The All New 2024 Random Image Thread. Mariah has been locked away for another 11 months.

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This map illustrates some of the locations of British concentration camps established across South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). Originally intended as a means to control Boer guerrilla fighters, the camps became sites of immense suffering. Over 100,000 Boer civilians - mostly women and children - along with thousands of Black South Africans were interned under harsh conditions. Poor sanitation, malnutrition, and disease led to the deaths of more than 26,000 Boers and at least 14,000 Black South Africans. The camps remain one of the darkest legacies of British colonial warfare in southern Africa.
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Ah yes, those plucky brits, the cheeky chaps :p
 
The Crash of Pelican 16
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On July 13, 1994, a South African Air Force Avro Shackleton MR.3, tail number 1716 and known as “Pelican 16,” crash landed in the Sahara Desert during a long range flight to the UK. The aircraft had been restored to flying condition earlier that year and was en route to participate in the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, England.
The flight route from Cape Town to Duxford included planned stops in Gabon, Ivory Coast, and Portugal. The crew, made up of active duty SAAF pilots, encountered serious engine trouble over the desert shortly after departing Abidjan.
The first issue came from engine #4, which showed signs of overheating. It was shut down as a precaution, and power was redistributed to the remaining engines. Soon after, engine #3 began emitting sparks and caught fire. The crew extinguished the flames using the onboard fire suppression system, but the propellers on #3 did not feather properly and continued windmilling at about 150 RPM.
In an attempt to maintain altitude, the crew restarted engine #4. However, the engine overheated again within minutes, showing signs of a white-hot magnesium glow in the exhaust, and was shut down for a second time. This time, its propellers also failed to feather and spun at about 650 RPM.
With two windmilling propellers on the same wing, the aircraft suffered from severe asymmetric drag and began to lose altitude rapidly. The crew had no choice but to prepare for a crash landing. The aircraft touched down on a rocky outcrop about 14 km from the border of Western Sahara and Mauritania, eventually skidding 243 meters across sand and rock before coming to a stop.
Miraculously, all 19 crew members survived the crash without serious injuries. They were stranded in the middle of a desert and an active conflict zone. To signal for help, the crew arranged spare orange flight suits and single-man dinghies into the message “19 OK” on the sand. A French Navy Atlantique II patrol aircraft, based in Dakar, located them after being dispatched at 04h00 GMT. The crew was rescued and returned to South Africa.
Investigations into the incident pointed to a likely failure in the Translation Unit (TU) of engine #3. This unit manages the operation of the contra-rotating propellers and is located between them. Upon inspection, the TU appeared to have failed due to internal mechanical stress after the shutdown of engine #4, though the exact cause remains uncertain.
Pelican 16 remains in the desert where it crash landed. Due to its remote location and the political instability of the area, it has never been recovered. The aircraft is now exposed to the elements and slowly deteriorating.
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