It was very interesting to see the huge industrial plant that the Germans were building, literally
a V2 assembly line for final assembly, fueling and launching. Pieces would come from other
factories, fuel and oxidizer tanks, then put into the airframe, fins and rocket motor added, rotated
from laying flat to standing on the fins, warhead and guidance systems on the front, then
fuel and oxidizer filled. They would have been in a continuous assembly line, at the end, a tall
steel door would open, the ready to fire missile would roll out about 100yds to a launch pad
and be launched. Half an hour later the next one would go up. Thank goodness it never became
operational.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Coupole
The WW1 stuff in incredibly sad. It is so hard to actually grasp battles where 30,000 are killed on
a single day, and 240,000 in a month. We visited the Lochnagar Crater, created by a huge explosion
under German lines.
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/somme/memorial-lochnagar-crater.htm
Amazing history in France, from the Romans to WW2. When I was living in Italy in the 60s and
early 70s, I often found French men and women who went out of their way to be intentionally
rude to Americans. Not so today, frequently have just wonderful interactions with French people.
Some of it might be that I am not a high school to college aged young person, now an old
guy, but I think that the French have changed their attitude towards Americans, too.
A guy let me use an extra stepladder that he had brought to one corner at LeMans. I got higher,
above the crowd and fence, got some really nice shots. We had a really nice chat afterwards,
and I did what I always do to Frenchmen when I get to talk to them more than a few words.
I thanked him for Marquis de Lafayette, Compte Rochambeau and Compte De Grass. Without
them we wouldn't have defeated the British. The ladder guy thanked me for Americans saving
France in WW2. They still do remember.
Night racing.
The GTE class winning Porsche, a 911 deriviative in a pit stop. They only manage between 11 and 14 laps between refueling. Running
in the over 200mph range on the Mulsanne Straight (although now it has two chicanes
) uses immense HP and that burns a LOT
of fuel.
Lots of fun.
Bill