Snapper

Blimey Jack, I bought a helmet for a tenner off my mate Ed and we found a bandolier for £3 which was stuffed with hundreds of ten round charger clips which appear to be for 5.56mm. They obviously put them in to give it weight and pad it out. Works for me. I like this sort of junk. Cheap and cheerful. It was great to meet Spood, Adrian, Glenn Mallen, Roger Jerram, G503 Mark, Mark Davies with his good lady and young Martin, Kevin, Mark Askew (not sure about that book - eh Jack?), Tim, Cripp, The Beltring arena top team....oh, and Jack Beckett. If I missed you out, think yourself lucky. If I missed you - sorry.

Funsters, I've got myself a nice replica Thompson which I need to fit a sling to - it has no fixings. I'm advised by a brain to fit two swivels or whatever the hell they're called from the butt of an SMLE. I used to have a brain of my own but the demands of working for Jack Beckett have fried it into a fine version of mushy peas mixed with Pedigree Chum. So any advice on where I can get these bits would be peachy. Needless to say I was at Malvern yesterday and didn't find anything suitable costing less than an MP's duck house. M

Definitely a Chieftain - ignore the turret.

I think you'll find that the space alloted to the German equivalent to the CWGC - name forgotten - is pretty secure now. You're right about the problem with land at the time. Especially for the WW2 era - hence the huge ossuaries. The biggest German cem I've been to is at La Targette. 44,000 dead. The ossuary at Mont des Huisnes near Mont St Michel brought together all the local dead - including those from the Channel Islands into one location. It is a very strange place - immensely sad, but designed to impress (it did me anyway).

Crown Copyright remains active, so you would effectively be in breach. The archive is now held at that huge place the MoD have in Bristol. I don't know how they police this stuff, but I'd be cautious...

Good man...

Hi Rick, The Red Cross are still scanning it all. I think 'we' are five years off minimum and from memory they are not doing the British prisoner/deaths records first - but as a lifelong librarian I can tell you that the cross referencing task alone is gigantic. I was at a talk by Peter Barton where he showed us the job at hand. It is stupendous.If you can get to a wfa branch where he gives the talk on this - go. It is something to behold. MB

God Bless you Dave. Thanks for doing it. I haven't been in Ypres for a year and a bit. Need to get back there. M

I can see my people are going to have to talk to your people.

I'm hoping to be there for the saturday and sunday. Half of my colleagues will be in South Africa chasing the World Cup dream. So, I can't book any weekday time off. This means me leaving my job and getting down to Dorset as quick as I can on the Friday night (I presume) and thn getting back late Sunday to start my other job again. So save me my bedspace please, dearest Publisher. I presume you'll be paying my expenses.

Doh! lol. It was a thought. You'd need a lot of glue to build the whole flipping thing. You'd be off your face on it. Perhaps this explains Jack? If only I'd known before I joined this man's army.

You're not building that Wellington in your back garden, are you Steve ?

Memphis Belle stuff looks like fun, there Steve... Got any more? :cool2:

Nice to see this old heap - A Peugeot 404, is showing up in some of the snaps from Cauquigny! I haven't been there for a few years. Is it still there, I wonder?

Looks like the Ohio branch is growing. Welcome to the Friendly Forum. I'm sure young Mike will be along to sort out your innitiation. He's just up the road from you (give or take a few hundred miles). MB

Bader was inspirational. But he was also a nightmare - but this fact made him the great man he was. But great doesn't always mean pleasant. I always idolised Gibson when I was kid, but he had a fair slice of prejudiced small man syndrome about him and didn't have many real friends. Cheshire is the one. He was pure class. I agree with Ted about the quiet icons. I was standing in a queue at Tescos a few years ago and struck up a conversation with an old man and his wife. She had her arm in a sling and was struggling a bit and I behaved like a gentleman for once and helped them. He was a Bomber Command air gunner, one of the anonymous ones living out the remainder of his life with quiet dignity. Nuff said.

Obviously being iconic has nothing to do with merit or popularity within the service or as a whole. Douglas Bader Arthur Harris and Guy Gibson all stand out by miles - as would Leonard Cheshire in better informed times. Bader must be number one by dint of his powerful personality and Paul Brickhill's book. Gibson is something of an enigma, but I've always admired him, even if he was fairly unpleasant. Harris remains massive. Cheshire is probably the most complete - but he didn't desire fame at all. After that you have perhaps the two most wronged British men of the air war - Dowding and Park. Good question. It'll be interesting to see how this thread grows.

Interesting. A new one on me. Was it any good?

Great to have you with us. Welcome to the Friendly Forum. MB

too much time on your hands, Jack.... Hot Chocolate? Get out of town...

That is a wonderful bit of history...Thank you. MB

Even The Sun managed a spread on it.....

This is Ash near Sandwich? Looks more than a random theft - more like stealing to order. M

There's a Land Rover and a Ford Transit in bits of the back to back 633 Squadron and Mosquito Squadron. We are getting off Topic... Worst British vehicle? haven't a clue....interesting point about the Covenanter. See lots of them on Exercise Bumper in 1941... M

65 is his IQ