LarryH57

By chance is there anywhere with CCTV along any likely route through Essex that may just have captured it and the thieves? Were there any distinguishing features that might be used to identify all or part of the Jeep if it is used to complete the restoration of another?

The reason I raised this query is that my better half (and the rest of us in the family) are to attend an official UK Government organised ceremony in the presence of HRH....to honour a select number of British War dead, which makes it more akin to Remembrance Day rather than swanning around at W&P wearing someone else's medals. It's hard to put in words how hard the soldier's death was for his family and that his parents and brothers and sisters were never able to visit his grave. So the wearing of the medals on the right breast was very much with them in mind as well as to honour the casualty. But having read some of the links I think we will take the medals in their framed case rather than wear them.

Many thanks. Interesting that the British Legion link says no and the second link suggests its OK!

My wife and I are to attend an official commemoration event for my wife's great uncle killed in action with the British Army. On various Remembrance Sunday parades in London, we have seen relatives wearing the medals of the fallen on their right breast purely for commemoration purposes. My question to members is whether this is an accepted practice and whether this is only for war widows? Your comments please!

The owner of the land in the USA has been holding on to many aircraft far too long, a bit like some previous MV owners with fields of vehicles in desperate need of care! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/war-plane-graveyard-photos_n_5453840.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cnetscape%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D484609

IMBS but does WHY stand for 'Wife Hates You'

Enjoy

However the correct way as built is for the switch lever to be pointing at the fuel tank that is in use, so its best to set it up that way.

I don't quite understand the two posts above - But I also read in Windscreen that Sean would like to see photos of his dad and I may have some. Can anyone post a photo here of Keith so I can ID him in my photos. Also can anyone give the registration of Keith's C15?

Just like Rubbatiti, I buried something in Charnwood Forest that some one might find hard to explain. What I buried was a WW2 machete type jungle knife about 2 feet long, which had been used in Burma and was given to me by a friend. I used it on a smallholding to clear bushes and fallen trees. Believe it or not in 1970's I took it to school and said to the metal work teacher that it was now a bit blunt, to which he said no problem son and ground the blade back to such sharpness that I could cut sheets of paper with it! Those were the days everyone trusted each other! When I left school and moved I did not want it anymore but didn't want to throw it away in the rubbish as it was really sharp, that's way I buried it.

Many thanks Chris - so from your post and the previous it was true that the 0.50inch Brownings can be set up for ground use, however I wonder if it could still be cocked and fed with belt ammo quite easily? Would the cocking handle need to be fabricated as I can't picture how these guns would have been cocked in a P-40. Was it done electrically or manually by the ground crew before take-off?

The SLR was designed at a time when small arms were designed to kill and a 7.62mm round from it could take out anyone with one shot. So I'm told the SA80 was designed on the basis that a smaller calibre bullet would allow a man to carry more rounds. Also the idea in the Cold war was to wound rather than kill so that two men would help the wounded man and so that might get three men away from the fighting! Well that's the theory but sadly experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has shown that sometimes it has taken as much as 10 rounds to down a man charging forwards like a crazed suicide bomber!

Many thanks

During WW2 some of men in my father's RAF unit found an abandoned P-40 Fighter and decided to convert a few of its 0.50 inch Brownings for use in a ground role, for a bit of extra protection etc. My dad is sure they did this but I was wondering how this could be done as MGs in the P-40 were fired electrically unlike those made for the Army. So is it feasible. From memory my dad says the conversion didn't need any electrical power to fire it. Your thoughts?

Thanks for the link. I see that the witness says the Para over Poole survived but my father says he died. So I'm going to search for details

Thanks Ruxy And yet my Dad recons that it was not an electric winch that was used. Despite the weight of a man and his chute being hard to haul in I think the effort in getting him in was easier than a target drone and long steel cable, that's why an a hand winch was the cheap option.

This might be of interest to any of you who have an interest in Airborne Operations in 1944 and as a plea for more info, as I have never found anything related to this before. In the spring / summer of 1944 my Dad was serving with 575 Sqn at RAF Broadwell (equipped with C-47 Dakotas) and told me that on one practice jump over the UK prior to D-Day, one paratrooper became caught up behind the aircraft after he jumped out, as his static line refused to part from his parachute pack. To make matters worse the parachute came out of the pack but instead of deploying properly and pulling the man free, it wound round and round in the slip stream behind him in typical roman candle fashion. No amount of pulling on the static line from inside the aircraft by the dispatchers could get this man to the door, so the decision was made to fly to Poole harbour, alert the Royal Navy and with flaps down to fly really slow and low and have the static line cut. This they did but to avoid a stall this meant that the man was released at 80 to 90 mph and despite their best efforts the paratrooper was dead when recovered from the water. It is believed that the Para was in fact a young Lieutenant but I have not been able to trace his name rank or number. As a consequence of this accident my Dad was tasked with a few others to come up with a way of recovering such 'hang ups' in flight and to do so they first had a full size dummy made which was of the correct weight for a typical soldier (and not to be confused with those Para dummies, of the sort dropped into Normandy). Test flights were then carried out with the dummy wearing a parachute pack which was then thrown out with a fixed static line. At first it was thought that just a long barge pole might do the trick in that the dispatchers could hook in the man but the slip stream was too high and so another method was thought up. This involved fitting a clamp to the static line and placing it as far down it as the crew could reach. This clamp could be put in place and tightened quickly. On the clamp was a shackle which attached to a steel cable which in turn was connected to a winch attached to the bulkhead behind the cockpit. I don't think the winch was electric but rather a hand winch but nevertheless it had the desired effect and with the clamp in place it was possible to retrieve a man back to the door for the men with barge poles to assist in hauling the Para aboard. Despite its success I have never heard of this mechanism or method ever being fitted as standard to any Allied aircraft in WW2 or ever since. Perhaps the design of British parachute packs was changed to make sure it never happened again or men were just cut 'free' if it ever happened again and were counted as just another loss!

I suppose you will also need to consider how much or how little the panel being restored will flex with driving and whether it is going to get the same kind of damage after restoration that the part received when in use by its original owner.

Apart from first aid kits the French also want drivers to have their high visibility jacket within easy reach when driving and I think a set of spare bulbs is also a must. I have been told recently by a French colleague that the requirement to have a breathalyser kit is still undecided in France but I carry one anyway, as knowing my luck they would change the law half way through my trip!

From experience I wanted to mention to anyone travelling to Europe, perhaps for Normandy or Arnhem anniversaries in a few weeks, that you should have an European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) with you and one for the rest of the family too. This card replaces the old Form E111 and the new card lasts 5 years from issue. Last year on a battlefield tour of the Western Front I badly slashed my hand down to the tendons and went to French A&E in Doullens. Once they saw my EHIC and passport I had my hand operated on and stitched up. I did not have to pay anything at the time but once I was home in the UK I got a letter in French from the hospital asking for a portion of the cost; about €40 in my case. This invoice needs to be paid by getting a Euro draft from your bank and posting it off - but the cost can then be refunded by the UK Government, from an office in Newcastle (except the bank charges!). To get a refund you call Newcastle on the number on the card and they will send you an application for a refund. BTW - don't ignore the letter from the hospital other wise they will send another and add penalty interest to the original sum! In view of the fact that the sum is refunded when you are back home, the cost is understandably not covered under your travel insurance. EHIC will not cover any private medical healthcare or costs such as being flownback to the UK, or lost or stolen property. Therefore, it is important to have both an EHIC and a valid private travel insurance policy. Some insurers now insist you hold an EHIC and many will waive the excess if you have one. When applying for an EHIC only do so through the official Government site as other rogue sites charge you for what is issued free. Getting a card issued takes about 7 days, so there is still time! Lastly - thanks to the wonderful care I received at Doullens Hospital in France - I was seen immediately (and I mean immediately unlike the UK) and operated on shortly afterwards! As I was still in France when the stiches needed to come out 10 days later I went back to A&E in Doullens to find out which part of the hospital to attend to get the stiches out and they said no problem, we're quiet so we will do that for you now!

That's why my 'get me home spares box' now has a selection of coils and condensers to choose from!

I wonder why Land Rover decided to mount the coil horizontally over the engine then!

IMBS - but after finding some spare coils in the loft I gave them a shake and I could hear liquid inside; is this normal and does it mean they are unusable? Understandably when I have changed a coil before I have taken the new one out of its bag and just fitted it. Shaking it is the last thing I would have done that's why I have never noticed before!

Great work! Can you drive it with hatches open to give a better view? What else needs doing?

Worth explaining why the brakes are worse than any other MV?