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General Apathy
On 10/19/2020 at 10:50 PM, mikie said:

Forgot to mention, the flashlight still works and is a type used late war through the 1950's best I can tell.  The canteen is a 1945 Volrath.  I sure miss stopping at random garage sales and flea markets. Just never know what there is to find. Maybe someday they will return.  

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Hi Mikie,  thanks for shining a light on your finds . . . . . . . . . . . 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 22  2020.  

 

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General Apathy
On 10/20/2020 at 3:22 PM, Johan Willaert said:

 

All good and ready for another 5 year.... As we pulled up to the MOT station, an MG-A was just in front of us, visible in the photo...

 

 

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Hi Johan,  great news that all your work turned out right . . . . . . . 

 

Is that also a Chem-Haz suit to go with the mask . . . . . . . . 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 22  2020.  

 

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General Apathy

'

New Normandy monument dedicated to British and Commonwealth Servicemen . . . . . .

 

Although not finished or open to the public Mike Forster and myself visited

the new monument being built to commemorate British and Commonwealth Forces

on the bluffs above Ver-sur-Mer on the Juno side of Sword beach. All the stone

work is fantastic,  personally I am not so sure about the actual wooden beams

fixed above the columns which are nowhere as decorative as shown in the computer

generated images on the attached link. 

 

Looking at the piles of stones that had been raked out of the new flower beds I picked

up a piece of rusted metal with a hinged bracket and a piece of vehicle cable sadly 

neither identifiable.

 

The Mulberry harbour and the town of Arromanches are over the rear of the statue image.

 

More images when I have time . . . . . . . . . . ^_^

 

https://www.normandymemorialtrust.org/news-story/british-normandy-memorial-design-revealed/

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 22  2020. 

 

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General Apathy

.

Jeep Spares Shoebox . . . . . . . . . . 

 

having a sort through some of my Jeep spares this week I thought I would share these photographs of a Willys/GPW wiring loom with you, still wrapped in its original cosmoline waterproofing wrap. It's nice having decent preserved spares like this, this loom wires under the dash panel to the rear of the Jeep for lights and trailer socket. The engine compartment has a number of separate wires to complete the Jeep wiring. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 23  2020. 

 

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General Apathy

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Jeep Spares Shoebox . . . . . . . .

 

Shown here are the side panel brackets for the canvas hood support loops, I have always wondered if curves in the bracket were intentional the way they sit together and possibly saving space for shipping purposes or pure fluke of manufacture. :mellow:

 

These are an unmarked pair of Willys brackets, the Ford ones are identical except for a large letter ' F ' stamped on them.  

 

 I must get out more . . . . . . . . . . . . . :blush:

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 23  2020. 

 

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Johan Willaert
59 minutes ago, General Apathy said:

.Jeep Spares Shoebox . . . . . . . .

These are an unmarked pair of Willys brackets, the Ford ones are identical except for a large letter ' F ' stamped on them.  

 

Here's a pair of F marked brackets, primed and painted OD, ready for mounting on my GPW...

 

 

90-GPW56685-05Mei20 (12).JPG

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Jeeping news 1945 . . . . . . .
 
Can we use a modern phrase ' Fake News ' the article states that fewer than a dozen Jeeps were in private hands throughout the country today.  I believe that there were more as Jeep manufacturers sold off any or all pre-standardised models during the war.  Such as the Willys MA as it had a column change gear system and gearbox which didn't match up to the latest MB model with a floor shift gear lever direct into the top of the box. Also at wars end there was no real need to ship any more Jeeps abroad as the article suggests as there were probably an amount of 500,000 Jeeps overseas out of a total production of over 650,000.  There were so many Jeeps in the military inventory as surplus at the wars end that there are well known cases of many being buried, or deep-sixed  in the ocean. Jeeps and all other vehicles were collected together all over Europe, the Pacific and the UK to be dealt with, as it was uneconomical to ship them all back to the states.  
 
Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 10  2020.
 
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I was shooting a movie in the old Firestone factory in Los Angeles a couple of years ago.
It was expanded during the war to obviously produce tires of every type of tire for the military.
The factory was one of the biggest buildings I had ever been in.
When you see and are in one of these plants it’s easy to see the manufacturing might of the US to produce war goods at will and at an unparalleled scale.


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General Apathy

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60's rock band leader Spencer Davis dies at the age of 81 . . . . . .

 

' Spencer Davis died in California on 19 October 2020, at the age of 81, while being treated for pneumonia, he lived on Catalina Island. ' 

 

The Spencer Davis group were a late 60's band with several iconic songs of that time, during their start up period they lived in the same street as my sister. They were probably one of my favourite bands upon leaving school, the unmistakable soulful voice of fourteen year old Stevie Winwood. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 24  2020. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kamXvqoL_JA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq7w9_zGxGw

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General Apathy
On 10/23/2020 at 1:49 PM, Johan Willaert said:

 

Here's a pair of F marked brackets, primed and painted OD, ready for mounting on my GPW...

 

 

90-GPW56685-05Mei20 (12).JPG

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Hi Johan,  thanks for adding the Ford stamped version of the hoop brackets. Look forward to one day seeing the Jeep again but it may be some time now with our current pandemic. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 24  2020. 

 

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General Apathy
20 hours ago, kammo-man said:


I was shooting a movie in the old Firestone factory in Los Angeles a couple of years ago.
It was expanded during the war to obviously produce tires of every type of tire for the military.
The factory was one of the biggest buildings I had ever been in.
When you see and are in one of these plants it’s easy to see the manufacturing might of the US to produce war goods at will and at an unparalleled scale.


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Hi Owen,  thanks for bringing to our attention another historic building which would have helped in the war effort during WWII. I currently run the Jeep on copies of theWWII  Firestone brand military tire. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 24  2020. 

 

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I had a feeling you might have Ken.
I am talking about the south gate factory.
I have pics somewhere and will dog them out.
The place smells like a factory that’s been there done that.
Owen


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General Apathy
On 10/24/2020 at 6:36 PM, kammo-man said:

I had a feeling you might have Ken.
I am talking about the south gate factory.
I have pics somewhere and will dog them out.
The place smells like a factory that’s been there done that.
Owen


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Hi Owen,  thanks look forward to seeing your photos. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 25  2020. 

 

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General Apathy
2 hours ago, dustin said:

I presume this is somewhere around Normandy.

 

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Hi Dustin, welcome thanks for wading in on the life-belt comments, and also thanks I have never seen this image before.  Looking at the landscape behind the workers this is more likely to be around the Omaha beach area,  Utah beach doesn't have the rising landscape like this.

 

Attached photo of a life-belt I recovered on Utah dunes 1974 and donated to the Utah beach museum. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 25  2020. 

 

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Glidertrooper

Hello gentlemen, I have a small Normandy update for you from this side of the Channel... Visited Portsmouth with my little boy the other weekend and a headed over to the D-Day Story museum on Southsea seafront specifically to check on the progress of their newest installation...

 

IMG_2811.JPG.501a58e2d450b3ec9e23999c47fb6b43.JPG

 

As you can see LCT7074 is coming along very nicely and pandemic issues permitting, I would calculate she will likely be ready for public access in 2021.

 

What you cannot see because the ramp is up, is that the Sherman tank and Churchill Crocodile tank with trailer (a 79th Armoured Division 'Hobart's Funny' and one of my favourites!), which were formerly positioned outside the museum, are now already in place inside the landing craft to complete the display.

 

Very much looking forward to getting a proper look round her when it opens properly and will post more pictures.

 

You can read more about LCT7074 on her own wikipedia page -->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCT_7074 - Have to say I was quite amazed to learn she ferried her original D-Day compliment of tanks all the way from the East Anglian coast, which is the region were I was born.

 

And probably fitting given the 2020 Poppy collecting season started this weekend and I am an official RBL Poppy Appeal Collector; if you would like a tiny little bit of LCT7074 to take home, you can! --> https://www.poppyshop.org.uk/products/second-world-war-armed-forces-pin - Plus you will be helping the Poppy Appeal charity in the process. Lest we forget.

 

Cheers......John

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General Apathy
9 hours ago, Glidertrooper said:

Hello gentlemen, I have a small Normandy update for you from this side of the Channel... Visited Portsmouth with my little boy the other weekend and a headed over to the D-Day Story museum on Southsea seafront specifically to check on the progress of their newest installation...

 

IMG_2811.JPG.501a58e2d450b3ec9e23999c47fb6b43.JPG

 

As you can see LCT7074 is coming along very nicely and pandemic issues permitting, I would calculate she will likely be ready for public access in 2021.

 

What you cannot see because the ramp is up, is that the Sherman tank and Churchill Crocodile tank with trailer (a 79th Armoured Division 'Hobart's Funny' and one of my favourites!), which were formerly positioned outside the museum, are now already in place inside the landing craft to complete the display.

 

Very much looking forward to getting a proper look round her when it opens properly and will post more pictures.

 

You can read more about LCT7074 on her own wikipedia page -->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCT_7074 - Have to say I was quite amazed to learn she ferried her original D-Day compliment of tanks all the way from the East Anglian coast, which is the region were I was born.

 

And probably fitting given the 2020 Poppy collecting season started this weekend and I am an official RBL Poppy Appeal Collector; if you would like a tiny little bit of LCT7074 to take home, you can! --> https://www.poppyshop.org.uk/products/second-world-war-armed-forces-pin - Plus you will be helping the Poppy Appeal charity in the process. Lest we forget.

 

Cheers......John

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Hi John,

 

thanks for providing the photograph and bringing us up to date on the LCT we posted about several pages ago when work started on restoring it.  Good luck with the poppy appeal a most difficult time to be involved in raising funds for the services charities . . . . . . 

 

I will be wearing a poppy in the coming weeks, and putting a poppy on a wooden cross at the US  memorial at Blosville ( site of the temporary US cemetery in 1944, 6,000 service personnel were buried there, prior to re-burial in 1947 at the Omaha beach cemetery )

 

A number of German personnel were buried in another field adjacent to the US cemetery, the young French lad ( 15 ) closest to the German truck is presently alive today, seen below with his daughter two years ago at the local November 11th ceremony. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 26  2020. 

 

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General Apathy

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Email from a friend . . . . . . . . . . . . regarding post war auction sales finds. 

 

Have you ever found something unexpected inside something that you bought second hand ?

 

The father of a guy I knew from school bought a ten-ton truck, a Leyland Hippo as I recall, from a military surplus auction to use on and around his farm. He paid peanuts for it but when he got it back to the farm and unlaced the canvas tilt for the first time, he found that it was loaded with about 20 or so BSA M20 500cc ex-Army motorbikes..

He phoned the auctioneers to report their ‘mistake’. He was told that he had bought the lot ‘as seen’ so anything in it was his too.

 

Happy days. . . . . . . . . . . .

 

He sold each bike barring one, which he kept, for what he had paid for the truck + all the ‘bikes.

Deals like that don't come along every day !

 

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For myself I have experienced a fair number of Jeeps in the UK with the incorrect chassis number in the registration log-book. The reason being for this was at the post war surplus sales around 1947 when the Jeeps came up for auction the auctioneers had simply taken the painted number on the engine hood as being that particular vehicles registration number. Unfortunately engine hood numbers have no relationship at all to the original chassis number, British army Jeeps WWII had the prefix ' M ' relating to the size of vehicle.  

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 26  2020. 

 

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General Apathy

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Life long friend . . . . . . . . . . . . 

 

Hi Owen, here's a great shot of an old friend Jim on the set of ' The Dirty Dozen ' in 1967 as an eighteen year old stunt worker.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 26  2020. 

 

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On 10/23/2020 at 10:00 AM, kammo-man said:


I was shooting a movie in the old Firestone factory in Los Angeles a couple of years ago.
It was expanded during the war to obviously produce tires of every type of tire for the military.
The factory was one of the biggest buildings I had ever been in.
When you see and are in one of these plants it’s easy to see the manufacturing might of the US to produce war goods at will and at an unparalleled scale.


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I came across this bit of information I thought was a good illustration of that scale of US war production..."During the sixteen years prior to 1935, the United States manufactured thirty-three tanks. Between 1935 and 1940, the nation produced 1,000 tanks. In the period 1940-1945, the Arsenal of Democracy produced 87,619 tanks, in addition to tens of thousands of other combat vehicles".

 

Mikie

  

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Ah Jim looks very dashing as a young man on his machine !
Thanks for posting Ken and say hi to the old fart when you see him next
O


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Johan Willaert
22 hours ago, General Apathy said:

Here's a great shot of an old friend Jim on the set of ' The Dirty Dozen ' in 1967 as an eighteen year old stunt worker.

 

 

Great photo....

Meanwhile work on the Jeep continues and we're actually building.... a frame on wheels today...
Steering box and brake lines are next....

153-GPW56685-27Okt20 (5).JPG

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1 hour ago, Johan Willaert said:

 

Great photo....

Meanwhile work on the Jeep continues and we're actually building.... a frame on wheels today...
Steering box and brake lines are next....

153-GPW56685-27Okt20 (5).JPG

Hi Johan.  I'm always interested in seeing these nut and bolt level jeep builds.  Do you have it down to the point that you can assemble one blindfolded yet?

 

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Johan Willaert
16 minutes ago, mikie said:

Hi Johan.  I'm always interested in seeing these nut and bolt level jeep builds.  Do you have it down to the point that you can assemble one blindfolded yet?

 


Likely not, but I’m pretty confident I could ID any jeep part and tell you where it goes...

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General Apathy
11 hours ago, Johan Willaert said:

 

Great photo....

Meanwhile work on the Jeep continues and we're actually building.... a frame on wheels today...
Steering box and brake lines are next....

153-GPW56685-27Okt20 (5).JPG

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Hi Johan,  well done another restoration in progress, bon courage  . . . . . . 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, October 28  2020. 

 

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