Affentitten

And a little bit of a look around reveals that the pilot is Flt Lt FORTUNE. I think he needs his nickname changed to "Lucky".

I never realised that the Brits were still using the M-60 as a crew weapon on the Chinook. In fact I never realised the Brits had ever had M-60s in their inventory.

Still the pilot's professionalism is a credit. If that was a Yank there would have been screaming and expletives all over the place. And like the reporter says, a few mill lower and it would have gone into his face. I recall a couple of similar incidents. I think there is one in Chickenhawk and there is one from the Falklands War too, where the bullet came in the side of the helmet but deflected off the mike assembly, travelled round the inside brim, scoring the pilot's forehead and then exited out the other side. The co-pilot just saw the pilot slump forward with a big hole out the side of his helmt dripping blood. He couldn't believe it when the pilot regained consciousness and took control again.

I looked at the Wiki article yesterday and the discussion page is illuminating of the usual inverted pyramid of logic. Someone offers a YouTube link of a German government official confirming they are spraying stuff in the air. It's on German state TV and everything. Should they put that in the article? Hang on, say a couple of people (one of them German), the sub-titles do not match what the guy is saying. It's got nothing to do with chemtrails.... But you just know that video clip will be used as "proof" and footnoted by the Atlantis Rising people for decades to come.

Nope. It says for a normal mature adult it's pretty near impossible to die from a Black Widow bite. Especially if you get to hospital. No deaths in the USA have occurred in the 27 years since reporting began.

It's not lethal. It can make you sick though. And some complications might please your old lady

Yeah, I remember getting stranded in the Sudanese desert by a breakdown. We spent the night in a goatherd's shack. We're sitting there in our sleeping bags and I saw the hugest spider sitting right in my mate's hair. I looked at him and said "Scotty, do not ****ing move." He said my face was so serious he didn't even think I was joking. I managed to swipe it out with a bit of cardboard, but it took about six goes because his hair was so thick.

Let them live. They kill other unpleasant stuff.

Yes and so his cemetery is kind of mid-way between those towns, forming the point of a triangle. Great stuff. Looks like the F Berry above was not his brother then. Good that they didn't lose both sons. My dad is thrilled with all this info.

OK....for extra points and difficulty... I note on the service record that an older brother, Frederick Berry is listed. Now just on the off chance, I fed that into CWGC. There are plenty of F or Frederick Berry listed as KIA. About three of them are also in the Rifle Brigade, KRRC or London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers). Coincidentally, one of them Private F D BERRY S/14982 has a KIA date about a month prior to my great-grandfather's enlistment date. I wonder if that's his brother and if that prompted the enlistment? It's a big assumption to say that both brother went and were both KIA though. There would need to be some cross-referencing on the siblings entries of the records, or possibly some commonality in place of birth (Borough/Camberwell/Southwark). Anyway, there are many other F Berry on the KIA list, but I think it's safe to rule out those from non-London regiments. And even some of the other London or generic Corps list parents from other parts of the UK in the CWGC certificates, so it helps to narrow down.

I've read of American* arty batteries tying extra long lanyards to their guns so all the guys in the unit could pull together one second before the armistice and thus be able to say they "fired the last shot of the war". But you think then "Who did that land on?" Some poor German (or friendly!) getting obliterated for the sake of a gag. *Not saying Americans were the only ones to do this. Just that I actually read of it.

Thanks so much to Blackhorse and SMLE. It's kind of spooky to see my nan's name on the service record as a dependent child. I do believe I might have seen a photo at some stage as a child, when my nan was still alive. One of those typical posed portraits before going off to the front. God knows where it is now. I was not so close to that grandma. Partially because she was one of those truly strict and humourless Edwardians, but mainly because we moved to Australia when I was 5 and the only time I saw her after that she was dying of cancer and in great discomfort, which kind of exacerbated her natural personality! One wonders what James Berry the tea blender made of the quality of the brew available in the trenches! I will try and get hold of the the regimental history and the battalion diaries for the 1st and 10th Rifles. IIRC, someone on this board has a quote from a Rifles recruiting poster in their sig line. Maybe they're a fan!

The records SMLE sent me say Nov of 1916. WIA in September 1917 and then Returned to active service in May 1918 before KIA August 1918. Although he was KIA with the 1st Btn, the bulk of his time was with 10th.

And the two kids were my paternal grandmother and her sister, the aforementioned char lady at the Royal Naval College. Tea blender is an interesting profession, but one that makes sense given their residence in the heart of the British maritime industry.

Yes it's very exciting considering I didn't even know about this man until a few days ago. Now I have Rifles, RA and Gordons in the family.

Have PMed you. Amazing work. No doubt about it then given that the family are Greenwich based for generations. (I happen to have a very lovely silver rose bowl presented to one of this man's daughters (my great aunt) from the officers of the Royal Naval College for her 40 odd years of service as a charwoman!)

They'd be banned as they are on the wesbite: with weapons in working order. You'd have to show proof of deactivation before getting an import permit and even then, I suspect the paperwork would be a nightmare. But there are definitely private collectors here with operational (ie. driveable) AFVs. Probably easier in a state like WA or NT or Qld. In a nanny state like Vic it would be tough. In NSW they'd just be interested in how much stamp duty and other taxes they could slap on you.

1 Bn Rifle Brigade. That is to say, I know from the CWGC database that this person roughly matches the date of death that is provided on the family headstone. But the best proof I could have is details of place of enlistment, address etc. The only other CWGC hit of that name that is close to the date is from a Liverpool regiment, so he would be a less likely contender given the London origin of the family.

Discovered quite by chance today that I had a great grandfather who was KIA in WW1. I was unaware of this before because he (obviously) and his wife died before my own father was born and therefore they didn't figure in his life as grandparents. He is James BERRY listed on my father's family grave in London as KIA on 20/8/18. The only thing close to that on CWGC is a J BERRY S/28364 of 1st Rifles KIA on 21/8/18. The Rifles would be a reasonable punt, given that he would have been a Londoner but it would be nice to know if that really was him so I can make a visit to the cemetery next time I am in France. So British records grogs, how do I get to the next level of service record? What would be a sure indicator is if he has an address in the Greenwich to Woolwich vicinity.

Like New Zealand = Australia designed by 1920s Scottish Presbyterians on a budget.

The rotors are intended to tilt. See the diagram. And they say the FCS is designed for non-rated ground personnel. The lack of drive shaft is actually because each wheel is driven independently by an internal electric motor.

And given the number of grunts in Iraq and elsewhere that seem to kill themselves driving a Hummer with only two dimensions to choose from....

I really like the 'personal carriers'.

Brilliant. A working t-72 for US$80K seems like a bargain when you can spend that on a Hummer and be nowhere near as safe in an accident.