U.S. BOMBER DOWN IN SOVIET FAR EAST AFTER THE TOKYO RAID, SAYS MOSCOW (4/24/42)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 4/24/42 | Robert P. Post, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Battle of Bataan, 1942
Luzon, P.I., 1941: Centrifugal Offensive, 10 December 1941-6 May 1942-Fourteenth Army Operations on Luzon
Netherlands East Indies, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-April 1942, Sixteenth Army and Southern Force (Navy) Operations
Southern Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive (and Continued Operations), January-May 1942
Eastern Europe, 1941: Soviet Winter Offensive – Operations, 6 December 1941-7 May 1942
North Africa, 1940: Rommel’s Second Offensive, 21 January-7 July 1942

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Carroll V. Glines, The Doolittle Raid

In May 1943 the crew escaped from their internment through Iran – Homer.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Fliers Interned – 2-3
Chinese in Danger (Post) – 3-4
War News Summarized – 3
Nazi Bryansk Line Cut, Russians Say – 4
Russia’s Ominous Lull (Baldwin) – 6
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 7-8
President Makes Doolittle a General, Has Navy Jump O’Hare 30 Numbers – 8

[KoRn]

Those were some REAL heroes. Bravery isn’t strong enough word for what those guys had. I can’t imagine flying one of those big slow bombers from an aircraft carrier(that alone was gutsy), and then be off to bomb the capitol city of your enemy with no real plan to get back home, and capture very likely means certain death.... Incredible!

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/apr42/f24apr42.htm

Baedeker guides Luftwaffe targets
Friday April 24, 1942 www.onwar.com

Bombed out cathederal in ExeterIn Britain... Luftwaffe bombers begin the “Baedeker Raids,” so named because the targets are supposedly chosen from the Baedeker Guide book of historic sites in Britain. These raids begin in response to the Allied bombing of Lubeck, which became a target when Allied Bomber Command policy cited civilian residential areas as targets. The first city to suffer the raids is Exeter.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

April 24th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: Exeter is bombed by the Luftwaffe. This becomes the first of the so-called Baedeker Raids. They are a German response to an RAF raid on Lübeck in late March.

Woodley, Reading, Berkshire: The Miles Martinet target-tug prototype (LR 241) makes its maiden flight. (22)

GERMANY: Berlin: For as long as many of them can remember, German women have been told that their true vocation is motherhood. No longer is that the case, it seems. Under a new decree by Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel, the plenipotentiary-general for employment, they are obliged to work in industry. This means that many mothers will be working in factories for the first time - and earning some 20% less than men for doing the same jobs. The women are not happy about that - nor about the extra problems of shopping and bringing up their children.

Jews are barred from using all forms of public transport.

FINLAND: Kenraalimajuri (Major General) K. I. Viljanen, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, is killed when inspecting the front line near Seesjürvi. Gen. Viljanen and the small party of officers accompanying him get lost and wander into a Finnish minefield. A major steps into a tripwire and is killed instantly, while Gen. Viljanen and two other officers are mortally wounded. Only one officer escapes with lighter wounds.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Soviet submarine “Sch-401” of the Polar fleet and White Sea Flotilla, is accidentally sunk, by torpedoes and depth charges of torpedo-cutters “TKA N13” and “TKA N14”, close to Cape Kumagnes Submarine “Sch-411” (uncompleted hull) - sunk by artillery fire at Leningrad (later raised)
(Sergey Anisimov)(69)

U.S.A.: The motion picture “Larceny, Inc.” is released in the U.S. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, the film stars Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson and Anthony Quinn with Jackie Gleason in a bit part as a soda jerk. This comedy has three ex-cons buying a luggage store so they can tunnel into a bank next door but the store prospers and........... (Jack McKillop)

[ConservativeWarrior]

So Doolittle received a promotion as a result of the Tokyo raid before the US ever admiitted responsibility for the opearation?

Neato.

[iowamark]

Luftwaffe bombers begin the "Baedeker Raids," so named because the targets are supposedly chosen from the Baedeker Guide book of historic sites in Britain.

Hitler is at heart a terrorist. He credits his terrorism for his success in gaining power in Germany and in conquering most of Europe. He thinks that terror bombing will intimidate the British.

[Calvin Locke]

I've watched most of the "Missions that Changed the War" Doolittle epis, and was surprised at how bad the maintenance was at MacClellan Field.

One of the officers, maybe even Dolittle, slammed them in the "customer service survey" when they were leaving.

Might explain why when one B-25 was being hoisted onto the deck, an engine fell off.

[PAR35]

Allied Bomber Command policy cited civilian residential areas as targets.

Who was the terrorist?

[PAR35]

One has to wonder if the maintenance problems were incompetence or sabotage.

[Calvin Locke]

Incompetence. IIRC, even the additional internal fuel tanks leaked from poor fabrication.

That reminds me that the OSS used the DeHaviland Mosquito for covert radio ops.

They'd fly a preplanned night route "talking" with operatives that had short range directional radios.

The radio operator in the plane was stashed in the back, on top of leaking fuel tanks, with his radio sparking merrily away while in use.

Their altitude was high enough such that there was not enough O2 to cause a problem.

[tanknetter]

One has to wonder if the maintenance problems were incompetence or sabotage.

Combination of various things. Rush-job mods for a secret mission, an early-mark production aircraft ("B" models) that were having teething problems, an understanding that acknowledging problems with an aircraft would get a crew dropped from the mission, and the typical US Army "if it moves salute it, if it doesn't move paint it" mentality.

It always sounded to me that the mechanics at McClellan Field were underutilized and looking for something to do (or perhaps were being ordered to find something to do). When they found discrepancies with the aircraft they fixed it first and asked questions later. For another example, in "30 Seconds" Lawson talks about how a mechanic was caught sanding down imperfections on the Ruptured Duck's brand new propellers. Although he didn't acknowledge it in the book, Lawson (like Ski York) was in on the details of the mission from early on (even bringing his wife, Ellen, into it. Apparently Lawson and his crew also liked sneaking her aboard the Duck for their practice flights) ... and he KNEW that the sanded props were going to be exposed to salt air and water and promptly flipped out about it.

[Stonewall Jackson]

During WW2, the C-46 Curtiss Commando transport was built at a factory in Louisville, located at Bowman Field (the world's largest private airfield before the war and a major training facility during the war). They would take planes fresh from the factory, assembled by men and women who were working 80-100 hour work-weeks and with little quality control, put a student pilot with 5-10 flight hours behind the wheel with an instructor who might only have 50-60 hours, and let the chaos ensue.

The front section of the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery (located just a few miles from Bowman Field) is filled with dozens of mass graves from the planes that went down during training exercises.

If something goes wrong on a veteran pilot with 400-500 hours, he could possibly recover and make an emergency landing (ie Captain Sullie). But if you have a rookie who is still learning how to fly encountering the same problems, you'd best kiss your tail goodbye.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

General Doolittle won the Bendix Trophy race in 1932 with a speed of 252.68 miles an hour. He had already won the Schneider Trophy race in 1925 and the Mackay Trophy in 1926.

Yeah, but what's he done lately? He must know the right people in Washington.