Free Republic

On Veterans Day we remember from WWII the hazards faced by the young men who became our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. For example, the 8th Air Force suffered over 26,000 dead compared to the Marine Corps losing nearly 20,000 killed in the Pacific. Their bombers were mainly crewed by teenagers and men in their early twenties, but of all crew members the ball turret gunner confronted the most dismal fate.The emerging certainty the United States would be drawn into WW II promoted creation of an autonomous Army Air Force. Until the war in Europe began, dominate Army doctrine gave the...

Last Saturday (April 15), the Yankee Air Museum announced it was grounding its World War II-vintage Boeing B-17G “Yankee Lady” in anticipation of an FAA Airworthiness Directive (AD), expected within a few weeks. Online sources, including a detailed article at Aerovintage.com, anticipate the AD will likely ground all currently flying B-17s due to “wing spar issues” cited by the Yankee Air Museum. The Michigan-based museum posted on its Facebook page: “Hello, The Yankee Air Museum decided to proactively cease flight operations of the B-17G Flying Fortress ‘Yankee Lady.’ Recent inspections of other B-17s have discovered wing spar issues. As a...

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday released its preliminary report on the deadly plane air show plane crash in Dallas earlier this month. Just after 1:20 p.m. on Nov. 12, five people on board a B-17 Flying Fortress were killed along with the pilot of a P-63 King Cobra during the Wings Over Dallas air show that featured several World War II-era planes. A full investigation could take up to 12-18 months, according to the NTSB, and the report released Wednesday were the initial findings by investigators. According to recorded audio for the airshow radio transmissions and Automatic...

DALLAS - Two military planes from World War II collided mid-air during a Veterans Day air show at Dallas Executive Airport on Saturday. The accident took place around 1:20 p.m. during the Commemorative Air Force’s Wings Over Dallas WWII Airshow. There were between 4,000 to 6,000 spectators at the show. Video from witnesses obtained by FOX 4 shows the planes colliding and then bursting into flames after hitting the ground. Fallen debris stretched from the south end of the airport, across Highway 67 to a strip mall on the opposite side.

DALLAS — A mid-air collision has happened at the Wings Over Dallas air show at the Dallas Executive Airport, Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) has confirmed to WFAA. -snip- The FAA released the following statement to WFAA: A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Texas around 1:20 p.m. local time Saturday. At this time, it is unknown how many people were on both aircraft.The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide...

The near certainty the United States would be drawn into WW II prompted creation of an autonomous Army Air Force. Until the war in Europe began, dominate Army doctrine gave the air corps no mission beyond supporting the ground forces. In opposition to this entrenched position, Giulio Douhet, an Italian general, and air power theorist, maintained air power could shatter civilian moral and elicit demands to surrender by destroying a country’s vital centers. Now air power advocates fought and won the Pentagon battle for the authority to prove the theory that bombers could win wars.The instruments for this initiative in...

Ward talks to "Lucky" Luckadoo, World War II veteran who flew 25 B-17 missions in 1943 and the subject of "Damn Lucky," a new book written by Kevin Maurer.Watch This 100-Year-Old Badass B-17 Pilot Describe Flying into Hell | May 23, 2022 | Ward Carroll

The near certainty the United States would be drawn into WW II prompted creation of an autonomous Army Air Force. Until the war in Europe began, dominate Army doctrine gave the air corps no mission beyond supporting the ground forces. In opposition to this entrenched position, Giulio Douhet, an Italian general and air power theorist, maintained air power could shatter civilian moral and elicit demands to surrender by destroying a country’s vital centers. Now air power advocates fought and won the Pentagon battle for the authority to prove the theory that bombers could win wars.The instruments for this initiative in...

The near certainty the United States would be drawn into WW II prompted creation of an autonomous Army Air Force. Until the war in Europe began, dominate Army doctrine gave the air corps no mission beyond supporting the ground forces. In opposition to this entrenched position, Giulio Douhet, an Italian general, and air power theorist, maintained air power could shatter civilian moral and elicit demands to surrender by destroying a country’s vital centers. Now air power advocates fought and won the Pentagon battle for the authority to prove the theory that bombers could win wars.The instruments for this initiative were...

On November 23, 1944, a Royal Air Force antiaircraft unit stationed outside Cortonburg, Belgium observed a B-17 Flying Fortress flying towards them. The massive U.S. Army Air Forces bomber approached at high speed with its landing gears down. With no landing scheduled, the base personnel presumed it was an emergency landing situation and reacted accordingly. The Flying Fortress proceeded to execute that emergency landing by plowing into a nearby field. Having just barely avoided crashing into the unit’s guns, the aircraft’s landing was so fast and uncontrolled that the propellers snapped off and both wings slapped into the earth during...

I was driving with a younger relative this morning and had on the Sirius/XM 70's station in which Casey Kasem was counting down the Top 40 from the week of 7/12/75. One of the songs in the countdown was "Please Mr. Please" by Olivia Newton-John in which she urges a fellow bar-fly not to play a certain song on the bar-room jukebox as it reminded her of an old love. So as she repeatedly sings the verse "Please, Mr., please, don't play B-17", my young relative eventually pipes up to ask me what she means by "B-17". Is it the...

WW2 hero passed yesterday, age 95 I’ve posted before about Raymond T. Matheny, my second cousin. He authored the book, “Rite of Passage” describing his experience as a B17 flight engineer, shot down in January 1944, then spent 16 months as POW in Stalag 17. After the war, he eventually became a professor of archeology at BYU. Last summer at age 94, he presented his last paper at an archeology meeting before his retirement. Some links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Matheny Interview: https://www.pbsutah.org/sites/default/files/mathenyray_0.pdf Book: https://www.bookdepository.com/Rite-Passage-Ray-T-Matheny/9780981848914 Article with photos: https://magazine.byu.edu/article/in-the-mayan-jungle/ Article: https://www.deseret.com/1999/7/3/19453785/a-festive-reunion-for-2-vets-br-each-thought-the-other-had-died-in-wwii photo: https://jazzroc.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/raymatheny.jpg?w=225&h=307 Raymond lived a magnificent and grand life. Part of the greatest...

The near certainty the United States would be drawn into WW II prompted creation of an autonomous Army Air Force. Until the war in Europe began, standard doctrine gave an air corps no mission beyond supporting the ground forces. Now air power advocates fought for the authority to prove the theory that bombers could win wars. The B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress carried 10-13 .50cal machine guns for defense and the Norden bombsight for precision daylight attack. Under combat conditions peacetime accuracy was never realized and bombers suffered horrendous losses until the P-51 Mustang could escort them all the...

There were six survivors of a fiery plane crash Wednesday morning at Bradley International Airport that left seven others dead, officials said. The Boeing B-17, a World War II bomber plane, crashed at the end of Runway 6 while trying to land on the tarmac around 10 a.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT (WFSB) - A vintage WWII plane crashed at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks on Wednesday morning and caused a large fire. Six patients were brought to Hartford Hospital, the hospital said. The Life Star emergency helicopter confirmed that it was transporting one of them.

The B-17 “Flying Fortress” is one of the most iconic aircraft of World War II. Built by Boeing, the four-engine bomber was the United States’ primary weapon of destruction in the air campaign to annihilate cities and bring Nazi Germany to its knees. Its combat performance was decidedly uneven, yet no one questions its primacy in the war. The B-17E, the first mass-produced model, carried nine machine guns and a 4,000-pound bomb load. Its distinctive and enormous tail improved control and stability during high-altitude bombing. Crews loved its smoothness—“It flew like an overgrown Piper Cub,” said one pilot—and its ability...

A World War Two veteran who captained a B-17 Flying Fortress has returned to the skies in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor, the same plane he first flew in at the age of 17. Russel Duane Hilding, 98, was overjoyed at the chance to fly in one of the ultra-rare vintage aircraft on Thursday at Gerald R. Ford International Airport near Grand Rapids, Michigan. 'My first airplane ride was in a Ford Tri-Motor,' Hilding told WXMI-TV. 'The best part of getting old, is trying to not stay old.' Only 18 Trimotors remain in existence, of which only eight are certified airworthy...

Dream comes true for the man who honoured his heroes: Pensioner weeps as thousands join him to watch fly-past to honour WWII airmen whose memorial he tended for decades - and BBC presenter Dan Walker who helped organise event even cries too. Thousands of people at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield to watch planes pay tribute to B-17 Flying Fortress crew Tony Foulds was eight in February 1944 when he witnessed the Mi Amigo crash and explode in the park. Pilot apparently tried to avoid him and his friends - and memorial has now been organised 75 years on. He has...

After the US’s entry into World War II, Hollywood filmmaker William Wyler (best known today for The Best Years of Our Lives, Roman Holiday, and Ben-Hur) volunteered for the US Army Air Forces. Serving as a major, he directed documentaries about the air war in Europe and the Mediterranean. In 1943, he and his crew brought 16mm color cameras aboard Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses on bombing runs over Germany. The resultant film, 1944’s The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, purported to show the final mission of the bomber Memphis Belle. (It was actually pieced together from several...

Legendary WWII bomber that survived 25 missions over occupied Europe is lovingly restored and put on display B-17 'Flying Fortress' known as Memphis Belle is introduced this morning at National Museum of USAF in Ohio Plane was celebrated for being first bomber to survive 25 missions over Europe before returning to US in 1943 It had been kept in Memphis, Tennessee for years but had been subject to vandalism before being refurbished