Cool pix!

The Canadians made new from the old, reusing the chassis of the American M3 Lee/Grant tank and thus giving birth to the tank Ram mk I. They added a new superstructure and changed its armament, endowing it with a good power of fire. 50 copies of this first version of the Ram are built in Montreal at the Montreal Locomotive Works plant before launching production of the second model: Ram Mark II.

However, this tank is quickly overtaken by Grant’s replacement, M4 Sherman, which massively equips the armed forces belonging to the Commonwealth. The Ram mk II was then used before the Normandy landing as a training tank in Great Britain and some gear underwent modifications to be used as an armored command vehicle (including six crew members, additional transmission equipment As well as a dummy cannon) or as a flamethrower.

The Ram tank is used by the Canadian forces during the Battle of Normandy, in addition to the Shermans. Their use is limited to reconnaissance missions or transport of command posts as well as assault troops (modified version of the Ram without its turret: the Ram Kangaroo).

https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/material/tank/mk-ii-ram-tank

 

Since Shepard's flight was planned for only 15 minutes, no provision had been made for bodily functions. Unfortunately there were about four hours of holds after he was sealed into the capsule. He and control discussed his increasing need to urinate, and it was finally agreed that it would not be good to be trying to hold it when the rocket fired. Medical sensors attached to his body shorted out one by one, and America's first man in space took off lying on his back in a puddle of wee-wee.

As noted, Shepard was ultimately rewarded with command of Apollo 14. He had been grounded for medical reasons during the Gemini program but had been successfully treated. He was slated to be in command due to his seniority, but the command pilot was usually the astronaut with the most flight experience. Shepard of course had only 15 minutes of suborbital flight ten years earlier. The dilemma was resolved by assigning two complete rookies to the mission - and this was the one after the near-disaster of Apollo 13. But it went off almost perfectly, a tribute to the ability of our space program to prepare astronauts for flight through training and simulation .

 

Is it just me or does the "pistol" make his hand (and arm) look little?

 

Probably because there was no parachutist in the original photo


Also "odd" is how clear the parachute is, and how blurry the parachutist is.


You would hope people put a little more effort into their Photoshops.

 

The pic is obviously photoshoped but there’s an article in wiki about Owen J. Baggett. He’s credited with shooting down the Japanese plane but it was learned post war that the Japanese AF did not report any losses that day in that incident. I’ve read that the IJN and the Japanese AF didn’t report losses in both ships and planes in battles with Allied Forces frequently.

Whether it happened or not, it’s still a cool pic. I’d like to believe that it happened, maybe it’s that because I’m a hopeless romantic at heart like Rick Blaine in Casablanca. And maybe partially I still believe it’s a true story because really, who’d want to report to the Emperor that one of his aircraft was shot down by a round eye with a pistol dangling from a parachute. No doubt there’d be some hari-kari involved by someone.

 

Siegfried line 1945 Winston and friends.....