The official AHF British Empire quiz thread

[Rob Stuart]

Sheldrake,

I think Dicky Cork was a genuine triple front ace but yes, it is Bob Davidson I was thinking of. Note that at the bottom of the page at http://www.acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/davidson.htm there is a reference to an article about him called "Triple Front Ace" published in the Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Summer 1964. The author was Hugh Halliday and I have a copy of it. Presumably the reason Hugh did not call Davidson a "Quadruple Front Ace" (apart from the fact that Korea was not a WW2 front) was that he did not shoot anything down over Korea.

I actually have some doubt about Davidson being an ace. He is credited with shooting down a Zero on 5 April 1942 over Colombo but so are two other pilots and the Japanese in fact only lost one. One of the other two pilots appears to me to be much more likely to have shot down that Zero. He was also credited with shooting down a Val on the same day. Well, the Japanese lost only five Vals to 30 Squadron and its pilots claimed far more than five. As noted in the June 26 CP (Canadian Press wire service) at the referenced link, 30 Squadron's Canadian pilots by themselves claimed eight bombers. That left -3 for the rest of the squadron! I cannot say if Davidson did or did not shot down a Val, but if he did not then his score was only four.

Well done. Over to you.

Rob

[Sheldrake]

Which WW2 British soldiers held an Olympic Gold medal as well as a Victoria Cross?

and for a bonus, which battle did one of his descendent (son or grandson) and namesake play a prominent part? (It can only be a bonus as its post ww2)

[Rob Stuart]

Sheldrake,

You wrote "soldiers" but in the next line you wrote "his". Did you mean to write "soldier"?

Rob

[Sheldrake]

Soldier. I know of only one.

Though., there is a related question: "Which German won the Ritterkreuz in WW2 and a Gold medal in the 1936 Olympic Games; which Olympic team was he part of in 1964, and what is paradoxical about his location on 6th June 1944?

[Rob Stuart]

Philip Neame. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Nea ... oria_Cross)

Rob

[Sheldrake]

correct.

[Rob Stuart]

Thanks Sheldrake.

Next question: Canada produced three types of tanks during WW2 but so far as I can see used none of them in combat (not as tanks, anyway). What were those three types?

Rob

[Rob Stuart]

Okay, hint time:

One of the three tank models built in Canada was a Canadian design, albeit the starting point was a foreign tank. The other two were foreign designs.


Rob

[Attrition]

Ram, Valentine, er....

[Sheldrake]

I think Attrition is almost there as, in addition to the Valentine and the Ram, David Fletcher wrote that the Ram factory was turned over the "Grizzly" AKA a Sherman built in Canada from components from over the border. Attrition deserves the go if you agree with the three in David Fletcher's books

[Attrition]

What was the code-name for the plan to go to war against the USSR in 1940?

[Rob Stuart]

Ram, Valentine, er....

You got two thirds of it, so yes I'd give it to you, Attrition. See
http://www.junobeach.org/e/4/can-tac-arm-can-e.htm#null for info on the Valentine and Ram, and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_I_cruiser for the Grizzly.

Well down,

Rob

[Rob Stuart]

What was the code-name for the plan to go to war against the USSR in 1940?

I'm not sure what you're referring to. Perhaps you mean the plan to send a couple of brigades to Finland to help in its defence against the Soviet invasion, occupying the northern Swedish iron ore mines en route. So far as I can see no codename was assigned to this plan. The force which was to execute it was called Force Stratford, I believe. The codename WILFRED referred to the mining of the Noregian leads but I don't think that it encompassed the Finnish operation.

There was also the proposal to bomb the oil wells at Baku, from Syria I think, but I don't know what codename, if any, was assigned to this plan.

Or are you thinking of some other plan?

Rob

[Attrition]

Clue: Bombing the Cauasian oil fields.

[Polar bear]

hi,

Operation PIKE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pike

greetings, the pb