 |
|
Amuse
Blogs
Food
Life
Links
News
Pictures
Rants
Site
Tech
Words
Bailing out of a flaming aircraft into the North Atlantic offered very little chance of survival, so it seemed almost laughable that they were given not only a floatation vest but an actual liferaft. More than one pilot simply threw the thing away, preferring to drown in the freezing water as quickly as possible rather than drown trying to fuck around with the canvas raft or get shot by low-flying fighters should he really get the thing inflated. Later, after the war, when Luftwaffe POWs were returned to Germany and former comrades could compare stories, there were a few who claimed that the rafts saved their lives. One or two had been lucky enough to even paddle the little boat in the right direction, back towards France or Belgium or to be picked up by a u-boat. The others told tales of going ashore along the English coast, trying their best to avoid the Home Guard patrols, but all were eventually caught. Of course, the combined effects of old age and ample beer sometimes enhanced the perils of the adventures recounted, not to mention the number of English girls who succumbed to them along the way, but all knew a tall tale when they heard it, and no one cared to dispute such a claim. There was little else to polish with glory for the losing side.
The rafts were just big enough for a man to lie down in. The rough water of the English Channel frequently sank the rafts or filled them with enough cold water that the downed airmen, sometimes wounded and always in shock, would simply die of hypothermia. They were mostly defenseless targets, too, and fighter planes from both sides strafed and shot at almost anything they could see on the water indiscriminately. There was also the real danger of being hit by shrapnel from planes exploding in mid-air, or from the wreckage raining down in flames. In all, it was no surprise that some simply went on missions without them.
As the Germans were eventually pushed back from the edge of the continent and as supplies dwindled for the German military, the survival kits were eventually given up as standard issue. Advancing Allied forced found them now and again at Luftwaffe air strips, and some were held on to as the inevitable war souvenir by men on both sides. They worked their way into war museums, personal collections, even the occasional survivalist's cache of war surplus.
None of which explains how there came to be one in the attic of the little house in Dover that Tim and Richard bought from an elderly couple named Binsley. Or why people who lived in the neighborhood kept coming 'round for tea long after the novelty of having a gay couple in the area had worn off.
Sorry. I had no idea where I was going with this, so I took a sharp left at the end.
Posted by Brian [URL] at 02/ 8/06
© BrianKaneOnline.com 2000-2007