You shot the wrong train, Fritz
“On Friday 27th November 1942 a German fighter was brought down by a railway engine when a steam hauled train was attacked near Lydd in Kent. The exploding boiler brought down the Fw190 killing the pilot. Remarkably the crew of the loco survived and the engine was repaired.” From this xweet.
Huh. We drove through Lydd this afternoon. This part of the country got seriously torn up during the war because German planes going home just dumped any munitions they had left on their way back from whatever their mission was. I mean, machine guns down the high street kind of thing.
Changing the subject, I’m kinda bummed. I went to one of my favorite sites for local news and found a message at the top saying they were shutting down in three days.
“However, it is no secret that changes in the media landscape and decisions made by large tech platforms have made life much harder for all media businesses.”
I wonder what, specifically, that means?
Posted: November 27th, 2023 under history.
Comments: 5
Comments
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: November 27, 2023, 10:40 pm
Prolly an advert revenue issue Sweasy, but just guessing.
Meanwhile in the world of ground attack strafing one always has to avoid target fixation (also a problem it seems for motorcyclists who aren’t trying to blow up trains), and debris from one’s probably explosive target.
Steam engines are explosive, and good on Tommy the tank engine for taking out his attacker.
Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: November 27, 2023, 11:38 pm
I have a very old illustrated book (intended for teenage boys) about US aircraft of WW II. The page on the P-47 mentions a pilot who specialized in strafing German locomotives. It mentions the danger from AA guns mounted on flat cars, but not the possibility of being brought down by the boiler exploding. In most cases, the bullet-riddled boiler just released all its steam.
The pilot (known in those incorrect days as “the mad Polack”) was known for getting in close – on one mission he brought back a tree branch, stuck in his engine cowling. I suppose other pilots did as well, which would account for the reported incident.
Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: November 28, 2023, 2:46 am
@Rich Rostrum – you mean this clip? 😁
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/5saDWSExrXU
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: November 28, 2023, 4:32 pm
🎶Driving that train, lookin’ out for airplanes
Casey Jones better watch that sky
Trouble above, trouble behind
But it turns out that German fighter planes
explode just real fine…🎶
Comment from tomfrompv
Time: November 29, 2023, 7:15 am
Look up TheConservativeTreehouse.com and you’ll see how much money is spent to keep small independent websites off the internet. If it’s not WordPress dumping conservative sites, then it’s Amazon denying server access.
Otoh, if you’re small and aligned with the establishment side, no problemo.
Missouri v Biden won’t fix the problem either.
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