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Title: Long Way Home--Pan Am Pacific Clipper 31K Mile WWII Saga
Source:
LiveLeak
URL Source: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=196_1363275401
Published: Mar 14, 2013
Author: mtnmanx
Post Date: 2014-07-07 17:40:38 by X-15
Keywords: aviation, Pan Am
Views: 841
Comments: 23
Long Way Home--Pan Am Pacific Clipper 31K Mile WWII Saga Astonishing story of Pan Am's Pacific Clipper, caught in the South Pacific during the attack in Pearl Harbor, and declared a "strategic resource at the disposal of the American military", resulting in an incredible 31K mile trip back to the USA. "Do not return to Hawaii. Do not return to US west coast...Strip aircraft of all markings and identification...proceed west...maintain radio silence...deliver aircraft to Marine Terminal, LaGuardia, NY. Good luck."
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 22.
#8. To: X-15 (#0)
God was their co-pilot...what a vacation those folks "enjoyed."
The side blisters of PBY Catalina always looked to me to be the best place to spend a war, although not the safest. Pack a cooler, a bag of weed, and a couple ammo belts...
B-29,B-50 and B-36 all had blisters and were pressurized. Think about that.
Good for keeping radioactive particles out.
The gunners at the blisters could actually lean into the blister and see fore and aft, up and down. If a blister popped, they better have seat belt fastened.
I imagine to lean into the blister the harness had to be loose. To be prepared, an oxygen mask must have been needed during combat and bomb runs. A few guys must have been mauled by the side of the plane as they were dragged out in too-loose seat belts. I imagine the plexiglass was wicked sharp when it cracked, too.
Still must have been better than front line infantry.
Army Air Corps was considered front line infantry, and they (USAAF) lost more men in the air than the U.S. Army on the ground around the planet during WWII.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the attrition rate for front-line infantry (Marines/Army) was lower or equal. I know the AAF bomber crews had tremendous attrition rates. It probably does indicate that it was an air war, primarily. "On the ground" would have included a lot of REMFs. Still I didn't know that losses were greater in the air overall. Remember, the Soviets took the brunt of ground fighting and had literally defeated Germany by the time we entered the European theater with a ground front with the Operation Shingle opening at Anzio beach in Italy in January 1944. (Of course excepting the North African campaign which was relatively small for American ground forces.)
#23. To: Deasy (#22)
AAF lost over 200,000 dead in the air, that was more than dead on the ground.
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#9. To: Lod, Cynicom (#8)
#10. To: Dakmar (#9)
#11. To: Cynicom (#10)
#14. To: Deasy (#11)
#16. To: Cynicom (#14)
#18. To: Deasy (#16)
I imagine to lean into the blister the harness had to be loose. To be prepared, an oxygen mask must have been needed during combat and bomb runs. A few guys must have been mauled by the side of the plane as they were dragged out in too-loose seat belts. I imagine the plexiglass was wicked sharp when it cracked, too.
#21. To: Dakmar, Cynicom (#18)
Still must have been better than front line infantry.
#22. To: X-15 (#21)
Replies to Comment # 22.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 22.