[Milsurplus] Re: LBG

[Hue Miller]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gregory W. Moore" <gwmoore@moorefelines.com>


> Thanks much Hue,
> The radio position was right aft of the wing, on an "upper level" partially over the bomb bay,
There is a fabric screen, then a bunch of O2 tanks against a forward bulkhead, so the fuselage break
would have been exactly where we think it is, and would have busted up the operating position, but
might not have gotten the HF stuff, the BC-348 receiver, thedynamotors and transmitter, as they were
located below and aft of the operator's table. The trailing wire would have been intact, at any
rate, and if the batts were intact, I see no reason why, if the crew hadn't bailed, the HF equipment
wouldn't have been useful.. As a matter of fact, if they had stayed with the A/C, they probably
could have made a pretty normal landing, possibly with even fuel enough to run at least one of the
engines at enough revs to engage the generator. In that case, even the VHF would have been operable.

No engine could have run, as the props were all folded up.
Re antenna, altho the cracked back would have made the
antenna slack, this could have been taken up. You still
have the tail, what, about at least 8-10 ft above surface.
This is not a dx antenna, but perhaps somewhere in the
7 Mcs. up area, it could have gotten out.
As i recall, the crew somehow (!) thought they were still
over the Mediterannean Sea. That's why they didn't ride
it down, they were afraid of a ditching at sea, plus at
night.
This makes me wonder if they had a life raft, and if so,
if they pushed it out before they jumped. Even just
jumping into the sea, at night, without any raft, would
seem to me to be a pretty depressing prospect.
IF they had realized it was desert, maybe by seeing stones
or something, they still would have been afraid to ride it
down. And, when they landed, they wouldn't have known
if the plane was totally destroyed or not, even worth looking
for.
But, if it had been daylight, maybe they would have ridden
the plane down. Or, if they had found it, while trying to walk
out of the desert. I think they would have at least have had
some chance of survival. Striking out on their own, they
actually had zero chance.


>     Even as a pilot, its tough being a Monday Morning Quarterback, and I have absolutely no idea
of what the crew was thinking, or their "pucker factor" on the night of the mission. I have heard
the rumors of the navigators equipment not being broken out, which, at that time, wasn't uncommon,
as a lot of the bombing raids were flown in formation, with only the lead navigator really doing any
work, not a good thing to do, but I understand that that's the way it was.  You also have the "it's
our time" feeling, coming from "When you are flying a mission, you fly out on Uncle Sam,'s time, but
back on your own"...That may have been a factor, I have no idea if wx conditions closed in during
the mission, or how the LBG got separated from the rest of the group..
> 73 de Greg

Right, i'm sure they  were sorta relaxed on the way back. Plus
these are all really young guys, hadn't yet seen all the deadly snares and mistakes that make us
older guys a more suspicious, cautious
bunch.
Hue