More museum jacket porn

[Officer Dibley]

Took the memsahib out on my motorbike today. Fisrt stop was Jimmy Stewart's base: Old Buckenham. Very small museum with a few jackets. Then on to Thorpe Abbotts, home of the Bloody 100th

 

[Officer Dibley]

More pics:

 

[Officer Dibley]

And more. Look at the grain on this baby

An incredible story for this one....

 

[Micawber]

Funny that, we had lunch at Old Buck and sat talking to James for quite a while yesterday.

 

[Officer Dibley]

Wife flew a Stearman out of there a couple of years ago

 

[Micawber]

Doubtless passed just by our place too.

 

[jeremiah]

Wow. This never gets old. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[Officer Dibley]

Always a pleasure to share jacket pics. Ironically, i only like jackets painted if they are originals. Modern ones i find much as Stanier finds name tags, cheesy and crass. Modern ones are too well painted too.
Every original jacket painted or otherwise is unique due to adornment / wear and maker & needs recording and sharing.

 

[Pilot]

Thx. for sharing...
need to see these when back in Europe...
Again...wow!

 

[B-Man2]

Nice photos Dave!

They don’t get any nicer than that .
Thanks for posting

 

[Officer Dibley]

You are most welcome Burt.
These little mseums were almost all created by renovating derelict towers back in the 70’s & 80’s by dedicated volunteers usually lead by a core of then recently retired people who were kids and grew up around the bases.
Sadly, the original volunteers are getting infirm, younger people don’t want to volunteer and the flame of personal connections with the veterans flickers but will soon be snuffed out. These museums may not survive another 10 years.
Dave

 

[B-Man2]

Dave
That’s very sad to hear about. Of all the periods in history that need to be preserved , this is certainly one of them. Hopefully upcoming generations won’t loose sight of what was sacrificed to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today and will step up to keep the memories of individuals and artifacts such as these alive.

 

[Micawber]

What Dave says is true, the average age of those involved in these places is often in higher numbers. But of course these are the people who have the free time and resources, young people are often too busy trying to hold down a job and earn a crust for their family. Many of the younger generation are keen to learn and be involved, not all obviously but they are out there, the secret is finding them and retaining their interest.

On a purely personal note I feel I have handed the flame onto my son. He grew up literally from a baby in a similar WW2 museum environment when visits and return tours by veterans were a weekly occurrence almost all of whom have now passed.As a result he appreciates the service, sacrifice and history and realises these things are more than just dusty objects, it is what they represent and have seen that matters.

He has become involved in a similar museum in his own right. He spent an entire day last week helping build a display case for one of those local museums and has also been tied up collating data about aircraft from a certain bomb group. Get them involved young, make them feel involved, inspire them and in decades to come they too will be moaning about youngsters not wanting to be involved.

 

[B-Man2]

Well said Steve!

 

[Officer Dibley]

My son was carted around battlefields in the UK, France & Germany. He studied history at uni and now works as an archaeologist so i programmed him well
He volunteers at an old working flour mill.
Interestingly, his interests in history are not mine. He’s Peninsular War, Napoleon & 17th century.
My wife & i volunteer now because we do finally have time on our hands as you rightly say Micawber.
I hope the museums endure for a long time. When we forget our heroes, we lose the examples of how we should live our lives

 

[B-Man2]

You guys are giving us all hope for the future
Thanks!

 

[Micawber]

BTW. Excellent photos as usual Dave.

 

[Brettafett]

fantastic! Have to make my way over there at some point...

 

[Edward]

amazing! so nice to see that some original jackets are displayed and with such honor. If we can just get Hollyweird to produce more WWII movies (with some decent amount of accuracy and respect) then perhaps a younger generation will seek out these museums and continue to care for them. there was a very sad thing said in The Cold Blue by one of the surviving veterans that he found many college kids (or he may have said college educated ) he's met that had no clue as to what happened in WWII. that was heartbreaking to hear come out of his mouth. you could hear the disappointment in his voice when he said it. these museums need to survive.

 

[Officer Dibley]

I think modern wars have overshadowed WW2 for younger folks. Many of whom didn’t get to know their relatives who fought ‘39 - ‘45. And the modern wars have all been political and controversial. Some might even say engineered...... WW2 was simply good against evil. It touched everyone. Especially in the countries who saw fighting on their soil.
I hope that he greatest generation remains cherished in our national consciences. Be interesting to see how modern wars are remembered.