On this day in history

[Chas]

On this day in 2001 The UK’s first case of foot-and-mouth disease in 20 years is discovered at an abattoir in Essex. Awful thing, I remember film of cows being cremated.

 

[flint]

Bad times indeed, many a farmers heart was broken to see their livestock slaughtered like that.

 

[Chas]

Sir Douglas Bader was born on this day in 1910.
Now this is a hero who deserved to have the medals on his tunic.
I used to fly a glider from Kenley, which is the airfield that Bader took off from on the flight that cost him the loss of his legs

 

[Chas]

On this day in 1952 Winston Churchill abolished identity cards

 

[Chas]

Actor John Thaw died on this day in 2002, I think he was one of our great actors, not so much in things like the Sweeney but more things like Goodnight Mr Tom.

 

[goodoldboy]

On this day 1965, Malcolm X, instrumental speaker and activist of the American civil rights and Black power movements, was assassinated while preparing to address a crowd of supporters in New York.

 

[Chas]

On this day in 1939 the first Anderson shelters were issued. We had one partially buried in our back garden, after the war it got used as the garden shed. Mind you I wasn't even born in 1939, I may have nearly been a twinkle in the eye.
.

 

[Shayne]

"Many of which are still standing"

They don't make houses like that any more .

 

[flint]

There are still quite a lot of the old pill boxes around too, it's reckoned that something like 28.000 were built in 1939/40 and loads of strategically placed large concrete block tank traps. You'd never get planning permission now........

 

[SteveJB]

How many old houses round your way with low stone walls have the remaining iron fence posts that were cut off for the war effort

 

[Chas]

There are still quite a lot of the old pill boxes around too, it's reckoned that something like 28.000 were built in 1939/40 and loads of strategically placed large concrete block tank traps. You'd never get planning permission now........

Up on Kenley airfield where I used to fly gliders there are still the surface bomb shelters around the perimeter and out on the actual airfield there are pits (covered over now) where they had a system that would fire cables high into the air to deter low flying attacks, I haven't visited there for about 10 yrs so things may have changed.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I used to see the pill boxes on the Northern side of the Kennet and Avon canal and the Thames - if you join those two up you have a divide running from Bristol to London....

 

[Chas]

On this day in 2002 Spike Milligan died.
.

 

[Grimbo]

I used to see the pill boxes on the Northern side of the Kennet and Avon canal and the Thames - if you join those two up you have a divide running from Bristol to London....

There was a prepared line of defence that if the Germans succeeded in landing and gaining a bridge head was to stop them breaking out .
It consisted of pill boxes with interlocking arcs of fire , anti tank ditches and defences on bridges etc... many of the dragons teeth are still by river crossings , many of the pill boxes are still in situ and if you plough some of the fields across what would have been the line you can see the change in soil where the anti tank ditch was ...
We still often find artefacts that require a small bang to stop a much larger one ;-) .
We also live in an area that was used by the Canadians as they trained in the run up to D Day ....you can still stand in their fox holes and find bit's left behind .
A sobering thought to think how many of them never made it home to Canada again after going to fight the Germans

 

[flint]

In West Wales they built a stop line which ran across from north to south. The fear was that an invasion could take place from the west. Not much left of it now, but the photo in the link shows a line of blocks that are still there.

RHOS LLANGELER STOP LINE, BETWEEN LLANGRANNOG AND PEMBREY | Casgliad y Werin Cymru

Aerial photograph of Rhos Llangeler Stop Line. Taken on 13 April 2010....

www.casgliadywerin.cymru

There is an interactive map here that shows the UK defences:

eDoB Online

Online viewer for the Extended Defence of Britain Database as maintained by Steve Thompson. View the interactive map, or search through the database for a particular record.

edob.mattaldred.com

 

[Chas]

On this day in 1999 one of my all time favourites died.

 

[Chas]

On this day in 1943

 

[goodoldboy]

On this day in 1976 in the city of Gasteiz , Euskadi (Vitoria , the Basque country ) 4000 striking workers who were holding a meeting were attacked without warning by state forces with teargas , rubber bullets and live rounds.More than 150 people were injured , 70 seriously with 43 shot . Five people died.

 

[Grimbo]

On this day in 1936 an aircraft took to the air for the first time....

K5054 was the prototype of the Spitfire..... probably the most iconic aircraft of the war and one who's sound can still send shivers down the spine....

An aircraft that spans generations and one that will have my grandchildren running out side looking up and shouting "Spitfire" as it fly's overhead ... fortunately a regular occurrence.

One of the few Allied aircraft to have fought through the entire war it was constantly developed .... it ended up with over twice the power and a max take off weight that was equivalent of the original taking off with a bus load of passengers aboard .

No description can do justice to the design and creation of an aircraft that literally becomes part of the pilot and responds as if by telepathy to the slightest touch of the controls.... to fly over England and look down at our green fields framed by that elliptical wing is without compare ... certainly the best hour of my life was spent in a well known MK9 "V for Vicky " playing amongst the clouds ....

We should never forget those brave young men who went to battle in such a thoroughbred and failed to come home ....

 

[Chas]

On this day in 1936 an aircraft took to the air for the first time....

K5054 was the prototype of the Spitfire

We should never forget those brave young men who went to battle in such a thoroughbred and failed to come home ....