Large Scale Central

How about a book review ?

Reviews
#21

Funny the nicknames given by some arms of service to others .

The Royal Navy referred to the Royal Air Force as “Crabs” . We referred to their Fleet Air Arm as “Hookers” . (deck landing hooks)

Odd to relate , tac is right about the term “pongos” for British Army bods . I have no idea how that came about , but a pongo is a South American ape .

Paras frequently called us “Oi , stop pushing” as they disappeared out of the door . You don’t mess with paras . Ever . Unless you are intent on suicide .

Mike

#22

tac Foley said:

Steve Featherkile said:

Lubbers.

Fish-head.

tac, pongo

Dogface.

Never have understood the origin of that one, but have found it useful from time to time. :wink:

BTW, there is the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, but the British Army. Why is that?

Steve, Skimmer

#23

The guys who work on the RN Carrier flight decks were known as Deck Apes. I never found out why but I suspect it was all due to the leaping about they had to do.
Dangerous place a carrier deck. (still is!) On my first carrier (Illustrious 1951) they were all propped on the second (Eagle 1952) we had 24 props on the backend and 24 early type jets up front and 8 twin engine jobs in one of the hangars waiting to be lifted to deck…

One careless move and you could be blown into a prop…
Ear defenders? don’t think they had been invented then…
.
(My old boss ashore was “Winkle Brown” famous test pilot… Book = Wings on My Sleeve) RN pilots wore their wings on the left sleeve just above the gold rank rings.)

#24

Steve asked -

“BTW, there is the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, but the British Army. Why is that?”

It goes back to the Middle Ages when counties had regiments , so my local one which was named way back is The Royal Warwickshire Regiment .

Where I live now is the home of The Royal Middlesex Regiment .

The personal bodyguards of the Royal Family took the title Royal , as in Irish , Scots and Welsh Guards .

Cavalry were Royal Dragoon Guards and so forth–or even fifth .

The Scots , Welsh and Irish also had the Royal title , so there’s the Royal Scottish Fusiliers , Royal Welsh Fusiliers , and the Royal Irish Rifles .

Of course , there are some awkward buggers like the Black Watch who , being Scots , might not have been too happy with the Royal title . But they were given a Royal Warrant for knocking the crap out of various foreign johnnies (usually by lifting their kilts , so impressing the female natives and making awe in the males .)

But , without exception , they vow loyalty to Queen and Country . Or King , whoever’s boss at the time .

The supporting regiments also have the Royal Title , such as the Royal Engineers who have the claim of being the oldest regiment in the British Army , a claim exceeded by the Royal Marines who were and still are armed troops who keep discipline on board ship , but the Royal Marines insist they are neither Army or Navy .

tac , being an ex Royal Corps of Intelligence chappie (I think) may be able to throw more light on these things .

Mike , ex Royal Air Force

#25

OK, now I’m even more cornfused than before, but what would I know? I was a sailor, assigned to a Marine Corps Aircraft Squadron, billeted on an Air Force base.

My great grandfather, and his father before him served in the 70th of Foot, The Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment, so now it begins to make a bit of sense to this Yank

#26

As this thread, except for the initial post, has little to do with books but deals with patriotism and other flag waving things I am posting this here. The video is well worth watching and is another first for the State of Wisconsin.

https://www.acuity.com/acuityweb/flag/flagpole.xhtml

#27

The Intelligence Corps is not royal.

Just has the same first word in it’s title as -

The Royal Engineers.

The Royal Artillery

The Royal Military Police

The Parachute Regiment

The Royal Marines

The Household Cavalry

…and so on

tac, a certifed hasbeen.

#28

Alan ,

Advertising is not patriotism . Sorry , but the Flag is a brilliant idea , the tagging by an insurance company to it is rather bad form . You may just as well stick a billboard on an aircraft carrier saying "this carrier was brought to you courtesy of Coca Cola "

Steve , I should have mentioned that these Royal Regiments were originally raised by local lords and knights , which meant the King didn’t have to pay for them but granted Royal Approval to the knights and gave other favours too , all conditional on being able to call on them all to defend the realm .

Smart move , and the principle allowed the Royal Navy to pay all crew members with prize money (after half of them had been press-ganged) . Ships’ captains were appointed usually by their being wealthy , and they even paid for the ornamentation on the ships ; some peoplebought their commission or sent their children to ships as trainee officers , resulting in 14 year olds doing pretty well at Trafalgar .

And Jack Cornwell , aged 15 , getting the Victoria Cross for Valour in WW1 . Stayed at his post on a gun when the rest of the gun crew were dead while he was mortally wounded .

Mike

#29

tac , my Uncle Frank was in The Royal Corps of Intelligence in WW2 . He had documents showing just that , so I don’t quite understand your reply .

Incidentally , so was the dear old chap who used to frequent this site under the name of The Bishop of Winchester . He died a couple of years back .

Mike

#30

Oh! dear Mike. You are looking at the Flag from an English point of view - a Country that only remembered it had it own flag (apart from the Union version) fairly recently. Now our Welsh and Scottish neighbours have been proud of their own Flags for some while - particularly Scotland.

You miss the point if you think the flag and pole is advertising foremost - it is not. The ‘Old Glory’ has been a great unifying force for the United States and the Stateside view of a the Country flag is quite different to ours.

I am always delighted to see flags flying in Roanoke VA on the web cam. That instantly tells me it is a special day over there. The Flag pole on Liberty Island always flies - the Hudson River is a windy place.

#31

Alan , you miss the point .

Surely it would have been better to build the thing without the hoo-hah of “brought to you by the we’ll do anything for money” brigade ? .

Or would you be happy to see diapers with the Flag of the USA on them ?

As I said , The Flag is fantastic . But attaching it to a company name is naff , and demeans the flag and the company .

And with respect to the Knight’s Cross of England dating back to the Crusaders , we show the Union Flag to advertise our loyalty to The Union . Your comment that we only recently rediscovered our own (English) flag is based on a false premise . I have seen multiple displays of The English Flag way back , especially in the armed forces where we gleefully used our Countries’ Flags in the various competitions organised along racial lines (which is now illegal of course) .

The English Flag is also the centre piece of the Red Duster and of The Royal Navy Ensign , hardly recent happenings .

And to engender National Pride , the Four Flags which make up the Union Flag were used on Divisional Markings on military vehicles .

No , not recently discovered I’m afraid . Recently to the fore perhaps since it became the flag of choice for the right wing UKIP and football fans .

I also must point out that in dodgy situations in service overseas we flew the Union Flags on our vehicles because it frightened off the baddies who wouldn’t have recognised any of the separate Countries’ Flags . During the civil war in Cyprus , for example , my car was only shot at once , and even then the idiot apologised because he hadn’t seen the Flag in my windscreen . I doubt I would be sat typing this if I’d flown the Crusader Cross instead .

Finally , you mention “The English point of view” . What , prithee is wrong with that ?

Mike

#32

This is my last comment Mike.

You mention the English Flag. Yes it does feature in military and religious circumstances, St. George, Roam martyr, having done so primarily since the Crusades. but the majority of citizens here seem only to have remembered the flag when at soccer matches or making protests. That’s how it appears to me.

Nothing wrong with an English point of view, of course, but this is predominantly an American Forum, We stopped telling them what to do, I believe, in 1776. (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/verschiedene/n010.gif)

#33

Alan Lott said:

Nothing wrong with an English point of view, of course, but this is predominantly an American Forum, We stopped telling them what to do, I believe, in 1776. (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/verschiedene/n010.gif)

Actually it was in 1783 when you finally stopped, but who’s quibbling…:wink:

#34

Well, from the USA point of view, I would rather a private entity use their own money to raise that flag pole, than some gummint outfit take from the public trough. If they then attach a sign that says “This flagpole erected by Acme Insurance Company, INC,” and then make a short video, I say God bless them. I might even send a little trade their way in thanks. Old Glory has not been diminished by this, only enhanced.

#35

WOW! Ken, you had to put up with us for another seven years. Should I apologize? (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/frech/m055.gif)

#36

Alan Lott said:

WOW! Ken, you had to put up with us for another seven years. Should I apologize? (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/frech/m055.gif)

Not to worry Alan, you’ve been forgiven…:wink:

#37

Patriotism takes many forms .

I just happen to prefer mine .

I abhor the use of a country’s flag for commercial gain , no matter which country .

There is a fine line between putting a country’s flag on , say , a racing car to advertise its origin , and calling in TV stations and so on to say “Look what we did , aren’t we great ? (by the way , we sell…)”

Many people have died for their flag , giving us the right to freely comment . Hijacking a flag which is used to enwrap the bodies of dead soldiers is rather crass .

And the fact that this is an American site is not an excuse to forbid interchange of opinions .

Mike

#38

Mike Morgan said:

tac , my Uncle Frank was in The Royal Corps of Intelligence in WW2 . He had documents showing just that , so I don’t quite understand your reply .
Mike

Mike, I wrote that The Intelligence Corps is not a royal corps, having served in it from 1969 to 2000 I’m sure it would have been mentioned to me at some time, but had the first word of its title exactly like -

THE Royal Artillery.

THE Royal Engineers.

THE Household Cavalry.

In exactly the same way that Winnie the Poo, Jack the Ripper, Billy the Kid, Atilla the Hun and so on have the same middle name - ‘the’.

tac
OVGRS

#39

Mike, the fact this is an American site means that we do NOT appreciate the various digs against America interspersed through your posts all over this site.

I take offense to your posts against America, like “daft American custom”, and other things.

Keep your political opinions to yourself.

Greg

#40

Be careful, Greg.