. Now for something different.   A friend recently retired to the Isle of Wight off the south coast of the UK, here's what he emailed.   "  Hi Ken,   I had a walk around the cemetery at Ventnor, It has a beautiful view of the sea and the downs.  It contains 29 WWI & WW2 graves, However the one I didn't really expect to see was an American Civil War headstone.  Col. Leonard D.H. Currie. "   https://greenhowards.org.uk/medal/leonard-currie/         Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 01 2O25.   ….

Wow Ben what an amazing group, congratulations!!   Can you post a photo of the 542nd patch please.

Will be there with 3 tables in the brand new Arena Building. They are moving all of us from the old small WWI/WWII building in the back to the new Arena Building on the circle with the other buildings. Should make it a lot better as some people never knew we were in the old back building. Looking forward to seeing everyone again at the show. Well attended from people all over the States. Don't miss it. Dave

. Started making the seat pads last night for the ' bomber ' seats in the rod, drove over this morning to see how the first back-pad looked ( forgot to photograph it ), however I liked the look of it in my normal road car.                Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 01 2O25.   ….  

Thank you for pointing out the concerns.  I believe part of the crispness is my photography skills or lack thereof.  When viewed in person, the lettering has sharp edges and not rounded as would be expected from casting.  In addition, the die markings are evident under magnification between the circle and the wing and there are small lips indicating displaced metal formed during the pressing process.     I do also see some flaws (like the inner ring near the words Civil and Aeronautical) that you are pointing out, or what seem to be flaws on the tips of some of the feathers.  Unfortunately, this wing seems to have indications of both cast and die press.  Maybe it was master casted using an authentic die-pressed wing, but I would still think that some sort of seam or other indications would be present.

. hi mikie,   Well let's try and relieve some of that tension.  Yes you are right in most of your statement, there were specific springs specified for wartime Jeep, and Johan has mentioned that these changed over the period of the war.  I understand that the firms built it as a cross-country roughie-toughie vehicle for the army, however I don't think at the start that they foresaw what the Jeep would be asked to do, or CARRY, and given that and the eighty years since then springs loose tension.    Then your second assumption as I said earlier all Jeep are NOT equal, and look and drive differently, in some part due to eighty years of wear and tear and some down to each owners level of maintenance and replacing worn parts.   In 1941 the springs were 8 and 9 leaf, but given all the rough use these were increased in 1944 to 10 and 11.   personally my Jeep has 10 leaf all-round and I am happy with the look, the ride and the performance.  Earlymb is trying to ascertain what the correct height his Jeep should be riding,  and considers it may be riding too high.   So Johan and myself are trying to help, but muddying the waters maybe. . . . . . . . . . .  One year in Normandy returning to camp from a bar in town I had thirteen people riding on my Jeep.     Now see below some of the loads that were put into / onto Jeeps during the war and probably not considered by the design teams.  The fourth photo has had heavy armoured plate mounted on the Jeep, the Fifth photo has had four bazooka's mounted in it, fourth and fifth photo's are obvious field modifications.                 Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 01 2O25.   ….    

Dear Folks  Im thinking to purchase that visor but before I decided posted here for comments: Is a good period semi crusher officer visor one?? And would be possible to know if badge came with the hat from origin(period atached)????   Thanks in advance    Fernando   

Thanks Phill     I appreciate the information, very helpful.  OK so the set in my collection is a U.S. production Thanks again I should of considered the STERLING mark as being US made but I never really gave it much thought as to the country of origin. Another clue revealed Thanks again, Oh and the shoulder patch material Info is very welcome as well

This seems to be a HeWhoShallNotBeNamed “museum quality reproduction”.

Good morning Phroger.  Thank you for sharing your recent CAA wing acquisition with us.     I noticed your wing with the side profile of the Wright Flyer depicted at the top of this thread appears to lack crispness in the front lettering and has a number of small flaws and  inconsistencies which suggests to me the piece may not be die-struck and not an authentic original period badge?