Just out of interest.....

[Auchinleck]

How I drifted into being fascinated with WWII will probably sound more bizarre than some of the responses posted here. My first recollections were when going to a department store with my parents as a kid, when they went shopping there. While they were buying necessities, I would head for the toy section, which always seemed to bump up against the hobby section, where the exciting plastic models were displayed in boxes, with terrific artist renderings of World War II Battleships, Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers, and Destroyers, along with Tanks, and other models of WWII hardware depicted in action. If I didn't have the money to purchase one, I would beg my Mom or Dad to buy me one. More often than not they told me 'not today'. But, when I did get lucky, I would be rewarded with choosing an American or sometimes German Battleship model, which were a predominant choice of the ship models featured, that I had a strange fascination with at that time. I'd get to tackle a complex (at least it seemed complex to me at the time) model, using too much Testors glue, and often not the best paint jobs, but I would then enjoy setting up the ships on the livingroom floor, pushing them along the simulated ocean carpet, and pointing the big guns, at rival model ships I had completed for simulated broadsides. Later when I got tired of the models, I would take them out to a nearby pond set them on fire and set them adrift, to watch them burn, while belching thick black smoke from the melting plastic, until they sank leaving a simulated oil slick on the surface from the melted plastic. Years later in 1974, The oustanding to this day mini series 'The World At War' narrated by Sir Lawrence Olivier, came to Television, and if I wasn't already hooked on that period of history, I was then hooked!

[Auchinleck]

I actually forgot to mention, my father was a Marine Fighter Pilot Flight Instructor during WWII. He definitely had some influence on my interest in that era. I remember when he gave me his old leather flight jacket. It was in mint condition when he gave it to me. I wore it for years motorcycle riding, until it literally fell apart. He died in 1996 of heart failure at the age of 74. One of the last things we did together months before he died, was to go to an airshow that featured many restored planes from WWII. I was happy I had the chance to do that with him, because he died unexpectedly, and I didn't get to tell him everything I would have liked to.

[Neilster]

When I was a kid, Mum would take my younger brother and I to Launceston, which was 100km away, so she could visit shops she liked. A trip to Lonnie, as we called it, was a big deal. It took a whole hour to drive there and Launceston was the "big smoke".

While she shopped, we would go to Birchalls in the mall and spend all morning looking at the vast wall of scale model kits. Endless FW 190s, Lancasters, Panther tanks and Iowa class battleships etc. The box artwork was a big part of the appeal of hours of perusing. We were allowed to choose a good one for purchase.

In Summer, we'd go to The Gorge for a swim. Launceston is 50km inland so it's very important. A good place to meet girls as a young fellah too [;)] Here it is...

Cheers, Neilster

[Neilster]

Sometimes The Gorge floods quite spectacularly. This is the bridge in the background of the first picture. Note the water level.

[Neilster]

Another...

[Neilster]

Still in flood...

[Neilster]

The pool and lawns are under those flood waters.

Cheers, Neilster

[YellowNo5]

1. I have always loved hex based games. Played a lot of the old SPI games as a kid and had WiF so I decided to take the plunge.
2. I would say a lot more than the average person but not as much as some people on here
3. I love a lot of aspects. Strategies. Critical points that changed the war. As a former Marine the Pacific campaign is always fun to read about.
4. Playing old war games and reading the Time Life WWII series of books.

[WarHunter]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

Still in flood...

Really like this picture. Raw. Thanks for sharing it. [:)]

[Neilster]

Here's some footage of the 2011 flood. Some pretty challenging white-water, methinks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZofyFPR4xE

Cheers, Neilster