Subject: WWII-L Digest - 3 Aug 1994 to 4 Aug 1994

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 00:01:09 -0400

There are 26 messages totalling 1231 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. Saltpeter
  2. Top Ten...
  3. Air show
  4. Battle of Malta (2)
  5. Addr: Saltpeter
  6. INF: USN Chronology 08-04-94
  7. [INF] USAAF 4 AUG 44
  8. GEN: Questions re. aviation (2)
  9. INF: 50 Years Ago - 05-AUG-1944
 10. Truman/Atom Bomb
 11. GEN: Questions re. aviation -Reply
 12. GEN: Churchill, Conventry, Ultra (Backround info wanted)
 13. Wild Colonial Boys in the RAF
 14. Privateer
 15. Hiroshima (3)
 16. US preparedness 1939
 17. Postwar pogroms in Poland
 18. Test (2)
 19. NYT article
 20. [INF] USAAF 5 AUG 44
 21. GEN:  CHEM WARFARE IN WW2

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 3 Aug 1994 21:22:20 EDT
From:    John Sloan <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Saltpeter

Tim is asking about the non-explosive use of saltpeter.
Boy, that is one of the really old stories - even older than how Catherine II
died. When I went to military high school in the 1940's that was the
persistant rumor spread around the campus. But at the time I always thought
is was just a joke.

john sloan
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 3 Aug 1994 20:51:10 EDT
From:    Alan Wild <[email-masked]>
Subject: Top Ten...

Oh yeah,... here's one: The Rosenberg's add a new one,...

"Sing-Sing" - A prison the Stooges refer to. Also documented in the
              movie/documentary _Atomic Cafe_. It seems Ethel Rosenberg,
              who was electricuted there shortly after her husband,
              required an additional couple of thousand amperes after
              the physicians detected a heart beat remaining after the
              first several hundred amperes were applied. So they had
              to strap her in again, limp as she must've been. The
              witness, obviously flustered for the camera, spoke of a
              "ghastly plume of smoke" rising over her head after the
              2nd jolt was applied. No ghlory here, huh?...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Wild, LAN Mgr.  Father of 1.8815          Voice:          (401) 792-2611
ACC - Lippitt - URI  American Legion Post 102. FAX:            (401) 792-5479
Kingston, RI  02881  NRA Life Member           BITNET:           AWild@URIACC
                                               Internet: [email-masked]

"Duties and responsibilities were woven into the fabric of pre-D-Day living.
It was a self-disciplined, free society that those troops cherished, and they
fought a war for it.

The Woodstock celebrants won a cultural war eliminating both the standards
of, and the respect for, self-discipline.

The spoils of that victory are numerous and devastating.
                                                          -John A. Howard
                                                           Rockford Institute
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 3 Aug 1994 16:19:55 -1000
From:    Jim Adams <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Air show

****************************************************************************
Jim Adams                       [email-masked]
USS Arizona Memorial, NPS        (808) 423-7300
1 Arizona Memorial Place
Honolulu, Hawaii 96818
****************************************************************************

Robert wrote
>
> Does it have any spare parts that will fit the interior of a -6A?  :-)
>
Sorry, plane is in bad shape after having been in salt H2O for 53 years.
Plenty of burn damage also.

> Your best source is probably the Smithsonian.  All the technical drawings
> and construction materials have been converted to microfilm and are
> available (for a fee).  I beleive there are other sources as well of
> technical materials that people can point you to...
>
Thanks for the info.
>
> --
> Robert J. Granvin
> Southern Minnesota Wing Confederate Air Force
>
>

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 3 Aug 1994 15:07:15 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Battle of Malta

Dan...
        Your narrow exaample of a single unit in Burma by no means  is
typical of the Royal Air Force's policy regarding commissioning of
pilots.
        The nationality of aircrew had absolutely *nothing* to do with
whether or not anyone received a commission. In fact, so far as Canadians
are concerned, there was a far higher proportion of commissioned aircrew
than was the case among British aircrew. (Speaking as an ex-gunner myself)
it was quite common for Canadian air-gunners to be made up from the basic
AG rank of Sergeant to commissioning as Pilot Offiver after making a dozen
or so bombing (or fighter) combat operations. Again, though, this was by
no means the only criterion. Different strokes for different folks.
        However, by personal experience, and first-hand observation, I can
take issue with any revisionist impression that "colonials" were treated
any differently than British aircrew when it came to commissions. Quite the
contrary, often, considering how much more lavish Canadian/Australian/NZ
governments were in handing us commissions in contrast with the much stricter
RAF standards.
        American comrades, by the way, often remarked to me how much more
snobbish the American Air Force seemed to them, when it came to handing out
commissions to "ivy league" types joining USAAF.
        Regards -- Sidney Allinson.

--

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 3 Aug 1994 21:33:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Battle of Malta

 >      In the USAAF, there was a peculiar rank for a while to straddle this
 >question -- "Flight Officer".  The rank was something above a  sergeant but
 >below a commissioned officer. Flight Officer rank was phaed out by the AMERICAN
 >AIR FORCE around 1942, most of whome holding that rank becoming lieutenents.
 >Regards -- Sidney Allinson.

Sidney,
I think you are mixing two different ranks here.  At the beginning
of the war, the USAAF had pilots with the rank of Sergeant but they
were all commissioned lieutenants in 1942 and no other sergeant
pilots were made during the war.  According to AAF, THE OFFICIAL
GUIDE TO THE ARMY AIR FORCES, Simon and Schuster, 1944, "On 8 Jul 42,
the grade of flight officer was established.  Upon graduation (from
pilot training), aviation (flying training) cadets who have not
qualified as 2nd lieutenants may be appointed flight officers with
a status equivalent to that of warrant officer, junior grade.
Promotion from flight officer to 2nd lieutenant is permitted."
Bombadiers, navigators, glider pilots and radar observers could
also be appointed flight officers.

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

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 3 Aug 1994 21:39:46 EDT
From:    RICHARD KING <[email-masked]>
Subject: Addr: Saltpeter

My sincere apologies to Larry Jewell, but as an Indiana
University graduate I can pass on the rumour everyone swore
to, that Purdue University (our archenemy, uh, ur rival)
in the 1950s got in a lot of trouble because it became known
that the cooks were allegedly putting saltpeter in the food to
control those wild and crazy Boilermaker urges.

Unfortunately, I don't have any information about World War II
and this subject, however, but I'll keep my ears open.

Richard King ([email-masked]), who is probably really
asking for it this time...

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 01:41:19 PST
From:    "Keller, Theron P." <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: USN Chronology 08-04-94

UNITED STATES NAVY CHRONOLOGY
from:
//byrd.mu.wvnet.edu/pub/history/military/wwii/naval_chronology/chr4(4,5).txt

1944
08/04 Fri. Aircraft from carrier task group (Rear Adm. J. J. Clark) and
           cruisers and destroyers (Rear Adm. L. T. DuBose) attack
           Japanese convoy and other shipping in the Chichi Jima are
           Bonin Islands. At the same time aircraft from the second
           carrier task group (Rear Adm. A. E. Montgomery) bomb airfield
           facilities on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands.
            Japanese naval vessels sunk, Volcano and Bonin Island
             attacks:
             Destroyer MATSU, by carrier-based aircraft,
              27 d. 40'N., 141 d. 48'E.
             Transport NO. 4, by carrier-based aircraft,
              27 d. 07'N., 142 d. 12'E:
             Transport NO. 133, by carrier-based aircraft,
              24 d. 47'N., 141 d.  20'E.

Theron P. Keller
Logicon, Inc.
Dahlgren, VA  22448 USA
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 07:01:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 4 AUG 44

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
FRIDAY, 4 AUGUST 1944
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
  C-47, Douglas Skytrain
  L-5, Stinson Sentinel
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-39, Bell Airacobra
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): 4 P-38s accompanied by 1 B-25 fly top cover
for a naval force near Massacre Bay, Attu Island, Aleutian Islands; 4 B-25s
fly an uneventful shipping sweep.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, B-25s bomb the town of Sahmaw in
support of advancing Allied ground forces; P-51s also support ground forces
in the Sahmaw-Taungni area; fighter-bombers hit various targets, including
town areas, gun positions, troops, and communications lines in or near Shwegu
Pinbaw, Kazu, Bhamo, Myitkyina, Bilumyo, Mawhe, Mainghka, and Onsansaing.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 20 B-25s bomb the town of Mangshih
and airfields at Lashio and Hsenwi; 32 P-40s hit the town area and targets of
opportunity at Tengehung; 70 P-40s attack troops, supplies, river shipping,
and trucks at several points in the Tungting Lake-Yangtze River region; and
4 P-38s knock out 2 bridges at Mongyu.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown:
  Mission 514: 1,307 bombers and 746 fighters are dispatched to strategic
targets in Germany; 15 bombers are lost:
  1. Of 358 B-17s, 181 hit Hamburg oil refineries, 50 hit Bremen oil
refineries, 23 hit Nordhof Airfield, 22 hit Ostend, Belgium coastal defenses,
14 hit Einswarden and 7 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 0-4-2
Luftwaffe aircraft; 8 B-17s are lost, 8 damaged beyond repair and 196
damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 63 MIA. Escort is provided by 234 P-47s
and P-51s; they claim 38-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 9-0-1 on the
ground; 2 P-47s and 3 P-51s are lost (pilots are MIA) and 2 P-47s and 2 P-51s
are damaged.
  2. Of 425 B-27s, 221 hit Peenemunde, 110 hit Anklam Airfield and 70 hit
Anklam aircraft factories; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-17s are
lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 94 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 2 WIA and
40 MIA. Escort is provided by 223 of 250 P-51s; they claim 4-0-4 Luftwaffe
aircraft on the ground; 9 P-51s are lost (pilots are MIA) and 1 is damaged
beyond repair; 1 pilot is KIA.
  3. Of 446 B-24s, 148 hit Rostock aviation factories, 89 hit Kiel, 88 hit
Schwerin aviation factories, 71 hit Wismar aviation factories, 12 hit
Schlutup, 11 hit Warien and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 4 B-24s are lost
and 114 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 2 WIA and 40 MIA. Escort is provided by
209 P-38s and P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost and 1 P-38 is damaged; 1 pilot is KIA.
  4. Of 78 B-24s, 39 hit Husum Airfield and 29 hit Hemmingstedt/Heide oil
refinery without loss.
  Mission 515: The first APHRODITE mission is flown using 4 radio-controlled
war weary B-17s as flying bombs; targets are Mimoyecques, Siracourt, Watten,
and Wizernes V-weapon sites but none are hit; 1 drone B-17 crashes killing 1
crew. Escort is provided by 16 P-47s and 16 P-51s.
  Mission 516: In France, 154 B-17s and 36 fighters are dispatched to hit
V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais and coastal defenses at Middelkerke and
Gravelines:
  1. Of 95 B-24s, 24 hit the Pas de Calais, 12 hit Achiet Airfield, 11 hit
Gravelines, 11 hit Middelkerke, 6 hit Lens marshalling yard and 6 hit
Villy/Montigne marshalling yard; 17 B-24s are damaged.
  2. Of 59 B-17s, 13 hit targets of opportunity, 12 hit Lille/Vendeville
Airfield and 11 hit a bridge at Gravelines; 12 B-17s are damaged.
  Escort for the two groups above is provided by 35 P-47s and P-51s.
  67 of 69 P-47s fly a fighter-bomber mission against Plantlunne Airfield;
they claim 30-0-5 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-47 is lost (pilot is MIA), 1 is
damaged beyond repair and 8 damaged.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, 62 A-20s and B-26s bomb
rail bridges at Oissel, Epernon, and Saint-Remy-sur-Avre and an ammunition
dump and bivouac area in Foret de Sille; fighters furnish cover over the
battle area and for an armored column, fly sweeps, dive-bomb enemy positions
and also fuel dumps at Angers, attack an ammunition dump at Tours, and fly
armed reconnaissance in the Quimper-Nantes, Amines, and Saint-Quentin areas;
HQ 70th Fighter Wing moves from Criqueville to Villedieu les Poeles; the
14th Liaison Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Third Army),
moves from Le Repas to Beauchamps with L-5s. The 596th and 598th Bombardment
Squadrons (Medium), 397th Bombardment Group (Medium), move from Rivenhall to
Hurn, England with B-26s.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): In an attempt to comply with
the first direct Soviet request for AAF air strikes, 70+ P-38s and P-51s
leave Italy, attack the airfield and town of Focsani, Rumania and land at
Operation FRANTIC bases in the USSR.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): In Italy, weather severely hampers
the day's operations. medium bombers attacking bridges at Levens,
Ventimiglia, Fontan, and along the Var River achieve poor results; fighter-
bombers in same the general area hit bridges, tracks, guns, junction, and
airfield, and strike at Nice, France harbor.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): In the Marianas Islands, Saipan
Island Island-based B-25s fly 2 strikes against Guam Island. B-25s staging
from the Marshall Island, hit Ponape Island. HQ 30th Bombardment Group
(Heavy) and 27th, 38th and 392d Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy) move from
Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands to Saipan Island with B-24s; and the 9th
Troop Carrier Squadron, Seventh Air Force, moves from Abemama Island, Gilbert
Islands to Saipan Island with C-47s.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s bomb the
supply area on Utagal Island, the airfield at Yap Island and oil
installations at Boela, Ceram Island. In New Guinea, B-24s attack Fann; B-25s
and A-20s hit oilfields at Klamono and at Kasim Island and bomb Nabire
Airfield; P-39s strafe Pegun Island; A-20s and fighter-bombers in support of
Allied forces pound enemy concentrations, supplies, and barges E of the
Driniumor River, at Abau, S of Torricelli Range, at Boram, and just W of
Wewak; and HQ 86th Fighter Wing moves from Finschhafen to Toem.

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      |
|  Bellcore              |  privileges as we enjoy forget in      |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA    |  time that men have died to win them.  |
|  [email-masked]  |                       FDR              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 12:16:00 +0000
From:    Daniel =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Mal=E9part_=28514=29?= 283-0348
         <[email-masked]>
Subject: GEN: Questions re. aviation

    Good morning, gentlepersons!

    I'd have two questions for the more aviation-inclined...

    Question 1: I remember reading years ago about an aircraft called the
    Consolidated Privateer.  If memory serves, this was a modification of
    the classic Liberator bomber, but with a single tail.  Anybody has
    info. on this one?  Was it used operationally during WWII?

    Question 2: A colleague of mine told me that the Smitshsonian was
    maintaining an FTP site from which you could download aircraft images
    (among other things).  Does it really exist?  If so, what's the
    address?

    Thanks very much in advance!

    Daniel Malepart, Computer specialist | "Il faut detester la guerre et
    Montreal, Quebec, Canada             | respecter ceux qui l'ont faite."
    [email-masked]          | - Antoine de St-Exupery

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 06:13:52 -0700
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: 50 Years Ago - 05-AUG-1944

On 05-AUG-1944, the following occurred -

World War II - The Battlefronts
-------------------------------
Western Front - In Brittany, the VIII Corps is attacking simultaneously to the
     west, southwest and south. The 6th Armoured Division continues to advance
     west towards Brest. The 83rd Division attacks the outer defences of the
     fortress of St Malo. Units of the 4th Armoured Division reach Vannes.
     Further east the 90th Division captures Mayenne and the 79th Division
     approaches Laval. In the 1st Army sector, the VII Corps continues to
     advance southeast of Mortain. The 29th Division (XIX Corps) is pushing
     on towards Vire.

Eastern Front - In southern Poland and northern Hungary, the Russians send the
     4th Ukraine Front into the line south of the 1st Ukraine Front.

The Homefront
-------------
New Explosive - The Army has announced that pentolite, an explosive 20% more
     powerfull than TNT, is now being used in rocket projectiles.

45 Killed In Wreck - Forty-five Negro laborers have been killed and more than
     30 injured when an Atlantic Coast Line train derailed near Stockton,
     Georgia.

=============================================================================

Sources: "2194 Days of War" by Cesare Salmaggi and Alfredo Pallavisimi, "The
World Almanac Book Of WW II" by Peter Young, "United States Naval Chronology,
World War II" by Naval Historical Division - United States Navy, "Facts On
File Yearbook 1944, Person's Index Of World Events" edited by R.L. Lapica.

----------
John Davis  ([email-masked]/[email-masked])
Cary, N.C.
----------

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 09:17:03 -0400
From:    Wendy Slader <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Truman/Atom Bomb

On Sat, 30 Jul 1994, Terry Moore wrote:

>     Believe it or not, there was talk of inviting responsible
> Japanese representatives to this country through channels, of course,
> to view a demonstration of this weapon before its use, as a means of
> ending the war without its being used. The idea was discarded when it
> was felt that it wasn't certain if the device would work, that the
> Japanese would refuse such an invitation, and even if they did, they
> probably would think the demonstration a hoax.
>
>     Terry

  Hi Terry:

  Thanks for the info.  It stands to reason that somewhere along the line
it must have crossed somebody's mind to show a "preview."  However, it is
also true that war propaganda was so prevalent that the only reality for
many, unfortunately, was the "blast and the heat."  Worth a shot though,
I'd say; considering the magnitude of the potential outcome.  And if in
fact the Japanese had been forewarned to this degree, and they didn't buy
it, perhaps there would be less of us sitting here pondering the morality
of it all....

Best wishes

Wendy

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 09:17:55 -0400
From:    John Meierhoffer <[email-masked]>
Subject: GEN: Questions re. aviation -Reply

     Question 2: A colleague of mine told me that the Smitshsonian was
    maintaining an FTP site from which you could download aircraft images
    (among other things).  Does it really exist?  If so, what's the
    address?

    Thanks very much in advance!

    Daniel Malepart, Computer specialist | "Il faut detester la guerre et
    Montreal, Quebec, Canada             | respecter ceux qui l'ont faite."
    [email-masked]          | - Antoine de St-Exupery
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Perhaps the following  will help.  This is an abbreviated version.  The full version is
available on the Smithsonian FTP server.  I believe, but do not have the details that the
phote server is also available via gopher

John Meierhoffer, [email-masked]

>From Smithsonian:

 WELCOME TO THE  "PHOTO1.SI.EDU"  FTP SERVER:
 ---------------------------------------

Welcome to "photo1.si.edu" located in the Smithsonian
Institution's Office of Printing & Photographic Services in
Washington, D.C.  "Photo1" is designed to make a variety of
Smithsonian photographs available as electronic image files.

Photo1 is available through the Internet as a result of Project
Chapman, a joint effort between this office and the Apple Library
of Tomorrow program.  See below and [ALOT-Chapman.txt].

Photo1 is a Macintosh Quadra 700 computer running A/UX software.
File names are case sensitive.

Anonymous users *MAY NOT* upload (PUT) files on to this FTP
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We request that you always provide a working E-mail address when
answering our FTP server's password prompt.  All accesses to and
file transfers from this FTP server are logged with your host
name and E-mail address.  Guests abusing the few rules that we
have will be denied access.  See PHOTO1 RULES below.

These images cover topics ranging from air and space to science,
technology, history, and even current events.  They are designed
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to see and learn about many of the Smithsonian's most popular and
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The images cover a broad spectrum of subjects which we hope will
interest our electronic audience.  Here we are able to present
photographs from many of our museums on the Mall in Washington,
plus other Smithsonian bureaus such as the National Zoo and the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Starting with some of our best photographs, all scanning and
image preparation is done in our Electronic Imaging Laboratory.
In addition to the image, extensive captions are included as
part  of our mission for the "increase and diffusion of
knowledge."

These captions are either within the image file itself, (the 89a
Comment Block in GIF files; or captions in the JFIF.uu files read
with the ImageBrowser HyperCard stack); or are available as a
separate accompanying ASCII file in the folder PREVIEW-TEXT
[filename.ASC].

Individual image captions are also available in catalog programs
which are available on the server.  The PHOTO1 CATALOG is
available as both a DOS program and a Macintosh HyperCard Stack
which can be found in /images/catalogs.

Each catalog allows browsing of descriptions and file names as
well as searching for text strings.  Captions and other
information from the individual image files can be printed from
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We hope you enjoy these images and we invite comments via E-mail
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The images here are in two forms.

1.  First, they are in the GIF format.  Remember that
    GIF's are only 8-bit images.  They are, however,
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    Macintosh users can use GIFCONVERTER 2.3.7 which is
        in APPS to view these files.

    DOS Users can use CSHOWA, which is also in APPS.

    Unix users can again use XLOADIMAGE.

2.  Secondly, we have the same image files in JFIF.uu.  These
    are the JPEG files which have been saved in JFIF (JPEG File
    Interchange Format), and which have also been .uu encoded so
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    In APPS there are several HyperCard stacks [MakeJFIF] and
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    Computer and can be used to download and view these JFIF.uu
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    DOS users can use UUENCODE, also found in APPS, to convert
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3.  There is also a PREVIEW-TEXT Folder.  This folder contains
    individual captions for each image as ASCII text files,
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  Text deleted ...........

                          PROJECT CHAPMAN

This Internet file server has been made possible through a
generous grant from the Apple Library of Tomorrow Program, under
Project Chapman (named for John Chapman, a.k.a. "Johnny
Appleseed").

       <Smithsonian Printing & Photographic Services>
                     <[email-masked]>

December 22, 1992

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 10:01:31 -0500
From:    "Frank W. Patnaude,
         Jr. ACS x2857" <[email-masked]>
Subject: GEN: Churchill, Conventry, Ultra (Backround info wanted)

In Joe's ADMIN note, he mentioned the following question:

>        2. Did Churchill allow the bombing of Conventry to occur in order
>           to protect the secret of Ultra?

As I'm new to this list, could someone fill me in on this event ('cause I've
never heard of it) and the main conspiracy theory ('cause I'm curious). I'm
not looking to start an debate on the topic, I'm just looking for information.
Replying to me or the list is fine.
TIA

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Frank W. Patnaude, Jr.              | "Those who do not learn from
 Applications Programmer             |  History are destined to repeat it.
 University of Maryland              |  And the same goes for Science and
 Baltimore County Campus             |  Math."
 [email-masked]      |          - Woody Boyd, Cheers
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 10:35:42 -0400
From:    Dan Ford <[email-masked]>
Subject: Wild Colonial Boys in the RAF

Sydney Allison recalls that the colonial air forces handed out commissions
left and right, while British aircrew had to be satisfied with sergeants'
stripes. That certainly wasn't the case in Burma. Here are all the RAF
fighter pilots who served in Burma from December 1941 to May 1942,
segregated as to their rank and the air forces they originally joined:

                      Officers               Sergeants
                      British/Colonial       British/Colonial

17 Sq Hurricane       7       7              3       7

135 Sq Hurricane      7       4              3       7

136 Sq Hurricane      8       1              6       5

67 Sq Buffalo         5       0              6       15

Altogether, 27 of the British pilots were officers, while 12 were
sergeants. The ratio is almost reversed for the colonial pilots:  18
officers, 34 sergeants. Since the three Hurricane squadrons were raised in
Britain--they were on their way to North Africa when diverted to
Burma--they were probably typical of RAF squadrons at the end of 1941.

As I noted in my earlier post, the "colonials" included five Americans.
John Barrick compiled one of the best combat records in the RAF in Burma.
C. E. Wisrodt was the last pilot killed in the defense of Rangoon, on
March 3, 1942. Both served in 17 Squadron, both were sergeants, and both
were nicknamed "Tex."

            - Dan      <[email-masked]>

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 10:20:32 PDT
From:    Ben Schapiro <[email-masked]>
Subject: Privateer

>Subject: RE:      GEN: Questions re. aviation
>
>
>    Good morning, gentlepersons!
>
>    I'd have two questions for the more aviation-inclined...
>
>    Question 1: I remember reading years ago about an aircraft called the
>    Consolidated Privateer.  If memory serves, this was a modification of
>    the classic Liberator bomber, but with a single tail.  Anybody has
>    info. on this one?  Was it used operationally during WWII?
>
> Thanks very much in advance!
>
>    Daniel Malepart, Computer specialist | "Il faut detester la guerre et
>    Montreal, Quebec, Canada             | respecter ceux qui l'ont faite."
>    [email-masked]          | - Antoine de St-Exupery
>
Dan,
        To question 1. Yes the PB2Y Privateer was use extensively in the
Pacific by the USN. The Navy did start with some standard Liberators but had
the design modified with a longer fuselage and single tail. These heavily
armed aircraft were used for recon/strike missions but unlike their USAAF
cousins they did not fly in groups as strategic bombers. The PB2Y met a Navy
need for a very long range recon bomber. The PBY design had gone about as
far
as it could and greater range, payload and defensiuve ability was needed as
the war moved west. There is a book on the B-24 that devotes a chap. or two
to the Privateer but it's at home, I'll supply the reference tommorrow.
        These aircraft were effective in both the recon and strike roles,
sinking numerous cargo ships and downing several IJN recon seaplanes. I ave
some shots of a PB2Y shooting down an EMILY.

Ben Schapiro
Customer Support Coordinator
NOTIS Systems, Inc.

[email-masked]
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 11:50:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: Hiroshima

There is an article on Page A4 of the metro edition of the NEW YORK TIMES
today (August 4) titled HIROSHIMA JOURNAL - MUSEUM'S A-BOMB MESSAGE:
THERE'S MORE TO IT.  The first paragraph sets the tone for the article.

  "For two generations the millions of Japanese schoolchildren who filed
through the grim exhibits of the atomic bomb museum at ground zero here saw
history through Hiroshima's distinctive prism, and they could easily be
forgiven for thinking that World War II started on Aug. 6, 1945."

Since it's creation, the city's Peace Memorial Museum has only given the
briefest reference to the politics of WWII or Japan's responsibility for
starting the war.  Instead, the museum has fed Japan's sense of
victimization, retelling the horror stories of what happened to the people
who were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped.

However, a new museum has been built connected to the old museum and it is
intended to fill Hiroshima's historical amnesia with details about the role
the city played in the Japanese war effort.  One of the main architects of
this new effort is Hiroshima's mayor, a former journalist, who has angered
Japanese rightists who have long opposed mixing the history of the war with
the bombing of Hiroshima.

For the first time, the people are learning of the factories that turned
out military hardware and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries where warships were
built.  There are photographs of Korean and Chinese workers brought to
Japan as forced laborers and the military HQ in the center of town.  There
is even a photograph of a lantern parade celebrating the capture of Nanjing,
China although the Japanese-language caption skirts the issue of how many
Chinese were killed by the Japanese during the "Rape of Nanking."  The
caption says that there are "several theories, ranging from tens to hundreds
of thousands" but the English-language caption uses the Chinese estimate of
300,000.

One woman who had moved to Hiroshima in 1952 said, "I didn't know how
deeply Hiroshima was involved in the war" and students said they knew so
little about the war that they were having a hard time making sense of the
exhibits.

The article goes on to explore the issue of the Smithsonians Enola Gay
exhibit.  The Mayor of Hiroshima has agreed to lend some of the museum's
exhibits to the Smithsonian after the Americans assured Japanese officials
that the Smithsonian would give equal weight to the political decision that
led to dropping the bomb and to the devastation it caused.

As reported in various posts to this group, US veterans fear that the
Smithsonian will fail to treat the Enola Gay as a hero.  The Air Force
Association (AFA) has said it is concerned that the exhibit will treat
"Japan and the U.S. as if their participation in the war was morally
equivalent."  The AFA goes on to say that it would be wrong to pull
heartstrings by portraying Hiroshima's devastation.  A Smithsonian official
said that "the (US) veterans wanted the exhibit to stop when the doors of
the bomb bay opened and that's where the Japanese wanted it to begin."

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

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 12:34:47 EDT
From:    Kurt Luginbyhl <[email-masked]>
Subject: Hiroshima

A rather new exhibit has opened at the Smithsonians' National Portrait Gallery
Reporting The War (The Journalistic Coverage of World War II)

This exhibit has a balance of video, radio recordings, pictures drawings carto
ons,photos and wonderful stories about the men and women who covered the war.

Journalists such as Hemmingway, Murrow, cartoonists like Mauldin
Photogs such as Joe Rosenthal (iwo jima) and Gene Smith also others that most
of us would recognize either by name or deed.  Dan De Luce, Ernie Pyle (who los
t his life covering the war) and writer Richard Tregakis who produced
Guadalcanal Diary.

Overall an interesting and somewhat warmly compelling exhibit if your in town
it is worth an hour.
8th and F streets DC

Let me know if I can provide more info!

[email-masked]

H. A. Kurt Luginbyhl
Scientific Computer Specialist
National Museum of Natural History
Washington D.C. 20560

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 12:53:39 EDT
From:    Richard Kaplan <[email-masked]>
Subject: US preparedness 1939

I thought the list would appreciate this, its just a shame I can't upload the
photos.

While browsing our Dewey collection, I came across a 200 page book entitled:

                        The Army of the United States:
                        Its components, its arms, services,
                        and bureaus, its military and
                        nonmilitary activities.

Senate Document #91, 76th Congress, 1st session.
"Prepared by the War Department for Morris Sheppard, chairman of the Committee
on Military Affairs of the Senate."
                                Submitted to the Senate June 7, 1939

The book has short general descriptions of the components, manpower and weapons
in the existing US Army.  The photos are of either neatly turned out soldiers
in WW-I helmets, or wide brimmed campaign hats.  Most are holding Springfields,
wear puttees instead of leggins, and have small packs with gas mask cases.
A goodly portion of the army's mobility, if the book is any indication, was
still horse drawn.  Substantial sections are devoted, with pictures, to the
importance of the cavalry, and to horse drawn field artillery.

One of the clearer pictures shows a 75mm pack howitzer with a caisson being
pulled by 4 or 6 horses with soldiers mounted on three of them.  On the
caission's left side is the insignia of the the 1st Cavalry Div. (Yellow
shield, diagonol stripe, horse head profile in upper right)

The other noticable weapons are the variety of 14" and 16" coast artillery, and
railroad guns.  The aircraft illustrated as being the mainstays of the AAC are
Seversky P-35s, Northrop A-17s (look like Vindicators) and Douglas B-18 medium
bombardment airplanes.  The future of the AAC is indicated with a flight of
very early B-17s passing by the Empire State Building; these have the narrow
tail, and bubble canopies on the sides and for the radio operator.  The other
future planes pictured are the Curtiss P-36, Lockheed XP-38, and Curtiss XP-40.
There are also two really unusual planes that I would like to find out about:
the Bell XFM-1 and the Curtiss A-18.

The Bell XFM-1 looks like a much shortened B-29 (cigar shape), with two
engines.  These are pusher engines, with the front of the engine housings on
each wing being a cockpit with what looks like long cannon or MGs sticking out.
The A-18 has a double tail, a longer cockpit (room for 2) than a P-38, and
radial engines. The Curtiss P-36 also gets an honorable mention.

I'll try to include more later.

                                        Richard Kaplan
                                        Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 12:31:52 -0500
From:    "Louis R. Coatney" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Postwar pogroms in Poland

There is a book -- by Checiwinski (sp?), I believe -- which
  covers this in detail.  C. accuses the NKVD of starting the
  pogroms, in order to isolate the Poles, politically,
  internationally.

Remember that most indigenous peoples of Eastern Europe saw
  the Jews and Communists as symbiotic.  The Poles couldn't
  take vengeance on the Soviets for their postwar subjugation/
  misery, but the Jews -- as usual -- were the proxies.

Anti-Semitism certainly has been a factor in Polish society,
  but the (prewar) upper classes were very liberal-minded.
  Marshal Pilsudski did his best to discourage anti-Semitism.

Of course, it was this very intelligentsia which Stalin strove
  to exterminate in the Katyn killings and later.  (There are
  reports of mass NKVD exterminations of young Home Army men
  and women, who couldn't be traced in the carnage of 1944.)

This is in my thesis, of course.  Again:

    Byrd.mu.wvnet.edu   /pub/history/military/wwii/special.
                                       studies/katyn.massacre
    (Set to binary.)

Lou Coatney, Historian at Large

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 14:35:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: Test

This is a test.

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 13:18:00 PDT
From:    Julie Jenkins <[email-masked]>
Subject: NYT article

At the risk of driving everyone completely over the edge, I want to urge anyone
who can or who still cares to see today's--8/4--NY Times.  There is an article
about Hiroshima's new museum, designed to complement the Peace Memorial.  This
museum is about pre-bomb Hiroshima--the militarization, the slave labor, the
war factories, the public approval, everything.  It's astounding Hiroshimans--
students interviewed say that they know so little about the war that they can't
really follow the exhibits.  But one very intriguing point is that the museum
has its info panels in English as well as Japanese.  And to spotlight how dicey
the war is in Japan, a panel in English about the big celebratory parade in H.
after the Nanjing fell says that Chinese casualties are estimated at 300 thous.
while the Japanese panel says there are "many theories about the nos. from
thousands to hundreds of thousands."  No one coming to the museum had any idea
of any of it, even people who have lived there for 40 years.  For them history
started post bomb.

H. has also agreed to lend material to us for the Enola Gay exhibit once they
decided that we were not going to glamorize the whole thing.  The new H. muse-
does not agree that dropping the bomb was called for but it does provide panels
that explain Truman's alternative--the museum follows the theory that T.
dropped the bomb primarily for post war global political reasons.  But the rea-
son we're getting Japanese stuff is because the Enola G exhibit is contextuali-
zing everything.  As we know, some people feel that the Enola G exhibit does
not valorize the flyers sufficiently, but a Smithsonian man put the whole con-
troversy in a nutshell, he said that people in the US want an Enola G exhibit
to END when the bomb bay doors open and people in Japan want their exhibit to
START when the bomb hits the ground.

I wonder if our exhibit will have panels in English & Japanese as well?  Does
anyone know?  Julie

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:30:36 -0400
From:    Dan Ford <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Hiroshima

On Thu, 4 Aug 1994, mc killop wrote:
> One woman who had moved to Hiroshima in 1952 said, "I didn't know how
> deeply Hiroshima was involved in the war" and students said they knew so
> little about the war that they were having a hard time making sense of the
> exhibits.

Not at all unusual, I suspect. When I was translating Japanese memoirs of
the air war in SE Asia in 1941-42, I had the help of a young woman of
about 26, a university graduate and I think a Tokyo resident. She knew
nothing about the war and had great difficulty in translating words or
concepts having to do with military actions. She did not understand how
bombs fell, or that a pilot could bail out of an airplane.

We had a feature film about the 64th (Kato) sentai, the most famous army
fighter group. At one point all the pilots jump to their feet and sing the
regimental hymn. Very stirring. Anyhow, when Miyuki went home for
Christmas she told her parents what she was doing, and her mother stood up
and sang the 64th sentai song, having presumably seen that movie as a
child. It was as if the Japanese drew a curtain in 1945 and never looked
behind it again.

            - Dan      <[email-masked]>

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:50:28 -0500
From:    TOM BROWN <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Test

Did you pass the test??

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 21:15:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 5 AUG 44

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
SATURDAY, 5 AUGUST 1944
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
  Beaufighter, Bristol
  C-47, Douglas Skytrain
  F-5, Lockheed Lightning
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-39, Bell Airacobra
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): A weather mission is followed by a shipping
sweep flown by 2 B-25s which is aborted early due to weather.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 14 B-25s bomb the town area of
Taungni and stores area at Bilumyo; 50 P-51s also pound the Taungni area; 21
P-47s attack targets of opportunity throughout the widespread area around
Bhamo. In India, the 10th Combat Cargo Squadron, 3d Combat Cargo Group, moves
from Sylhet to Dergaon with C-47s.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 15 B-25s bomb the town of Wanling;
3 hit Lashio Airfield, Burma; 36 P-40s again pound Tengchung; in the
Tungting Lake area 50+ P-40s attack communications targets, troops, and
numerous trucks.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 519: In the morning, 1,171
bombers and 646 fighters are dispatched to attack strategic targets in the
Magdeburg-Brunswick-Hannover region of Germany including oil refineries and
tank and aircraft production; 13 bombers and 4 fighters are lost:
  1. Of 215 B-17s, 93 hit Magdeburg/Neustadt, 87 hit Magdeburg/Krupp, 14 hit
Helmstedt Airfield and 6 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 3-1-3
Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-17s are lost and 189 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA
and 28 MIA. Escort is provided by 174 P-38s and P-51s; they claim 19-1-7
aircraft in the air and 1-0-2 on the ground; 1 P-38 and 3 P-51s are lost
(pilots are MIA) and 1 P-38 and 5 P-51s are damaged; 1 pilot is KIA and 1
WIA.
  2. 70 of 78 B-24s hit Halberstadt Airfield and 1 hits a target of
opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost and 7 damaged; 9 airmen are MIA. Escort is
provided by 41 of 47 P-47s; they claim 4-0-1 aircraft.
  3. Of 452 B-24s, 98 hit Brunswick Aero-Engineering, 85 hit Fallerslaben, 69
hit Brunswick/Wilhelmitor, 65 hit Brunswick/Me 110 Assembly Plant, 44 hit
Brunswick/Bussing, 30 hit Brunswick aircraft components factory, 9 hit Goslar
Airfield and 8 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond
repair and 147 damaged; 13 airmen are KIA, 5 WIA and 55 MIA. Escort is
provided by 172 of 188 P-51s; they claim 5-0-1 in the air and 3-0-3 on the
ground; 1 P-51 is damaged.
  4. Of 426 B-17s, 176 hit Nienburg, 143 hit Hannover/Langenhagen Airfield,
72 hit Dollbergen and 3 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost, 1 is
damaged beyond repair and 130 are damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 5 WIA and 15
MIA. Escort is provided by 186 of 197 P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft; 2
P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 6 damaged; 2 pilots are MIA.
  Mission 520: 38 of 39 B-17s hit 6 V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais; 19
B-17s are damaged. Escort is provided by 10 of 12 P-51s; they claim 0-0-1
aircraft on the ground.
  Mission 522: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and France
during the night.
  19 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
  In England, HQ 492d Bombardment Group (Heavy) moves from North Pickenham to
Harrington; and the 406th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), VIII Air Force
Composite Command [attached to 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional)], moves
from Harrington to Cheddington with B-24s.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In order that operations controlled
by the Ninth Air Force be developed in close association with HQ 12th Army
Group, the Ninth's HQ at Uxbridge and Grandcamp-les-Bains are closed and a
single HQ opened the following day (6 Aug) at Saint-Sauveur-Lendelin, France
near both Advance HQ 12th Army Group and Advance HQ Allied Expeditionary Air
Force (AEAF). HQ 50th and 53d Troop Carrier Wings of the IX Troop Carrier
Command are attached to the Mediterranean Allied Air Force (MAAF) for the
purpose of forming, with HQ 51st Troop Carrier Wing, a Provisional Troop
Carrier Air Division to handle the airborne phase of the invasion of S
France; and HQ 406th Fighter Group moves from Ashford, England to Tour-en-
Bassin. In England, HQ 397th Bombardment Group (Medium) and 597th and 599th
Bombardment Squadrons (Medium) move from Rivenhall to Hurn with B-26s.
  In France, 300+ A-20s and B-26s bomb Saint-Malo harbor and Foret de Sille
fuel dump during the night of 4/5 Aug, and during the day, rail bridges at 6
cities in N and W France, and marshalling yard at Compiegne; fighters furnish
cover for ground forces and fly armed reconnaissance over wide areas of N
France.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): In Italy, weather again restricts
operations; A-20s on armed reconnaissance in the Po Valley during the night
of 4/5 Aug attack lights and vehicles; fighter-bombers fly a few unsuccessful
missions against bridges; and the detachment of the 415th Night Fighter
Squadron, 64th Fighter Wing (attached to 87th Fighter Wing), operating form
Piombino, Italy returns to base at Solonzara, Corsica with Beaufighters.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): B-25s from Saipan Island fly 2
strikes against Guam Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s bomb
personnel and supply areas on Yap Island; other B-24s bomb oil facilities at
Boela, Ceram Island and a few bomb Sasa Airfield, Philippine Islands while
B-25s hit villages and small boats near Seleman Bay, Celebes Islands and
afterwards bomb Besar Island, Sunda Islands. In New Guinea, B-24s attack a
seaplane anchorage at Kokas while P-39s strafe barges in the W Geelvink Bay
area; despite bad weather, P-39s manage to hit Luain gun positions and
ammunition dump; and HQ 6th Photographic Reconnaissance Group and 26th
Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron move from Nadzab and Hollandia
respectively to Biak Island with F-5s.

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      |
|  Bellcore              |  privileges as we enjoy forget in      |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA    |  time that men have died to win them.  |
|  [email-masked]  |                       FDR              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

05/0118Z AUG

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 18:47:36 -0700
From:    Ed Kettler <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: GEN: Questions re. aviation

Daniel,

The following information is from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1945-46
edition.

"The PB4Y-2 is a long-range oversea Bomber-Reconnaissance development of
the PB4Y-1 Liberator.  The original concept for the PB4Y-2 was placed
with the Consolidated Vultee Corporation by the US Navy in May 1943, and
work on threee prototypes was begun almost immediately.  Four months
later, on September 20, 1943, the first prototype flew, followed on
October 30 and December 15 by the second and third respectively.

"The PB4Y-2 uses the same Davis wing and landing gear as the Liberator.
Otherwise it is a new design embodying most of the structural features of
its predecessor."

Fuselage was lengthened 7 feet in fron of the wing.  Armament was a power
turret w/2 0.50 mgs in the nose, two dorsal turrets w/2 0.50 mgs each, a
power turret w/2 0.50 mgs in the tail.  There were waist gun blisters w/2
0.50 mgs on each side aft of the wings.  The main visible
distinguishing feature was the tall single vertical tail instead of the
twin tails of the Liberator series.  Crew was eleven: pilot, copilot,
navigator, bombadier, 5 gunners and 2 radio operators.

The Privateer did see combat in the Pacific, but I don't have any details.

Hope that helps,

Ed Kettler                                       [email-masked]

On Thu, 4 Aug 1994, Daniel =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Mal=E9part_=28514=29?= 283-0348 wrote:

>     Good morning, gentlepersons!
>
>     I'd have two questions for the more aviation-inclined...
>
>     Question 1: I remember reading years ago about an aircraft called the
>     Consolidated Privateer.  If memory serves, this was a modification of
>     the classic Liberator bomber, but with a single tail.  Anybody has
>     info. on this one?  Was it used operationally during WWII?
>
>     Question 2: A colleague of mine told me that the Smitshsonian was
>     maintaining an FTP site from which you could download aircraft images
>     (among other things).  Does it really exist?  If so, what's the
>     address?
>
>     Thanks very much in advance!
>
>     Daniel Malepart, Computer specialist | "Il faut detester la guerre et
>     Montreal, Quebec, Canada             | respecter ceux qui l'ont faite."
>     [email-masked]          | - Antoine de St-Exupery
>

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 1994 22:47:19 -0400
From:    Emery Ford <[email-masked]>
Subject: GEN:  CHEM WARFARE IN WW2

Hello folks,

I never realized how close we came to chemical warfare in WW2.  I
thought I'd take out another couple of paragraphs from _A_WORLD_AT_ARMS_,
by Gerhard Weinberg, to share with everyone.  Does anyone have any
additional information?

Emery

======================================================================
        The United States built up a very large stock of the gases used
in World War I for employment in case either the Germans or the Japanese
urned to theis weapon.  Although the possibility of the use of gas in
combat was considered in the preliminary discussions of the invasion of
Iwo Jima and the Japanese home islands in 1945, such projects were
always vetoed by the President or dropped by the military on their own.
The shipment of chemical warfare shells to the theaters of war for use
if retaliatory employment proved necessary led to the greatest loss of
life in a gas accident during the war.  A German air force bombing raid
on the ships in the harbor of Bari in Italy on December 2, 1943, led to
the destruction of one ship (among seventeen) which carried 100 tons of
mustard gas in bombs; over a thousand Allied personnel and Italian
civilians being killed as a result.
        Far larger numbers had been killed accidentally and
intentionally by the Japanese, who had built up a large poison gas
program beginning in the last months of World War I.  They repeatedly
used gas for experiments and in the war against China.  Perhaps because
this employment was almost all carried out before the Japanese attacked
the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands, the Western Powers
chose not to retaliate in kind.  This subject still awaitsfurther
invesigation.  The employment by the Japanese of a German-invented gas
grenade in the Imphal campaign in the summer of 1944 was seen as an
isolated, and quite possibly unauthorized, incident.  Improper
safeguards and processes left hundreds of former workers in the Japanese
at Okunoshima in damaged health.

_A_WORLD_AT_ARMS_, pp.559

------------------------------

End of WWII-L Digest - 3 Aug 1994 to 4 Aug 1994
***********************************************