It was a cracking weekend, despite many attempts to raise the tone of conversation we kept it well and truly where it was meant to be.

Yes Martin.
At one point we needed a spade to dig a trench to lower the conversation further.

Has anyone got a picture of the Luscombe that you went off in?

Cheers
Andy

Have a good day Geoff.
Hopefully, see you on the 20th.
Cheers
Andy

Cheers Andy.

I’d have loved to go there, now it doesn’t seem worth it. The road you mention is pretty wide now thanks to this rather foolish effort, and the beach in the area they showed is virtually gone. It looks like a slip, a landslide, but it is manmade!!

They say they had to widen the road for the tourists. Kiwis and Aussies have been going there for many, many decades, as have many other people from all round the world. It had remained virtually as it was left when our armies withdrew. My sister visited in the 1980’s and said rifle shells could still be seen on the ground. All those tourists, millions probably, had the respect to not damage that sacred site. Now a council or government blunder has ruined it.

Of all places in the world, that tiny stretch of coastline stands very much in the hearts of Kiwis and Aussies as something very special. It is where our two countries acheived true nationhood. As I said, I have never been there, but I have heard and seen and read so much about that place. It is a really deep, ingrained part of our national culture, one that I am immensely proud of. I have a book detailing what the men from my town did in WWI, many of them fought on those beaches, a number of them died there. My Great-Great-Uncle fought there, and lived. he was wonded three times before he died on Flanders Fields in 1917.

I have heard from lots of Kiwis who’ve made the pilgrimage, even those who don’t go to Anzac Day services here, etc, that the place is so very special, and it has an atmosphere all of its own. People feel a presence there. A strong sensation. I have heard people have experience a simliar thing when visiting the death camps like Auschwitz. I guess it is a psychological thing when a place and the events that happened there are so deeply ingrained in ones psyche. I hope they can restore it, but I don’t think it will be the same.

And we thought it was bad when the Aussies wanted John Farnham to sing there!!

Dave
the whole peninsular has an atmosphere.
What got me was that the ANZACs hauled an eighteen pounder gun up to Pluggs Plateau. That’s about 100 feet above the beach, the cliffs rise at about 75 degrees from the beach and they did that under fire.
Amazing.
Cheers
Andy

Stormbird, you’re bang on.

In WWII RAF there was a syndrome known as LMF (lack of moral fibre). It referred to aircrew, primarily Bomber Command aircrew who couldn’t take it any more. It was seen as a fundamentally unacceptable reaction by the powers that be. :rolleyes:

In WWI the concept was similar, but then it related to parachuting. Parachutes although new-fangled were effective. But the thinking was that without one the pilot was more likely to put up a strong fight (otherwise he would die). I have a book around here somewhere on WWI Aces that makes this point very clearly, if I can find it, I’ll quote it.

Oh yes, at the same time the armies had this cunning plan that masses of men running could overpower machine guns.

Don
while I’m far from being a John Terraine type Haig apologist. What you say about infantry tactics isn’t strictly true in the context of the Commonwealth forces. I do admit that the French army in 1914 had a philosophy of the bayonet would always prevail but that didn’t survive too long.
The volunteer ‘New Army’ of 1916 used fatally flawed tactics on the Somme in 1916 but this was because it was perceived by GHQ that they were not sufficiently trained to work in any other way.
By the end of 1917 the Commonwealth armies were becoming a fully integrated force combining artillery, infantry, armour and air power.
It worked quite well in the last months of the war.
Sadly it was all forgotten between the wars.

Discuss???
Andy

Not forgetting eulogising warm Real Ale while you expound on LBW…

:diablo: :dev2:

Adrian

Patty has no worries there!!!

What’s that funny looking yellow caravan thing? :confused:

And what’s it doing in an aircraft museum?

A winged Caravan??

Fred
enjoy you’re day.
You do more for the cause of historic aviation in one afternoon than most people here do in a lifetime–thanks.
Long may it continue.
Cheers
Andy

Thanks Andy,

I think there were 2 airships weren’t there ? USS Macon and Akron ?

TNZ

Turbo
yes the other airship was the Akron.
Interestingly the USn also employed another aircraft type from the airships.
It was a small Waco cabin monoplane (complete with hook), used for carrying the mail and personnnel to the airship. I’ve never seen more than one very poor quality picture of the Waco. Anyone got any pictures available of it?
Cheers
Andy