wayne as legends of the craft which is why the film will still continue to be iconic in the future. 8.5/10

I made a offhand comment yesterday to clear up a misconception about Guilliman and the Emperor, and found today to my surprise that I had managed to provoke the wrath of the reddit hivemind. Normally I would just shrug and move on, but the thing is that Guilliman's title of Imperial Regent—and how exactly he acquired it—is a significant plot point in the Dark Imperium trilogy. It's specifically the reason why he is so bitter towards the Emperor. An Emperor who can still speak clearly and say something like "you will assume this title and do these tasks" is not an Emperor that Guilliman would renounce.
Remember that Guilliman was revived on Macragge, far from Terra, and it was on Macragge that he learned about the past ten thousand years. And he did not take it well, to say the least.

Guilliman’s anger spilled over, and he span on his heel, staring up at the woven Emperor with accusing eyes. ‘Why do I still live,’ he snarled. ‘What more do you want from me? I gave everything I had to you, to them. Look what they’ve made of our dream. This bloated, rotting carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope but by fear, hate and ignorance. Better that we had all burned in the ires of Horus’ ambition than live to see this.’ Guilliman is shocked, angry, depressed, and who can blame him? But he can’t show it. None of it. He needs to stay calm, and strong, and in perfect control. For everyone else’s sake.
Anger surged through the Lord of Ultramar, and he clenched his fists with the effort of self-restraint. He imagined destroying this chamber, tearing it apart and hurling its wreckage around like a wild beast. He dared not, lest these strangers in his Chapter’s livery see through his facade. Though he wrestled with despair, the Primarch knew that he could not let his weakness show. Calgar, Tigurius, Agemman, all the others – they looked at him as though he were the Emperor himself. Guilliman was painfully aware of his symbolic quality, and of how desperate and dark the hour had become. He must show nothing but strength to his gene-sons, lest his despair taint their hearts, too.

But not all hope is lost for Guilliman, because he knows that on Terra, his father still lives. On Terra is the one person to whom he can turn to for help, for guidance, for just a second of relief from the crushing weight of responsibility. A person for whom he need not pretend that he has all the answers and lie that everything will be all right when it’s screamingly obvious that he doesn’t and it won’t be.

The Primarch announced his intention to set out upon a great journey. Once before, when the Dark Gods had threatened the Imperium of Mankind, the Primarch of the Ultramarines had reached Terra too late to do his duty. He would not make that mistake again. Guilliman intended to journey to Terra, to kneel at the foot of the Golden Throne and ask his father for guidance.

- Gathering Storm: Rise of the Primarch
So off he goes on the Terran Crusade, battling his way through Magnus, and Kairos, and Huron, until he finally reaches Terra and drives Chaos back from the moon. Then he turns around to find the Battle of Lion’s Gate in full swing, another struggle in desperate need of a saviour, and dutifully plays his part yet again. Then he gets the grand tour of Terra’s decrepitude, and gets to see just how far the Throneworld has fallen.

We could not hide just how desperate things had become. He could see for himself the unnatural storms raging in the atmosphere, and witness the darkened profile of the defunct Astronomican fortress. He could see the walls stuffed with defenders and the smouldering, half-derelict stretches of the city beyond the walls. Perhaps worst of all, even when we got him inside the intact precincts, to the holiest and the most immaculate of our citadels, he looked at them as if they were some kind of insult.

- The Emperor’s Legion
And finally, exhausted, embittered, but enduring nonetheless, Guilliman gets to see his father.

He had gone in to see what his father had become. Guilliman had been thousands of years dead. He had spent subjective years lost in the warp to come to Terra, only to find an empire of ruin laid starkly before his disbelieving eyes. All building to this fateful moment.
‘Father,’ he said, and when he had said that word, it was the last time he had meant it. ‘Father, I have returned.’ Guilliman forced himself to look up into the pillar of light, the screaming of souls, the empty-eyed skull, the impassive god, the old man, yesterday’s saviour. ‘What must I do? Help me, father. Help me save them.’
He looked at the Emperor of Mankind, and could not see. Too much, too bright, too powerful. The unreality of the being before him stunned him to the core. A hundred different impressions, all false, all true, raced through his mind. He could not remember what his father had looked like, before, and Roboute Guilliman forgot nothing.
And then, that thing, that terrible, awful thing upon the Throne, saw him.
‘My son,’ it said.
‘Thirteen,’ it said.
‘Lord of Ultramar.’
‘Saviour.’
‘Hope.’
‘Failure.’
‘Disappointment.’
‘Liar.’
‘Thief.’
‘Betrayer.’
‘Guilliman.’
He heard all these at once. He did not hear them at all. The Emperor spoke and did not speak. The very idea of words seemed ridiculous, the concept of them a grievous harm against the equilibrium of time and being.
‘Roboute Guilliman.’ The raging tempest spoke his name, and it was as the violence a dying sun rains upon its worlds. ‘Guilliman. Guilliman. Guilliman.’
The name echoed down the wind of eternity, never ceasing, never reaching its intended point. The sensation of many minds reached out to Guilliman, violating his senses as they tried to commune, but then one mind seemed to come from the many, a raw, unbounded power, and gave wordless commands to go out and save what they built together. To destroy what they made. To save his brothers, to kill them. Contradictory impulses, all impossible to disobey, all the same, all different. Futures many and terrible raced through his mind, the results of all these things, should he do any, all or none of them.
‘Father!’ he cried.
Thoughts battered him. ‘A son.’
‘Not a son.’
‘A thing.’
‘A name.’
‘Not a name.’
‘A number. A tool. A product.’
A grand plan in ruins. An ambition unrealised. Information, too much information, coursed through Guilliman: stars and galaxies, entire universes, races older than time, things too terrifying to be real, eroding his being like a storm in full spate carves knife-edged gullies into badlands.
‘Please, father!’ he begged.
‘Father, not a father. Thing, thing, thing,’ the minds said.
‘Apotheosis.’
‘Victory.’
‘Defeat.’
‘Choose,’ it said.
‘Fate.’
‘Future.’
‘Past.’
‘Renewal. Despair. Decay.’
And then, there seemed to be focusing, as of a great will exerting itself, not for the final time, but nearly for the final time. A sense of strength failing. A sense of ending. Far away, he heard arcane machines whine and screech, close to collapse, and the clamour of screams of dying psykers that underpinned everything in that horrific room rising higher in pitch and intensity.
‘Guilliman.’ The voices overlaid, overlapped, became almost one, and Guilliman had a fleeting memory of a sad face that had seen too much, and a burden it could barely countenance. ‘Guilliman, hear me. ‘My last loyal son, my pride, my greatest triumph.’
How those words burned him, worse than the poisons of Mortarion, worse than the sting of failure. They were not a lie, not entirely. It was worse than that. They were conditional.
‘My last tool. My last hope.’ A final drawing in of power, a thought expelled like a dying breath. ‘Guilliman…’
It felt to Guilliman like his mind had exploded. There was a blinding flash, and the king and the corpse and the old man overlaid and overlapped, dead and alive, divine and mortal. All judged him.
Guilliman staggered from the throne room.

- Godblight
There is the fruit of his efforts, and what bitter fruit it is. That is what he journeyed across the galaxy, through fire and fury and hellspawned horror, to find. A psychic monstrosity bludgeoning him with raw power and the harsh truth of his reason for existing. An indifferent creator whom he had genuinely loved. And one that wouldn’t—couldn’t—guide him, because that hideous thing on the throne is so far past coherent human speech that concepts like titles and commands are a bad joke. He is alone. Alone in a galaxy of nightmares, without even the comfort of the lie of hope.
And worst of all, he still can’t show any of it. He can’t tell everyone that his hopes were shattered and his responsibility redoubled, and that he must carry it all on his shoulders with no help from his father. He can’t tell anyone anything.

Guilliman emerged grim-faced, his skin ashen. He gave orders that the lords and ladies of power be assembled, for he had news to give them, that he would assume the role of regent as his father commanded, and work towards the restoration of His Imperium. But he would not say what he had seen, nor what the Emperor had said. To those who dared asked him, he presented a stony silence.

- Avenging Son
The only thing he can do is keep pretending that all is well. Do not give in to doubt or fear, my sons. Keep calm and carry on, for I am the Imperial Regent and my father watches over us and everything is as it should be.

‘I can feel His love for humanity,’ said Mathieu. ‘I can feel it all around me!’ He hesitated in his rapture. ‘Tell me, oh lord regent, truthfully – does the Emperor love us, my lord? Do not say I am wrong!’
Mathieu’s question pushed Guilliman deeper into melancholy. More than anything, he yearned to speak with his foster father, Konor, one more time. He had been a noble soul, one who could be trusted. A true father.
‘My lord?’ said Mathieu
‘The Emperor loves us all,’ lied Roboute Guilliman

- Dark Imperium
As if that wasn’t enough of a burden, the only ones who know the truth taunt him about it.

‘I know with unshakeable certainty that I perform the duty I was created for. That I fight for the preservation of mankind.’
‘Then you do not fight for the Emperor?’ asked Mortarion, his voice an insinuating rattle.
‘I fight for what He believed in.’
‘An advocate’s quibbling. You fight for yourself.’
‘I remain a champion of humanity, whereas you are the lackey of evil.’
‘Am I?’ said Mortarion. His wings beat softly. ‘Then tell me, Roboute, if our father were so good, look me in the eye and tell me that He loved us all as any father should love his sons.’
Guilliman stared at him, his jaw clenched in anger.
Mortarion laughed. It began as a wheezing in his lungs, thick with phlegm, rattled up his dry throat, and clacked his teeth together behind his breathing mask before hissing out in puffs of yellow gas. ‘You know, don’t you, Roboute? You’ve seen it.’ He wagged one long, skeletal finger at his kin. ‘I knew something was different about you.’ He leaned close. ‘You spoke with Him on Terra. Tell me, what did He say? Did He plead to be released? Did He beg you to be set free from His Golden Throne?’
Guilliman said nothing.
‘Oh, my brother, it cannot be,’ Mortarion said in mock horror. ‘Did He say nothing? Is our father dead?’ He stood back and shook his cadaver’s head. ‘Of course He isn’t, is He? Not in any real sense. Beings like Him are beyond mortality.

- Plague War
I am no primarch, no transhuman demigod, but I still remember when I was nine and I had to take my five year-old brother to the park at night so he wouldn’t hear our parents shouting at each other again. How it felt to smile and tell him yes this was normal and of course everything was fine and wasn’t it great that we had the swings to ourselves? The sheer bloody unfairness of having to carry a burden that shouldn’t be yours, and smile through it, because someone even more vulnerable needs you to tell them that it will be all right. The lie sticks in your throat, and it burns.
That’s what the title of Imperial Regent means. That’s why Guilliman is so bitter. That’s why he renounced the Emperor as his father.

‘You saw, my lord. You saw your father’s light!’
‘He is not my father,’ Guilliman said. ‘He created me, but I assure you, priest, that He was no father. King Konor of Macragge was my father.’

- Plague War

The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West Germany and France reached an agreement on 29 May 1969 after the British withdrew from the project on 10 April 1969. European collaborative aerospace manufacturer Airbus Industrie was formally created on 18 December 1970 to develop and produce it. The prototype first flew on 28 October 1972.
The first twin-engine widebody airliner, the A300 typically seats 247 passengers in two classes over a range of 5,375 to 7,500 km (2,900 to 4,050 nmi). Initial variants are powered by General Electric CF6-50 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofans and have a three-crew flight deck. The improved A300-600 has a two-crew cockpit and updated CF6-80C2 or PW4000 engines; it made its first flight on 8 July 1983 and entered service later that year. The A300 is the basis of the smaller A310 (first flown in 1982) and was adapted in a freighter version. Its cross section was retained for the larger four-engined A340 (1991) and the larger twin-engined A330 (1992). It is also the basis for the oversize Beluga transport (1994).
Launch customer Air France introduced the type on 23 May 1974. After limited demand initially, sales took off as the type was proven in early service, beginning three decades of steady orders. It has a similar capacity to the Boeing 767-300, introduced in 1986, but lacked the 767-300ER range. During the 1990s, the A300 became popular with cargo aircraft operators, as both passenger airliner conversions and as original builds. Production ceased in July 2007 after 561 deliveries. As of March 2023, there were 228 A300 family aircraft in commercial service.
Origins:
During the 1960s, European aircraft manufacturers such as Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation, based in the UK, and Sud Aviation of France, had ambitions to build a new 200-seat airliner for the growing civil aviation market. While studies were performed and considered, such as a stretched twin-engine variant of the Hawker Siddeley Trident and an expanded development of the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) One-Eleven, designated the BAC Two-Eleven, it was recognized that if each of the European manufacturers were to launch similar aircraft into the market at the same time, neither would achieve sales volume needed to make them viable.[2] In 1965, a British government study, known as the Plowden Report, had found British aircraft production costs to be between 10% and 20% higher than American counterparts due to shorter production runs, which was in part due to the fractured European market. To overcome this factor, the report recommended the pursuit of multinational collaborative projects between the region's leading aircraft manufacturers.[3]: 49 [4][5]: 2–13
European manufacturers were keen to explore prospective programs; the proposed 260-seat wide-body HBN 100 between Hawker Siddeley, Nord Aviation, and Breguet Aviation being one such example.[2][6]: 37–38 National governments were also keen to support such efforts amid a belief that American manufacturers could dominate the European Economic Community;[7] in particular, Germany had ambitions for a multinational airliner project to invigorate its aircraft industry, which had declined considerably following the Second World War.[3]: 49–50 During the mid-1960s, both Air France and American Airlines had expressed interest in a short-haul twin-engine wide-body aircraft, indicating a market demand for such an aircraft to be produced.[3][8] In July 1967, during a high-profile meeting between French, German, and British ministers, an agreement was made for greater cooperation between European nations in the field of aviation technology, and "for the joint development and production of an airbus".[2][9]: 34 The word airbus at this point was a generic aviation term for a larger commercial aircraft, and was considered acceptable in multiple languages, including French.[9]: 34
Shortly after the July 1967 meeting, French engineer Roger Béteille was appointed as the technical director of what would become the A300 program, while Henri Ziegler, chief operating office of Sud Aviation, was appointed as the general manager of the organization and German politician Franz Josef Strauss became the chairman of the supervisory board.[2] Béteille drew up an initial work share plan for the project, under which French firms would produce the aircraft's cockpit, the control systems, and lower-center portion of the fuselage, Hawker Siddeley would manufacture the wings, while German companies would produce the forward, rear and upper part of the center fuselage sections. Addition work included moving elements of the wings being produced in the Netherlands, and Spain producing the horizontal tail plane.[2][6]: 38
An early design goal for the A300 that Béteille had stressed the importance of was the incorporation of a high level of technology, which would serve as a decisive advantage over prospective competitors. As such, the A300 would feature the first use of composite materials of any passenger aircraft, the leading and trailing edges of the tail fin being composed of glass fibre reinforced plastic.[5]: 2–16 [10] Béteille opted for English as the working language for the developing aircraft, as well against using Metric instrumentation and measurements, as most airlines already had US-built aircraft.[10] These decisions were partially influenced by feedback from various airlines, such as Air France and Lufthansa, as an emphasis had been placed on determining the specifics of what kind of aircraft that potential operators were seeking. According to Airbus, this cultural approach to market research had been crucial to the company's long-term success.[10]
Workshare and redefinition:
On 26 September 1967, the British, French, and West German governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding to start development of the 300-seat Airbus A300.[6]: 38 [11]: 43 [12]: 57 At this point, the A300 was only the second major joint aircraft programme in Europe, the first being the Anglo-French Concorde.[9] Under the terms of the memorandum, Britain and France were each to receive a 37.5 per cent work share on the project, while Germany received a 25 per cent share. Sud Aviation was recognized as the lead company for A300, with Hawker Siddeley being selected as the British partner company.[2] At the time, the news of the announcement had been clouded by the British Government's support for the Airbus, which coincided with its refusal to back BAC's proposed competitor, the BAC 2–11, despite a preference for the latter expressed by British European Airways (BEA).[9]: 34 Another parameter was the requirement for a new engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce to power the proposed airliner; a derivative of the in-development Rolls-Royce RB211, the triple-spool RB207, capable of producing of 47,500 lbf (211 kN).[13] The program cost was US$4.6 billion (in 1993 Dollars).[14]
​
In December 1968, the French and British partner companies (Sud Aviation and Hawker Siddeley) proposed a revised configuration, the 250-seat Airbus A250. It had been feared that the original 300-seat proposal was too large for the market, thus it had been scaled down to produce the A250.[5]: 2–14 [8][15] The dimensional changes involved in the shrink reduced the length of the fuselage by 5.62 metres (18.4 ft) and the diameter by 0.8 metres (31 in), reducing the overall weight by 25 tonnes (55,000 lb).[10][16]: 16 For increased flexibility, the cabin floor was raised so that standard LD3 freight containers could be accommodated side-by-side, allowing more cargo to be carried. Refinements made by Hawker Siddeley to the wing's design provided for greater lift and overall performance; this gave the aircraft the ability to climb faster and attain a level cruising altitude sooner than any other passenger aircraft.[10] It was later renamed the A300B.[9]: 34 [15]
Perhaps the most significant change of the A300B was that it would not require new engines to be developed, being of a suitable size to be powered by Rolls-Royce's RB211, or alternatively the American Pratt & Whitney JT9D and General Electric CF6 powerplants; this switch was recognized as considerably reducing the project's development costs.[11]: 45 [15][16]: 16–17 To attract potential customers in the US market, it was decided that General Electric CF6-50 engines would power the A300 in place of the British RB207; these engines would be produced in co-operation with French firm Snecma.[8][10] By this time, Rolls-Royce had been concentrating their efforts upon developing their RB211 turbofan engine instead and progress on the RB207's development had been slow for some time, the firm having suffered due to funding limitations, both of which had been factors in the engine switch decision.[5]: 2–13 [15][16]: 17–18
On 10 April 1969, a few months after the decision to drop the RB207 had been announced, the British government announced that they would withdraw from the Airbus venture.[6]: 38–39 [15] In response, West Germany proposed to France that they would be willing to contribute up to 50% of the project's costs if France was prepared to do the same.[15] Additionally, the managing director of Hawker Siddeley, Sir Arnold Alexander Hall, decided that his company would remain in the project as a favoured sub-contractor, developing and manufacturing the wings for the A300, which would later become pivotal in later versions' impressive performance from short domestic to long intercontinental flights.[5]: 2–13 [9]: 34 [16]: 18 Hawker Siddeley spent £35 million of its own funds, along with a further £35 million loan from the West German government, on the machine tooling to design and produce the wings.[6]: 39 [15]
Programme launch:
On 29 May 1969, during the Paris Air Show, French transport minister Jean Chamant and German economics minister Karl Schiller signed an agreement officially launching the Airbus A300, the world's first twin-engine widebody airliner.[2] The intention of the project was to produce an aircraft that was smaller, lighter, and more economical than its three-engine American rivals, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar.[10] In order to meet Air France's demands for an aircraft larger than 250-seat A300B, it was decided to stretch the fuselage to create a new variant, designated as the A300B2, which would be offered alongside the original 250-seat A300B, henceforth referred to as the A300B1. On 3 September 1970, Air France signed a letter of intent for six A300s, marking the first order to be won for the new airliner.[6]: 39 [10][16]: 21
In the aftermath of the Paris Air Show agreement, it was decided that, in order to provide effective management of responsibilities, a Groupement d'intérêt économique would be established, allowing the various partners to work together on the project while remaining separate business entities.[2] On 18 December 1970, Airbus Industrie was formally established following an agreement between Aérospatiale (the newly merged Sud Aviation and Nord Aviation) of France and the antecedents to Deutsche Aerospace of Germany, each receiving a 50 per cent stake in the newly formed company.[3]: 50 [6]: 39 [10] In 1971, the consortium was joined by a third full partner, the Spanish firm CASA, who received a 4.2 per cent stake, the other two members reducing their stakes to 47.9 per cent each.[10][16]: 20 In 1979, Britain joined the Airbus consortium via British Aerospace, which Hawker Siddeley had merged into, which acquired a 20 per cent stake in Airbus Industrie with France and Germany each reducing their stakes to 37.9 per cent.[3]: 53 [5]: 2–14 [6]: 39
Prototype and flight testing:
Airbus Industrie was initially headquartered in Paris, which is where design, development, flight testing, sales, marketing, and customer support activities were centered; the headquarters was relocated to Toulouse in January 1974.[8][10] The final assembly line for the A300 was located adjacent to Toulouse Blagnac International Airport. The manufacturing process necessitated transporting each aircraft section being produced by the partner companies scattered across Europe to this one location. The combined use of ferries and roads were used for the assembly of the first A300, however this was time-consuming and not viewed as ideal by Felix Kracht, Airbus Industrie's production director.[10] Kracht's solution was to have the various A300 sections brought to Toulouse by a fleet of Boeing 377-derived Aero Spacelines Super Guppy aircraft, by which means none of the manufacturing sites were more than two hours away. Having the sections airlifted in this manner made the A300 the first airliner to use just-in-time manufacturing techniques, and allowed each company to manufacture its sections as fully equipped, ready-to-fly assemblies.[3]: 53 [10]
In September 1969, construction of the first prototype A300 began.[16]: 20 On 28 September 1972, this first prototype was unveiled to the public, it conducted its maiden flight from Toulouse–Blagnac International Airport on 28 October that year.[6]: 39 [9]: 34 [11]: 51–52 This maiden flight, which was performed a month ahead of schedule, lasted for one hour and 25 minutes; the captain was Max Fischl and the first officer was Bernard Ziegler, son of Henri Ziegler.[10] In 1972, unit cost was US$17.5M.[17] On 5 February 1973, the second prototype performed its maiden flight.[6]: 39 The flight test program, which involved a total of four aircraft, was relatively problem-free, accumulating 1,580 flight hours throughout.[16]: 22 In September 1973, as part of promotional efforts for the A300, the new aircraft was taken on a six-week tour around North America and South America, to demonstrate it to airline executives, pilots, and would-be customers.[10] Amongst the consequences of this expedition, it had allegedly brought the A300 to the attention of Frank Borman of Eastern Airlines, one of the "big four" U.S. airlines.[18]
Entry into service:
On 15 March 1974, type certificates were granted for the A300 from both German and French authorities, clearing the way for its entry into revenue service.[18] On 23 May 1974, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification was received.[16]: 22 The first production model, the A300B2, entered service in 1974, followed by the A300B4 one year later.[8] Initially, the success of the consortium was poor, in part due to the economic consequences of the 1973 oil crisis,[6]: 40 [8][9]: 34 but by 1979 there were 81 A300 passenger liners in service with 14 airlines, alongside 133 firm orders and 88 options.[18] Ten years after the official launch of the A300, the company had achieved a 26 per cent market share in terms of dollar value, enabling Airbus Industries to proceed with the development of its second aircraft, the Airbus A310.[18]
Design:
The Airbus A300 is a wide-body medium-to-long range airliner; it has the distinction of being the first twin-engine wide-body aircraft in the world.[8][9]: 34 [12]: 57, 60 [19] In 1977, the A300 became the first Extended Range Twin Operations (ETOPS)-compliant aircraft, due to its high performance and safety standards.[6]: 40 Another world-first of the A300 is the use of composite materials on a commercial aircraft, which were used on both secondary and later primary airframe structures, decreasing overall weight and improving cost-effectiveness.[19] Other firsts included the pioneering use of center-of-gravity control, achieved by transferring fuel between various locations across the aircraft, and electrically signaled secondary flight controls.[20]
The A300 is powered by a pair of underwing turbofan engines, either General Electric CF6 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines; the sole use of underwing engine pods allowed for any suitable turbofan engine to be more readily used.[12]: 57 The lack of a third tail-mounted engine, as per the trijet configuration used by some competing airliners, allowed for the wings to be located further forwards and to reduce the size of the vertical stabilizer and elevator, which had the effect of increasing the aircraft's flight performance and fuel efficiency.[3]: 50 [16]: 21
Airbus partners had employed the latest technology, some of which having been derived from Concorde, on the A300. According to Airbus, new technologies adopted for the airliner were selected principally for increased safety, operational capability, and profitability.[19] Upon entry into service in 1974, the A300 was a very advanced plane, which went on to influence later airliner designs. The technological highlights include advanced wings by de Havilland (later BAE Systems) with supercritical airfoil sections for economical performance and advanced aerodynamically efficient flight control surfaces. The 5.64 m (222 in) diameter circular fuselage section allows an eight-abreast passenger seating and is wide enough for 2 LD3 cargo containers side by side. Structures are made from metal billets, reducing weight. It is the first airliner to be fitted with wind shear protection. Its advanced autopilots are capable of flying the aircraft from climb-out to landing, and it has an electrically controlled braking system.
Later A300s incorporated other advanced features such as the Forward-Facing Crew Cockpit (FFCC), which enabled a two-pilot flight crew to fly the aircraft alone without the need for a flight engineer, the functions of which were automated; this two-man cockpit concept was a world-first for a wide-body aircraft.[8][16]: 23–24 [20] Glass cockpit flight instrumentation, which used cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to display flight, navigation, and warning information, along with fully digital dual autopilots and digital flight control computers for controlling the spoilers, flaps, and leading-edge slats, were also adopted upon later-built models.[19][21] Additional composites were also made use of, such as carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), as well as their presence in an increasing proportion of the aircraft's components, including the spoilers, rudder, air brakes, and landing gear doors.[22] Another feature of later aircraft was the addition of wingtip fences, which improved aerodynamic performance and thus reduced cruise fuel consumption by about 1.5% for the A300-600.[23]
In addition to passenger duties, the A300 became widely used by air freight operators; according to Airbus, it is the best selling freight aircraft of all time.[20] Various variants of the A300 were built to meet customer demands, often for diverse roles such as aerial refueling tankers, freighter models (new-build and conversions), combi aircraft, military airlifter, and VIP transport. Perhaps the most visually unique of the variants is the A300-600ST Beluga, an oversize cargo-carrying model operated by Airbus to carry aircraft sections between their manufacturing facilities.[20] The A300 was the basis for, and retained a high level of commonality with, the second airliner produced by Airbus, the smaller Airbus A310.[19]
Operational history:
On 23 May 1974, the first A300 to enter service performed the first commercial flight of the type, flying from Paris to London, for Air France.[6]: 39 [18]
Immediately after the launch, sales of the A300 were weak for some years, with most orders going to airlines that had an obligation to favor the domestically made product – notably Air France and Lufthansa, the first two airlines to place orders for the type.[3]: 50–52 [18] Following the appointment of Bernard Lathière as Henri Ziegler's replacement, an aggressive sales approach was adopted. Indian Airlines was the world's first domestic airline to purchase the A300, ordering three aircraft with three options. However, between December 1975 and May 1977, there were no sales for the type. During this period a number of "whitetail" A300s – completed but unsold aircraft – were completed and stored at Toulouse, and production fell to half an aircraft per month amid calls to pause production completely.[18]
During the flight testing of the A300B2, Airbus held a series of talks with Korean Air on the topic of developing a longer-range version of the A300, which would become the A300B4. In September 1974, Korean Air placed an order for four A300B4s with options for two further aircraft; this sale was viewed as significant as it was the first non-European international airline to order Airbus aircraft. Airbus had viewed South-East Asia as a vital market that was ready to be opened up and believed Korean Air to be the 'key'.[8][16]: 23 [18]
Airlines operating the A300 on short haul routes were forced to reduce frequencies to try and fill the aircraft. As a result, they lost passengers to airlines operating more frequent narrow body flights. Eventually, Airbus had to build its own narrowbody aircraft (the A320) to compete with the Boeing 737 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80. The savior of the A300 was the advent of ETOPS, a revised FAA rule which allows twin-engine jets to fly long-distance routes that were previously off-limits to them. This enabled Airbus to develop the aircraft as a medium/long range airliner.
In 1977, US carrier Eastern Air Lines leased four A300s as an in-service trial.[18] CEO Frank Borman was impressed that the A300 consumed 30% less fuel, even less than expected, than his fleet of L-1011s. Borman proceeded to order 23 A300s, becoming the first U.S. customer for the type. This order is often cited as the point at which Airbus came to be seen as a serious competitor to the large American aircraft-manufacturers Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.[6]: 40 [8][18] Aviation author John Bowen alleged that various concessions, such as loan guarantees from European governments and compensation payments, were a factor in the decision as well.[3]: 52 The Eastern Air Lines breakthrough was shortly followed by an order from Pan Am. From then on, the A300 family sold well, eventually reaching a total of 561 delivered aircraft.[1]
In December 1977, Aerocondor Colombia became the first Airbus operator in Latin America, leasing one Airbus A300B4-2C, named Ciudad de Barranquilla.
During the late 1970s, Airbus adopted a so-called 'Silk Road' strategy, targeting airlines in the Far East.[3]: 52 [18] As a result, The aircraft found particular favor with Asian airlines, being bought by Japan Air System, Korean Air, China Eastern Airlines, Thai Airways International, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, China Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, Indian Airlines, Trans Australia Airlines and many others. As Asia did not have restrictions similar to the FAA 60-minutes rule for twin-engine airliners which existed at the time, Asian airlines used A300s for routes across the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea.
In 1977, the A300B4 became the first ETOPS compliant aircraft,[24] qualifying for Extended Twin Engine Operations over water, providing operators with more versatility in routing. In 1982 Garuda Indonesia became the first airline to fly the A300B4-200FFCC.[25] By 1981, Airbus was growing rapidly, with over 400 aircraft sold to over forty airlines.[26]
In 1989, Chinese operator China Eastern Airlines received its first A300; by 2006, the airline operated around 18 A300s, making it the largest operator of both the A300 and the A310 at that time. On 31 May 2014, China Eastern officially retired the last A300-600 in its fleet, having begun drawing down the type in 2010.[27]
From 1997 to 2014, a single A300, designated A300 Zero-G, was operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as a reduced-gravity aircraft for conducting research into microgravity; the A300 is the largest aircraft to ever have been used in this capacity. A typical flight would last for two and a half hours, enabling up to 30 parabolas to be performed per flight.[28][29]
By the 1990s, the A300 was being heavily promoted as a cargo freighter.[16]: 24 The largest freight operator of the A300 is FedEx Express, which has 65 A300 aircraft in service as of May 2022.[30] UPS Airlines also operates 52 freighter versions of the A300.[31]
The final version was the A300-600R and is rated for 180-minute ETOPS. The A300 has enjoyed renewed interest in the secondhand market for conversion to freighters; large numbers were being converted during the late 1990s.[16]: 24–25 The freighter versions – either new-build A300-600s or converted ex-passenger A300-600s, A300B2s and B4s – account for most of the world's freighter fleet after the Boeing 747 freighter.[32]
The A300 provided Airbus the experience of manufacturing and selling airliners competitively. The basic fuselage of the A300 was later stretched (A330 and A340), shortened (A310), or modified into derivatives (A300-600ST Beluga Super Transporter). In 2006, unit cost of an −600F was $105 million.[14] In March 2006, Airbus announced the impending closure of the A300/A310 final assembly line,[33] making them the first Airbus aircraft to be discontinued. The final production A300, an A300F freighter, performed its initial flight on 18 April 2007,[34] and was delivered to FedEx Express on 12 July 2007.[35] Airbus has announced a support package to keep A300s flying commercially. Airbus offers the A330-200F freighter as a replacement for the A300 cargo variants.[36]
The life of UPS's fleet of 52 A300s, delivered from 2000 to 2006, will be extended to 2035 by a flight deck upgrade based around Honeywell Primus Epic avionics; new displays and flight management system (FMS), improved weather radar, a central maintenance system, and a new version of the current enhanced ground proximity warning system. With a light usage of only two to three cycles per day, it will not reach the maximum number of cycles by then. The first modification will be made at Airbus Toulouse in 2019 and certified in 2020.[37] As of July 2017, there are 211 A300s in service with 22 operators, with the largest operator being FedEx Express with 68 A300-600F aircraft.[38]
Variants:
A300B1 - The A300B1 was the first variant to take flight. It had a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 132 t (291,000 lb), was 51 m (167 ft) long and was powered by two General Electric CF6-50A engines.[16]: 21 [39]: 41 Only two prototypes of the variant were built before it was adapted into the A300B2, the first production variant of the airliner.[6]: 39 The second prototype was leased to Trans European Airways in 1974.[39]: 54
A300B2 -
A300B2-100:
Responding to a need for more seats from Air France, Airbus decided that the first production variant should be larger than the original prototype A300B1. The CF6-50A powered A300B2-100 was 2.6 m (8.5 ft) longer than the A300B1 and had an increased MTOW of 137 t (302,000 lb), allowing for 30 additional seats and bringing the typical passenger count up to 281, with capacity for 20 LD3 containers.[40]: 10 [41][39]: 17 Two prototypes were built and the variant made its maiden flight on 28 June 1973, became certified on 15 March 1974 and entered service with Air France on 23 May 1974.[39]: 27, 53 [40]: 10
A300B2-200:
For the A300B2-200, originally designated as the A300B2K, Krueger flaps were introduced at the leading-edge root, the slat angles were reduced from 20 degrees to 16 degrees, and other lift related changes were made in order to introduce a high-lift system. This was done to improve performance when operating at high-altitude airports, where the air is less dense and lift generation is reduced.[42]: 52, 53 [43] The variant had an increased MTOW of 142 t (313,000 lb) and was powered by CF6-50C engines, was certified on 23 June 1976, and entered service with South African Airways in November 1976.[39]: 40 [40]: 12 CF6-50C1 and CF6-50C2 models were also later fitted depending on customer requirements, these became certified on 22 February 1978 and 21 February 1980 respectively.[39]: 41 [40]: 12
A300B2-320:
The A300B2-320 introduced the Pratt & Whitney JT9D powerplant and was powered by JT9D-59A engines. It retained the 142 t (313,000 lb) MTOW of the B2-200, was certified on 4 January 1980, and entered service with Scandinavian Airlines on 18 February 1980, with only four being produced.[39]: 99, 112 [40]: 14
A300B4 -
A300B4-100:
The initial A300B4 variant, later named the A300B4-100, included a centre fuel tank for an increased fuel capacity of 47.5 tonnes (105,000 lb), and had an increased MTOW of 157.5 tonnes (347,000 lb).[44][42]: 38 It also featured Krueger flaps and had a similar high-lift system to what was later fitted to the A300B2-200.[42]: 74 The variant made its maiden flight on 26 December 1974, was certified on 26 March 1975, and entered service with Germanair in May 1975.[39]: 32, 54 [40]: 16
A300B4-200:
The A300B4-200 had an increased MTOW of 165 tonnes (364,000 lb) and featured an additional optional fuel tank in the rear cargo hold, which would reduce the cargo capacity by two LD3 containers.[40]: 19 [42]: 69 The variant was certified on 26 April 1979.[40]: 19
A300-600 - The A300-600, officially designated as the A300B4-600, was slightly longer than the A300B2 and A300B4 variants and had an increased interior space from using a similar rear fuselage to the Airbus A310, this allowed it to have two additional rows of seats.[42]: 79 It was initially powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4H1 engines, but was later fitted with General Electric CF6-80C2 engines, with Pratt & Whitney PW4156 or PW4158 engines being introduced in 1986.[42]: 82 Other changes include an improved wing featuring a recambered trailing edge, the incorporation of simpler single-slotted Fowler flaps, the deletion of slat fences, and the removal of the outboard ailerons after they were deemed unnecessary on the A310.[45] The variant made its first flight on 8 July 1983, was certified on 9 March 1984, and entered service in June 1984 with Saudi Arabian Airlines.[40]: 42 [39]: 58 A total of 313 A300-600s (all versions) have been sold. The A300-600 uses the A310 cockpits, featuring digital technology and electronic displays, eliminating the need for a flight engineer. The FAA issues a single type rating which allows operation of both the A310 and A300-600. A300-600: (Official designation: A300B4-600) The baseline model of the −600 series. A300-620C: (Official designation: A300C4-620) A convertible-freighter version. Four delivered between 1984 and 1985. A300-600F: (Official designation: A300F4-600) The freighter version of the baseline −600. A300-600R: (Official designation: A300B4-600R) The increased-range −600, achieved by an additional trim fuel tank in the tail. First delivery in 1988 to American Airlines; all A300s built since 1989 (freighters included) are −600Rs. Japan Air System (later merged into Japan Airlines) took delivery of the last new-built passenger A300, an A300-622R, in November 2002. A300-600RC: (Official designation: A300C4-600R) The convertible-freighter version of the −600R. Two were delivered in 1999. A300-600RF: (Official designation: A300F4-600R) The freighter version of the −600R. All A300s delivered between November 2002 and 12 July 2007 (last ever A300 delivery) were A300-600RFs.
A310 (A300B10)-
Airbus had demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300. On 7 July 1978, the A310 (initially the A300B10) was launched with orders from Swissair and Lufthansa. On 3 April 1982, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight and it received its type certification on 11 March 1983.
Keeping the same eight-abreast cross-section, the A310 is 6.95 m (22.8 ft) shorter than the initial A300 variants, and has a smaller 219 m2 (2,360 sq ft) wing, down from 260 m2 (2,800 sq ft). The A310 introduced a two-crew glass cockpit, later adopted for the A300-600 with a common type rating. It was powered by the same GE CF6-80 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D then PW4000 turbofans. It can seat 220 passengers in two classes, or 240 in all-economy, and can fly up to 5,150 nmi (9,540 km). It has overwing exits between the two main front and rear door pairs.
In April 1983, the aircraft entered revenue service with Swissair and competed with the Boeing 767–200, introduced six months before. Its longer range and ETOPS regulations allowed it to be operated on transatlantic flights. Until the last delivery in June 1998, 255 aircraft were produced, as it was succeeded by the larger Airbus A330-200. It has cargo aircraft versions, and was derived into the Airbus A310 MRTT military tanketransport.
Airbus A300-ST (Beluga)
Commonly referred to as the Airbus Beluga or "Airbus Super Transporter," these five airframes are used by Airbus to ferry parts between the company's disparate manufacturing facilities, thus enabling workshare distribution. They replaced the four Aero Spacelines Super Guppys previously used by Airbus.
ICAO code: A3ST
Operators:
As of March 2023, there were 228 A300 family aircraft in commercial service. The five largest operators were FedEx Express (70), UPS Airlines (52), European Air Transport Leipzig (23), Iran Air (11), and Mahan Air (11).[46]

Violence continues in Sudan, the cryosphere breaks down, recessions, harvest failures, heat waves, droughts, and floods. Mother Earth has got a terminal case of humans.
Last Week in Collapse: May 28-June 3, 2023
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter bringing together some of the most important, timely, useful, sad, ironic, amazing, or otherwise must-see moments in Collapse. Try not to overdose on this week’s Doom dose.
This is the 75th newsletter. You can find the May 21-27 edition (which I accidentally labeled the 73rd edition) here if you missed it last week. These newsletters are also on Substack if you want them sent to your email inbox every Sunday.
——————————
The World Meteorological Congress concluded on Friday, and it released a bunch of reports. The focus this year was on developing early warning systems for wateclimate/weather disasters. Most countries report declining ability to monitor hydrological developments, and almost half of the world’s people lack reliable access to water for at least one month per year, a figure that is expected to grow considerably by 2050.
The WMO also reported on the state of emergency for the cryosphere, those places where ice is formed (and melts). Greenland’s ice has shrunk for 26 consecutive years. Permafrost threatens to release huge quantities of greenhouse gasses over the coming years. Sea levels continue to rise…but you know this already.
Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, has come up with a plan to extend their almost-exhausted water supply: they’re adding salt to the tap water, against WHO recommendations. This causes people to drink less water—but what are the implications for health, and for small-scale agriculture?
Over 20 million tonnes of what was damaged in China by recent rain, not long before it was scheduled to be harvested. Analysts say this will raise grain prices worldwide. The scale of this blight is larger than recent blights. In the U.S. state of Georgia, 90% of the peach harvest was destroyed by abnormally warm weather; in Vermont, a freak cold snap damaged crops, potentially 30% of apples.
6 years. 800 million trees felled in the Amazon rainforest, all to create space for cattle farms. The loss of rainforest is equivalent roughly to two Corsica islands.
Environmental scientists have discovered a hopeful tool to lower CO2: Greenland’s “rock flour,” which is basically rock dust. A recent study claims that it can be scattered on fields to absorb CO2—and also boost wheat and potato yields. International lawyers are also working on the first global plastics pollution treaty that could be passed later next year.
Yet another study claims that Mother Earth is sick, and that most of our safety thresholds have been crossed. The feedback loops have been activated, the diagnosis is terminal. The Nature study lists the 8 Earth System Boundaries: 1) Climate, 2) Functional Integrity, 3) Natural Ecosystem Area, 4) Surface Water, 5) Groundwater, 6) Nitrogen, 7) Phosphorus, and 8) Subglobal Aerosols. (Not to be confused with the 9 Planetary Boundaries.)
Some insurers in California are cutting homeowner insurance because they can’t make a buck betting against wildfires and desertification. Similar risk is expanding in Texas. Summer is coming. A mysterious wildfire in Scotland is growing out of control, and threatens to become the UK’s largest ever.
Record May rainfall in Bermuda. Part of South Africa also saw record rains in May. Strong rains in southern Spain—but the parched soil can’t absorb much of it. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia area had its driest May in recorded history.
Vicious drought and Afghan dams have raised tensions between iran and Afghanistan, where fighting killed a handful of people two weeks ago. In times of scarcity, no group can have enough water; even less if they’re forced to share. Most of the world’s lakes are drying up.
An official in India ordered the draining of two million liters of water from a reservoir……so he could retrieve his phone, which he dropped in the water while taking a selfie. He was suspended. The phone was recovered—but too damaged to function. The water could have irrigated 6 km² of land.
Wildfires grow in Nova Scotia. Millions going hungry in Madagascar. Record temperatures in Japan. Normalized heat waves across Asia with new records in Central Asia & the Caucasus.
Scientists warn of potential tsunamis caused by underwater landslides in Antarctica. New cold records in Australia. Heat waves in North Africa. Increasing reliance on expensive desalination plants in Barcelona as drought and water supplies worsen.
——————————
Türkiye’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, won reelection, and economists believe it portends the further Collapse of the economy. Investment is pulling out, and the lira is expected to continue sinking. “We will be together until the grave,” said Erdoğan at his victory speech.
The UN operation to drain the *FSO Safer* has begun now that technicians have boarded the vessel. 1.1 million barrels of oil aboard the derelict tanker, stranded off the coast of Yemen, will begin being drained next month.
Petrol prices rise in Benin as Nigeria cuts its fuel subsidies; Iran is limiting fuel purchases too. China’s declining birth rate, growing debt, and ongoing international decoupling is threatening its economy. Eurozone inflation continues. Trade-GDP ratios approaching 2008 levels worryingly.
Budapest is facing bankruptcy. Refugees in Tanzania are seeing their rations cut in half as financing falls off. Vicious conditions inside refugee camps in Chad take advantage of Sudanese refugees. Debts grow in Brazil. Complicated problems continue destabilizing the world’s economic equilibrium.
Another Russian missile attack struck Kyiv last week, after allegedly pro-Ukraine Russian volunteer soldiers made an incursion into Russian territory. Wagner Group’s chief continues provoking Russian leadership as infighting appears to grow, following a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow. Zelensky says Ukraine’s counteroffensive is now ready.
Myanmar’s Civil War has entered its third year, depending on when you claim it began. In the desperation and chaos of prolonged warfare, it is the environment that pays the price. Wood, gold, jade, and other resources are being exploited by government and private actors after the old economic system broke apart.
——————————
62% of Americans agree that the COVID pandemic is over (it’s not), an increase of 14% since February 2023. 56% of Americans admit that they never mask up in public anymore. An updated booster is coming in September to address the XBB.1.16 variant. Masks may go away, but (Long) COVID will stay with us.
The WHO’s treaty to manage future pandemics is being watered down, leaving humanity less prepared for the next pandemic. Although China denies the lab leak origin story, a prominent Chinese scientist claims it is possible. COVID is never going away, and neither is Long COVID.
Cholera is spreading in several refugee camps in Kenya; medical attention comes too small and too late to prevent the spread. In Sudan, where over a million people have been displaced by recent violence, old inequities linger. Over 13M children are in desperate need of humanitarian aid (about half of Sudan’s 46M population are below 18). Their situation has never been more critical.
Experts continue warning about the dangers of AI, and push for regulation, while other actors push to use AI for economic benefits. I am uncertain which field AI will disrupt the most: military, low-skill workers, societal psyche, institutional integrity, creative jobs, politics, financial markets…? What will be the second-order effects, tertiary, etc.?
Tanzania has called an end to its Marburg virus outbreak, about 10 weeks after it declared an emergency. The UK is advising at-risk people to get vaccinated for mpox/monkeypox before their vaccine program ends in August; 10 new cases in the UK were recently reported.
PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” used across many household objects, are dangerous to your health. You also probably could have guessed that manufacturers knew—and lied about—their safety for decades. A study tracked the use of PFAS (since 1940’s) and the knowledge that they were harmful (since 1990’s). Companies including DuPont settled a case for a little over $1 billion USD for their role in the scheme. The billionaire Sackler family also settled a gigantic case regarding opioids, in which they must pay about $6 billion USD, and forfeit control of the pharmaceutical company they’ve held since 1952. The company (formerly Purdue Pharma) is rebranding (as Knoa). Nobody is going to jail.
——————————
A catastrophic train crash in India killed 280+ people. The crash involved 3 trains, and is India’s deadliest in this century.
Riots in Kosovo. Torture in suspected gangster prisons in El Salvador, with 153 prisoners killed since March. Ongoing protests in Israel over the proposed judicial reform.
Lebanon has been without a President for more than 7 months now—and now target dats have been missed to hold important municipal council elections. Town budgets are falling further into chaos, police are going unpaid, garbage is piling up, and would-be foreign investors and money-lenders are losing the scraps of hope they had for Lebanon’s crippled economy. No one is coming to save them.
Cartel violence is rising on the border of Mexico-Guatemala. Organized non-state armed groups conscript local guys, intimidate people into leaving, blockade towns, and shoot each other in the streets. Several thousand people have been displaced—and others disappeared. Far away, Syria is being welcomed back into the Arab fold—on the condition that it cracks down on the intractable drug epidemic of captagon.
One of Libya’s rival PMs was ousted a couple weeks ago, and now the other PM in the east is striking towns in western Libya with drones, allegedly targeting fuel/human smugglers.
Boko Haram jihadists are infighting in northern Nigeria, but the civilians are paying the price. Guerrilla territorial competition may also bring in more people into regional hostilities. In eastern DRC, violence has displaced over 80,000 people so far this year, and their regional hospitals are overcrowded.
Rumors are emerging that M23 will attack Goma, the sprawling epicenter of East Africa’s refugee situation, where human rights abuses are increasingly common and the local ceasefire is breaking down. Islamic radicals also operate in the region, targeting civilians. About 6 million people across the DRC are believed to be internally displaced, and about half a million around Goma (population: unknown, perhaps 750,000 or twice that). There are also reports of planes sighted which belong to the European mercenary company Agemira.
The Sudanese Civil War is spiraling out of control again, as skirmishes broke the incomplete ceasefire. The Central Statistics Bureau was attacked, hampering official data for various purposes. Over 1,000 people have died so far, crossing an unofficial threshold for an armed conflict to officially become a War. About 2M have fled the fighting. Rockets killed 18 and injured many more at a market in Khartoum, sanctions are being imposed by a few nations, and other countries are wading deeper into the War, complicating the situation and preventing clean avenues to another ceasefire.
——————————
Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-There is rain in Romania, based on this observation. But there’s also corruption, growing labor strikes, inflation, and political difficulties.
-Greenland’s climate is out of whack—and apparently the people don’t seem to care that much, judging from this rare observation from West Greenland.
-Portland, Oregon is still a cross-section of modern America’s Collapse, if this observation can be trusted. Heat, insecurity, overcrowding, loneliness, and crows… Reddit has also been affected by psychological decay, according to the poster.
-People are abandoning climate hope, if you believe this gilded thread and its many gilded comments. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
Have any feedback, questions, comments, resources, recommendations, free PDFs, manifestos, etc.? Consider joining the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Sunday, you can get this newsletter sent to your email inbox every weekend. I always forget something... What did I miss this week?