Some great footage on the Beeb today regarding the 70th anniversary of D - Day.
The array of vehicles Heads of State arrived in was interesting.
Putin ? Merc limo
Virtually most of the others were in non descript - though probably very comfortable - Citroens. It's a shame they can't come up with a decent modern DS . . .
Prince Charles ? Bentley (fantastic)
HM ? Range Rover. What else ! Shame she didn't come up the beach in it from a Landing Craft.

We went to Normandy around this time three years ago and it was a fantastic experience. One particular highlight was whilst barrelling along in our 110, we were overtaken by a restored WW11 German sidecar outfit . . . complete with machine gun !

If you've not been, you must !

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

I must get there one day to pay my respects.

Ive been on holiday and gone along some of the beaches and it still amazes me that the pontoons are still there! They really built those things to last

It still amazes me though how they managed to do so much back then as well with the available resources. FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

TugRR wrote:

Some great footage on the Beeb today regarding the 70th anniversary of D - Day.
The array of vehicles Heads of State arrived in was interesting.
Putin ? Merc limo
Virtually most of the others were in non descript - though probably very comfortable - Citroens. It's a shame they can't come up with a decent modern DS . . .
Prince Charles ? Bentley (fantastic)
HM ? Range Rover. What else ! Shame she didn't come up the beach in it from a Landing Craft.

We went to Normandy around this time three years ago and it was a fantastic experience. One particular highlight was whilst barrelling along in our 110, we were overtaken by a restored WW11 German sidecar outfit . . . complete with machine gun !

If you've not been, you must !

There was I thinking today was an act of remembrance as apposed to a car show

Crikey - never thought I'd offend anyone with this post ? - maybe it should be withdrawn in it's entirety then ?
Isn't the whole point of forums like this to be able to express ones self with people sharing similar interests ?
Maybe I've got it wrong.
For what it's worth, iphs, my grandfather landed in Normandy on June 8th 1944 serving in the Army - he was involved in the liberation of Bergen Belsen.
The TV programmes today were to commemorate & remember.

I have been doing both -

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

Tug, you never offended me and I lost relatives in both wars. And you're 100% correct, the experience of Normandy is eerie and sobering whilst being a nice feeling of immense pride and overwhelming gratitude.

TugRR,

Sorry mate, I lashed out a little, I am a bit OCD about this sort of thing. I know there was no disrespect intended.

I, like many others, had relations lost on D-Day and over the following months.

I was in the Parachute Regiment and served in Northern Ireland and the Falklands war and lost friends in both conflicts. It sometimes feels a little raw.

Please ignore my rantings.

Let's draw a line under this ? - iphs, today is emotional for many people - we're only human after all !

Below is my grandad - he was conscripted into the Royal Artillery, and became a dispatch rider:

Click image to enlarge

6TH June 1944. A day to remember and a date never to be forgotten.

As naïve as it may sound to others I know that my right to vote as I please, my right to disagree and my right to express an opinion exist only because of the 6TH JUNE 1944.

God bless them all; those that fell and those that survived. Travelling around in circles again.

My Grandfather was an observer in one of these during the war.



He was stationed in Malta during part of the war and I got lots of stories from my Grandmother. I never met him, he died long before I was born, of diabetes, not during the conflict.

I frequently read the obituaries and find it amazing how brave people were. Bill Foxley is one face most people might know. He survived a plane crash but rushed back to try and save his coleagues, only to suffer terrible burns. He appeared in the film 'Battle of Britain'.



Big respect and gratitude to those who defeated the forces of evil.

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What was the role of the aeroplane, Kurt ? - dropping torpedoes ?

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

It was nicknamed the string bag, partly because it looked like one, and partly because it could carry just about anything. It was used a lot for reconnaissance, but also yes, torpedo bombing. My Grandmother said he was given a cutlass as a weapon but how true this is I don't know. Certainly, at the begining of the war equipment was very poor and in short supply so things may have been a little Dad's Army.

It was Swordfish that crippled the Bismark with torpedo's, allowing the British to catch up and sink it. The planes flew so slowly that the Germans couldn't track them with their guns.

It was also Swordfish that raided Taranto, where the Italian fleet lost half of its capital ships in one night. Unfortunately, this inspired the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbour.

Have a look at this - how brave are those guys, getting into an open cockpit biplane on an aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic to go and attack the very heavily armed Bismark?

Click image to enlarge

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I'm no expert, but Isn't that a Swordfish and it was used as a torpedo plane. I believe it was these type of aircraft that disabled the German battleship "Scharnhorst". A torpedo dropped by a Swordfish crippled her steering leaving her open to attack by the Royal Navy.

OOPs. Full answer appeared as I was typing. And yes it was the Bismark Sorry fellas.