Incredible dimensions. (A 12,000-lb MC deep-penetration bomb. Bomber Command executive codeword "Tallboy". #WW2 #HISTORY)

Recently I have been immersed in the poignant story of Lindsay Wheeler, the subject of a post here on 20th September. I submitted a short bio to the Australian VWMA project and he is the subject of my first ever Substack post. Feedback welcome! tamino1959.substack.com/p/the-long-w...

It was an American strategic decision to make Europe dependent on them. It wasn’t philanthropy.

#SWW 24.09.43 #OTD The French artist Jean Cocteau noted in his diary entry for this day that a heavy flak barrage broke out in the early morning over Paris followed shortly by the sound of a plane near the Palais Royal, flying so low and so close he feared it would crash into his building. 🧵 1/4

Infants are going to die because of this fucking moron

#SWW 19.09.44 #OTD 409807 W/O Lindsay Wheeler, 27 y/o, was WOp in Lancaster PB347 of 106 Sqn. He was the sole Australian in a crew taking part in a raid on Rhyedt Airfield that is mainly remembered for the loss of the Master Bomber - Guy Gibson VC DSO& Bar DFC&Bar. 🧵 1/5 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

Drop something 💣 EXPLOSIVE

Curious why there is no mention of this on the ABC news website?

#SWW 16.9.43 #OTD 401449 F/Lt Les Knight, DSO, MiD, a hero of the Dambusters raid, was killed after his plane was damaged during a raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. He allowed his crew to parachute to safely but died when he crash landed near the Dutch vilage of Den Ham. #LWF bsky.app/profile/tami...

#SWW 12.09.44 #OTD 417807 F/O Howard Cornish was the 21 y/o pilot of Lancaster LM512 of 625 Sqn and 424417 F/O John Jamieson the 20 y/o navigator of NF695 of 622 Sqn. It would be Cornish's 15th op and Jamieson's 3rd, taking part in the last major raid of the war by Bomber Command on Frankfurt. 🧵 1/3

#SWW 11.09.44 #OTD 403317 P/O Colin Bell, 25 y/o, in Mk IX Spitfire PL326 of 127 Sqn, was taking part in a combat patrol attack on enemy shipping off Flushing. He was by now a veteran pilot, with over two years of combat experience flying Whirlwinds and Spitfires. 🧵 1/5 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

How do you answer your phone?

#SWW 09.09.42 #OTD 401470 F/O Bert Thomson, 20 y/o navigator of Wellington Z8644 of 12 Sqn, was taking part in his second op, a raid by 249 planes on Frankfurt. His first, in the same plane on 27th August, had been abandoned when the port engine failed over Holland. 🧵 1/4 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

Good lord. They really have no shame.

#onthisday in 1939 the Vickers Wellington took part in the first Bomber Command raid on German territory, when they attacked German shipping at Brunsbuttel. Read our Vickers Wellington profile at www.classicwarbirds.co.uk/british-airc... #ww2 #worldwar2

Fascinating thread, as usual! A small sidenote to this event - future 8 Group AVM Donald Bennett was piloting a commercial transatlantic airmail service this night. His crew picked up the Athenia's distress signal but rough mid-ocean seas prevented him from trying to land and help with survivors.

#SWW 04.09.44 #OTD 425293 F/Sgt Colin Fleischfresser was the mid-upper gunner in Lancaster JA929. While at 11 OTU he crewed up with 5 New Zealanders, including an experienced pilot. They were posted to 7 (PFF) squadron, on completion of their Lancaster conversion. 🧵 1/4 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

#SWW 03.09.44 #OTD 433753 F/Sgt Keith Panwick, a 19 y/o former shop assistant from Muswellbrook, NSW, was approaching the end of his training for operational duties as an air gunner. He was at 1656 HCU flying in Halifax JD417 on a daylight navigation exercise. 🧵 1/2 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

#SWW 31.08.44 #OTD 434266 F/Sgt Arthur Parsons, 20 y/o, a clerk from rural Queensland, was the W/T operator on Lancaster NF962 of 550 Sqn. He was taking part in only his 2nd combat operation, a daytime attack on a suspected V-2 rocket depot at Agenville in France. 🧵 1/3 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

IYKYK

#SWW 30.08.44 #OTD 404752 F/Lt Ken Lyons DFM, 32 y/o, was the Signals Leader of 463 Sqn. A telephone mechanic from Brisbane prior to enlistment, he had completed a 32 op tour with 50 Sqn and had been awarded the DFM prior to joining 463 Sqn in December 1943. 🧵 1/3 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

It's my sole remaining life goal - to outlive Murdoch and Trump

Joe Biden outliving him would be objectively hilarious.

#Histbookchat Definitely the highlight of my summer #SWW reading. Wading through statistics and censor report summaries was heavy going at times but is the basis of the panoramic overview Fennell provides of the home and fighting fronts for each Commonwealth army and longer term political impacts.👍

#SWW 28.08.43 #OTD 413918 F/O John Welch, 29 y/o, was the pilot of Lancaster LM334 of 207 Sqn. He died with his crew mates when their plane was shot down by a nightfighter in the early hours of this day during a raid on Nurnberg. It was his 4th op and his crew's 3rd. #LWF vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

Tonight one of the CDC’s top public health leaders, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, has resigned from his post. Below is his full resignation letter. You should read every word. This is a truly scary moment for public health in America. 1/2

I'm a big fan of the cartoon dogs from Down Under, but who knew? From the Frank Allnutt collection in the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social. He flew operations as an air gunner with 625 Squadron.

A Hawker Tempest, strafing a railway yard. #WW2 #HISTORY

#SWW #RAAF #CWGC On visit to the Champagne region this week I was indulged one CWGC stop at the small Beauchery Communal Cemetery north east of Provins. Two Australians from two crews are buried here from the 42 planes lost on the ill-fated Mailly-le-Camp raid. From 12 & 103 Sqn respectively.🧵 1/3

13th August 1940: 82 Squadron and the Aalborg raid. As the air battle over southern England raged, RAF Bomber Command continued its efforts to attack Luftwaffe airfields, despite the misgivings of AOC Charles Portal. 82 Squadron were tasked with attacking the airfield at Aalborg in Denmark. 🧵1/13

#SWW #RAAF #Histbookchat A years worth of Australian book purchases were just delivered via a relative's carry on baggage to France. Any suggestions where I should start? Trick question - I've already finished Journeys Into Night by Don Charlwood.

12th/13th August 1943: Victoria Cross action of Flight Sergeant Arthur Aaron. Piloting a 218 Squadron Stirling on a mission to Turin, Aaron’s aircraft was hit by a heavy burst of machine gun fire. This was said at the time to have been from an Italian CR.42 night fighter. 🧵1/8

"Air France in all the skies" A magnificent 1935 Air France poster by graphic designer R de Valerio © Air France

I expect the unexpected when visiting RAAF CWGC gravesites. Hottot-Les-Bagues Cemetery in Normandy contains three Aussies along with a much larger number of British and Canadian soldiers. I was not expecting to discover a New Zealander with a distinguished but mixed war record is also here. 🧵 1/3

#SWW Summer break in Normandy included several CWGC visits. RNZAF pilot Fraser Barron DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, acting Wing Cdr at 23 in 15 Sqn of PFF, is buried in Le Mans. Master Bomber of a raid when hit by flak and crashed on his 75th op. Was nice to see the tribute left to a keen rugby player. #LWF

Share the last movie you watched...

#SWW 06.07.44 #OTD 414380 F/O Bill Barbour, 21 y/o, a clerk from Brisbane, was a Beaufighter pilot with 455 Sqn. His father Colin was a POW in Changi Prison, captured in Singapore when Allied forces surrendered a few months after Bill enlisted in September 1941. 🧵 1/5 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

Is London Transport habitually unreliable? Asking for a friend. Next time he will plan to arrive everywhere 1 hour in advance so he has a chance to actually get there on time. 😡

Tired but enthused after my first experience of fossicking in the National Archives. The ORBs of OTUs and related units are goldmines and I only scratched the surface. 27 OTU includes a stash of course participant photos. Spotted 408794 Don Charlwood, author of "No Moon Tonight", in the 22nd intake.

#SWW 29.06.44 The heavy toll on Pathfinder crews continued #OTD over France when 403380 F/O Alec Saint-Smith DFC DFM (pilot) and his close friend 6025 F/O Geoff Heath DFC DFM (navigator) in Mosquito DZ516 of 627 Sqn were killed while marking another raid on a V-1 site, this time at Beauvoir. 🧵 1/3

This would be the most "French" municipal notice I've ever encountered. Essentially it says "Young people prohibited to have fun in the library grounds"

One of the sites I visited today were the graves of the crew of Lancaster L7546 at Champignol-lez-Mondeville. They were shot down on 7th November 1942 on the outbound leg of a raid on Genoa. Five of the crew had just been awarded DFMs after the Le Creusot raid the previous month.

One of the unexpected delights when visiting in person CWGC sites in communal cemeteries around France are the serendipitous discoveries you make. Coming across the grave of Pierre Renoir today in Essoyes was just the most recent example.

#SWW # LWF Another weekend another trip to local sites of remembrance in rural France for RAAF aviators who made the ultimate sacrifice in Europe. Im in the region around Mailly-le-Camp where many crews were lost during the effective but costly raid on the 21st Panzer cantonment on 4th May 1944

Fascinating description of a little known (unknown in my case) event which took place in the lead up to Operation Husky. Another example of How necessity became the mother of invention time and again during SWW. Guess I will have to buy your book now Mike! open.substack.com/pub/chalkype...

Finalising my requests for a bulk order of documents from the AIR 14 series for consultation (i.e. scanning on my tablet) during one day of my first visit to the NRO at Kew next week. Something tells me I may have been slightly ambitious. 😜😇

#SWW 23.06.44 #OTD 402988 F/O John Walker, 30 y/o, was pilot of Mustang G474 of 168 Sqn. Highly experienced after a year undertaking low-level tactical reconnaissance sorties over France he was taking part in a patrol over the Falaise-Argentan sector of Normandy. 🧵 1/3 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

#SWW 20.06.44 #OTD 405107 F/O Bill Kirk, 25 y/o, was the wireless operator in Mitchell B-25 FV998 of 180 Sqn part of 2 TAF and flying with a veteran crew piloted by S/Ldr Peter Ford DFC. Their target was the V-1 launch site at Bois Coquerell in the Pas de Calais. vwma.org.au/explore/peop... 🧵1/7

#histbookchat #SWW Adding an unusual find purchased recently at a garage sale. It is a remarkable collection of informal photos taken by German soldiers in the course of their occupation of the Finistère peninsula in France, in particular the naval base at Brest and its environs, from 1940-1944 🧵1/2

#SWW 19.06.44 #OTD B-25 Mitchell FL192 of 226 Sqn was supporting a Mosquito night raid on enemy positions in Normandy. Their role was to drop flares to illuminate the target area, thereby allowing navigation by dead reckoning when the Mosquito’s electronic navigation aids were being jammed. 🧵 1/5