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Posted on 09/25/2005 9:55:02 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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One of Britain's most decorated and highest-scoring fighter pilots was a former mule skinner from east Texas.  The remaining German pilots broke in all directions, trying to escape. Diving after a fleeing Fw-190, Wade heavily damaged it, but he did not see it crash. German records subsequently revealed that III Gruppe of Schlachtgeschwader (battle wing) 4, or III/SG.4, had lost at least one of its Fw-190 fighter-bombers in that fight, and the pilot, Sergeant 1st Class Peter Pellander, had been killed. With the confirmation of those two victories, Wade ended his second combat tour. His score had risen to 25, making him the leading Allied fighter ace of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations at that point.  FW-190 A I first encountered Lance Wade by accident several years ago, when I was searching for World War II history books and visited a used book store owned by Henry Johnson. That day turned out to be lucky for me in more than one way. I found several new books for my library, and I also learned about an American-born ace who had slipped through the cracks in books about World War II. As I was rummaging through works on the European air war, Johnson said to me: "My Uncle Bill Wade's son was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in World War II. His name was Lance Wade, and he shot down over 40 Axis aircraft." I listened politely but initially attached little credibility to his claim, for I had already been studying the air war for many years and thought I could readily recognize the names of high-scoring Allied fighter aces. Johnson went on to tell me that the 40-plus kills were in Wade's logbook, but not his official record. He also explained that these were not confirmed, as Wade had flown in the desert war of North Africa, and many of his kills had lacked witnesses. But Johnson claimed that the RAF had credited Wade with 25 confirmed victories.  I listened to the bookstore owner's story, still in doubt, then told Johnson I was not familiar with any pilot named Wade and asked if he knew of any books about him. Johnson explained that because Wade remained in the RAF after the United States joined the war, and he died in a flying accident before the conflict ended, the young pilot's achievements had not been widely publicized after his death. When I returned home, I could not get Johnson's tale off my mind. Going to my bookshelves, I picked up Edward H. Sims' The Greatest Aces, which contains the semiofficial records of air warfare. As expected, I did not find Lance C. Wade listed in the American aces of World War II, nor in the listing of RAF aces. But then I spotted a footnote at the bottom of a page: "This list does not contain one of the Royal Air Force's greatest fighter aces, Lance C. Wade, an American who volunteered in 1940 to fly and fight for England." Sims added that Wade was one of the highest-scoring Americans in the air war, with 25 confirmed kills, also noting that he died in an accident in 1944.  A product of the east Texas hill country who came of age during the Depression, Lance was born in 1915 in Broadus, a small farming community near the Texas–Louisiana border. The second son of Bill and Susan Wade, he was actually given the name L.C. at birth. In fact, he became Lance C. Wade only after the RAF demanded that he list a name rather than initials -- he called himself Lance Cleo Wade just to satisfy regulations. In 1922 the family moved to a small farm near Reklaw, Texas, where he went to school and helped with the farm work. Family members recalled that whenever an airplane flew over, Wade would stop whatever he was doing and say, "Someday I will fly." In 1934 at age 19, Wade traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to take advantage of a New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which provided jobs for young men. For Wade, however, the CCC work turned out to be much like the farm work he thought he had left behind -- driving a team of mules, building roads and planting trees in a national forest. With war clouds looming, Wade earned a pilot's license and acquired 80 hours of flying time. License in hand, he tried to join the U.S. Army Air Corps, only to be turned down because of his lack of education. Undeterred, he was soon plotting to join the RAF.  Ground crew of 33 Squadron Due to heavy losses during the Battle of Britain, the RAF had started recruiting American pilots for its war effort. Fearful that he might be rejected again, Wade submitted a fictitious résumé in which he claimed that he had learned to fly at age 16, when he and three friends had purchased a plane and a World War I flying buddy of his father's had taught them to fly. Wade also said that his father had been an ace in World War I. Years later, on hearing that story, Wade's cousin Henry Johnson laughed and said that the highest Uncle Bill (Wade's father) had ever been was the top rail of his fences, and that the family was unaware of Wade's ever owning an airplane. Whatever the facts, in December 1940 Wade was accepted by the RAF. Britain's recruitment program resulted in 240 American pilots who flew and fought for England. Most of those men served with Nos. 71, 121 and 133 "Eagle" squadrons, which were made up of American volunteers. In the course of their service, members of the Eagles destroyed 731¼2 Axis aircraft and earned 12 Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFCs) and one Distinguished Service Order (DSO). The battle-tested Eagles also provided the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) with valuable combat experience after the United States joined the war. Wade, however, did not serve with the Eagle squadrons but with the regular RAF squadrons, and as a result his awards and victories are not included in the Eagle tally.  Soon after being accepted in the RAF, Wade was sent to No. 52 Operational Training Unit (OTU). Units such as these provided pilots a few weeks' training in the aircraft that they would fly in combat -- in Wade's case, the Hawker Hurricane. After completing his OTU training, Wade flew a land-based Hurricane Mark I off the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal to the beleaguered island of Malta. His was one of 46 Hurricanes sent as reinforcements to the island. Because of the need for fighters in North Africa, 23 Hurricanes were flown to Egypt, where Wade joined No. 33 Squadron in September 1941 as a pilot officer. After the unit received replacement pilots and aircraft, it was deployed to Giarabub airfield, located in the Libyan desert, a fly-infested wasteland of sand, rocks and brush. The mission of No. 33 Squadron was to provide close air support for the upcoming British offensive, dubbed Operation Crusader, scheduled to be launched on November 18, 1941, against the German Afrika Korps.
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You're welcome. Good to see you.
LOL Very good!
BTW, That infamous Al 'Gebra cult coulda shown how to do it using shadows and < gasp > math </ gasp >.
Howdy ma'am
Has Sarge started chewing up baseboards yet? Chelsea developed a taste for drywall as well when she was teething.
Yippeee! I like the part about EU being nervous.
Howdy neighbor
I had a dog who loved drywall. This one, Sarge, he chews flowers both the real ones in the yard and the fake ones in the store....shoes any chance he gets. We of course provide lots of toys but there's nothing like chewing on something you aren't suppose to have. LOL.
Need any bird supply stores in Poland?
LOL!
Hi Victoria. Great graphic!
Hi there, Sam. Long time no see.
“Lance Wade had also flown with the Finns before joining the RAF and had 6 Russian planes to his credit.”
My father knew Lance Wade very well. After training they headed out together in Operation Scarlet, right up until their last mission together in north Africa.
Your photo of the group of men shows Dad front and centre with his legs crossed. He was as handsome as Lance if not more so. Their photos always remind me of Clark Gable and Van Johnson.
When Dad was shot down in north Africa, he and Lance were on a mission together. Lance tried to save my father, in a very risky attempt under severe fire power. Lance’s bravery in trying to rescue my father showed what a great man Lance Wade was.
Dad started the war with many other friends such as “Stuffy” Sutton who had an airfield named after him in North Carolina when he was killed, and so many other well known heroes. Dad lost many friends, and spent many years as a POW. It took him 15 years before he could write his book. I’m thinking of reprinting it, because it’s very well written and has a lot of valuable information. Dad also appears in the series of war footage shot in the desert, so we always have those treasures, as well as the amazing photos he has from that era. He is well, still goes for walks every day, and just turned 91 two days ago.
Dad wrote in his 1961 book that a friend, Kay Stammers, had lost an aircraft near Agedabia because of a piece of shrapnel in the engine, but Lance landed and picked Kay up before the Germans could get out there. Kay sat on Lance’s lap and worked the stick and the throttle, while Lance worked the rudder. Dad documents their time in England and North Africa, and his own years in Italy and Germany as a POW.
My father’s Hurricane was shot down when Derek Gould sent Dad, Lance Wade, John Cloete and Kay Stammers on a strafe to beat up anything they could find in the way of enemy convoys or equipment. If they found anything at all more than twenty miles away it would be German for sure. Little did they know they were moments from getting Rommel, as Dad later witnessed after he was shot down and taken behind German lines.
Lance and he took off, and climbed to five hundred feet before heading to the front. Dad had sensed something the night before and all that morning. Dad’s story that day tells of how Lance was a great pilot, a great man.. and a great friend to my father. Lance put his own life severely in danger in an attempt to land in the desert and save my wounded father, after Dad’s Hurricane had been shot down and crash landed. The last time they saw each other, he and Lance waved at each other as Lance flew back to camp. Dad wrote of that:
“I’m certain Lance was truly sorry he couldn’t pick me up and save me from what we always considered would be certain death.”
Dad writes of many of their north Africa missions in detail, as well as the other fellows’ missions, numbers and successes. He had quite a war.
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