Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

With no Red Scare Charles Chaplin not Chaplain could still be making movies in Hollywood unless the Los Angeles District is still going after him for corrupting minors.
Of course this timeline has butterflied The Great Dictator.
 
With no Red Scare Charles Chaplin not Chaplain could still be making movies in Hollywood unless the Los Angeles District is still going after him for corrupting minors.
Of course this timeline has butterflied The Great Dictator.

Not necessarily, this time he probably has a big bushy moustache for the role, hides one arm and has a sickle and spanner flag behind him instead?
 
Such things are necessary in Modern Times

Thing is, as a military person … going off on liberty and bringing back a STD can & should (and did, when I was in the Corps) lead to Captain's Mast (USMC - awards Non-judicial punishment - i.e., no courts martial) at the very least, since the cause of said STDs is well known, the prevention of which was also well-known, and the military brass would have made sure the NCOs regularly 'counseled' the troops on the proper and mandatory use of condoms; therefore anyone catching an STD could and should be charged with 1. Disobeying an Order or Regulation (UCMJ Article 92), 2. Malingering (UCMJ Article 115), and 3. (a catch-all) UCMJ Article 134, the General Article, which states, "Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court."

There is literally no excuse for a person in the military to get an STD - heck, even back when I was a Jarhead (1970s) we'd get "the talk" at least quarterly. Some of the company commanders in the 3rd Marines, 1st Mar Bde, KMCAS had their company corpsmen "issue" condoms to their Marines, and this is back before HIV/AIDS had become so prevalent.
 
When I visited Camp Casey in the mid eighties I saw a sign at the gates with the names of the clubs that had reports of VD infection and how on Monday there was a long line to visit the clinic, I asked if the soldiers got in trouble for getting VD and I was told that they got amnesty because they did not want them to get treated off post,and what happened to them was that they got something called a summary Article 15 which was not as severe as a regular Article 15, basically they got confined to quarters and got extra duty.
 
Just to their left were hundreds of Al-18 transport helicopters, dubbed Dragonflies by their crews, in close formation and each one carrying a dozen Paratroopers. The Hornet’s were along the outside of the formation, any interference from the ground during the landing would get their undivided attention. Not that a Dragonfly was helpless, far from it, some of them carried the same pods that fired the meter-long rockets that the Hornets did, while they weren’t filled with the anti-armor rockets that the Hornets typically carried, a rocket with a high explosive warhead moving at a 1000 meters per second would ruin almost anyone’s day. All of them had gunners with machine guns sitting in the doors as well.
Okay, the rocket nerd is calling shenanigans on this.

First of all, you don't put rockets on transports. The Dragonflies are, unless I'm mistaken, essentially early Hueys. There is no way you're sticking a pair of rocket pods that weight over 70kg each on a early transport. Frankly I'm shocked you can even fly a dozen combat-loaded troops in a single helicopter at this point.

The US never stuck rockets on transports to my knowledge and the Russian Hind spent most of its time as a pure gunship. Even if you had the weight to play with, you'd be much better off taking the increased performance and not trying to stick around playing gunship.

We still stick rocket pods on Huey today, but only the little seven round pods so the helo can play armed scout.

Second, I'm not convinced the twin MG42 turret is a good idea. The US experimented with chin MG turrets on Hueys, they didn't really see any use. The later Cobra attack helicopters had machine-gun turrets, but those had twin Miniguns and usually swapped out a Minigun for an automatic grenade launcher.

Honestly I'd write this off as just early experimentation and expect the MG turrets to go away eventually.

That being said, early gunships did mount twin M60s and later single Miniguns outboard of the rocket pods.

Also, door gunners. Door gunners on early gunships were a thing, might not work if this is a dedicated gunship, but then you're way too early to have a dedicated gunship at this point. Some lessons you need to learn in combat.


Third your rockets are way way too fast. 1000 m/s isn't happening in 1960, not with your first go at air-to-ground rockets. In 1970 the US was using Mk.4 motors that went 700m/s. The standard motor today, the Mk.66, isn't much faster. The only rocket that goes a kilometer per second is the Canadian CRV-7, a late-70s project that generated absurd amounts of smoke and had to be downgraded for helicopter use.


Fourth, the Hornets shouldn't be packing anti-armor rockets. Yes you should have them, but if there's enemy armor in the LZ you failed at recon and shouldn't be landing there. Also, you'd want mostly HE anyways to deal with enemy infantry and light targets.

Historically speaking, a helicopter crew had no way of selecting what they wanted to fire until the mid-1980s when the AH-1 Cobra got a rocket management system that split the rockets into five zones. That brings me back to being surprised that Germany has colored smoke warheads for their rocket system. The US had the XM152 (red) and XM153 (yellow) heads late Vietnam era, but they only show up in manuals 1968-1973ish

We didn't even have WP heads until the early 1970s either.


Which brings me back to "these rockets are in no way related to the Panzershreck", because you'd need to change literally everything about the rocket. Which, by the way, moved at 100m/s.



I'd be happy to elaborate on anything you need. @Dan, I nerded out.

Sources:

OP 1734 2.75" Folding Fin Aircraft Rocket, 1954. First manual for the 70mm rocket system.

OP 2210 Aircraft Rockets, 1960. Overview of all aircraft rocket systems in Naval use at the time, with details on heads, fuzes, motors, complete rounds (the Navy used to designate an assembled rocket as a Mark XY rocket, they dropped it later in the decade), and launchers.

Aircraft Weaponization, 1968. Overview of all current helicopter weapons systems

TM 43-001-30 Ammunition Data Sheets for Rockets, 1981 Full listing of all Army rockets, rocket motors, and fuzes.

TM 1-1520-236-10 AH-1F Cobra manual. Details on Rocket Management System (page 133 of PDF)
 
Part 90, Chapter 1406
Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Six


23rd September 1960

Mitte, Berlin

Gloria would later learn that Gräfin Katherine walked into the U.S. Embassy as if she owned the place. That was hardly a surprise, she did that everywhere she went in Berlin. The Marines guarding the front entrance of the Embassy were in quite a state when Gloria made it down to the lobby. Having a foreign General with her reputation showing up unexpectedly had that effect. Gloria heard about it because she was going through the archives regarding the issues surrounding Russian Prisoners of War following up on what that woman who worked for the Countess had to say. It was an interesting story, but for some reason, the Countess had not mentioned the extent of her involvement. Her getting a Red Cross Medal had been for that work, but the citation had only mentioned that it had been for unspecified humanitarian reasons. It seemed that under the Bolsheviks the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs had done a number on the families of Russian POWs and to be accused of collaboration on top of getting captured could result in harsh reprisals. The consequences of that was still being felt as there were sizable Russian expatriate populations in most of the major cities of Eastern Europe composed of people who could never go home. Katherine had declined a substantial amount of the recognition that she might have received in order to shield the prisoners she worked with from being harmed. Yet Gloria knew from her own experience that Katherine would never admit to having done such a thing. Instead, she would just say the medal was undeserved in the first place and leave it at that.

The CIA Officers in the building were unhappy with Katherine’s presence. As if she would assault the Embassy by herself.

----------------------------------------------------------------

When Gloria reached the lobby, she found Kat with a smug smile on her face and a man who she presumed was her legal counsel giving Rabbit a venomous glare. It was obvious that the Marine knew that he was in over his head and Kat’s Lawyer was an imposing man who was several inches taller than him. Because of course, she would hire someone like that. However, Gloria was reminded of the absurd reaction that was taking place upstairs.

“What is the problem Corporal Oswald?” Gloria asked.

“Uhm…” Rabbit said with a gulp as he tried to think of the words to use here. While Gloria had known for a long time that she needed to stop thinking of him with that stupid nickname, he made it difficult to think of him as anything else. “The Countess is on the list Ma’am, and she knows it. Mister Kennedy was just saying that it has no legal basis in American or German Law.”

That stupid list. While Katherine wasn’t barred from traveling to or from the United States, she was the unofficial list that the Ambassador had compiled of known German troublemakers who the guards were supposed to keep an eye out for and deny entry to if they could come with an excuse. A task that Rabbit normally would have been able to carry out except this situation wasn’t exactly normal. That explained Kat’s smugness. She would see being on such a list as an affirmation.

“You were supposed to meet me in the hotel bar” Gloria said, “And not for another hour.”

“I figured that this would be fun” Kat replied, and she got a dirty look from her Lawyer.

“Whatever” Gloria said, knowing that getting the Countess out of here would be what was best for everyone involved as she headed for the doors.

“Gloria, this is Jack Kennedy” Kat said, “Jack this is Gloria, the biographer whose book we couldn’t stop from getting published.”

Gloria was swiftly learning that Kat in a good mood was worse than when she was in a foul mood. She was also surprised that Kat trusted John F. Kennedy enough to act as her legal counsel. He had been one of the men alleged to have been involved in the attempted abduction of her in Australia shortly before her eighteenth birthday. There had to have been other shared history between them that Gloria didn’t know about.

“Mind telling us where we are going?” Gloria asked, changing the subject.

“A place around the corner” Kat replied, “Some place where we can talk without having to worry about eavesdropping.”

Gloria followed as Kat led them through a nondescript door into a featureless building. As they entered an opulent lobby that looked like something from the previous century, she couldn’t help but noticing that there was a sign on the wall that said MEMBERS ONLY. The Attendant cleared his throat when he saw them, it was obvious that he felt that he felt that they didn’t belong here. Kat gave him a withering look and opened her coat, pinned to the front of her dress was a medal that Gloria recognized as the Grand Cross of the Order of Louise. She saw him look at Katherine and he was making swift calculations. Red hair, that medal, the fuck you attitude and a face that was familiar to everyone in Berlin. “I am expected” She said sharply.

The Attendant was surprised by that sudden display. “I… I am terribly sorry my Lady” He stammered and led them into the dining room.

With that Gloria followed and she was amazed by what she had just seen. How had a girl from a working-class neighborhood become this woman who she saw in front of her?
 
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Well being the first woman general, the first woman in special forces, the first woman xo of special forces and the first woman commanding first foot and the empress/emperor problem solver might have helped that.
 
Gloria was swiftly learning that Kat in a good mood was worse than when she was in a foul mood.
Kat gave him a withering look and opened her coat, pinned to the front of her dress was a medal that Gloria recognized as the Grand Cross of the Order of Louise. She saw him look at Katherine and he was making swift calculations. Red hair, that medal, the fuck you attitude and a face that was familiar to everyone in Berlin. “I am expected” She said sharply.
You earned two rounds of deep belly laughs with that chapter, P-M!
 
Was that Lee Harvey Oswald?
Yes, Yes it was.
Oswald the Rabbit created by Walt Disney.

On a personal note I just got done watching The Gallant Hours about William F (Bull) Halsey Jr. It was the movie that my father took my mother on their first date, this is a another movie that won't be made in this timeline but more importantly there is not going to be a date in this timeline because they won't meet.
Talk about having an existential crisis, I am realizing that I don't exist in this timeline.
 
Yes, Yes it was.
Oswald the Rabbit created by Walt Disney.

On a personal note I just got done watching The Gallant Hours about William F (Bull) Halsey Jr. It was the movie that my father took my mother on their first date, this is a another movie that won't be made in this timeline but more importantly there is not going to be a date in this timeline because they won't meet.
Talk about having an existential crisis, I am realizing that I don't exist in this timeline.

My parents likely don't exist, never mind me. You learn to deal with such an existential realization in alt history.

Fantastic update as always.
 
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