Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered" channel.

  1. Cattlemen who are also rustlers, sheriffs who may be wanted men in other states. You could make a lot of money selling grey hats.
    220
  2. We often forget that when you are at the cutting edge that edge can cut both way. A suggestion for a future edition. The Memphis Belle is always quoted as being the first USAF heavy bomber to complete 25 mission. But I knew that another B17, Hell's Angel completed its 25 missions before Memphis belle. I know this because I knew they were filming both aircraft at the same time in case either one did not get to 25 missions. But researching this recnetly I discovered that B-24 Liberator Hot Stuff had completed its 25 missions before either of the two B17s. Hot Stuff completed its 25th mission on February 7, 1943, three and a half months before the B-17 Memphis Belle. It had completed 30 missions before flying back to America, but on its way home crashed into the side of 1,600-foot-tall Mount Fagradalsfjall, near Grindavik, Iceland while attempting to land. It is usually only noted because one of those who was killed in the crash was Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews, Commander of the European Theater of Operations. He had been summoned to Washington DC by the General of the Army, George Marshall. Of the 15 on board only the tail gunner survived. And the fate of the aircraft was soon forgotten. As it is one of those episodes history has forgotten I thought it would appeal to you.
    212
  3. I have said this before but I will say it again. The emotion you put into your videos would have raised a smile from Charles Dickens. Himself no slouch when it came to giving emotional renditions of his stories. Well done, the Fanning. Right place right time and then, importantly, made the most of it. Convoy duty was always a difficult task and many never even got that chance. But as they say, they also serve who stand and wait. And without them things would have been much worse.
    173
  4. "Good news, Hans. You've been promoted." "Thank you Heir Capitan." "What is my new rank?" "You are Head Toilet Flusher." "You are Head of the Heads."
    164
  5. The equivalent British missile had a silver body and a red warhead which made it look like a giant lipstick. That would have confused the Russians. You can just imagine it. Comrade chairman. The British have just launched a missile and it looks like a giant lipstick. You been at the vodka again Demetre?
    160
  6. I do know about the USS England and her fantastic success as a submarine hunter. Thought I was unaware of how she got her name. She obviously did her namesake proud. The Hedgehog was one of a number of weapons based on the Blacker Bombard Spigot Mortar, which was named after it inventor Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker. The mortar was also used in the PIAT anti tank weapon and when you see all of those rockets being fired onto the beaches on D-Day from the landing craft, those are spigot mortars. You may wish to look at Captain Frederic John 'Johnnie' Walker' the most successful anti-submarine warfare commander during the Battle of the Atlantic, who tragically died on 7 July 1944 at the age of 48. His death was attributed to overwork and exhaustion because he was so much in demand he never got any R&R.
    151
  7. Your luck. That year i bought a Sony Betamax. Talk about disaster.
    135
  8. You've got to think another captain got to hand in his uniform.
    131
  9. The Indian troops were second to none. Not just in this battle but elsewhere. They fought with great valour in North Africa as well, often winning battles which no one else thought winnable. Many Allied troops had no sympathy for the Japanese, especially after they murdered patients and medical staff when they took the hospital. Not the first time such a crime had been committed by them.
    117
  10. On the 10th May 1933 Nazi-dominated student groups carried out public burnings of books they claimed were “un-German.” Amongst those works burned were the writings of beloved nineteenth-century German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine. In his 1820–1821 play Almansor he wrote "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people." It is somewhat ironic that Savonarola was the one who was burnt.
    108
  11. People may be intelligent but mobs are not. In a mob even the best of people can commit the worst of acts.
    106
  12. The highest scoring RAF squadron in the Battle of Britain was 303 squadron which was manned by Polish pilots.
    81
  13. Nice to see that an English eccentric can find a home in San Francisco. I do hope the bridge is renamed in his honour. Considering how many get such things, despite them having a the very least a somewhat checked past, it would be nice for someone to receive the honour who actually wanted only the best for his fellow citizens. I did know about Norton but not in any great depth so it is nice to get a fuller biography of him. I have often said if I learn something new I have had a good day. Today was a very good day.
    80
  14. I subscribe to a naval history channel and just before this video i watched a video about the Battle of the North Cape and the sinking of the Scharnhorst. I think the words of Admiral Fraser led the British in the battle and who briefed his officers on board Duke of York after the battle are appropriate here. He said "Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today" I think that those words definitely apply here.
    80
  15. There are further links in this chain. Eddie Cochran was friends with Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and of course Richie Valens. Their deaths effected him so badly he stopped touring as he had developed a morbid premonition that he also would die young. However because of financial responsibilities he was required that he continue to perform live, and that led to his acceptance of an offer to tour the United Kingdom in 1960. On Saturday 16 April just before midnight he was involved in a traffic accident. Cochran died of his injuries in hospital four hours later, they others in the car all surviving, though others were injured including Gene Vincent and Cochran's fiancée Sharon Sheeley. As a couple of follow ups, after the accident the car and other items from the crash were impounded at the local police station until a coroner's inquest could be held. A police cadet at the station, David Harman, taught himself to play guitar on Cochran's impounded Gretsch. He would later become known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. Two of their songs sold over one million copies each. Gene Vincent tour the UK again in 1961 and moved to the UK in 1963. When touring the UK in 1963 one member of the backing band was Ritchie Blackmore who, in 1968, would be a founding member of Deep Purple.
    76
  16. I did know about Charles Fryatt as I have long had an interest in the Great Eastern Railways. German claims of 'unlawful combatant' was used widely during the Franco Prussian War and would be used again during both world wars. This would include the British nurse Edith Cavell who was also executed by the Germans because she helped 200 Allied soldiers escape. This despite the fact that she is known for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination. Amongst those ships sunk by German U-Boats were two Red Cross ships carrying the wounded back to Britain. Despite the fact that they clearly displayed the markings of such ships. The Germans had claimed they were carrying contraband such as weapons and ammunition but the Red Cross had investigated such claims and decided they were unfounded. But that did not stop the Germans torpedoing two of them. In both cases without warning.
    72
  17. I think the term 'A colourful character' is rather apt here. His life may not have been blameless but it certainly was very interesting.
    71
  18. I had heard of Corrigan and his "wrong way" flight. And as a typical Irishman he had a good story, well worth retelling.
    61
  19. Charles McGill Thanks for the extra information. The difference between disaster and survival is a very fine line and can be down to the skill and expertise of just a few people.
    59
  20. Thanks for that. I had no idea it went back so far.
    59
  21. I knew about the Dreadnought hoax but I was only vaguely aware of the earlier one. You have to admire anyone who had the nerve to pull something like that off.
    56
  22. A quick note about the Luddites. Their complaint was based on the fact that as skilled weavers they were being replaced by low paid unskilled workers, sound familiar. But there are a couple of points which are often missed. Firstly many of them were self employed, business men not workers. And they realised that the big factories were taking away their businesses by undercutting them on cost wise. Secondly some of them were actual factory owners who had were not happy with this choice of running a large factory, but only took that direction because they saw the alternative of losing their businesses as had happened to others. Britain, at the time, was a very patriarchal society and a man running a business saw himself as father to his workers. This meant constantly watching over them and controlling their every move as a father would with a child. They believed that having such a large workforce would dilute if not break that patriarchal link with their workers and were not happy about it. For them the factories spelled disaster, not just for business but for the country and their way of life. This actually led to them getting their own factories attacked. A law was introduced making it illegal for people to band together which would be used to fight the Luddites. Though the fact that the factory owners were also banding together was ignored.
    54
  23. You have to wonder what would have happened had not the runway been clear. The pilots would probably never even seen it. As so often it is the little things which can make such a difference. Thanks for the video.
    53
  24. In the world of the Internet we often do not realise the impact of the invention of the telegraph. During the Crimean War, 1853 to 1856, the telegraph allowed the British Army command to send ad receive messages in a matter of hour. Whereas the Russians, without the telegraph and very poor roads, assuming there was a road, it could take days or even weeks for the Russian commander to get and receive messages from Moscow. The British newspaper, The Telegraph, came about because it could get stories from anywhere in the world into the paper within 24 hours of it happening. Some parts of London had telegram deliveries of 13 times a day, letter where 12 times a day. And for some it had a huge social impact. Middle class women with a good education would be employed because they proved better telegraphists then most men. Prior to that options were limited. Interesting that you showed a picture of the old Commodore 64 as its return has just been announced. Even more interesting is that it was reputed to have the same computing power as the Apollo Lunar Lander. Wonder if the plans are on Wikipedia.
    52
  25.  @BigHenFor  I am sure you will know, but others may not be aware, of the significance of this medal. The George Cross is the second highest award and is the civilian equivalent of the Victoria Cross, Britains highest military honour. It instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI. Malta was awarded to the island of Malta in a letter dated 15 April 1942. The king wrote that it was, 'To honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history.'
    51
  26. One of my favourite sandwiches is smoked bacon, brie and cranberry sauce. Now, fond as I am of this sandwich, I have a feeling I am never going to eat enough for of them for the cranberry sauce to be a problem.
    50
  27. I have heard this story before, recently in fact, but it rarely has the same intensity of emotion as you get with The History Guy.
    50
  28. Your description of the pilot being buffeted about in the cockpit and striking his head reminded me about the incident which brought about the death of the test pilot Geoffrey de Havillend jr while flying the de Havillend DH 108, an aircraft similar to the Me 163 in shape but with a jet engine. While flying the aircraft he experienced buffeting and then the aircraft broke up in midair. The body of de Havillend was found and the parachute had not been opened. He also had a broken neck. It is thought that because of his height, well over six feet tall, he had struck his head on the top of the canopy and was either killed immediately or had been knocked unconscious before sustaining his fatal injury. He had been wearing the old fashioned leather flying helmet which gave very limited protection. Interestingly not long after this incident the de Havillend company received a package from America. A box with two of the new helmets which were being issued to the US Army Air Force. Apparently test pilots in the US had heard about the death of Geoffrey de Havillend jr and had sent the new helmets in order to help the other test pilots. An act of kindness which, I am sure, was much appreciated.
    48
  29. I do remember this incident. And I remember seeing the photographs and wondering, like everyone else, how it had stayed together. It can be quite amazing what damage an aircraft can survive. I have seen a photograph of an aircraft, I think it was a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, which had a very large hole in the top of the aircraft just in front of the tail where a Japanese aircraft deliberately rammed the aircraft. It looked like something had taken a huge bite out of the aircraft. The aircraft survived the encounter and managed to get back to an airfield where it landed. The Japanese pilot was less fortunate and was killed in the collision.
    48
  30. sirrliv Thanks for your contribution here. I did know about the ships being built in France and Britain though I had forgotten about the flaws in the French warships. Not only were the Japanese ships built here in Britain but the British Royal Navy also trained the Japanese Navy here in Britain. The highlight of the visit by the Japanese was a visit to Fred Jane and taking part in his navel wargames using models and a set of rule he devised. Fred Jane was the founding editor of Jane's authoritative military reference books which are still being produced today. I live in Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire and we have a connection with this war. When the Russian Baltic Fleet was passing through the North Sea they came across some of Hull trawlers. The Russians panicked and thinking they had come under attack by Japanese torpedo boats opened fire upon the trawlers, killing and wounding several trawlermen. Apparently, because Russia knew that Britain was supplying the Japanese Navy with its ships they thought that the Japanese had sent torpedo boats out from British ports in order to attack the Baltic Fleet. There was a huge outcry about the attack and calls for the Royal Navy to attack the Russian fleet, but it was allowed to go on its way. They probably had a good idea of the Baltic Fleets fate anyway and decided to let the Japanese deal with them. This incident makes you think about the state of mind of the Russians. They know their Pacific Fleet has been destroyed, that they now face an epic voyage to the other side of the world and they are sailing ships which they know are inferior to those of the Japanese Navy. Because of the closeness of the British and Japanese navy's the British had unparalleled access to the Japanese Navy and all of the information about how the Japanese Navy and its ships had performed. This would have helped the Royal Navy when it decided to build the Dreadnought. There is a local museum in Hull which includes photographs of the trawlers on return to Hull and also parts of the trawlers which had received damage.
    47
  31. Well I would like to say, from this side of The Pond, as the Atlantic is sometimes referred to, to all those the other of The Pond, Happy Thanks Giving. And to everyone in the rest of the world have a great weekend. Thanks Giving. The day to give thanks for all the things you have. Followed by Black Friday when you go out and buy more things. How do Americans not understand irony?
    43
  32. I love the idea that someone thought George Harrison was trying out for the local band. I have to wonder what he said when he saw the Beetles on the Ed Sullivan Show.
    43
  33. Dean Stuart, I have had occasion to correct The history Guy on British pronunciation in the past. But as he is such a Nice Guy as well as The History Guy I think it is only fair to forgive his short comings. :) Charles putnam 1982 Italy's poor reputation, as you probably know, stems from their mass surrender early in the war in North Africa. In the same situation, and bearing in mind their total lack of water, any other troops would have also surrendered. But it was felt by those who fought against them that the Italians surrendered to quickly and that the British and Commonwealth troops would have held out for longer before doing so as a show of defiance. But having said that they did fight bravely to the point where they had lost many of their tanks in battle in North Africa. Despite their equipment being the poorest of either side. And I understand that on the Eastern Front they were regarded as Germany best allies. Here they did use German equipment which helped, but that begs the question of how much more of a threat they would have been if they were better equipped and led. Apparently when picking the next Italian tank to go into production Mussolini stared at to pictures of the two possible tanks and after 15 minutes pointed to one and that is the one that went into production. That was it. Nothing about which was the better of the two. Which had the best armour, or gun, or reliability. just point to a picture and say "that on." Mind boggled.
    42
  34. The US Navy was told were the bomb had hit the water off Spain by the local but they thought they knew better so ignored him. But eventually they had to get him to show them where it had landed and sure enough there it was. As a child I used to watch the British Royal Air force's Vulcan bombers fly over, they were based in Lincolnshire to the south. I used to watch these huge white triangles fly to and from their bases. I sometimes heard them fly over at night time when I was in bed and, oddly enough when you realised what they would be carrying if we went to war, I always felt safe knowing they were there.
    41
  35. What happened in Paris happened in various degrees elsewhere. The census for England in 1801 shows that some 80% of the population was rural while the 1901 census shows that the total opposite. By the middle of the century overcrowding was such a problem that it was not unusual for several families to share just one room. So the second half of the century saw huge building projects where thousands of terraced houses were built. New schools were added after the education act and things slowly improved. Interestingly many of these terraced houses were themselves removed in the 60s and 70s when new housing was built.
    41
  36. I must admit I was suspicious of the two men from the start, so I was not surprised when it turned out to be fake. But having said that the others thought they were conning these two men out of their claim. And lets face it, who does not like it when the underdogs win through. If these two men had gone out and cheated ordinary people then that is one thing, but these were people who were defeated by their own greed and stupidity. The con men got conned.
    41
  37. Well although he did not get to see it he did eventually provide for his family. Thanks for the video. It is interesting how often the pioneers are not the ones to benefit from their discoveries. During the DotCom boom I remember reading about a US business were you could order your grocers online and they would deliver them to you. They even had software developed especially for their business. It failed because at that time no one was interested in ordering their groceries online. Now all the major supermarkets do just that. Even Amazon are now doing it.
    40
  38. The problems with quality control during wartime can be huge headache, especially when everything seems to be needed yesterday. And the more complex the project the harder it is to keep on top of things.
    39
  39. She sounds part horse and part goat. Part goat not just for her climbing ability but her goat like desire to eat anything.
    39
  40. As you said the British Unknown Warrior was buried in Westminster Abbey amongst the kings. He is unique in that, unlike the other burials in Westminster, you cannot stand on his tomb. You can stand on the tomb of a king but not his. One tradition with regards the tomb is that after getting married a royal bride visits the tomb and leaves her wedding bouquet on the tomb. This was started by the Queens mother who had lost her brother during the war and decided she would leave her bouquet in his memory. Since that day all royal brides have left their bouquets as well. Not all who were buried were unknown. In one country a boy, whose father was killed in the Great War, was given the task of choosing who should represent his country's dead. He made his choice but he did so knowing it was his father who was in the coffin. At 11 am this Sunday I will be at our city's Cenotaph where the two minutes silence will be observed. Just as i did in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2917. My paternal grandfather was on of Kitchener's Mob. He was in the 128th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery and was at the Somme and Passchendeale. He survived the war and came home. How it effected him mentally I do not know, though I think I can have a good guess. One thing I do know is that it effected his hearing, firing those big 60 pounders day after day.
    38
  41. Actually I do have evidence. It is a well known fact that Wayne did not serve in the army. John Ford used to humiliate him about it. In one film Wayne was the only actor in the film who had not served so Ford gave the military rank as well as their name to all those who had served in the end credits. Wayne was Mr. John Wayne. Wayne was exempted because he was 34 at the time of Pearl Harbour. But at that time the age limit was 36 year and six months. So he would be eligible to serve. And in early 1942 this was changed to the duration of the war plus a six-month. As he had a family he was classified as 3-A - family deferment. This, I understand, would be something Wayne himself would need to claim for. Henry Fonda was 36 and also had children but served anyway. The story of him being booed came from a highly regarded documentary series about WW2 where one of the US marines who was there related the story of what happened. The documentary series, I believe, was The World at War. It may possibly have been episode 23, The Pacific. None of what I wrote is anecdotal. I studied at university where I was awarded a degree in archaeology so I know the importance of facts.
    36
  42. John Wayne managed to to dodge combat in WW 2. All the enemies he faced were extras in Hollywood. There was an incident during the war where he was part of a group entertaining the troops. The curtain opened to find him stood there dressed as a cowboy. The audience, wounded US Marines who had been fighting the Japanese on all the various islands booed him off the stage. Wayne was in favour of the US fighting various wars as long as he was not asked to do the fighting. Laurence Olivier was a fighter pilot in the Royal Navy in WW 2. I understand that when he asked to be granted leave to film Henry V the Navy was happy to oblige. Apparently he had crashed so many aircraft he was in danger of becoming a German Air Ace.
    35
  43. There was, of course, the incident in the 80s when an image from a Russian satellite looked like an American ICBM had been launched. Fortunately the Russian officer viewing the image hesitated and then realised it was not a ICBM being launched. It was actually the Sun striking a cloud but looked like a missile launch. As it happened he was the only one on duty who had a civilian education before joining up. He said if it had been one of his colleges they would not have waited and would have informed their superior of the launch. The thing is the Russians were expecting an attack. Because of the heightened rhetoric of President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the Russian leader Yuri Andropov was convinced the West was going to launch a preemptive attack on Russia. So if the had received the information about the supposed ICBM launched they would not have waited. So WW3 would have been caused by the Sun hitting a cloud. When Reagan finally heard about how close we came to total destruction he did have enough sense to dial back the rhetoric.
    35
  44. I have seen the Lightning a number of times. In fact it was the last aircraft, apart from the air sea rescue Sea Kings, to be stationed at RAF Leconfield, not far from where I live. It was so fast that it went supersonic while climbing just after takeoff for its very first flight. And despite the claims of others it was the first aircraft to use supercruise, the ability to go supersonic without the use of the afterburner. Saw it give a display at the BAE factory at Brough. It flow past just and the noise from it was awesome.
    35
  45. Craig Dillion I think Mr Shakespeare, amongst many others, may disagree with you about the Irish showing us how to use our language. What it did do was allow a nation of natural story tellers access to a much bigger market then they would have. To my knowledge Ireland has provided the world with no fewer then nine winners of the Nobel prize for literature. "The British either cannot spell or do not know how to pronounce their own language" are you sure you do not mean the French. It's our language and we will speak it as we choose.
    34
  46. It's interesting how often some of the most important roles are carried out by people who are not there to fight, such as in this example or the medic/corpsman. I remember watching an American documentary about the US Coast Guard in Viet Nam. Many dismissed the coast guards involvement because they did not understand what they were doing and thought they were just covering things like making sure dangerous stores, such as artillery shells, were handled properly when being unloaded from the ships. What the people back home did not know was that when they watched film footage of airmen being rescued by helicopters in North Viet Nam was that many of the helicopter crews were coast guards. And when you watched the films of landing craft in the Delta region working with the special forces they were also coast guard. The special forces preferred working with them. They were also tasked with stopping North Viet Nam's supplies being shipped into the Delta. More supplies were sent to the Delta then down the Ho Chi Min Trail. I did knew something about the US Coast Guards involvement in Viet Nam, such as the helicopters and the landing craft with the special forces, but much of it I did not know. Nor the extent of their involvement in the things I did know about. Ironically I did not know about their involvement in health and safety in the posts, the one thing most Americans know about the coast guards involvement in Viet Nam. Have you ever come across the British Commando unit the Combined Operations Pilotage parties. One of their roles was to survey the beaches in Normandy to make sure they could take all the vehicles coming ashore, as well as surveying the beach defences. It was because of them the landings took place when the tide was out as the landing craft would have had to deal with all the booby trapped beach obstacles. They also served on D-Day itself as they were tasked with guiding in the landing crafts. More then one of them lost their lives doing that.
    34
  47. A true story for you which chimes with this video and the previous one on chickens. In England in, I believe, in the 18th century a man was having a problem with one of his servants stealing from him, so he came up with a scheme to find the culprit. First he placed a large black cockrol in the middle of a darkened room. He then told his servants that they must each take it in turns to go into the room where they must stroke the cockrol before leaving by another door. By doing this the cockrol would be able to tell who was guilt. So each one of the servants went into the room and sure enough the culprit was found with the help of the cockrol. You see the cockrol, which as I said was black, was covered in soot. So when you touched it you got soot on your hands. The guilty person fearing he would be caught had not touched the bird so had clean hands. Ironic about the clean hands. Usually this refers to someone who is innocent.
    33
  48. A very big thanks for this video. I had heard of him but only as the man who came second to Jesse Owen and as the other black athlete. So it is nice to hear more about him. You have to wonder what he would have achieved if the 1940 Olympics had taken place. With training and better equipment he would have given Owen a run for his money, literally.
    33
  49. You've got the makings of a whole new YouTube channel. Or should that be YouTuber channel
    32
  50. Probably best to do the maths before you drink the beer.😊
    32