Bomber Command Memorial
Pb:
Link to the laying of the foundation stone ceremony here:
BBC News - Green Park Bomber Command memorial stone laid
Between them Robin Gibb and Tony Iveson seem to have said it all. Enough for me anyway.
Good to hear from you again Hugh, and to see that you are still keeping us all informed and inline
cannot immediately find a link to the ceremony.
BBC News - Green Park Bomber Command memorial stone laid
Between them Robin Gibb and Tony Iveson seem to have said it all. Enough for me anyway.
Good to hear from you again Hugh, and to see that you are still keeping us all informed and inline
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: @exRAF_Al
Posts: 3,297
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
.. Fighter Command heroes keeping the enemy away from our door, but the moment we go into their backyards and kick their dustbins about, people start complaining about it.
Hope you are well Chuggers.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Toulouse area, France
Age: 93
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
At ground level - on the other side
Not really very fer off-thread (I hope) - Working in the Ruhr in the early 1970s, I lived in a street where the gaps (or new-builds) indicated a stick of bombs, leading up towards the local supermarket, which had been building tanks during the "events of the 1940s". The last bomb had got it fair and square... Nice thought, but not so nice for the houses on the way. Made a good supermarket after the war, though.
Inside the factory building heavy industrial gas turbines (not far from where I was living) where I worked, I was told that output after bombing raids hardly decreased, because most bombs that hit it exploded after hitting the corrugated roof, but before hitting the floor. The heavy machinery in use was mounted on 2 metres of concrete and was almost undamaged most of the time, and after a raid was covered with tarpaulins to enable production to continue almost unabated (but see below).
My informant, who had been there at the time, said that despite their ability to go on producing, living with frequent raids (and even more frequent alerts) was "very draining". Add to this all the other stresses of wartime living, and you get the picture of slowly reducing ability to keep up production rates ...
But the Bomber Command planners don't seem to have realised how factories are really built ...
PS - Back on-thread: It really is high time the heroism and endurance of Bomber Command crews in wartime was recognised, despite the post-war afterthoughts and 20/20 hindsight of the carping mimsies.
Inside the factory building heavy industrial gas turbines (not far from where I was living) where I worked, I was told that output after bombing raids hardly decreased, because most bombs that hit it exploded after hitting the corrugated roof, but before hitting the floor. The heavy machinery in use was mounted on 2 metres of concrete and was almost undamaged most of the time, and after a raid was covered with tarpaulins to enable production to continue almost unabated (but see below).
My informant, who had been there at the time, said that despite their ability to go on producing, living with frequent raids (and even more frequent alerts) was "very draining". Add to this all the other stresses of wartime living, and you get the picture of slowly reducing ability to keep up production rates ...
But the Bomber Command planners don't seem to have realised how factories are really built ...
PS - Back on-thread: It really is high time the heroism and endurance of Bomber Command crews in wartime was recognised, despite the post-war afterthoughts and 20/20 hindsight of the carping mimsies.
Last edited by Jig Peter; 9th May 2011 at 15:46. Reason: add PS
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: over the hills and far away
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bomber Command Memorial
At last work is underway, and about time too. A good clip with Robin Gibb and Tony Iveson, but mention must be made of MRAF Sir Michael Beetham (Lancaster pilot aged 20 on 50 Sqn, RAF Skellingthorpe). Sir Michael (88 this year) has been tireless in his quest for this memorial. (He can be seen with his walking stick in the initial shot of the clergy blessing).
May I push his recently published biography, Stay the Distance, written by Peter Jacobs. An excellent read about this last CAS to have seen active service in WW II; a pioneer of in-flight refuelling; holder of a world record for endurance flight; the longest serving CAS since Trenchard; the architect of the Black Buck raids on Stanley;..... etc etc.
May I push his recently published biography, Stay the Distance, written by Peter Jacobs. An excellent read about this last CAS to have seen active service in WW II; a pioneer of in-flight refuelling; holder of a world record for endurance flight; the longest serving CAS since Trenchard; the architect of the Black Buck raids on Stanley;..... etc etc.
