Norman D. Landing

[mikie]

4 hours ago, General Apathy said:

.

Again, now for something completely different . . .. . . . . . 

 

I am an avid cashew and peanut eater, mainly as I like the taste and the experience and supposedly they are very healthy food wise.

 

However in my continual desire to research many things, I wanted to know what use was made of the rest of the cashew plant as it's mainly reported that only the actual nut is edible and the rest of the plant is toxic to humans.  So it was interesting to read that the cashew nut plant was used in the manufacturing of weapons in WWII.

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 22 2025.

...

That is fascinating. Thanks for posting that. My go-to snack at home and work is roasted / unsalted (doctor’s orders) mixed nuts. I love cashews but had no idea about how they are grown. After looking them up I can understand why they are so expensive. I just wonder how someone in the distant past figured out the seed inside a toxic shell is edible. They must have been hungry! But I’m sure glad that they did. 
mikie
 

[BryanJ]

Well, while on the subject of different, awoke this morning to five inches of snow in my neighborhood IN FLORIDA!!  In my lifetime, I have never seen anything like this!  Actually, no one else has either because it’s a record.  And IT’S COLD!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Cold here too in Hawaii, down to 74 degrees

 

I almost had to put socks on...

[mikie]

1 hour ago, Salvage Sailor said:

Cold here too in Hawaii, down to 74 degrees

 

I almost had to put socks on...

🤣🥶

[mikie]

1 hour ago, BryanJ said:

Well, while on the subject of different, awoke this morning to five inches of snow in my neighborhood IN FLORIDA!!  In my lifetime, I have never seen anything like this!  Actually, no one else has either because it’s a record.  And IT’S COLD!!

 

 

 

 

 

Driving in that for people not familiar with it can be very dangerous. I hope you and everyone affected stay safe. 
mikie

[BryanJ]

It’s pretty bad when someone from Hawaii is ribbing someone from Florida about cold weather.  Watch out for smokin’ volcanos bro🙂

[Mr_Flibble]

It's been around freezing here for the last two weeks, but no snow here in Dutchistan. I haven't seen the sun in over a month. 

The wood stove is earning its keep for another year though. 

Managed to fabricate a better fitting part for that US military camera I'm working on. And the best part is that it will stay in place in the planetary gear unit without the need for any epoxy. Now comes the hard part of putting it all back together in the right order.

 

[manayunkman]

It was -4 here yesterday but it’s warmer now at 17.

 

My dog and his long hair love it.

 

Im thanking God the heater works. 

[BryanJ]

Hard to comprehend what those soldiers at Bastone lived through day in and day out.  My father-in-law was with the 17th Abn Div and although he'd never talk about the war, he would comment about how bad the cold was.  A different breed.

[manayunkman]

3 hours ago, BryanJ said:

Hard to comprehend what those soldiers at Bastone lived through day in and day out.  My father-in-law was with the 17th Abn Div and although he'd never talk about the war, he would comment about how bad the cold was.  A different breed.

Mr Humphreyville lived near Ephrata, PA.

 

He would come to the flea market every weekend at Renningers and Black Angus in Adamstown.

 

He was in the 17th AB at Bastogne and lost two toes to frostbite. 
 

It’s going down to 4 F tonight and continues to snow softly.

 

The forecast is 40 F for a high next Friday.

 

 

[mikie]

Born and raised in central Upstate New York until I was 24, I grew up in that kind of weather, low temperatures and snow sometimes from November through March. It really didn’t bother me. I loved ice fishing. But living in the California Bay Area for 40 years has dampened my enthusiasm for that by quite a bit. I don’t miss it at all. 
mikie

[LtRGFRANK]

I HAD A FRIEND THAT WAS AT BASTONE AND TALKED ABOUT THE C[LD BUT TALKING ABOUT COLD I HAD ANOTHER FRIEND THAT RAN THE CITY WATER PLANT ONE VERY COLD MORNING WHULE ON PATROL I STOPPED ON FOR COFFEE ANFD TALKED ABOUT THYE COLD HE NLOOKED AT ME AND  SAID  YOU SHOULD  HAVE  BEEN ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT AT STALINGRAD  YUP HE SERVED IN THE GERMAN ARMY AT AGE 16

[General Apathy]

.

Normandy Weather Presently . . . . . . . .

 

we have had five or six weeks of almost continuous rain, sometimes raining non-stop for 24 and 48 hours, often blown horizontally with the high winds we have also experienced.

 

This isn't a current photo but it shows Jeeping in the rain . . . . . . . . having friends along keeps the seats dry.  😹 😹 !!!!

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent,  January 24  2025.

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[General Apathy]

On 6/28/2019 at 10:02 PM, mikie said:

I can still hear my dear Grandma Lucy complaining way back in the 1970's that they didn't make things anymore like they used to. And they still don't.

 

Mikie

.

Hi mikie,

 

yes things are different today, not like they used to be . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent,  January 24  2025.

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[manayunkman]

That’s a horrible picture.

[Mr_Flibble]

21 hours ago, BryanJ said:

Hard to comprehend what those soldiers at Bastone lived through day in and day out.  My father-in-law was with the 17th Abn Div and although he'd never talk about the war, he would comment about how bad the cold was.  A different breed.

A different breed indeed. The Winter of 1944/45 was a particularly harsh one in Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands.  I don't think I have even experienced winters of -20C myself, let alone being outside for days on end in it.
 

[LtRGFRANK]

3 hours ago, General Apathy said:

.

Hi mikie,

 

yes things are different today, not like they used to be . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent,  January 24  2025.

...WPSH I NAD THE JEEP WE HAF IN THE 40S

 

[Johan Willaert]

3 hours ago, Mr_Flibble said:

A different breed indeed. The Winter of 1944/45 was a particularly harsh one in Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands.  I don't think I have even experienced winters of -20C myself, let alone being outside for days on end in it.
 

I have… Spent the Winter of 1984-85 doing Infantry Squad Leader course in Arlon (25mls South of Bastogne) in freezing temperatures for weeks on end… Coldest was -24 Celsius…. 10-15 inches of snow throughout February…

Back in the day we did not have any real cold weather or gore-tex gear… Leather boots, a pup tent and lots of wool layers… 

Thought about the Yanks in the Bulge a lot those days…

[mikie]

My only experience remotely like living through The Bulge was spending dawn to dusk on Oneida Lake ice fishing in my younger days. And that was no comparison at all. I recall one day it was sooo darned cold and windy we cut the day short and headed back in. That was a very rare occurrence for us. Getting back off the ice, we trudged past a diner that looked open so went in. The owner said he was not open but said he’d whip us up something since we looked frozen solid. And we nearly were. Hot coffee, piles of scrambled eggs and toast. No meal, no matter how fancy or expensive has ever tasted so darned good! That day and that diner sometimes comes to mind when I watch a Battle of the Bulge movie. No such convenience for soldiers in battle or on exercises. 
mikie

[Salvage Sailor]

In the last century I managed an Ice Hockey team and the grandfather of one of my star players would attend our home practices and games.  His son was my neighbor and had related that his father had been in the Air Force in WWII.  One day during a break I sat down to speak with the grandfather and after small talk about the cold icy weather he says "this is nothing like it was in Norway in winter when we were up against the convoys."

 

I turned and gazed at him as he smiled, working out that information in my head...

 

Yep, Luftwaffe Stuka mechanic and rear seat gunner

 

He was one of the lucky ones, never went to Russia, Africa, the Balkans, Crete, France...five years in Norway and surrendered in May of 1945 without a scratch.

[General Apathy]

On 1/20/2025 at 6:16 PM, earlymb said:

 

Hi Ken,

 

unless the shade hides details that appears to be an early type cover w/o the ribs and with the rubber gasket? Is the date code still readable? That NOS unit (standard type with ribs) looks amazing and I have saved that reference that pic as a reference for the correct paint job. There's always a debate if it should be crackle paint or wrinkle paint, and this clearly shows the crackle paint is correct. I think that old unit can easily be checked and adjusted to your generator of required? It doesn't look bad at all.

 

.

Hi earlymb

 

The number on the leg of the old regulator is ' 2W ' which is February 1942, the number on the leg of the replacement appears to be ' 10E ' , the number ' 10 ' would possibly be October but I don't have a chart listing ' E ', !!!!!!. 

 

The take-off regulator has gone back into my spares boxes, nothing is thrown away without it definitely being unserviceable 

 

+

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 25  2025.

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[General Apathy]

.

Winter in the Ardennes 1980 . . . . . . . .

 

When we were younger in 1980, ( or just younger and adventurous )  about a dozen of us made a trip to the Ardennes and we went with the intention of sleeping out in the snow in the forests.  Nothing more modern than 1944 could be used which was to try and experience the same weather as the troops in 1944, the temperature was -20.  The landscape of tall hilly country prevented more than a couple of hours of winter daylight into the valley's. We did either two or three nights and then moved into a farmers hay barn for the rest of the time.  It WAS cold and all liquids froze, even oranges,  and wine became slushy !!!,  each morning the Jeep engines would have to be turned over many times with the cranking handle before attempting to start them.  

 

The fun part of the day though was to sneak up behind trees where friends were stood and hit the trunk of the spruce trees very had with the large back-side of an axe and shake all the snow off the branches onto the people stood below, it had to be quick, hit the tree and make a fast swerve away from the tree ourselves..

 

As Johan will testify the last trip I made to the Ardennes with my Jeep ( screen down ) was either 2017 or 2019 can't recall.  

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent,  January 25  2025.

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[earlymb]

3 hours ago, General Apathy said:

.

Hi earlymb

 

The number on the leg of the old regulator is ' 2W ' which is February 1942, the number on the leg of the replacement appears to be ' 10E ' , the number ' 10 ' would possibly be October but I don't have a chart listing ' E ', !!!!!!. 

 

The take-off regulator has gone back into my spares boxes, nothing is thrown away without it definitely being unserviceable 

 

+

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 25  2025.

...

 

10E would be October 1950. I have to check the date code on the leg of my own regulator as the original tag is present but damaged and the date code is unreadable. I do have an early-type cover (I don't think it's original but it'll do) that I'll put on it, together with a repro tag. Early covers might have had smooth black paint, I'll need to look into that.

[General Apathy]

.

Well Yesterday was a dry day . . . . . . . . . .

 

Saturday we had a dry day for a change, so I went to bed in the anticipation that we would have a dry Sunday morning, how wrong I was.

 

I sent my coffee buddy a txt saying I had the Jeep out and was ready to leave, he replied saying that the weather forecast was heavy rain, I said,  so we only get wet on the way home .. . . . . . . . .  I arrived at the cafe in the Jeep and ten minutes later Mike arrived in his Landrover !!!!!.

 

We sat and watched it raining outside while we had coffee and then headed home, it WAS a wet ride home. .. . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent,  January 26  2025.

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[General Apathy]

.

Hi earlymb,

 

a couple of shots for you showing that the ' snake oil ' I recommended and sprayed my Jeep with in 2023,  is still working,  the water sits on top of the paintwork. 

 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 26  2025.

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