Twist of fate June 1944

nbcman

Donor
If the ash cloud risk does not begin until 20,000 ft, the allies could simply fly at a lower altitude once they were aware of the risk. It may change the range that the bombers can fly and there may be an increase in casualties in the bomber missions. But the missions will go on. So there will not be that much of a change in WWII but there may be some changes to how air transport/travel is done post WWII due to the impact of the volcano in '44.
 
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Actually, this is the point everyone missed. The kind of volcanoes you get at spreading mid-ocean ridges are NOT the kind you get at Yellowstone or Mammoth Lakes or even Mount St. Helens.

As a geologist, I can verify that this scenario is pretty much ASB. The exact reasons go to the silica and water content of magmas from different sources, and the resulting variation in viscosity. Thinner basaltic magmas like the Icelandic ones are 'thinner' and contain less water, they also become more liquid with release of pressure (as on erupting). Explosive volcanism is therefore limited. Silica-rich, water-rich magmas like those found near subduction zones (St. Helens) or continental hot spots (Yellowstone) are far more viscous, and become more solid on release of pressure, and also cannot hold as much water dissolved in the magma as they come to the surface. The rapid exsolution of water vapor as bubbles, combined with the 'stiffness' of the rising magma, makes these far, far more prone to explosive events.

The current activity in Iceland is about as bad as it would realistically get. And the current cloud with its high base over Europe would NOT stop all combat flying in WW2, much of which was done lower, and the rest would just be pushed through anyway. We can build more piston engines. There IS a war on, y'know.

Iceland won't be affected like Clark after Pinatubo, because the Icelandic volcanoes are not capable of such an eruption. And the effects in Europe from any conceivable Icelandic eruption will not be much worse than what we see right now.

Well there goes my Nazi volcano theory :mad:
 
June 3 1944 Iceland

At 6.17pm GMT the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano erupts causing a huge
The German ö and the Icelandic ö are two different beasts. The former can be legitimately written "oe", the latter can't. Especially since Icelandic DOES have an "oe" digraph...

Hmmm... Maybe they've changed things. When I go to is.wikipedia.org and start typing e.g. groe... it prompts with grö... words. Odd.
 
Either the Soviets would have to allow allied planes on their soil(it'd be easier to catch skip)

Curse those inscrutable Slavs!

I know it's hardly much, but given the apparent divine intervention on behalf of the Axis powers its hardly drastic to expect that the Soviets are willing to take some extraordinary measures. I'm also not really surprised to note that next to nobody has mentioned the imminanent Bagration.

This will not "pull Germany's fat out of the fire", it will result, like most attempted Axis victory scenarios, in some more dead WAllies and a lot more dead Germans and Soviets (but who cares about them?), a possibly nuking of Europe, and all-around ugliness.

And as others more knowledgeable than me when it comes to geography and aviation have pointed out, it's hardly plausible in any case.
 
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