The Musee 39-45 * north of Boulogne in Pas-de-Calais, differs from many WW2 museums in that it is dedicated to the uniforms and accessories of the combatants, rather than their equipment. The only large pieces of military equipment are parked outside, namely ‘Jean Beart’, a Sherman M4...
The medieval hilltop town of Thiers in the Puy-de-Dôme department of Auvergne*, is known throughout the commercial and domestic kitchens of France as the historic home of the cutlery industry. In particular it’s known for its knives. The town’s craftsmen (& women) have been making knives for...
This [Gen. Richter's HQ] is where the Third Reich first realised what was happening on 5/6th June 1944
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is to be the new home of American author Robert M. Pirsig’s 1966 Honda Super Hawk motorcycle featured in his book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. Pirsig’s book, originally published by William Morrow in...
On a coastline dotted with D-Day museums, it’s easy to assume that the America Gold Beach Museum in Ver-sur-Mer, Normandy, is dedicated to the events on June 6 1944… but it isn’t, exclusively. Musée America Gold Beach reminds us that before the British Army’s XXX Corps landed...
British Airways are looking at ways that 3D printing technology could improve punctuality and reduce carbon emissions by bypassing the need to fly spare parts out to its fleet around the world. The thinking is that 3D printers located at airports around the world, could be used...
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial in dramatic white stone dominates the surrounding landscape from the top of Vimy Ridge. It marks the battlefield on which four divisions of Canadians* managed to dislodge three German divisions from their entrenched and fortified positions on the ridge over three days...
The Old Town Model Railroad Depot, a small model railway museum based in San Diego’s historic Old Town district, will remain open under new ownership. I can’t resist either a model railway or a good news story, so this is a welcome piece of news. The Depot,...
I came across this little ‘factoid’ in the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s in-house magazine, Scuttlebutt, which was a fascinating publication until they stopped publishing it! It’s one of those ‘unknown unknowns’ as Donald Rumsfeld would say. I didn’t know that I didn’t know it… until...
Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg is the world's largest model railway, and its most popular too.
The museum ship SS John W. Brown, one of only two World War II ‘Liberty’ ships preserved and still operational*, is looking for a new home. The Liberty ships were the cargo-carrying workhorses of the Allied war effort. They were produced with conveyor belt efficiency in huge...
Hertz are offering a spectacular car rental option at some of its airport locations in the USA. Auto racing fans and car enthusiasts can rev up their ride with the 2020 Hertz-Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 and 2020 Hertz-Hendrick Motorsports Camaro SS in the signature Hertz yellow and...
Aurora Expeditions, who specialise in expeditions to the polar regions, yesterday named their new ship, the Greg Mortimer, in a ceremony set against the snow-capped mountains of Ushuaia, Argentina. The new ship has a striking profile because she is the first passenger vessel in the world to...
The coastal artillery battery at Longues-sur-Mer is one of the key Normandy D-Day battlefield sites to visit, for a number of reasons – it’s in the midst of the landing beaches (between Omaha and Gold); it’s an open site, free to visit; and it still has its...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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