One of my favorite stories from that era was the P-51 that chased an ME109 through the legs of the Eiffel Tower...must have been a hell of a dogfight...
Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
I've been digging into my late grandfather's history in B26's with the 17th B.G. over the Mediterranean, and made decent headway at it, but yeah, the official narratives and unit war diaries tell you a bit, but it's not what only resided in the heads of guys who mostly didn't talk about it afterwards.
I'm finding I'm having massively mixed reactions to this one. Politics, patriotism, and happiness that our guys came home on one hand, yes, but knowing what our bombers were doing to that ME-109 pilot's homeland on a daily basis, he would have been RIGHTFULLY shot for dereliction of duty. Enemy bombers are sort of like black widow spiders - you stomp on them automatically first, then think about what you did.
Ways to avoid being bombed by one of the most powerful weapons ever devised: A democracy's air force:
1) Do not put in power delusional madmen in uniforms.
2) Don't invade with your armed forces your nieghbors.
That's all I have. My wife's uncle was killed as a toddler by German bombers when the Luftwaffe intentionally attacked a Red Cross-marked refugee camp WAY behind the combat area during the invasion of France, so our sympathies for the driving force behind the Wehrmatch juggernaut trampling its way through Europe is little, despite the fact that -oh, the irony- my brother is married to probably the grandaughter of some of those in the receiving side of the Allied bombs (Will have to discuss this in the future with her). Wive's 2 grandads were also "guests" of the fine Nazi work camp system, and later one of them had to break his back cleaning their mess in Dunkerke to make a meager living for his family since in a wasted Europe there was little to do.
https://youtu.be/_lp9-cN_Oog
Replies
https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Call-Incredible-Chivalry-War-Torn/dp/0425255735
I've been digging into my late grandfather's history in B26's with the 17th B.G. over the Mediterranean, and made decent headway at it, but yeah, the official narratives and unit war diaries tell you a bit, but it's not what only resided in the heads of guys who mostly didn't talk about it afterwards.
I'm finding I'm having massively mixed reactions to this one. Politics, patriotism, and happiness that our guys came home on one hand, yes, but knowing what our bombers were doing to that ME-109 pilot's homeland on a daily basis, he would have been RIGHTFULLY shot for dereliction of duty. Enemy bombers are sort of like black widow spiders - you stomp on them automatically first, then think about what you did.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
1) Do not put in power delusional madmen in uniforms.
2) Don't invade with your armed forces your nieghbors.
That's all I have. My wife's uncle was killed as a toddler by German bombers when the Luftwaffe intentionally attacked a Red Cross-marked refugee camp WAY behind the combat area during the invasion of France, so our sympathies for the driving force behind the Wehrmatch juggernaut trampling its way through Europe is little, despite the fact that -oh, the irony- my brother is married to probably the grandaughter of some of those in the receiving side of the Allied bombs (Will have to discuss this in the future with her). Wive's 2 grandads were also "guests" of the fine Nazi work camp system, and later one of them had to break his back cleaning their mess in Dunkerke to make a meager living for his family since in a wasted Europe there was little to do.
War is hell....don't start it!