Still largely a WW2 show, despite having dropped the“Yanks” title, and organised by Manchester MVT. This is the nearest event to me so I took the Bedford OXD over on Sunday morning with my wife, Sue, as passenger. We met up with Melvyn Bean, and mate Andy, in with his AEC Matador and 5.5” gun at Ripponden. It’s a very pleasant, almost traffic free, run over the moors to Denshaw, then Delph and Uppermill, but with some steep climbs in places.

The show was set out in a large field behind the large village of Uppermill with plenty of room for everybody. A good selection of trucks, mainly US, were on show, a few trade stalls and fairground attraction kept the large crowds entertained.

One of the highlights for us was the noon convoy run through some of the villages used as backdrop to the film Yanks. The size of the crowds lining the main street in Uppermill had to be seen to be believed. I believe about 60 vehicles of all types took part in the run and so progress through the villages was very slow. With some steep climbs, also, I was surprised that no one fell out with boiling radiators. The destination was the Carriage Inn on the A62 Oldham- Huddersfield road for a well earned drink. Here I met up with Colin Dixon and Mick Edmondson our well travelled motorcycle duo, and spotted Andrew Fleming and Gail from Mirfield in the Dodge, and Paul and Val Cornish in their jeep.

I’m delighted to report that the German re-enactors in a Kubelwagen got a good booing as they drove past and were cut up by a US jeep at one point, with one of the passengers being ‘shot’ dead in the road!

A ‘Battle’ was staged for the crowds with plenty of rounds being fired, as in the A Team, accompanied by some loud explosions with sand bags flying through the air. Not my scene, but it seemed to go down well.

The second highlight, if you can have such a thing, was the 4.00pm flypast of the Lancaster. We were just about to leave as it roared overhead and had to leap out of the cab. What a marvellous sight and sound. We were treated to 4 low passes. An hour later apparently the Red arrows flew over as well!

A good event over the border. Like so many UK events it’s always the lack of/condition of toilet facilities that spoil the experience.

The Bedford cab particularly the passenger side gets red hot in warm weather so Mrs H. opted for a ride home in the back. She found that much better I pleased to report.