Comments by "Mike O\x27Neill" (@EllieMaes-Grandad) on "Imperial War Museums" channel.

  1. This they did, but at no small cost to themselves.
    71
  2.  @legoeasycompany  The effect on support personnel is rarely mentioned or accorded the importance it deserves.
    48
  3. * willing to go along with any politics that would fund his projects * The end justifies the means does it ? Just as well for all that Christian society doesn't think so . . .
    4
  4. The airfield management banned it from flying there. The exhaust burnt the runway and CIT was short of cash for any repairs at the time. [I worked for CIT in 1988/89]
    4
  5. The Japanese lost more than just the carriers themselves when one went down. Attrition of aircrew and mechanics was unsustainable; replacement training was insufficient.
    4
  6. It was no coincidence that he and his teams were there . . .
    3
  7. No room for one? Small frame, packed with other stuff, said the man . . .
    3
  8. It was an important stage along the way. 'Big Week' started the policy objectie of eliminating or reducing the German fighter force per se.
    3
  9. I have seen little reference to, and even less information about, Allied vs Axis fuel quality. There must have been basic performance differences and knock-on effects on operational and maintenance issues, yet no detailed analysis to be found . . .
    3
  10.  @jeffreywilliams144  Yes. The B29 was intended for the purpose. Only the Yanks were ever going to drop those bombs.
    2
  11. Rarely mentioned are the ergonomics which helped the pilots fly them, superior training in safe environments, gyroscopic gunsights, better quality fuel and a whole lot more R&R than German pilots were ever given.  @EEmb-d5l 
    2
  12.  @dukecraig2402  ME262's, V1's, V2's - they have apostrophes before the 's', yet "wonder weapons" doesn't . . . . do you have an explanation? PS Apostrophes in plurals are grammatically incorrect. It's a U.S. aberration going back the the 1940s, if not earlier.
    2
  13.  @thurin84  * they largely weren't needed at night * Main reason was weight-saving for increased bomb loads, but not being needed assuaged crews' fears . . .
    2
  14. Not an impressive contribution to the discussion . . .  @ianmangham4570 
    2
  15.  @Allydafc  It could indeed have done so, but cannot stop dinghies arriving these days . . .
    2
  16. Two sites, Duxford, near Cambridge, and central London, near Elephant & Castle.
    2
  17. Spinning induced centrifugal forces. Escape wasn't easy; many didn't.
    2
  18.  @d.jparer5184  Had you been alive at the time, or more informed by written history, you would know the mindset of the ordinary US and UK people. Fathers, brothers, sons, husbands were at risk of death and actually dying. Ending the war as soon as possible was the name of the game then.
    2
  19.  @d.jparer5184  * the difference between what we were doing to German and Japanese civilians compared to say the blitz in the UK * That difference was in the amount of effort and the effect of it. "They sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind." The warning to the Soviets was a bonus effect, but Stalin knew anyway. * Japan was going to surrender anyway * Of that there is no doubt, but not to the Soviets, so when? Truman helped them decide. Modern revisionism is not convincing.
    2
  20. How come the Allies didn't have this sort of weapon?
    2
  21.  @annoyingbstard9407  It was expensive, but it killed a lot of people . . .
    2
  22. Tom Bower's books, "Blind Eye to Murder" [post-war cover-up of widespread, generalised atrocities in Europe, done mostly by Nazis] and another, "Paperclip Conspiracy", examined selection of those guilty of war crimes but not prosecuted, being deemed useful to the USA.
    2
  23. Plausible reasons for their absence have been officially published, but scepticism on this still intrudes into the beliefs of many.
    2
  24. Losing was not an option for us . . .
    2
  25. Visit the Shuttleworth Collection too.
    2
  26. Poor tactics, poor strategy, short-range Me109s with no drop-tanks . . . . for starters. Also, determination and morale; RAF pilots were fighting for their very existence. @EEmb-d5l 
    2
  27. USA was a neutral trading nation for much of the war, as was Holland. Cotton was shipped that way to Germany and used for explosives (guncotton) and such contraband could not be stopped because USA remonstrated effectively at restriction of their trade by the British blockade . . .
    1
  28. There is a video about that by Dr Mark Felton.
    1
  29. * fresher during an engagement * On the day, yes, but they were flying and fighting almost every day, unlike Allied aircrew!  @EEmb-d5l 
    1
  30. The RC convent and church at Dockhead in Bermondsey were wiped out in March 1945. It was a month after the [now-demonised] raid on Dresden. People died in both places and it was just a matter of numbers by that stage, but modern sensibilities conveniently forget such reality.
    1
  31. He was never going to get that help - the Japanese knew by then not to antagonise the Russians . . .
    1
  32. Bomber escort wasn't the only job the RAF had. Somebody had to guard England itself, support Overlord, attack V1s etc.  @EEmb-d5l 
    1
  33. You'll have to read more [relevant] history books for that.  @nickdanger3802 
    1
  34.  @gamma_dablam  Is that because of double summer time, or despite it?
    1
  35.  @colonelreb1014  Twice you came late to the party, but your contribution was most welcome. We did pay for it . . .
    1
  36.  @colonelreb1014  As I said, help appreciated and paid for. We held the door open for you.
    1
  37. The V3 was a gun . . .
    1
  38.  @brianmatthews2369  Had an invasion been attempted, everything but everything would have been thrown at it.
    1
  39.  @corbeau-_-  Hiroshima was a city of great importance, military installations galore and civilians in industries making products for them. No, there were no "innocent civilians".
    1
  40.  @corbeau-_-  Not only did you not live in those times, you have zero understanding of the mindset at the time, of the necessity for survival. Take your privilege elsewhere.
    1
  41.  @Caseytify  However, Germany was the greater threat, technologically (think 'the bomb') and had to be eliminated. if Adolf had not declared war, Congress would've done so.
    1
  42. @Mika * with minimal USA assistance * The Soviets rode to Berlin on jeeps and trucks made in Detroit . . .
    1
  43. If Normandy had been a failure then Berlin would have been turned to glass.
    1
  44. V2s were still killing Londoners in March 1945; Dresden was in February 1945, but modern-day virtue signallers forget the realities of the time. To end the war, nobody cared two hoots about how many Germans or Japanese would die in the process - it was us or them and everybody preferred it to be them . . .
    1
  45. Duxford is near Cambridge. Also close is the cemetery at Madingley. I suggest you visit both places.
    1
  46. BPC ~ British Purchasing Commission . . . (not company)
    1
  47. The organisation of maintenance, and the maintenenance organisation, receives scant acknowledgement, but, as in the BofB, effectiveness made a difference; teamwork counts.
    1
  48. But never over Berlin . . .
    1
  49. All of that, but still a thirsty beast. The fighters which flew over Berlin had not fought all the way from the coast. P47s and P38s did early stages (until P38s went to the Pacific theatre) and P47s would return, re-fuel, re-load and escort the bombers on the last stretch homewards. Escort was a complex business.  @Molonlabe07 
    1
  50. Dropping explosives over Europe was costly and a few in Coastal Command may well have been a much more cost-effective use of some; loaded ships lost in the Atlantic were valuable.
    1
  51. PBY ? Patrol Boat, or bomber?
    1
  52.  @violet9214  P51s were escorts.
    1
  53.  @annoyingbstard9407  Not a total failure, but not cost-effective.
    1
  54. I enjoyed seeing one flying at a UK airshow in the early 1980s - a big aircraft !
    1
  55.  @Cailus3542  Germany had to be stopped; nothing else mattered in the final analysis.
    1
  56. Bailed-out B29 crewmen were badly treated, brutalised and killed in Japan and some of the same happened in Germany to B17 crew. I've never read of bad treatment to downed Luftwaffe crews in UK but USSR would have been different. Rescued crewmen at Midway were bound and thrown back into the sea. General Patton had the most appropriate philosophy on war-winning tactics.
    1
  57. London was out of range as a target as the Allies advanced across northern France, Belgium and Holland. Antwerp was major supply port for us in late 1944/early 1945.
    1
  58. Nobody regularly hit targets with precision at night. It was difficult enough in daylight, save for special missions (see 'Dambusters').
    1
  59. That's the war on Japan sorted . . . . but USA envisioned war on Germany too. Fortunately, "airstrip one" remained available for the duration. Its early loss was considered a possibility so a long-range bomber was deemed essential and from that the B29 project began. The rest is history . . .
    1
  60.  @markwilliams2620  Not a reason to ignore a very valid opinion about the state of Britain today. How much of our 'diverse' population would do today what those troops did eighty years ago . . . ?
    1
  61. The Stuka carried under its fuselage either one 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) or one 550-pound (250-kilogram) bomb, plus two smaller bombs (110 pounds [50 kg]) under each wing.
    1
  62. V2s were still hitting London in the weeks after the Dresden attack . . .
    1
  63. It would have been 1944 . . .
    1
  64. LD has written other informative books too.
    1
  65. We're British - we use miles . . . . you can do what you want.
    1