Ford built Liberators in 55 minutes

[B3YT]

Don't forget "the Cruel Sea"  based on a wonderful book written by a Seaman who was with the Merchant Marine . 

[earl1937]

Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates, Das Boot, Downfall, and Dark Blue World are the top "must see" war films of all time IMHO.

One war time flying movie involving the P-47D40's and D25's was based on the 57th Fighter-Bomber group operating in Italy! It starred Edmon O'Brien and was titled, I think, Fighter Pilot! A lot of actual combat film used during the movie.

[B3YT]

oops forgot the "Audie Murphy" bio-pic . Every part of it was true , infact some of it was underplayed as requested by Mr Murphy himself.  The guy was nuts in a very good way .

[Bino]

Convair (Consolidated merged with Vultee in 1941 to form Convair) set up an additional factory in Fort Worth, Texas, and 30,000 workers built 3,034 additional Liberators there. Additionally, Douglas Aircraft Corporation built about 964 B-24s in its factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and North American Aviation built about 966 in Dallas, Texas. The largest Liberator factory was Ford's huge new factory built at Willow Run, Michigan, which turned out 6,792 completed aircraft and 1,893 disassembled, crated airframes for final assembly elsewhere. In 1944, the Willow Run factory alone turned out 92,000,000 pounds (42,000,000 kg) of airframes, nearly equaling the production of the entire Japanese aircraft industry that year, or almost half of the entire German output. Peak production by all factories produced a B-24 every 55 minutes. These factories and several major depots also performed many conversions, often of hundreds of aircraft. This lead to more than sixty different designations for variations of the B-24 airframe. There were bomber, patrol bomber, reconnaissance, cargo, tanker, trainer, experimental, civil, and other variants.

My Uncle Al, my Dad's big brother, was a B-24 co-pilot flying missions out of Italy against targets in southern Europe.  His copy of Stephen Ambrose's The Wild Blue is filled with annotations like "I flew this mission" and "I remember that".  Uncle Al told me that the B-24 tankers which flew fuel to forward airbases were grimly nick-named "C-one-oh-BOOM!" because of their tendency to explode when the electrically-operated gear was retracted right after take-off.  When asked why he did not parlay his wartime service into an aviation carreer, he replied, "It was cold and noisy and uncomfortable and hard physical work... and people were shooting at us! It was not a positive experience."

[Brooke]

oops forgot the "Audie Murphy" bio-pic . Every part of it was true , infact some of it was underplayed as requested by Mr Murphy himself.  The guy was nuts in a very good way .

His book, "To Hell and Back," is excellent.

So is "With the Old Breed," by E. B. Sledge.

To anyone who has never read a book about war (not AH folks, but all the others I meet out there in the world), my recommendation is:   if you read only book about war, read "With the Old Breed."

[earl1937]

oops forgot the "Audie Murphy" bio-pic . Every part of it was true , infact some of it was underplayed as requested by Mr Murphy himself.  The guy was nuts in a very good way .

If memory serves, he was the most decorated soldier in WW2! Got to shake his hand once in Atlanta, at Hangar One, a FBO at the old Hartsville International airport. He and some other people had stopped for fuel and a meeting and he was sitting in the "lounge" where most people waited for fueling and etc. I did not want to pry, we just chit, chatted and he finally ask me what I thought of the westerns he was making, and I said I really hadn't seen any, but I did see "To Hell and Back", and he just laughed and said it was a lot of fun to make! Nice and very brave man!

[Scherf]

There was a New Zealander who won the VC twice, of all things. Quite unbelievably, he lived to tell the tale.

[GScholz]

"Most decorated soldier of WWII" is such a broad definition it is almost impossible to make a choice. Does a MOH equal a VC? What about the Ritterkreutz?

However Murphy was one of the most decorated soldiers for sure.

There is one major difference between the Allied and the German medal systems. Almost any medal in the British or American services could be won independently of each other; even a VC or MOH could be won by a single act of heroism. The German system on the other hand was progressive: Your first act of heroism won you the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Your second act of heroism won you the Iron Cross 1st Class. Then there were three classes of the German Cross to be won for heroism equaling the Iron Cross, but not justifying the Knight’s Cross. Then for your umpteenth act of heroism you could win the Knight's Cross. Then there were Oak Leaves to be won for your Knight's Cross, and after that Swords, and after that Diamonds.

Only one person managed to win all that and Gold Oak Leaves for his Knight's Cross: Hans-Ulrich Rudel. He was one of only 27 men to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, and the only one to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Rudel flew over 2,500 combat missions and destroyed 800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery guns, a destroyer, two cruisers, one Soviet battleship, 70 landing craft, 4 armored trains, several bridges and nine aircraft in aerial combat. He was such a menace on the Eastern Front that Stalin placed a bounty on his head. He would be my bet as the most decorated soldier of WWII, regardless of nationality.

[Scherf]

Yes, for the record, I should make it clear I wasn't trying to imply X was more courageous than Y. Things I read about what these guys did just makes my head spin.

[GScholz]

Yes indeed. Again because of the progressive nature of the German system, it is hard to compare awards. Someone with the Oak Leaves is not necessarily braver than someone with just the Knight's Cross; he just was brave on more occasions. How does this compare to the VC or MOH? Impossible to tell really, since they're all different.

[Oldman731]

Only one person managed to win all that and Gold Oak Leaves for his Knight's Cross: Hans-Ulrich Rudel. He was one of only 27 men to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, and the only one to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Rudel flew over 2,500 combat missions and destroyed 800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery guns, a destroyer, two cruisers, one Soviet battleship, 70 landing craft, 4 armored trains, several bridges and nine aircraft in aerial combat. He was such a menace on the Eastern Front that Stalin placed a bounty on his head.

Without meaning to start a fight, have you seen any sources, independent of Rudel himself, who confirm all this?  I know that all of the above is now commonly accepted, but I've never seen confirmation beyond Rudel's say-so.  And frankly, I've never trusted his accounts.

- oldman

[B3YT]

If memory serves, he was the most decorated soldier in WW2! Got to shake his hand once in Atlanta, at Hangar One, a FBO at the old Hartsville International airport. He and some other people had stopped for fuel and a meeting and he was sitting in the "lounge" where most people waited for fueling and etc. I did not want to pry, we just chit, chatted and he finally ask me what I thought of the westerns he was making, and I said I really hadn't seen any, but I did see "To Hell and Back", and he just laughed and said it was a lot of fun to make! Nice and very brave man!

He was the Sgt. York of WWII . I'll have to read "To Hell and Back" . I was shocked at how much was left out of the film .  I loved his Westerns and being only 31 I wish I could have seen them when they first came out . I found out about him through my Grand farther who got me to watch "To Hell and Back" with him one Saturday afternoon  when it was on TV . 

[GScholz]

Without meaning to start a fight, have you seen any sources, independent of Rudel himself, who confirm all this?  I know that all of the above is now commonly accepted, but I've never seen confirmation beyond Rudel's say-so.  And frankly, I've never trusted his accounts.

- oldman

Official records show he flew 2,530 combat missions, so that is beyond dispute. Remember he flew in combat from 1939 to the end of the war. 519 tanks is one tank for every five missions or so; hardly unreasonable on the Eastern Front. 800 soft skinned vehicles is even less unreasonable considering on the Eastern Front Stukas were armed with 20mm cannon instead of machine guns. A single strafing run could take out a whole column of trucks. The ships he sunk is verified by the Soviets.

[Oldman731]

Official records show he flew 2,530 combat missions, so that is beyond dispute. Remember he flew in combat from 1939 to the end of the war. 519 tanks is one tank for every five missions or so; hardly unreasonable on the Eastern Front. 800 soft skinned vehicles is even less unreasonable considering on the Eastern Front Stukas were armed with 20mm cannon instead of machine guns. A single strafing run could take out a whole column of trucks. The ships he sunk is verified by the Soviets.

...so....no...?  

I wish I could find it again, but I recall a British analysis of what-killed-German-tanks in Normandy.  A comparatively small percentage were destroyed by aircraft - many fewer than everyone's general perception.  So I'm not open to the notion that Rudel killed one tank for every five sorties he flew.  PLUS I never could understand how anyone flying a plane in a combat area could have the time, much less the visual acuity, to determine whether he had destroyed, damaged or simply hit a tank.

There's also quite a dispute as to who sank the Marat; see, e.g., the discussion in http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=3972.

I've no evidence that he didn't do all these things, of course, I was just wondering if there were some confirmation, apart from Rudel himself.

- oldman

[GScholz]

I haven't even read Rudel's book... But what is in dispute? His official Luftwaffe record? Or his own stories in his book? His decorations certainly aren't in dispute, are they?

The comparison to western-Allied fighter-bombers is not very relevant I think. Rudel mostly few dive bombers and dedicated CAS aircraft. A comparison (if it exists) to the effectiveness of Il-2 units against German tanks might be more appropriate.