Subject: WWII-L Digest - 6 Jul 1993 to 7 Jul 1993

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1993 00:01:18 -0400

There are 7 messages totalling 333 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. PARA WINGS
  2. USAAF 7 JUL 43
  3. MISC: British Army size was Re: Goums?
  4. Help on Tsushima ??
  5. INF: Basic Gun Data
  6. MISC: British Army size
  7. "Stealth" 'chutes (was PARA WINGS)

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 07:18:48 -0400
From:    MAX HARE <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: PARA WINGS

Bear,

Thanks for the reply.  I do suspect that these were some sort of
unauthorized design..possibly related to the AF Academy.

Also, I have another question related to jumping.  On HALO jumps...which
are by nature "stealthy" how do Army jumpers deal with that gawdawful
noise caused by the slider panel rustling in the breeze. Parachutes make
a prounounced "pop" on opening but the noise caused by the slider must
put the jumper at risk from aware enemy sentries/patrols.  I am a
beginning civil jumper and have noticed that the noise from a couple of
ram airs can be quite loud. Have noticed that some experienced jumper
will somehow  stow their deployed sliders behind their helmets for a
nice quiet ride...but I dont think I could do this on the Strong/Manta
rigs I have been jumping.

Has the Army been able to develop a "stealth" slider...this might be
something worthwhile to develop.

Max C. Calderwood
University of Southern Maine
Gorham, ME
[email-masked]

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 07:32:39 -0400
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: USAAF 7 JUL 43

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
WEDNESDAY, 7 JULY 1943
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/
     wwii_chronology

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  A-20, Douglas Havoc
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-40, Curtiss
  Wellington, Vickers (RAF)

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  ZONE OF INTERIOR (HQ, USAAF)
    The Army Air Forces Training Command is established to take over the
functions formerly assigned to the Technical Training and Flying Training
Commands.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force)
    7 B-25's and 22 P-40's attack shipping at Canton, China. At least 2
interceptors are shot down.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force)
  HQ 7th Photographic Reconnaissance and Mapping Group arrives at Mount
Farm, England from the US.
  HQ 352d Fighter Group and it's 328th, 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons
with P-47D's arrive at Bodney, England from the US. The group will fly
it's first combat mission on 9 Sep 43.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE (AAF Antisubmarine Command)
    The German sub, U-95l, is sunk in E Atlantic, 37-40N 15-30W, by
a B-24 of the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy).

  EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Ninth Air Force)
    In Sicily, B-24's hit airfields at Gerbini and the rail line N of
Brucoli; and B-25's bomb the airfield and surrounding areas at Biscari and
Comiso. P-40's bomb and strafe Lucca Airfield, Italy.

  WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Northwest African Air Force)
    Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bomb Palermo,
Sicily and airfields at Villacidro, Milis, and Pabillonis, Sardinia during
the night of 6/7 Jul. In Sicily during the day, B-17's, B-25's, and B-26's
bomb Gerbini satellite fields and Bo Rizzo Airfield, as P-40's fly
a diversionary sweep over the W part of Sicily; Northwest African Tactical
Air Force (NATAF) A-20's hit Sciacca during the night of 6/7 Jul, and the
following day bomb airfields at Trapani, Biscari, Comiso, Bo Rizzo, and
Mazara del Vallo, and hit Sciacca, and Marsala radar stations,
Caltanissetta and Porto Empedocle.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force)
  In the Solomon Islands, B-25's and P-38's attack Vila Airfield on
Kolombangara Island and B-24's bomb Kahili Airfield on Bougainville Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force)
  In New Guinea, B-24's and B-25's, along with Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF) airplanes, operate in direct support of Allied ground operations in
the Mubo area, dropping over 100 tons of bombs on numerous targets as
the MacKechnie Force begins an assault on Bitoi Ridge and Australian forces
(2/6 Battalion) capture Observation Hill, an important terrain feature W
of Mubo.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop      |  Those who have long enjoyed such privileges |
|  Bellcore           |  as we enjoy forget in time that men have    |
|  Piscataway, NJ     |  died to win them.     FDR                   |
|  USA                |  [email-masked]                        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 07:53:12 EDT
From:    Robert E George <[email-masked]>
Subject: MISC: British Army size was Re: Goums?

> Rather surprising when you consider that by the end of 1944 the French
> army was a bit larger than the British!

     Do you mean the French Army in some particular theatre was larger
than the British Army in that theatre?

     "Encyclopedia of the Second World War" by Elizabeth Anne Wheal, p.
173, says that "By 1944 . . . the French armies now numbered about
400,000 men."

     On p.72 the same source says "Total British Army strength had
reached almost two and a half million men by mid-1941, and it rose
steadily . . . "

     Robert George

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 17:13:14 +0300
From:    Ozgur Altinyay <[email-masked]>
Subject: Help on Tsushima ??

There was a  Japanese film on Port Arthur that I saw some time ago. It looked
rather new.  I am trying to order it from a Japanese video cassette retailer
but can not remember the name  . If anyone knows it , can he also tekk me the
name of the film.
Thanks in advance !
Ozgur St. Altinyay

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 10:32:41 EST
From:    Larry Jewell <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: Basic Gun Data

Here's a short table with the "pdr. to inches" conversion.

From: Encyclopedia of Tanks, Duncan Crow & Robert J. Icks,
Chartwell Books, 1975

Basic Gun Data

NOTE: Various discrepancies may be noted. This is because the
length in calibres is given as ascribed by the country concerned
and the bases used are not necessarily uniform.

M /V is in feet per second.

Country Gun        Calibre  Length  M/V     Year
                   (inches)

USA
        37mm        1.46    L/57    2900    1940
        75mm Pack   2.95    L/18    1270    1930
        75mm M1897  2.95    L/36    2000    1924
        75mm M2     2.95    L/31    1930    1941
        75mm M3     2.95    L/40    2030    1941
        75mm M6     2.95    L/39    2030    1942
        3"   M7     3.0     L/53    3400    1942
        76mm        3.0     L/53    2600    1942
        76mm T91E3  3.0     L/55    3400    1943
        90mm        3.543   L/53    3350    1943
        90mm        3.543   L/73    3750    1943
       105mm How    4.134   L/25    1550    1942
       105mm Gun    4.134   L/67    3700    1943
       120mm        4.7     L/62    3800    1943

Great Britain
        6pdr        2.244   L/45.6  1765    1915
        6pdr        2.244   L/25.4  1350    1916
        3pdr I      1.85    L/35.8  1750    1923
        3pdr II     1.85    L/45.7  1850    1925
        3"   How    3.0     L/28.5   600    1926
        2pdr        1.575   L/57    2800    1935
        6pdr III    2.244   L/49    2800    1941
        6pdr V      2.244   L/57    2965    1942
        3.7" Mortar 3.7     L/17     620    1939
        95mm How    3.7     L/23.7  1075    1942
        75mm V      2.953   L/41.6  2030    1942
        77mm        3.0     L/56    2600    1943
       17pdr        3.0     L/62.9  2900    1942

Germany
         3.7cm      1.46    L/45    2500    l938
         5.0cm      1.97    L/42    3240    1938
         5.0cm      1.97    L/60    3700    1939
         7.5cm      2.95    L/24    1263    1938
         7.5cm      2.95    L/43    2428    1940
         7.5cm      2.95    L/48    2461    1940
         7.5cm      2.95    L/70    3068    1942
         8.8cm      3.46    L/56    2600    1936
         8.8cm      3.46    L/71    3720    1943
        10.5cm      4.134   L/28
        10.5cm      4.134   L/68
        12.8cm      5.039   L/55    3080    1944
        15.0cm      5.90    L/12     780    1933
        15.0cm      5.90    L/29.5

France
         3.7cm      1.46    L/21    1273    1917
         3.7cm      1.46    L/33    2300    1938
         4.7cm      1.85    L/34    2200    1935
         7.5cm      2.95    L/36    1788    1898
         7.5cm      2.95    L/17.1  1500    1932

USSR
         3.7cm      1.46    L/44    2500    1930
         3.7cm      1.46    L/71.8  2900    1935
         4.5cm      1.772   L/46    2700    1936
         7.62cm     3.0     L/18.8          1930
         7.62cm     3.0     L/34.7          1938
         7.62cm     3.0     L/47.3  2l72    l939
         8.5cm      3.346   L/44            1942
         8.5cm      3.346   L/55.8  2600    1944
        10.0cm      3.937                   1944
        12.2cm      4.803   L/49            1939
        15.2cm      5.98    L/31.9          1939

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 11:34:49 -0400
From:    "Mr. Scott Hannon" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: MISC: British Army size

I wrote:
>> ...by the end of 1944 the French
>> army was a bit larger than the British!

Robert George writes:
>     Do you mean the French Army in some particular theatre was larger
>than the British Army in that theatre?
[lists French in '44 as 400k, and British Army as 2.5M in 1941 and growing]

Yes, the ETO.

Guess I'll have to dig up the info tonight.

The French 400k figure looks wrong for the end of '44 (too small), as does
the 2.5M figure (too big) for the British (England, Scotland, Wales, and
Ulster, but excludes India, etc). The British army was shrinking as the
manpower pool had dried up, and they resorted to disbanding units to free
up replacements for other units.

More in the next few days (with references).

Scott.

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Date:    Wed, 7 Jul 1993 11:14:15 PDT
From:    Alan Hepburn <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: "Stealth" 'chutes (was PARA WINGS)

Max Calderwood asked about noise suppession of the slider
during HALO insertions so I asked a friend who has many
hours of free fall to his credit and here's his reply:

***** include message *****

The original F11 sliders (F11 being a type of nylon used for both the
parachute and slider) did make some noise, but not enough to really
bother us "civilian" types (although we never made night penetrations
into hostile area other than the farmer's fields).  With today's
newer "Zero-P" (so called because it has virtually a zero porosity
rating for air flow through the material) the slider makes a hell of
a lot more noise (in part because the forward speed is several mph
higher as well).  Its only on these newer parachutes that people
"stow" their slider after opening, and that's because the slider
is flapping around about 2 feet above your head.

As far as the military, I would guess that they have some way of quieting
the slider down, but I don't know what.  Next time I'm out at the old
DZ (hopefully late this month) I'll inquire with a couple of riggers.
The parachute that is referred to in the original post, the Strong Manta
is a big 288 sq ft F111 parachute originally made almost 10 years
ago.

Now that I think about it, there are things like the "spider slider"
that are used on older slower opening parachutes or parachutes that
like to snivel for a few hundred (thousand) feet while deciding to
open.  This slider has about the same grommet spacing as the original
slider, but instead of being a rectangle of nylon material, its just
a webbing framework.  No material = faster opening.  I'd NEVER consider
it on the newer parachutes (unless you wanted to collect the life
insurance money for, say.... your WIFE).

***** end included message *****

So there you have it.

---

Alan Hepburn           "A man doesn't know what he knows
National Semiconductor       until he knows what he doesn't know."
Santa Clara, Ca
[email-masked]                              Thomas Carlyle

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End of WWII-L Digest - 6 Jul 1993 to 7 Jul 1993
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