Question of the Hour

[Spr.Earl]

What's the oldest Air Base on the west coast of the U.S.?

 

[Gunner]

What's the oldest Air Base on the west coast of the U.S.?

March Field, Riverside, California?

In 1918, an Aero Squadron training facility - March Field - was established on a dusty plain just southeast of Riverside. Created to train a new breed of the nation's military - airplane pilots - March Field was the first such base of its kind on the west coast and played a significant role during the the early years of the fledging Army Air Corps (later to become the autonomous US Air Force).

http://www.orange-empire.com/v02/cities/riverside/index.shtml

 

[Spr.Earl]

Corecto mondo and has a bloody good Museum on the west side of the Air Field,they have Jimmy Doolitle's full dress Uniform some of Hap Arnold's kit.
Load's off 1918 kit,a great museum with a good static ait craft disply from a B-52 Russian Air Craft and the the Centaph for the U.S. Dog Team's.

If my photo's turn out I'll post the Monument for the Dog Team's.

 

[redleafjumper]

When Field Marshal Rommel died (was killed)  there was a death mask made of his face.  There is a photo of it in Desmond Young's book Rommel. Where is this mask now?

 

[The Anti-Royal]

German Army Tank Museum, Munster.

 

[redleafjumper]

Damn! That was a fast response Anti-Royal and correct it is - Rommel's death mask (and one of his Afrika Corps Waffen frocks) is in the Deutches Panzer Museum of Munster.

What other German notable has a trade specific (clue) jacket on display in that museum?

 

[vonGarvin]

Hermann Goering?  Or perhaps Göring?

 

[redleafjumper]

No, it's not Goering.  A further clue might be the museum itself!

 

[vonGarvin]

Oberstgeneral Heinz Guderian?

 

[redleafjumper]

Jawohl, Oberst-general Heinz Guderian's waffen frock is quite appropriately on display in the German Armour Museum, next to Rommel's waffen frock.  Such history is contained in those walls.

What was the name of the transport vessel that delivered the first combat elements of 27 Canadian Infantry Brigade to Rotterdam on 21  November, 1951?

 

[vonGarvin]

Now, I just read something on this very subject a little while ago.  Operation PANDA (Pacific AND Atlantic).  Battalions formed of various companies of reserves to flesh out NATO in its infancy in Germany.  Ship's name?  Can't think of it.....

 

[geo]

During the early stages of the Korean conflict, which lasted from 1950-1953, the Government deemed it necessary to deploy forces to Western Europe to meet its NATO commitment. After much soul searching, military and government officials realized that Canada was in a new type of war that was dissimilar to the Second World War. The Cold War called for maintaining forces in being to deter enemy action and then hold ground until forces could be mobilized. Since the Canada-based brigade group was dual-rolled as a training and continental defence force and 25 Brigade was fighting Chinese Communists in Korea, forces would have to come from some other source. The problems with raising, training and deploying 25 Brigade were manifest, so Army HQ decided to create a total force brigade group for the NATO commitment. The line units of 27 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group consisted of three composite Militia infantry battalions (drawn from 15 Militia infantry regiments), a composite Militia artillery regiment (composed of personnel from six Militia regiments), a composite Militia engineer field squadron (two Militia field squadrons and a Militia engineer regiment), and a composite Militia Field ambulance (two Militia units). The regular Army provided a tank squadron which was actually a composite Militia-regular force sub-unit

Sean M. Maloney, War Without Battles: Canada's NATO Brigade in Germany 1951-1993 (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1997) Ch. 1. [Back]

 

[redleafjumper]

Geo, that's a great answer from the same reference that I am using, but what ship did they arrive on?

 

[mcchartman]

T.S.S. Canberra?

Source: http://www.forces.gc.ca/dhh/downloads/ahq/ahq051.pdf
The ship in question: http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-http%253A%252F%252Fenc.slq.qld.gov.au%252Flogicrouter%252Fservlet%252FLogicRouter%253FPAGE%253Dobject%2526OUTPUTXSL%253Dobject.xsl%2526pm_RC%253DPICTQLD%2526pm_OI%253D5053%2526api_1%253DGET_DESCDOC%2526pm_OI%253D5053%2526pm_RC%253DPICTQLD%2526api_2%253DRETRIEVEINFO%2526pm_RELAY%253DPICTQLD%2526pm_OI%253D5053%2526pm_TPX%253D75%2526api_3%253DGET_OBJ%2526pm_RELAY%253DPICTQLD%2526api_4%253DGET_FILE_INFO%2526pm_OI%253D5053%2526pm_RC%253DPICTQLD%2526api_5%253DCOLL_GET_PEERS
(sorry for the long link)

EDIT: Actually, you mentioned that the ship you were looking for docked at Rotterdam on Nov.21/51, so the answer you are expecting is probably M/V Fairsea, an Italian ship.

 

[redleafjumper]

mcchartman is correct, the Fairsea was the vessel that delivered those elements of the 27th Canadian Infantry Brigade.

What is a frizzen?

 

[mcchartman]

Well I have to admit that I didn't know beforehand, but a simple google search revealed it is a piece of the flintlock mechanism. I'm interested in knowing if others around here know the meaning of a 'frizzen' on the top of their heads so I won't be saying anymore about which piece exactly it is so as to give them a chance to answer.

If you feel like cheating, here is the website where I found my information:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/flintlock2.htm

 

[vonGarvin]

What is a frizzen?

Is it a prison, but it's in the Arctic to keep the prisoners "friz"?  ;D

 

[BernDawg]

I believe it is the face of the lock that the flint actually strikes as it swings downward to ignite the powder in the pan.

 

[redleafjumper]

BernDawg and mcchartman have provided good information regarding the frizzen.  It is indeed that part of a flintlock that is struck to produce a spark.  It also covers the priming powder in the flash pan until the flint strikes the frizzen to spark and thus ignite the priming powder.


Who said: "Everlasting peace is a dream, and not even a pleasant one; and war is a necessary part of  God's arrangement of the world...  Without war the world would deteriorate into materialism."

 

[geo]

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

(Bob Marley)

the Prussian general Helmuth von Moltke stated in 1880 that "everlasting peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful one,"