Glen Beneda was a P-51 Mustang pilot in China on May 6, 1944 when he was shot down and spent two month evading the Japanese before returning to friendly forces. He landed in a rice paddy in Hubei province, his P-51 landed in a lake next to him.
The plane, even though it crashed, was still visible and the local Chinese farmers tied rocks to the floating pieces to ensure that it sank so that when the Japanese soldiers came the following day, nothing of the plane remained visible so the soldiers went elsewhere looking for Lt Beneda.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage approved the excavation and the remnants of his P-51 will be put on display in a museum next year.
The original 100 “Flying Tigers”, and the subsequent fighter unit that
inherited the AVG – American Volunteer Group - sobriquet on July 4, 1942, are
well remembered – and are taught the unit history in school routinely – in China.
Full story at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/15/content_7304193.htm
Since the first one rolled off the Production line in 1954, the Lockheed turboprop “Hercules” has traveled the world and has the same versatility as the famed C-47 “Gooney Bird” (which is still flying in some parts of the world in a commercial manner) which is essentially replaced in the US Armed forces.
This year it celebrated it’s 50th year with the Royal Australian Air Force on December 13, 2008.
More than 2,400 C-130s have been built at the Marietta Georgia plant.
See:
Full story at: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100007
On December 20, 1943 Bulgaria was part of the Axis Powers and a mission by 200+ B-24 Liberators of the 15th Air Force, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, went to bomb Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. During the battle fighter pilot Dimitar Spisarevski deliberately rammed his fighter into a B-24 Liberator to bring it down – and was himself killed.
He was flying a Bf-109 G2 Messerschmitt along with 35 other pilots who broke through the P-38 escorts to attack the bomber formation.
As to if he deliberately rammed the B-24 or if it was accidental and the AXIS powers later portrayed it as deliberate act before the mission, the article does not mention that possibility. Most every fighter to bomber collision was an accident – there are not many accounts where pilots were told to ram when out of ammo, or stated over the radio to others that they are going to ram a bomber. The German ELBE fighter unit in 1945 flying modified FW-190s, and many Russian fighter pilots early in the war, are known to have deliberately rammed enemy aircraft.
In Central Sophia cemetery there is a “Walk of Pilots” were Bulgarian WW II pilots are buried.
The MACR listing for 20 December 1944 shows 11 B-24s lost that day (31 aircraft total), but only 1 ship from 15th AF bombers flying out of Italy, B-24 SN 42-83428 MACR 1592 from the 387 BG (H). The other B-24 aircraft lost that day were in the 8th and the 5th AF in the Pacific.
The three brothers Fred, Edwin, & Thomas signed up and all ended up being pilots / co-pilots in B-24s in the South Pacific -- in the same outfit.
Thomas was KIA on July 10, 1943 flying out of Guadalcanal in B-24 SN 42-40507, (MACR 4424) of the 380 BG(H). Brother Fred was killed in an accident when his plane hit power lines at Garden Plain on Oct 25, 1945.
Edwin finished 56 missions and got out of the US Army Air Corps in August 1945.
Full story: http://www.kansas.com/news/state/kansas_history/story/639685.html
Full story of “The Scratch Affair“ at:
http://www.ganderbeacon.ca/index.cfm?sid=196950&sc=308
Edward J. Giering (LTC, Ret.) spent that many years writing to various government departments trying to get his plane’s combat record corrected by the US Air Force. Shot down on February 16, 1945, the official report did not mention that his plane was part of the bomb group that bombed the rail head at Munster. Once he found out, he started writing in the early 1990s till just last month working to get the official record adjusted.
Full story at: http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=fdf612e4-7c18-461c-bfcd-f5d03af05f0e
On December 19, 2008 President Bush designated 9 locations as National Historic Sites these include: Tule Lake Segregation Center, amp Tule Lake (California), Atka Island, Kiska Island, Attu Island (Alaska), USS Arizona Memorial (which is sinking by the way), and the USS Utah Memorial, plus six officer bungalows and mooring quays on Ford Island (Hawaii).
The sites in Alaska are virtually un-reachable. The 11th Air Force fought against the Japanese from Alaska from 1942 thru 1945. The amphibious invasions in Alaska had a higher causality count per numbers involved than D-Day in France – both due to the Japanese and the really bad weather and lack of proper gear for the soldiers fighting in such miserable conditions in the Aleutians.
A B-17 is still lying on Atka Island.
In 1948 three B-17s were the whole heavy bomber force in Israel – escorted by Bf-109s which came from Czechoslovakia. Two of the three B-17s arrived thought the effort of Charles Winters, and he was subsequently convicted of violating the 1939 “Neutrality Laws” which forbids private citizens from providing any type of military assistance anywhere to anyone (that right is now reserved to the US Federal Government).
He was pardoned by President Bush on December 23, 2008 for his 1947 -1948 efforts to help Israel during their initial war for independence. He died in 1984.
Full story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7799170.stm
Rudy DePaola, out of Woodstock Maryland, wrote this new book. He tells the story of A B-24 gunner in the South Pacific (5th or 13th Air Force, not sure.)
Not many stories have been written of the aerial combat in that theatre of war.
Rudolph "Rudy" DePaola joined the military in 1943 and was trained as a gunner in B-24s and was sent to New Guinea in November of 1944. He flew 25 combat missions out of Moratai airbase in the Halmaharas against Japanese targets in the Philippines, Borneo (oil fields) and other Jap held islands. The initial missions to Boreno oil fields were unescorted and were dropped after two missions due to heavy losses, until fighter escort was possible.
Wings of the Bullet * by Rudy DePaola; Story of Young Americans at War; Publication Date: March 16, 2006; Trade Paperback; $19.99; 231 pages; 978-1-4134-9816-5; Cloth Hardback; $29.99; 231 pages; 978-1-4134-9817-2
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7479. Tear sheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x 7876.
Xlibris books can be purchased at Xlibris bookstore. For more information, 888-795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com
A chronicle of his time in the 615th Bomb Squadron of the 501st Bombardment Group (Heavy) flying in the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 8th Air Force. This book was created based on the notes that he took during his 35 mission tour in the ETO – European Theatre of Operations.
Elmer’s Tune (links to Amazon)
Book was published by the Peppertree Press.
Member Al Gould wrote a book Called “Millions of GHOSTS Plead... Don't Forget”, Hartly Press, Gearhart, Oregon, ISBN 0-9659081-8-6; and Clayton Kelly Gross wrote “Live Bait”, Inkwater Press, ISBN 978-1-59299-186-0. (Both web links are to Amazon)
And there are a few local chapter members who should write a book!!
Robert Otto, who lives in Everett Washington, was a B-24 tail gunner who was shot down during a strike against Vienna oil refineries, he is now a part of a painting honoring those who defeated the NAZI and thus liberated Austria.
His bomber crashed near Pollau with two dead, 1 missing and the other 5, plus Otto, captured. By this time of the war most bomber crews only had 9 men on them, they were loosing too many gunners so each bomber lost a waist gunner.
Josef Schutzenhofer is the artist and it is now in a government building in Graz.
Full story at: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081208/NEWS01/712089906
Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure, a firm that started out allowing people to live the life of a pro race car driver for a few days, now has an “adventure” for people to fly in a B-17 – the “Liberty Belle” and be a crewman on it – over a period of three days.
http://www.wwiiadventure.com/ is the web site with the final part of it where you go up in one of the 14 Boeing B-17s still flyable in the world for a ride – without the “to whom it may concern” return delivery options that the real flyers had to deal with.
This all happens in Savannah where the 8th AF Museum is at.
Takes place Feb 27 thru March 1 2009. Cost is around US $2,000.
Don’t forget – you volunteered!
On
March 20, 1945 over Berlin he did something quite remarkable – destroyed two
ME-262 “Swallow” jets attacking his B-17 Bomber "Big Yank" in the low
squadron, low group, as the 15th Air Force attacked the Daimler-Benz
tank works within Berlin that day.
He died November 21, 2008 in Winston-Salem North Carolina.
He flew in the 840th Bomb Squadron, 483rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) out of Italy at Foggia as part of the 15th Air Force after flying missions out of England with the 8th Air Force.
One of the other gunners on his ship also got a ME-262 that day. Because of that exploit, and that the mission was the longest distance mission flown by the 15th during the entire war, the 483rd received a Distinguished Unit Citation.
Lowell Swenson, 86, died in Bemidji, Minn., on October 16, 2008. Swenson founded U.S. regional carrier Mesaba Airlines in 1978. The airline was later sold to Northwest Airlines. He is a recipient of the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for his service during World War II, in which he flew 50 B-24 Liberator bomber missions in Europe.
Thanks to Wally Groce for loaning his original P-47 gun camera film to
the Oregon Chapter so we could put a copy of it into the archives; George Brice
for his scrapbook of his Army career (300+ photos and other items); Larry
Bellarts for his last mission narrative, Col Bellarts also wrote a book: “Bird
With A Broken Wing”; Eldon Bevens; Paul Armatrout; and Vernon Dickie – all
contributed items that are now in our chapter’s archive – and soon to be
available online on the web site.
The collection, the items that I have scanned into digital format so
far, takes up 4 full DVDs - 16 gigabytes of data. 725+ separate items have been
scanned and preserved so far. A single PDF file, like those storing crew photos
of the men that flew in the 306 BG (H), may have 60 crew photos in a single
file.
To all those that have contributed, thank you.
To those that have items that can be shared, please contact me, Tom Philo, to arrange a time for me to borrow your items to scan, archive, then return them to you; or you can donate them permanently to our chapter historical library. Scanning items allows them to be shared without having to loan out the originals and risk further damage or loss of these irreplaceable items.
Tom Philo, Oregon Eighth Air Force Historical Society, Chapter Historian.
He was drafted in 1918 as one of the last group of 18 year olds conscripted to fight in the Great War but he did not have to serve in the trenches since the war ended before he finished his training. He later served in World War II after he had immigrated to Australia but missed out in the Greece and Crete battles to an attack of appendicitis and his unit sailed without him. In 1942 he was discharged from the Army due to health regions. He died 4 November 2008.
This British sailor served at the end of World War One and throughout World War Two, he died on January 12, 2009. He served on the HMS Tiger during WW I. During WW II she served on many ships but the worse experience he had was during the Dunkirk evacuations where on the HMS Salamander he made 5 trips to the beaches getting off troops. He spent his whole time on the quarterdeck pulling up soldiers. Their sister ship, HMS Skipjack, was sunk with all hands and 200 evacuated soldiers next to his.
This leaves just three British soldiers alive from WW I: 112-year-old Henry Allingham, 110-year-old Harry Patch, who both live in Britain, and 107-year-old Claude Choules who lives in Australia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/7824999.stm
Full story: http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/4023655.Acomb_ex_German_PoW_dies/
Paul Hofschröer died in Acomb, York UK, on Jan 6, 2009. Paul was drafted at 19 in early 1940 into the German Luftwaffe as an
Anti-Aircraft artillery person. He was in the French campaign of 1940, then
went into Russia in 1941 and was wounded in 1943. After recovering from wounds
he was sent to Calais France in 1944 where he was captured by the British after
the city surrendered following the Normandy Campaign.
While still a POW in England he met Barbara, who routinely came to pick fruit at the camp, and married her while still a POW! They were married in October of 1948.
Paul stayed in England and became a British subject.
A 2.5 acre plot of land, with a WW II pillbox on it, is for sale. You can not build anything on it (greenbelt land) but the pillbox makes a nice place to stay on any given day out in your own private park.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/7762394.stm
"The Hour of the Eagle", A movie made in 1974 about the Luftwaffe attack on Forth anchorage in northern Scotland, was released to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the attack of October 1939.
One person, who helped make this movie, Stephen Begg, later worked on "Aliens"!
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Hour-has-come-for-new.4808611.jp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7489323.stm
Last July 4, 2008 a British navy minesweeper, HMS Shoreham, in a routine exercise discovered a World War II mine off Inchkeith Island in the Firth of Forth.
They, of course, blew it up since it was in a shipping lane.
In March of 2008 a German bomb was found in central Coventry during a construction project. Coventry was bombed during the Luftwaffe "Baedeker" night raids in 1941.
Reading a WW II made up spy novel, then reading about a true OSS spy, knowing that the story is true as compared to something that occurs in fictional movies - you have to rethink to what separates real from fiction is often when it occurs.
Major Cyr dropped into France in June of 1944, fought in land battles against the Gestapo and the Wehrmacht with the Free French Forces of the Interior (FFI), argued (in French) with a Luftwaffe pilot in a town over some topic; then after France was liberated went into China in 1945 and blew up the longest bridge over the Yellow River while a Japanese troop train was going over it.
This is a true to life TV movie waiting to happen.
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090105/NEWS01/901050340/1002/NEWS01
A premier occurred on January 21, 2008 in London, England and previously in Germany, but it did not open in the US till December 16.
This is the story of the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, carried out on July 20, 1944, by Count Claus von Stauffenberg, and told from his perspective. So far the most factual of all the stories presented in all the movies about the plot.
In the North Africa scenes they used P-40s which is historically accurate.
"ROUSH® Performance continues their homage to the legendary World War II fighter plane with the 2009 P-51B™ Mustang, the second aviation-themed pony car from the Michigan-based manufacturer. This car, based on the 2009 Ford Mustang chassis, will be limited to just 51 numbered production vehicles in the 2009 model year."
One of the primary reasons the 8th AF was able to carry out its mission was the supply line supporting the front line units. Part of that supply line was Burtonwood Army Airfield in Warrington just outside Liverpool England.
As aircraft from the US arrived into the ETO (European Theater of Operations) they stopped off at Burtonwood to undergo field modifications to make them ready for the much deadlier German Luftwaffe that operated in the ETO.
It was also a depot level repair center for aircraft damaged in combat – or accidents.
During the war its nickname was “Lancashire’s Detroit”. In 1943 when the air war really got underway till 1945 some 11,575 aircraft passed through Burtonwood. In addition over 40,000 engine and component parts were shipped to it for its use or for it to be sent onto other units. By 1945 over 18,000 personnel were stationed at the base.
In 2006 the last hangers there was torn down so that a housing development could be built on the land.
Wilford Naylor, 490th Bomb Group, 851st Squadron, 8th Air Force
"So, I pulled out of the formation because I didn't want to blow up and take somebody with me. The crew chief jumped down from the top turret, and went down to the bomb bay and shut off the fuel to that thing. Then he started transferring fuel out of the tank to other tanks, and I feathered the engines."
Naylor directed a carbon dioxide blast to the burning engine, and extinguished the remaining flame; but the plane was crippled with only three engines functioning.
"We dropped our bombs and followed the rest, but we were the last airplane in the 8th Air Force. A B-24 doesn't fly too good on three engines, so I was losing a little altitude trying to get home."
"I got down under the clouds and I could see the base and the coast because we were that close to the coast. So, I called the base and asked them to give me a straight-in approach. I said, I've got an engine out and running low on fuel.'
"They stacked up a fire truck and an ambulance on the end of the runway I thought I was going to land on, so I had to go around to the other end to come in."
On the circle around, fuel ran out in the second inboard engine.
"I landed, and ran out of gas in the other two engines before I got off the runway. It was that close."
"Ordinance personnel were patting me on the back for bringing back the crew, and engineering and maintenance were cussing me for bringing back that bucket of junk."
http://lubbockonline.com/stories/011009/loc_376078971.shtml
1) In which 1967 film are some reprieved Death Row prisoners trained as a crack fighting unit and sent on a suicide mission into occupied France?
2) In which 1942 film, set in North Africa, do French patriots sing Le Marseillaise in an American bar to drown out a German marching song?
3) In which 1997 comedy film does an Italian father in a concentration camp persuade his son that the ghastly events around him are part of a game?
4) Which patriotic 1949 John Wayne movie follows the training of US recruits to capture a strategic Pacific island?
5) In which 1961 film does a commando team scale a Turkish cliff to sabotage two massive artillery pieces commanding the Aegean?
6) Which 1976 thriller, starring Michael Caine, concerns a plot to kill Churchill by flying German paratroopers, dressed as Poles, into Norfolk?
7) Which Oscar-winning 1998 movie begins with a grueling 25-minute sequence of soldiers being mown down on Omaha Beach?
8) Which 1953 movie, set in Hawaii before Pearl Harbour, portrays a passionate affair between Sergeant Warden and the neglected wife of his superior, Captain Holmes?
9) Which 1946 Hollywood movie follows the progress of three soldiers returning from war – one of them played by a real-life amputee?
10) In which 1987 French film, directed by Louis Malle, does a schoolboy discover that his friend Jean has been concealing his Jewish identity?
11) Which Rogers & Hammerstein musical features actual battle footage of WW2?
12) In which Ernest Lubitsch comedy of 1942 are the Nazis in occupied Warsaw out-smarted by a Polish theatre troupe?
13) What’s the English title of the Oscar-nominated, 2004 German film about the last 12 days of Adolf Hitler in his bunker?
14) Which Billy Wilder film won William Holden an Oscar for playing a suspected collaborator in a concentration camp?
15) Which 1954 film, with a score by Eric Coates, featured an eccentric inventor and a famous raid by 617 Squadron?
16) Which much-televised 1963 movie features Donald Pleasance as “The Forger,” James Garner as “The Scrounger” and Steve McQueen as “The Cooler King”?
17) In which 1973 Italian movie did a former SS officer and one of his child concentration-camp inmates re-kindle their sexual relationship?
18) In which movie would you hear the bracing advice: “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country”?
19) In which film does Hermann Goering ask a top-ranking Luftwaffe brass, “Tell me what you need” to be told, “Herr Reichmarschal, give me a squadron of Spitfires”?
20) In which 1970 film, based on a classic novel, does Orson Welles, as General Dreedle, face the problem of where to pin a medal on a naked man?
1. The Dirty Dozen
2. Casablanca
3. Life is Beautiful
4. Sands of Iwo Jima
5. The Guns of Navarone
6. The Eagle Has Landed
7. Saving Private Ryan
8. From Here To Eternity
9. The Best Years of Our Lives
10. Au Revoir les Enfants
11. South Pacific
12. To Be or Not To Be
13. Downfall
14. Stalag 17
15. The Dam Busters
16. The Great Escape
17. The Night Porter
18. Patton
19. Battle of Britain
20. Catch-22
What would it would have been like if Germany had defeated Britain in 1940? This film, completed after 8 years in 1964, explores this possibility. Now newly released on DVD.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/world-war-two-the-rewrite-475313.html
The YMCA sent to American POWs all sorts of items - including notebooks. Freddie Ward was one of those who got one after being shot down in his B-17 on July 28, 1943. Writing, in real small lettering, almost every day about the goings on in Camp XVIIB till the end of war marches in 1945, they now have been published.
Freddie Ward, pastor of Highland Park Assembly of God Church in Kilgore Texas, and his wife, took all his books and published it.
Unknown publisher (not listed in Amazon) so a copy should be able to be obtained directly from him at:
Highland Park Assembly of God Assembly of God 2400 S Henderson Blvd Kilgore, TX 75662
Full story: http://www.military.com/news/article/pow-diarists-story-emerges.html?col=1186032310810
The Fritz-X and HS293 glider bombs were in operation for almost 2 years. If you go to the RAF Museum at Cosford, in Shropshire you can see them.
The following is from the museum’s handbook: “The Fritz-X missile, also known as FX1400 and SD1400, was a high-angle glide bomb, radio-controlled from a parent aircraft and had no propulsion unit. It was designed for air-to-surface use, primarily against armoured shipping targets. The Fritz-X missile consisted of a standard amatol-filled 1,400kg bomb modified to permit the addition of four wings and a tail unit containing a radio unit and stabilising gyroscopes and, attached to the after end, a set of four fins in a 12-sided framework. The fins were equipped with radio-controlled spoilers.”
“The radio-controlled German HS293 missile was a small mid-wing monoplane. The Luftwaffe formed a special squadron to assist in the development and trained a number of specialist radio operators. Notable German successes with the HS293 include the sinking of Royal Navy destroyers Inglefield, Boadicea, Intrepid and Dulwich. There were only ten survivors from HMS Boadicea, from a ship’s company of 188.”
Comments about them at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article5390811.ece
"Analysis by the model maker Airfix has revealed that this year, German kits have made up around 55 per cent of the sales of all kits relating to the conflict. Around 1.4 million German replicas were sold, compared to 1.1 million Allied kits. "
The Luftwaffe now outnumbers the allied planes in production.
"The biggest selling German planes are the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, the Focke Wulf 190D, the Junkers Ju87 Stuka, the Dornier Do17 and the "Mistel", an experimental composite aircraft, in which a fighter was attached to a bomber.
The most popular RAF planes are the Supermarine Spitfire, the De Havilland Mosquito, the Hawker Hurricane and the Avro Lancaster. The P51 Mustang is the only US aircraft in the top ten."
This is in England, US air force numbers may vary.
Linz is a typical Austrian city, nothing really outstandingly unique - so it goes back into history and pulls out a famous person who lived there and created this person as the theme for tourist visits this year - Adolf Hitler.
Tours of the underground aircraft factory, bridges where statues of German heros were to be erected, Mauthausen concentration camp, Leonding the village where Hiter's parents are buried, Hermann-Goring-Wrke and other attractions relating to the NAZI era of Austria are to be featured in tours of the city.
h2>Now on DVD "Desert Victory" and "The True Glory"Two new two-disc sets from the Imperial War Museum's Official Collection combine incredible war footage and patriotic fervor. Featured are two Oscar winners. "Desert Victory" follows the British 8th Army into the Battle of El Alamein against Nazi General Rommel's Afrika Korps. Much of the footage is grainy and scratchy, and the shots of artillery cannons firing become repetitive, but some of the combat scenes are extraordinary. The 1943 film, a joint effort by the British Army Film & Photographic Unit and the R.A.F. Film Production Unit, won the Oscar for best documentary. 60 minutes.
Disc 1 also has "Land and Live in the Desert," which shows survival techniques for air crews shot down in the desert, a subject that still is relevant. The 1942 film was made by the U.S. Army Air Force. 32 minutes.
Disc 2 has three productions. The longest is "Wavell's 30,000", made by the Crown Film Unit in 1942. It documents British General Sir Archibald Wavell's successful campaign against Italian forces in Libya. 49 minutes.
"The True Glory" was produced by the Allied military in 1944 and 1945 as a visual record of the campaign in Europe, from D-Day to the fall of Berlin. The 1945 film, shot by 1,400 cameramen, won the Oscar for best documentary. Paddy Chayefsky wrote some of the voiceover narration. DVD extras: the original alternate ending and four bonus documentaries. Total time: 268 minutes.
From E1 Entertainment.
As a boy Douglas Ward saw a P-47 crash to the ground in England. In 1979 on he went back to the crash site and started digging and found a wallet – which is now on display at the American Air Museum at Duxford, England outside Cambridge.
In 2002 the Duxford newsletter article prompted a person in North Dakota to finish the tale about how Roy Wendell was shot down by his Flight Leader during a training mission.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090315/NEWS/903150331/1001/news
No
Longer is this B-24 crew MIA.
At the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium the 9 members of the McMurray crew who were listed as missing in action at the memorial – have been updated with rosette signifying they are no longer mission.
Their remains were recovered in a field southwest of Berlin in 2002.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123136871
The very first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, retired Chief Master Sgt. Paul Wesley Airey, died in Panama City, Florida March 11, 2009.
He started his career as a gunner in B-24 – interrupted by becoming a POW after getting shot down. He was shot down on July 8, 1944 while flying in the 485th BG (H).
He stayed at Stalag Luft 4 in Hungary until being liberated.
http://www.maxwell.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123139438
On the 303 web site they have photos of over 1200 men who served within the group – and still locating more all the time.
http://www.303rdbg.com/photo-gallery.html
Good time to check those drawers and scrapbooks for photos if yours is not already on the web site.
Joe B. Arwood (360th BS Pilot) 12
Mar 2009
Jackson H. Hunt (358th BS Navigator) 02 Mar 2009
Rex Chambers Jr. (358th BS Bombardier) 28 Feb 2009
Their reunion is coming up from April 30th till May 3rd in Kansas City.
http://members.cox.net/stalag17/index.shtml
The above web site has the details and forms to fill out.
From Amy Goodpaster Strebe
On March 17, 2009 Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski and Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced Senate Bill S.614 to honor the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II with the Congressional Gold Medal!
Every female Senator in the U.S. Senate is now a co-sponsor of this bill. The Congressional Gold Medal is awarded by Congress and, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is the highest and most distinguished honor a civilian may receive. The award is bestowed for exceptional acts of service to the United States or for lifetime achievement.
We currently have 33 Senators as co-sponsors and we need 34 more! I urge you to please contact your senators and representatives too and ask them to co-sponsor Senate Bill S.614 to honor the WASP. Please forward this e-mail on to friends, family and business associates! THANK YOU.
Amy wrote, Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II
Amy did a presentation of the WASP WW II history at our chapter meeting before she moved out of Oregon.
Lt Kenning was a B-24 Liberator pilot in the 8th Air Force who was shot down on his 24th mission to Magdeburg, Germany which is along the Elbe River on March 3, 1945.
He died on November 2, 2008 in Pittsford New York, and only this month were the arrangements complete for a full military funeral at Arlington.
The 15th Air Force members had to fly more missions before finishing a tour.
Charles finished 50 combat missions aboard “Satan’s Gal”, a B-24 Liberator, before he was released from combat.
"You're back there all alone in a very confined space, but he was able to handle it," said Dr. Walter J. Kmen. Kmen piloted Satan's Gal on 18 missions.
Charles died March 20, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.croghan20mar20,0,1820340.story
In an article that appeared in the Asia-Pacific Journal, http://japanfocus.org/-Yuki-TANAKA/1582 , Yuki TANAKA writes a lengthy article about the firebombing of both Germany and Japan compared against the Atomic bombing of the two Japanese cities in August 1945.
He gives a background of how aerial bombing of cities actually started during
the First World War by Germany and then by England against German targets along
with some statistics.
One statistic to note is that 131 German cities and towns had been bombed by the combined British and American bomber forces by the end of the war. This count is the planned actual specific targets in cities and not the opportunity targets that some planes attacked as a result of clouds, hung bombs, etc.
The article also lists reference sources used in preparing the article.
Standing next to it you easily see the rivets all over the “Jug” as this WW II fighter-bomber was referred to by pilots. People easily tower over it to look into the cockpit, that’s because this is a 1/6 scale Remote Control (RC) museum quality flying airplane and is painted and detailed as it flown by Lt. Philip Kuhn during World War II.
Valiant Air Command is located in Titusville Florida. http://www.vacwarbirds.org/
Labyrinth Media & Publishing Ltd. of Dublin, Ireland who specializes in WW II battlefield tour DVDS is holding a premier of the "The Americans on D-Day" at the American Legion Post #43 in Hollywood, California, on April 27th.
Veterans who would like to attend must RSVP to 323-851-3030 and leave your name, your city and phone number.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/3/prweb2240714.htm
“The legion commemorates members of Ohio Chapter No. 1 of the American Ex-Prisoners of War every spring. The event is timed to remember the Bataan Death March that began with the April 9, 1942, surrender of the largest number of American soldiers in World War II. About 16,000 American and Filipino prisoners died or were killed after Japan conquered the Philippines.”
The national POW/MIA day is observed in September.
Unlike the 442 Regimental Combat Team which had no trouble getting Nisei men to volunteer for combat, getting women to join was a cultural problem and not till after the war had enough women been graduated from intelligence schools to be sent to Japan.
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?877a3d17-beea-4e3c-8e1d-08f92f5af150
The Air Force Association is looking to create “Air Force Album: We Who Served” containing recollections from living and stories from the families of those airmen who are deceased. This is going to be a hardcover book with color photos etc is set to be released in September.
This is being prepared by the staff of Air Force Magazine.
Call 1-800-473-8177 in order to participate.
Senate Bill S.614 which was introduced in Congress on March 17th to award the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) with the Congressional Gold Medal.
WASP women were trained under the same programs as men, and were used within the USA to ferry planes every type of plane produced around the USA so that the men could be released for combat duty during World War II. They have never been officially recognized for their wartime contributions.
They are asking people to write to their Senators to get them to co-sponsor the bill.
In 2008 our local chapter had three WASPs in a panel discussion at our May meeting.
A two seat TR Mark IX version was sold at auction at the Hendon museum outside of London and purchased by Steve Brooks. This a/c was originally built by for the RAF by Vickers-Armstrong in 1944. The Spitfire entered service with the South African Air Force in 1948 and was found in the 1970s in a Cape Town scrap yard.
Locally, Paul Allen owns 15 airplanes which are stored in hangers north of Seattle. Tom “Top Gun” Cruise owns a P-51.
During the 2nd World War the Walt Disney
Studios did lots of work for the government: making training films, movie cartoons
supporting the war, and creating new icons. Their cartoon characters were found
on many aircraft. On the Army Heritage Web site, http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/04/19/19340-walt-disney-goes-to-war/ there is an article about Disney accomplishments during the war including the creation
this service patche for the Womens Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron.
This is “Fifienlla”, a female gremlin whose mission was to seek and destroy male gremlins before they cause problems.
From http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9928927 is a story about a Tusla built A-26 Invader being restored to flying status by the Sierra Hotel Group of the Commemorative Air Force at Wiley Post airport.
Wally Bludworth got his Distinuished Flying Cross April 18, 2009, after he wrote Texas Veterans Commission asking whether he qualified for the award. He found out he was recommended for the award after his 34 missions over Europe in B-24 Liberators on December 1, 1945, but the paperwork was never processed.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/09/0309cross.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09066/953972-100.stm
David Rohm was presented with a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained during his bailout from his B-17 on the mission to Berlin on March 8, 1944. He had a broken pelvis and it healed, without medical attention, during his 14 months of captivity. Since it was not immediately documented by a German doctor upon capture, it took a while to find the medical records documenting his injuries.
From lots of parts found at various crash sites in Scotland a team is going to rebuilt, along with newly made parts, a complete Whitley to as a static display for a museum.
In the UK, like most other nations, you have to get permission in advance to take away any parts from crash sites to save them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7941898.stm
Tullio Bertini and his parents traveled from Boston in July 1939 to visit his parent’s village but were trapped there by the outbreak of war. In 1944 he and his parents were liberated by the “Buffalo Soldiers”. He wrote a book about being interned and gave a presentation to the Library of Congress in DC this past March.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_11972641
Flying a P-51 Mustang dubbed "the Duchess", he flew in the 99th Fighter Group out of Italy during World War II. He flew a total of 158 combat missions.
U.S. Navy Ensign Robert G. Tills’ body was not recovered when his PBY-4 Catalina was sunk with him in it by a Japanese fighter plane when docked in Malalag Bay on December 8, 1941.
Vicki Quandt Lee was engaged to him at the time and last year she received a call stating that while trenching was being done in Malalag Bay the flying boat was discovered in 60 feet of water and within it and Lt Till’s remains. He was identified through dental records.
Tills had a Navy destroyer escort, DE 748, named after him in June 1943. The USS Tills was sunk as a training exercise in 1969 off the East Coast.
USS Colhoun DD801 Survivor Association met at the Jameson Inn in Lakeland for its annual convention. Out of the 270 man crew, 35 were killed when it took 4 hits due to Kamikazes and was sunk on April 6 off of Okinawa right after the fellow destroyer USS Bush was sunk by Japanese Kamikazes the same day.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20090328/NEWS/903285046?Title=WWII-Destroyer-Vets-Gather
On April 5 Robert Baranaskas, 61, of Northport crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after taking off from Brookhaven Calabro Airport. He had been flying for around 20 minutes performing his airshow routine when the plane was seen to go down into the water.
Recovery efforts recovered Robert’s body on April 6. Divers reported they only could feel small pieces of the plane and stated they think it disintegrated upon impact with the water. Once better weather arrives divers will try and recover more of the aircraft.
Not a true aircraft carrier, but a helicopter carrier, the Huyga is classified as a destroyer but looks like a carrier and is named after hybrid WWI battleship converted to an aircraft carrier 1943 and later sunk by planes of Air Group 87 with Helldivers on July 24, 1945 flying from the USS Ticonderoga (CV-14).
http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Japanese-Aircraft-Carriers-Back-In-Business-4-5-2009.asp
Out of the 12 Doolittle Raiders left alive, 9 were able to travel to SC for their annual reunion.
William Bower, pilot, Plane No. 12;Richard Cole, co-pilot, Plane No. 1;Thomas Griffin, navigator, gunner, Plane No. 9; Robert Hite, co-pilot, Plane No. 16;Edward Saylor, engineer, Plane No. 15, Saylor lives in Puyallup, Wash; David Thatcher, engineer, gunner, Plane No. 7. Thatcher lives in Missoula, Mt.
Frank Kappeler, James Macia and Charles Ozuk could not travel to the reunion.
http://www.thestate.com/news-extras/story/746888.html
Lt Jack Manch returned home in 1943 to Stoughton, Virginia to a homecoming parade and photos have been found documenting his homecoming.
http://www.newsleader.com/article/20090411/LIFESTYLE22/904110326/1024/LIFESTYLE
The Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor was awarded posthumously to World War II veteran Capt. William S. Norred at a Monday ceremony in Greenville, Alabama. He died in August of 2008 and in December the US Air Force finished their review of records and determined that he was due the award.
He was leading a flight of unescorted B-26 Marauders against Rizzo Airdrome on Sicily when his aircraft was damaged by heavy flak, then attacked by enemy aircraft on June 15, 1943.
B-26s usually attacked between 12 and 16,000 feet and were more venerable to flak due to their lower bombing altitude.
If you are at Hood River you can check out this museum. It is styled like the Shuttleworth Museum in England where antique aircraft and vehicles co-exist.
Open 7 days a week. Museum is located on Ken Jernstedt Airfield. 541-308-1600.
There have been stories around for decades about US and British Military dropping wooden bombs on decoy airfields over the years (I have a section in my history section of www.taphilo.com on just this topic) and now there is a book – published on 6 June 2009 – just on this topic.
Pierre-Antoine Courouble’s lastest book, available in bookshops on 6 June 2009.
I have great pleasure informing you that Presses du Midi has brought out my latest book, “The Riddle of the Wooden Bombs” on this very day. I have just undertaken 22 months investigating an astonishing historical subject, that of the dropping by the Allies of wooden bombs on decoys that the Germans had installed on a number of airfields in Brittany, Normandy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
The story of this investigation is told on 264 pages containing 161 testimonies of ex-servicemen and elderly people from France, Belgium, Holland, Britain, Germany, America and Canada, of which 73 are interviews I personally conducted with them. “The Riddle of the Wooden Bombs” is in bookshops as from today, 6 June*. It has been prefaced by David Whiting, former RAF pilot and engineer, and stepson of Lord Dowding who was RAF Air Chief Marshal during the Battle of Britain.
My investigation entailed questioning a number of witnesses and above all it opened up a path starting in Normandy (the US Air Borne Museum in Sainte-Mère l’Eglise (Editor’s note: which I have been to and it is very good, Tom) and leading to conclusive proof in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
www.courouble.info (the site is under construction, please be patient, and in French).
The International Women’s Air & Space Museum in Cleveland, Ohio is making its third deck of historical playing cards. This newest deck is devoted exclusively to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II. Each card face in the deck can be sponsored by a business, family, organization, or any individual who would like to honor a WASP. For more information and to download an order form, please visit the museum’s website at www.iwasm.org or call Heather Alexander at (216) 623-1111 or e-mail her at halexander@iwasm.org
I spoke with Heather this morning at IWASM and she told me that they need to get all sponsorships in by the END OF JUNE in order to have the playing cards ready in time for the holidays. They only have about two dozen sponsorships purchased so far and there are 55 cards in the deck. If you know of anyone who would like to sponsor a WASP please pass on this information! This is a wonderful and unique opportunity to honor your favorite WASP! And just so you know too, no one as of yet has purchased a card in honor of Jacqueline Cochran or Nancy Harkness Love – both of whom I think would make great “Wild Cards.” :-)
LeLand
Price was shot down in his B-24 by Japanese flak on September 1, 1944 off the island of Babeldaob, the largest island in Palau island group. On January 26, 2004 divers from
the “Bent Prop Project” discovered the bomber in 70 feet of water and notified
the US that remains were still in the aircraft. DNA confirmed his identify
along with those of Earl Yoh, another gunner on the aircraft.
He will be buried back in Crescent City Ohio.
http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/4576079
On D-Day Sgt. Bryczkowski, who was assigned to the 93 BG(H) 409 BS, was in the bomb bay with a pair of pilers at 20,000 feet trying to cut loose 4 armed 500 lb bombs hung up in the racks. Seeing that he was passing over a town he delayed cutting the bombs loose till his B-24 was over the channel – but then passed out due to lack of oxygen.
Army Lt. Col. Timothy E. Zack did the research which discovered his actions and got him the belated award.
He also was awarded a DFC for his actions that day.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/655214.html
Starting out the war in a P-40 in Australia he ditched his aircraft in a swamp and spent 10 days trying to get back to civilization in February 1942.
Then in 1945 over the Philippines the plane was seen to crash into the water during a dogfight with Japanese fighters and he was reported KIA to his parents. He actually swam for 12 hours to a small island and was discovered three days later and rescued – after his family had already held a funeral mass for him.
He co-wrote a book about his exploits called “The
Fighter Pilot Who Refused to Die”.
He died in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=324584
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/apr/25/local/chi-lake-planeapr25
On April 25, 2009 an SBD-5
Dauntless identified by Navy Bureau No. 36291 touched down on a blue tarpaulin
alongside Waukegan Harbor after being raised from 351 feet of water.
During the war two converted passenger ships were converted to moored aircraft carriers and Navy pilots used them to practice landing. Around 100 a/c were lost overboard and so far around 40 have been recovered. A James Janega photo and story.
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090425-18871.html
AS WW II aerial bomb was found during construction at the New Museum in the center of Berlin on April 25, 2009. It was stated to be a 100 kilogram (around 250 lb).
One of the first casualties in Berlin during WW II were in the ZOO from a 1940 RAF night raid that hit the Tiergarden and museum complexes.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/features/classic-fighters/2323264/Barons-plane
If you are in New Zealand this year you can see three of them in the air.
During WW II an original Fokker was destroyed in a German Museum, along with a lot of other aircraft and material, by an RAF bomber raid. (Likely this was during the RAF’s “Battle of Berlin” in the winter of 1943/1944).
http://www.lakecityreporter.com/articles/2009/05/03/community/life/doc49fbd1c86ca4f627128773.txt
On D-Day there were lots of planes seen over the beaches, but there were as many planes flying at night before the troops went ashore. Men of the Ferry command, almost all of them never ever flown in combat, made their first combat mission at night all the same time dropping members of the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions into Normandy.
If you live in Florida near Lake City, there is a monthly meeting of the D-Day club. Notes in the article.
http://post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/529603.html?nav=5018
369th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomber Group became a POW on 29 July 1943 on the Kiel Mission when he bailed out of B17-F, number 42-5826. He gave a presentation about his POW experiences in May.
On the Kiel mission to bomb shipyards 168 B-17s were dispatched, 91 bombed at 9:01 AM, 48 hit other targets 6 planes were lost, 62 damaged, 2 men were KIA, 8 WIA, and the 8th AF claimed claiming 48 enemy planes shot down, 6 likely destroyed, and 33 damaged.
Frank Evans became the staff pilot for Field Marshall Montgomery as a result of a US General losing a bet – he and the airplane came as a matched set.
http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/articles/2009/05/03/columns/doc49fcca155289d126814483.txt
““On April 16, our whole crew was given orders to report to British General Montgomery, somewhere in Tunisia. This assignment was the result of a wager between General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff for General Dwight Eisenhower, and General Montgomery. Montgomery had stated that he would drive the German General Rommel’s forces beyond a certain point on the map within so many weeks. General Smith did not think it could be done. General Montgomery had no personal air transportation available from the over-burdened British Air Force. The wager was that if he could reach that goal, the U.S. Army Air Force would provide air transportation for him. He won the wager.”
http://www.boston.com/news/world/australia/articles/2009/05/25/remains_are_lost_in_race_for_relics/
Collectors looking for historical aircraft, and the aircraft having been ignored for decades by the US Government not willing to search for MIA remains, has meant that aircraft are salvaged and rebuilt long before the US Government gets around to do a forensics inspection to see if the crew was in the aircraft when it went down.
At the Clarion Hotel in Richland, Washington, a large group of people met to have DNA swabs collected in hopes that if remains are found they can be identified. 78,000+ are still MIA from World War II.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/762042.html
He and 4 other crewmates from his B-24 that he flew in over the Alps many times in are still alive. Pilot Vahl Vladyha, engineer Ernie Rota, top gunner Ralph "Moose" Benso and radio operator Don "Annie" Oakley.
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20090531/WDH0101/905310500/1981/WDHopinion
http://www.freep.com/article/20090531/COL32/905310437/1007
At 20 years old and already a veteran, Richard Crum, waded ashore in neck deep water with a condom over his carbine’s barrel to keep it dry.
Last year there was a gathering of aircraft and pilots from WW II – now it is a foundation with a web site and much more.
http://www.gatheringfoundation.org/
Allen is a chapter member of the 8th AFHS of Oregon.
Exerpted from: “The Argus” newspaper out of Hillsboro, Oregon.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/1245176422253590.xml&coll=6
Hillsboro resident Allen Chapin is one of the few remaining who have a direct connection to the Flying Fortresses of World War II. Thanks to the Collings Foundation, Chapin had the opportunity Friday to fly once again in a B-17, this time the relatively short - and safe - flight from Corvallis to Hillsboro's airport.
Chapin had been copilot in the 10-man crew of another B-17, but that one's final flight ended much differently. Ann Lukacs, a Colorado woman whose late uncle had been navigator on the same crew, had contacted Chapin while researching family history. Chapin, along with Joe Walters, his former ball turret gunner who now lives in Florida, are the only surviving crewman. Lukacs contacted the Collings Foundation and arranged Friday's flight.
Chapin had served with the 535th Squadron. In August 1943, they took off from their base in Ridgewell, England, to participate in the bombing of a ball-bearing factory in Schweinfurt, Germany. "Everything had to have ball-bearings," Chapin said, "so knocking it out would slow the war down."
Milk Run Editor’s Note:
Allen was shot down on August 17, 1943 in the Schweinfurt part of the “Double Strike” bombing mission where the three ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt were attacked as well the Messerschmitt assembly plant in Regensburg which was successfully attacked by the 3 Air Division lead by Curtis LeMay (destroyed part of the Me 262 jigs in the bombing). 60 Planes were shot down on the mission: 24 which were going to Regensburg and the other 36 to and from the Schweinfurt mission – which started 1 ½ hours after the Regensburg raid had already left due to fog.
Schweinfurt was eventually attacked over 22 times during the war by the 8th Air Force (never by the British, too small of a city to target at night) – and it was still was producing ball bearings when the city was captured at the end of the war in April 1945.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/madison.ssf?/base/news/1226484942153150.xml&coll=1
“The tail gunner of the Flaming Mayme, Sgt. John Burge, 22, Jefferson, N.Y., opened fire on one of the latest type Messerschmitt 109-G's and fired steadily until the Nazi was within 100 yards before it finally went down in flames. Soon afterward, another Messerschmitt attacked from the rear, and both Burge and the radioman-gunner, Sgt. S.J. Hansen, 22, of Ben Lomond, Calif., opened fire and watched their attacker dive for the ground amid flames. Lt. Wikle and his co-pilot, Lt. J.A. Balaban, 28, of Tuttle, N.D., first knew of these engagements when they began to feel the vibration of their guns and heard over the headphones the arguments of the gunners as to who had hit the Germans."
http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20081111/ARTICLES/811110291/1005/news
Jim Chapman, with the help of a television show, helped return the diary to the daughter of a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force who was killed in Europe before he could ever return to see his wife and newborn baby.
The diary belonged to Moran Chapman of the 445th Bombardment Group. This was the group that actor Jimmy Stewart was a Commanding officer. The group flew 280 air raid missions in Europe during the war.
(If this is “The History Detectives” show, then on Either August 31, or September 7, 2009, at 9 PM on PBS here in Oregon, they will air a segment on two POWs from Stalag 17B, that I helped in researching. They donated the two books used in the research to our Oregon Chapter: Attlebridge Arsenal, and Missing Planes of the 452nd Bomb Group.)
Bits and Pieces of it still exists where Guy Gipson had to ditch it on English soil after a bombing mission the marshaling yard at Touman-en-Brie, southeast of Paris.
The plane, based with the 34th Bomb Group, 93rd Bomb Wing,
of the 8th Air Force at RAF Mendlesham, in Sussex, had been shredded by cannon
blasts from a German fighter and had lost two engines to flak. Low on fuel and
barely in the air at 3,500 feet, it lost its remaining two engines just as it
reached the English coast.
Dead stick in a B-24 gliding at a 1200 feet per minute decent is not a good place to be – but all 10 crew walked away from it due to the skill of pilot Gipson.
On July 1 President Obama signed the bill that awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to the WASP personnel.
“The Women Airforce Service Pilots courageously answered their country’s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since,” said President Obama. “Every American should be grateful for their service, and I am honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard-earned recognition they deserve.”
Between 1942 and 1943 over a 1,000 women joined the WASP program. 38 of them were killed while on duty (one was killed by an aerial gunner firing at the target she was pulling in her P-51 - he was a bad shot). Like the “Code Talkers” of the Pacific, their contribution went largely unrecognized for years and only in 1977 were they awarded veteran status.
Col Reusser died June 27 in Milwaukie Oregon at the age of 89.
Col Reusser flew a total of 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was shot down five times – at least once in each war. He earned two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts and two Legions of Merit among his 59 medals.
In 1945, while based on Okinawa, he and a co-pilot flew their F4U-4 Corsair fighters and intercepted a Japanese observation plane at such a high altitude that both Corsairs AND the Japanese recon planes guns froze. Together he and his wingman flew their fighters into the observation plane – he successfully hacked off its tail with his propeller and both he and his wingman landed back at Okinawa – their engines cutting out due to lack of flew on rollout. He got the Navy Cross for that. He told his story to me at a local ANA meeting a few months ago while I was there.
Story at: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/rob_finchthe_oregonian2002us_m.html
Here is an article that shows the true scale of some World War II battles – from an African Newspaper site due inspired by the exaggeration of the D-Day landing combat casualties one 1 day of battle in President Obama’s speech he gave on 6 June 2009 at Omaha Beach.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200906080484.html
Bob “Punchy” Powell, 88, who lives in Decatur, flew three missions on D-Day, June 6, 1944, for the 352nd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force. And he hasn’t forgotten a minute of it.
D-Day did not start well for us.
In less than 30 seconds we suffered our first tragedy. Lining up in the darkness with no directional visibility, the second flight roared off the big sod field slightly to the right of its intended direction. Lt. Bob Frascotti’s P-51 crashed into the new unfinished control tower being constructed on the high point of the airfield, bursting into flames, which lighted the way for the following flights to take off.
Our 352nd Fighter Group flew three missions that day, which went on for approximately 16 hours. Our first mission was about 50 miles south of the beaches —- to provide a wall of fighters from the treetops to 30,000 feet to keep any enemy aircraft or ground forces from getting to the invasion beaches … and no enemy aircraft reached the beaches that day.
On our second and third missions we were assigned specific sections of Normandy to patrol at low level with orders to attack and destroy anything moving toward the beaches. The French previously had been told to stay out of sight, so we strafed troops, trains, buses, dispatch riders, whatever. It was, indeed, a long day alone in that tiny cockpit, shooting up targets of opportunity.
Our losses were relatively few on D-Day. We were doing mostly what we had been doing every day for more than a year, fighting the Luftwaffe to gain air superiority so that D-Day could happen. It was heart-breaking to look down on the hundreds of ships unloading our GIs onto the beaches and knowing that so many of these young soldiers were dying in their first encounter with the enemy. They had our total respect for their courage. To us, they were the real heroes of the day.
Jim Bleidner, 87, of Miramar, Fla., armorer, 487th Fighter Squadron
It is early morning of June 5, 1944, at the “A” flight dispersal area of the 487th Fighter Squadron. All six of the Mustangs are combat ready. The weather is closed in. Missions are planned and scrubbed. The base is closed at about 3:30 p.m. Enlisted men are called off the line to do perimeter guard and to man our few anti-aircraft guns. Cans of black and white paint and brushes are delivered to each flight crew with instructions to paint stripes on wings and fuselage. Something big is up! Nothing happens, so we are off to chow where among the items served is rice pudding. I don’t like rice pudding so I didn’t eat any. Shortly thereafter, many are sick, vomiting and diarrhea. Salmonella. The call to the line comes at midnight. A mission is on for 2 a.m. Our pilots have not flown at night. The field is dark. Hamilton complains about the desecration of his beautiful Mustang with those ugly stripes. Planes taxi out to the far end of the field to prepare for takeoff. The Mustangs begin to take off toward our end of the field. Suddenly, there is a terrific explosion about a mile away when a Mustang hits the control tower that is being built near the 486th dispersal area. Planes return with all of the ammunition used. More missions are planned before the Mustangs are due to return. Those armorers who are still on the line have to re-arm several Mustangs, because many are on perimeter guard or sick. That is what it was like for me on D-Day, the invasion of France.
A Douglas C-47 transport, given a common nickname “Gooney Bird” after the birds at Midway Island because how ungainly they looked when taking off and landing, is now on display at Merville Museum in Normandy France after being found intact – but full of bullet holes – in Bosnia in 2007. The C-47 was named “Snafu Special” and this article talks about one of two known pilots who flew it who lives in Tulsa.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090607_12_A10_EnoTas762410
“Sealing Their Fate: The Twenty-Two Days That Decided World War II” (De Capo Press, 400 pages, $27), by David Downing
Covers just three weeks of time from November 17, 1941 till December 8, 1941 and makes the claim that World War II was won by the Allies during those three weeks – it just took 4 more years for the AXIS to realize it.
Link to Amazon: Sealing Their Fate
You fight fires with it of course – California will have one of them – but paying for them is a whole different matter. Hope the Coulson Flying Tankers of British Columbia like IOUs. I have Confederate States of America currently which is worth more than what California has in its checking account.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_12663420
People tend to forget that the SBD – Dauntless – TFB – Avenger – both had rear gunners like the B-17s, B-24s, B-25s and the other heavy iron of World War II. Unlike their larger brethren – most carrier a/c went he into action with very few other a/c around – no 500+ bombers in a single formation with a thousand escorting fighters.
Sherwin fought in a TBF off the Independence, in the Leyte Gulf action (his pilot got a torpedo hit on the cruiser flagship Noshiro) and other close calls.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1247387530162290.xml&coll=2
The WASP women were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal on 1 July 2009. Here is an interview with one of the oldest WASPs.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x72245004/For-Westborough-WWII-pilot-a-long-awaited-award
B-17 pilot Arthur Storz Jr of Omaha died at the age of 89. His father was a World War I airman and helped bring the Strategic Air Command to Omaha in the 1950s. As a WW II B-17 pilot he buzzed the Blackstone Hotel from around 50 feet – scaring most everyone – and got a court marshal out of it . The hotel is next to his house.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20090713/NEWS01/707139948/-1/FRONTPAGE
He was to be the Marshall in the 4th of July parade – and died the night before.
George flew 33 missions over a 7 month period in the European theatre of war as a B-17 pilot. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Unit Citation for his combat service with the Eighth.
http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2009/07/george_koehler_veteran_broadca.html
The White House announced on July 6 that the USA and Russia two nations are establishing a new joint commission to try to account for missing service members of both countries dating back to World War II. Four working groups will look into missing military personnel from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and Soviet military personnel still missing from Moscow's 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.
Is a heavily researched book about the Bataan Death March written by Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman.
They did 400+ interviews of American, Filipino, and Japanese solders over a 10 year period.
76,000+ troops surrendered to the Japanese, around 20,000 were left alive at the end of the war. The rest were systematically killed as part of the Japanese policy toward any prisoner captured.
http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/07/08/tears-in-the-darkness/
Sgt. Fugett was shot down and killed in his B-24 Liberator on October 26, 1944 near Morotol Island while flying in the 307 BG (H). He was in his unit only 10 days before being killed. His body, and those of his fellow aircrew, was never found.
His family arranged to have a service with full military honors.
Here is a transcript of his experience during and after the sinking.
“"...there was a flash cover, a flash funnel, on the end of this barrel, and that's the last thing I touched and I watched my home of two years sink beneath the surface."
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/50387972.html
One day a plane landed for refueling under the most security he had ever seen – and he still does not reveal what he saw since he was told then not to.
Enola Gay or Bock’s Car are the aircraft what his relatives suspect he refueled. He was the only one allowed into the a/c.
He’s 99 ½ as of July 2009.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090629/NEWS01/906290310
Wilbur Drake joined the USAAF to become a fighter pilot: “They lined us up, and they put the tall ones in bombers and transports, while the short ones got fighter planes.”
He flew in 20 missions in B-24s flying out of Italy before he had turned 21.
He and Robert Lewis, who flew as navigator in the PB4-Y1 – the Navy version of the B-24 – on anti-sub patrols in the Atlantic out of England, both flew in “Witchcraft” during the repositioning flight.
http://www.sltrib.com/slc/ci_12736384
This aviation museum near the Twin Cities in Anoka County will close due to less donations and a quadrupling of the monthly rent to $4,500 a month. The L-19 Bird Dog, Mohawk, plus a unique one of a kind a 1911 Steco Aerohydroplane, will need new homes. The museum had been around for 12 years. http://www.americanwings.org/
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_12772465
Through These Eyes: A World War II Eighth Air Force Combat Diary (Amazon book link) is the book he wrote about his 20 missions while in the 490 BG(H) and now he has released a new version on DVD that likely includes photos.
On 18 July 2009 Jimmy Stewart, movie actor and 8th AF B-24 pilot, was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Stewart flew 20 missions in the B-24 before he was ordered not to fly anymore – the chances of him getting killed and lowering the morale of the USA of a really well known movie star being killed out-weighted his pilot duties.
He was in the 445 BG (H), 703 Sqd at Tibenham, England. In March of 1944 he was transferred to 453 BG (H) at Old Buckenham.
Jimmy Stewart Museum is at www.jimmy.org
Local French consulate decorated four WW II Veterans who live in Oregon with the Leigon’d’Hommeur. Awarded were Dale Reynolds 94th Infantry Division infantryman; William Tankersley 90th Infantry Division (part of the Third Army under General Patton), who was wounded three times while fighting in the infantry in France; and B-24 pilot George R. Insley who lives in Medford. He flew 53 missions with the 44 BG (H) “Flying 8 Balls” as part of the 15th Air Force in Italy.
Don Malarkey, of ‘Band of Brothers Fame’, was also awarded the medal but he was
unable to attend due to being out of the country when they were awarded July 9th.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/france_honors_oregon_world_war.html
Some people believe due to high a resolution image from Google Earth they found out why a Junkers 88 shot down over Greenock was never found – it went into the lake behind the dam.
In May of 1941 over a two day period German bombers flew against the shipyards but mainly missed them and hit the town instead.
Charles B Hall was the first member of the 99th FG – The Tuskegee Airmen - to be credited with shooting down an enemy aircraft in combat in 1943.
A marble monument now stands outside city hall of Brazil, Indiana.
The 99th was ordered NOT to engage in air to air combat when initially deployed to North Africa – since their mission was ground support and they were not specifically trained in air to air combat.
A movie being produced by George Lucas called “Red Tails” is in production and is supposed to be released later on this year.
Allingham, World War I British veteran, died on July 18, 2009. He served in the RFC – Royal Flying Corps, as a mechanic and as an observer, with an Enfield 303 rifle in the beginning to fight off enemy aircraft. Later on he used a machine gun in his observer role. He was wounded on a strategic attack against and aircraft depot by shrapnel. He even fought in the battle of Jutland.
Joe Tuscan on the USS Chicago on 27 January 1943 on the way to Guadalcanal when in the middle of the night they were attacked by torpedo planes.
"I was on the port side and headed for my gun station when this (Japanese) pilot came over flying so low that he just missed hitting the top of the ship. For a split second, the pilot and I eyeballed each other. I saw his eyes in my dreams for a long time after," Tuscan said.
Photo ©Joe Tuscan
http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20090727/NEWS01/907270310
Captain Speicher was shot down during the first Gulf war in 1991 and his remains were not found until a tip from two Bedouins who had found his body and buried him lead US recovery team to his gravesite.
He was buried in Florida in early August 2009.
Harry Elmer Gates of West Virginia kept a diary of his combat missions from his first mission in February of 1944 through mission 21 – then on #22 he became a POW.
Gates described mission No. 7 as a “milk run” because they encountered no opposition from fighter planes. “When we got ready to drop our bombs, the doors didn’t open so we dropped the bombs through the doors.”
Gates was flying in B-24s.
T/Sgt Gates died in October of 1988.
http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_214174255.html
Flying B-26s every for her day job during the war – as a tow target aircraft down in Texas.
There is a WASP museum Avenger Field in Sweetwater which opened in 2005.
Life magazine published a story about the WASPs in 1943. One of the photos used in the spread showed a young woman in an open-cockpit Fairchild PT-19 airplane flying alone and staring intently ahead while her hair streams behind her in the wind.
Caldwell tapped the photo with an index finger: "Moi".
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1894904692/Her-story-is-WWII-history
Assigned to the 73rd BG (H) he flew 5 missions to Japan in 10 days before being wounded on the mission to Kobe. He said they knew “was not going to be milk run.”
http://www.enctoday.com/articles/recalls-47048-nbsj-bombers-superfortress.html
It seems that the COE (Corps of Engineers) put out a newspaper ad to find out. It did not but it was a training base during the war. It was then known as Lindley Field.
The big Army Air Corps training base -- Overseas Replacement Depot – was off Summit Avenue near downtown Greensboro had more than 900 tar-paper buildings and many drill fields. Over 90,000 soldiers served there from 1943-46
1944 Army report says Lindley Field soldiers serviced 13,200 planes and repaired 8,830.
On August 7, 2009 Ed Jeziorski, who served in Company C, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division during the 2nd World War, was buried with full honors in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Going into D-Day the 507th regiment had 3,200 officers and men. Six weeks later there were only 700 still standing.
The 1943 Version – the original was sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 – is now a museum and they have added in video game attractions on the ship – both aircraft landing and AA aircraft defense.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/travel/52834997.html
It seems that instead of having an officer fly UAV – those remote controlled “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” they are going to have NCOs fly them but – are they to be considered officers while flying?
“As the Army Air Corps changed into the mighty Army Air Force (2.4 million troops and 80,000 aircraft at its peak), its capable and persuasive commander (General Hap Arnold), insisted that all pilots be officers. Actually, he wanted them all to be college graduates as well, until it was pointed out that the pool of college graduates was too small to provide the 200,000 pilots the Army Air Force eventually trained. But Arnold forced the issue on officers being pilots, and the navy had to go along to remain competitive in recruiting.”
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/articles/20090817.aspx
Each one was in a different branch of the service – Army, Navy, Marines – but all fought in the same theatre at the same time. Harold Laesch, 86, Carl, 90, and Robert, 83.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/world-war-ii-still-bonds-this-band-of-brothers/1027932
Jack Zimmerman was flying a PBY on an inspection tour of airfields in Canada in 1942 when heavy winds sunk his PBY and he could not get out before it went under.
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20090815/NEWS01/90814013
This war reporter was the first to report to the world about the September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany which set off World War II.
She was in Katowice Poland working for the London Daily Telegraph – her first week as a reporter – when she borrowed a diplomatic car drove into Germany and saw all the troops and tanks along the border – bought goods in Germany to prove she had gotten into it – then dictated what she saw to the British consul-general and then to a collogue in Warsaw.
"If there is a war, and if the world wants, I would like to cover it."
Her autobiography is called: "Captain if Captured".
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gRXObrJksCozQuJkEV121yr-eOJA
On September 12, 2009 on the USS Hornet – docked at Alameda, California, the
Glenn Miller Band will be playing from 8 PM till Midnight.
John Gong is the grandson of Major Chin who was born in Portland Oregon joined the Chinese Air Force in 1932 to fight against the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war – one of 15 US citizens to do so.
Chin was then sent to Germany to be trained by the Luftwaffe! Maj. Chin actually became the very first US born ace during World War II!
He was shot down three times and the third time he was burned which ended his fighter pilot career – but he recovered and flew “The Hump” supply flights after the US entered WW II.
Col Wheeler who flew B-17s with the 8th Air Force during WW II died at the age of 93. He flew only a short time in the ETO before being shot down over Germany and spent 21 months as a POW (which means he was likely shot down in November of 1943.)
http://www.lohud.com/article/2009908290346
This was recently published and is likely in many bookstores.
Here is a web page that gives a good summary of the August 1, 1943 B-24 low level raid on the Rumanian oil fields centered around Ploesti.
http://www.redstate.com/skanderbeg/2009/08/01/august-1st-1943-the-ploesti-raid/
Hillsboro Air Show
Our 8th AFHS Chapter manned an information booth promoting the Oregon Chapter of the 8th AFHS during both days of the Hillsboro International Air Show through the sponsorship of Dignity Memorial: http://www.dignitymemorial.com . They also have a local Portland chapter web site at:
http://www.portlandveterans.com .
This year the airshow had Sean Tucker, The Blue Angles, Patty Wagstaff and other top notch airshow acts performing at the airport west of Portland, Oregon.
Tom Davis was again the lead in coordinating with Dignity Memorial and the airshow staff in arranging for our chapter to get a booth there.
A
B-25 “Mitchell”, and a pair of A-26 “Invaders” were the only two military WW II
era aircraft on display.
On
August 31 broadcast “History Detectives” did a story about George Silva who had
a portrait created for him by Harold Rhoden while bother were POWs in Stalag
17B in Austria in 1944. Back in May our local PBS affiliate person Carol
Sherman contacted me and I did research in finding out about both of these men
as to when both of them were shot down including what date, units they flew,
a/c they were in, their US service numbers etc and provided references of the
two men in books about their units: “Missing Planes of the 452nd Bomb Group” and “Attlebridge Arsenal” which is about the 466th Bomb
Group.
After they passed this info onto the lead person detective in the HD show, they donated the books to our Oregon 8th Chapter and they are now part of our research archives.
www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives
From Jack Wendling came an article and a photo of him at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery next to a memorial to just for the 8th Air Force was dedicated on 27 June 2009. Idaho did not establish a cemetery just for veterans until 2004. Jack visited the facility and saw there was nothing there for the 8th.
He organized and led the fundraising that was needed which got the monument built by finding all veterans of the 8th still living in Idaho about the project and the need for donations along with help from the 2nd Air Division 8th Air Force Association.
The plaque reads:
United States Air Force
Serving as an instrument of global power and prestige, in war and peace; created in January 1942 as a response to the German Declaration of War against the United states, and posted to England as the initial American offensive presence in the European Theatre of Operations, World War II, from meager beginnings, the 8th Air Force grew to a complement of over 350,000 persons, in a myriad of duty assignments and more than 4,500 aircraft, tasked with bringing the doctrine of air power from studied theory to grim reality on an unprecedented scale. The 8th Air Force continues into the 21st Century, extending a legacy of service, valor and merit.
“Take these men as your example; remember that freedom is a sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.” Pericles, 431 B.C.
Veterans and Friends of the U.S. 8th Air Force, 2009.
Name This CarrierWhile going through the archived photos at my work – I came across this photo. Name the carrier.
Answer will be in the next newsletter.
In a farmer’s field in Germany a US Recovery team was digging through the earth in search of the remains of the pilot of a B-26 shot down during the “Battle of the Bulge.”
He was shot down when a group of German FW-190 fighters of I./JO 11 spotted the un-escorted B-26 Marauder group and shot down 35 of them in 20 minutes on 23 December 1944. http://www.b-26mhs.org/archives/manuscripts/battleofthebulge_losses.html
“…the Pentagon devotes a
sliver of its annual budget, $55 million out of a half trillion dollars, toward
the search. Although the teams identify more than 70 of the missing each year,
at that rate it will take 500 years to find all of the 35,000 whom the Pentagon
classifies as potentially “recoverable.” Many thousands of the others were lost
at sea.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/world/europe/06search.html?_r=1&hp
On September 18, 1944 the entire Allied airborne command jumped into Holland to try and seize bridges leading into Germany with the final one being across the Rhine at Arnhem. The movie “A Bridge Too Far” (and the book it was based on) really put this operation on the public mind. This past September members of the British 1st Airborne division revisited the sites.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/doncaster/World-War-II-vets-final.5644831.jp
The oldest British veteran making the trip back was 93-year-old Eric Gill, from Conisbrough, a veteran from the Kings Own Light Infantry.
During the search for the USS Monitor back in 1970 the team discovered the trawler / anti-sub hunter YP-389 who lost a 90-minute surface battle with the German U-701 in 1942.
So far they have located around 40 WW II ships sunk off of North Carolina out of the 137 that were lost off the coastline.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/WREK14_20090913-201403/292610/
Lt Lacey, 21, was killed when his photo recon
P-51 was hit by flak and though he bailed out he died as a result of his
wounds. The US recovered his remains in 1947 and was buried but the plane was
only discovered in May of 2009.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090913/NEWS16/909130302/0/CLASSIFIED
There are about 400 US survivors in the of this infamous 70 mile forced march by the Japanese military. After a nearly half year campaign US, British, Dutch, Philippine and many other nationalities were captured when Japan finally forced the surrender of the last organized Allied forces to surrender on Corregidor.
27,465 servicemen were captured and put into POW camps by the Japanese; at least 11,000 died while under Japanese control which is around a 40 percent death rate. As a contrast, of all US personnel captured by the Germans / Italians during WW II, only 1% died after capture (and that includes those wounded and died of wounds after being officially recorded as POWs.)
The vast majority of the POWs were later sent as slave laborers in Japan.
The treaty written with Japan in the 1950s has a clause in it that has been used by the US government to prevent any US soldier from suing Japan for the crimes they committed – vastly different than what has occurred in Europe and the way claims has been sough and won against the successor government of NAZI Germany.
The Japanese Government has never officially apologized for the way they treated any prisoner they captured during the Second World War. Though the Japanese Ambassador to the US only apologized to the 400 or so survivors still around.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/091309dnmetbataan.3616105.html
I have noticed that the Daily Telegraph, out of England, has been republishing their newspaper stories of WW II on the same day as during WW II – starting with 1939. This year, 2009, and 1939 the calendar days for the year are identical so what was written for that day of year matches up with the current day – September 1, 1939 was a Tuesday and September 1, 2009 is also a Tuesday.
This article is about an RAF flying boat landing on the open ocean to rescue survivors of a U-Boat attack.
Dorothy
Eppstein of Kalamazoo Michigan was on the way to Sweetwater, Texas in August of
1943 to begin training as a WASP.
After graduation they were assigned to many bases, with Dorothy being assigned to Turner Army Air Base.
“There they [WASPs] served under a commanding officer who didn’t think women should be pilots and limited their time at the controls to taxiing aircraft.
When one of the women complained, they were all transferred to Peterson Army Air Base in Colorado, where Eppstein was co-pilot of a B-17, and then Fort Sumner Army Air Field in New Mexico, where she was a test pilot and also co-piloted a large cargo plane.”
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/09/flying_planes_made_life_exciti.html
Another article about two more WASP pilots in East Farmingdale, NY.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/female-pilots-who-served-in-world-war-ii-honored-1.1481190
Lt French’s B-24 Liberator aircraft went down on the mountains of New Guinea on November 20, 1943. Finally positively identified by the US Military Identification teams working out of Hawaii, he was buried in his hometown near Lake Erie.
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090927/NEWS02/309279915/-1/NEWS
The Post-Dispatched saw an anomaly in the number of Purple Hearts stated as being awarded to the unit in books, articles and references, and the number of people recorded as wounded or killed – and they did not match. After they newspaper did some research they discovered that at least 47 members of the unit were awarded the medal.
A researcher stated that bombers being escorted by the unit had indeed been shot down, and in 2007 the Air Force issued a report that identified at least 25 bombers shot down while escorted by the airmen. The report traced the initial claim of never having lost a bomber to enemy fighters to a March 24, 1945, article in the Chicago Defender newspaper.
332nd Fighter Group was the parent unit of the three all black squadrons eventually fielded by the USA. The all black medium bomber group was still being trained when the war ended.
The Gathering occurred a few years ago when almost every flyable P-51 all assembled at one airfield and the whole event was recorded. The finished recording, Gathering of Mustangs & Legends DVD , has won a couple awards and is available for sale.
Name This
CarrierAnswer: the USS Lexington. It is hull number CV-2; the Langley was the first CV-1, Saratoga was CV-3. Note the twin gunned turrets and the model T (I believe) on the deck of the carrier. This was taken sometime in the 1920s – but I have not been able to find the location or the date.
The Lexington was sunk by torpedoes from a US destroyer after the Battle of the Coral Sea due to damage inflicted upon it by Japanese naval aircraft in the first carrier only action of World War II.
The weekend of November 7 & 8 at Polk City Florida where the Weeks Air Museum is located is having a classic land, sea & air racing event. These are the pre-WWII type cars, seaplanes, and airplanes racers on hand in use again.
Web site is Fantasy of Flight
They have a nice museum, lots of stuff lying around in their restoration hangers (go on the tour) and it is an all-day trip normally just to see everything. The B-17 on display is painted up in the 95 BG(H) colors as it undergoes maintenance at Horham airbase in East Anglia. Their web site is: http://95thbg.org/95th_joomla/ .
The 95th BG was the first 8th AF unit to bomb Berlin Germany on March 4, 1944.
The UDT-SEAL Museum – UDT is the WW II precursor which stands for Underwater Demolition Team – is located at Fort Pierce, Florida. This is on the East coast of Florida on North Hutchinson Island. It was dedicated in 1985.
Address of the Navy SEAL Museum is 3300 N. Highway A1A, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949. 772-595-5845 is the phone number. Web site is: www.navysealmemorial.net
Open Tuesday – Saturday 10 till 4 PM, and Sunday Noon till 4 PM. Admission is $6.
Flying part of the war in the CBI – China Burma India – it was a real forgotten section of the world conflict.
While in North Africa in 1942 / 1943:
“Although a bit unorthodox at times, Maj. Cochran accomplished the job. One time, for example, he skipped a bomb into the German headquarters in Tunisia. On another occasion, Maj. Cochran dangled a lead weight from his aircraft, which he used to take out enemy telephone lines by dragging the weight through the lines. He also helped train the 99th Fighter Squadron, which consisted of all African-American pilots, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. An early advocate for the desegregation of the American military, Lt. Col. Cochran briefed the Air Force staff about the Tuskegee Airmen upon his return to the United States in early 1943.”
He flew in the 1st Air Commando in the CBI from December of 1943 till the end of the war supporting the Chindits in Burma flying in supplies and out wounded.
http://www2.hurlburt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123132095
Last January 2009 a construction worker set off an unexploded bomb – UXB – while working. From the description it was a 250 lb bomb or equivalent.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htpeace/articles/20090118.aspx
Want to view a map of the 501 PIR combat operations during Market Garden in Holland during September of 1944?
Drawn right after the battle this details where units were and where they went.
http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p4013coll8&CISOPTR=1955&REC=2
There are lots of good resources on this site.
Samuel Lum – Bailout
over Bremen
Flying in his B-17 over Bremen, Germany, AA guns hit the plane and with an engine on fire the crew bails out on August 4, 1944, on his 18th mission. 8th AF mission number 514 when Peenemunde, Hamburg, Hemmingstedt/Heide oil refinery, and Rostock were the main targets were also attacked on that day within Germany.
A Hawaiian native, he enlisted right after literally watching the attack on Pearl Harbor.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/26/pa-wwii-vet-enjoys-life/news-breaking/
John had been enlisted in the navy long before WW II started, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (MOH) for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He is the last surviving MOH winner from that day at over 100 years old.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/07/24/op__541892.shtml
“In an effort to recognize the outstanding deeds accomplished by American soldiers during WWII, the French Republic began awarding its highest distinction to American WWII Veterans in 2004. Created by Emperor Napoleon in 1802, the Legion of Honor Medal recognizes services of highest achievement rendered to France.”
“Mr. Donald E. Casey, Chicago, IL: Enlisted in October 1943 as a second lieutenant in the 379th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force Division. He participated in the bombardments of many German installations at Dijon/Longvic, Sottevast Mesnil au Val, Metz-Frescaty, Marquise Mimoyecques, Creil et Coulommiers.”
11 Illinois citizens were honored with this award in July.
http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=1&RecNum=7688
Stories of people from all branches of service is featured within the newspaper.
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2009/07/06/news/doc4a5261be35f7d664631491.txt
Robert Shoonmaker was a pilot with the 451st Bomb Squadron, 322nd Bomb Group, 9th Air Force flying in B-26 Martin Marauders when he got shot down during a night mission.
Russell Hoggard landed on June 6 around 9:30 AM that day and fought his way across Europe till the end of the war while in the 746th Tank Battalion.
“I got shelled. I lost two tanks, and our outfit lost 44 tanks in just one month,” he said.
http://www.arkansasleader.com/2009/07/top-story-memories-of-liberating-europe.html
Long neglected by Congress, in the bill reported out of committee October 27, $9 million dollars was written into the Interior appropriations bill to be used to purchase more land to preserve Civil War Battlefields.
http://www.civilwar.org/aboutus/news/news-releases/2009-news/congress-allocates-9-million.html
Enlisting in the Marines right after Pearl Harbor, he flew TFBs and Corsairs, but he was shot down in his TFB and shot sharks with his 45 while awaiting rescue in the warm Pacific Ocean.
http://www.pnj.com/article/20091025/NEWS01/910250317/1006/NEWS01
Elizabeth
Dole Helps Fund Honor FlightHonor Flight is where people help fund WW II veterans to go visit the WWII Memorial in Washington DC. Former Senator Elizabeth Dole donated money to the organization to help send 106 vets from North Carolina to DC.
http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/102509-washington-vets-trip-anecdotes
This year Phoenix was the host city for the Lavenham based B-17 Flying Fortress unit that flew from there to targets all over in Europe.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/10/24/20091024ww2luke1024.html
Without the Merchant Marines – crews who brought the supplies needed by every unit – there would not have been a victory. The Lane Victory is a floating museum that shows what these non-combat combatants did during the war. Not till 40+ years after the end did they get awarded veteran status.
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/18916/
After the latest tropical storm flowed across the area in September, erosion revealed the gun and ammo. Now it will be put on display in a museum.
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/116322.html
Lt. Erwin Bleckley of Wichita and pilot Lt. Harold Goettler flew their De Havilland observation aircraft looking for the 700 soldiers of the “Lost Battalion” within the Argonne Forest trying to locate the unit which accomplished their orders and got to where they were supposed to be – while the other units on their flanks never did; and so got surrounded. This happened during the Meuse-Argonne offensive in the summer of 1918.
http://www.kansas.com/news/state/story/998369.html
She crashed her P-51 into Santa Monica bay Oct. 26, 1944 and no one noticed that she was missing for 4 days. Divers are volunteering their skills in hopes of finding her. They already found a T-33 jet trainer that had been missing since Oct. 15, 1955.
A WW II era DC-3 was on a test flight when engine problem forced it to turn back right after takeoff – four of the 7 people on board died. Aircraft was registered to Victoria Air and with tail number RPC 550.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/225217/4-die-las-pi-plane-crash
Flying out of Italy in the 353 Sqd of the 301 BG(H) in B-24s Charles Sloca was shot down over southern Germany in August 1944.
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_13582095
Editor: I was loaned his diary by his brother and scanned his two memo pad books. His brother is currently living in Florida. This is a transcript from his Dec 22, 1943 entry when he flew as 1st pilot for the first time. I currently have 24 different collections of documents- from 24 different people - that I have digitized and am organizing before they are posted to our 8th AFHS Web site.
Dec 22 – Wednesday
Our first raid today. They sent me out with my own crew today instead of giving me experience as copilot first. We took off around 10 AM and rendezvoused. We hit the target at 1356. The target was Osenbruck (?), ten miles north of Munster. Flak was very much in evidence when we crossed the Dutch coast, over the target and over the coast again.
A lot of fighters Me 109s and FW 190s came in on use and most of our ammunition was used up. Our P-38s and P-47s were chasing them around the sky followed by long swooping contrails. As we came over the target white and black flak burst and German fighters kept boring in. A B-17 ahead of us suddenly went into a spin with firing spilling out of it. It looked like a movie – a big four engined bomber lazily spinning towards white clouds below.
At the same time Bill and I were kept busy holding the plane in flight as the whole group was in prop-wash of the wing ahead. That’s quite a job – it keeps a fellow warm even though the outside temperature ere -43C.
Just to make things interesting, the oxygen system leaked. Shortly after leaving the target my oxygen ran completely out. I flew for twenty minutes before passing out and Bill, who had a little left in his lines, took over, at the same time plugging my walk-around bottle in. Then when he passed out, I took over and after my oxygen was nearly gone put the plane into a steep dive to lower altitudes. By that time most of the enemy fighters had turned around and we were through the flak on the Dutch coast.
All of the fellows did well and I’m sure they hit a couple of the German fighters. However, they didn’t put in any claims. England really looked good coming back. We dove down and came back to Jolly Old England. It’s a shame that so many innocent people have to suffer because of the few in power who set up the principles of a country’s government. Those poor civilians who were the recipient of our bombs probably never hurt anybody.
This is a non-profit that arranges WW II Veterans to visit the National Memorial WW II Memorial in Washington DC. www.honorflight.org is the web site; Honor Flight, Inc.
300 E. Auburn Ave. Springfield, OH 45505-4703 Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST 937-521-2400 is the main office phone number.
You have to submit an application to them – details on the web site. In the future they state they will do the same for the Korean and Vietnam veterans.
Houston
Sipes was a Top Turret gunner flying B-24s out of Italy from late 1944 thru the
end of the war with his last mission in May of 1945.
He got credit for 50 missions though he actually only flew 33 – 17 missions were counted as double due to the hazards associated with missions flown from Italy to Germany and back to base.
As to what parachutes are used for – air brakes when your hydraulics are shot out of your B-24.
http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20091111/NEWS21/911080301/1002/NEWS01
Lt Col Harold Brown (USAF, Ret) has put his name to a Commemorative Air Force project of restoring a P-51C to flying status to the cost of $2.3 million dollars. Their specific web site for the project is: http://www.redtail.org .
There is P-51C painted up in the colors of one of the “Red Tails” at the Fantasy of Flight museum in Polk City Florida.
The Tuskegee airmen flew a variety of aircraft, P-39s, P-40s, and P-47s, before finally being converted to fly the P-51s while in Italy. 66 were KIA and 32 became POWs – including Lt Col Brown.
As always various amount of money will get you various thank-you gifts from a hat ($51) to a call from one of the original members.
I met around 20 of them when they held a reunion at Pearson Airfield in the 1990s and one lives locally here in the Portland Metro area.
Training could be even more deadly than combat. Bill Seitz (15th Air Force) remarked to me at an Old Bold Pilot’s club meeting that after coming back from his first combat tour and then to training command training new people to fly the B-24 Liberator – but using 87 Octane fuel instead of 100 octane which was reserved for use overseas - he thought it was safer in combat so he went back to the 15th for another tour!
Nebraska has lots of training fields and a book called “Nebraska’s Fatal Air Crashes of WW II” by Jerry Penry documents them in detail (another book out covering all of the US was published last year.)
Lauren Roach was 11 when a B-17 crashed near his house in 1945 which is covered in the book.
http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=17748&pageID=3
Jerry Korman joined the Army and went to radio school before being posted to Europe flying in B-17s as a radio operator / gunner. He was part of a crew that flew a night mission with the English mapping the Norwegian coast. A few units of the 8th Air Force crews flew night missions dropping leaflets (and OSS agents) throughout the war – which most people have never heard about.
Korman was one of the crews that litteerally came back to England using only one engines since the rest has been shot away – and nothing left inside the aircraft either since they threw everything out to lower the weight of the aircraft.
John P. "Son" Courtney was a top turret gunner in B-24s when on his eight mission on July 3, 1944, a German fighter forced the crew to bail out of their aircraft over Bulgaria on a after bombing an oil refinery just south of Bucharest, Romania. He flew in the 15th Air Force.
He kept a diary of his times as a POW as well as all the other records of his wartime experience.
http://blog.al.com/live/2009/11/world_war_ii_vet_recalls_baili.html
Larry is a local resident of The Dalles Oregon and in this article he talks about his engagement with a Me-262 during the latter part of World War II. I’ve talked with him at an Association of Naval Aviators (ANA) meeting as well as a meeting of the Oregon 8th Air Force Historical Society.
Nice write up of his story in The Dalles Chronicle newspaper of how a single Me-262 got his three wingmen but missed him and his plane.
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2009/11/news11-15-09-01.shtml
Ken Hamilton
tried to join the Army Air Force and become a pilot, but the colorblind test
(he didn’t memorize the color chart like Roland Fisher did!) so he ended up
flying 30 missions in a B-29 as a gunner.
In air to air combat color is not as important as recognizing shapes of the aircraft approaching you. In the air anything greater than ½ mile from you is only an outline anyway – you cannot detect colors till they get close in – and by that time it is often too late to fire at a closing speed of 400+ mph even in a “slow” bomber.
Ex B-17 pilot Wil Ketner traveled to Capital City Airport, Coumbia Maryland, to fly again in a B-17. He flew on one of the very last 8th AF Heavy Bomber mission of the war – to Skoda Armament Works at Pilsen Czechoslovakia to bomb the plants there. He was part of the 359 Squadron based at Molesworth England during World War II. This is where the 303 BG (H) was stationed and was one of the early groups to be assigned to the 8th Air Force. Walter Cronkite (who died this year) flew as a waist gunner while a reporter as did Any Rooney from this base.
The 303 BG mission # 364 to Pilsen (8th AF Mission 968) the 303rd Bombardment Group (H) "Hell's Angels" lost one plane. Overall 6 aircraft in the 8th were shot down, 4 were “Cat E” write offs. The Allies warned all the factory workers that they will be attacked three days before the mission was launched in order to avoid killing Czechoslovakian workers. They had to make three passes over the plant before bombs away. However, an Arado 234 was claimed as shot down during the mission.
For more info on the 303rd and Ketner visit their web site: http://www.303rdbg.com/
Robert F. Dorr and co-author Thomas D. Jones (Tom) spent 5 years researching the story of the P-47 Thunderbolt equipped 365th Fighter Group by talking with 171 of the men who flew primarily ground support missions – and sometimes bomber escort missions – in the ETO from 1944 till 1945.
(I bought the book when I was at the Dulles Air and Space Museum while waiting for my flight out of DC and met the author while there; I’ve already read the whole book, very interesting!)
His next book is going to be about "Mission to Berlin," which focuses primarily on the February 3, 1945 mission to the German capital and will be published by Zenith Press in March 2011.
He is asking anyone who was part of the mission to contact him so he can get first person accounts of everything people did in the mission to contact him:
Robert F. Dorr
3411 Valewood Drive
Oakton, Virginia 22124
(703) 264-8950
If you'd like a personalized copy, send him a check for $ 31.64, for the book, an inscription from the authors, and priority mail packaging.
Another book just published is about a single day, Sunday November 26, 1944, when 34 crews were shot down on the day while flying in 8th Air Force mission 725 (1,137 bombers and 732 fighters are dispatched). It is written by John Meurs who was living in Holland on that day when a bomber from the 381 BG (H) crashed near his house.
In its 538 pages there are 34 chapters – once for each aircrew shot down. 314 airmen, out of whom 136 were killed in action, 170 were taken prisoner and 8 were hidden by the Dutch Underground until their liberation by Canadian troops in April/May 1945.
Quail Ridge Press, Brandon, MS is the publisher and he is selling it for $20 a copy including postage.
John Meurs
Im Gubel 5
CH-8630 Rüti ZH
Switzerland
You still
have time to order the WW II WASP playing cards. They are sold by the
International Women’s Air & Space Museum for $10 each and shipping is $2.60
per pack.
IWASM
1501 N. Marginal Rd.
Rm 165
Cleveland, OH 44114
BBC 4 produced a radio show about the USSR “Night Witches”
who flew nighttime bombing attacks against the NAZI troops during WW II. It was
broadcast on November 2, 2009 and you can listen to it online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nk0g9
Amy Strebe wrote a book about these women and did a presentation at our meeting about these combat pilot women at one of our meetings before she moved to California. Russia is the only country that organized women into combat formations in ALL aspects of combat: Sniper, artillery, bomber, and fighter units during World War II.
What is now an unused space under a south side Chicago shopping mall, was once the largest aircraft engine factory in the world – run by the Ford Motor Company.
18,000 Wright 3350 engines – ones used on B-29s - were eventually produced at the plant from the time it ground was broke on the plant on June 5 1942 till the end of the war.
The book was written by John Kudia about this plant to let people know the historical significance of it. The Germans were not the first to build important plants underground.
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/1870383,CST-FIN-ECOL07.article
Another place that turned out engines was Muskegon. They turned out aircraft and tank engines – some US tanks were power by air-cooled radial engines!
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/12/muskegon_was_the_arsenal_of_de.html
In MAY or JUNE of 1941 the 54th PURSUIT SQDN of 55th PURSUIT GROUP rolled into their new station at Portland, Oregon.
As we passed thru PORTLAND the men saw GIRLS on the streets and would CAT CALL and whistle at them. (All in good fun.) The OUT COME of that was that the BASE COMMANDER thought it was awful for his men to act so bad, so he RESTRICTED us to the base for 6 weeks.
Now the girls stepped in and every time the BASER CO went to play golf a bunch of girls would follow him around on the golf course and CAT CALL AT HIM and whistle.
After 2 weeks of that he RESCINDED the order.
n H.R. "MAC" McGalliard (Editor, of the 11th Air Force News)
The letter writing campaign is still going on – writing to Oregon public officials in order to allow the USS Ranger to be docked in Portland as a permanent museum. The Ranger was commissioned on August 10th of 1957 and is the last of that class that can be used as a museum. http://www.ussranger.org/
USS RANGER FOUNDATION
1505 SE Gideon Street
Suite 650
Portland, OR 97202
Number of “ZEROS” produced during WW II: 6570 by Nakajima, 3880 Mitsubishi, 512 trainers by others
During a visit of Aluminum overcast to Tulsa at the end of October, Gerald Gentis, who was based at Great Ashfield, England flew his first combat mission on December 24 and also flew on the February 3, 1945 – the largest 8th AF mission of WW II, flew in the EAA aircraft along with Col. E.J. Hitt who few 47 B-17 missions over Europe and then later on flew 35 P-51 missions.
"All the pilots were young, if you had a 25-year-old pilot, he was an old codger." – Gerald Gentis
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=45&articleid=20091031_45_E1_WorldW21078
Not
many books have been written by the people of the 15th Air Force,
but this past November a new 184 page paperback book “Last Roll Call” about a
tail gunner flying out of Italy was published. After training he ended up in
the 97th Bomb Group, 414th Bomb Squadron, at Amendola, Italy.
http://www.newsherald.com/news/wwii-78725-eastpoint-memoir.html
Q: How do you know if there is a fighter pilot at your party?
A: He'll tell you.
Jim O'Hara is a member of EAA chapter 493 in San
Angelo and he and his wife built this 2/3 scale P-38. Photo is from October 24,
2009. It took them 15 years to build it. Jim is 81 years old and is trained as
an engineer. It first flew in July 2009.
Two WW II I Cclass Japanese submarines, purposely sunk at the end of WWII so that details of them would not have to be shared with the USSR (per treaty agreements) were located in deep waters off Hawaii in November. The I-14 was 400 feet long and 40 feet high and carried a crew of 144, while the I-201 more resembles modern designs.
Having a career and giving it
up to serve in the Military during WW II was not uncommon – a lot of movie
actors, and a few real movie stars signed up, but baseball was the most visible
group seen on a daily basis in the early 20th century and lots of
players signed up (or were drafted)– and a few were killed during the war.
Two Major league players were killed during the war while 126 minor league players were killed. Most major league players were older and thus were not drafted during the war years. Harry O'Neill was KIA on Iwo Jima while Elmer Gedeon was KIA when the bomber his was piloting was shot down over France on April 20, 1944.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/295204-baseball-in-wartime
Out of Lake Michigan, about 50 miles from Chicago, a WW II F6F was pulled from 250+ feet of water by A&T Recovery. It will be restored back to non-flying status.
Lt. Walter Elcock was flying the plane when he ditched it on January 4, 1945. He is still alive.
Doug Brooker ran out of runway in New Zealand in his Spitfire – so it is still tricky to learn how to land it after all these years. This is the second accident for him in his $3 million dollar two seat Spitfire.