Those defence cuts again - by Richard... Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Those defence cuts again - by Richard... Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Russians, it seems are to invest heavily in inflatable tanks (above) and other "blow-up" hardware copies, all to deceive her enemies as to how many toys the military actually has. Even missile launchers can be purchased (below) and, not to be outdone, the Septics have whole squadrons of dummy F-16s (belower).

There is a good precedent for this. During WWII, we made good use of decoys, even going to the extent of making whole airfields and towns. In total, there were approximately 630 Decoy Sites in the UK, of which, 230 were airfields and 400 were towns, marshalling yards steelworks, foundry and factory complexes.

At the end of the war, it was claimed t5hat the dummy airfields had been bombed 443 times, with the operational aerodromes being bombed 434 times. The decoy towns were bombed about 100 times, drawing some five percent of the bombs intended for towns and cities. Official figures declared that Decoy Sites saved an estimated 2,500 lives and avoided 3,000 injuries.

Some might argue that this is the answer to our pressing need to save money on defence. We can get rid of all our Challies and buy in the rubber stuff, saving ourselves a fortune.

But a better thought occurs. If we really want to save money, we can get rid of all our MPs and buy in rubber decoys to stuff the House of Commons. These can be bought "off the shelf", so to speak – one of the cheaper models illustrated below.

For a little bit more, you can even acquire ones that look nearly real ... not that one needs to go that far. As long as some of the seats in the House are filled, the detail doesn't matter that much.

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Day 46 - Battle of Britain - by Richard... Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The weather finally cleared, sufficient to permit a relatively high level of air operations, although a morning haze delayed flying in some areas. It did not stop an early raid on Great Yarmouth, though. Missed by radar, it was picked up by the Observer Corps but too late for any effective interception. The force dumped about 20 HE bombs west of the harbour, affecting public services for a while. By the time a section of No. 66 Sqn Spitfires got there from Coltishall, the raiders were long gone.

Shortly afterwards, two forces of some strength were detected building up behind Cap Gris Nez. Squadrons were acrambled to protect the forward airfields. By 08:15hrs the forces were being tacked as they crossed the Channel, by which time more forces were building up, although these showed no indications that they were about to follow. Nevertheless, more RAF squadrons were sent aloft, building the defending force to six squadrons and two flights.

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