XBradTC

Unless you’ve got 20 minutes to kill, you can skip this.

On the otter heiney, a couple random th0ughts.

Notice the casual acceptance that chemical weapons would be used. It was simply assumed the other guys would use them, and then so would we. The German and Italian decision to not use chemical weapons meant we and our Allies in World War II also withheld them.  We did, however, stockpile chemical weapons overseas just in case. That was not always a happy decision.

Not sure how wild I’d be about being the rear gunner on a plane spraying liquid toxic chemicals.

All you Jade Helm nutbags, also, please note that the Army divided parts of Alabama into Red and Blue, which in those days, Red meant “Hostile.” Even after doing so, they didn’t really bomb and gas Anniston.

Strategic bombardment was the First Family of the Army Air Corps in the late 1930s. It’s something of a toss up, but I’d argue that Attack came in second, with Pursuit (that is, Fighter) aviation coming in third.

The Army Air Forces wouldn’t really receive a viable attack aircraft until the Douglas A-20 Havoc entered service. The A-20 took a roundabout way of entering US service. Originally designed for the AAC, no orders were placed. But the French, seeing war on the horizon, were impressed and placed an order for 100. Only about 60 had been delivered to the French before their collapse in the face of the German Blitzkrieg. Seeing the success of the plane, the Army Air Forces bought large numbers. By that time, in spite of its “A” for Attack designation, it was recognized for what it really was, a light bomber, and the units it equipped were Bombardment squadrons.