Text 16648, 106 rader
Skriven 2011-04-10 19:11:03 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 16603 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Ärende: Re: Mortsel Ertl VII aircraft plant      was: Navigation
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RW>WD> So was the airport, in those days 'airfield' (it was a grass
RW> runway),
 
RW> It couldn't have been a grass runway, as it was the same airport that's
RW> in use today called the Deurne-Antwerp Airfield.
 
It certainly was a grass runway. Prior to WW2 there were military operations
there with only Stampe&Vertongen SV4 bi-planes, single-engined Fairey-Battle
bombers and a downscaled version of the Hawker Hurricane. There was the
occasional Ju-52 and that was it then.
 
There were no scheduled civilian services.
 
The first real runway was built by the Germans in concrete in the second part
of WW2. It was continuously attacked and bombed and as good as always unusable.
Fighter operations occored from a grass runway which today stll is in
operation, same angle as the current runway and slightly more to the north.
 
RW> From the mouth of a witness:
 
RW> "The Germans who occupied the area saw the advantage of the Antwerp
RW> harbour, ....
 
The Antwerp harbour was not used by the Germans. It is 80km inland on a stream,
any vessel of any importance there would be a sitting duck. The Germans never
used it.
 
RW> ... the railroad that led very near to
RW> this factory. They made the plan that their planes would not longer been
RW> put on transport to the East for repair, ...
 
They still needed to be transported there, coming from as far as the Eastern
front in the immediate range of Allied bombers.
 
RW> That day they flew in...but already from the wrong direction. Their
RW> arrival was announced long before they came so the ground defence of the
RW> Germans was prepared.
 
That was and still is an increible hoax.
 
From people who saw the bombing (my parents) and survivors on the cemetary here
last week one could note the stories:
 
* bright clear sunny day
* no fighter planes
* no flak ... simply there was no flak stationed anywhere along the bombing
run. Photographs exist taken from the planes and they show no sign of flak.
 
It was a high altitude bombing, the first from that altitude, higher than flak
could shoot anyway. For a ME-109 it took 22-27 minutes to get at that altitude.
 
They passed the target on the north and then made a turn to the southwest over
Mortsel. No airraid warning was sounded as the planes were considered too high.
 
Another hoax that was told to justify the error was that scout planes had drawn
smoke circles over the target which had drifted with the wind.
 
Another hoax that was used for the ineffectiveness of the raid was that
supposedly the day before a photography plane and been shot down while taking
pictures of the plant and the pilot had a full description of the raid for the
next day with him ... yeah ... sure ... right.
 
RW> Due to the avoiding manouvres, the calculations of the targeting machine
RW> became completely useless. Nevertheless in this densed populated area
RW> they decided to drop all the bombs they had.
 
The Norden bomb sight was a mechanical device unable to make calculations. You
set direction, direction of wind, your own speed, the speed of the wind, air
density, air temperature and altitude and through a mechanically moved
crosshair the bomber could aim.
 
The simple fact that day was they were off course and had no idea where the
factory was, aiming at a few large schools thinking they were factories.
 
It may be called collateral damage, it may also be called incompetence and
bloody murder.
 
RW> Afterwards it proofed that many of the kids were lucky: the bomb that
RW> fell just beneath their classroom didn't exploded.
 
One class in one school. 4 schools were hit.
 
RW>RW>> The above is an excerpt from: A Tale of Two Messerschmitts  By:
RW>RW>> Richard Corey
 
The ultimate book "Bommen over Mortsel" tells something else.
 
RW>WD> It wasn't abortive in the least ...
 
RW> As witnessed by the above, it was.
 
Well, if you mean the attack was an abortion ... that it certainly was.
 
RW> You were there and now you remember?
 
Too many eyewitnessaccounts exist from survivors I see daily at the bakery, the
butcher, everywhere around here...
 
RW> You mean last year, 2010?
 
Also this year ... a couple of days ago.
 
 \%/@rd

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 * Origin: Many Glacier / WikiLeaks http://213.251.145.96 / (2:292/854)