Jeff Hecox

Classic Cars, Motorcycles,bicycles, history and adventure. An American looking at Canada out the kitchen window.

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@nickfshort If you are near McMinnville OR and have some spare time, don't hesitate to visit the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@MilitaryPigeons @kejamieson_ Some French pigeons. This is in a copy of The Illustrated London News from October 1915 that I have.

[Prof. Frank McDonough @FXMC1957]

BBC Radio newsreader John Snagge gives the first news of the D-Day landing at 9:32 AM to the British public.

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

The research ship USAV Worthy is rounding the Dungeness Spit in Washington this evening on its way from Honolulu. @WarshipCam

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@vcdgf555 We should start lighting a candle for each refinery.

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@kejamieson_ The best part of a little spring shower is washing all of the pollen out of the air for an afternoon.

[Tara Dublin aka Winona Spyder™️ @taradublinrocks]

This is GLORIOUS

David Letterman & Stephen Colbert on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theatre bringing back the classic @Letterman routine one last time

This is how you go out, @StephenAtHome! 😂

And may @CBS implode literally the same way without you

[Paul Rees. ex Rucksack. @HannahIamthest1]

A heartwarming story to end this evening.

In 1948, a young British sailor named George Hickinbottom discovered a starving black-and-white kitten wandering the docks of Hong Kong and secretly brought him aboard the HMS Amethyst. The crew named the cat Simon, and he quickly became beloved throughout the ship. More than just a mascot, Simon proved useful by hunting rats that threatened the ship’s food supplies and equipment.

He charmed both sailors and officers alike, especially the captain, often sleeping in his cabin and bringing comfort and companionship to the crew during long days at sea.

Everything changed in April 1949 when the HMS Amethyst came under heavy attack while traveling along China’s Yangtze River during the Chinese Civil War. The ship was severely damaged, dozens of sailors were killed or wounded, and Simon himself was badly injured by shrapnel and burns. Despite his wounds, Simon survived and soon returned to roaming the ship, visiting injured sailors in the sick bay and continuing to hunt rats while the crew remained trapped for more than 100 days under constant fear and dwindling supplies. His determination and resilience became a powerful source of hope and morale for the exhausted crew.

When the HMS Amethyst finally escaped and returned home, Simon was celebrated across Britain as a national hero. He received the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, becoming the only cat ever awarded the honor, and was officially promoted to Able Seaman Simon. However, the injuries he suffered during the attack left him weakened, and he died only weeks later in quarantine before reuniting fully with the crew. The sailors mourned him deeply and buried him with full naval honors, remembering him not simply as a ship’s cat, but as a brave companion who shared their suffering and courage during one of the darkest moments of their lives.

Have you seen the film?

[Nicholas Drummond @nicholadrummond]

Banksy’s new sculpture in Waterloo Place features a man seemingly blinded by his beliefs. Perhaps this is a perfect metaphor for us today.

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

My all time favorite Formula One car

[RM Sotheby's @rmsothebys]

Driven by greatness. Preserved for the next.

Driven in period by Carlos Reutemann and later raced by Gilles Villeneuve, this 1978 Ferrari 312 T3 is one of just five chassis built for the World Championship.

A product of Mauro Forghieri’s legendary 312T lineage, it pairs a screaming 3.0-litre flat-12 with a transverse gearbox—an era-defining Formula 1 architecture, presented today in Villeneuve’s iconic race number 12 livery and certified by Ferrari Classiche.

Available at our Monaco auction, 25 April 2026. Register to bid: https://t.co/XipIBGC1cK #RMMonaco

[Claire Anderson @ClaireA_Wx]

Check out this video of a waterspout over Puget Sound Wednesday around 3pm. 🌪️ It was located 3 miles west of the Magnolia neighborhood in Seattle.

It was reported by numerous people to the NWS & was confirmed. The spout was short lived & no reports of damage. #waterspout

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

It's wonderful that the Union Pacific railroad keeps this engine operational today

[Adventures in California History @pitsenberger]

This was Big Boy's first unplanned stop, just outside Wheatland in the Great Central Valley of California. We had just watched it go by when I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the train had stopped. We turned around and jumped out of the car, hoping to get a closer view. The sky that day was so dramatic, adding to the scene. Once the freight train passed, Big Boy started rolling again, so we followed it only to find it on the siding again, where we got right up to it as seen in the last video.

[Adventures in California History @pitsenberger]

Up close with Union Pacific Big Boy 4014, sitting idle on a siding in Wheatland, CA, quietly ticking and hissing as it waits for a passing train. The ticking sounds puzzled me. Does anyone familiar with steam locomotives know what causes these ticks? Could they signal an automatic system, or is the engine preparing to move? Got to hand it to Union Pacific, as they had plenty of employees around keeping it safe, and they even handed out small American flags for people to wave.

Watch until the end, as we truly didn't know what was to come, but what happened next I will never forget. All I could do was hold on to the camera and hope for the best. The passing of the Abraham Lincoln Engine. caused the crowd to erupt in cheers! The energy and excitement marked the day as truly unforgettable, a perfect finale to an incredible experience with the Big Boy.

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

Western Washington sunset this evening

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@militaryhistori I hope the baby Alligator is OK!

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@thenewarea51 Let's not forget Stanley Hiller!

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@WarshipCam More importantly i had to look up the lovely museum ship at the dock. It appears to be the CCS Acadia. Built in 1913 and survived both WWI and WWII has HMCS Acadia. The only surviving ship from the infamous Halifax explosion of 1917 according to Wikipedia

[WarshipCam @WarshipCam]

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Nimitz-class aircraft carrier off of Panama City, Panama - March 30, 2026 SRC: INST- gabrielabadi

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@DiariesEmpire Everyone gets to fire a 25 pounder and blow things up

[Jeff Hecox @mtbjeffrey]

@clark_aviation It's even more incredible that it appears in flying condition. I wonder what the back story is. Was this aircraft in North Africa, Indo China or an export model to have survived.