Posted on 05/16/2023 2:49:07 PM PDT by DFG
Aviation fans gathered to see a World War Two Lancaster bomber fly over England as a memorial flight tours the country on the 80th anniversary of the 617 Squadron's legendary raids.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is commemorating the Operation Chastise attack on the Nazi Germany reservoirs which took place on the night of May 16, 1943.
The 617 Squadron carried out the raid which involved 133 aircrew and 19 Lancaster Bomber aircraft unleashing bouncing bombs to deal a major blow to Adolf Hitler.
Large crowds were seen standing with cameras as they prepared to witness the Lancaster bomber this evening.
Tonight's flypast involved one of the last two airworthy Lancaster bombers flying over the RAF Museum located on the former Hendon Aerodrome in Colindale, north London, then all 28 former Bomber Command bases in Lincolnshire.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Grave of Dambusters hero’s dog could be moved from RAF Scampton amid plans to house migrants at the site
Four Merlin V-12s with open stacks must make a helluva racket.
It was a great movie also.
Yep...one of my favorites.
WOW! Something worth looking at the mail for. šš
That would be a clear violation of the rules of war today and a crime against humanity. One canāt deprive civilians of water as thatās a basic necessity of life. Say shutting off the air supply would be analogous.
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Donāt believe me?
Iām sure everyone is aware of the utter bloodbath and cruelty going on in the Russ-Ukr war today? Bombing of cities, killing of wounded on both sides..etc. Except Ukraine still allows its water to flow into Russia Crimea. Why? Because shutting it off would cause great hardship and suffering as well as mass deaths if the civilians living there. Ukrainians still have a soul.
Thatās unlike Mad Bomber Harris and a few others in WW2.
Curt LeMay
What was the dog’s name! What? Louder!
Knew a guy many years ago who survived something like 80 missions as tail gunner in Lancasters. An engineer at Rocketdyne when I knew him.
Barnes Wallis once designed a “safety” motor scooter with paired rear wheels. Totally forgotten today, in the glare of his aeronautical engineering achievements.
Exactly.
I had to search back a bit in my memory. He is the American equivalent who had the US strategic bombing campaign switch from factories and military bases (legitimate war targets) to civilian population centers in Japan . With dramatically effective and deadly results.
If I recall he found out by removing most of the defensive armaments and switching to night they could lower their altitude and increase the bomb load by something like 1/3. Since they couldnāt aim properly at night they started simply targeting the densely suburban civilian centers with small, numerous incendiary devices. Carpet fire bombing.
War is hell but I still (perhaps naively) donāt think it should target civilians.
Bookmark
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 2nd, if not 3rd, rate targets.
The better ones had already been burned out from B-29 incendiary raids.
They couldn’t hit the precision targets in the daytime with conventional bombs. High altitude prevailing winds over Japan were a big factor in that. But yet, here was this enormous investment in B-29s and crews. If memory serves, the investment was bigger than that for the Manhattan Project.
What to do?
LeMay’s answer won out.
Yes, it was.
“Thatās unlike Mad Bomber Harris and a few others in WW2.”
Different time, different war.
That’s the problem with judging the past by present standards and sensibilities. It is unfair to the past.
“Different time, different war.”
We don’t fight wars to win any more.
Luckily, the military industrial complex can still make plenty of money with adventure wars while not upsetting the sensibilities of those who foot the bill.
At the mere cost of a few patriots and local civilians.
Who cares if a few young American’s pointlessly die as long as profits are maintained.
What does that have to do with passing judgment on the past?
Then how would you have persuaded Japan to surrender?
My first flight instructor had been an Me-110 pilot during the war; he shot down 4 Lancasters and three other aircraft.
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