Anybody go to the Collings Foundation WWII Event? Pics?

[Jerry O'Neill]

I was wondering if anybody can give us an event overview of the Collings Foundation WWII Weekend in Mass.?
Love to hear about and maybe see some pics!
Jerry

[krlang]

Hey,
I didnt go to the Collings event, but I got to see a few of the airplanes flying around this afternoon. Stearman, T-6 and Storch, were all we saw.

I was looking online and looked up Bob's house on yahoo maps, searched for the closest orchard and the one out back was the one that advertises on our favorite news channel. When Shannon mentioned we should go apple picking today, I was the Hero when I said "OK, lets go to Honey Pot Hill"

The T-6 was out about 2pm, with a trip around by the stearman at 3, then at 3:30 the Germans came and attacked Stow. The Storch hovered over the runway for a bit, then the gunfire and explosions got everybody in the orchard perked up.

We just got back home with a 20lb bag of apples, and plans for Applesauce, and a pie and....

[John Dupre]

I was wondering if anybody can give us an event overview of the Collings Foundation WWII Weekend in Mass.?
Love to hear about and maybe see some pics!
Jerry

I went on Saturday with my 13 year old son. It was a very fun time with some changes from a year ago. For aircraft as said before only the Stearman, T-6 and Storch flew. No Ju 87 replica this year. There were at least 150 re-enactors. This year the re-enactor camps were set up at different spots, the Allies were at some sort of sand pit and you had to walk through the woods on a muddy path to get there. That just added to the atmosphere. The Germans were camped down near the garage as in other years. Aside from trucks and jeeps the Allies had a Sherman, Stuart and Chafee tank with a Hellcat armored car and M-3 halftrack with quad .50 cal. mount. The Germans had two German built Ford trucks with a 37mm and 50mm anti tank gun in tow, a Kettenrad half track motorcycle, a Kubelwagen and a big surprise for me a Sdzkw 251 half track and a StuG III assault gun! They also had a BMW motorcycle sidecar combo. (One of the German Fords had a kilomoter marked speedometer. The other one was marked Waltham and that one also had Ford in script stamped into the rear bumper.) The mock battle was very noisy with the FlaK 88 firing several times and pyrotechnics being blown up just under two of the Allied tanks.

The re-enactors covered armor, infantry and airborne from the US, GB, Canada, the USSR and French Moroccan Goums! The Germans had airborne, armor, infantry and even the occasional Luftwaffe officer.

Apparently Collings doesn't allow the tracked vehicles to make turns on the airfield as I noticed that they all drove forward and then reversed back to their starting positions. Can't blame him as it a beautiful field. Didn't get a close look at the 251 or StuG III as they were kept at the far side of the field between battles. They did stop for a while near the encampment but we were off looking for expended brass. (Given away by the handful to any kid that wanted some.)

Can't wait for next year. Sorry no photos but a camera is on my Christmas list.

[kmiles]

I was able to spend a little time at The Collings Foundation this past weekend. I have not had a chance to go through all of my photos, but here are a few of the highlights.







The M-18 Hellcat getting taken out by the 88mm.






The Ju 87 was scheduled to be here again this year, but bad weather and high winds kept him in Maine. It was raining on my way in at 5:30 AM on Saturday, but it cleared up as the sun came up, and we had very good weather (except the wind) on Saturday and Sunday. The Stearman and T-6 were able to fly almost all day long (except during the reenactments) each day. We do limit the amount of turning for the tanks on the runway. We have to keep the runway in good enough shape to fly the aircraft from just minutes after the reenactments are done. If you made it to the Allied Camp, you probably saw the effects of running the tanks in anything but straight lines.

[the330thbg]

Wow that is scary! Seeing grown men dress up in costumes.., ewwwwww.., restoring warbirds or tanks and jeeps is one thing.,. but playing dress-up and pretending to be a WWII soldier.., ewwwwwwwww....

[John Dupre]

Wow that is scary! Seeing grown men dress up in costumes.., ewwwwww.., restoring warbirds or tanks and jeeps is one thing.,. but playing dress-up and pretending to be a WWII soldier.., ewwwwwwwww....

I am kind of ambivalent about re enactors having stormed both Normandy and Iwo Jima about a hundred times as a youth playing army with nothing more lethal than a stick. Long sticks were rifles, short sticks were sub machine guns and they had to be cut offs from lumber or old broomsticks no branches. The MG 42 paratrooper gunner at the Collings event was a rather calorically challenged individual and my son laughed when I said he had an extra larger parachute .

On the other hand talking to the reenactors later was very interesting and I usually learn something. Collings also seems to have some collectors who simply display there stuff without playing army even if they wear some of their gear. I remember too what a Luftwaffe veteran said about a pyrotechnic display at Oshkosh, "Nothing like reality".

I don't know what it is about WW2 reenactors that I find it a little odd. I never understood the whole Dungeons and Dragons thing either not that they are really the same. On the other hand I have a friend that is a Revolutionary war reenactor and I once seriously considered becoming a Civil War reenactor. Is it the passage of time and the completely different life that makes the earlier reenactors more palatable?

[PinecastleAAF]

Is it the passage of time and the completely different life that makes the earlier reenactors more palatable?

That is a very good question. I don't know the answer but I like the thoughtfull question. I'm heavily involved with ww2 mv restoration but don't want to participate in re-enacting at all.

I think the Europeans do it better. Check this out:

http://www.bcc-pictures.com/

[JimH]

Kinda like bunches of people calling themselves Colonels...

jim

[JDK]

Kinda like bunches of people calling themselves Colonels..

Tsk, tsk, you forget that messing about with old aeroplanes is cool because that's what we do, while messing about with tanks n' stuff is dubious.

Interesting the Germans were 'allowed' to knock out a piece of 'our' armour before their inevitable defeat.

That [not-historic - TM FAA] Storch in front of the trees is a cracker shot, kmiles!

[RyanShort1]

Kinda like bunches of people calling themselves Colonels..

Tsk, tsk, you forget that messing about with old aeroplanes is cool because that's what we do, while messing about with tanks n' stuff is dubious.

Interesting the Germans were 'allowed' to knock out a piece of 'our' armour before their inevitable defeat.

That [not-historic - TM FAA] Storch in front of the trees is a cracker shot, kmiles!

Yeah, and it "had" to be the good TD there. I love the little M-18. Under-armored, but fast and with a good punch. Doubt the Sherman would've lasted much longer.

I've done the "reenactor" thing several times now. I don't pretend that it's 100% accurate or that I've actually served, but it does seem to get the general public interested, and if done properly, can be a good way to educate them. I personally think that the best reenactment groups are the ones that do scripted events based on historical research, rather than the guys who just want to "play" army and then have their arguments about whether or not someone took a "hit." That makes me sick. I also don't mind the good German reenactors who are there to make it look realistic, but there are too many of the weirdos who want to be SS or something, not to mention reenactors who think that because they bought a higher ranking insignia and put it on their uniform it gives them the right to tell the organizers how it's going to be!
If anyone's in the Austin or Fredericksburg, TX area look up either the Nimitz museum's living history programs or the G Company group and there you'll see how I think reenactors should work.
Oh, and one other point. A lot of these guys have saved a lot of neat WWII equipment from the ground side, so in some ways we're not that different.







Ryan

[the330thbg]

Kinda like bunches of people calling themselves Colonels...

jim

LMAO!!!!

[krlang]

I was able to spend a little time at The Collings Foundation this past weekend.

Thats funny!

[p51]

Kinda like bunches of people calling themselves Colonels...

jim

Couldn't have said it better myself! I always laugh at the double standard of warbird folks who sneer at those of us who bring Jeeps and tents to an event, when in fact, they’re doing the exact same thing as us with airplanes, often not even on our level of authenticity.

Ah yes, nothing says “authentic depiction of combat” like a group going across a level, manicured lawn. I can be sarcastic because I too am a re-enactor and have taken part in such events plenty of times. We call them the “Battle of the Baseball Field” because the ground usually is about as attackable as that. If you did a WW2 spectator event that was done correct for tactics, you would not see very much. I am a former real-life Army officer and one of the reasons I got out of the “tactical” aspect of the hobby is that hardly anyone does it correctly. They all CLAIM they do, but 99.9999999+% of re-enactors aren’t doing much better than bad 1960s WW2 movies. I just do the display aspect of it now.

I like these photos, at least these people look like they’re trying to utilize concealment (not cover, though). But you see how much together it is for the public to see them that way. You’re darned if you do and darned if you don’t!

[JDK]

Argh, the WIX net-nanny strikes again!

You’re darned if you do and darned if you don’t!

I really hate being 'darned' (sic) in war.

And one thing's for sure, the man didn't say "war is heck!"



"Use the machine gun and grenades, son, but careful of your language."

Shesh.

[PinecastleAAF]

I always laugh at the double standard of warbird folks who sneer at those of us who bring Jeeps and tents to an event, when in fact, they’re doing the exact same thing as us with airplanes

My thoughts also. As if the aircraft could have operated without trucks and jeeps to haul bombs, fuel, parts, crews, etc.