Weekend Wings #14: The Eagle Squadrons and the 4th Fighter Group

My three-part Weekend Wings series about the Supermarine Spitfire, which concluded last weekend, led to a number of e-mails from readers asking for more information about the Eagle Squadrons of US citizens serving with the Royal Air Force (RAF) prior to the United States officially joining the war. Several expressed amazement at never having heard about them in US publications and sources. I thought the subject would make a useful Weekend Wings topic to follow the Spitfire series.

The presence of volunteer US airmen in foreign wars was nothing new, of course. They formed the renowned Lafayette Escadrille which served with the French Air Force during World War I, and the Polish 7th Air Escadrille (better known as the Kosciuszko Squadron) which served during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921. The famous 1st American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, would continue this tradition and serve in China against the Japanese in 1941-1942. All three of these organizations deserve their own individual Weekend Wings tributes, which I'll try to write in due course.

The first American volunteers for service in Europe during World War II didn't intend to join the RAF. Some came to join Finland in her fight with the Soviet Union in the Winter War: but this lasted only four months, and many did not arrive in time to participate. A businessman in London, Charles Sweeny, raised memories of the Lafayette Escadrille and appealed for American fliers to join the French Air Force. About a dozen of these volunteers joined the RAF after the fall of France.

The enormous response to Sweeny's advertisements indicated a groundswell of support for the Allied cause, and led to a rapid expansion of his ideas. The World War I Canadian ace and winner of the Victoria Cross, Billy Bishop, assisted his efforts in Canada. (Click the picture for a larger view.)




With Homer Smith and artist Clayton Knight, Bishop formed the Clayton Knight Committee. During the period before the fall of France the Committee tried to attract American pilots to serve as flying instructors in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. They were extremely successful, but found that many of the volunteers wanted to serve in combat, not just as instructors. The RAF was all too willing to offer them the opportunity, as it was very short of trained pilots and aircrew.

The neutrality of the United States posed a diplomatic problem. The US could not be seen as sending combatants to assist one side in the war, and any US citizen who took an oath of loyalty to another nation ran the risk of losing his citizenship. A diplomatic subterfuge took care of the problem: volunteers joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) or RAF using a specially-composed oath to obey the orders of their superiors (not mentioning national loyalties at all). Many also adopted false names to further confuse the issue. Some were even issued Canadian or other British Commonwealth identity documents.

During the first two years of the Second World War, before the US became a combatant, many recruits were obtained from washed-out US Army Air Force (USAAF) and US Navy flight students. The standards of the US armed forces were extraordinarily high - unrealistically so, as would be proved when the US went to war and the standards were drastically modified - and the RAF and RCAF were happy to offer washed-out US students another chance. Many of them went on to stellar careers in the latter services. Indeed, at the main USAAF training base at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, AL, the Committee set up an enlistment booth near the Bell Street gate of the air base. Instructors allegedly "unofficially" encouraged washed-out aviation cadets to drop in there on their way to the railway station. (It's rumored that some USAAF instructors earned a bottle of whiskey per head for every promising candidate they referred in this way!)

Other volunteers were crop-dusters, barnstormers and experienced private pilots who were put off by the rigid rules of the US services (which insisted that they forget all they had learned and start flying training from the beginning). The RAF and RCAF were delighted to give them a quick conversion course and put them into operational squadrons as soon as they'd proved themselves competent, which was much more to their taste.

The Committee's efforts were spectacularly successful. Thousands of US volunteers were accepted into the RCAF and RAF. To give just one indication, when the US entered World War II in December 1941 the RCAF had over 8,200 US volunteers in service in Canada alone at that time - not counting those already serving in the RCAF and RAF in Europe (numbering several thousand more). Those who wished to transfer to the USAAF were accommodated, but only about two thousand of those in Canada chose to do so. The rest remained with the RCAF and RAF throughout the war.

The vast majority of the US volunteers were not grouped into national formations such as the Eagle Squadrons. They served as pilots and aircrew in normal RCAF and RAF squadrons, many rising to senior rank during the course of the war. (For example, one of the RCAF pilots in the RAF's 617 Squadron during Operation Chastise, the famous "Dams Raid", was Joseph McCarthy of Brooklyn, NY. He continued to serve in the RCAF for many years after the war. His remarkable story may be read here.)




No-one is sure whether the formation of the first Eagle Squadron was for propaganda purposes, to encourage the British public with the news that American pilots were openly flying on their side, or because the US pilots involved wanted to serve together in a more openly American unit. There's probably some truth in both factors. Certainly British newspapers proclaimed the presence of American pilots with great pride.




Eagle Squadron pilots wore RAF uniform and were appointed to RAF ranks, and wore in addition a special Eagle Squadron shoulder insignia - which earned them plenty of free beer from grateful Britons whenever it was spotted in a pub!




Eagle Squadron pilots were initially trained on the Miles Master and then on the Hawker Hurricane. British officers were appointed as Flight and Squadron commanding officers until the American volunteers gained the necessary combat experience.

The first American unit, 71 Squadron, was formed in September 1940.




It did not go into action immediately, as its pilots had to learn RAF methods of operation and grow accustomed to their new aircraft (which were far higher in performance than anything they'd flown before). It was declared operational on February 5th, 1941. Their aircraft wore standard RAF roundel insignia.




71 Squadron carried out convoy protection patrols and, once it had gained experience, cross-Channel operations over German-occupied France. It claimed its first enemy aircraft shot down on July 2nd, 1941, and suffered its first loss (Flying Officer William Hall, taken prisoner) on the same date. In September that year the Squadron was re-equipped with Spitfire Mark Vb's. In November Chesley Petersen took command as the first American Squadron-Leader in the Eagle Squadrons, making 71 Squadron an all-American outfit.

The second Eagle Squadron, no. 121, was formed in May 1941.




Equipped with Hurricane II's it became operational in July of that year, and saw action in convoy patrols and over France almost immediately. It claimed its first combat victory, a Junkers 88 bomber, in August. In September it was re-equipped with Spitfires. In the photograph below 121 Squadron pilots are being debriefed next to one of their Spitfires after a cross-Channel mission.




The third and final Eagle Squadron, no. 133, was formed in August 1941.




Its first Commanding Officer, George Brown, had been a Flight Commander in 71 Squadron before being promoted to lead the new group of American volunteers. Initially 133 Squadron patrolled the Atlantic approaches, flying Hurricanes from a base in Northern Ireland. In October the squadron was re-equipped with Spitfire Mark Va's and transferred to mainland Britain for offensive operations. Don Blakeslee, an American, took over as Squadron Leader in August 1942.

The fact that all three Eagle Squadrons began their service with convoy patrols should not be taken as an indication that this was easy duty. It rapidly taught them to fly and fight their aircraft under extremely difficult conditions. As Jim Griffin of 121 Squadron observed:

The weather was always treacherous, and there was never anything between the ships and enemy territory but a stretch of open water. Convincing yourself that flying endlessly between a hostile sky and deadly sea was boring was better than listening to the nagging voice of your subconscious reminding you of the unpleasant features of such a patrol: the fact that survival time in the icy water below would be a matter of minutes; that engine failure beyond gliding distance to land would leave you with two grim choices: ride the Spit down to what would be a quick merciful end... or bail out, knowing that even if there was enough altitude for your chute to open and lower you gently into the sea you would probably perish before help could arrive.

There appears to have been considerable rivalry between the Eagle Squadrons, who flew together on only one occasion: Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe Raid of August 19th, 1942. The operation was a tactical disaster, with heavy losses to British and Canadian forces, but it taught many valuable lessons that were later applied during the invasion of France in 1944.

When the USA entered the war in December 1941, most of the Eagle Squadron pilots naturally wanted to help their homeland in its fight against Japan. Representatives of 71 and 121 Squadrons visited the US Embassy in London, and also pleaded for a transfer to Singapore to fight the Japanese invaders of Malaysia. Fortunately for them, their request was declined (Singapore surrendered in February 1942, and a large proportion of those taken prisoner there by the Japanese did not survive the war). The USAAF was already planning to move forces to England for the air campaign against Germany, and realized that they would need every experienced fighter pilot they could get. The three Eagle Squadrons would continue in RAF service until the USAAF could establish its own infrastructure in England and absorb them into its ranks.

The transfer finally occurred in September 1942. The three Eagle Squadrons were formed into the 4th Fighter Group of the USAAF. 71 Squadron RAF was re-numbered to 334th Squadron USAAF, 121 Squadron RAF to 335th Squadron USAAF, and 133 Squadron RAF to 336th Squadron USAAF. The pilots were transferred to the USAAF in ranks corresponding to their RAF rank: Pilot Officers became Second Lieutenants, Flying Officers became First Lieutenants, Flight-Lieutenants became Captains and Squadron Leaders became Majors. They also switched to US rates of pay, which instantly made them much wealthier - a Flying Officer in the RAF drew the equivalent of $76 per month, whilst a US First Lieutenant drew $276! As one of the Eagle pilots said thoughtfully to his former (RAF) Wing Commander, "Y'know, Boss, I can't afford to stay with the RAF. As of right now I earn more than you do, and you're three ranks senior to me!"

During their service with the RAF the three Eagle Squadrons attracted a total of 244 American volunteers, with 16 British pilots acting as Flight and Squadron Commanders. They claimed a total of 73½ German aircraft destroyed in combat, losing 77 US and five British pilots killed in action or in accidents (the latter particularly during training). The photograph below shows 133 Squadron parading at the funeral of Sam Whedon, killed in a flying accident on April 3rd, 1942.




The relatively low number of enemy aircraft shot down by the Eagle Squadrons, and their relatively high casualties in comparison to their success rate, should not be taken as a negative indicator of their skill. Remember that in 1941-42 the RAF was only just beginning to develop its offensive doctrines and had not yet established the air superiority that it and the USAAF would enjoy in 1944-45. Furthermore, it was fighting over German-occupied territory where any damaged aircraft had to get back across the English Channel to safety. Many were too badly shot up to make it. The Eagles' casualty and success rates are comparable to those of other RAF units at the time, and their combat record in subsequent years shows that they learned their lessons well.

The transfer to the USAAF was not without its difficulties. The Eagle pilots had been trained in RAF drill and discipline, and almost gave heart attacks to several by-the-book USAAF commanders by stamping their feet when they came to attention, saluting with open hands and wearing the rather informal items of clothing often worn in RAF operational squadrons. It's reported that a USAAF colonel nearly had apoplexy when he saw a former Eagle pilot dismounting from his aircraft after an early-morning mission - still wearing his pajamas and slippers! Naturally the Eagles were not very receptive to attempts to make them "straighten up and fly right" in the approved USAAF style. After all, they were the only combat-experienced pilots in the entire Eighth Air Force, and they made sure the new arrivals from America weren't allowed to forget it.

Nevertheless, the Eighth Air Force top commanders knew how fortunate they were to have the Eagle Squadrons dropped into their laps as fully combat-ready and experienced units. They immediately began to spread their knowledge around, transferring many of the Eagles to other units and promoting them to lead rookie US pilots and teach them the tricks of the trade. The Eagles didn't like this, as they wanted to stay together, but over time the system worked very well. On February 24th, 1943, Major-General Frank Hunter, Commanding Officer of Eighth Air Force Fighter Command, told the Eagles:

Five months ago I came here when the first group of you were transferred to VIII Fighter Command. You will never know what it meant to us to receive a group of fully trained operational pilots. It has formed a nucleus around which we have built our fighting machine.

We have been able to select men from among you to send to other units to train and lead them. All this, and everything the RAF has learned in three years of fighting the Hun, has been of invaluable aid.

In 1944 Major-General Kepner observed: "The 4th Fighter Group has been the stem whence Fighter Command doctrine has sprung."

The 4th Fighter Group built on the success of the Eagle Squadrons throughout the rest of World War II. It initially continued to operate Spitfires, although the RAF roundel insignia was replaced by the USAAF star, as seen on this Spitfire Mark Vb of the 334th Squadron.




The Group transitioned to the P-47 Thunderbolt in April 1943, which was very unpopular with the pilots - the large, heavy Thunderbolt was an unwelcome contrast to the light, agile Spitfire. As Lieutenant-Colonel Blakeslee snorted after being congratulated on shooting down a Fw 190 and in so doing demonstrating that the P-47 could dive faster than the German aircraft: "By God, it ought to dive - it certainly won't climb!" Later, in February 1944, the Group was re-equipped with the P-51 Mustang, which proved much more popular with its pilots.

The 4th Fighter Group became the longest-serving fighter unit in the Eighth Air Force and in the European Theater of Operations. It was the first fighter Group to escort USAAF bombers over Berlin on March 4th, 1944, and participated in the first shuttle-bombing mission from Britain to Russia in June of that year. In these missions USAAF aircraft flew from Britain to bomb targets in Germany, then flew on into Russia and landed there. After being refuelled and re-armed they flew back to Britain via more German targets, bombing them en route. 4th Fighter Group took part in Operation Market Garden, the airborne invasion of Holland in September 1944, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in December of that year. It covered Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945 (and still the largest single airborne drop ever accomplished).

The 4th Fighter Group lost 248 aircraft in combat. Out of 533 pilots who served in its ranks, 125 were killed or missing in action and 105 were taken prisoner of war. This amounts to a 43% overall casualty rate. To balance this, the Group achieved the most combined victories over German aircraft of any fighter group in the Eighth Air Force (583 in the air and 469 on the ground), and scored the fourth-highest number of air-to-air victories of any USAAF fighter group in Europe.

The video below shows a series of newsreel clips of the Eagle Squadrons from their arrival in England to their hand-over to USAAF control in 1942.





The RAF was forever grateful to the Eagle Squadrons for coming to their aid at the darkest time of the war for Great Britain, and today maintains a memorial to them in London.




The 4th Fighter Group memorial is located at the USAF Museum.




Surviving pilots of the Eagle Squadrons and 4th Fighter Group still gather at reunions from time to time. The photograph below shows them at their 2002 reunion, during which the memorial above was dedicated.





Amazingly, a Spitfire Mark Vb once flown by 133 Squadron is today in the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. AB910 flew 29 missions with that squadron, including four on August 19th, 1942, in support of the Dieppe mission. It's still flying today.





All in all, the Eagle Squadrons and their successors in the 4th Fighter Group were a remarkable group of airmen. May we always honor their memory.

Peter

Making a burger - the complicated way

The 2008 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was held today at Purdue University. Teams had to assemble a burger consisting of a precooked meat patty, two condiments and two vegetables, all placed between two bun halves. They had to do so using as many steps and as much complexity as possible, in the true tradition of Rube Goldberg machines.

The Purdue University team won with a design incorporating 156 separate steps. Second place was claimed by Texas A&M, with the University at Buffalo in New York coming in third.

Take a look at the preparations.





Somehow I don't think McDonalds or Burger King will be beating a path to these engineers' doors!



Peter

Newhall, CA, April 6th, 1970

April 6th is a sad day in US law enforcement history. On that date in 1970 the so-called Newhall Massacre took place, when four California Highway Patrol officers were killed by two criminals.

The felons were military veterans who were well-trained in the use of firearms (and were on their way back from a range practice session when the incident occurred). They carried far more firearms than the officers, and had agreed among themselves to fight rather than submit to arrest and practised their moves in such a situation.

The officers, on the other hand, while being military veterans themselves, had what proved to be inadequate law enforcement training and made several tactical mistakes that contributed to their deaths. After the Newhall incident law enforcement training across the US was significantly improved, incorporating many "lessons learned" from Newhall.

May Officers George Alleyn, Walt Frago, Roger Gore and James Pence rest in peace.




The troubling thing is, in today's technology-driven world we're seeing far too much emphasis on tools and not enough on tactics in many law enforcement academies. I'm sure many readers have seen news reports that police are "outgunned on the streets" by criminals with "assault weapons". This is usually not the case - most modern police departments deploy handguns, shotguns and semi- or fully-automatic rifles. The problem is the use of those weapons. It's not enough to train on a square range where the targets don't shoot back. One has to train in fire and movement, urban guerilla warfare tactics and so on - and far too many police departments aren't doing that yet, or aren't reinforcing initial training with ongoing practice.

Furthermore, individual officers (or small numbers of them) should not be trying to charge in where angels fear to tread. Unfortunately, too many police departments have reduced their staff numbers to such an extent that only one or two officers may be available to respond to an incident, and find themselves facing really serious opposition. Once more, training needs to emphasize calling for backup when necessary and using numbers intelligently to reduce the risk.

The threat is particularly worrying in the light of the large number of gangsters joining the US military in order to receive advanced training in weapons and tactics and pass it on to their "homies" when they get out. We hear talk of the "Zetas" and similar units serving Mexican drug cartels, but the same threat is now a reality on many US inner-city streets. The television news report below is only one of many like it in the print and broadcast media that have highlighted this problem.





I've spoken with friends at local military installations (including one of the major training centers preparing soldiers for overseas deployment) and they confirm that the problem is real and growing. With the need to recruit additional personnel for an expanding military, sometimes standards are allowed to slip a little, and individuals who shouldn't be allowed to enlist are getting through the net. If their instructors have seen this and are worried about it, how much more should we citizens be worried?

It reinforces what I tell my students when I teach firearms safety and use: a firearm may save your life, but it's not the Hammer of Thor rendering you invulnerable, invincible and infallible. Sure, carry a firearm for personal safety after obtaining the appropriate permit; sure, have a firearm ready to defend your home and loved ones; but the smartest solution is not to go into places where you might have to use it, and retreat rather than play Macho Man and refuse to back down in the face of a threat. You may well defeat the threat, but the legal expenses of proving you were in the right, and fighting lawsuits from the bad guy and/or his family, and perhaps recovering from injuries you sustain in the process, will soon teach you that discretion is the better part of valor. The use of deadly force is a last resort when all else has failed, not a primary option.

The four police officers who died at Newhall were killed by criminals skilled in the use of weapons who used better tactics than their opponents. There's no guarantee that citizens like ourselves won't face a similar problem. Keep that in mind, and as we honor their memory (and thank them for the improvements in law enforcement training that resulted from their deaths) let's improve our own situational awareness, defensive training and preparedness accordingly.

That will be the most fitting and lasting memorial to the fallen.

Peter

50,000 and counting!

During the small hours of this morning (local time) my 50,000th visitor arrived. That makes me very happy, given that this blog is less than 100 days old. He or she is in Botswana, a country I know and love.




Botswana has some of the most beautiful natural scenery and abundant wildlife anywhere on the planet, particularly in the area of the Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta. If you ever get the chance to visit the Delta, drop everything and go! It's an unforgettable experience.




I seem to have a fair number of international visitors. My 10,000th and 40,000th visitors were from the USA, with the 20,000th being from New Zealand, the 30,000th from Canada and now the latest milestone from southern Africa.

Thanks for stopping by!

Peter

I love it when good luck finds deserving people!

From Sweden we have a real feel-good story.




Last year Siv Wiik, 69, and Harriet Svenson, 64, went hiking to pick blueberries. While ambling around the countryside they kept their eyes open for traces of minerals, a hobby of theirs for many years.

This time their hobby paid off - and how!

Government surveyors believe that the women may have happened upon the largest reserves of gold and zinc ever discovered in Sweden by private individuals.

Arne Sundberg is a regional director at the Geological Survey of Sweden, a government agency responsible for the management of mineral resources.

"When I heard about the find I drove up to meet the women. They told me they wished they had a video camera to register the amazement on my face. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it in all the long years I've worked in this job," he told The Local.

The canny ladies immediately registered a mining concession on 800 hectares (just under 2,000 acres) surrounding their find. They were awarded the region's 2007 "Mineral Hunt" prize of 12,000 kronor (about $2,000) for their discovery. All mineral companies were barred from competing for exploitation rights until after the award, but as soon as it had been made the rush was on!

It was reported today that they've accepted a deal from a Canadian company, Hansa Resources, that will pay them 21 million kronor (about $3.5 million) for their concession. They'll receive 4.2 million kronor (about $700,000) in cash plus a 20% interest in the mining operation to be set up. Hansa will pump 12 million kronor into developing the concession over the next four years.

"The whole thing is just like a fairy tale. We're going to crack open a big magnum of champagne after all the papers are signed," Svensson, 64, told The Local.

. . .

"Siv and I are going to travel to Whitecliff in Australia and search for opal. We're going to stay in the caves there. It has always been a dream of ours . . . My great hope now is that this will provide job opportunities for people in the region for years to come. It is generally reckoned that each individual miner will generate five new jobs. I hope the miners drill deep, really deep, and keep finding minerals all the way down to the earth's mantle," said Svensson.

Congratulations to both ladies. I suspect their golden years will be a lot more golden after this!

Peter

The 101 most useful Web sites - for Britons, anyway.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London, UK has published a list of the 101 most useful Web sites. It's weighted towards British readers, of course, but there are some interesting entries:

• Only Two Clicks: Sets up your bookmarks online so that you can access them anywhere from any computer.
• DaFont: 7,500 free fonts for your computer and printer.
• Pando: Free peer-to-peer software to send large files and attachments easily.
• Video Jug and Wonder How To: Two sites with videos explaining how to do anything (and I do mean anything!). Ever wondered how to make a movable jaw for your werewolf mask? You'll find the answer at these sites.
• Uncyclopedia: Where nothing is true but everything is funny!

See the full list at the linked article and spend a while browsing. Great for a rainy day.

Peter

Amazing photographs of Mars

The European Space Agency launched its Mars Express mission in 2003, with the spacecraft entering orbit around Mars on Christmas Day that year. Its landing component, Beagle, unfortunately malfunctioned, but the Express orbiter completed a Martian year in orbit (its planned life cycle) in 2005. The ESA subsequently decided to keep it in operation for a second Martian year, since the results from the first year had been so promising and the hardware showed no signs of wearing out.

Mars Express has produced some truly spectacular photographs of the Martian surface. I've reproduced a few here in reduced size, and beneath each one I've included a link to a high-resolution shot on the ESA Web site. Some of these are very large indeed (I've indicated the size in megabytes for each picture), so if you're using dial-up Internet access I'd recommend against clicking on the links. (All photographs are copyrighted by ESA, but permission for educational use such as this is given by the Agency.)

(NOTE: The images displayed here will enlarge if you click them, but not to the full high-resolution size available on the ESA Web site. To obtain the latter, click the link below each image, then click the image when it's displayed for the full-size version.)

First, here's the northern part of Hebes Chasma in the Valles Marineris region at 1° S 282° E. It's approximately 26,000 feet deep (kinda dwarfs the Grand Canyon, no?) and is believed to have once contained flowing water. In this picture, one pixel on your screen (in the high-resolution image linked below the picture) equates to almost 50 feet on the ground.

Hi-res image (4924 x 2500 pixel, 1.9MB): Click here.

Here's a perspective view of part of Hebes Chasma.

Hi-res image (3125 x 2500 pixel, 1.4 MB): Click here.

Next we have Candor Chasma, another deep valley in the Valles Marineris at 6° S 290° E. It's almost 28,000 feet from the floor of the valley to the rim - in other words, if Mount Everest were stood in the middle of the valley its peak would be less than 2,000 feet above the rim!

Hi-res image (2500 x 2000 pixel, 1.4 MB): Click here.

Next we have Kasei Valles, one of the largest outflow systems on Mars, located between 21°-28° N and 292.5° E. It's theorized that these immensely deep channels (over 8,000 feet from bottom to rim) were formed by a combination of flowing water and glacial activity. This picture shows a perspective shot of the southern branch.

Hi-res image (4667 x 3500 pixel, 1.6 MB): Click here.

Then there's the famous "happy face" crater, officially known as Crater Galle. When photographed decades ago by low-resolution cameras from early Mars orbiters it resembled a smiling face, leading to all sorts of speculation by non-scientists that it was of intelligent origin, a creation designed to send a message. Of course, that's not true, and the high-resolution photographs from Mars Express show clearly that the features resembling eyes and a mouth are purely and simply geological and geographical phenomena - but it made a nice story while it lasted! The crater is at 51° S 329° E, and is about 144 miles across.

Hi-res image (2882 x 3508 pixel, 2.2 MB): Click here.

Finally, here's a wonderful shot of water ice in a crater near the Martian North Pole. The ice is visible year-round. The crater is in the Vastitas Borealis plain at 70.5° N 103° E, and is about 22 miles wide with a maximum depth of about 6,500 feet.

Hi-res image (6000 x 4800 pixel, 13.1 MB): Click here.

There are many more photographs and descriptions at the ESA Web site. Highly recommended if you have the time and inclination to browse.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #15

Our anonymous Doofus today comes from Warren, MI.

This young lady decided to rob a local bank. In an effort to appear innocuous, she sat down and filled out an account application - including her real name and genuine former address. She even presented photo ID in her real name! Then, while the clerk was busy processing it, she moved to another teller, produced a gun and demanded money. Becoming impatient (or panicky) when this took too long to arrange, she fled.

Police arrived in short order and read her application with great interest. On going to the address she gave they were told that she'd moved - and left her new address so that mail could be forwarded! Going to her new address, they found her there. She's now locked up awaiting trial.

*Sigh* Dumb crooks . . . well, at least they make law enforcement's lives easier!

Peter

The latest must-have hoodlum garb

Young thugs in Britain have been running around in so-called "hoodies" for years. These are sweatsuit tops with hoods, which they wear pulled low over their faces so that security cameras can't identify them.

Now a British company, Bladerunner, has taken the concept one step further. They're producing a bulletproof hoodie.




According to a newspaper report:

While the hoodie is being marketed as a sensible precaution, critics will certainly see bulletproof protection as another step up in the spiralling violence among Britain's youngsters - by prompting gangs to arm themselves even more heavily.

Barry Samms, who owns its British manufacturer Bladerunner, said today: "This hoodie stops bullets.

"Last year we launched a knife-resistant hooded top in the UK and it's selling very well. I was taken aback at how well it has sold."

He insisted that buyers of the previous top had not been confined to youths who hang around in the streets.

"We have sold those hoodies to people from every walk of life. We have sold them to NHS staff, teachers, bus drivers, train drivers and we even had a priest call up," Mr Samms said.

"When we launched the hoodies which stop knives we thought our main customers would be young males but it has really been anything but that.

"We have sold them to women who go jogging in the morning or at night and to people who catch the late train home."

The new garment costs the equivalent of about US $600 and will be sold in the USA by mail order. I wonder how long it'll take before our local gang-bangers start wearing these? Local law enforcement personnel might want to take note. Furthermore, since these can't easily be distinguished from normal clothing, I'm worried that criminals might have their family send them one of these to wear inside prison, making them less vulnerable to attack and perhaps giving them the idea that they can now lash out at others with relative impunity.

This will bear watching . . .

Peter

A maritime mystery solved

His Majesty's Australian ship (HMAS) Sydney was a modified Leander-class cruiser launched in 1934 and commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1935. She was the second vessel to bear that name in RAN service and was often referred to as the Sydney II, although the latter numeral did not form part of her official name as far as I know. (Click the picture for a larger view.)




She was armed with eight 6" guns in four twin turrets and four single 4" guns, plus torpedo tubes and a Supermarine Walrus amphibious scout aircraft. She served with distinction in the Mediterranean during 1940 before returning to Australia in early 1941 for a refit and change of command.

While HMAS Sydney was refitting in Australia a German raider, Kormoran, was attacking Allied shipping in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.




Kormoran was a converted merchant ship armed with six concealed 5.9" guns, torpedo tubes and scout aircraft, but lacking the heavy armor and reinforced structure of a true warship. In an eleven-month cruise she sank ten Allied merchant vessels and sent an eleventh back to Germany as a prize of war.

On November 19th, 1941, Kormoran was cruising near the Australian coast when HMAS Sydney spotted her. She was disguised as a Dutch freighter, the Straat Malakka, but lacked the special codes used by Allied merchantmen. When Sydney came closer and demanded her secret code Kormoran had no choice but to surrender or engage the enemy. Her captain, Theodor Detmers, decided to fight, and Kormoran opened fire at murderously close range. (No-one knows why Sydney had approached so close - something a more war-experienced Captain than her Commanding Officer, Joseph Burnett, would almost certainly have avoided.)

The battle was swift and savage, and both ships were mortally wounded. Kormoran sank later that evening, and her crew reported seeing Sydney making off over the horizon, burning heavily. Two or three hours later they reported hearing a series of explosions from that direction, presumably from her magazines exploding. HMAS Sydney was never seen again and none of her crew survived. Most of Kormoran's crew took to their lifeboats, and in due course were made prisoners of war and interned in Australia until after the war was over.




Ever since her disappearance there has been speculation about what happened to HMAS Sydney. At long last the HMAS Sydney II Search Appeal was formed in 2001 to look for her and discover her fate. The Foundation chartered a survey vessel, the MV Geosounder, equipped with the latest side-scan sonar equipment and a towed sonar array, and engaged an American expert, David Mearns, to manage the search.






After several false starts and a great deal of fund-raising, March 2008 brought success. The wreck of the Kormoran was located on March 12th, 2008. Using this as a base point for further search, the wreck of HMAS Sydney was located on March 16th, 2008, some 14 miles to the South-East of Kormoran at a depth of approximately 8,000 feet. The picture below shows the sonar image of HMAS Sydney (black) with the dark red sonar "shadow" clearly visible beside her on the seabed. The green arrow on the map shows her location.






The MV Geosounder returned to port to load underwater video equipment and set out again for the search site. Yesterday the first pictures of the wreck of HMAS Sydney were released. The picture below shows her "B" turret (second from the bow). Note the shell-hole low between the guns and the roof torn off part of the turret.




The next picture shows "Y" turret (the turret nearest the stern) covered in debris from the battle, including what looks like shell casings which may have been blown out of "X" turret.




The battle damage is very clearly visible, but the ship's hull is amazingly well preserved. In the photograph below her teak decks are still clearly intact.




You'll find a press release and more pictures here. A TV documentary program about the search and discovery will be released in due course.

This discovery finally brings closure to the families of the over 600 Australian Navy personnel who were lost with HMAS Sydney. At least they now know what happened to her and to their relatives. I'm sure they'll be arranging a service at the HMAS Sydney Memorial on the Australian coast near the battle site to commemorate the discovery.




May the souls of the crew of HMAS Sydney, and those who died aboard Kormoran, rest in peace: and, after almost seventy years, may their families find closure now that their graves have at last been discovered. Both wrecks have been declared official war graves and will be left undisturbed.

Peter

Ever heard of Extreme Ironing?

Neither had I until I read a Reuters news report.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A group of 72 Australian scuba divers has flattened the world record for ironing under water, taking the plunge off a pier near the southern city of Melbourne with ironing boards and irons, and their linen.

So-called "extreme ironing" has spawned a cult following in recent years. The Web site extremeironing.com espouses it as being the "latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt."

The Australian group, who pipped the previous mark of 70, are seeking entry to the Guinness book of world records after taking their linen into murky, 3-metre-deep (9.8 foot) ocean on Saturday.

"It was cold and I think they were bloody crazy," local councilor Tom O'Connor, who with police helped authenticate the new record, told Reuters on Tuesday.

I hear you, councilor!

Intrigued, I investigated further. There's an entire Web site devoted to this strange "sport". It seems people carry irons and ironing-boards to the most outlandish places in order to take pictures of themselves ironing. For example, the depth record for extreme ironing is claimed by Louise Trevawas, who claims to have ironed her shirt at a depth of 452 feet in the Blue Hole at the Red Sea resort of Dahab - and got her companion to film it for posterity! (The odd-sounding voices are due to the helium mixture they had to breathe at such depths.)





The "sport" seems popular in the USA as well. It seems that Rowenta have sponsored a series of events and a world championship! Here are two videos, the first taken at various locations in Massachusetts and the second in South Dakota.








Here's a picture of the 2003 winner of the Rowenta extreme ironing championship - ironing his shirt while suspended above a gorge at the Wolfberg Cracks in South Africa.




Even Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame endorses the sport:





Y'know, I've ironed many a shirt in my time . . . but I never, ever considered it to be a sport! The mind boggles . . .

Peter

Kebabs in the Arctic - with chilly sauce, perhaps?

It's amazing how entrepreneurial drive can manifest itself.

Iranian refugee Kazem Ariaiwand, denied political asylum in Norway, decided to head for the only place nearby that had no visa or residence permit requirements - the island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago about 300 miles from the northern tip of Norway. (In terms of a 1920 treaty Svalbard, whilst under Norwegian control, is an international zone requiring no visas.) He settled in the capital, Longyearbyen.




He had to find some way to make a living, so he took a job in a local grocery store: but this wasn't enough. He looked around on the Internet and located a used Army field kitchen truck in Germany. He persuaded his brother Mahomed, who runs an auto repair business in that country, to buy it, paint it a bright flaming red and send it up to him. He then opened the most northerly kebab store in the world, naming it "Røde Isbjørn" or "The Red Polar Bear".




Since then he's been making money hand over fist. The locals are delighted to have a fresh new flavor in town (makes a change from whale blubber and seal meat, you know) and the tourists who flock to Spitsbergen half the year are pleased to find something familiar to eat (being positively allergic to whale blubber and seal meat in most cases). I imagine in weather like that shown below (with a satisfied customer) a hot, steaming kebab would go down very well indeed!




His only problem is that he can't leave Spitsbergen. He has no visa to go anywhere, and he risks arrest and deportation back to Iran if he tries to get into Norway without one. The locals support him, but the Norwegian bureaucracy has so far proved unsympathetic.

I have to hand it to Mr. Ariaiwand. Never would I have thought of a refusal of asylum as being grounds to flee into the Arctic and open the world's most northerly kebab take-out joint! I hope he manages to sort out his legal issues and regularize his status. With drive like that, he'd be an asset to any country.

Peter

Looks like I'm on the low side . . .

. . . according to the Blog Cuss-O-Meter, anyway.

My buddy Ambulance Driver had a different score (and reaction!)



Peter

Military patches

There's an entire sub-culture that's evolved around the development of military patches by units and individuals. In his Danger Room military blog Noah Schachtman recently ran a series of posts on the Most Awesomely Bad Military Patches. This DR post summarizes the latest developments and links to all the many other posts on the topic. Recommended reading.

DR's readers voted this the Most Awesomely Bad Military Patch:




However, it had plenty of competition. A few samples:












Super Punch got in on the act with a series of posts collecting some awesome patches. A couple of examples:






As you can see, political correctness is not necessarily an occupational hazard for the designers of these badges!

There's even a new book on the subject:
It focuses on patches issued by Pentagon (and other agencies') secret projects - clearly a subject about which "insiders" can talk for hours!

Peter

Congratulations to the Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is 90 years old today, the oldest independent air force in the world. It was officially established on 1st April 1918, when the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) merged with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) to form a single air arm for Great Britain.

Its history is pretty amazing by any standards: two world wars, innumerable "small wars", and in more recent times the Falklands, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It's facing difficult times today with many demands on its limited resources, but it's doing its best to cope in the classic RAF tradition. For those who'd like to skim through its history, the service's official Web site offers a Timeline.

Here are a few souvenirs of the occasion. First, in three full-size photographs (click them to enlarge) is the memorandum that established the initial structure of the RAF in 1919. In only three pages of Flight International magazine the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal H. M. Trenchard, summarized the entire raison d'être and structure of the new force. One wonders whether any air force commander could be as succinct today!








There is only one person still alive who was a founding member of the RAF (and of the RNAS before it). Henry Allingham is famous in his own right as the oldest man in Europe, at 111 years old. He credits his longevity to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women—and a good sense of humour!" In a newspaper interview today he described his early experiences. A snippet:

I actually took my first flight three years earlier in 1915 and over all these years I remember it like yesterday.

It was still the Royal Naval Air Service then and I was the engineer in an Avro 504 biplane flying a reconnaissance mission over the North Sea.

This was only a dozen years after the Wright brothers flew the first plane, so it was the most amazing adventure for a young bloke like me.

It was so noisy, I do remember the deafening throb and the chap on the ground shouting "Chocks away!"

Then we were up, the freezing wind gushing past my face as we climbed steeply, my heart in my stomach as we banked.

My pilot and I had left Great Yarmouth armed with a rifle, two pigeons, and just enough fuel to get us to the Dutch coast and back again.

The pigeons were there for if we crashed - they would fly back to base with the message. The rifles were in case we saw the enemy... we had no built-in guns, so we would just have to fire from the cockpit.

To be honest, all the planes were so flimsy and unpredictable that both British and German pilots would immediately turn back rather than face each other in the skies.

With just a small windshield to protect us, we wore scarves and sheepskin and smeared Vaseline on our faces. Even so, it was still bitterly cold and I wished I'd wrapped up warmer.

But I remember getting back on the ground and just itching to take off again.

Mr. Allingham is an extraordinary man. Here's a BBC interview with him filmed last year, in which he discusses his RNAS and RAF service.





Most appropriately, Mr. Allingham was the guest of honor today at a function at RAF Odiham to mark the anniversary.

Today saw a number of celebratory fly-pasts in England. The Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic display team, flew over London in their nine BAE Hawk trainers accompanied by four Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft.







And to round things off, the first four squadrons of the RAF each put a plane into the air for a formation display. From front to back, they are from Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 Squadrons flying the Harrier GR9, Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon and Harrier GR9 respectively. All four squadrons were in existence as part of the Royal Flying Corps even before the founding of the RAF.




Congratulations once again to a justly proud Service.

Peter