Posted on 04/18/2022 10:45:28 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
For the life of me, I don’t understand why some Freepers start drinking so early in the day.
Prob headed to Hulbert field in Florida for the 5:00 fly-over Okaloosa Island..
They encountered a Japanese fishing vessel which they had to take out, and couldn't be sure that they'd not been 'made'. So they had to launch early, making it difficult at best to reach a safe landing area.
They all knew it, and they all took off anyway.
"John Birch was a courageous Baptist missionary who went to China in 1940. When Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led the famous World War II bombing raid on Tokyo, John was brought to the survivors and he helped them to safety, then volunteered, creating an intelligence network that saved countless American lives.
He earned the rank of Captain in the 14th Air Force, as well as numerous commendations, including the Legion of Merit. Ten days after the war officially ended, Captain Birch was brutally killed by Chinese Communists. "
Great stuff!
There is a tribute listing all the Raiders names inside the hanger deck on the USS Yorktown CV-10 at Patriot’s Point across from Charleston, SC.
Eventually, they ended up under house arrest near the Iranian border. They "escaped" to walk across the border into Iran.
Searching topic names for a string only goes back to 2014. Edited, sorted:
I had always assumed that infantry had the highest casualty rate in WWII but it turns to have been bomber crews. The German 88 FLAK being an especially dangerous weapon for air crews.
IIRC before we got a foothold on continental Europe fighters didn’t have enough range to accompany bombers to their targets. So even with escorts bombers were vulnerable a good deal of the time.
“To put it in perspective if I remember correctly we dropped approximately 1/1000th of the ordnance as a standard B-29 raid package put on Tokyo in a day at the end of the war.”
Probably. A B-29 payload was 16,000 lbs. B-25 maximum bomb load was 3,000 lbs and the Doolittle raiders went lighter than that.
The Navy’s Pacific War grand strategy was designed around securing airstrips close enough to Japan’s home islands to bomb them at will with the not-yet-built B-29 bombers. Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas were all B-29 bases.
The Mariana B-29 airfields were vulnerable to attack from planes based on Iwo Jima which is one reason there was a battle for that island.
“Task Force Commander Captain Marc Mitscher”
That’s someone who doesn’t have the fame that he deserves. He came up with the tactic that turned the fast carrier task force into a nearly invulnerable weapon that could strike at will.
Marc Mitscher commanded the task force when Spruance was in charge of the Pacific fleet. His counterpart when Halsey was in charge was John S McCain Sr.
I remember an old TV documentary about the development of aircraft; one of those fliers said, during Russian captivity, they were treated well, and were assured that they’d be allowed to go home soon, just be patient.
A couple of years after the war he went to an air show, where countries were showing off their latest stuff.
The USSR had an exact knockoff of his B-25, duplicated down to the most minute detail, including bulletholes. :^)
How’d they get those ****s off the deck? :^)
LOL! I loved doing that with the 101st! I was a straight Charlie when there. Also 05D. All my buds were Arabic linguists. They were there FOR YEARS! After a year I realized that were I ever to PCS I had to go to school which is why I went to DLI
It’s not blind rage. It’s well justified frustration with people posting articles that arw behind a paywall.
Again, I must ask, does the WSJ pay you a commission?
“...I don’t understand why some Freepers start drinking so early in the day.”
Nor do I. Perhaps you should pick up a hobby or hit up a few AA meetings.
There were a few arrogant Chinese Nationalist Generals. Most of them seemed intent on sparing their armor and troops for fighting the communists after we defeated Japan. Your dad’s story sounds about par for the course.
I’ve read about Merrill’s Marauders and they had little good to say about the Chinese soldiers they worked with. On one mission the Marauders, undermanned, sick and pushed to the limit found themselves constantly outpacing the Chinese armor unit that was supposed to support them.
The Indian troops were quite different.
I have yet to run across anything bad about the Indian army whether operating with the British or Americans.
In fact a brigade of Gurkha’s is the most decorated unit in the English army.
I must ask, does the WSJ pay you a commission?
I’d have to check the stats, but probably 200 clicked on the link, but I only get about nine cents a clickthrough depending on the advertisers... and the demographic of the reader.
The WSJ subscription is $40+ per month anything over that is taxed at my marginal rate... NOT A PROFIT CENTER.
“His counterpart when Halsey was in charge was John S McCain Sr.”
Which begat us Jr, which continues to haunt us.
I really hadn’t heard of Mitscher before reading about the Doolittle raid. His name doesn’t pop up much in the history books.
McCain Sr was grandfather, McCain Jr was father, MCain III was the senator.
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