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On Dunkirk
Go see Dunkirk. Seriously. I can’t say much more as I don’t want to spoil it, but go see the movie. Good cinematography, acting, scoring, and pacing. Yes, some rivet counters have complained about nitpicking things like the destroyers, Ju-87s’ sirens, and the actual Bf-109s used. (No, I’m not joking.) Ignore them and go…
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Strategic Bombing Historiographical Paper (2006)
So remember when I said I had reading list? Well, I can do even better than that–I have an entire historiographical paper about the Allied Bombing Campaign in World War II. It’s a bit dated (I wrote it back in 2006), but the end notes and bibliography have more than enough things to get a…
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Yankee Doodle Went to Town…With A Load of HE…: Strategic Bombing Campaign II
Having covered the Western Campaign, the Battle of Britain, and the first phase of RAF Bomber Command‘s assault on the Third Reich, it’s time to start the United States’ portion of the Strategic Bombing Campaign. Again, in the interest of brevity, I’m going to do a little background then make liberal use of the fast…
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Sergeant Pepper Bombs Mr. Adolph–The Strategic Bombing Campaign I
So, remember way back when I said I was going to do fighter history and bombing history separate? Yeah, I refreshed my memory on bombing during World War I. *insert yawn here* I mean, it happened. There were even a few times it was effective in the “we made a big mess” kind of way.…
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The Man Who Saved Western Civilization & Never Gets Credit For It–Fighter Combat Part III
When last we left this journey through aerial mayhem, France had just been knocked out of the war, the British Army was busy thanking every boat owner in Southern England while wringing out their clothes, and the Luftwaffe had just learned how to say “Acthung! Spitfire!” In the (wholly apocryphal) words of Hermann Goering, “Don’t…
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The Man Who Saved Western Civilization & Never Gets Credit For It–Fighter Combat Part III
When last we left this journey through aerial mayhem, France had just been knocked out of the war, the British Army was busy thanking every boat owner in Southern England while wringing out their clothes, and the Luftwaffe had just learned how to say “Acthung! Spitfire!” In the (wholly apocryphal) words of Hermann Goering, “Don’t…
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Blitzkrieg Bop –Fighter Combat Part II
“The Axis have won the toss and will kickoff.”—Aries, Head Referee, Great European Rematch, 1939-1945 Four things I’m going to assume with this blog post: 1.) You read the last blog post on aerial combat and liked it. 2.) Everyone involved possesses a general knowledge of World War II, is willing to go to the…
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"Everything Else Is Rubbish…"–Fighter Combat– Part I
“The fighter pilots have to rove in the area alotted to them in any way they like, and when they spot an enemy they attack and shoot him down, anything else is rubbish.”–Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. “The Red Baron” It’s hard to believe that aerial warfare has only been going on for a little over…
