B-24!

[sfhogman]

My uncle was a B-24 pilot in the Pacific. As a matter of fact, he spent his 20th birthday on a bomb run over Peleliu....
You may have seen the following video before- he was not on the aircraft that filmed the incident, but on the one next to it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lioRCye2Dug

He said they saw the flash and felt the heat, but did not break formation.
After the war he went to Stanford, supplementing his GI Bill as a crop duster.
A good man.

Jeff

 

[Acorn]

What a gut wrenching scene. It bothers me to watch it 75 years after, knowing there were American heroes, true heroes, on board. God bless them all.

 

[WAYNO]

I've watched that video many times, and every time, my stomach wretches.

Bless these wonderful heroes.

The B-17 gets the attention, but the B-24 was the cornerstone.


As a youngster, with my Dad just after the war, he bought me my first model airplane. And it was a B-24.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Yes SAD to watch when you realize that was a crew of someone's Dad, or Granddad or any young family member in that plane.
The B-24 was much harder to fly than the 17 especially at the higher altitudes. That made if more difficult to stay in formation which is what happened to this 24.
The Bomber Box for defense when over Europe was an absolute must for fighter defense and concentrating all of the squadrons guns. This also helped to keep the fighters from being able to dive thru the Box.
In a head on attack this allowed the top, chin and the ball to concentrate fire on the fighters as they flew the high Pursuit Curve, fired then dived below the Box . Going high would allow you to slow down with the chance of hitting the Vert. Fin and the top turret firing on you. An attack from the 6 O'clock was suicide for the fighters. Most of the time when you see that attack it is on a straggler. The ball was the only guns that could fire as the fighter dived below the Box. The ball also had the best gun sight which was a computer ranging/deflecting sight. I just happen to have one and it is an amazing piece of equipment.
End of history lesson for the day

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I've seen lots of footage of bombers going down between England and Germany, but it was taken from a distance. That's quite different from being up close and personal like this one, which really touches some nerves. I always wonder how many of the crew got out safely when seeing such shots...

I used to have coffee a couple of times a month with a fellow, Howard, who was one of the fighter pilots guarding bombers from the 8th and was shot down once himself over France, and had a customer, Col. Bill (Lt. Col, USAF Ret) as we called him, who was shot down twice as a bomber pilot, once over France where he was rescued and returned to England just as Howard had been (God bless the French Resistance!), the second time over Germany where he was a POW until the end of the war, maybe 6 months or so. I never asked either of them about the rate of surviving being hit. I guess I don't really want to know.

Rick C

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Rick,
When you see what the Aircrew Causality KIA rate was over Europe which was more than the Marines and Navy combined
KIA it gives you a pretty good idea. Also keep in mind that the aircrews went into battle everyday for 6-10 hours everyday for several months. Yes all of the COMBAT troops had it bad but not everyday. Most think the USAAF had it easy because they could sleep in a bed at night. Not the case think long hours at 0-40 below with the wind blowing inside and on oxygen or bent up in the ball turret below the 17. Just some of the conditions
You have to remember most of the crew didn't wear parachutes during combat. My Dad who was a B-17 Ball Turret Gunner stored his outside of the turret along with the other gunners. Now when you see a B-17 going down most of the time it goes into a spin. When that happens the G Forces take over and you can not do a thing about it. You will die you can not get out.

 

[Acorn]

There was an older man that would show up where a bunch of us would eat lunch. All I new was he owned a local business years later my Dad told me his story. He was Glenn Rojohn of this story.
https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/piggback-flight-of-world-war-ii-bombers-recalled/

 

[hpman66]

B-24 sidebar story:


https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/last-b-24/
Last B-24
Dive beneath the sea to the wreckage of a WWII bomber. Search for the remains of its fallen crew.
PREMIERED: 11/7/18

 

[Bull Barrel]

I saw that PBS show about the last B-24 last week.
Much of it was not about B-24s, let alone the last.

 

[blume357]

My Sweep friends and I gather every September on Lake Murray near Columbia S.C. and one of the highlights for many is a 'stump shoot' on a fellow sweep's farm.... one sweep from Florida brings his fully automatic weapons which is a treat for some... A few years back we were shooting his German G2 belt fed machine gun and an old guy drove up.. This was the neighbor of the host sweep... my friend the host saw him getting out of his car and told me he had been a tail gunner on a B17 and flew over 25 missions over Europe.... the best I could do was shake his hand and thank him for his service. My buddy wanted him to shoot the G2 and the old guy just shook his head and declined.... my friend did not understand..... but I did.

 

[reuben_j_cogburn]

Paul Bunyan Land in Brainerd used to have a B24 on display... It was pretty gutted but still interesting. The amusement Park... if you could call it that... sold out years ago and the new buyer moved the rides to a new and dumber location.
But I have no idea what happened to the bomber...

 

[sceva]

The B-24D Strawberry Rosie O'Donnell is on display at the US Air Force Museum in Riverside, Ohio

I have seen it many times. The Museum is a must see if you are in the Dayton, Ohio area

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196286/consolidated-b-24d-liberator/

 

[Armybrat]

The B-24D Strawberry Rosie O’Donnell is on display at the US Air Force Museum in Riverside, Ohio

I have seen it many times. The Museum is a must see if you are in the Dayton, Ohio area

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196286/consolidated-b-24d-liberator/

I see what you did there with the name... :mrgreen:

 

[HAWKEYE#28]

Paul Bunyan Land in Brainerd used to have a B24 on display... It was pretty gutted but still interesting. The amusement Park... if you could call it that... sold out years ago and the new buyer moved the rides to a new and dumber location.
But I have no idea what happened to the bomber...

Was a B26 as I recall.......very nice condition.....was replaced by some form of helicopter........Paul Bunyan Land went to east of Brainerd with This Old Farm.quite a large multifaceted site. The original site is now a parking lot for Kohls' and what is now Bill's Gun Shop and range.......

 

[nrobe50]

My Dad was a Marine on the ground at Peleliu. He is gone now but didn't talk much about the war.

 

[reuben_j_cogburn]

Was a B26 as I recall.......very nice condition.....was replaced by some form of helicopter........Paul Bunyan Land went to east of Brainerd with This Old Farm.quite a large multifaceted site. The original site is now a parking lot for Kohls' and what is now Bill's Gun Shop and range.......

You are probably correct, as it as I haven't been to PB land since I was a kid..... I guess you just seem to hear more about the 24, so I s'pose I just associated it...
Yup.. PBL is out on Hwy 18..
I haven't been home in many years. But it is good to know a gunshop went in!!!

 

[Bobberfishin]

My Dad was a B-24 pilot in Northern Italy during WWII.
Still have his bomber jacket patch & his field glasses

 

[Wyandot Jim]

My Dad was a B-24 pilot in Northern Italy during WWII.
Still have his bomber jacket patch & his field glasses

That would mean that he was in the 15th Air Force and flew out of one of the fields around Foggia, which is in Southern Italy. The Northern part of Italy had a few Germans in it that fought until the end of the war. If you know the Bomb Group your Dad flew with you can find the Field he was located on.
My Dad was at Amendola, Italy

On their way

Targets they bombed/

A little info for you. If your Dad was in Foggia on June 23, 1944 he probably flew this mission to Ploesti, Rumania, OTP on the map. My Dad did and received an Air Medal for it. Roughly a quarter of the planes that went on this mission were shot down. Seems like a lot to me, but the USAAF chronology reads like it was no big deal. Behind Berlin, it was the most heavily defended axis city.

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force):

400+ B-17s and B-24s attack oil targets in Rumania; the B-17s hit oil refineries at Ploesti; the B-24s also hit oil refineries at Ploesti and oil storage at Guirgiu. 100+ US aircraft are shot down; the bombers and escorting fighters claim 30+ aircraft destroyed.


Germany responded by putting strong anti-aircraft defenses around Ploiești. Luftwaffe General Alfred Gerstenberg built one of the heaviest and best-integrated air defense networks in Europe. The defenses included several hundred large-caliber—88 mm (3.46 in) and 105 mm (4.1 in)—anti-aircraft guns, and many more small-caliber guns. The latter were concealed in haystacks, railroad cars, and mock buildings. A Luftwaffe air command center in Lipesk controlled three fighter groups within flight range of Ploiești (52 Bf 109 fighters and Bf 110 night fighters, and some Romanian IAR-80 fighters).

 

[Bobberfishin]

Wyandot Jim...I have his scrap book with pix of flak going off all around planes in the squadron.
I'm not sure exactly which plane he flew but have other pix with the logos or names of the planes painted on them on the landing fields
"Rhode Island Red" (B-24 w/ the number 23 on the nose)
"she woman", picture cuts off full word "woman" (B-24 w/ the number 26 on the nose)

 

[Bull Barrel]

That would have been the 461st Bombardment Group and ship 23 was Rhode Island Red II.
Rhode Island Red was ship 20.

https://461st.org/Aircraft/Nose%20Art/765th%20Nose%20Art.htm

 

[Bobberfishin]

YES!! I have a picture with Dad's writing of Foggia Italy on the back.
Another photo of the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" in Rome.
His bomber jacket patch has a duck holding a 50 caliber machine gun in it's left hand & a bomb in it's right. It's apprx 6" diameter with a small orange ring/border. Duck has green in it's jacket collar * on the bottom of it's feet.
She Wolf is the name on the B-24 in one of his pictures!!!! Not She Woman
Just saw my Dad's name on the roster of 765th squadron. There's a picture of a plane with the number 26 on the nose "Irish Angel II". The patch in the upper right hand corner is the one I have. There are 2 planes with that number so it's a bit confusing.
Thank you so much for the information, Bob

 

[Bobberfishin]

My Mom (yes, she's 96 yrs old) said "She Wolf" was his plane.
Found a picture of them in front of She Wolf 26

 

[sgtjimh]

My dad was a tail gunner on B 24 with the 782 Bomb Squadron, 15 Air force in Italy. Some other members of his crew were Capt Scanlon, Robert W. Broussard, Chas Baron, Chas McKissick, Harry Bowen, and Ray Larsen. One interesting thin that Dad told me. They took their own bomber to Italy. Flew down the Americas to Brazil then crossed the Atlantic and up Africa, cross the Med and into Italy.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

My dad was a tail gunner on B 24 with the 782 Bomb Squadron, 15 Air force in Italy. Some other members of his crew were Capt Scanlon, Robert W. Broussard, Chas Baron, Chas McKissick, Harry Bowen, and Ray Larsen. One interesting thin that Dad told me. They took their own bomber to Italy. Flew down the Americas to Brazil then crossed the Atlantic and up Africa, cross the Med and into Italy.

He would have been in the 465th BM GP.
You can see if he is listed on their site
https://www.465bg.org/

 

[sgtjimh]

thank you Wyandot jim, I found him

 

[Snake45]

Paul Bunyan Land in Brainerd used to have a B24 on display... It was pretty gutted but still interesting. The amusement Park... if you could call it that... sold out years ago and the new buyer moved the rides to a new and dumber location.
But I have no idea what happened to the bomber...

Was a B26 as I recall.......very nice condition.....was replaced by some form of helicopter........Paul Bunyan Land went to east of Brainerd with This Old Farm.quite a large multifaceted site. The original site is now a parking lot for Kohls' and what is now Bill's Gun Shop and range.......

You set me off on a google-quest. Turns out it was a B-25, which now lives at the WWII museum in Louisiana. :wink:

 

[reuben_j_cogburn]

You set me off on a google-quest. Turns out it was a B-25, which now lives at the WWII museum in Louisiana. :wink:

I just watched a documentary on my laptop about the B26..... And the Paul Bunyan plane was not one of those!... So once again I am NOT wrong... and at the same time... NOT right!! :roll:

 

[Walter Rego]

My dad was a Navigator on a B-24 with the 15th AF, 454th Bomb Group, 736th Bomb Squadron and flew out of San Giovanni airfield.
I had tried for years to get copies of his detailed service records, I only knew he was with the 15th from one of the bases in the Foggia Plain region. I got the old "records lost in the St. Louis fire in 1970" response when I wrote to the V.A.
A year or so ago I contacted these guys: [email protected] (I have no affiliation with them)
The company researched my dad at the National Archives with the limited information that I did have from his Record of Separation.

They sent me several pages of documents with very detailed information on his service including mission records. He was sent back to the states in late May of 1945 for additional training on B-17's and C 46 transport & cargo planes in preparation of the invasion of Japan. Fat Man and Little Boy solved that problem and he was released from service in October of '45.

I took a ride on the Collings Foundation's B-24 in his honor back in 2001. It was quite an experience and is highly recommended.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

My dad was a Navigator on a B-24 with the 15th AF, 454th Bomb Group, 736th Bomb Squadron and flew out of San Giovanni airfield.
I had tried for years to get copies of his detailed service records, I only knew he was with the 15th from one of the bases in the Foggia Plain region. I got the old "records lost in the St. Louis fire in 1970" response when I wrote to the V.A.
A year or so ago I contacted these guys: [email protected] (I have no affiliation with them)
The company researched my dad at the National Archives with the limited information that I did have from his Record of Separation.

They sent me several pages of documents with very detailed information on his service including mission records. He was sent back to the states in late May of 1945 for additional training on B-17's and C 46 transport & cargo planes in preparation of the invasion of Japan. Fat Man and Little Boy solved that problem and he was released from service in October of '45.

I took a ride on the Collings Foundation's B-24 in his honor back in 2001. It was quite an experience and is highly recommended.

Good for you on the B-24 flight. I took my Grandson to the Fredericksburg VA Airport when the B-17 was there with intentions to go fly in it. Sorry to say that they didn't have enough passengers to go fly and they were leaving the next day.

 

[Bull Barrel]

Some of those records that were burned at the record center were able to be recovered, only if partially.