11th Armoured

Bloody hell! Happy Xmas to me...

Thanks for the comments, chaps - much appreciated. I've given the smock & trousers a quick wash now to get rid of the dust & fust, & they've come up a treat. I was a little concerned when the trousers came out of the washer, though, as there were a number of small white lines across the fronts of the thighs which looked disturbingly like paint (which was very strange, as when the trousers were dry, there were no obvious marks visible). Now they've started to dry again, however, the marks have disappeared, so I don't know what caused it. You've thrown me a bit with this, I must admit - when I said 'pocket money', I did actually mean 'not very much at all'... DPM (or anything much after 1950) isn't something I've really bothered with before (apart from using it for work...) - I suspect I might need a bit of schooling on the subject

Is there a way to tell the date of an item from the various codes on the clothing labels? I had a mooch around a local junk shop yesterday & found a 1960 Pattern DPM combat jacket & matching trousers, & as the jacket actually fitted me (Size 6), I spent a bit of pocket money on it. It's in very nice condition - it has been worn, but not much I think - & looks to have been owned by a major, but apart from a 1939 Swiss 5 cent/rappen coin, a magnet & a bolt in one pocket, there's not much else I can say about it

I took a couple of photos of one at the Victory Show a few years ago: SAS jeep

Just stick it behind an earth bank & dress with a bit of shrubbery & the job's a good 'un...

For a short while yesterday there was a new village established on the site of the former RAF Metheringham... ...and all just for a couple of owd planes...

We REALLY need a 'like' button! Very impressive display :-)

Other than it being some sort of award for what looks to have been an inter-unit competition, I can't help much with the details, I'm afraid. What I take to be the abbreviations of the competing units (70th/16th Foot v R.H.Q. 9th Mx) are a bit strange, though - 70th Foot was 2nd Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment, while 16th Foot was The Bedfordshire Regiment, but I don't believe they were amalgamated, so why it's written like that, I have no idea (on that basis, I suspect it probably stands for something else, to be honest). As for the second part, I assume that stands for something like Regimental H.Q., 9th Middlesex, which I think must refer to the 9th Middlesex Home Guard Battalion. Nice little sterling silver medal, though - made in London (if the hallmark shows a leopard's mask) in 1942 (date letter G). By the way, I hope you don't mind me rotating the images, but I was getting a cricked neck trying to read them... Kevin

Is that the original strap, do you know? If it is, then I wouldn't imagine the bag was designed to carry anything of any great weight, having a narrow strap with no flare like that. Kevin

Not had a proper chance to go through the 500-odd photos I took at YWE yesterday, but here are a few of the Cromwell at rest & at play

Great to see the Cromwell tearing round the arena at the Yorkshire Wartime Experience today. The sound was absolutely glorious, too - certainly put all that Yank tat to shame...

I can't help with the magazine (or the location of your posted photo, unfortunately), but there are quite a number of photos of captured & reused A13 Cruisers here (including with Panzer-Abt. (F) 100 in Russia from page 3): http://beutepanzer.ru/Beutepanzer/uk/A13_MkII/a-13_MkII.htm Also Cruiser wrecks being collected by the Germans here (Post Number: #275 onwards): http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=80610&start=270 Kevin

The Duxford 'Tiger' is the one from Shaving Ryan's Privates, apparently - a reasonable effort, but I'd much rather have the Russian one...

I heard various presenter refer to 'amphibian landings' & 'horse gliders', so I don't think detail was their strong point...

That's a really impressive sight

That's just brilliant! Having spent some time around classic car 'enthusiasts', I can imagine some of the under-the-breath comments from the more, shall we say, 'precious' owners...

I'm looking forward to this - I think it's quite a clever design & is long overdue in coming IMHO

VERY nice - still looking for one of those myself

A very fine tribute & a very nice bit of work - a credit to you all (past & present)

Quite pleased I live just down the road from Coningsby...

Excellent photos & the perfect setting - I've been meaning to visit Beamish for years, but these have really spurred me on to pull my finger out.

Ah yes, 'interesting' concrete - I oversaw the excavation of parts of two Second World War communal surface air raid shelters in Lincoln a couple of years ago, which basically comprised two large dumps of broken reinforced concrete. It was difficult to convey to the groundworks contractors that this was actually an interesting find... As with all things Paul, the first starting point is money - even if you don't use professional archaeologists to actually carry out any digging, things still need to be done 'professionally' to ensure that everything is properly recorded & analysed. On top of that, geophysical survey, soil sample analysis & finds identification, etc. (which are usually beyond the capabilities of volunteers) can be surprisingly expensive, so the costs can soon mount up. The problem with archaeology is that it's a finite resource - cock up an excavation and there are usually no second chances. If you dig something out & then find you've made a mistake, it's very difficult to put it back again to have a second go... (don't ask me how I know!)

At the risk of getting a bit 'panto', "oh yes, they are!" The tread on the tyres you've linked to definitely has each alternating row of blocks off-set slightly from its neighbouring row...

Have you tried Military Surplus Collectors Forums: http://www.milsurps.com/index.php Loads of knowledgeable 'gun' folks on there, so there's a good chance you'll get the answers you need (I asked the same question about some Bren mags I got a couple of years ago). Kevin

It's not even mine, but I'm feeling excited now, which is VERY sad...