War Stories
The Berlin Airlift Candy Bomber
The Berlin Airlift is back in the news. The “Candy Bomber” now has a baseball field at Tempelhof Airport named for him. https://www.militarytimes.com/2019/05/12/baseball-field-dedicated-to-98-year-old-us-wwii-veteran-as-germans-recall-berlin-airlift/ Germans are celebrating the anniversary of the USAAF’s efforts to keep Berlin supplied with food and fuel at the end of World War II, despite Stalin’s attempt to seize control of the […]
Why MCPON wants Chiefs to start telling sea stories
Force Master Chief Kevin Goodrich (L) listens in as Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russ Smith speaks at a senior enlisted panel during a Sea-Air-Space session. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas/Navy) Sea stories have been around as long as Sailors have, and serve to entertain, amuse, and when done well to […]
Part of the War Effort – Building the B-24s
Pop some popcorn, get a cold beverage and settle in for this movie. It’s a film about the Ford Motor Company’s plant at Willow Run, near Dearborn, MI, which is where the B-24 bombers were built. They also built gliders and smaller planes there for the war. Production started well before Japan had hit Pearl […]
Inspection of USS Arizona
The US Parks ran an underwater inspection survey a short while ago of the USS Arizona, to assess how the ship is holding up. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0TpsfxGDdo Not spooky, but moving. It is a wonder than anyone survived at all. The following is some of the old B&W footage of Arizona. The first […]
Valor Friday
Mason comes through once again for Valor Friday, this time with the story of a remarkable soldier in Company C of the 2nd US Cavalry, and his service from 1855 to, well. You’ll have read the article. His name is Adolph Metzger. Mason: I am always awestruck by the stories of bravery of our fighting […]
FLAK
Your training film this morning is an introduction to FLAK. It’s being used everywhere, and the gunners are good, especially the Germans. This stuff doesn’t just foul up engines. It goes right through windshields and fuselages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYVwqHM488 German antiaircraft: 88,mm to 105mm, not to mention other artillery. Japanese antiaircraft: 75mm Anyone who falls asleep […]
B-17s
From The Other Whitey comes this collection of photos of B-17s, some of which have been damaged so badly per these photographs that they could not possibly continue to function. Here’s the information he supplied as their histories: The photo titled “B-17 loss 3” is, according to my research, 42-31333 Wee Willie of the 91st Bombardment Group […]
Battle Fatigue
In his autobiography The Sound of Sleat, Jon Schueler refers to specific events that greatly affected him, but did not deter him from training as a B-17 navigator before deploying to the European theater. Excerpts are here: https://www.jonschueler.com/pdf/Jon_Schueler_Art_War_Jan_2018.pdf Scroll down to the page titled: “Quotes from The Sound of Sleat: A Painter’s Life by Jon […]
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