FTR#‘s 1360 & 1361: Byrds of A Feather, Parts 1 and 2

Dave Emory's "For The Record"

Introduction: We begin with reading and analysis of an article by Jeremy Kuzmarov about David H. Byrd and his purchase of stock in LTV on the run-up to the Vietnam War (that stock appreciated enormously due to the Vietnam War). Byrd was also the founder of the Civil Air Patrol. A unit of the CAP was also the first association between David Ferrie and Lee Harvey Oswald, as well as Iran-Contra drug smuggler Barry Seal, who may have been flying a getaway plane from Dallas on 11/22/1963. Key points of discussion and analysis include: ". . . .Byrd’s right-wing sensibilities were evident when he traveled to Nazi Germany several years before World War II and had a brief meeting with Hitler. When Byrd returned to the U.S. after that encounter, he spoke positively of Hitler’s 'sincerity' and 'basically sound policies.'. . ." ". . . .Byrd subsequently developed a close friendship with one of Heinrich Himmler’s former assassins, Werner von Alvensleben, a double agent in World War II who owned and operated the big game hunting company that Byrd allegedly traveled to Mozambique with at the time of the JFK assassination. . . ." " . . . . Byrd was also friends with Ernest Udet, the #2 man at the German Nazi Luftwaffe appointed by Herman Goering. Udet was in charge of research and development for the Luftwaffe dive-bomber [the JU87 or 'Stuka,' a favorite aircraft of Hans Ulrich Rudel--D.E.]. . . ." Generaloberst Ernst Udet Photo Credit: Wikipedia Not included in the original broadcast, we present excerpts of Luftwaffe General Udet's Wikipedia entry. As outlandish as it might initially appear, the curious deaths of high-ranking Luftwaffe officers who were on their way to attend Udet's funeral following his November, 1941 suicide should be viewed with suspicion. Was the "suicide" used to mask Udet's possible defection/collaboration with the West? Note that Udet was accustomed to hunting in East Africa, as were D.H. Byrd and the younger Werner von Alvensleben. Note also Albensleben's association with Nazi cinematographer Len Riefenstahl and his piloting of a Curtis aircraft. In AFA#1, we noted how the Navy technique of dive bombing was betrayed to the Axis through demonstrations using such aircraft. " . . . . Ernst Udet (26 April 1896 – 17 November 1941) was a German pilot during World War I and a Luftwaffe Colonel-General (Generaloberst) during World War II. . . ." " . . . . Udet and another wartime comrade—Suchocky—became pilots to an African filming expedition. The cameraman was another veteran, Schneeberger, whom Udet called 'Flea,' and the guide was Siedentopf, a former East African estate owner. . . . Udet engaged in hunting while in Africa. . . ." " . . . . He appeared with Leni Riefenstahl in three films: The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), Stürme über dem Mont Blanc (1930), and S.O.S. Eisberg (1933). . . ." " . . . . In the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics Udet entered the arts competition literature category with his autobiography, Mein Fliegerleben (My Flying Life) (published 1935). . . ." " . . . . Udet joined the Nazi party in 1933 when Hermann Göring promised to buy him two new U.S.-built Curtiss Hawk II biplanes (export designation of the F11C-2 Goshawk Helldiver). The planes were used for evaluation purposes and thus indirectly influenced the German idea of dive bombing aeroplanes, such as the Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive bombers. They were also used for aerobatic shows held during the 1936 Summer Olympics. . . ." " . . . . Udet became a major proponent of the dive bomber, taking credit for having introduced it to the Luftwaffe. On 9 June 1936 he had, through his political connections, been named Chief of the Technical Office, T-Amt, (the development wing of the Reich Ministry of Aviation). . . ." " . . . . On 17 November 1941, Udet shot himself in the head. . . . On their way to attend Udet's funeral, the World War II fighter ace Werner Mölders died in a plane crash in Breslau, and the high Luftwaffe executive General der Flieger Helmuth Wilberg died in another plane crash near Dresden. . . ." Next, we present a masterful analysis by the brilliant Russ Baker deconstructing D.H. ("Dry Hole") Byrd's cover story of being on Safari in Mozambique at the time of the JFK assassination. We then excerpt a very important analysis by Dan Alcorn, linking David H. Byrd with a milieu involving a former assassin for the S.S. and David H. Byrd. Key points of analysis and discussion include: " . . . . The second [FOIA] request is Werner von Alvensleben, who had been an intelligence asset – a double agent for the U.S. OSS in World War II, and who was associating with David Harold Byrd, the owner of the Book Depository building around the time of the assassination. . . ." " . . . . We have not been able to get access to the operational files of the CIA; they’ve refused to give us access to any of the operational files about these three subjects of the investigation. This is important to us because we have sourcing from the Dallas Morning News that Werner von Alvensleben was in Dallas in late 1963 as the guest of David Harold Byrd. And this is important as we get into the background of Werner von Alvensleben because at one time, earlier in his career in 1933, he had been an assassin for Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi leader in Hitler’s Germany, and that makes it relevant to exploring what was going on in 1963. . . ." " . . . . Among other people, our research has found– were known to David Harold Byrd, was an Ernst Udet. U -D -E -T, and he was the number two in the Luftwaffe to Hermann Göring in Nazi Germany. Byrd describes Udet as a close friend in Byrd’s autobiography, and Udet was in charge of research and development for the Luftwaffe, which is the theme that seems to run through some of these connections: the forward -looking research and development process for aviation and aerospace. Aviation was the basis for the relationship between Byrd and Ernst Udet of the Luftwaffe. . . ." " . . . . In researching Werner von Alvensleben and his big game hunting operation, I came across the information that von Alvensleben ‘s favorite rifle was the Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifle. Of course, I was familiar with the Mannlicher -Carcano because that’s the rifle said to have been used to kill President Kennedy. I wasn’t aware of the Mannlicher-Schonauer. I did some research and it turns out that the Mannlicher-Schonauer was the finest hunting rifle of that era, it was an Austrian rifle. . . ." " . . . . It was said on numerous sites devoted to guns and ammunition. that the Mannlicher-Schonauer and the Mannlicher-Carcano rifles used essentially identical ammunition. Very difficult to tell the two cartridges apart. There are sources among the blogs that say the ammunition, some ammunition was manufactured with the purpose of being used interchangeably between the two rifles. Well, this rifle was the favorite rifle of Werner von Alvensleben, the big game hunter. It was also favored by other big game hunters of the time because of its ability to stop large animals; that was what it was particularly effective for. In researching the Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifle I came across testimony to the Warren Commission; it came up before the Warren Commission in the following way: Warren Commissioner John McCloy was at a session in which the FBI ballistics expert, Robert Frazier, testified. John McCloy interrupted the questioning to ask his own question, which was whether the three hulls (cartridges) that were found on the sixth floor of the Book Depository building could have been fired by a Mannlicher-Schonauer rifle rather than a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. . . ." The program concludes with an excerpt from Joseph McBride's book Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit concerning the role of television in cognitively and politically shaping the public's view of the JFK assassination.