Simon F

Thanks Mike I will try to remember those words of wisdom and stay well awayfrom them. here are some more of them a bargain at?35

We were all part of the Standing Naval Forces Med(SNFM) it's a 6-7 month tour so we would do 2-3 week exercises to work up all units from different Navies in NATO tasking. The U-Boat was playing Orange forces. We had it lucky, these guys snuck up on the Dutch Ship and played "the Final Count down" on her Underwater Comms before simulating two up the chuff

Hi I recently purchased a small group of Stuka photos from (dare I say it) ebay. They are all original and have the same characteristics of having been removed from the same album however I am a little unsure of this picture which seems to have a different canopy to any other Stuka pictures I have for reference. I realise this may be a long shot but any help is greatly appreciated in identifying the aircraft type. Thanks.

Found this online, hope it helps FORLORN HOPE (through Dutch verloren hoop, from Ger. verlorene Haufe=" lost troop "; Haufe, " heap," being equivalent in the 17th century See Also: CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men) to " body of troops "; the French equivalent is enfants perdus) , a military term (sometimes shortened to " forlorn "), used in the 16th and 17th centuries for a body of troops thrown out in front of the line of battle to engage the hostile line, somewhat after the fashion of skirmishers, though they were always solid closed bodies. These troops ran great risks, because they were often trapped between the two lines of battle as the latter closed upon one another, and fired upon or ridden down by their friends; further, their mission was to facilitate the attacks of their own main body by striking the first blow against or meeting the first shockof the fresh and unshaken enemy. In the following century (18th), when lines of masses were no longer employed, a thin line of skirmishers alone preceded the three-deep line of battle, but the term " forlorn hope " continued to be used for picked bodies of men entrusted with dangerous tasks, and in particular for the storming party at the assault of a fortress. In this last sense " forlorn hope " is often used at the present time. The misunderstanding of the word " hope " has led to various applications of " forlorn hope," such as to an enterprise offering little chance of success, or, further still from the original meaning, to the faint or desperate hope of such success.

How about a B24 Liberator

I thought you guys may be interested in these pictures of mine which shows a Type 23 , Britains quietest ASW Frigates and an American Aegis Class under the scope from a german U-boat. These shots were emailed to us during an exercise. These pictures make you realise just how vulnerable you are. The Germans are very good Submariners and very very profesional.

Rick Jolly's Jack speak about Royal Navy slanguage is a good read, if you havent already I havent read it for years but it may contain older Royal Navy sayings, it is very funny.

Iwould very much appreciate other members views on these cased awards. Here are two very nice cased badges for FO Bed?ich FR?HLICH (F/O Bedrich Frohlich) who flew during WWII. As you can see they are very Eastern Bloc in design and it is believed that these were produced in the 1980's to commemorate the Czech volunteers who fought in WWII when communist attitudes became more relaxed, because these men would have been known as radicals and subversives for joining the RAF to fight. The Pilot on the front of the award is Josef Frantisek a top Czech fighter Ace who was killed in action. These are very interesting items that I have never come across before(although I own these). I wondered if any of you guys had come across them and may be able to give me the benefit of your knowledge. They are also very good for research as there are some very good sites out there to Czech Airmen. I think they were factory produced by Zukov Praha but my emails to them have gone unanswered. I would like to add more scans for you but dont have enough of my limit available, but I am more than prepared to email further pics if anybody is interested.

You will find that Devonport dockyard is pretty much empty apart from refiting ships and ships under going training at FOST. This is because with a downsized Navy and reduced personel we are still trying to carry out (fully) our commitments World wide. I have been out of the Country for 21/2 out of the last 5 trying to accomplish this and I still pay full taxes