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Interesting, never noticed that before. Curious if it was a field modification or something official.

I had to sell my collection when I started having kids, but have rebuilt most of it now.

never seen that badge before could be a copy

Looking to identify please what this was for exactly, and period? Thanks. Mark

Now to find the sun shades! Mark

Whether a trench art item or souvenir but quite unusual. A recent auction win due to the MG theme but would welcome Fritz some advice when you have a minute. Enjoy.

Werner Heubeck - from Afrikakorps to Ulsterbus born in Nürnberg, 24. October 1923, son of a municipal gasworks engineer. In 1942 Werner was called up, after being with the Luftwaffe, served as a soldier in France and Italy, finally with the Afrikakorps. He survived an air attack on his transport ship off the African coast along with 4 other survivors and swam to the shore. Captured by the Allies, he was sent to Louisiana, where he spent the rest of the war. When repatriated in 1946, he helped rebuild the family home, before he found a job with the American army. He became a translator and proof reader at the war crimes trial. His future wife, Monika, a fluent German speaker, was also attached to the war crimes tribunal, after serving at the Bletchley Park code breaking station during the war years. In 1949 despite the bureacratic hurdles facing a German citizen entering Britain, they married and settled, first in her native South Wales, then in Aberdeen, where he managed a paper mill,. He became a British subject in 1954. Werner arrived in Belfast in 1965 to work as managing director of Ulsterbus, however in the forthcoming years many busses were destroyed by terrorist bombs until Heubeck decided enough was enough and he started attending scenes and removing suspicious objects from his bus fleet. There are stories of him entering a bus and emerged a few moments later with a suspicious device and declaring it to be safe. One morning in Londonderry he removed a beer keg from 3 busses abandoned outside the local police headquarters. On another occasion, an army bomb disposal team got a shock when lining up their wheelbarrow robot to fire a pressurised water disrupter, Heubeck came into sight with their viewfinder, walking along inside the target bus. As they watched in astonishment he calmy moved the device to the street, and asked the army to neutralise it there. By the time he retired in 1988 it was calculated that despite the loss of 1.100 busses, and the deaths of 11 transport staff, Heubeck had personally cleared close to 100 incidents. He was widely seen as a hero by the public. His work, twice recognised by the Queen, with an OBE in 1977 and a CBE 11 years later. Werner Heubeck passed away on 19. October 2009. (information and photo from the Guardian)

Der vierzehnjährige Wilhelm Etschenberg (links) und sein 10jähriger Freund Hubert Heinrichs (rechts) wurden am 23. Mai 1945 mit zwei weiteren Jungen (dem 10jährigen Berni Etschenberg und dem achtjährigen Viktor Etschenberg) von der US-Army gefangen genommen und in der Aachener Lützow-Kaserne der alliierten Presse als "Wehrwölfe" und "Heckenschützen" präsentiert. Der zehnjährige Berni Etschenberg wurde kurz nach dieser Aufnahme "auf der Flucht" erschossen. Andere Quellen sagen, links würde Berni sitzen, Gesichtszüge sagen aber Wilhelm.

The captured sled by itself is interesting as it has 'handles' fixed to the top of the schlitten wings. It is still not clear if this was a 'one off' armourer addition or factory produced but in 45 years I have only seen 7 images with these handles.

This is an old thread but it will encourage me to photo mine. Some observations if of use. Look inside the top flap zipped pocket for a date, or on the internal main compartment leather half moon. Straps have nothing to do with vickers belts, similar material but I do not see the rd pockets, and this A frame piece is not in my view civilian. I have eight of these all dated and different patterns.There are some differences though from wartime production so I agree with Kenny almost certainly post-WWII. Also it is missing side retaining straps, which were often cut off anyway as were the bottom straps. I have one I use for work and still very comfortable and functional, and these were also used in UKs SF selection process so not a bad piece of kit that has seen 75 plus years of service. Mark

Not the best photos taken but may be of interest to some aviation enthusiasts!

Period post card (unused) of an early Chauchat.

Continuing on the MG supply of water, here are some examples of the cylinder. Quite heavy when full - so like any good soldier, the first opportunity to dispense with something heavy must be taken :>) This explains why the 08 armour is hard to find. 2 patterns seen and as normal the first version all brass fittings then subsequently steel.

Hi Mark, Consider it done.

For the Moderator - there are two threads that are almost identical...but initiated by 2 different members. May I ask please if they can be combined? ie a title that says MG08 and MG08/15 accessories? Or perhaps 2 stand-alone threads. Thereby each member still owns the thread. One being MG08 Accessories and the other MG08/15 Accessories? Just a thought but not the end of the world either way :>) Thanks for your consideration. Mark

The MG08/15 water hose connector cap is often missing from so many MGs. Very easy to knock off with a relatively small chain to keep it with the gun. Shown below three variants. Study has found the brass one to be the first pattern, followed by the same style but in steel (top). Both are slightly raised and obviously 'user feedback' was taken into consideration and the 'lowered' version (bottom) became the norm. All in WWI service.