FrontlineAntiques

Any good?

Morning chaps A little story first, then some photos Back in 1989, my uncle purchased a derelict cottage and buildings in Kircolm, near Stranraer Dunfries and Galloway in Scotland. My my dad, another uncle and myself promply journeyed up to Scotland to get started with turning this somewhat decrepit building in to an at least liveable house for my Uncle to live in while he was renovating it. In an uptairs bedroom was an old chest of draws filled with unspeakable rubbish, in the middle of which was a huge rats nest Nice, eh? Amongst the rubbish was this cap. It was filthy, chewed on by rats and stinking! My uncle kept this cap until last week - where upon he gave it to me Now - i really dont know if this is original or not. I have never held a german cap before, let alone an SS one. So take a look at the photos below and let me know your thoughts. Thanks Dan

Hekl's date of birth was January 24, 1915, making him just 26 when he was killed.

No 312 Squadron was formed at Duxford on 29 August 1940 with Czechoslovak personnel as a fighter unit. Equipped originally with Hurricanes and later Spitfires, it was sent to Speke to defend Merseyside.

No. 312 Squadron. Aircraft: Hurricane Mk.1 Motto: Non multi sed multa - 'Not many but much' Badge: A stork volant. The stork in the badge relates to the French 'Escadrille des Cygelines' with whom the original pilots of No 312 had flown prior to coming to the UK.

Just fund Hekl's service number of the CWGC website - 87619 Hopefully this will help me find some more information on this chap.

And here we have an example of a Czech pilots badge. Really lovely peices and incredibly rare. This is a pre war Slovakian made example. If any one has any Czech RAF items I would be very interested in seeing them. Dan

Hahaha - its a good point Chris! However, to be fair to our sporran-wearing neighbours, it was a very generous Scotsman that gave me the rounds in the first place.....

An outstanding colection of very interesting peices. I have seen British dies and moulds before but never German ones Dan

on the belt each link is marked with the following BP B1 I cant get a photo unfortunately. Any ideas what this is in regards to?

1940 dated cases

round heads

And finally, nearly 10 months to the day are the photos!

Thanks Mike, thats great!

This medal was picked up on ebay from a canadian seller - cant be sure the Merchant Navy recipient was Canadian too though

I havent posted since last November! Not since I sent the belt over to SA! We were planning our wedding and very shortly followed that with our own little bundle of joy, so the temptation of the site was too much for my zero collecting budget! I have just finished work to be a stay at home dad with my new son Connor, as the missus has gone back to work. Once i have got him asleep and he has stopped sicking and pooing everywhere i have a little time to come back on line and have a chat!

Mervyn - Wonderful collection of sweetheart badges! I got the wife into them a couple of years back, when i treat myself to something, as long as i get her one were ok! ha I will post some of mine on here if you dont mind? Dan

I will be very shortly updating this post with more commonwealth service and campaign medals, as promised almost a year ago!

Thanks Eddie Much appreciated! Dan

Must have missed that one! I'm not at home right now, but will post photos as soon as I can. Dan

Super fast reply there Colin! Where did that picture come from? It does look like a pilots badge. Can you post a close up? Thanks, Dan

Info on its recovery here http://www.dumfries-divers.com/spitfire/spit1.htm

Evening chaps Today i was given 13rounds and part of a section of chain/belt from a Spitfire that crashed in 1941 in Lock Doon, Dunfries and Galloway (Photos to follow). The Spitfire crashed in the Loch on 25th October 1941. It was a Spitfire Mark IIA registered No P7540 and was part of Ayr Squadron. The Spitfire had been piloted by a young Czechoslovakian on his first solo flight. This is the only information i have thus far. Does anyone know anymore? Dan

I have certainly learnt a great deal from this post. To be honest my knowledga of post 57 ribbons and devices is still very minimal, but prior to this thread was almost non-existant. Although, as Gordon states, there is no proof that the first bar is total fantasy, I just have a bad feeling about it. It really looks like eBay fodder to me, with every available piece of "bling" added to squeeze the last penny out of online bidders. I am sure however that all of the post 57 devices used are original, but the bar to me seems just too contrived to be of a collectable interest to me. Thanks for all your interesting posts Dan

Pat these examples are excellent. If these are an indication of the standard of the rest of the collection i look forwards to seeing it! Dan