Fifth Avenue Forum

Pretty interesting thread on the map SHAEF used to track the Allied advance in Europe:

How cool would it be to have a 19'x14' map of Europe. (I think fellow map nerd Shaf would concur.)

Hey @tifosi77

How are we feeling about these silly flyovers now?

Canadian Snowbird acrobatic jet crashes during pandemic show
One pilot is dead and another is seriously injured after a Canadian Snowbird jet crashed during a show intended to boost morale amid the pandemic.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2020/ ... pilot-dead

The pilot was the daughter of a friend of a friend, which is how I heard about it.

I've never been a fan of the city flyovers, because of the increased risk to the public through encouraging people to go out and congregate. But a flying mishap doesn't change my opinion as regards risk to the aviators in the slightest.

Dumb.

Did you tell your friend's friend his daughter was dumb for volunteering for this duty?

It didn't come up. I'll try and work it in.

The video of the incident is pretty damn haunting. You can see immediately there is a power issue and it looked like she was trying to turn back and make it back to the airstrip.

I just rewatched Band of Brothers last week. Still gives me chills. HBO OD/Go has some supplementary documentaries on Easy Company. Not sure if it's the same stuff from the DVD set or not but I'm going to give them a watch on Memorial Day.

I say this every year but Band of Brothers is so good.

Is the assult on Brecourt Manor still taught as a small unit tactics masterclass? I know it was at the time the show was made.

You'll have to find a non PoG for that one, I don't remember any from here.

Is the assult on Brecourt Manor still taught as a small unit tactics masterclass? I know it was at the time the show was made.

Sure is. There is a documentary on it that came out about 10 years ago, that was done in conjunction with an event honoring Malarkey. Thanks in large part to their actions, the boys landing at Utah had a much "easier" time of it than others.

Not too long ago I found a YouTube channel by a guy who basically travels around Europe and visits WWII battle sites. I think his Normandy visit coincided with the recent 75th anniversary; the people who currently own Brecourt Manor do not suffer tourists, apparently, and only allow a very few number of a groups to have access to the property and will get stroppy if individual tourists ask to walk around.

I have no idea if this is advertised or what because the friend of mine who did this seems to always find unique things to do.

But he was in France a couple years ago and found a company who will take you up in a biplane and fly you over the trench lines.

He said it was insane how clear it was from the air.

I have no idea if this is advertised or what because the friend of mine who did this seems to always find unique things to do.

But he was in France a couple years ago and found a company who will take you up in a biplane and fly you over the trench lines.

He said it was insane how clear it was from the air.

That is awesome. Traveling to Europe and visiting Verdun (and other WWI and II) battle sites is on my bucket list.

When we visited Rome in 2012, we took the train down to Nettuno, major site (with Anzio) of the Allied amphibious invasion of Italy. They have a large cemetery there strictly for American war dead. Walking through there made me feel some serious emotions.

This is it :

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily% ... d_Memorial

Undersea explorers find wreck of USS Nevada, the ship that almost escaped Pearl Harbor

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/ ... rl-harbor/

When we visited Rome in 2012, we took the train down to Nettuno, major site (with Anzio) of the Allied amphibious invasion of Italy. They have a large cemetery there strictly for American war dead. Walking through there made me feel some serious emotions.

We had a similar response to seeing all the bullet holes and blast marks on the walls of the Citadel in Hue. It's.......... it's a weird feeling.

Undersea explorers find wreck of USS Nevada, the ship that almost escaped Pearl Harbor

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/ ... rl-harbor/

I've never really read much about this ship, but I've always wondered if trying to get a stricken ship out of harbor was a wise move. It seems if she had sunk in the channel, Pearl Harbor would've been effectively blocked. Then again, I'm not a naval surface warfare officer, so maybe that guy knew better on the day.

Nevada basically took off with no officers on board. Once the captain got a hold of the ship he told them to beach it for that precise reason.

76 years ago today. Thank you men.

Diary entry from a paratrooper on June 5, 1944. Posted by my AP History teacher from HS.

Received my wife's grandfather's WWII discharge papers in the mail today. He was a Seabee.

Served in the South Pacific. In a bit of irony the Marine Air Unit they were supporting at Emirau Island Air Base in Papua New Guinea was MAG-12, which was my unit in Iwakuni.

Also in the packet was the discharge papers for her great-grandfather who served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War with the 7th Cavalry.

Served in the South Pacific. In a bit of irony the Marine Air Unit they were supporting at Emirau Island Air Base in Papua New Guinea was MAG-12, which was my unit in Iwakuni.

I think all (or at least most) of the squadrons in that command operated F4U Corsairs during WW2, which puts them on the Cool Wall.

Which ones aren't on the cool wall?

Just had three V-22 Ospreys fly right over our house heading NE. That was cool.

Which ones aren't on the cool wall?

VFA-25 "Fist Of The Fleet". We don't need that kind of imagery from our military.

Also the F2A Buffalo was dumb.