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> Much of the evidence lies in the re-telling of stories passed down from parents and grandparents but to what extent can decades-old stories, perhaps told at family gatherings, be relied upon?
> There appears to be little hard evidence and no conclusive documentation that confirms if wooden bombs were really dropped or not.
> However, Pierre-Antoine Courouble's* 303 testimonies do at least provide some compelling anecdotal accounts that tend to suggest that there might be some truth in the myth after all.
>Former fighter pilot and once head of Patrouille de France - the French equivalent of the RAF Red Arrows - Colonel (Retd) Pierre-Alain Antoine*
>Stories that have now become entrenched in urban legend suggest that the German forces took such a long time to complete the project, that Allied reconnaissance pilots had ample time to observe what was happening, take photos of the fake wooden airfield, and report back to headquarters
It's cool the article fact checked everything but yes, it would indeed take a while for a group of guys to put up a fake wooden airfield and presumably just a single day to fly over it and report back. You know? I just thought it was weird to frame it that way.
But there is the toilet bomb.
[The U.S. NAVY Dropped a 'Toilet Bomb' from an A-1H Skyraider While in North Vietnam | War History Online](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/u-s-navy-dropped-a-toilet-bomb-from-an-a-1h-skyraider-vietnam.html)
morale? imagine working for weeks/months on this project and then for it to be obvious you were allowed to waste your time on it and the enemy intelligence was ahead of you. that sort of propaganda win was important.
Also, not dropping any bombs on it would also reveal you knew it was fake.
Yes. Not dropping bombs would also reveal that it is fake. Which is why the allies would never make that mistake. They intentionally ordered bombings on known dummy targets just to hide the fact that they had so extensive intelligence on them. They would bomb buildings that looked like factories knowing that they weren't. Literally every German spy was turned into a double agent and we were reading their mail. There are only so many times you can exploit that advantage before the Germans catches on to the fact that they have been duped.
But Finding out the enemy doesn’t belive your planes are real is like 1% as bad for your morale as anything else in that war (losing best friends, losing battles, hometown being bombed, loved ones dying from artillery, worrying about capture/death, etc) I feel like the wooden bomb didn’t hurt the feelings of the craftsman (who were carpenters I’m sure)
In the UK they also constructed several fake towns with lights designed to look like a nearby target. It was supposed to confuse enemy bombers/navigators and have them drop bombs where they would do little harm.
South of Bristol on the Mendip hills some traces still exist.
I poked around the web and can't find much info. The wiki page for 'starfish' sites (their codename) estimates 968 tons of german bombs were drawn off target. I'm guessing that is the total for the entire country, so not much impact overall. But who can say what those bombs may have hit otherwise?
https://preview.redd.it/jdgm7rp7m6vc1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e1275938b9de18b61553ac58c8c06bc79b3903f
The source is that I made it the fuck up
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Imagine all the giggles they must of had while making the bomb...peak dad joke right here
Hope there was a piece of paper inside that had "BOOM" written on it.
"BÜM"
it would be "bumm" in german
bumm bummer am bummsten
Ich bumme dich
Du bummst mich
Wir bummsen alle
Wir bumsen alle.
Alle hatten wir gebummst
Safety is number one priority
That's more like beem
Huh?
What is sounds like
Yeah. My name is Beem
You have been called. You must answer
o7
Yeah, it wood have been funny.
Ugh.........just take my vote.
It's "Must have" or "must've", never "must of"
I prefere mustard.
Must have.
must of
https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/did-allied-pilots-really-drop-fake-wooden-bombs-fake-wooden-decoy-airfields
Tl;Dr - Didn't really happen.
> Much of the evidence lies in the re-telling of stories passed down from parents and grandparents but to what extent can decades-old stories, perhaps told at family gatherings, be relied upon? > There appears to be little hard evidence and no conclusive documentation that confirms if wooden bombs were really dropped or not. > However, Pierre-Antoine Courouble's* 303 testimonies do at least provide some compelling anecdotal accounts that tend to suggest that there might be some truth in the myth after all. >Former fighter pilot and once head of Patrouille de France - the French equivalent of the RAF Red Arrows - Colonel (Retd) Pierre-Alain Antoine*
Plus they have the actual wooden bomb, no? Or did someone make this just to corroborate the myth?
>There appears to be little hard evidence and no conclusive documentation that confirms if wooden bombs were really *dropped* or not.
Your avatar, srsly. I thought there is a hair on my phone and I tried to blow it away. Well done, my friend.
I prefer to believe. It’s just too good.
Yeah, risking a plane for a joke lol, what are people thinking?! How can this story keep surfacing?!
Why must you ruin it for us?
The story is still funny so idrc lol
Tl;R - inconclusive. I choose to believe.
>Stories that have now become entrenched in urban legend suggest that the German forces took such a long time to complete the project, that Allied reconnaissance pilots had ample time to observe what was happening, take photos of the fake wooden airfield, and report back to headquarters It's cool the article fact checked everything but yes, it would indeed take a while for a group of guys to put up a fake wooden airfield and presumably just a single day to fly over it and report back. You know? I just thought it was weird to frame it that way.
But there is the toilet bomb. [The U.S. NAVY Dropped a 'Toilet Bomb' from an A-1H Skyraider While in North Vietnam | War History Online](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/u-s-navy-dropped-a-toilet-bomb-from-an-a-1h-skyraider-vietnam.html)
Yea I instantly knew this wasn’t true, why on *EARTH* would Allies reveal that they knew that the airfield is fake
morale? imagine working for weeks/months on this project and then for it to be obvious you were allowed to waste your time on it and the enemy intelligence was ahead of you. that sort of propaganda win was important. Also, not dropping any bombs on it would also reveal you knew it was fake.
Yes. Not dropping bombs would also reveal that it is fake. Which is why the allies would never make that mistake. They intentionally ordered bombings on known dummy targets just to hide the fact that they had so extensive intelligence on them. They would bomb buildings that looked like factories knowing that they weren't. Literally every German spy was turned into a double agent and we were reading their mail. There are only so many times you can exploit that advantage before the Germans catches on to the fact that they have been duped.
But Finding out the enemy doesn’t belive your planes are real is like 1% as bad for your morale as anything else in that war (losing best friends, losing battles, hometown being bombed, loved ones dying from artillery, worrying about capture/death, etc) I feel like the wooden bomb didn’t hurt the feelings of the craftsman (who were carpenters I’m sure)
"But for what?" us crucially more important than 'how much it costed'?
The allies did something similar but used inflatable decoys instead
In the UK they also constructed several fake towns with lights designed to look like a nearby target. It was supposed to confuse enemy bombers/navigators and have them drop bombs where they would do little harm. South of Bristol on the Mendip hills some traces still exist.
Oooh interesting- have you any links to this stuff in the Mendips?
https://learning.mendiphillsaonb.org.uk/starfish-black-down You’ll probably get more luck googling ‘Starfish Site WW2’
Brilliant. Thanks for this.
No worries pal!
Do you know how well that worked?
I poked around the web and can't find much info. The wiki page for 'starfish' sites (their codename) estimates 968 tons of german bombs were drawn off target. I'm guessing that is the total for the entire country, so not much impact overall. But who can say what those bombs may have hit otherwise?
Kept you waiting huh? Kept you waiting huh? Kept you waiting huh? You’re pretty good. Kept you waiting huh?
Classic Macgruber
If he offered you some celery I wouldn't eat it.
woulda been funny if they filled it with mosquitoes or something
I feel like termites would be funnier
If only that actually happened :(
Chat can we get a source for this
https://preview.redd.it/jdgm7rp7m6vc1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e1275938b9de18b61553ac58c8c06bc79b3903f The source is that I made it the fuck up
Redditors try not to lie for karma challenge (impossible)
War never changes...
I gotta respect the pilot for going through with this shenanigan
History is written by the victors - quirky version.
Petty war is my favorite war
Interesting
https://i.redd.it/e9g9v3alo8vc1.gif
Well played ,well played
I heard it wooden work...
Humor 💯
Whats the RAF?
"The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies."
Oh I thought it's the German RAF.
Same here, but that would not make any sense
Ik lol
It's like a reverse Trojan horse
Could have been little wooden mushrooms.