WesWorld

I expect some of the Russian mines to be without antipersonnel mines so the Russians can walk accross using a special map.

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Location: HIJMS Haruna, in international waters off the coast of Vancouver Island, heading back west.
Date: December 14, 1939.
Time: ~12:30 AM, a minute after the Canadian drop.

Light signals to Canadian CF-8b: "Thanks for the map and the compass. If you and your colleagues wish for something different, our cook is the best when it comes to making Japanese food."

Note attached to package:

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Package containing a robust compass, the latest IHO chart for the Pacific, with a friendly "YOU ARE HERE" notation. Courtesy, His Majesty's Royal Canadian Navy

[SIZE=1](as mentioned by ShinRa Inc.)[/SIZE]

Location: Submarine I-401, Here be Dragons, Planet Earth, Sol System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy.
Date: December 18, 1939.
Time: 06:43 PM

There is a loud crash coming from the other side of the galley.

"Rice for breakfast! Rice for Lunch! Rice for Dinner! I'm getting sick of all the rice!" a member of the torpedo handling crew shouted.

"Well, if you want something different, you could ask the cook," the SONAR man told.

"I already did, but in the end it's still rice we get every day!"

"He must think that that is the cheapest option on such a long journey."

"We should head over to the States. I heard that they have some fancy quick food served there at various restaurants. They say it is quite good stuff."

The SONAR man shook his head. "There you go talking about the States again. Whenever you're complaining, you start talking about the States!"

"I tried it, but didn't think it was anything special," one of the other Torpedo men stated. "Tasted rather bland."

"Yeah, I thought it was rather vile stuff," the Chief Egineer agreed. "I seriously doubt that this quick food stuff you speak of will be popular around the world. It's just not as good as food that has been properly prepared by a cook."

The first torpedo man grumbled. "Even so, why is it that we always eat rice while the skipper always eats steak and chicken?"

Miyuki looked up with a piece of steak in her mouth. She quickly swallowed it and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a carnivore, not an omnivore like the rest of you guys. I can't help it. It's just the way I am."

"You know, you could share with us, skipper."

Miyuki's eyes narrowed. She leaned back, turned slightly and put her legs onto the table. "You know, I could stomp your sorry ass into the torpedo tube and then use you to torpedo the next ship we run across."

The first torpedo man gritted his theeth. He then got up and walked away, returning about a minute later with a bowl of rice. He sat down and continued to eat without any further complaints.

"Excellent." Miyuki got up and glared around at all those who were in the galley. "Now I don't want to hear any more complaining about the wonderful rice. The next person to do so will end up on my dinner plate!"

"If it is so wonderful, why don't you eat the rice?" the XO asked quietly as he joins Miyuki at her table.

Miyuki sat down and immediately gave him a kick against the shin. "Anything to report?"

"Nothing much. I hope the weather will be getting better the further we go. It's been like this for almost a week now."

"Still raining?"

The XO nodded. "We have a low cloudbase and visibility is poor."

"And the freighter?"

"She's still in front of us at about 1500 yards, barely visible."

"Good. Keep in touch with her. I'll be there shortly."

The XO got up and went back to the control room while Miyuki continued with her steak.

Location: Submarine I-401, Bermuda Triangle, Planet Earth, Sol System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy.
Date: December 23, 1939.
Time: 02:17 PM

Miyuki was staring through the periscope at the New York bound freighter that the I-401 had been following for the last week.

"Time to disengage," Miyuki called out. "Change course to 3-5-0."

"Changing course to new heading of 3-5-0," the XO replied.

December 25, 1939

A photo from the Asahi Shimbun, showing a new and unknown type of bomb. It is rumored that the picture was taken on Iwo Jima.

December 28, 1939

The photographer who took the picture of the unknown Iwo Jima bombs posted in the Asahi Shimbun has been found dead in his home this morning. According to reports, his head had been separated from his body.

Shinsengumi officials concluded that he accidently brutally cut his head off while shaving.

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Originally posted by Rooijen10
December 25, 1939

A photo from the Asahi Shimbun, showing a new and unknown type of bomb. It is rumored that the picture was taken on Iwo Jima.

Iwo Jima seems to be a strange place to store rockets. Isn't it a bit small and in the middle of nowhere?

Shaving is dangerous. It's a very good reason to grow a beard.

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Iwo Jima seems to be a strange place to store rockets. Isn't it a bit small and in the middle of nowhere?

Rockets? I thought I said bomb. If you can fit the Groom Lake fracilities on it, then I guess it should be big enough (IIRC, the snapshot I took with Google Earth from Groom Lake and Iwo Jima were taken from the exact same altitude). And it's supposed to be in the middle of nowhere.

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Shaving is dangerous. It's a very good reason to grow a beard.

Yeah, I thought it was too long ago that it was mentioned, so it was time to use that infamous line again.


edit: Took some measurements with Google Earth and it looks that I did shrink the Groom Lake facilities slightly, but it should still work out okay.

I'm rather skeptical that the terrain on Iwo Jima is as flat and consistent as that of Groom Lake, to allow for such a transplantation to occur.

It's pretty much on the place where the airbase is today. Also from wiki: "Iwo Jima is unusually flat and featureless for a volcanic island." The only thing that really sticks out on the island is Suribachi and nothing is built on top of that. Might not be quite as flat as Groom Lake, but it should be flat enough to work with and I doubt it would be too hard to raise the ground a little where it is needed.

That's an interesting design of bomb. Will Iwo Jima cease to exist (at least in any useful form) soon?

Why do you think there's a crater NNE of Mt. Suribachi?

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Originally posted by Rooijen10
It's pretty much on the place where the airbase is today. Also from wiki: "Iwo Jima is unusually flat and featureless for a volcanic island." The only thing that really sticks out on the island is Suribachi and nothing is built on top of that. Might not be quite as flat as Groom Lake, but it should be flat enough to work with and I doubt it would be too hard to raise the ground a little where it is needed.

"For a Volcanic Island" seems like an interesting qualifier. And I think you should consult some pictures of the island besides just a top-down landsat photo...

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Originally posted by ShinRa_Inc

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Originally posted by Rooijen10
It's pretty much on the place where the airbase is today. Also from wiki: "Iwo Jima is unusually flat and featureless for a volcanic island." The only thing that really sticks out on the island is Suribachi and nothing is built on top of that. Might not be quite as flat as Groom Lake, but it should be flat enough to work with and I doubt it would be too hard to raise the ground a little where it is needed.

"For a Volcanic Island" seems like an interesting qualifier. And I think you should consult some pictures of the island besides just a top-down landsat photo...

An unadjusted top-down photograph does confirm that one can build an airfield on Iwo Jima as shown here

But I doubt anything so extensive as the Groom Lake facility could be built and maintained.

With regard to the latter, I found the following comment illuminating.

"Captain Cook's surveying crew landed on a beach which is now 40 meters (131 ft) above sea level due to volcanic uplifting. Such uplifting occurs on the island at a varying rate of between 100 and 800 millimeters (3.9 and 31 in) per year, with an average rate of 200 millimeters (8 in) per year."

(from Wikipedia)

Would certain make for a lot of maintenance headaches keeping the runways from breaking up, particularly those long ones that seem to run from one side of the island to the other.

Looks pretty flat to me...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co…D-03-11845.JPEG

This probably gives you a better idea. To me it looks flat enough. I expect ground of the fields to be quite similarly leveled like Motoyama Airfiled No. 1.
http://secondworldwarmaps.files.wordpres…23-oct-1944.jpg

The uplifting is of course a problem, but probably not known right now. No high tech equipment back then to do accurate measuring.

December 30, 1939
A few additional pictures taken by a Japanese reconnaissance plane on a mission to Kepulauan Riau, showing the airstrips built by the Chinese on Zhongye Dao and Taiping Dao.

Zhongye Dao


Taiping Dao

I can't help but think that those islands (maybe dryish parts of the ocean is a better term?) aren't really big enough for those airfields. There isn't much room left over to park aeroplanes or store fuel.

The first photo is of an airstrip that the phillipines have actually put on that island....in the 70s or 80s. And they landed a C-130 on it once. But that's all I can find on it.

The second island, wikipedia says Taiwain has put an airstrip on, but the satellite photo for said island doesn't show it. So Walter photoshopped the other island's airstrip over it (flipped vertically, rotated a bit, and lightened to match). I'd think the actual airfield on that island would follow the more natural orientation of the island, really

As RA says, there's zero sign of any support facilities (control tower, hangar, parking, housing, etc), so these come off more as very expensive emergency runways of dubious value.

I claim this floating batch of seaweed in the name of the Gooblegeeb Empire. I shall build an airstrip on it to solidify my claims!

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I can't help but think that those islands (maybe dryish parts of the ocean is a better term?) aren't really big enough for those airfields.

I would assume that to be the case. I expect that's why in RL the Parasa runway is some 50% outside the island.

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There isn't much room left over to park aeroplanes or store fuel.

I assume that's China's problem, but that;s probably why there's a ship so close to Zhongye Dao
(It's actually a shipwreck in RL)

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The first photo is of an airstrip that the phillipines have actually put on that island....in the 70s or 80s. And they landed a C-130 on it once. But that's all I can find on it.

Can't find much on it either but it was there and thus simple to use it to play the role of a runway put there by the Chinese. Should we get to the 70s/80s, parts of the runway will probably have washed away into the sea.

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The second island, wikipedia says Taiwain has put an airstrip on, but the satellite photo for said island doesn't show it. So Walter photoshopped the other island's airstrip over it (flipped vertically, rotated a bit, and lightened to match). I'd think the actual airfield on that island would follow the more natural orientation of the island, really.

I have actually looked with Google to see if I could find any aerial photos of the island but could find nothing to help me with that. Considering that Google Earth does not show it, it is a fairly recent build. On the ENE side of the island, there does appear to be an open barren area which could be the start of the runway's construction. But without any photo's, it's just guesswork regarding that open spot.

For the recon photo, I took the simple route and indeed used the other island's runway. Flipped it, used gamma correction and smoothed the edges. Quite simple. Like the other one, I expect the exposure to the sea to be a slight problem.

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I claim this floating batch of seaweed in the name of the Gooblegeeb Empire. I shall build an airstrip on it to solidify my claims!

Want me to make a recon photo of that one?