funny how when you have a drink music is always involved...which lately has led to this while surfing on youtube...
cool to see the pentland hills on the skyline i have been riding the last few weeks...diggin the MK2 escort police cars!...
i remmeber watching this film in my teens as an apprentice greenkeeper...
i also remember a couple of old boys that played golf daily on the links at gullane where i worked,i never thought much about it at the time but these two old boys were spitfire pilots in WW2...and one of them was stationed here in East Lothian at RAF Drem...now these old boys are sadly long gone to my knowlage but there outlook on life was i remmember whatever the weather-rain/sleet/snow/ they were out golfing..why?, not just because they enjoyed there retirement but they did something of such importance that they valued there lives and there freedom the rest of there lives that they lived...
with only a few weeks to the airshow here again at east fortune i again look forward to the yearly visit of the spitfire and its music of the merlin engine...
and i find myself watching a machine that still fasinates me and when again i see one flying here in a few weeks time i know my eyes will water as it flys over feet above my chimney and does the infamous victory roll...
i have been reading "the last enemy" the first book ive ever read written by a real WW2 spitfire pilot Richard Hillary and it is fascinating...his discription of the first time flying a spitfire and giving the Rolls Royces V12 1000 bhp merlin engine full throttle and the adrenaline rush that follows...and the book is scary...when he describes seeing his friends being shot down and burnt alive trapped in there cockpits...you realise just how short life could be for these brave young men...
20 seconds of bullets was all they had...it was a game of skill,chance,and luck...
most were in there early twentys...i think this is the best film on youtube that sums up " the few"
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Nice clip of 'Restless Natives' and of course the background music of 'Big Country'. I meant to say that I had thought that your sound clip of a previous post 'might' have come from that movie, but I didn't recognise it to be honest so that was a complete guess.
ReplyDeleteThis year my brother and his wife are coming to East Fortune Air Show with us.
As a kid I always went to the Scottish Air Show at Prestwick in the 60's and early 70's . My pals Dad used to work there and helped out at the show so we kids got in for free. My Dad also worked there as a Traffic Warden.
I remember going to meet him at one show and finding him standing smoking and laughing with another man. When I went over he introduced him by saying "Remember that film you watched on TV the other night? Well, this is the real Douglas Bader!" I remember this man with very piercing eyes bending over to shake my hand and say hello. Dad had met him briefly at some golf do and he had recognised him and come over to say hello! Just amazing.....
Dad also only had about 30 seconds of ammunition in his guns in the Lancaster.
ReplyDeleteGlad you tried Richard Hillary's book, you can't begin to fathom the life of WW2 aircrew can you?
ReplyDeleteHero is an overused word, but they certainly qualify.
Alistair; amazing you met Douglas Badger!,a hero of heroes there..
ReplyDeleteClive; it is an amazing book,tragic too, what these young men did was well beyond the call of duty...
I discovered this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.extrawheel.eu/index.php?sess_id=05d04380adecdfcac345c5c207da48c8
Go to the bottom and there's a specialized Pugsley hitch for the trailer.
Talk about a niche market. You're the only one I know who would be even remotely interested.
thanks for that northmark!,im still a believer in that building a fatbike trailer or fat cargo bike will repay itself in the free firewood available on our coastline,still to decide on trailer option or cargobike with a hacked up extracycle freeloader kit and a kona frame i have..either will be fun!
ReplyDelete