In a comment to a recent blog post (“to help Rommel make up his mind to quit,” 1944) about a WWII letter written by an alum of my alma mater (Rice University, Houston, Texas), the daughter of the letter-writer described a post-D-Day event that her father (Capt. Thomas Hardy Jackson, Jr.) told her about, but she hadn't seen described elsewhere. Has anyone heard of or have more information about this: "My father was the lead person responsible for WWII airplane readiness at the Norfolk Airbase in England. The Allied planes that did return after a night of bombing would come back shot up. As lead mechanic, he supervised the repairs so that the planes could be returned to service. ... "My father said that after the D Day landing he got a frantic summons to fly to the shores of France to personally assess a disaster. Apparently the tanks were lined up facing Germany to intentionally appear as if ready to move forward. The reality is that they couldn’t move. He landed and inspected. His conclusion: waterlogged spark plugs. His solution: remove the spark plugs, fly with them back to England, dry them out in airbase ovens and return them as fast as possible before the Germans found out. ... The entire set amounted to only a couple of boxes, were all in one plane for a brief time and the Germans didn’t know. "Apparently Patton was so impressed that he tried to have my father reassigned to him. ..."
Interesting story: Why not just ask for new spark plugs to be flown out, rather than wait for the old ones to be dried?? I would have thought that somewhere in northern France in the month between D Day and Pattons arrival someone, somewhere would have had a whole load of spare spark plugs, it isn't as if they cost $1000's each. TD
An interesting story yes, but I'm afraid that's all it is. Where did the plane land? Apparently the tanks were lined up facing Germany. They only had to be facing inland to be facing Germany. There was not a mechanic or a Tankman on the beaches who knew what the problem was? Plenty of fuel to make a fire on the beach to dry the plug out. at the Norfolk Airbase in England. As a Norfolk boy,That bit impressed me most. Wonder which one of the 22 he served at. List of Norfolk airfields - Wikipedia Home | American Air Museum in Britain
Sounds like a bit of a tall tale. Pretty basic stuff that any tanker would know. Step one is to check for fuel and step two is to check for spark. The people on the ground in France would already know if the spark plugs were the culprit. Plus water would be much more likely to affect the plug wires and distributor than the plugs. I've seen a few boat engines get dunked and the spark plugs can be dried off with a cloth. There isn't any porous material on them.
scary to think that a couple of boxes of spark plugs could have cost us the war, lucky Michael Palin was on hand to rectify the situation.
Thinking again about this overnight - if correct (which I dont think it is) it doesn't leave you with much confidence with either the vehicle mechanics already in France or the method of training they had been given prior to a 'wet landing'. Why would Patton be concerned with such a lowly matter, if he was then he should have reprimanded the Regt/Div or whatever that details with maintenance?? Also as the Germans had some aircover, they would have noted these tanks not moving, and responded accordingly. They also had enough Panther tanks there to not be intimidated by a few Shermans sitting in a static line. We have had other threads on here in a similar vain, many of those are normally connected to - "my dad served with the SAS ...................... " TD
As with all these stories facts get mixed with fiction. It is possible that aircraft mechanics were sent to France to work on Sherman tanks as they were fitted with a R975 Radial engine similar to aircraft engines. But the question is when? I would suggest late June to late July 44. Why? I would suggest it would be to help the regular mechanics to service all the tanks that were being prepared for the Normandy Breakout Offensive. 1st Aug 1944. (Patton Flew into France roughly a month after D day). So all change for plugs, oil,filters Etc. Now mechanic's being mechanic's would keep anything which looked still usable and would sling it in a box saying "That might come in handy". and take it back to base to be cleaned refurbished later. It is possible that Patton mentioned that the Air force Mechanic's had done a good Job and should be kept on. But stories are just stories without facts.
Patton was in the UK on D-Day and for a month thereafter, being 'seen' as the OC the Phantom Army (Operation Fortitude South and Operation Quicksilver). He only arrived in France on 6 July 1944.
But then if he was such a great mechanic wouldn't he be required back at base (in Norfolk) repairing aircraft, they were just as valuable to the breakout, and would be more reliant on fully working engines serviced by the very best mechanics they had. TD
TD I was just trying to surmise what could have happened I guess it is just one of those mysteries. 19th April 1944, when he wrote that letter, he was with 93 Bomb Group, 328 Bomb squadron. This would place him at RAF Hardwick nr Bungay Norfolk. (USAAF station 104) RAF Hardwick - Wikipedia The detachment rejoined the group in October 1943, and until April 1945 the 93rd concentrated on bombardment of strategic targets such as marshalling yards, aircraft factories, oil refineries, chemical plants, and cities in Germany. In addition it bombed gun emplacements, choke points, and bridges near Cherbourg during the Normandy invasion in June 1944. It attacked troop concentrations in northern France during the Saint-Lô breakthrough in July 1944; transported food, gasoline, water, and other supplies to the Allies advancing across France, August - September 1944; dropped supplies to airborne troops in the Netherlands. Again no mention of his name. 93rd Bomb Group | American Air Museum in Britain Nor here, nor any detachment leaving base for other duties.
I think all involved in this (present and non present) can only be surmising. I think we are all fairly certain in our own opinions on this subject. Personally I await to see some real proof. Nice response above by the way TD
Before the Japanese quality revolution of the 1980s it was quite common for cars not to start in wet weather. I can remember my father heating the distributor cap and leads and sparking plugs in the kitchen oven. The problems caused by immersing vehicles in sea water when landing over a beach were a different magnitude. The attachment is an article from the REME Journal 1981 about the programme for waterproofing vehicles for D Day. This alludes to a problem where hudreds of vehicles had the same problem. The OP's anecdote might refer to a problem that afflicted, say, all the tanks in a replacement vehicle park. That might explain vehicles lined up facing Germany. It might also make sense to deploy mechanics from the UK rather than pull them from units in the field.
There is usually some truth in such stories. Some thoughts. The USAAF was part of the army although trying hard to be independent. It would be fairly simple to send a USAAF expert in R975 Radial engines to look at a problem. While some US tanks in Europe had radials the majority had Ford V8 petrol engines so the USAAF would have the greater expertise. Mike
