Ronald Berry: Hull's Spitfire pilot from Churchill's 'Few'

There are plans to commemorate the life of a World War II Spitfire pilot from East Yorkshire whose exploits made him stand out, even among Winston Churchill's famous "Few". Link to BBC.
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B-52s Over Hanoi: 40th Anniversary of Operation Linebacker II

Forty years ago, President Richard Nixon issued two orders. He knew the first would not be followed, so he issued the second. First, Nixon sent an ultimatum to North Vietnam on December 14, 1972: Return to peace negotiations in Paris within three days or else. He then issued an order to Admiral Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Prepare to bomb Hanoi. The Republican President wanted what he eventually termed “peace with honor.” There would be a ceasefire and North Vietnam would release all American POWs. America would withdraw its troops from South Vietnam, but that country would remain independent. Link
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Troop Christmas boxes bring taste of home to forces overseas

For more than a century, British troops have been receiving gift boxes at Christmas to bring them a taste of home comforts. The BBC's defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt looks at the history of such gifts, and the impact they still have for modern soldiers.  Link
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Move Of House

Well, since I last posted the Vulture family has moved house and relocated 150 miles north in York.  Unsurprisingly not a stress free experience, but one that we have lived through.  Frantic packing paid off, because the removal van was absolutely chock full.  It's one of the only occasions I can think of where having my old CCKW truck has saved us money, for without using that the removals firm would have had to employ a second van and a couple of extra guys.  Help has been provided in the shape of my brother Bruce who did a dash over from Crewe for a day to help us assemble three new wardrobes and an old friend Theo Street who spent a couple days boarding out the centre area of the house loft for storage, sorting out a dodgy water-damaged floor in a bedroom, and reinforcing the garage loft.  The loft activity was essential as the garage gas been (and still is to a degree) full of boxes of my gaming gear !! :)  Anyway, after 4 days hard work we managed to get the house into a respectable enough shape to host my in-laws on X-Mas day.  A pleasant day it was as well, with a bit of PC gaming thrown in in the evening as Mike (brother-in-law), Alex and I took on the AI in a satisfying 'Dawn of War' PC bash.  

M10 Achilles

Stumbled across this excellent footage of the a M10 Achillies (owned by the Bovington Tank Museum) at this years War And Peace Show (in the UK).
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Blog Photo Problems

I posted back on 5 Oct 2012 that the photo-sharing web site Webshots had been taken over, and was become Smile.  This is a massive problem for people like myself who had many photos linked from that site to Blogs. I'm now using Picasa and I've managed to get all the truck photos sorted for my UK CCKW Photo Blog, but it took hours and hours and hours.  The 1st Dec has now passed and all the photos linked on this Blog back to the old webshots site have been severed.  This has screwed up hundreds and hundreds of posts on this Blog and massively pissed me off.  Over the coming months I shall try and re-establish things (deep sigh), but what this whole experience has taught me is:
1.  Don't trust companies to look after your photo collections.
2.  Use the biggest company you can find.  They are less likely to go under.
3.  Don't add photos to the Blog from multiple folder locations, just have them stored in the one.  If necessary duplicate the photos up. That way its so much easier to re-build things if the company you use do screw you over.

First Bolt Action Game

Last Thursday at the Huntingdon & District Wargames Society I had my first game using the 'Bolt Action' rules published by Warlord Games.  I don't have to time to give them much of a review, other than to say I was pleasantly surprised how well they ran.  If I had a choice I'd prefer to use 'Rules Of Engagement', but that said, for a 28mm club game lasting a couple of hours they were just the ticket, and I'm likely to be buying my own copy shortly.  I was on the clean living god fearing Germans side, defending the nice French bocage countryside from the corrupt and drunken Brits and Americans :)   Here's a couple of photos of the tasteful terrain (most of which is the clubs) and Mike Evans nicely painted figs and vehicles.
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By way of interest, I took all the photos on my Galaxy SIII smartphone without using any flash assistance.

The Toughest Bridge In The World

This is worth watching in wide-screen  :)

Blitzed: Incredible map shows every bomb dropped on London

Every bomb dropped in eight months of intense attacks by the German Luftwaffe is represented by a marker on the map of the capital.  Link
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The 2012 British Army Photographic Competition Award

The annual Army Photographic Competition recognises outstanding photography from Afghanistan and Army life.
Army photographers deploy as soldiers with rifle and camera, taking the same risks as other infantrymen but also giving the public a view of the realities of conflict. Away from operations they capture the day to day and the high points of Army life, from parades to sporting achievements. Amateur photographers, who fit their hobby round the day job of deployments and training, are also recognised for the quality and creativity of their work.  Link
Comment:  Well worth viewing this.
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Inside the 'ghost' Underground station used as air raid shelter during the Blitz and in filming for Atonement

A secret disused underground station that was used by thousands of Londoners during the Blitz has been opened up for rare public viewing.

Visitors have been able to take a tour of the Aldwych Tube Station, one of London's closed underground stations, which included a platform which stopped operating in 1914.

The station, which looks the same as it did nearly a century ago, has been used for filming in Atonement, V For Vendetta, Superman 4 and 28 Weeks Later.  Read more: Link
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Star Wars fans build full-size Millennium Falcon

Star Wars fans around the world are coming together on the internet to construct a real-life version of the film's Millennium Falcon spacecraft.  Link to BBC.

Comment: This is totally nuts, but yet brilliant ! :)
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If Life Beings At 40, What Happens When Your 50 ?

50 today ffs !  Not sure what to make of it if I'm honest.  Took the day off work, but apart from going out for lunch with the missus didn't feel like doing anything special.
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100,000 views !!! and some reflections...

It seems appropriate to the mark the occasion of exceeding 100,000 views on the Blog with a post to say thanks to all who have dropped by and especially to those regulars who chip in with feedback from time to time.  I am conscious that the title of the Blog does have wargaming in it, and that over the last two years there have been far fewer posting of that type than in earlier years.  This has been predominately down to circumstances with work which has seriously cramped my attendance at my local Huntingdon club.  Things are about to change however, and the long weekly trips (170miles) from Warboys to Bristol will shortly be coming to an end.  I have secured a new job in York that I start in the New Year, and the family and I will be moving back to Gods own county (Yorkshire) if all goes according to plan on the 19th Dec.  Our new home will in the Woodthorpe area of York.  I will be sorry to leave our current home which we have lived in since 1998 and the many friends I have in the Huntingdon area. I shan't be sorry though to see the back of one of the neighbours however, so there is a real upside there ! LOL  The costs of moving house are quite incredible has to be said, and with stamp duty thrown in I won't be seeing much change out of £20k :(

Wargamers tend to be hoarders  and I'm no exception with loads and loads of books figures and terrain in the loft.  These last 4 weeks I've been slowly bringing it down, and the house has boxes stacked all over the place ! The removals company said a second vehicle might be required to move us, but I told them I would use my CCKW 352 to move some stuff up.  I'm going to have to drive it up anyway, so it might as well help and out and keep costs down.  In preparation for the 150 mile journey I decided to put it into a truck garage called Welch Commercials, and asked them to give it a dummy MOT check.

As a pre 1960 vehicle the law  doesn't require it to have a MOT, but actually I don't agree with that, I think all vehicles should have an annual safety check of some kind. Anyway, the garage spotted a few things but only one significant one would have ‘failed it’. The new rubber hose that Rex Ward (the main GMC parts supplier in the UK) supplied a few months that connects in the inlet manifold to the Hydrovac (like a car servo) pipe wasn't man enough for the job and was partially collapsed  They have had one made up for me locally that has a coil insert within it. With the move of house and job + the weather I'm not getting the time to put into the truck at the moment, so I'm having them change the last 3 brake hoses that still needed doing, along with sorting three things they spotted:
a) the UJ nearest the pillow block rear prop shaft had some play in it,
b) 2 bolts on another U/J that were loose,
c) add split pins to the engine mount bolts.

Current plans are to load it up the coming Friday and drive it north next Saturday.  I hope the weather is kind as I reckon the trip will take at least 5 hours and 6 Volt windscreen wipers are rubbish ! LOL
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THE HOBBIT : AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY - TRAILER

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