That era of fighting men is fading into the past, and I hate it!
I’m glad that WWII is so documented so these men’s deeds are never forgotten.
Bismarck crippling Swordfish pilot has died
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Just saw this. Thought it an interesting article. Scottish pilot who helped sink the Bismarck dies - BBC News
https://apple.news/Af1ZN9LGJRFqbqGkvj4RuNA -
Very interesting – thanks for posting that.
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Thanks witt. Would you or I ever have had the courage so many found when it was needed?
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Courage is one thing.
Being insane enough to fly a paper macche bi-plane at a state of the art pocket-battleship is a different story.
Commanders of today would probably go to JAIL for ordering such things.
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Courage is one thing.
Being insane enough to fly a paper macche bi-plane at a state of the art pocket-battleship is a different story.
Commanders of today would probably go to JAIL for ordering such things.
Bismarck was a fully-fledged battleship, not a pocket battleship, and even though she was modern she wasn’t entirely state-of-the art; her design was actually very conservative, and her anti-aircraft armament wasn’t as well thought-out as, let’s say, what could be found on contemporary American battleships. The canvas construction of the Swordfish planes actually helped them because some AAA shells went right through the fabric without detonating, which would not have been the case if the shells had hit a metal fuselage. And it has been an unpleasant but necessary reality of warfare since ancient times (and right up to today) that officers sometimes need to order men to go into a combat situation in which injury or death is a possibility, or sometimes even a probability. The Swordfish pilots who attacked the Bismark suffered very few casualties, as I recall; by contrast, an infantry unit ordered to “go over the top” in WWI on the Western Front typically faced a very high casualty rate.
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Thanks the story. I miss the days that WWII veterans were active and walking the streets. I’ve heard some great stories.
In the U.S 500 WWII veterans are passing away each day.
How would it have been to go to a bar in the 1950’s and talk WWII?
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Nice to see you back and see you comment, Worsham.
Hope all is well with work and family. -
Courage is one thing.
Being insane enough to fly a paper macche bi-plane at a state of the art pocket-battleship  is a different story.
Commanders of today would probably go to JAIL for ordering such things.
Ya, I cringed at “pocket battleship” myself in reference to the Bismarck.
The design of the Bismarck was actually a slightly updated plan from the Bayern Dreadnought design from WWI (which was actually a pretty good design for the time). As for the Swordfish getting off with no losses, part of that was because the AAA of the Bismarck was designed to track faster more/modern aircraft and had a hard time tracking the slower-than-anticipated Swordfish.
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@wittmann:
Nice to see you back and see you comment, Worsham.
Hope all is well with work and family.How are you friends?
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Still in Hereford. Work is busy and Al is back in the kitchen, after a three year absence. Children growing up. Everyone very well, thank you. I am playing more board games and less on the forum here. Al and I play after work, but we have a small group here in England two hours from me. We met here on the forum. We meet once every three months. There are often seven players. We have played 1942, Anniversary and 1914.
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Leo likes to come last! :roll:
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That’s not kind! I have quite a way to come and I can’t leave my family, until the lazy things are out of bed. You lot need a head start anyway: you are a little slow!
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We are pleased to welcome our mentor whatever time he deigns to arrive!
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Really proves that by 1939 the battleship was redundant. If Axis and Allies was accurate, nobody would even think of buying a BB.
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