I can relate anything to WWII

Post of the month!

 

Dave

Seeing a vehicle as that would remind anyone in occupied France of the earlier version which was usually a sign of a Gestapo runabout.

 

Whenever I'm driving up the ramps in a multilevel parking garage I shout 'Harrrd left! Now harrrd right!' like Telly Salavas in Battle of the Bulge. I've been doing that for so long it's a reflex
action now.

 

Always make me think of Maigret though!

 

A genuine job with a Paris registration to boot

 

Maigret!!!!!!! In colour!!!!!!!!

Where the heck is Rupert Davies?????

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

I spent time today doing exterior caulking on some windows.

Yes, the thought did occur to me ............................................

 

I can see the M3 Grease Gun now but i hadn't realized before that I usually have a quick thought about a PIAT when I load them.

 

Provides the reason for the good headroom inside - everyone wore hats - even when in the car!

 

"If you want to get ahead.......get a hat!"

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

I was walking past a grassy field at dusk last night and found myself wondering if a Lysander could land there.

 

The real issue was not can a Lizzie land there but is there room for it to take off again?

 

As regards Lysander landing grounds,apart from taking maximum advantage of the aircraft's STOL design,an important issue for No 138 and 161 SD Squadrons was the selection of landing locations where there was minimum risk of being bogged down after adverse weather conditions.

While the selection of these landing grounds was determined by SOE's reseaux together with input from the associated resistant group,there were cases of Lysanders being bogged down and taking some time to get airborne while the odd one had to be abandoned and destroyed.There could be as many as four passengers for the homebound trip.

SD Mark 111 Lysanders performed well given that on the homeward flight the majority of the time they were overloaded in addition to the 150 gallon external petrol tank endurance recorded as 8 hours.

Loaded weight 10000 lbs,a heavy aircraft compared to the Mark 1 Lysander which had a loaded weight of just under 6000 lbs.

 

One of the worst cases of bogging down was not a Lysander but a Hudson. Numbers of resistance workers risked discovery to form squads under the wings to help walk it on to more solid ground from where it could take off and just managed to disperse before German forces arrived.

 

The occasions that Hudsons were bogged is well recorded but there have not been reported events that the aircraft have had to be abandoned...certainly there a were events when it got close but a roundup of farmers'oxen plus human endeavour ensured that the aircraft was on its way home way before daylight....in this case there were a number of take off attempts aborted.

Dakotas had similar experiences,one arising from attempting to load up with too many returning passengers and nearly a ton of freight from a field in the Vaucluse Department which had lavender growing across the strip prevented traction.

Of the 31 passengers,23 were USAAF downed aircrew,8 had to be off loaded and were successfully picked the next night with the same pilot ,F/O Rostron and presumably the same Dakota.There are no reports of a Dakota having to be abandoned due to failure to take off from the various landing grounds in use.

(However on returning it was found that the isolated adjacent farm to the landing ground had been destroyed by the Germans and the inhabitants shot)