Bitter/Sweet Memories

[Colin Southern]

This is really nice. lots of good pictures and memories. Thanks for sharing, Colin. I hope we can see some more of this stuff from other members as well. Something that we can call or categorize as "journeys".

Thanks Willie - it was nice to be able to find the time to do it for a change.

[Colin Southern]

Colin,
thanks for sharing your pics and memories... it' a very interesting and instructive work!
the best of the serie is the last one for me (on the ferries), and on the second step there is the first pic
cheers
N

Thanks Nicola,

Hopefully some more in the series soon!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin

Wonderful set of pictures and stories. Thanks for sharing your "bitter/sweet" memories - mainly "sweet" I would think.

Cheers Dave

PS I particularly liked the two of the little girl who I assume is your grand daughter. Gee i wish I could get my grandkids to pose like that.

Thanks Dave,

About 50/50 on the "bitter/sweet" I think - great to see some things I hadn't seen in over 30 years, but a bit of a shock to realise some of the family that I remember as babies aren't that far off being grand-parents now!

The little girl is Peyton - my sister's daughter's daughter. She was interested in the "modeling thing" for a few minutes, so I just shot as much as I could in that time!

[Colin Southern]

Now thats what I call a set of holiday snaps

Pukekura Park II is simply beautiful

Thanks Steve,

It's a very pretty place - they deck it out with coloured lights at night over the Christmas season - makes for a great show.

[Colin Southern]

Perfect lighting and very clever landscape. Mmm incredibly sharp.

I think almost everybody got shot at during the war; my granddad was a Sergeant in the army and got a fractured skull from a bullet on the beach, but he didn't know until he was seventy.

Bomber crew is definitely not a good job though. The only ones to escape being shot at were the rich who scarpered to the USA until after the war, and my Gran used to call my dad a white feather because he worked down the pit.

Interesting time.

Thanks Steve,

I'm sure glad that that's a period of time that I missed.

[Colin Southern]

I know that I miss your posts because of time differences but, I was really starting to wonder where you were. You were missed but this definitely makes up for it! Lucky family to have to chronicle things!!! Wonderful photos (but, of course!)

Thanks Katy,

I'm never too far away!

[JohnC]

A wonderful thread, especially the WW2 aspect.

[Colin Southern]

A wonderful thread, especially the WW2 aspect.

Thanks John,

I'm looking forward to working through some of the WWII photos.

[RockNGoalStar]

What a fantastic thread, with some wonderful images.

Your mother looks fantastic for 90 Colin - she's beautiful

[rpcrowe]

Colin,

The heavy casualties suffered by the heavy bombers of the RAF Bomber Command during WW-II were horrific...

Here is an estimate of Bomber Command casualties found on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bomber_Command
"Bomber Command crews also suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4% death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war. This covered all Bomber Command operations including tactical support for ground operations and mining of sea lanes.[clarification needed][29] A Bomber Command crew member had a worse chance of survival than an infantry officer in World War I.[29] By comparison, the US Eighth Air Force, which flew daylight raids over Europe, had 350,000 aircrew during the war, and suffered 26,000 killed and 23,000 POWs.[29] Of the RAF Bomber Command personnel killed during the war, 72% were British, 18% were Canadian, 7% were Australian and 3% were New Zealanders. [30]"

The numbers that caught my attention were the comparison of deaths and POW status. Bomber command had 55,573 crewmembers killed while 9,828 became prisoners of war. The US Eighth Air Force flying daylight missions had almost an equal number of crewmen captured as killed (23,000 POW against 26,000 kiled) that is a 7.4% death rate out of the 350,000 aircrew vs. the 44.4% death rate of Bomber Command.

I wonder what the reason was for this remarkable difference? Could it have been easier for U.S. B-17 and B-24 (which made up the bulk of 8th Air Force aircraft) crews to bail out of those aircraft than it was for RAF aircrews to exit crippled aircraft. It would be interesting to learn the percentage of death vs. POW status for aircrews by aircraft type.

You probably have seen this site but, it has some excellent information regarding the RAF Bomber Command.
http://www.rafbombercommand.com/master_welcome.html

[Colin Southern]

What a fantastic thread, with some wonderful images.

Your mother looks fantastic for 90 Colin - she's beautiful

Thanks Tommy,

She gets her good looks from me!

[Colin Southern]

Colin,

The heavy casualties suffered by the heavy bombers of the RAF Bomber Command during WW-II were horrific...

Here is an estimate of Bomber Command casualties found on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bomber_Command
"Bomber Command crews also suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4% death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war. This covered all Bomber Command operations including tactical support for ground operations and mining of sea lanes.[clarification needed][29] A Bomber Command crew member had a worse chance of survival than an infantry officer in World War I.[29] By comparison, the US Eighth Air Force, which flew daylight raids over Europe, had 350,000 aircrew during the war, and suffered 26,000 killed and 23,000 POWs.[29] Of the RAF Bomber Command personnel killed during the war, 72% were British, 18% were Canadian, 7% were Australian and 3% were New Zealanders. [30]"

The numbers that caught my attention were the comparison of deaths and POW status. Bomber command had 55,573 crewmembers killed while 9,828 became prisoners of war. The US Eighth Air Force flying daylight missions had almost an equal number of crewmen captured as killed (23,000 POW against 26,000 kiled) that is a 7.4% death rate out of the 350,000 aircrew vs. the 44.4% death rate of Bomber Command.

I wonder what the reason was for this remarkable difference? Could it have been easier for U.S. B-17 and B-24 (which made up the bulk of 8th Air Force aircraft) crews to bail out of those aircraft than it was for RAF aircrews to exit crippled aircraft. It would be interesting to learn the percentage of death vs. POW status for aircrews by aircraft type.

You probably have seen this site but, it has some excellent information regarding the RAF Bomber Command.
http://www.rafbombercommand.com/master_welcome.html

Thanks Richard,

I must have more of a "read up". I also have a book by Max Lambert titled "Night after Night" which mentions my Dad 2 or 3 times, and also has 1 photo of him in it. All I can say is "thank goodness he wasn't one of the ones killed", or there wouldn't be a me!

[ilovelucydog]

Beautifully captured journey.