It is my wifes 40th on Saturday. Whilst wondering what to else to buy her I managed to find a web site that supplies authentic newspapers from the day she( or anyone for that matter) was born. The site also sell these so called 'adventure days', including driving tracked vehicles etc. A Churchill in this case.

Q. Are they worth the money?

Quite fancy having a go for my 40th next year.

That depends, how much are they? Over on this side of the pond there is an outfit that goes around the country with a B17 and for about $350 you can take a half hour ride in her. IF I ever had the money when it was nearby I would give it some SERIOUS thought. There's another outfit that has mock dogfights. I don't know how much it costs but again, IF I ever had the funds I'd do it in a New York minute. Those are both two pretty bif IFs, and I doubt I'll ever have enough money at the right time, but I can hope.

is it one of the red letter day things,

from what im told they are worth it, especially if you get to drive a churchill!
whats the website?

cheers

joe

I went on one these days out for my 30th.

Sooper Dooper.

I drove an FV432, Abbot SPG a Chieftain and had a go on an army quad bike.

If it floats your boat, go for it.

Again I had a brilliant time, my missus who got the the day out took a photo of me, when we got back and had the film developed, there was a crazed look of powewr on my face!!

The Collings Foundation is the group that lets you fly in a Boeing bomber and the B-24.I paid the $350 AND GOT A 45 MINUTE RIDE IN THE b-24. gREAT time!

SORRY

Got Churchil on the brain. It's a Chieften.
I work for Vauxhall Motors (UK's General Motors) and we built the Churchill, can't even blame autotext for that error. Vauxhall have just released a book celebrating 100yrs of motor vehicle manufacture, and there is a section on the Churchill. I'd only put the book down an hour previously.

cool,

can you get any pictures of the afvs they produced?

they also built some cromwells too, probably a few more different types,

would be great to add to the reference library jimbrae is working on!

cheers

joe

I too went up in the Collings Foundation B-17 a couple of years ago. Originally it was planned to be a birthday present for my wife's grandfather who was a B-17 Ball Turret Gunner, shot down, and a POW in WWII. When we got there, my wife also produced another ticket for me as an early birthday present. Gotta love her. It was AWESOME!!! Especially to be up in that aircraft with men who flew her in WWII, there were other veterans on board as well, their stories were great. I loved it. Well worth the money. About a 45 minute ride and a few hours worth of stories and crawling all over the aitrcraft. Do it if you can afford it. Highly recommended.

Web site here

Will try to get access to the Vauxhall Archives for Churchill info, just give me time.

Does she have a sister? I wonder if I could leave this post laying around somehow for my wife to read? I wouldn't want to waste it on just ANY birthday but my 50th is coming up in a couple years.

It was a couple years ago when the plane was out here. I believe it was called the Aluminum Overcast. They were giving special discounts to WWII bomber crewmen, maybe any WWII vet. They also had a special lether bomber jacket they were selling as well. It was pretty neat to see all the older gentleman lining up to take their turns. It was also very neat to see that old bird flying right over my house.

Up here in the NE USA, just go check out an Army national guard barracks on a weekend the guys are there and make vague noises about signing up.. they'll have you driving all over the parking lot in an Abrams in no time.

We'd gotten an in with a guy in the local club to go up and poke around and take pictures, while we were there they were chatting up some potential enlistee, who they then popped in the driver seat and let him (with ground guide) drive it out of the parking slot and into the gravel lot.

After they were done with him, they asked us if we wanted to drive.. how fast can 3 armor builders say YES!..
We did not get to go far, but that thing makes a heckuva rototiller..
and I did find out it is tough to get yourself into the drivers station when you're 6'4", much less get your knees under the yoke to use the brakes.

but yeah, it was a blast!


Even if you have to pay for the chance, take it! especially if you get some room to roam about too..


Mike

there is a place in the borders region that has a driving experience that is just down most boys street from a reo to a abbot i have been there about 7 times now and i can recommend the experience to enay one for fun or in my case to bring back old memories. the web site is:
www.gallowaytanks.co.uk

Rather old hat when you can do it whenever you want. I did promise my AMPS club members one more chance to ride in the Abrams this coming spring. This time with a smaller group, I'll feel a little safer taking out the Abrams.

Hi there
Here's a link to another site for another tank driving experience site

http://www.juniper-leisure.com/

Pete