The truth is stranger than fiction: WW2 facts that you would call BS if seen on a movie...

[SaparotRob]

Thanks for that link Dinger. Very informative.
I'm a little ashamed for having laughed at the (initial) story. Finding out what actually happened, it makes one appreciate the gallantry of those men.
Engaging the enemy with weapons both obsolete yet untested in the finest "tradition of Nelson".

 

[swampyankee]

Not one Skua but two - and nearly a third... But, as ever, its a complicated story - and if they had succeeded in sinking the sub it would have meant the Allies would not have got the German navy enigma codes at a critical phase of the war... Full story here...

The Sinking of the Fanad Head in WW2

I remember reading (iirc, it was in David Kahn's Codebreakers, but it was also a long time ago) that the Ultra community was absolutely furious when an SOE/OSS break-in stole some codebooks from the German Embassy in Turkey. Bletchley Park was reading those codes (or ciphers) and the Germans immediately changed codes and cipher keys, badly interrupting Ultra.

 

[Dimlee]

How about a B-17 that was blown in two. The rear part (with the tail gunner in it) glided down from 20,000+ feet and landed in a field. The tail gunner walked out of it without a scratch.

There was a similar incident with Pe-8 shot down in June 1944 at 4000 m by the night fighter over Belarus. Tail gunner did not manage to release the canopy and lost consciousness when the aircraft began to spin. He has survived without injuries and then traveled for 3 days before he has met advancing Red Army units.

 

[Dimlee]

A submarine surrendered to an aircraft... HMS Seal.

 

[MIflyer]

There was a Lancaster tail gunner who was unable to escape when his aircraft w as hit by flak one night. The turret was jammed and the exit was blocked, with a fire raging in the fuselage in front of the turret. One of the other crewmen tried to help the tailgunner get out but the fire grew worse and finally had to give up and bail out. As he exited the airplane the tail gunner saw that the crewman's parachute was on fire.

The tailgunner just sat there and waited for the falling airplane to hit the ground, but what he did not know was that the fire had burned the tail off the airplane and the tail section was gliding down to a rather gentle landing. The first he knew that he was on the ground was when a German soldier came up and peered through the glass.

 

[Greyman]

The tailgunner just sat there and waited for the falling airplane to hit the ground, but what he did not know was that the fire had burned the tail off the airplane and the tail section was gliding down to a rather gentle landing. The first he knew that he was on the ground was when a German soldier came up and peered through the glass.

A little skeptical about the last bit -- but otherwise sounds like Pat Brophy's story and Andrew Mynarski's VC pbehn referenced: Andrew Mynarski - Wikipedia

EDIT: really drives home the thought of how much unbelievable heroism must have taken place and no witnesses survived to tell the tale.

 

[Airframes]

There was also the RAF Lancaster tail gunner, Sgt Nicholas Alkemade, who bailed out, from 18,000 feet, without a parachute, and survived.

 

[pbehn]

Two people survived the recent crash in Pakistan, I remember 4 people survived Japan Airlines Flight 123 - Wikipedia Though I don't think they were in a good way. Having seen the hawker Hunter crash in south England I still find it hard to believe the pilot survived and is relatively un injured sometimes luck can do things.

 

[MIflyer]

It was common practice for ground crewman to sit on the tails of Spitfires to keep them from flipping onto their nose when doing run-ups or taxying in rough ground. I have read of two cases where Spitfires took off with crewmen hanging onto the tail and managed to get back down before they fell off. One was a woman in GB and the other was a man at a base in Italy, covered in the book Spitfire Into Battle.

 

[MIflyer]

There was also the RAF Lancaster tail gunner, Sgt Nicholas Alkemade, who bailed out, from 18,000 feet, without a parachute, and survived.

In WWI a German Zeppelin crewman fell from his airship when it was bombed by an RAF fighter in midair, fell through a greenhouse, and survived.

Before WWII three German glider pilots took off to see if they could set world records by flying on the edge of a large thunderstorm. They were sucked into the storm, the gliders broke up and they bailed out. Their parachutes were shredded by the storm and one of them survived after being tossed about in the storm for an extended period. Something similar later happened to a USMC F8U pilot in NC.

 

[SaparotRob]

Incredible.

 

[Airframes]

The lady who "got a ride" on the tail of a spitfire, was Aircraft Woman Margaret Horton. The spitfire was Mk.V, AB910, which flies today with the BBMF.

 

[MIflyer]

The lady who "got a ride" on the tail of a spitfire, was Aircraft Woman Margaret Horton. The spitfire was Mk.V, AB910, which flies today with the BBMF.

I understand that when they pried her off the tail someone asked, "What do we do now?" The response was, "Go get her a logbook and put her down for a half hour in a Spitfire."

 

[gumbyk]

The Commando raid on St Nazaire would have to qualify. Hearing the story, it sounded like an outrageous movie script..

 

[fastmongrel]

Sending a battleship up a narrow Norwegian Fjord to blast German destroyers at near point blank range.
Battles of Narvik - Wikipedia

Mind you HMS Warspites entire career is pretty Hollywood.

 

[Airframes]

Coincidence - I watched Clarkson's "Greatest Raid of All " just last week. There was a movie made, in the 1950's I believe, but I can't remember the title, even though I've seen it a few times !

 

[MIflyer]

In WWII the Norwegian underground notified that the entire sardine catch had been purchased by the Germans and ordered to be shipped to their U-Boat bases. They assumed that the canned sardines would be used as food for U-boats and asked if the OSS could provide something appropriate to put in the cans.

The OSS sent Croton Oil, a very powerful laxative that they believed would be undetected in the strong taste of the sardines and their preservative oil. You can only imagine what it would be like on a U-boat where the whole crew had a severe case of the runs. But the OSS never found out if its sabotage had worked. Maybe some U-boats foundered due to excessive use of the toilet, or maybe the Germans just threw the stuff overboard.

 

[gumbyk]

Coincidence - I watched Clarkson's "Greatest Raid of All " just last week. There was a movie made, in the 1950's I believe, but I can't remember the title, even though I've seen it a few times !

It came up on my youtube feed a couple of days before me seeing this thread too.

 

[PFVA63]

Hi,

There was a movie made in 1968 starring Lloyd Bridges called "Attack on the Iron Coast" that was kind of sort of loosely based on the Raid on St Nazire. Here is a synopsis from the Internet Movie Database.

Pat

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062688/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl

During WW2, Canadian Major Jamie Wilson suggests a commando raid against a German-occupied French port where a large dry-dock is used by the enemy to re-fit battleships. The well-defended French coast has been dubbed the Iron Coast by the Germans. The British command is reluctant to give the green-light to this operation, code-named Operation Mad Dog, mainly because of the high chance of failure. The Canadian officer is known to have botched a few previous operations under his command. The main opponent of the Mad Dog operation is a Royal Navy captain whose son died during a failed commando raid led by Major Jamie Wilson. However, after much debate and haggling, the operation is approved by the R.N. Admiral in charge. The training of the commandos is harsh, under real battle conditions featuring live explosions and machine-gun fire. During the training, several accidents occur, resulting in a few deaths and wounds. The operation's future hangs into balance but it finally receives the go-ahead. Major Jamie Wilson is dismayed when he discovers that due to war-time shortages he will receive sub-standard equipment and an old mine-layer rather than a destroyer for transport to France. The plan itself calls for a ship laden with explosives to be rammed into the Nazi dry-dock. The explosives would be triggered by a timer, allowing the commandos on board to land and attack the shore installations, batteries and command posts. At the same time, a few small launches would land additional commandos along the neighboring piers to create a diversionary attack. The operation is in danger of failure when the task force is spotted off the French coast by a German observation plane that promptly contacts the German shore command. Moreover, the commando group receives an order from the Admiralty to abort the mission due to RAF's inability to offer bombing support for the operation. To make matters worse, the alerted Germans sense something is afoot and watch the sea with added vigilance. Regardless, Major Jamie Wilson is a stubborn man who wants to prove to himself and to his superiors that he is a capable soldier. Disregarding several requests from the Admiralty to abort the mission, he presses on into the night, toward the deadly Iron Coast.

 

[Airframes]

I've remembered the title of the British movie about the St. Nazaire raid - it was "Gift Horse" made in 1952.