Then and Now

I was watching our daughter's return to Oz by Qantas this morning whilst following this thread from time to time.

QF10 passed over Nuremberg 60 minutes after departure LHR at 39'000ft and 485kts.

Times change!!

JohnB

This time last year we had a couple staying in one of our gites and they were visited by her parents - English Mum, German Dad. 70th Anniversary got mentioned, father slowly stated " I was four years old and we were staying in our country cottage, when at night I heard the aeroplanes over head, and the explosions. In the morning I went down to the lake, and went back and told my Mother someone had pulled out the plug in the Edersee". Stunned silence all round

My school had a 'Film Club' on a Saturday night displaying such films as Genevieve etc.. The audience would be parents/relatives all sitting on very small chairs in the gym. The Dambusters, newly released, was on the menu so the FZ family duly attended. Before the show a Flight Lieutenant stood up and told us all the history of it - he looked rather worried and very ill at ease which I thought was the result of being confronted by a such a load of kids.


It was only many years later that the penny dropped about the discomfort of the F/L, poor s*d, ... in the audience was my mate's father - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder.


The Bomber Command memorial is exceptionally moving - RIP

FZ - The Memorial - stunning, thought provoking, and much dust in the air, Was there with French veterans from Elvington last year

Great respect to all WWII Bomber Crews :D:D:D:D

But let's not forget the personal anguish that Barnes Wallis must have gone through on the night while the Op was on ... and when the losses started coming through on the W/T ...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nes_Wallis.jpg

So that'll be "F/L Due 11/09/91 O Poss" then :}

Odd indeed! I followed my own relatives 24hour previously on QF2, they passed 20km south of Weeze airport and the local area, where Mrs gr and self hitched up!

Took a screen shot and emailed it to them wishing them safe journey and good night!!

How times have changed indeed.

In the current Flypast magazine there are pictures the throttle box and yoke from Guy Gibsons bomber on that night, it was purloined from the hulk as it was being broken up.

ISTR reading that the WW2 Germans were surprised that the RAF didn't harrass the reconstruction work (No idea if they did or didn't).
No doubt that if the newly formed Germany and Great Britain had created an axis a hundred years ago they'd have been pretty formidable.
But, then, we were good mates with Argentina until a nutty president blew it.

In those days he was allowed to call his black Labrador dog 'Nigger' without the risk of losing his job . . .

Just as well eh? :ugh:

Aside from non mil but interested in all things WW2 etc and especialy as we were in Dortmund (2003 ish) and got into friendly drinking contest with the locals and turned out the men aged 50 almost all had relations killed in the Ruhr in the factories supporting the Nazi armament effort

and to a man / woman were glad the RAF and helped stopped Hitler! Respect

Les Munro is still alive and well living in Tauranga, New Zealand
:D

And Hopgood should have got a VC too.

Achieved a life-long ambition last year and stood – with a couple of hundred others – on the top of the Möhne at 0028 on 17 May and raised a class of ‘Raid on the Ruhr’ single malt with my beloved and her brother. Very atmospheric. It's unlikely we'll ever see their like again.

Did my yearly dams run on the 15th (couldn't make the 16th) in memory. I believe and stand to be corrected that Howden Dam, the top one of Ladybower and Derwent Dams was the one they practised on rather than Ladybower itself. How they managed to get lined up in time is beyond belief. I tipped in doing half the speed they were doing and at a height that was at all times 500' from persons, structures and vessels your honour and literally seconds later I was over the lip of the dam.

My hat goes off to those guys who found the things in the middle of Germany in the dark while being shot at. I've no idea how they did it.

It struck me as a surprising co-incidence that a turning point on the medium level solo Nav 1 on the JP at Cranwell was so close to the Ladybower dams. It was surprisingly easy to get a bit off track on that leg,
.....and to drift off the correct height too. A lot.

As I discovered later, almost all my course mates had identical problems ;)

It was busy the other day. Met a very nice Rockwell Commander coming the other way up the Derwent, all lights on as I had, sensible chap and then a couple of PA28s diving down over Hathersage to begin their run.

I've never understood why people run 'up' the dams rather than 'down' them. It's the wrong aspect for a reasonable approximation of the actual training missions and there's a large set of valley walls at the end that I suspect would outclimb any asthmatic GA a/c or at least make for some interesting and reflectful moments.

Quite I would hate to try and climb quickly in a PA 28 partically if its a 140 with 3 or 4 up youre lucky to get airbourne at all.