Folks,

I've been thinking. Startling news isn't it? This is something I do not do often or well. Anyhow I have been thinking about Sealion again. Hitler had some landing craft and he could have built more. I wonder if he were not thinking about invading from the air? The Gigant had been developed. It could carry a huge payload of men and matériel.

The Gigant started off as a glider. They tried a brace of 3 He111s to tow it into the air and even with their brand of JATO, that was less than perfect. The 3 bombers were uncoordinated and to the horror of the crew and passengers, they had great difficulty getting the behemoth into the air even long enough for everyone to finish their prayers. Finally, with a desperate Hermann breathing down their necks, they developed the He111-C. I think it was the C. I can rely upon Dux who is impolite enough to correct me if I am wrong.

Anyway these hybrid 111s were made by welding two regular 111s together by one wing and adding an extra engine. These were powerful and coordinated enough to do the heavy lifting. The Gigant was at last somewhat operational. Then some bright spark deep in the bowels of the air ministry had the unconventional idea that they should actually put engines on the Gigant and let it lift itself. They did and it could.

I wonder if Adolph planned to use the Gigants for the invasion or at least to deliver shock troops to England? Of course these whales of the air would have been sitting ducks for the Hurricanes and Spitfires. Surely the word eventually got out from those surviving JU87 crews about how little fun it was to float slowly along over the Channel while their tails were being chewed off by that rowdy bunch the RAF. The recruiters for Gigant duty must have had their work cut out for them.

Gigants were certainly used when Hitler turned his sights on Russia. They were vital in keeping his frozen armies supplied with electric blankets and pocket warmers, not to mention frozen dinners and ammo. Hmmmm. I guess they already had plenty of frozen dinners.

Gents,

JRT,

The Me 321 Gigant was the result of requirements put out to 'tender' after the BoB and first flew in early 1941. It speaks volumes for German efficiency when considering that the prototype flew just three and a half months after detailed plans had been completed. The idea was to develop and bring up to strength a huge heavy glider fleet which would be used in a further attempt to invade Britain after Hitler had completed the expected speedy demolition of the Soviet Union.

Glider troops were certainly included in the initial Sealion planning and would have been used to secure airfields, starting with Lympne, although throughout the BoB they were still under strength after expenditures incurred during the Battle of France. In view of their vulnerability at this period we can see another reason why the importance of air superiority was paramount. An attempted invasion in late '41 or early '42 would have had to be made in the face of a rejuvenated Fighter Command just as capable of checking the Luftwaffe as it was in 1940 - and probably more so. Therefore, the use of gliders at night would have been the only way to deploy them without facing decimation by day.

Folks,

Dux:

I believe the Gigant was another of WW2s amazing plywood aircraft constructions and that it was indeed a miracle how it went from a mere gleam in Hermann's eye to production in such a short time.

Once we broke the Axis code so that the Allies could read Kesselring's mail, many a Gigant lumbering its merry way to resupply Rommel met with disaster. The result was that the Afrika Corps withered. Me thinks Monty gets too much credit at times and the Ultra code breakers too little when victory in North Africa is discussed.

JRT,

Thanks for the email featuring the face-in-the-sky arrangement. I wonder if this was contrived by the photographer or a genuine view?

It certainly reminds me of one of my most memorable birding moments way back in the late seventies when watching a receding Black Vulture being escorted by a pair buzzards somewhere in mid-Wales.

God Day Gents,

JRT, yes, ditto Dux's comments. If the picture is contrived, it is done in such a way that seems possible.

Dux, a weekend illness prevented me from getting to see Black-tailed Gull, Phainopepla, Lark Sparrow and Western Kingbird, all a few hours drive away, not to mention a host of other good sightings. A rather good birding weekend by all reports. Perhaps worst of all I was not well enough to fly a mission. Oh well, we count our losses.

The wooden Gigant story reminds me in some ways of the deHaviland 'termites dinner'. Also made of wood, moved very quickly from concept to construction, and extermely successful for that time. One of my favourites.

Folks,

Gentlemen, and you too C51:

With the holidays coming on, what we need here are some dancing girls and free beer. There would be no end to the long line of merry posters queuing up to enter festive HWH Hall. Of course the girls would scandalize poor old Leroy, who as we all know, is the very soul of propriety.

Quite right Dux, the free beer would soon off-set any such feelings of impropriety. Can we all agree however that it is far too disturbing when Leroy has one gallon too many and dances Au Natural on a table top dressed only in the fancy cap of his Beef Eater's costume?

The last time that happened, Leroy jumped on a table, Olga took a swig of kerosene and blew it across a lit candle. The resulting shower of flame ignited the astonished Leroy's hat. Then, ripping off her uniform, Olga grabbed the helpless Leroy around his ample waist and joined in the flaming dance. At this point C51 lost his supper, Dux looked up from under the table and passed out cold, and I.....? Hmmmmm. I've drawn a blank here. I seem to remember backing through a door in horror and falling headlong down those 3,000 crumbling steps to the HWH archives. Will someone who was not fleeing for their life or fighting the blaze please fill in the blanks and tell me what I did next? I woke next morning terribly hung over and covered in bat bites.

Good Day Lads,

as memory serves JRT - though it all appears fuzzy - I seem to recall the unclipped back strap of an enormous busenhalter, propelled by masses of tumbling flesh toward sound-breaking speed, catching you on the braces and catapulting you through what is now a doorway in the stone wall. Your immediate fate was unknown to me, and quite frankly it was every man for himself at that point. But fortuntely for you, your state of inebriation wrapped you in its embrace and saved your skin to fight another day. It did not go so well for several other gentlemen who were left in the room with Olga, but those details are nearly too gruesome to tell. The lucky ones among them did not survive.

JRT, C51,

Just before I passed out under the table I had suddenly remembered, in my befuddlement, to warn you all to keep away from the HWH Archive. I had intended to warn you - honestly - but in the excitement of the bar-room extravaganza it completely slipped my mind. Far be it for me to place you chaps at any disadvantage but I knew that Ilsa was engaged in stocktaking down in the cellars, having taken a break from her Advanced Commando Unarmed Combat class.

The 11th Glaswegian Hardcase Volunteers had been mostly hospitalized under her tutelage so she had decided to visit her sister while they made up the numbers.

I will never know by what diabolical plan they managed to get JRT down into that fearful place?

They would have needed to get the combination code for a start which is tattooed on my left buttock and the Lord only knows how or when they could have seen that.

Folks,

C51, Dux:

A bustenhalter propelled at the speed of sound and the Glaswegian Hardcase Volunteers? LOL! It is much funnier now than it was then I'm sure.

Lisa's arrival from the Colonies was a total surprise to Olga and to our guests. For the less fortunate of the lads, it was to be their last surprise. I vaguely remember Ilsa jumping out of that huge cake slathered in RAF camouflage icing. It had been baked by one of the, let us say, more multi-talented and resourceful members of the ACUC. Too bad that particular individual was also her first target of the night, for a disappointed and slightly singed Leroy dearly wanted the recipe.

I remember nothing after falling ass over tea kettle down those crumbling steps. Thinking makes me old head hurt but I do recall you C51 tossing your cookies.... hmmmmm... before that I remember you crawled across the floor in my direction... just then, Dux fell under his table, still thirsty, he seemed to begin looking around for his bucket.

Wait! It comes back to me now. C51, you found Dux's bucket all right, with one of the Duke of Fartinghamshire's feet still in it. As I watched with amused interest, I also began leaning against the heavy, creaky door of the archives. Next, I remember the bucket, a huge boot, and half a gallon of Château Thames Embankment, Vin that very day, sailing across the room.

The oaken bucket found its mark under the table where it bounced once and struck Dux just under the chin sloshing wine all over him and knocking him unconscious before he could so much as lick his lips or take a sip. Frankly the results of either would have been about the same.

Looking up and to my right, the Duke's well polished flying boot had just struck Col. Jack S. Kannonfodda of the Goldenstream Guards just behind his left ear causing him to grab the nearest beermaid by the bosoms, just to steady himself mind you.

Surprised, and highly offended by this sudden, unpaid attention, the poor beermaid gave the Col. several savage blows on or about the head with a large bag of gold sovereigns she had been accumulating by a certain commerce transacted in one of the downstairs bedrooms.

This savage attack upon his person resulted in the Colonel's turning a full 180 degrees to the left and plunging head first into the nearest punch bowl. Mercifully the bowl had been emptied by now to extinguish the fire on Leroy's head, otherwise the poor man would have surely drowned.

Just about the time His Grace the Duke, sans one boot and more or less anesthetized, slipped on what used to be C51's dinner and slid across the floor right into Olga's greedy clutches, the resulting blood curdling screams of anguish caused me to flinch and lean back a bit. I seem to recall that at that precise moment the door had swung open to reveal a smiling Ilsa, swastika tattooed arms wide and big, red lips puckered. Why, it seems I did not plunge down the steps at all. Off balance I must have turned around and fallen right into those greedy arms. That was when I mercifully lost all consciousness.

Thank you very little gentlemen for helping me to recall this delightfully romantic moment.

Dear oh dear, memories of walking past Ilsa's dwellings score plus years ago, in a side alley to the central station, only the most foolhardy entered that particular lair. Still shuddering at the thought.

On to more pleasant subjects.

Tonight I just watched an episode of The War of the Century and this particular episode was devoted to the Battle of Britain. I think I've watched that episode before because I remember a distincly similar discussion on the HWH bar-stools several pages back; Adolph and Fat Herman, a.k.a. Meier, bluffed with the invasion barges on the French side of the Channel, there was never the intention to invade, only to terrorise and subjugate England into accepting surrender, euphemistically referred to by Hitler as "peace".


As you asked for it, here are some specs regarding my new box:

Intel i7-920
Mobo: Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
6 Gb RAM (Kingston)
nVidia GTX-275 w. 191.07

It is being reported that Windows 7 likes Ye Olde Games, so I really should get cracking with loading up FCG, MA and a host of other classics - the rub being that I can't seem to find the time!


Some of the time has been spent hunting down a couple of old out-of-print books from second hand vendors; if the information age and the internet has achieved nothing else, it has at least brought me here and put me in touch with people all over the world who share my interest for simulations, but I have also found people who share myw fondness for the same obscure bands, and for the works of my favourite author.

Today the first of my recent book purchases arrived in the mail, the one I was most anxious to obtain. I have looked at it a hundred times, opend it and turned the pages. It is in very good condition for a second hand book, and a great bargain at some total cost including shipping of £4.

Its called Bury Him Among Kings, by Elleston Trevor and is about WW1 and is in the tradition of All Quiet on the Western Front.

I can't wait to read it.