Maureen Sweeney, RIP

[Ulysses]

On June 3rd 1944, a weather forecast made by a woman in west Mayo and secretly phoned in to the British government caused a change to Allied plans for a landing in Europe.  The weather station at Blacksod Bay in Mayo was used throughout the war to secretly provide advance weather information to the UK and the Allies.  The D-Day landings depended on air cover, but the aircraft could not tolerate low cloud.  Maureen Sweeney collected the numbers and did the calculations from the weather station, and forecasted an Atlantic storm that would mean that if the landings went ahead as planned there would be low cloud and the landing troops would not have air support.  Eisenhower made the decision to delay the landings to June 6th, and the rest is history.  She did not realise the significance of her weather forecast, and only found out more than 10 years later that her forecast was instrumental in changing Allied landing plans.  She was given a special award in 2021 by the United States House of Representatives.

 

Maureen Sweeney passed away today at the age of 100.  May she rest in peace.

 

Irish woman whose forecast changed D-Day dies aged 100 (rte.ie)

 

Mayo's D-Day heroine receives special US honour (rte.ie)

 

How An Irish Weather Forecast Played A Critical Role on D-Day

 

[JudyJudyJudy]

15 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

On June 3rd 1944, a weather forecast made by a woman in west Mayo and secretly phoned in to the British government caused a change to Allied plans for a landing in Europe.  The weather station at Blacksod Bay in Mayo was used throughout the war to secretly provide advance weather information to the UK and the Allies.  The D-Day landings depended on air cover, but the aircraft could not tolerate low cloud.  Maureen Sweeney collected the numbers and did the calculations from the weather station, and forecasted an Atlantic storm that would mean that if the landings went ahead as planned there would be low cloud and the landing troops would not have air support.  Eisenhower made the decision to delay the landings to June 6th, and the rest is history.  She did not realise the significance of her weather forecast, and only found out more than 10 years later that her forecast was instrumental in changing Allied landing plans.  She was given a special award in 2021 by the United States House of Representatives.

 

Maureen Sweeney passed away today at the age of 100.  May she rest in peace.

 

Irish woman whose forecast changed D-Day dies aged 100 (rte.ie)

 

Mayo's D-Day heroine receives special US honour (rte.ie)

 

How An Irish Weather Forecast Played A Critical Role on D-Day

 

May she rest in peace 

[Lone Striker]

Wow.   Thats truly amazing.  One ordinary person's skill and thoughtfulness  made an enormous impression on world history, and helped save laves.     Thanks for posting this @Ulysses

 

 

[Tazio]

Her neighbours must have been furious, all those years of leaving the lights on to guide German bombers only to be thwarted by a weather forecast 🤣

[Auld Reekin']

Thanks for posting this Uly. I'd never heard about her or what she did: an act of enormous significance in 20th century history. She lived to a great age as well.

[Ulysses]

48 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Her neighbours must have been furious, all those years of leaving the lights on to guide German bombers only to be thwarted by a weather forecast 🤣

 

She did what she did, I suppose. She produced weather data and forecasts, and they got used.  She was aware of the transmission of reports to London, but beyond that she would have had no idea of their significance.  She did tell the story of the woman on the phone with the English accent asking her to repeat her fateful numbers, but of course not realising the importance of that call for another 10 or more years.

 

In fairness, her report was not the only factor; Eisenhower's decision was also influenced by weather reports from flights taken from the Hebrides out into the Atlantic, and several people died in the course of the war making those flights - including 8 men who were lost when their plane crashed into a cliff in Donegal in January 1944.  But Blacksod Bay was important because it was the most westerly station in Europe giving advance information for weather tracking from the north west.  The Allies had access to that data, and the Axis didn't.

 

On the subject of lights, if you get a minute, have a look on the web machine for the Cranborne Report.  Boring, bureaucratic, but information of interest.

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Ulysses

[Gorgiewave]

I'd never heard of her but she seems to have been one of the ones.

 

One would like to think that the last thing that went through Adolf's head, other than that bullet, was to wonder how the hell Maureen Sweeney ever got the best of him.

[Ulysses]

Just now, Gorgiewave said:

I'd never heard of her but she seems to have been one of the ones.

 

One would like to think that the last thing that went through Adolf's head, other than that bullet, was to wonder how the hell Maureen Sweeney ever got the best of him.

 

Just like the lads who flew from Tiree but lost their lives in Bundoran, names like hers would have meant nothing to the Germans.  

 

Apparently, the timing of the Normandy landings was all about when the tides would be right and when the weather would permit aerial protection for the landing troops.  You'd imagine that something like that would be a straightforward thing to set up, but that's reckoning without the vagaries of the early summer weather in the English Channel.

[Gorgiewave]

8 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

Just like the lads who flew from Tiree but lost their lives in Bundoran, names like hers would have meant nothing to the Germans.  

 

Apparently, the timing of the Normandy landings was all about when the tides would be right and when the weather would permit aerial protection for the landing troops.  You'd imagine that something like that would be a straightforward thing to set up, but that's reckoning without the vagaries of the early summer weather in the English Channel.

 

Were the weather reports secret because they were militarily useful or because Ireland was supposed to be neutral and she shouldn't have been phoning the British government?

[Ulysses]

18 minutes ago, Gorgiewave said:

 

Were the weather reports secret because they were militarily useful or because Ireland was supposed to be neutral and she shouldn't have been phoning the British government?

 

Both.

[Gorgiewave]

5 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

Both.

👍Even better.

[trotter]

It just goes to show the sort of 'randomness' of life. How something so small and seemingly insignificant can actually have such huge consequences. 

[been here before]

Search for meteorologist James Stagg from Musselburgh...

Edited December 18, 2023 by been here before

[henrysmithsgloves]

The BBC done a documentary about her not too long ago,and how the Irish actually helped the allies secretly during ww2.

[The Real Maroonblood]

An amazing woman.

RiP.

[WorldChampions1902]

Every day’s a school day. A fascinating story.
 

It’s incredible to think about how major world events might have turned out but for a relatively small number of people and ‘fortuitous’ occurrences. We tend to (rightly) think of the incredible efforts of our brave armed forces. But this is a reminder of just how ‘fragile’ our victory was. One wonders what might have happened had the D-Day landings failed? At the very least, the war would have been significantly prolonged with further loss of life and the final outcome would certainly have seen Russia taking much greater ‘ownership’ of large swathes of Europe. A sobering thought.

[FWJ]

I remember reading about this  a while ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day_Daily_Telegraph_crossword_security_alarm

[Mikey1874]

Why it's D Day.

 

The 4th day option.

[John Findlay]

2 hours ago, WorldChampions1902 said:

Every day’s a school day. A fascinating story.
 

It’s incredible to think about how major world events might have turned out but for a relatively small number of people and ‘fortuitous’ occurrences. We tend to (rightly) think of the incredible efforts of our brave armed forces. But this is a reminder of just how ‘fragile’ our victory was. One wonders what might have happened had the D-Day landings failed? At the very least, the war would have been significantly prolonged with further loss of life and the final outcome would certainly have seen Russia taking much greater ‘ownership’ of large swathes of Europe. A sobering thought.

I think the Americans would have pushed for the atomic option on Berlin or possibly Hamburg.

[been here before]

34 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

Why it's D Day.

 

The 4th day option.

 

Rubbish.

[FWJ]

38 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

I think the Americans would have pushed for the atomic option on Berlin or possibly Hamburg.

I reckon they might have gone for a less populated spot like, say, Pennemünde which would have demonstrated its capabilities and knocked out the V2 factory too.

 

(Although it would mean no Operation Paperclip and grievously damage the US’s space programme)

Edited December 18, 2023 by FWJ

[Morgan]

4 hours ago, Mikey1874 said:

Why it's D Day.

 

The 4th day option.

That's wrong.

 

It simply, in a slightly shortened manner, means Day Day.

[been here before]

10 minutes ago, Morgan said:

That's wrong.

 

It simply, in a slightly shortened manner, means Day Day.

 

No-ones 100% sure. It was a term first first used by the Americans at the tail end of WWI and has been used dozens of times since with the Normandy Invasion being the most famous.

 

Using the 4th day proposition, presumably H Hour refers to the 8th hour of the day just to confuse the enemy of the real time planned.

[Morgan]

5 minutes ago, been here before said:

 

No-ones 100% sure. It was a term first first used by the Americans at the tail end of WWI and has been used dozens of times since with the Normandy Invasion being the most famous.

 

Using the 4th day proposition, presumably H Hour refers to the 8th hour of the day just to confuse the enemy of the real time planned.

Quick!!!

 

Post a link.

 

Imagine if someone beat you to it.  

[been here before]

51 minutes ago, Morgan said:

Quick!!!

 

Post a link.

 

Imagine if someone beat you to it.  

 

An L Link.

 

Why its L Link. Because its the 12th Link he's posted this hour.

[Morgan]

3 minutes ago, been here before said:

 

An L Link.

 

Why its L Link. Because its the 12th Link he's posted this hour.

When one is on here 28 hours per day, that's 336 links a day.  

 

Sounds about right.