From Wikipedia.
This is the man for whom the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. destroyer was named. He died August 12, 1944 while on a top secret mission in Operation Aphrodite. This was a mission to send unmanned, explosive-laden Army Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Navy PB44-1 Liberators bombers and deliberately crash them into targets using remote control.
These planes could not take off by remote control and required a crew of two to take off, fly up to 2,000 feet, activate the remote controls and parachute down.
Joseph Kennedy and Lt. Wilford John Wills were designated to be the Navy crew. They took off on August 12, 1944, carrying 21,170 pounds of Torpex, 50% more powerful than TNT. The plane was going to crash into the Fortress of Mimoyecques in northern France. The Germans had the super cannons, V-3 there with a 165 kilometer range with intention of firing on London.
Unfortunately, once in the air, the explosives went off.
Quite the Hero. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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