B-17 Combat Missions over Europe in World War II and Y Tube
Today I was browsing through Y Tube and stumbled on my 2nd favorite form of entertainment - old WWII air combat films of the B-17s. I had the pleasure of flying one, once over 30 years ago, in the right seat. A thousand things flashed through my mind.
What kicked it off was recent press reports about the end of the Afghan conflict and the tons and tons of military hardware we are desperately trying to bring back, unload, sell off, waste, you name it, that the TV channel reporter was covering.
Yes, we spent a lot of money. Yes, we're going to leave a lot behind. Yes war is costly, yadda yadda, yadda. And the beat goes on, so what. THE IMPORTANT POINT IS: - WE WON.
Remember at the beginning of the Iraq thing, the idiot press was dogging President Bush and his administration about not enough "Armour" in the vehicles when we sent our guys over there? A lot of injuries were occurring? Said Rumsfeld, " you go to war with what you have." Mumble, gripe, criticize from the left wing press.
That's because at the end of the last war, we dumped a lot of our excess armours. PS, do you know who said THOSE VERY SAME WORDS before in history? - President US Grant at the end of our Civil War. Yup.
And, at the end of WWII, there were three states in the US where we parked every B-17 we still had (5,255 in Arizona alone) in storage for three to four years cause we didn't know what to do with them. Their fate? Ugh! They were sold for $500 a plane in 1947. Imagine. The left over aviation gas in their tanks were more valuable than the aircraft itself. Often the buyers would take the airplane at that cheap price such the av/gas out an sell the B-17 for scrap metal. Gas, after the war was at a
premium. So was the dignity for the airplane that won the war for us in Europe.
At the B-17 Museum in Tucson, the one airplane now left standing draws reverence and awe as visitors from around America and the world as they drop in to see the aircraft. EVERYONE knows the B-17 whether it's from the American film Memphis Belle, or a dozen other movies featuring the aura of the men who flew her suffered and died in droves in the skies over Europe, you can see it iin the silence and awe during the first five minutes of the visit in the visit.
The 8th Air Force had the highest casualty rate of the second world war of any military unit during the conflict, more than any other. I know pilots that have landed B-17s back at their base after a frightening mission with 3 engines shot out and half their crew dead. The 17 only has 4 engines and ten men on board. That's if you only count the oldest crew member as 20 years old.
The English? There are films of them dumping shiploads of ammo boxes into the ocean....nope, don't want those nasty bullets in England now that the war is over. Get rid of them. Out into the Atlantic with them. (check out Y tube).
We dumped all kinds of fighter planes into the Atlantic. (What stupidity!!) So, the acres and acres of backed up military equipment in Afghanistan is nothing new to us. We've seen it all, done it all before.
(I wonder what President Grant did with all those war wagons and old cannons ?)
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What kicked it off was recent press reports about the end of the Afghan conflict and the tons and tons of military hardware we are desperately trying to bring back, unload, sell off, waste, you name it, that the TV channel reporter was covering.
Yes, we spent a lot of money. Yes, we're going to leave a lot behind. Yes war is costly, yadda yadda, yadda. And the beat goes on, so what. THE IMPORTANT POINT IS: - WE WON.
Remember at the beginning of the Iraq thing, the idiot press was dogging President Bush and his administration about not enough "Armour" in the vehicles when we sent our guys over there? A lot of injuries were occurring? Said Rumsfeld, " you go to war with what you have." Mumble, gripe, criticize from the left wing press.
That's because at the end of the last war, we dumped a lot of our excess armours. PS, do you know who said THOSE VERY SAME WORDS before in history? - President US Grant at the end of our Civil War. Yup.
And, at the end of WWII, there were three states in the US where we parked every B-17 we still had (5,255 in Arizona alone) in storage for three to four years cause we didn't know what to do with them. Their fate? Ugh! They were sold for $500 a plane in 1947. Imagine. The left over aviation gas in their tanks were more valuable than the aircraft itself. Often the buyers would take the airplane at that cheap price such the av/gas out an sell the B-17 for scrap metal. Gas, after the war was at a
At the B-17 Museum in Tucson, the one airplane now left standing draws reverence and awe as visitors from around America and the world as they drop in to see the aircraft. EVERYONE knows the B-17 whether it's from the American film Memphis Belle, or a dozen other movies featuring the aura of the men who flew her suffered and died in droves in the skies over Europe, you can see it iin the silence and awe during the first five minutes of the visit in the visit.
The 8th Air Force had the highest casualty rate of the second world war of any military unit during the conflict, more than any other. I know pilots that have landed B-17s back at their base after a frightening mission with 3 engines shot out and half their crew dead. The 17 only has 4 engines and ten men on board. That's if you only count the oldest crew member as 20 years old.
The English? There are films of them dumping shiploads of ammo boxes into the ocean....nope, don't want those nasty bullets in England now that the war is over. Get rid of them. Out into the Atlantic with them. (check out Y tube).
We dumped all kinds of fighter planes into the Atlantic. (What stupidity!!) So, the acres and acres of backed up military equipment in Afghanistan is nothing new to us. We've seen it all, done it all before.
(I wonder what President Grant did with all those war wagons and old cannons ?)
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