[Milsurplus] Re: LBG

[telegrapher@att.net]

As it has been stated before, " They made a bunch of deadly mistakes in
the  analysis of their location and the options for their survival". 
Almost like panic set in and they had no clear thoughts about what to
do.  Did the Crew Chief or Radio op stay with the aircraft or did they
bail out?  Don't remember.  While they probably weren't very
knowledgable as to how or what it took to make a radio work, I'd
certainly think they would ahve given that some thought.  Course then
again, think about when you were young and some of the situations you
may ahve been in and what you did.  Today you would give it a lot of
thought as to what resources you have available and/or what can i try to
do.  Then?  

From what i've been told by some of the old timer radio ops from WWII,
all they did was operate the radios on board the a/C.  Didn't know a lot
more about what was going on with them.  That was left to the ground
crews.

Larry


Hue Miller wrote:
> 
> ----- 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
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