Posted on 03/23/2010 4:38:25 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
An excellent post.
The Third Republic, despite all its’ divisions, lasted 70 years. In the end, the Communists, Socialists, fascists, so divided and weakened France that it could not stand up to Hitler.
Obama/Pelosi are so polarizing and weakening America that we may not be able to stand up to our enemies today.
record deficit spending, new social program...what’s old is new it would seem...
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/mar40/f23mar40.htm
Royal Navy shadows German ships
Saturday, March 23, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the South Pacific... The British Royal Navy forms the “Malaya Force” to shadow 17 German merchant ships trapped in Dutch East Indies ports.
“The Treasury does not segregate its working balances in the general fund to show its obligations on any particular class of accounts, but considers its total working balance as available to meet the demands made on any of these accounts as wells as to the general and trust fund expenditures of the government.
In view of the large amount of demand obligations now outstanding which the Treasury may be called upon to meet, such as the checking accounts and deposits of governmental corporations, credit agencies, etc., in the aggregate amount of over $400,000,000; the unemployment trust fund, amounting to $1,640,000,000; special obligations issued for account of the Postal Savings System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, amounting to $142,000,000, and outstanding United States Savings Bonds with a redempti9n value of $2,700,000,000 it is felt that the estimated working balance of the Treasury on June 30, 1940 as contemplated by the President’s budget will be about as low as it can be permitted to go.”
Johnson, R.I., March 22 Forty trucks, each loaded with twenty WPA workers - 800 of them in all - have rolled out on the Plainsfield Pike morning after morning for a year or more. When they went by a house on the pike, Lillian Obrieter, an 18-year-old girl, ca e to the window and waved to each truckload of men. “The girl at the window” is what they called her.
When the trucks came down the highway yesterday there was not waving. The forty trucks stopped and the 800 men descended and walked over to the girl’s house.
The girl was frightened to see all the trucks stop, so she walked out with her brother Charlie to see what was the matter.
Out of the ranks of the men stepped a “committee” bearing bunches of Easter lilies, a basket packed with nuts, fruits and candy and Easter eggs - and a purse containing money.
“you waved at us every day for a year,” one of the men said. “We want you to accept these Easter gifts.
“You’re the little girl in the window. You don’t know us and we don’t know you, but you’re a bright light as we pass by in the morning and evening.
“Now, good-bye and a happy Easter.”
That's a nice little story. Thanks for the transcription. One reason I prefer to scroll through the whole paper rather than choose among titles in a database is so I can find items like the "girl at the window" story.
Maybe it is the camera angle but the four engines appear to be tucked in really close to the fuselage, as compared to later heavy bombers. There is a lot of wing outboard of the engines.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm
March 23rd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Devon: IRA prisoners stage a riot in Dartmoor prison.
Heston airfield: The Lockheed 12A civil aircraft, registration code G-AGAR, leaves on a south-east heading. At the controls is Hugh MacPhail, Sidney Cotton’s personal assistant. MacPhail and Cotton are to carry out aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet oilfields in the Caucasus as directed by F.W. Winterbotham, the Chief of MI6. After intermediate landings at Malta and Cairo, the Lockheed will reach RAF Habbaniya where its identifying marks will be painted over and the several high-powered hidden cameras that it carries will be inspected.
GERMANY: Field Marshal Göring orders a halt to transports of Jews in eastern Europe, but is ignored.
Commerce raider ‘Atlantis’ leaves harbour in Suederpiep to begin her first war patrol. She is masquerading as a Norwegian freighter. (Alex Gordon)
PACIFIC: The British Royal Navy forms the “Malaya Force” to shadow 17 German merchant ships trapped in Netherlands East Indies ports. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: The 30-minute radio show “Truth or Consequences” makes its debut this Saturday night on CBS radio at 2145 hours Eastern Time sponsored by Ivory Soap. The radio show was originally heard on only four CBS stations but in August, NBC picked up the show where it eventually became the most popular of all radio quiz shows. Hosted by Ralph Edwards, the show ran for 16 years. Supposedly a quiz show, contestants were paid only US$15 for right answers (= US$197 in 2003 dollars); for wrong answers, guests were required to perform outrageous stunts—pushing walnuts across the stage with their noses, howling like a dog, collecting hundreds of thousands of pennies, digging for buried treasure, and a wide range of other pranks. Some of the shows more elaborate setups took months to arrange: A New Jersey woman, for instance, was taken to a New York theater and told to play the violin for 1,500 unsuspecting people who had turned up to see a European musician promoted for weeks as the Great Yiffniff. It only took a moment for the audience to realize they’d been had; after an explanation by the show’s host, they were treated to a real concert, though not by the fictional Yiffniff. (Jack McKillop)
I should try and see if I can find a broadcast of the Truth or Consequences show. That show has a special meaning for us New Mexicans.
In 1950 the host of the show, Ralph Edwards, announced that he would broadcast from the first town that renamed themselves Truth or Consequences. The little town of Hot Springs, New Mexico, was up to the challenge and made the name change. Today we just call the town T or C.
Just add another set of three zeroes to these numbers and it’s just like today...except that you won’t see this story in today’s NY Slimes.
The only part of history that doesn’t repeat.
It seems that the French government is always in turmoil at the worst possible times. I seem to recall they were having the same turnover during the Auschluss.
“Maybe it is the camera angle but the four engines appear to be tucked in really close to the fuselage, as compared to later heavy bombers. There is a lot of wing outboard of the engines.”
I’m by no means an aeronautical engineer, but my guess is that it was considered necessary to save weight. Having the engines closer to the fuselage meant shorter weight bearing lateral struts in the wing assembly.
The B19 is a different configuration than the B29, where the engines were out farther on the wing. But that configuration, and the plane itself, would not have been possible without the supercharged engines which were not available in 1940. With the lack of engine power, I’m going to bet that saving weight in the airframe was considered very important to get this big bird + payload off the ground.
Shirer’s main thesis was that a state of turmoil was the normal condition of the 3rd Republic. Only in WW1, what he calls the one supreme achievement of the 3rd Republic, was there any sense of stability. And then only because the Chamber of Deputies more or less abdicated all important decisions to the army and cabinet.
Yes, the wingspan and weight match those of the XB-19. But notice: range, cruise speed and cargo capacity are closer to the B-29. Also note the four engines will supposedly develope "24,000 horsepower" -- 2,400 per engine was more like it.
"In February 1940, four aircraft companies received letters from the Army Air Corps (predecessor of the Army Air Force which was established June 20, 1941) requesting proposals for a new long-range heavy bomber."The Boeing Airplane Company and Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Company submitted proposals.
"Commanding Officer of the Army Air Corps, General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, authorized the funds for both companies to build prototypes and begin wind tunnel testing. Consolidated’s prototype was given the designation "XB-32, the Dominator." Only 114 B-32s were built, with few used in combat.
"It was Boeing’s revolutionary design, the XB-29, that the Army Air Corps preferred. The plane would be called “the B-29 Superfortress.”"
The XB-19 first flew in June 1941, the B-29 in September 1942, the same month as its Consolidated rival B-32:
Douglas XB-19:
Consolidated B-32:
Boeing B-29:
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