[Simonr1978]

[Ossian]

I think the story of the Sunderland fighting off numerous Ju-88s is fairly well documented (e.g. http://www.n461.com/) and there are some independently verifiable details. Anything else (e.g. USAAF) needs the usual academic treatment...

Note that googling for "Sunderland Ju-88" also gives a similar incident in the North Sea in April 1940, although this is on Wiki. I see Marlin (oop, B-G) has the next two slots, though...

[corpcasselbury]

[Revere]

-----Hi Jacked--------

speaking of movie plots and ww2 what do you think that they should make a movie about that they havnt done already? Kursk '43 and Caen '44 for me

[bosworth gannaway]

[bosworth gannaway]

[Edited by Moderator]

[bosworth gannaway]

[Simonr1978]

I find it hard to believe given your own significantly dented credibility and the fact you have posted a story on here before which you acknowledge you may have deliberately exaggeratted or invented some of the details of.

I never said that me finding it hard to believe means that it never happened, but that I wasn't willing to take this in pure face value especially considering the above.

[majorwoody10]

iirc there was a raf gunnery expert on loan to the lybia based b24 groups who made the ploesti raid .he was supposed to train the gunners but did in fact fly in a top turret durring the raid ( against regulations ) and was credited with clearing numerous flack towers enemy of personel during the famous low level attack in rumania .

as to bosworth , imo , he is an asset to this forum and a member who has started many good theads here and i vote we forgive him his preveious tall tales starting with the new year and we refer to them no more , provided he agrees to " go forth and sin no more "

[Ome_Joop]

How would one kill flak towers in a top aircraft turret?
Those towers are HUGE!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_Tower

[Simonr1978]

[majorwoody10]

joop , iirc, the raf gunner was named barwell and the attack was at very low level ,barwell asked the pilot to drop the nose for a moment and he swept the gun crews away with his twin 50s useing very short and economical bursts .this from a book written in the early 60s or late 50s by two authors as stated by bosworth .sadly, i no longer have the book and i dont recall any mention of a sunderland event in the north sea...

[Ossian]

Was it by any chance "Ploesti", by James Dugan and Carroll Stewart (Jonathan Cape 1962)

Paperback edition 1966 Page 58 (omissions and insertions in usual form)

[Ome_Joop]

first page or so of ploesti: The Great Ground-Air Battle (Brassey's Aviation Classic) wriiten by the series editors Walter J Boyne & Peter B Mersky...

[majorwoody10]

lol ,baseed on a true story ?

[machine shop tom]

A good friend's dad recently passed away. The man was a bombardier aboard a PB4Y-1 (USN version of the B-24 Liberator). He was a member of VP103, which was a part of FAW-7. I have been researching the unit's history and have found that a LOT of the planes were damaged and/or shot down by U-Boat flak.

Here is a pic of his aircraft:

http://www.vpnavy.com/pb4y/vp103pb4y_01_14jul2006.jpg

It is an actual pic of his plane. My friend has found a pic that his dad took of the same plane (B-14).

tom

[majorwoody10]

flying anti sub patrols was very dangerous work ,many thousands of air crew were lost , not because of ubout flak even ( a majority of asw patrol crews never ever saw even one uboat or ijn sub .),

they perished because they were hundreds of miles from land and something went wrong ,an engine overheated ,a fuel leak , a sudden storm , adverse headwinds ...if they were lucky enough to survive a ditching at sea ,they climbed in their little yellow boats and died of oxposure ,thirst ,sharks , whatever .they went on patrol and they never returned .

their comrades would search hard for them once they were overdue but very very rarely did they find them ,missing in action ,presumed dead .

pappy boyington was a rare exception ,mia over hostile waters ,presumed dead .the awarded the medal of honour by the usmc which were sure they would never see his drunken ,insubordinate and problematic self again ,they were in for a nasty suprise , a jap sub took him and he survived the war , much to the chagrine of the usmc brass , now they had the most highly decorated usmc pilot of the war back , alive ,and soon an embarrasment again , he loved his booze ,and he was a mean drunk .usmc feild grade officers are not supposed to get in brawls with the shore patrol or punch little old ladies . i exagerate but you get the idea...

[corpcasselbury]

Add to the above the very real possibility of running into enemy fighters during your patrol, at least in certain areas. And the PBYs based on Midway had trouble from Japanese patrol planes flying out of Wake in 1942, with several Catalinas being damaged in such encounters.

[majorwoody10]

near the golden gate bridge in san francisco is a granite wall inscribed with the names of hundreds of flyers and sailors who died while on patrol off the coast of california in ww2 .to my knowlege , not one of these men fell to the efforts of the japanese submarines they were actually hunting , they were all just swallowed up by the emensity of the unforgiveing ocean .failed to return from patrol and presumed dead .