WWII Forums Quiz Part VII

Since no one has posted a question for awhile, I'm' jumping in!!

What was it called? And what was its purpose?

 

I just cant recall its name, but it was supposed to be a rocket powered rolling wheel to destroy anti-invasion beach defenses for D-Day. It failed because there was no guidance system to steer or maneuver it. But I bet it was great fun to watch!!

 

Well, that didn't last long! Good job!

Panjandrum Panjandrum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Saw it on the "Reinventors" today when they rebuilt it from its blueprints and the various trials they made trying to get the rockets to go off simultaneously in order to give it enough momentum.

Your turn.

 

Panjandrum? No wonder I couldn't recall the name! LOL!

Here's one I came across the other day...a secret weapon that, well, you tell me....

 

Uhmm... Is it one of Major General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart's "Hobart's Funnies"? I don't know, maybe light shines through the vertical slit? A UFO? Could that be an M3 Stuart Hull? Could it be the T10 Series CDL tank? T10-M3A1 Stuart chassis, T10E1- M4 Sherman chassis, originally tested on the British Matilda, was decided needed a more up to date and faster platform. Very interesting reading about this man.
Secret Strobelight Weapons of World War II | Danger Room from Wired.com
79th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hobart's Funnies - Wikimedia Commons
Royal Engineers Museum - Biography - Major General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart (1885-1967)

Definitely read this one!
http://home.tiscali.nl/hgmkuip/blerick/cdl_story_lowther.html

Take care,
Salty

 

Right on target, Salty! No need for additional shells!

Over to you! Well done!

 

As Grumman "Iron Works" believed, if twenty screws will hold a panel on just fine then 200 should be perfect. No, I just like to add what I hope are interesting pieces of information.
Spent quite a bit of time read about Sir Hobart last night. Quite an ingenious man. Too bad he wasn't taken more seriously earlier in the war. A lot of lives could have been saved. Hmm.. sounds like a What If article. I'll have to check the threads.
I will post something as soon as I can find something worthy of my esteemed colleagues here.

4wilts-Thank you for the Salute. I'm glad you found the information as interesting as I did. I like your avatar. I'm a huge Monty Python fan.
Take care,
Salty

 

OK, here's an easy one. What's my name and where did I fly to bring what to whom?
Take care,
Salty

 

1st hint. I am a converted aircraft.

Take care,
Salty

 

My guess just looking at the picture is a converted B-24 Liberator, probably used on the India-China "hump" route. But the picture does not make me think of the Himalaya, much too hot!
I believe transport liberators where designated C-87 not B-24

 

I think President Roosevelt flew around in a C-87. They had a lift to pick him and his wheelchair up into the aircraft. It may be at the Air Force Museum now.

 

Pretty daggone close. It is a C109. The C-87 was an actual production line aircraft. The C-109 was a converted B-24 used to ferry fuel for the B-29's over The Hump. Commonly referred to as the C-One O Boom, it was not very popular with it's crews. Was a very difficult aircraft to fly, unstable on takeoff and landing. The XC-109 was converted from a B-24E, the rest (218) were converted from B-24J's & L's. Hard to find pictures of this beast, not a lot of information either. Almost all were lost over the Hump.
Over to you T.O.S.
Take care,
Salty

Consolidated C-109

 

Sorry but no pretty pictures, my scanner is down with a burned out power supply.
So I will try one out of something I researched some time ago.

Which British warhips, destroyer or larger, were sunk by gunfire from Regia Marina warhips in WW2?
No torpedoes, mines and no mixed navy/airforce sinkings allowed, scutling by crew as irrecoverable does (otherwise we could state the RN did not sink the Bismark and the Lutzow).

Hint: list is very very short

 

Here is what I found
-HMS Pakenham - Damaged during the Battle of the Cigno Convoy, scuttled by HMS Paladin
-HMS Havock - Damaged by battleship Littorio in the Second battle of Sirte, later ran aground trying to make Malta, and wrecked
-Submarine Rainbow - Sunk by gunfire from an Italian submarine.
Possibly HMS Partridge - Left dead in the water during Op. Harpoon though she was later finished off by ariel torpedo
HMS Sikh was also sunk by Tobruks shore batteries

 

Nice try but no cigar. 1 out of ... (or possibly 1.5 if you count the Toti episode).
HMS Pakenham - Ok
HMS Havock - I believe the loss was not directly related to the Litttorio's shells, she did run aground but about a couple of weeks after the battle (April 6-1942).
HMS Rainbow - Is now believed to have been sunk by ramming from merchant ship Antonietta Costa. No gunfire and no Regia Marina. The episode you describe is correct but, even if some reports quote the Rainbow, is now believed to have involved another british boat. The Italian sub was the Enrico Toti, as the Toti also fired a torpedo that possibly hit I count that one as a "probable" anyway.
HMS Partridge - Think you got the wrong ship there, it was HMS Beduin that was first disabled by gunfire and then sunk by aerial torpedo (and the one I had in mind when I ruled out shared sinkings), HMS Partrige was present, and was hit as well, but survived to fight another day.
HMS Sikh -Shore batteries ... it does count as gunfire but I said Regia Marina Warship
Hint: I believe we have just one missing ..... some sources report the cause of loss as internal explosion but "internal explosion" a few hours after being hit by gunfire ... (think USS Lexington or IJN Tahio for attribution of loss in similar episodes).

 

HMS Khartoum - Deployed with HMS KANDAHAR, HMS KINGSTON and HM Sloop SHOREHAM in
search for TORRICELLI near Perim Island.
After interception took part in surface engagement with these ships during which enemy
submarine was sunk.
Hit by return fire which damaged the after torpedo tube mounting.
Subsequently an air vessel exploded causing a serious uncontrollable fire which prevented
access to magazine flooding controls.
The resulting explosion of the magazine killed one of the ship’s company, injured three others
. and wrecked the stern structure aft of the Engine Room causing extensive flooding.
Ship settled on an even keel with forward structure awash.


You where correct with listed as internal explosion. found her listed as:
beached after damage by internal explosion caused by burst air vessel off Perim Harbour, Red Sea

 

Karthoum and Pakenham were the ones I was expecting, so you got them both.
BTW HMS Triad, not HMS Rainbow, is the Toti's victim.

Well done!

Your turn ...

 

A U-boat comander who lost his boat. How was it lost?

 

Karl-Adolf Shlitt U-1206

On 14 April 1945, only 8-10 miles off the British coast line, the boat was safely cruising at 200 feet when the commander, Schlitt, decided to use the toilet without the help of a trained specialist (the system was complicated). Something went wrong and when the specialist arrived he misunderstood something and opened the wrong valve with the end results that large amount of seawater got into the boat. The seawater reached the batteries directly under the toilet causing chlorine gas to form and the boat had to be surfaced immediately right under the enemy. When the boat reached the surface they managed to blow clean air into the boat but at the same time an aircraft bombed the boat causing extensive damages leaving the boat unable to dive. Seeing the hopeless situation Schlitt had no choice but to destroy his secret material and abandon ship to safe his crew.
Nice story!
Must admit the U-Boat.net crowd have really cornered the market for any sort of U-Boat related info !!!