WWII Aust & USA in Far North Queensland Australia ~

Discussion in 'Australian' started by Stuart SS, Jul 7, 2013.

  1. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Dave

    Seems the NZ Exped badge is as rare as Rocking Horse *(&&()~

    And the Stinging tree is excruciating ! All pain goes away or relents ~ This DOES NOT !

    The pain is incessant ~ I even tried flashing a gas torch over the skin but that failed and I ended up in Atherton hospital on Easter Sat last year ~

    The only and best result I found after the second time ~ was ladies leg waxing strips ~ But the area is prone to cold and circumstance relapse for along time after ~

    The worst story I head was of a Digger up here on exercises and he went into the bust to have a crap and supposedly wiped his butt with the leaf off one,, But unless he was wearing gloves he would have experienced pain immediately ! He was supposedly choppered out !

    And another story I heard just recently was of a US Marine tough guy over here during WWII who reckoned it was all BS~ and took the challenge by stripping off his shirt and ran into one ~ Crazy ~ He paid for it big time ~
     
  2. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Well Saturday Ed and I headed the rough country about 08.00 ~

    A Perfect day ~ peaked out about 27 deg and an occasional cooling breeze ~

    Our plan panned out exactly as we figured with the 6 lbers ~ as discussed with Paul ~ Only found two ~ with MD ~ and both in nice condition ~

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    Had good day ~ Bloody hard work though !


    Bloody rough country ~

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    Ed scared off a feral pig ~ not sure who got the biggest scare.. the pig or Ed ~

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    But as I said on the radio ~ I got the pan ~ you get the pork , Ed ~


    We ended up at the hill top site I discovered when I took the Rocky blokes to our original now flogged and heavily over grown areas ~

    Ed and I went even further from where I left off previously ~ ( on the opposite side of the road ~ ) and found heaps more dugs outs , fox holes and gun pits ~ some extremely well built and stead fast after 70 plus years ~ They really did “defend this hill”!


    There were a lot spent 303 LE and Bren cartridges in the dug outs ~

    Also included brackets and buckles ~ Plus Ed found several very tidy 2” mortar caps !
    Since last years brush fire the ( harsh ) grass has regenerated and makes life more than little hard going ~ But it is the screw grass seeds that get to the fossicker ! They even penetrated my new boots ~


    The old pioneer shovel is a ripper ~

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    Amazing quality construction dug outs and gun pits ~ Hey they are 70 plus old ~

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    More vintage tobacco lids too~ mortar tube covers ~ , frags ~

    PLEASE NOTE; the shells are solid shot practice rounds and pose no risk or threat. Also it essential that you KNOW what you dealing with.

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    Unbelievable ~ a Wringer/ Wranglers buckle ~ in a war zone !!

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    With inscriptions ~ ( I have plenty of rifling strips and will fit some ~ )

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    AP6 PR CWT M7

    CHP BS12/41


    Ironically as we headed home around 15.30 hrs the distant clouds soon turned into rain as we descended into the country ~
     
  3. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Well Tuesday was a whole BIG deal for all the wrong reasons
    The weather has been pretty and remains extremely sodden rough this ~

    We decided to give Tuesday a go despite the dubious weather ~

    After night shift I grabbed a few hours and I rang Ed to find out how the weather was like at his end !
    He was emphatic that 'she'll be right!"

    So we headed off to site ~ the weather was foul!
    The Sun did appear later in the afternoon but again closed in and the wind came back with a vengeance ~

    But on the high side we put in some four hours with some intriguing finds ~

    Ed found a same 303 Ammo case release pin, the same as I found last year ~


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    I am told a radio tower cable securing peg


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    The boots did not stop the water ~ The poncho helped big time but will need mods ~

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    A 1943 King George penny ~

    Two mystery items ~ Please Help ~ \(the round piece is a brass fuel or water drum cap ~ first of this type I have seen.)


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  4. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Saturday ~ the weather finally cleared ~ after doing the domestics I finally decided to do a late run based the new QLD.Gov Google Earth add on ~

    I essentially headed onto a well worked area but with a new slant and extended ground ~ Again as i was pressed for time with a late start ~ I also used the Garmin too plot the area with future references ~

    But I did pick up on an old "catch" ~ that is high pitch 70-80 but with high iron signal ~ ( ?!!)

    The Mortar carry case with stock brass webbing buckle in situ ~

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    And using the QLD.Gov add on proved that the area is public access .. I was later in the afternoon ~ told to USE the gate and drive onto the site !!

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    One rusted chain in the initial ground ~ Nothings else thus far !

    Then a local came along with huge Alsatian in pursuit ~ ( You can bet houses i simply froze when I saw this bloody great dog heading at full kilter , straight for me ~ ) They spent < 45 mins> talking with me and he pointed out a LOT of points. The area map is right ~ this is a public ‘Reserve’ ~

    He asked if I had accessed North camp and even said he has a block there and found heaps ~ distracted I neglected to ask about getting on there ~

    And the area east of the Platypus creek is where the tanks were stationed ~ more new revelation!

    So much information and I did not have my pen and pad with me ~ so I am planning to chase him up ~again !~

    And Ironically "Bill" kept stirring me about digging those hand grenades ~ It was revelation to him when I announced I had already found 16 2" Mortar rounds and two hand grenades in the immediate area ~

    But proved a real interesting bloke who may well have a lead onto farm areas not so far form this site ~

    As I explained I reckon the area we were in was a parade ground and actually found a AWM film footage wherein the troops were doing a parade for the Duke of Gloucester ~

    http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F07127/

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    The small finds included the webbing straps and a single 303 blank plus a half spoon handle !

    Probably head back tomorrow as I started picking up fresh strong signals !
     
  5. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Sunday another day and a fresh target ~ not even 5 minutes drive from home ~ Actually a work place property which has to date back 100 years and had to have some dwelling/s as there are four blocks Incorporated!

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    The signals were almost instant ~ but so were the iron signals ~ and worse still the soil was so ionized the pin pointer went crazy !

    So I swept the three open blocks over 2 1/2 hours and was selective about what targets I dug !

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    This brass separation plate (75 mm OD) looks very similar to cartridge separation plates I have seen from artillery shell smoke shells ~

    The separation plates were fitted to separate the smoke canisters as the early smoke shells had exploded on the artillery breech and or barrel so they fitted the plates ! But unless an individual bought in the plate there is no obvious reason for it being on the site ~

    Plus a tank used at the time were usually a 40 mm or 50 mm gun ~ UNLESS they were servicing American Grant tanks which had a 75 mm gun mounted on the side of the tank ~

    Now I KNOW they had Grant tanks at Tinaroo , Herberton and Atherton ~ and were also around Malanda. Although I know via the AWM references that Matildas were here in training ~ but they did not have large guns which accommodate a 75 mm separation plate ~ ( This is all purely specualtive BTW!)

    https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F07051/

    Grants tanks on Herberton main street

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    The two rings right side are large bearing 'cages' and are way too big for a truck ~ and IMO are either rail engine/ carriage or military tank! Perhaps a bulldozer ~

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    Not a single coin or any thing period ID ~
     
  6. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    I neglected to mention the fact that on the opposite side of the highway there was a railway ~ that ran parallel to the highway and literally through the Lion / Dairy farmers Factory where I work ~

    That was built I think in 1913 and continued in service till about 1963 ~

    But with that in mind it is totally illogical that they would have a rail way work shop across the road when there is a large paddock area on the same side as the rail way line ~ ( the Blue rectangle area.)

    I can access the paddocks too but I really don't believe at this point that there was anything of relevance including dwellings in that paddock area ~ and as I work for the company i can access that any time really ~
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  7. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Slow start to the day with threatening showers and wind gusts yet again ~

    Again I did some "home work" before biting the bullet and heading out around 13.00 hrs ~

    Again I headed back to a well tried area and only because when I was there on Sunday and the recent rain which changes the composition of the ground did I decided to give it yet another bash !

    Very slow start ~ ironically yet another short piece of chain in the first area again!

    It was not long I was considering Plan B ~ but I did not have a plan B ~ so kept plugging on!

    Then as I worked probably the single hardest hammered 5sq-m in the entire area, ~ I pulled a triple webbing buckle ~ "Hello Old friend!"

    Feeling some what inspired I really started to work the area ~ and WHAMMO !! ! Smack in the Middle ~


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    I was inspired ~

    I kept working the area right to the water line ~

    And Double-Whammo!! ~ right on the water line in the mud ~

    It was amazing I actually pulled this one as the half-square metre was crammed with metal detritus and fragments!

    So what is better than a Rising Sun?

    ????

    Two Rising Suns and even better a match pair ~


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    Then as the afternoon wore on ~ the rain clouds were a coming


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    But a good afternoon ~ in a well worn ground ~

    All other non entities and trash not included ~


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    Now what !!??
     
  8. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Well after some four weeks of non stop rain and wind the skies once again cleared ~

    So I tried a totally new site ~ but jt was well short of expectations and after an hour I ticked the box and left to return to a well worked and favourite area ~

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    After a pleasant few hours I called it a day and headed home ~

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    Sunday two of us headed again to familiar territory early ~ Perfect day ~ But heavy going at times as this is the Far north Wet tropics ~



    My mate neglected to bring his lower leg gaiters and wore shorts ~ this was potentially a bad move as he almost stepped on a large Black Snake sunning it self in the grass ~



    The biggest struggle is the vines as they constantly tangle the MD ~ But we simply persevered with a level of success and variety of finds ~

    My first find was a cut pad lock which is very typical of this particular WWII site which was a Supply / logistics area.

    On of Ed's excellent finds an immaculate weapons oiler tube ~ too large for a Lee Enfield IMO ~

    Number 25 ` (Hat ) Rising Sun ~

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    About 12.00 we were ready for lunch and then moved camp to an even more hard worked area ~ and in true philosophical trends of rained on ground will always produce the goods which seemingly were never there before !

    I was stunned at the sheer number of items which appeared in previously hard worked areas ~


    I found quite a few curiosities ~

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    This has been rough modified with the slots hand cut and the tip removed ~ and the inner core soldered (??)


    This one is intriguing too ~

    ???

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    Turns out this heavily engraved piece is in fact part of a 'Schroeder Tyre gauge Patent 1922- 1932 Made in Toronto USA'

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    That Rising Sun and a cut piece which is inverted and reads as " AUSTRALIA "

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    The centre rod is a nice brass punch ~

    Overall nothing stunning short of the RS but a well spent day ~
     
  9. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    The Rising sun renovated ~ a tad battered and worn but remainsa nice relic ~ #25

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  10. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Saturday I did a local run to the Show or carnival grounds.

    This is very close to home but the history of the area states that there were Aust military forces stationed here during WWII with extensive workshops. And further upstream of the small river were supposedly US camp sites. But these are or were on what is now Indigenous sacred ground. So that is definitely out of the criteria !

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    MALANDA, QLD, 1943-07-30. KIT INSPECTION AND GENERAL PARADE OF THE 2 2ND AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY TROOP WORKSHOP AT THE SHOW GROUNDS.

    I know there is a local bloke that chases coins after every show ground event but I figured I would focus on the rear areas where the work shops were and considering the occasional floods that sweep through ~ just maybe there would something US forces.

    I spent a pleasant several hours and found nothing but Alco cans, pull rings and detritus. So I called it a day !

    But I did find something I had not seen previously ~ two rail crossing pillars which I did not even realise existed~ part of the long gone railway ! ( The railway closed in < 1963> .


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  11. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Sunday last ~ I headed out on my 'Pat-mah' for a solo run on two camp sites ~ in bush country ~

    I have made a few runs to the area previously and in fact found my first hand grenade in the area ~
    But there is listed two Aust military camp sites ~

    I knew there was a huge WWII rubbish dump in the middle of the two supposed sites ~ So I set off ~ Perfect day ~ After so much rain and wind !

    A webbing buckle straight up looked promising !

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    A bizarre tree.. the trunk has snapped ~ maybe in one of our cyclones.. but having not separated, it has continued to grow in a deformed state ~

    Found little but an occasional spill of spent 303 shells ~

    The trash heap

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    The top layer are dated as 1945 ~ and as deep as I dug .. more trash ~

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    A humble day but a great day out ~ apart from a tick mere millimetres from the crown jewels ~

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    The rectangle of brass sent a fantastic signal !
     
  12. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    I briefly exchanged thoughts on the WWII Catalina site near Cairns and the potential for a hunt, this week gone. ~
    And three of us actually entertained the idea up to a point ~

    Our most senior member if our team even recalls the pontoons as a young bloke when his Dad used to take them bream fishing in the area.

    But since then time and tide ~ and storm seasons has seen the pontoons either washed away or sunk, But the location is still fresh in "Terry's mind~!

    This was in the all initial stages as we do have a boat ~ until some one said ~ "Hey is it worth a few potential relics ~ to dodge the Sand flies, the Mosquitoes, the mangroves and worse still real potential Salt water crocodiles!?"

    Sand flies BTW absolutely 'slaughter ' me ~ and I have experienced tropical mangrove mozzies ~ Cruel~

    At least the members of the unit would have simply shot every croc they saw as the salt water crocidles were not protected species until the 1970s!

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    1944-08-16. VX72103 GUNNER D.N. BENTLEY, E TROOP, 22ND BATTERY, 106TH TANK ATTACK REGIMENT, USING A BOYES 5" TANK ATTACK RIFLE TO SHOOT CROCODILES IN A SWAMP NEAR THE UNIT CAMP.

    But with sand flies and mozzies in mass the crew MUST have preyed to simply be out there on missions !

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    Cairns Qld 1944 09 28. Departure preparations on Martin PBM Mariner flying boat of No 41 Transport Sea) Squadron RAAF at its moorings.

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    CAIRNS QLD. 1943 09 08. REINFORCEMENTS ABOARD SHIP WATCHING A CATALINA AIRCRAFT WARMING UP FOR A TAKE OFF.

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    Cairns Qld 1944 0112 The bowman of a RAAF Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat takes aboard a tow line so the flying boat can move to another mooring buoy.
     
  13. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Sunday was another day which was fine and perfect ~
    I was determined to do a hunt .. so I headed out around midday ~ with no positive plan ~ and made it up as I went.

    I decided to try to access another site I had worked on via Google Earth ~ My first attempt to get on site failed ~ but had to dodge the locals first ~

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    So I had another look at my maps ~ and figured I had another access ~

    A short drive bought me to a very rough track

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    And it took me to exactly where I wanted to be ~ and sure enough within ten minutes the site delivered ~

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    A Mill Type 36 hand grenade base plug ~ and better still another one within 10 minutes ~ A mixed bag of targets and digs suggested a target range ~

    I spent about 1 1/2 hours before the HEAT of the afternoon Sun got a bit too much ~ So I decided to move camp to an old favourite nearby ~

    And sure enough the site delivered as always ~ first up was a rejected brass trench art piece ~ but liek the Grenade base plugs, it sure gave a hell of a signal ~ 85-95 on the ATP

    Among a few bullet shells and misc trash ~ I then hit a bottler! ~ <90>

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    Then I was way laid by a local ~ Betty ~ who chatted for around 15 minutes ~ and was enthralled by the MD and related stories ~

    It was then I had moved probably no more than 15 metres when I hooked a huge signal ~ I scratched what I thought was a piece of scrap pipe ~ But there was no iron signal~ so I persevered ~ AND BLOW ME DOWN ~


    A very rare find indeed~


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    Once again low on numbers but fantastic quality ~ The 40 mm shell case despite damaged is a fantastic and unique find !


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  14. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    A moderate bit of cleaning revealed stencilled writing ~

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    The BIG question~ Is there any more !?
    I ran out of time and had to run ~ So I am hoping to do a second sweep tomorrow ~ Fingers Crossed blokes !
     
  15. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Perfect day ~

    Spent about 3-3 1/2 hours on site . My downer was when my camera died ~

    We;ll ~ I am now heading for the BIG 30 bugger it !


    Found #28 Rising Sun today ~ a bloody little ripper ~ just to complete with the split pin on the back


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    Some interesting other bits to boot ~




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    Never noticed till I got home that two of the rounds in fact are Webbly .38 ~ note rimmed cartridge on two of them ~

    The goggles piece I assume is part of a Dispatch riders goggle (?)

    And several Primer flash tubes ~

    The serving fork with hall marks.


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  16. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Another hunt earlier in the week

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    Found a spill of 303 rounds

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    Typical of the countryside we deal with

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    Even a stray cow bell

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  17. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQ7178g6so&list=UU0WmvnZhgaYz0qNQCs-bbWA
     
  18. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Turned out the Blue crushed aluminium canteen cup is / was in fact a relic of the GERMAN wehrmacht forces.

    My first German forces find IN AUSTRALIA

    Obviously bought back to Australia by an Aussie Digger before being dumped !!

    Worst part is my partner felt it was trash and it ended up in the recycling bin ! !

    (This was confirmed by a MD WWII fossicker based in The Netherlands, whom I have struck up a friendship with ~ )
     
  19. Stuart SS

    Stuart SS Well-Known Member

    Wednesday ~

    As typical Ed and I headed out Weds. Ed has a busy schedule on the weekends and I usually have Wednesday off as a matter of company policy.

    While waiting for us to show up at the rendezvous point "Terry" worked a local BBQ and park area with a spectacular result ~

    Complete with Silver Hallmark !


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    So we made the Bush site and geared up by 10.30 ~ Once rigged we each headed different directions ~

    I decided I was going to head back to where I had found the first of the brown shave cream jars., as there was a deep, hgh signal target, and I did not have a spade on the day!

    This plan took me some TWO HOURS as the targets were so frequent and many!

    On the way I found a vintage shifter, several spoons ~ a bewt 1943 three pence ~ and a Rising Sun!



    I finally made the target spot and started in with my new spade!



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    I had to dig half way to China to get the target which turned out to be a WWII standard issue food serving tray with wire handle ~ interesting and sadly it is steel and not aluminium ~ unusual!


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    Over the radio we decided to meet back fo lunch ~ I started working back and blow me down I pulled another Rising Sun ~

    Lunch time tally ~


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    Lunch over we headed off again ~

    I headed back to another area I had had some success with ~

    And blow me down it was on fire ~ in quality . rather tan quantity ~

    A Lee Enfield Oiler tube ~ Cool!

    A 1922 King George Penny

    A 1940 FLORIN ~ SUPERB ~

    I found what I thought was a cut down high calibre , even Boys antitank round but Terry was adamant that ti is a spacer form a period truck engine ! (??)

    Time was ticking and in the end I was rushing targets with lower echoes ~ again we have to go back yet again ~ Our own Camp Cable here ~

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    As the RS's were encrusted I decided to "torch them" .. soaked then lightly buffed ~ remembering they have been buried in dubious soil for 70 years.. I call it a good result ~


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  20. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Cheers Stuart - some good finds there. Interesting that a German piece of kit ended up back here.

    I'm guessing that the huge rains are starting to make themselves felt in your area.
     

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