WAR FOOTING

[Billhook]

Just remembered a couple of stories that father told me not long before he died.  As many have said on here,people did not talk about their war and father had been no different up to the point in his old age that he decided to write down his memories.

He then wanted me to put them on the computer,  knowing full well that I would read them, but he still could not tell me these stories directly.

When he was training doing circuits and bumps, he was going solo but under strict instruction when doing the final landing to pull off to the side and let any following aircraft land.  It was a Court Martial offence to move once pulled off.  This time the following aircraft lost control and the prop took away the whole tail section of father's plane.

I think that as many pilots were lost due to accidents, either weather or pilot error, as to enemy action.

The second story used to haunt him.  He was called out in the Warwick to rescue the crew of a B17 that had ditched in the Channel.  When he arrived he could see most of the crew of ten swimming near the wreckage.  He was under instruction to not drop the large lifeboat too close, but he was a good judge of distance and dropped it less than fifty yards away.  They circled and watched as one by one the crew slowed down until they all were floating lifeless.  The combination of crash injuries, battle injuries, and the freezing cold sea all took their toll, and there was nothing that father or his crew could do to help.

[tree-fancier123]

5 hours ago, David Cropper said:

Cockleshell Heroes who ended up getting to Ruffec after the action near Bordeaux. Spirited away by the local Resistance.

from reading the Wiki they were the lucky ones - most were betrayed and handed over to the germans by the Gendarmerie. 

Edited April 13, 2020 by tree-fancier123

[openspaceman]

6 hours ago, Billhook said:

Father trained at Anstey with the RAF and received his Wings there and was then sent to  Newfoundland, followed by Edmonton near Calgary followed by Pensacola where he trained on Catalinas under the Towers scheme.  He was trained as a pilot,  a navigator and a wireless operator and after a couple of years was sent back across Atlantic in 1943 in an unescorted ship with 1600 others who had been fully trained over the same period.  imagine it might have changed the course of the War if that ship had been sunk by a U Boat..!

Similarly my Uncle convoyed to Canada, 3 boats in the convoy were sunk and even below deck he could here explosions in the night. He was trained as a navigator in Canada and Florida. In Florida he was befriended by an american who had a phonograph recording machine. It was when I first heard the word furlough. Uncle sent back two recordings on card to his mother. Even though the card got folded I have been able to play it on a turntable and record it with audacity to remove some noise.

 

From volunteering in 42 to being killed on his first mission on May 25th 43 was less than a year, he just missed the point where the tide of the war turned.

[openspaceman]

6 hours ago, Khriss said:

Shermans ( shite!)

Cobblers, it was a magnificent machine and perfectly engineered for mass production as well as servicing in the field, its ability to deal with strongpoints in support of the infantry was without equal in the later stages of the war because of the numbers fielded. Had the american ship commander not been chickenshit on D day and been willing to commit his ship to deploying the duplexes closer to Omaha and Utah the break out could have occurred on day one even if half of them had got to the beach instead of just 2.

 

It could never excel in tank on tank battles because it's mass was limited by the need to transport it across america and the Atlantic, which is why most units stuck with 75mm HE ammunition.

[Khriss]

4 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Cobblers, it was a magnificent machine and perfectly engineered for mass production as well as servicing in the field, its ability to deal with strongpoints in support of the infantry was without equal in the later stages of the war because of the numbers fielded. Had the american ship commander not been chickenshit on D day and been willing to commit his ship to deploying the duplexes closer to Omaha and Utah the break out could have occurred on day one even if half of them had got to the beach instead of just 2.

 

It could never excel in tank on tank battles because it's mass was limited by the need to transport it across america and the Atlantic, which is why most units stuck with 75mm HE ammunition.

.... The Germans didnt call them ' Tommy cookers' for nothing  ? that big radial petrol engine loved bursting into flame when hit.  K

[Khriss]

(  Will try n dive that site one day. Its beyond Air diving and cold but you can get down far enuff to still see the DD shermans on the bottom) 

[openspaceman]

25 minutes ago, Khriss said:

.... The Germans didnt call them ' Tommy cookers' for nothing  ? that big radial petrol engine loved bursting into flame when hit.  K

The amerians called them ronsons for much the same reason  but it wasn't the petrol  that was the main reason but the dry stored ammunition, of course once going the petrol  went up. Later in the war the ammo was wet stored to mitigate the problem.

 

Hot metal going through diesel is more likely to ignite it than petrol. I thought many Shermans used the chrysler multibank petrol engine.

[trigger_andy]

14 hours ago, openspaceman said:

. I thought many Shermans used the chrysler multibank petrol engine.

 The M47 got the Chrysler Hemi V12. The knowledge garnered during the design of this Hemi engine and the V16 Hemi the P47 Thunderbolt  laid the foundations for the geometry of the Generation 1 and 2 Hemi's used in Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth and DeSoto powered Mopars from the '50's to the 70's. 

 

Interesting, for me anyway.  

[petercb]

Grandfather served in navy in ww1 took part in Zeebrugge raid. Dad was a truck driver in Reme and started off in Libya and went up through Italy ended up in Austria. Used to tell a tale of winching trucks through the Alps, claimed one came round a bend on its side cargo was eggs - scrambled of course. Uncle was in coastal command as wop on Sunderland's, told Dad if he wanted to survive not to join RAF as air gunner, thankfully Dad listened.
So there you have a genuine truck driver.

[Jcarbor]

Jcarbor, Commando, Jesse etc. This is for the Bootnecks on here. This is a tribute left in our local town in honour of the Cockleshell Heroes who ended up getting to Ruffec after the action near Bordeaux. Spirited away by the local Resistance.  Fascinating story, The Royal Marines are rightly  proud of their exploits. If you don't know the story, non Marines, Google it. 

David that’s good to see and thanks for sharing. Royal has many stories to tell like that, the lofoten isle raid to destroy the nazi glycerin factories, corporal Tom hunters VC attack on a german machine gun post accompanied by SBS commando Major Anders Lassen VC both who made the ultimate sacrifice, the raid on top Malo house in the south Atlantic campaign by the artic cadre to name but a few.
Lots of countries around the globe wish they had a force like the Booties, some have tried to emulate them , but only the Norwegian and Dutch have got anyway near to them. Being a royal has certainly help me through my life.