mikie Posted November 5, 2021 Share #19201 Posted November 5, 2021 46 minutes ago, Buckshot329 said: You're right it does make the comparisions in the brickwork more pronounced. As I mentioned there are sadly very few 'then' photos available for the AAA men in my hometown (or if there are, I haven't found them) but this is one I thought would be interesting to post. I'll see if I can get a few others. Thanks for asking, I'm always happy to share but often reluctant to post! Don't feel reluctant. All the regulars here enjoy seeing things posted that we will probably never see in person. And we all love to learn something new. I only wish that there was some interesting military history in my current location beyond the few scraps I've already posted. And besides that, we have a way to go to break the 20,000 replies and 2,000,000 views marks here. Mikie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCDUFF Posted November 5, 2021 Share #19202 Posted November 5, 2021 Hi Ken I have just returned from a holiday in Eastern Europe and had the opportunity to purchase some M36 pistol belts..! The price was agreeable, so I purchased 30. (I know, I know! I was offered more, but didn’t want to appear greedy!!) This didn’t go down well with my good lady, as they took up 10kg of our suitcase allowance!! These are Russian lend-lease supply surplus which have been showing up on the market over the last few years. I love these as they are in their original bundles of 5 tied with string! Anyway, my reason for showing the humble pistol belt is having so many unissued belts together, the differences are quite interesting (to the collectors and enthusiasts!) Of note: Nasco - Colour difference between 42 and 43. Nasco – Brand logo difference in the same year 42 Nasco – Shoulder strengthener used in 42 and 43 S Froelich – Different brand logo in same year 42 S Froelich - Same year, (different logo) but one has shoulder strengthener, other doesn't RM Co – No shoulder strengthener in 42 but used in 43 RM Co – note on one belt they punched the 3 holes in the wrong place and then stitched them up!! (Love this!) Belt keepers – Varying – bare steel, green painted steel, flat alloy, ridged alloy U.S. stamps – varying font Crazy but fascinating hobby. Yes, I collect WW2 USMC, but these were calling me!! I am sure you know every detail and every contract placed with every manufacturer, but I thought these pictured together was cool, and hopefully interesting to those reading this forum! My next objective is to find a photo of a Russian wearing one with a Thompson pouch and Thompson (which are also readily available). Were any ever used in anger by Russia?! Cheers! Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 6, 2021 Share #19203 Posted November 6, 2021 23 hours ago, MCDUFF said: Hi Ken I have just returned from a holiday in Eastern Europe and had the opportunity to purchase some M36 pistol belts..! The price was agreeable, so I purchased 30. (I know, I know! I was offered more, but didn’t want to appear greedy!!) This didn’t go down well with my good lady, as they took up 10kg of our suitcase allowance!! These are Russian lend-lease supply surplus which have been showing up on the market over the last few years. I love these as they are in their original bundles of 5 tied with string! Anyway, my reason for showing the humble pistol belt is having so many unissued belts together, the differences are quite interesting (to the collectors and enthusiasts!) Of note: Nasco - Colour difference between 42 and 43. Nasco – Brand logo difference in the same year 42 Nasco – Shoulder strengthener used in 42 and 43 S Froelich – Different brand logo in same year 42 S Froelich - Same year, (different logo) but one has shoulder strengthener, other doesn't RM Co – No shoulder strengthener in 42 but used in 43 RM Co – note on one belt they punched the 3 holes in the wrong place and then stitched them up!! (Love this!) Belt keepers – Varying – bare steel, green painted steel, flat alloy, ridged alloy U.S. stamps – varying font Crazy but fascinating hobby. Yes, I collect WW2 USMC, but these were calling me!! I am sure you know every detail and every contract placed with every manufacturer, but I thought these pictured together was cool, and hopefully interesting to those reading this forum! My next objective is to find a photo of a Russian wearing one with a Thompson pouch and Thompson (which are also readily available). Were any ever used in anger by Russia?! Cheers! Graham . Hi Graham, Geez is this stuff still coming out of Russia, I was buying bundles of them 20 / 25 years ago all new old stock and unused, there was also thousands of unused five-pocket 20 round Thompson magazine pouches but all these were undated and didn't have the U.S. stamp on them. Then there was also a warehouse full of unfired Thompson machine-guns, but all these had to be deactivated before they could be sold in the UK. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 06 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 6, 2021 Share #19204 Posted November 6, 2021 . Jeep rebuilding Friday . . . . Spent the day Friday helping on the Jeep rebuild we are helping a friend with, as there was no spare wheel carrier the owner of the garage said no problem in half hour I can make one of those. Here it is half way to being finished a couple more shapes to be cut out the sides and one out of the face where the bolts are . He's been saving and rebuilding military vehicles for fifty years. . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 06 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutiger83 Posted November 6, 2021 Share #19205 Posted November 6, 2021 8 hours ago, General Apathy said: . Jeep rebuilding Friday . . . . Spent the day Friday helping on the Jeep rebuild we are helping a friend with, as there was no spare wheel carrier the owner of the garage said no problem in half hour I can make one of those. Here it is half way to being finished a couple more shapes to be cut out the sides and one out of the face where the bolts are . He's been saving and rebuilding military vehicles for fifty years. . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 06 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Ken, Very nice! Fabricating parts is an art form. Fabricating jeeps parts is almost as good as fabricating B-25 parts! Hahaha!!! ...Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 7, 2021 Share #19206 Posted November 7, 2021 7 hours ago, cutiger83 said: Ken, Very nice! Fabricating parts is an art form. Fabricating jeeps parts is almost as good as fabricating B-25 parts! Hahaha!!! ...Kat . Hi Kat, this is the sort of stuff my friend was finding in French scrapyards and rebuilding 30 / 35 years ago, back to show and roadworthy condition, he has personally saved many Jeeps, Dodges, GMC's, DUKW's in his working life This photo came out of a box of photographs his wife was sorting last week sadly the finished job wasn't in the same box. He has worked on many vehicles for films over forty years including relevant for us military films Memphis Belle, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and many more. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 07 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earlymb Posted November 7, 2021 Share #19207 Posted November 7, 2021 Is that a halftrack in the background? Hard too see. I am familiar with how to simply take the ethanol out of fuel by mixing it with water and then separate them, but this method is a bit cumbersome for larger amounts and some of the Premium fuels have no ethanol added (yet) to them. As for fabricating metal parts, I greatly enjoy the Youtube channel 'Make it Kustom', where the owner of a HotRod shop explains and demonstrates lots of techniques for metalworking https://www.youtube.com/c/MakeItKustom/videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 7, 2021 Share #19208 Posted November 7, 2021 1 hour ago, earlymb said: Is that a halftrack in the background? Hard too see. I am familiar with how to simply take the ethanol out of fuel by mixing it with water and then separate them, but this method is a bit cumbersome for larger amounts and some of the Premium fuels have no ethanol added (yet) to them. As for fabricating metal parts, I greatly enjoy the Youtube channel 'Make it Kustom', where the owner of a HotRod shop explains and demonstrates lots of techniques for metalworking https://www.youtube.com/c/MakeItKustom/videos . Hi earlymb Yes it was a half-track, here's another shot from the same farmyard, it's a Dodge engine hood with the gas paint markings on it sat on top of a Jeep engine bay, note the Dodge hood had three external hinges added and also note the wing of the Jeep had an additional panel added as a mud-guard to prevent spray or splashing from the tire ( tyre ). It was a most interesting time in the 70's & 80's making farmyard finds in France. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 07 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 7, 2021 Share #19209 Posted November 7, 2021 . Were US military vehicles O.D. green all over. . . . . . . . . Well NO not until resprayed in the field or repair shops . . . . . . last week when I sent a group of friends a photo of the Jeep I am currently helping with, one of them came back that he liked the work all except the ' chrome ' bolts, well in fact they aren't chrome bolts but un-painted Cadmium / Zinc plated bolts and vehicles certainly came from the US factories like this and here is some evidence of that. . . . . . . . . . . lots of the vehicles involved in D-Day were re-sprayed all over prior to D-Day and from this the thought that military vehicles were O.D. green all over. . Here's a great photograph from the Dodge production lines, interesting to see that the last of the half-ton weapon carriers are shown on the left, with two lines of the new three-quarter ton weapons carriers over on the right. Take a look at the un-painted bolts on the bulkhead of the half-ton on the left, then look at the un-painted bolts on the bumper on the three-quarter ton on the right. Also of interest is the half-ton on the left has the early chevron pattern tires, as does the second three-quarter ton on the right, whereas the first three-quarter ton on the right has the standard bar-tread tires, ( who said that all vehicles had bar-tread tires ) . Again looking at this chassis there are a number of un-painted bolts in evidence here. . Again more evidence of unpainted bolts on the front bumper, same as in the factory photograph . More un-painted bolts, also note the unpainted leather gaiter around the gear stick and the un-painted bolts holding that gaiter in place. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 07 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 7, 2021 Share #19210 Posted November 7, 2021 On 11/5/2021 at 4:27 PM, mikie said: Don't feel reluctant. All the regulars here enjoy seeing things posted that we will probably never see in person. And we all love to learn something new. I only wish that there was some interesting military history in my current location beyond the few scraps I've already posted. And besides that, we have a way to go to break the 20,000 replies and 2,000,000 views marks here. Mikie . Hahaaaaa . . . . Mikie, I have told you two million times not to exaggerate the viewing numbers on this thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 07 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19211 Posted November 8, 2021 10 hours ago, General Apathy said: . Hahaaaaa . . . . Mikie, I have told you two million times not to exaggerate the viewing numbers on this thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 07 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Ok. I'm not just posting this to boost up the numbers here. OK, I am. 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19212 Posted November 8, 2021 . My first grandson was five moths old yesterday . . . . . . . Quick text messages between my daughter and myself yesterday. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 08 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutiger83 Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19213 Posted November 8, 2021 1 hour ago, General Apathy said: . My first grandson was five moths old yesterday . . . . . . . Quick text messages between my daughter and myself yesterday. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 08 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Ken, He is just too cute for words! Does your daughter get your sense of humor or roll her eyes? Hahahahaha!!! ...Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19214 Posted November 8, 2021 . Again, should Jeeps be O.D. Green all over . . . . . . Well no not when constructed at the factory, there were a number of points on the Jeep, chassis and body that were tinned and unpainted for bonding / grounding earthing straps for radio noise suppression. Over the years of rebuilds on Jeeps these invariably get painted over, very few Jeep owners ever get to see untouched tinned areas while refurbishing their Jeep. Happily there are restorers that try to re-commission the tinned areas, such as in these photos I had from a UK friend showing how he tinned the bare metal and then painted around the tinned area. . . . This is the grille from a Willys slat grille MB Jeep it shows four tinned points, the top two connect to the engine hood when it's in place. These are the unpainted left and right chassis rails featuring the engine mount position and the tinned areas below them, before painting the chassis. . Drivers-side front wing. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 08 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19215 Posted November 8, 2021 1 hour ago, cutiger83 said: Ken, He is just too cute for words! Does your daughter get your sense of humor or roll her eyes? Hahahahaha!!! ...Kat . Hi Kat I think my daughter soon learnt to get my sense of humour, it still doesn't stop her from rolling her eyes though at times . . . . . . 👅 Thanks Kat for your kind comment and thanks John4022 for adding a ' like ' to the post with his photo. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 08 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19216 Posted November 8, 2021 5 hours ago, General Apathy said: . My first grandson was five moths old yesterday . . . . . . . Quick text messages between my daughter and myself yesterday. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 08 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Awwwww... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanJ Posted November 8, 2021 Share #19217 Posted November 8, 2021 General A: That young man looks just like his Grand Dad…the resemblance is uncanny! Those grand kids are Special! Spoiling them and handing them back to mom and Dad is a great way to pay back your kids for all the grief we received when our children were in their teen age years. (My mom just rolled her eyes from the great beyond when she heard me talking about my son’s irreverent teenage years.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 9, 2021 Share #19218 Posted November 9, 2021 11 hours ago, BryanJ said: General A: That young man looks just like his Grand Dad…the resemblance is uncanny! Those grand kids are Special! Spoiling them and handing them back to mom and Dad is a great way to pay back your kids for all the grief we received when our children were in their teen age years. (My mom just rolled her eyes from the great beyond when she heard me talking about my son’s irreverent teenage years.) . Well I just hope that he gets the chance to drive around in the Jeep with his grandpa when he's old enough . . . . .. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 09 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 9, 2021 Share #19219 Posted November 9, 2021 . And now for something different . . . . . . . . . late last night I was exchanging old photos with long-term friend Mick in the UK, he sent me these shots of extra's and crew on one of his first film jobs, " IKE the war years " made around 1979 / 1980, he said that he went from earning £40 a week in his normal job to £40 a day on the film-work. He can be seen below driving Lee Remick, Robert Duvall in the Dodge Command car. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 09 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 9, 2021 Share #19220 Posted November 9, 2021 . And now something even more different . . . . Mick's uncle was part of the RAF squadron that dropped weapons, radios and other equipment to the French underground during WWII, below it mentions the amount of containers they parachuted in during the war, and the cost in lost aircrews. Ken, Pretty sure I've mentioned this before but came across this little snippet whilst researching my Dad's brother. He served as ground crew in 138 Sqd based at Tempsford looking after the aircraft... I have a pic of him stood against a Whitley which I must try and find. What has always amazed me is the amount of equipment that went out but more so the retrieving of any of it after the war.. Mick. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 09 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 10, 2021 Share #19221 Posted November 10, 2021 . US Ranger training in UK prior to Pointe du Hoc attack D-Day . . . . . The cliffs used for Ranger training in the UK prior to D-Day were in the news again yesterday as around 500 tons of cliff face fell onto the beach below. These cliffs are located at East Beach / West Bay, Dorset on the south coast of the UK. . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 10 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 10, 2021 Share #19222 Posted November 10, 2021 . Spotted on television series ' Little house on the prairie ' . . . . . . . I saw an image of Michael Landon wearing a pair of trouser suspenders ( familiar to me ) during the 1974 television series ' Little house on the prairie ', familiar to me as they were a pattern supplied to US Forces during WWII in 2000 I supplied amongst other things bundles of WWII new old stock trouser suspenders ( three different materials ) to the series ' Band of Brothers ' and some of the bundles were identical to the pair worn by Michael Landon. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 10 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 12, 2021 Share #19223 Posted November 12, 2021 . WWII Manufacturing mistakes . . . . . handling quantities of WWII American surplus I always enjoyed seeing ' manufacturing mistakes ' amongst the stocks. Shown below are 2oz cans of lubricating oil mainly used on individual weaponry. If I recall the carton contained sixty cans, and just one had had the printing inverted. . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 12 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 12, 2021 Share #19224 Posted November 12, 2021 . WWII Manufacturing mistakes . . . . . handling quantities of WWII American surplus I always enjoyed seeing ' manufacturing mistakes ' amongst the stocks. Shown below are photos of one of the bundles of WWII USMC covers that I had. I found just one cover within the bundles I had that was made from two different material weaves, one half of the cover was HBT weave and the opposite half was a Plain weave. . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 12 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 12, 2021 Share #19225 Posted November 12, 2021 . November 11 2021 . . . . . . . . It was the annual remembrance service on Thursday 11 November 2021, I was very pleased to see that in attendance was Mr Delarue aged 92, in 1944 aged 15 he was employed by the American graves registration to dig graves and help handle the dead. The photos below show Mr Delarue at the ceremony where he placed the wreath of flowers and other images I made when I interviewed him in 2010, the one shows him holding the photograph of him helping pulling German dead from a German vehicle. The Blosville cemetery was started in the same field as the gliders in the bottom left corner. Another photograph shows his hand-written permit for riding in American vehicles. . . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 12 2021. " Life's too short for reproductions " " Life is like a tank of gas, the closer you get to a quarter tank, the faster it goes " . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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