debunking the myth of the Spitfire

[Brooke]

outed several US diplomats -

I don't think it was Acheson but others in Roosevelt's administration who were outed as Soviet agents (mainly through information from defector Whittaker Chambers, then backed up by Venona intercepts and other sources), such as Alger Hiss (attendee and involved in drafting agreements at the Yalta Conference), Harry Dexter White (high-level Treasury Department official, senior American official at Bretton Woods), Lauchlin Curry (Roosevelt's economic advisor), and Laurence Duggan (also in the State Department).  Roosevelt was told about them by Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle but dismissed the information entirely.

Huge amounts of information on things like this (and much, much more) were brought to the west by Vasili Mitrokhin when he defected along with his archive.  He was a senior archivist for the KGB for 30 years.  The book "The Sword and the Shield" summarizes material in the Mitrokhin Archive.

[Bruv119]

What ho Bruv old chap. Someone told me you were a father now. Congratulations. When do the baby's flying lessons commence? I heard you can get child-safe CH sticks now.

Still get to fly a bit here and there? Dont worry. The nappy changing phase only lasts 3-4 years tops. 5 if you're very unlucky. 

 

Thanks Shida, sure is life changing  ,

Your not wrong on the training I walked her through a CV take off and landing and we shot a set of ju88's down that were attempting to torpedo our ship.  This pic was a good 2 months ago. 



a more recent one out in the garden enjoying her lunch,  she loves her food! 



She will be back in her Pink Spitfire as soon as she stops trying to eat my microphone and bash things.   

[Chalenge]

I don't think it was Acheson but others in Roosevelt's administration who were outed as Soviet agents

Let's just say that McCarthy wasn't wrong. I think Coulter put it all together in a book she wrote recently.

[nrshida]

She will be back in her Pink Spitfire as soon as she stops trying to eat my microphone and bash things.   

Ah nice. I think you're a good Dad. Very kind of you to lend her your favourite hat!

Yeah Shida Jr. found my Sennheiser headset and identified is as a device of the devil and shredded it. He knows straight and level now.

Healthy lunch by the way. Be round in twenty minutes! 

[Bruv119]

thankfully my setup is in a cupboard under the stairs with door, window, power and light.  Glad to hear shida jr is up and at em. 

Welcome any time for a garden tea party,  Thrila and Klingan have both been around.   

[FLOOB]

I don't have to.

Someone just got served a heaping plate of FLOOB kung PAO!

[Zimme83]

Someone just got served a heaping plate of FLOOB kung PAO!

Lol. I assume that you are sending angry letters to History channel and BBC too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_russia_invasion_01.shtml

[Gman]

thankfully my setup is in a cupboard under the stairs with door

Trying very hard not to make Harry Potter references.   Hah hah.

Great pics Bruv, make sure you keep copies of those, they'll be very important to you and your family some day.  Well done is all I need to say really. 

I agree with Gscholz regarding the OP, there was really not a lot to choose between the Spit and 109 IMO throughout the war.  They did leapfrog one another from time to time, but overall, there were very evenly matched airplanes, incredibly so really, throughout many phases of a very, very long war, and in a time of rapid and incredible aeronautical advancements.  IMO the higher kill numbers attributed to the Hurricanes were a function of having more Hurri numbers and squadrons.  Had their been an equal split between Spit/Hurri squads and numbers, I would bet that the Spit would have a lot more kills and effectiveness.  In every area save taking punishment, and perhaps gun placement/platform,  it's a better a/c. 

My one grandfather was an enlisted radio tech (the other ferried Lancs from Canada to the UK) and served in several Spit squadrons/bases, and gave me a few books written by and about Canadian Spit pilots, the best of which was about Beurling and his and compatriots experience on Malta.  One passage that always stood out to me was when they shot down a new 109F, and it crash landed in nearly perfect condition.  They marveled over everything from the sleek/slick paintjob to the motor and weapons, and felt it was every inch a better fighter than their Spit5s of the time, yet perception is a tricky thing - once the Spit9 came out, the Germans would likely have felt the same about it comparing it to a 109F had they found a mint crash landed Spit9. 

Also, a lot of great stuff about how individuals hot rodded their Spit5s, motor and WEP mods, as well as removing the 303 guns and ammo - something several pilots did in Malta, Beurling included.  No pewpewpewpewpew, just PEW PEW PEW. 

[Mister Fork]

Also, a lot of great stuff about how individuals hot rodded their Spit5s, motor and WEP mods, as well as removing the 303 guns and ammo - something several pilots did in Malta, Beurling included.  No pewpewpewpewpew, just PEW PEW PEW. 

+1 Gman .. the history of pilots 'personalizing' their fighters goes back to WWI - and it's something that's not modeled in any simulator/game ever made - though we do have some here in Aces High. For example, the ability to not take certain ammo types - Dale/Doug have done a good job on weapon choices i.e. 6x50Cal vs 4 for the P-51 and same for P-47's, or adding Gondolas to the 109, and weapon variants in the 190 and 110. 

If Beurling and others truly modded their Sheitfires, what else did they do to squeak out performance advantages?

[GScholz]

Adolf Galland had an ashtray and cigar lighter in his 109s. He liked to smoke a lot. He also had two modified 109F made just for him because he thought the standard F was under armed. In one plane he had the cowl machine guns replaced with MG 131s (which would later become standard in the G-6 onward). In the other 109 he had MGFF canons added to the wings like in the 109E.

I have no idea what's in the basket or what it's for...

[Arlo]

He had gotten so many medals by that time that Goering resorted to sending gift baskets instead.

[Gman]

One of the RCAF groups had Galland come over many years after the war, and speak here in Canada.  This is briefly mentioned in the book "1000 Shall Fall".  Franz Stigler who was in Canada by then too was at the same event.  Galland apparently was so nervous about meeting former foes, many of whom whose friends he and the LW had shot down, that he nearly didn't do it even once he had arrived in town.  When he finally decided to not back out and showed up, when he was introduced, the entire auditorium stood up and gave him a standing ovation. He wept openly, mostly smiling, and once the uproar finally died down, gave a very engaging lecture.

I wish I could have seen that, and met him then.

[Mister Fork]

He had gotten so many medals by that time that Goering resorted to sending gift baskets instead.

[GScholz]

He had gotten so many medals by that time that Goering resorted to sending gift baskets instead.

 

One of the RCAF groups had Galland come over many years after the war, and speak here in Canada.  This is briefly mentioned in the book "1000 Shall Fall".  Franz Stigler who was in Canada by then too was at the same event.  Galland apparently was so nervous about meeting former foes, many of whom whose friends he and the LW had shot down, that he nearly didn't do it even once he had arrived in town.  When he finally decided to not back out and showed up, when he was introduced, the entire auditorium stood up and gave him a standing ovation. He wept openly, mostly smiling, and once the uproar finally died down, gave a very engaging lecture.

I wish I could have seen that, and met him then.

Me too. That would have been great.

[Vulcan]

My one grandfather was an enlisted radio tech (the other ferried Lancs from Canada to the UK) and served in several Spit squadrons/bases, and gave me a few books written by and about Canadian Spit pilots, the best of which was about Beurling and his and compatriots experience on Malta.

Was watching a documentary about him last week. The bit at the end cracked me up, they had him doing war bond raising - giving talks. There was a recording where he is talking about a targeting a german pilots head, then hitting it (seeing the head blown off), and blood streaking down the side of the canopy. In the background you can hear the audience freaking out. He was pulled off the war bond circuit after that.