Peter’s Exciting Dates with Models

One of the delicious ironies of retirement is the fact that my hobbies are more structured than my day is. It’s not that I’m complaining mind you, I worked directly with the public for most of my 40 years with the Canadian government, dealing with people during some of their worst times, as they faced crises both financial and of self confidence in many cases. Too often I had to face the unpalatable fact that I had done all that I possibly could for some deserving person. Although I developed the necessary ability to “leave my day” at the office, there were rare occasions when I just couldn’t get a situation out of my mind. While alcohol was always available as a crutch, I found it marginally more socially acceptable to immerse myself in plastic aircraft modelling.

Peter and The Battle of Britain

 

At an early age I became interested in history, and one area of great interest to me is military aviation history. I have always been fascinated by the Battle of Britain for several reasons, but predominately because it was the first major defeat that Germany suffered in World War II, the first sign that maybe we could defeat Evil.

Peter Takes Us to Normandy

75 years ago, on June 6th, 1944, the western Allies began to kick in the front door of “Festung Europa” a). Almost four years to the day since being expelled from the continent by the victorious Wehrmacht b), they were returning….with a vengeance.

The intervening four years had been hectic. The ground war had been extended not only southward to North Africa, but also eastward, as Hitler had invaded Russia in June, 1941. The two dictators had embarked their respective peoples on an ideological struggle to the death.