Text 16603, 180 rader
Skriven 2011-04-09 17:29:40 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
  Kommentar till text 16444 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Mortsel Ertl VII aircraft plant      was: Navigation
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06 Apr 11 10:41, Ward Dossche wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW>> WD> You quietly ommit, because you know none of the facts, that most
 RW>> of
 RW>> WD> the skilled workers in that factory were German.

 RW>> LOL! You're almost right. Most of the workers in that plant were
 RW>> locals working under superior German supervision.

 WD> Touching the airplanes hardly.

Not a problem under German supervision and subsequent inspection by same.

 WD> Riding a lorry, sweeping a corridor, cleaning a toilet, things like
 WD> that, yes.

They had those kind of workers in the auto plant too.

 WD> Engineering work on planes was done by Germans.

You apparently don't understand what an engineer is. Especially a German
engineer...

 WD> Too many things went wrong went left to local workers ... a propeller
 WD> detaching in flight, plane crashing through its undercarriage due to
 WD> malfunctioning hydraulics, steering cables installed in reverse
 WD> order, engine blowing-up, ...

Failures such as this are because of the engineers not paying strict
attention to inspection.

 WD> Because of these tiny acts of sabotage, easily to be explained as "I
 WD> haven't been trained to do this" many ME109's and FW190's (in my mind
 WD> a much better fighter) didn't make it in time or not at all to the
 WD> flying ranks.

Only to the tune of 4000...

 RW>> BTW, why do Belgians insist on building schools next to the airport?

 WD> It's the question of the chicken and the egg: which was first.

 WD> So was the airport, in those days 'airfield' (it was a grass runway),

It couldn't have been a grass runway, as it was the same airport that's in
use today called the Deurne-Antwerp Airfield.

 WD> first or the schools? I put my money on the schools.

Knowing what and why they were bombed that day, I wouldn't.

 WD> For your convenience, I have prepared a map of the vicinity and the
 WD> attack:

 WD> www.cantincrode.be/erla.jpg

 WD> A distance-reference could be the runway which is about a mile.

 WD> So you will see that the Erla-factory is not near the airport, that
 WD> the 4 encircled schools are not near the airport nor near the target
 WD> and that in view of the direction of the attack they were a mile or
 WD> more off-track ...

 WD> Contrary to what is written there was no flak. The attack was a
 WD> complete surprise and the first really high-altitude bombing.

Contrary to your imagination;

From the mouth of a witness:

"The Germans who occupied the area saw the advantage of the Antwerp
harbour, the nearby Antwerp airport, the railroad that led very near to
this factory. They made the plan that their planes would not longer been
put on transport to the East for repair, but that they could be repaired
here, in what was called now the Erla factory.

The resistance kept close note about what went in and what went out and
passed this information to the allies.

It was not without importance that this factory needed to be sabotaged.

The allies chose for a very aggressive attack: instead of sabotaging from
within, they chose for heavy bombing.

Hence world wars have one big thing in advantage: the development of new
technologies. The Germans had made big process so the allies were working
too!                                  [^^^^^^^progress]

A new measuring equipment was invented. It would help the bomber to
calculate where the boms would be falling: the first precision bombing.

It used the coordinates of altitude, edge of descend and speed... a
calculation between those gave you the exact coordinates where to drop the
bombs.

That day they flew in...but already from the wrong direction. Their
arrival was announced long before they came so the ground defence of the
Germans was prepared.

When the planes finally arrived over Antwerp, they were so severely taken
under attack that they had to zigzag all the time to avoid the flak
launched at them.

A few got hit (later on the Germans took the pilot for a ride to let him
see what a real apocalypse they have brought to us).

Due to the avoiding manouvres, the calculations of the targeting machine
became completely useless. Nevertheless in this densed populated area they
decided to drop all the bombs they had.

The result was catastrophycal! About 2 of the 900 bombs hit the target,
the Erla factory, killing the workers and let most of them burn alife.

All the rest of the bombs fell on houses, crowded streets (it was a sunny
Spring day) and.... on several schools. In the Sint Lutgardisschool only
18 kids of the hundreds survived the raid. Other schools were severely hit
as well.

That day almost 1000 people died in this little village and a multitude
                [986]
was hurt, some mutilated for life.
Not one family escaped disaster but some of them really got hit badly.

Afterwards it proofed that many of the kids were lucky: the bomb that fell
just beneath their classroom didn't exploded.

The survivors were marked for life!"

 RW>> The above is an excerpt from: A Tale of Two Messerschmitts  By:
 RW>> Richard Corey

 WD> That's pretty much correct, except for:

 RW>> All of this activity didn't escape the notice of the Allies and Erla
 RW>> VII did become a victim of a rather abortive bombing attempt by U.S.
 RW>> forces

 WD> It wasn't abortive in the least ...

As witnessed by the above, it was.

 WD> they all dropped their load
 WD> except, I seem to remember, one plane which was hit earlier or had
 WD> problems and left the formation, dropped its bombs in a field and
 WD> crashlanded.

You were there and now you remember?

 WD> On the Google-image you can still see the old abandoned traintrack
 WD> and also the abandoned traintrack to the airfield. Restored planes
 WD> were put on a train for a 2-mile ride.

 WD> I've read statements that some 7.000 fighter planes were repaired
 WD> and/or rebuilt there which from military point of view made it a
 WD> valid target.

Your numbers are a bit high, but I agree with the premise of the sentence.

 RW>> Colateral damage day. Make sure you say a prayor for all of those
 RW>> B17 personel who gave their all to stop the carnage by your uncle
 RW>> Adolph.

 WD> During the ceremony the American Embassador was there, as he is every
 WD> year when there's a Democratic President, and the fallen aircrews
 WD> were also honoured.

You mean last year, 2010? That embassador was an extention of the dumb
fuck we have in the WH now...and of course, he's the guy who goes around
the world apologizing for America, bowing to Saudi Kings, etc...

 WD> Please do not conclude that people have bad feelings about Americans
 WD> because of the attack. In later years, surviving crew members were
 WD> invited here as guests of honour.

                R\%/itt

  Fox News was not used as a source for information in this message!

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