The Loony Bin
(
loonies@bloodaxe.demon.co.uk
)
Tue, 24 Dec 1996 06:10:51 +0000
Hiya Loonies...
Here's a true one sent to us by Alan...
Wishes & Dreams...
- ANDREA
xx
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*******************Internet Goddess********************
**********************ANDROMEDA************************
------- Forwarded foolishness follows -------
Excerpted from the book, "Masquerade: The Amazing Camouflage Deceptions
of World War II," by Seymour Reit; Signet, 1980.
An enemy decoy, built in occupied Holland, led to a tale that has been
told and retold ever since by veteran Allied pilots.
The German "airfield," constructed with meticulous care, was made almost
entirely of wood. There were wooden hangars, oil tanks, gun
emplacements, trucks, and aircraft.
The Germans took so long in building their wooden decoy that Allied
photo experts had more than enough time to observe and report it.
The day finally came when the decoy was finished, down to the last
wooden plank.
And early the following morning, a lone RAF plane crossed the Channel,
came in low, circled the field once, and dropped a large wooden bomb.
The footnote for this is: Several versions of this anecdote exist, the
most reliable of which can be found in Major M. E. DeLonge's "Modern
Airfield Planning and Concealment" (New York: Pitman, 1943), page 135.