Exploring your book….

Does anyone else get pleasure in exploring locations in their books through Google? In ‘German Aircraft in The Soviet Union and Russia’, I read that several Ar 234s were found by Soviet forces at Ribnitz-Damgarten. I really enjoyed googling the location and seeing what’s there. I don’t know why, but exploring the area seems to connect me more to the material in the book. It raises many questions in my mind about what happened there and what has happened since. The overgrown buildings…were they used by the Soviets or Germans post WWII? (Looking at the faded runway markings, probably) What was the importance of this airfield? Sometimes, the airfield I’m looking for will have been nothing more than a grass strip, but I love finding out where it might have been, and where the surrounding battle area lies. I’m similarly reading a book about life as a Soviet pilot during The Great Patriotic War and it’s a real voyage of discovery about the area in which fighting took place. The scale is huge! I married the narrative with some FB footage of Mark Hanna flying a Rata at Wanaka and it really brought it to life…..

I think we may be in three camps here: those who have a preference for data gathering, facts and figures etc; those who prefer to experience the past emotionally, and those with their feet in both camps. For data gatherers, I know I can use Googe to see what subsequently happened at Ribnitz-Damgarten, but I’ve got so much else I want to explore!

Your thoughts and stories, whatever your views, are welcome.