WWII Forums Quiz Part IV

Limoges is what I was looking for. Your turn Martin.

Yes and finally got to join in on the quiz again.

 

Nice to get an 'SS' question right - thanks to Max Hastings' book 'Das Reich'....

OK - given the date, I think a 'Dambusters' question is in order - in the film, the 'spotlight altimeter' idea comes to Gibson ( Richard Todd ) while watching spotlights converge on a line of chorus girls.

The truth - alas ! - was much more prosaic.

So - which 'backroom boy' suggested this idea for Operation Chastise, and what was his position ?

 

Sorry, did not find the answer.

But I thought the pic of the spotlights on the Lanc would be nice. I think the next site shows this:

http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/irmurray/pictures/spots-all.gif

From:

http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/irmurray/bigbounc.asp

 

And PzJgr--i'm also thinking up a nice hard Waffen SS question for quiz Nr 5--which i'll post tomorrow in th Free Fire Zone.

Nr. 5 might be your lucky Nr.

 

Sounds good to me. Always looking to learn more...hehe. Can't wait.

 

You said it... but I DO agree...

 

What - no-one even going to have a guess !?

 

Was it the light technician of that theatre?

 

I think I read that Barnes Wallace was the one who invented the light or else he came up with the idea to spin the bomb before dropping it at the dam so it would travel down the side of the dam and explode below the water line.

I know he was the one who invented the geometric frame for the Wellington bomber and he had alot of other ideas.

 

Ta-you sure your'e not thinking of the 'Bouncing Bomb'?

 

Well, at least someone had a go - thought you'd all fallen asleep .

No-one even close yet - if no-one gets it by this time tomorrow, I'll en-'light'-en ( ) the Forum....

 

Flight-Lieutenant Edward Johnson, at 31 the old man of the raid, had the job of aiming and releasing the bouncing bomb, for which he devised a special sight he called the "Johnson".

He had improvised a primitive but effective apparatus which involved drawings of the Mohne dam's twin towers on the large circular window which formed the front of his bomb aimer's compartment.

Not the lights, I'm afraid, but the closest I have found so far.

[ 18. May 2003, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: KmPok ]

 

Nice try, KmPok, and sad to relate that Edward 'Johnny' Johnson passed away just last October.

OK - I'll answer the second part and give you a massive clue to the first - he was Director of Research at the Ministry of Aircraft Production.....

 

Can't wait but---today yopu have the correct answer.

 

Martin, did the famous 'Johnny' Johnson pass away last October? The same 'Johnny' with 38 victories? The super-ace?

 

Understandable confusion, Friedrich ! No, this was not that 'Johnnie' Johnson, but another 'Johnny' Johnson.

??

The fact is, in the wartime RAF, anyone with the surname 'Johnson' was automatically nicknamed 'Johnny' by his squadron-mates.

Just to make it even more confusing, in the Dambusters there was Fg. Off. E C Johnson ( of AJ-N ) and Sgt G L Johnson ( of AJ-T ) and they were both known as - yep, 'Johnny'....

( Just to completely finish you off, your 'Johnnie' Johnson was actually James Edgar Johnson !! )

 

Just a few hours to go, everyone

But I warn you - the next one'll be a 'Dambuster' question, too !

 

Mohne Dam, 17th. May, 1943

http://www.raf-waddington.com/specials/scampton/dambusters.htm

 

Neat link as usual, Kai - it's a super print & I have a copy here signed by the artist, Mark Postlethwaite. You can buy one at : -

http://www.posart.com/

And he's a nice guy to deal with !

 

Well - what can I say ? I thought you'd all have known the name Benjamin Lockspeiser immediately !

OK- to get things moving - who made the engines, ( and that's a bit too easy so also what Type Number were the engines ), which powered 617 Squadron's Lancasters to the Dams ?