Nungesser And Coli Shot Down By Al Capone

This “researcher” also takes advantage of the fact that Europeans are used to rather smaller distances between cities.

Capone’s area of influence was centered in Chicago… over 1,000 air miles from the area where he claims the aircraft came down!

Yes, Capone vacationed in the area, but bootlegging operations in the area were run by the New York and Boston mafias… both of which had rebuffed advances by Capone, who they considered as a “street thug”, due to his lack of connection with any real mafioso “family”.

Thus, Capone’s cross-border smuggling was focused on the Minnesota/Michigan-Canada land crossings and the water crossings over the rivers & lakes between Canada and the mid-west.

As for the Coast Guard archives… there were “sightings” of “White Bird” reported as far west as the Mississippi river (west of Chicago), and as far south as Florida… so that there would be an unconfirmed report of a “pair of white wings drifting in waters off Boston” (with nothing actually recovered) is not remarkable at all… just think of how many “sightings” of Amelia Earhart’s plane (and of “wreckage/artifacts”) have shown up over the years… none of which have been proven correct.

Any famous disappearance generates dozens (if not hundreds) of false sightings and reports… the most outrageous and non-credible of which are later removed from the records to reduce the file size to something manageable for storage when the case “turns cold”.

Thus, the comment “Parts of the archives had been curiously removed” is actually to be expected, and not necessarily suspect… but from just such “massaging” of a limited number of facts and far more speculation are created grand conspiracy theories.

And dare I mention Douglas Bader at the Stork Hotel?

Oh please, no!! :diablo:

It’s all hedged with phrases like ‘suggests that’ and ‘could have’ and ‘it’s possible that’. Mr Decre may be a serious researcher in the archives, but ultimately he’s using the familiar device of setting up a scenario and then inviting people to prove him wrong.
It’s usually virtually impossible to prove a negative (which is why an accused in court is innocent until proved guilty in all properly-run countries), and the end result is often that fairly outrageous claims become at least partly-accepted. Where I am in Liverpool, you’ve only got to look at the assertions that Hitler visited the city or that Jack the Ripper was a Liverpool businessman to get the general idea. And dare I mention Douglas Bader at the Stork Hotel?

Bit of a thread creep here, but there is also connection between Al Capone and Chicago’s “O’Hare” Airport……If you don’t know what it is, read on !!

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn’t famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed “Easy Eddie.” He was Capone’s lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life off the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him. Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object, and despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn’t give his son; he couldn’t pass on a good name or a good example. One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done.He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al “Scarface” Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified.

Within the year, Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street . But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

The poem read:

“The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still.”

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific. On February 20, 1942. LT O’Hare and his wingman were the only U.S. Navy fighters available in the air when a second wave of Japanese bombers were attacking his aircraft carrier Lexington. They raced eastward and arrived 1,500 feet above eight attacking Bettys nine miles out at 1700. Dufilho’s guns were jammed and wouldn’t fire, leaving only O’Hare to protect the carrier. The enemy formation was a V of Vs flying very close together and using their rear facing guns for mutual protection. O’Hare’s Wildcat, armed with four 50-caliber guns, with 450 rounds per gun, had enough ammunition for about 34 seconds of firing.

O’Hare’s initial maneuver was a high-side diving attack employing accurate deflection shooting. He accurately placed bursts of gunfire into a Betty’s right engine and wing fuel tanks. When the stricken craft on the right side of the formation abruptly lurched to starboard, he ducked to the other side of the V formation and aimed at the enemy bomber on the extreme left. When he made his third and fourth firing passes, the Japanese planes were close enough to the American ships for them to fire their anti-aircraft guns. The five survivors managed to drop their ordnance, but all ten 250kg bombs missed. After O’Hare blew up the leading Betty’s port engine. O’Hare believed he had shot down five bombers, and damage a sixth. Lieutenant Commander Thach returning to the scene with other pilots of the flight from another action later reported that at one point he saw three of the enemy bombers falling in flames at the same time.

In fact, O’Hare destroyed only three Bettys. Another two Bettys were damaged by O’Hare’s attacks. One safely landed at Vunakanau airdrome and the other was later shot down by LT Noel Gayler when trying to escape 40 miles from Lexington.

With his ammunition expended, O’Hare returned to his carrier, and was fired on accidentally but with no effect by a .50-caliber machine gun from the Lexington. O’Hare’s fighter had in fact been hit by only one bullet during his flight, the single bullet hole in his port wing disabling the airspeed indicator. According to Thach, Butch then approached the gun platform to calmly say to the embarrassed anti-aircraft gunner who had fired at him, “Son, if you don’t stop shooting at me when I’ve got my wheels down, I’m going to have to report you to the gunnery officer.”[16]

By shooting down five bombers O’Hare became a flying ace, was selected for promotion to Lieutenant Commander, and became the first naval aviator to receive the Medal of Honor. After receiving the Medal of Honor from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, then-LT O’Hare was described as “modest, inarticulate, humorous, terribly nice and more than a little embarrassed by the whole thing”.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

So, if you ever find yourself at O’Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch’s memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It’s located between Terminals 1 and 2.

Well….Butch O’Hare was “Easy Eddie’s” son.

There is of course a mixture between two different ‘firsts’ here.

Alcock and Brown were competing to become the first to fly across the Atlantic.

Nungesser and Coli, Lindbergh (and others) were competing for the Orteig Prize, to the first crew to make a non-stop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris, which was a longer trip.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Nothing to do with nationality, perhaps that’s why Nungessor & Coli were in the race… :rolleyes:

I’m not being anti-American it is just that I couldn’t understand why Lindbergh won a prize, why Nungesser and Coli (non-solo) would have won a prize and why (from my limited knowledge) Alcock and Brown did win a prize? Plus my half-knowledge (from the James Stewart movie) that Lindbergh was simply trying to solo the Atlantic and the final destination of Paris was more opportunism than planning. :confused:

The fact that they were competing for two different prizes explains it!

I’ve never understood why the Frenchmen chose to fly Paris – New York, which is generally into a headwind…

Remembering the way Lindbergh was received in Paris imagine the scene if two Frenchmen had landed there! 😀

Funny that! :rolleyes:

So was this the prize Alcock and Brown won or was this prize for first solo crossing (or just being American :diablo:)?

Nothing to do with nationality, perhaps that’s why Nungessor & Coli were in the race…:rolleyes:

There is of course a mixture between two different ‘firsts’ here.

Alcock and Brown were competing to become the first to fly across the Atlantic.

Nungesser and Coli, Lindbergh (and others) were competing for the Orteig Prize, to the first crew to make a non-stop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris, which was a longer trip.

I’ve never understood why the Frenchmen chose to fly Paris – New York, which is generally into a headwind, while all (most?) of the other competitors were attempting to fly New York – Paris which gave a tailwind.

Gallic intransigence?

No mention of Alcock and Brown doing it in 1919 though.

Funny that! :rolleyes:

The prize for the first non-stop transatlantic flight was a place in the history books and a $25,000 (£15,600) cheque.

However, the pair vanished in their White Bird plane shortly after take off, just 13 days before Lindbergh completed his landmark New York to Paris flight aboard the Spirit of St. Louis.

So was this the prize Alcock and Brown won or was this prize for first solo crossing (or just being American :diablo:)?

Personally I find the claims that the Frenchmen were shot-down by associates of Al Capone (or anybody else for that matter) ludicrous!

I had read a few years ago that Nungesser had made it to and crashed in the woods of Maine? a logging company had found some aircraft remains and and engine? anyway interesting reading, cheers

I’m no mob expert, but…

Not all bootleggers were part of Capone’s group. I suspect the use of Capone here is probably to attract attention to the story.
I’d also note that liquor was not illeagal in Canada. There was no reason for gunplay since no one was doing anything wrong.
Again, there was no reason for the USCG to shoot…since they didn’t have jurisdiction.