Danny.

This is coolbert: 

"That's the end of this briefing. As long as I'm in charge there'll never be a Marine in Europe." 

Consider this blog entry to be a slightly edited version of an original posting made some time ago.

Here are the details of Project Danny. An aborted plan to employ U.S. Marine Corps combat aviation in the European Theatre [ETO]. 

A proposal for specially trained and equipped Marine F4U combat aircraft to attack and destroy German V-1 "buzz bomb" launch sites. A plan, Danny, never coming to fruition, the result of inter-service rivalries and squabbles. 

A response, a pettiness [?] on the part of General Marshall not worthy of such a great man. 

 "In July 1944 after the V-1 flying bomb Robot Blitz had begun on June 13, Commander Thomas H. Moorer . . . provided a Pentagon briefing on a June 1944 plan for F4U Corsair squadrons [Marine aviation] . . . to attack V-1 launch sites from North Sea escort carriers with Tiny Tim rockets." 

An attack by the Marine aviators, launching from aircraft carriers, firing at the V-1 launch sites with a newly developed and formidable weapon, the Tiny Tim rocket! 

 "The Tiny Tim, was an American air to ground rocket used near the end of the Second World War . . . Tiny Tim was . . . the first large aircraft rocket . . . [and] had a 150 lb (68 kg) high explosive warhead, and had a maximum range of 1,500 meters (1,640 yards)." 

This proposed use of Marine combat aviation in the European theatre, "Danny" never "getting off the ground". Literally so! 

"the squadrons had been trained . . . and were loading onto their carriers for the trip to the North Atlantic, the operation was canceled before departing for the European Theatre" 

Comments: 

 * Commander Moorer became Admiral Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] during the latter days of the Vietnam War. 

 * There are almost no instances of Marine Corps combat units being employed in the ETO during the Second World War! * During a time of war - - all pettiness, squabbling, inter-service rivalry and jealousy must be set aside in favor of the overall war effort. 

To the detriment of everyone, this was not the case with "Danny"? 

 coolbert.