Radschool Association Magazine - Vol 28

Page 17

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Mosquitos.

Dick Harcourt, who was a radio bod with the RAF in Butterworth many moons ago, has sent us these wonderful old photos of RAF De Havilland Mosquitos. He is sure the aircraft were of RAF 105 Squadron which, during the war, was stationed at RAF Marham, in Norfolk which is about 100 miles north east of London. 105 Sqn was the first RAF squadron to operate the Mosquito.

Dick thinks the time would have been somewhere around December 1942. You can see the photos HERE. 

                      What ever happened to Stripe toothpaste.

WW II Monopoly Game - interesting secret.

Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape.

Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of "safe houses" where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and shelter.

Paper maps had some real drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into mush.

Someone in MI-5 got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.

At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd.  When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort.

By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the UK Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, "games and passtimes" was a category of item qualified for insertion into "CARE packages" dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war. Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were located. When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece. As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add:

1.      A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass.

2.      A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together.

3.      Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!

4.      British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a "rigged" Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red dot cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square.

Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped (seems a huge number to us?? – tb), an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war.

The story wasn't de-classified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honored in a public ceremony.

It's nice when you can play that "Get Out of Jail Free" card for real!

(We don’t remember who sent us the above, it’s a good yarn, but we do believe there is a better than evens chance it could be an eRumour…..who knows????? – tb)

       What every happened to Velvet bar soap.

Vet Affairs.

If you’re a vet, you’re probably a bit unsure as to the benefits and facilities that are available for you. Well, the Government has provided a very useful “Kit” which sets out all your rights and benefits and outlines the support that is available to you.

While the Kit will not answer all your questions, it is none the less very comprehensive and covers 51 pages. It is in PDF format and will give you a wide-ranging guide to payments and services available to veterans and their families.

This issue contains the current rates of pensions and allowances from 20 March 2009 to 30 June 2009, after 30 June, you can get the new (if any) rates from HERE.

You can download your copy of the Kit from HERE.

If you're in receipt of a DVA Gold Card, there are a number of medical items that are available to you on prescription. You can see the list HERE.

SHERIFF Joe Arpaio of Arizona!

Sheriff Joe Arpaio was first elected as Sheriff in Arizona in 1993 and it was he who created the 'Tent City Jail'. He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails and he took away the prisoners’ weights and cut off all but 'G' movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects and in 1996 he started chain gangs for women, not so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination, as is often stated in articles about him, but because it suited his beliefs – “I don’t believe in discrimination in my jail system” he is quoted as saying, “Crime knows no gender and neither should punishment.

He is also proud of having lowered the cost of feeding inmates in his care. Though assorted news articles quote slightly differing figures, a 40c per serving expenditure is the one most often touted. “It costs more to feed our police dogs than our inmates. The dogs have never committed a crime and they work for a living,’ Arpaio said.

In 1998 Arpaio instituted a policy of charging inmates for their meals, levying a dollar-a-day tariff against each of those incarcerated. In 1994 he banned coffee from the Maricopa County Jail, but he did so not because of its lack of nutritional value, but to protect inmates and guards from hot-coffee assaults by other inmates and to lower costs. (By eliminating the estimated 5,000 cups of coffee served daily for 5,400 inmates, it was expected the county would save $594,158 a year.)

When the inmates complained, he told them, 'This Isn't the Ritz/Carlton...... If You Don't Like It, Don't Come Back.'

                                    What ever happened to Turf cigarettes.

On one occasion, when the temperature reached 116⁰F (47⁰C) about 2,000 Inmates, living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa county jail were given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer  shorts. Another time, with the temperature reaching 138⁰F (59⁰C), hundreds of men, wearing just boxers, were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents. Many were swathed in wet, pink towels.

Sheriff Arpaio, who long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, was not one bit sympathetic. He said he had told all of the inmates: 'It's 120⁰F in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!'

Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.
 

                                   What ever happened to Vincents powders.

The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them placed in dog shows.  

The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.

Many have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand.

He has a pretty good sized pig farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later.

             What ever happened to the vertical grill.

In July 2007 Sheriff Arpaio launched a hot line for calling in tips and information about people living and working in Maricopa County illegally. Then in September 2007 he unveiled “moving billboards” in the form of four trucks and eight inmate passenger vans plastered with the hot line number and signs reading “Do Not Illegally Enter” and “Help Sheriff Joe Arpaio Fight Illegal Immigration and Trafficking.” Critics contend that this move constitutes racial profiling: Sheriff Arpaio maintains that his signs say nothing about ethnic backgrounds: “It says illegal immigration and trafficking. I don’t care where they’re from.”  

He said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws and he bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border.

What ever happened to Reckitts Blue.

Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.

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