Tunes on Tuesday ~ Royal Air Force
today is Battle of Britain Day
On September 15th 1940 the Nazi Luftwaffe met the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force over the skies of southern England. By the end of the day the Luftwaffe had lost twice as many aircraft as had the RAF. The Luftwaffe was broken and Hitler called off Operation Sealion, the proposed invasion of England. Democracy had been saved for the world.
Churchill called the 2,927 pilots who had taken part ‘The Few’, and 510 perished during the battle. Only one of The Few is still alive today; 101 years old John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway DFC.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
during the battle the Hawker Hurricane shot down more German aircraft than did the Supermarine Spitfire.
Enola Gay
on August 6th 1945 the B29 Superfortress Enola Gay
became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb
The Boeing B29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, complex, and expensive aircraft ever built up to that time. After Japan’s leaders ignored a demand to surrender, President Harry S. Truman authorised the atomic strike, in order to avoid the millions of casualties expected if ground troops invaded Japan’s Home Islands. Under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets the Enola Gay flew from Tinian in the Mariana Islands and released the bomb at 08:15 over Hiroshima.
At that time the B29 Superfortress was the only aircraft capable of carrying the 10,000 or so pounds of the atomic weapons Little Boy and Fat Man the approximately 1,400 miles from Tinian to their targets in Japan, and getting home again.
The Atomic age had begun.
Japan unconditionally surrendered on September 2nd 1945 after a second strike by the B29 Bockscar on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. More people were killed and injured by the RAF’s conventional bombing of Hamburg than the casualties caused by the atomic bomb at Nagasaki.
Today, the Enola Gay is exhibited at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA. Bockscar may be seen at The National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, OH.
~
jack collier jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Scenes on Sunday ~ Destruction of Society
our civilisation is under attack from within and without
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Fascism is rearing it’s ugly head again
state control of everything
We’ll Meet Again ~ Dame Vera Lynn dies aged 103
and there’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover
During WWII the Germans had the overtly sexual Marlene Dietrich singing Lili Marlene, which was the unofficial anthem of the Afrika Korps. We had the wholesome Forces Sweetheart, Vera Lynn. Kind of says a lot about out differing national characteristics.
Dame Vera Lynn is now 103, and she is still almost as big an inspiration to Englishmen of a certain age as is the Queen.
Dame Vera Lynn, the Forces Sweetheart has died aged 103. She will be much mourned.
Please listen with respect
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
after a girl has pushed an ambulance up a sand dune, she deserves a cold beer
Overlord June 6th 1944
this is much the greatest thing we have ever attempted
On the 6th of June 1944 at and before dawn, 156,115 American, British, Canadian, and many other nations’ troops invaded Normandy in France. Some 6,939 ships and landing vessels, 2,395 aircraft, and 867 gliders were committed to Operation Overlord.
This was the start of one of the 5 great battles of WWII.
24,000 airborne troops began the liberation of France just after dawn
the beaches; Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword
M4 Sherman medium tank
Hawker Typhoon wearing Invasion Stripes
The landings succeeded, but as Wellington remarked after the Battle of Waterloo, ‘it was a damn close run thing’.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
The venerable Hawker Hurricane was still flying in 1944
Scenes on Sunday ~ Aircraft
never was so much owed by so many to so few
~
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Korean war dogfighters
Tunes on Tuesday ~ I Can See Clearly Now
that feeling when you’re not necessarily sad, but you feel empty
Unless you’ve been isolated, alone and lonely, not really allowed to go out, and knowing that there is no true purpose to your lockdown, then you don’t realise that solitary confinement brings about a slow, steady, and inevitable decline to your body, mind, and soul.
I am not as good a man, not as good a person as I was when I entered this government imposed lockdown a couple of months ago. But, I wasn’t fully aware of that until I had a couple of very strange dreams last night. One was about being on Jersey, in the English Channel Islands, when the Germans invaded in June 1940, the other was about needing to leave an important examination an hour early to answer a call of nature.
Both were about being trapped. Both were allegorical ~ telling me to get the hell out of the garret and taste freedom, whatever the fucking government wants. I can see that clearly now.
I am not a number, I am a free man.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Channel Islanders still hate the Germans
We’ll Meet Again
and there’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover
During WWII the Germans had the overtly sexual Marlene Dietrich singing Lili Marlene, which was the unofficial anthem of the Afrika Korps. We had the wholesome Forces Sweetheart, Vera Lynn. Kind of says a lot about out differing national characteristics.
Dame Vera Lynn is now 103, and she is still almost as big an inspiration to Englishmen of a certain age as is the Queen.
Please listen with respect.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
after a girl has pushed an ambulance up a sand dune, she deserves a cold beer
VE Day 75th Anniversary
on the 8th of May 1945 the Allies formally accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender
~
~
~
the bf 109, the Spitfire’s enemy
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
‘This, was their finest hour…..’
Arguing, Informing, Rowing
Arguing isn’t communication, it’s just hot noise.
Violence is an argument lost.
Most arguments are nothing like a reasoned debate, because usually arguments come about when two people in a relationship have completely opposing and irreconcilable views. Most arguments become heated at some point and degenerate into a flaming row ~ or turn utterly cold and vicious. Seldom does an argument tell anyone anything that they didn’t already know ~ usually arguments are circular and rehash familiar disagreements. And, no argument ever changes anyone’s mind about anything at all. In fact, arguments tend to reinforce existing views as new reasons are found for the status-quo.
Be calm in arguing for fierceness makes error a fault and truth discourtesy. ~ George Herbert
Think of this; you and your partner have opposing views, you disagree, and you argue. In that case we mostly pretend to listen and be open-minded, instead what we really do is try to find weaknesses in his / her position so we can disprove his / her argument. Or, if they’ve just put a dent in your reasoning, you are frantically thinking of some new counterpoint. Open-mindedness and reasonableness doesn’t come into it.
Denial and self-delusion also form a big part of most arguments. Even when we are totally and utterly wrong we are unlikely to admit it, even to ourselves. However, most arguments are not a clear matter or right and wrong ~ black and white is often more like multifarious shades of grey. Mostly there is some right and some wrong on both sides.
A truly calm and informative discussion of opposing views should, in theory, lead to a compromise. BUT, more often than not a compromise is just a situation that pleases neither side. Compromises often leave both sides unhappy, which will lead to future arguments over much the same ground.
Worse than a compromise is to resolve an argument by one side imposing a resolution on the other. The ‘stronger’ imposing their will upon the ‘weaker’, the richer imposing their will upon the poorer, the adult imposing their will upon the child. These false resolutions are usually unjust, which will undoubtedly create resentments, which will undoubtedly lead to more and bitterer arguments in the future.
The imposition of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany after the 1914 – 18 war inevitably resulted in WWII. World War is the ultimate of hot arguments.
Some say that they are honest, honourable, and open-minded. And, that you should always agree with them, because they are always right. All I know is that you may be right, but I don’t agree.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
a short Lee-Enfield convinces most people
