baboon6

There was a shortage of aerial bombs at one stage in Vietnam wasn't there? With old stocks dating back to WW2 being used, some of them perhaps unsafe, and aircraft sometimes going on missions with fewer bombs than they would have normally.

Hi Ken, agree with para 2 & 3 but don't think glider towing impacted on Bomber Command as such. All the aircraft used for tugs were in a specific Group dedicated to that task that could theoretically be used for bombing when not needed, altho am not sure that ever happened. Have the details, but am just out the door for a weekend away so will check in when I get back. BillB As far as the Stirlings, I seem to recall they actually removed the nose turret, which points to the idea they didnt really want them to bomb anymore. I think the Ablemarles that hauled the Pegasus Bridge gliders were regarded as failures by whatever user go them, which is how they ended up as glider tugs. Think BrianTrubshaw, the Concorde test pilot, flew Glider stirlings if I remember rightly. I must have a look in his biography about it. According to his obituary in the Telegraph, Trubshaw also flew Lancasters. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1327939/Brian-Trubshaw.html

Looks like the EF88 will be entering service soon: http://www.janes.com/article/52791/australia-ready-to-sign-ef88-austeyr-rifle-contract?from_rss=1 Edited to add- 1RAR already has them I think: http://www.army.gov.au/Our-work/News-and-media/1-RAR-first-to-receive-enhanced-F88

Yeah the basic police vehicle here is the Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger pick-up. The Highway Patrol have 5-series BMWs and the Flying Squad have Golf GTIs. Then there are various armoured vehicles for the heavy boys (Public Order Policing Unit and Tactical Reaction Teams).

Indeed http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3639742/The-donkey-who-kept-a-diary.html http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2011/08/haig-war-british-sheffield http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/lions_donkeys_01.shtml And so on and so on...

Bugger that I want to see boobs!

It's a good show for endgame war-weariness and racing Chaffees. I still like it. Yeah it has its good moments.

By the time of the Rhine crossing 33 Armoured Bde had been converted to LVT4s and was now part of 79 Armoured Div. It comprised four regts of what the British called Buffalos. Not sure how many LVTs there were in each rest but apparently 21 Army Group as a whole had about 600 at that time including some operated by AVRE regts temporarily converted to the amphibious role. 4th Armoured Bde operated two regts of DD tanks for the Rhine operation.

When Canada looked at them, the cost of the subs were acceptable, but the infrastructure cost to support them quickly tripled the price tag. Unless you plan to use existing refuelling facilites then the costs are quite high. Modern subs are starting to erode some of the advantages of nukes. Should have doubled up with the RN. After all our naval bases and yours are facing the same direction, and with a nuke boat the distances are trivial. I understand they had Canadians at the Perisher courses in the 1980s (possibly still do) so there were working links there. We even had a squadron of RN diesel submarines assigned to Canada in the 1960s I was surprised to learn. Caused a potential problem during the Cuban missile crisis though.... The RN had submarine sqns all over the place in the 50s and 60s, including Malta, Singapore, Sydney and Halifax. The latter two were withdrawn after the Australians and Canadians got their own submarine forces online but there were some later deployments too. http://www.godfreydykes.info/R.N._SUBMARINE_SQUADRONS_OF_THE_1950's_AND_BEYOND!.htm http://www.godfreydykes.info/rectangle_Album.htm http://upperiscope.com.au/history/history_sm4.htm SM7 was I think withdrawn from Singapore in about 1972. As for Perisher AFAIK the RCN and RAN both send their potential skippers to the International Diesel submarine Command Course run by the Royal Netherlands Navy which is conducted at least in part in conjunction with Perisher. The Dutch started this course after the RN course which they and many other countries had sent prospective captains to went nuclear. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_28/dutch.html http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/specials/special_smcc.htm

Here's another one. There are a lot of great WW2 programmes in the Timewatch series, not all aviation related. Timewatch - Bombing Germany (BBC 2001) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=737PPxhTjUU

In the past few days I've found a couple of really good WW2 documentaries, mostly broadcast many years ago and apparently not seen too often since. Firstly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tH8OVAICjQ Vintage TV documentary 'The Lancaster Legend', made in 1980 to accompany the late Sqdn Ldr Jack Currie's book 'Lancaster Target'. It's narrated by Richard Todd and here is a little bit more about Sqn Ldr Currie and his book: http://www.626-squadron.co.uk/crews6.html http://newarkadvertiser.co.uk/leisure/tourism/history/TimWarner/warner32.asp http://www.amazon.com/Lancaster-Target-Jack-Currie/dp/0907579280 Secondly, Some Of Our Airmen Are No Longer Missing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTpAXE4WIJM This is a superb documentary from 1981, narrated by Leo McKern, about the Allied and German aircraft that were shot down and crashed in the Ijselmeer inland sea in The Netherlands, and the efforts by the Dutch military to recover the aircraft and bodies of lost airmen as the water was being drained and the land reclaimed. Really worth watching. And thirdly, another one with Jack Currie, The Augsburg Raid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2deq8gbYV4

100 per cent. I've seen footage of British Army individuals using M32s that they just " borrowed " from USMC...

No. They were built on merchant hulls and could not achieve half the speed of a battle line I must say what I didn't realise though is that the IJN had a whole another class , okay 6, fast carriers under build in 42/42, however none finished until 45 when it was obviously too late... http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unryū-class_aircraft_carrier

Probably the same mong who thought COP Keating was a good idea too...

Well there was the Johnson LMG which IIRC saw service with USMC parachute units and the 1st SSF.