Egypt
Egypt Daily Star News (Peter A. Carrigan)
More slightly off-topic themes - this time it's the Pharaohs' Rally, but the author has made mention of the Long Range Desert Group who are certainly an important and intriguing part of Egypt's modern war time history. Here's an extract:
Nice to see the Gilf Kebir back in the news for a more positive reason.
- The True Story Of Desert Explorer Laszlo Almasy
Spiegel Online (By Matthias Schulz. Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan) Thanks Kat! I have a real fascination with the exploration activities of the Zerzura Club and the work of the Long Range Desert Group which followed. Almasy was a member...
- Photo For Today. Oh Dear.
Trouble at Three Castles (west of Gilf Kebir). We went on without the car, its driver and our cook, who stayed to wait for help to arrive from Cairo. Fortunately we had satellite phones so the situation was well under control and help was soon sent from...
- Daily Photo - Gilf Kebir
For reasons unknown, the only photos of Egypt that I have stored on my laptop are of the Gilf Kebir, so it was a choice of giving you more photos of north Wales, a rather nice collection from Italy, or photos of the Western Desert! So the Gilf it is....
- Daily Photo - Chevrolet At The Gilf Kebir
The western edge of the Gilf Kebir is in the background of these photographs of a 1940s military Chevrolet, with cab in tact. None of the chevys belonging to the Long Range Desert Group had their cabs intact, which argues that this vehicle was once part...
- Daily Photo - 8 Bells
The word "Eight Bells" and an arrow pointing north are spelled out in empty cans of aviation fuel at the south of the Gilf Kebir. The cans mark an aircraft landing site, which was used during the Second World War by the RAF in Egypt. The need for a landing...
Egypt
Long Range Desert Group
Egypt Daily Star News (Peter A. Carrigan)
More slightly off-topic themes - this time it's the Pharaohs' Rally, but the author has made mention of the Long Range Desert Group who are certainly an important and intriguing part of Egypt's modern war time history. Here's an extract:
The Egyptians of course invented many things including religion, cosmetics and the hand shake, but I bet you didn’t know they invented desert four wheel-driving.
That is to say, desert four wheel-driving was invented in Egypt, more or less that is, during the 1940s by the Long Range Desert Group; a British and Commonwealth army unit fighting the Italians and Germans.
The Long Range Desert Group pioneered the use of wide flat tires in soft sand, spare fuel, improved suspension, plenty of spare tires and sand mats to enable bogged vehicles to gain traction and get going.
The Long Range Desert Group also had mounted machine guns on their Chevrolet trucks, which may again become standard equipment given the recent hostage crisis on the Sudanese border.
One of the Long Range Desert Groups first missions took them 4,000 km into Chad and back to Cairo via Gilf Kebir, though that was back in the days when the ‘good’ guys had the guns and tourism was a train journey to hear yodelling in the Swiss Alps.
Nice to see the Gilf Kebir back in the news for a more positive reason.
- The True Story Of Desert Explorer Laszlo Almasy
Spiegel Online (By Matthias Schulz. Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan) Thanks Kat! I have a real fascination with the exploration activities of the Zerzura Club and the work of the Long Range Desert Group which followed. Almasy was a member...
- Photo For Today. Oh Dear.
Trouble at Three Castles (west of Gilf Kebir). We went on without the car, its driver and our cook, who stayed to wait for help to arrive from Cairo. Fortunately we had satellite phones so the situation was well under control and help was soon sent from...
- Daily Photo - Gilf Kebir
For reasons unknown, the only photos of Egypt that I have stored on my laptop are of the Gilf Kebir, so it was a choice of giving you more photos of north Wales, a rather nice collection from Italy, or photos of the Western Desert! So the Gilf it is....
- Daily Photo - Chevrolet At The Gilf Kebir
The western edge of the Gilf Kebir is in the background of these photographs of a 1940s military Chevrolet, with cab in tact. None of the chevys belonging to the Long Range Desert Group had their cabs intact, which argues that this vehicle was once part...
- Daily Photo - 8 Bells
The word "Eight Bells" and an arrow pointing north are spelled out in empty cans of aviation fuel at the south of the Gilf Kebir. The cans mark an aircraft landing site, which was used during the Second World War by the RAF in Egypt. The need for a landing...