Thread: Let's have a WW2 quiz!

Originally Posted by Albert Di Salvo

Wow. Any long term affects?

Not that I'm aware of. There haven't been any reports of medical abnormalities in that area - no kids with weird forms of cancer, no little children with "glowing personalities" ( good one, Herk! ), so I'm not really concerned about it. I check about once a year on the Internet to see if anything has been reported, but so far all is quiet. The workers in the plant had a spike in the numbers of reported cases of cancer of the esophagus and leukemia, but that's about it.

Mallinckrodt Chemical in St. Louis processed all the uranium that was used in the Fermi Pile reactor at the Univ. of Chicago, and the uranium used in the first nuclear weapons. All the waste material got hauled to a field just north of the airport and dumped. Dirt was bulldozed on top of the leveled waste, and the area became a park and ball field for the city.

In the late 80's, the EPA did some testing, found "elevated levels of radiation", as well as significant amounts of uranium, cesium, and thorium, so they closed the park and field.

It would have been neat if I'd have been bitten by a spider while I was out there as a kid, and ended up like Peter Parker!

Originally Posted by Herkdriver

Ok, sticking to the aviation theme.
In 1944 a German Me-262 set an "unofficial" speed record. What was the approximate speed in miles per hour... +/- 10 mph.

Keeping in mind this was a jet powered aircraft.

A. 624 mph

Originally Posted by Herkdriver

A. 624 mph

I was close, do I get a cigar?

Among the many problems the Japanese had in order to attack Pearl Harbor was the problem with the aerial torpedoes - they would dive too deep upon release and get mired in the mud in the shallow bottom of the harbor. To solve this problem, the torpedoes were modified with special fins that prevented this from happening, and enabled their use at Pearl.

These torpedoes were manufactured at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant in...?

Originally Posted by SpotsCat

I was close, do I get a cigar?

Among the many problems the Japanese had in order to attack Pearl Harbor was the problem with the aerial torpedoes - they would dive too deep upon release and get mired in the mud in the shallow bottom of the harbor. To solve this problem, the torpedoes were modified with special fins that prevented this from happening, and enabled their use at Pearl.

These torpedoes were manufactured at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant in...?

I"m going to say Nagasaki, and that's a guess.

Originally Posted by Herkdriver

I"m going to say Nagasaki, and that's a guess.

You Sir, would be correct!

I've always wondered if the decision to bomb Nagasaki was in part based upon the fact that they manufactured those torpedoes there - was it planned that way, or was it one of those delightful ironies?

Originally Posted by SpotsCat

You Sir, would be correct!

I've always wondered if the decision to bomb Nagasaki was in part based upon the fact that they manufactured those torpedoes there - was it planned that way, or was it one of those delightful ironies?

Nagasaki, I thought, was always a secondary target...so perhaps it's more irony than planned.

Originally Posted by Herkdriver

Nagasaki, I thought, was always a secondary target...so perhaps it's more irony than planned.

Here is the original minutes of the target Committee in which they decided on what cities in Japan could serve as targets of the bomb.

Secretary of War Henry Stimson had honeymooned in Kyoto, and because of his memories of the city he had it removed from the list and Nagasaki was added to the list.

On August 9th the mission was to bomb Kokura Arsenal, but because the primary target was fogged in they bombed the secondary target - Nagasaki.

FWIW - If you've got Google Earth, go to 32.46.25.39N 129.51.47.69E. You'll see the park and memorial at ground zero.

Originally Posted by Herkdriver

Nagasaki, I thought, was always a secondary target...so perhaps it's more irony than planned.

Very good. Your question sir.

Originally Posted by Albert Di Salvo

Very good. Your question sir.

Prior to WWII, the shoulder patch of what U.S. Army infantry division was a swastika?

Originally Posted by Herkdriver

Prior to WWII, the shoulder patch of what U.S. Army infantry division was a swastika?

I know this... it was the division the the cartoonist Bill Mauldin was in before he went to Stars and Stripes, but I'll be confounded if I can remember the number!

I suppose I could go look in Mom's old copy of Up Front in the bookcase, but I won't.

I'm pretty sure it was forty-something... wasn't it the 43rd?