So the troops had to bow when talking to them?

 

greg gets it! officer candidates were frequently beaten, doused with cold water and forced to endure cold weather with no protection, given minimal rations, etc... which lead to sickly young men who failed to achieve their full growth. Enlisted men, on the other hand, grew up without as many beatings, pneumonia inspired illnesses, etc..

 

Ok here's my next question...
During World War 2, one of the types of improvised armoured vehicles used by the British Home Guard had concrete armour. Several hundred of these vehicles were produced. What were they called?

 

It only *looks* dead b/c this damn fool site won't load fast enough for me on my stone tablet of a dialup connection at home ... But if I had a halfway decent computer, I *would* have said ...

THE COMPLAINING COMMANDOS!

 

Bison

 

Yep!! Your turn!! (I need to find trickier questions!!!

 

Colonel Paul Warfield Tibbets IV is currently assigned to NATO headquarters in Belgium. But he and his famous grandfather have something uniquely in common in their military careers. What is it?

 

Both commanded the 393rd Bomb Squadron?

 

You got it.

There are a couple of career connections between the two Tibbets and that is one of them. General Tibbets commanded the 393rd just over two months before he took command of the 509th Composite Group and the 393rd was assigned to the 509th and given back to its original commander, LTC Thomas Classen.

Both Tibbets men also flew strategic, nuclear-capable aircraft (B-29 and B-2) out of the 509th Bomb Wing, now located at Whiteman AFB. When the elder Tibbets commanded the 509th, it was called the 509th Composite Group. The 393rd was Paul IV's command before taking his current assignment as chief of the NBC Policy Branch at NATO.

My wife and Paul IV went to school together and we try to get together whenever they are in town. Don't think they will be dropping by Montgomery from Brussels anytime soon, especially since he is now off active flight status.

Interestingly enough,Col* Tibbets IV call sign is "Nuke."

*My wife just corrected me that Paul was promoted to full colonel before his new NATO assignment.

 

Mike, its your question!

 

To prevent this thread from dying and the fact Mike doesn't post frequently, I will ask an easy one just to kick start things again...

How many multiple Medal of Honor winners have there been since World War I?

 

Is it none? All the multiple winners I can find are from WW1 or before...

 

Wow....

I think Greg is right. I found this quote...

Since the reviews and changes of 1917 the laws governing award of the Medal of Honor have ended all DOUBLE awards of the Medal of Honor. All other awards in the Pyramid of Honor can be awarded multiple times for different acts, each successive award noted by a DEVICE worn on the ribbon for the first award. A soldier may be nominated repeatedly for the Medal of Honor, indeed during the Vietnam War Special Forces hero Robert L. Howard was submitted for the Medal of Honor three different times before he was finally awarded the Medal. But the Medal of Honor may now be awarded ONLY ONCE.

Good Job!!

 

You are indeed correct... and Folkwulfe has explained why, preventing me from another lengthy post. But I will expand on Robert Howard, who is from my stomping ground. His first two MOH nominations were most likely declined because of the covert and sensitive nature of the missions he was on when he performed the heroic act. Some argue that Howard is the most decorated American serviceman. All three nominations were worthy of winning an MOH. His first two were downgraded to the DSC and Silver Star because of the sensitive nature of the mission. He is the only man in American military history to be nominated for three MOH awards for three separate actions within a 13 month period.

 

This is a great thread - I'm learning something new almost every time I read it!! Anyway here's my question...

Who successfully carried out the first deliberate operational parachute drop behind enemy lines (as opposed to bailing out of a damaged aircraft)?

 

Airborne Drop

I think I got this one....

The first true paratroop drop was carried out by Italy in November 1927. Within a few years several battalions had been raised and were eventually formed into the two elite Folgore and Nembo divisions. Although these would later fight with distinction in World War II, the divisions were never used in a parachute drop. Men drawn from the Italian parachute forces were dropped in a special forces operation in North Africa in 1943 in an attempt to destroy the aircraft of the USAAF based there while they are still on the ground.

...so says Wikipidia!

 

First one I can think of would be German FJs in Belgium in 1940.

 

Given that the question was the first drop behind enemy lines, I believe its probably the FJs also.

 

Italians, 1918

Edited to add:

Winston Churchill suggested parachute drops behind German lines in WWI to destroy bridges and disrupt communications. It were the French again, who first "had carried out small raids behind the lines as early as the spring of 1918, dropping two-man demolition teams to destroy communications."

So it was either the French or Italians, but it was in 1918.

 

According to Wiki...

"Fallschirmjäger units made the first airborne invasion when invading Denmark on the 9 April 1940. "

 

Greg, you wouldn't be sneaky and put in a trick question would you - are you necessarily referring to dropping people or something els, because the Aussies had the first air supply drop at the Battle of Le Hamel, 4 July 1918

An even more innovative method of supply to the front involved aircraft. Twelve planes of No 9 Squadron RAF appeared over the battlefield about 6.30 am carrying ammunition while a host of other British planes appeared and engaged enemy ground position well to the German rear. The ammunition carriers dropped their loads of two boxes of 1200 rounds by parachute from about 800 metres. In all, 93 boxes were delivered to the infantry in this way and many units reported the experiment useful. One pilot and his observer were killed in these operations when a parachute caught in the wing. The pilot climbed out and managed to clear the chute but at 30 metres from the ground something else went wrong and the aircraft crashed.

 

Me? Being sneaky? Never!! ... fussy? Yes!! :lol I'm actually after the name of the man who made the first drop (he was alone.. if you don't count his pigeons that he took with him!!)... Actionman's already mentioned the correct nationality and year.... (Italian, 1918) Can anyone find out his name... (the parachutist's that is not Actionman's!!)

 

Major Steffen was a South African who came from Luxemburg. With a crate of pigeons strapped to him he bailed out from an airplane over Luxemburg one black night early in 1918. His mission was to discover whether the Germans were concentrating troops in the Grand Duchy for the great March offensive. He landed in a field, badly shaken. Groping in the dark he hid his parachute in a hedge, trudged 20 miles to his father's house, arriving just before dawn. Two of his three pigeons subsequently reached British G.H.Q. The message they bore was, in effect, no German concentration in Luxemburg. Steffen remained in hiding until the armistice when he was awarded the D.S.O.

I was about to give in and say "Bulldog Drummond".

 

I was actually looking for Lt. Alessandro Tandura an Italian officer who was dropped behind enemy lines in Aug 1918 dressed in civilian clothes and armed with a pistol and a knife - his job was also to report on enemy movement/build up and to report his findings by pigeon. In most accounts I've read, his mission is given as the first successful operation involving a parachute drop but as your Major Staffen predates that... the question is yours David :thumb... (told you this thread keeps teaching me something new!! :lol)

 

OK, an easy one:

Month, year and country in which the first combat helicopter medivac took place.