Posted on 12/19/2016 5:36:00 PM PST by artichokegrower
Swordfish pilot Jock Moffat credited with launching the torpedo which crippled the Bismarck in 1941 has died at the age of 97.
(Excerpt) Read more at royalnavy.mod.uk ...
I vaguely remember a song about the “Bismarck”, just one
line really:
“We’ve got to sink the Bismarck, because the world depends
on us!”
An incredible story. What ever made the British think they could even enter the Second World War with a fabric covered biplane to carry their torpedoes? Yet besides disabling the Bismarck this aircraft devastated the Italian fleet at Taranto, and remained on active service throughout the war. Here is a link for the aircraft.
Fairey Swordfish
http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Fairey_Swordfish
The great thing about the Swordfish was that the bullets just went straight through. After all, it was only made of canvas. It was like David and Goliath!
>These folks saved the World, and theyre almost all gone. It saddens me to no end.<
.
They would have prevented the muzzies from overrunning the UK.
I'd like to make it clear that I think no less of Johnny Horton, for all that.
“....What ever made the British think they could even enter the Second World War with a fabric covered biplane ...”
You go to war with you have, and make do until the better stuff comes out of the factories.
I dont think they had much choice.
Look at the Frenchies; the Maginot Line. They were still think in WWI terms. The Germans said “Yup. THat’s a mighty big fort ya got there” and went around it through Belgium... like they did in WWI.
The SHTF, and they went with what they had. Hell, even some of our aircraft were obsolete by Pearl Harbor, but we used them until the better stuff - Grumman Hellcats, North American P51 Mustangs, etc., came along to replace the aging Wildcats, Thunderbolts, Warhawks etc.
Taking nothing away from those planes - they held their own against ridiculous odds (look at the Marine fighters on Wake Island VMF-211; they were flying Wildcats that were rebuilt over and over until there were none left).
You use what you have.
Hell, we went into WWII with bolt-action M1903 Springfields until more Garands were fielded.
“...They would have prevented the muzzies from overrunning the UK....”
THOSE Brits, in THAT day, would have killed them all had they tried what they’re doing today.
So would the Germans.
And Americans.
For Midway Chester Nimitz gathered together everything that could float or fly. Resources included eleven Vindicator dive bombers. The aircraft were considered so ancient pilots called them wind indicators, and displayed such fragility their fabric fuselage was wrapped with 4 hospital masking tape.
Absolutely.
There’s no way in Hell our people would have put up with what we have been dealing with.
I remember the old documentary series “The World At War” narrated by Sir Lawrence Olivier. There was an episode “Alone” about the Battle of Britain.
Remember watching that series with my old man. I was about 13 when it came out (73??). It was on Monday nights, at about 7pm.
They were on their own, waiting for the Germans to invade.
What a hell of a time that must have been for those tough folks. But they held their own.
We hit the decks a runnin and we swung those guns around.Johnny Horton is whom you are thinking of.
I share your sentiment, but am reminded of a great quote...
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
Gen. George Smith Patton Jr. - Speech at the Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts (7 June 1945)
The German weaponry early in the war was quickly obsolete as well; the famed Stuka was useless by 1942. Too slow (the fixed landing gear didn’t help)...
If someone looks at the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, you realize how old those ships were - nothing like the Missouri-types with which we ended the war.
“.... Rather we should thank God that such men lived...”
True enough. And Patton was an amazing man.
One of those men was my father, and others my uncles, and they raised me. They made me an American, and thank God for it...
I miss them more with each passing year.
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