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The Real Little Nellie
These last few weeks I've been putting the finishing touches to my next book. This includes editing out stuff that just doesn't fit. Rather than bin it completely I decided to stick it up here for a...
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Gift of a Tank
This article was suggested by James Panganiban a couple of weeks ago. If you have any suggestions, feel free to make them, although I don't guarantee I'll do them. I'm always looking for good stories...
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Short Service Spit
John Dunlop-Urie was born in October 1915 in Glasgow, where he grew up. He worked in his father’s bakery. In 1935 aged 20 he joined No 602 'City of Glasgow' Squadron. This was an auxiliary squadron, so...
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The Battle of Forrest Damp
At Roermond two rivers join, these are the Maas and the Roer. In 1945 this was the tip of an area called the Roer Triangle. The two rivers formed the left and right sides of the triangle. On the 14th...
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Last Mission of the Excalibur
Born in June 1921, Cyril Joe Barton was educated in Surrey. When he reached the age of 16 he was accepted as an apprentice draughtsman at the Parnall Aircraft factory in London. This meant that he was...
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Imposter's Bad Luck
Shortly after 1100 on the 14th of September 1914, Captain Noel Grant was peering through his binoculars at a vessel on the horizon. The vessel the British captain was staring at was carrying the Cunard...
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Gas! Gas! Gas!
Some two years ago I posted an article which mentioned a Project D.30. This was an attempt to fit a WASP flame throwing equipment to a Sherman tank. In addition, it was considered for firing chemical...
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Halifax Rocket
In the late 1930s The Air Ministry started work on the Halifax bomber. The original specifications included the ability for the Halifax to be able to dive bomb. This was a requirement that was removed...
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Luftflammenwerfenzeug
Late in 1939 a young German officer approached his superiors with a new idea, a novel weapon that could defend their bombers from attacking fighters. The officer was (possibly) Lieutenant Karl-Heinz...
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Tornado Visit
Due to the recent announcement of the RAF's last flight of a Tornado as they retire, I felt it would be a good time for a Tornado related story. In the second half of 1990 the Gulf War broke out. The...
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Northover Projector (part 1)
 I'm going to two part this one, as it got a bit long, and I'm really busy this week. If you check my Facebook on Wednesday you'll see whyBorn on 31st December 1882 Harry Robert Northover is a curious...
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Northover Projector (part 2)
Part one can be found here. We left last weeks article talking about the glass projectile for the Northover Projector. As we are on the subject there were several developments in this field during the...
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Germanies answer to D-Day
Just to let you know, articles for the next couple of weeks are going to be shorter ones than normal as I'm a bit busy. On the evening of 26th of April 1944 a convoy of five Landing Ship, Tank left...
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Anti-Tank Squirter
I recently found a file in an archive that talked about a British anti-tank weapon that, so far as I can tell, hasn't been mentioned before. It was (eventually) known as the 'Projector, AT Portable,...
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Nebelwerfer
Today I am going to try something a little bit different. You will be, I suspect, familiar with the German Nebelwerfer as a weapon. But have you ever thought about how they were used, or how their...
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The First Recoilless Rifle
Artillery is heavy. This is due to needing to absorb the recoil from hurling a HE packed shell at the enemy. This weight penalty, in turn, means employment of artillery is difficult, and limited to...
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Jet Fighter
A few weeks back I warned that life was getting bit busy at the moment. Thus articles might be a bit shorter, well here's one of the short ones. These are intel reports on combat with German ME-262's...
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The Devil's Own Bicycle
At the start of July 1944 B Squadron of the Inns of Court Regiment (known as 'The Devil's Own') began to land through the Mulberry harbours and cross the D-Day beaches. This regiment was a...
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The Lucky Panzer Commander
Hermann Bix was born on the 10th of October 1914. He would become one of the better tank commanders in the Second World War. Commanding a variety of vehicles, from Panzer III's, through Panzer IV's and...
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RAF Welford
A couple of weeks ago I was invited down to the Ridgeway Military & Aviation Research Group (RMARG) at RAF Welford. The visit was to see some exhibits that I was interested in, whilst there I was...
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