The Dam Busters...
 

Hi all , not only is it my 69th Birthday to day ,but also the 71st anniversary of the " Dam Busters Raid " .....Brave young men & I'm afraid not all of them returned....

Hey Five Speed, Happy birthday buddy :icon_happybday: hope you have a great day!


The Dam Busters - wow what a mission that was during WWII, Amazing achievement all round. Barnes Wallis, what a legend he was!!


I remember as a fairly young boy watching the movie with my grandmother, listening to her stories of the war, such as they were, and hearing her tell me proudly how she made the tail fin of the Lancaster bomber in the factories at that time.


Who knows, perhaps one of the bombers that flew that night could have been made by her?
I stand in awe of all the servicemen that did their duty...


Best


Jim

My father was a pilot in WWII...flew B17s and B29s. Forty-eight missions; shot down twice. For most of my life he very seldom spoke about his war experiences and when he did it was never more than a brief remark. The last few years of his life, though, he opened up quite a bit.

What many people forget, or perhaps never realized, is just how young many of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen were. Many crewmen were still in their teens and Dad was was only 22 years old when the war ended.

Recently I gathered up some of Dad's old service pics and put them in albums, one for each of my kids, and included text recounting as many details as I could remember about his wartime experiences. Hopefully they'll pass them down to their own kids, and so forth, so that the tidbits of history are not completely lost and forgotten.

Dad's brother, my uncle, was an infantryman in Korea. I recently came across about 50-60 letters he wrote to my father while he was overseas....all in original envelopes! I haven't seriously gone thru them yet but a quick perusal suggests that they are a treasure trove of history.

Cheers
DD

Watch this episode of Ice Pilots NWT, it's a great recreation.

Ice Pilots NWT

EDIT: Oops! that's just a trailer not the whole episode. I'll see if I can find the show.

2nd edit, I can't find it, you're looking for Season 2 Episode 3. I've got a VW without and engine or transmission waiting for me, no time to go searching.

Bang on the money Doug..


I was watching some programme a while back, about operation "Market Garden"
They dropped some 35000 troops behind enemy lines, the Bridge at Remagen was involved and more.


I remember quite vividly the talk about the Pathfinders, quite a few were dropped in advance of anybody, on their own, late at night to set beacons for the waves of aircraft bringing in the parachutists.


One of them was like 20 years old iirc!!


I struggle to believe that the youth of today could step up in such a way......maybe I'm wrong!