IS IT POSSIBLE?

[David Brown]

Is it possible that the German's could have succesfully developed stealth technology in 1944?

I am asking this question for a reason and apologies if you find it long-winded.

Chic Henderson was a well known singer prior to WW2. He joined the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the war. He died on the 25th June 1944 while he was serving ashore and stationed in the Royal Pier Hotel in Southsea.

His widow received a letter that told her that her husband had been hit by a piece of shrapnel from a British AK-AK gun while he was making his way to air raid shelters when the sirens started.

Frank Wappat, BBC broadcaster and author who was in the process of writing Chic Henderson’s biography became suspicious and made enquiries. He found that the Senior Air Raid Wardens Log listed no air raid warnings being given for that day. Witnesses confirm this and put the point that the AK-AK guns were cited well away from the hotel and would have been firing in the opposite direction AWAY from the hotel. So how could he have received a shrapnel wound?

He then found the mortuary report on Chic’s body. The cause of death was listed as “BULLET WOUND”. Digging even further he found witnesses who verified that the Hotel, which would have been known by German Intelligence to be housing Royal Navy Officers, was actually strafed by a lone fighter.

This all happened after the D-Day landings had started. All of the airways over the operations of D-Day would have been covered and anything that remotely resembled a German aeroplane would have been fired on at the very least.

A lone fighter it would appear has completely by-passed the Allied defences, not shown up on British radar as it has flown along the British coastline and attacked a Hotel where known naval officers were based.

How? And why the cover up about the shrapnel?

All thought, views, and explanations warmly welcome.

Dave

[Lobscouse]

Maybe it was not a Luftwaffe fighterplane, but a disoriented RAF or USAAF fighter pilot. :roll:

Well, it happens, doesn't it?

[David Brown]

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And prehaps the Germans didn't like his singing either!

The point is that an aircraft got through unnoticed and the question remains the same. How?

[Lobscouse]

True, he was not a great singer.

I find it a little out of the ordinary for the British Government (in this case The Admiralty) elaborating on all the circumstances of a serviceman's wartime death. The notifications were briefly worded, i.e. Killed in action,
died as a result of enemy action, but you know that. Did the BBC broadcaster actually see a letter with all this stuff about shrapnel? Was the wife embellishing the details of her husbands passing? After all these years it would not be unusual; you hear it all the time.

What was left of the German air force at that time would be hard pressed trying to stem the allied advance.

Radar in 1944 was not an impenetrable shield, particularly against a low flying ac skimming across the English Channel.

So my feeling is that it is just another war story. I mean that in the sense of what you can hear in the Legion on any Saturday night. No advanced technology on the German side; we got it all after their surrender.

[Takao]

I would have to say very possible for a single plane to raid Britain undetected. Remember back in the 80's when a 19 year old West German landed a Cessna at the Kremlin. The German plane may even have been detected, but misidentified as a friendly aircraft or have been presumed not to have been a threat.

[Misereor]

WW2 radar was poor enough that single planes could go undetected very easily.

There are cases of german fighter formations going unnoticed by radar crews because they were travelling beneath returning Allied bomber formations.

Besides...
What coverup? Sounds more like a screwup to me.

[Gwynn Compton]

IIRC the GO-229 did somewhat resemble the B2 Stealth bomber. It may have well had a low radar profile.

Gwynn

[daveh]

The Go 229 was a development of the Horten brothers design Ho IX adapted for production and service use. The Horten brothers designs had no vertical or tail surfaces. This concept was not the result of any desire to reduce radar signature. The resemblance between the Ho IX/G0 229 and the B2 is the result of both being tail less designs. The B2 was designed for reduced radar signature hence the more angular appearance of its wing. Any similar result for the Go 229 would have been incidental.

The use of low level flying is still used as a means of avoiding radar detection. Simple human error may result in the loss of a single aircraft track. As has been mentioned the use of enemy formations as cover is a possibility.

I agree with Misereor sounds like a screw up and not a deep dark conspiracy.

It seems a bit of a leap to go from this one incident - bearing in mind the caveats mentioned in other postings - to the Germans having stealth tecnology which they dont seem to have used elswhere and didnt appear to have been captured by the Allies at war's end.

[David Brown]

I find it a little out of the ordinary for the British Government (in this case The Admiralty) elaborating on all the circumstances of a serviceman's wartime death. The notifications were briefly worded, i.e. Killed in action, died as a result of enemy action, but you know that. Did the BBC broadcaster actually see a letter with all this stuff about shrapnel? Was the wife embellishing the details of her husbands passing? After all these years it would not be unusual; you hear it all the time.

Sorry Lobscouse - I should have elaborated a bit more. The letter she received with all the detail in was NOT from the Admiralty, who would have worded it in the way say. It was sent to her by a Padre (I am assuming he was a naval padre), The Reverend C B Naylor.

Obviously the BBC broadcaster did see the letter and it was he who unearthed all the material with regard to the Air Raid Wardens Log and the Mortuary Report, but I do take your point.

Dave

PS - I didn't think he was all that bad a singer really!

[Lobscouse]

Yes, the good old padre would be the one to follow up on the official telegram.

Chic Henderson, as far as I can recollect, was a crooner who affected an American style of singing. I seem to also associate him with Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine.

But, strange things happen in time of war, and that story is one of many such from that time. It occured to me that it was a cover up of the real circumstances of his death, i.e. that he may have died in some covert operation. Who knows?

Anyway, that was not the question, sorry for getting sidetracked.

[David Brown]

It's a valid point Lobscouse.

I got to know about this incident listening to Frank Wappat's broadcasts which I used to record (yes, I admit it, I have a soft spot for old time music, dance bands and swing). The full contents of Reverend C.B. Naylor's letter was read out and I have it somewhere on tape but I can't find it at the moment because of got hundreds of the things that I never bothered to date. Once I find it I'll put it up in a post.

By the way, Chic wasn't my favourite singer either, he wasn't bad but he wasn't the best. Al Bowlly gets my vote for that closely followed by Sam Brown (no relation), but he did do a better job on Begin The Beguine then Julio Englasias (I can't pronounce his name let alone spell it!).

[gabriel pagliarani]

Go-229 never flew. But the British De Havilland Mosquito was a stealth intruder exactly as we think the actual American F-117 must be. Metric wavelengths of Freya radars were easily absorbed by ligneous structures and Mosquitoes were high performances woody planes. Only in late 1944 German radars were equipped with the Magnetron, cutting 100 times detecting wavelenghts. Also other "twin booms" De Havilland jets were ligneous made. Dad flew with the Vampire just after the war and he said that the only real enemy of that good plane were woodworms, moths and mushrooms.

[kobold]

http://www.walkerboyz.pwp.blueyonder.co ... _Go229.jpg

dave

[Blitzkreig]

-
I dunno, it all sounds fishy. The realistic side of me is saying, im sure it was just a USAAF fighter plane on accident or a RAF plane firing on something and a stray bullet went someplace..and that there were over hunders of thounsands of causleites of the war ya know? but the toher side of me is saying...wait a mintue...there's just two many thingsgone the wrong direction, to many things not mentioned and why the cover up? who knows...i would think it would have been pretty awesome if the germans devolped stealth techonology and the allies still to this day wont admit it or give any light on it, because think about it. If tehy do, i mean they would have to give credit to someone else and...the NAZI's none the less
-Brian

[David Brown]

Hello Lobscouse and everybody else following this thread.

I've found it, my house is now in ruins but I found the tape I was on about. Here is the contents of the Reverend C.B.Taylor's letter...it is decidedly odd!

26th June 1944

Dear Mrs Roundtree

This may be the first letter that you open bringing you the very sad news of the fatal accident that occurred to your husband last night here at Southsea.

It’s with very great regret that I write to tell you about this.

We were all making our way to the shelters after a warning. We could distinctly hear the pilotless plane in the sky. Chic, as his friends all called him, was in the passageway leading from the emergency stairs to the shelter when he was suddenly seen to fall unconscious.

We carried him into the back of the hotel where it was warm and sent for the doctor. Chic didn’t regain consciousness. A splinter from an exploded shell or metal container had pierced his side.

It was a quick and painless death. I can assure you he had very little pain or physical suffering.

We’re all deeply distressed at this terrible accident and I know that I am speaking on behalf of all the officers here when I say how much we sympathise with you in your sorrow. Chic was very popular here and like by everyone.

I’ve had long chats with his cabin mates and friends, and they’ve told me how devoted he was to you and to his little daughter. He was a splendid fellow, and one we can ill do without these days.

This must be a terrible time for you and I feel deeply for you in your sorrow. Please believe me to be sincere in all that I write and accept this small message of deep sympathy.

Yours very sincerely

C.B. Naylor