Picture of the day

A good friend of mine has one of the sheet steel pickelhaube helmets mentioned in the Wiki article in his possession. His Great Grandfather picked it up off the battlefield while he was serving as a horse messenger, though I can't recall if he was serving with the Canadians or the French. (Have to ask when exactly the family came over here). The spike is missing though, but it would make sense if they were removing them during front line duty after discovering they made excellent target markers. It's most interesting feature perhaps is the bullet hole through the forehead, looks like it was fairly brittle metal, the edges of the hole are rather jagged, like it shattered a little.
 
silverfoxdj said:
Thanks so in short because they thought it was cool..
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It supposed to be intimidating because it was reminiscent of "barbarian" helmets, such as the Huns, Goths etc.

Kaiser Bill got all worked up, as he was inclined to do, in 1900 when sending his troops off to suppress the "Boxers" in China. He told them to make a name for themselves like the Huns had done, and the name stuck! ht tp://www.h-net.org/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/china.html

The Bolsheviks adopted something similar for its "kool" factor as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budenovka
 
hnachaj said:
Here is a pair of Grumman Albatross at the Boulder City Airport, yesterday.
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Henry
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Flew a T6 Texan there a few years ago. Was well worth the money for a 30 min flight.

Got to sit in this years ago just before it got retired. No flight though. Pilot said the windows leaked like a sieve on take off haha. Missed seeing it a second time when I visited the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa last December. The second storage hangar was closed to the public.

RCMP Grumman G21a Goose II.
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This Goose was manufactured by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in 1944, as part of a U.S. Navy contract. It was acquired by the RCAF that same year and used for light transport duties. It was transferred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 1946, and from then on was used throughout Canada in missing person and missing or wanted boat and vehicle searches, as well as for medical transfers and transportation. Its registration, CF-MPG, apparently stands for Mounted Police Goose. When it was retired in 1994, the Goose had been in continuous public service longer than any other Canadian civil aircraft.

In 1995, a campaign by the Museum and supporters in British Columbia prevented the aircraft from being exported to the United States, and led to the RCMP and the British Columbia government donating it to the Museum in recognition of its long service record.
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hnachaj said:
Here is a pair of Grumman Albatross at the Boulder City Airport, yesterday.
IMG_3442.jpg

IMG_3440.jpg


Henry
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My father was stationed in gander with the RCAF and to get his flight pay he would fly with anyone passing through. So got to fly in quite a few different aircraft. That included a US Navy Albatross. His only comment to me was that it was under powered.
 
jwhc said:
Good day Gunnutz :) New day, new picture :)



Cheers
Joe
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It must have taken a very brave or very foolish man to get into some of these early aircraft and fly off to be shot at. Was there any sort of armament on these ones or were they of the fly around shooting at each other with service rifle and pistol variety?
 
"The Taube was very popular prior to the First World War, and it was also used by the air forces of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Even the Royal Flying Corps operated at least one Taube in 1912. On November 1, 1911, Giulio Gavotti, an Italian aviator, had dropped the world's first aerial bomb from his Taube monoplane over the Ain Zara oasis in Libya.[1] Once the war began, it quickly proved inferior as a serious warplane and as a result was soon replaced by newer and more effective designs."

Interesting. Turns out they were used to fly propaganda missions over Paris early in the war as well, dropping leaflets.
 


Gabes, Tunisia, Spring 1943: this Supermarine Spitfire, aircraft JG726 AN-L, of No 417 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, scrapped (according the IWM) after a ground collision with a Hudson during take-off on 19 April 1943, being cannibalized for spare parts. at Gabes, Tunisia. Victor Sierra
 


Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vbs of No. 417 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, flying in loose formation over the Tunisian desert on a bomber escort operation, 1943. Formed in England on 27 November 1941 at RAF Charmy Down, known as the "City of Windsor", and equipped with Hurricanes, the No 417 Squadron RCAF, was deployed in Egypt and, re-equipped with Spitfires, followed the Allied advance through the North African Western Desert and based in Tunisia. After the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, the 417 Squadron was deployed in Italy, for follow the Allied advance, where was disbanded on July 1, 1945.
 


Air and ground crews of No 417 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force line up for bully and tea on a desert airfield in North Africa, May 1943. The RCAF’s No 417 Squadron was transferred from Fighter Command to the Desert Air Force and sent to the Middle East in June 1942. In February 1943 the No 417, equipped with Spitfire, was moved to Tripoli and incorporated into No 244 Wing. After the North African campaign the No 417 was deployed in Italy.
 


Italian Campaign, near San Leonardo di Ortona, in the vicinity of the Moro river, Central-Eastern Italy, 10 December 1943: Sergeant George A. Game of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit operating his camera between the cadavers of two German soldier killed during the fierce fights in the Ortona area between units of the British 8th Army and the German 10. Armee.
 
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