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Y-T71

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I'm a little over an hour away from going into surgery.

They're operating in my ear (taking some bone out, putting prosthetic bones in... stuff like that) and I won't be able to wear my "cheater' glasses because I the scar so I probably won't be able to read these forums for awhile.

Wanted to say I've enjoyed hanging around, learned a lot!

Since this is a gun forum I thought it would be fitting to add a gun pic!

A big gun pic!)

This is a picture of the last operational German 88mm in the western hemisphere (IIRC, one of only 3 operational in the world) firing 9lbs of black powder at the largest D-day reenactment in in north America in Conneaut Ohio.

Enjoy!

pHFk4ki.jpg

wDXxET2.jpg

qYh0pmM.jpg
 
Demi-human said:
I wish you great luck on your surgery today!
We’ll be here when you get back.:)

9 pounds a shot?! I haven’t even made that much in my life!:D
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone!

I talked to the gunners a little between "action"

They fire the gun every hour on the hour and I'm pretty sure those are 13lb charges, they drop that down to 9lbs during the "invasion" because there are "troops" out front of the gun disembarking from landing craft.
 
Good luck on the surgery and have an easy and fast recovery !

Mildly amusing.

I remember a video of a black powder cannon meet and there was a "NO SMOKING" sign near one of them. I thought it was amusing when the gun went off and yielded 5 cubic yards of smoke.

I'm, not sure if the sign was serious (they were using friction-string fusing) but every time I see a King Black gun go off I can't help thinking about that with a small grin.

Loved that pic of the 88mm rifling ! Why, you could almost shoot a chihuahua out of that thing if you could coax it into the shell.

Terry, 230RN

REF:

 
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Y-T71

Here's hope and a prayer that all goes well with your surgery and for a fast and easy recovery!

My Dad (Armored Infantry), always figured it was an 88 that hit near him and took off his foot. By a stroke of good fortune he was wearing a pair of wool lined tanker's overalls (won them in a random drawing), that kept him warm in the freezing cold while the Germans were picking up their wounded. They took him back to a regular hospital in a nearby village and treated him like he was one of their own (Panzer Grenadier)!
 
The use of the 88 for FLAK reminded me of the time I worked with a precision die maker who lived through War II in Germany as a youth. He had many tales to tell and he and I used to chat with my rough college German. For me it was for practice, for him it was for amusement. So one day I asked him what FLAK stood for and he said Flugzuegabwekanonen, which he enjoyed explaining: "aircraft against cannons."

My usual oddball and ungracious sense of humor made me say, "No wonder you guys lost the war."

It was OK, we joshed around quite a bit, and he asked, "Vy, vat do you mean?"

I said, "Well, see, Hans and Ludwig are skywatching outside of Berlin when the bombers come over, and by the time Hans says 'Ludwig, macht mit der Flugzeugabwerkanonen,' the planes had dropped their bombs and were on their way back to England."

He laughed and said, "Ach, you Americans."

I lost track of him a couple of years later when the big fire up in Pine Brook Hills (Boulder Colorado) destroyed his house and he and his Parisian wife moved away without letting me know. My Christmas card had been returned and the forwarding order had expired by then,

Or maybe he just didn't want to tell me because of that flugzeugabwerkanonen wisecrack.

Terry, 230RN
 
Y-T71 said:
I'm a little over an hour away from going into surgery.

They're operating in my ear (taking some bone out, putting prosthetic bones in... stuff like that) and I won't be able to wear my "cheater' glasses because I the scar so I probably won't be able to read these forums for awhile.

Wanted to say I've enjoyed hanging around, learned a lot!

Since this is a gun forum I thought it would be fitting to add a gun pic!

A big gun pic!)

This is a picture of the last operational German 88mm in the western hemisphere (IIRC, one of only 3 operational in the world) firing 9lbs of black powder at the largest D-day reenactment in in north America in Conneaut Ohio.

Enjoy!

View attachment 1102546

View attachment 1102547

View attachment 1102548
Click to expand...
Wishing you a speedy recovery. That gun is quite impressive as long as you are behind it and not down range of it.
 
Well, made it through!

I very much appreciate all the well wishes!

This was the (mandatory) 2nd stage of the same thing I had done this past December.

I also love all your stories of the infamous 88 (sorry about your hunting buddy though @lightman, OUCH!)

My son and I had been going to the reenactment for about 7 years until Covid reared its ugly head and postponed it.

It was/is a spectacular event drawing 6000 or so reenactors and, last I heard, around 25-30,000 spectators!

Thanks again everyone and keep the stories coming if you can.

Think my pain meds are starting to wear off so I think I'm gonna zonk out for a bit.
 
230RN said:
Flugzuegabwekanone
Click to expand...
Along with the FLAK were the PAK, Panzer abwer Kanone.
German just loves compound nouns, and, of course, they follow rules.
So, we ought scan PAK as "Armor anti-cannon" and FLAK as "aircraft anti-cannon."
Which is no more cumbersome than the "Anti-aircraft artillery" cannon usage in English.
Mind, the Germans also made a distinction between "pure" Artillery and "infantry artillery" too, with the Infanteriegeschütz ordnance. With a split between Kanone and Haubitze.
 
^ Ja, aber als Ich habe gesacht, "my rough college German."

It never got any smoother and in fact, my friend threw that "Ack-ack" right back at me as "Anti Aircraft" fire, but my editorial sense told me not to complicate the anecdote any more.

Er war auch in der Hitlerjugend, but everybody his age had to be. He was also in the French Foreign Legion after the war because (somehow) this afforded him entry into the U.S. I never got that part of it clear.

And my German never got any smoother due to lack of practice over fortyish years.

Terry
 
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230RN said:
^ Er war auch in der Hitlerjugend, but everybody his age had to be. He was also in the French Foreign Legion after the war because (somehow) this afforded him entry into the U.S. I never got that part of it clear.

And my German never got any smoother due to lack of practice over fortyish years.

Terry
Click to expand...
Completing an enlistment in the FFL probably got him French citizenship and a "clean slate" to immigrate into the US.
 
^ That sounds right.

Y-T71 said, "Thanks again everyone and keep the stories coming if you can."

Be careful what you wish for. At 83 yo, I'm just jam-packed full of anecdotes relevant to just about eeeverything. I'm a terrific bore at parties.

Which reminds me of the time at a wedding reception when I spilled...
 
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Best of luck on the surgery and thanks for that interesting post. Never heard of that D-Day reenactment in Conneaut, Ohio. Sounds really interesting. Haven't been to Conneaut since about the spring of 1969 when we would drive there to get fireworks that were unavailable in NY State. Place we went to was just over the state line, (route 20?) entering Ohio from PA... My fluency in the German language never got very far at all. Started learning German at a very young age from my maternal German grandparents. Both born here to German immigrants and grew up bi-lingual in both German & English. They would converse in German when I was very young and wasn't supposed to know what they were talking about. When I began to catch on, they had to discuss that stuff when I wasn't within earshot.
 
230RN said:
^ That sounds right.

Y-T71 said, "Thanks again everyone and keep the stories coming if you can."

Be careful what you wish for. At 83 yo, I'm just jam-packed full of anecdotes relevant to just about eeeverything. I'm a terrific bore at parties.
Click to expand...

I truly look forward to more.

Once, many years ago I sat down at a local neighborhood bar and struck up a conversation with an older man sitting alone.

Turns out he was a Korean war veteran and he regaled me with story after story, I was in heaven!

He said he never had anyone to talk to all those years.

I felt lucky, honored and not just a little humble that I got the privilege to hear what that man had to tell me.

I type this with a tear in my eye as, sadly he passed away only shortly after we met.

It's my thread, please type away!
 
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