Posted on 07/30/2019 12:23:19 AM PDT by Absolutely Spiffing Old Bean
A D-DAY veteran was given a true hero's send-off today with a motorbike escort and helicopter fly-past - after a Facebook appeal went viral.
Sydney Walsh, 97, served in the Royal Navy from January 1940 to 1947 after signing up at Devonport in Plymouth.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesun.co.uk ...
We lost a neighbor last April who was in the China Burma theater as a B-25 tail gunner/mechanic. 99 years old. He went fast. Within 48 hrs. It was time to go. Even though the house sold I will always see Fred sitting on the front porch and remember the stories he would tell.
One of the tactics Army B-25 pilots perfected in the Pacific was ‘’skip bombing’’. It involved having the B-25 at just the right speed and altitude and they would drop five hundred pound bombs and ‘’skip’’ them like a stone off the water and into the sides of Japanese destroyers and barges.
RAF Squadron no 617 used skip bombing quite effectively against dams in Germany.
Unfortunately RAF Commander in Charge Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris wasn’t a fan of the technique and refused to follow up with more conventional bombing to finish off the dams resulting in the German ability to quickly repair the damage caused initially.
Albert Speer was mystified by the lack of followup by RAF Bomber Command.
617 Squadron went on to use the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs against canals and bridges.
In a series of attacks in September and November, 1944 Squadron 617 first disabled then sank the the German ship Tirpiz in the Norwegian fjord of Tromso using Tallboy bombs.
Their squadron badge has a banner reading Apres moi le deluge (After me, the flood).
Don’tcha miss the days when people did what had to be done and were proud of it?
Yeah, I do.
RIP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.