Useless trivia about cats/rabbits. When skinned and heads/tails removed the only way to tell the difference would be a genetic test to tell them apart. Hence, you’ll find references to roof rabbit in some WW2 books for this food source.
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Question on the German holding his unit mascot
What arm shield is he wearing
I presume he's regular army, why the death's head pin on his field cap
Does anyone actually know who the german is and what became of him
He's wearing a knight's cross, so maybe there's documentation on him someplace
What arm shield is he wearing
I presume he's regular army, why the death's head pin on his field cap
Does anyone actually know who the german is and what became of him
He's wearing a knight's cross, so maybe there's documentation on him someplace
Far from an expert on Jerry uniforms, but the arm shield is a Crimean (Krim) campaign badge.
http://www.militaryantiquestoronto.com/viewphoto.php?x=0
http://www.militaryantiquestoronto.com/viewphoto.php?x=0
The Military Cross presentations included the RCR Padre “Rusty Wilkes” ... my father served with him through outFound this while looking through some of my dad's stuff.
Sicily and Italy ..... remarkable man!
https://www.anglican.ca/amo/news/rusty_wilkes/
worth reading!
incidentally ‘Pounder’ we were in Churchill for almost three years in the ‘50’s.
The Wizard
CGN Regular
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
Now that is telling like it is or was. No PC back then!
I believe I read a story about an American spotter plane pilot that had several kills using bazookas fired from his aircraft.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Bader was an absolute unit. An entirely unstoppable man. If anyone here hasn't read "Reach for the Sky", they're wildly overdue.
A Calgary lad was a pretty important member of 242 Squadron. Willie McKnight is on the right here:
McKnight had amassed 17 victories when he was lost January 12, 1941.
For those who live in Calgary, please spare this man a thought next time you drive out to the airport on McKnight Boulevard.
I was talking to an old and now deceased friend, far to many, Austin Moorcroft, a Canadian that flew in the Battle of Britain.
He had all sorts of stories to tell, mostly not about the battles but about personal things of himself and the people he flew with/against.
The one thing that was their worst enemy was FATIGUE.
He told me FATIGUE killed more pilots during WWII than anything else. The adrenaline rushes and roller coaster come downs often clouded judgement or worse. Landings after particularly hairy conflicts proved disastrous on many occasions. This was true of all pilots, no matter which side they flew for.
He told me they would often get scrambled several time per day. They were short of pilots and some of the aircraft were barely serviceable. Often the pilots worked with their mechanics to keep them flying and just didn't report things that weren't absolutely crucial for safety so the "birds" as he called them could stay in the fight. Cockpit heaters were notorious for failing. At the upper ranges of their altitude ceilings the temps in the cockpit could be -40c. Yes, they were dressed for it but crammed into a tight seat and not moving brought on hypothermia and even more fatigue.
He told me once that he caught himself crying on the way back to the base. He kept his goggles on so no one would notice. After that, he told me he hadn't noticed that a lot of fellows kept their goggle on as well, when heading back to the debriefing shack.
I can fully understand what happens when coming of an adrenaline rush after an extended period of stress. The consequences can be lethal in so many ways.
Those were very brave men IMHO
He had all sorts of stories to tell, mostly not about the battles but about personal things of himself and the people he flew with/against.
The one thing that was their worst enemy was FATIGUE.
He told me FATIGUE killed more pilots during WWII than anything else. The adrenaline rushes and roller coaster come downs often clouded judgement or worse. Landings after particularly hairy conflicts proved disastrous on many occasions. This was true of all pilots, no matter which side they flew for.
He told me they would often get scrambled several time per day. They were short of pilots and some of the aircraft were barely serviceable. Often the pilots worked with their mechanics to keep them flying and just didn't report things that weren't absolutely crucial for safety so the "birds" as he called them could stay in the fight. Cockpit heaters were notorious for failing. At the upper ranges of their altitude ceilings the temps in the cockpit could be -40c. Yes, they were dressed for it but crammed into a tight seat and not moving brought on hypothermia and even more fatigue.
He told me once that he caught himself crying on the way back to the base. He kept his goggles on so no one would notice. After that, he told me he hadn't noticed that a lot of fellows kept their goggle on as well, when heading back to the debriefing shack.
I can fully understand what happens when coming of an adrenaline rush after an extended period of stress. The consequences can be lethal in so many ways.
Those were very brave men IMHO
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Bader was an absolute unit. An entirely unstoppable man. If anyone here hasn't read "Reach for the Sky", they're wildly overdue.
A Calgary lad was a pretty important member of 242 Squadron. Willie McKnight is on the right here:
McKnight had amassed 17 victories when he was lost January 12, 1941.
For those who live in Calgary, please spare this man a thought next time you drive out to the airport on McKnight Boulevard.
Bader's mechanic was also from Calgary. Barlow Trail is named after him.
Auggie D.
Bader was an absolute unit. An entirely unstoppable man. If anyone here hasn't read "Reach for the Sky", they're wildly overdue.
A Calgary lad was a pretty important member of 242 Squadron. Willie McKnight is on the right here:
McKnight had amassed 17 victories when he was lost January 12, 1941.
For those who live in Calgary, please spare this man a thought next time you drive out to the airport on McKnight Boulevard.
Betting very few people know where the name came from. We're hung up on Native names now.
Grizz
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
This time last week I was satisfying a lifelong wish to see the Duxford branch of the IWM. If you're an airplane nerd, it's the equivalent of what the Cody museum is for gunfolk. So many Spitfires.
I bought a book - Geoffrey Wellum's First Light. At risk of spoiling the story, that young man joined up right around his 18th birthday and was totally spent - done, worn out, psychologically fragile, physically incapable of continuing - by the time he was 21.
Three years. Damn good pilot, exceedingly lucky. Most of his frieds were dead by the time the MO said "That's enough, Wellum".
Every year on Remembrance Day, I think of all the sacrifices made. Not everyone gave everything. But peaking in your life before you can drink legally is a hard thing, and losing most of your social group to fire, impact, hypothermia, maltreatment... That takes a toll too, and should be remembered and appreciated.
I bought a book - Geoffrey Wellum's First Light. At risk of spoiling the story, that young man joined up right around his 18th birthday and was totally spent - done, worn out, psychologically fragile, physically incapable of continuing - by the time he was 21.
Three years. Damn good pilot, exceedingly lucky. Most of his frieds were dead by the time the MO said "That's enough, Wellum".
Every year on Remembrance Day, I think of all the sacrifices made. Not everyone gave everything. But peaking in your life before you can drink legally is a hard thing, and losing most of your social group to fire, impact, hypothermia, maltreatment... That takes a toll too, and should be remembered and appreciated.
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
It's a good day when you learn something. I had no idea Noel Barlow was the Barlow of the Trail.
A little article here: https://athabaskang07.files.wordpre...calgary-named-after-him-but-nobody-knows1.pdf
Thanks for that, Augie.
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