What did you do in the war gran ?

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Very dramatic footage of an evoctive beautiful warplane in action. I dont wish to take anything away from the Spitfire, it was a marvelous aircraft. However if you are looking for the victor in the battle of Britain, that honour has to go to the workhorse Hawker Hurricane.

Another plane that deserves a mention was the De Haviland Mosquito fighter bomber. It was made from wood with 2 Merlin (spitfire) engines and was arguabley the fastest aircraft in the world whe it was introduced

"In 1940 I could fly at least as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now. It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito, I turn green with envy. The British who can afford alluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again" -- Hermann Goring 1943
 
Well done to the Spitfires.
As mentioned the Hurricanes and Mossies.
The Lancs and numerous others.

Most of all to the pilots, their supporting services. And finally the civillians who assisted and suffered during.
 
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During WW2 my mother was conscripted from the North East to Manchester to work on the manufacture of Lancaster bombers. She was a hydraulics fitter installing the undercarriages
 
When evolving from a teenager into another lifeform ( So my Mother said), I rented a house from a "old man".
Turned out he was a tail gunner in the Lancasters, a beer or two and he would tell some stories. I seriously hope they were just that, but somehow I doubt it!

Another person I know actually served with Montgomerry against Rommel, he never speaks of what happened.

Resect to all our forces, past, present and future.
Have to say that, son is going in on a scholarship.
Wonder if I can get a rule change about officers going into battle 3rd in line :D
 
It makes me wonder, I watched a programme about a flying hospital, C17 or something, it was built like a bomb, but the crew were worried about incoming.

When the pilots in the great war, and 2nd World war, were flying around in planes made of basically balsa wood, and muslin cloth..

I'm not stupid enough to not realise that anti aircraft technology has advanced also, but over the land they currently occupy, it's a computer engineer with a stolen rocket launcher, and his mate the plumber, with a range finder? They have no hope in hell of reaching a plane, never mind hitting one.

The word 'hero' is overused....them boys, in the major wars are heros. Signed up, willing to fight alongside their village/club/association...I don't associate hero, with being compatible with someone that signed up as career..

If a bomb disposal expert, dies, due to a bomb going off, then that's either a lack of training, or not so good at their job. You wouldn't go that route if you were no good, as it would mean you want suicide. You must be on top of your job to do that.

Like I say 'Hero' is overused, people signed up for a job, if into that job they have a difficult task to do, do it, but in the World wars, people didn't have the option to sign up for a career, they did it for public pride. They are the real heros, and the current forces should be humbled by that.
 
i regularly work for war veterans from ww2. sadly many of them are dying or probably dead. one in particular is a worry as i have not been called to repair his boiler in some time and he hasn't answered the door when i have knocked just for a natter for a few months either. must still be his house as i can see the pics of his lancaster through the window. really nice chap and very unassuming.
 
Since WW2 we have been very lucky that we have not had to send young men to major wars. By comparison to any period in history we do have relative world peace. Ok there is the odd flare up, but nothing on the scale of the last couple of thousand years. People have been butchering each other on a massive scale, culminating in the near perfection of human slaughter by the Europeans

During WW2 my late father fought through North Africa, then through Sicilly. Then northward up Italy, including the hell that was Monte Casino and finished his service in the army of occupation in Austria.

This is my maternal grandfather

http://members.multimania.co.uk/glynn1280/index.htm

I say again we have been a fortunate 3/4 generations
 
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