Some bats would have had a harder time dispensing of their bombs...
Posted on 06/27/2016 3:30:54 PM PDT by cvolkay
1. In WWII a number of soldiers died of well, farts. When ascending in an unpressurized plane to 20,000 feet, it causes intestinal gas to expand 300%. I guess some guys couldn't fart quickly enough.
They should have brought pigs along with them. Then when Porkie was ready to blow, fly over the enemy's plane and drop him. When Porkie goes Blammo you blow the enemy to hell!! Even if you miss, it's okay. The explosion and fire fries up Porko Boy nice and crispy and countryside below rains down bacon, so the starving countryside gets fed. Yay!
2. Speaking of 20,000 feet, impossible to believe but about 10 servicemen, without parachutes, were blown out of the sky, fell to earth and actually lived. One was Alan Magee who fell 20,000 feet, hit a glass roof in a train station, then hit some water and lived. How? I have no idea. Most of the others survived as follows: They hit large trees (probably pines). When you hit the top, you hit little thin branches that won't kill you but begin to break your fall. Then as you progress into the middle and lower branches the limbs get slowly bigger and this forms a sort of slow braking action. Presumably the lower branches stop you, but by then your speed has broken. Good for you but not so good for the local Robins.
3. This one shocks me simply because of all the gung-ho war movies I've seen over the years. I heard this on PBS, so it must be true, they'd never lie would they? In WWI, only 20% of the U.S. servicemen who were in the trenches (trench warfare) actually fired their guns. Amazing. Only one out of five soldiers stuck his head up and fired. As some of the guys would come back down without heads anymore, it probably had a slight impact on their decision. Not exactly a good situation for company morale, you think?
4. A Japanese soldier, Hiroo Onoda, who never heard the war was over in 1945, continued patrolling his assigned Philippine island for almost 30 years until 1974 when he was finally officially relieved of his post. And you thought the communication between you and your spouse was bad?
5. In WWII, nine Americans survived a plane crash at sea. One was picked up by an American submarine. The other eight were captured by the Japanese. So what did the Japanese do? They ate 5 of the 8. After lengthy experimentation it was decided that people were best when served with a light garlic butter. Oh and the guy that was rescued by the sub? None other than George H.W.Bush, future president of the United States. If the sea currents had been just a little different, when he later said "read my lips" he might of thought, oh damn, I don't have lips anymore, they were used for dessert!
6. A good friend of Eleanor Roosevelt (FDR's wife) came to her with an idea. We should invent a bomb that would sail down and then, before hitting the ground would open up with 40 to 50 bats stashed inside. They would all have plastic explosives strapped to their legs. Then the bats would disperse throughout the city going to hopefully, 40 or 50 different buildings. Then after a few minutes the guys back on the plane would push a button and destroy all of those buildings. The only thing that stopped the plan was that the engineers and scientists couldn't development a strong enough and small enough plastic explosive to fit the bat's backs with.
Nonetheless, they worked on this plan until it gave way to a better plan, the atomic bomb. Actually this wasn't a bad plan, very inventive. Only problem was, eventually the Bat Lobby wanted to know what was in it for them, and that was a tough question to answer.
The first one about farts does not seem probable...sky divers today don’t seem to have this problem, and how many paratroopers were dropping from 20k feet anyway?
“The first one about farts does not seem probable...sky divers today don’t seem to have this problem, and how many paratroopers were dropping from 20k feet anyway?”
Read it again... It said ascending not descending.
Number 1 is horse manure. I flew an in pressurized T-37 for 3-yrs and up to 25,000 feet. No problems, and never heard of such a thing fleet-wide or in the history of the aircraft - altitude chamber training mentioned gas expansion and never once mentioned this “problem.”
#5, Pres Bush crashed with a backseater who died, the other crash survivors were from other planes on the same mission.
Why would soldiers be in an airplane period, if they weren’t paratroopers?
So I guess you really mean UN-pressurized...
Number 3 is horse manure. My grandfather went over the top seven times before he was hit. Maybe adding the number of total soldiers and of that total that included REMFs and other rear area support that would not be involved in combat, that number sort of fits. Just counting line soldiers you would not have a number like that one- they were involved in heavy close combat with most all shooting. Men back then were men, not snowflakes.
“Why would soldiers be in an airplane period, if they weren’t paratroopers?”
They have to get to a new post; a platoon is being deployed 1,000 miles away and it’s not safe to hitchhike during wartime?
I can think of many others...
Old age and eyes, and an iPhone doesn’t work well.
There were several rifles found in Gettysburg that had been loaded four or five times. And never fired. The soldiers just wouldn’t shoot.
This is extremely common. And has been for hundreds of years.
This is why artillery and air warfare are effective. It is “detached.”
Read “On Killing” by Steve Pressman.
My dad was an original Angel of the 11th Airborne Division
(1943). In the 1980s & 90s he and my mom hosted an annual
BBQ for the General Joe Swing chapter of the 11th AB Assn.
Two of the regular attendees were from the same company of
the 511PIR/11AB. In parachute training in late ‘43 one of the
2 guys had his chute only partially open. The other guy
was able to snag the chute w/his legs and they both landed
safely. Fun to see these two hug each other at the annual BBQ.
Sky divers rarely go above about 15,000 feet. An unpressurized airplane cannot carry passengers above that, without providing supplemental oxygen.
But, this most likely applies to bomber crews. They would fly as high as possible, in an attempt to stay out of the range of flak.
In WWII?
Nope.
I'm sure it would be uncomfortable, but unless there is a blockage of the intestinal tract, I can't see a rupture occurring.
And, if there was a blockage, they were going to have a problem anyway.
If this were meant to apply to bomber crews, why wouldn’t the post refer to them as Airmen? instead of Soldiers?
My favorite was BF Skinner's pigeon bombs. He trained pigeons to recognize ships, and keep them centered in a window by pecking at controls.
The pigeon was intended to be strapped into the special bomb. Not sure if they ever tried them in combat.
After reading the entire post, did you really expect it to be that accurate?
“In WWII?
Nope.”
Yup. There actually were soldiers in airplanes in WWII.
Glenn Miller was a soldier. He was flying over the English Channel when he was shot down...
Granted, it was much less often than it is today, but it DID, indeed, happen.
Best!
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