18 Jan
1999
18 Jan
'99
12:46 p.m.
Jim Strickland wrote:
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
WARNING: The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.
A recent program on Stonehenge on the Discovery channel said the RAF wanted to
level Stonehenge with explosives, but the person who owned the land they were
on refused to let them. *boggle* Is it just me, or does all this suggest
that in the 1930s and early 40s good maps were much harder to come by than
today? I know the advent of satelite mapping has improved it, but you'd think
anyone planning to invade England would have gone there in 1938 and just
BOUGHT maps.
On-board instrumentation on German aircraft was not that good (as it was
also not that good on English or American planes early in the War) during
the Blitzkrieg. Landmarks were often crucial. Stonehenge _may_ have been
a landmark, but there weren't that many targets (none that I can think of)
beyond it for bombing raids from the usual directions -- at most, it would
have clued the navigator to tell the pilot to turn around.
Stonehenge was definitely neither bulldozed nor bombed. It would show, and
too many people have examined it since then. (And a number of groups held
ceremonies there during the war, not always with the permission of the
government despite the fact that they were on the same side).
I've never
heard that one. Plenty of things like that were done in WW2,
mostly to impress upon the public that 'there's a war on'.
Both my parents (who lived through the war) assure me that Stonehenge was
not moved, laid flat, or anything else in the war.
Of course some things (stained glass windows, for example) were moved to
protect them in the event of bombing.
Anyway, stones lying flat in a field would also be a good landmark IMHO.
Possibly even more visible.
-tony
--
Jim Strickland
jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
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