Another 'Gem' from Greg - just released.

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Greg will not allow posts that run contrary to his narrative, no matter who it is or how well versed they are on the subject.

Yeap, that's what I've alluded to. Bill has tried to have discussions with Greg, and even offered to have a debate. Greg blocked him.

Yet, we are supposed to be the ones filled with anger and vituperation.
 
Come on Mods! This is at least the third Troll that has spoiled this forum in the last year. You need a better perception of how these muckspreading posters operate. I suggest that trolling is obvious in the style and Moderators should act more decisively. IMO, Moderating is an active task, or it should otherwise be called Observing.

Eng
 
Wow, Mr. Sinclair, that was a lot of words.
I have hundreds of thousands or more ready to cut and paste from previous attempts at fictional history. Nothing you introduced was new, nil, zero. Takes a coffee break sort of time to put the basics together and then comes some editing.
And also skillful use of the software to carve out quotes and respond to them individually.
As the local 9 year old social media secretary said, "dumb", in edited family friendly words.
I don't have the time or interest to respond point by point.
I know, ignoring facts is a requirement for fake history, the data is for others who read finding out how ludicrous people who follow Greg's logic become.
I have no expectation that anything I write on an internet forum has any copyright value btw.
Situation normal, however following your USAAF logic, there must be a bad reasons for your intervention, so time to set up protections.
The points remain that even Eaker himself apparently stated that escorts would have decreased casualties significantly,
Of course that is an estimate in a letter that was pleading for more resources, so any exaggeration is likely to be upwards.
and that said escorts were not available, for the multiplicity of reasons listed throughout the thread, and for which USAAC/F leadership bears total responsibility.
Good to know the Japanese, Germans and Italians for a start had no influence on the air war, the USAAF leadership had total freedom over where its aircraft went, the enemy was irrelevant. The reasons for USAAF deployments given by others have big differences to yours.
It is interesting that even in the discussion of the Merlin comments, there are some instances quoted that gave Packard some credit for some improvements. Doing so doesn't impugn RR at all.
It is interesting to note how your idea of the very good Rolls Royce Packard Merlin partnership varies from history.
I can't resist commenting on the prevalence of thunderstorms in Northern Europe,
Beats dealing with all those errors.
which should be really common sense for anyone involved in aviation. Munich is north of Montreal on the latitude scale. I did a quick (less than a minute) web search and found multiple hits documenting that the incidents of TS in Europe are not very significant. Here is one link: Severe thunderstorm potential is *four times bigger* across the United States as compared to Europe, a new research study finds.
I can't resist commenting on the lack of numbers in the prevalence of thunderstorms reply (not severe thunderstorms) in Northern Europe, which should be really common sense for anyone involved in aviation, just 4 times that of the US while others can add some tropical countries having even greater frequencies again. The really funny bit is deviations in courses are supposed to be about dodging flak batteries, not because of thunderstorms (only severe now?), as others have noted clouds tend to ruin aircraft formations and Europe has rain. The 8th Air Force said 7.3% of its B-17 and 11.1% of its B-24 sorties sent were weather aborts, the 15th Air Force weather aborts 11.5% for B-17 and 13.4% for B-24 of airborne sorties. The ability of the B-17 to fly higher was an important reason for the difference.
IMHO (alert: incoming opinion not meeting the evidentiary standards of the legal system, which is apparently required here),
So where did you find the swear the oaths and sign the documents area, site users want to know. Users who shred their credibility require outside sources much more than others.
much more fuel was used taxiing, taking off, climbing, and especially organizing formations than was expended dodging TS in the EU.
Good to know, is the opinion considered still valid when we add ordinary rain and snow storms? Does it exclude missions cancelled because of weather or include them? Roger Freeman notes from engine start up to 25,000 feet in formation an early B-17F used 380 gallons of fuel, the total mission using 1,645 gallons for a target located 320 miles from base.
even in the Pacific there exists to this very day debate about whether or not the use of the atomic bomb was necessary or justifiable.
The Japanese super cabinet, the big 6, took decisions by consensus. It met in the presence of the Emperor who by custom stayed silent, questions asked on his behalf by a court official. Since early 1945 the big 6 had been deadlocked, 3 for war, 3 for peace, this remained the case after the first nuclear strike, the Soviet declaration of war and the second nuclear strike, 3 for war, 3 for peace, the deadlock was broken by the foreign minister breaking protocol and asking the Emperor directly for an opinion, which was in effect a super vote for peace. The Emperor gave his reasons in private at the meeting and in the public broadcast, the latter in the courtly Japanese dialect making it difficult for many citizens to understand. Then comes various people's ideas of what the words actually mean, a quote I have seen is Japanese is one of the best languages to be imprecise in.
I believe (in retrospect) that the air war in EU could have been run a lot better.
So is buying lottery tickets, financial products and life in general.

Germany switches to a defeat Britain force mix starting late 1938, ignores Denmark and Norway, the drive across France aims to hook to reach the sea as close to the Belgium France border as possible, the British army the prime target, the paratroops only lightly committed. After that success and the French Armistice the French economy is kept going, like the Czech one. By July a pair of panzer corps and a big Luftflotte are heading to the Mediterranean, Malta is invaded, Egypt taken, by the end of 1940, the emphasis helped by the Italian oil exploration of Libya making it clear the place has potential, building pre war a coastal rail system in anticipation. All the time Britain is blockaded but not heavily attacked directly, by day anyway. Without the large merchant fleets from Norway, Greece and so on joining Britain in 1940/41 the British have a big shipping problem, compounded by more U-boats in service, and air interdiction, the rest of the German fleet holds back until mid 1941. The 4 engined He177 (two engines later if they can be made to work) begins arriving in numbers 1941, the Me210 production put on hold. During early 1941 Turkey is promised the return of all its 1918 territories now under British rule as the Germans methodically work their way to Iran, helping the Iraqi uprising. The big 1941 operation is the mid year invasion of Britain, starting with tracking and obliteration of any and all radar sites, helped by a much bigger Luftwaffe, plus most of the Italian Air force, the Italian and German and some of the French fleets concentrated. After this a fascist government is installed which gratefully accepts Japanese protection of south east Asia, Indian independence and pushes the dominions into fascist governments. By early 1942 the USSR has German armies to the west, plus axis allies, including France, with lots more logistical support, needing minimal troops to police the greater German Reich, from the south come the Turks supplemented by Germans, in the North comes Finland, in the east Japan. In the Black and Barents Sea the amphibious lift used against Britain is deployed, along with all those captured merchant ships, since the spring mud season ended earlier in 1942 there is more campaign time, plus a firm plan that by end October the troops are ready for winter or offensive operations stop, but this is not needed. Through 1942 the Canadian Government reports on the multiple threats coming from the US, as 1942 ends it welcomes the arrival of protecting axis troops guarded by the combined fleets of Europe and Japan. Mexico also hosts troops as it notes the USA threat to peace, and looks forward to the 1943 campaign to recover lost lands. Thus we have completely eliminated all the mistakes the USAAF made in Europe in 1943. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 
Not going to ban him or delete his post just because his opinion is different to others.
Yes, but it's not a matter of different opinions. Your comment here seems to fly in the face of all the reasoned and factual contributions from other knowledgeable members when trolling behaviour occurs. The problem with trolls is that they may present Pseudo-arguments, often with passive-aggressive responses to discussion, lack of factual information and sometimes whacky statements, all designed to undermine the site. Another troll tactic is to totally ignore a reasoned reply that someone has presented correctly and then flit-off onto other aspects with opinions but few facts or constructive discussion.
I am disappointed that this Forum seems unable to control trolling behaviour, unchecked trolling is a very negative force. Yet again, this site seems unable to control it.

Eng
 
As an aside to some comments about European weather, it may interest some that European NATO Military pilots trained in the USA exchange scheme were given extra training when returning to Europe to be able to fly in the European weather conditions.

Eng
 
Yes, but it's not a matter of different opinions. Your comment here seems to fly in the face of all the reasoned and factual contributions from other knowledgeable members when trolling behaviour occurs. The problem with trolls is that they may present Pseudo-arguments, often with passive-aggressive responses to discussion, lack of factual information and sometimes whacky statements, all designed to undermine the site. Another troll tactic is to totally ignore a reasoned reply that someone has presented correctly and then flit-off onto other aspects with opinions but few facts or constructive discussion.
I am disappointed that this Forum seems unable to control trolling behaviour, unchecked trolling is a very negative force. Yet again, this site seems unable to control it.

Eng
I'd disagree, and I don't like the trigger-happy approach to the problem either.
 
I'd disagree, and I don't like the trigger-happy approach to the problem either.
Which problem though? Trolling or difference of opinion? Trolling is easy to spot and should be moderated. The well structured discussion of facts and answering questions are good things, completely different to trolling.

Eng
 
Which problem though? Trolling or difference of opinion? Trolling is easy to spot and should be moderated. The well structured discussion of facts and answering questions are good things, completely different to trolling.

Eng
Differentiating between a person who is really trolling vs. a person who comes here with already developed opinions that are not super-aligned with what other forum members say is in many cases a subjective matter. It is not beyond the established members of this forum to make snarky comments, either.

Being trigger-happy might be the modus operandi at Greg's channel, and hopefully not here.
 
All military plans, strategies and doctrines have to make assumptions. One assumption made in strategic bombing and others like submarine blockades was that an opponent in a hopeless situation would give up and surrender. In the case of the war in Europe this may have been logical but it was wrong, not a lie, just wrong. I have not seen anything in 1930s planning that considered fighting an enemy that just wouldnt give up until one man, the leader was dead or arrested. The allied bombing campaign destroyed German industry and infrastructure but that didnt matter, because it was in effect a house siege, by the time Hitler topped himself and Germany surrendered it was an academic exercise, Germany was largely occupied with most major cities and industry destroyed and the population in danger of starving, that didnt matter to Hitler and those around him, only the prospect of actually being captured did.
 
I learn from some of the other posters replies. Some of the old "stories" keep coming back. I have books that are over 60 years old. Some of their information is flat out wrong, pictures are still good ;)

As long as things stay respectful and not getting into name calling or personal attacks I am good with it.
This is the only forum I participate in so perhaps (probably? ) my troll detector is not finely tuned.

I have been playing devil's advocate for Republic at times. I sure don't have any files from Republic that shows what the bosses were thinking or why they didn't respond to the requests for more fuel. Just pointing out possibilities aside from them being evil or greedy. Maybe they were, I don't KNOW. But I dislike jumping to that conclusion before looking at some of the other possibilities, like the ones pointed out earlier. Maybe one or more other contributors can offer counters to some of my arguments that I am unaware of.

Some days I have less tolerance for questions that have been answered on this forum several times (more than several) over the last 15-20 years than others. But asking newbies to sort through the old posts isn't fair either.
I sometimes find myself directed back to this site when googling a question I have, I need to use the search function on this site more :)
 
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