Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
“"Mister” the pet mascot of S/Sgt. Harold E. Rogers of Hollywood, Cal., gunner on a Boeing B-17 is shown here with his oxygen mask during a mission over enemy territory. He has been on five missions with his master. England, 1 July 1943" (via)
There's a book called "The Dog Who Could Fly", IIRC, about the dog mascot of a Polish RAF squadron. The dog was fitted with an oxygen mask and fly several missions over Germany. The RAF had a strict "no animals" rule that they flouted, even refusing to fly if the dog was grounded.
Operation Plumbbob - Nevada test site, Aug. 7, 1957
Nuke 1 - Blimp 0
" Four Model ZSG-3 airships, U. S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics Nos. 40, 46, 77, and 92, participated during Operation Plumbbob to determine the response characteristics of the Model ZSG-3 airship when subjected to a nuclear detonation in order to establish criteria for safe escape distances for airship delivery of antisubmarine warfare special weapons. Restrained response data for 0.40-psi overpressure input were obtained during Shot Franklin with the ZSG-3 No. 77 moored tail to the blast. Unrestrained response data for 0.75-psi overpressure input were obtained during Shot Stokes with the ZSG-3 No. 40 free ballooned, tail to the blast, 300 feet aboveground. The first airship exposed to overpressure experienced a structural failure of the nose cone when it was rammed into the mooring mast, together with a tear of the forward ballonet which necessitated deflation of the envelope. The second airship broke in half and crashed following a circumferential failure of the envelope originating at the bottom of the envelope, forward of the car."
https://airminded.org/2007/05/06/airship-vs-a-bomb/
Brookwood
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fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Ruins of Eastern Abkhazia. Abandoned since 1992-1993. Apparently there are lots and lots of ruins in this area.
"Road to Akarmara:"
The great unknown collapse. 1992 is getting further and further away.
A short account of the refugee exodus through the Kodori Gorge in the winter after the collapse of Sukhumi which happened on 27 September 1993:
^live through this.
I still have a dim understanding of what went on. Well the magnitude of the collapse of the USSR is plainly difficult to fathom on different levels.
To get it in a sentence, the carefully constructed Soviet facade fell away leaving tribal grudges from a thousand years ago.
"Road to Akarmara:"
The great unknown collapse. 1992 is getting further and further away.
A short account of the refugee exodus through the Kodori Gorge in the winter after the collapse of Sukhumi which happened on 27 September 1993:
^live through this.
I still have a dim understanding of what went on. Well the magnitude of the collapse of the USSR is plainly difficult to fathom on different levels.
To get it in a sentence, the carefully constructed Soviet facade fell away leaving tribal grudges from a thousand years ago.
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gewehr76
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I still have a dim understanding of what went on. Well the magnitude of the collapse of the USSR is plainly difficult to fathom on different levels.
To get it in a sentence, the carefully constructed Soviet facade fell away leaving tribal grudges from a thousand years ago.
Tensions on bases of nationalism, combined with poor economy led to this. These tensions between Russia and Georgia continue to this day as of 5 July 2019 there is no Air communication between these 2 countries. The more these now Independent countries like Georgia, Ukraine etc spit towards Russia, more territory they will loose. Putin will entice ethnic populations of these countries in various regions of Georgia and Ukraine to destabilize central government, then he will issue them russian passports. If open conflict start again he will send in troops in to these regions. Eventually Georgia and Ukraine will be part of Russia as everyone will have Russian passports.
Ruins of Eastern Abkhazia. Abandoned since 1992-1993. Apparently there are lots and lots of ruins in this area.
"Road to Akarmara:"
The great unknown collapse. 1992 is getting further and further away.
A short account of the refugee exodus through the Kodori Gorge in the winter after the collapse of Sukhumi which happened on 27 September 1993:
^live through this.
I still have a dim understanding of what went on. Well the magnitude of the collapse of the USSR is plainly difficult to fathom on different levels.
To get it in a sentence, the carefully constructed Soviet facade fell away leaving tribal grudges from a thousand years ago.
Tribalism will do in in the end. Just like Africa, people look at the small picture.
Great story, thank-you for sharing. Have read Capt. Brown's autobiography - excellent book! I highly doubt his record of number of types flown will ever be broken.
Capt. Brown's mannerisms and speech (not accent) remind me of a great Man I knew. He was a RCAF Flt. Lt. (DFC CD) who piloted B 24 Liberators out of Ceylon with the RAF (No. 160 Squadron) during WWII.
They just don't make Men like that anymore. And we are all poorer for their passing. Api soya paragasamu - keep seeking and striking Les.
Capt. Brown's mannerisms and speech (not accent) remind me of a great Man I knew. He was a RCAF Flt. Lt. (DFC CD) who piloted B 24 Liberators out of Ceylon with the RAF (No. 160 Squadron) during WWII.
They just don't make Men like that anymore. And we are all poorer for their passing. Api soya paragasamu - keep seeking and striking Les.
Also read Winkle Browns biography. Fascinating. The 487 aircraft record is also even more amazing when you realize that he only gets credit for the Spitfire (and many other aircraft) once even though the last few MK's where almost completely different from the earlier ones. I also think his records will never be broken a combination of incredible skill, amazing luck and the times he flew in. Kind of like Hartmann's 352 Kill record will never be broken.
Ruins of Eastern Abkhazia. Abandoned since 1992-1993. Apparently there are lots and lots of ruins in this area.
"Road to Akarmara:"
The great unknown collapse. 1992 is getting further and further away.
A short account of the refugee exodus through the Kodori Gorge in the winter after the collapse of Sukhumi which happened on 27 September 1993:
^live through this.
I still have a dim understanding of what went on. Well the magnitude of the collapse of the USSR is plainly difficult to fathom on different levels.
To get it in a sentence, the carefully constructed Soviet facade fell away leaving tribal grudges from a thousand years ago.
in August 98 our company got a contract to carry a deceased lawyer from New York to Tbilisi as she was the last surviving relative of the previous royal family from Georgia. Apparently the coffin had to have a lead jacketed enclosure around it for inter-country travel so as the band played on and the crowd patiently waited, a hourd of workers with crowbars and other tools were at the other side of the aircraft trying to get the lead jacket off the coffin. It was a bit comical and looked like a keystone cop affair but they eventually got it done. This all took place on one of the main runways as the taxiways were unusable due to numerous Russian derelict aircraft parked on the grass too close to the taxiways.
They offered to leave our aircraft on the runway overnight and for us to join in on their celebration but we had to give that a pass. It would have been great fun though, I imagine.
Amazing story...thx for sharing...wow!!
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
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Georgia has quite the history. Take for example the Georgian Legion, a 30,000-man contingent of ethnic Georgians who fought for the Germans in WW2 as Osttruppen.
This from Wikipedia:
Apparently fairly flexible in what side they'd assist:
"No, that yoghurt shop is run by Uzbeks. You don't wanna eat there. You get very sick, maybe die. This one here is run by my brother. Very good yoghurt. Best in Paris. You will like."
This from Wikipedia:
During the Second World War, the Wehrmacht's ethnic Georgian Legion was formed from émigrés living in Western Europe after the 1921 Soviet invasion of Georgia, combined with Soviet prisoners of war of Georgian origin who chose to fight for Germany rather than submit to often brutally poor living conditions in POW camps.
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, though they never reached Soviet Georgia. The main Georgian Legion was formed in December 1941. The Georgians trained in western Ukraine and became operational in the autumn of 1942. At least 30,000 Georgians served in the German armed forces during World War II. The Georgians served in thirteen field battalions of up to 800 men, each made up of five companies. Georgians were also found in the Wehrmacht's North Caucasian Legion and in other Caucasian ethnic legions. The Georgian military formations were commanded by Shalva Maglakelidze, Michel-Fridon Zulukidze, Col. Solomon Nicholas Zaldastani and other officers formerly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918–21).
In addition to this main legion, at the behest of German occupiers in Paris ensconced in the Hotel Lutetia from the spring of 1940, Michel Kedia and Akaki Chavgoulidze, owners of a yoghurt business, began forming units of Georgian emigres living in the French capital. The men were told they were to assist Germany by conducting surveillance in German factories and performing other non-military tasks like driving trucks of supplies. In return, the Germans promised to restore the independence of Georgia, suppressed by Stalin, Beriia and other Bolsheviks in 1921 and again in 1924. The men were given a short course in anti-sabotage work at a Chateau near Orleans. Following that, however, the recruits actually were organized into three military units and entrained toward eastern Europe. The units were named for Tamara, a twelfth-century Georgian Queen. Tamara I consisted of 19 men. They parachuted into Russia. Most disappeared although four returned to Paris and were arrested in 1944. The first section of Tamara II consisted of 90 men. They left Paris 1 July 1941. About nine survived. The second section of Tamara II, consisting of 54 men, left Paris 15 July 1941. Approximately 15 resurfaced. The recruits of the Tamara II units milled about in Romania, southern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula. Some, who became ill, received medical treatment in Vienna or other venues and were allowed to return to Paris. Some fled. Most were demobilized in the fall of 1942 although they were asked to help suppress Communist uprisings expected at the end of the war. The men were initially given 3,000 francs and their families were given stipends. [source: Mary Schaeffer Conroy, Collaboration with Germany by Georgians in France during World War II. (Lap-Lambert Academic Press, 2018), pp. 33-43]
Upon their return to Paris, some of the men in the Tamara units worked for Chalva Odicharia. He directed "Bureaus of Purchase." These assisted the German occupation by rooting out and suppressing sabotage, confiscating Jewish properties, and acquiring scarce materials for the Germans. Odicharia's assistants included 33 Georgians, as well as 7 Russians, 3 Italians, 2 Corsicans, 2 Germans, 1 Alsatian, 1 Tunisian, 1 Portuguese, 1 Martinique resident, 2 Czechs, and 30 French citizens. Two of the assistants were Jews, four were women. [source: Conroy, Collaboration, pp. 47-78]
This venture was largely hampered by the intervention of Alfred Rosenberg. Adolf Hitler himself was greatly suspicious of the Georgian and other Soviet battalions. This was especially so after some Georgian soldiers of the Wehrmacht deserted and joined local Resistance movements across Europe, especially in Italy and France. Despite these suspicions, Alexander Nikuradze, Michael Achmeteli, and some other Georgian scholars were held in high esteem in Germany and managed to keep a somewhat favorable treatment of Georgians by the Reich.[7]
As a result of Hitler's distrust of Osttruppen ("Eastern Troops"), some Georgian battalions were moved west to occupation duties in the Netherlands. With the western allies driving into Germany, the 822 Georgian battalion, stationed on the Dutch island of Texel, rebelled against their German overlords. The resulting battle, known as the Georgian uprising on Texel, continued from April 5, 1945 past the general German surrender, until May 20. This event is sometimes described as Europe's last battle.[8]
(Shalva Loladze, leader of the Texel Uprising)
In accordance with inter-Allied agreements, all Soviet citizens were to be repatriated, by force if necessary, to the Soviet Union. The Soviets treated those who wore German uniforms, such as those in the Georgian Legion, as traitors. They were punished upon their return, with many exiled to Siberia or Central Asia.
Apparently fairly flexible in what side they'd assist:
"No, that yoghurt shop is run by Uzbeks. You don't wanna eat there. You get very sick, maybe die. This one here is run by my brother. Very good yoghurt. Best in Paris. You will like."
