Wandr00,

GEE

Gee arrived rather later, and as a navigation aid for Bomber Command

Wander00 (#60),

That - and I think the lady probably meant that she could "see" the bombers going out to the East over the North Sea, but AFAIK, they were not controlled in any way. I have heard of "Gee-Stooging" (which is probably what was in pr00ne's mind). Here the Navigators had given up the fag of navigating the hard way, and relied solely on a succession of "Gee" fixes to take them to their targets.

Some bomber crews conspired to fly out over the North Sea, orbit for 6-7 hours, drop their bombs in the sea, come home and declare "D.C.O." The ground radar operators watched for any "blip" trying this knavish trick. The requirement for a target photograph put an end to the practice. (Or so I would imagine, being far away in a much safer war at the time).

And was it true that the Nav's log had to show hat you'd gone more than 2°E before you were entitled to your "operational egg" for breakfast, when (if ?) you got back ?

Danny.

RAF Cheadle (Woodhead Hall, Staffs) was one of the Y stations that were involved. It's CO was Group Captain Winterbottom

I'm with the Defiant on the secret front - it had "Fly And Forget" capability.

Mrs Ar1 was in the ROC too (though not in 1940) her AC recognition skills were top notch.

Thanks for the info, chaps

Not only Dowding. Churchill too.

He was no fool. He knew when a raid was planned against central London and he almost invariably scarpered to Ditchley for the night when he knew that he would have been at personal risk if he'd stayed at Downing Street.

Warmongers are rarely brave. They get other people to do the brave bit and then they cover themselves in vicarious glory. That was Churchill's style.

And the alternative was..?

Alternative to what?

Alternative to running away like a startled rabbit to drink himself to sleep?

There was a German family just up the Mall who could have run away to Sandringham or Balmoral or to a less conspicuous locus, but they didn't.

There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity. But if you're trying to run a war leaving yourself in a position to get bombed definitely falls under the latter.

So run, rabbit, run.

That's what a war "leader" does. Isn't it?

That wee Scottish wumman was a cunning PR genius. She knew that the warmonger was a fasle idol. She had her idiot husband sit still and then she paraded himself and herself before the cameras when a bomb from her in-laws' heimat landed on the grounds of Buck House.

The warmongering coward tried to replicate such a parade and hoisted his Bowler on his walking stick for the cameras, but it was a sham.

You Aint Seen Or Read Nuffin Yet
 

Off the top of my head. Dams raid article picturing Liberators and A26 Invaders.

He may well have taken the sensible precaution of avoiding air raids when it was arguably imperative that he was not taken out of action. However, he served as a battalion commander of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front in 1916. He served in the Punjab, Sudan and Cuba and was a war correspondent in South Africa. He had no hesitation in putting himself in harms way then.

Why are you so bitter?

Britain recalls ...

You get that the idea of a war is to kill the other side, not get killed yourself right?

How does going to war to help an ally you have a treaty with (Poland), when they are under attack, make you a warmonger? In that case, any NATO member who is under attack would, of necessity, cause the leaders of all other NATO countries to be classed as warmongers. Yes, I know it was Chamberlain who was PM at the time, so perhaps he should also be indicted.