Kuno Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Was asked by the boss to introduce myself... Found this forum accidentally and since I was mentioned in one of the threads, I thought it mit be good to participate a little bit. Actually I am not restoring old vehicles - ok; I own an LR.110 which ensures the workshop a good income and has the bad habit to refuse work in the middle of the desert. My interest in old vehicles is based on the interest on the Desert War of WW2. Since many years I am running behind the traces of this campaign and -seldom enough- have the luck to fnd one of the wrecked vehicles as a witness of that past time. So, it might be, that from time to time I will present the remnants of a wreck in the desert and ask the forum to help to identify it... Kuno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Hello Kuno, welcome aboard. What makes you so interested in the Desert Campaigns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 My interest in old vehicles is based on the interest on the Desert War of WW2. Since many years I am running behind the traces of this campaign Hi Kuno, Welcome to the forum. I have read your posts with interest on the MLU Forum and feel sure I have helped identify a desert find for you, an AEC, I think. regards, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Hello Kuno and welcome. Thanks for sharing experiences, its what makes the forum so good. Your expertise must be unique. :tup:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Hello Kuno, you have the pleasure of living near still unspoilt WW2 sites. How I envy you! I live near Veghel but there is hardly anything to remind us of what happened. There are a lot of monuments and signs but nothing that remained the way it was 60 years ago. Post all you can on this subject, I can't wait to see & read it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Welcome Kuno and I think all of those pictures had us staring at them transfixed! And I think we would all welcome you to tell us more about what you have seen and found. Kind regards. Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Welcome to the Friendy Forum , Please to leave any scorpions or simular critters in the Desert as the Club house grounds are far to cool and wet for their liking . On the other hand any photo's or stories of HMV discoveries are eagerly a waited !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 Thanks for the warm welcome! What makes me interested in the Desert War? Since I live in the area where it took place and since I like travelling the area it was hardly possible to avoid to come across the traces of the Desert Campaign. And "yes" - the people in MLU have already helped a lot in matters of identifying vehicle wrecks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 @ Richard; remember it was this AEC Militant: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Rimmer Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Hi Kuno, I too read with great interest your posts on MLU. I agree these vehicles etc should be left in-situ unless they are under direct threat of destruction and I have been doing something similar to you in regard to the WW2 aircraft crash sites in the area where I live in Wales,trying to foster a better understanding of the sites and why they are important. Do you have any information on the wreck of the B-24 Liberator "Lady Be Good" since she was recovered? Cheers, Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 (edited) The LBG Story is a quite sad one. Understandable that the USAAF has removed parts for testing after the plane was discovered. In 1994 (or was it 1995) the Dept. of Antiquities has transported what was left to TOBRUK to prevent the wreckage from further looting. However; once stored in a yard in the middle of the town, nothing happened any more for years. Only a few weeks ago a colleague addressed to me, telling that it has been moved again - this time to the EL ADEM AFB. Cannot say why and if this has really happened for the moment. --- Recently a made an appeal - or something like that- since I wanted to address to the local Authorities to at least to achive a real display of the plane, just to present it in the same "layout" as it has been found in the desert, to add some information plates etc.. Was hoping for some assistance from US, particuarily those people who maintain all the websites about the LBG - but no reaction at all. A pitty! Edited August 6, 2008 by Kuno2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Rimmer Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Thanks Kuno for the reply. It's a shame to see LBG in her present state and I do wonder if she would have survived better left where she was?. In your last photo it looks like a lot more damage has been caused to the lower fuselage. Wasn't there an attempt to get LBG returned to the US several years ago? I don't really see the point in this as there are several preserved Libs in the US already. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 Personally I would like to have seen it at is original place... have visited the crashsite last year. There are still pieces of the wreckage. Desperate place... Just to prove that it was not the crew who brought the LBG to TOBRUK who caused this immense damage to the wreck: Attached is a picture of the German traveller Reinhard Mazur, photographed just shortly before it has been removed: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Imagine coming across that scene in the desert. Incredible. Reminds me of a film scene, not sure which one though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Rimmer Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Hi Kuno, Thanks for the in-situ shot,very different from the photos taken just after she was found. Rick are you thinking of the movie Sole Survivor? it was based on the LBG story but in the film they used a B-25 Mitchell. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 It is always somehow a strange feeling, if you approach such loaction. Sometimes after hundrets of kilometres of driving through the desert. Then you stand in front of such wreck and try to imagine, how the crew must have felt (although in this particular case, the crew bailed out before the plane had landed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Never seen that movie Matt. It must be very surreal to travel through the emptiness of the desert and come across them. You are a lucky man Kuno! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 ...not always lucky. I drive a Landrover... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 I believe that all but one of the crewmen Vernon L. Moore - gunner who's remains have never been recovered , are thought to be buried by huge shifting sanddune's in an area some distance north of the crash site of the LBG . the ISBN 0-8306-8624-x of the Book "The Lady Be Good " published by Aero copyright 1962 Epilogue 1982 written by Dennis E. McClendon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 @ abn; actually all crewmembers have been found - except the one you have mentioned. After the plane was found empty, a huge search mission was initialized. One of the crew kept a diary... until the last moment. I am not sure, if the diary is mentioned in the book above - but it is a dramatic read. They were far more south than they had expected and they had no chance to reach anything when marching north. --- What not so many people know; about 200kms north of the crashsite of the LBG, an Italian torpedo-bomber had the same fate. Coming back from an attack on Allied shipping it went lost without trace. Until it was found in the early 1960s. The pilot managed to forceland the machine. He removed the compass and marched north to try to reach the track from Giarabub to Gialo. The others waited near the plane. He did not know, that this was not a major trafic rout but only an occassionally used track. Anyhow, he did not reach it and died in the dunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 I meant to say that all the others except him had been found sorry for the confusion .yes the book includes the entries from the diary written by Sgt. Ripslinger , as well as photo's of the crash site of the markers left by the crew , maps of the area and of the crew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 It is really strange that the last crewmember has never been found... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Im a bit confused here. If the last crewmember has never been found does that open up the possibility that he survived? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuno Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 Hi Rick; the area where they have bailed out makes it simply impossible that any one of them could have reached a safe place (water). I would assume that he has jumped only a little bit later than the others and could not find to the group once landed. Maybe he was hurt and could not walk. One day somebody will find him... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Rimmer Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 I agree,one day he may be found.Then again if you think of how many aircrew are still missing on land in Europe it may be a long time before he is found in somewhere as vast as the Libyian desert. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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