My father was on a troopship (Kungsholm, the former flagship of the Swedish American Lines) that had just passed through the Panama Canal in May 1942. Destination: the Philippines.
A plane flew over the ship and a wrench with a message attached hit the deck. The Philippines have fallen. The ship was diverted to Australia and eventually the troops were based on New Caledonia.
It's fascinating to consider the technique of throwing a wrench from an aircraft and having it hit the target. Is it similar to being on a merry-go-round and dropping a straight pin into a milk bottle? The procedure is still in the rules and regs of the USAF (see p. 205) as a way to communicate with a vessel at sea with whom radio communication has been lost. Also it's a way to supply a vessel in distress. The example on p. 206 is that of a helicopter that ditched during refueling. The patterns for equipment and rescue drops are described (p. 207). Drop when the pilot says drop!
Here's a picture from Life magazine of a Navy plane dropping messages to a ship in Korea in July 1950. Still hard to feature, isn't it?
A plane flew over the ship and a wrench with a message attached hit the deck. The Philippines have fallen. The ship was diverted to Australia and eventually the troops were based on New Caledonia.
It's fascinating to consider the technique of throwing a wrench from an aircraft and having it hit the target. Is it similar to being on a merry-go-round and dropping a straight pin into a milk bottle? The procedure is still in the rules and regs of the USAF (see p. 205) as a way to communicate with a vessel at sea with whom radio communication has been lost. Also it's a way to supply a vessel in distress. The example on p. 206 is that of a helicopter that ditched during refueling. The patterns for equipment and rescue drops are described (p. 207). Drop when the pilot says drop!
Here's a picture from Life magazine of a Navy plane dropping messages to a ship in Korea in July 1950. Still hard to feature, isn't it?