ignomini wrote:
Thanks for posting. Last time I was there the Sunderland was outside. We took my grandfather to the UK for his 90th birthday. I don't think he had been back since the end of the war (WWI). We walked in and the there was the Gunbus. My father mentioned to a docent my grandfather was a trained gunner observer. They had a historian out there in no time.
The best story was about flying over the Channel. My grandfather had related a story to me, about flying over the English Channel in 1915. I was always amazed by that, so soon after Bleriot. Listening to him tell the story again, I realized my mistake. Yes, he flew over the Channel. He just didn't happen to fly across! They flew out over the water a little bit and then back. I still laugh when I think about that one.
Years later, as a camera collector, I picked up a Thornton Pickard MkIII Hythe camera. It was a training device, designed to look and operate like a Lewis gun. It even incorporated a genuine Lewis magazine for practice. My grandfather went through training right about the time they were using these things. Sadly, I never knew about the camera before Gramps passed away. I'll never know if he could have used one, or even the example I now own.
Yes, lots of good memories, and the first and only Stuka I have seen, in that place.
Good to remember that when the RFC moved its minute force to France in 1914, they all flew across: I think all but one made it too!