2021 — is coming and Hell’s coming with it…
Take a Moment
Clear your mind, and just listen. The world needs more of this. Or maybe it’s just me?
Plumbing
See diagram below for details of the P-47’s turbosupercharger system.
The fastest propeller driven US aircraft of World War 2 that saw service in combat was the P-47M Thunderbolt. The P-47M could achieve 473 mph in level flight at 32 000 ft. Only 133 P-47M’s were built and 130 were used by the 56th Fighter Group in Europe. There were operational in Europe only from March to May 1945 and they destroyed 15 enemy aircraft including seven jets.
The P-47N, of which over 1800 were built, was intended as an escort fighter for the B-29 Superfortress over Japan and saw service there before the war ended. It had a top speed of 467 mph at 32 500 ft.
Trivia continues
The fastest US production aircraft was the P-51H. Over 555 were built in the war but none saw service. It achieved 487 mph at 21 200 ft.
The fastest propellor driven aircraft of World War 2 was the German Dornier Do 335 “Pfeil”. It had a top speed of 475 mph. Only 37 were built before the war ended and they saw very limited service with only about 22 reaching operational status.
Contemporary Politics
The Biden Crime Family – there is a lot more to play out with this.
Memory Lane
At my house, with four daughters, it was the Barbie shoes, left on the stairs, in the thick carpet, like landmines at night on my bare feet.
Yesterday in History
December 16, 1864 – The Battle of Nashville, TN
After his catastrophic defeat at the battle of Franklin (November 30, 1864) CSA General John Bell Hood should have abandoned his plans to capture Nashville and Move into KY. His infantry was now reduced to a scant 22,000 and morale was low. But this did not deter Hood.
He moved north and arrived in front of the Tennessee capitol on December 2.
Union General Schofield had joined General George Thomas and the combined federal army had close to 70,000 soldiers inside Nashville, well supplied.
Hood could not make a frontal assault upon the fortifications if he attempted to side-step he would invite Thomas to attack his Flank and rear. However the union forces were slowed because of a severe ice storm. They also had the need for cavalry remounts (the war had killed even more horses then men) but Lincoln and Grant kept urging him to attack at once. Grant later said, “if I had been Hood I would have marched on Louisville’.
Hood didn’t see it that way and made a grave error in maintaining his position in northern Tennessee, his lines of supply and communication cut. Hood did what Napoleon had urged his generals not to do. He said that passive defense is a form of ‘deferred suicide’. Compounding his difficult position, Hood ordered General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry along with some infantry to threaten Murfreesboro.
Thomas struck first with a diversionary attack on the Confederate right flank. The Texans under Houghton held. Then Thomas hit Hood on the left flank and it folded. Hood retreated to defensive works two miles south.
The next day, Thomas hit Hood’s confederates again and touted the army. The Union suffered about 3,000 losses (KIA, missing, and wounded). Hood lost 4,500 and likely that many again in desertions during the retreat.
I grew up living on and amongst parts of the Battle of Nashville battlefield and your blog posting means a lot to me. One of the last times I saw my father alive, we drove up and toured the reconstructed Fort Negley battlement (not part of the actual Battle).
According to Wikipedia, I ventured past Redoubts 1 and 4 many times without realizing what they were. Some of the monuments I do remember.
Thanks for the memories!
I’m happy that this blog brought some pleasant memories.
My father, long dead, did things with me and I’m triggered when I’m doing this or that and it refreshes the memory. I never lived with my parents after the age of about 4.5 years, but I spent time with them, and as those of you who follow this blog know, my mother is still living.
Just listen–Oh yes, more of that.
May have posted this here before, but it never gets old–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4eJXYo4xOY
Tutti Frutti.
Great video, great pointer.
I’m a big fan of .50 BMG API ammo. Big fan. Including the more modern .50 BMG Raufoss API round.
He was lucky to fly the jug. They were hard aircraft to kill.
Not to be outdone in bad decisions, on 12/21/1866 Capt William Fetterman and 80 other soldiers were slaughtered by the Lakotas and their allies in Wyoming. This led to the Army abandoning the area for a few years. Guess all the smart Civil War officers decided not to go West. Seems a 1,000-100 manpower ratio played a part.
Part of out family lore is a great grandfather teamster, Peter Ferrell, declining to freight into that area of Wyoming citing, “the f***ing idiot Army officers”.
You have to wonder what Fetterman was thinking. The plains Indians for the most part, played one tactical game. A few frightened braves attracted the attention of the soldiers and fled. The Army gave chase. The braves led the soldiers in an ambush at 10-1+ odds and the soldiers were slaughtered. You’d think that after that happened a few dozen times that the word would leak out.
In an area with so much coal seams are out in the open, the Army relied on wood for heat and cooking. Water is/was scarce. Therefore, build your forts away from water and fuel sources, then send out work parties to chop wood and load water into barrels (insuring the water would make everyone sick). When your work parties get ambushed, send out patrols and then get them slaughtered. To maximize failure, add rampant corruption in the supply chain.
The Army did get it right by the turn of the century and the frontier hardened men gave a good account in the Great War.
The Army figured out that the Indians needed the buffalo to survive, so they killed them. I think that pretty much did it. The military tactics did improve. The last real wars were in Arizona – Cochise and Geronimo campaigns, and some of the White Mountain Apache would jump the reservation. The Battle of Big Dry Wash took place close to where I live – the last real battle that took place. The Apache weren’t dependent on buffalo/bison.
It doesn’t look as though Hillary will face official justice in this life. But the next life may prove difficult, as blood cries out for vengeance.
Jacks! I remember those, along with marbles and “conkers,” in which you tied a hardened chestnut (conker) to a string and tried to smash your opponent’s conker. Sometimes conker missed conker and hit knuckle, a dangerous sport.
I’m sure that there will be a delegation to meet her when she crosses to the other side.
Keeping your good shooter marbles (agate or bullseye flint) was important. You didn’t want to lose them just to accumulate cat’s eyes.
Here in industrial Michigan, dads would bring home ball bearings. “Steelies”.
I had steelies, but you could only shoot them against other steelies. Nobody would wager a bullseye flint against a steelie.
And for the complexity, the P-47 was designed to be assembled in the field and maintained by the enlisted maintainers at remote locations. Gives a whole new meaning to the level of smarts those folks had. If you’ve ever heard one ‘at full song’, that turbine does sing! And yes, I’ll take Legos over jacks ANY day of the week…
The P-47 and the rest of the aircraft in the Second World War were kept in the air by an army of skilled teenagers.
My friend Nate got the Bronze star for figuring a way to make the radios transmit and receive with the same tube, keeping them in the air more, should one of the tubes go south and the nearby drugstore with tester was back in CONUS.
Yes, and there were ‘many’ homegrown mechanics in that bunch!!!
Who later turned into Hot Rodders and Engineers. Their field experience was beyond value in industry.
Embrace the suck and take what comfort you may in the knowledge that Mad Max was set in 2021.
See you at Thunderdome WWW
SCOTUS just denied Trump’s case to “keep illegal aliens” out of the census. A-H’s.
The Swamp is bubbling over with deceit.
I wonder if that included using their numbers for the apportionment of US Representatives in Congress?
You can bet Fredd’s ability to Pox from a distance on it.
Fredd hasn’t been poxing much lately.
Maybe the deep state got to him with whatever kryptonite they possess, or he’s been poxing too much so is recharging the pox batteries.
And the P47N flew escort missions from the Marshalls to Japan and back – talk about range! The missions were so long that the pilots typically had to be lifted out of the cockpits by ground crew after they landed. Amazing airplane.
Respect – big respect.
I recall reading that ground crews on Iwo Jima split external wing tanks in half and used them to make “bathtubs” for the pilots after those long missions. They ran water from the volcanic hot springs.
I hadn’t heard that, but it’s very cool if true. A wing tank/drop tank, halved, would make a great soaking tub if you had an endless supply of suitably hot water to run through it. Luxury on a volcanic island.
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