Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2018/08/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Douglas, I had forgotten Ireland's neutrality during the war.? Flying and its associated activities can be very unforgiving.? Two of my college classmates were killed after we left school.? One was a test pilot for Ryan Aircraft, testing vertical takeoff designs. The other was testing a new parachute design.? A local engineer and pilot who I knew was killed in his high-performance sailplane.? A couple of other pilots I knew thought they were immortal and pressed their luck. I only scratched one airplane, and that was on a hangar door. :-( Jim Nichols Tullahoma, TN USA On 8/7/2018 7:34 PM, Douglas Barry wrote: > Ireland during WW2 was "neutral" so we didn't melt down anything. As a > result, we still have a lot of the metal architectural flourishes that > vanished from British cities during the war. We didn't even call it > WW2 here, but rather "The Emergency" and, while we were ostensibly > intransigent in our neutrality, we were secretly supporting the Allies > with covert information, quick repatriation of crashed aircrew and > sailors, and, of course, many Irish fought for them during the war. > > Funnily enough, my mother's brother Griffith ran away from home with a > friend to join the RAF in 1942. Both of them were 17 at the time and > they headed up from Dublin to Northern Ireland on their bicycles. They > made it to just outside Dundalk when they were stopped and returned > home by the Garda?.? My grandfather who was a Chief Superintendent in > the Garda? at the time and head of the Local Security Force during the > Emergency had eventually extracted their plans from my mother and her > sisters, and made a couple of quick phone calls to cut off the obvious > routes.? My uncle was "returned" home in a police van and was promised > he could fly instead for the Irish Air Corps once he had finished > school. Sadly, he was killed in May 1944 when he crashed his Miles > Magister trainer (serial no. 37) just after going solo when he looped > the loop for friends and clipped a tree. > > Douglas > > > > On 07/08/2018 22:53, Jim Nichols wrote: >> Looks as if it belongs there.? You are lucky.? All of the old cannon >> in my home town were turned in to the salvage drive to support WWII ! >> >> Jim Nichols >> Tullahoma, TN USA >> >> On 8/7/2018 4:41 PM, Douglas Barry wrote: >>> Local wags have placed a Burger King crown to decorate a cannon on >>> Dun Laoghaire pier. The cannon overlooking Scotsman's Bay and the >>> James Joyce Tower at Sandycove, is a Russian one captured during the >>> Crimean War in the 19th century - probably at the siege of >>> Sevastapol. It has the Romanov coat of arms embossed on it. Sony >>> A7ii with kit zoom. >>> >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/Dublin/Dun+Laoghaire/DL+11062018+Burger+King+Cannon+East+Pier.jpg.html >>> >>> >>> >>> Douglas >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >