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German Accounts of Battle of Britain Missions

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German Accounts of Battle of Britain Missions

Old 10th Sep 2008, 20:34
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I think you'll find his name was Capt Mainwaring.
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Old 10th Sep 2008, 21:25
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Was not Adolf Galland one of the technical advicers for the Battle of Britain movie?
So the Luftwaffe scenes should be correct.
Der Absolute Hammer (top name btw!). That very reliable site imdb.com confirms your comment. Good call. That would explain a lot.

Regards,

Eagle402
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Old 10th Sep 2008, 21:54
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Capt Mainwaring.
Well spotted Sloppy I was waiting to see how long it would take.
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Old 10th Sep 2008, 22:17
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Elegantly done goudie.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the classic story of the London family who survived the Blitz despite their street getting a real doing by the V-bombs.

"They say every bomb has someone's name on it, we were o.k. but Mr and Mrs Doodlebug next door never stood a chance"...

I'll get my cape....
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 08:25
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German Accounts of Battle of Britain

There are loads of quotations from WW2 Luftwaffe fighter & bomber pilots in "Forgotten Voices" (of the Blitz and Battle of Britain) by Joshua Levine (ISBN 00919003-X) in association with the IWM. You should be able to get plenty of material from there.
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 16:10
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Not quite relevant to the B of B, so apologies, but a chum of mine ( even older than me ) was a child in London & terrified by V-1's, evacuated to Wales by request; he only put that personal ghost to rest when I photographed him making a rude gesture to the V-1 at Duxford in the 1990's !

My father and uncle - both ending up as BAe / Hawkers foremen/ managers, spent their late childhood just before volunteering spending their time in West Sussex cycling to B of B crashes - we still have Bf109 cannon shells etc in our garage, and a Bf109 exhaust manifold complete with a Spitfire .303 round lodged in it - dad observed the dogfight then got on his pushbike pronto to the site near Billingshurst, West Sussex.

As one may imagine, he also saw some horrible things - but it put him in 'good' stead for looking after Seafires & Hellcats at Salerno & the far east...
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 19:01
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LIVE cannon shells by chance??
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 20:25
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and a Bf109 exhaust manifold complete with a Spitfire .303 round lodged in it
Pictures please.
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 20:55
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So, after Germany 'Lost' the war, they make rubbish cars, have trains that never show up, and random waste collection....... hmmmm who really won I wonder?

Advo
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 21:10
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hmmmm who really won I wonder
?

We did, because we didn't end up living under the Nazi Jackboot.
Cars, Trains etc don't compare with having Hitler's thugs over here. I suppose it depends on one's values.
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 21:29
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Cannon shells etc

Yes,they were live...dad & uncles developed a system of putting them in a vice then hitting with a hammer & punch- if nothing else, scared the crap out of the local rabbits...

My grandfather was a ground to air gunner at Westhampnett / Goodwood, but the only chance he got of a shot at a low & slow Heinkel 111, he had the barrel of his rifle jammed by a 4 x 2 cleaning cloth - from what I'm told, Morris Dancers had nothing on him prancing through tears of frustration !

I'll try to dig out the Bf109 manifold & lodged bullet then post a photo' of it.

DZ
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Old 11th Sep 2008, 22:42
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So, after Germany 'Lost' the war, they make rubbish cars, have trains that never show up, and random waste collection....... hmmmm who really won I wonder?
There are a few Germans around who might claim to have lost the war, but won the peace -- having ended up with a better standard of living than Britain.

Perhaps, but those who did were fortunate in having the British or Americans as the occupying power. Not all of Germany was so fortunate, and I think for the most part they realise it.
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Old 12th Sep 2008, 04:45
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Nudging back on track for a moment:

the "Luftwaffe War Diaries" give an interesting perspective, as does "Design For Flight - the Kurt Tank Story" by Heinz Conradis. Kurt Tank of course rose to be the head of the Focke-Wulf company.

There was an interesting incident in 1979 or 1980 during the BOB reception in the Rotunda of the British Embassy in Washington DC. We had invited some of the GAF folks over from their embassy, and the British ambassador at the time commented on the fact that they were there. The GAF colonel overheard the remark and said why shouldn't we be here? after all, you couldn't have done it without us. Which ended up with drinks all round.

Bob C
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