Post by Catsmate on Jul 18, 2024 18:17:30 GMT
A quickie from my Ideas file, which desperately needs cleaning. It would suit the Misfit Mob or any Earthbound group, though time travellers could also get involved.
The Grey Ghost.
The Grey Lady was, and quite probably is, a Consolidated B-24 Liberator (wiki), specifically a B-24H, that was built and served during World War 2. It was assigned to the 118th Bombardment Squadron1 of the USAAF 34th Bombardment Group2.
On a mission against targets in Northern France in May of 1944 in support of Operation Overlord, the plane was listed as lost with all crew (eleven).
About ten hours it reappeared on the ground at its base in RAF Mendlesham3 a few hours later
The plane was renamed Silver Voodoo and assigned to a new crew. After a single sortie over France the crew refused, as a group, to ever fly the aircraft again. They were held for court martial while the aircraft was examined.
On a test flight the Grey Ghost disappeared again, along with the two pilots and flight engineer. The crew were quietly released, broken up and reassigned to other aircraft and units.
Sometime last night the Grey Ghost returned home; this morning farmers4 found her sitting on the last remaining full-width section, at the north-east end, of runway 02/20. Most of the rest of that runway remain, though reduced to single-track farm access road. Some of the land is operated as a grass field for micro-light aircraft.
There is no way a twenty-seven tonne aircraft could have been brought there, there is equally no possibility of a conventional landing5. But there she sits, loaded with eight tonnes of aviation fuel and those four-and-a-half tonnes of bombs.
Someone better investigate.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. A fictional squadron
2. A real unit. USAAF Group = RAF Wing.
3. A real place, though little of the airfield remains.
4. Most of the base was returned to agricultural use.
5. Which would require a minimum of five hundred metres.
The Grey Ghost.
The Grey Lady was, and quite probably is, a Consolidated B-24 Liberator (wiki), specifically a B-24H, that was built and served during World War 2. It was assigned to the 118th Bombardment Squadron1 of the USAAF 34th Bombardment Group2.
On a mission against targets in Northern France in May of 1944 in support of Operation Overlord, the plane was listed as lost with all crew (eleven).
About ten hours it reappeared on the ground at its base in RAF Mendlesham3 a few hours later
- Curiously reports vary greatly in their description of the aircraft's airworthiness, ranging from 'immaculate' to 'fir only for scrapping for parts'.
The plane was renamed Silver Voodoo and assigned to a new crew. After a single sortie over France the crew refused, as a group, to ever fly the aircraft again. They were held for court martial while the aircraft was examined.
On a test flight the Grey Ghost disappeared again, along with the two pilots and flight engineer. The crew were quietly released, broken up and reassigned to other aircraft and units.
- The plane is a typical four-engined heavy bomber of the period, large and lumbering, with a maximum speed of about 480km/h (dependent on fuel, payload and altitude). It is armed with ten heavy machine guns and over twelve thousand rounds of ammunition for them and carried, on the mission on which it first disappeared, ten 500lb M-64 general purpose bombs.
Sometime last night the Grey Ghost returned home; this morning farmers4 found her sitting on the last remaining full-width section, at the north-east end, of runway 02/20. Most of the rest of that runway remain, though reduced to single-track farm access road. Some of the land is operated as a grass field for micro-light aircraft.
There is no way a twenty-seven tonne aircraft could have been brought there, there is equally no possibility of a conventional landing5. But there she sits, loaded with eight tonnes of aviation fuel and those four-and-a-half tonnes of bombs.
Someone better investigate.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. A fictional squadron
2. A real unit. USAAF Group = RAF Wing.
3. A real place, though little of the airfield remains.
4. Most of the base was returned to agricultural use.
5. Which would require a minimum of five hundred metres.