Quote:
Originally Posted by CrawfordCentury
"...I'm a huge WWII buff and am wondering if you all have any interesting stories about our region during the war..."
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1) Hikers in the Ossipee Mountain range during WWII would be startled in seeing a big radar truck perched on top of Bald Peak.
The new detection and ranging technology was attempting to accurately locate aircraft.
A Piper J-2 flew a repetitive pattern over Black Island—and Camp Winaukee—then back to Bald Peak. (Bald
Knob on some maps). The truck simply drove to the site using "Castle in the Clouds" carriageways.
2) A British "Tarpon" torpedo-bomber (a US-made TBM) crashed on the ice in Wolfeboro Bay during the war.
The pilot was viewing the "bob houses" there but suddenly lost altitude and crashed, seriously injuring the crew. All were treated at Huggins Hospital.
After the wings were removed from the crashed plane, the Commander at the new
His Majesty's Naval Air Station—Lewiston, Maine, drove a huge aircraft-recovery vehicle to return the aircraft for repairs. He made a special side trip to Huggins to thank the nurses for their help with the injured crewmen.
3) Short-field fighters, like the P-40, would have no difficulty in taking off or landing at any place with a 3500' straight section.
Redeploying Army Air Corps P-40 pilots would visit relatives in the Winnipesaukee area by landing their fighter aircraft on Parade Road!
(WW2 buff here, and a Wolfeboro Dad with full recall of WW2 stories all the way from Melvin Village to the battle for Rabaul, Papua New Guinea).
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The aircraft mentioned above in Lake Winnipesaukee's WW2 activities:
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The Piper, mentioned here previously to take
this photo:
Grumman TBM/TBF (Wolfeboro ice crash) and is also the same aircraft shot down in Imperial waters with Lt. j.g. G. H. W. Bush parachuting from it—rescued by submarine.
Curtiss P-40 "AVG", (
American
volunteer
group, fighting Imperial forces before Pearl Harbor).
