Sunday, August 21, 2022

Quite the accomplished crew

 


11 comments:

  1. 514th bomb squadron, 376th bomb group

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  2. Very impressive a "D" model got that far.
    Brave me, each of them.

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  3. Washington monument in the background

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    1. That "monument" appears to be a blade of one of the port engines' propellers.

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  4. You be sure that these particular crewmen did not fly 110 missions. by late war the "heavy" crews were to fly 50.

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    1. Yeah. That tally was probably over five crews.
      The planes weren't expected to last more than 20 missions anyways.

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    2. Initially, the mission count was set at 25, which was more than the life expectancy of a crewman. It was raised somewhat later on, but I don't think it ever got to 50 for B17 or B24 crews. I think it was raised to 35.
      Jimmy Stewart didn't fly the full amount in his B24 squadron, but he was the XO, or similar level position, so it was difficult to get the time to fly that often. I tried to check on his war history, but Wpedia has totally screwed up his wartime history, making it seem that he did nothing. Guy had at least one flight over North Vietnam in a B52 prior to retiring as a Brig Gen, IIRC.

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Some impressive kill marks on the fuselage. That's more than just being lucky, that's a distinguished crew.

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  6. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/136

    Appears to have been renamed a few times during its career.

    "...survived 19 months of air battles overseas, and 1,058 combat hours. Her scoreboard reads, one destroyer, one merchant ship, one oil tanker, and 23 enemy aircraft destroyed. She dropped 297 tons of bombs, and never lost a crewman in combat. The plane required 19 engines, two new wings, one new rudder, and many aluminum patches to keep her flying during her career."

    Survived combat to end up on a "War Bond Tour."

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  7. Two new wings.... tough times!

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