• The KillerFrogs

B-17 Fort Worth Nose Art

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
Got to fly in a restored “Memphis Belle” about 10 years ago. I’ve had the chance through my work to meet lots of WWII vets, including pilots and gunners who fought it out in the skies. Also including one of the Dolittle Raiders, a Mr. Cole. Badasses.
Dick Cole, who flew 'The Ruptured Duck', and later wrote 30 Seconds Over Tokyo.
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
Yeah, I have a hard time wrapping my head around just the general acceptance, from high command on down, that, "We're going to lose 75% of our guys on this mission, but it needs to be done." Balls. Big, Brass, Balls.
The 25th Mission was always your "Go Back Home" ticket. Until it wasn't. They couldn't train crews fast enough to keep up with losses, and had to keep extending the number of missions from 25 to 30. Then 35. Yet, they kept on getting up, going through the briefings, manning their planes, and flying the mission, while the Germans did their very best to kill them. Arriving home to find empty seats in the chow hall...
 

Froglaw

Full Member
Dick Cole, who flew 'The Ruptured Duck', and later wrote 30 Seconds Over Tokyo.

Hollywood:

I liked the line in Pearl Harbor.

”This is the kind of mission where you get medals. But they send them to your relatives.”

Off a carrier, fly over the pacific to Japan, bomb Tokyo, and keep flying to China.

my picture below is Dad. WWII SaeBee. Never cared much for the Japanese after they shot him on Saipan.
 

Froginbedford

Full Member
Hollywood:

I liked the line in Pearl Harbor.

”This is the kind of mission where you get medals. But they send them to your relatives.”

Off a carrier, fly over the pacific to Japan, bomb Tokyo, and keep flying to China.

my picture below is Dad. WWII SaeBee. Never cared much for the Japanese after they shot him on Saipan.
My dad was also a SeaBee, but oddly for a Navy man, went in on the first wave at Omaha Beach to start building landing zones for reinforcement and supply craft....He described himself as the fastest foxhole digger in the Navy....After he defeated the Germans, he was sent to the Pacific where he was in three invasions...Mindinao in the Philippines and two in Borneo....In the 1970s oil crisis, I bought a Datsun (now Nissan)....He was irate...."Hell, boy, they shot at me"....I explained the comparative cost between the Japanese import and American domestic cars (and therefore the monthly payments on a teacher's salary), the comparative mpgs....He walked around the car and said, "Got you a nice car, boy"....LOL....
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
My dad was also a SeaBee, but oddly for a Navy man, went in on the first wave at Omaha Beach to start building landing zones for reinforcement and supply craft....He described himself as the fastest foxhole digger in the Navy....After he defeated the Germans, he was sent to the Pacific where he was in three invasions...Mindinao in the Philippines and two in Borneo....In the 1970s oil crisis, I bought a Datsun (now Nissan)....He was irate...."Hell, boy, they shot at me"....I explained the comparative cost between the Japanese import and American domestic cars (and therefore the monthly payments on a teacher's salary), the comparative mpgs....He walked around the car and said, "Got you a nice car, boy"....LOL....
Hence the humor in the early scene in 1941: Two Japanese sailors are trying to cram a large radio into their submarine, but the hatch is just too narrow to fit the big wooden radio frame. One sailor says, "We have to find a way to make these things smaller!"
 

HornyWartyToad

Active Member
My dad was also a SeaBee, but oddly for a Navy man, went in on the first wave at Omaha Beach to start building landing zones for reinforcement and supply craft....He described himself as the fastest foxhole digger in the Navy....After he defeated the Germans, he was sent to the Pacific where he was in three invasions...Mindinao in the Philippines and two in Borneo....In the 1970s oil crisis, I bought a Datsun (now Nissan)....He was irate...."Hell, boy, they shot at me"....I explained the comparative cost between the Japanese import and American domestic cars (and therefore the monthly payments on a teacher's salary), the comparative mpgs....He walked around the car and said, "Got you a nice car, boy"....LOL....
There was one teacher at my elementary school back in the 60s who drove a Toyota. Can't recall the model but probably a Corolla or similar. It was so different from every other car around, we thought she was weird. :)
 

bouttmk

Active Member
Dick Cole, who flew 'The Ruptured Duck', and later wrote 30 Seconds Over Tokyo.
Ted Lawson piloted that aircraft and wrote that book. Dick Cole was Jimmy Doolittle's copilot. He was the last Raider to leave us at 103 years of age. 80 Raiders. 73 came home. 250,000 Chinese civilians were murdered in retaliation. My dad was Navy. Was in SB-2 flying the SBD Dauntless off the Lexington (CV-2). Afterwards, Aleutian Campaign and Marianas Campaign. Ace, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart. Nothing as remarkable as the Doolittle Raiders but he did his job.
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
Ted Lawson piloted that aircraft and wrote that book. Dick Cole was Jimmy Doolittle's copilot. He was the last Raider to leave us at 103 years of age. 80 Raiders. 73 came home. 250,000 Chinese civilians were murdered in retaliation. My dad was Navy. Was in SB-2 flying the SBD Dauntless off the Lexington (CV-2). Afterwards, Aleutian Campaign and Marianas Campaign. Ace, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart. Nothing as remarkable as the Doolittle Raiders but he did his job.
Yep. I got the men confused. The worst thing is, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is sitting on a bookshelf within sighting distance...
 
  • But here is the one no one likes. Po Hang Korea, 1950. Shot down in his P-51, resulted in bailing out (nylon descent), a dislocated shoulder, the Purple Heart, and getting grounded.
View attachment 11820


View attachment 11819
Two types of fini flights...when you know its your last and when you don't. Neither are any good but latter is worse especially when takeoffs outnumber landings. Ill raise a glass to to your old man this evening
 

PurplFrawg

Administrator
Two types of fini flights...when you know its your last and when you don't. Neither are any good but latter is worse especially when takeoffs outnumber landings. Ill raise a glass to to your old man this evening
Thanks. He was fished out of the Sea of Japan by the Navy, had his shoulder reduced, and was given a pair of binoculars to help with their coast watching mission. He made it back to Sheppard AFB, which was the USAF center for orthopedics (at the time), then returned to Bergstrom. Pretty sure he had an epiphany with a wife and young son, switching to cargo planes and maintenance officer job description. Later made it a trifecta by serving in Vietnam.
 
Top