Glasgow Airport Movements 2020
August
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August 2020
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November 2020
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December 2020
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Air Transat continues to fly from Toronto on Glasgow Airport`s only surviving transatlantic route, but it will be a long time before we see any US carriers return with a scheduled connection to America. With the COVID-19 infection rates on the rise once again, and the knock-on reintroduction of compulsory self-quarantine for UK passengers returning from high-risk countries, the aviation industry continues to struggle, frustrating airline operators and travellers alike.
Not too long ago, Glasgow International Airport looked on track to reach 10 million passengers per year for the first time in its history but the latest figures, somewhat irrelevant in the current climate, show that during March 293,928 people passed through, which is down 55% compared with the same month last year. By April 2020, the figure had dropped to 4,059 and in May, just 2,790. At least there`s some business for the airport taxi drivers now with the amount of flights picking up, as their feeder car park had stood totally empty for weeks at the height of the crisis.
The modest rise in passenger numbers has proved too little, too late for staff at the Holiday Inn Glasgow Airport. August was barely a week old when details of sweeping redundancy plans were made clear. Union leaders say 88 out of the hotel`s 92 employees will lose their jobs but can apply for limited minimum wage roles instead. It's understood the only workers who will retain their positions are senior staff members, including the head chef.
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Workers at the hotel, which was originally built as the Excelsior, were all placed on furlough in March but management told them to expect the worst during a Zoom call in June when it was confirmed that the company had to adjust due to the substantial fall in guests as a consequence of the pandemic.
A representative from Unite, which supports the majority of the hotel staff, said: "To sack 88 out of 92 workers and then have them fight-it-out for eight minimum wage roles is not just morally unacceptable but may bring the company into legal disrepute for breaches of well-established employment law. A spokesperson for Holiday Inn Glasgow Airport responded: “This is a very difficult time for the whole industry and it will take a while for travel and tourism to return to pre-Coronavirus levels." (Hotel images © LGH). |
The pandemic has battered the UK economy since it arrived in early 2020, and no sector has remained unscathed, with more than 105,000 UK jobs already lost as a direct or indirect result. Some of the UK’s largest companies including British Airways, Marks & Spencer and BP have already cut thousands of positions with further announcements expected in the coming months. The government’s furlough scheme has enabled millions of workers to maintain an income, but fears are growing that when this is phased out in October many more will have no job to return to.
The highlight of the month aviation-wise in Scotland was undoubtedly the appearance at Prestwick Airport of Antonov An-225 Mriya UR-82060, the world`s largest aircraft by weight, length and wingspan. The unique plane`s visit on Sunday 2 August 2020 was well-publicised before-hand and, combined with a decent weather forecast, was unsurprisingly a major draw for not only aviation enthusiasts, but interested members of the general public. As expected, people turned up in their droves, with cars causing gridlock on the surrounding roads and forming long queues on the A77 bypass. I had seen the huge plane at Prestwick from the car on its last visit several years before but didn`t stop for a photo. I considered going down this time, but thought better of it. Sure enough, from images posted on social media it looked chaotic - social distancing non-existent and hardly a face-covering in sight.
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The star attraction, which was en route from Bangor, Maine, to Chateauroux Centre in France, landed about 14:50 hrs to refuel. It was on a fairly quick turnaround and many of the onlookers waited to see the giant plane set off on the next leg of ts journey at 16:30 hrs. This was the scene at the mound, Prestwick`s Airport`s prime viewing location.
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(Antonov 225 images © Daily Record; Scotsman; Glasgow Live; Reddit; YouTube).
The day after Mriya`s appearance at Prestwick, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a desperate plea to the people of Scotland as multiple COVID-19 clusters had emerged in the country. During her daily coronavirus press conference Ms Sturgeon stated that some younger people were gathering with little to no social distancing in place and claimed that she had seen pictures over the weekend that made her want to cry. This was an apparent reference to video clips showing revellers in Aberdeen, and an earlier impromptu assembly on Portobello Beach. Surprisingly, there was no mention of the masses at Prestwick which, I`d have thought, would have given her even more reason to reach for a box of tissues!
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Apart from those crammed onto the mound, the surrounding road network hadn`t seen as much traffic since the days of the original Prestwick Airshow. The inaugural show took place on 30 September 1967 and from then on they were held bi-annually until the last one in 1992. I remember attending several which hosted a wide variety of civil and military aircraft. Even the prototype Concorde put in an appearance, making a low flypast in 1972, four years before it entered service. In its heyday, in the 1980s, the Prestwick event attracted tens of thousands of spectators and security wasn`t a major concern which allowed some great opportunities for photographs taken right beside the runway. (Above 1972 Prestwick Airshow images © Geograph / Iain Farquhar).
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Regarding Mriya, it came to light that the giant plane was destined for Ben Gurion Airport, with a cargo of US-made Oshkosh military trucks. Israeli arms-maker Rafael will adapt these heavy-duty vehicles to serve as platforms for its all-weather Iron Dome mobile missile defence system before shipping the first battery of the weapon to America this autumn.
Rafael and its US partner, Raytheon, are so confident in the future of the program that they recently announced a joint venture to manufacture Iron Dome in the USA, at a location yet to be determined. (Ben Gurion Airport images © World Israeli News / Breaking Defense). |
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Meantime, the initial two batteries destined for the US Army will be built in Israel. The first should arrive stateside by late December followed by the second in February 2021, and both should become fully operational during the latter quarter of that year. Iron Dome is highly regarded for its success in shooting down unguided artillery rockets launched by Hezbollah and Hamas, but the US also wants to test its capability to intercept cruise missiles, a far more difficult target.
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(Above images © Wikipedia; Army Technology).
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Back to the rising COVID-19 infection rate: When First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made her emotional plea for the people of Scotland to adhere to the government`s social distancing guidelines, Britain had the twelfth-highest number of Coronavirus cases in the world. The UK had recorded more than 304,000 Coronavirus cases at the time of writing with Scotland alone accounting for more than 18,000 of these. The number of linked deaths in Britain currently exceeds 40,000.
In Aberdeen, by 9 August, the number of people caught up in the Coronavirus cluster in the city stood at 134 after a spike in overnight cases. NHS Grampian said 728 people had been asked to self isolate as a result. Among those seen drinking amongst revellers in the city centre were eight Aberdeen FC players. Their selfish action drew a great deal of adverse criticism, from government ministers and members of the public alike. |
(Above: Image © Scotsman. The following News shots Copyright © BBC; Edinburgh Live).
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The so-called Aberdeen Eight prompted a meeting between the Scottish Government and Pittodrie club chiefs the following Monday after the footballers were forced to self-isolate following a visit to a city centre bar linked to the latest outbreak. Then, less than a week later, Celtic defender Boli Bolingoli became the subject of a club probe after going on holiday in secret to Spain and failing to self-isolate on his return. Strict government rules dictate that anyone who visits that country must self-quarantine for two weeks when they reenter the UK, but the player jetted-off without telling the club. On his return, the Belgian went straight into training before travelling to Kilmarnock and playing in a Premier League match during which he came off the bench to replace Greg Taylor in the 1-1 draw. It's reported Bolingoli was hastily summoned for a club meeting on the Monday to explain his actions. He has since recorded two negative COVID-19 tests but still faces disciplinary action.
Above: Police about to disperse the `Portobello Beach Party.`
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Sunday 23 August: This was the busiest I`d ever seen the Glasgow Airport Test Centre which is operating in the Long Stay Car Park off Abbotsinch Road.
Apart from the Aberdeen COVID outbreaks, other worrying spikes occurred at various locations in Scotland with some related to the reopening of schools. It came to light that the country's testing system had been hit by exceptional demand which saw some people in Scotland only offered tests in England. This led to some people in Glasgow and the central belt being directed as far afield as Penrith in Cumbria. Some Glasgow parents said the closest test centre made available to them was at Stranraer. The unsatisfactory situation was attributed to a software glitch, since rectified, in the UK-wide online booking system.
(Image © New York Times).
By the end of this month the Coronavirus stats, according to the USA`s John Hopkins University, were 25.1 million infections worldwide, 16.5 of whom have since recovered and 844,000 related deaths. With regard to inbound UK air travel, the status of some countries once considered low risk COVID destinations changed while other previously `no-gos` were given the all clear. The associated 14-day self-quarantine restrictions for passengers returning from Croatia (below left), Austria, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago (below right) caused further chaos with many holidaymakers struggling to find flights which would enable them to return home before the applicable deadline kicked-in. In most cases, the cost of any available aircraft seats was exorbitant. (Croatia beach image © Sky News).
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Croatia's average number of cases rose to 29.5 per 100,000 people in the week preceding the restrictions being imposed, compared to a rate of 13.54 per 100,000 the week before. Trinidad and Tobago's cases also rose rapidly over the same period and now exceeds 25.81 cases per 100,000 people compared to 9.10 cases per 100,000 the previous week.
No doubt the unprecedented challenges facing air travellers in the years ahead will lead many people to develop novel ways to address some of the obstacles likely to be encountered with regard to lack of routes / aircraft availability and in-flight social distancing. Staying near hills or mountains, especially those near the coast may be a distinct advantage if these shots are anything to go by...
Perhaps in a few decades time this might be the way to go for some, either individually or in small family groups - next stop Majorca!
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On 18 August, Tim Howell, 31, an ex-Royal Marine from Somerset, leapt off An Teallach in the Northwest Highlands to become the first person to successfully fly a wingsuit from the top of a British mountain. Mr Howell climbed onto the massif, the summit of which is 3,484 ft (1062m) above sea level, with professional photographer Hamish Frost, from Glasgow. A video and these dramatic images were taken during the drop from the leaning spire known as Lord Berkeley's Seat on the main ridge. This feature is 1,030 metres above sea level and has a mostly vertical drop of at least 500m on its north side.
Last September, outdoor instructor and base jumper Sam Percival (35), who lives in Aviemore, made an abortive attempt to `bag` the same achievement but after dropping 200ft, a gust of wind slammed him into the cliff face causing him to tumble down a further 180 ft and come to rest on a rock ledge. A friend, fearing the worst, made the brave decision to jump after him just in case he had survived, while another mate climbed down to get to him from below.
The group alerted the emergency services and were met by Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team who requested the assistance of the Inverness Coastguard helicopter. The casualty, who was also hit by falling debris, miraculously survived with just a sprained ankle and wrist, cuts and bruises. Although Mr Percival didn`t achieve the record he intended, he may have considered it some consolation when Dundonnell MRT leader Donald Macrae said: ‘This is the first time we’ve been called out to a base-jumping incident.`
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Following on from last month when the weather for our supposed summer was typically dire, August began even worse.
Not much sunshine, plenty of wind and a couple of days of constant downpours caused considerable disruption on the roads, particularly in Mid and North Argyll, Stirlingshire, Lochaber and Southern parts of Skye. Once again, multiple landslips blocked the A83 Rest-and-Be-Thankful between Arrochar and Inveraray but this time the Old Military Road, which basically runs parallel at a lower elevation and is usually opened up to prevent a 60 mile detour, was also blocked.
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The latest closure was the result of an estimated 65mm of rain falling over a 24 hour period. This location has been plagued by landslips for years with £79.2 million having been invested in the maintenance of the route since 2007. In January this year the road was closed for two days after it was covered by 1,300 tonnes of debris, but October 2018 saw the largest local landslip on record, when protective measures intercepted approximately 3,200 tonnes of material before it reached the A83.
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Specialist geotechnical contractors carried out an initial visual assessment from the roadside early morning after the latest incident, but there were indications that there was still movement on the hillside, which of course hindered clear-up operations.
On Loch Lomondside, temporary traffic lights had to be put in place on the A82 at Inveruglas after the heavy rain also affected a retaining wall. This is part of the very long diversion route. In March, Transport Scotland said £1.9m was being invested in the construction of a new catch pit on the hillside at the Rest to improve the resilience of the vital A83 trunk road. |
A team of 42 people using 16 different vehicles were involved in the operation to reopen the roads and a helicopter was brought in to assist engineers by moving giant boulders and other debris. Water was also dropped from above while a hydraulic jack was used to force other huge rocks, which included a 100-tonne boulder, into more stable positions. (Images © BBC; BEAR; Transport Scotland).
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Eddie Ross, from BEAR Scotland, said: "Due to the size and position of the boulders it was unsafe for us to carry out any clear-up operations or safety assessments until they were in a suitable, safe position. We're now continuing to press on with operations while the remaining daylight permits. Until the clear-up work is complete and a full safety assessment has been made we cannot open the Old Military Road or the A83, therefore they have to remain closed overnight."
This was on a Tuesday but a further 100 tonnes of rock and soil slipped down to the A83 overnight on both Wednesday and Thursday. Would a tunnel be cheaper in the long run? (Rest-and-be-Thankful images © BBC). |
Even worse weather was to come just a few days later but it was concentrated mainly on the eastern side of the country. Sadly, this time its impact had catastrophic consequences. About 09:40 hrs on Wednesday 12 August 2020, the 06:38 Aberdeen to Glasgow train struck a landslip covering the track near Stonehaven and the resultant derailment left the driver, conductor and a passenger dead and several others on board injured. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) confirmed that the train had been stopped by a signaller who had received a report of a landslip further along the track. The six-vehicle unit headed back towards Aberdeen but had travelled little more than a mile when it was derailed by a separate landslip. The track curved to the right, but investigators said the train continued in a straight line for about 100 yards before hitting the parapet of a bridge.
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The locomotive at the front of the train continued over the bridge and fell down an embankment, as did the third passenger carriage. The first passenger carriage came to rest on its roof, at right angles to the track, with the second passenger carriage on top of it. The fourth passenger carriage, still attached to the rear locomotive, remained upright and also came to rest on top of the first carriage. The train then caught fire and thick smoke could be seen billowing from the cutting.
(Train crash images BBC; Scottish Sun; Evening Standard; PA Wire).
One of the first to raise the alarm was an off-duty railway worker who had been onboard. This person walked around a mile to the next signal box to inform Network Rail authorities of the crash and have them close the line. A major incident was declared and about 30 emergency service vehicles attended. First responders were greeted with a horrific scene as a large-scale rescue operation was put into place. Helicopters from the Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) and HM Coastguard brought personnel to the location and transferred the injured to various hospitals, depending on the nature and severity of their wounds. The night before the tragedy occurred, severe thunderstorms over Edinburgh Airport saw two easyJet in-bounds and a Loganair Saab 340 divert to Glasgow and five of the capital`s Ryanair flights had to land at Prestwick.
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Coastguard helicopters are kept busy year-round and on Friday 14 August one was called upon to assist the Skye Mountain Rescue Team during a complex 9-hour operation to extract a critically injured climber in the Cuillin. The man, who was on his own, ended up unconscious at the bottom of Coire Ghrunnda near Sgurr Dubh na Da Bheinn (below) following a rockfall. Fortunately another group witnessed the accident and alerted the emergency services. Had the climbers not been in the area, rescuers said the casualty might not have been found for a considerable time.
Stornoway-based Sikorsky S-92A G-MCGL winched twelve members of the Skye MRT onto the ridge to carry out a search but due to the complex nature of the terrain it took the rescuers several hours to locate the badly injured casualty. After first-aid was administered by medics at the scene he was airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and is believed to be in a critical but stable condition. (Rescue images © Skye Mountain Rescue Team).
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At the beginning of the month the following British Airways A321s were still stored at Glasgow: G-EUXC, EUXD, EUXE, EUXF, EUXG, EUXH, EUXJ, EUXK, EUXL, EUXM, MEDF, MEDG, MEDJ, MEDL, MEDM and MEDU, the majority parked up on Taxiway Yankee on the north side of the airfield.
Above: Boeing 757-204(WL) G-BYAY of TUI Airways is pictured on 3 August. It remained in storage at Glasgow until the 6th, departing to Birmingham as TOM902P. Two TUI Boeing 737s were based at Glasgow throughout the month although they only operated a limited number of fights to Greece and Turkey. TUI came under fire recently for lack of social distancing on one of its flights from the Greek island of Zante (Zakynthos) to Cardiff. Apparently the cabin crew failed to act when numerous passengers refused to wear face coverings and moved around the plane during the return trip. Sixteen of those on board subsequently tested positive for Coronavirus and as a result, almost 200 people, passengers and crew, had to self-isolate for 2 weeks. TUI countered the claims by saying safety was a priority and that it was concerned by the incident.
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Following an investigation by the UK's competition authority, the travel company has promised to clear a backlog of refunds by the end of next month. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had received thousands of complaints from TUI customers waiting many weeks for their money back. Refunds for cancelled package holidays should be completed within 14 days.
Tens of thousands of holiday plans were ruined by the Coronavirus outbreak, and TUI`s slow response only caused additional frustrations. The refund deadline promise covers all of TUI UK's different businesses that offer package holidays including First Choice, First Choice Holidays, Marella Cruises, Crystal Ski, Crystal, TUI Scene, TUI Lakes and Mountains, and Skytours. |
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August was just a couple of days old when Hays Travel announced its intention to cut up to 878 jobs out of a total workforce of 4,500. The travel company, which has branches in Malton and Pickering, said it has “made every possible effort” to avoid job losses “during these extraordinary and distressing times”.
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Hays Travel had been on track for recovery when the Foreign and Commonwealth Office stopped advising against all non-essential travel in early July, but the recent decision to reintroduce restrictions for people going to Spain has resulted in the cancellation of a colossal amount of holidays, many of which were sourced through the company. Owners John and Irene Hays, pictured here in happier times, said that despite all their efforts and a huge investment, they will be devastated to lose some of their valued employees. There appears to be no other course of action available to the company following the UK government`s travel ban to Spain, which coincided with changes to the furlough job retention scheme.
Other firms and organisations forced to cut staff this month due to the financial downturn included DW Sports, PizzaExpress and Dixons Carphone which owns Curry`s PC World. (Image © Gazette & Herald). |
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Travelex. which has provided currency exchange facilities at Glasgow International for years, was already struggling even before COVID-19 began to affect its turnover. The company was held to ransom by hackers at the turn of the year after a cyber-attack forced it to turn off its systems for more than a month.
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The firm did not disclose full details, but a gang called Sodinokibi claimed to have accessed reams of sensitive customer data and demanded a ransom of £4.6 million ($6m). At the height of the disruption, Travelex cashiers resorted to using pen and paper to keep money moving at airport and High Street bureaux de change.
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Then, at the beginning of August, Travelex went into administration but within days they announced that a deal had been struck enabling them to stay afloat, but only with the loss of more than 1,300 UK jobs.
Administrators PwC said that parts of the firm had been bought by a newly created company controlled by its lenders and this allowed a core part of the business to continue operating under new ownership. This includes areas that deal with supermarkets and large corporate and banking customers, and some of its airport business. However, the High Street shops and airport branches that were closed during lockdown will not reopen, so I presume this includes Glasgow. |
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PwC stressed that the deal had delivered £84m of new money and substantially reduced the company`s business's debts, securing 1,800 UK jobs which had also been under threat, and a further 3,635 globally. Travelex was founded by British entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Lloyd Marshall Dorfman CBE (born 25 August 1952) and opened its first branch in central London in 1976. On 8 November 2000, it bought Thomas Cook's worldwide foreign exchange business for £440 million, which significantly expanded its international operations. (Above image © Glasgow Airport).
(Above image © BT); following image © Business Traveller).
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Edinburgh Airport is to make about a third of its 750-strong workforce redundant. The airport said the jobs would be lost as part of a restructuring due to the impact of the ongoing pandemic. The redundancy process will cover all areas including frontline staff, management and support workers. Those affected were informed from the 1st of this month, and will leave their jobs on 31 October. There will be both compulsory and voluntary redundancies.
After seeing a record 14.7 million people pass through Edinburgh Airport`s doors in 2019, Chief executive Gordon Dewar said he was expecting the number of passengers to fall by at least two-thirds this year. He added that the furlough scheme had helped the airport retain jobs, but despite support from the UK and Scottish governments, it had still been losing about £3.5 million a month. Mr Dewar also criticised the introduction of a blanket quarantine policy which he said was ill-thought out and unworkable. |
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Regional officer Sandy Smart said: "The entire civil aviation sector has been impacted by the pandemic and we are genuinely worried about the sector in Scotland once the government support through the Job Retention Scheme is scaled down. We have been calling on Westminster and Holyrood parliaments to put an aid package together to help Scotland's airports and we will continue to pursue this." Unite said a Fraser of Allander report, conducted on behalf of the union, had estimated that about 1,500 jobs could be lost in civil aviation in Scotland. Last month there were warnings of job losses among staff employed at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports by Menzies Aviation. Unite has also voiced fears that the jobs of 800 Swissport staff at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen could go.
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(Above Images © Edinburgh Live; The Scotsman; Daily Record).
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(Images above & below: © BBC / Getty).
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Numerous tourist attractions throughout Scotland had reopened by early August, including iconic historical sites such as Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and the Culloden Moor Battlefield, although many operated a pre-book, ticket-only policy with visitor numbers capped at a manageable number with regard to social distancing. Even Nessie stopped shielding!
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The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, has grown rapidly to become the world's largest arts festival. It takes place annually in August when artists and performers from all over the globe descend on Scotland`s capital. Most of the daytime action takes place primarily on the Royal Mile and at the Mound Precinct but the impact of COVID-19 on the Festival has been devastating for the countless artists, audiences, venues and workers. Hotels, small businesses and traders have also suffered but, back in June, Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced a package of funding to help the Edinburgh Fringe survive the crisis. Ms Hyslop said the money would consist of a £1 million interest free loan from the Scottish Government, as well as £149,000 from the enterprise resilience fund, and a further £100,000 grant from Edinburgh Council. This was in response to a plea from organisers who said that the world famous spectacle may not survive without the help of public funding. The cost of cancelling this year’s event is thought to have topped £35 million.
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Whether it`s professional street entertainers, drama groups, musicians, stand-up comedians, buskers, or just locals dressing up in a pair of wellies and a bin bag trying to fleece the tourists - even the monkeys from Edinburgh Zoo usually get in on the act - all will be feeling the pinch now.
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I took these shots during various visits to Edinburgh during previous Fringes. Hopefully the event will be back in action next year.
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But be warned - if you do descend on the city, at the end of a long hard day it`s easy to forget where you parked your space ship...
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Jet Airliners
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Last month, Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways' owner IAG, warned that record losses could not be sustained, as he defended cutbacks to the airline. He said that the unprecedented challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic was "going to involve pain for everybody". Walsh`s comments were made after IAG, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, reported an operating loss of £3.8 billion (€4.2bn euros) for the first half of this year while predicting that it will take until at least 2023 for passenger levels to recover. The aviation industry globally has been devastated by the plummeting demand for air travel, forcing tens of thousands of redundancies, state bailouts and the collapse of some carriers.
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Airline operators saw even a limited return to the skies for the last part of the peak summer season as essential if they were to salvage something this year. Although August began with a degree of optimism, a resurgence of Coronavirus cases in some of Europe`s most popular holiday destinations including France and Spain, threw further holiday travel plans into chaos. With the outlook still looking bleak, British Airways said that it had no option but to slash 12,000 jobs, change the contracts of its remaining 30,000 plus staff, and implement wage cuts. This unsurprisingly provoked a furious reaction from the cabin crew union Unite, which again threatened strike action. There is a bitter, long-running feud between BA and Unite following a series of employment issues including previous redundancies and detrimental changes to the terms and conditions of the BA workforce.
(Willie Walsh image © Sky News). |
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BA said that of the 12,000 set to go, 1,255 would be pilots, but on 31 July, the pilots voted to accept a deal that will temporarily cut their pay by 20%. However, their number will be reduced by 270, but being a far smaller percentage than the company originally planned, this was accepted. The pilots' union BALPA said that the deal prevents a controversial `fire and rehire` scheme where staff would have been handed new contracts stipulating far less-favourable conditions. The 20% pay cuts will reduce to 8% over two years and to zero in the long term. The ballot result saw 85% of members accept the deal on an 87% turnout. In a statement, BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton said "Our members have made a pragmatic decision in the circumstances but the fact that we were unable to persuade BA to avoid all compulsory redundancies is bitterly disappointing." Talks with other BA staff, such as cabin crew, engineers and office staff, continue.
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For cabin crew, there`s not only the threat of redundancy, but also the possibility of big pay cuts for long-serving staff - in some cases of more than 50%. Many of those affected believe the company is using the current crisis to force through changes it has wanted to make for years.
Longer-serving crew at BA have contracts which are, by modern standards, relatively generous. They date back to an era when the airline industry was less ferociously competitive, before the emergence of budget carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet forced older airlines to cut costs and change their business models. IAG said it planned to raise €2.75 billion by implementing the proposed changes and had support for this from its main shareholder, Qatar Airways. However, IAG`s shares immediately fell by 6%. |
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More than half of the British Airways workforce is currently on furlough and some IAG airline passengers are still chasing refunds for cancelled flights.
A Civil Aviation Authority review of airlines' performance on refunds found that test calls to BA terminated after a recorded message had played out. Mr Walsh acknowledged that the carrier had disappointed people but it was a complex process, with much having to be done manually. He claimed that the company had already paid out £1.1bn in refunds and that it aimed to speed up the repayments process. (Right: Image © Sky News). |
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Mr Walsh said customers with pre-existing bookings were continuing to fly to and from Spain, despite the government's change to guidance advising against non-essential travel to that country and the re-imposition of quarantine for people returning.
Above: This shot, taken in May this year, shows a couple of the Virgin heavies which were laid up at Glasgow at the height of the pandemic.
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At the beginning of the month, Virgin Atlantic filed for bankruptcy in the USA. The UK-based airline is seeking protection under Chapter 15 of the US bankruptcy code, which allows a foreign debtor to shield assets in the country.
It`s the second Virgin-branded airline to struggle this year as Virgin Australia went into administration in April. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia's new owner Bain Capital is set to cut 3,000 jobs and retire the budget brand Tigerair, making it Australia's first big corporate casualty of the Coronavirus pandemic. Virgin Atlantic's US bankruptcy court filing said it had negotiated a deal with stakeholders "for a consensual recapitalisation" that will get debt off its balance sheet and "immediately position it for sustainable long-term growth". |
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The bankruptcy move by Virgin Atlantic comes less than a month after the company announced that it had agreed a rescue deal worth £1.2 billion ($1.6bn) to secure its future beyond the Coronavirus crisis. Under that plan Richard Branson's Virgin Group injected £200m, with additional funds provided by investors and creditors. The billionaire Virgin boss had a request for UK government money rejected, leaving the airline in a race against time to secure new investment.
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The US filing is tied to a separate action filed in a British court, where Virgin Atlantic obtained approval to convene meetings of affected creditors for a vote on the plan. In May, Virgin Atlantic, which is 51% owned by Virgin Group and 49% by US airline Delta, announced that it would cut more than 3,000 jobs in the UK and close its operation at Gatwick airport.
Carriers around the world are struggling as they deal with the severe plunge in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The International Air Transport Association warned in June that the slump will drive airline losses of more than $84 billion (£64 bn) this year. (Image © PA Media). |
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Jet2 had five or six based Boeing 737s at Glasgow in August, even though they, like TUI, were operating a limited number of fights to Greece and Turkey. Jet2, however, added Cyprus (Paphos), Italy (Rome) and Portugal (Faro) later. By the end of the month, however, the carrier stated that it would cancel the rest of its summer flights and holidays from the UK to mainland Spain, affecting Alicante, Malaga and Barcelona, plus all travel to Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia, as of September. A Jet2 spokesperson said the airline was contacting affected customers who would be able to choose a new holiday date with no admin fee, a credit note, or a full refund.
Please bear in mind that all my images are subject to copyright. They are not free to use and have been embedded with a digital watermark.
Above: Jet2 737 G-JZBJ heading for `Alpha One` on August 20.
easyJet has confirmed it will close three of its UK bases, namely those at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle Airports, in a move anticipated to put 670 jobs at risk. The decision comes as the budget carrier battles to keep finances afloat in the wake of the COVID lockdown which grounded the majority of its fleet in March. As previously mentioned, flights to some of the most popular European holiday destinations resumed for a short time prompting easyJet to re-establish a four aircraft base at Glasgow from 1 August. They also increased frequency on a number of domestic flights, however, a spike in infections, compounded by quarantine measures introduced in the UK, drastically impacted demand for travel. By the end of the month, the carrier reduced its Glasgow base to two planes with international routes either being stopped or having frequency reduced.
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An unexpected and very unusual visitor for Glasgow Airport, especially in light of the Coronavirus restrictions, arrived on Thursday 6 August in the shape of Air India Boeing 777-237(LR) VT-ALH (f/v). It had flown-in from Mumbai with, believe-it-or-not, a Bollywood film production crew and their equipment! Over the last 20 years many Bollywood movies have been filmed in Scotland, largely as the result of the massively successful Indian film industry`s blockbuster Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998. Scenes featuring the Scottish Highlands in particular have become increasingly popular with Indian filmgoers. The latest production was Sacch (2019), a tale of love and betrayal, much of which was filmed around Glasgow and Loch Lomond.
Rather than returning to Mumbai after it set-off from Glasgow on Friday 7 August, the Air India jet headed for Delhi/Indira Gandhi International. I went back to the airport for the scheduled departure at 17:15 hrs but with no sign of movement and heavy, prolonged showers moving in, I gave up waiting - just as well, as it turned out that the flight was delayed until about 19:00 hrs that evening.
Tragically, earlier that day, at 14:10 GMT (19:40 local time in India), an Air India Express Boeing 737 airliner with 190 people on board crashed at an airport in the southern state of Kerala, killing at least 18 people, including the two pilots. This low-cost airline, headquartered in Kochi, Kerala, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian flag carrier Air India. The plane, which had flown in from Dubai, was repatriating Indian nationals stranded by the pandemic. Indian media said the pilots could not see the runway during a first attempt at landing due to heavy rain. When they did touch down, the plane is said to have landed 1,000 metres beyond the threshold of the runway before skidding off and sliding into a ditch where it immediately broke in two. Air India Express said the two pilots were among the dead and dozens of people were injured, 156 of them seriously.
This incident is India's worst passenger air disaster in a decade and, with the country`s, COVID infections about to pass two million, first responders to the scene were asked to go into self-quarantine. Official stats recorded more than 56,000 new cases in India per day during the week leading up to the crash but there is speculation that the true scale of the outbreak is far greater. (Images © India TV News; The Hindu; Indian Express).
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Images from the crash scene at Kozhikode showed the fuselage shredded, with loose seats from the jet scattered along the ground. The city`s `table-top` airport has a reputation of being challenging for air crew to land at, particularly in adverse weather. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have both been recovered from the wreckage and will provide valuable information to crash investigators.
On Saturday 1 August, Lufthansa made a welcome return to Glasgow, heralded by Airbus A320-214(WL) D-AIWF from Munich which landed 25 minutes ahead of schedule. This service is set to operate five times per week. A319-112 D-AIBG relaunched the Frankfurt-Glasgow connection the following afternoon.
Above: Emirates Triple-seven A6-ECC in the carrier`s (Expo 2020 blue livery), seen here on August 3, also worked the previous day`s service.
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Emirates now requires passengers to wear their own masks and gloves throughout their journey from check-in until they disembark.
In addition, all cabin crew, boarding agents and ground staff who have direct contact with passengers are wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) which includes a light protective disposable gown over their uniforms, and a safety visor, in addition to masks and gloves. (Image on left © Emirates / Business Traveller). |
On 1 August 2020, the United Arab Emirates announced that the Arab world's first nuclear power plant, Barakah, which is situated on the Gulf coast just east of Qatar, was now operational. Nuclear fission has begun in one of the plant`s four reactors. The complex, which uses South Korean technology, had been expected to open in 2017 but the start-up was repeatedly delayed because of various safety issues. The oil-rich UAE wants Barakah to meet a quarter of its energy needs as it adopts more sustainable energy sources. This milestone comes just two weeks after the UAE sent a probe on a mission to Mars which was another high-profile scientific first for the Gulf nation. (Power plant Images © Gulf News; Arab Weekly; The Federal).
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The Sovereign State is also investing heavily in solar power which is unlimited in the Gulf. Some energy experts question the logic of Barakah - which means "blessing" in Arabic, arguing that solar power is cleaner, cheaper and makes more sense in a region plagued by political tensions and terrorism. Last year Qatar, which is a bitter regional rival of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, called the Barakah plant a "flagrant threat to regional peace and environment".
KLM Cityhopper Embraer ERJ-175STD PH-EXR arrives from Amsterdam on 6 August.
These shots of anti-infection measures are on the KLM website. On Monday 3 August, four KLM airliners visited Glasgow Airport, which was the most seen here in a single day since the pandemic flight reductions began. In addition to two Boeing 737s there was Embraer 190 PH-EZC and Embraer 177 PH-EXH. Thereafter, KLM`s Glasgow - Amsterdam four-times daily connection was almost exclusively served by the carrier`s Embraer jets. (Aircraft interior images © KLM).
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KLM Cityhopper Embraer ERJ-175STD PH-EXR heads back to Schiphol on 5 August.
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Airliners visiting Glasgow Airport in August 2020 included Airbus A320-214(WL) D-AIWF Lufthansa (first of the German carrier`s planes to appear since the start of the lockdown) (1st); Boeing 777-36N(ER) A6-ECC Emirates (Expo 2020 blue livery) and Airbus A319-112 D-AIBG Lufthansa (2nd); Boeing 777 A6-ECC returned (3rd); VIP Boeing 737-3Y0(WL) G-TGPG of 2Excel Aviation arrived from Doncaster to take Glasgow Rangers FC to Cologne. The aircraft departed in torrential rain at 15:00 hrs. Airbus A320-271N D-AINH Lufthansa also called in (4th); Boeing 777-237(LR) VT-ALH (f/v) Air India and Boeing 737-86N(WL) G-DRTW (f/v) Jet2 (6th); Boeing 737-8AS(WL) SP-RKN Ryanair Sun, Airbus A320-214 OE-IJQ easyJet Europe, Boeing 737-86N(WL) G-DRTZ (f/v) Jet2, plus Boeing 737-3Y0(WL) G-TGPG 2 of Excel Aviation returned (7th)...
Passenger jets continued with Embraer ERJ-190LR D-AECF Lufthansa (8th); Airbus A320-271N D-AINN Lufthansa (9th); Airbus A321-271NX C-GOIF Air Transat (plus other dates) (11th); Boeing 777-36N(ER)s A6-EGN (Cargo only) and A6-ECC (Expo 2020 blue) both Emirates, plus Boeing 737-8AS(WL) SP-RKW Ryanair Sun (12th); Emirates had A6-EGS on Friday`s cargo-only run and A6-EBW on the normal service (14th); Emirates Triple-sevens A6-EPH (cargo only) and A6-ECK, plus Boeing 737-8AS(WL) SP-RKQ Ryanair Sun (16th); Airbus A321-271NX C-GOIE Air Transat (plus other dates) (17th); Boeing 777-36N(ER) A6-ECC (Expo 2020 blue) and A6-EPF (cargo-only), plus Boeing 737-8AS(WL) SP-RKH Ryanair Sun (19th); Boeing 777 A6-EPH Emirates (Cargo only) (20th); Boeing 767-332(ER) N174DZ (f/v) Delta Air Lines and Boeing 737-8AS SP-RKE Ryanair Sun (23rd); Boeing 737-8CX HA-LKG Smartwings Hungary (25th).
I caught the departure of Toronto-bound Air Transat A321-271NX C-GOIF via Runway 05 on Tuesday 11 August.
A321-271NX C-GOIE is pictured above lifting-off on the 18th.
Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-332(ER) N174DZ made a visit on Sunday 23 August. I believe this US airliner was here to collect a party of women golfers.
Delta is planning to furlough 1,941 pilots in October as it struggles to rebound from Coronavirus-related fallout. The airline currently has 11,200 active pilots and along with other carriers, it urged employees to take advantage of buyout and voluntary exit programs, one of which included a retirement package for staff who have worked at Delta for more than 25 years. The federal bailout known as the CARES Act, which prohibits US airlines from laying-off employees, involuntary furloughs or pay cuts, is due to end in September. Delta has already received $5.4 billion in grant funds and unsecured loans from the scheme.
Above: Austrian-registered Airbus A320-214(WL) OE-IJV of easyJet Europe slows after landing on Tuesday 25 August 2020. Storm Francis was at its height as this aircraft entered UK airspace, lashing much of the British mainland and Ireland with torrential rain and unseasonable gales of more than 70 mph. Wales was particularly badly hit with homes flooded, campers rescued, and road and rail travel disrupted.
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About 13:00 hrs that afternoon, Smartwings Boeing 737-8CX HA-LKG arrived with Hungarian top flight football team Ferencvárosi Torna Club, also known as FTC, for their UEFA Champions League second-round match against Celtic at Parkhead, but things didn`t go well for the home side. Celtic crashed out of the competition following a dramatic 1-2 defeat in what became the Scottish club’s earliest exit in the competition in 15 years. Neil Lennon’s side dominated possession before and after the break but in the 74th minute, against the run of play, Tokmac Nguen restored the visitors’ advantage with a breakaway goal which meant the Scottish champions dropped down to the Europa League qualifiers, meaning there`s still a chance of some interesting charters appearing at Glasgow Airport.
A rare visitor appeared on Monday 31 August in the shape of Israir Airlines Airbus A320-232 4X-ABG (f/v) which stopped-off en route from Israel to the Faroe Islands. It was taking an Under-21 football team for a match against the Faroe Islands set to take place on 2 September. Although I missed 4X-ABG when it made its brief transit stop at Glasgow this month, I`ve snapped some of this carrier`s fleet at Corfu Airport when on holiday. Israir and Arkia both operate scheduled services to the Greek island during the summer months. Pictured above is 4X-ABF heading back to Tel Aviv on Sunday 4 June 2017.
Above: Grounded El Al planes at Ben Gurion Airport on April 6, 2020. (Ben Gurion Airport images © The Times of Israel / Flash90).
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Israir Airlines Limited, more commonly referred to as simply Israir, has its headquarters in Tel Aviv. Prior to the downturn in travel, it operated domestic scheduled and air taxi flights from several airports in Israel, as well as international charter services to Europe and Asia. It also operated VIP flights, and is Israel's third-largest airline after El Al and Arkia Israel Airlines, employing around 350 staff whose jobs are now at risk. Arkia and Israel’s national carrier El Al are also struggling with the latter airline being assisted by a recent government bailout. Following negotiations between the airline and unions, the number of staff will be reduced, with some employees offered early retirement and others a compensation plan. Tensions at El Al had been high after it furloughed the vast majority of its staff and dipped into pension funds to stay afloat at the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis.
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Turboprop Airliners
Apart from a couple of Dash 8s, and an Eastern Airways ATR, it was basically all Loganair or Aer Lingus Regional / Stobart Air prop-liners, although Swift Air`s Embraer EMB-120FC Brasilia EC-HTS was a regular feature again this month, back on the Glasgow / London Stanstead cargo run. Another of the carrier`s Brasilias, EC-HMY, showed up on the 28th. Bombardier DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 OE-LGP (f/v) of Austrian Airlines (Star Alliance livery) transited on Wednesday 19 August, presumably heading westbound across the Pond via Iceland for disposal. Eastern Airways ATR 72-600 G-IACZ (f/v) operated a charter from / to Aelsund, Norway (30th). ATR 72-500 EI-SOO of ASL Airlines Ireland along with ATR 72-202(F)s EI-SLV and EI-FXK in FedEx colours were present at Glasgow Airport on various days. Most of the shots featured in the following gallery are uncaptioned...
Above: Hebridean BN-2 Islander G-HEBO did a high level go-around of Runway 23 on Wednesday 5 August while on a round trip from Cumbernauld Airport.
DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 TF-FXA (f/v) (ex-Flybe G-ECOY) of Air Iceland Connect (Flugeflag Islands) flew in on Monday 17 August.
I last saw this one at its Reykjavik Airport base when I visited Iceland a few years ago. Reykjavik is Iceland`s main domestic airport and lies very close (approx 2 km) to the city centre. Scheduled flights within Iceland and to Greenland and the Faroe Islands operate from this airport but even though a small number of international carriers drop in, Keflavik, about 50km away, which is much larger and has longer runways, serves as Iceland`s main gateway. Reykjavik can also accommodate diverted traffic when adverse weather affects landings at Keflavik.
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More aircraft shots from Reykjavik and Keflavik airports, as well as spotting / photography information, plus photos from other non-aviation related locations visited during my Iceland trip can be accessed here: Iceland Main Page.
Biz-Jets
Above: Cessna 650 Citation VII CS-DGR (f/v) of Airjetsul Aviation is pictured here on Tuesday 11 August after parking up overnight.
There were no corporate stopovers from July. Visiting this month were: Cessna 650 Citation VII CS-DGR (f/v) Air Jetsul, Citation XLS SE-RIL and Embraer Legacy 450 D-BFIL Atlas Air Service (1st); Challenger 350 9H-VCF VistaJet, Cessna Citation XLS+ D-CEFO, plus Legacy 450 D-BFIL returned (3rd); Learjet 35A D-CDRF (f/v), Hawker 400XP SP-TTA and Cessna CitationJet CJ3 OE-GRA (f/v) (4th); Citation XLS SE-RIL (5th); CitationJet CJ4 D-COLO (6th); Embraer EMB-135BJ Legacy G-PRFX, Phenom 300 CS-PHB and Cessna Citation XLS G-CKUB (8th); Legacy 450 D-BFIL again, Citation XLS+ D-CSMC (f/v) and CitationJet CJ2 D-IHUB (f/v)
(9th); Challenger 350 9H-VCE VistaJet and Cessna 650 Citation VII CS-DGR returned (10th)...
(9th); Challenger 350 9H-VCE VistaJet and Cessna 650 Citation VII CS-DGR returned (10th)...
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Above: Embraer Legacy 450 D-BFIL of Atlas Air Service called in at Glasgow several times this month. The aircraft is pictured parked up and, on the left, departing for Zurich on 5 August after a two-night stopover. Austrian-registered Cessna CitationJet CJ3 OE-GRA and Embraer EMB-135BJ Legacy G-PRFX were both snapped at a distance from Walkinshaw Road...
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August`s corporate visitors continued with Citation XLS+ D-CSMC, Citation Mustang OO-PRM and Embraer Phenom 300 D-CHLR Atlas Air (12th); Cessna 680A Citation Latitude CS-LTE, Citation Sovereign D-CARO and Phenom 300 D-CTOR (14th); Gulfstream IV N619A, Challenger 605 OE-IIX LaudaMotion Executive and Embraer Phenom 300 CS-PHC (16th); Hawker Beechcraft 750 9H-BSA and Phenom 300 2-EMBR (17th); Gulfstream IV N726RW, Challenger 604 T7-RAK and Cessna Citation Latitude CS-LTH (18th); Citation Mustang OE-FBD, Citation Bravos G-CMBC and G-SPRE, plus Phenom 300 CS-PHC (19th); Gulfstream IV-SP N269WR (f/v) Westgate Aviation, Challenger 350 9H-VCF VistaJet, Citation Latitude CS-LAS, CitationJet CJ2 EC-NAR (f/v) and Honda HA-420 HondaJet Elite N77VA (20th)...
Hawker Beechcraft 750 9H-BSA, an arrival from Farnborough on the 17th, pictured on Area J, Thursday 20 August 2020.
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Falcon 2000EX CS-DLB and Premier IA D-IEMO (f/v) (21st); Bombardier Global 6000 CS-GLD (22nd); Challenger 350 9H-VCD VistaJet, Hawker 750 9H-BSA returned plus Citation Mustang OE-FPP (23rd); Citation Bravo G-CMBC plus Phenom 300s CS-PHO and G-JMBO (24th); Cessna Citation XLS+ D-CPSH (f/v) and Phenom 300 2-EMBR (25th); Challenger 350 9H-VCE VistaJet and Cessna 750 Citation X D-BUZZ (26th); Gulfstream G650 N8833 (f/v), Pilatus PC-24 M-ALCB (f/v) and Citation XLS D-CKJM (f/v) Air Hamburg (27th); Gulfstream G650-ER VP-CYL and Hawker Beechjet 400A SP-TAT of Smartjet Poland (28th); Cessna Citation X OE-HOH (f/v) (29th); EMB-135BJ Legacy 600 D-AIRG Air Hamburg, Gulfstream VI N8833, Pilatus PC-24 M-ALCB again (right) and Citation-Excel+ G-GARE (f/v) (31st).
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The parking restrictions put in place in connection with the ongoing construction work in Abbotsinch Rd have ruled out stopping for close-up shots of anything parked on Area Juliet, unless you`re on foot or on a bike. As a result, many of the biz-jet shots this month have been taken at a distance from the end of Walkinshaw Road. German-registered Citation Sovereign D-CARO on the 15th is shown above with Gulfstream IV N619A on Area R two days later, below...
The Gulfstream was on a trip from Geneva to Detroit, Michigan.
NetJets Global 6000 CS-GLD arrived from NY State on Saturday 22 August. It`s pictured below departing on Sunday morning after an overnight stop...
General Aviation
Not a lot doing this month with regard to general aviation so I`ll start with some resident aircraft on the Flying Club side of the airfield, beginning with Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior II G-BGPL (above), which i believe is a fairly recent arrival. The following slideshow contains shots of the usual suspects...
Movement-wise, King Air 350 G-SRBM arrived on 31 July and parked up overnight. On 4 August, HM Coastguard AgustaWestland AW189 G-MCGT flew up the Clyde en route to The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital at Govan. Manx-registered Bell 429 GlobalRanger M-YMCM called in at the airport (4th); Piaggio P-180 Avanti OY-RIB Sun Air (5th); Pilatus PC-12s LX-JFR and G-OMSL, plus Piaggio P180 Avanti M-ETAL (6th); Pilatus PC-12 LX-TAI (f/v) (8th); King Air 200 G-IASA and PC-12 G-OMSL returned (plus other dates). Also, Mooney M20K 231 D-EIIJ did a go-around of Runway 05 at 10:55 hrs (10th)...
Pilatus PC-12 G-OMSL has made numerous visits to Glasgow Airport during the pandemic, including several in August.
King Air 200s G-CDZT, G-IASA and N373BY (f/v) (previous registration VT-MPQ still partially visible on underside of wing) (12th); On the 13th, Robinson R66 helicopter G-MSPR left Cumbernauld Airport, flew west and continued towards Greenock following the Clyde at an altitude of 675 feet, having joined the river at the Erskine Bridge. Also, Partenavia P68 I-GAUS carried out survey work above the Glasgow / Prestwick areas for several days beginning on 13 August. King Air 200 G-CWCD (14th); Piper PA-31 Navajo G-ILZZ (17th); King Air C90GTX N273RK (f/v) Textron Aviation (19th); Pilatus PC-12 LX-FLG (f/v) (20th)...
SOCATA TBM 850 LX-JFO and Bell 429 GlobalRanger M-YMCM (21st); Piper PA-28R Cherokee Arrow III G-EGPF (22nd); Agusta AW109SP Grand New G-SCAP (f/v)
(23rd); Cessna 421C Golden Eagle G-ISAR and Agusta AW109SP G-MOAL (25th); Diamond DA42 Twin Star G-ZAZU (26th); Agusta A-109S Trekker G-RMBH (f/v) and Agusta AW109SP Grand New G-SCAP returned (27th); Pilatus PC-12 HB-FXM (f/v) (28th); King Air 200s G-GHSV (f/v) and G-IASB (29th); King Air 200 G-IASB returned, plus Cirrus SR22 G-TAAB (f/v) (30th).
(23rd); Cessna 421C Golden Eagle G-ISAR and Agusta AW109SP G-MOAL (25th); Diamond DA42 Twin Star G-ZAZU (26th); Agusta A-109S Trekker G-RMBH (f/v) and Agusta AW109SP Grand New G-SCAP returned (27th); Pilatus PC-12 HB-FXM (f/v) (28th); King Air 200s G-GHSV (f/v) and G-IASB (29th); King Air 200 G-IASB returned, plus Cirrus SR22 G-TAAB (f/v) (30th).
Above: Heat haze spoils this shot of Pilatus PC-12 HB-FXM taken on the morning of August 29. The aircraft had arrived from Berne the day before.
Visibility wasn`t great when King Air 200 G-IASB (above) landed on Saturday 15 August. It made another visit on the 25th.
Above: A Scottish Ambulance Service King Air 200 returns to the airport on the afternoon of Monday 17 August after its latest task.
Gama Aviation`s Airbus Helicopters EC-145T-2 G-GMAH and EC-145T-2 Air Ambulance G-GSAS.
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EC-145T-2 Air Ambulance G-GSAS returns to base after a call-out on Thursday 6 August.
Military
A handful of military planes appeared during the month, the first being Royal Air Force Lockheed C-130J Hercules ZH870 call-sign `Comet 120` which did touch-and-gos on Runway 23 at 14:10 and 14:20 hrs on Wednesday 5 August. University Air Squadron Grob G 115E Tutor T1 G-BYWI visited on Monday 10 August followed by G-BYWS on the 11th.
BAe 146-100 CC.2 ZE701, using a `Kittyhawk` call-sign, arrived late on Thursday 6 August and night-stopped. The RAF transport brought Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to Scotland for a quick visit. His first stop was Inchinnan Business Park where he toured Peak Scientific Instruments Ltd which manufactures gas generators for analytical laboratories. Mr Sunak said he believes Scotland is one of the UK's `power brands` in the tourism sector and could drive the recovery of the entire country.
However, during his walkabout, Mr Sunak, in response to questions from concerned workers, confirmed the support, which has so far cost the government £34 billion, cannot go on indefinitely. He said ending the furlough scheme is `one of the most difficult decisions` he has had to make during his time in office.
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Next, he headed over to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, courtesy of CalMac. At least his ferry got there, unlike the paddle steamer Waverley which was due to sail to the same destination the following day on its first voyage after a long absence following costly repairs to her boilers. A last-minute technical issue left many would-be passengers disappointed. They had to settle for a tour below decks rather than the scheduled trip Doon-the-Watter.
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Fortunately the matter was resolved in time for the following morning`s excursion to Loch Long and, unlike the previous day, the sun even made an appearance. I took these shots as the historic vessel passed the Riverside walkway at Erskine. Passenger numbers had been drastically reduced due to COVID but there didn`t seem to be a great deal of social distancing out on deck and not a face covering to be seen.
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Above: Waverley approaches the pier at Rothesay in happier times.
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At least it wasn`t raining when Mr Sunak stepped ashore but his arrival didn`t go down too well with some of the locals. Apparently they weren`t convinced by denials from Westminster following rumours that the only reason the Chancellor wanted to visit Rothesay was to spend a penny in its world famous Victorian Gents toilet - a drop in the ocean (pun definitely intended) compared with the billions of pounds he has already spent in an attempt to alleviate the devastating financial position that many of the UK`s workers now find themselves in.
"Haw! Rishi! Ah thought ye could only leave yer hoose in extreme circumstances like a medical emergency, a family funeral, or a family trip tae Barnard Castle tae test yer eyesight - Comin` here jist fur a shot in oor lavvy - Yer even worse than yer sidekick Dominic Cummings by-the-way!" Unperturbed by the hostile reception, Mr Sunak jokingly replied " Talk to the hand, `cause the face ain`t listening."
" Since I`m here, I may just make it worth my while and go for the double - Numbers one and two - Don`t tell Boris!" (Chancellor images © Metro / Sun Newspaper).
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(Above images © Geograph; Buzztrip).
The Gents was commissioned by Rothesay Harbour Trust in 1899 during the era when the town was one of Scotland`s most popular holiday resorts. The interior walls are entirely clad in ornately patterned decorative ceramic tiles and the floors are designed with ceramic mosaic. Apart from the cisterns in the cubicles, all the original fitments, supplied in 1899 by Twyfords Ltd of Glasgow for £530, remain. (This is the first, and probably last time that a public toilet gets a mention on this website!)
Both of the Royal Navy`s new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, were berthed at the Portsmouth Naval Dockyards this month.
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Both vessels are destined to operate the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multi-role combat aircraft. Much of the lead ship`s flight deck was covered by a canopy to protect workers from the elements, although the weather was superb when my nephew took these shots during a harbour tour. The Prince of Wales was in the process of having its Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS) (above right) installed. The three Phalanx mounts on each vessel give overlapping 360º coverage.
(Carrier images © Steve Moyes - 20/20 Aviation ; Phalanx image below © US Navy).
The seemingly scant self-defence capabilities of the Navy`s new carriers has drawn a great deal of criticism but Phalanx is just one of their many layers of protection. This includes intelligence-led assessments of the threat, area air defence, electronic warfare and decoys which are often overlooked or underestimated. Clearly not an infallible shield against a saturation attack by modern hypersonic missiles, Phalanx is, however, an affordable and relatively simple way to add a significant layer of protection against many threats.
More than 4,500 illegal migrants have successfully crossed the Channel from France in small boats so far this year, despite the efforts of authorities on both sides of the English Channel. In contrast, the whole of last year saw 1,800 people cross, and fewer than 400 in 2018. Exceptionally fine weather down south coupled with panic induced by people-smugglers claiming that passage could become increasingly difficult when the Brexit transition period ends in December, have resulted in even more desperate attempts to make the journey this summer, some even resorting to paddling pools and one individual was found swimming with belts of empty plastic lemonade bottles strapped to his person to serve as a buoyancy aid.
The Dover Strait is the world's busiest shipping lane. Between 500 and 600 ships a day pass through the narrow stretch of water between the UK and France.
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A Royal Air Force A400M Atlas aircraft, like the one seen here training at Glasgow Airport last month, with spotters on board, was tasked with providing support to the UK Border Force. Other military surveillance sorties have been flown by a Shadow R1 and a P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft after the civilian agency, which is struggling to cope with the recent influx of migrants, requested help from the MOD. The ongoing situation has again shown that there is a shortage of low-end maritime surveillance and enforcement assets in the UK which needs to be addressed.
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Back in January 2016, despite warnings of such an occurrence, then Home Secretary Theresa May terminated a £4 million contract with aviation firm Cobham to provide an ‘eye in the sky’ over British waters. Below: A crew member on an RAF A400M Atlas conducts a visual search with Mk1 eyeball while deployed over the Channel on 10 August. The MOD justified the use of a heavy transport aircraft as ‘routine’ because the RAF A400M based in the Falklands is occasionally used to conduct a surface search in the absence of better alternatives.
During the 10 day period leading up to the middle of August, more than 1,000 migrants made the crossing to England and this prompted authorities to call in the Royal Navy for the first time this year, a situation which last occurred in January 2019. Initially a task force of around a dozen specialists will plan and organise operations with Border Force to make such crossings in small boats `unviable`. (Above image © RAF / Save the Royal Navy).
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Above: Shovels being improvised to serve as paddles are becoming increasingly common. (Credit: Getty images; Euronews; AP).
Some ministers are considering a so-called `push back` approach where UK ships would stop migrant vessels leaving French waters but government sources acknowledge that it would be difficult legally to make any physical interventions, especially given the risk of capsizing the often unstable boats. Any form of blockade in the Channel would likely be highly controversial and fraught with legal and ethical issues - the French would definitely protest. Since the demolition of the infamous `Jungle` nearly four years ago, French authorities have been successful in stopping other large scale camps from forming. But migrants do still arrive in Calais, they are just more scattered. Greater security measures, including a UK-funded wall built along the motorway on the French side, have made it more difficult for migrants to stow away on ferry-bound lorries.
Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA MK1 ZP802, using the call-sign `Stingray 02` did three Runway 05 touch-and-goes at Glasgow Airport on Friday 15 August. Earlier this month, another of the Royal Air Force`s new P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft, ZP801, completed the type`s first operational mission after shadowing a Russian warship in the North Sea close to UK waters. Throughout the morning of Monday 3 August, a Poseidon from 120 Squadron currently based at Kinloss Barracks, escorted by Lossiemouth-based Typhoon Fighters, monitored the Russian warship Vasily Bykov while it passed through the area of interest. It was a lengthy sortie which required support from a Voyager tanker aircraft out of RAF Brize Norton.
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(Images © RAF / UK Defence Journal)
Vasily Bykov is a fairly recent addition to the Russian Navy`s Black Sea Fleet, having been commissioned in late December 2018. She is the lead ship of six Project 22160 patrol vessels. Their intended duties include maritime protection and observation in Russian territorial waters, both inshore and in the open ocean, anti-smuggling and anti-piracy activities, environmental monitoring and Search and Rescue. Two of these warships, Vasily Bykov and Dmitriy Rogachev, are currently operational, another is being fitted out, with the remainder still under construction.
The Project 22160 warships are equipped with an AK-176MA-01 naval gun, and Igla man-portable air defence systems. Two 14,5mm heavy machine guns are mounted on the bridge deck. One Club-N integrated missile system as well as one Shtil-1 air defence system with two modular launchers can also be added. These ships are fitted with a telescopic hangar and helicopter deck with facilities to accommodate a single Kamov Ka-27PS (Helix-D) SAR chopper.
On Monday 17 August, Antonov AN-124 UR-82007 arrived at Prestwick Airport with a new Poseidon simulator which was bound for RAF Lossiemouth. This is one of two Operational Flight Trainers (OFT) that will be installed in the new £100 million strategic facility built by Boeing Defence UK. The first simulator was offloaded from the specially chartered freighter, which took off from Orlando, Florida, and was transported by road to the Moray base, where it arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The simulators and new facility, managed by Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), are part of a £470m UK Government investment in Lossie which will become home for the RAF`s Poseidon fleet later this year when upgrades to the airfield and supporting infrastructure are completed. (AN-124 images © MOD).
Back at Glasgow Airport, RAF Boeing C-17A Globemaster III ZZ173 call-sign `Ascot 829` did a couple of training go-arounds late-afternoon on Wednesday 19 August then headed east to do another at Edinburgh Airport before heading back to its Brize Norton base. I took this shot from my back garden as the big transport departed the zone after its second pass. The following afternoon the same aircraft was circuit bashing at Leuchars. Lockheed C-130J Hercules C.4 ZH867 `Ascot 160` was doing similar training in that area at the same time.
Luftwaffe Bombardier BD-700-1A11 Global 5000 14+04 `GAF 689` did a go-around of Runway 23 at Glasgow on Friday 21 August. Two RAF heavies were training at the airport on Friday 28th: C-17 Globemaster ZZ172 `Ascot 811` did several circuits before landing for a time then heading over to Prestwick. A400M Atlas C1 ZM406 `Ascot 483` did a go-around via Runway 05. Royal Air Force Beech 300 Super King Air 350Cs ZZ417 `Snake 47` and ZZ418 `Snake 48`, both apparently on a training sortie, each flew past Glasgow Airport en route to Jura and Cowal, and the Arrochar Alps. A check of FR24 showed that `Snake 48` returned to its RAF Leeming base via Leuchars so `47` may have followed suit.
Luftwaffe Bombardier BD-700-1A11 Global 5000 14+04 `GAF 689` did a go-around of Runway 23 at Glasgow on Friday 21 August. Two RAF heavies were training at the airport on Friday 28th: C-17 Globemaster ZZ172 `Ascot 811` did several circuits before landing for a time then heading over to Prestwick. A400M Atlas C1 ZM406 `Ascot 483` did a go-around via Runway 05. Royal Air Force Beech 300 Super King Air 350Cs ZZ417 `Snake 47` and ZZ418 `Snake 48`, both apparently on a training sortie, each flew past Glasgow Airport en route to Jura and Cowal, and the Arrochar Alps. A check of FR24 showed that `Snake 48` returned to its RAF Leeming base via Leuchars so `47` may have followed suit.
The 75th Anniversary of VJ Day
On Sunday 2 September 1945, aboard the recently commissioned 45,000-ton battleship USS Missouri and before representatives of nine Allied nations, the Japanese formally signed their unconditional surrender which ended the Second World War. This came just three months after the war in Europe concluded with the defeat of Hitler`s Germany, and just over a fortnight after Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced Imperial Japan`s surrender on 15 August, a date forevermore known as VJ Day. The decision to capitulate was taken after two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese homeland, in between which the Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese Empire, but up until that point, despite losing vast areas of her empire, facing overwhelming military might and suffering devastating firebomb raids, the country was preparing to fight to the last man, woman and child.
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The Japanese war cult was a concept difficult for the western soldier to comprehend, for only to the Japanese fighting man was battle an act of worship to his Emperor, and death in battle sacramental.
The Japanese Army was a strange blend of old and new: the samurai sword was as vital to an officer in battle as was his machine-pistol. And during an attack, fanatical adherence to the Bushido code of military honour inflamed all ranks, invoking feats of tenacity and endurance, as well as futile sacrifice, which will probably remain unique in the annals of war. The last Japanese soldier to formally surrender after the country's defeat in World War Two was Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda. |
Onoda finally handed over his sword on 9 March 1974 after holding out in the Philippine jungle for 29 years. In interviews and writings after his return to Japan, Lt Onoda said he had been unable to accept that Japan had capitulated. To many outsiders, Onoda looked like a fanatic. But in imperial Japan his actions were perfectly logical. Onoda had sworn never to surrender, to die for the emperor. He believed the rest of his countrymen, and women, would do the same.
By late October 1944, conventional Japanese air forces were being decimated by their American opponents, both in the air and on the ground, therefore suicide attack, utilising the Japanese flyers` astonishing willingness for self-sacrifice, offered a realistic prospect of addressing the balance. Although an increasing number of individual pilots had taken it upon themselves to deliberately dive upon Allied warships, the first special attack unit was formed in the Philippines in October 1944 utilising Zeros fitted with 500 lbs bombs. A one-way trip doubled the effective range of the adapted fighters. A few months and several hundred suicide attacks later, genuine Kamikaze (Divine Wind) volunteers became hard to find, but initially a substantial number of Japanese aircrew eagerly embraced the concept and American losses in the seas around the Philippines mounted dramatically.
Despite mass gunnery put up by the US Navy warships and air cover, when available, taking a toll of the attackers, an alarming number of enemy pilots broke through the defensive screen to strike at their intended targets. Several precious aircraft carriers as well as other types of vessels of all sizes, were either sunk or temporarily put out of action and for a time the air battle seemed to tilt in favour of the Japanese.
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The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry blossom; Allied code-name `Baka`) was another desperate attempt to defend the Japanese homeland and shrinking Empire in the wake of overwhelming Allied superiority. This rocket powered plane was launched from a 'Mother' aircraft, and was designed to glide as far as possible before the pilot ignited the engine for a high-speed, powered approach to impact on its target.
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By 1945, 755 Ohkas had been built and there were some successes against Allied warships following the type`s disastrous first mission which saw all 16 vulnerable and highly inflammable Mitsubishi G4M2e 'Betty' mother bomber aircraft destroyed by allied fighters and their Ohkas released beyond range of their intended prey. A few later successes included the sinking of an American destroyer on 12 April 1945, by which time production of the MXY-7 had ceased, mainly due to the vulnerability of the mother aircraft. A turbojet-powered development and two-seat trainer variant were also built. The Ohka Model 11 pictured above is on display within the War in the Air hangar at RAF Museum Cosford.
Japanese expansion in East Asia had begun in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, thus entering the military alliance known as the Axis. Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Japan. Faced with severe shortages of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the United States and British forces in Southeast Asia to seize and retain control of all necessary materials and riches. The resultant savage fighting and horrendous carnage covered a large portion of the Pacific Ocean, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, with significant engagements occurring as far south as northern Australia and as far north as the Aleutian Islands.
The human cost of the Pacific War was enormous. Some 2,000,000 Japanese, including nearly 700,000 civilians, were killed as a result of military action, and hundreds of thousands more succumbed to disease or starvation. Of the Allied forces, the U.S. suffered the greatest losses, with more than 100,000 killed in action. Nearly 6,000 American civilians were killed too, the overwhelming majority of whom were members of the Merchant Marine. Some 27,000 Filipino troops were killed in combat against the Japanese, while more than three times that many civilians were lost. Total Australian casualties topped 45,000, with some 17,500 of those killed. New Zealand suffered nearly 12,000 fatalities; as a ratio of total population this was the highest casualty rate among Commonwealth nations. Some 2,600 Dutch soldiers and sailors were also killed in combat, while more than three times that many died in Japanese captivity; nearly 17,000 Dutch civilians died while prisoners of war.
The human cost of the Pacific War was enormous. Some 2,000,000 Japanese, including nearly 700,000 civilians, were killed as a result of military action, and hundreds of thousands more succumbed to disease or starvation. Of the Allied forces, the U.S. suffered the greatest losses, with more than 100,000 killed in action. Nearly 6,000 American civilians were killed too, the overwhelming majority of whom were members of the Merchant Marine. Some 27,000 Filipino troops were killed in combat against the Japanese, while more than three times that many civilians were lost. Total Australian casualties topped 45,000, with some 17,500 of those killed. New Zealand suffered nearly 12,000 fatalities; as a ratio of total population this was the highest casualty rate among Commonwealth nations. Some 2,600 Dutch soldiers and sailors were also killed in combat, while more than three times that many died in Japanese captivity; nearly 17,000 Dutch civilians died while prisoners of war.
Japan`s Formal Surrender
Had the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan not been taken, the planned invasion of the Japanese homeland islands, Operation Downfall, would have taken place, dwarfing the D-Day Landings, and many thousands more civilians and military personnel on both sides would have lost their lives. It therefore came as a huge relief when, early on 2 September 1945, hundreds of soldiers, sailors and airmen, as well as representatives of the world`s press, crammed together to watch the historic event unfold on the main deck of the mighty USS Missouri, then anchored in Tokyo Bay.
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General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Southwest Pacific Theatre, stated that the Japanese and their conquerors did not meet "in a spirit of mistrust, malice or hatred but rather, it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone benefits the sacred purposes we are about to serve." Despite these words, none of the Japanese delegates were saluted by any of the high-ranking Allied officers. It later came to light that US planes had been placed on standby to thwart any last minute suicide mission, should the Japanese military be tempted by such an overwhelmingly important target and attempt to gain revenge either from the air, Kamikaze-style, or underwater using human torpedoes.
The above image, taken by American photographer Carl Mydans (20 May 1907 – 16 August 2004) shows General Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, signing the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters. |
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Watching from across the table are Lt. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland and Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Representatives of the Allied Powers stand behind General MacArthur.
An estimated 71,000 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth were killed in the war against Japan, including more than 12,000 prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity. POW were looked upon with contempt and were seen as cowardly, whose sole purpose was to serve as slave labour. Tens of thousands were beaten, starved, tortured, worked to death or died from disease due to inhumane treatment and lack of medical facilities and medicines. After the initial formalities confirming Japan`s surrender were concluded on 14 August 1945, two days of national holiday were announced for celebrations in the UK, the USA and Australia. Millions of people from these and other Allied countries took part in parades and street parties. For example, in Nairobi, Kenya, on 15 August, over 5,000 servicemen and women took part in the victory parade, including troops of the East Africa Command, nursing officers, plus RAF personnel and those of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. |
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Ecstatic scenes in London (above) and New York City (below)...
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(Image © Sky News).
The UK`s 75th Anniversary commemorations began at sunrise, with a piper playing The Battle's Over at the Imperial War Museum's HMS Belfast on the Thames in London. Military pipers also played at dawn in India, Australia, New Zealand and Nepal. In Japan, national memorial services were held in Tokyo. At 11:00 BST, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall attended a national service of remembrance and led a two-minute silence from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Prime Minister Boris Johnson read the Exhortation - the part of the war poem beginning "they shall grow not old" - before the nation fell silent.
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Thereafter, Lancaster bomber PA474 escorted by three Spitfires and a Hurricane, all from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, did a flypast over London and the Arboretum in Staffs.
The Red Arrows were also involved, hoping to pay their own tribute in the skies over the four British capital cities, starting with Edinburgh, then Belfast, Cardiff and London, the first time such a flypast would have taken place since the London Olympics. |
Unfortunately the British weather didn`t play along and the team were only able to perform at the Northern Ireland venue, although they did stop at Prestwick Airport to refuel en route, attracting a large crowd in the process. The following shot from the Belfast Telegraph © website shows the Red Arrows climbing above the Harbour District, of Northern Ireland`s capital, home to the now defunct shipyards that were the birthplace of so many famous vessels including of course, the Titanic.
Prisoners of the Rising Sun
A Gurkha piper plays a lament beside the Burma Railway Memorial within the National Arboretum. (Image © PA / The Independent).
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Between December 1941 and August 1945, the United Kingdom, the USA, and their Allies, had fought an unrelenting war against the Japanese Empire. In the short term, Tokyo experienced victories beyond its expectations beginning with the initial strike against the US fleet at Pearl Harbour, even though the US carriers were out at sea at the time. By May 1942, Imperial forces had seized American island bases all across the Pacific region, crushed the British in Malaya, moved into Burma and finally captured the Philippines. Most importantly, the resource-rich islands of the Dutch East Indies were in Japanese hands. This cavalcade of victories came quickly and intoxicated the Japanese people leaving their military confident that they could hold these gains against whatever odds. This aura of invincibility was to be short-lived.
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With the bulk of the US Pacific fleet, and Britain`s naval Task Force Z centred around battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, destroyed in the first days of the war, the remaining Allied naval forces were pitifully small when compared to those of their adversary. Initially, the Japanese Army`s major opposition on land came from a very small number of Regular Allied ground units, however, British and Australian troops in Malaya for example, were incompetently deployed, vulnerable to infiltration and seriously deficient in airpower.
By contrast, American ground forces on the Philippines conducted a skilled retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. Supported by artillery and a few tanks, these troops mauled the first invaders. Although the outcome was inevitable, the Japanese required heavy reinforcements to accomplish victory.
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The US Army`s capitulation in May was due more to a collapse in logistics than military defeat and the surrendered Filipinos and Americans were quickly rounded up by the Japanese. They were then forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando. The men were divided into groups of approximately 100, and it typically took each assembly around five days to walk the route. The exact figures are unknown, but it`s believed that thousands of troops died because of the brutality of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation.
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America avenged its defeat in the Philippines with the invasion of the island of Leyte in October 1944. General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), who in 1942 had famously promised to return to the Philippines, made good on his word. In February 1945, US-Filipino forces recaptured the Bataan Peninsula, and Manila was liberated in early March. After the war, an American military tribunal tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines. He was held responsible for the Bataan Death March, a war crime, and was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.
Pearl Harbour: "A date that will live in infamy."
Below: Back in late October 1941, this official US Navy aerial peacetime view of Pearl Harbour from the northeast was taken. Ford Island Naval Air Station is in the centre, with the Pearl Harbour Navy Yard just beyond it, across the channel. The airfield in the upper left-centre is the U.S. Army's Hickam Field. Hickam was the principal army airfield in Hawaii and the only one large enough to accommodate the B-17 Flying Fortress. In connection with defence plans for the Pacific, aircraft were brought to Hawaii throughout 1941 to prepare for potential hostilities. By early December, 754 officers and 6,706 enlisted men, along with 233 aircraft were distributed among Hawaii`s three primary bases, the others being Wheeler Field and Bellows Field.
The first shot of the Pacific War wasn`t fired from a Japanese fighter aircraft, but from an American destroyer, more than an hour before the surprise attack began. At 05:45 hrs on Sunday 7 December 1941, the cargo ship USS Antares spotted an object that might have been a submarine in the Defensive Sea Area outside Pearl Harbour. Less than an hour later, the destroyer USS Ward fired on it twice with the second shot finding its mark, sinking the intruder. The two crewmen on board drowned, becoming the first casualties of the Pacific War. Sub sightings continued throughout the attack, on both sides of the harbour entrance and at least one managed to negotiate the anti-torpedo nets and other defences. About 08:30 hrs, the destroyer USS Monaghan (DD-354) rammed and sank another and early the next morning, a midget sub and a surviving crewman, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, washed ashore on the east side of Oahu. Sakamaki became America’s first prisoner of war, and the Navy got their first close-up view of a Type A Kō-hyōteki–class submarine, five of which took part in the operation.
At just 81 feet long and 6 feet in diameter, with a crew of two and a 600-horsepower electric motor, each vessel was transported, piggyback, on a larger submarine. They fanned out around 10 miles from Pearl Harbour early on December 7. Their plan was to enter the harbour one by one, wait out the attack, and then fire their torpedoes that night. Though their role in the attack was lauded in Japan, they weren’t successful in this particular mission. This official U.S. Navy Photograph ©, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command, shows the submarine sunk by USS Monaghan, at the Pearl Harbour Navy Yard, where it was taken after recovery. It was later buried in a landfill. This submarine's hull shows the effects of depth charges and ramming. A hole visible in the after part of the conning tower may be from a 5-inch shell. The upper background had been painted over for censorship purposes.
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The first wave to attack Pearl Harbour, launched at dawn from a point 230 miles north of Oahu and comprised 40 torpedo bombers, 49 high-level bombers, 51 dive-bombers and 43 fighters. This initial strike began at 07:40 hrs and lasted 30 minutes, targeting the anchorages and outlying airbases. The second wave comprising 54 high-level bombers, 78 dive-bombers and 35 fighters, began at 08:50 and lasted 65 minutes, but was hampered by poor visibility and anti-aircraft fire from troops and sailors who had rallied having recovered from the initial shock. Twenty out of the 29 Japanese aircraft destroyed were lost during the second attack. Fifty-five Japanese airmen and nine submariners were killed in the operation.
Above: This photograph was taken from a Japanese plane in the first wave, during the initial torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island. The view is roughly east, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the right centre distance. A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island (centre). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and listing) alongside Maryland, and California. On the near side of Ford Island, to the left, are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed and Utah is listing sharply to port. Japanese planes are visible to the right of centre (over Ford Island) and over the Navy Yard (top right-hand corner). U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire.
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Of the 94 warships at the naval base at the time, 18 were sunk or suffered major damage. Of these 8 were battleships, but out of the 5 that were sunk, three were eventually raised and returned to service. Of the 394 US aircraft on the island 188 were destroyed and another 150 damaged. The second of two Tennessee-class battleships, USS California (BB-44) is pictured below. 105 of her crew died in the attack and a further 62 were wounded.
Nothing could have galvanised the American people more than what they saw as a sneak attack and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt`s speech to Congress was a masterpiece, explaining in stark terms the task before the nation and the belief in eventual victory. His 8 December address set the tone for hard work and sacrifice which motivated the home front throughout four years of involvement in global combat.
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The draft law, which had been in place for over a year, went into overdrive as men were called to serve and National Guard units were quickly mobilised. By war's end, some 350,000 American women had voluntarily enlisted in the various branches of the armed services. (Images © US National Archives / Time Life / Getty).
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The first six months of the war in the East saw Japan gain amazingly easy victories. In rapid succession she conquered Hong Kong, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Burma, most of New Guinea, and several strategically important island groups. Over 90 million people became subject to Japanese rule as a result of this expansion, and perhaps more importantly, the Empire gained many of the raw materials she had craved for: 88% of the world`s rubber, 54% of its tin, 28% of its rice, 19% of its tungsten, large supplies of manganese and iron ore, and control of the oil fields of the Indies. Never before had such a large area been conquered in such a short time. An additional 1,000,000 Japanese military personnel were also fighting in China, not only attempting to complete their conquest of that vast land, but also guard against a Russian invasion of Manchuria.
The military facts of this Oriental Blitzkrieg were even more staggering than the foregoing statistics. The British had lost 11,000 men fighting for Hong Kong alone, over 135,000 in Malaya and Singapore (above), and suffered 13,500 casualties in Burma. The defence of the Philippines cost the combined American-Filipino forces at least 100,000 men, and a force of approximately 75,000 Dutch, British, American and native soldiers was vanquished while attempting to hold the Dutch East Indies. The British Far Eastern Fleet had been sunk off the coast of Malaya, and various Allied naval and air assets across the entire South East Asia / Pacific region had been picked off piecemeal. All this had been achieved with the loss to Japan standing at just four destroyers and several smaller vessels, less than 400 planes and about 15,000 men. But by the spring of 1943, her early victories, won at such an incredibly low cost, had been checked. Even so, the Rising Sun`s prospects, at least for the short term, looked good.
The Doolittle Raid
On 18 April 1942, airmen of the US Army Air Forces, led by Lt. Col. James H. `Jimmy` Doolittle, carried the Battle of the Pacific to the heart of the Japanese empire with a surprising and daring raid on military targets at Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Nagoya, and Kobe. This attack against these major cities was the result of coordination between the Army Air Forces and the US Navy, which carried sixteen North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers aboard the carrier USS Hornet to within take-off distance of the Japanese Islands. (Doolittle Raid photos © US Air Force).
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Above left: Orders in hand, Navy Captain Marc A. Mitscher, skipper of USS Hornet, chats with Lt. Col. James Doolittle as the bomber crews look on.
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At 07:38 hours on the morning of 18 April, while the task force was still about 650 nautical miles (1,200 km; 750 mi) from Japan, the US ships were sighted by the Nittō Maru, a 70-ton patrol craft on picket duty. The boat was sunk by gunfire from escorting cruiser USS Nashville but not before its crew had radioed an alert. The chief petty officer who captained the boat killed himself rather than be captured by the Americans, but five of the 11 crew were picked up by Nashville. This encounter led to Doolittle launching his bombers earlier, and from further out than planned. The raid did little damage to Japan's war infrastructure but was a significant propaganda victory for the Allies. After dropping their bombs the planes did not have sufficient fuel to return to the carriers, and in any case landing such a large aircraft on a flight deck would be nigh-on impossible, so the crews were briefed to fly on to airfields held by friendly forces in China. The mission remains the longest ever flown in combat by the B-25 Mitchell, averaging about 2,250 nautical miles (4,170 km).
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All of the attacking aircraft either crashed or ditched short of their designated landing fields. Doolittle and his crew baled out and survived. One aircraft landed in the Soviet Union which was a neutral nation in the Pacific war at that time and the crew was interned, but later smuggled over the border into Iran. Two crews were captured by the Japanese in occupied China. Three crewmen from these groups were later executed. The consequences were most severely felt in China, where Japanese reprisals eventually caused the deaths of an estimated 250,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers.
Australia
Within a few weeks of the attack on Pearl Harbour, the Japanese were masters of the sky over vast swathes of the Pacific. Allied pilots were unable to cope with the Zero fighter, and Japanese bombers were able to attack land targets and shipping with relatively little risk to themselves. Raids on Darwin in the north and Broome in Western Australia led the Australians to believe that a landing on their own soil was imminent.
Delays in acquiring British radar equipment, due to the demands of the Battle of Britain, spurred an innovative period of radar development by Australian scientists. Systems were urgently required for the protection of Darwin, Port Moresby and the Torres Strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. RAAF No. 36 Radar Station was formed at Thursday Island in the Strait in March 1942 to provide early warning of Japanese attacks. Thereafter, between then and 1943 a chain of RAAF air warning radar stations were installed along the Queensland coast and Australian interior.
Delays in acquiring British radar equipment, due to the demands of the Battle of Britain, spurred an innovative period of radar development by Australian scientists. Systems were urgently required for the protection of Darwin, Port Moresby and the Torres Strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. RAAF No. 36 Radar Station was formed at Thursday Island in the Strait in March 1942 to provide early warning of Japanese attacks. Thereafter, between then and 1943 a chain of RAAF air warning radar stations were installed along the Queensland coast and Australian interior.
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Even though by mid-1942, Allied fighters and bombers were steadily gaining superiority both in quantity and quality over their Japanese counterparts, between February 1942 and November 1943, the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands and coastal shipping were attacked at least 111 times by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. These attacks came in various forms; from large-scale raids by medium bombers, to coordinated torpedo attacks on ships, or strafing runs by individual fighters.
Right: All that remained of the Darwin Customs House after a Japanese attack. In the photograph below, a supply ship filled with TNT and ammunition explodes during the first air raid on the Australian mainland at Darwin on 19 February 1942. In the foreground is HMAS Deloraine, which escaped damage. |
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The Kokoda Trail is a narrow track that runs 60 miles (96 kilometres) overland through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea. The route was the location of an intense struggle in 1942, between Japanese and Allied, primarily Australian, forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua.
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During the savage fighting for control of this strategically important route across the mountainous interior, the Australians were to prove that they were as good at jungle fighting as their opponents. In the above shot, native porters act as stretcher bearers to help with the evacuation of the wounded. The Royal Australian Navy and air force gave vital support to their ground troops throughout the Pacific War and greatly assisted US-led operations.
Above: US troops inspects a downed Japanese bomber.
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By the end of 1942 the Australian defenders of south-eastern New Guinea had foiled Japan`s attempt to seize Port Moresby. Additional Australian and US troops were rushed into New Guinea in preparation for a counteroffensive due to begin the following year, but none of the Allied planners had bargained for the ferocity of the Japanese resistance. There were just 30,000 American troops under MacArthur`s overall command in this theatre compared with 54,000 Australians, who therefore carried out most of the land operations. It took some nine months for these men to recover the vital bases of Buna, Lae and Salamaua, and of the 13,000 Japanese troops in action at the end of the campaign, only 38 were ever taken prisoner.
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MacArthur`s 1943 offensive in New Guinea would have been impossible without the continuous airlift of supplies from the main base at Port Moresby. The appalling jungle terrain ruled out replenishment overland so the Dakota pilots negotiating the passes of the Owen Stanley Mountains helped ensure victory. Although not as widely publicised as those seeing action in Europe, paratroops were also used in various regions in the Far East and the Pacific during WW2, albeit their missions were relatively small-scale. One example was in New Guinea in September 1943, when they were skilfully deployed to secure the Markham River Valley. Often they had to fly in to airfields which were barely out of range of Japanese guns.
The above photograph, held by the Imperial War Museum, shows American paratroopers of the 17th Airborne Division drop on the town of Nadzab in the said Markham Valley. |
After the defeat of the Japanese in New Guinea, the war in the Pacific tended to leave Australia behind. The immense power and mobility of the US forces could now come into their own and the Australians were mostly tasked with consolidating the areas through which the Americans had raced. The final campaigns for the Aussies were fought on Bougainville Island which is the main island of the Solomons group, New Britain, where 38,000 Japanese were pushed back into Rabaul, and a three-pronged landing on Borneo. The above photo (Copyright © IWM) shows a Matilda tank of 'B' Squadron, 2/4th Australian Armoured Regiment, with supporting infantry moving along the Buin Road, south of the Hongorai River during mopping-up operations on Bougainville.
New Zealand
Above: Royal New Zealand Air Force Corsairs off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 1944.
Thousands of New Zealanders fought in the Pacific Theatre during WW2. Although, like Australia, most of the country`s armed forces served in Europe and the Western Desert, three army divisions were allocated to the fight against Japan. This was in addition to naval and air assets, for this was a war fought close to home. New Zealand`s military fought in three main areas: Singapore, Malaya; in the seas around Japan; and in the Solomon Islands. New Zealanders were also stationed in other places such as New Caledonia, operating radio and radar stations and medical facilities. There were also over 50 coastwatching outposts manned by New Zealanders spread between Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Fiji, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, to report on enemy movements.
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Like the Australians, New Zealanders sometimes worked closely with their American counterparts and their country became a vital staging ground for the build-up to recapture Japanese-held islands: Above left: Amtraks, supplies and other material awaiting storage or shipment on the Wellington wharves in August 1942. The adjacent shot shows US troops about to embark on transports in Auckland the following year.
There was desperate fighting on small island outposts where the rules of war could be ignored. On these islands, rain, heat and humidity seemed never-ending and the climate and conditions took their toll on many. The Pacific War had profound consequences for New Zealand. It changed the international politics of the region in a way that has endured. New Zealand's connections with the United States grew stronger after the joint efforts in the area during the war. (All New Zealand WW2 images © Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand). |
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China and the Flying Tigers
Joseph Warren Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theatre during the war. His caustic personality was reflected in the nickname `Vinegar Joe`. During his time in India, Stilwell became increasingly disenchanted with British forces, and did not hesitate to voice criticisms of what he viewed as their hesitant or cowardly behaviour. Ninety percent of Chindit casualties were incurred in the last phase of the campaign from when they were under the direct command of Stilwell. The British view was quite different and they pointed out that during the period from 6 June to 27 June 1944, Calvert's 77th Brigade, under Michael Calvert, which lacked heavy weapons, took Mogaung and suffered 800 casualties (50%) among those of the brigade involved in the operation. Stilwell infuriated Calvert and the British when he announced via the BBC that Chinese troops had captured Mogaung but without referencing the British. The Chindits were understandably outraged.
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The Burma Road was a 717 mile-long (1,154 km) route linking Burma with the southwest of China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built between 1937-1938 while Burma was a British colony, to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Over 200,000 Burmese and Chinese laboured on the stretch from Kunming to the Burmese border. Goods and war materiel would be landed at Rangoon (now Yangon) and moved by rail to Lashio, where the road started. In July 1940, approximately 18 months before Japan struck at Pearl Harbour, the British government yielded, for a period of three months, to Japanese diplomatic pressure to close down the Burma Road and halt supplies to China. Preventing the flow of supplies along the route was one of the main factors that motivated the Japanese to invade Burma in 1942. After the Japanese overran the country, the Allies were forced to supply Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Chinese by air. United States Army Air Force cargo planes, mainly Curtiss C-46s, flew these missions from airfields in Assam, India, over "the hump", a name which the pilots gave to the eastern end of the Himalayas. From 1942–1944, 98 percent of all US lend lease to China went directly to US Army units in China rather than the Chinese military.
When forces under British command including Indian, Chinese, and American armies, the latter led by General Stilwell, thwarted the Japanese attempt to capture Assam and recaptured northern Burma, the Allies built a new thoroughfare, the Ledo Road which ran from Ledo, Assam, through Myitkyina and connected to the old Burma Road at Wandingzhen, Yunnan, China. The first trucks reached the Chinese frontier by this mountainous route on January 28, 1945. It was renamed the Stilwell Road, after the US General in early 1945 at the suggestion of Chiang Kai-shek.
In 1937, a retired US Army Air Corps officer, Claire Lee Chennault, became Chiang Kai-shek`s adviser on aeronautical matters. The Chinese nationalist politician, revolutionary and military leader served as the head of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975, first in mainland China until 1949, and then in Taiwan until his death. Chennault`s first force of Chinese and mercenary pilots proved unable to wrest control of the air from the Japanese, however, in early 1941 Chennault persuaded the Chinese leader to allow him to recruit pilots in the United States.
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The group consisted of three fighter squadrons of around 30 aircraft each which trained in Burma. Pilots would be offered $600 USD per month to fly in combat, plus $500 for every kill. This American volunteer group soon became known as the Flying Tigers after its distinctive emblem and the sharp-fanged nose art on its Curtis P-40B Warhawk fighters which made its planes instantly recognisable. Thanks to an efficient early warning system established by Chennault, the unit quickly established air supremacy over the Japanese. In 1942, once America had entered the war, the `Tigers were disbanded and a China Air Task Force was set up. This was subsequently re-designated as the 14th Air Force.
Burma & the Chindits
The Japanese plan for breaking British colonial power based in Malaya and Singapore was the most complex of their first-phase operations. By January 1942 the position in Malaya was sufficiently secure for Japan`s military to strike north into Burma. This move was linked with the operations of the Japanese 55th Division from Thailand. Apart from its oilfields and the Burma Road to China, Burma, if conquered would act as a bastion against any Allied counterattack from India.
The Japanese entry into the war, and the succession of major Allied defeats in South East Asia, especially the fall of `fortress` Singapore, Hong Kong, and the move into Burma, set the alarm bells ringing in India. The southern and eastern parts of the country faced with imminent conquest, were palpably unprepared to meet the threat. The armed forces were pathetically under-equipped and up until mid-1942 there were virtually no anti-aircraft guns, air raid searchlights or radar, and very few airports or airfields were suitable for military use, especially with regard to heavy bombers. The deteriorating situation and the need to facilitate the arrival of the Americans in India resulted in an urgent programme of defence works and airfield construction. By the end of that year, the situation had drastically improved with 83 airbases containing one all-weather runway, 60 with fair-weather runways and a further five complete in all respects. The improvement and expansion of the country`s road network was also prioritised.
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From the spring of 1942, when the Japanese drove the British-Indian forces out of the plains of central Burma, until the autumn of 1944, when Slim`s 14th Army returned to destroy them there, the war was fought in the jungle, along a 600-mile arc from the Himalayan foothills to the swamps of the Arakan coast. In this vast area of tens of thousands of square miles of mountain and tropical vegetation, even large armies could be hidden from view.
Aerial observers, on the occasions when the weather allowed planes to fly, were greeted with a thick carpet of green, broken only by the odd clearing or cluster of huts. Often, the soldier on the ground`s vision was restricted to just a few yards. |
This was an alien environment for British troops accustomed to European conditions and initially the Japanese soldier was seen by many as a fanatical, invincible superman. But by 1944, the Allied fighting men had become just as experienced in this highly specialised form of warfare as their opponents.
The largest force of British soldiers to operate behind enemy lines during WW2 was the Chindits in Burma, which numbered around 20,000 men. The force was under the command of Major General Orde Wingate (above centre). The name Chindit is a corruption of `Chinthe`, the mythical beast that guards Burmese temples and monasteries, and Wingate chose this as the brigade`s motif. He was given command of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade to put into effect his theories on Long Range Penetration (LRP), which he had sold to the C-in-C India, Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell. Wavell had authorised the raising of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), forerunners of the SAS, when C-in-C Middle East. The intention was that the force operating deep in the Japanese-held jungle and teak forests would adversely affect enemy operations and inflict damage out of all proportion to the brigade`s numerical strength.
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The Chindits would be supplied by air thus dispensing with a long and vulnerable line of communication. For the inaugural mission, Wingate was allocated three battalions, one of British soldiers, another of under-age Gurkhas, and finally an experienced battalion of Burma Rifles. The only volunteers for LRP were in the Commando Company, consisting mainly of demolition teams. A number of medics, RAF personnel and radio operators accompanied the troops which were divided into seven self supporting columns, each marching independently to the objectives. On landing, supplies and heavier weapons such as mortars and machine guns would be carried by mule.
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Although the railway line from Mandalay to Myitkyina was put out of action for four weeks, the results of the operation were mixed and no major damage was inflicted on the Japanese lines of communication. Wingate`s brigade suffered some 1,000 dead, captured or missing. The majority of those who made it back to India were unfit for further service due to malnutrition, malaria and a host of other diseases. Despite the failings, the mission was seen as a massive propaganda boost and Wingate found himself regarded as a hero.
Above: Chindits clear a landing strip far behind enemy lines. For the next foray, `Operation Thursday`, the original units were augmented by the well-trained and battle-hardened 70th Infantry Division, and later the 3rd West African Brigade (pictured below). This combined force was highly motivated and a vast improvement on the first expedition, plus Wingate had secured the services of the so-called Number 1 Air Commando, USAAF, to assist with not only transport and evacuation of the wounded, but on-call fighter and bomber support.
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This time, Wingate`s intention was to set up a Brigade-strength stronghold close to the Japanese lines of communication which would force them to attack. One column would not be part of the airlift but would move in on foot. He intended to seize the enemy held airfield at Indaw, into which a conventional division would be flown, but there was none to spare. Those at the top were sceptical in any case.
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At Wingate`s disposal were 100 WACO CG-4A gliders, 100 short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) Stinson L-5 Sentinel and Stinson L-1 Vigilants, a dozen UC-64 Norseman transports, 30 P-51A Mustang fighter-bombers, 20 B-25 Mitchell medium-bombers and 20 C-47 Dakotas, plus six Sikorsky helicopters, the first ever to take part in military operations. The RAF also assisted in towing the large number of gliders.
The capabilities of the light aircraft in particular meant that wounded men now had a chance of being flown out rather than, at best, being left with Burmese villagers who usually turned them over to the Japanese anyway. The soldiers` worst nightmare was being left immobile in the jungle to die. |
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Right: This full-sized, very realistic replica of a WACO glider is on display within the Airborne Museum, St Mere Eglise, in Normandy. Even the interior has been convincingly recreated, complete with armed assault troopers. The type was named Hadrian in British military service. Flight testing began in May 1942, and eventually more than 13,900 CG-4As were delivered to Allied forces. The normal load was 13 soldiers and their equipment but cargo could also be carried with many adapted to transport a Jeep, a 75 mm howitzer, or a 1⁄4-ton trailer, loaded through the upward-hinged nose section.
Below: One of the C-47s to transit Prestwick Airport last June en route to Normandy from the USA for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day commemorations was civilian-registered N877MG, currently displayed in a Pan American Airways System livery. |
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This aircraft began life as one of 300 C-47s built specifically for the China-Burma-India theatre of operations. Unique features include long-range fuel tanks and supercharged engines for improved performance and altitude. Delivered to China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) in Calcutta, it supplied US armed forces and allied Nationalist Chinese from 1944 to 1945. CNAC was a joint venture between Pan American Airways and the Nationalist Chinese government and many of the carrier`s pilots had flown with the by-then disbanded Flying Tigers. These pilots often sought cloudy weather or flew at night to avoid Japanese fighter planes. From April 1942, when the Japanese closed the Burma Road, until August 1945, CNAC crews made more than 38,000 trips, transporting approximately 114,500 tons of both passengers and cargo. Post war CNAC continued its operations as the leading airline in mainland China.
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By fortunate timing, the Japanese launched an invasion of India around the same time as Wingate`s second foray and by forcing several pitched battles along their line of march, the Chindit columns were able to disrupt the Japanese offensive, diverting troops from the battles in India. Wingate was a controversial figure and the value of his Chindit operations has been the subject of much debate.
Field Marshal William Slim argued that special forces in general had an overall negative effect on the prosecution of war by separating the best-trained and most committed troops from the main army. However, the enemy commander, Mutaguchi Renya, later stated that Operation Thursday had a decisive effect on the Japanese, drawing off the whole of 53 Division and parts of 15 Division, one regiment of which would have turned the scales at Kohima. On 24 March 1944, Wingate flew to assess the situations in three Chindit-held bases in Burma. Just before his flight departed, he agreed to allow two British war correspondents to hitch a lift, even though the pilot protested that the USAAF B-25 Mitchell bomber was overloaded. The plane subsequently crashed during the journey, plummeting into jungle-covered hills in the present-day state of Manipur in northeast India, killing all ten aboard, including Wingate. Following Wingate`s death, the entire Chindit force, less one Brigade, was ordered north to assist the US Lieutenant-General Stilwell`s Chinese / American advance from northern Burma. Here there is no doubt that their efforts, by operating as conventional troops, but lacking the fighting power of a standard division, greatly assisted the Americans in their aim of pushing forward the Burma Road connecting India with China. |
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British infantry weapons were noted for their toughness and reliability, essential requirements in the appalling conditions of northern Burma. The main complaints of the men fighting there were that, being the Forgotten Army, they were ignored by the press back home and last on the list for new equipment. This was particularly true in the field of armour, however, the cast-off M3 Lee-Grant, obsolete in all other theatres, did vital work in smashing Japanese fortifications in the fighting around Kohima.
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Tanks employing US pattern turrets were called the `Lee`, named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Variants using British pattern turrets were known as `Grant`, after Union general Ulysses S. Grant. Once British and Commonwealth forces in Europe and the Mediterranean began receiving M4 Shermans, about 900 British-ordered M3 Lee/Grants were shipped to the Indian Army.
Massed armour v armour encounters were a rare occurrence in the Asia-Pacific theatre but during the Battle of Imphal, the Imperial Japanese Army's 14th Tank Regiment, primarily equipped with their own Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks, together with a handful of captured British M3 Stuart light tanks, encountered M3 medium tanks for the first time and found themselves outgunned and outmatched by the superior British armour. The M3 Grant on the right, in Western Desert camouflage, is on display at the Tank Museum, Bovington. |
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Since 1815, Gurkha soldiers have always been enlisted by private treaty between the British and Commonwealth and the King of Nepal, and have earned one of the highest fighting reputations of any of the native-enlisted units serving in the British Army. During the Second World War over 110,000 men served in 40 Gurkha battalions in battles in the Western Desert, Italy, Greece, Malaya, Singapore and Burma. Nearly 30,000 Gurkhas were killed or wounded. Their national weapon, the Kukri (a.k.a. khukuri) chopping-knife, with its deadly, razor-sharp, half-moon blade, was always carried in addition to either the standard Lee-Enfield rifle, Bren, or Sten Gun during the Burma Campaign.
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Left: Amid the ruins of Mogaung, Brigadier Michael Calvert (on the left) gives orders to majors Freddie Shaw and James Rutherford Lumley (right) of the 3/6th Gurkhas. The wall of the town`s train station, situated on the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line, forms the backdrop. None of the officers have identifying insignia as their rank would make them prime targets for Japanese snipers. The addition of rifles to their personal inventories, rather than pistols, also adds to the impression that they are ordinary soldiers.
James Lumley is the father of actress and presenter Joanna Lumley who has long campaigned for Gurkhas rights, requesting that the British government address issues including equal pensions and the right of Gurkha soldiers and their families to settle in the UK. Some of the other photos show Indian and Gurkha soldiers in action at Kohima and elsewhere in Burma. (Images © Imperial War Museum). |
In November 1943, a new phase of the war in the Far East began with the formation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) This replaced India Command and under the leadership of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the prosecution of the war took on a new energy. The appointment of William Slim (1891-1970) as commander of Fourteenth Army was also a major morale boost for British and Commonwealth soldiers after the setbacks of 1942-43. Previously, British troops had fallen back when the Japanese cut their lines of communication, and all but essential operations came to a halt during the monsoon. Now, the policy was to stand firm, rely on air supply when cut off, and fight on through the worst of the weather.
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In March 1944, the Japanese 15th Army began an advance against India’s north-east frontier to forestall a planned British thrust into Burma. They intended to capture the British supply bases on the Imphal Plain and cut the road linking Dimapur, Imphal and the hilltop town of Kohima. If Imphal, the capital of Manipur state and the main British base in the area, fell, the Japanese would be able to mount air attacks against India and threaten the air bridge to China. A Japanese diversionary attack in the Arakan was defeated at the battle of the Admin Box. But by early April, the Allied troops defending Kohima and Imphal were surrounded. By the middle of the month at Kohima, only the troops manning the central ridge were holding out. The local commander, Colonel Hugh Richards had hastily organised a scratch force from his 2,500-strong garrison, many of whom were non-combatants.
Above: Japanese troops attempt to cut the Imphal - Kohima Road.
Faced by 15,000 Japanese, the British-Indian troops held a tight defensive perimeter centred on Garrison Hill. During the struggle for control, Kohima saw some of the bitterest close-quarter fighting of the war. In one sector, only the width of the town’s tennis court separated the two sides. By 18 April, when the relief forces of the British 2nd Division arrived, Richards’s defensive perimeter had been reduced to a shell-shattered moonscape only 350 metres square. Despite the arrival of the reinforcements, the battle continued to rage around Kohima until mid-May, when the enemy division began to withdraw. The road to Imphal was then cleared with the assistance of armoured units and a link-up with 4th Corps, which had been under siege since 5 April was achieved. The Allies' superiority in logistics and communications had been a major factor in defeating the Japanese. During the battle, the Royal Air Force flew in nearly 19,000 tons of supplies and over 12,000 men, as well as evacuating around 13,000 casualties.
The Kohima Ridge after the battle: Garrison Hill is shown on the left below, with the Tennis Courts on the right. Images (© IWM).
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The terraces in the right-hand photo above lead to the Commissioner`s bungalow but very little of the structure survived the battle and nothing remains today although white concrete lines mark and preserve permanently the location of the historic tennis court.
Above: Gurkhas and Indian troops inspect captured Japanese ordnance during a brief lull in the Imphal-Kohima battle, 1944. (Image © National Army Museum).
Imphal-Kohima was one of the biggest defeats the Japanese Army ever suffered. Field Commander Lieutenant General Mutaguchi was relieved of command, recalled to Tokyo, and finally forced into retirement in December 1944. After their defensive victory, the British planned a new offensive aimed at clearing the last Japanese forces from northern Burma and driving them south towards Mandalay and Meiktila. Fighting through the monsoon and supplied by air, troops of the Fourteenth Army now crossed the River Chindwin. The 15th Corps took Akyab in the Arakan, while 4th and 32nd Corps won bridgeheads across the River Irrawaddy. After fierce fighting, Meiktila and Mandalay were captured in March 1945. The route south to Rangoon now lay open. 4th Corps was only 30 miles (48km) from the city when it fell to a combined air and seaborne operation in early May.
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CWGC Cemetery images © Flickr/ Preshit Deorukhkar/ Deep Goswami.
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Above: Kohima from the west, with Jail Hill in the centre with main road running round it and disappearing through the cutting. Treasury Hill and Assam Rifles Barracks are slightly left and the Naga Village extreme top left. The present-day Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery and Cremation Memorial is also shown. Fittingly, this site is located on the slopes of Garrison Hill. The cemetery now contains 1,420 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and 1 non-war burial. At the lower end of the cemetery, near the entrance, is a memorial to the 2nd Division. It bears the inscription;- "When you go home Tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, We gave our today."
The North Pacific: To the Threshold of Alaska
In the summer of 1942, Japanese forces seized Attu and Kiska in the Western Aleutians, establishing an empire that reached the threshold of Alaska. Their expansion looked very impressive on the map, but the North Pacific theatre was justly regarded as a secondary sphere of operations by both sides. The Japanese could not spare enough forces to complete the occupation of the remaining islands in the chain, and so long as the eastern end remained under American control, the Japanese could not exploit their gains. (Aleutians images © The Atlantic; Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures).
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Bleak, mountainous Attu (above) in Alaska had a population of only about 46 people prior to the Japanese invasion. On June 6, 1942, a Japanese force of 1,100 soldiers landed, occupying the island. One resident was killed in the invasion, the remaining 45 were shipped to a Japanese prison camp near Otaru, Hokkaido, where sixteen died while in captivity. The following photos were taken during Japanese bombing raids on port facilities on Attu prior to ground troops moving in...
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On 11 May of the following year, Admiral Rockwell`s North Pacific Amphibious Force landed on Attu and after a short but fierce fight, the island was firmly back in US hands by the end of June. With Japan`s hold over Kiska now untenable, contrary to military policy regarding the defence of many of the captured island groups in the South Pacific, they refused to sacrifice men in a battle for a secondary island base. The decision was taken to evacuate and the garrison of 5,000 men sneaked out under the cover of fog, taking the Americans, who expected a tough fight, totally by surprise.
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Now that the entire Aleutian chain was back in Allied hands, it was possible to repair and expand the air bases in order to send aid to Russia.
A heavily damaged midget submarine base constructed by occupying Japanese forces on Kiska, photographed after the Allies retook the island.
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Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway (4–7 June 1942), which takes its name from Midway Atoll, a 2.4-square-mile (6.2 km2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, rates as one of history`s most decisive clashes. In one cataclysmic blow, it wiped out the overwhelming Japanese superiority in naval air strength which was vital to the successful prosecution of a war in the vast spaces of world`s largest ocean. More than half the Japanese carrier strength along with the elite of their highly-trained and experienced aircrews were eliminated. The early run of victories which Yamamoto had promised had come to a premature end and the Empire of the Rising Sun was now on the defensive. A period of stalemate followed during which American production rose to an overwhelming flood.
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The United States had been aware that the Japanese were planning a major attack in the Pacific as the Allies had been cracking encrypted Japanese communications since early 1942. The location for the operation was only referred to by the Japanese as “AF”, but US Navy code breakers, based in Hawaii, had the American base at Midway send out a false message that it was short of fresh water. The Japanese the relayed the information that “AF” was short of fresh water, confirming that the target was the base at Midway. Subsequent communications revealed that the attack would begin on either 4 or 5 June, and the extent of the Imperial Japanese Navy`s opposing fleet.
Early on the morning of June 4, aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers attacked and severely damaged the US military base on Midway. However, the Japanese, had no idea that the American fleet was just to the east of the island and preparing for a counterstrike. After their initial attacks, the Japanese aircraft headed back to their carriers to rearm and refuel and it was only then that the Japanese navy became aware that powerful US naval forces were within range. TBD Devastator torpedo-bombers and SBD Dauntless dive-bombers from the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown attacked the Japanese fleet. The Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned. |
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Above: Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers of Torpedo Squadron 6 unfold their wings on the crammed deck of USS Enterprise prior to launching against the four Japanese carriers on the first day of the battle. The unit lost ten out of fourteen aircraft during their attack.
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Hiryu, the only surviving Japanese carrier, responded with two waves of attacks, with many aircraft bombing the USS Yorktown, (above) but although severely damaged, the carrier managed to stay afloat. She remained above the waves until 7 June, when a torpedo attack by a Japanese submarine finally sent her to the bottom. But, back on the afternoon of June 4, a Yorktown scout plane located the Hiryu, and the Enterprise sent dive-bombers to attack. That mission left the Hiryu burning and without the ability to launch aircraft before it finally sank below the waves. Over the next two days, US ground troops on Midway continued to put up a determined defence, and this along with concentrated attention from the US Navy, persuaded the Japanese to abandon the fight and retreat.
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The Japanese lost approximately 3,057 men, four carriers, one cruiser, and hundreds of aircraft, while the United States lost approximately 362 men, one carrier, one destroyer, and 144 aircraft.
This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in an advantageous position. Now Allied forces could begin to reclaim captured territory on a grand scale, but several years of costly amphibious island-hopping invasions, and a number of even larger naval battles lay ahead. |
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Above: After a successful landing, a returning battle damaged American plane is about to receive a patch up job from waiting mechanics, and, flying dangerously close, a U.S. Navy flier got this spectacular aerial view of a heavy Japanese Mogima-class cruiser which had been plastered by US bombs during the battle.
Guadalcanal & the Solomons
The US victories at the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 7–8, 1942) and Midway (June 4–7, 1942) smashed Japan`s chances of further expansion and forced their planners to concentrate upon consolidating their conquests. But the real defeat of the Japanese Empire could only begin with the recapture of the well-scattered Pacific island groups. The first confrontation came in the Solomons chain, on Guadalcanal.
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The Americans first landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida on the morning of 7 August 1942, and after some fierce fighting, US Marines had cleared Tulagi and Florida by August 9. On Guadalcanal, the Marines met ominously light opposition, but then began a bitter six-month struggle for the possession of the fever ridden, almost uninhabitable, yet priceless, piece of land. Guadalcanal`s highest point is Mount Popomanaseu which rises to 7,644 feet (2,330 metres), but the island`s most valuable asset was the airfield at Lunga Point, which, after capture, was soon renamed Henderson Field after Loy Henderson, an aviator killed at the Battle of Midway. Once the airfield had been seized, the United States were more able to counter Japanese efforts to disrupt supply routes to Australia and New Zealand.
The numerous clashes ashore took place alongside seven major naval engagements in the surrounding waters and almost continuous air combat. In one disastrous action off Savo Island, the Allied naval force was shattered and thereafter the Japanese controlled the approaches at night, bringing in supplies and reinforcements, as well as shelling the Marines with impunity. This supply effort to replenish Japanese forces operating in and around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands was referred to by the Allies as the `Tokyo Express`. The New Georgia Sound was named `The Slot` by Allied combatants due to its geographical shape and the amount of warship traffic that transited. Some of the naval battles fought in and around the Sound during 1942 and 1943 also involved warships from the Royal Australian Navy, and Royal New Zealand Navy.
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Below: On 24 August 1942, during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the USS Enterprise (CV-6) under aerial attack and afire takes evasive action in an attempt to avoid further strikes. Anti-aircraft shell bursts directed at the attacking Japanese dive-bombers are visible above the carrier. Although hit three times she was able to recover her aircraft.
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This remarkable photo shows the third and last Japanese bomb detonating on the flight deck of the Enterprise. It was dropped by an aircraft piloted by Kazumi Horie who died in the attack. Smoke from the first two bomb hits can be seen in the upper left of the picture.
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The last major naval clash, again involving massed formations of carrier-borne planes, was known as the Battle of Santa Cruz and took place over 24-26 October 1942. As in previous meetings, the Japanese won a tactical victory. The Shokaku and Zuiho had been put out of action but they would live to fight another day and two other carriers, Zuikaku and Junyo were untouched. For the Allies, with the loss of the Hornet and damage to the Enterprise, not a single aircraft carrier remained operational in the US Pacific fleet. Once again, however, it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Japanese, with around 100 planes and their experienced crews paying the price. Consequently Zuikaku was basically rendered non-operational due to a lack of aircrews. Only enough remained to man the two small carriers Junyo and Hiyo. The Americans had not only lost far less planes and crews, but the Enterprise would soon be back in action. They also would have no difficulty in sourcing replacements from the huge naval yards, aircraft factories and training facilities operating in the United States.
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Above left: A wrecked Japanese transport washed ashore after one of the sea battles off Guadalcanal. Above right: Japanese Betty bombers making a low-level attack during the Guadalcanal Campaign as the defenders put up a flak barrage. More jungle fighting scenes are pictured below...
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The US Drive across the Pacific
The American drive across the Central Pacific ushered in a new, and mercifully short-lived, era in naval warfare as a series of minute, but strategically important coral islands had to be captured from a fanatical enemy. The first operation took place at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands in late November 1943. Nearly 6,400 men - Japanese, Koreans, and Americans, died in the fighting, mostly on and around the small island of Betio, in the extreme southwest of the Atoll. It was also the first time in the Pacific War that the United States had faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing. Approximately 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared, and they fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the United States Marine Corps. The losses on Tarawa were incurred within 76 hours.
The problems of mounting such attacks, often over a thousand miles from a major supply base, were staggering, but the US forces soon evolved an efficient amphibious technique centred on the carriers. Their aircraft would not only provide aerial cover for the task force, but also help to soften up enemy defences. Out at sea, while gunfire support warships moved in closer for bombardment coordinated by spotter planes, assault troops transferred to their landing craft.
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Amphibious tractor waves moved to the start line while boat waves formed up behind with reinforcements. Just before the first men hit the beach, naval gunfire shifted further inland and to the flanks. Follow-up waves moved toward the beach, transferring to Amtraks at the reef edge if necessary. As the perimeter expanded, further reinforcements including naval engineers, supplies and construction material were brought ashore in controlled phases. Airfield clearance / construction usually began even before the fighting was over and the island declared secure.
At Tarawa LVT Alligators, which proved mainly successful elsewhere, were foiled in many places by the log wall and were soon knocked out or badly holed, leaving the men in the first assault waves pinned down and seeking shelter behind the obstacle at the water`s edge, all along the beach. Half of the LVTs were disabled or destroyed by the end of the first day. The following photo shows a USMC Howitzer crew in action on Tarawa...
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Right: The Landing Vehicle, Tracked (LVT) was introduced by the United States Navy but variants were also widely used by the United States Marine Corps and United States Army, as well as British and Canadian forces. Originally intended solely as cargo transports for ship to shore operations, they evolved into amphibious troop landing craft and fire support vehicles. The various types were commonly referred to as `Amtraks`, `Gators` or `Buffaloes.` Many were used during Operation Overlord and they proved invaluable during the Pacific Campaign. They could be fitted with various weapons for assaulting heavily defended beaches and thereafter, shuttled reinforcements and supplies from ship to shore.
The example on the right, `Ethel`, is on display at the UTAH Beach Museum in Normandy but is almost identical to those used by the Marines in South East Asia. |
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The 2.5-ton, six-wheel DUKW amphibious trucks were also widely used by the U.S. Army and U.S.Marine Corps during World War II and also proved invaluable during the Pacific Campaign. The vehicle`s primary role was to ferry troops, ammunition and other equipment from mother ships moored offshore to supply dumps and fighting units on the ground. DUKW is an acronym based on `D` for the model year, 1942; `U` referring to the body style, utility (amphibious); `K` for all-wheel drive; and `W` for dual rear axles.
The vehicle was capable of carrying 25 soldiers and their equipment, an artillery piece, or 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of general cargo. At sea the vehicle could maintain a speed of 5 knots (about 6 statute miles, or 9 km per hour), and on land it could get up to an impressive 50 miles (80 km) per hour. Around 20,000 DUKWs were produced by the United States during the war, approximately ten percent of which were supplied to the British under lend-lease. |
The following aerial shots of the pockmarked Tarawa landscape show just how narrow the heavily defended battlefield was...
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Battle for the Marianas
After securing bases in the Gilberts and the Marshall Islands, the United States was poised to capture the next island group, the Marianas, which would enable long-range Allied bombers to strike the Japanese homeland. The target for the forthcoming amphibious assault lay over 1,000 miles away and included three heavily-fortified islands, namely Saipan, Tinian and Guam. For the operation the US gathered the largest armada ever seen in the Pacific and the result was a classic amphibious invasion.
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Of the three Marianas objectives, the northernmost, Saipan, would be seized first. This decision was due to the fact that it offered the closest base for B-29 raids on the Empire, plus it would create a barrier for Japanese aircraft, splitting those on Guam from those operating from homeland airfields. So, on June 11, the US Task Force began bombing Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota and Pagan. The first US fighter sweep alone destroyed 150 Japanese planes, one third of the total allotted for the defence of the islands.
The amphibious assault on Saipan began four days later with two Marine divisions landing initially, with the US Army`s 27th Infantry Division joining soon after. Within 20 minutes, 700 LVTs and 8,000 troops were ashore. This was despite the fact that the Japanese commander Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito, had instructed his men to `demolish the enemy landing units at the water`s edge`. All along the beach-head Marines and Japanese soldiers fought toe-to-toe, hand-to-hand, sabre to bayonet. But overwhelming US firepower slowly and surely proved decisive, enabling the attackers to expand their perimeter. |
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Without resupply, the defenders were in a hopeless situation, but the Japanese were determined to fight to the last man. Saito organised his troops into a line anchored on Mount Tapotchau in the in the centre of the island`s easily defensible mountainous terrain. The Japanese used many caves in the volcanic rocks to delay the attackers, by hiding during the day and making sorties at night. The Americans gradually developed tactics for clearing the caves by using flamethrower teams supported by artillery and machine guns.
By 6 July, Saito, realising that his position was impossible, made plans for a final suicidal banzai charge. On the fate of the remaining civilians on the island, he said, "There is no longer any distinction between civilians and troops. It would be better for them to join in the attack with bamboo spears than be captured." At dawn of the 7 July, a group of 12 men carrying a great red flag led the way with the main assembly of approximately 4,000 able bodied men following on behind. Amazingly, taking up the rear, were the wounded, with bandaged heads, crutches, and barely armed. (Saipan shots: © Bettman Archive / Getty Images).
The Japanese, fanatical to the end, surged over the American front lines, engaging both Army and Marine units. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 105th Infantry Regiment were almost destroyed, losing well over 650 killed and wounded. However, the fierce resistance of these two units, as well as that of Headquarters Company, 105th Infantry, and of supply elements of 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Artillery Regiment, resulted in over 4,300 Japanese killed. The American death toll had risen to 2,000. This attack on 7 July would be the largest Japanese Banzai charge in the Pacific War. All the images taken during the battle for Saipan in the following slideshow are copyright © W. Eugene Smith: The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images. The scenes of the rescued baby and the aftermath of the last banzai charge on the island are particularly harrowing...
Of all the islands in the Marianas group, Guam was the most important. Not only did it posses a superb natural harbour - a valuable base from which the western Pacific could be controlled - but it had been an American possession for more than 40 years before it fell to the Japanese soon after the attack on Pearl Harbour, and its recovery was a matter of pride.
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Guam, ringed by reefs, cliffs, and heavy surf, presented yet another formidable challenge for any attacker. The US assault followed a pattern which had become familiar: the swift, efficient carving of a beachhead, with the defensive perimeter subject to a series of fanatical Banzai charges soon after, during which almost all the attackers died.
The scene below shows an Asan landing beach an hour and a half after the first Northern Assault Force came ashore on 21 July 1944. A field dressing station is in operation in the foreground and LVTs and M-4 tanks are visible. Japanese artillery sank 30 American LVTs and inflicted heavy casualties on the men landing, especially those of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, but by 09:00 marines and armoured support were firmly rooted ashore. The fight for the island lasted from 21 July until 10 August 1944. Unfortunately, coordination between between soldiers and Marines deteriorated as they groped through areas of almost impenetrable jungle and there were instances of fatalities caused by friendly fire. US bombs and naval shells also struck their own ground units and marred the final drive to the north. But the outcome was never in doubt. Three weeks after the landings, USMC General Roy Geiger announced the end of organised resistance. |
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Disorganised resistance was another matter with individuals and small bands continuing the fight for months to come. Two well concealed groups that mounted a sporadic guerrilla campaign avoided capture until finally surrendering an astonishing 16 years later. Ultimately, over 19,500 Japanese were accounted for: 1,250 prisoners and the rest killed. By comparison, US losses were 1,744 dead and 5,970 wounded. Although heavy, this was less than the price paid for capturing Saipan.
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Battle of the Philippine Sea: The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot
Even after the series of defeats which had begun at Midway, the Japanese Navy during the early part of 1944 still had a numerically large carrier force which could threaten the next push by US forces in their quest to liberate enemy held territories. When the confrontation came, the Americans were partly frustrated by the need to protect the Marianas invasion fleet, and so were unable to sink as many enemy carriers as they`d hoped. Nevertheless, by the end of the clash, officially known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea, which took place between 19-20 June 1944, the last classic carrier action of WW2, the Allies had gained a decisive victory.
The arrival of the US invasion fleet off Saipan had been the signal for the Japanese fleet to assemble for battle. US submarines reported enemy units sailing to rendezvous off the the Philippines, and US Task Force 58 (above) gathered to meet them. By 18 June 1944, both fleets were on converging courses. The Japanese light carriers were about 100 miles ahead of the Main Body and early the next morning, their planes located the American warships, prompting the launch of Japanese strike aircraft. But US radar gave enough warning for carrier-borne fighters to swarm up and intercept them over 50 miles out. More than 200 Japanese aircraft were shot down against 23 American. Meanwhile, US submarines had caught the Japanese Main Body. The carrier Taiho was torpedoed and sunk at 09:00 hrs followed by Shokaku at 12:20. (Official U.S. Navy © photographs, now in the collections of the National Archives).
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The following day, Task Force 58 turned in pursuit and a protracted air strike sunk the carrier Hiyo and two vital oilers. The range limitations meant that most of the US Navy aircraft returning to their carriers ran low on fuel and were forced to ditch as night fell. Eighty American planes were lost.
The Japanese finally realised the magnitude of the disaster they had suffered and the remnants of their fleet steamed swiftly towards Okinawa. The US fleet broke off the chase soon after and consolidated its position closer to the Marianas. It had been a clear-cut, decisive victory for the US Pacific Fleet: not simply an air victory with a naval victory eluding them.
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Above left: USS New Mexico (BB-40) 14-inch projectiles on deck, while the battleship was replenishing her ammunition supply prior to the invasion of Guam, July 1944. The photograph looks forward on the starboard side, with triple 14/50 gun turrets at left. Note floater nets stowed atop the turrets.
The largest carrier-versus-carrier battle in history had involved 24 aircraft carriers, deploying roughly 1,350 carrier-based aircraft. The fight in the skies above was nicknamed the `Great Marianas Turkey Shoot` by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon the enemy, both by US pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.
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US air bases on the Marianas expanded rapidly and were the springboard for numerous bombing missions right up to the end of the war. The aerial view above shows the massive assembly of bombers and other aircraft types on Isley Field, Saipan, in late 1945.
Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Liberation of The Philippines
The Battle of Leyte Gulf is considered to have been the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history, with the participation of over 200,000 naval personnel. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon, from 23–26 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), as part of the Allied invasion of Leyte, which aimed to isolate Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia and cut off the Empire`s main source of industrial and oil supplies.
In mid-October, to soften up the Japanese before the coming Leyte assault, Admiral Halsey, C-in-C US 3rd Fleet, directed his carrier-borne planes to begin a sustained attack on enemy bases up and down the Philippines with as many as 1,000 aircraft at a time going into action. They smothered Japanese defences, destroyed ground installations and drove their opponents from the sky. In less than a week, over 600 Japanese naval aircraft were destroyed. Less than 100 US planes met a similar fate.
In mid-October, to soften up the Japanese before the coming Leyte assault, Admiral Halsey, C-in-C US 3rd Fleet, directed his carrier-borne planes to begin a sustained attack on enemy bases up and down the Philippines with as many as 1,000 aircraft at a time going into action. They smothered Japanese defences, destroyed ground installations and drove their opponents from the sky. In less than a week, over 600 Japanese naval aircraft were destroyed. Less than 100 US planes met a similar fate.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was fought in four stages: Battle of the Sibuyan Sea; Battle of Surigao Strait; Battle off Samar and Battle of Cape Engaño. The Japanese were gambling on the surprise arrival of their imposing surface fleet, which included the mighty battleships Yamato and Musashi. Admiral Ozawa`s carriers, starved of planes, were to be the bait. The rare photo above shows part of Admiral Kurita's force at anchor off Brunei, Borneo, in October 1944 just before the clash. The ships are, from left to right: Musashi, Yamato, an unidentified cruiser and Nagato. (Image © U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command).
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Above left: USS Gambier Bay (CVE 73) plus another escort carrier and two destroyers smoking as a result of damage sustained during the Battle off Samar on October 25, 1944. The USS St. Lo (CV 63) (above right) was also left burning after the same engagement and became the first major warship to be sunk as the result of a kamikaze attack. The epic battle was a complex series of naval surface clashes, submarine attacks and fighter and bomber sorties, both from carriers and island airfields. Although the American losses were heavy, they could have been far worse. In the Battle off Samar, Japanese cruisers gained on the small force led by Admiral Sprague. His 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts managed to fight off 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers of Japanese Admiral Takeo Kurita's vastly superior Centre Force. Taken by surprise by Kurita's larger, faster ships, Sprague coolly manoeuvred his fleet to take maximum advantage of the wind and weather while his pilots bombed and strafed the attacking ships, even making dry runs after their ammunition ran out. He ordered his escorts to lay smoke to cover the carriers, then ordered a counterattack, initially with torpedoes, then a move to within gunnery range. Four of Sprague`s ships were sunk and most of the others damaged but his action persuaded Kurita to break off and retire to the north.
Above: The Yamato after being hit by American planes during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea on 24 October 1944. Aircraft from the USS Essex struck Yamato with two armour-piercing bombs and scored one near miss but the vessel suffered only moderate damage. Despite taking on about 3,370 tonnes (3,320 long tons) of water she remained battleworthy. However, her sister ship Musashi became the focus of the US attacks and eventually sank after being struck by 17 bombs and 19 torpedoes. The Leyte clash was the only time during her short career that Yamato fired her main guns at enemy surface targets.
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Above left: The Japanese aircraft carriers Zuikaku, left, and one other, thought to be Zuihō, take evasive action as they are targeted by US Navy dive bombers off Cape Engaño early in the battle. The remarkable photo alongside shows the crew of Zuikaku salute on deck as the Rising Sun flag is lowered on the listing carrier after it received irreparable damage from sustained aerial attacks. She was the last Japanese carrier involved in the attack on Pearl Harbour to be sunk.
(WW2 images all copyright US National Archives / Naval History & Heritage Command / Australian War Memorial).
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Above: The American escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay prepares to launch Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters during the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944. In the distance, Japanese shells are splashing near the USS White Plains. I took the above shot of a US Navy Wildcat which is on display at the Fantasy of Flight Museum, Florida, during my last visit.
Coast Guard landing craft in Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, carry the first wave of American soldiers to the beaches. Tuesday 9 January 1945.
The American naval victory had secured MacArthur`s communications and supply line and the seaward flank of 6th Army. By the end of October 1944, the US military had completely occupied the Leyte Valley and secured all of the airfields in the east-central part of the island. But in the months that followed, the weather was to prove as much as a challenge as the Japanese. Thirty-five inches of rain fell in the first forty days, drenching personnel and sapping morale, while gale force winds blew over not only improvised shelters, but wrecked more substantial buildings. Airstrips became morasses and operations from most became impossible. These conditions suited the Japanese though and before the battle was over, 45,000 reinforcements reached General Suzuki`s embattled XXXV Army. An offensive was mounted, including paratroop drops to recapture American held airfields in late November but it was only partially successful. Any Japanese gains were addressed within a few days.
Suzuki`s men were gradually pushed northward and on Christmas Day 1944, he was instructed to have as many men as possible evacuate Leyte and shift to reinforce the other Japanese-held islands. The Leyte Campaign in all its phases, land, sea and air, had cost the United States approximately 5,000 dead and 14,000 wounded. But it was another nail in the coffin for Japan`s hopes of maintaining its all-important conquests.
Suzuki`s men were gradually pushed northward and on Christmas Day 1944, he was instructed to have as many men as possible evacuate Leyte and shift to reinforce the other Japanese-held islands. The Leyte Campaign in all its phases, land, sea and air, had cost the United States approximately 5,000 dead and 14,000 wounded. But it was another nail in the coffin for Japan`s hopes of maintaining its all-important conquests.
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Many consider Iwo Jima as the bloodiest battle of the Pacific war, but the campaign on Luzon, the biggest and most populous island in the Philippines, was definitely the largest. It dwarfed the 1941/42 fight for Luzon, and all Pacific battles that followed. Only on Luzon could men and materiel slog it out on a scale approaching the battles which took place in the Western Desert and mainland Europe. More Japanese troops fought on Luzon than on any other Pacific island, and more US fighting men were committed here than in any American campaign except the drive through northern France following the D-Day Landings. In the Pacific, only a full-scale invasion of Japan itself could have eclipsed the size or scope of the battle for Luzon. The fight for the island lasted from 9 January 1945 until 15 August 1945.
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US and Philippine Commonwealth military forces were still fighting to liberate enemy held territory in the Philippines when Japanese forces were ordered to surrender by Tokyo on August 15, 1945. Throughout the campaign, the Allied forces were aided by Filipino guerrillas who were experienced in locating enemy holdouts. Some units of the Japanese Army were out of radio contact with Tokyo, and it was difficult to convince some soldiers, including that of Hiroo Onoda, that Japan had actually surrendered. As previously mentioned, Onoda, who was evading capture in the mountainous interior of Lubang Island in Mindoro, didn`t surrender until 1974. After the war, many Japanese officials, including members of the Imperial Family, personally visited a number of Pacific islands to convince the fighting men that they had to down lay down their arms by order of the Emperor.
Above: General Douglas MacArthur, President Osmeña, and staff land at Palo, Leyte on October 20, 1944.
Iwo Jima
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Maintaining control of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, both of which were strategically important islands, presented the Japanese with significant problems. Iwo Jima, the largest of the Volcano Islands, was too small to be defended in depth, and Okinawa was just one location among many guarding the southwest approaches to Kyushu, the most southern and third-largest of Japan's five main islands. Knowing that it was inevitable that these islands would be captured, the aim of the Japanese was not to attempt to repulse the landings on the beaches, but to sap at the American will, whether in the military, or the civilian population back in the USA, leaving Allied leaders unwilling to to proceed with an invasion of Japan itself due to the unacceptable cost to the invaders.
Before the Marines first set foot on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945, the island citadel had been dealt the heaviest bombardment of the entire Pacific war. Yet the 36-day battle for this vital stepping-stone in the Allied campaign, 660 nautical miles from Tokyo, was the bloodiest in Marine Corps history, a struggle that cost the lives of more than 6,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese.
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The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at 169 m (554 ft) high and it dominated not only the landing grounds but the whole of the island.
The fact that the Japanese permitted the Marines to get ashore with their equipment was a fatal one. By the end of the first day, 30,000 men, along with tanks, LVTs, armoured bulldozers and artillery were in position to pound at the defences. By the end of day two, the entire neck of the island was secure and the Marines were at the foot of Suribachi. The next move was obvious.
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For the next three days, the Marines fought for control of the mountain, and at 10:20 hrs on 23 February, a 40-man patrol clawed its way onto the summit and raised the Stars and Stripes, a moment captured on camera to become one of the most iconic images of the Second World War.
But the fall of this formidable geographical feature by no means meant that Iwo Jima was in Allied hands. The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions now turned north to tackle the first line of the main Japanese defensive belt and the savage fighting that followed showed just how well prepared and determined the enemy were. Artillery was useless against these positions and it degenerated into a battle of attrition, the Marines resorting to small arms, bayonets, grenades and flamethrowers to make painstaking progress. |
It wasn`t until March 26, after one month and one week had passed, that the island was declared secure. US forces discovered that as well as numerous well-prepared, heavily fortified bunkers and hidden artillery positions, the defenders had excavated an 11 mile (18 kilometre) network of tunnels, dug as protection against the massive Allied bombardment.
Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were only captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
Okinawa
After D-Day in Normandy, the American landings on Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, (1 Apr 1945 – 22 Jun 1945) represented the last and greatest amphibious operation of the war. More than 1,200 vessels transported 170,000 US soldiers and Marines while more than 120,000 provided technical and logistical support. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, USN, Commander Fifth Fleet, led the invasion onboard USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Joint Task Force, TF-51, was led by Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN, with Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, US Army, commanding the ground troops. The island was home to 450,000 people who, although they remained culturally distinct, possessed Japanese nationality. During the three-month long campaign some 12,000 Americans and up to 150,000 Japanese found death amid Okinawa`s sixty-miles of fields and mountains, or in its surrounding waters.
Above: American aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill burns after being hit by two kamikaze planes within 30 seconds. The U.S. Navy lost 32 ships and craft, mostly by kamikaze attacks, and 368 vessels were damaged, many severely. Seven-hundred and sixty-three aircraft were lost with over 4,900 sailors killed or missing in action, with an additional 4,824 being wounded. A number of Shin'yō-class suicide motorboats were also used in the Japanese suicide attacks.
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The Yamato, the greatest battleship ever built, also had the shortest active career of any capital ship in the Second World War. Intended originally to be the first of a `super` battle fleet, she was the foundation of Japanese naval hopes in defeating the Americans at sea. She was believed to be vastly superior in guns, speed and armour to any other warship in existence, as indeed she was, but without air cover, as the Japanese should have known following their destruction of the Royal Navy`s Prince of Wales and Repulse early in the war, these great assets were irrelevant.
Tasked with making a suicide attack on the Okinawa beaches, Yamato (right) was detected and sunk by American aircraft while still 270 miles away from her objective. US air superiority was overwhelming and, despite her massive anti-air defensive armament, the mighty warship was sent to the bottom without ever striking a decisive blow. Of a total crew of 3,332 only 269 were rescued. |
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The British Pacific Fleet, taking part as Task Force 57, was given the mission to neutralise the Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands, which form part of the Okinawa Prefecture, and lie to the southwest. By April 10 this goal had been achieved and the Royal Navy ships shifted their attention to airfields on northern Formosa. The force withdrew to San Pedro Bay on April 23 but returned to action on May 1, subduing the airfields as before, but this time from relatively close range, using naval bombardment as well as aircraft.
This staged propaganda photograph shows Japanese high school girls waving farewell to kamikaze pilots as they depart for Okinawa. Several kamikaze attacks caused significant damage to the Allied armada during the fight for the island, but as the Royal Navy carriers including HMS Formidable (R67) (below right) had armoured flight decks, they experienced only a brief interruption to operations. Formidable was struck by a suicide plane off Sakishima Gunto which caused a massive dent in her flight deck. A large steel splinter speared down through the hangar deck and the centre boiler-room where it ruptured a steam line, and came to rest in a fuel tank, starting a major fire in the aircraft park. Eight crew members were killed and forty-seven were wounded. One Vought Corsair and ten Grumman Avengers were destroyed. Fleet Air Arm Avengers, Seafires and Fireflies on HMS Implacable, are pictured below, warming up their engines prior to launch. (Following images © IWM).
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The naval element included in excess of forty carriers, eighteen battleships and almost two hundred destroyers. Four divisions made the initial ground assault, with three more in reserve. The Americans landed on Tokashiki, one of the group`s smaller inhabited islands, on 27 March 1945, prior to the main landing on Okinawa itself, which took place at dawn on 1 April, an Easter Sunday. Navy frogmen had cleared debris and obstacles from the beaches while the massive aerial and naval bombardment screened their activity from enemy observation posts.
Whitecaps broke over the Amtraks as they circled offshore, waiting for the order to move in, then the invasion got underway as the respective waves of assault craft headed for the beach. They landed across a six-mile front on the southwest coast and contrary to expectations, encountered only a shell-torn shoreline, very little enemy small arms fire, and a handful of dazed or dead civilians. The troops fanned out to the north and south, seizing two airfields, advancing in hours across miles of ground for which they had expected to fight for days. This continued for almost a week and the men were delighted to discover that there was no jungle, only sub-tropical vegetation. The hills were terraced and every inch of soil that could grow crops was tilled. Units advanced in almost carnival style, some men riding looted bicycles - then, everything changed.
Army units in the south were suddenly checked in their tracks by heavy artillery and machine gun fire. The Japanese commander General Mitsuru Ushijima, well aware that his defenders would have been quickly overcome had they attempted to stop the Americans on the beaches, had created a chain of fortresses well inland, known as the Shuri-line. Including local militia, almost 97,000 Japanese were deployed there, crowded into one of the narrowest perimeters of the entire war. The struggle that followed proved more intense than anything the the US forces had experienced in the Pacific, and another major point of resistance lay on Okinawa`s northern Mobutu peninsula.
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The second phase of the Okinawa Campaign consisted of the objectives of Ie Shima (now known as Iejima), , which housed the largest airfield of the islands, and Motobu Peninsula. With Rear Admiral Lawrence F. Reifsnider, USN, commanding the attack group, the U.S. Army's 77th division landed on April 16, 1945. American intelligence analysts, after studying aerial reconnaissance photos, thought that the Japanese had abandoned the airfield but as the ground forces moved inland, they realised they were facing a garrison of around 3,000 men. As in Iwo Jima, the defenders had dug an extensive networks of underground tunnels, in this case enhanced by Mt. Gosuki, but the island was secured on April 21.
Famed Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and war correspondent Ernie Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was killed on Ie Shima while covering the action. He`s pictured on the left sharing a cigarette with soldiers on le Shima shortly before his death from Japanese machine gun fire. Pyle was buried wearing his helmet, close to where he fell, among other battle casualties, between an infantry private and a combat engineer. In tribute to their friend, the men of the 77th Infantry Division erected a monument that still stands at the site of his death. Its inscription reads: "At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle, 18 April 1945." After the war, Pyle's remains were moved to a U.S. military cemetery on Okinawa. In 1949, his remains were some of the first to be interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. |
A total of 7,401 Japanese regulars and 3,400 Okinawan conscripts surrendered or were captured during the battle but many soldiers and civilian non-combatants killed themselves rather than be captured. The Battle ended on June 22, 1945, when the Japanese commander and chief of staff committed ritual suicide. Additional Japanese and renegade Okinawan militia were captured or surrendered over the next few months, bringing the total to 16,346. This was the first battle in the Pacific War in which large numbers of Japanese surrendered or were taken alive. (Image © Naval History & Heritage Command).
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As the Nazis did towards the end, the Japanese recruited many child soldiers, some as young as these two boys captured by US forces on Okinawa.
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B-29 Superfortresses about to set off from a Pacific island airbase on another bombing mission over Japan. US Navy Seabees quickly sprung into action and repaired the damage to the airstrips caused by US bombing and naval gunfire support on le Shima and the other islands in the Okinawa group.
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The Mitsubishi Ki-46-III 'Dinah', which first flew in 1939, was designed as a fighter and ground attack aircraft. Improvements meant that later production models became the fastest Japanese military plane of the Pacific War which made the type ideal for high-altitude reconnaissance. Dinahs were used to gather intelligence on the B-29 bases in the Marianas, using Iwo Jima as a refuelling stop before it fell to the Americans. This rare example of a Dinah was captured and passed to the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit in South East Asia at Tebrau along with a number of other Japanese aircraft, four of which were selected for shipment to the UK. This aircraft was never to fly again, eventually leaving storage in 1989 to go to Cosford. Here it was extensively restored with help from Mitsubishi of Japan and put on display.
Up until late in the war, Tokyo, unlike many of the world`s capital cities, was spared the devastation of mass aerial bombing, the only raid experienced being the relatively small-scale Doolittle mission of April 1942. This all changed in 1944 after the long-range B-29 Superfortress entered service, first deployed from China and thereafter the Mariana Islands. B-29 missions from those bases began on 17 November 1944, and lasted until 15 August 1945, the day of Japanese surrender.
One operation during the campaign was designated Operation Meetinghouse, which took place on the night of 9–10 March 1945 over Tokyo. It is the single most destructive bombing raid in human history, even greater than the devastation that would soon be caused by either of the atomic bombs. Of the city`s central area, 16 square miles (41 km2; 10,000 acres) were totally destroyed, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead and over one million homeless. Osaka,a large port city and commercial centre on the Japanese island of Honshu, was just one of 60-plus other cities obliterated by these raids.
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Left: Even rarer than the RAF Museum`s Dinah, this Kawasaki Ki-100-1b, also on display at Cosford, is the only one of its type to survive. Designed as a single-seat single-engine monoplane fighter, the first prototype made its maiden flight on 1 February 1945. The Japanese Army designation was "Type 5 Fighter" (Go-shiki sentouki or abbreviated as Goshikisen). Somewhat unusually It was not assigned an Allied code name.
The Ki-100 combined excellent power and manoeuvrability, and from the first operational missions in March 1945 until the Japanese surrender it performed better than most Japanese fighters against the USAAF B-29s, Thunderbolts and North American P-51 Mustang fighters, as well as the US Navy`s carrier-based Grumman F6F Hellcats. |
Around 272 Ki-100s were built from stored Ki-61s with another 118 built from scratch up to June 1945. The modified planes were adapted to accept a 14-cylinder Mitsubishi Ha-112-II radial engine in place of the original Kawasaki Ha-40 inverted V-12 inline engine which resulted in one of the best interceptors used by the Japanese during the entire war. Allied aircrews soon realised that they were facing a formidable adversary, especially in the hands of an experienced pilot, and the Empire`s Nakajima Ki-84 and Kawanishi N1K-J fighters weren`t far behind. Fortunately for the Allies, the number of operational enemy aircraft in the latter stages of the conflict dwindled significantly due to production and serviceability issues, as well as being shot down or destroyed in ground attacks.
The Bombs: Little Boy & Fat Man
In a 1939 letter to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Albert Einstein had warned of the Nazi regime`s efforts to build a nuclear weapon. Scientists in Berlin had managed to deliberately split a uranium atom into lighter elements and induced in the right way, this process can release enormous amounts of energy. Soon after, scientists showed just how much uranium would be needed to achieve critical mass and detonate a fission bomb, and they proved that they could also use plutonium for the task. By 1941, the American-led top secret Manhattan Project had joined the race to develop a working atomic bomb within the secret confines of Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico.
The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion (equivalent to about $23 billion in 2018). Over 90 percent of the cost was for building factories and to produce fissile material, with less than 10 percent for development and production of the weapons. Research and production took place at more than thirty sites across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
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Two types of atomic bombs were developed concurrently during the war: a relatively simple gun-type fission weapon and a more complex implosion-type nuclear weapon. The Thin Man gun-type design proved impractical to use with plutonium, and therefore a simpler gun-type called Little Boy was developed that used Uranium-235, an isotope that makes up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium. Since it was chemically identical to the most common isotope, Uranium-238, and had almost the same mass, separating the two proved difficult. Three methods were employed for uranium enrichment: electromagnetic, gaseous and thermal. Most of this work was performed at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The Little Boy bomb inside the Enola Gay.
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Hiroshima, a manufacturing centre of some 350,000 people located about 500 miles from Tokyo, was selected as the first target. After arriving at the US base on the Pacific island of Tinian, the uranium-235 bomb, Little Boy, which weighed more than 9,000-pounds, was loaded aboard a modified B-29 Superfortress christened Enola Gay after the mother of its pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets.
The bomber had a clear run in to target and at 08:15 hrs on Monday 6 August 1945 the devastating weapon was launched by parachute to detonate 2,000 feet above the city in a blast equal to 12-15,000 tons of TNT. Five square miles of the main populated area were obliterated. There were innumerable ways of dying. Those close to the epicentre were vaporised, burned to nothing in less than an instant. All that remained of them, had they been standing next to wall, was the imprint of their shadow. For a brief moment in time, the whole city centre became a lethal oven. |
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What had grown to become an industrial and commercial metropolis of a quarter of a million people was transformed into a dust cloud made up of billions of radioactive splinters of wood, glass, masonry and flesh, blown outwards and upwards with tremendous force. But the bomb had other deaths in store. Thousands of those who survived the blast on the periphery, whether badly injured, burned and blistered, or merely badly shocked, had been bombarded by neutrons and gamma rays. Most would have to endure a prolonged end due to the effects of radiation.
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Despite the horrors and the unprecedented display of Allied power, Hiroshima’s devastation failed to elicit an immediate Japanese surrender, so on August 9 Major Charles Sweeney flew another B-29 bomber, Bockscar, from Tinian. Thick clouds over the primary target, the city of Kokura, drove Sweeney to a secondary target, Nagasaki, where the plutonium bomb `Fat Man` was dropped at 11:02 that morning. More powerful than the one used at Hiroshima, the bomb weighed nearly 10,000 pounds and was built to produce a 22-kiloton blast. The topography of Nagasaki, which was nestled in narrow valleys between mountains, reduced the bomb’s effect, limiting the destruction to 2.6 square miles.
Once again the devastation was immense. The world had entered a new Atomic Age.
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(Images © the Atomic Heritage Foundation)
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Although Japanese military chiefs pleaded for a final battle even after the atomic bombs were dropped, the Emperor demanded an end to hostilities. When Hirohito made his radio address announcing surrender, he urged the Japanese people to `endure the unendurable and bear the unbearable`. The exhausted, war weary population was only too glad to comply. Apprehensive American troops began to occupy key points in Japan almost immediately but to their delight and amazement they encountered virtually no violent resistance and met with almost universal cooperation. For their part the Japanese civilians soon recognised that the Allied occupation would be benign and temporary.
It`s ironic that the Japanese and Americans, implacable foes during one of the most terrible wars of modern times, soon developed mutual respect and political friendship that has endured to this day. Below: Japanese troops lay down their arms in Burma while Indian soldiers look on...
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On the 75th anniversary of Japan`s surrender, the country`s current Emperor Naruhito expressed "deep remorse" over his country's actions during World War Two. "I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never again be repeated," he said. A scaled-back ceremony, due to COVID, was held at the Yasukuni Shrine, in Tokyo. The controversial shrine is seen as home to the spirits of Japan's 2.5 million war dead but it also honours 14 of Japan's wartime leaders, men who were later convicted as Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, general of the Imperial Japanese Army who served as Prime Minister of Japan for most of World War II. Korea and China consider any visit to the shrine by a senior Japanese politician as highly offensive and for that reason, Japan's emperor never visits the shrine.
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After Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, General Douglas MacArthur ordered the arrest of forty alleged war criminals, including Tojo. Five US soldiers were sent to serve the arrest warrant. As Americans surrounded Tojo's house on September 11, he shot himself in the chest with a pistol, but missed his heart etc*
He was nursed back to health and on April 29, 1946, with other Japanese wartime leaders, was indicted for war crimes before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. At the trial he was found guilty and then hanged. (to edit)* About 500 people were in attendance at the Yasukuni Shrine this month, compared to more than 6,000 last year and face masks were compulsory. |
Four senior members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet also made an appearance in a move that is likely to anger neighbouring China and South Korea. Mr Abe himself sent a ritual offering. These events will reinforce the view in Beijing and Seoul that 75 years after the war ended, Japan's ruling elite is still less than sincere in its remorse for the country's wartime aggression.
The teaching of Japan’s 20th century history to new generations has long been a source of controversy, within the country itself and between Japan and nations it occupied during WW2. Various elements are still ignored or only briefly touched upon, including the story of the Nanjing (Nanking) Massacre which took place in December 1937 at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, later atrocities committed against Allied and civilian POW, and the institution of military sexual slavery. Unlike in Germany, Japan`s youth, it seems, has not been made fully aware of the dark side of its past by the country`s education system.
The teaching of Japan’s 20th century history to new generations has long been a source of controversy, within the country itself and between Japan and nations it occupied during WW2. Various elements are still ignored or only briefly touched upon, including the story of the Nanjing (Nanking) Massacre which took place in December 1937 at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, later atrocities committed against Allied and civilian POW, and the institution of military sexual slavery. Unlike in Germany, Japan`s youth, it seems, has not been made fully aware of the dark side of its past by the country`s education system.
Construction & Development
Now that the construction workers are back in action, the new Abbotsinch Road development beside the airport is progressing rapidly.
The road layout continues to reveal itself and the foundations for the bridge supports over the Black Cart Water are well-advanced, but the most notable addition this month was a large section of footbridge which I saw for the first time on 20 August. I presume that this section will form part of the crossing over the White Cart Water which runs north from Paisley, joining the new business park with Renfrew.
The structure is actually closer to the Black Cart which is also due to get a pedestrian / cyclists-only bridge so we`ll have to wait and see where it`s headed.
The following slideshow has additional views of the work being carried out this month...
Over at the Paisley Moss side of the airfield, the stretch of cycleway passing through the nature reserve has received its first long-awaited post-COVID lockdown trim - all that`s needed now is a lot of sweeping up!
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The area around the perimeter of the airport is popular with overwintering birds, especially geese which prefer the less harsh Scottish seasonal conditions to those experienced in Scandinavia, Iceland or Svalbard (Spitsbergen) where they breed and spend much of their summer. The first flocks started to arrive in Renfrewshire this month, initially setting down to feed on the nutrient-rich fields between Walkinshaw Road and the Black Cart Water. Other species will gather and numbers can swell considerably especially during prolonged periods of extreme winter weather, creating a serious risk of an aircraft bird-strike.
I tent to overlook the reed-fringed duck pond in the Inchinnan Business Park but there are some great opportunities for photographing some common water waterfowl species including Moorhen, Coot and Little Grebes, especially when their chicks hatch - one to check out properly next spring.
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August in the Garden
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Another fairly quiet month in the garden. Unfortunately our vixen seems to have met her end as she no longer shows. Foxes are at constant risk from traffic, particularly at night, and sometimes dogs if they`re not under proper control. This youngster, another female, is thought to be her cub and appears most evenings.
With the colder months not too far away, the local Squirrels have already begun stashing emergency rations.
Just a couple of full moons snapped this month but on one night Venus, the second planet from the Sun, was also showing well so I thought I`d have a go at photographing it. Venus was only a tiny spec, but the shot below, taken hand-held at maximum zoom with my bridge camera then cropped and enhanced in Photoshop shows some of the surface detail. Venus and Mercury are the only planets in the Solar System that don`t have their own moons. Being the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, Venus can cast shadows and on very rare occasions can be visible to the naked eye in broad daylight. It has been a major fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed.
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Despite its hostile environment, Venus has been a prime target for early interplanetary exploration and was the first planet beyond Earth to be visited by a spacecraft (Mariner 2 in 1962), and the first to be successfully landed on (by the Soviet Venera 7 in 1970). The former, US-led mission saw the probe pass 21,644 miles (34,833 km) above the surface as it gathered data on the planet's atmosphere.
Both countries sent numerous missions to explore Venus and even though the Cold War was at its height, a joint Venera 4–Mariner 5 venture in June 1967 proved a success and both space agencies exchanged and analysed data in one of the earliest examples of space cooperation. |
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(Artist`s Impression © BBC News / Detlev Van Ravenswaay / SPL)
The following 180-degree panorama of Venus's barren, rocky surface was taken by the Soviet Venera 9 lander in 1975. Several lines are missing due to a simultaneous transmission of the scientific data. The first colour images of the surface weren`t obtained until 1982, with the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 landers.
The latest development, just revealed, is the extraordinary possibility that living organisms are floating in the clouds 50 kilometres above the surface of the planet after astronomers detected a substance in its atmosphere that they cannot explain. The gas, known as phosphane or phosphine (PH3), is a molecule made up of one phosphorus atom and three hydrogen atoms. On Earth, phosphine is associated with life, in microbes that live in the guts of animals such as penguins or in oxygen-poor environments such as swamps. The phosphine signal was confirmed by the Atacama Large Millimetre / Sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) telescope facility (see below) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observes electromagnetic radiation.
(Venus / ALMA Telescope iImages © BBC News/ AXA/ISAS/Akatsuki Project Team/ Detlev Van Ravenswaay / SPL)
A team of scientists has carried out an investigation in an attempt to show this molecule could have a natural, non-biological origin as it`s extremely unlikely that Venus could support such microbes. Dr William Bains, who's affiliated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA, is a biochemist on the team. He's studied various combinations of different compounds expected to be on Venus; he's examined whether volcanoes, lightning and even meteorites could play a role in making PH3 - and all of the chemical reactions he's investigated, he says, are 10,000 times too weak to produce the amount of phosphine that's been observed.
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The planet`s atmosphere is mostly made up of carbon dioxide, around 96% and surface temperatures are over 400C. And yet, go 50km up and it's actually much cooler but the clouds are mainly composed (75-95%) of sulphuric acid, which is catastrophic for the cellular structures that make up living organisms on Earth. One theory is that to survive the sulphuric acid, airborne Venusian microbes would either have to use some unknown, radically different biochemistry, or evolve a kind of armour. Cautious and intrigued, the team emphatically isn`t claiming to have found life on Venus, only that the idea needs to be further explored as scientists also hunt down any overlooked geological or physical, rather than biological, chemical pathways to phosphine.
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August 2020
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November 2020
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December 2020
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