Snapper

Not to be missed if you can get there. His new book is brilliant and he is a fine speaker. If I was free, I'd definitely make the effort.

sounds like a mission for someone......

I don't use satnavs (yet) - but maps are readily available from shops and the internet as far as I've discovered. Bad luck mate..... MB

Quality items - thanks mate

I missed Gaydon to go to Coalhouse Fort. In any guise, Gaydon is a great show with a huge range of photogenic lorries. MVs have steadily decreased because there is such a wealth of civvy truckery and we have plenty of our own events. You often find interesting civvy conversions there and I always get sore feet. Not sure on the price of an Antar - but "not cheap" is a deffo. The International and Chevy tractor unit really caught my eye...never seen either before. MB

Good stuff TB! Hope she survives. MB

I'll try and post a couple more tonight :-D

Explanations: you've seen original models from the film Battle of Britain (Stuka and Heinkel - the Stuka is the sole survivor). Murals of RA badges in the old fort. The memorial is for a B17 lost in a mid-air collision over Canvey Island. The big gun is a recreation of the types in the fort in the late 1800s...it looks really good. Lee sitting in a MiG 21 cockpit. Lee with a Lancaster bomber wheel. Cadet Corporal James and Harry M with the Bofors and with Lee and Neil in the Fort. A nice Morris. Original guns from HMS Hood - these were removed before the refit the ship had before her loss. Various views around the fort. I think that covers it. We had a fantastic day. Thanks to everyone involved. Great to meet the HMVF Mafia. See you all soon. MB & JB.

and more..................................................................................

more from a good day out.......................

and here some more snaps.....

and some more...................................

more snaps.........

We all enjoyed the AWACS flying over. It also circled over Southend while Cadet Corporal Barnes and I drove to the fort. So, this is hardly a close up. But it is in focus! MB

It's a 1000 Kg. That's the thing they use to steam the explosive out (I think). Someone at work thought it was someone standing on the bomb. 1000Kg is 2000lb. So, although it's not as big as a Cookie, it is big enough. I think this was the biggest bomb size. Presumably dropped by an He111. There may be more snaps to come. The uxb people did a controlled explosion of the detonator on Friday. I came home the long way.....a small irritant in the wider scheme of things. My wife's dad used to know one of the uxb GCs from the post war period. They used to drive around in my f-i-l's cop car and this guy would point out new buildings which he knew had uxbs under them!!!! This was in south London. MB

We'll be there in the afternoon. MB and son

Is it American?

This band idea is dangerous. Jack will want to croon.

I don't think it was so much a flop as something that got so bound up in secrecy it became too sensitive to use. An idea travelling too far up it's conceptiual bottom for it's own good. MB

Yeah - all I get is the flamin' Luftwaffe.....

here's the sucker - and it's genuinely ticking by all accounts...

Welcome to the drying out clinic. If you go through the clubhouse entrance, down the corridor on the left, past the ballroom and turn right into the snooker room you will see a mop and bucket left under the portrait of Henry Ford . This is yours to use during your probationary period. Don't worry, there will be biscuits and dancing girls....but not for a while. MB (Gangmaster)

That's right. Our dear beloved Mark Clark scuppered the grand scheme and allowed 300,000 Germans to escape so he could take the Eternal City. I wonder how serious he was when he ordered on his US soldiers to fire on any British troops entering the city? Allies from a host of nations suffered for his immense vanity, not least the United States itself. But he was a brave man and a thoughtful soldier and it's totally wrong to assume that many of his colleagues - British and American were not just as vainglorious and ambitious. They were pop stars of their time in a sense. Barnes

I well remember our flat shaking to my dad playing his Miller and Dorsey 78s on the radiogram. One of my very favourite records will always be John Dankworth's Three Blind Mice pastiche of all the big names. I listen to a complete mass of different sounds. Music is food to me - but the old big bands just have something that make me smile. It's quality music. Nice to have you here Jon. Good luck on your jeep hunt... MB

starting to sound like an M13/40 :-D They were allegedly faster in reverse. :cool2: