Warbird Information Exchange

Do you mean History Text books instead of History Books? Many of these events have been covered in dedicated volumes.

I have a 3,000 volume library in my home and I have read many of the books that are in my library, and I know that many of my "History Books" cover or feature these events. One of the most interesting book I have read is a first hand account of a Japanese WWII holdover. He surrendered in 1974 after he was relieved by his CO. This book has been in print for over 30 years. The book is NO SURRENDER--My Thirty Year War by Hiroo Onoda.




TM

The Port Chicago Disaster might qualify -- I have read that it was the largest non-nuclear explosion of WWII, and also the largest single-incident loss of life event during the war (besides Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

I never learned about it until just a few years ago, but I'm sure a lot of you true history experts knew about it.

I have read that it was the largest non-nuclear explosion of WWII, and also the largest single-incident loss of life event during the war (besides Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

A fascinating unit in the war was No. 14 Squadron RAF who used B-26 Marauders with the crew reduced and most of the guns stripped out, and no bombload, to fly all over the Mediterranean at high speed and low altitude, in and out of German and Italian-held ports, counting the ships. This was a daily routine to help the HQ keep taps of what ships were where. They often got chased by fighters but were seldom caught as they guned it at high speed out to sea. The pilot I interviewed from this squadron said they had to get low when under attack, so the tail gunner watche dthe water as they lowered down. he'd call on the intercom when he saw two vortices on the water. At that point they knew the proptips were 15 feet off the water. He'd then slowly wind it down till the two vortices touched, and the gunner called again at this point. Everything was locked off there, with the tips just 4 foot off the water. He said the B-26 was marvellous as it was so steady and the automatic pilot never deviated, so they could sit there for ages and all they had to do was watch out for masts or schools of jumping dolphins they might hit. The fighters meanwhile had no show as they had upward pointing guns in the B-26 but th fighters had to dive and pull up sharp so as not to hit the water. None ever attempted to come in behin as the tail gunner and the low altitude had that covered too. So it was sweet. I forgot to mention that when they stripped the weight out they added massive fuel tanks. So when the fighters had to head home, they often turned and followed them back to the port if they hadn't finished their count. Prior to this the pilot i spoke with had flown the Hudsona nd the Dakota doing spy dropping and supplying behind enemy lines all ove rthe Med, and he thought that was boring and the Dakota was awful. This was the only job he had in the war he liked. After this he went onto late model Wellingtons which he hated to bits after the B-26. After the war he flew Lightning jets in the RAF.

Hummmm... What about the fire bomb raids on Tokyo, other Japanese targets and also Dresden. I think they had more loss of life in one raid than the A-Bombs.

Came across this listing of 10 Little Known Events in World War II. An interesting look at events that have never made it into the history books.

10. Aleutian Islands Campaign
9. Japanese Holdouts
8. South American Involvement
7. Vichy France vs. the Allies
6. Operation Drumbeat
5. Other Europeans in Nazi Forces
4. Japanese Fire Balloons
3. Stalag Luft III
2. The Ni’ihau Incident
1. The Death Match

http://listverse.com/2011/03/02/top-10- ... ld-war-ii/

There is also another event that I have read only in a couple of places. As I recall from memory.......during WWII, the Germans were still experimenting with their V-1 or V-2 rockets. What they did to test the guidance system was fire a dummy one into either Sweden or Switzerland. If/when the Swede's (or Switz's) complained, the German's would know if their guidence system worked because the complaint would say where the rocket was located. Well....they fired one off and somehow the Allies knew what the German's were trying to do. When the rocket landed, it was immediately seized and hidden. No complaint or acknowledgement of the event was ever made. A famous Arctic Explorer/Navigator by the name of COL Bernt Balchen (USAAF, Norwegien by birth) later secretly flew into the country, loaded the rocket up on a plane and smuggled it back to the either Norway, England or the US....I can't remember which. I have seen COL Balchen's papers in the NARA. This event is discussed in his papers. I think it is also in one of his books. Heck of a spy story......I guess that's how we learned about the mechanics of the rockets. Again...this is from memory but it's the jest of what happened.

Col. Bernt Balchen (1899 - 1973)
Col. Bernt Balchen, USAF Ret., is the founder and honorary chairman of the International Aviation Snow Symposium. The son of a country doctor, he was born in Tveit, Norway near Kristiansand.

Balchen was an expert navigator, aircraft mechanic and aviator as well as a Norwegian-American polar and aviation pioneer. His service in the United States Army Air Force during World War II was tied to his Arctic expertise and helped the Allies in Scandinavia and northern Europe. Postwar, he continued to be an influential leader in the United States Air Force as well as in private consulting.

These are some of the highlights of his career:
In 1925, he was a pilot on the Amundsen-Ellsworth Relief Expedition to Spitsbergen and in 1926 became a member of the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile Arctic Expedition - an attempt at flying an airship over the North Pole. In a last minute decision by Amundsen, Balchen was not chosen for the final flight. Later, in his 1958 autobiography, Balchen maintained that Amundsen's competitor, Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett, had been unsuccessful in their own attempt to fly by aircraft to the North Pole and back a few days earlier. Balchen based this assertion on calculations he made from Byrd's own speed/navigational data.


Balchen, under the sponsorship of Joseph Wanamaker and as co-pilot/navigator with Floyd Bennett, flew the Ford trimotor "Josephine Ford"' in 1926. A flying tour to more than 50 American cities, the flight promoted commercial aviation as a safe, reliable and practical means of transport.


In 1927 along with Richard E. Byrd, Balchen flew the first (experimental) USPS mail transport "America" across the Atlantic. Despite repeated attempts, bad weather and low visibility made landing impossible. When the aircraft ran out of fuel, Balchen landed the wheeled airplane in the sea just off the coast of France, without injury to the crew.


On 28-29 November 1929, Balchen became the first person to fly over the South Pole, as the pilot for Byrd's flight.


Due to his reputation as a polar, transatlantic and aviation expert, Balchen was hired in 1931 by Amelia Earhart as a technical advisor for a planned solo transatlantic flight. In an attempt to throw off the press, Earhart turned over her repaired Lockheed Vega to Balchen who was assumed to be planning an Antarctic flight. Balchen took the Vega to the Fokker Aircraft Company plant at Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. There, he and mechanics Frank Nagle and Eddie Gorski reconditioned the aircraft for the upcoming record flight. The fuselage was strengthened to take extra fuel tanks that were added to provide a 420-gallon capacity. Additional instruments were also installed. After modifications had been made, Earhart flew the Vega successfully across the Atlantic on May 20, 1932


Balchen continued working as test pilot for Fokker. He participated in the Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition as chief pilot in 1933-1935. He returned to Norway in 1935 to help organize the Norwegian Civil Airline and pave the way for a Scandinavian civil airline union. He was instrumental in the eventual creation of SAS later in 1946.


In 1939, Balchen served as a consultant to the Finnish Air Staff, as well as being a member of the Norwegian Armaments Commission. He successfully negotiated a cooperative US-Scandinavian civil air agreement for transatlantic flights in 1940. Balchen helped establish the Norwegian Air Force training base, "Little Norway", in Canada.


Later in 1940, he served the RAF by ferrying aircraft to the Far East. Called to Washington by Gen "Hap" Arnold, he joined the US Army Air Force on September 5 and was deployed to Greenland to build a new key airfield in the North Atlantic aircraft ferry route, "Bluie West-8". Balchen led many daring rescues of downed aircrews in the period of 1942-1943. In January of 1944 Balchen was transferred to the UK to work for the Air Transport Command and the OSS by opening an air transport route from the UK to Stockholm. His mission was to support the resistance in Norway and transport over 2000 Norwegians from Sweden for military training in the UK and Canada. He conducted many clandestine operations in Sweden and Norway. He transported over 1000 US airmen who were released from internment by Sweden to the UK. Over 100 aircraft that had been downed in Sweden were repaired and flown back to the UK. He transported a German V-2 rocket from Sweden to the UK two months prior to the first use of the V-2 against the UK. After the war Balchen became president of Norwegian Airlines. He was awarded many honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal and the Harmon International Trophy, presented by President Eisenhower.


In 1946 Balchen helped form the SAS. He rejoined the USAF in 1948 and commanded an air rescue unit in Alaska. A 1949 flight from Alaska to Norway made him the first pilot to fly across both poles. In 1951 he assisted in the construction of the Thule Air Base in Greenland. He retired from the USAF in 1956. Colonel Balchen died in 1973.