Exercise 'Surprise Packet' 1951

Discussion in 'Postwar' started by Owen, Oct 16, 2017.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Last edited: Oct 16, 2017
    SDP, von Poop, timuk and 1 other person like this.
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Engineers of the 6th Armoured Division erecting a Bailey Bridge across the canal at Pewsey during exercise 'Surprise Packet', the biggest army manoeuvre ever held in Britain.
    bailey at pewsey.JPG
    October 15, 1951 Licence
    Bailey Bridge Pictures | Getty Images
     
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  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  4. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Isn't it fascinating.
    Like a 'what if' had the war dragged on a few more years.
    146 photos & a 'narrative log' held at Kew, but sadly nothing online on IWM collections yet.

    Found it interesting the downed Vampire is skipped in the BBC film:
    BBC Archive on Twitter

    Looking into it, but getting the impression they fell out of the sky quite a lot (recently read Winkle Brown's biog. Sure he mentions similar)
    Exercise seems to have been October '51, if that helps.
    There's a Canuck crashed that month in the UK, but his machine was listed as 'repairable'.
    Leconfield based Vampire crash landing
    Maybe the planiacs will know what happened with the film crash...
     
  5. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Tricky Dicky and Owen like this.
  6. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  7. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    Troops running through the stones at Stonehenge in that first BBC Archive film!....but then anyone could do that in those days. How times change.
     
  8. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  9. kelvin

    kelvin Junior Member

    607122 P/O. Nigel Robert Lumsden Saunders, Age 21 - 98 Squadron Royal Air Force.
    Vampire FB5 WA143 Crashed at Asherton Farm, Horse Down, Larkhill, Wiltshire. Pilot thrown clear from the aircraft during the crash landing, but received fatal injures. "Last Take-Off" by Colin Cummings. Buried at RAF Cranwell Churchyard. I visited his grave just last week. Hope this helps?
     

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