RattlesnakeBob

Fairplay mate ! I think what you have built is absolutely incredible ...really grand work and something to be very proud of can't wait to see her finished off with paint and kit and all the bits and pieces done I will honestly really look forward to seeing her at a show in the future

That there Tony is a case of 'Nail Head Hammer' in some order It is frightening to realise in those early days , just how many people in German politics and the Military and commerce had that silly silly idea....." yeah ..we can control him !"

and I'll admit it !....I didn't know nor guess nor have a single clue that is why modern carriers are so big ! tsk! obvious really I guess ! :red::red::red: . PS: .....having just wikied them...oooooooooeeeeeeeer!!! they're being built by BAE!!! ....ooohh cripes!!!...dare one ask ?. will they float ?

hello !

it is all very intriguing ...and the sad fact of that is, at least in the First World War Germany did at least still have a 'political structure / government' and a High Command (albeit one almost totally dominated by Hindenburg and Ludendorff ) that could at the very least make an attempt to end the carnage .........whereas.... by WW2 Hitler had dismantled and absorbed all the offices of power and any resemblance whatsoever of any nature of 'civil government' that could of , or even may have attempted to hold him slightly in check?... ..by 1943 many in the OKW/OKH were increasingly aware of the cold fact that they were going to loose ........but precious few of them would consider and even less of them would ever attempt to remove Hitler and thus end the war.... Hitlers hold on power and his people and country was certainly one of iron .

mmhh sort of agree Tony ......but should you not have the inclination, interest or the time to wade through the facts?...but are still intrigued as to 'why' etc?....then this one book does a cracking job (imho) on giving you probably all you need to know It's not enough to say the people of Germany were frightened of him and his dictatorial methods ..nor to say they were simply frightened of the SS and the Gestapo..nor even is it enough to say they 'loved' him ...none of these statements nor beliefs adequately explain why..they still followed him , almost without exception to a very bitter end... ..and that's not baffling ?.. I would have thought it was especially when he was actually being advised relatively early on that Germany could not win the war he had brought. One of his production ministerial team (I could trot back through the book and give his name..) was documented as one who stood in front of Hitler and boldly (or stupidly?) told him the war was not winnable if it went on.....and this was in November 1941 as Barbarossa was grinding down to a slog just before it's eventual winter halt... This chap was switched on enough to work out the simple enough mathematics ......adding up coal and oil requirements , food , steel production for armaments to continue the war for another year or so..plus add on the colossal loss's the German army was already taking....the numbers simply didn't add up.......but!.. It has to be said..he never resigned and somewhat miraculously also managed to stay in his job and out of a concentration camp too.....those that spoke out in a similar manner only a year or so later were not so fortunate... Later there were more who albeit quietly voiced their doubts but....for the most part ..they still followed Hitlers orders and decree's more or less all the way through to the bitter end of May 1945. . Is that not baffling ? even if you knew all the facts available then or now?...

In my opinion... Socially and Politically it's actually not as straight forward as just 'understanding 1918/1919 and the Versailles treaty and the German peoples rejection of it's ramifications and implications ' .....not even perhaps for folk that have more knowledge than the ordinary everyday person may have of those times.... A lot of folk in these modern times (and not just the younger generation either) are still mystified as to just why did the German people ( and not all of them 'died in the wool Nazi's' either) a modern , developed and supposedly civilised Nation....follow him so blindly and for so long and almost so unquestionably.....into an absolute 'abyss' of death and horror and total destruction? I've read an awful lot on the general subject including 'Mein Kampf' , John Tolands excellent 'Adolf Hitler and 'A Study in tyranny' by Alan Bullock ... all exceptional books (Yes , even Mein Kampf is worth reading if you can stick with it ) along with quite a few others over the years but , if you were 'new' to the subject or still a little intrigued ?.... then 'Charisma' is for my money, the easiest way to understand the labyrinth

Quite a read to select for my long haul flight book on my recent journey but ! For anyone that may have wondered ( or been asked ) the simple question of 'How and why did the German people follow Hitler?' you could do a lot worse than read this one..... Not as heavy a read as you at first may think due to Laurence Rees' style and pace of writing. All the salient points of Hitlers 'career' are covered starting briefly with his pre WW1 life and moving swiftly to the late 20s and the start of his extraordinary ascension to total power.. ..the Rhineland , the Austrian Anschluss , The Sudetenland , Czechsolvakia etc and ultimately his march into the Soviet Union with Barbarossa that lead to his demise are all covered politically and militarily , and more importantly ...just how did he keep the vast majority of the German people 'happy' with what he was doing ? but don't worry ...the book doesn't get bogged down in un-necessary finicky detail. Even if you've read many works on Hitler and the Nazi's, this book really does provide you with a total understanding of just 'how' it was possible for one man to 'con' so many people..... and to such a bitter end. If there is one criticism ...it does seem to 'rush' the last 6 months of the War but, I would say that by then you have all the information that you need to be able to answer that original question should you ever be asked or indeed still ponder it yourself.

Thanks Jerry! ...No mate with my usual ability to mess things up, I was on my way to California to visit Holly on that Sunday! typical ! One of the best rallys within our area and I couldn't do it ! and yep I'm looking forward to the season with her too !

The flight deck is something else isn't it mate?? that one picture of the deck is taken from not even halfway to the front of the ship ....it's really difficult to take photos that convey how big it actually is During the war she was a normal configuration 'straight' deck carrier but she had a pretty extensive rebuild in the 1950s when they removed most of the WW2 armaments and generally modernised her in many ways including the adding on of an 'angled' deck . ..When you wander about on the deck immediately below the flight deck , on the side that the 'angled bit' sticks out from the engineering that was needed to 'stick that extra bit on the side ' is revealed and it is truly incredible it's just like standing under a huge steel railway bridge I'd never seen a WW2 era carrier up close and they are impressive so lord knows what one of the modern US 'Nimitz' class carriers looks like to give you an idea.... USS Hornet carried about 3300 including aircrew,was roughly 870' long and weighed about 36,000 tons loaded up for action ....a Nimitz class carrier has about 5500 including aircrew,is over a 1000' long,over 100' wider overall and weighs over 100,000 tons :shocked:

I’ve just got back from a trip to see my daughter in California and whilst there took the opportunity to investigate the San Francisco Bay area’s wartime past a little. Yes of course I did all the normal everyday usual tourist stuff such as Alcatraz etc but should you ever end up in that district there is a surprising amount of WW2 related things to visit ! J First on the list to do was visit the USS Hornet which is permanently moored up in the former US Navy base at Alameda just down the road a bit from where she lives. If you should find yourself i the area one day please make time for a visit. It is now staffed by volunteers and I was exceptionally lucky to have a lovely old fella show me around. He’d served on a sister ship to the Hornet back in the early 1960s for his military service and was an absolute font of knowledge and happy to answer all my inquisitive (and probably daft) questions! You really need to allow a whole day though because she is huge! Later in the week I also visited the Museum of the Home Front in Richmond Docks more commonly known as ‘Rosie the Riveters Museum’ located in the old Richmond Shipyards and this place was amazing. Part of the works was a Ford factory that was turned over to tank production for the duration and thousands of Sherman and Stuarts/Honeys were produced but...probably the really important work went on in the 4 shipyards outside. Here, they perfected the technique of building the British designed Liberty Ships to the extent that over a 1000 were launched from here during the war years. They also made many other vessels such as landing craft, tugs and the bigger and improved version of the Liberty known as the ’Victory’ ship. Again a visit is highly recommended! Ooops ! Sorry ! I can’t find those pictures Next on the list was the USS Pampanito a WW2 Submarine preserved on Fishermans Wharf over the other side of the bay in San Francisco..far too much too tell of her but again .....go visit ! Then there was the old Battery Chamberlin just behind Baker beach right next to the Golden Gate Bridge with a cracking old ‘disappearing gun’ still in place... On the way around San Francisco one day I spotted 2 DUKWs loading up tourists for a trip. And lastly perhaps the star of the show ...one of only 2 left in the world .a real living breathing Liberty Ship the Jeremiah O’Brien !........what an absolutely fantastic experience and one , as I keep saying ....you should all try and do at least once ! J PS: Sorry....... I don't have a clue as to why some of the links are coming out as 'links' rather than 'pictures'...If you click the second link in each line it seems to work and show you the relevant picture otherwise it says 'no photo exists' for some reason ah well........i never said I was any good at driving computers .....driving excavators and dozers was far more my thing alternatively ....just follow the links to my Photobucket page and click 'view library'

awesome pictures ! thanks for sharing !

Some eagle eyed person on here a little while ago noticed that I had added a 1946 Hudson Commodore 6 Sedan to my 'signature' vehicles and asked for more info so !. ... Now..I apologise in advance that she is not an 'ex-military' car but in my defence, Hudson Commodores were used by the US Army as Staff Cars during WW2 and there is one that I have heard about in the UK that has been restored in that guise. My ol' girl was built and delivered in January 1946 after Hudson had resumed 'public' manufacture in September 1945 A little history....Hudson were a relatively small manufacturer who unfortunately were swallowed up by the bigger companies by 1958. They had a name for building a 'higher market' car than the others such as Buick or Chevrolet or any of their other major competitors and were very well thought of for many years. For a while in the early 1950s their 'Hornet' model also dominated track racing . My particular car was delivered to a customer in the Mid West where she lived until 1963. Then she was sold to a chap from Florida and moved there to live until the old gentleman had to give up driving due to his ill health and she then came to the UK in 2010. She's a Commodore 6 Model with a straight 6 cylinder motor of 3300cc running through a fluid clutch into a 3 speed column shift gearbox. Surprisingly , despite her size and weight she will shift when asked to ...2nd or 3rd is more or less the only gears you need with 1st being a bit low for everyday use unless on a steep hill. When I bought her she was a runner but had suffered somewhat in the recent years from what I would say was simple ignorance and lack of maintenance rather than deliberate butchery. The steering was horrendous and needed immediate treatment but new bearings and track rod ends and tightening the adjustment on the box sorted that .Starting was a nightmare until I fitted a new priming pump and battery and the starter motor and dynamo was also overhauled and the fuel line completely replaced at the same time. Someone before me had started to re-upholster her so all I had left to do was the head lining and dashboard. More or less every light including the dashboard on her refused to work with any regularity so some serious re-wiring was also in order as was a general tightening up of the brakes. ...She now starts and drives beautifully and is a real head turner of a car so much so that we have started to offer her out for Film and TV work and are also getting a lot of bookings for her as a wedding car. So ! here she is ...........and I promise !.......... the next vehicle I buy will definitely be ex-army !

just out of interest ... how was the initial testing by Lee Enfield (or whoever else was assembling the rifle) to assert that a particular weapon was 'better' than one of the 100s of others done?... .. were the weapons 'fired by hand' or in a jig of some sort so that all the weapons were held and fired to the same standard ?? Just pondering if and how the factor of one particular tester being a better shot than the other guys was eliminated ??

always worked well with dozers and other tracked machines I had 'die on me' whilst 'in the field' especially if they had lost a track or suffered some other calamitous failure that prevented a simple 'tow out' with a bigger machine at one time I kept some 3/8" plate ones folded up especially for that very job.. complete with fixing eyes and lateral stays to keep them the right width apart and also a 'drawbar' to go on either end PS: I'd love to be involved in any heavy recoveries such as this that might be planned by anyone.... handy on quite a bit of plant I am see!

reminds me of when I was a lad helping my Dad..... amongst other things he serviced all the yard cranes for a local company.....we would often have to change hoist ropes because of general wear and tear and damage and I can still hear him now ... "no kinks!! make sure you lay it flat!!! and keep the bl**dy tension on when I start to wind her in my boy !"

Lingevres ....this is the road into the village from Tilly Sur Seulle.........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Graignes here you go mate Edit: also as Tony suggested find Tilly Sur Seulle and only just along the road from there about a mile or so away the village of Lingevres where a fair ol' tank battle took place for the crossroads.. ...If you happen to have (or could borrow in time to go?) the 'Normandy Then and Now' book or the 'Panzers in Normandy' book both from After The Battle Publications it'd be an immense help to seeing and understanding what happened in many of those small and today, very quiet and peaceful little French country villages

search out Graignes and the derelict but preserved church ....it's a little town out in the countryside sort of behind Carentan ..... due to the various foul ups (bad weather /big winds / pilots getting lost etc) that happened as the US Paras got dropped on the night of 5th/6th June .a load of them ended up in the vicinity of this little town....the towns folk and in particular 2 farm girls helped out by hiding them in the church and other places in the village.... ....unfortunately they were eventually detected by the Germans and an SS unit dispatched to eliminate them ....what happened over the next few days is not widely nor generally known about but ....is well worth finding out about

cracking !!!! a lovely find !

Welcome to you pardner !

I have no doubt if I tried such a thing it'd go more like ... ' screech to a halt , attempt to leap out ....catch left foot on lip of doorway ...scrunch lower tender areas on bottom of rim of steering wheel...right knee collides with gear stick.....end up face down in the dirt to the side of Jeep with feet still snaggled up in the pedals and groaning profusely , clutch comes back up and engages as the motor fails to shut off and Jeep drags me across the show ground arena looking a proper clown '

cracking ol' engine ! Just out of interest ....what's the starting system on such a motor ? is it a straight forward starter motor on a whacking great big battery or is it maybe an airstart system perhaps of some sorts ?

ah well I'd have to agree with you on that mate : ..... there's a 6 volt system on my old Hudson and you could not describe nor persuade it to 'speed start' in any manner ,shape nor form

I know I have read of this somewhere but I'm devilled if I can find any reference to it, so....has anyone on here ever heard of it before??? The 'procedure' originated sometime during WW2 .I'm guessing whenever soldiers were bored they found ways to amuse themselves...and this was one way The idea was to see how fast you could 'enter' a Jeep , start it , and pull away. The drill (as I remember reading many years ago ) was to. ..Park a Jeep with the engine off and the handbrake on and in neutral (I'm guessing you removed the canvas and sticks ) the 'competitor' then leapt into the drivers seat (from the side or behind ?) ..one foot would depress the clutch, one hand release the handbrake whilst somehow or other the other would shove her into gear and hit the starter button as the right foot hit the accelerator.........a bit like an organised octopus ! the winner being whoever could start the engine and move the vehicle from a standing start in the shortest time..... Now I can't recall what the 'record' was but!!!... I do remember being suitably impressed that it could be done so quickly Has anyone else ever heard of this ? I also recall reading that after the war during the long boring months of occupation that this game was seen regularly at more organised 'events' that were put on to keep the bored occupation troops interested whilct they were waiting shipment / demob home Also ! I reckon it would be a good competition to hold at our various vehicle shows..!