A couple of british souvenirs from the southern France landings:

[Jean-Loup]

Domaine du Clastron, near la Motte, in southern France, is one of the main places where glider troops landed during the invasion of southern France. The following items were given to me by a person who lived in the Domaine at that time, and was awoken in the middle of the night by the arrival of paratroopers. Here are a few things he gave me: a british baionet, some parachute canopy, and a more strange souvenir, the mass that was attached to the tail of British gliders. If someone has a nice picture of the tail of a brit glider to post, you will see this mass.
JL

[Jean-Loup]

A period picture taken in the "domaine".

JL

[force136]

Nice lot

Hi Jean Loup

Nice group of stuff- I could be wrong- however wasn't that "mass" a counterwieght of some sort? possibly for the wings?

Ken

Domaine du Clastron, near la Motte, in southern France, is one of the main places where glider troops landed during the invasion of southern France. The following items were given to me by a person who lived in the Domaine at that time, and was awoken in the middle of the night by the arrival of paratroopers. Here are a few things he gave me: a british baionet, some parachute canopy, and a more strange souvenir, the mass that was attached to the tail of British gliders. If someone has a nice picture of the tail of a brit glider to post, you will see this mass.
JL

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi JL, very nice items. I have been to La Motte 3 times in the past two years with my Pathfinder Veteran friends

I will see what I can find out about the glider part, but Ken could well be right

Cheers, Ade.

[Jean-Loup]

Apparently, the mass would be the thing visible on the forward part of the tail in this picture. The guy clearly remembered that the mass came from tha tail, not the wings. (...but I wasnt there in 44, so??)
JL

[teltec01]

Hello Jean

Nice items thanks for showing them, how large is the parachute section?

Gerry

[Jean-Loup]

I dont know, probably around a meter by 50cm. The guy riped it from a larger chunk in front of my eyes. He also had a camo piece but I told him not to rip it up as I already had a camo piece at home.
The "Domaine" was also occupied by the Germans, and here are two things the guy gace me that were left by the surenduring Germans. A Mauser cleaning kit, and a shelter quarter, that has never been unrolled since the German rolled it up in 1944. The picture attached to the shelter quarter is of the Domaine.
The comander of the Germans sent them a telegram in 1945 asking how his dogs were doing!

[lnijherald]

Hi Jean,
Here's a close up of the weight, it balances the rudder only. The whole aircraft was balanced seperately after construction.
Cheers, Luc

[Jean-Loup]

Thanks for the close up. Its a pretty weird souvenir. The guy had also kept a star cut out from a glider, with dozens of signatures of soldiers on it. He made the mistake of giving it to a local "museum", where since then, some coffe has been poured on it, and visitors added their own signatures

JL

[lnijherald]

some coffe has been poured on it, and visitors added their own signatures

That would be very funny if it weren't true. It shows one has to be careful donating things to museums.
Cheers, Luc

[Jean-Loup]

This museum is a total disgrace. Things get stolen and damaged, and stories associated with items are lost.

The "responsable" person is such a fool, that for a plastic mankin, he traded me a functioning Mauser, and ammo to go in it.
JL

[lnijherald]

Jean, could you give me his name and phonenumber please? I might have a spare mannequin!
Cheers, Luc

[Jean-Loup]

No, since those good old days, he has had a crack down from the police (that he invited in himself to ambush a fellow collector he suspected of stealing in the museum) on all his weapons. He had A garant, several mausers, and even an AK47. All you had to do was unsrew the plastic window and put in your ammo, and you were ready for Littleton Massacre 2. Since the guy is set up with the local politicians and the museum is under the responsibility of the city, he got away with it all, and just had to get all the bolts of the weapons welded shut. That was done in the most unprofessional way conceivable, on Mauser having the bolt welded half open, half closed. The welding also left neat heat marks.

A totaly museum, unless you have someplastic manequins to trade off

[lnijherald]

I'm all in favour of strict gun laws although I'd love to have a few. But in my opinion museums should be allowed to show guns in their original condition, that is not deactivated, on the condition they store them safely.

As you said Jean, a total disgrace!
Cheers, Luc

[Jean-Loup]

I am not against the museums (and citizens) having functional guns either, quite the opposite. But it is disgusting to see that my fellow collector who was ambushed in the museum had lots of trouble (went to court, divorse(maybe unrealted?) confiscated weapons, etc) when the coppers found about 10 vintage rifles hidden away at his house (but no stolen objects), while the totaly unsecured museum rifles caused no trouble with the law to the curator.

Anyways, this museum is a total disgrace for many other reasons. Unfortunatly it sucked up several items over the years that I could probably have gotten, and I would have kept the stories associated with the items, and not let badges get ripped of uniforms and coffe be spilled on unique artifacts.