gritineye

Great story Alastair, thanks for that, it reminded me of when we found an anti personnel bomb on our smallholding when I was about five years old, my older brothers and I spent a while throwing it at the pigsty wall. I remember things like 'It sparked that time' and 'let's have a go you're not hitting the point right' were said! We showed our mum and she just put it down a fox hole and sent us down to get the police, who had a little kiosk about a mile away in Green Street.They jumped in their car and raced off, leaving us to walk back, so we missed a ride and all the real fun and felt cheated, it was our bomb after all. It's all under houses now, no country side left. :cry:

It was certainly owned by one of the Beddalls, but do you know what it is? I think CW's version suits them better :-D

Sorry I somehow missed your post, too many tabs open! Yes pretty well got it in one. It was for a proposed joint marketing agreement between LR and Willis, it never got beyond prototype.

If Bentley had made tractors they would have looked like that! It's very nice.

Covering all the options there, CJ-5 part correct, but what is it?

Looking forward to these new doors with great interest Daz, Keep up the good work!

Ooooooooooh..............gotcha! :yay:

What's this doing here?

That's amazing CW, I never knew LRs had crumple zones, today's technology yesterday!

If ever you get a situation like that when you can't work round it, first thing to try is to turn of you PC at the mains for a while and restart to see if it's still there, often works, don't blame me if it doesn't though!

Is this one still around? Unusual jib

Have been looking through my stuff all this time trying to find another pic of it, can't find one but found this instead.

Yes there is Lauren, I have also found a reference to a Dakota and a Defiant crashing nearby in fog, Beachy Head was known as the Clapham Junction of the sky, with both sides using the white cliffs for guidance.

I found this reference supporting the V2 story; "There was only one report of the latest secret German Weapon, the V2 Rocket falling in Sussex. This was the silent killer, you didn’t hear it coming and it caused the most enormous crater. I was taken to see the big hole in a field caused by the one which fell near Polegate. You could have lost a couple of Southdown double decker buses in it." Here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/user/21/u521021.shtml A mention of North Avenue is made here http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/87/a4387287.shtml I think North Avenue may be Northern Avenue but remembered incorrectly. This interesting piece found here http://www.91stbombgroup.com/91st_tales/pieces.html On August 31 on missions to Amiens and Romilly airfields, the 91st was just over the Channel coast of England. As I watched the squadron above and to our right, a B-17 started to fill in a vacant slot. At the same time, another one attempted to fill the position from below, and they spanked together, disintegrating and falling below. As I watched the falling debris and bomb loads, a damaged ‘chute with part of a body floated to our right. I thought, "No survivors, 20 men gone to Glory." "The Eager Beaver" (42-29816) and "L’il Audrey" (41-24523) were no more, but by some miracle, one of the tail assemblies spun downward, then leveled off, and S/Sgt. Charles E. Allen, tail gunner, bailed out, surviving with slight injury when rescued. Eight bodies were recovered, the others MIA in the Channel. Upon base again, we learned that "Paddy Gremlin" (42-29972) was damaged by falling debris from the collision and crash-landed at Polegate. Three of the crew bailed out over the channel and drowned. Pilot Lt. Jess D. Rogers, 322nd Sq. and 4 of the crew died in the crash. It seems that even records kept at or just after the events happened can be surprisingly inaccurate, not matching even hard evidence such as rebuilt houses. Establishing what really happened all those years ago certainly very difficult, even for an eye witness, as this interesting account shows http://www.iroquois.free-online.co.uk/memoirs/airraid.htm

Just a couple of stories from neighbours who where there at the time of these raid. The Single bomber was identified as a Hienkle 111. Ten of Mr Wadman the farmer's best milk cows were killed in one raid. A bang was heard and an excited boy ran in saying that something looking just like a bicycle pump had fallen from the sky, this was a V2. Some of our planes hit the downs (hills) when going out on missions because they were flying low in the dark and fog. Children with chest trouble and asthma where taken to the gas works to breath in the sulfurous fumes as a remedy, It was a nuisance when the gas works was hit as this treatment was no longer available ! Four semi detached bungalows and two houses received direct hits and were rebuilt after the war, a sailor home on leave was sadly killed in a bungalow in West Close. A gunner on a roof in town managed to shoot one Hun plane down and the grateful townsfolk had a whip round for him, they were so thankful. One neighbour remembers her father driving into town as the word was out that a shop (Dale & Kirley) had just got some combs in stock, and her mother wanted one, they were stopped by a very excited warden who angrily told him to "Get that child in a shelter now!" It seems there was an air raid in progress and the town was being straffed, her father said they hadn't noticed because they were talking too much! She desribed the bullets as "pitter pattering on the road" This same woman's mother had saved up the rations for ages in order to bake a big cake, she cooked it and placed it on the window ledge to cool, moments afterwords the window was blown in and the cake ruined, the cake was a much greater loss than the window ever was!

That's been fitted in very well Thor698, what did it come out of and what are the specs please?

Nice pix antar, that reminded me of my first introduction to the very desirable Martian Artillery Tractor, which was was climbing inside one that had been sunk in a big wet hole on Slab Common for recovery training, sitting at the wheel and imagining what it would be like to own one. This started a train of thought that has led to many years of fun!

Thanks for that Andy, so no single aircraft attack recorded then. Have you seen/got the book Eastbourne 1939 - 1945 A complete record of nearly six years of war in Eastbourne?

Nice seasonal pix Steve, just one thing, is that a magic bike? Mine would have fallen over before I turned round to take the shot.

My daughter and partner have a bungalow on a 1930s estate in Polegate, Sussex, first thing we noticed was the strange mix of tiles on the roof, four distinctly different types. At first we thought a right bunch of cowboy builders had been at work, although a neighbor said it was the result of the 1987 storm, this didn't make sense, an insurance claim would have meant a propper job. This is next doors roof, all mixed tiles. As there was no under felt or insulation and we were putting in a loft room the tiles were replaced with new, next door did theirs as well, up on the scaffolding it was plain to see a lot of nearby properties had the same mixed up tiles, with many types of hip,ridge and bonnets. We then noticed the bungalow opposite (no pic) was a single later type (1950s I reckon) and it dawned on us it may be bomb damage, I live a short distance away and asked my neighbor, one of the oldest locals around, about it and he told me it was indeed bomb damaged! He was on leave from the Navy and saw the bomber coming in from Pevensy Bay with it's bomb doors open and rushed inside a nearby house to protect a baby, afterwards he pushed his way through the hedge into the estate and got told off "Just because a few bombs have been dropped there's no need to ruin the hedge lad!" One bomb had bounced right out of the ground again and lay some distance away, he and his mates all stood with one foot on it like big game hunters with their kill! Although it was generally thought to have been an attempt to bomb the nearby railway station, he disagrees as the bomber was too low to miss, and thinks the estate was mistaken for an army camp as it was the first estate ever built, being all self contained with only one way in from the main road. It is built up all round now so isn't so obvious, the developer made a tidy sum and drove a powder blue car! Another old neighbor said a lot of bomb damage repairs where done by gangs of matelos (his word) as there weren't enough ships left for them to man, he said they turned up with brand new tools but hadn't got much of a clue what to do with them really, he said when they were nailing up welsh slates they broke more than they fixed in place, as every ton of good slate the miners dug out produced 30 tons of waste, the sailors made it 40 ton. The other day when the sun was low I spotted what may be bullet or shrapnel holes in one side of the chimney stack. A friend of mine, when he heard about this brought round an old book published locally listing all the bombs dropped in Eastbourne borough, this has the following entry; January 23rd 1943 9.50 am After dropping bombs at Southlands Estate Polegate, four F.W 109's raced home over the Old Town district of Baldwin Avenue, Salehurst Road, Longland Road and Summerdown Road with their guns blazing. Some damage was caused by gunfire - from the Huns and our own AA. A Bofors crew at Cow Gap, near Beachy Head, claimed to have shot one plane down into the sea. Parts of the plane and the body of a german airman were washed up later. Casualties; None in the Borough. The only thing that may throw doubt on this being the raid that damaged my daughters house is that my neighbor who saw the bomber approaching is certain there was only one and that there were casualties. The book may not have included these casualties because they were outside the borough of Eastbourne.

Should have offered him a Scammell, he'd have taken it, then even he wouldn't have to dream any more! :-D Might have a few nightmares though

What? :coffee:

Showtrac winch, similar no doubt, but different. It would have to be established when Fred Griswold period of involvement was, he may not have been there for the 6x6 work. He would presumably have access to specs, factory word of mouth etc. though.

My picture was March 1995 shows how long these restorations can take, as it had been started a while then!

Did the winch fitted Highwayman and showmans tractors predate the 6x6 pioneer? The photos have been published in various places, the text came from Pat Kennet, who credits Fred Griswold 'who for many years was responsible for special and military developments at Watford, and took the trouble to clarify many items of fact.' (World Trucks no.8 Scammell) As he says 'the production military version..........had a vertical axis Wild winch.' and as the one shown resembles the later version it could be argued that this was also a Wild winch.