Archivist Miracles
It happened twice in the same morning: The same question (more or less) was asked about World War II wristwatches. My question was first. We had just received a raft of e-mailed WW II images concerning watches from two of our most appreciated archivists: Stan Piet and Jack Cook. As I was going through the images, a question popped into my head and I fired it off to Jack Cook as a challenge.
“Jack,” I said, “here’s a tough one for you. I wear my watch with the face on the inside of my wrist, rather than the outside, and have since I was a teenager. I started doing this because I read that P-40 pilots did that because of the way that the landing-gear handle worked; they were constantly ruining watch crystals. Being an easily impressed youngster, I started wearing my watch that way. Have you ever seen anything having to do with that?”
About five minutes later, I got the image (at right) from him. Question answered. Just before I received the photo from Jack, however, I got a note from Betty Nero, our art director.
This story is from the February 2019 edition of Flight Journal.
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This story is from the February 2019 edition of Flight Journal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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Scourge of the Allied Fighters
IT HAD TO BE THE MOST HELPLESS FEELING in the world: you're at 25,000 feet over Europe knowing that your primary function is to drop bombs-or flying escort for the bombers while being a slow-moving target for some of the world's finest shooters. However, you have John Browning's marvelous .50 caliber invention to give some degree of protection. Unfortunately, you're absolutely helpless against flak. Piloting and gunnery skills play no role in a game where sheer chance makes life and death decisions. For that reason, the Krupp 88 mm Flak 18/36/37 AA cannon could be considered WW II's ultimate stealth fighter. You never saw it coming.
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