Warfare in News

Posted on Thursday 4th October

A dramatic new Channel 4 documentary called The Plane Crash will air on Thursday, 11 October at 9pm.

The Plane Crash follows an international team of experts, scientists and elite pilots as they deliberately crash land a 170-seat Boeing 727 passenger jet, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study the mechanics of a plane crash in real time.

The programme hopes to answer key questions such as whether sitting at the front or rear of the aircraft, or wearing a seat belt, can be the difference between life and death.

The pilot and the rest of the crew will parachute from the passenger jet just minutes before impact from a chase plane piloted by former US Navy pilot and author of Project Seven Alpha, Leland 'Chip' Shanle. The aircraft will then crash land in an uninhabited area of Mexican desert.

Cameras inside the aircraft, on the ground, in chase planes and on the pilot's helmet will record the crash. Research equipment such as crash test dummies will be used to measure G forces and other effects on passengers.

Lieutenant Commander Leland Shanle retired from the US Navy having flown as a Tail Hook Aviator and test pilot, and is currently a pilot with American Airlines and a full member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. His book Project Seven Alpha - American Airlines in Burma 1942 is based on the true experiences of those who were involved and is a fitting tribute to the bravery and inventiveness of a band of men who answered their country's desperate call at the outset of the war against Japan in Asia.

Further Reading

Project Seven Alpha

Only £19.99

Project Seven Alpha

(Hardback - 256 pages)
by Leland Shanle

In late 1941, President Roosevelt agonized over the rapid advances of the Japanese forces in Asia, they seemed unstoppable. He foresaw their intentions of taking India and linking up with the two other Axis Powers, Germany and Italy, in an attempt to conquer the Eastern Hemisphere. US naval forces had been severely surprised and diminished in Pearl Harbor and the army was outnumbered and ill-prepared to take on the invading hoards. One of his few… Read more...

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Dates in History

German forces cross the Somme River

24th March 1918

On March 24, 1918, German forces cross the Somme River, achieving their first goal of the major spring offensive begun three days earlier on the Western Front. Operation Michael, engineered by the German chief of the general staff, Erich von Ludendorff, aimed to decisively break through the Allied lines on the Western Front and destroy the British and French forces. The offensive began on the morning of March 21, 1918, with an aggressive bombardment. The brunt of the attack that followed was directed at the British 5th Army, commanded by General Sir Hubert Gough, stationed along the Somme River in northwestern France. This section was the most poorly defended of any spot on the British lines, due to the fact that it had been held by the French until only a few weeks before and its defensive positions were not yet fully fortified. Panic spread up and down the British lines of command, intensified by communications failures between Gough and his subordinates in the field, and German gains increased over the subsequent days of battle. On March 23, Crown Prince Rupprecht, on the German side of the line, remarked that The progress of our offensive is so quick, that one cannot follow it with a pen. The next day, German troops stormed across the Somme, having previously captured its bridges before French troops could destroy them. Despite having resolved to concentrate on weaker points of the enemy lines, Ludendorff continued to throw his armies against the crucial villages of Amiens (a railway junction) and Arras—which the British and French were instructed to hold at all costs—hoping to break through and push on towards Paris. By that time, German troops were exhausted, and transportation and supply lines had begun to break down in the cold and bad weather. Meanwhile, Allied forces had recovered from the initial disadvantage and had begun to gain the upper hand, halting the Germans at Moreuil Wood on March 30. On April 5, Ludendorff called off Operation Michael. It had yielded nearly 40 miles of territory, the greatest gains for either side on the Western Front since 1914. He would launch four more offensive pushes over the course of the spring and summer, throwing all of the German army’s resources into this last, desperate attempt to win the war. (www.history.com)

Further Reading

The Somme
(Paperback - 355 pages)
by Richard van Emden

The offensive on the Somme took place between July and November 1916 and is perhaps the most iconic battle of the Great War. It was there that Kitchener’s famous ‘Pals’ Battalions were first sent into action en masse and it was a battlefield where many of the dreams and aspirations… Read more at Pen & Sword...

Only £14.99 at Pen & Sword Books.

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