Eponymously Yours, W. Skeffington Higgins

Today is the 70th anniversary of V-E Day, when the Allies and Germany ended (part of) World War II. Around lunchtime, I learned that the celebrations included a parade of vintage aircraft over Washington, D.C., and furthermore, the BBC was streaming coverage of it.

So I tuned in to watch an airshow on my desktop.

And I started hitting the screencap keys.



The BBC had a camera watching the Mall, with the Washington Monument prominent in its frame. I saw a pair of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses cruise into the scene, high above the Monument.



Another camera shot closeups of the aircraft, tracking them as they passed. It was kind of hazy, so lighting was not optimal, but the planes looked pretty good nonetheless.

Finally, in a glorious accident, I commanded a screencap just at the moment of a dissolve between the two cameras.



Thought you'd like to see this.

Images copyright 2015 BBC.

I am grateful to someone named John, who posted interesting news to sci.space.history. Good old archive.org has dredged up a scan of A4 Fibel, the A-4 (V-2) missile operating manual, decorated with cartoons and poems to keep the German Army rocketeers entertained.
The A-4 is better known as the V-2. Over 3000 were fired during World War II, delivering a 1-ton warhead to targets over 300 kilometers away from the launch site. It represented a huge advance in rocket technology; postwar long range missiles and space rockets evolved from the A-4's design.

The manual is a curious artifact. Drawings of the A-4 and its launch equipment are mingled with cartoons featuring German soldiers and their sexy girlfriends. The unsubtle metaphor is that you should treat the missile with the care and attention you would give your favorite woman.

I imagine this is a common theme in military manuals. Though I am not familiar with much of the literature, it put me in mind of my first encounter with DA Pam 750-30, The M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance , which was illustrated by the great comics artist Will Eisner. (Eisner's drawings were MUCH better; though it must be conceded that the 1969 US Army also used better-quality reproduction than the 1944 Wehrmacht.)

The back cover features a poem exhorting the A-4 crewman to "Hold Your Tongue!" and keep quiet about the information he has learned. Interestingly, it also contains an apology, reminding the reader that, although it has been presented with jokes and cartoons, this is a serious subject.

Halt Deinen Mund!
Hast Du die Fibel mit Verstand gelesen
und bist dabei recht aufmerksam gewesen,
so denke stets daran, mein lieber Leser,
der hier gebot'ne Stoff ist ein gefährlich böser!
Ein einzig Wort in froher Tafelrunde
und aus ist's mit der Ruh' seit dieser Stunde!
Dich flieht der Schlaf, und rub'los denkst Du nachts im Bette
wenn ich Kamel doch nur geschwiegen hütte!

Siehst Du, so ist die Sache nicht etwa gedacht,
deswegen haben wir die Fibel nicht gemacht,
wir wollten nur die Schwierigkeiten mildern
durch amüsanten Text mit vielen Bildern;
doch diese leichte Form, das musst Du stets beachten,
gibt Dir kein Recht, das Ganze witzig zu betrachten!

Vor allem dient der Inhalt ernsten Zwecken
und ist vor Freund und Feind gleich peinlich zu verstecken.
Kein Wort darüber, wenn Dich auch der Hafer sticht,
Dich schnappt man dann sofort, sobald der andre spricht!
Drum präg' Dir ein, ganz fest, zu jeder Stund'
Wer Dich auch immer fragt:
Halt Deinen Mund!!

(Here's Google's crude machine translation of the poem.)

I suppose there must be scholarship somewhere that considers the military training manual as literature. This was, at the time, by far the most complicated rocket ever built, and hundreds or thousands of soldiers were trained in transporting, preparing, fueling, and firing it. That's a tall order for the author of the manual.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a re-enactment event, World War II Days, at Midway Village near Rockford, Illinois. I joined my colleague Roger, who greatly enjoys History Channel documentaries, and his family.

Midway Village is a group of 19th century buildings moved together to make a little village among woods and prairie. General store, blacksmith shop, gazebo, town hall, and so forth. One weekend a year, the 1940s invade.

American and German soldiers mingle in the streets with 21st century spectators. Look carefully and you can also find British, Polish, and Italian units. Vehicles, cannons, and tents are on display, and if you're wondering about what your're seeing, you can usually get an answer by asking someone in a uniform. Gunfire rings out here and there as skirmish scenarios are enacted at various locations. Two big battles are staged each afternoon.

I have long been interested in armored vehicles and military aircraft. I have seen World War II vehicles in many museums, but this was a chance to observe them on the hoof, so to speak. (Oh-- there were a few mounted troops, too, both German and U.S.) I had a wonderful time, and even picked up a valuable book from the hucksters' room a vendor's tent, useful in my Heinlein studies.

Thanks to a friend of a friend, at the end of the day I even got to take a ride in one of the vehicles. Forgive my vagueness; as the waiter told the customer finding a fly in his soup, "Don't make a fuss, sir, or everyone in the restaurant will want one!"

As you might imagine, I shot hundreds of photos. Here are a few of my favorites.


( Bigger photos beneath the cut )
Rummage around my Flickr account to see more.