Aaron Brooks Wolters
Brigadier General
SSgt. F.T. Lusic, gunner on a B-17 in the 8th Air Army, prepares for a mission. 4 May 1943
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Now that's a sticky wicket to get out of !Not just tanks. When I was a kid, the little John Deere bulldozer I was driving across a snowy hillside developed a sideways slide, tipping over the wagon it was towing and dumping 600 gallons of maple sap on the ground. I jumped clear and wound up in a huge puddle of sweetish slush.
Cheers,
Wes
Brrrr! Think that was the coldest I've ever been in my life, and living in the northcountry I'm no stranger to cold. Soaked to the gills and miles from the nearest source of warmth and shelter, I was hypothermic by the time they got me there. And a bulldozer isn't exactly the fastest emergency response vehicle there is.Now that's a sticky wicket to get out of !
Roger that! Up here the year has five seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and mud (aka sugarin') season, when the warm sunny day and the exercise seduces you into heading out dressed light, then the sun goes down, the mercury plummets, and you freeze.Boy, glad I am in a warm bed reading this.
One of the many tragedies of war.
June 4, 1942: At 14:30 hrs. a Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat (3-F-24) from VF-3 (USS Yorktown CV-5) lands on the USS Hornet CV-8 during the Battle of Midway. The aircraft had been damaged by Japanese Zeros and the pilot, Ens. Daniel C. Sheedy, was wounded in the leg. The aircraft landed hard causing the right landing gear to collapse and at the moment of impact the six .50 cal. machine guns opened fire killing five of Hornet's crew and wounding twenty others. (Note puffs of smoke coming from the aircraft's guns.) It is believed that Ens. Sheedy failed to cut off the gun switch before landing, however a witness stated that he noticed that the circuits for the switch had been "shot out" in combat and were therefore inoperable, and the man who first opened the cockpit noted that the switches were off. (Note: In Capt. Mitscher's report he states "Since the pilot cut the engine ignition switch after landing, it is probable that he cut the gun switches at the same time, perhaps without being fully aware of his actions.")
Ens. Sheedy was removed from the plane and personnel from Hornet noted several bullet holes in the cockpit of Sheedy's plane including two in the instrument panel. The aircraft was then pushed over the side. In the administrative report filed June 14, 1942 by Capt. Mitscher the last line states "There was no culpable neglect or culpable inefficiency on the part of anyone connected with this accident".
The second picture show crewmen on the USS Hornet CV-8 tend to the wounded following the incident.
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You can lead a tank to water but you can't make it swim !Mk IV must be thirsty
sounds like RussiaRoger that! Up here the year has five seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and mud (aka sugarin') season, when the warm sunny day and the exercise seduces you into heading out dressed light, then the sun goes down, the mercury plummets, and you freeze.
Cheers,
Wes