Relics from Loire valley

Bingo! Actually it is the rotor of the turbo compressor of a P-38 engine. This P-38 crashed near Chateaudun in 1944. There is a number on the frame It starts with 43. I wonder if it's the serial number. The craziest thing is that it still works!

 

I have been looking for the exact name and a picture "in situ" and this is what I got! It's in fact called the turbo supercharger (from a P-38)

 

Interesting use of an aircraft part

 

Especially a current use. It still works perfectly after all these years.

 

that's great! i wonder how he came to acquire this piece, do you know Skip?

 

Many wreckages were left behind after the war. Due to a shortage of everything almost everything was recycled. This piece was simply taken from the wreckage and reused. I have other examples , such as a shovel made with metal from a fuselage and the ME 109 from my own collection was preserved because a farmer used it to make a wheel barrow.

 

thankyou for the nice pics there skipper would be great to see
maybe one day
best krieg

 

There is so much to do for those you know how to look. Yesterday. In our village there used to be a 97 yar old lady whose familly came from the Marne Battlefieds in 1917. She was only a child then, but she is a real encyclpodia about both WWI ans WWII . The stories she told were just unbelievable . Her hometown was 100% destroyed during WWI. When she came here, her husband was a carreer officer and was often based in Austria after 1945, so she lived in Vienna and Tirol. (occupation forces) . She told me how the officers were billeted there. Her son is born in Vienna. After the dead of her husband, she stayed here and put flowers on the graves of the fallen Commonwealth soldiers in our village. This is how I met her. I sometimes went to see her at her home to hear one of her stories. When she was a child she had to identify the body of her father among a pile of legs and arms that were scattered in a trench that thad been hit by a German shell. She told the medic that he had assembled the wrong body parts because she recognized a shoe that did not fit with the corpse that had her dads wallet....
Anyway to make a long story short. I saw her son yesterday who told me she was moving to a retirment home and that he was going to sell the house. Well imagine my surprise when I found out he had just given away a collection of pre war Hitler pictures that her husband had found in Germany in 1945 There were also complete sets of WWI and WWII medals , several guns, M-1940 gasmask bags , military logbooks and others. I went to see the guy who got them (he is a friend) . He is going to keep them , but when he's done looking with the pictures. He'll allow me to to scan them! So hopefully more relics to post soon.

 

they will be good to see and a great story there skipper
best krieg

 

Man you should see the pictures, about 200 of them , I had never seen them before, they are all in perfect condition and commented with a small text in Gothic characters. Many are from 1935.

 

what a gem they would be to have in thow collection just to see them would be enuff

here in my town there is a second hand shop he has a german ID BOOK
of ww2 i seen it one day the last entry wos transport to the easten frunt
1943 . he wanted $800 bucks for it
if he is open tomorrow will go and find out this soldat name and number
some might find it interesting
cheers mark

 

is the book you mention a log boOk?
I checked some of the medals from the gentleman. Croix de guerre, evader, Resistance, engagé volontaire (FFI), engagé volontaire (regular troops) , Indochina, Algeria and several others. Quite an impressive curriculum.

 

not to shore skipper the book wos about 4 inch wide 5 inch deep
had a pic of him on the inside cover and covered in ink stamps where he had been and the last entry wos on a train to the easten frunt
will check it out a little more tomorrow if he is open and if he still got it
cheers mark

 

skipper i am shore it looks somethink like one of thers if i remember
rightly.. he wosen't open today to have another look

View attachment 2166

best krieg

 

these are SoldeBücher , which mention the curriculum of each German soldier (pay, units, rank, promotions, sickness, awards etc....)

 

I'm back with more relics!

Last week I went to a presumed Lancaster crash site along the Loire River friend and needed to see it myself for a confirmation. The plane had been removed by the Germans in 1944, but some parts woould still be there....

At first nothing, except a beautiful landscape with a deer that was playing in a swamp (red circle)





Then the presumed spot, with nothing apparent (at first sight)



By looking closer I found these "stones" at a place where only sand and wood was supposed to be found. By loking closer they were in fact melted
aluminium.



Then I got my confirmation. A wonderful spar!! This is in fact part of the bomb
holding device and was fitted inside on lower part of a Lanacaster fuselage.
The picture is taken "in situ" which means it was not even buried when I found it as such.

 

sounds like you had a lot of fun there skipper
great looking country side lovely thanks for showing your good time
cheers krieg

 

Nice find Skip.

 

I forgot to say the spar is about 75cm long and the handle still works.

 

We had asked permission to the forest guard to go to the crash site . He is a great guy and when we went to say hello, he took us to his depot and showed us some relics he had found himself or were brought to him by people. The oxygen bottle was brought to him by cops. A villager who first found it thought it wasa bomb and called the mining services. Since it was not dangerous it was left behind at the guards depot. The other item is a part of the bomb holding device in the bomb hatch. It is in great condition and shows it was torn away during a forcedlanding without any bombs that would othewise have torn this rare item to bits.