B-17s straffing & IJN Aoba, & UK POWs

In article 32ad7fe8-20d2-453a-a9a8-
, - Gordon
spouted !

On Apr 6, 2:37*am, "Jim Wilkins" wrote:
"Nightjar" wrote in message

...









On 03/04/2012 17:49, David E. Powell wrote:
On Apr 3, 1:18 am, Bill *wrote:
wrote:
So, by then, the B-17 crews had figured out that high altitude
level
bombing of moving ships wasn't working out very well?

Did anyone ever try equipping the B-17 with torpedoes?

Well, sorta.

http://tinyurl.com/7sr3lmu

Thank you! If this was 1940 than this stuff is huge! It's huge
either
way, but wow!

The GT-1 does not seem to have been tested until 1943, so the
caption has to be wrong. The British Toraplane, a similar air
launched gliding torpedo was around in 1940*, but, of course, that
would not have been launched from a B-17.

* Work started in 1939 but was abandoned in 1942, as it proved to be
very inaccurate.

Colin Bignell

A field-expedient PBY torpedo attack from Guadalcanal:http://www.daveswarbirds.com/cactus/jackcram.htm

For decades, we had a docent taking tickets at our front desk that
kept a photo nearby of his "Black Cat" following a successful mission
- they were hit on their run and a shell carried away one of their
props, narrowly missing the cockpit as it careened on by with a roar.
Already committed, the pilot got his bombs off and accounted for a
troop ship with his single-engine Catalina. Just a little reminder
that men that go to war in elegant, pedestrian seaplanes are just a
little different than most.

My late father-in-law flew as an AM in various models of PBY during WW2.

I could never get him to talk about that part of his Navy career..