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What Are You Listening To?

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
Very interesting author over at The Atlantic, Yascha Mounk. He has a podcast with a number of people that merit a listen. A couple of good ones include with economist Branko Milanovic and also Kori Schake who is currently Deputy Director General at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Although Yascha leans to the center left, those on the right will not find him condescending. Worth a listen to on your drive in.

 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
While working on my media room, listened to a superb debate between historian Niall Ferguson, economist John Cochrane and former National Security Advisor HR McMaster. From the Hoover Institution, a debate about whether or not we are in Cold War II with China.

If the US-Soviet standoff defined the second half of the 20th century, is a new “cold war” between America and China this generation’s defining economic and geostrategic engagement? Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson and H. R. McMaster debate whether a new cold war indeed is under way and what defines the competition. (Spoiler alert: the three “GoodFellows” are not in agreement.)

 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2

13 Minutes to the Moon is an excellent podcast- I'm a big space race, Mercury 7, Gemini, Apollo program fanatic- And I really think that the BBC has put on one of the best documentaries there is on the subject.
Season 1 covers the 13 minutes of powered descent to the lunar surface, from the start through touchdown, but they do it in such a way as to cover it from every aspect both in space and in mission control.

Season 2 is covering the Apollo 13 mishap- in a similar vein as they did with Apollo 11. It is really worth the listen if you want to learn more and hear the story from the people who were there.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I generally like Gladwell, and have enjoyed a few of his books, but Bomber Mafia has gotten savaged by the reviewers for getting a lot of basic info wrong, so I'll probably skip it. To clarify Randy's post, Gladwell did an hour long version of the story on his Revisionist History podcast, which was enjoyable.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
I generally like Gladwell, and have enjoyed a few of his books, but Bomber Mafia has gotten savaged by the reviewers for getting a lot of basic info wrong, so I'll probably skip it. To clarify Randy's post, Gladwell did an hour long version of the story on his Revisionist History podcast, which was enjoyable.
I listened to the glad well hardcore history addendum and and he lost me when he talked about the B-29 being used in Europe. For a guy who had just written a book on the subject I didn't think he knew his stuff very well so my interest in the book went to zero.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
The Bomber Mafia is a bit of a mess both in terms of writing style and history. It was interesting, however, to read it while imagining a new layer in the form of cheerleading for modern RP precision attacks.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
Finally released: Part VI of Supernova in the East. Looking forward to this conclusion of an epic 6 part series.

The Hardcore History Addendum underneath Gladwell and the Bomber Mafia was superb - ended up with a long discussion about General Curtis LeMay.


About halfway through Supernova in the East, Part VI. Some notable comments:
  • the German Army lost 400,000 KIA in January 1945 alone - more than all branches of the US military combined for the duration of WW2
  • how the Japanese tried to start an uprising in India in 1944/45 that deeply concerned Prime Minister Churchill
  • the revelation from some of the admirals of the Combined Fleet that they had not considered the US would engage in unrestricted submarine warfare against their merchant shipping.
Hope to finish the podcast today.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
Obviously I am a big fan of Dan Carlin and Hardcore History- he recently had as guests Elon Musk and one of the chief engineers of SpaceX to discuss the importance of engineering in war. An entertaining hour and a half.

In the middle, the question was asked of what simple things could have made a huge difference: here are my 3:
Air: winglets to increase aircraft range
Sea: fix the fuse on the Mark 14 torpedoes
Land: the Sherman variant that should have been produced in large numbers was the Sherman “Jumbo” (M4A3E2) with the high velocity 76mm.

Anyone else?

 

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Obviously I am a big fan of Dan Carlin and Hardcore History- he recently had as guests Elon Musk and one of the chief engineers of SpaceX to discuss the importance of engineering in war. An entertaining hour and a half.

In the middle, the question was asked of what simple things could have made a huge difference: here are my 3:
Air: winglets to increase aircraft range
Sea: fix the fuse on the Mark 14 torpedoes
Land: the Sherman variant that should have been produced in large numbers was the Sherman “Jumbo” (M4A3E2) with the high velocity 76mm.

Anyone else?

Very aviation centric. Sometime a little lose and fast with facts. I was surprised the proximity fuse didn't come up.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
Very aviation centric. Sometime a little lose and fast with facts. I was surprised the proximity fuse didn't come up.

I wondered why they didn’t bring up the proximity fuse as well but the discussion about octane ratings and the consistency of metallurgy I found interesting. Also, I had never considered a P-38 with 2 Rolls Royce Merlin engines.
 

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Also, I had never considered a P-38 with 2 Rolls Royce Merlin engines.
An educated guess would be that the P-38 stopped operating at high altitude (it had a crappy cockpit heater), and in the Pacific, the Allison V12 work just fine at the altitudes that it was operating.
 
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