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'And nobody mentions the deck hands who had to bring the planes up from the hangars - they did something special. After they brought them up they had to open the wings which took ten men for each wing. And then they had to wind a handle to get the starters working.

Often forgotten, unfortunately, by many - but not by those who know. The front line heroes could only perform their heroics because of a lot of people doing their part.

1 posted on 06/09/2009 7:29:34 PM PDT by naturalman1975
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To: naturalman1975

God Bless Them All.


2 posted on 06/09/2009 7:35:33 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: naturalman1975

3 posted on 06/09/2009 7:35:40 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: naturalman1975

“Often forgotten, unfortunately, by many - but not by those who know. The front line heroes could only perform their heroics because of a lot of people doing their part.”

As the former Sub-tender based ET son of a CVS snipe, I wholeheartedly agree.


4 posted on 06/09/2009 7:37:18 PM PDT by EricT. ("Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government." -George Washington)
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To: naturalman1975
Click here for war and cultural history in entertainment form.

5 posted on 06/09/2009 7:40:17 PM PDT by I see my hands (_8(|)
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To: naturalman1975

I once read that the Swordfish were so slow the Bismarck’s gunnery computers could not track them.


6 posted on 06/09/2009 7:42:49 PM PDT by yarddog
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To: naturalman1975
'The ship was pitching 60ft, water was running over the decks and the wind was blowing at 70 or 80mph.

How did they ever get the "Stringbags" (Swordfish) back aboard?

7 posted on 06/09/2009 7:43:53 PM PDT by MindBender26 (The Hellfire Missile is one of the wonderful ways God shows us he loves American Soldiers & Marines)
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To: magslinger

“One ping only, Vasily”


8 posted on 06/09/2009 7:44:30 PM PDT by SC Swamp Fox (Aim small, miss small.)
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To: naturalman1975

What a gracious hero Moffet is to share his glory with these men.


10 posted on 06/09/2009 7:47:12 PM PDT by bannie
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To: naturalman1975
'I only stopped flying nine months ago . . . ."

That is almost as impressive as what he did 59 years ago.

11 posted on 06/09/2009 7:48:46 PM PDT by Logophile
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To: naturalman1975
The History Channel recreation for “Dogfights” (I believe) is spectacular. The jobs them guys did getting them torpedoes in between the swells was perfect for the slow Swordfish planes.
13 posted on 06/09/2009 7:53:47 PM PDT by BallyBill (Serial Hit-N-Run poster)
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To: naturalman1975
That is almost as impressive as what he did 59 years ago.

Make that 68 years ago.

14 posted on 06/09/2009 7:54:07 PM PDT by Logophile
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To: naturalman1975

Seems strange he didn’t know the hit was his. If he didn’t see it hit someone else must have for them to determine who did it. I would think the pilots back on the ship would have been heavily debriefed to get an idea of what damage had been inflicted on BISMARCK.


16 posted on 06/09/2009 8:14:14 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY
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To: naturalman1975

Sink the Bismarck, Johnny Horton’s 1960 song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EdngnDdjCo

In may of nineteen forty-one the war had just begun
The germans had the biggest ships
That had the biggest guns
The Bismark was the fastest ship
That ever sailed the seas
On her deck were guns as big as steers
And shells as big as trees
Out of the cold and foggy night
Came the british ship the Hood
And ev’ry british seaman he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismark the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as bid as steers
And those shells as big as trees

We’ll find that german battleship
That’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys
And spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down

The Hood found the Bismark and on that fatal day
The Bismark started firin’ fifteen miles away
We gotta sink the Bismark was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away
The mighty Hood went down
For six long days and weary nights
They tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people put ev’ry ship a-sail
‘Cause somewhere on that ocean
I know she’s gotta be
We gotta sink the Bismark to the bottom of the sea

We’ll find that german battleship
That’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys
And spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down

The fog was gone the seventh day
And they saw the mornin’ sun
Ten hours away from homeland
The Bismark made its run
The admiral of the british fleet said
Turn those bows around
We found that german battleship
And we’re gonna cut her down

The british guns were aimed
And the shells were comin’ fast
The first shell hit the Bismark
They knew she couldn’t last
That mighty german battleship is just a memory
Sink the Bismark was the battle cry
That shook the seven seas

We found that german battleship
Was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a-runnin’ and
We spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismark
And then we cut her down

We found that german battleship
Was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a-runnin’ and
We spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismark
And then we cut her down


23 posted on 06/09/2009 8:33:49 PM PDT by donna (Sonia Sotomayor: In her world, equal justice takes a back seat to tribal justice. -Pat Buchanan)
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To: naturalman1975
He watched as the Bismarck, which had been under siege from the Royal Navy, rolled over. And he saw hundreds of German sailors leaping into the water as she started to sink. Only 115 of Bismarck's crew of 2,222 survived.
WTF? Had the Daily Mail reporter reread his own work, much less looked up the sinking, he would know this statement was false. Do they not have Copy Editors at the Mail?

The 18 inch torpedo from the Stringbag (nickname of the anachronistic Fairey Swordfish) did not sink the Bismark. It only crippled the steering mechanism. She was sunk days latter, when after the battleships HMS Rodney and and King George V pounded it to submission, and when HMS Dorsetshire fired a spread of 21 inch torpedoes into the Bismarck. Still today there is a debate whether these heavy torpedoes actually sunk the crippled, burning, and disarmed ship or if she was scuttled.
26 posted on 06/09/2009 8:49:22 PM PDT by rmlew ( The SAVE and GIVE acts are institutioning Corvee. Where's the outtrage!)
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To: naturalman1975

Very cool, but how could a guy who did something this significant be overlooked for that long? Amazing...


32 posted on 06/09/2009 11:16:55 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Obama post 09/11. The U.S. is sorry, we are a Muslim nation, and we surrender.)
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To: Vroomfondel; SC Swamp Fox; Fred Hayek; NY Attitude; P3_Acoustic; Bean Counter; investigateworld; ...
SONOBUOY PING!

Stringbag ping.

Click on pic for past Navair pings.

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.

35 posted on 06/10/2009 5:38:06 AM PDT by magslinger (The first dog has papers but the President doesn't. How interesting!-cubsfanconswoman)
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