The Cambrai Tank 1917 Museum is built around the remains of Deborah, a British WW1 tank that took part in a major armoured attack on German lines in November 1917. Battle of Cambrai The town of Cambrai in the Nord department of France, north of Paris and...
There’s more to this weird box-frame aeroplane than you would imagine. Over 1500 were produced by the Caudron brothers, René and Gaston, in their factory at Le Crotoy on the eastern side of the Somme estuary, from 1913 onward. And it proved to be, despite appearances, tough,...
The ‘Bullecourt 1917, Jean & Denise Letaille Museum’, to give it its full name, is the home of an evocative collection of WW1 artefacts collected and preserved by Bullecourt farmer and former mayor, Jean Letaille and his wife Denise. Jean had been finding battlefield relics in his...
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has launched For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen, a new portal that will enable people to add stories, content and images of those who served and died in the First and Second World Wars. The new story sharing platform, developed by...
The Salis Flying Museum (Musée Volant Salis) has an amazing collection of around 50* historic aircraft at its hilltop airfield, 35 kms south of Paris. It’s the drip trays you notice. Drip trays are a rare sight in most aviation museums because, before they go on static...
The Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum) is located in the Hôtel National des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), a collection of 17th century buildings in the centre of Paris that started life as a military hospital. Part of the complex is still used as a...
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...
Memorial 14-18 is not one, but three sites on, and next to, the dramatic Notre-Dame-de-Lorette hill just southwest of the town of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France… The National Necropolis of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette is the largest French military cemetery with the remains of over 42,000...
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) opened its new ‘behind the scenes’ visitor centre last week in northern France. Most people are aware of the CWGC, particularly when they visit a CWGC cemetery or memorial, but they are perhaps not aware of what the CWGC does or...
HMS M33 is the smallest of the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN)’s museum ships and you’ll find her in her dry dock next to HMS Victory. She is significant because she is the last remaining ship from the Gallipoli campaign in WW1. History HMS M33...
A new book about Ypres has just been published. There must be dozens of books about the WW1 battles for Ypres in Belgium, but Ypres – part of Oxford University Press Great Battles series – is not really about the strategy or carnage in the Ypres Salient....
It’s been a few years since I last visited the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, North London, and I certainly haven’t visited since the recent Lottery Heritage funded re-development for the 100th Anniversary of the RAF this year. Ridiculous really, since I live in North London!...
The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa will conclude its commemoration of the First World War Centenary with a special exhibition opening today. Victory 1918 – The Last 100 Days, explores the critical role the Canadian Corps played in the series of battles that led to the Allied...
The Royal Air Force (RAF) may be British, but the French consider it a dual-citizen since it was born during World War One in the Pas-de-Calais, and they too are celebrating its 100th Anniversary with special exhibitions and a Douglas Bader trail. The RAF was formed in...
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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