Was Dan Snow In The Right To Lie To His Daughter So As To Fit In With Modern ‘Gender Politics’?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-5764869/Dan-Snows-wrong-tell-daughter-women-fought-Spitfires-war-says-STEPHEN-GLOVER.html

[gulliver1]

Hope his children still believe in Father Christmas.

[Islay]

jno perhaps you need to research that a bit more - women did have a big role in WW2 and were conscripted - as to the OP.
No I don't think he was wrong - he bent the truth a wee bit, all parents do it to make their children feel better.

[jno]

yeah, but he should make it clear there's no such thing as Mother Christmas.

[jim360]

I'm also struggling to see the need for the lie:

"No, they didn't, but nowadays there are loads of women pilots!"

As opposed to "haha don't be stupid, women don't belong in planes hur hur..."

[Islay]

//They simply flew them from hangers to RAF stations... //
Simply Ok so how about taking off in bombing raids and having to deal with falling bombs - I watched an excellant documentary where one male spitfire pilot said women spitfire pilots should not be dismissed so easily!

[jno]

they had a role, Islay, but it wasn't massive and it mostly wasn't military, which is what the OP is about, except in the loose sense of munitions workers, parachute packers and so on. Land girls, factory work (in men's jobs) and keeping the home fires burning were more typical roles.

About 650,000 women were in the forces through the war. Three times as many men were called up in 1939 alone.

[Khandro]

I believe it isn't in most women's nature to fight and kill.

[maggiebee]

Read a book recently called "Night Witches" - a fascinating read about women pilots in the USSR. They didn't pilot spitfires but the Germans came to fear them.

588th Night Bomber Regiment (1942–1943)
46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (1943–1945)
Country Soviet Union
Branch Soviet Air Forces
Role Harassment and Tactical bombing
Nickname(s) Night Witches
Engagements Eastern Front (World War II)
Decorations Guards designation
Order of the Red Banner
Order of Suvorov
Commanders
Regimental Commander Yevdokia Bershanskaya
Deputy Regiment Commander Serafima Amosova
Commissar Yevdokia Rachkevich
Aircraft flown
Bomber Polikarpov Po-2

The regiment in 1942.
"Night Witches" was a World War II German nickname for the female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces. Though women were initially barred from combat, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin issued an order on October 8, 1941 to deploy three women's air force units, including the 588th regiment. The regiment, formed by Major Marina Raskova and led by Major Yevdokia Bershanskaya, was made up primarily of female volunteers in their late teens and early twenties

[kvalidir]

That sounds awesome Maggie, going to read that.

[Islay]

Wow maggie that is brilliant thank you.
Spath can you please not shout! Thank you

[zebo]

I recall seeing a black and white film of an amazing female tank commander entering Berlin towards the end of WW2.
Dan Snow constantly tries to push his right-on credentials. At the Dam Busters programme from the Albert Hall he was so painfully apologetic for using the name of the dog but 'in the interests of historical accuracy' of the film it would be used but obviously it would be unacceptable today, yadder yadder yadder. Clearly historical accuracy doesn't apply to his daughter,

[youngmafbog]

//women did not have a massive role in the war.//

I am gobsmacked by that statement. Without the contribution by women we would never have won the war or even come close. There is far more to a war than the actual 'shooting'.

[Lie-in King]

To the OP - no, he wasn't right but he'll have to own up pretty quickly if his daughter passes on his words to anyone that knows better. A silly mistake, I think, nothing more serious.

Maggiebee - thanks for that info re the "Night Witches". New to me & while it's not the book, I hope you don't mind if I post this link - very interesting :-) - https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A5849076

[maggiebee]

Thank you so much for that link LIK - will save it and read it at my leisure.

[ToraToraTora]

islay: "No I don't think he was wrong - he bent the truth a wee bit, all parents do it to make their children feel better. " - so it's ok to make up history to meet modern "standards" - tells me everything I need to know about you.

[jno]

he bent the truth to make his country look better than it was. Happens on AB all the time.

[sp1814]

He’s wrong to have lied, but in the great scheme of things, it’s nothing to wet our collective knickers over.

This is Stephen Glover indulging in a bit of virtue signalling.