BlackPowderBurner
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- the chesterfield
Fudd lore 
Fudd lore (African)
Fudd lore (African)
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Sometimes Grade 9 sucks more than you'd think.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Former Argentine Pucara ground attack aircraft in RAF service:
Meanwhile, in 1941, the Tisdale brothers, New Zealand sporting goods dealers, ordered an Oberndorf Mauser Model B sporting rifle from Mauser in Nazi Germany, and IT WAS DELIVERED....two years into the war. (see Jon Speed, The Mauser Archive, Collector Grade Publications, 2007, pp 174-175
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
HMCS Prince David in the Panama Canal
The three former liners (Prince Robert, Prince David, and Prince Henry), were converted at some cost to AMC's. They were not particularly well suited but every other navy was in similar circumstances. These three cruisers were like a shadow squadron which helped Canada add a different, highly adaptable layer to its international committments. Pretty interesting story.
In the initial conversions, the ships had a primary armament of 6" single guns which had no stabilization or fire control systems.
But in those days, effective fire ctrl. & stabilization was considered an irrelevant luxury. Interesting because these three ships had a high tendency to roll.
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I didn't notice any of the indigenous troops I saw having any more bad habits than other troops, when it came to shooting, as long as they received "good instruction" from their trainers and got enough time in at the range.Apparently a lot of these people believed that if you set the rear sight to a bigger number, the rifle became more powerful.
The worst habit was blinking just as they pulled the trigger, commonly called "flinching"
It could be easily detected on the range, if the trainers were interested and observant enough.
I found they tended to take better care of their stuff in the field, as long as they had the proper equipment issued. Mind you, it wasn't unusual to see them swap out footwear for bare feet or sandals, to save their issued boots. Once they realized worn out or damaged footwear would be replaced, they weren't so worried about it. Getting them to wear socks????????????
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
You're technically correct, depending on one's definition of "in service". The Brits captured a whack of 'em including four airworthy ones, one of which went to the A&AEE at Boscombe Downs. That's the one in the pic. Was it an issue aircraft, flown in substantial numbers? Nope. But it did get a service number on the tail and was flown by RAF personnel in an official capacity. Is that not "in service"?
Why pick nits, bud?
Meanwhile, pictures:
Staggerwing in USAAF service.
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Wish I'd had more time to really get some better pics of this BV-206, but had other things to do that day.
Swedish Cam? Possibly Canadian? Anyone want to offer an opinion? Surplus, current status: privately owned, leased to AB Forestry, hauling smoke eaters and their gear back and forth from the fire line near Red Earth, AB.
These are just great, tough little go-anywhere vehicles. 45 years on, still in production, largely unchanged. Not many vehicles have that kind of track record.
Swedish Cam? Possibly Canadian? Anyone want to offer an opinion? Surplus, current status: privately owned, leased to AB Forestry, hauling smoke eaters and their gear back and forth from the fire line near Red Earth, AB.
These are just great, tough little go-anywhere vehicles. 45 years on, still in production, largely unchanged. Not many vehicles have that kind of track record.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
'The war diary of Raymond Chandler'
https://strandmag.com/raymond-chandler-and-the-trauma-of-war/
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is traditionally viewed as the image of a chivalric knight seeking justice and aiming to right the wrongs of a corrupt society. But what if we could change this established belief simply by reexamining one important and overlooked part of Chandler’s life? What if, instead of the brave but mythic Galahad of Arthurian legend, Marlowe could become someone much more authentic and flawed? How would that reassessment change our view of the detective and, more importantly, Chandler? My suggestion here is that this is certainly possible if we consider the effect of Chandler’s experiences during the First World War.
Very briefly, then, I’d like to outline how traumatic Chandler’s war experience would have been by drawing upon personal research into the conditions he faced on the French front line.
Despite being an American citizen, Chandler chose to enlist with the Canadian Army in August 1917 because, having spent his childhood in England, he preferred the British military uniform. Arriving on the French front line in March 1918, Chandler was immediately thrown into action: his battalion, the 7th Canadian Infantry, was suffering heavy bombardment and gas attacks at their reserve position at Loos. After being in France for fewer than four weeks, Chandler’s battalion was rotated into the front line in the area of Vimy Ridge, and in the Arras region of northern France on two further occasions, where some of the bloodiest battles of the war were taking place. That made three front line tours during the three short months Chandler was stationed in France.
If that wasn’t traumatic enough, when the battalion was not on the front line, the conditions in reserve weren’t much better. Located near Loos and Arras, the battalion was never more than 10 kilometers from the front line and never completely safe from bombardment. The 7th Battalion War Diaries, indicating their day-to-day activities, show that the battalion came under frequent attack from long-range enemy artillery fire and that, distressingly, more Canadian soldiers were actually killed in reserve than on the front line.
Unlike biographers’ claims that Chandler was injured on the front line and his platoon killed, there is no evidence of this in his military file. Instead, on 12th June 1918, Chandler transferred back to England and was seconded to the newly established Royal Air Force. Having left behind his comrades, if ever there was a trigger for survivor guilt, this would have been it. Chandler’s transfer occurred at precisely the time when the four Canadian divisions in France were reorganized in preparation for dispatch to Amiens and the final bloody push against the German line that would end the war.
It’s disappointing that Chandler’s biographers overlooked the significance of his war experience, skimming over this section of his life with imprecision and factual errors. What if many of Chandler’s personality traits, dismissed as mere eccentricities—alcoholism, fluctuating emotions, restlessness, depression, suicide attempts—were actually symptoms of something more sinister? Although it has been known by various names—nostalgia, shell shock, combat neurosis—post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) fits with Chandler’s post-combat symptoms. From here, it isn’t a huge leap to suggest that some of those symptoms were projected onto his detective. After all, as Ross Macdonald claimed, “A novelist lives through his characters” (28).
More to the article at the link
https://strandmag.com/raymond-chandler-and-the-trauma-of-war/
Raymond Chandler and the Trauma of War
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is traditionally viewed as the image of a chivalric knight seeking justice and aiming to right the wrongs of a corrupt society. But what if we could change this established belief simply by reexamining one important and overlooked part of Chandler’s life? What if, instead of the brave but mythic Galahad of Arthurian legend, Marlowe could become someone much more authentic and flawed? How would that reassessment change our view of the detective and, more importantly, Chandler? My suggestion here is that this is certainly possible if we consider the effect of Chandler’s experiences during the First World War.
Very briefly, then, I’d like to outline how traumatic Chandler’s war experience would have been by drawing upon personal research into the conditions he faced on the French front line.
Despite being an American citizen, Chandler chose to enlist with the Canadian Army in August 1917 because, having spent his childhood in England, he preferred the British military uniform. Arriving on the French front line in March 1918, Chandler was immediately thrown into action: his battalion, the 7th Canadian Infantry, was suffering heavy bombardment and gas attacks at their reserve position at Loos. After being in France for fewer than four weeks, Chandler’s battalion was rotated into the front line in the area of Vimy Ridge, and in the Arras region of northern France on two further occasions, where some of the bloodiest battles of the war were taking place. That made three front line tours during the three short months Chandler was stationed in France.
If that wasn’t traumatic enough, when the battalion was not on the front line, the conditions in reserve weren’t much better. Located near Loos and Arras, the battalion was never more than 10 kilometers from the front line and never completely safe from bombardment. The 7th Battalion War Diaries, indicating their day-to-day activities, show that the battalion came under frequent attack from long-range enemy artillery fire and that, distressingly, more Canadian soldiers were actually killed in reserve than on the front line.
Unlike biographers’ claims that Chandler was injured on the front line and his platoon killed, there is no evidence of this in his military file. Instead, on 12th June 1918, Chandler transferred back to England and was seconded to the newly established Royal Air Force. Having left behind his comrades, if ever there was a trigger for survivor guilt, this would have been it. Chandler’s transfer occurred at precisely the time when the four Canadian divisions in France were reorganized in preparation for dispatch to Amiens and the final bloody push against the German line that would end the war.
It’s disappointing that Chandler’s biographers overlooked the significance of his war experience, skimming over this section of his life with imprecision and factual errors. What if many of Chandler’s personality traits, dismissed as mere eccentricities—alcoholism, fluctuating emotions, restlessness, depression, suicide attempts—were actually symptoms of something more sinister? Although it has been known by various names—nostalgia, shell shock, combat neurosis—post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) fits with Chandler’s post-combat symptoms. From here, it isn’t a huge leap to suggest that some of those symptoms were projected onto his detective. After all, as Ross Macdonald claimed, “A novelist lives through his characters” (28).
More to the article at the link
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Thanks for that, Tony. I had no idea. This caught my eye:
It's been said that one can't be a really sharp comedian without a tragic background of some kind - a terrible childhood is usually the prerequisite. Interesting how some people deal creatively with the horrible things they run into in their lives.
It's been said that one can't be a really sharp comedian without a tragic background of some kind - a terrible childhood is usually the prerequisite. Interesting how some people deal creatively with the horrible things they run into in their lives.
Oh these are cool indeed. They are used in Antarctica, so that tells you something about their reliability. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandvagn_206
It is a mite muddy in that part of Alberta. LOL
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
A lot of us grew up with men like this still around, and guys in their fifties similar although WWII vets and what was their story?
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
Neat!
Pretty sure there was one of those up at the Keg River site that AB Forestry had set up where I was repairing Jet-A refueling gear last week or so too.
I’ve always wanted something like that for hunting and general tomfoolery.
They get used in the patch fairly often, if you are ever near Valleyview you cant help but see them
https://lowimpact.com/
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
