Buitenzorg
7th Mar 2006, 21:34
Heard this from a friend of a friend whose Father flew Spits post-war until he wiped out an undercarriage during a cross-wind landing; or so he says...
Anyway, the time: WWII. The place: somewhere in Holland. The plot: the Germans, eager to draw some allied airplanes into a flak trap or up to something equally devilishly cunning, construct a rather convincing fake airfield. All mod cons, fake all-weather runways with not-quite-perfect camouflage, cardboard hangars, balsa bowsers and little mannequin Fritzes in plywood Kubelwagen. With typical German thoroughness, the place is built up progressively just as if a real construction effort is underway.
On the day "Fliegerhorst Nicht Wahr" becomes operational (the rubber Messerschmidts taken out of their boxes and inflated) one RAF bomber trundles over, opens the bomb doors and drops one big wooden bomb.
Maybe one of the veterans on this forum can confirm this story? A corker no matter how you look at it.
Anyway, the time: WWII. The place: somewhere in Holland. The plot: the Germans, eager to draw some allied airplanes into a flak trap or up to something equally devilishly cunning, construct a rather convincing fake airfield. All mod cons, fake all-weather runways with not-quite-perfect camouflage, cardboard hangars, balsa bowsers and little mannequin Fritzes in plywood Kubelwagen. With typical German thoroughness, the place is built up progressively just as if a real construction effort is underway.
On the day "Fliegerhorst Nicht Wahr" becomes operational (the rubber Messerschmidts taken out of their boxes and inflated) one RAF bomber trundles over, opens the bomb doors and drops one big wooden bomb.
Maybe one of the veterans on this forum can confirm this story? A corker no matter how you look at it.