When my dad’s Battalion, 2nd Welsh Guards returned to the UK , after being evacuated from Boulogne France ,May 1940, the battalion was short of transport , so civilian buses were commandeered, camo paint slapped on , this was the primary mode of transport to move the battalion quickly in case of a German Fallschirmjager(paratroopers) landing , that was the big bogey man in the UK , after Dunkirk , a Hun paratrooper with a swastika on his uniform and carrying a MP 40 smg , dropping in, as they did in Holland and Belgium , within a few months , the battalion got a allotment of Canadian CMP trucks , mix of Chev, and Ford
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When my dad’s Battalion, 2nd Welsh Guards returned to the UK , after being evacuated from Boulogne France ,May 1940, the battalion was short of transport , so civilian buses were commandeered, camo paint slapped on , this was the primary mode of transport to move the battalion quickly in case of a German Fallschirmjager(paratroopers) landing , that was the big bogey man in the UK , after Dunkirk , a Hun paratrooper with a swastika on his uniform and carrying a MP 40 smg , dropping in, as they did in Holland and Belgium , within a few months , the battalion got a allotment of Canadian CMP trucks , mix of Chev, and Ford
Chicago seems to riot a lot.
Grizz
Riots have very rich history in US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_civil_unrest_in_the_United_States
Canada looks pretty calm,then again population here was always a lot smaller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Riots_and_civil_disorder_in_Canada
You should see list of riots in France just since revolution.
Dark Alley Dan
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"Chief Bald Eagle inspecting the model weapons aboard the USS Recruit, July 28, 1917."
The 1895 Colt was quite the critter for its time.
The 1895 Colt was quite the critter for its time.
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Dark Alley Dan
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This is interesting. Is it the crowd at a Decemberists show?
Thank God NO.
Thank God NO.
Dark Alley Dan
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I guess the new Top Gun movie is a prequel. Here's "Dingbat" (Maverick's dad) about to go give the North Korean Army hell:
Caption for above picture:
Ryan L-17B Navion on USS Leyte (CV-32), 1950.
Meet the Night Witches, the Daring Female Pilots Who Bombed Nazis By Night.
The Germans nicknamed them the Nachthexen, or “night witches,” because the whooshing noise their wooden planes made resembled that of a sweeping broom. “This sound was the only warning the Germans had. The planes were too small to show up on radar… [or] on infrared locators,” said Steve Prowse, author of the screenplay The Night Witches, a nonfiction account of the little-known female squadron. “They never used radios, so radio locators couldn’t pick them up either. They were basically ghosts.”
Long Nights, Stealth Tactics
The Polikarpovs could only carry two bombs at a time, one under each wing. In order to make meaningful dents in the German front lines, the regiment sent out up to 40 two-person crews a night. Each would execute between eight and 18 missions a night, flying back to re-arm between runs. The weight of the bombs forced them to fly at lower altitudes, making them a much easier target—hence their night-only missions
Ryan L-17B Navion on USS Leyte (CV-32), 1950.
Meet the Night Witches, the Daring Female Pilots Who Bombed Nazis By Night.
The Germans nicknamed them the Nachthexen, or “night witches,” because the whooshing noise their wooden planes made resembled that of a sweeping broom. “This sound was the only warning the Germans had. The planes were too small to show up on radar… [or] on infrared locators,” said Steve Prowse, author of the screenplay The Night Witches, a nonfiction account of the little-known female squadron. “They never used radios, so radio locators couldn’t pick them up either. They were basically ghosts.”
Long Nights, Stealth Tactics
The Polikarpovs could only carry two bombs at a time, one under each wing. In order to make meaningful dents in the German front lines, the regiment sent out up to 40 two-person crews a night. Each would execute between eight and 18 missions a night, flying back to re-arm between runs. The weight of the bombs forced them to fly at lower altitudes, making them a much easier target—hence their night-only missions
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Dark Alley Dan
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I think the author overcooks it a bit. Let's do the math: 40 sorties a night, 660 pounds of bombs per sortie, means 13.2 tons of bombs dropped per night.
The Lanc carried a bunch of different loadouts, and individual bombs as big as 11 tons, but a common loadout weighed between 5.5 and 6.5 tons.
The entire regiment carried, per night, two to two and a half Lancs worth of bombs to the enemy. One questions the author's contention that such a volume would cause a "meaningful dent in the German front lines". A sortie of three Lancs surely wouldn't. The Night Witches were an amazing PITA to Adolf's lads and doubtless tied up a lot of air defense resources, and only a fool would question their bravery, but one wonders how much Soviet propaganda played a role in promoting what they did as war-winning stuff.
Effective, frugal, a good use of resources, and brutally difficult. But war-winning? If the concerted efforts of all of RAF Bomber Command wasn't "war winning", it seems unlikley that the ladies from the 588th turned the tide of NAZI oppression.
The Lanc carried a bunch of different loadouts, and individual bombs as big as 11 tons, but a common loadout weighed between 5.5 and 6.5 tons.
The entire regiment carried, per night, two to two and a half Lancs worth of bombs to the enemy. One questions the author's contention that such a volume would cause a "meaningful dent in the German front lines". A sortie of three Lancs surely wouldn't. The Night Witches were an amazing PITA to Adolf's lads and doubtless tied up a lot of air defense resources, and only a fool would question their bravery, but one wonders how much Soviet propaganda played a role in promoting what they did as war-winning stuff.
Effective, frugal, a good use of resources, and brutally difficult. But war-winning? If the concerted efforts of all of RAF Bomber Command wasn't "war winning", it seems unlikley that the ladies from the 588th turned the tide of NAZI oppression.
Soviet versions of history are full of BS. A lot of brute force, wasted resources and effort , not to mention lives needlessly lost.
Grizz
Dark Alley Dan
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Reckon that'd depend on how you felt about your cover. Lots of military guys sleep through worse, or so I'm told.
The more productive use was probably air ambulance:
Donny Fenn1
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Reckon that'd depend on how you felt about your cover. Lots of military guys sleep through worse, or so I'm told.
The more productive use was probably air ambulance:
From what little I know about the WWII Red Army I'm guessing this is propaganda too? Seriously, how many casualties do you think were airlifted on the Eastern front.
Dark Alley Dan
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I had the same thought. What kind of wound would justify this sort of luxurious treatment when you have a peasant army of millions of disposables? Could this level of care exist in the same army that brought you Not One Step Back and enforced it with machine gun fire?
Who got air lifted?Officer core,officials,artillery and tank corp specialists.Generally valuable people.
I imagine NKVD and such rarely got within shooting distance from Germans and that sometimes is hinted in memoirs.
On other hand I don't think number of casualty retrieval capable aircraft was significant enough to be even debated seriously.
Planes were needed for far more important tasks like VIP limousine .Two of those ended up in Finland (among few more regular ones).Here is one on floats.
I imagine NKVD and such rarely got within shooting distance from Germans and that sometimes is hinted in memoirs.
On other hand I don't think number of casualty retrieval capable aircraft was significant enough to be even debated seriously.
Planes were needed for far more important tasks like VIP limousine .Two of those ended up in Finland (among few more regular ones).Here is one on floats.
Dark Alley Dan
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Just a little east of where the Night Witches flew, a bunch of lads threw together one of the great engineering marvels of the war, the Alcan Highway.
"That's a big feckin' hill, Cap'n. No way around it? Tunneling's out? Can't shave her down much? OK, we'll make it work..."
One of the great road construction projects ever. It could not have been easy. Bugs all summer, cold all winter, no women, no bars, no time off. And a long, long way from home.
Some 4000 black Americans (11K total) worked on that road. Apparently Alaska's made October 25th a state holiday in commemoration of their work.
"That's a big feckin' hill, Cap'n. No way around it? Tunneling's out? Can't shave her down much? OK, we'll make it work..."
One of the great road construction projects ever. It could not have been easy. Bugs all summer, cold all winter, no women, no bars, no time off. And a long, long way from home.
Some 4000 black Americans (11K total) worked on that road. Apparently Alaska's made October 25th a state holiday in commemoration of their work.
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Polikarpov Po-2
Production 20,000 to 30,000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_Po-2
https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=818
Production 20,000 to 30,000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_Po-2
https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=818
