XJ Photo-Op Riding Challenge: Military Relics

Dammit. Between the airfields, the actual Bletchley Park back gate (!) and a Gettysburg battlefield site with cannon you guys have raised the bar yet again.

I finally dug the pics out of my camera, and have but the following so far, pale by comparison:



VietNam-era M48




Another M48, this one apparently has a prototype turret, being fitted with a missile launcher rather than a conventional gun.

 

Figured I'd get the ball rolling for summer 2015

Took a trip north to mount forest today, wish I took a picture of the town sign, their motto is "High, Happy, Healthy" haha

 

Glad I saw this thread today. Took the bike out and snapped a shot on the way to my in-laws. I'm told this gun is the only one with white wall tires.

 

@ bigfitz52: "Dammit. Between the airfields, the actual Bletchley Park back gate (!) and a Gettysburg battlefield site with cannon you guys have raised the bar yet again."
Yes, but for ourselves too. (Doh!)


All I can come up with today is this unusual pillbox, at Hinton-in-the-hedges airfield in South Northamptonshire. I was led there by Derek, on his Triumph 3TA. Derek is my local aviation expert and knows which airfields are friendly to visitors. Flying, gliding, and skydiving all go on there.



It's a fairly standard pillbox, except for the brick built observation post on the top, which seems contemporary with the pillbox. I'm told (the Internet sez) that in the event of invasion the pillboxes were there to make life difficult for German paratroopers dropping in to secure the airfield; the pillboxes were set so that they could fire into the airfield. I had my back to the airfield when I took this one.



My back was towards the access road, here, and there are no loopholes this side. You can see another WW2 building on the left in the middle distance. This airfield was a Bomber command Operational Training Unit.



We also found this at the airfield, though we were not allowed near it on the bikes. Derek tells me that this is an Antonov An-2, the largest single engined biplane ever made. It is designed for rough service using 'unimproved' airfields. It certainly seems to be very strongly made. Some An-2s have been used in combat, so it just squeezes in here.

 

Ok, here's a new one. And a bump for the thread. This was in Sherwood WI. Sorry about the back lighting. Damn sun!

 

biggs500, often you can shade the lens with your fingers. Bring the fingers just into frame, then move them back up a bit. In this case, you might have been able to stand in the shadow of the tree on the left then recomposed the shot and perhaps zoomed the lens a bit.
What plane is it? My mate Derek (above) would know instantly, but unless it's something obvious like a Harrier or a Chinook, I've no idea.

 

I think it's a P 80 Shooting Star.

 

Yep. Lockheed P-80

 

Can a Canadian play?

 

Here's is another.

 

lostboy, they let us English types play, so you should be alright. I was only just thinking yesterday that it about time I put a few more shots in this thread, so here's a couple of places.


This is Mursley water tower, in Buckinghamshire. It was the scene of one of the many aircraft training accidents that happened in WW2. A plane hit the 1938 tower when returning to Little Horwood airfield, a few miles across the fields. The tower suffered not much more than cosmetic damage.


The out of focus cross wedged into the fence was left over from a previous year's Remembrance Sunday, held each year on the Sunday nearest 11th November. There is a now faded red poppy in the centre of the cross. Remembrance Sunday has been held here since the end of WW1, in memory of the fallen.


An English Electric Thunderbird Missile, at what used to be the Westcott Rocket Propulsion Establishment in Buckinghamshire. I could hear them testing rocket motors as a child, from seven miles away where we lived in Winslow.


This was RAF Westcott during WW2, another Operational Training Unit like Little Horwood, above.

 

They parked that a bit far from the berth.

 

Must have been a very high tide...
Anyhow, here are a few photos from the old RAF Podington airfield, which was used by the USAAF in WW2.


The building on the right was the control tower. It's now a private house. A small public road goes into the airfield site and stops at the front door of the house.


There are a lot of old airfield buildings still in use. This is just one of the Nissen huts I saw.


This monument is to the 92nd Bombardment Group. The road in the background is the one that leads up to the old control tower.


A detail of the above photo.

 

Still at Podington, this is the monument from the other side. You can just see my bike to the left of the flag pole, behind the fence. I didn't have to wait long for an American vehicle to go by, as Santa Pod Raceway is on the old airfield and one of their drag racing events was finishing.

 

That's interesting, and something I didn't know much about.
https://www.google.ie/search?q=Sherman+Firefly

 

Don't quite have my xj750 going yet, but I do have my GS550ES going, so I could not resist... Cobra AH-1?

Just outside Tucson at a VFW

Seems kinda tame as I have Apaches circling my house several times a week, but I would still hate to have one chasing me if I were on my bike

 

Glad to see this tread with life still in it, thanks skiprrdog. Come on guys It is spring here in the northern hemisphere. Lets get the photos rolling in again.

 

It looks like it is a good day for a ride. I think I will try to get to my VFW and get a picture.

 

Stopped by my VFW post, but there really wasn't anything good for a picture, so I went to the local American Legion. Here is the tank outside their building.

 

This is not with any of my XJ's but with my son's 450 Nighthawk from a few years back.

I know I'm cheating, it's part of a museum.