The Did you know thread. Uselss, but Fascinating historical facts and stories)

Discussion in 'History' started by Excape Goat, Jan 2, 2006.

  1. NickyViola

    NickyViola Member+

    May 10, 2004
    Boston
    Club:
    ACF Fiorentina
    I know that Romania was a minor Axis member but I'm still a bit surprised the US had fighter planes over there on D-Day.

    I found this...

    I wonder where he took off from, landed and refueled. Ploesti is a long way from Italy.
     
  2. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    ploesti is only about 2/3 as far from bari as berlin is from england. note also that fighter cover didn't always go all the way with the bombers and it says he was on his way to ploesti; the romanian border is no farther than the ruhrgebiet from london.

    the ploesti airfields were a big target for bombers, probably the most important outside of germany. the first raids actually left from libya (w/o fighter support); a lot of raids left from the USSR (or landed there afterwards) after the red army had cleared out the crimea and ukraine. from there a lot of fighters could probably reach ploesti and the P38 very certainly. with drop tanks it could fly more than 3000 km.
     
  3. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    The famous raids on Ploesti took off from, and returned to, Benghazi-- but they were in 1943 IIRC.

    In June 1944 the US tried dive bombing missions against Ploesti, using P-38s as the dive bombers. The Lightnings were met by substantial numbers of Me109s and Romanian-built fighters, and took substantial losses but scored some kills themselves. I'm guessing his was one of these.

    (The Air Corps was trying to find a role for the P-38 in the ETO, as it was not much of a match for the front-line German fighters despite its great success in the Pacific.)
     
  4. NickyViola

    NickyViola Member+

    May 10, 2004
    Boston
    Club:
    ACF Fiorentina
    Thanks guys.
     
  5. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    well, its great range was useful in the broad blue pacific, and theoretically would have been for bomber escort, but for dogfighting it was very naturally an absolute pig. not a prohibitive defect for the booming and zooming used in the pacific (as long as japan had any experienced pilots left, getting into a turnfest with a bad idea for any american fighter) but when you need to stay stuck in to protect bombers...

    nor could it throw the weight of metal the thundebolt could, so it was second choice at best for ground attack.

    sure was purty though.
     
  6. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    OK, this is just trivial, but in honor of Opening Day....

    President Benjamin Harrison is the first president to attend a baseball game (1892) and President William Taft is the first president to throw out an Opening Day pitch (1910). Throwing out the first pitch becomes an instant tradition for presidents, but it is not until 1993 and President Clinton that a president actually reaches the catcher with his toss....
     
  7. riverplate

    riverplate Member+

    Jan 1, 2003
    Corona, Queens
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    Didn't all of them before that throw the ball out of their seat in the stands? Your statement is misleading.
     
  8. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

    Club Brugge
    Belgium
    Aug 19, 2002
    Belgium
    Club:
    Club Brugge KV
    What about Teddy "Mother********ing" Roosevelt?
     
  9. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I dunno, all I know is that he reportedly hated baseball...
     
  10. YankHibee

    YankHibee Member+

    Mar 28, 2005
    indianapolis
    I'd rep Teddy again if I could.
     
  11. riverplate

    riverplate Member+

    Jan 1, 2003
    Corona, Queens
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    New Estimate Raises Civil War Death Toll - N.Y. Times

     
  12. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    You should look at casualty figures from the 30-years-war or both World Wars to put these numbers into some kind of perspective.
     
  13. yossarian

    yossarian Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 16, 1999
    Big City Blinking
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why? This research and reassessment of Civil War casualties wasn't undertaken to score points in some sort of war-casualty pissing match.
     
  14. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Apples to oranges - nobody is saying that those wars weren't horrific. Mostly this seems to be a better attempt to calculate the death toll for the war that had a major impact on US history, and still resonates today.
     
  15. YankHibee

    YankHibee Member+

    Mar 28, 2005
    indianapolis
    What were the death counts relative to population of those wars?
     
  16. YankBastard

    YankBastard Na Na Na Na NANANANAAA!

    Jun 18, 2005
    Estados Unidos
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH7m1_eedCE&feature=related"]Robert Wuhl's Assume the Position 101 & 201 - YouTube[/ame]
     
  17. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Did you know that Ben Franklin, just for the hell of it, came up with a list of over 200 synonymns for "drunk." Some are dated, but some really should make a come back.

    http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/113876

    My two favorites:

    "His Head is full of Bees," and "he's seen a flock of moons."
     
  18. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    This one was my fave:

    Sir Richard has taken off his Considering Cap


     
  19. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    i used to collect different expressions for hurling, and my two favorites were "technicolor yawn" and "having a word with shanks".
     
  20. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    "Working on the mind-body problem."
     
  21. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Driving the porcelain bus.
     
  22. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

    Club Brugge
    Belgium
    Aug 19, 2002
    Belgium
    Club:
    Club Brugge KV
    Did you know that the face of the most popular CPR doll in the world is based on the deathmask of a 19th century drowning victim called 'l'inconnue de la Seine'?
     
    Dr. Wankler repped this.
  23. That Phat Hat

    That Phat Hat Member+

    Nov 14, 2002
    Just Barely Outside the Beltway
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    GiuseppeSignori repped this.
  24. DoctorD

    DoctorD Member+

    Sep 29, 2002
    MidAtlantic
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  25. riverplate

    riverplate Member+

    Jan 1, 2003
    Corona, Queens
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    [​IMG]

    Lenin’s Stroke: Doctor Has a Theory (and a Suspect) - N.Y. Times

    [​IMG]
     

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