Thunderbird 2

Thunderbird 2.

There are some vessels that rank consistently toward the top of any Top 10 list when it comes to spaceships. Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds would be among those favorite for any fan of spacefaring craft. Most important among them would be Thunderbird 2 followed closely perhaps by Thunderbird 1.

Thunderbird 2 is a glorious cargo vessel that consistently ranks in my Top 10. Capable of traversing great distances with a given payload or smaller auxiliary vehicles in what are called pods that are selected from a transport system within a pod bay on Tracy Island, T2 never fails to save the day.



The most popular vehicle often transported in T2 is the aquatic craft known as Thunderbird 4.

Other important vehicles include The Firefly and the earth-drilling The Mole.

Additional vehicles include Domo 1, Transmitter Truck and the Recovery Vehicles.

Since the highlight here is Thunderbird 2 that is where the focus of our homage will remain. All ancillary vehicles will be for separate posts. You can see some of those vehicles in an older post called The Sci-Fi Fanatic BIG 10: Thunderbirds International Rescue Craft here.



Though I have thrown in images of those associative vessels that inhabit the belly of the T2 for good measure. Most of the images included are those vehicles actually in the pod that is transported by T2.

As a kid T2 was always something special and its design, by Anderson and Derek Meddings, so perfect, like that of Space:1999's Eagle Transporter (another Gerry Anderson creation seen here), it perennially holds a special place in our hearts and minds to this very day.

This writer also has had the good fortune to purchase a few plastic as well as die-cast versions of the craft including a fairly large die-cast replica to adore for all eternity.



And there you have it. It's another F-A-B FRIDAY!