Totally BONKERS in Lancashire

[andrea_ingram]

I took a walk on Saturday, despite the torrential rain, with my pal

Malcolm and Sam the puppy border collie dog ? experiencing his first

rain!. We strolled along the canal into Saddleworth and the village

of Uppermill enjoying the warm rain falling and the fresh air.

However, upon entering Uppermill we noticed an invasion had taken

place. It seems the incident, such as it was, has started when a

Stuka had raked the High Street but been brought down, luckily

without injury to the pilot, in the playing field where the home

guard had captured Herman the German pilot. Since Herman was

uninjured, he agreed to pose with his captor. Hey ho, I know we are

Bonkers in Saddleworth!!!<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

We strolled on, and outside the first pub stood an SS Kubelwagon [or whatever it is called] replete with SS insignia. Somewhat unsettled [i can still remember my mother telling me about this] we carried along only to find a whole rabble of Bonkers people outside The Wagon public house dancing away to 1950s music ? despite the rain. I couldn?t believe that the SS officers were allowed just to walk away!!!!! How times have changed.<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

We quickly moved on since a coffee beckoned in the caf頴hat sells my greetings cards. As we sat bemused, sucking on our over-sweetened coffees and munching almond tarts, 1950s civilians strolled down the high Street, GI?s cavorted with the Home Guard and Brits relaxed in the bar. Bonkers!

 

We strolled back towards my home and noticed a camp had been set up in the grounds of an old mill. We ventured in as the guards didn?t seem to mind / care<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

GI?s wandered hither and thither.<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

Others sat and wondered when the rain would stop<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

Sailors strolled arm in arm [as they do ].<div></div>

[xenotar28]

Hi Andrea,

 

Excellent set of photographs. Were these taken with the Bessa RF?

[andrea_ingram]

The tents were pitched and the vehicles were there.<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

Luckily, the resistance had already formed !!!!<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

And I went mad with the Voigtlander Bessa Folder /Agfa apx 100 since the Franka Rolfix with Lucky 400 had been used up in Uppermill. Sloshed in Rodinal 1:25. Scanned on Epson 3170.

Bonkers!<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

P.S. There were two sane people there??<div></div>

[paulh]

Great shots, Andrea!

 

You have the right "look" for these photos too. Well done.

 

Paul

[grinder]

Bravo!! Here here, Great Shots Now that tells a story. The nariation is first rate.

[Julio Fernandez]

Great photos - you take us fifty years back! I always marvel at what you do with that material.

 

Now what was all this?

[paul hart]

From a fellow Lancastrian - brilliant.

[mdcarma]

Very well done. If I were English I'd have to say "Spot on!"

[arnold_harris]

1) The SS Kubelwagen, in addition to its twin lightning flash runes, would have been sporting some camoflague. So that RAF and the US Army Air Force would not have spotted it too easily for air-to-ground destructive valhalla.<p>

 

2) The GI would have been wearing a shirt under that field jacket. Americans didn't dress like James Dean until about 10 years later. And the jacket would have been an earlier 1942/1943 model. Not the M51 jacket that GI Joe here was wearing. I had an M51 jacket when I was in the US Army late in the Korean war; it zipped up and had snaps, whereas its WWII counterpart had real buttons.<p>

 

3) The Brits, Germans and our Yanks would all have been a lot less plump around the waistline. Nobody during World War II ate that well except the politicians. And they all would have had their hair cut a lot shorter around their ears.<p>

 

Aside from that, cheerio, Lancashire.<p>

 

Arnold Harris<br>

Mount Horeb WI

[Matthew Currie]

Very nice shots, but I can't resist noticing that the "Kubelwagen" looks an awful lot more like a modern (Mexican made, I believe) VW "Thing."

[rustys pics]

Those are really fun shots. Nice color tone as well, preserves that vintage feel. My Dad was a real G.I. in "The big one", and he loved England & Scotland. Got to sail over on the Queen Mary courtesy of his Majesty. Dad is gone, but I often go to the WWII re-enactments in the states. Curious to see so many dressed as Yanks over there. When I shoot the re-enactments APX 100 and Rodinal 1:25 are my choice as well. I'll have to post some of the stuff I shot with my Rollei.

if you've ever been to the Imperial War Museum and want to get the creeps, see the Rolleicord on display which belonged to the commnadant of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

 

 

Thanks for the whimsical look back on the 60th anniversary of the end of that war.

[charles_stobbs3]

And that German spy masquerading as an American sailor better hide the necktie.

[lesged]

Wonderful wartime reportage, Andrea. Did you need a press check in your hat to fit into the scenario? Without being a wise guy, tell me just how often do they go bonkers in Lancashire.

 

That word takes on new meanings for this old Yank that was in the Big One (1944-46), but never was shipped overseas. We wore khaki, not blue, in the Army Air Corps in those years.

[andrea_ingram]

Thanks everyone. Lots of Bonkes things in this small vally all year! Have been thinking I/We [my partner & I]will get into the era clothes-wise and take my folders up to the next one in Morecombe. Only thing is, what did women photographers wear in that time?

[rustys pics]

To see what female photojournalists wore during the war, check out the work of Lee Miller. She pretty much wore G.I. issue gear and shot with a Leica III. You'll recognize her photographs when you see them. She was pretty famous during the war, and before, of course.

[michael_linn]

Very nice pictures Andrea. Really captures the mood that the reenactors were after, I'm sure. As for some of the realism comments, I'd say that most pale next to the the most glaring omission from that era- a cigarette.

[larrydressler]

Andrea Those are most remarkable Yes lack of cigaretts is what is missing. I live in Tennessee and recently went to A States Rights/American Civil war re enactment And was told that the Cigars were Rubber. after I asked why none of them were smokeing.