In 1970, I was riding in a train in Italy. The railroad car was not like any I had seen up to that point.
It was like a living room on wheels. Across from me was a guy sitting there relaxed. He asked me where we were from (My ex wife and I).
His English was very good. He sounded as if he had come from Dayton, OH.
I told him we came from Dayton, OH. He said it was a small world wasn't it?
I knew, some how, this was going to be a good story.
Every body has one if you think about it.
He said he lived the good life in Dayton after the conclusion of WW II
The story begins like this: Two US Army officers came to his house in Germany and spoke with him. They wanted to verify if he was the fellow that they were trying find. They asked if he was Major so and so. He replied that he was.
They asked if he was responsible for the Luftwaffe air charts and navigation maps of North Africa. He said he was.
They compared his signature with the signatures on the documents they were holding. He was then asked if he would like to come work for the US Government
( Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the USA )
He thought for a moment. Germany was in ruins from the war.
This was opportunity knocking!
At this point, he went into detail with me about his idea that got him a cushy job at Wright Patt.
He was in the Luftwaffe, serving in the Afrika Corp. The Allies did not have accurate charts maps of the region. The Luftwaffe didn't either.
That is, not until he got his idea!
He gathered materials together late one night. Bags of powdered white chalk, tape rules, stakes, hammers, flat blade shovels and a grunt.
It was a probably a second lieutenant or a private.
They went over to a FIESELER STORCH
It was a Short field take off aircraft with an inverted V8 engine.
FIESELER STORCH SHORT FIELD TAKE OFF
They loaded their supplies into the short field take off and landing plane.
Once the engine was started, they flew way out into the North African terrain.
When they arrived at his location of choice, they descended to begin putting his plan into action.
On the deck, they removed their cargo. They dug out a large plus sign on the desert floor. They put a stake into the center.
Walking west with tape rule in hand, they went 100 meters (about 300 feet) and dug another plus sign. Carefully, they filled the two plus signs with the white powdered chalk.
They went back to the plane. They were trying to avoid getting a hernia as they moved the aircraft around by hand. The object in all of this was to avoid blowing the chalk dust out of the plus signs. They made sure the prop wash didn't undo their effort.
They flew back to the Luftwaffe base under cover of heavy darkness.
The following morning he requisitioned a twin engine bomber. He had a very large format camera installed into the bomb bay. He fired up the engines and took off, a man on a mission. Out into the North African wilderness he flew.
The camera was a motorized unit that would make (registry) marks on the negative and roll the film to the next frame.
When ever he pressed the camera button, it would take a large extremely detailed format photo of what was far below.
Snapping the camera trigger would also make a registry mark on the side of the negative. He flew a very large checkerboard pattern.
He kept a close eye on his wrist watch to make the timing coincide with his goals.
Any uncharted roads, trails, water wells and places of human activity would be revealed buried in the details of these spy photos.
We have here the man who established aerial reconnaissance into a new level of intelligence gathering.
He returned to the airbase. He gave the ground crew orders to remove the camera.
Take the camera to the lab. When the film is processed, bring it to my office.
He said that he poured over the photos for hours until he found the two plus signs on the film.
Voila! He had his scale. Everything was fantastic in the kartographic operations.
They had razor sharp accuracy in their maps of North Africa. We did not!
The man's idea got him a sweetheart deal at Wright Patterson AFB Dayton, OH after the war!
On another note of interest in this story: Before WW II, Frigidaire had some refrigerators from the line that were flawed. It was not cost effective to repair them. They were not about to sell these.
They cut another deal with a farmer from West Carrollton, OH
PS This was the area of the world's first seaplane base built by Orville Wright !
The farmer had a lot of land near the Miami River. They paid him to dump these on his property.
As WW II broke out, the US Army paid this farmer to allow them to retrieve these materials. They needed all the steel they could get for the war effort. The farmer came out quite well on the deal.
After the war was over, Frigidaire had some more refrigerators from the line that were flawed. They cut another deal with this farmer from West Carrollton, OH to resume their scrapping of product that failed to make the cut.
In the late fifties, I used to hang around the airport in Miami Shores.
I was always interested in aircraft.
One day in the club house, one of the guys who flew out of that field showed something quite interesting. Here, laying before us was a huge USAF recon photo. It was the likes of nothing I had ever seen before.
It covered a distance from about Middletown, OH to the lower end of Dayton, OH.
This huge USAF recon photo, in my memory,
appeared to be as long as a typical bed blanket and a half.
The group of fliers and I were astonished by the detail produced in this massive photo.
Some of these guys brought attention to the refrigerators on this West Carrollton farmers land.
With the naked eye, you could count every one of those refrigerators on this West Carrollton farmers land.
This photo had to have been made by a high altitude USAF recon aircraft.
Remember, this was back in the fifties!
I went to High School with that farmer's sons.
This location was close to the seaplane operations conducted by Orrville Wright.
Yes, the same guy who, with his brother Wilbur invented the airplane.
I am deeply perturbed by the dedication of some individuals who wish to hide our great American history!
This brings me back to the Luftwaffe Major and the account that he shared with me a long time ago.
Yes, in a far away land rich in history and stories that are amazing.
He accepted a job at Wright Patterson AFB Dayton, OH.
His specialty: Using his mind to see things that others did not.
Thus it was that he made quite a contribution to the American Military Intelligence Operations.
Oh yes! He did get paid quite handsomely for his services.
What has all of this got to do with a farmer from West Carrollton?
Just another piece of history that is well hidden from our knowledge.
It is quite rare when things like this make their way into our cocnsciousness.
When I was a kid living in Dayton in the late 40's and early fifties, these brutes
( B-36 bombers) would come to nest at Wright Patt AFB
They came in low over South Park in a large squadron formation.
The noise was unbelievable.
In the school I attended (made of stone) we had cast iron desks.
The vibration was unreal. Our books would scatter from our desk onto the floor.
These brutes were casting shadows over the graves of the Wright Brothers nearby in Woodland cemetery.
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