USAAF Memorial

I was travelling down a country road in the English Midlands and came across this memorial.I don,t know if it affects anyone on this forum, but I think I should share it anyway. Sorry about hte sideways picture.If anyone can correct this, please do so. Phil

Thanks for sharing. My dad was in the USAAF but in the Pacific. He was on Biak island getting the gliders ready for the invasion of Japan.

My Dad island hopped with General Douglas MacArthur. His last stop was Iwo Jima. He was a ground pounding officer.

My Mother, spent three years as a nurse in MacArthur's Army. She too was on Biak at one time and grew up in Toledo, Tama County, Iowa.

Dean

An in-law in the family whom I could call a grandfather I think, fathers wifes dad, (he remarried later) was a pilot who flew the B17, I believe the larger one, B29,(not sure of the correct nomenclature) as well as P51's. I did muster up enough courage to ask him one afternoon, out of respect and knowing the atrocity of war, and in the utmost respect, I considered before I asked about what he did during the war, the bad memories and feared bringing something up, he may not want to talk about, some of these guys just don't want speak of these times, for obvious reasons, some are fine with it, never knew for sure if it was inappropriate to ask. Knowing that, I've always been reserved as to inquiring much further. At least I know that much, and the intent was to learn of his experiences, honor his service, and be as respectful of his feelings and willingness to talk about it as possible, besides learning the history of his military service, places served, unit/group he served with etc. I used alert him as to when the B17 "Liberty Belle" was in the area, (he seemed interested,likes old cars and did visit the military airport nearby when airshows were going on) before it burned a few years ago. One afternoon it strafed the treetops and I stood right under it in its flight path, was pretty wild to hear that unique sound, the roar etc., was so common in his day and an extremely rare occurrence today. Your post about this influences me to ask him some more, but I'll have to ask one of his siblings first to see if this or is not a bad thing to bring up.

He spoke freely the last time about it, the man is a spry 90 something, who was still riding our T.B. stallion, well he's kinda special too, rare in that breed, incredible to see both of them, him riding etc.

I would really like to know some more, some details about his assignments and so on, have no idea what group he was with, but believe he was in the European theater, and wherever those P51's were early, I am not sure but was under the impression he did more with the bombers than fighters. Its incredible to stand along side a man who survived the ordeal of aviation during that war! Those B17's were sitting ducks, I had one do a banking a turn over the other place, (here at home) got a short video of it, the sound, its airspeed and just watching it, sitting ducks is all one can think of, they lost a lot of men and planes, the numbers on just those alone are staggering, and is the only way to provide some scale on the sacrifice and the hardship endured by so many to defeat the enemy on their own turf.

The Midlands? That must have been rare. Seems British and Canadian bombers were based in the midlands. Most Yanks flew out of East Anglia, because most of their fuel tanks didn't have enough to make it to Germany and back from any further west.
Don't know from which field, but I knew a fellow when I was a kid, he died in the early 80'? who's bomber didn't have enough gas to get back over the UK, they ditched in the North Sea. By the time the British Coast Guard found them, a few hours later, he was froze stiff, all his joints were 'arthritic'? from that day.
A few months before that he was shot down over Belgium, he spoke French, so the resistance got the whole crew back to the UK within a week. He said when the British officer the Belgians turned them over to asked 'and why did you trust this crew to be American so quickly? And not hold them longer, thinking they were spies? The Belgian leader said 'when the little man started to speak French, we said, wow, this guy is certainly a North American who grew up speaking Quebec French, and all the old fashioned terrible curse words that go with it'..

CliffP, thank you for rotating the picture for me. My 13 year old grandson is away, he solves all my computer stuff for me, Phil

(quoted from post at 12:35:47 05/16/13) CliffP, thank you for rotating the picture for me. My 13 year old grandson is away, he solves all my computer stuff for me, Phil

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You are very welcome Phil.
Cliff

My dad was a bombardier on a B 24 Liberator with the 93rd bomb group. He flew two tours, first out of Bury St. Edmonds, England, then from Aviano Italy.
He was a flight instructor after he came stateside just before VJ Day and was ready to be shipped out for B29 training when the war ended.
He was in Air Force reserve after the war and retired in 1973 as a Lt. Colonel and as a GS employee (head of TAC parts depot at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro NC).
After his retirement, he farmed full time for another 20 years (tobacco, grains)
An old-school,Christian, hard working man that did not take any crap off of anybody.
When I was a little kid I saw him beat the H$&& out of a drunk that cussed in front of my mother and me out in front of a store.The local police patted him on the back for it.
I was fortunate to have been raised by him.

Great story Bill! He probably had more stories on his student pilots. Been there done that!

I attach a link to some further information on Deenethorpe. Plenty more if you search RAF Deenethorpe. It is near Kettering, just about as close to East Anglia as you can get but be in the Midlands. While a Royal Navy veteran myself including a more recent war, I have the utmost admiration for the bravery of all the bomber crews even though I do not agree with some of the strategy. In the UK, today is a poignant day, being the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters raid. Indeed a day to salute the bravery of all bomer crews.
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My dad spent 4 years over there. He was based at Polebrook England with the 351st and was ground crew for the B17s.After the European theator was over they brought him back states side and started training him for B29s While he was being trained we dropped the Atoic bomb and they sent him home.

simon, I saw a PBS TV special on the dam busting project from concept through the actual mission. The counter rotating bomb to hug the dam face was a very clever idea. They also developed a primitive but effective aiming device. Pretty brave aircrews that risked it all for the "low and slow" delivery profile. A very enjoyable bit of history about a dark time. Thanks for the memory jog.

My dad was a tail gunner in B-24's out of Italy. He flew 22 missions over Czeckoslavakia, Austria, Hungray, tha Balkans, and Germany.
He never talked about it.
joe

Watch the Dambusters movie if you can find it. They used 2 lights to tell when they were at 200'(I think it was 200'). I read the book and it's interesting that Barnes Wallis who designed the bombs was very troubled that so many German civilians were killed from the flooding.

He also invented the tall boys and the grand slam bombs that were finned and fell supersonically. The Germans thought they were rocket powered cause they penetrated the u-boat pens. Tall boys were 12,000lbs. and the Grand slam was 22,000lbs. It's interesting to note that if the atomic bombs weren't dropped on Japan, there was talk they'd send the 617 (Dambusters) squadron over with some presents. They were very accurate in hitting their intended targets.