War and Peace 2003

Anyone going this year? I am now. the company i am doing research for has agreed to it so i'm off on friday. If any of you are there want to meet up for a drink?

Ross

 

Damn !! What with Crete and Arnhem in quick succession, I can't take any more days off at the moment - otherwise, Mahross, I'd have really been delighted to meet up....

Have a great day, though - it's an amazing event !

 

Thanks martin i intend too. I've just realised it's not next friday but the week after. Means i've got to wait

 

Tell me about this, where and when is it, and more importantly, what is their website?

 

Your wish is my command !

It's known to the enthusiast as 'Beltring' and the official website is at ; -

http://www.thewarandpeaceshow.com

It's billed as 'the world's largest military vehicle spectacular' and with 4000 vehicles in attendance I'm not going to argue. More importantly, it has a field full of militaria stalls from all over Europe

It happens every year and it's NEXT WEEKEND !!

AFAIK, Mahross is going on Friday, I hope to be going on Saturday and if you can get a lift on a B-17 flying via Newfoundland, Peppy, we'll see ya there....

 

I would go but I leave for Frimley Cadet Training Centre tomorrow for a week of hell, then to Nesscliff for something a little more akin to pergatory. It will be the first time I have missed it in 4 years!

On a side note, watch out for the stand of the Kompanie 1 Battle Re-enactment Society, they are my unit and well worth a look at/chat too.

 

I remember GunMart doing a good photo piece about Kompanie 1 a couple of years ago, Stefan....

 

Wow, I must have missed that one, unless you mean the SBG, either way, nice to be noticed.

It is a very good event, I remember being furious that the last time I went loads of the deactivated firearms were new spec, a crime against humanity!

 

I remember it was definitely Kompanie 1, they hadn't long been formed so it may have been longer than two years ago. I think John Norris did the writeup..it was a good one, too !

 

Something a little unusual at this years' Beltring ; -

http://cm.thewarandpeaceshow.com/gallery/Wednesday-16th-July/odditys_13_01

 

Martin Im ashamed, can you not recoginse the machine?

Was used for railway track laying, came out of water on D Day, suprised the heck out of the enemy, you can see the sleepers on front of vehicle.

We needed to overcome those beach supply problems as quick as possible, so this was Hobarts idea.

Only problem is as you can see, each vehicle had but 2 railway sleepers on front.

Can you imagine the hundreds nay thousands of these all in line coming of the landing craft tanks, all in a row expelling their two sleepers then withdrawing under fire while next vehicle came up...outstanding bravery....Hic, wheres me whiskey gone.

 

All right, all right - I know it's a Sherman 'BARV' . You've got it all wrong.

As part of the D-Day planning, the Allies deduced that after a hard day's fighting in hot weather on the beach or in the bocage , the troops would be filthy dirty, hot and sweaty. What was urgently needed to restore morale was a bath - but how to arrange this in the front line ?

And so the BARV came into being. Filling up with water at the beach it could then go to the men thus providing armoured bathing facilities - no need to worry about snipers or shrapnel.... As you can see, the ropes along the side were for the soldiers to hang their battledress and equipment while taking a bath in the BARV ...

[ 18. July 2003, 08:17 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

 

More whiskey for Martin too then barman.

 

Martin, you off to Riat? Not supposed to be here, wifey got sick in S.Africa, too much heat, so brought her and kids home to UK errrr....heat..

Off to Riat this weekend, only one Im going to this year and not planned so makes it better, just got to sneak past my mate of the old peacecamp whos trying her best to disrupt traffic, just let her get in my way...Im all for peace but not at the expense of me having a few beers and watching a few warbirds.

 

'Fraid not, urqh - I'm being allowed off the leash to do Beltring tomorrow & that's it for the weekend. Only other airshow I may get to this year is Duxford in September.

Have at good time at RIAT and watch the traffic - I've read that in previous years it's been a complete nightmare !

( BTW The Avi8 forum has some good & knowledgeable threads about the UK Airshow scene - worth keeping an eye on.. )

http://www.forums.avi8.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

 

Martin - did you enjoy beltring? It was great on friday. What did you think of the normandy 44 re-enacment? I wasn't to sure about the italians they had in it but the pyros were great. Also the replica german vehicle were stunning.

Here is a couple of shots from friday:







http://www.thewarandpeaceshow.com/

[ 21. July 2003, 03:20 AM: Message edited by: Mahross ]

 

Hello Mahross - yep, went on Saturday with a colleague from the Mosquito Museum and it was bl**dy hot !

Thanks for the pics - that 'Tiger' was reasonably convincing - apparently it wasn't one of the 'SPR' lookalikes.

As usual, spent so much time browsing the militaria stalls that I hardly had time to see much of the re-enactors. As usual, some very interesting European dealers present selling stuff that we rarely see over here and at a quarter the price such things go for on e-bay !

BTW I saw the 'military vehicle paint' stand and guessed that it was 'your lot' ?

 

and Martin, how is your mossie night fighter research coming for your book ?.... remember ?

~E

 

( Sounds of running feet followed by slamming door.... )

 

Martin, you missed a good Riat, only spoiled by noise of all these airplane thingys...

Only traffic problems I could see this year were on leaving, had no problems getting in, train to Swindon then were bussed.

Problems on exit with traffic being diverted and some peace campaigners getting searched holding us all up for a while. But nothing like previous occasions according to others.

Getting to talki to aircrew was best bit for me.

The planes may change but the guys flying em still seem to be same over the years.

Crowds were massive.