In 1942, Winston Churchill went to meet with Roosevelt to determine policy and strategy for the coming partnership. While there he had a flight in a new long range sea plane - possibly the Boeing 314 . In conversations with the pilot, he ventured that he and some staff would benefit from flying home using this marvellous machine.
It was arranged and the party set off. The tail wind was strong and it looked like they would make good time. However when it came time to spot some islands off Great Britain, they were nowhere to be seen, the navigator had only managed to see one star through the clouds during the flight and it was clear that they were lost. A hasty conference was held amongst the crew and it was decided to turn north immediately. This they did and within minutes, spotted England and landed safely. The captain said to Churchill afterwards that he was never so happy to see land as then and proceeded to explain how close they all came to death in the last half hour of the flight.
The aircraft was considerably to the south of their intended track and if they had continued another six minutes on that course they would find themselves over the Port of Brest with its very large anti-aircraft batteries. This slow lumbering unarmed aircraft would be very easy to shoot down. A second problem arose when they turned north they appeared to be coming from enemy controlled Brest. British radar picked them up, classified them as a solo enemy bomber and scrambled six Hurricane fighters to shoot them down.
Fortunately for western civilization, the Hurricanes failed to intercept the Boeing and failed to kill Churchill.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Attack!
At the end of 1940, Britain was in a sorry state. Churchill had only held the reins for a few months and reverses were everywhere. The Battle of France ended with his troops pushed into the sea at Dunkirk and the Battle of the Atlantic was cranking up as German submarines sank ship after precious ship bringing food and arms from the USA and Canada. The Royal Air Force had beaten back and humiliated Goring and so far everything had been defensive. Britain and its Empire stood alone against Germany, American isolationists prevented their overt involvement at this stage.
Civilisation was hanging in the balance. After the defeat of Dunkirk, Churchill circulated a directive demanding that the machinery of war not be concentrated on a defensive footing, he wanted us to attack! As soon as the fall of France was complete, Italy declared war on Britain and on November 11, she sent bombers and fighters to sink shipping in the English Channel. Italy had, on paper at least, a far greater air force and army to hold North Africa than the British.
Egypt was vital. To defend the Suez Canal, it must be held. Italy had previously showed that she was at least as ruthless as Germany when she attacked helpless, spear armed Abyssinia. But the tide was about to turn. Italy was soon to discover that fighting British and Australian troops, was a very different proposition. In obedience to the Churchill directive, Admiral Cunningham deployed the aircraft carrier Illustrious from Alexandria and shortly after dark, she released her Swordfish aircraft to attack the Italian fleet at harbour at Taranto, Italy.
The Swordfish at first glance was an unlikely hero of this battle. It looked like an aircraft from the first war and like most two winged aircraft it was slow and underpowered. But slung underneath each one was a powerful torpedo. Its slow speed made it vulnerable to all kinds of attack, even from rifles on the ground, but that also meant its torpedoes could be accurately placed for maximum effect. Air battles last for only as long as fuel does and this one raged for an hour. At the end only two Swordfish were lost, the Battleship Cavour was sunk, two others were put out of action for a year as well as substantial damage to the port itself.
At the same time General Wavell was preparing an attack on the Italian Army bent on taking Egypt. When that battle was concluded much of the entire Italian army were dead, wounded, captured or running away. At one point on the first day a Coldstream Battalion signalled that the prisoners were too great to count, there being 'about five acres of officers and two hundred acres of other ranks. The Italian Army was effectively destroyed as a fighting force. By the 5th of January, 1941 some 45,000 prisoners were taken and 462 field guns captured.
From this point on, Hitler and Mussolini were faced with an enemy who could not only defend but attack too. They were about to discover the ramifications of this fact.
Civilisation was hanging in the balance. After the defeat of Dunkirk, Churchill circulated a directive demanding that the machinery of war not be concentrated on a defensive footing, he wanted us to attack! As soon as the fall of France was complete, Italy declared war on Britain and on November 11, she sent bombers and fighters to sink shipping in the English Channel. Italy had, on paper at least, a far greater air force and army to hold North Africa than the British.
Egypt was vital. To defend the Suez Canal, it must be held. Italy had previously showed that she was at least as ruthless as Germany when she attacked helpless, spear armed Abyssinia. But the tide was about to turn. Italy was soon to discover that fighting British and Australian troops, was a very different proposition. In obedience to the Churchill directive, Admiral Cunningham deployed the aircraft carrier Illustrious from Alexandria and shortly after dark, she released her Swordfish aircraft to attack the Italian fleet at harbour at Taranto, Italy.
The Swordfish at first glance was an unlikely hero of this battle. It looked like an aircraft from the first war and like most two winged aircraft it was slow and underpowered. But slung underneath each one was a powerful torpedo. Its slow speed made it vulnerable to all kinds of attack, even from rifles on the ground, but that also meant its torpedoes could be accurately placed for maximum effect. Air battles last for only as long as fuel does and this one raged for an hour. At the end only two Swordfish were lost, the Battleship Cavour was sunk, two others were put out of action for a year as well as substantial damage to the port itself.
At the same time General Wavell was preparing an attack on the Italian Army bent on taking Egypt. When that battle was concluded much of the entire Italian army were dead, wounded, captured or running away. At one point on the first day a Coldstream Battalion signalled that the prisoners were too great to count, there being 'about five acres of officers and two hundred acres of other ranks. The Italian Army was effectively destroyed as a fighting force. By the 5th of January, 1941 some 45,000 prisoners were taken and 462 field guns captured.
From this point on, Hitler and Mussolini were faced with an enemy who could not only defend but attack too. They were about to discover the ramifications of this fact.
I had no idea...
"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favour of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not nor ever have been in favour of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favour of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything." -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
The Longbow
The first weapon of mass destruction was the longbow. A good archer could loose six arrows a minute and have them travel nearly a mile. One arrow was reported to have pierced plate armour, gone through a layer of chain mail, through the thigh of a rider, through the leather and wood of his saddle and 'a goodly way' into the horse. Imagine seeing 60,000 of them coming toward you, knowing that before the first lands the rest would be in the air after it. The sky would be black with approaching death!
The last use of the longbow in battle, as far as I know, was in 1940. (No, Rambo doesn't count) The British were being pushed into the channel by the German Blitzkrieg and their last foothold was the beaches and sand hills of Dunkirk. The only experience most young officers had of warfare was the stories from the trenches of the First World War. Many thought a trip abroad could be fun and brought along horses, pianos, fishing equipment and all manner of crazy stuff. All had to be destroyed and abandoned so that as many men as possible could be rescued.
One young officer was an Olympic archer and he had brought his bow and arrows to practice with. He was in the dunes behind the beaches when he saw a German soldier a few hundred yards away. He strung his bow, aimed and became the last English bowman to take the field of battle. The German was killed and his body, no doubt, caused some medical orderlies to wonder how desperate the British must be to resort to bows and arrows in this age of dive bombers and rifles.
Archery was almost restored to the English armoury after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A review of weapons suggested that the longbow should be brought back into service. The recommendation noted the longbow was superior to the musket in every important aspect. The longbow is lighter, cheaper, easier to maintain, has a far superior effective range and a much greater lethality than the musket. It is easier to train a musketeer, but that exhausts its list of advantages.
The last use of the longbow in battle, as far as I know, was in 1940. (No, Rambo doesn't count) The British were being pushed into the channel by the German Blitzkrieg and their last foothold was the beaches and sand hills of Dunkirk. The only experience most young officers had of warfare was the stories from the trenches of the First World War. Many thought a trip abroad could be fun and brought along horses, pianos, fishing equipment and all manner of crazy stuff. All had to be destroyed and abandoned so that as many men as possible could be rescued.
One young officer was an Olympic archer and he had brought his bow and arrows to practice with. He was in the dunes behind the beaches when he saw a German soldier a few hundred yards away. He strung his bow, aimed and became the last English bowman to take the field of battle. The German was killed and his body, no doubt, caused some medical orderlies to wonder how desperate the British must be to resort to bows and arrows in this age of dive bombers and rifles.
Archery was almost restored to the English armoury after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A review of weapons suggested that the longbow should be brought back into service. The recommendation noted the longbow was superior to the musket in every important aspect. The longbow is lighter, cheaper, easier to maintain, has a far superior effective range and a much greater lethality than the musket. It is easier to train a musketeer, but that exhausts its list of advantages.
Marital chocolate
Mrs Me just asked me if there was any little snack she could partake of. I said "There is a pack of mint choc biscuits (US 'cookies') in the second fridge." She brought them in and opened them in front of me and pushed the pack toward me. At that moment I realised that I had to have one so that she wouldn't feel so bad about eating one herself. Then when I did, she told me I shouldn't eat it before lunch.
Such is marriage.
Such is marriage.
The Word of God!
A few years ago I heard a radio program centred on a fellow who translated for a living. Anyway he was an expert in some African language and had translated the bible for them. After he finished and had delivered the work to his employer, he flew to the little country to mark the occasion. On the flight over he was troubled by a particular passage and realised it should have a slight alteration. Fortunately this was before the text was printed. He brought the matter up when he arrived stating that he wanted to make an amendment to his work. The reaction surprised him, "But you can't do that! It is the word of GOD!"
Astrology
When I first met my first wife she introduced me to one of the world's biggest cons. Astrology.
What a great steaming pile of fetid dingo shit that is. Most astrologers divide the sky into 12 near equal portions of 31 days The position of the sun at the time of your birth determines your 'sign''. Spot the mistake yet? There are two!
The first is that constellations are not perfectly arranged in exactly 12 equal pieces, Scorpio for example, hosts the sun for only a week and Pisces for 38 days. So there should be five times as many Pisceans as Scorpios.
The second is that they have missed an entire constellation! Ophiuchus lies between Scorpio and Sagittarius. Not a word about this constellation appears in any discussion of sun signs. The next bit of bullshit is the tables they use. They worked well for Plutarch but the planets (including the Earth, but not Mercury - a different tale hangs from that phenomenon) experience precession. Our orbits are not circular but an oval shape, and the oval shifts a bit back with every orbit (year). Consequently, the stars appear in a slightly different area of the sky, and the position of the sun in relation to those (the basis of all 'tropical astrology' - by far the most popular version) is different now to what it was even last year. Over thousands of years the difference is dramatic. In fact it takes around 26,000 years to come back to its start point. Thus those complicated charts they wave around are like a broken clock, right twice a day, except we need millennia before they get it right again.
Finally, the idea that the stars can influence our behaviour, earthquakes and romance strikes me as the most absurd. Einstein showed us that nothing can travel faster than light, not even information. So for the stars to be influencing little Timmy from his birth moment, they would have to have predicted his birth hundreds of years ago (often thousands) and sent their little influencing rays then. Never mind that no 'influencing rays' have ever been found and EVERY time astrology has been tested using our greatest discovery, the Scientific Method, it has failed.
Basically as I said to the woman in the newsstand, "It's quite simple to tell the difference, Astronomy is a science, Astrology a con." She glared at me and I smiled back at her and asked "Would you care to debate the matter?" All I got was more silent glaring. When I accepted this crap wholesale it was as if I had some sort of distorting spectacles that changed how I saw everything. I'd predict people's sign and counted the hits and never the misses. I read Linda Goodman's Sun Sign - twice and confidently wandered around thinking I had the drum on everything. I was so bloody wrong, it is embarrassing to reflect upon it.
Thank Hitchens for science!
What a great steaming pile of fetid dingo shit that is. Most astrologers divide the sky into 12 near equal portions of 31 days The position of the sun at the time of your birth determines your 'sign''. Spot the mistake yet? There are two!
The first is that constellations are not perfectly arranged in exactly 12 equal pieces, Scorpio for example, hosts the sun for only a week and Pisces for 38 days. So there should be five times as many Pisceans as Scorpios.
The second is that they have missed an entire constellation! Ophiuchus lies between Scorpio and Sagittarius. Not a word about this constellation appears in any discussion of sun signs. The next bit of bullshit is the tables they use. They worked well for Plutarch but the planets (including the Earth, but not Mercury - a different tale hangs from that phenomenon) experience precession. Our orbits are not circular but an oval shape, and the oval shifts a bit back with every orbit (year). Consequently, the stars appear in a slightly different area of the sky, and the position of the sun in relation to those (the basis of all 'tropical astrology' - by far the most popular version) is different now to what it was even last year. Over thousands of years the difference is dramatic. In fact it takes around 26,000 years to come back to its start point. Thus those complicated charts they wave around are like a broken clock, right twice a day, except we need millennia before they get it right again.
Finally, the idea that the stars can influence our behaviour, earthquakes and romance strikes me as the most absurd. Einstein showed us that nothing can travel faster than light, not even information. So for the stars to be influencing little Timmy from his birth moment, they would have to have predicted his birth hundreds of years ago (often thousands) and sent their little influencing rays then. Never mind that no 'influencing rays' have ever been found and EVERY time astrology has been tested using our greatest discovery, the Scientific Method, it has failed.
Basically as I said to the woman in the newsstand, "It's quite simple to tell the difference, Astronomy is a science, Astrology a con." She glared at me and I smiled back at her and asked "Would you care to debate the matter?" All I got was more silent glaring. When I accepted this crap wholesale it was as if I had some sort of distorting spectacles that changed how I saw everything. I'd predict people's sign and counted the hits and never the misses. I read Linda Goodman's Sun Sign - twice and confidently wandered around thinking I had the drum on everything. I was so bloody wrong, it is embarrassing to reflect upon it.
Thank Hitchens for science!
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