Swan Vestas Matchbox Holder – 1970s

G,,day . frog is still used in Australia for the depression in bricks .

kerry

 

Hi Trevor

You have a lot to answer for.

When you wrote about RAF Thornaby I got curious about the WW2 airfields in the North of England and ended up buying 2 books on the NE airfields and Cumbrian airfields. I had no idea that there were airfields in Cumbria even though I had been told there was a Lancaster at the bottom of Ullswater. I would have thought the mountains would have made it a bad place for an airfield

I had forgotten that there was an airfield at Thornaby despite my sister having been stationed there during WW2

Regards Bryan

 

Nice one Bryan!!!

It is a fascinating subject.
In the north east we were a long way from London - but we played a major part in WWII.

 

An old trick but if anyone is has a box of Swan Vesta's to hand they might like to try striking one of them on a sheet of glass.

 

Hi Trevor

I have found a little information about the Cumbrian airfields. There was a cluster of airfields on the Solway Firth near Carlisle and another cluster near Barrow. There were also 2 "airfields" on Lake Windermere presumably for sea planes. No details on any of them

I would have thought it was a bad idea flying through the mountains in bad visibility. I have found aircraft wreckage close to the summit of several hills. If the aircraft had been 100' higher they would have missed the hills but instead flew straight into them.

Regards Bryan

 

I would have expected nothing less given the munitions factories at Eastriggs and Longtown, repectively to the W and E of Gretna. Would have been a prime target for attack by air or by sea.

Regards
John

 

Hi John

When I was young I worked with ex RAF aircrew. One of those told me that the fighters that protected towns in the north of England were stationed on the opposite side of the country. The reason for the oddity was that a plane flying in a straight line can fly faster and gain height quicker than one spirally upward to get to operational height which was prone to cause the engine to overheat. Setting off from one side of the country meant that they were at operational height by the time they got to their designated operational location with the engine was at normal temperature. Whilst this seems logical Biggin Hill was close to London and itdefended London

The area around the Firth was logical for airfields because it was flat and a reasonable distance from the higher ground so few aircraft should fly into the mountains.

A bombing raid on Carlisle was problematical for the bombers as to get to Carlisle they would have to fly for about 20 minutes over hostile land giving the defenders time to organise defences. I think the munitions installations were put near Gretna in WW1 to try and prevent enemy attacks on them. A sea attack I think would also have been difficult. The Solway Firth looks big on a map but that shows the water outline at high tide. At low tide there are huge expanses of sand similar to Morcambe Bay. I am not saying that there were no raids there because the Germans used to send lone bombers on nuisance raids and some of those got in strange places

The Solway airfields could have been for Coastal Command to protect the Atlantic convoys. They could have been for air crew training being on the opposite side of the country to the land occupied by Germany. This seems unlikely as many of our aircrew were trained in South Africa and Canada where they were unlikely to be attacked by enemy aircraft. They could have been for the bombing range on the Solway Firth. I think they dropped practice bombs at high tide and then collected them at low tide for reuse. That range has ceased to be used for a long time.

Last year I went to New England Bay on Loch Luce at the outer end of the Firth. The map marked the water area as being a danger area. I thought it must be a mistake. When I got there I found it was an active bombing range! No bombs were dropped whilst I was there!

I will know more when I get the books. Apart from proper airfields we also had decoy airfields to try to get the Germans to waste bombs.

Regards Bryan

 

This is an older thread but growing up in Birmingham I'd hear the expression "Well I'll put a Frog on the wall" which I found out later meant they would be adding something to the conversation.

 

That's a good bit of information! I'm going to see if I can order some up. Hopefully, four years on, they are still available. Thanks for that!

 

Pipe guys appear to be blank, but:

https://www.amazon.com/Boxes-Swan-Vestas-Matches/dp/B00HVH1842

 

Frog in the throat is a common enough expression, and I won't expand on the reason, but when London had Trolleybuses, the points system in the overhead wires was also called a frog. Quite exactly why I haven't discovered, but will posit the idea that they allow shoes to jump from one set of wires to another. "Put a frog on the wall" - never heard of that one, but might it be associated with spitting out a comment, rather like the one in the throat ends up on the pavement?

I suppose we've jumped from matches to frogs.

 

Some interesting discussion on 'frogs'

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/uk.railway/zPlOHLupZV8

 

Sing like a frog:

 

@Ed Winskill

Clarence “Frogman” Henry!

I haven’t listened to “I ain’t got no home” for years. Thanks for bringing it back to me.

Cheers

Tony

 

I saw that, but six wee boxes for $30 is out of my league.

 

Yeah I didn't buy it either. The Diamond strike anywhere matches are ~$3 for ~900 matches.

 

Truth be told, though, on a "dollar per successful strike-anywhere" basis the Swan Vestas are probably cheaper...

I am going to have to admit that my Diamond SAMs are some that I bought a very long time ago. I suppose I should run down to the ACE Hardware and pick up a new box and see if they have made them any better than the match-shaped-objects that I have.

 

I have several thousand Diamond SAM's and am embarrassed to admit I haven't struck a single one in probably a decade. I should do that before buying any more.

I've even made this mistake before. Found .22 ammo made by a reputable manufacturer at a good price, stock up, find out I now have a LOT of ammo that my guns just don't like. Some people need to learn a lesson more than once.

 

Buy a Marlin model 25. Nice gun and it will shoot anything from Ely Match to Thunderbolts. A model 60 would work if it is really bad stuff.

 

The Swan Vestas matches shown in that eBay link are the 'long' safety matches, a reasonable new addition to the range of matches.

I use the Swan Vestas 'strike anywhere' matches (i.e. the traditional Swan Vestas).
My local supermarket sells them for 35 pence (46 cents US).