› added 12 years ago

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TIL That a team of escaped Polish pilots, Squadron 303, claimed the highest number of kills of any Allied Squadron in WWII: they were only 5% of the active pilots in the Battle of Britain but were responsible for 12% of total victories.

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rRQMo TIL that when practicing for the D-Day landings in "Exercise Tiger" at least 749 Americans were killed by friendly fire and a "wolf pack" of 6 German E-boats who stumbled on the LST ships in the dark. D-Day was nearly called off because 10 officers who knew the exact plans went missing.
W7MXB TIL a Belgian princess living in a Belgian castle during WWI was protected due to a sign from a German general that partially read "I order the German soldiers passing by here not to ring the bell and to leave the place untouched" because she was the sister-in-law of Austria-Hungary's emperor.
Bgd8K TIL Due to a WWII shortage of copper, the US military requested over 14,000 tons of silver for electromagnetic coils to help enrich uranium. The Treasury department loaned them 12,300 tons. Later, over 99.964% of the silver was returned.
7Jo7 TIL a “micromort” is a unit given to the amount of times a person will die out of a million tries. For example, going skydiving is 9 micromorts, meaning that there is a 9/1,000,000 chance that a person will die after a trip.
R7n4w TIL James Smithson sent the US $500,000 (1.5% the federal budget) in the 19C to found an institution "for the creation and diffusion of knowledge." The Smithsonian is today the world's largest museum complex; all are free of charge and open to the public, and James Smithson never visited the US.