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Why Can't They Get It Right ?

INT21

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just started reading 'The 37th Parallel' by Ben Mezrich.

I'm about a quarter of the way into it.

But it is such a frustrating read.

Lots of space filler waffle. stuff you don't need to know and that doesn't help the narrative.

But more annoying is when you come across factual errors.

The scene. A pilot, radar operator and intelligence officer are flying a sortie in 1944.

The intelligence officer spots some odd lights.

Pilot asks him 'where' ?

IO says 'starboard, closing fast'.

'Pilot swings his eyes to the left'.

No, starboard is the right hand side, not the left. That is port.

And the writer makes exactly the same mistake a few paragraphs later.

Then there is a point where the narrator tells of the investigator driving along at night when the power of his jeep cuts out. No electric. Dead.

Shortly later , lights etc come back on ..

...The engine growled to life...


How ? The motor is stopped; stationary. To get it to turn you need to operate the key.

Just having the power return will not energise the starter motor.

These sort of things are really annoying.

I hope the rest of the book improves.

INT21.
 
How ? The motor is stopped; stationary. To get it to turn you need to operate the key.

Just having the power return will not energise the starter motor.
There have been reports of the whole thing, including the engine, coming back to life afterwards without any action on the part of the driver. In fact, in some cases the drivers report having instinctively switched off the ignition and trying to get it going again throughout the encounter, but to no avail, just for it to roar back into life (and even stalling immediately again afterwards.) So that's within the parameters.

The starboard thing is a bit off, though.
's'all bollocks innit.
As with lots of Fort stuff, there's something going on. It's just what that is.
 
As with lots of Fort stuff, there's something going on. It's just what that is.

Yup, but if, as has has been pointed out, the narrator can't even get basic facts like port/starboard and vehicle ignition systems correct you have to wonder how reliable they can be about, well, anything.
 
Is Mezrich quoting directly in the report about port/starboard - in which case it's his source in error - or is it his narrative?
 
Is Mezrich quoting directly in the report about port/starboard - in which case it's his source in error - or is it his narrative?

Doesn't really matter once you start noticing the mistakes. Someone's getting it wrong so it's all rubbish.
 
Stu,

..Is Mezrich quoting directly in the report about port/starboard - in which case it's his source in error - or is it his narrative? ...

It doesn't say in the text Or the bibliograpy at the back) where the report is from. Just Rhine Valley November 1944.

But Mezrich is apparently reporting the conversation between the pilot, Lieutenant Ed Schleuter, radar operator Don Meiers and intelligence officer Lieutenant Fred Ringwald.

Ringwald sees the lights first and informs Schleuter.

Schleuter was in the 415th Night Fighter Squadron.

INT21.
 
The point of this book, for those who don't know, is that an inordinate number of cattle mutilations appear to be grouped along the 37th Parallel. At least in the USA.

However, this Parallel does go through many other countries around the World, and they are not reporting the same thing.
So even if it is on the 37th, it would appear to be restricted to within the USA. Which would seem a bit unlikely.

INT21.
 
Following up on this I Googled

rhine valley 1944 ufo

And got two interesting hits straight off.

https://www.history.com/news/wwii-ufos-allied-airmen-orange-lights-foo-fighters

https://www.airspacemag.com/history...-fighters-sighted-ww2-night-flyers-180959847/

A quick read shows that Mezrich seems to have made a dog's breakfast of his version of the story.
He refers to the crew as being in a P61.

But the two references appear to agree it was a Bristol Beaufighter.

But you can see where he got the story from.

Interestingly, a photo of a P61 is provided above the text..

A plane of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron circa 1944.
The U.S. Army Air Force


But in the other account the squadron is refered to as a Beaufighter squadron.


INT21.
 
In his book Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II, author H. R. Everett claims the three witnesses in the November 1944 incident were all with the 415th Night Fighter Squadron. He further claims the 415th wasn't given any P-61's until March 1945. See pp. 391 - 392 in:

https://books.google.com/books?id=o...v=onepage&q=Schleuter Meiers Ringwald&f=false

The P-61 had been available in the European theater for testing and initial deployments as early as summer 1944. One of the squadrons known to have P-61's by November 1944 was the 425th.

It would require no more than a one-digit typo to misattribute the incident to the 415th. Even if this were the case, it would represent another mistake in the exposition.
 
Further digging produced this..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/415th_Special_Operations_Squadron


The 415th squadron took part in the Allied invasion of Germany, moving to Braunshardt Airfield, Germany, where it moved from the Beaufighter to the new American nightfighter, the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. The squadron only flew a few missions in this new fighter before the war ended.

So it looks as if the sighting was from a P61. One of the last acts by this squadron.

It would also account for the three man crew. The later Beaufighters were two man.

INT21.
 
... The 415th squadron took part in the Allied invasion of Germany, moving to Braunshardt Airfield, Germany, where it moved from the Beaufighter to the new American nightfighter, the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. The squadron only flew a few missions in this new fighter before the war ended.

So it looks as if the sighting was from a P61. One of the last acts by this squadron. ...

Uhhhh, no ... That doesn't follow ... The Allied invasion of Germany didn't happen until March 1945 - months after the foo fighter incident. Associating the arrival / adoption of P-61's with the migration to the Braunshardt airfield only reinforces Everett's claim the 415th didn't get any Black Widows until circa March 1945.
 
Here is the paragraph that preceded the one in question.

...In July 1944, the squadron moved again to Corsica to take part in the pending Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. This invasion occurred in August, and the 415th again flew night patrols covering the beachheads. After the Allied ground forces established beachheads, the squadron moved into Southern France, where it supported the U.S 7th Army and the French 1st Army with night interception and anti-night-intruder sorties. The pilots also patrolled the lines at St. Die, and it dropped flares to light up targets for the artillery. Through April 1945, the squadron flew patrols and intruder missions, concentrating its attacks on enemy installations, supplies, communications, and troops.[4]

I agree, it doesn'r appear to stack up.
 
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