Posted on 01/05/2009 4:20:30 AM PST by Blueflag
Ok... ok
I’m wrong.
I’m just now reading about the Marine flyers and there has been no mention of any Marines flying B 17’s. The repeated mention is of Marines escorting Army B17’s on a more or less daily basis as they bombed various Japanese targets from 1943 into 1944. I recall no notation of VMF squadrons with B17’s.
No worries. I’ll ask my dad (he’s 87) for a few more details to square this up. And I’ll post his answer and ping you guys. I knew the Army Air Corps and the Navy flew the B-17s for the most part in the Pacific. I’ll find out more if I can about why my late uncle flew 17s as a Marine.
My dad and his bro were both “aviation cadets” at (of all places) UGA Athens, Ga. He said he did a LOT of marching with wooden rifles wearing Coca-Cola deliveryman uniforms until they got the real deals. He learned to fly aerobatics in a Stearman, and did his cross countries in an ‘airknocker’ (Aeronca). He didn’t fly his first all metal aircraft (Grumman of course) until he began carrier quals. He got into theatre just after Midway and stayed in til the occupation of Japan. He was shot down once (by flak), rescued twice by subs (had to ditch once due to oil starvation) EARNED his purple hearts, and had one air combat kill in his TBM. He went head to head with a Betty and WON with his 30’s. He was briefly on the Ranger and then served on a number of different ‘jeep’ carriers. His ship was kamikazied once while he was in the ready room, and was pretty badly burned during firefighting. [ He tells stories about how the crew learned when to be concerned about getting hit: When the 5 inchers went to 40s, that was OK; but when the 20s took over for the 40s, that was time to raise your heartbeat; and when the 50cal mounts lit up, that’s when you made sure you had your helmet on good. ] After being hit, he and the ship went to San Fran for dry dock, then returned to Japan for the occupation.
More later.
Thanks. I’ll ask my dad for clarification. It’s still a tough subject for him after all these years. I’ll post his reply about why his bro was flying 17s.
I am pretty certain he has told me in the past that both Marine and Navy pilots flew off the carriers early on in the war, and that they were fairly interchangeable. Again, I’ll ask him for a first-hand clarification.
I look forward to the report...... thanks
Pics give ya that warm, fuzzy feeling...
Whatever it is, it looks cool and is probably terrifying to the terrorist.
I’m pretty sure they’re phosphorous shells. Which explains the “rain of fire” comments.
That looks more like white phosphorous than a flechette to me. A flechette round is a more yellowish explosion following by more uneven trails, but I could be wrong.
In my earlier reading I found no reference to Marines flying multi engine bombers in the SWPAC area. I’m now reading “The Seige of Rabaul” written largely from the Japaneese perspective and including many first hand references. It tells of specially rigged night fighters to defend aginst night flying B 17’s. They were flown by the 65th bomb squadron 43rd Bomb Group Army Air corps.
It also tells of Marine bombers, PB-1D’s (AKA B-25) Mitchells.
The combined Army and Marine efforts made life miserable for the besieged Japaneese
I read the piece you posted about the 88th recon squadron and was glad to have it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.