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xoxoxoBruce Saturday Sep 24 08:48 PM |
Sept 25th, 2016: Judas Goats During the big one, WW II, bombing was a serious deadly business, so what is this a clown plane? classicman Sunday Sep 25 08:39 AM Nor I - Bizarre. Snakeadelic Sunday Sep 25 09:28 AM I'd never heard of these guys either, although I do know what a Judas goat is. Fitting nickname, really. Carruthers Sunday Sep 25 12:01 PM I hadn't heard of these aircraft either. Diaphone Jim Sunday Sep 25 12:03 PM Tired aircraft and crew members who had served their time in battle performing a vital task. Pamela Sunday Sep 25 07:14 PM I knew of this from my studies of the Eighth Air Force in Britain. Still, a fascinating sidelight to a long saga. Snakeadelic Monday Sep 26 07:58 AM Diaphone Jim, if a farmboy calls something a Judas goat, that thing is not perceived in a happy or friendly light, so at least some of the flight and ground crews weren't happy about the job these planes did. I've been around enough farms, boys, and goats to have picked up a few details... Carruthers Monday Sep 26 09:03 AM Quote:
Have you read 'Secret Squadrons of the Eighth'? There's a copy going on Amazon US for $0.99 + $3.99 shipping. Has 5 x 5* reviews. A good read for under five bucks. Beest Monday Sep 26 09:48 AM Quote:
xoxoxoBruce Monday Sep 26 09:55 AM Because the odds of not coming back were pretty high. Those hundreds of crews all knew that, but everybody was in the same boat... except the Assembly ships. footfootfoot Monday Sep 26 11:43 AM Sorry, I thought you said go... SPUCK Monday Oct 3 03:12 AM I've seen those planes many times! But I never knew what they did. As a kid I had an "Airplane Book". It had those planes in it but it just identified the type of plane. Snakeadelic Monday Oct 3 08:57 AM For anyone who hasn't looked up "Judas goat" yet, it's an animal trained to lead its own kind quietly and calmly up the kill ramp at the slaughterhouse. The clown planes and their crews got to stay at the relative safety of the base while the other fliers ran enormous odds of horrible fiery death. That's why the animosity. Diaphone Jim Monday Oct 3 12:12 PM Actually Judas Goats were (are?) trained to lead sheep. They provided a necessary, even humane, function at the facilities. SPUCK Tuesday Oct 4 12:01 AM I agree Diaphone and those crews were "assigned" not skating or shirking hazard. I'm sure it was quasi-dark humor and an important moral tool.
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