ALLIED FLIERS BOMB AIRFIELDS IN SICILY AND POUND TARGETS IN SOUTHERN ITALY (6/17/43)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 6/17/43 | Drew Middleton, C.L. Sulzberger, Foster Hailey, Jane Holt

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Status of Forces and Allied Theater Boundaries, 2 July 1942
India-Burma, 1942: Allied Lines of Communication, 1942-1943

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The first excerpt below is continued from June 11.

Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Six Bases Raided (Middleton) – 2-3
New Emphasis Put on Air War’s Role – 3
Big Bomber Flies Home From Europe; Scarred Veteran Still Has Original Crew * – 4
A Flying Fortress Comes Home From the Wars (photo) * – 4
Red Army Pierces Nazi Line at Orel – 5
Red Army Infantry Still Bears Brunt (Sulzberger) – 5
Japan Shifts Aim in the Aleutians (Hailey) – 6
War News Summarized – 6
Chinese Say Gas is Used by Enemy – 7
Sister of Heroes Enlists in Waves – 8
Captured by the Axis, Freed by the Allies (photo) – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 9-10
News of Food (Holt) – 11
Food Crisis Grave, Dewey Aide Warns – 11

* Memphis Belle alert. Netflix has 2 selections named “Memphis Belle.” One is the great 1990 movie that most WWII buffs have seen. The other is a two-part documentary from 2002. Part one is the actual story of the final combat mission of Memphis Belle. Part two is the broader story of the 8th Air Force from its beginning through the end of the war. It includes amazing film of combat missions, including the 1943 Ploesti raid (yep, 8th AF B-24’s) and the B-19 in flight before it was dropped for the B-17. Both movies are well worth seeing. If you haven’t seen the documentary you better get it queued up.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jun1943/f17jun43.htm

Naval support sets sail for Sicily
Thursday, June 17, 1943 www.onwar.com

Allied convoys heading for Sicily [photo at link].

In Britain... Operation Husky. The first units of the naval support for the invasion of Sicily set sail from the British Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow.

In the Indian Ocean... The disguised German raider Michel sinks a Norwegian ship west of Australia.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

June 17th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The first units of supporting naval forces sail for the invasion Sicily, Operation Husky.

The BBC warns civilians in occupied Europe to evacuate the vicinity of all factories working for the German war effort.

No. 186 Squadron RAF flying the Hawker Hurricane MK IID makes the first rocket attacks against targets at Flushing in the Netherlands. (22)
MAC ship SS Empire Mackay launched.

Escort carrier HMS Campania launched.

Minesweeping trawlers HMS Lindisfarne and Skomer launched.

Destroyer HMS Terpsichore launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY:
U-858 launched.

U-984 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ITALY: The RAF bombs Naples.

PACIFIC OCEAN: During the night of 17/18 June, four B-24 Liberators of the USAAF’s Seventh Air Force take off from Funafuti Atoll, Ellice Islands at 2-hour intervals to bomb Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. One aborts and another fails to find the target. The two B-24s bombing the target hit runways, silence an AA battery, and blow up an ammunition dump. The raid is a diversion in support of the first night photo-reconnaissance mission by the VII Bomber Command, during which three B-24s photograph Mille Atoll in the Caroline Islands and nearby waters in the Marshall Islands. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Dextrous launched.

Frigate USS Coronado launched.

Light fleet carrier USS Monterey commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: HMT Yoma sunk by U-81 at 33.03N, 22.04E.

An RAF 206 Sqn Fortress damaged U-338, killing one and wounding three. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Peter W. Kessler]

Here’s the best Memphis Belle documentary:

http://archive.org/details/MemphisBelle

[Tainan]

Thanks Homer J.
I recently watched a 12 part series on Lord Mountbatten - very interesting.
If you, or anyone else, would like further info on it please PM me. Its a download, free, from the internet.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Thanks, Peter. That documentary is what comprises part 1 of the 2002 movie Netflix has. I am watching it again.

[Peter W. Kessler]

After WWII, the Memphis Belle was flown to Memphis, TN and put on display in a public park.

Over time, the electronics were stripped out, and everyone carved their initials in the aluminum.

Many years later, the Air Force wanted their plane back. It was in a salvage yard.

A few years ago, I was privileged to visit the restoration hangar at Wright Patterson AFB. The Memphis Belle is undergoing a Smithsonian-quality restoration.

Here are a few photos from my visit:

https://picasaweb.google.com/VictorySpeedway/AirForceMuseumRestorationSectionMemphisBelleAndOthers#

I’m sure the “Memphis Belle” is quite a bit further along in its restoration by now.

Enjoy

[Fiji Hill]

“Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress” will open in theaters in the spring of 1944.

[henkster]

If you are ever in the southwest Ohio area, a stop to the Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton is a must. It’s a two hour trip for us and I’ve taken one or both boys there about a half dozen times. An absolutely fabulous display of flight.

And it don’t cost nothing. It’s free.

[CougarGA7]

Interesting that some of the gas attacks in China are finding their way into the American press. This and the Japanese biological program are not widely known history.

[colorado tanker]

Looks like they are leaving the original nose art intact. Good for them.

[Peter W. Kessler]

It’s one of the greatest museums I ever visited.

I will definitely go back one of these days.

[colorado tanker]

Here's something I only very recently learned. Memphis Belle was not the first 8th Air Force heavy bomber to reach 25 missions. The first was a B-24 Liberator named Hot Stuff and it completed 30. Hot Stuff is the aircraft that crashed in Iceland in May carrying Gen. Andrews back to the States. Gen. Andrews wanted to fly in a B-24 and Hot Stuff was returning for the war bond tour Memphis Belle later got. Andrews' entourage bumped five lucky crewman off the flight and the rest, as they say, is history.

http://journaltimes.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/remembering-hot-stuff-family-visits-iceland-to-commemorate-crash-of/article_5b425f74-c305-11e2-a0e3-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-articles/wwii-b-24-liberator-hot-stuff-setting-record-straight.html

In fact, Memphis Belle wasn't the first B-17, that was Hell's Angels, but the whole crew signed on for a new tour and they flew 48. They did, however get their own war bond tour, in 1944.

Maybe it all turned out OK that Memphis Belle became the legend. The B-17 is a much better looking aircraft - and though I haven't found a close-up, Hot Stuff's nose art does not appear family friendly.

[henkster]

We had an exchange a few weeks ago about the dearth of information on the Sino-Japanese War from 1937-1945. I’m sure the operations were huge in scope, but get no ink in the west. They probably don’t get much ink in China, either. Why promote the degenerate imperialists of Chaing Kai Shek?

[fso301]

Those Red Army soldiers on p8 being repatriated to the Soviet Union aren’t going to be smiling in a few weeks once they realize what awaits them.

[PAR35]

I saw the Memphis Belle when it was parked on Mud Island at Memphis. That would have been in the mid-to-late 80s.

On an unrelated note, I didn’t realize guys were still wearing boaters in the 1940s.

[GeronL]

Geez, its almost like the allies are planning something in southern Italy!