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I received this information this morning from Kim & Theo ~ Kim and Theo in The Netherlands. Theo is a history buff, and sent me this fascinating bit of history regarding the origin of "fuzzy dice" and also some history on the only flying B-17 based in Europe! Enjoy this!
"Hi Ray! According to Wikipedia the use of fuzzy dice in our cars might originate from a custom that pilots adapted in WWII. Maybe as good luck charms or tokens indicating the high risk involved in their job.
Source: Wikipedia!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_dice
Same goes by the way for the origin of the Hell’s Angels. A bunch of crewmen of bombers (truly hell’s angels for the Germans…) decided to keep on seeing each other as friends after the war ended and they all drove bikes. The current issues surrounding biker gangs surely were not what they had in mind!
Yesterday evening we saw an episode of ‘WWII treasure hunters’ on History Europe. In this episode Suggs (former front man of 80’s British ska-formation Madness) visited the site of a bomber group airfield in Great Britain. Back in the days B-17’s departed from that strip for their missions over Germany. Many didn’t return. The chance of being allowed to return home to the US after 25 raids (like the Memphis Belle crew) was only somewhere around 20%...
The guys were faced with terrible conditions on these missions. Not only flak or enemy fire from Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs, but also the extreme conditions at heights of over 30,000 feet. When the guys in the revolving turrets under the plane accidentally touched the metal with their bare skin, it immediately froze and got stuck on the metal, resulting in the loss of some skin…
They had some beautiful video fragments of Sally B (http://www.sallyb.org.uk/) taking off and flying her display. What a sight for sore eyes, the only flying B-17 in Europe! She was flown by a Dutch guy, whom we envy just a little bit ��
There is history in almost everything, even in our fuzzy dice…
Best regards, Kim and Theo."
I am sure that Dave Dare ~ simplyconnected knows this, but how many of you know that Ford Motor Co built B-24 Liberators at their Willow Run plant during WW II?
"Hi Ray! According to Wikipedia the use of fuzzy dice in our cars might originate from a custom that pilots adapted in WWII. Maybe as good luck charms or tokens indicating the high risk involved in their job.
Source: Wikipedia!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_dice
Same goes by the way for the origin of the Hell’s Angels. A bunch of crewmen of bombers (truly hell’s angels for the Germans…) decided to keep on seeing each other as friends after the war ended and they all drove bikes. The current issues surrounding biker gangs surely were not what they had in mind!
Yesterday evening we saw an episode of ‘WWII treasure hunters’ on History Europe. In this episode Suggs (former front man of 80’s British ska-formation Madness) visited the site of a bomber group airfield in Great Britain. Back in the days B-17’s departed from that strip for their missions over Germany. Many didn’t return. The chance of being allowed to return home to the US after 25 raids (like the Memphis Belle crew) was only somewhere around 20%...
The guys were faced with terrible conditions on these missions. Not only flak or enemy fire from Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs, but also the extreme conditions at heights of over 30,000 feet. When the guys in the revolving turrets under the plane accidentally touched the metal with their bare skin, it immediately froze and got stuck on the metal, resulting in the loss of some skin…
They had some beautiful video fragments of Sally B (http://www.sallyb.org.uk/) taking off and flying her display. What a sight for sore eyes, the only flying B-17 in Europe! She was flown by a Dutch guy, whom we envy just a little bit ��
There is history in almost everything, even in our fuzzy dice…
Best regards, Kim and Theo."
I am sure that Dave Dare ~ simplyconnected knows this, but how many of you know that Ford Motor Co built B-24 Liberators at their Willow Run plant during WW II?
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