This Has Got to be Quote of the Century
Chief DOE bloke at Valley when I was there was an amiable ex-Halifax skipper who had parted company with said beast over Germany one dark night.
But he and his wife developed a friendship with the locals of the city in question after the war, having gone back to talk things over.
A few years later they were visiting Munich around the time of the Olympics as guests of the friendly Germans. DOE chap's wife was much taken by all the work which had been done for the Olympics as she exclaimed "What a beautiful, modern city with so many attractive new buildings!"
"Ach, Ja", replied their host, "But your husband voz our chief town planner!".
Ve DO haff a sense of humour!
And another flash of German humour:
Just after the wall came down and the borders opened, hordes of Trabbis poured over with their enthusiastic occupants keen to escape from the greyness of East Germany. Now, had this been the UK it would have been like Glastonbury without the music; hundreds of people camped in mud and squalor looking pretty desperate. But, of course, this was Germany. Everyone was checked in, processed and given somewhere warm and dry in a transit camp before going on to their destinations. I asked a German mate how they'd done this - was this some grand Op Order which had been written years before just waiting to be put into effect? Or just German efficiency.
"Ach, it voss neither, really. You see........ve Tchermans know a thing or two about camps" he said in a cartoon accent!
But he and his wife developed a friendship with the locals of the city in question after the war, having gone back to talk things over.
A few years later they were visiting Munich around the time of the Olympics as guests of the friendly Germans. DOE chap's wife was much taken by all the work which had been done for the Olympics as she exclaimed "What a beautiful, modern city with so many attractive new buildings!"
"Ach, Ja", replied their host, "But your husband voz our chief town planner!".
Ve DO haff a sense of humour!
And another flash of German humour:
Just after the wall came down and the borders opened, hordes of Trabbis poured over with their enthusiastic occupants keen to escape from the greyness of East Germany. Now, had this been the UK it would have been like Glastonbury without the music; hundreds of people camped in mud and squalor looking pretty desperate. But, of course, this was Germany. Everyone was checked in, processed and given somewhere warm and dry in a transit camp before going on to their destinations. I asked a German mate how they'd done this - was this some grand Op Order which had been written years before just waiting to be put into effect? Or just German efficiency.
"Ach, it voss neither, really. You see........ve Tchermans know a thing or two about camps" he said in a cartoon accent!
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My dad had the privilege of showing Mick Martin of Dambusters and 617 fame around Hamburg, when he was commencing his final posting running (I think) the RAF's German operations. Peering out of the limo at the gleaming, prosperous city with its extensive open spaces, he uttered the immortal words "Dja know, I reckon I've done wonders to improve the inner-city parking facilities around here." 
One of my German Airbus chums was bemoaning the lack of car parking at the Finkenwerder facility.
One not to be missed, that was...
"Would you like me to have a word with Bomber Command for you?", I asked......
One not to be missed, that was...
"Would you like me to have a word with Bomber Command for you?", I asked......
pshakey,
"about 10s before he hit the floor of the Officers' Mess bar"
er, presumably, if this is true, then also about thirty seconds before the end of someones career?
"about 10s before he hit the floor of the Officers' Mess bar"
er, presumably, if this is true, then also about thirty seconds before the end of someones career?
Join Date: Mar 2001
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I once heard about a Prussian General of the nineteenth century who was seated upon his horse observing a battle. His staff were also mounted nearby when a junior officer next to the General was shot in the head spattering the General. The General calmly removed a handkerchief and, as he wiped the gore off his jacket, remarked "I never realised Schmidt had so much brains"
Or the hideous Mrs Doubtfire* in the Malvinas who returned a Flight Safety meeting calling notice on which she'd scrawled "Nothing to do with Admin Wg".......
* also know as the Money Monster, whose stinginess at Ellsworth during Prairie Vortex was legendary. And I gather that her 'Pig Pot' reached something well over $500 until some wag promised to split it with her 50/50 so long as 'the deed' was not committed!
* also know as the Money Monster, whose stinginess at Ellsworth during Prairie Vortex was legendary. And I gather that her 'Pig Pot' reached something well over $500 until some wag promised to split it with her 50/50 so long as 'the deed' was not committed!
