Armchair historians are ok, so long as they look at the whole picture (but by the nature of things they/we often don’t). True, it is right to remember the civilian deaths and those suffered by the captive PoW’s who were drowned as a result of the Raid. In a comparable scenario today (if that were possible), probably the Raid would never have got political or legal sanction. neither would Hamburg or Dresden, but that’s another matter. They happened, and become part of an awful warning from history that we are right to remember.
On the other hand, in 1943 we had suffered a pretty straight run of defeats and set-backs, and the Dams raid was brilliantly conceived and executed with absolute heroism by the young British and Commonwealth crews. Moreover, it helped persuade the Americans that the Brits had the expertise and still had the will to carry out dramatic strikes in the heart of enemy territory. That strengthened the hand of those who proposed “Europe First” as a strategic priority over the Pacific and Japan. If it had been the other way round, how many more might have died on all sides in Europe…
So long live the BBMF, and it’s right to remember all aspects of what happened when we see them at work. [tuppence worth had:rolleyes: ]

Ofcourse none of the above raids would get political sanction today, mainly because we are not at war.

In 1943 we had been bombed to ******* , half starved, and lived in fear for our families and our liberty, ask any man in the street whether we should bomb Germany, or else drop some more leaflets, I think the answer would be the former; don’t forget Churchill wanted to gas them.

If the upper windows are painted on, why not the lower ones? at ground height the painted ones would fool no one, and from the air, they would look the same; the horizontal joins look as though they are joggled (swaged), that wouldn’t be possible, with heavy plate.

I’ve just dismantled an old trailer, from late ’40’s, early ’50’s, it is wood and steel construction, the wood is rivetted to the steel, even the roping hooks are rivetted onto the wooden sides, (I’ve never seen that before, you’d think the action of rivetting would split the wood).

I think a Land Rover Discovery would spend more time on the trailer than the cockpit !

There you go with those negative waves again; I’ll have you know the green one I had, NEVER broke down on the road……………..always had the decency to wait for a layby.

I still say Transit style diesel van, larger engine versions have excellent pulling capability and the platform is stable being fairly long (longer the wheel base the more stable) and wide. 4x4s are ok but they do wallow and can have stability issues of their own, especially with a heavy trailer pitching it up and down. Braking on larger vans is fine as they are designed to handle a large payload.
Other advantages of a van is their shape and size provides a barrier from the elements for the following load and they are relatively cheaper to buy than a similar condition 4×4. You can also live in it for those weekends away at Newark!
Best of the bunch if you can afford them is the Merc Sprinters and older 307s, I have regularly driven them with very large loads (inc towing) without any difficulty.
I guess it all comes down to how often you are going to move the cockpit.

How many cockpits have you moved with this style of vehicle?

Also recommended is a vehicle firing on all cylinders to tow said trailer with 🙂

Recommended, but not essential, anyway my three and a half cyl defender was legendary…..

What was Merkle partaking of when he wrote his last post?

Several glasses of nostalgia….(I was right about that saddle though)

Thanks for posting the link Moggy; he really did lead an exceptional life.