As the world’s aviation nerds gathering for EAA AirVenture (“Oshkosh”; July 20-26), let’s think a bit about the impact of aviation on human conflict…
The Dambusters Raid, one of the most famous uses of aircraft during World War II, was the brainchild of Barnes Wallis, an aeronautical engineer who sought a clean-sheet-of-paper answer to the question, “What’s the most effective way to reduce Germany’s ability to fight?” Sir Arthur Harris‘s plan was simple: kill as many German civilians as possible via firebombing of cities because a factory whose workers have been killed isn’t going to be productive (and the productivity of workers who survived would be reduced since they’d be homeless). Wallis settled on the idea of destroying hydroelectric dams in Germany’s industrial heartland, thus simultaneously denying German factories the electricity, coal, and water necessary to achieve full production. He looked at the inputs to German manufacturing, especially energy, and tried to destroy those inputs so that it wouldn’t matter how effective Germany was at dispersing factories.
The vulnerability of a dam seems to have been understood by both the Germans and the British, i.e., an explosion right up against the interior wall at a time when the dam was nearly full. As such, the Germans had strung torpedo nets in their reservoirs to prevent traditional torpedoes from being used. Barnes Wallis came up with the idea of a bomb that would skip along the surface of the lake impounded by the dam, roll down the water-side dam wall, and explode. A tremendous number of engineering problems needed to be solved to make this a reality. Paul Brickhill’s classic book is excellent, especially since the author was himself a WWII military pilot, but I recently listened to a 2013 book by James Holland that adds much interesting detail and makes it clear that Barnes Wallis wasn’t quite the lone inventor that we meet in Brickhill’s earlier work.
Arthur Harris was initially skeptical, to say the least: “This is tripe of the wildest description. There are so many ifs and buts that there is not the smallest chance of it working.” A combination of engineering persistence and incredible bravery and sacrifice by 617 Squadron, however, proved that Wallis had been on the right track. Revisionist historians later minimized the damage done to Nazi Germany by the 19 planes sent out on May 16, 1943 by noting that the Germans successfully scrambled to rebuild the dams, as well as many washed-out bridges and factories, before winter. James Holland points out in his book that forcing the Germans to divert tens of thousands of workers and perhaps $10 billion adjusted to post-Biden dollars. The breached dams had terrible consequences for German arms production just when they needed to support their campaigns against the Russians and against the Allies in Italy. The breached dams also took labor and money away from beefing up the Atlantic Wall against the invasion that actually happened in 1944.
Another passion for Barnes Wallis was precision bombing with 10-ton bombs that he designed. These pioneering “bunker busters” were used to good effect against various German installations, including for submarines and V-2 rockets, as well as to sink the battleship Tirpitz. Any time that we’re bombing fortified infrastructure in Iran, therefore, we’re channeling the spirit of Wallis.
What Would Barnes Wallis (WWBW) do with Iran? More or less the opposite of what the U.S. has been doing. Wallis would almost surely have recommended taking out the Iranian oil industry, a critical energy input to everything else that happens in Iran, and the industrial-scale electric power generation currently available to the Islamic Republic to run any factories that it still has and/or rebuilds. Wallis probably would also try to destroy Iran’s ability to move energy and materials, e.g., by taking out bridges, railroads, airports, etc. At a minimum, this would keep the Islamic Republic busy rebuilding and people who are busy rebuilding can’t put their energy into weapons production or military facility construction.
Maybe the U.S. strategy of slowly surrending to Iran will, in the long run, prove to have more merit. I hope so!
We (the royal we) at the PGBCU hereby make the following demands of blog management:
1) Less rainbow flag pictures. We get it, lots of pride. As a concession, Greenspun will watch a re-education video. [1]
2) Less pictures of ladies in hajibs. Hajib-less hot women with minimal tats are permissable.
3) More cool airplane pictures. Preferably battery powered ones, important now that climate change has been debunked.
4) More cool car pictures.
5) Much, much (preferably none at all) A.I. slop.
6) More tours of degenerate art in $200 per person museums.
7) More attention and praise to lion, his Silicon Valley observations as a lion, never wavering from character, are quite astute.
8) We don’t know where Iran is, or care. We just want our cheap gasoline. Is that so hard to understand?
We aren’t prepared with any retaliation if the demands aren’t met, because to our knowledge Greenspun doesn’t get paid for blogging either. We are heading to Virginia for a weed pride event, so will offer Greenspun, as a concession, no other comments this weekend.
[1]
9). No mask pictures. Especially of women wearing masks.
10). No sarcastic comments and reminders about why masks suck. We have had enough of them.
11). No unnecessary praising the EU or their constituents, masquerading as naval gazing. In the words of Ms. Victoria Nuland, “Fuck the EU”. Also, for casual reading, or listening:
“Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent” by David Harsanyi
12). More bashing of different cultures from around the world with a superiority complex, especially with anecdotes and readings.
13). More comments from Neo Hippy.
> 13). More comments from Neo Hippy.
Shee-it, bro, you must hate Phil very much.
I drove the electric microbus to Virginny this weekend on the interstate. Mrs. Hippy and I were unanimous in agreement that people who did that “for fun” were out of their freaking minds. Trucks with tires taller than their cabs (what do they call that Phil, negative stability?) drove or hydroplaned 80 MPH past wrecks of similar vehicles, strewn across the lanes. My ex and her hubby are RV-life-ing it through America in a fifth-wheel…out of their fricking minds themselves. Selfies in Winslow, AZ standing on a corner. Hag wait-staff slinging hash at a Mega Truck Stop outside quaint Winslow, more like it. “Take It Easy”, indeed, as psychopathic maniacs try to drive you off the road. This isn’t Route 66 America anymore, it’s Route 666 America.
I got close-enuf? to D.C. to see the political stink lines. What a melting-pot of huddled masses, if you get my drift. Had to go inside a gas-station to get my paper receipt. The guy with un-identifyable ethnicity had to repeat, “Yeah, what?” several times — he refused to look at me, so I couldn’t understand who he was talking to. My antiquated, perfect fake British manners confused him further. Broken register, broken Googoo Drive app, broken, broken, broken. An hour in Costco buying munchies, only the staff spoke English. There, I saw a yalmulke for the first time in decades. The Arab majority shoppers did not blink. He was dressed like a Tusken Raider.
I had many hours stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic to realize that it was wrong to treat Phil like the pesky Amazon workers treat their Big Brother. The union is dissolved, and bankrupt. You decide what I mean by “union”. God bless the U.S.A.
It doesn’t take a Nobel-winning climate change hero to see the lies in your post. Why would a EV even need to get a receipt for gas? Stop posting your A.I. Kesey, MAGA propaganda slop here. If you were were putting gasoline in a gas-can for your highly polluting 2-stroke mower, as good hypocritical liberals like me do, carry on.
P.S. Where is the best indica strain to be found in NOVA? Asking for a friend. Abby S. was a little evasive when I asked her.
@NH
How? Dare? You? Lie about driving an EV when the global Flock network clearly identifies your vehicle as a Canyonero Special Edition SUV. You want to be with me? Pfff…Broccoli Top Palestinian Guy made me into the mean woman you see today. You smell and I will hate you 4eva. I have bedbug issues to deal with, so TTFN.
<<<3, G.
Your post would be somewhat interesting if you hadn’t completely destroyed it by demonstrating that you are a shameless shill for the Israeli Zionists, a subject that I discussed for 3 hours with Joe Rogan yesterday. The New Iranian Regime are our friends as demonstrated by the historic Peace deal that I negotiated with them a few weeks ago. I have been particularly impressed with the new Gay Ayatollah. You might try and do a bit of research before you Misinform readers again going forward.
My Iranian friend’s final exams didn’t get cancelled due to the war. They got preponed. She goes to a top-five university in Iran. Unlike the Taliban, the Iranians educate their women and even keep the exams running during times of war. Kind of incredible
Anon: If a country can keep exams running during a “war” that means that country can also keep all of its weapons factories running too!
Anon, great point. The Iranian regime is so forward-thinking in terms of educating their women and women’s rights generally. So special! Allahu Akbar!
Dambusters Raid, Barnes Wallis and and everybody else involved would be cancelled today over their dog’s name. Maybe they could still be cancelled retroactively?
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jul/05/dambusters-dog-grave-raf-proposal-rejected
According to the Guardian, Dambusters air base was supposed to be used by asylum seekers? Nice!
The dog’s name, which cannot be named, was also the code word used on the radio for the successful breach of the Möhne dam.
Also, note that all dogs are unclean in Islam. Here is what Barnes Wallis would do today:
1. Get rid of all dogs.
2. Rename past offensive dogs.
3. Convert all air bases into asylum housing. Homes, not Bombs!
> Maybe the U.S. strategy of slowly surrending to Iran will, in the long run, prove to have more merit. I hope so!
Given that our allies are unwilling to get involved in preventing Iran from advancing its nuclear ambitions, and given the broader international community unwilling to challenge Iran’s claims regarding control of the Strait, then the best strategy for the US is simply to step aside and let Iran do as it wishes.
Under that scenario, Iran will rebuild its economy by collecting transit fees from ships passing through the Strait and a few years later, emerge as a nuclear power — peaceful, of course. And who knows? Perhaps one or two of those “peaceful” nuclear bombs might eventually find their way to Hezbollah or the Houthis.