Jump to content

Norman D. Landing


bilko1
 Share

Recommended Posts

General Apathy

 

what a great looking vehicle

 

 

 

Hi Robert, well as we are talking Jeeps here's a genuine WWII doorstrap friends found in their loft about five years ago, it should certainly fit a Jeep but not certain if used on other vehicles like open cab Dodges or GMC's, perhaps someone else will join in here. Outside of Jeeps all the other vehicles I had I preferred closed cabs styles with doors and windows.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 2 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-05957300-1456950757.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Normandy Then & Now . . . . . . . . Carentan hospital

 

due to the construction of an industrial complex on the site of this wartime hospital it was impossible to capture a similar image, but as there are no tents to make comparison with it's down to the few houses in the middle of the photo. Unfortunately the industrial buildings are too close to the houses to get them all in so we have to go with what I could get.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-70673500-1457001243.jpg

post-344-0-81139500-1457001314.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Normandy Then & Now . . . . . . . Carentan Hospital

 

Close-ups of the houses at the edge of the Hospital field.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-02527100-1457001660.jpg

post-344-0-97524800-1457001753.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

From the shoebox. . . . . . . . . . .

 

This enamelled sign came from an abandoned training area for British tank and artillery units it was also used by US tank crews during WWII. It was left to me in the will of a deceased long time friend his father was a range marshall for the area when it closed down and he was presented with it as a memento.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, march 3 2016.

 

.

 

 

post-344-0-64550200-1457003028.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

 

Normandy signs . . . . . . Pretot Ste Suzanne.

 

I spotted this sign a few days ago when I pulled over to use the small store in the village of Pretot Ste Suzanne. The village was attacked by a couple of hundred paratroopers from 501st & 507th PIR units, the village was captured on the 19th of June, however they then withdrew and it wasn't eventually liberated until the 5th July by the 90th Infantry, three-quarters of the village was destroyed in the fighting.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

 

post-344-0-27548500-1457003633.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ken - I never knew that that field hospital photo was from Carentan - had it in my photo archives for years as "unknown". Cheers, Glen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

Hi Ken - I never knew that that field hospital photo was from Carentan - had it in my photo archives for years as "unknown". Cheers, Glen.

.

 

Hi Glen, pleased that the photos identified it for you, just due to go out to Cherbourg, hopefully I might have another interesting then and now later this evening when I return.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ken,

 

Fantastic pictures! Do you know any details about the field hospital like who was the medical unit stationed there? I love the artillery sign too!

 

...Kat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

From the shoebox. . . . . . . . . . .

 

This enamelled sign came from an abandoned training area for British tank and artillery units it was also used by US tank crews during WWII. It was left to me in the will of a deceased long time friend his father was a range marshall for the area when it closed down and he was presented with it as a memento.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, march 3 2016.

 

.

 

 

 

Do you have the sign by your BBQ shack? I would guess there have been a few bombs dropped there.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

Ken,

 

Fantastic pictures! Do you know any details about the field hospital like who was the medical unit stationed there? I love the artillery sign too!

 

...Kat

Hi Kat, thanks I was pleased to get the shots but disappointed that it couldn't be from the same perspective, but the close up of the houses is ok. The artillery sign has been sat at the side of my computer since I obtained it.

 

I can provide you a link detailing which units were at the field hospital thanks to a medical website run by another forum member Ben Major.

 

https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/5th-general-hospital/

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3. 2016.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

 

Do you have the sign by your BBQ shack? I would guess there have been a few bombs dropped there.

 

Hi Robert, people may get bombed in the shack but hopefully no bombs dropped there.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

 

Normandy Then & Now . . . . . . . .

 

Take a look at the attached photo, it shows a British wartime Horsa glider, these were used by both the British and American forces in Normandy. Note the loading ramp on the floor to the left of the photo, the comparison shot will be in the following post.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-85972400-1457034916.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Normandy Then & Now . . . .

 

here's the comparison showing re-used loading ramps being used as roof supports there are several more used in the length of this building. The wire mesh is re-used airfield matting.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-00651000-1457035142.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Thirty-five year old memory comes flooding back . . . . . .

 

A local friend Dave just emailed me a photo showing glider ramps in use, we have spent best part of the day talking about glider ramps ( damn, what sad lives we live ), I looked at the image and saw how risky it was loading a Jeep into a glider, the guy in the middle of the ramps would have nowhere to jump clear should the Jeep roll backwards.

 

This thought of danger brought back a memory of an event about thirty-five years ago when I lived in my first house. A local friend back then had found an old M38AI Jeep in a breakers yard about fifty miles away and wanted to buy it. I offered to pick it up in my wartime GMC-353, at the yard they used a loading bay and pushed the Jeep into my truck with a forklift. When we arrived home I nosed the GMC into the drive as it had a drop away from the road and this might aid us when running the Jeep out of the back of the truck.

 

As the Jeep had been in the breakers yard some time then the brakes were inoperable, so putting our best minds to work on the best way to retrieve it from out the back of the truck we came up with the following ideas, no alcohol was used during this process. Two large thick planks were attached to the rear of the truck, a length of two inch rope was tied to the rear tow hitch of the truck and under the Jeep to the front of the Jeep. To add a safety margin to the operation three oak railway beams were stacked three jeep lengths from the rear of the wooden ramps, add to this that the drive went uphill and we thought we had covered all the angles.

 

So about three people stood at the front of the Jeep and pushed it towards the ramps at the rear, it was agreed to stop pushing once the back wheels were on the ramps as momentum would take over. This all went well and the Jeep started off down the ramps and then that damn momentum did take over, the thing accelerated backwards, it reached the end of the rope and that snapped, the driver couldn't particularly see backwards easily and it hit the three railway beams and jumped over them as if it had wings, up hill through the gate across the grass verge and out onto the dual carriage-way, thankfully with no cars passing . We all ran out into the road and pushed it as quickly as possible back off the road and into the drive where thankfully the railway beams and the soles of our boots acting as anchors stopped it. I can't recall when his grey hair started appearing.

 

That story has not been told in a long time maybe it is thirty-five years . ... . . . . . .

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a story! Are you sure that wasn't that something you remember from an old Laurel and Hardy movie? Oh, and by the way, discussing glider ramps sounds like a fine way to spend the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

American Graffiti

Great then & now shots recently, and funny jeep stories to boot. The 'what could possibly go wrong' stories, something always 'goes wrong'. Love it.

At least no one got hurt,

 

AG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

What a story! Are you sure that wasn't that something you remember from an old Laurel and Hardy movie? Oh, and by the way, discussing glider ramps sounds like a fine way to spend the day.

Hahhaaaa Mikie, well unknowingly you have started off another story, Laurel and Hardy . . . . . . . .

 

My third house was a large run down Victorian property which I spent best part of my married life renovating, it wasn't until after we moved in that an old couple across the road showed us newspaper clippings that in the 1950s Laurel and Hardy used to stay at the house, it was owned then by a theatre owner and they stayed there while performing at his theatre.

 

Now there's another story about who I sold it to, but the purchaser probably wouldn't mean anything to anyone other than British members

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

Great then & now shots recently, and funny jeep stories to boot. The 'what could possibly go wrong' stories, something always 'goes wrong'. Love it.

At least no one got hurt,

 

AG

Hi AG, so far it has been a charmed life and angels guarding over me so not many of the ' what could possibly go wrong events ' turned out bad . . . . . . . . . Long May that continue, the best or saddest part of a lot of the events happened in front of friends so they have great fun reminding you of the event when a gang of us get together. My daughter when she was young always sat speechless at stories that were told, in fact she gave me as a Christmas gift a two hundred page empty book, it's purpose is to write down all the stories, events and anecdotes of a ' parents life ', in this case my life.

 

I have been trying to think how many stories I can record. . . . . . . A friend only a couple of days ago in an email to me finished with, ' how many lucky escapes you have had ' . . . . . . .

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3 2016.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

Great then & now shots recently, and funny jeep stories to boot. The 'what could possibly go wrong' stories, something always 'goes wrong'. Love it.

At least no one got hurt,

 

AG

Hi AG, I forgot to reply to a comment you made a couple of days ago about when you grew up in the Peak District in the 70s & 80s. At that time Myself and other friends used to drive up to meet other Jeep friends round the Barnsley, Blackburn and Keighley area and then go off-roading in the Peak District.

 

As we are on a roll with stories one of the times that we got together to do this we all met at a friends farm, when we arrived we parked at the front, Pete said he wasn't quite ready and come on into the kitchen and his mother would make us tea. Well the reason for Pete not being ' ready ' was due to his sneaky little plan he had in mind and putting into operation, which will be revealed.

 

We headed off up the motorway and after a few miles there was a weird smell coming from one of the Jeeps pulling up alongside I shouted across that we should pull into the approaching service area and investigate the smell. So we all pulled off the motorway and The owner of the Jeep lifted his hood to find a dead penguin laying flat on the top of the cylinder head, great laughter prevailed and much joshing.

 

The back story is that Pete's family farm had a contract for disposal of dead animals from a local zoo and a couple of days before our trip a penguin was amongst the corpses, and Pete hatched his plan for slipping out the rear door and loading the penguin into the engine bay.

 

So once we had all had our laughs and making ready to get on the road again thoughts came about what to do with the dead body, back in those days it was possible to lift the hood of the Mini 850 by way of a latch in the front grill and there was a Mini close by. So a couple of the Jeeps were pulled across in front of the Mini and the hood was lifted and the corpse disposed of on top of the cylinder head, and we hit the road.

 

We have often wondered about the surprise the Mini owner would have had upon opening the hood to investigate that weird smell emanating from his engine bay, college frat days were one big laugh.

 

Someone somewhere in the UK has a great story about when he owned a Mini 850 and this weird smell coming from the engine bay and ' you won't believe this ' we found a penguin.

 

For the purposes of this story all the names have remained the same for historical accuracy .............

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 3. 2016.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am delighted to set you up for stories and jokes. As you said, completely unknowing on my part. But I am getting the feeling it is probably harder to mention something that you don't have a story about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

I am delighted to set you up for stories and jokes. As you said, completely unknowing on my part. But I am getting the feeling it is probably harder to mention something that you don't have a story about.

.

Ni mikie, well thanks for setting me up for a couple of stories, however time to move on methinks with some more Then & Now images.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 4 2016.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Normandy Then & Now . . . . . . . . Cherbourg

 

This was the building occupied by the German organisation TODT, the photo shows civilians and soldiers removing the hated signboard from the building.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 4 2016.

 

 

.

post-344-0-30059200-1457110895.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Normandy Then & Now . . . . . . . . . Cherbourg

 

The organisation TODT building as it stands in 2016, brightly colored .

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 4 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-47493800-1457111091.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

.

Normandy Then & Now . . . . . Cherbourg

 

The wartime shot shows a cropped image of the building so I thought I would also show the full building and the German concrete shelter bunker for occupants of the TODT building.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 4 2016.

 

.

post-344-0-00601700-1457111384.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...