Little Known Facts of World War II

[EMBATP]

If I am not mistaken, was it Taranto harbor in Italy. The British had to use wooden fins on their torpedoes for the shallow water of the Italian port. Britain vs. Italy. T he Japanese use the wooden fins on their torpedoes after the British experience.

 

[House_X]

If I am not mistaken, was it Taranto harbor in Italy. The British had to use wooden fins on their torpedoes for the shallow water of the Italian port. Britain vs. Italy. T he Japanese use the wooden fins on their torpedoes after the British experience.

Brits were flying the Kingfisher biplane...right? Or was it the Swordfish...

 

[Snakum]

Swastikas were used as a good symbol until the Nazis adopted it.

If I remember correctly ...

The Svastika (which looks a little different in it's Indian form) was the symbol used by the 'Aryan' people, meaning Noble Ones, who migrated Southward into the Indus Valley of Asia from Europe about 5000 years ago. They were the lighter-skinned people who subjugated the darker skinned natives and eventually gave us Hinduism and the caste system. Siddhartha Gautoma, the teacher known as the Buddha was a member of the Brahman caste which wore the symbol as bodily decoration and so it has become associated more with Buddhism (specifically Chan Buddhism and it's descendants such as Zen) than with Hinduism. The Svastika can still be found in many Japanese Zen (not used by the Pureland Sects in Japan), Chinese Chan, and Vietnamese Mahayana temples. I have one on my ceramic Vietnamese Buddha, in fact

I always found it amusing that the architects of Germany's National Socialism co-opted the symbol of a people who were, by the standards of the day, considered 'impure'.

Rev. Thich Minh Thong

 

[flywithastick]

If I am not mistaken, was it Taranto harbor in Italy. The British had to use wooden fins on their torpedoes for the shallow water of the Italian port. Britain vs. Italy. T he Japanese use the wooden fins on their torpedoes after the British experience.

Wooden fins - why? Buoyancy?

 

[Typhoon1244]

If I am not mistaken, was it Taranto harbor in Italy. The British had to use wooden fins on their torpedoes for the shallow water of the Italian port. Britain vs. Italy. T he Japanese use the wooden fins on their torpedoes after the British experience.

Give that man a cigar.

Originally posted by House_X
Brits were flying the Kingfisher biplane...right? Or was it the Swordfish...

Fairey Swordfish. The Kingfisher was the U.S. Navy's Vought OS2U, which came out later in the war.

Originally posted by flywithastick
Wooden fins - why? Buoyancy?

Weight. Take a look at the Swordfish...whould you add any more weight to your payload if you could avoid it?

 

[flywithastick]

whould you add any more weight to your payload if you could avoid it? [/B]

EMBATP - If I am not mistaken, was it Taranto harbor in Italy. The British had to use wooden fins on their torpedoes for the shallow water of the Italian port. Britain vs. Italy. T he Japanese use the wooden fins on their torpedoes after the British experience.

These comments made it sound like they were required for the shallow harbor... Still can't see why wood would buy anything. Conserving on use of metal maybe?

 

[metrodriver]

I believe the Finnish airforce had a swatika as national symbol on their airplanes during wwII. It was standing as a + instead of a X .