What Are You Reading

[Smithy]

I've not seen the film, so we're even...I'll watch the film, you read the book, and we'll talk. By the way, Smithy, thank you...my first post and, from you, my first reply. I shall never forget this moment...sigh...

I forgot to say welcome as well JazzyDame!

By the way who is your avatar? Quite the knockout!

 

[Diamondback]

Dittos on that "Welcome Aboard", Ms. JD.

Current read: Schedule of the Naval Aeronautical Organization, September 30, 1945. The first postwar edition, you can already see where things are winding down for mass demobilization...

 

[JazzyDame]

I forgot to say welcome as well JazzyDame!

By the way who is your avatar? Quite the knockout!

Thank you so much for the welcome, Smithy! It's truly a pleasure to be here.

That lovely avatar would be none other than the stunning Miss Veronica Lake. And yours? Yours wouldn't be a reference to Sir Winston Churchill's famous 1940 speech, now, would it? I can't quite make out the fine print.

 

[Diamondback]

It's a book-cover--Smithy is one of our most hard-core Battle of Britain enthusiasts. (Should I say, "scholars"?)

 

[JazzyDame]

Dittos on that "Welcome Aboard", Ms. JD.

Current read: Schedule of the Naval Aeronautical Organization, September 30, 1945. The first postwar edition, you can already see where things are winding down for mass demobilization...

Thank you for the welcome, Diamondback--this is such a friendly place!

That's quite a serious and somber read you've got there...as far as mass demobilization, they've been at it for quite some time, haven't they? We're being stripped of our guns, sir...I shudder to think...

 

[Diamondback]

Actually, I'm reading it for business--I have an ongoing research contract on analyzing Carrier Air Group compositions for a group of miniatures-wargamers so they can deploy accurate force representations. Really grim is the "Location of US Naval Aircraft" reports from just before and just after Coral Sea and Midway where you see entire squadrons go from full strength of 18-24 planes down to one or two (especially Torpedo 8 from Hornet at Midway, from which only one man survived), since each bird lost frequently took 1 to 3 aircrew with it...

The report actually shows the authorized strengths of every air unit in the Navy, their projected futures out to about '46, and what fates were planned for the ships that operated them. Actually, they had throttled back carrier-building in early 1944, but the big Demob was because they lost far fewer ships than expected (aside from a few escort carriers, the only total loss after Wasp in '42 was Princeton in October '44) plus having a lot of ships on the brink of completion--it's not like you just wave a hand and send everybody home after creating the largest fleet in world history and sending it out across the entire globe, to say nothing of the armies and air forces that navy was supporting. Bear in mind, also, this was a time when servicemen could bring home live captured enemy weapons and also frequently their own weapons to keep...

As for my guns, those ain't goin' anywhere... fftopic: you shoot?

 

[JazzyDame]

Actually, I'm reading it for business--I have an ongoing research contract on analyzing Carrier Air Group compositions for a group of miniatures-wargamers so they can deploy accurate force representations. Really grim is the "Location of US Naval Aircraft" reports from just before and just after Coral Sea and Midway where you see entire squadrons go from full strength of 18-24 planes down to one or two (especially Torpedo 8 from Hornet at Midway, from which only one man survived), since each bird lost frequently took 1 to 3 aircrew with it...

The report actually shows the authorized strengths of every air unit in the Navy, their projected futures out to about '46, and what fates were planned for the ships that operated them. Actually, they had throttled back carrier-building in early 1944, but the big Demob was because they lost far fewer ships than expected (aside from a few escort carriers, the only total loss after Wasp in '42 was Princeton in October '44) plus having a lot of ships on the brink of completion--it's not like you just wave a hand and send everybody home after creating the largest fleet in world history and sending it out across the entire globe, to say nothing of the armies and air forces that navy was supporting. Bear in mind, also, this was a time when servicemen could bring home live captured enemy weapons and also frequently their own weapons to keep...

As for my guns, those ain't goin' anywhere... fftopic: you shoot?

For business or pleasure, it sounds awfully grim, but from an historical perspective, it is fascinating to research such statistics, and I applaud your meticulously poring over the facts. I wasn’t aware that they actually began demobilization due to fewer losses than expected; I suppose I assumed it was simply a funding issue. Pardon me, but obviously my thoughts were on our present-day budget crisis.

One can only imagine our boys returning home with the spoils of war…makes for a mighty good show-and-tell, now, doesn’t it?

Do I shoot? Depends on what I’m aiming at.

 

[JazzyDame]

I forgot to say welcome as well JazzyDame!

By the way who is your avatar? Quite the knockout!

Please don't be alarmed...I changed my avatar. I began with Miss Lake due to a few recent comments that I bear a slight resemblance, but I much prefer Miss Bacall. She was a classy one...

 

[Diamondback]

Why wouldn't they demobilize? War was over, everybody thought the world was at peace except MacArthur, Patton and Churchill who saw the Stalin threat... "less than expected" losses were only a reason the drawdown was as big as it was, not the reason that it happened. Light carriers like Princeton, they expected to lose two per year... swarms of Hellcats and Corsairs, plus the sacrifices of picket-destroyers and their crews (your typical Kamikaze wasn't well educated in target-selection, and was content to die taking out the first American ship he saw) were instrumental in keeping IJN and IJAAF air getting to the bigger ships to a minimum. And then there's the fact that every available inch of deck-space was packed with 20mm and 40mm antiaircraft guns...

Yeah, Uncle "F" used to have a really nice collection of Lugers and P.38's taken off Wehrmacht officers and NCO's 'til one of his nephews (before I was born) bamboozled him into giving him the lot and then hocked 'em all for rotgut... and then Grandpa's body hadn't even finished cooling before his son (note I refuse to speak of any direct relationship) did the same with his old issue M1911A1.

If I may ask: competitive, recreational, hunting or defensive, and pistol, rifle or shotgun? I'm pretty much a one-trick pony with my 1911, but that's mainly because most of my training with it being driven by having been in the executive/personal-protection field while in college.

 

[JazzyDame]

It's a book-cover--Smithy is one of our most hard-core Battle of Britain enthusiasts. (Should I say, "scholars"?)

Well, it's good to be in the company of gentlemen and scholars...thanks for making me feel at home here, gentlemen.

 

[Diamondback]

Well, it's good to be in the company of gentlemen and scholars...thanks for making me feel at home here, gentlemen.

Wouldn't be doing our jobs in aiming to meet the "gentleman" standard if we didn't at least try, would we?

 

[JazzyDame]

Wouldn't be doing our jobs in aiming to meet the "gentleman" standard if we didn't at least try, would we?

I don't think you're "trying"...I think it's a natural state of being.

 

[Diamondback]

For many, yes... in my case, though, I'll be the first one to tell you I have a background and have done a lot of things I'm not proud of that I'm trying to turn back from, and that my character flaws read like an encyclopedia.

That said, I worked with a student from Japan back in college who believed that that background was a key part of me, that as he put it, "having left the path of honor and now returning to it, you appreciate its value more than most." (Which reminds me, I need to pick up a copy of Musashi's Book of Five Rings for "plane reading" when I hop a bird for Indianapolis in a couple weeks...)

 

[JazzyDame]

Why wouldn't they demobilize? War was over, everybody thought the world was at peace except MacArthur, Patton and Churchill who saw the Stalin threat... "less than expected" losses were only a reason the drawdown was as big as it was, not the reason that it happened. Light carriers like Princeton, they expected to lose two per year... swarms of Hellcats and Corsairs, plus the sacrifices of picket-destroyers and their crews (your typical Kamikaze wasn't well educated in target-selection, and was content to die taking out the first American ship he saw) were instrumental in keeping IJN and IJAAF air getting to the bigger ships to a minimum. And then there's the fact that every available inch of deck-space was packed with 20mm and 40mm antiaircraft guns...

Yeah, Uncle "F" used to have a really nice collection of Lugers and P.38's taken off Wehrmacht officers and NCO's 'til one of his nephews (before I was born) bamboozled him into giving him the lot and then hocked 'em all for rotgut... and then Grandpa's body hadn't even finished cooling before his son (note I refuse to speak of any direct relationship) did the same with his old issue M1911A1.

If I may ask: competitive, recreational, hunting or defensive, and pistol, rifle or shotgun? I'm pretty much a one-trick pony with my 1911, but that's mainly because most of my training with it being driven by having been in the executive/personal-protection field while in college.

You certainly do know your military history, sir. You’ve always been a history buff, haven’t you?

I’m so sorry about the loss of your Uncle “F”s collection…I’m sure it was remarkable, indeed. Some folks have no appreciation for such finery, and such folks disgust me.

If I may answer: all but competitive (I’m not the least bit competitive). So, you were employed in personal-protection? I would ask, but you probably shouldn’t disclose such information.

 

[Diamondback]

"Always been"? To tell you the truth, it's really just about all I've ever known--aside from my grandfather's efforts to condition me to be a latter-day Curtis LeMay, World War II (thanks to him) has been pretty much the focal point of my entire life--to the point that I always got along better with his .MIL retiree buddies than my ostensible peers...

 

[JazzyDame]

For many, yes... in my case, though, I'll be the first one to tell you I have a background and have done a lot of things I'm not proud of that I'm trying to turn back from, and that my character flaws read like an encyclopedia.

That said, I worked with a student from Japan back in college who believed that that background was a key part of me, that as he put it, "having left the path of honor and now returning to it, you appreciate its value more than most." (Which reminds me, I need to pick up a copy of Musashi's Book of Five Rings for "plane reading" when I hop a bird for Indianapolis in a couple weeks...)

We all have our flaws, sir. We are merely mortals, merely human. But is our good fortune that we are human, as we are the only creatures with the ability to recognize our flaws and endeavor to improve or change those elements in our character that dissatisfy or displease.

..."having left the path of honor and now returning to it, you appreciate its value more than most."...Spoken like a true samurai.

 

[JazzyDame]

"Always been"? To tell you the truth, it's really just about all I've ever known--aside from my grandfather's efforts to condition me to be a latter-day Curtis LeMay, World War II (thanks to him) has been pretty much the focal point of my entire life--to the point that I always got along better with his .MIL retiree buddies than my ostensible peers...

Well, then, I consider it an honor and very much a pleasure to "meet" you, sir. You sound as though you're an "old soul". It's mutual. I frequent an old hangar where a gathering of "seasoned" (retired) military pilots are keeping the spirit alive. "Keep 'em flyin'", indeed. They are such a blessing in my life, and I could (and often times do) listen for hours as they chatter on and on about their lives during that golden era. The Greatest Generation is certainly a fitting title.

 

[Diamondback]

Umm... careful on the "sir" stuff, Miss--I work for a living too, y'know?lol But I gotta say, nice meeting you too. That student was... well, an interesting character: while I was drafting the first iterations of my eventual Masters thesis on MacArthur's neuropathology and forensic-psych, he made a case that, from a Japanese perspective, it could be said that we won because MacArthur's adherence to bushido--in its purest sense as a traditional Warrior's Code, not the corrupted version that the 20th-century IJA practiced--was stronger than Tojo's.

I do believe that the words of the day are "THREAD HIJACKED"... lol

 

[Smithy]

It's a book-cover--Smithy is one of our most hard-core Battle of Britain enthusiasts. (Should I say, "scholars"?)

You flatter me DB!

JazzyDame, I'm just an enthusiastic student of the Battle of Britain.

I hope you enjoy it here.

(Your new avatar is lovely too!)

 

[Spitfire]

Half way through this. And I must say - allthough I've read my share of books on the subject - I really and truely enjoy the way he writes.