On This Day…May 10th.
A definite theme running through the thread today.
Hill 937, so named because it is 937 metres above sea level, was the setting of a 10-day battle between US forces and the North Vietnamese beginning on 10th of May, 1969.
Better known as ‘Hamburger Hill’ (for obvious reasons) the losses ran at 72 dead and 372 wounded for the US, and anything between 630 and 1,500 dead and wounded North Vietnamese.
German armour captured in Oldenburg, Germany, in May 10th, 1945 - Jagdtiger (an ‘OTD...’ regular, in the foreground.
Messerschmitt Bf 109E3 (2.JG/21) ‘Black 14’ which was shot down by flak near De Klomp, Holland, 10th of May, 1940.
Fairey Battles of No. 226 Squadron RAF being serviced on the flight line at Reims-Champagne. The aircraft on the right, (K9183) ‘MQ-R’, was shot down by ground aircraft fire while straffing enemy columns near Luxembourg on 10th May 1940. The pilot sadly died of his wounds, but the other two crew members survived.
Messerschmitt Bf 110C Zerstorer 3.ZG26 (U8+DL) shot down in France 10th May 1940.
Blenheim MkIV (of RAF 53 Squadron) PZZ L9332 damaged by flak over Belgium and abandoned near Vitry en Artois on 10th May, 1940.
Landsverk Armoured Car L-180 M-38. The Dutch ‘neutrality’ rounded (orange triangle with black border) can be seen on the chassis.
Messerschmitt Bf 109E1B (5.JG/77) piloted by Heinrich Brunsmann WNr 5011 Tronheim Vaernes 10th May 194.
USS Memphis (CL-13) catapulting an O2U Corsair floatplane during exercises on 10th of May 1933. Note the other Corsair on the second catapult.
Messerschmitt Bf 109E4 (5.TG186) ‘Black 1’ flown by Dietrich Robitzsch (WNr 1257) and shot down over De Kooy AIr Field, Netherlands, 10th May 1940.
10th May, 1940 - 501 Squadron RAF Hurricane at Bethienville, France.
A rare bird. Belgian Hurricanes were operated by Squadron 2/I/2Aé (Chardon), commanded by Captain Marcel Charlier and were based at Schaffen. Of the 11 Hurries operational, only three could escape a devastating attack during a Luftwaffe raid in the early hours of May 10th, 1940. Unfortunately these three remaining Hurricanes were also destroyed in the strafing of Beauvechain only one day later.
Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 ‘Black 2‘ of 2.(J)/Lehrgeschwader 2. This photo was taken near Liege, Belgium, soon after the beginning of the Nazi offensive on the West, on May 10th 1940.
This is thought to be the Bf 109 of Unteroffizier Friedrich Möller (above, probably the same aircraft) who had to belly land his Emil due to lack of fuel on May 10th, 1940. The aircraft shows the standard 1940 camouflage and the “top hat” emblem of 2.(J)/LG 2.
The 109 was taken to the Erla factory in Leipzig on June 3rd with over 20% damage. After repairs the Emil was flown by Hauptmann Josef Fözö, Gruppenkommandeur of II.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 51, in the autumn of 1940, below (probably same aircraft?)...
In early May of 1942 the HMS Eagle and USS Wasp delivered 64 new spitfire Vc’s to Malta in an attempt to relief the relentless pounding the island was taking from the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica.
The Axis forces responded to the influx of Spitfires by sending their own aircraft in a massive bombing raid, but by the end of the day, 57 enemy aircraft were reported to have been down or damaged by fighters while eight were shot down or damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
May 10th was very much a corner turned in the siege of Malta. With the skies no longer dominated by the enemy, shipping and supplies came through, the bombing lessened, and causualitied slowed.
US airmen examine a damaged FW190 A-4 in the airport at El-Aouina near Tunis, May, 1944.
Sikorsky JRS-1 aircraft at Langley, Virginia, United States, 10th of May 1945.
So the F4U Corsair should be the Corsair II , and the A-7 the Corsair III ? I'm sooo confused. Nice set as usual , David.
@roofrat
Correct, Robert!
Hello David, another excellent OTD, thank you. If I may, they aren’t Jagdtigers in the line, in the foreground is a Jagdpanther, my absolute favourite.
Ah. Sorry, you are correct...definitely a Jagdpanther - cheers, Simon.
Wow... It looks like a lot of planes were lost on May 10th, 1940. These you have shown us in the photos are just a tip of the iceberg I'm sure.
Thanks for another "On this day" article, and for bringing my Jagdpanther back ...
May 10, 1940 - Day 1 of the Blitzkrieg in the West,
Thanks, Louis. As Tom says, with the start of ‘Blitzkrieg’ there was a lot of downed aircraft yesterday. I thought the Jagdpanther looked familiar...
the hurri's are beautiful
And 10 days after they "took" Hamburger Hill, they left, and the NVAs were back. Negating all the deaths. Because the M O R O N S who thought they were "the best and the brightest" came up with the brilliant idea of a war of attrition fought with people who were fighting for their country, using conscripts who were on a tour that was "365 days or life, whichever comes first."
Body count, bombs dropped.
oh you mean that genius mcnamara and kissinger...my dad met with mcnamara every monday morning from 1962 -1966...he'd come home and get plastered and say that SOB mcnamara tries to fight the war by computer, leaving the human element out...harvard business school grad and captain of industry who listened to no one in the know