quote:Originally posted by InsideTrack:
In the conclusion of the book when the reminiscing friends call it a day, Shepherd (Ralph) mentions that their friend Schwartz, was ". . . shot down over Italy. They never found the body."
The book makes it clear that this is the depression, just prior to WW2.
But if he was shot down over Italy, then the earliest it could have been was 1943; most likely it would have been in/after July of 1943 when they invaded Sicily. Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, was in November of 1942 and the Americans were on the western half of the campaign in N. Africa, a good 600+ miles from Sicily. Even with drop tanks, American fighters couldn't reach that far. If they flew to interdict supplies brought in for the Axis, I doubt if they flew that far east until after Montgomery had defeated the Afrika Corp in mid 1943. BTW, Jimmy Doolittle was the American Army Air Force commander in Torch.
And the last thing the Americans wanted was to put an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. It was still a Nazi pond until very late 1943.
Of course, no one has ever accused Hollywood to be historically accurate.
Bill
