WWIIReenacting.co.uk Forums

Ok this topic has gone the way of all the other reenactment bars on this forum and that was not my idea.
I wanted to have serious 'in character' discussions, I must admid that I myself wasnt helping much (I blame the men and all the drink) but lets try again.
Lets have political discussions, discuss the amazing historical events you witnessed in your live, discuss the music you like to listen to, discuss movies, etc.
Lets have discussions about subject that can help you add more depth to your biography.

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"Toleranz wird zum Verbrechen, wenn sie dem Bosen gilt"
Thomas Mann

"Never trust people who've only got one book"
Billy Connolly

Contact me for ww2 radio broadcasts and music

Marloes on the other board on Yahoo. You had developed your character very well have your 'Children' done the same?

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"I'm with your lot B Company......B here when they go.....B here when they get back!"

Pte Pat Cleary ANZACS

Heard on VHF gunner net in Borneo in 1960's
US Accent: Unknown call sign this is USAF over North Veitnam clear this frequencey we're fighting a war here
UK Accent: USAF funnily enough so are we.....but we're winning ours!

I havent seen any great events, though in the orphanage they told us about the revolution.

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Nationalism is the love which ties me to the blockheads of my country, to the insultors of my way of life, and to the desecrators of my language.
Karl Kraus

Ð

Yes both my children have written a biography, not as long as mine, but pretty damn good.

_________________
"Toleranz wird zum Verbrechen, wenn sie dem Bosen gilt"
Thomas Mann

"Never trust people who've only got one book"
Billy Connolly

Contact me for ww2 radio broadcasts and music

pokes head in door
looks left ...looks right .......
thinks to my self
#ah time to walk to bar as they are all out side reving engines#

barman a smooth german lager .........(im german i dont say please)

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ernst
have enigma ,will travel
95th nact abt....attached...85th gebirgs

(Out of character) Joeri, what do you expect if you have an unrealistic free talk zone? Do you think that during the war soldiers of all combatant forces would have just met and discussed their countries?
And even then, our opinions today are clouded with 60 years 20/20 hindsight. We´ve got more information about the war and the backgrounds than any of the participants ever had back then.

Jan

So friends and foe's.
Lets think back to the years before the war.
I am sure we all remember where we were and what we thought when the Hindenburg went down.

I was in Holland at the time, happily married, 2 children, lovely house, all was well.
My husband was obsessed by Zeppelins and he made me love them as well.
One day we would travel on one, that was our dream.
The Hindenburg flew over our town on its way to the USA, it crossed late in the evening, it was dark and cloudy but nevertheless Michiel and I climbed upon our roof with warm coats and blankets and hot chocolate.
We sat there for hours and of course, just when we were convinced we missed her there she was, at first we thought it was a cloud but it was her allright.
She looked fantastic, so huge!
My sweet dear husband jumped up and down like a little boy on Saint Nicolas morning.
We only saw her for a few minutes on her way to cross the Northsea to England and then to the USA.
It was exciting to have seen her, we rushed back down again to the fireplace and radio and talked about her all night.
It was very romantic.
Just a few days later of course there was this terrible accident, I think it happened in the middle of the night because we didnt hear about it till the next morning on the radio, we both cried.
I hope that after the war they will make zeppelins once more and that I can take my children on a zeppeling trip, to try and let them feel their fathers passion for this airship, he died in 1940.

Anyone here remember where they were and what they felt that day in 1937?

_________________
"Toleranz wird zum Verbrechen, wenn sie dem Bosen gilt"
Thomas Mann

"Never trust people who've only got one book"
Billy Connolly

Contact me for ww2 radio broadcasts and music

I´ve seen Count Zeppelin´s airships quite often on Tempelhof field in Berlin. They used to get the Reichswehr out to help to catch the mooring lines. I wished I could ride on it (in German, a plane flies "fliegt", a balloon or an airship rides "fährt", do it wrong in an aifield pub and you can buy rounds of pints for the rest of the evening), but unless as crew it would have been impossible for me. Anyway I was more fascinated by the heavyer than air vehicles, e.g. the Junkers G38. Or, Maloes, do you remember the Dornier X?

(out of character: My Luftwaffe AAA gunner grandfather did a voluntary time with the Reichswehr in the early 30s, I´ve seen pictures of him behind a MG 08/15 with a WW1 coal scuttle helmet on (later when the war started in 1939, he became an Obergefreiter straight away when he was drafted into the airforce). During this time his company got once called out to Tempelhof air field to catch the Graf Zeppelin, when she came back from a journey. He showed me some pictures and described how big this thing was)

Was that the huge sea-plane?
I like the seaplanes as well, but here in Holland we were of course more interested in our national pride 'The Pelikaan' with its christmas cards from the colonies, 'The Uiver' who won the handicap section of the London Melbourne race in 34.
The pre year wars were good for airplanes.
I never got to travel on one though, just listen to their adventures on the radio.
But still, the Zeppelins have always been much more appealing to me.
Opening the windows while floating a few yards above the ocean to feed the fishes bread...no noice...a smoking salon....ah zeppelins!

_________________
"Toleranz wird zum Verbrechen, wenn sie dem Bosen gilt"
Thomas Mann

"Never trust people who've only got one book"
Billy Connolly

Contact me for ww2 radio broadcasts and music

The Do X landed on the Havel river, close to the Wannsee. The whole place was crowded...

The Peelican, who built it? Fokker? I know that the Dutch Navy bough some Dornier Wal flying boats...

A smoking salon... not with me, my lady! With all the hydrogen gas... I don´t want to be blown sky high... and those big things are very unstable in bad weather, remember what happened to the Akron...

Yes The Pelikaan was a Fokker plane.
I am sure the smoking salon aboard the Hindenburg was very safe, they wouldnt allow it if it was too risky!

_________________
"Toleranz wird zum Verbrechen, wenn sie dem Bosen gilt"
Thomas Mann

"Never trust people who've only got one book"
Billy Connolly

Contact me for ww2 radio broadcasts and music

Marloes,

Here is the Graf Zeppelin in Tempelhof in 1931. The airfield still has the old buildings from the 1920s, the current buildings have been built in the 1930s.

Marloes,
You don´t have to tell me about the advantages of airplanes, after all I used to build engines for them...
Did you also follow the Schneider cup races back in the late 20s?

BTW, I was in cinema a few days ago and watched the latest Charlie Chaplin flick, "The Great Dictator". The part where he shaves the customer to Brahm´s Hungarian Dances is priceless... Have you seen it as well?

I was working in a field, they told us in the orphanage that a German zeppelin had gone down when we were having borsht with bread (we were very lucky). We didn't know what that meant but it sounded exciting.

_________________
Nationalism is the love which ties me to the blockheads of my country, to the insultors of my way of life, and to the desecrators of my language.
Karl Kraus

Ð

When the Hindenburg exploded, I was in the trenches in Spain. We had too much to worry about than to think about a Nazi airship with rich people on board.

Jan

I remember the Schneider Trophy races, in 1927 it was won for Great Britain by Sid Webster, a second cousin of mine. He was just an ordinary lad from Borneo Street in Walsall, England, my home town, but he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, and after the Great War he made a name for himself as a test pilot.

He beat the pants off the Italians at Venice that year, and the Yanks were non-starters. Sid was flying the Supermarine S5, from which they developed the Spitfire, at more than 273 miles an hour. That's no secret, but I'm not telling you where they make the Spitfires - careless talk costs lives! Here's Sid Webster's S5:



When he came home on 6th October 1927, what a reception he got! The whole town turned out and he rode to the town hall in a great, black Rolls-Royce car, with a police escort behind and my grandand and dad's old regiment, the South Staffords, marching proudly in front. The mayor and all the councillors greeted him and presented him with a silver bowl and a plaque from the people of Walsall.

I know, I was there that day and these were some of the first pictures I took as a freelance press photographer. Because of these, I managed to get a job with Picture Post and moved to London, but that's another story...







Smudger

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Smudger

a.k.a. Sgt Bert Hardy of the AFPU
attached to 4 Commando
http://afpu.0catch.com