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.. some curious photographs showing a Spitfire of the RAF carrying beer kegs under the wings. I've never seen this.
Making ice cream on a combat flying missionOn March 13, 1943, the New York Times reported that American fliers stationed in Britain had discovered an ingenious way of making ice cream while on duty. A story titled "Flying Fortresses Double as Ice-Cream Freezers" disclosed that the airmen "place prepared ice-cream mixture in a large can and anchor it to the rear gunner's compartment of a Flying Fortress. It is well shaken up and nicely frozen by flying over enemy territory at high altitudes."
A great thirst attacked British troops rushing emergency landing strips to completion in the dust of Normandy. Thinking of luckier comrades guzzling in country estaminets and town bistros, the runway builders began to grouse. They wanted beer. They got it. Rocket-firing Typhoons, before going on to shoot up Nazis, landed on the runways with auxiliary fuel tanks full of beer. Swarms of the thirsty gathered round with enamel mugs. The first tank-fulls tasted bad because of the tank linings; this flavor was overcome by chemical means and later loads were delicious. Just like the corner pub at home.
The purpose was to cool the beer.
That's a purpose close to my heart, and I would have participated had I been there. The main trick was to have people ready to drink it when the plane landed ... and not draw the attention of the "old man" at the same time.
You can't have been living on planet Earth then!
Steve
Not really...Ha ha ha! Good one!
Chris
Not really...
Since they're from Brazil, it's entirely possible to be a little removed from the quirks of the war that the commonwealth and he U.S. would have been familiar with.
I've even had several conversations with people here in the states that had never heard of "high altitude cooling", or that U.S. carriers had ice cream machines (and at least one submarine - with one stolen from a carrier) during WWII.
And I was called a liar and a dumbass for mentioning that a Skyraider dropped a toilet in combat as part of a warload. That almost cost them a night in ER, too...
So aparently, you missed the part where I got into an argument with a fellow American over the fact that a toilet was dropped from a hard-point in combat. Not everyone is a walking encyclopedia of lesser-known facts of war.I guess so. It's just that I've know this for so long, having first read about Spitfires toting beer kegs across The Channel way back in the Seventies or early Eighties. But then pampa14 is only trawling for blog hits and never joins the discussions he starts.
Chris
So aparently, you missed the part where I got into an argument with a fellow American over the fact that a toilet was dropped from a hard-point in combat. Not everyone is a walking encyclopedia of lesser-known facts of war.
And here's some interesting "did-you-knows":
Did you know that pampa has never caused any trouble here on the forum?
Did you know that several members of the forum have links to their own pages in their sigs?
Did you know that following a member and harassing them in their posts/threads is called Trolling?
And I should point out that his posts always lead to great and informative discussions, often times leading to learning new things...