LONDON – UK

MAY 14 – 27, 2024

We flew to London from Toronto. We were already close by and the flights were around $400 pp cheaper. All the time thinking, “Pierre’s birthday is tomorrow.” However, it WAS tomorrow when we landed. It was nearly evening before I realized it was his birthday that day. He and Julian went to the Raj and bought a small cake. I admitted my error to him later, to which he replied, ” I kept thinking it was tomorrow, as well. I nearly missed my own birthday.” LOL

We only had a few days and since we had both been to London before, we tried to pick stuff neither of us had seen before. I had seen the HMS Belfast moored on the River Thames many times but had never been aboard. Off we go….

Construction of Belfast began in December 1936. She was launched on St. Patrick’s Day 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of WWII.  In November 1939, she triggered a German mine and spent more than two years undergoing extensive repairs and upgrades. She went on to serve in many battles including supporting the Normandy landings. She was modernized as new technology came forward and continued to serve in numerous overseas commissions.

In 1971 a private HMS Belfast Trust campaigned for her preservation. The government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. Brought to London, she was moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge.

Belfast opened to the public in October 1971 and became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978.

I could go on about the armament (she had lots of fire power)

and speed (she was fast) (32 knots, 59 kph, 37 mph)

and about her amour (she was thick) (114 mm, 4.5 inch armour belt) but all that can be researched on Google. I was more interested in the silly details, such as there was 18 tonnes of flour on the ship, to make bread for the 761 men and officers on board.

The sick bay was not a fancy place, by any stretch of the imagination. Two metal bunkbeds served as the entire ward. The flooring was a bit more cheery than the gray flooring in the rest of the ship, however.

The Neil Roberson stretchers were named after its inventor, a Fleet Surgeon in 1914. The strong bamboo and canvas stretcher secures the patient so they can be lifted vertically through the hatches and up ladders.

Only the officers had proper bunks, the regular sailor had to sleep in hammocks suspended from the ceiling, like cocoons, any place there was room to suspend a hammock.

I was impressed by the magnitude of wiring required to operate a warship. I pity the electrician who had to find a short!

Sailors could be sent to the “jail” onboard for minor things like drunkenness or insubordination. I suspect one offence was enough to discourage further insubordination.

It took us several hours to tour the ship, even though there were numbers and arrows to guide us along the easiest path.

After the HMS Belfast, we walked through Borough Market and past the Shard.

We made our way to the Imperial War Museum. It is a powerful exhibition, where people’s stories, from soldier to common citizen, along with artifacts and historical evidence, weave a wartime tapestry from WWI to modern wars. A little imagination ties everything together to make the stories come to life.

Pierre did a little research on things to see and do. He came up with the Duxford War Museum, which is also part of the Imperial War Museum collection. Len had never heard of it, and considering he still acts like a tourist in the country he has spent over half his life in, he and the kids decided they wanted to see the museum as well.

 It is located near Duxford in Cambridgeshire, a mere hour’s drive from Len’s house. It Britain’s largest aviation museum and houses nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artillery and minor naval vessels in seven main exhibition buildings. Even though I was sick with a sinus infection, when I learned that the Concord was on display, I had to go, too!

We got to walk through a test Concord.

It never held passengers, but the confined space still gave us the feeling we were in a passenger missile.

Nearby, in the same hangar, was a Harrier.

Similar to the IWM in London, this one also had personal stories tied in with aircraft. From June 1948 to September 1949, the Western Allies were dropping food and supplies into West Berlin when the Soviets had blocked all supply routes into that area. One pilot, Gail Halvorsen, saw a group of children at the perimeter of the drop zone. He and his co-pilot made parachutes out of handkerchiefs and dropped over a quarter million bundles of candy and sweets for them. “Little Vittles” became an official operation to provide sweets for the children of Berlin with contributions from all over the United States. He became known as “The Candy Bomber”.

In another building we saw a Fokker Tri-plane, which reminds me of a joke:

A World War II Spitfire pilot is speaking in a church and reminiscing about his war experiences. “In 1942, the situation was really tough. The Germans had a very strong air force. I remember, one day, I was protecting the bombers and suddenly, out of the clouds, these fokkers appeared! “There are a few gasps from the parishioners, and several of the children began to giggle.

“I looked up, and realized that two of the fokkers were directly above me. I aimed at the first one and shot him down. By then, though, the other fokker was right on my tail.”

At this point, several of the elderly ladies of the church were blushing with embarrassment, the girls were all giggling and the boys laughing loudly.

The pastor finally stands up and says, “I think I should point out that ‘Fokker’ was the name of a German-Dutch aircraft company, who made many of the planes used by the Germans during the war.”

“Yes, that’s true.” says the old pilot. “But these fokkers were flying Messerschmitts!”

The exhibits also had an old double decker transport bus

And what can happen when a 381 mm (15 inch) 870 kg (1920 lb) shell hits a one inch steel plate from 24 km (15 miles). The steel plate behind the hole is the patch job.

Other buildings had displays of tanks and trenches. It was nice to see that Julian and Freya took an active interest in all the displays.

What would a trip to London be without seeing one of Julian’s football matches. We lucked out in that there was a tournament. There were so many teams that each game only lasted 10 minutes. It was full on right from the first kick. Julian’s team made it to the finals, but lostinn the shoot out.

Len had some “flowers” growing along the fence. He wasn’t entirely sure if they were flowers or flowering weeds. His neighbor told him they were indeed weeds and would spread across his yard very quickly, killing every other plant in its way. I suspect they were creeping onto Derek’s side of the fence as well. Well, it was a nice day, so he grabbed a shovel and started digging out the invasive plant. Sara quickly joined in with a hoe.

Pierre also joined in by stuffing the compost barrel with whatever they dug out.

It brought back happy memories of when my children all had their little gardens on the farm. Seeing two of them working together made my heart happy.

Sara, Freya and I did a bit of shopping and had a quick visit with Ruby before it was time for us to head back to Canada.