Memories from WWII

Posted on November 11, 2011 by lmsinca

My Dad was a Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War II and flew 35 missions over Germany as a bombardier in a B-17. He wanted to be a pilot but a deviated septum kept him out of the cock pit. He celebrated his 20th. birthday over there at the end of 1944 and kept a diary of his missions, summarizing the first 11, and then documenting each one after that in a 3” X 5” brown spiral notebook written in pencil. When I was in 8th grade I was home sick from school one day and, being a “nosey parker”, was going through his photos of the war and came across his little book. The front page simply said “Secret!” and so naturally I spent the rest of the day reading it and even took it to school the next day to share with one of my classes. Boy, did I get into a lot of trouble for that. Shortly before my Dad died I again rummaged through all his war memorabilia and put together a beautiful shadow box piece for him for Father’s Day. We invited a lot of his friends and our family over to honor his life and his service but I couldn’t find the diary. I asked him about it but he indicated he didn’t know what happened to it. A few weeks after his death I finally came across it again, a little post it on the front with my name on it, and to this day it is a treasured keepsake in our family.

Here are just a few of the entries.

September, 1944

The raid on Magdeburg was very successful. Visibility was good but flak was very accurate. Think it was as rough as any mission we have been on. It was on this raid that we believe we saw a “jet plane”, the first and only enemy aircraft to be seen by any of our crew so far.

Next day came Ludwigshafen, a target which has been attacked again and again by the 8th Air Force. I have never seen it hit really successfully. Again the flak was very accurate. Tail gunner saw a B-17 go down in pieces and flames and I saw one circling slowly with #3 engine spurting flames and also saw three chutes.

It was on the 17th of Sept. that we got our Air Medal mission. Was a milk run to Holland. We bombed flak installations around the Arnhem. This was in preparation for the great airborne invasion. Arnhem later became quite the headline news.

October 4, 1944

We have now earned a cluster for the Air Medal. Could have been a rough mission but I guess we were just lucky. The bombing was done PFF and the target was marshalling yards at Koln (Cologne). They briefed us on 290 guns but the gunners must have been out to lunch. Some of them came close but there wasn’t too much. Barney picked up a few holes and was forced to feather #4. It was colder than it has ever been so far, -40 C. The flag’s up so maybe will get #13 in tomorrow. Could hope for an easy one but I think they are a thing of the past. By the way, the bombing today was in support of the attack on Aachen.

November 5, 1944

We just got back from a rough one to Ludwigshafen. They really threw up everything at us. I believe there was more flak than ever before. We lost two ships over the target. They were out of the low squadron. Our primary target, visual only, was in direct support of a drive by Gen. Patton. However it was 10/10 and we had to go on to Ludwigshafen. This broke clear and all 270 guns had a shot at us. Am anxious to hear how Patton did without us. We were to bomb some big guns north of Metz. That was number 19, getting right along.

December 4, 1944

Not a bad mission! Things went fairly well until we made the bomb run, didn’t drop the bombs and made a tight 180 turn. Our squadron was flying the high and we were on the inside of the turn. The air speed (115) really dropped and our formation broke all to hell. We were really wide open for fighter attack. Luckily none were around. There was a big hole in the clouds and so we visually bombed the marshalling yards at Friedberg. There was no flak over the target and therefore we were able to enjoy the impact of the bombs. Was the first time I had seen incendiaries hit. First came the usual upheaval of the dermis and then these hundreds of little fires like fire flies all over the area. It is indescribable. The only difficulty was in the fact that we hit a little short. We did start a fire in the middle of the yards though, all in all not bad.

December 16, 1944

Well we really flew a good one today. The weather was such that the whole 8th. Air Force consisted of but 9 groups, 3 from each division. Even at that, the 1st. scrubbed and we think the 2nd. did also. Had a hell of a time forming because of all kinds of clouds and contrails. After we left England and hit the continent the high and middle clouds broke up and we almost had a visual run. In fact the high squadron did final bombing visual. They hit the target but the lead missed it.

The rough part came on return when we ran into these clouds which we could neither climb over nor go beneath. We peeled off here (near Brussels) and came back individually. I really started to sweat when we hit the English coast at 250’ and were still in the clouds. We could see patches of the ground which made it a little better. We were sort of afraid to let down much lower. Well anyway, we found the field, made our landing and now have in 29 missions. The flak was very light which made things rather nice over the target. I would have hated to fly through that stuff with a feathered engine or the like.

Gen. Partridge commended the group for this mission. He did this without knowing any of the results. It was purely because of the adverse weather conditions. Col. Good said it was the first time he had heard of a mission being flown in such lousy weather. Ain’t we good? By the way the target was the R.R. Marshalling Yards just north of Stuttgart and was in direct support of Gen. Patton’s Army. Seems they are having a little trouble with the Huns in that area. Number 30 tomorrow, I hope.

He counted down every mission until the 35th. and always wanted to fly every chance he had. There were a few close calls, but in general he thought he lead a charmed existence to live through it and took that confidence and what he liked to call luck with him and went on to live a great and happy life.

Happy Veteran’s Day to all you guys and gals out there who had the courage to serve your country.

Filed under: Veterans Day, WWII | 32 Comments »

It’s Veteran’s Day

Posted on November 11, 2011 by ScottC

Just a quick note to McWing, Michi, Mark, Brent and any other ATiM veterans: Thank you.

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Bits & Pieces (Thursday Night Open Mic)

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis
Rascal Flatts and Justin Beiber sing “Asian Baby”.

The 6 Girls You’ll Date in College. I guess I got the perfect one, but was never worried about screwing it up, just assuming it was doomed from the start, and that’s how I ended up married?
Speaking of marriage. This 5 year old girl won’t get married unless she has her own career taken care of:
Veterans day coming up. Here it is, if you haven’t seen it recently (I’d never seen this particular one): Red Skelton explains The Pledge of Allegiance.

This one originally aired on CBS, the year I was born. They might air such a thing again. But I doubt it.
20 years after I was born, the Berlin Wall came down. Here’s a picture of Ronald Reagan urged Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and the next is a picture of Ronald Reagan, a year later, tearing down a few pieces of the Berlin Wall for himself.
Now, I like Ronald Reagan as much as the next guy. He remains my favorite 20th century president (my favorites being, boringly, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson). However, it’s the valor and the sacrifice of America’s fighting men and women that made sure there was an American president to demand such a thing (not mention a NATO to protect Europe from the ever-encroaching Iron Curtain). As a dedicated chicken-hawk and hypocrite in support of a strong American defense, I salute you prematurely, American veterans!

edit:

Crazy science that will one day coercively affect our lives:

http://www.reuters.com/resources_v2/flash/video_embed.swf?videoId=217093066&edition=BETAUS

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The Avastin Controversy and 12BarBlues

Posted on November 10, 2011 by lmsinca

Some of you may remember last year the FDA began consideration to not recommend Avastin as a treatment for late stage breast cancer. There was speculation at the time that this was the first “death panel” decision from ACA’s advisory panel. Originally it was believed to prolong life for anywhere from 6 months to several years but then some conflicting results started coming in and the numbers were revised downward for 30% to 60% of patients. I’ve heard the costs per month given as anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000, which is pretty confusing in itself. Doctors appear to be split in their opinions of its effectiveness and whether some of the side effects are worth it.

The reason I bring this up is because our own Plumline friend 12BarBlues has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer with bone mets and is beginning a clinical trial as soon as tomorrow for Avastin. She gave me permission to mention her situation as she thought it might encourage some of us to be more vigilant. I won’t share her private thoughts and concerns but I thought some of you may want to send a prayer or wish her way and she seemed interested in sharing what she finds out regarding Avastin, so I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything new. As a cancer survivor, it’s my understanding 12Bar was only able to acquire major medical coverage, and so her situation is less than ideal financially regarding her treatment, but she’s a survivor and hopefully she’ll prove to be one of the success stories of the trial.

This is one of the most recent articles I could find on Avastin, the controversy, and what doctors are saying.

FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg has yet to finalize the decision, but some insurers have already decided to stop paying for the $8,000-a-month drug. Others, including the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced they will continue to cover the drug regardless of the FDA’s decision.

Avastin’s use for lung, kidney and brain cancers hasn’t been challenged.

Dawood, of Dubai Hospital in United Arab Emirates, and her colleagues sent the survey to about 3,000 cancer doctors. Only 564 responded, however, limiting how representative the new findings are.

More than four out of 10 doctors said they would continue to use the drug under certain circumstances even if the FDA rejected it, and eight percent said, “of course I will use it.”

A fifth of the respondents said they would not use the drug at all, and nine percent said they would be reluctant to use it.

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Nuke The Gay Unborn Whales

Posted on November 10, 2011 by yellojkt

As a joking observation about the ‘Oops’ Heard Around The World, I suggested that Rick Perry’s incoherent fumbling was the result of there just being too many agencies that he wanted to ax.

In an odd piece of trying to make lemonade out of lemons, the Perry campaign is confirming my suspicion with a straw poll of what other agencies Perry should also pledge to ax. It includes the usual suspects, the Department of Labor, the IRS, the NEA, and so forth. A very odd inclusion at the very bottom is the Marine Mammal Commission.

Compared to the other big massive targets in his crosshairs, this seems like pretty small beer. Is Rick Perry really courting the Club The Seals crowd?

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We’re The 1%

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

No, seriously. if you make more than $34,000 per year, you’re in the top 1%.

In America, the top 1% earn more than $380,000 per year. In Australia, the top 3% of households earn more than $250,000 per week, according to the ABS. How much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world?

$34,000.

That was the finding World Bank economist Branko Milanovic presented in his 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Going down the distribution ladder may be just as surprising. To be in the top half of the globe, you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it’s $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000.

Not only am I in the top 1%, I’m just at the cusp of being in the top .1%, if I only look at gross income. I’m clearly wealthy beyond my wildest dreams, yet I still wince every time I fill up my gas tank.

The OWS who had her $5000 laptop stolen—that laptop represented half-a-year’s income to someone right at the nadir of the top 10% of earners in the world.

Not pointing fingers (well, except at our foreign aid, which clearly needs to be reserved for nations where contract law is enforced and it’s possible for citizens to own private property and build up equity), just sayin’ . . . it’s good to keep things in perspective.

How would you view someone making $350,000 per year who was out in the streets protesting those making $35 million per year, because those super rich folks could afford yachts and private jets and had the financial security that came with owning multiple houses in different countries, and the merely wealthy could only afford one vacation home—and could only lease time on a private jet, but could not own their own?

I doubt there’d be a lot of sympathy for the folks topping $350k or $500k a year, protesting those making tens-of-millions.

Yet to most of the world, that’s what the OWS people look like. Or would look like, if they could afford cable, television, internet, newspapers, or literacy.

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The Sandusky Indictment

Posted on November 10, 2011 by markinaustin

http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4181508116.PDF

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Morning Report

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1242.2 16.6 1.35%
Eurostoxx Index 2285 35.640 1.58%
Oil (WTI) 97.15 1.410 1.47%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 77.442 -0.525 -0.67%
US 10 Year Yield 2.04% 0.07%
Italy 10 Year Yield 6.82% -0.42%

Markets are rebounding after a successful Italian bond auction overnight. Italy sold 5 billion euros of government debt at 6.09%, which put a bid in the 10-year, which rallied to below 7%, nearly erasing yesterday’s losses. Essentially the Italian 10-year did a round trip from 86 1/2 to 82 1/4, which is a 5% move. For government bonds, that is nearly a year’s pay. It is a strange world we live in when normally staid government bonds exhibit the sort of volatility usually reserved for stocks and commodities.

The permanent rescue fund has hit a roadblock as French and German finance ministers clash over provisions to force haircuts on bondholders. As I mentioned before, it appears the French banks are holding the old maid and the government is resisting plans that impose losses on creditors because the last thing they want to do is to have to bail out the French banks (again). This could become an issue.

In the US, there has been a battle royale going on between Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq – GMCR) and hedge fund manager David Einhorn. For those who don’t know, Einhorn runs Greenlight Capital and has be very publicly short the coffee company. Einhorn has cited a number of accounting issues as well as concerns over market size and patents. GMCR announced lower than expected earnings last night, and the stock is down about 30%. These sorts of battles between value hedge-fund managers and growth mutual fund managers make for interesting stories. Usually, the mutual fund managers (by sheer size of dollars invested) steamroll the value guys who are shorting the high-flyers. Once in a while the value guys win one too.

In economic data, initial jobless claims came in at 390k, slightly below the street estimate of 400k. The trade deficit shrunk to 43 billion from 45 billion.

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Bits & Pieces (Wednesday Night Ace of Spades)

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

Found this Rage Comic over at Ace of Spades HQ, and had to share:

•••
In these days of Michele Bachmanns, Herman Cains, Joe Bidens and Howard Deans, Ace of Spades reflects on what it means to be Reaganesque.
Also from Ace, the Obama Administration is taxing Christmas Trees. As soon as they can figure out how to tax joy, fellowship, and Christmas spirit, they’ll start levying those fines–I mean, taxes–too. 

— KW

It looks like Christmas spirit has prevailed and the tax will be sidelined. No lump of coal for Obama.
-Ashot-

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Fusion and the private sector

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Mike

Thought I’d post this story from NPR on a start-up company trying to compete with the big boys (governments) in developing an economically viable fusion reactor.

The world would be a very different place if we could bottle up a bit of the sun here on Earth and tap that abundant and clean energy supply. Governments have spent many billions of dollars to develop that energy source, fusion energy, but it’s still a distant dream. Now a few upstart companies are trying to do it on the cheap. And the ideas are credible enough to attract serious private investment.

One such company is hidden away in a small business park in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia. Nothing seems unusual here — there’s a food distributor, an engineering firm and small warehouses. But on one door there’s a sign suggesting that all is not normal.

NPR on General Fusion

This would be really cool if it pans out. FairlingtonBlade can explain the science behind magnetized target fusion better than I, but the basic idea that it’s kind of a hybrid between magnetic confinement (tokamak, ITER) and inertial confinement (laser, NIF) fusion. Heavy hydrogen is heated up to a plasma, injected into a spinning lead sphere (which creates a magnetic field to contain the plasma), then the sphere is compressed with a series of pneumatic pistons. This results, theoretically, in fusion and the production of large amounts of energy, heating up the lead, which is then piped out and used to produce steam. Electricity is then generated by a typical turbine system.

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